Dear Family & Friends,

I’ve just returned from the Anglo Vote evening, first a panel of 5 top journalists & then a panel of 6 candidates for the March 17^th Elections for Knesset. It was held at Cinema City. I’d never been there. Wow! What an impossibly bright & garish extravaganza of fake movie figures. But, the dairy buffet, the wonderful people who came to see, hear & learn, the presenters of their political & personal opinions were very worth seeing, hearing & learning. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having put together a few ‘informational’ gatherings of brilliant scholars, I know how difficult it is to create such an event that seemed effortless & was so inspiring but, they did it very well.

Here’s the first story from The Jewish Press.com who sponsored it: ’5 Shades of Israel’ Debate the Issues for Anglo Votes in Jerusalem Candidates from the top five Israeli parties addressed Anglo voters in Jerusalem on Wednesday; the big ‘hot button’ was Iran & the PM’s speech to Congress next week.

By: Hana Levi Julian The JewishPress.com Published: February 25th, 2015

ICBM-capable launcher observed near Tehran in Jan 2015. (Israel Ch. 2) [Note: ICBM is the black perpendicular tube on the right side the white building with the square top circled in red. [Gail W] Photo Credit: Screenshot / Channel 2, Israel

The top five political parties in Israel vied for the English-speaking vote in Jerusalem on Wednesday in a far more polite debate held at Cinema City in Jerusalem than is usually seen in Hebrew-speaking forums, in keeping with the cultural tenor of the audience.

JewishPress.com editor-in-chief Stephen Leavitt noted at the start of the event that Israel is home to nearly half a million “native English speakers” who have immigrated from countries as diverse at Australia, South Africa, the UK, Canada, the U.S. & other areas where the English language is spoken.

Representatives of the Likud, Yesh Atid, Bayit Yehudi, Yisrael Beytenu & Labor-Hatnua merger parties addressed the Anglo voters on a set of five core issues. Among those that has been raising blood pressure in Israel & abroad is the Iranian nuclear threat & Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s planned trip next week to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington D.C.

Yisrael Beytenu representative Ashley Perry led off the responses by asking, “How can we take on Iran if we cannot successfully take on Hamas & Hezbollah? We can achieve a draw at best,” he said, pointing to the results of the recent operations carried out against terror groups in Gaza & Lebanon.

“We have to first deal with the more imminent threat on our borders,” Perry said. “We have to take the gloves off. We need to return deterrence. The next time a single rocket comes over, we need to respond with such impact that … quiet returns for generations.”

Yesh Atid representative & MK Rabbi Dov Lipman commented, “There are times when leaders speak with bravado, but create tremendous damage to Israel along the way… I see it when I travel abroad. There is a way to go about such things.” Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress, Lipman contended, is “doing tremendous damage.” He insisted the Congress could have — & would have — come up with a two-thirds vote to “override” any deal with Iran that President Barack Obama would have brought before the Congress for approval. Now, he said, “Congress cannot do anything about it.”

Hilik Bar, representing the Herzog-Hatnua parties, said he believes in “smart diplomacy” & that in essence, he agreed with Lipman. “But this time I agree with Netanyahu in that we in Israel do not believe the Iranians when they say they are using their nuclear power for peace. We know better.” The difference, Bar said, was that his party differs with Likud on how to differentiate between “those Arabs who want to live with us & those who don’t — those who want to live here INSTEAD of us. With those, we should speak with them in the language of the IDF; on this we agree with Netanyahu,” he said.

Likud representative & former MK, Professor Benny Begin’s oratorical skills prompted even the moderator to lose track of his own timekeeping — for which he later apologized to the audience.

“What a miracle,” he began quietly. “I should remind you that in the last decade & up to about two years ago, everyone agreed that Prime Minister Netanyahu was exaggerating about the Iranian threat in order to keep the debate about “internal” issues. The P5+1 was claiming there was “no weapons program” there in Iran… everyone was insisting that Netanyahu was making it up.

“There was only one person who carried that banner & he carried it high. It speaks about the far-sighted ability of Netanyahu, & his courage to carry it in the face of major opposition from everyone… These guys are a menace not only to Israel but to the whole world.

“People need to be cognizant of the threats on the ground, today,” Begin emphasized. “The old borders in the Middle East have been erased,” he said gravely. “Iraq & Iran. Iraq & Syria. Syria & Lebanon. All of them. Gone. The Iranians announced they would achieve one unified front from the Golan Heights to Rosh HaNikra, & they HAVE established it in the last few months.

“There are now boots on the ground — hundreds & hundreds of Iranian soldiers — on our borders. Tehran is 100,000 kilometers away from here but we now share a common border.

“And the second step has already been revealed. ‘The West Bank should, or must, be armed.’ Iran’s defense minister said it first last July. He said it again in November, & again in January, last month.

“Even without a nuclear toy & without an agreement to allow them to produce such a horrible weapon, these loonies — openly calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel — they are trying to establish control of the entire Middle East, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

“Which brings me back to this Forum — these parties, certainly [Isaac Herzog & Tzipi Livni’s merged party] will make an attempt to again relinquish territory to these murderous goons.

“I think it’s horrendous.

“The U.S. has a different perspective, has different interests & is protected by two enormous oceans — it is different from our very small country which is in a very bad neighborhood. & therefore our prime minister MUST go there & present our perspective after being invited by the Speaker of the House [of Representatives.]

“Last week the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna announced the Iranians are still concealing their nuclear weapons program.

“Today — people should know it — the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps held a naval exercise & produced a one-to-one model of an American aircraft carrier. They launched missiles & bombs against it, & successfully drowned that American carrier.

“This took place while negotiations are continuing to lead to a very bad agreement — a very bad agreement — for the entire world.

“This must be prevented, either this way, or the other way, preferably with sanctions as severe as possible, so they will not get away with their ambitions.”

Uri Bank, representing the Bayit Yehudi party led by Naftali Bennett, followed Begin, & told the audience, “I have a secret for all of you: If the Jews & Israel want to survive, the message ‘Never again’ really has to mean something when we say it. It needs to be made clear when we talk about things like the Iranian threat… Bibi Netanyahu has done a wonderful job of having a backbone on this issue,” Bank went on, “but he did not have a backbone on Gush Katif — & the world does not respect the weak.”

Turning to the rest of the panel, Bank added, “President Obama does not like anything that we do; he is never going to like us, & he is never going to help us.”

About the Author: Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press & senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org & other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.

Now back to all the incoming news, views & stews.

1.US Media Avoids Iran Opposition Group Exposure of Secret Nuclear Program

2.’Deal would give Iran license to build nuclear bomb’

3.A US-Iran convergence by Prof. Eyal Zisser

4.Listen to Netanyahu by Doug Lamborn

5.Bibi, #GiveTheSpeech! By: Yigal Marcus

6.Leaked files on Iran baseless, says Israeli intelligence analyst

7.No Policy Like an Iran Policy

8.’A personal victory also a victory for all the people of Israel’

9.After attacks, European rabbis train in self-defense in Prague

10.Dry Bones by Ya’acov Kirschen: “Sounding the Alarm!”

11.Leonard Nimoy Rushed To Hospital

12. Arlene Kushner “Threats, Lies & Politics”

13.EXPOSÉ: Qatar’s takeover of Europe by Giulio Meotti, Arutz 7 INN

14.It Was Islam That Hijacked the People, Not the People Who Hijacked Islam

15.US Officials Demand Visiting NY Official Take Off Kippa in Ramallah

16.Sleight of Hand at the White House Summit on Violent Extremism?

17.ANTI-SEMITISM 101 By: Harry Stern

1.US Media Avoids Iran Opposition Group Exposure of Secret Nuclear Program

An Iranian opposition group was set to announce information about a top secret parallel nuclear development site — but US news media suddenly ditched the story. Why? By: Rachel Levy The Jewish Press.com

Published: February 24th, 2015 Latest update: February 25th, 2015

Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz

Iranian diplomatic nuclear strategy…

An opposition group in Iran was slated to reveal new information Tuesday morning about the presence of a top secret parallel nuclear program being carried out at a site called Lavizan-3.

But suddenly, after first announcing the upcoming news story & the presence of the blockbuster top secret parallel nuclear development program in Iran – the headlines vanished. The briefing by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) simply did not exist.

Instead, reports vanished about the upcoming news of the secret Iranian nuclear development program being carried on right under the very noses of the American & European negotiators while trying to reach a “good faith” agreement with Tehran.

They were replaced with headlines about “leaked cables” that reportedly showed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu & Israel’s international Mossad intelligence agency “disagreed” about the extent of the Iranian nuclear threat.

Talk about the proverbial red herring.

To his credit, CNN correspondent Nick Robertson in London debunked that myth, reporting that the Mossad clarified there “is no daylight” between the view of the Mossad & the prime minister. Robertson noted that a briefing sheet distributed to journalists about the issue included one point that seemed a bit vague – “item 9” which, he said, “someone has chosen to deliberately undermine the prime minister when he goes to the United States next week.”

While the top secret parallel nuclear development program is humming away, world powers led by the U.S. are hammering out an agreement to allow Iran to continue openly its clandestine activities, aimed at achieving an atomic weapon of mass destruction.

“The U.S. & Iran are shaping the contours of a deal that would initially freeze Tehran’s nuclear program but would allow it to slowly ramp up activities that could be used to make nuclear arms over the last years of the agreement’s duration,” Fox News reported on its website Monday & Tuesday.

The details of the six-power talks with Iran were still not fine-tuned, according to the report, which said restrictions on the uranium enrichment program would be lifted as part of the deal, along with sanctions, as a reward for “good behavior” by Iran.

News about the briefing by the Iranian opposition group, slated to take place at 10 am New York time, was non-existent however — & the original headline vanished as if it did not exist on both CNN & Fox News.

The original announcement remained on Yahoo! News but no follow-up was available, leading to questions of how the story had been squelched.

The nuclear development site itself has been kept completely secret from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) & work there reportedly is continuing during negotiations with the P5+1 world leaders, including the United States.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran has previously provided highly reliable intelligence on Iran’s nuclear sites, however — & the U.S. representative office of the NCRI was slated to hold its news conference to reveal further information on the existence of “an active & secret parallel nuclear program in Iran,” the group said.

In the past, NCRI exposed some of the most significant parts of the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program, including information about the Natanz uranium enrichment & Arak heavy water sites in August 2002; Kalay-e Electric centrifuge assembly & testing facility in February 2003; Lashkar-abad Laser enrichment & Lavizan-Shian site in May 2003; Fordow underground enrichment site in December 2005; & Defensive Innovation & Research Organization SPND in July 2011.

It’s still not clear what happened with the briefing — nor is it clear how or why the U.S. news media suddenly ditched the story.

About the Author: Rachel Levy is a freelance journalist who has written for Jewish publications in New York, New Jersey & Israel.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu: Emerging deal with Iran would allow it to become a nuclear threshold state • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insists, “Iran will not get a nuclear weapon” • Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett to travel to Washington with PM.

Yoni Hersch, Shlomo Cesana, Eli Leon, Efrat Forsher, Mati Tuchfeld, Gadi Golan, Israel Hayom Staff & The Associated Press

A day after the publication of the details of the emerging nuclear agreement between world powers & Iran, U.S. officials continued to insist on Tuesday that such a deal would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Speaking to members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “The president has made clear — I can’t state this more firmly — the policy is Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. & anybody running around right now, jumping in to say, ‘Well, we don’t like the deal,’ or this or that, doesn’t know what the deal is. There is no deal yet. & I caution people to wait & see what these negotiations produce.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the IDF Southern Command headquarters on Kerry testified in Congress after returning to Washington from the latest round of talks in Geneva involving Iran, the U.S. & five other world powers. U.S. & Iranian officials reported progress on getting to a deal that would clamp down on Iran’s nuclear activities for at least 10 years but then slowly ease restrictions. Photo credit: Haim Tzach / GPO

Negotiators are rushing to try to meet a March 31 deadline for a framework agreement.

Republican & Democratic senators are skeptical that Iran is negotiating in good faith & accuse Iran of buying time & meddling throughout the Middle East.

Subcommittee chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the U.S. is negotiating with Iranian officials who are “hell-bent on expanding their influence in the Mideast in a destructive fashion.”

“I think they are wreaking havoc,” Graham said. “I think they’ve destabilized the Yemeni government, who was helpful in the counterterrorism actions against al-Qaida in the region. I think they are propping up [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, who is one of the great mass murderers of the 21st century. I think Hezbollah has been a destructive element in Lebanon & a constant thorn in the side of Israel.”

Kerry agreed that Iranian influence was having an impact on other countries in the region, including Syria & Lebanon.

But he said it would be worse if Iran was armed with nuclear weapons & could project even more power & influence in the region than it does today.

During a visit to the IDF Southern Command headquarters on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “To my regret, the information which has reached me in recent days greatly strengthens our concerns regarding the agreement being formulated between the major powers & Iran. This agreement, if indeed it is signed, will allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state. That is, with the consent of the major powers, Iran — which openly declares its intention to destroy the State of Israel — will receive a license to develop the production of bombs.

“This is a bad agreement that endangers our future. It is my obligation as prime minister to do everything that I can to prevent this agreement; therefore, I will go to Washington to address the American Congress because the American Congress is likely to be the final brake before the agreement between the major powers & Iran.”

Netanyahu was accompanied during his visit to the Southern Command headquarters by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot & GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman.

In an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday, Ya’alon said, “There is a difficult disagreement between us & the U.S. regarding what to do [on the Iranian nuclear issue], so it is imperative that the prime minister present his views on the matter at the place, Congress, which is the last barrier to stop a bad deal. It is better to go to Congress & take all other possible steps before utilizing the military option, which is still on the table.”

Yisrael Katz, a top Likud minister, urged on Tuesday Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog to join Netanyahu on his trip to Washington to send the message that there is no partisan divide in Israel regarding the Iranian nuclear issue. “Leave [Tzipi] Livni at home & accompany the prime minister on his trip,” Katz said to Herzog. “Represent [Israel’s] consensus & unified stand & help repel the danger.”

Herzog rejected Katz’s proposal. “Netanyahu’s spin about who is going to Washington must stop,” Herzog said at a press conference with foreign journalists in Jerusalem. “My firm position against a nuclear Iran is known by every Israeli & American, including the U.S. president, & I know how to voice it in a sharp, clear manner — from here, not from there.”

Economy & Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) said Tuesday he would travel with Netanyahu to Washington next week & called on Herzog to do the same.

Meanwhile, a prominent Iranian opposition group alleged on Tuesday that Iran has been conducting secret nuclear research & some uranium enrichment using sophisticated machinery at an underground facility in the suburbs northeast of Tehran. The group offered no proof, but said it had learned of the activities through years of reporting from its sources inside Iran, including people who had visited radiation-shielded tunnels under what is purported to be a building housing the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.

The group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has in the past revealed secret Iranian nuclear sites, most prominently when it disclosed a hidden nuclear facility in Natanz in 2002. But it has also made claims that have been disputed by experts. U.S. intelligence officials had no immediate comment on the claims.

Group leaders described a 62-acre (25-hectare) site they dubbed Lavizan-3, which they said included four underground tunnels below a building used by Iran’s intelligence agency. They said the facility was built in great secrecy between 2004 & 2008 by companies that had been affiliated with Iran’s nuclear program.

Deal would give Iran license to build nuclear bomb’

3.A US-Iran convergence  by Prof. Eyal Zisser

An agreement between the U.S., its Western partners & Iran surrounding the Islamic republic’s nuclear program is, apparently, just a matter of time. Even if a few extra weeks are needed it seems clear that both sides are determined to finalize a deal, & will not allow anyone — from home or abroad — to stop them. After all, the Iranian regime & the Obama administration both have a vested interest, & where there is political will & determination, no one lets the tiny details get in the way.

Iran is approaching the final stretch of nuclear negotiations battered & exhausted by economic sanctions. For Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected on a ticket of reform & change, the deal is a question of to be or not to be. Rouhani, better than anyone else in Iran, understands the importance of extricating his country from forced international isolation & is working to have the sanctions lifted. He knows the proposed deal meets Iran’s needs, allows it to preserve its achievements on the nuclear front, & more importantly — strengthen the standing of the ayatollah regime. Ultimately, Rouhani is an inseparable component of the regime. The objective of all his actions is to ensure the regime’s survival, even if it means moderating & softening the tone of its message.

If Rouhani fails to strike a deal, his conservative detractors will descend on him & end his political life, claiming that his conciliatory approach toward the U.S. is unfeasible.

Rouhani, therefore, is interested in a deal, although it appears Obama is no less in need of one either. The president’s gaze is fixed on November 2016, when his successor in the White House will be elected. His entire Middle East policy, & not only as it pertains to Iran but to matters like the Syrian civil war & the fight against Islamic State, is geared toward that target date. Obama wants to end his presidency unscathed, without going down in history as being responsible for the disintegration of order in the Middle East, or just as bad — culpable for a nuclear Iran. After 2016, however, cometh the flood.

From this perspective, it is possible to see how a nuclear deal came into being, a deal that postpones the inevitable while bequeathing the problem to subsequent generations. Within the framework of the deal, the Iranians will have to denounce their intentions to develop nuclear weapons, & in exchange for this declaration of goodwill the Americans will let them keep the nuclear capabilities they have developed over the years. Here, too, we see the incomprehensible chasm between intentions & capabilities. “Intentions” is a vague, slippery term, subject to change — much like the weather. “Capabilities,” on the other hand, are tangible: centrifuges, enriched uranium, reactors, scientific knowledge & so on.

The Americans can take solace in an Iranian commitment not to become a nuclear state in the next decade, but the Iranians have no reason to press their luck & become one. Time is on their side & they happily welcome the immunity & legitimacy that such a deal will afford their nuclear program. Regardless, if the need or opportunity arises in the coming years, they can always shred the agreement to pieces, similar to what North Korea did, & laugh all the way to a nuclear bomb.

But, in the spirit of these times (with the Purim holiday almost upon us), perhaps another miracle will occur. Maybe America’s weakness will tempt the Iranians to push their luck, thereby torpedoing negotiations. & perhaps the Americans will come to their senses & heed their allies in the region who are warning them against this particular deal. If not, as stated, it is simply a matter of time.

A US-Iran convergence by Prof. Eyal Zisser

4.Listen to Netanyahu  by Doug Lamborn

“If you can’t convince ‘em, confuse ‘em.” This political adage was well applied recently by President Barack Obama. Facing the steady weakening of his Iran negotiating policy in the eyes of Congress & the American people, the White House spun a story about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bringing Israeli politics to the floor of Congress, or of House Speaker John Boehner breaching an unwritten but apparently sacred protocol. Some of my colleagues in Congress have indeed become confused.

With The New York Times’ self-correction, we now know the White House was indeed informed in advance of the invitation. But advance notice or no, the invitation would have stood, so a phone call to the White House changes nothing. Now we’re trapped in a political blame game. The president & Secretary of State John Kerry will not meet with the prime minister. Vice President Joe Biden’s schedule is too busy. Other Democrats are considering similar evasions.

America & Israel are facing a regime that is fanatically committed to their destruction, a regime that is inching every day closer to nuclear bomb capabilities. Rather than owning up to his policy & welcoming honest debate, the president shifts the discussion to the petty politics of protocols & manners. It is incomprehensible that some journalists & politicians are playing along.

We don’t know the outcome of the negotiations. The White House would prefer to leave us in the dark. However, experience up until now bodes ill for the future. Every goal stated at the outset of the negotiations has failed by now. The negotiations framework dictated a deadline — we are now beyond two extensions. We were committed to an agreement that would suspend all enrichment — current negotiations allow for enrichment with discussion focusing on the levels to be permitted. If that is not bad enough, even this pathetic agreement that is emerging will have an expiration date & will be temporary. The long range missiles being developed by Iran that can deliver nuclear warheads are not even part of the discussion. Nor is Iran’s support of worldwide terrorism. If this is not a bad deal, what is?

With his phone & his pen, the president intends to bypass Congress & pass a deal with or without the consent of Congress. Rather than worry about Obama’s saving of face, we in Congress should focus on the threat ahead & our responsibility. That is, our responsibility as a coequal branch under the constitution to make informed & independent decisions for the safety of the American people.

In the face of the media turmoil over this address it is doubtful that Netanyahu will make any political gains back home. It is also irrelevant. Netanyahu is a true authority on the dangers emanating from Iran. He has been for many years. He understands the existential nature of the threat, not only for Israel but for the world. That he brings a different message that our president apparently does not want to hear should not deter us from listening.

However, there is another issue at stake. Congressmen boycotting the prime minister of Israel will send the wrong message to Americans. Many of the millions of American people who will be following the speech may not think beyond a boycott. They will see a breach between the two sister nations at a time that is most dangerous for both. They won’t hear a timely & critical message on the Iranian threat.

At a time that Israel is repeatedly attacked by the international community, & that anti-Semitism is on the rise, this Congress & America still stand strong with Israel. Don’t let anyone think that precious bond is shaken, no matter what some in the administration or in his party in Congress may say. Netanyahu will not be representing an Israeli political party. He represents the people of Israel. His speech to the joint session of Congress will be from one nation to another. No amount of spin should obscure that fact.

President Harry Truman once said, “Intense feelings too often obscure the truth.” In face of threats our two countries are facing, everyone should take a deep breath, put feelings aside, & focus on the essentials. No congressman or senator should let petty considerations distract him or her from the truth.

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) is the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus.

Listen to Netanyahu by Doug Lamborn

5.Bibi, #GiveTheSpeech! By: Yigal Marcus Published: Feb. 23, 2015

 Former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani shakes hands with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.
Photo Credit: Sasson Tiram

#GiveTheSpeech #StopTheSpeech!

A few weeks ago, (Republican) Speaker of the House John Boehner announced that he had invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a speech about the Iranian nuclear threat to a Joint Session of Congress, currently slated to take place on March 3, 2015. The “fuming” White House immediately objected, calling the speech “inappropriate” – after all, it is scheduled for a few weeks before the Israeli elections [and the March 31 deadline to agree to the general terms of a proposed nuclear treaty with the Iranian regime]. Speaking before Congress, they complained, could unfairly influence the Israeli electorate, who may – G-d forbid! – reelect Bibi to another term in the Knesset. Another Bibi term will likely be the final nail in the coffin of President Obama’s obsessive pursuit of “Peace” between the Palestinians & the Israelis (the cause of all conflict in the Middle East). A tough pill for a lame duck President who is desperate to solidify a foreign policy legacy – aside from the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq & Afghanistan, bequeathing a period of unprecedented peace & tranquility – uh hum – to those countries.

The ADL, & other major Jewish organizations, immediately rushed to the President’s defense. “Don’t play partisan politics with Israel!” After all, it was a Republican Speaker who invited Bibi without the requisite approval from the White House. #StopTheSpeech trended on Twitter. Vice President Biden announced he will not attend the speech. He will be somewhere else. Where? Anywhere but Washington DC. TBD. President Obama & Secretary of State John Kerry will not meet with Bibi, either.

Democratic politicians quietly complain of the uncomfortable position they are in, having to choose between their Democrat President, & the Prime Minister of Israel.

My original reaction to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence on speaking at the Joint Session was to be against it. The narrative of the “danger of playing partisan politics with Israel” is one I agree with. Israel has garnered bipartisan support from Congress for most of its 68 year history. & we must protect that close relationship – hence, my original opposition to the timing of the Prime Minister’s speech.

And then Obama spoke. & my opinion changed.

Recently, the blogosphere lit up with the President’s insistence that the Parisian deli attack was “random.” That it was not motivated by anti-Semitism. It was not an intentional target by Islamic terrorists. It was merely a random attack, on a bunch of random people who “happen” to be in a kosher deli. Israel is a safe haven for Jews; in many minds, Jewish victimhood creates the need for Israel. If there are no Jewish victims, Israel – & its weakening by territorial concessions to the Palestinians – is less necessary.

It then occurred to me that Bibi’s insistence on speaking is not playing partisan politics with the US-Israel relationship. Rather, it is a necessary confrontation against this President’s flawed world view, specifically when it comes to the War on Terror & rogue regimes (e.g. Iran). We are in the midst of a global confrontation against an enemy that presents in many forms: ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and, yes, Iran. The common denominator? The terror perpetrated by these groups is motivated by fundamentalist Islam. & President Obama refuses to acknowledge this threat or identify the enemy.

President Obama’s strategic response to the speech was brilliant. He successfully flipped the conversation by trying to turn Israel into a partisan issue: if Democrats attend the speech, they will upend the Democrat President. & so they must choose between principle (a strengthened US-Israel relationship in this war against evil) or politics (strengthening the President against a “disrespectful” Prime Minister).

But the choice our Democrat friends must make is more fundamental & important than that (much to the chagrin of President Obama): attendance at Bibi’s speech is about Congress’s response to the threats facing America, with a President who refuses to acknowledge those threats. Attending Bibi’s speech declares that the War against Terror in which we partner with Israel is non-partisan. It is, however, in sharp contrast with a President whose world view is marred by an ideology of capitulation, fear & weakness. Congress need not, & must not, stand with a lame duck President who continues to hurt US foreign policy & world stability. & Bibi’s courageous speech is the perfect venue to stand with our allies who see the global conflict as it truly is, & not as President Obama wants it to be: a conflict of good versus evil, of freedom versus an oppressive, fundamentalist Islamist movement hell-bent on world domination.

And the P5+1 agreeing to a plan which allows Iran to continue enriching uranium – a major step in building nuclear weapons – would provide our Islamist enemies with the nuclear weapons exporter they need to take their jihad to a whole new level.

#GiveTheSpeech, Bibi. The world needs to hear what you have to say.

About the Author: Yigal M. Marcus is a Vice President & Financial Advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the Republican Jewish Coalition & is the Co-Chairman of the Northern New Jersey Chapter. He is married, has three children, & resides in Teaneck, NJ. The opinions expressed in this article are his own, & do not necessarily reflect those of the aforementioned companies or institutions.

Dismissing media reports that appear to cast doubt on claims made by PM Netanyahu regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities, security & intelligence analyst Yossi Melman: “It seems that the intelligence & Netanyahu say more or less the same.”

Reuters & Israel Hayom Staff

An Israeli intelligence analyst on Tuesday dismissed media reports that appear to cast doubt on claims made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Iran’s nuclear capability timeline.

According to the reports, secret files leaked to The Guardian newspaper & Al Jazeera cast doubt on nuclear bomb claims made by Netanyahu during a speech at the U.N. General Assembly in September 2012.

Credit: Reuters

Yossi Melman, a security & intelligence analyst & author of a book about Iran’s nuclear program, said that the published documents were actually based on a Mossad routine briefing to counterpart security agencies, & not an authentic Mossad document.

“There is nothing in that document that is basically secretive, & any follower of Iran’s nuclear program would have read the same information in the IAEA reports in the media. & there is nothing in the document to suggest that there was a wedge between what [Netanyahu] said & the Israeli intelligence community estimate.

“From the document it seems that the intelligence & Netanyahu are compatible; they say more or less the same. There are no divisions between them regarding the facts, the details of Iran’s nuclear program.”

Melman, however, said there was a difference in the interpretation over the ramifications of the details & facts, & the progress of Iran’s nuclear program.

Leaked files on Iran baseless, says Israeli intelligence analyst

7.No Policy Like an Iran Policy By Michael Doran, MOSAIC

Even his former adviser agrees that the president’s Iran policy is collapsing. Can anything be done, or is it too late?
I’ve been stunned by the reception of “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy.” In this, the era of the 140-character tweet, I’d assumed that a 9,500-word article would have scant appeal beyond a professional audience. Yet, to date, it has attracted 220,000 unique visitors; journalists from several different countries have called to interview me; I’ve done my share of talk radio; & senior political figures, including presidential hopefuls, have expressed their appreciation.

What accounts for the essay’s reach? Timing is certainly one factor. The Iranian nuclear question is coming to a head—dramatically so. But above all I believe that, for many readers, the essay proved useful in solving the enigma of Barack Obama. In his foreign policy, the president has displayed a mix of initiative & passivity that has confounded efforts at categorization. The framework constructed in “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy” may have helped make sense of a bundle of apparent contradictions; at least I hope so.

In his response to my essay, “What the President Thinks He’s Doing,” Elliott Abrams graciously accepts most of my analysis but differs with my locating the president’s worldview within the “realist” tradition of American foreign policy. Instead, Abrams sees him as a Henry Wallace radical. In his own response, “The Obama Doctrine,” Eric Edelman observes that Abrams’s view & mine are not mutually exclusive. True enough; it is also entirely possible that Obama finds the realist perspective attractive precisely because it provides him with a politically acceptable cover for his radical commitments. There’s no way of deciding the issue definitively.

Still, I’m not so persuaded as is Abrams that the radical commitments & associations in the president’s past provide the key to understanding his policy in the present. His attitudes, however ingrained, are idiosyncratic, at least in Washington; but in moving the United States substantially closer to the Islamic Republic, he has had the support of an influential segment of the nation’s foreign-policy elite. The list of those sharing the assumptions behind his administration’s Iran agenda is both distinguished & bipartisan, including as it does former National Security Advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski & Brent Scowcroft, former Secretary of State James Baker, & former Ambassador to the United Nations Thomas Pickering—to name just four prominent individuals. If the president’s approach is to be countered, we must first discredit the arguments of these foreign-policy realists, none of whom has a foot in the Henry Wallace tradition.

Indeed, as Edelman points out, all of Obama’s predecessors in the White House since Jimmy Carter have, in one way or another, succumbed to an Iran delusion. This same point was also made by Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution in a February 19 debate with me over my Mosaic essay. Obama’s diplomacy, she argued, has followed a very well-worn path, & in pursuing it he has adopted the same carrot-and-stick approach, & the resort to back-channel diplomacy, typical of presidents before him.

These surface similarities are real enough, but to focus on them is to turn a blind eye to the ways in which Obama has broken with the past. He has entirely jettisoned the policy of containing Iranian expansionism; made massive & irreversible concessions on the nuclear issue; and, most important of all, placed reconciliation with Tehran at the top of his foreign-policy agenda. No other president has advanced such overtures to Tehran. If Obama’s break with the past is less than total, it has not been for want of effort on his part.

Suzanne Maloney also charged me with exaggerating the element of secrecy in Obama’s actions—and in “The Reform Delusion,” my respondent Reuel Marc Gerecht strongly agrees. Here, however, the facts speak for themselves. Obama was able to reach the November 2013 interim nuclear agreement with Iran only by working behind the back of both Congress & America’s major allies. When he finally made the deal public, he disingenuously claimed that it had “halted” the Iranian nuclear program. To that particular claim, the Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” column awarded three (out of a possible four) “Pinocchios”: that is to say, it contained “significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.”

Similarly deceptive has been Obama’s stated policy toward Iran’s client Syria. For years, the president has repeatedly insisted that he is working to remove Bashar Assad from power. Amid much fanfare, he has approved programs ostensibly designed to build up the Syrian opposition to the Assad regime. In practice, however, these programs have amounted to very little. Meanwhile, the president has privately assured the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, that the United States will do nothing to weaken Assad. What word if not “secret” better describes the deliberate pursuit of a private policy that nullifies publicly stated aims?

Gerecht also rejects my suggestion that Obama is operating on the basis of an actual strategic plan. In his view, the policy has been much more haphazard than that. On this point he is joined (somewhat incongruously, given their other differences) by Martin Indyk, the director of foreign policy at Brookings. In “A Return to the Middle Eastern Great Game,” Indyk contends that Obama has taken a holiday from any attempt at organizing a consistent American approach to the region. Citing my essay in order to dismiss it, Indyk paints a portrait of Obama as a law professor who treats the issues of Syria, Iraq, & Iran’s nuclear program as separate cases, devising policy toward each without reference to the others. The president, he writes, refuses “to connect the dots.”

As it happens, in “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy” I produced many examples of Obama doing nothing but connecting the dots, & additional evidence to that effect continues to accumulate. For example, a recent Wall Street Journal report quotes senior American officials fearful that any effort to build up the opposition to Assad in Syria would provoke retaliation by Iran to take American lives in Iraq. “You cross a red line in Syria, you start to infringe on what Iran sees as its long-term interest, & those [Tehran-controlled] Shiite militias [in Iraq] could turn in the other direction,” one official says. It is precisely such reasoning that, I argued in my essay, has led Obama to coordinate with Iran behind the scenes.

Indyk emphatically rejects the notion of any such linkage. Indeed, should we fail to reach an agreement with Tehran on its nuclear program, he writes, “it is impossible to imagine cooperation with Iran on regional issues.” Yet no sooner does he assert this than he contradicts it by providing a fresh example of Iranian-American coordination: “Iran’s tacit cooperation with the United States to remove Nouri al-Maliki from power in Baghdad,” Indyk informs us, “proved critical to the viability of America’s strategy against ISIS in Iraq.”

But let’s suppose for a moment that I did exaggerate the extent to which Obama has recognized an Iranian sphere of interest in Syria. What’s striking to me is that Indyk’s analysis still concedes the most important point of all—namely, that Obama’s policies have indeed facilitated the rise of Iran across the Middle East. In the chaos that now engulfs the region, he writes grimly, the United States stands at a crossroads. It must choose immediately between two distinct & opposite strategies: conceding Iran’s dominance & building a condominium with it, or supporting America’s traditional allies against it. In Indyk’s telling, Obama’s mistake lies in his refusal to choose. But why are we standing in front of such a choice if not because we have, willy-nilly, empowered the revolutionary regime in Tehran to its position of dominance?

It seems, then, that on the central issue, Martin Indyk & I are in complete agreement: whether or not on the basis of a strategic plan, the president has placed the United States on a disastrously wrong track. & Indyk & I are again in agreement on what must be done, for, as he convincingly shows, by far the sensible & necessary option is to support America’s traditional allies in a great effort to begin undoing the damage & restoring regional order.

I would like to believe that Indyk’s urgency is a symptom of a growing awareness of the challenge before us in other influential quarters as well. If “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy” has helped foster that awareness, it has performed its primary duty.

No Policy Like an Iran Policy

Relatives of terror victims express satisfaction after jury holds PLO & PA accountable for supporting terrorist attacks in Israel during Second Intifada • “We have been fighting for 11 years, & finally the truth has come to light,” says terror victim.

Yori Yalon & Israel Hayom Staff

“This is a personal victory & also a victory for all the people of Israel, for all those who were wounded & killed,” said Revital Bauer, whose husband & son were wounded in 2002 in a terrorist attack on King George Street in Jerusalem.Relatives of the victims of terrorist attacks expressed their satisfaction over a New York jury’s decision on Monday to hold the Palestine Liberation Organization & the Palestinian Authority accountable for supporting terrorist attacks in Israel during the Second Intifada, awarding 10 American families $218.5 million in damages.

Under a 1992 U.S. anti-terrorism law, the $218.5 million sum is automatically tripled to $655.5 million, lawyers for the families said.

“This ruling is very important for everyone,” Bauer told Israel Hayom. “It is a significant precedent. I hope others will also be able to seek damages & that the State of Israel will also see this as a precedent, so that justice can be done. I was very touched to hear the ruling because we have been fighting for 11 years, & finally the truth has come to light. This is a joyous day for us & for all of Israel.”

Rabbi Leonard Mandelkorn, whose son Shaul was severely wounded in a suicide bombing on June 19, 2002 at a bus stop in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood, declared on behalf of his son: “This is a huge victory & there is a sense of happiness that justice was done here. For as long as the wound continues to bleed without justice — it is a humiliation.”

“My feeling is that God didn’t abandon us throughout this considerable endeavor, & that we were able to rehabilitate our son & punish the criminals who hurt him. We thank all the attorneys who helped us. These people are true angels, who didn’t relent on this issue for 11 years & never lost faith.”

“I am very happy,” added Mandelkorn. “The face of evil of the Palestinian Authority has been exposed. It was proven that they incited & paid salaries in prison. It was a mask of lies. They tried misleading the jury, but the jurors arrived at a unanimous conclusion that a terrorist authority was responsible for the attacks.”

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, founder & director of Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center, said: “The ruling provides a certain amount of justice & closure for the families after years of pain & suffering. Terrorist elements now know that killing innocent civilians on buses & in cafes comes with a price.

“The defendants have boasted they will appeal the decision & that the plaintiffs will never receive the compensation awarded to them. We will not allow the defendants to make a mockery of the American justice system, & we will continue to chase after them until they pay what they owe to the plaintiffs. If the PLO & Palestinian Authority have the means to pay the families of suicide bombers, then they have the means to pay the families of the victims of those suicide bombers.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the decision “determines the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority for the murderous terrorist attacks of the previous decade.”

“Instead of drawing the requisite conclusion, the Palestinian Authority is advancing steps that endanger regional stability such as the hypocritical application to the International Criminal Court even as it is allied with the Hamas terrorist organization. We expect the responsible elements in the international community to continue to punish those who support terrorism just as the U.S. federal court has done & to back the countries that are fighting terrorism,” he said.

“Today as well, we remember the families that lost their loved ones; our hearts are with them & there is no justice that can console them.”

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the decision “a moral victory for Israel & victims of terrorism.”

‘A personal victory & also a victory for all the people of Israel’

“When we see the level of anti-Semitism in Europe, when we see the level of hate in Europe, when we see the lack of leadership of European governments to fight against anti-Semitism & terror, we’re not surprised,” says Rabbi Menachem Margolin.

The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

Rabbis from European countries gathered in Prague Tuesday for training in self-defense & first aid in response to a wave of attacks against Jews & a rise of anti-Semitism on the continent.

At the beginning of a training session, knives were distributed to dozens of rabbis, young & old, before receiving instructions & practicing what to do to survive a stabbing & how to treat wounds.

Some occasionally burst out with a laugh but overall the rabbis took it seriously, as it was prompted by fears after the deadly terror attack against a kosher grocery in Paris in January & the murder of a Jewish security guard outside a synagogue in Copenhagen earlier this month.

Tuesday’s training was part of an annual gathering of rabbis organized by the Rabbinical Center of Europe & the European Jewish Association headed by Margolin.

He said the idea was to demonstrate “the most basic stuff needed.”

A lack of action from European governments to protect Jews in Europe has contributed to their decision to organize the training, first in Prague, & later in other European countries.

“We’ve urged the European countries to do something & we did not get a real response from them,” Margolin said, adding all Jewish institutions in Europe should be protected by police 24 hours a day.

He said that if police officers are not able to provide protection, guards appointed by Jewish organizations to protect Jewish sites should be allowed to be armed.

Binyomin Jacobs, chief rabbi in the Netherlands, welcomed the training.

“It’s very important,” the 66-year-old said. “I’m very happy with this. Happy & sad that it is necessary.”

After attacks, European rabbis train in self-defense in Prague

FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST FEBRUARY 25, 2014

For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace & for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” Isaiah 62

FREEMAN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES P.O. Box 35661 * Houston, Texas 77235-5661
* E-mail: bernards@sbcglobal.net OUR WEB SITE < www.freeman.org >

Dry Bones by Ya’acov Kirschen: “Sounding the Alarm!”

11.Leonard Nimoy Rushed To Hospital By Gil Tanenbaum “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.” [Live Long & Prosper!] By: JBN / Jewish Business News Published: Feb. 24th, 2015

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Published at Jewish Business News

Leonard Nimoy & Star Trek’s Jewish stars, William Shatner.

Leonard Nimoy (Leonard Simon ben Dora) was rushed to the hospital after having chest pains. He was taken to UCLA Medical Center last Thursday. The 83 year old actor is suffering from a lung disease.

The actor tweeted on Sunday, “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.”

Born to Yiddish speaking Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Ukraine in Boston, Nimoy is obviously best known for having played Mr. Spock on the original & most iconic Star Trek series.

Nimoy has been hospitalized before due to complications from COPD — Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — & he is said to carry an oxygen bag around with him everywhere.

About the illness, he once tweeted, “I quit smoking 30 years ago. Not soon enough. I have COPD. Grandpa says, quit now!! LLAP [Live Long & Prosper].”

12.Arlene Kushner “Threats, Lies & Politics” Feb. 24, 2014

The situation surrounding the negotiations with Iran & Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress daily grows more ominous, more convoluted, & more contentious.

I would like to begin with the latest “scoop” – which is supposed to put the lie to Bibi’s charge in 2012 in the UN (complete with that famous chart) that Iran was on the cusp of becoming a nuclear power.

As Arutz Sheva described the situation yesterday:

“Al Jazeera began publishing Monday night several documents allegedly leaked from the Israeli Mossad – via the Spy Cables database shared with the British Guardian.

One of the documents alleged that, just a few weeks after the famous speech Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave in 2012 assessing Iran as being about one year away from building a nuclear weapon, the Mossad sent a confidential report to South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA) stating that, in their estimation, ‘Iran does not engage in the necessary activities required for the production of weapons of mass destruction.’ (Emphasis added)

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191748#.VOyL4pv9nIV

Ah ha! went the cries of those opposed to Bibi’s speech – See, he exaggerated, he misrepresented, he’s not to be trusted.

No so, my friends. & please do not take my word for this.

Today I contacted Brig. Gen. (ret.) Yossi Kuperwasser, until recently the director-general of the Ministry of Security Affairs. There is no contradiction between the alleged Mossad report & what Bibi said, Kuperwasser explained:

The Mossad was talking about weaponization. & it’s true that in 2012 Iran was not involved in the weaponization process – they had already done this before 2003. (I note that by 1998 Iran was domestically producing the Shahab-1 & Shahab-2, & by 2003 the Shahab-3 – ballistic missiles being one part of the weaponization.)

What the prime minister was talking about, said Kuperwasser, was the enrichment process: Iran had stocks of uranium enriched to 20%, & were in the position of being able to follow through to do enrichment to 90+%, which is what is needed for weapons purposes.

What must be made clear, however, is that in bringing the uranium to 20%, 90% of the enrichment effort has already been expended. That is, the hard part is getting it to 20%. To move it from 20% to 90+% – which is weapons grade uranium – is a relatively quick & simple process. This is the danger Netanyahu was warning the world about in 2012.

But there is even more, which I ask you to note as well, from Yossi Melman, intelligence correspondent, writing in the JPost (emphasis added):

“After promising to release a bombshell of leaked secret Mossad cables, Al Jazeera’s publication of documents later Monday fell short of that mark…Al Jazeera did not obtain an original & authenticated document from the Mossad…

“What they published was a South Africa Sate Security Agency (SSA document that is based on a briefing given to them by the Mossad. The document from 2013 contains no secrets & any reader, or follower of public reports on Iran’s nuclear program, especially the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is familiar with the facts written in that document.

“The Mossad provided details in its briefing, such as the quantities of Iran’s enriched uranium at its two levels – 3.5% & 20% – about the development of Iran’s nuclear reactor at Arak, & its statement that Iran is ‘not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons.’

“That assessment was correct – it isn’t possible to utilize fissile material for a bomb only with 20% enriched uranium – an enrichment of 93% is required – & Iran did not have it at the time of the document’s writing, & doesn’t have it now. Certainly it doesn’t present any evidence of a wedge between the Mossad & Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with regard to Iran’s nuclear program…

“Israeli intelligence estimates are that Iran is working to be a nuclear power – a few months way from the ability to assemble the bomb – but not capable of building it now.

“More than anything, Iran wants the international community to lift the economic sanctions.

“Israeli intelligence researchers know that Iran is already on the verge of becoming a nuclear threshold state. It has the know-how, technology & materials to construct the bomb in a matter of a few months or perhaps a year, if & when the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives the order.”

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Al-Jazeeras-release-of-Mossad-cables-falls-short-391976

And so please, my friends, do not believe everything you read & hear in the current effort to discredit Netanyahu.

Please see, as well, yet another piece – “Now we know who to believe on Iran,” by David Horovitz, editor of Time of Israel (emphasis added):

“The Obama administration claimed Israel was misrepresenting its deal with the ayatollahs. Reports from Geneva indicate Israel’s concerns were all too accurate…

“After anonymous sources in Jerusalem leaked to Israeli reporters in recent weeks the ostensible terms of the deal being hammered out, various spokespeople for the Obama administration contended that the Netanyahu government was misrepresenting the specifics for narrow political ends. They sneered that Israel didn’t actually know what the terms were. & they made the acknowledgement — the astounding acknowledgement for a United States whose key regional ally is directly & relentlessly threatened with destruction by Iran — that the Obama administration is consequently no longer sharing with Jerusalem all sensitive details of the Iran talks.

“And yet among the terms of the deal being reported by the Associated Press from Geneva on Monday are precisely those that were asserted in recent weeks by the Israeli sources, precisely those that were scoffed at by the Administration. Centrally, Iran is to be allowed to keep 6,500 centrifuges spinning, & there will be a sunset clause providing for an end to intrusive inspections in some 10-15 years. If anything, indeed, some of the terms reported by the AP are even more worrying than those that were leaked in Jerusalem: ‘The idea would be to reward Iran for good behavior over the last years of any agreement,’ the AP said, ‘gradually lifting constraints on its uranium enrichment program & slowly easing economic sanctions.’ There is also no indication of restrictions on Iran’s missile development — its potential delivery systems…

”It goes without saying that this weekend’s developments in Geneva have only bolstered Netanyahu’s determination to sound the alarm before Congress next Tuesday. It’s also still clearer today why the Obama administration has been so anxious to query his motives & seek to discredit his concerns.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/now-we-know-who-to-believe-on-iran/

“It is also still clearer today why the Obama administration has been so anxious to query [Netanyahu’s] motives & seek to discredit his concerns.”

Keep this in mind, please, as you read the hysterical accusations against Bibi. & I ask that you do something else. Speak out with the facts. You know the routine: do talkbacks on the Internet, letters to the editor, call-ins on talk-shows, put this information on your FB pages & websites, put it up on group discussion lists, etc. etc. Here is an opportunity to help Israel.

Yet another charge that is being leveled at Netanyahu is that the unrest he is “causing,” the tension he is generating politically in the US, will result in a reduction of American support for Israel.

The only problem with this charge is that it’s not true. A Gallup poll conducted between February 8 & February 11 indicates that seven in 10 Americans continue to view Israel favorably, & there has been no significant change in that number from a year ago.

“According to Gallup’s explanation of the results, these numbers suggest that neither the friction between Netanyahu & US President Barack Obama nor last summer’s conflict in Gaza significantly impacted on the US public’s perceptions toward Israel or the Palestinians.”

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Gallup-poll-US-public-support-for-Israel-not-hurt-by-Iran-flap-391934

And then this piece of news:

Two Democratic Senators, Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) & Dianne Feinstein (D-California), have written a letter to PM Netanyahu, inviting him to meet with Democratic lawmakers while he is in Washington next week. Their intention is to “maintain Israel’s dialogue with both political parties in Congress.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/democratic-senators-invite-netanyahu-to-meet-in-washington/

I have no more information at this point, but this seems a positive turn of events.

The negotiations in Geneva? Terrifying. Rushing at break-neck speed to something disastrous. News about how the deal is shaping up, & other indications that it might not come together.

I will be writing about this in up-coming posts, needless to say, but hope also to touch some other bases.

© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution. If it is reproduced & emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted. See my website at www.arlenefromisrael.info Contact Arlene at akushner18@gmail.com

Arlene Kushner “Threats, Lies & Politics”

13.EXPOSÉ: Qatar’s takeover of Europe by Giulio Meotti, INN

Two weeks ago I wrote, Qatar is more active than you know. Meotti’s article adds greatly to the picture. Qatar is the richest country in the world per capita & only has 1.87 million people. It is totally in bed with Obama & the Muslim Brotherhood. Probably Turkey should be added to the bed. While Saudi Arabia focuses on the US, Qatar focuses on North Africa & the ME & on Europe.

The biggest problem is that Qatar is dedicated to the destruction of Israel & the Jewish people. This is ignored by Obama who has formed a grand alliance with them. Ted Belman

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal maintains a residence in Qatar, while the Taliban opened their first representation in a foreign country in its capital, Doha.

A hateful wind emanating from the small Islamic emirate is now blowing toward Europe, a wind accompanied by an ocean of poisonous, oily, bloody money – all coming from the peninsula in the Persian Gulf which today is the world’s richest country.

Slowly, Qatar is buying Europe’s assets.
Qatar, not exactly or even the slightest bit French-speaking, has just joined the “International Organisation of la Francphonie” as an associate member. Qatar’s goal is clear: to change & manipulate French culture. For example, the Voltaire School in Doha banned a religious book that discussed Christianity in the Middle Ages.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who has cultivated the image of a pro-Western reformist, vowed to “spare no effort” to spread the teachings of Wahhabi Islam across “the whole world”. Last December Qatari Emir inaugurated the “Imam Imam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab” Mosque in Doha, dedicated to the founder of the most virulent, anti-Jewish & totalitarian Islamic school of religion.

Qatar’s octopus is working on three fronts: overthrowing despotic Arab regimes & replace these with Sharia-based countries; destroying Israel by financing the terror groups (the emir just visited Gaza) – & Islamizing the European continent through mosques & investments.
In Germany, Qatar’s sovereign fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, owns 17 percent of Volkswagen, 10 percent of Porsche & 9 percent of construction giant Hochtief.

In Italy, to mention just one well known firm, Qatar just bought Valentino’s fashion style company, while AC-Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi is also ready to sell the powerhouse to the ruling Emir of the State of Qatar.

In the UK, the Qatar Muslims own swathes of the Canary Wharf financial district in London. Qatar also owns 20 per cent of the London Stock Exchange.

Qatar invested in the Paris St. Germain soccer club & it is an investor in the French Total Oil group, as well as British Shell.

Qatar financed the 95% of the Shard tower in London, the highest skyscraper in Europe.

In Cannes, the emir bought an hotel famous for hosting celebrities during the film festival, but it’s also looking to buy a Jewish symbol like the Les Trois Rois hotel in Basel, Switzerland, scene of the iconic portrait of Theodor Herzl.

Qatar has also purchased, for 300 million euros, the building which hosts part of the US Embassy in Paris.

Qatar announced last February, when Nicolas Sarkozy was still the President of France, that it was willing to spend $65 million in the French banlieues, the suburbs home to the vast majority of the six million Muslims in France. Then Qatar doubled the sum to €100 million, which the extreme leftist French newspaper Libération describes as a “Qatari take over of the banlieues.”

Another newspaper, Le Figaro, seeing the handwriting on the wall (writing a check?, published an article recently, titled: “Will France become an Islamic Republique?”.

In Switzerland, where Qatar is economically very important, famous firms such as Swatch, Tissot & Victorinox, have removed the cross of the Swiss flag from many advertisements [so as not to offend Muslims].

Gas-rich Qatar may invest up to 10 billion euros in big French firms, the ambassador of the Gulf state in France, Mohamed Jaham Al-Kuwari, announced this week.

In Switzerland, where Qatar is economically very important, famous firms such as Swatch, Tissot & Victorinox, have removed the cross of the Swiss flag from many advertisements, especially in Arab & Asian countries. In many cases the cross on the red background, a sign of identity of the Swiss cantons, has been replaced by the words “Swiss Made”. The Victorinox, the famous manufacturer of knives, replaced the cross with the letter “V”. The Swatch justified the removal by saying that “Muslim countries are not allowed to show the cross in public.”

Qatar in Spain funnels its donations through the Islamic League for Dialogue & Coexistence , a group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria & which controls the Catalan Islamic Cultural Center. Qatar just paid $450,000 to renovate that center based in Barcelona.

In Italy, the Qatari emir is financing the construction of many mega mosques, while in Ireland Qatar recently donated €800,000 to build a mega-mosque in Cork.

Donations helped also to secure Qatar a seat in the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, used by the Palestinians to advance their Jüdenrein agenda in Judea & Samaria.

Qatar also has an ambitious project to build a mega mosque & Islamic institute in Munich, Germany, which they say would “build a bridge between Islam & Europe”. Munich – where Pope Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop from 1977 to 1981 – is the city in which the Muslim Brotherhood has gained control of most of the mosques & of active Islam in Germany & in Europe.

The European Council for Fatwa & Research is headed by imam Yusuf al Qaradawi, based in Doha, Qatar.

Qatar is a bastion of anti-Semitism, which goes around the world along with the investments. A Qatari television show, based on a book by late Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani, shows a Holocaust survivor who resorts to prostitution & claims the Nazis did no wrong. “I didn’t see any gas chambers”, she is seen saying. An actor depicting former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin calls on Jews to murder Arab civilians.

Qatar is also hosting many conferences which demonize the Jews.

Speaking at the International Conference for Defense of Jerusalem in Doha, Palestine Authority head Mahmoud Abbas recently said that “the Israeli occupation authorities are using the ugliest & most dangerous means to implement plans to erase & remove the Arab-Islamic & the Christian character of east Jerusalem”. The conference’s purpose, under the auspices of the Palestinian Islamic-Christian Committee, is to combat the “Judaization of Jerusalem”.

In Doha’s Friday sermons, Jews are called “parasites”. Back to the Nazis.

With an imperial flux of money & ideology, the former British protectorate of Qatar is discouraging Muslim integration in Europe in order to better dominate it, fomenting anti-Semitism & cultural separation, actively encouraging jihad against the State of Israel.

Qatar’s course of action is very practical: convincing Europe that the real name of Jerusalem is Al Quds, that the Koran replaced the Bible & that the Jewish Temple Mount is just a conspiracy.

Aiming for the destruction of Israel allows Europe, the new mercenary of Qatar, to free itself from its own identity & the memories of their complicity in the Holocaust that come with it.

EXPOSÉ: Qatar’s takeover of Europe by Giulio Meotti, INN

14.It Was Islam That Hijacked the People, Not the People Who Hijacked Islam 

Posted: 25 Feb 2015 01:07 AM PST

On the blog, No Compulsion, in the “About Us” section, the blogger says:

I was born in Alexandria, Egypt to an average Muslim family… Like most of my generation, we considered Islam to be the most important thing we should learn in order to please God; & to gain Paradise after death.
& as we were taught, the only religion accepted by God is Islam; all the rest are falsehoods, as in Qur’an verse 3:85, “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; & in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).” …So, automatically when anyone asked us, “What’s your religion?” We would answer, “Al-hamdu-lillah muslimah!” or “Thanks be to God, I am a Muslim!”
Islam for me, like for all of us, was life & life was Islam. Lessons & speeches came & went from the mouths of our teachers & Imams, & we took them always as incontestable realities; we shouldn’t (or couldn’t) ask, “why, how or who?” To be part of the flock of Allah we must not ask — just believe & apply, as in Qur’an verse 5:101, “O ye who believe! Ask not of things which, if they were made known unto you, would trouble you; but if ye ask of them when the Qur’an is being revealed, they will be made known unto you. Allah pardoneth this, for Allah is Forgiving, merciful.”
I spent 27 years fooling myself, being fooled & fooling others, turning all around in an endless infernal circle… It was a circle of lies & evil.
From the time I was able to think for myself, a simple question plagued me: Since Allah created all human beings, why would he hate non-Muslims & require us to fight them? How could God hate? & since I am the creation of Allah, as a female, why did he create me a with lack of reason, as opposed to men? These were the first questions that broke my brain into pieces.
From that point on, my long journey of seeking the truth began… & as long as I walk, I discover new hidden catastrophes in the sacred texts of Islam, & teachers unable to answer or reconcile the prescriptions for domination, violence, & slavery.
I couldn’t fool myself anymore. I discovered I was lost, I was lied to…WE ARE ALL LIED TO! I understand that Muslims who read this & refuse to hear, will accuse me of being a jinn (literally a demon).
I discovered the ultimate truth that Muslims & non-Muslims alike refuse to admit — Islam is not a religion of peace…The problem resides in Islam itself, its teachings, the example of the man they believe is their prophet… It was Islam that hijacked the people, not the people who hijacked Islam.

Thank you for visiting my site. Liberty begins here.
Editor’s note: We have also posted this on Inquiry Into Islam here for your sharing pleasure.

It Was Islam That Hijacked the People, Not the People Who Hijacked Islam

15.

US Officials Demand Visiting NY Official Take Off Kippa in Ramallah

NYC Councilman Greenfield stood his ground & walked into the consulate with his kippa on his head. By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu The Jewish Press.com Published: February 24th, 2015

NY City Councilor David Greenfield – with a kippa.
Photo Credit: Screenshot

U.S. Consulate officials in Ramallah demanded that a visiting New York City official remove his kippa 10 feet from the entrance to the consulate, Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield said.

He was visiting the American office in Ramallah on Sunday as part of a City Council delegation’s eight-day visit in Israel.

Greenfield implied he might have been able to understand there was a security problem if it were a matter of his standing in the middle of a Ramallah street with a kippa.

The last thing American security officials want is a religious Jew letting Muslims know he is around. Perhaps they might think he is plotting to blow up the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, or even worse, offering a peace compromise with the Palestinian Authority.

But the delegation of council members was simply on a bus next to the consulate, Greenfield said.

Security officers “insisted that I not wear yarmulke when leaving US Ramallah office,” he said. When the officials agreed with the councilman that he was not endangering security, he refused the request.

Councilman Greenfield tweeted:

I’m still flabbergasted that a Jew cannot wear a yarmulke walking out of the US Consulate in Ramallah, Israel.

He told JPUpdate “We had an amazing trip to Israel. However, I was surprised that in the supposedly ‘moderate’ city of Ramallah, the unofficial capital of the Palestinian Authority, it’s unsafe for a Jew to wear a yarmulke

“After all, I wasn’t strolling through the streets. I was simply walking ten feet from the door of our bus to the entrance of the American Consulate’s office.”

About the Author: Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu is a graduate in journalism & economics from The George Washington University. He has worked as a cub reporter in rural Virginia & as senior copy editor for major Canadian metropolitan dailies. Tzvi wrote for Arutz Sheva for several years before joining the Jewish Press.

US Officials Demand Visiting NY Official Take Off Kippa in Ramallah

16.Sleight of Hand at the White House Summit on Violent Extremism? What Do You Think? By: Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz Published: Feb. 24, 2015 Latest update: Feb. 23, 2015

Muslims protesting with a Quran
Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

The Summit was opened by Sheikh Sa’ad Musse Roble, President of the World Peace Organization in Minneapolis, Minn., reciting a “verse from the Quran,” the only clergy person to be called upon at the event to offer a religious invocation. Imam Abdisalam Adam of the Islamic Civil Society of America offered a translation of the verses:

“In translation those verses of the Quran mean ‘Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land, it’s as if he has slain mankind entirely, & whoever saves one life, it’s as if he has saved mankind entirely,’”

Do these words really mean that? Well not exactly.

Let’s look at the Koran, Chapter 5: Suras 32 & 33 which follow a previous narrative concerning Cain & Abel in the well accepted translation of the Koran into English written by Maulana Mohammed Ali, for years the leader of the self-proclaimed moderate Muslim denomination, Lahore Ahmadiya.
Born in Punjab, he emigrated to England there to become an Attorney. Ali took upon himself the task of translating the Koran into English (1917) with an explanatory commentary. Ali’s translation & commentary is used by, among others, Rev. Farrakhan’s Black Muslims.
The Suras : “For this reason we prescribed for the children of Israel that whoever kills a person, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he had killed all men. & whoever saves a life, is as though he had saved the lives of all men. & certainly Our messengers came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them committed excesses in the land. The only punishment of those who wage war against Allah & his messenger & strive to make mischief in the land is that they should be murdered, or crucified, or their hands & their feet should be cut off on opposite sides, or they should be imprisoned. This shall be a disgrace for them in this world, & in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.”

Commentary by Ali: The references are generally understood to be to the gravity of the crime of murder, requiring the execution of the criminal. But by the killing of a person may as well be meant the killing of the Prophet, who had come to establish righteousness. The killing of the great teacher of righteousness was indeed equivalent to the killing of all men & the saving of the life of that great savior of humanity was equivalent to saving humanity itself. The reference is to the Jewish plots against the life of the Holy Prophet, & that is the reason for mentioning here the Israelites in particular.

The words used here imply originally all those opponents of Islam who wage war on the Muslims & made mischief in the land by causing loss to the life & property of innocent Muslims who fell into their hands. But it has generally been accepted as including alldaocits (“The term dacoit, Hindi: ???? ?akait, Urdu: ???? ?akait, Bengali: ????? akat, means ‘a bandit’, a member of a class of robbers in India”) & murderers who cause disorder in a settled state of society. In fact, when war came to an end in Arabia & the kingdom of Islam was established over the whole peninsula, the enemies of Islam, being unable to oppose its authority openly, resorted to daocity & murder to disturb the peace which was now established in the land. Hence, though it is such enemies that are primarily spoken of here, the words in general include all cases of murder & daocity.

The punishment described is of four kinds, which clearly shows that the punishment to be inflicted in any particular case would depend upon the circumstances of the case as well as the time & place where the crime was committed. For instance, if murder has been committed in the course of daocity, the punishment would include the execution of the culprit, which may take the form crucifixion if the offense is so heinous or the culprit is caused such terror in the land that the leaving of his body on the cross is necessary as a deterrent. In other cases, the punishment may be imprisonment, where the severer punishment of cutting off the hands is deemed unnecessary. The judge would take all the circumstances into consideration & inflict such punishment as he thought necessary. A particular case dealt with under this verse was of a tribe called Uainah. Some men of this tribe came to the Prophet, & accepted Islam. They fell ill & were sent by the prophet to a place at a little distance from Medina, for change of climate & recovery of health. But when they regained health, they killed the very people who served them & went off with their camels. Then they committed daocities & violated the chastity of women, & they were severely punished…”

Please understand, I am not accusing Imam Abdisalam Adam of deliberately taking the passage out of context. He was simply practicing the religious rite of tiqiyya in speaking with non-believers. One may do this, utilize tiqiyya, to advance the cause of Islam or to gain the trust of the nonbeliever so that he will be more vulnerable & therefore easier to defeat. This is a well-known principle in Islam attributed to the prophet himself & should be known to anybody who has but a rudimentary knowledge of the Faith. What is to me incomprehensible, is that no one in the media took but a few minutes to look in the Koran to understand the context in which these words were written. Truly, it would appear, that few if any in the United States are interested in understanding Islam.

About the Author: Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz is the rav of Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation in Chicago. During his 43 years in the rabbinate he has led congregations in the U.S., Canada & the United Kingdom & served as an officer, Executive Committee member & chair of the Legislative Committee of the Chicago Rabbinical Council.

Sleight of Hand at the White House Summit on Violent Extremism?

17.ANTI-SEMITISM 101 By: Harry Stern Published: Feb. 25, 2015

Israel on US college campuses
Photo Credit: Daniel Dreifuss/Flash 90

A number of American college campuses are experiencing a spate of well-coordinated anti-Semitic activities. Demonstrations appear to be orchestrated by a nucleus of students fomenting anti-Semitic & anti-Zionistic demonstrations augmented by a small contingent of faculty members who espouse similar views. The college experience is a wonderful time to spread one’s wings, expand horizons & enjoy exposure to new political & philosophical viewpoints. However, that same four-year stint also offers an opportunity for some to align themselves with a recalcitrant cohort determined to vehemently protest some egregious event. Uninvolved faculty, & many college administrators, may be intimidated by student organizers for their neutrality or opposition to these protests. It is unfortunate, however, that students who have every right to advocate political positions as they see fit, are too often unaware that many anti-Israel demonstrations have a not-so-latent anti-Semitic agenda as well.

During my academic career at Columbia University, in the late 60s & early 70s, there were endless, tense, sometimes violent campus confrontations. Well-organized supporters of the Black Panthers, with the ubiquitous placards extolling the virtues of The Baader-Meinhof Gang, The Red Army Faction of France & other anti governmental, often subversive, movements were quite popular then on university campuses. At that time, my student peers & I had no idea what these counter culture groups really stood for nor did we grasp by what means their ostensible revolutionary changes were to be effected.

Hearing Caucasian, middle class college students, chanting “Allahu Akbar” in their best Arabic accents is not novel or revolutionary. I would guess that the great majority of these protesters may not have had the opportunity to visit the Middle East & would benefit immensely from an opportunity to do so. Acquiring more first-hand knowledge of the geography, politics, culture & history of that region would add a very helpful perspective to campus demonstrators. It is disappointing to view a small number of faculty members with anti-Semitic or anti-Zionistic philosophies stand before significant numbers of fresh-eyed students & lecture their biased & skewed viewpoints. Our hallowed & often abused First amendment, offers excellent subterfuge.

My family & I lived in Israel for six years, admittedly at a somewhat different time. My wife & I had coffee regularly in Tulkarem & Qalqilya, now hotbeds of West Bank terror activity. We often stopped in Jericho for fresh orange juice, since then having become a home base for the late Yasser Arafat. When my parents came to visit us from the States, I thought nothing of taking them for a picnic outside of Gaza. We often ate in a warm & inviting restaurant just inside ancient Jerusalem’s Jaffa gate, having been guided through the kitchen to see what our friend, the Palestinian owner, had prepared that day. It was never Kumbaya, but there seemed to be hope for the future. Current events in the Middle East, most notably the recent Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, & the determination of an organized core dedicated to linking Israeli politics with anti-Semitic propaganda, have blurred that hope & have effectively contaminated some college campuses with their rabid philosophy.

Perhaps most unfathomable is the dearth of energetic college demonstrations reviling the extraordinary depravity that fills so many pages of our newspapers. The New York Times, February 6, 2015 edition, identifying the sub-human abuse of Boko Haram states: “Forced marriage, slavery & imprisonment are vital institutions for the militants…and casually meted-out death is common.” Our media are constantly reporting on the barbarism of ISIS, the assassination of dissenters by Hamas, the storming of a school & the slaying of hundreds of defenseless students by the Taliban. The list is too long for full enumeration here. It is mystifying that any semblance of organized campus demonstrations protesting public beheadings, women who are unempowered, kidnapped & sold into slavery or forced marriage, unable to drive in select countries, victimized by honor killings & inhumanely brutalized by gang rapes rampant in parts of the world, is met with profound silence on our campuses.

The fact that Israel is one of America’s staunchest & most powerful allies in the world, & the only democracy within a thousand miles in any direction, is too often brushed aside by its detractors.

When Israel was a new nation state of some four million plus citizens, vulnerable & surrounded by a billion neighbors vowing its extinction, Israel was the darling of the Left Liberal community.

The Six Day War, during which Israel defeated multiple Arab armies poised to attack & annihilate the country, created a dramatic shift in the Left Intelligentia’s perception of Israel. In one fell swoop, Israel, (comprised of about eight thousand square miles or a tad smaller than New Jersey) was perceived as a vast super power imposing its will on its neighbors.

The world cut Israel a little slack in nineteen sixty-nine, as it was intrigued by the thwarting of De Gaulle’s Israel arms embargo. The Israeli navy spirited five, paid for, Sa’ar class missile boats out of France’s Cherbourg Harbor.

Similarly, the world heaped transitory praise on Israel, in nineteen seventy-six, when it brazenly & brilliantly freed airplane passengers held hostage in Idi Amin’s Uganda by Palestinian terrorists. For all of Israel’s extraordinary achievements, often benefitting the country’s most publically vilifying it: desert farming, water purification systems, solar energy innovations & a hi-tech industry second only to Silicon Valley, anti-Semitism continues to regularly bleed through the veneer of universal acceptance.

The challenge for ameliorating virulent, well-organized campus anti-Semitism, perhaps unleashed by middle east events, must be met by a variety of firm & concerted actions. As one action, the organized American Jewish community should consider the formation of a Jewish “Peace Corps” vetted, trained & educated to counter the demonic hatred of campus anti-Semitic & anti-Zionistic propaganda. In addition to effectively matching current campus demonstrations in size, scope & fervor, The Corps should begin by encouraging ongoing events offering an opportunity for enlightened dialogue on divergent & equally valid viewpoints regarding the Middle East. No one side has the “right” answer.

College campuses must become the arena for enlightened, informed & rational dialogue not one-sided & vehement accusations & threats. The new Jewish “Peace Corps”, to be organized on all American college campuses, will be a step in that direction.

About the Author: Harry Stern is a recently retired not-for-profit executive. Most recently, he was CEO of enAble of Georgia, an agency providing services to persons with disabilities. He was an administrator at Kennesaw State University, planning programs for the disabled in Arab World countries. Dr. Stern was CEO of the Marcus JCCs of Atlanta & The JCCs of San Diego for a total of twenty years. He was a consultant to the Jewish Community of Minsk, Belarus. He received his doctoral degree from Columbia University School of Social Work.

ANTI-SEMITISM 101 By: Harry Stern