Messianic Lite: Masei, “Journeys”

This week’s Torah portion goes from Numbers 33:1 to 36:13. As the book of Numbers draws to a close, Moses maps out the boundaries of the land of their inheritance and he allocates the land portions set out for each of the tribes. The tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh negotiate with Moses and agree…

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PA outraged as White House says it will push Gaza-centric Mideast peace plan‎

BY LILACH SHOVAL, DANIEL SIRYOTI, NITZI YAKOV AND EREZ LINN, JNS— Abbas declared that he would not engage with the ‎‎United States on peace talks after Trump ‎recognized Jerusalem ‎as Israel’s capital last year ‎and subsequently ‎relocated the U.S. embassy in ‎Israel from Tel ‎Aviv to Jerusalem—moves the Palestinian leader ‎maintains illustrate Trump’s pro-Israel bias…

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Netanyahu to Visiting Russian Officials: Israel Will Not Tolerate Iranian Military Presence in Syria

By Algemeiner— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday with a visiting delegation of top Russian officials to discuss regional developments. The delegation consisted of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Alexander Lavrentiev, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin. Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, also participated in the meeting. According to Netanyahu’s…

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Netanyahu Promises Heavy Hand Against Hamas

BY ANNA AHRONHEIM, GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST— Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israel would be taking a series of steps against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, starting with closing the Kerem Shalom crossing, in light of the continued launching of incendiary aerial devices toward southern Israel. “We intend to immediately wield a heavy…

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Top Iranian general: Forces in Syria ‘awaiting orders’ to destroy Israel

By Times of Israel— In a recent speech, the deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) boasted that the “Islamic army in Syria” in the Golan Heights was awaiting orders to eradicate the “evil regime” of Israel. He also said the Tehran-backed Hezbollah terror group had 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel. “We are creating might…

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The Message in the Netanyahu-Putin Meeting

By Herb Keinon, JPost— Many and varied are the reasons why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has an interest in meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin as much as he does. And Netanyahu does meets the Russian leader a lot. His meeting with Putin Wednesday evening in the Kremlin was the ninth time the two men have…

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‘Close Israeli Embassy in Ireland’

By Arutz Sheva— Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) on Thursday afternoon said Israel should close its embassy in Dublin. “There’s no reason to invite the Irish Embassy in Israel for a ‘disciplinary discussion,’” Liberman tweeted. “We have nothing to discuss with people who bring trouble to Jews.” “Israel must immediately close its embassy…

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Jewish Democrats Grapple with Party’s Mainstreaming of Israel Criticism

By Charles Dunst, Times of Israel— After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked the political world by defeating longtime New York Rep. Joseph Crowley in a Democratic primary last month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez quickly aligned himself with the former political outsider, saying on a radio show that “she represents the future of our party.” If…

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“Jihad Allowance”: Views of Work in the Middle East

By Nonie Darwish, Gatestone Institute-— Recently, the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, dismissed President Trump as just a “tradesman” who lacked the qualifications to handle political and international affairs. At face value, the criticism might sound similar to that of an opposition party alleging that Trump lacks political experience. Coming from an Islamic leader, however,…

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Why the Concern for UNRWA

By Caroline Glick, JPost— On Monday, seven former US ambassadors to the UN sent a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisting that the administration restore full funding to UNRWA, the UN agency that funds so-called Palestinian refugees. Since UNRWA was established in 1949, the US has given nearly $5 billion to the…

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Unto the Nations: The Making of a Bible

By Tuly Weisz, JPost— President Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s thriller, The President is Missing, is so far 2018’s No. 1 best-selling work of fiction, at 150,000 copies. It sounds impressive, but when compared to this year’s – and every year’s – actual No. 1 best-seller, that number is rather small. What is the top-selling…

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Managing an Anti-American Turkey

By Eric Mandel, JPost— Turkish antagonism to America, Israel, and the EU, and the Islamization of this once proudly secular nation must be seen in historical context. Relations between the US and Turkey today are, as they have been over the last 70 years, primarily based on shared national security interests, which often shift and…

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Much Ado About Something

By Michael Freund, JPost— For years, Israel’s Right has asserted that the Supreme Court tilts sharply Left, treating Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria in an unfair and even unjust manner. Time and again, politicians and pundits have argued that behind their pronouncements of principle, the justices were in fact often motivated by political agendas.…

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