Dear Family & Friends,

Two happy photos for 2 happy stories prepared on Thursday but computer glitches of formatting stopped the flow. However, Friday’s JPost headlines were a real downer. Why? Good Question. After getting the Regulation Law passed Wednesday night by 59 to 51, the winners of the vote decided to quit the process moving toward saving the town of 42 families with 200 children: Amona.

OK, they agreed. It was comforting, I guess to see Bibi & Bennett together facing us in the photo, having agreed. However, why give up now? Afraid of an Obama poison-pill before he leaves? Sure that Trump will set things straight? I certainly hope so. However, Israel must make her own decisions first. Of course, Trump could do it but, how can he possibly be (as is said): “Holier than the Israelis, themselves?”

We need to lead our own country to uphold our own sovereignty. That cannot be passed off to another country – if we are truly sovereign in our own Land as we should be.

Please check out story #3 Private land, state land or something else altogether By Ari Briggs.

However, it seems the bottom line or the main thing all these stories have in common is that NO One has produced compelling legal documents that these people have legal claim to this land. It seems that the Israeli Supreme Court does NOT do such forensic investigations. Well, some official body ought to. The real people deserve it. The put their own money, sweat & tears into building their homes in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights & Jerusalem. Why would we want to destroy their admirable creations now?

Also, Why call the expected home-owners resistance to being forcibly moved: violent?

The pictures of Amona’s last forced expulsion February 2, 2006, clearly show big soldiers & police with batons & whips on very big horses, covered with protective gear, brutally attacking unarmed young, non-resisting teenagers with no protective gear. People were trampled by the horses, beaten with batons & whips…250 were wounded & hospitalized– including 3 Members of Knesset-broken bones, concussions, bloodied faces & heads. Who was being violent? Remember: “JEWS DON’T EVICT JEWS!!!”

Check out my Oct. 27, 2016 exposé “UPROOTING AMONA Feb. 2, 2006”. The photos tell the story. BTW, I now know the name of the photographer who took the front page photo of my exposé, Oded Balilty. His photo’s title is “The Power of One”. He won a Pulitzer Prize for that photo of the young girl holding back the plastic shields of a whole squad of Police.

I’ve printed several other stories which list many other reasons the Land on which Amona & other towns, villages, cities have been built is being fraudulently labeled “Private Arab (or “Palestinian”) land”. I’ll try to pull a list of such writings for you within the next week.

All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba x2/Mom

1.Trump voted TIME magazine’s Person Of The Year

2.Israel’s first project with Trump By Caroline B Glick

3.Private land, state land or something else altogether By Ari Briggs

4.Regulation Law passes first reading in Knesset by 59 to 51

5.Kirk Douglas 100th birthday, looks back & ahead

6.WHY TRUMP WON. By Barry Shaw

7.Dry Bones by Ya’acov Kirschen “Whisky Tango Foxtrot” 8.Jewish Federations Allows Visits to Settlements on Israel Missions

9.Netanyahu: Push for UK Apology for Balfour Declaration Reveals Conflict Is NOT About Land or Palestinian Statehood

10.Will Obama Launch January Surprise at UN?

11.‘He sacrificed himself for the Jewish people’

12.High Court allows destruction delay of Gush Etzion memorial

13.Producing APC in US would cost 2000 jobs in Israel

14.White House “Champion”Blasts Muslims Who Talk to Pro-Israel Jews: IPT

1.Trump voted TIME magazine’s Person Of The Year

President-elect Donald Trump was voted TIME magazine’s Person Of The Year for 2016,

Hillary Clinton was placed second. Arutz Sheva Staff, 07/12/16 15:13

Donald Trump shares a laugh on the campaign trail – Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump was voted TIME magazine’s Person Of The Year for 2016 Last year, Trump was also a candidate for the title but was beaten by Angela Merkel.

Mr Trump told NBC‘s Today show shortly after the announcement it was a “great honor” which “meant a lot” to him.

He was chosen from a shortlist that included Mrs Clinton & Russian President Vladimir Putin. Clinton placed second in the selection, one described by the magazine’s managing editor Nancy Gibbs as “straightforward”.

2.Israel’s first project with Trump By Caroline B Glick, JPOST 12/ 9/16

Hezb’Allah has deployed at least a thousand fighters to Iraq where they are fighting alongside Iranian forces & Shi’ite militia, which Hezb’Allah trains.

Israel officials are thrilled with the national security team that US President-elect Donald Trump is assembling. And they are right to be.

The question now is how Israel should respond to the opportunity it presents us with.

The one issue that brings together all of the top officials Trump has named so far to his national security team is Iran.

Gen. (ret.) John Kelly, whom Trump appointed Wednesday to serve as his secretary of homeland security, warned about Iran’s infiltration of the US from Mexico and about Iran’s growing presence in Central & South America when he served as commander of the US’s Southern Command.

Gen. (ret.) James Mattis, Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary, and Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Michael Flynn, whom he has tapped to serve as his national security adviser, were both fired by outgoing President Barack Obama for their opposition to his nuclear diplomacy with Iran.

During his video address before the Saban Forum last weekend, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that he looks forward to discussing Obama’s nuclear Iran nuclear deal with Trump after his inauguration next month. Given that Netanyahu views the Iranian regime’s nuclear program – which the nuclear deal guaranteed would be operational in 14 years at most – as the most serious strategic threat facing Israel, it makes sense that he wishes to discuss the issue first.

But Netanyahu may be better advised to first address the conventional threat Iran poses to Israel, the US and the rest of the region in the aftermath of the nuclear deal.

There are two reasons to start with Iran’s conventional threat, rather than its nuclear program.

1.First, Trump’s generals are reportedly more concerned about the strategic threat posed by Iran’s regional rise than by its nuclear program – at least in the immediate term.

Israel has a critical interest in aligning its priorities with those of the incoming Trump administration.

The new administration presents Israel with the first chance it has had in 50 years to reshape its alliance with the US on firmer footing than it has stood on to date. The more Israel is able to develop joint strategies with the US for dealing with common threats, the firmer its alliance with the US and the stronger its regional posture will become.

2.The second reason it makes sense for Israel to begin its strategic discussions with the Trump administration by addressing Iran’s growing regional posture is because Iran’s hegemonic rise is a strategic threat to Israel. And at present, Israel lacks a strategy for dealing with it.

Our leaders today describe Hezb’Allah with the same terms they used to describe it a decade ago during the Second Lebanon War. They discuss Hezb’Allah’s massive missile & rocket arsenal.

With 150,000 projectiles pointed at Israel, in a way it makes sense that Israel does this.

Just this week Israel reinforced the sense that Hezb’Allah is more or less the same organization it was 10 years ago when – according to Syrian and Hezbollah reports – on Tuesday Israel bombed Syrian military installations outside Damascus.

Following the alleged bombing, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told EU ambassadors that Israel is committed to preventing Hezb’Allah from transferring advanced weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, from Syria to Lebanon.

The underlying message is that having those weapons in Syria is not viewed as a direct threat to Israel.

Statements like Liberman’s also send the message that other than the prospect of weapons of mass destruction or precision missiles being stockpiled in Lebanon, Israel isn’t particularly concerned about what is happening in Lebanon.

These statements are unhelpful because they obfuscate the fact that Hezb’Allah is not the guerrilla organization it was a decade ago.

Hezb’Allah has changed in four basic ways since the last war.

1.First, Hezb’Allah is no longer coy about the fact that it is an Iranian, rather than Lebanese, organization. Since Iran’s Revolutionary Guards founded Hezb’Allah in Lebanon in 1983, the Iranians and Hezbollah terrorists alike have insisted that Hezb’Allah is an independent organization that simply enjoys warm relations with Iran.

But today, with Hezb’Allah forming the backbone of Iran’s operations in Syria, and increasingly prominent in Afghanistan and Iraq, neither side cares if the true nature of their relationship is recognized.

For instance, recently Hezb’Allah commander Hassan Nasrallah bragged, “We’re open about the fact that Hezb’Allah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats & drinks, its weapons & rockets are from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

What our enemies’ new openness tells us is that Israel must cease discussing Hezb’Allah & Iran as separate entities. Israel’s next war in Lebanon will not be with Hezb’Allah, or even with Lebanon. It will be with Iran.

This is not a semantic distinction. It is a strategic one. Making it will have a positive impact on how both Israel & the rest of the world understand the regional strategic reality facing Israel, the US & the rest of the nations of the Middle East.

2.The second way Hezb’Allah is different today is that it is no longer a guerrilla force. It is a regular army with a guerrilla arm & a regional presence. Its arsenal is as deep as Iran’s arsenal.

At present at least, it operates under protection of the Russian Air Force & air defense systems.

Hezb’Allah has deployed at least a thousand fighters to Iraq where they are fighting alongside Iranian forces and Shi’ite militia, which Hezbollah trains. Recent photographs of a Hezb’Allah column around Mosul showed that in addition to its advanced missiles, Hezb’Allah also fields an armored corps. Its armored platforms include M1A1 Abrams tanks and M-113 armored personnel carriers.

The footage from Iraq, along with footage from the military parade Hezb’Allah held last month in Syria, where its forces also showed off their M-113s, makes clear that Hezb’Allah’s US platform- based maneuver force is not an aberration.

The significance of Hezb’Allah’s vastly expanded capabilities is clear. Nasrallah’s claims in recent years that in the next war his forces will stage a ground invasion of the Galilee & seek to seize Israeli border towns was not idle talk. Even worse, the open collaboration between Russia & Iran-Hezb’Allah in Syria, and their recent victories in Aleppo, mean that there is no reason for Israel to assume that Hezb’Allah will only attack from Lebanon. There is a growing likelihood that Hezb’Allah will make its move from Syrian territory.

3.The third major change from 2006 is that like Iran, Hezb’Allah today is much richer than it was before Obama concluded the nuclear deal with the ayatollahs last year. The deal, which canceled economic and trade sanctions on Iran, has given the mullahs a massive infusion of cash.

Shortly after the sanctions were canceled, the Iranians announced they were increasing their military budget by 90%. Since Hezb’Allah officially received $200 million per year before sanctions were canceled, the budget increase Hezb’Allah is now receiving some $400m. per year from Iran.

4.The final insight that Israel needs to base its strategic planning on is that a month and a half ago, Hezbollah-Iran swallowed Lebanon.

In late October, after a two-and-a-half-year fight, Saad Hariri & his Future Movement caved to Iran & Hezb’Allah & agreed to support their puppet Michel Aoun in his bid for the Lebanese presidency.

True, Hariri was also elected to serve as PM. But his position is now devoid of power.

Hariri cannot raise a finger without Nasrallah’s permission.

Aoun’s election doesn’t merely signal that Hariri caved. It signals that Saudi Arabia – which used the fight over Lebanon’s presidency as a way to block Iran’s completion of its takeover of the country – has lost the influence game to Iran.

Taken together with Saudi ally Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s announcement last week that he supports Syrian President Bashar Assad’s remaining in power, Aoun’s presidency shows that the Sunnis have accepted that Iran is now the dominant power in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

This brings us back to Hezb’Allah’s tank corps & the reconstruction of the US-Israel alliance.

After photos of the US-made armored vehicles in Hezb’Allah’s military columns were posted online, both Hezb’Allah & the Lebanese Armed Forces insisted the weapons didn’t come from the LAF.

But there is no reason to believe them.

In 2006, the LAF provided Hezb’Allah with targeting information for its missiles and intelligence support. Today it must be assumed that in the next war, the LAF, and its entire arsenal will be placed at Hezb’Allah-Iran’s disposal. In 2016 alone, the US provided the LAF with $216m. in military assistance.

From Israel’s perspective, the most strategically significant aspect of Hezb’Allah-Iran’s uncontested dominance over all aspects of the Lebanese state is that while they control the country, they are not responsible for it.

Israeli commanders and politicians often insist that the IDF has deterred Hezb’Allah from attacking Israel. Israel’s deterrence, they claim, is based on credibility of our pledge to bomb civilian buildings now housing Hezb’Allah rockets & missiles in the opening moments of the next conflict.

These claims are untrue, though. Since Hezbollah- Iran are not responsible for Lebanon despite the fact that they control it through their puppet government, Iranian & Hezb’Allah leaders won’t be held accountable if Israel razes south Lebanon in the next war. They will open the next war not to secure Lebanon, but to harm Israel. If Lebanon burns to the ground, it will be no sweat off their backs.

The reason a war hasn’t begun has nothing to do with the credibility of Israel’s threats. It has to do with Iran’s assessment of its interests. So long as the fighting goes on in Syria, it is hard to see Iran ordering Hezb’Allah to attack Israel.

But as soon as Iran feels comfortable committing Hezb’Allah forces to a war with Israel, Iran will order it to open fire.

This then brings us back to the incoming Trump administration, and its assessment of the Iranian threat.

Trump’s national security appointments tell us that the 45th president intends to deal with the threat that Iran poses to the US and its interests.

Israel must take advantage of this strategic opening to deal with the most dangerous conventional threat we face.

In our leaders’ conversations with Trump’s team they must make clear that the Iranian conventional threat stretches from Afghanistan to Israel and on to Latin America and Michigan. Whereas Israel will not fight Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in the Americas, it doesn’t expect the US to fight Iran in Lebanon.

But at the same time, as both allies begin to roll back the Iranian threat, they should be operating from a joint strategic vision that secures the world from Iran’s conventional threat.

Once that is accomplished, the US & Israel can work together to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.

3.Private land, state land or something else altogether By Ari Briggs

JPost.com 12/05/2016 21:23

Woe to the journalist or correspondent who haphazardly uses the term “private Palestinian land” without being up-front & honest about the complex nature of the land in question.

Man, horse and donkey walking outside of Efrat. (photo credit:Reuters)

It shouldn’t have surprised anyone to hear Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog state forcefully on a radio program recently that anyone inhabiting “private Palestinian land” should be removed.
Just as use of the term “West Bank,” a term invented by the Jordanians in 1950 to justify their occupation, is used to undermine the historical fact that Judea & Samaria have always been clearly accepted & understood to be the cradle of Jewish history & civilization, the use of the term “private Palestinian land” is an abuse of the facts & does huge damage to Israel’s credibility & standing.

However, it is not just politicians getting in on the act. Anyone following the press has been seeing more and more articles/programs where the term is used. It should be clear that its use, in most cases, is incorrect & politically motivated. The term immediately conjures thoughts of improper & most likely illegal behavior, thus nothing more has to be said.
However, as is normally the case in Israel, the issue is much more complicated than that.
For starters, there are more classifications of land than just private or public.
The earliest internationally recognized document containing a reference to land that was neither private nor public was the British Mandate for Palestine, adopted unanimously by the League of Nations in 1922. In Article 6 it stated: “The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights & position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions & shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands & waste lands not required for public purposes.”

The Mandate did not introduce the concept of “waste lands.” Eretz Israel having been occupied by the Ottoman Empire for 400 years meant Ottoman land law was the prevailing law.
The major Ottoman rewrite of land law occurred in 1858 & spoke of 5 distinct classes of land: 1.Arazi Memluke – freehold lands (private land) Arazi Miri – crown lands belonging to the state (state 2.Arazi Mevkufe – lands possessed in mortmain, but tenanted by a kind of copyhold (Wakf land)

3.Arabic Metruke – lands abandoned without cultivation or ostensible ownership

4.Arazi Mewat – dead lands, uncultivated and unappropriated (waste land) And then within these classes there were further classifications.
For example there were four types of private land, two types of

5.Mevkufe land, one of which was land held by the Wakf (a form of Islamic trust), & 2 types of 6.Metruke land: lands set aside for public use such as access roads, and

7.Pasture land left for the use of the inhabitant of the area for use as pasture.
The Ottoman Land Code (OLC) then went on to elucidate in full the laws about how land (including the many different types) could be acquired, gifted, held, bequeathed and sold. Including many restrictions that applied, depending on the exact type of land.
As well as the OLC, with the arrival of the British, under the Mandate new rules were established such as the Mewat (waste land) Ordinance of 1921. The British authorities also embarked on renewing and completing the official land registry, that had fallen into disarray during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. It is important to note that many complications exist today because they never actually finished the job.
Then the Jordanians arrived (or Trans-Jordanians as they were called at the time) acting pretty much however they wanted to, allocating land to one tribe & taking land from another at a whim.
Fast-forwarding to today, the result is pandemonium & uncertainty, one of the very reasons the Levy Report called for establishment of a specific court to deal solely with land issues in Judea & Samaria.
One of the best examples of this disarray is the disturbing situation of some thousands of Jewish-owned homes in Judea and Samaria that fall into the unnerving category of sitting on land that is of “questionable” status. This is due to the fact that the Civil Administration took it upon itself to put in place a practice of “updating” state land classifications (originally surveyed in the ‘70s) around Jewish towns and as such, redrew town boundaries.
The results of this redrawing of the boundaries of state land included the untenable exclusion of inhabited, built-up areas (read: people’s homes), that had previously been wholly included in the town plan and 100 percent legal. This blatantly abusive move of profound impact by the Civil Administration has led to residents, who had legally purchased homes within established communities, having the land their homes sits on being retroactively reclassified as not being state land, bringing into question the ownership of the land and the legality of their homes.
For politicians to take such an extremely complex issue and cast it in black or white for political gain is irresponsible but to be expected.

However, for journalists, commentators and correspondents, who have a public responsibility to provide the facts, to use simplified, incorrect terminology is inexcusable & literally an abuse of their positions. As we have seen, status of land here is not simple, but a truly complex & disorderly issue.

Woe to the journalist or correspondent who haphazardly uses the term “private Palestinian land” without being up-front and honest about the complex nature of the land in question. The better, more accurate term to use is “non-state land.”
The author is an adviser to Regavim, a research-based legal watchdog dedicated to ensuring responsible, legal, accountable and environmentally friendly use of Israel’s national land.

4.Regulation Law passes first reading in Knesset by 59 to 51

Yoel Domb, 07/12/16 22:13 Arutz Sheva

The Knesset – Flash 90

Knesset passed the Regulation Law Wed. evening at its first reading by a majority of 59 to 51.

MK Betzalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), one of the initiators of the new law said that “we have advanced a stage further in helping the Judean and Samarian communities, the State of Israel and the Jewish nation. This is an ethical law, a Jewish, Zionist law, a just law.”

MK Yoav Kish(Likud) another of the law’s formulators said that “the change of political strategy in Judea and Samaria has started with the Regulation Law. We were chosen to lead a nationalist government and strengthening the Judean & Samarian communities is an essential aspect of that”

Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) said that “We are beginning the process of implementing sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. This is the first of many steps which will strengthen the Jewish communities and confer Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”

MK Motti Yogev(Jewish Home) said that “today an historic law was passed which confirms that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish nation and regulates the Jewish settlements in all parts of our country. We will continue to act until the law is approved in its second and third readings.”

The head of the Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, said that “This is a day of great pride. It is the day when half a million residents of Judea and Samaria and all the citizens of Israel can pick up their heads and know that not only are we the residents of this country but we are even in the law books of the State of Israel. The next step is to implement sovereignty of Israel in Ma’ale Adumim, and then to implement the law in all of Judea and Samaria. I will do that when we have 30 seats. People said it wouldn’t happen and here, it has happened.”

MK Shuli Mualem opened the Knesset discussion and said that “This law is the authoritative way for Israel to establish its sovereignty and it declares that the residents of Judea and Samaria are not second-class citizens.”

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid criticized the law, saying “It is pretty impressive to see how two words can take apart Israeli society, weaken the nation, harm the Supreme Court and our international standing, and incite us against one another. The coalition managed to take the most intelligent country on earth, the country that deals with the most complex problems on earth, and reduce it to two words – Regulation Law.”

5.Kirk Douglas 100th birthday, looks back & ahead

Actor Kirk Douglas is celebrating his 100th birthday on Friday & there is a special treat in store for the centenarian. By Tom Tugend, 07/12/16 02:32

Kirk Douglas with wife Anne at Sunset Tower in West Hollywood, Calif., Feb. 24, 2013

Mark Sullivan/WireImage

LOS ANGELES (JTA) – Kirk Douglas — actor, director, producer, author, philanthropist and Torah student — is celebrating his 100th birthday on Friday & there is a special treat in store for the centenarian.

Douglas has been under strict medical orders to abstain from alcohol, but his cardiologist, Dr. P.K. Shah, promised the actor that if he made it to 100, he could have a glass of vodka. So at an afternoon tea party at an event space in Beverly Hills, Shah will be in attendance to personally administer the medication.

Some 150 other guests will fete Douglas, ranging from his extended family, including three sons and seven grandchildren, to old friends like director Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Rickles and other Hollywood luminaries.

Also on hand will be Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in West Los Angeles, who has directed Douglas’ weekly Torah studies for many years. Wolpe also officiated at the actor’s second bar mitzvah, when Douglas – then only 83 – declared, “Today, I am a man.”

Hosting the event will be Kirk Douglas’ son, Oscar winner Michael Douglas & his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, who will also welcome leaders of numerous charities & institutions in the US & Israel that have received approximately $118 million over the years from Douglas & his wife, Anne.

“You have to give back,” Douglas once explained. “I came from abject poverty. I didn’t dream of becoming a millionaire. So you have to pay back.”

On Dec. 9, 1916, the future Kirk Douglas was born in the upstate New York town of Amsterdam as Issur Danielovitch, the son of an illiterate Russian-Jewish immigrant who supported his family of six daughters & one son as a rag picker & junkman. His rise to one of Hollywood’s top male stars in the 1950s & ‘60s is the stuff of American legend.

In most of his 87 movies, the blond, blue-eyed boy who once laid ‘tefillin’ every morning was now cast as just about the toughest, roughest guy around. But this is only part of the story. Douglas is the author of 11 books, including harsh childhood recollections, explaining the Holocaust to children & love verses to his wife, as well as tracing his recovery from a helicopter crash, stroke & attempted suicide.

Douglas is now reading the proofs for his 12th book, co-authored with his wife and titled, “Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter and a Lifetime in Hollywood.”

With all these accomplishments, ask Douglas about his proudest recollection and he will point to his act of moral courage in breaking the Hollywood blacklist of alleged communists during the McCarthy red-hunting era. He did so by insisting that the name of writer Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted for a decade, be publicly credited for the “Spartacus” screenplay, despite warnings that such a provocation would end Douglas’ own Hollywood career.

Most of his old friends who will attend the party are familiar with another of the actor’s talents — for pithy observations on life, love and advice to future generations.

On religious observance: “I don’t think God wants compliments. God wants you to do something with your life and to help others.”

On the appeal of Torah study: “The Torah is the greatest screenplay ever written. It has passion, incest, murder, adultery, really everything.”

In his heyday, when Douglas was as famous for his egocentricity and womanizing as his screen roles, he spared little time and interest for his Jewish heritage. However, he observed, “I always fasted on Yom Kippur. I still worked on the movie set, but I fasted. And let me tell you, it’s not easy making love to Lana Turner on an empty stomach.”

Kirk was upstaged by his second and current wife at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary in 2004. The former Anne Buydens startled the guests by announcing that she had converted to Judaism.

“Kirk has been married to two shiksas,” she declared. “It’s about time he married a nice Jewish girl.”

Douglas has always had a special spot in his heart for Israel. In “The Juggler,” he starred in the first Hollywood feature to be shot in the Jewish state, returning later for “Remembrance of Love” & “Cast a Giant Shadow.” [Gail sez: One of my favorites. I cry every time I see it – with joy.]

Shortly before his 100th birthday, Douglas recalled a blessing he first pronounced on his 90th birthday.

“In the Jewish tradition, a birthday gives a person special powers and if he issues a blessing, his blessing will come true,” he said.

“I bless all the people in the land of Israel that the current conflicts resolve themselves, that no more people die or are hurt, and that you can continue your lives in peace.”

6.WHY TRUMP WON. By Barry Shaw

The most unhappy person in America as Donald Trump won a remarkable historic presidential election victory was the man on the second floor of the White House. His legacy is about to lie in shatters.

Obama’s presidency will go down as a domestic and foreign policy disaster.

As president you either change Congress or you change their minds to get your policies pushed through. Obama did neither. With imperial distain he ruled by executive orders. He did it with the connivance of the Washington Establishment. His style was resented by the electorate. As were his policies.

Hillary Clinton was irrevocably tied to his failures. Indeed, she was the architect of much of the events that worsened the world. But apparently it wasn’t this that lost Clinton the hearts of the American people. It was her behavior pattern that topped any resentment Americans felt for Trump in the battle between the two worst candidates ever presented to the voting public.

Although, at the last minute, she escaped FBI charges over the use of a private server, the accumulation of her exposed lies and suspicions of corruption over her Clinton Foundation while serving as Secretary of State raised sufficient red flags to make people take a fresh look at Trump. The shadow of the “pay for play” and the dubious grifting for favors will loom over the Clintons as the need for understanding and judgment will be clarified by the FBI.

Clinton spent the last month of her campaign dumping down on Trump rather than spelling out new policies that would improve the lives of tens of millions of suffering Americans. While she was trashing the Republican candidate, he was explaining how he was going to bring jobs back to America, how he will replace a hugely unpopular Obamacare, how he would reduce taxes, how he would bring education control back to the states, how he would build a wall and keep America safe, how he will strengthen the military abroad and law enforcement at home, and how he would renegotiate the trade deals that was ruining America not only in jobs but also economically.

In short, to rephrase a Clinton stump slogan, while she went low, he went high.

The media was complicit in becoming the propaganda arm of the Clinton campaign. With too many exposures including CNN’s Donna Brazille passing questions to Clinton top aides in advance of televised debates, the recruiting of “Get Trump” investigative reporters, the whitewash of a tsunami of shocking emails and document distributed by Wikileaks that exposed the Clinton campaign payment for provoking violence at Trump rallies as well other unverified accusations against Trump.

In conversations with some pro-Clinton friends and family it was apparent that many Clinton supporters were so incensed against Trump that they refused to relate to questions about any character faults in their Democratic favorite. They were sticking their heads in the sand refusing to see her flaws or to understand that neither of them felt the hurt caused by poor policies and a negligence that made the world and America a far worse place. It was this myopia that prevented them from seeing that the guy they detested was reaching into the wounded souls of too many Americans who find themselves far worse off after the election of Obama and absolutely didn’t trust Hillary Clinton to improve their lives. The late-breaking news of massive increases in their Obama-Clinton healthcare costs confirmed that Clinton would do nothing to lift this financial yoke off their shoulders, a burden they can ill-afford to carry.

I found it incredible how my American progressive friends and relations were oblivious to this. If I could see it from Israel why couldn’t they see it from there?

We have witnessed an America too progressively concentrating on changing society for the worst. Safe spaces got preference over a safe America. Toilets for people who don’t know if they are male or female make the headlines rather than forty million Americans on food stamps. When petty criminals get shot, the police are accused of criminality, but murderous illegal immigrants are protected in sanctuary cities.

Trump got it right. The people want to get America back on track, a track based on traditional values, common sense, hard work, security and patriotism. It’s a society based on the same values we love and need in Israel for our welfare and safety.

In this Trump shares much in common with Israel, other patriotic European nations struggling to shrug off the ravages of Big Brother Socialist governments and Britain who exited Europe to regain its independence and national pride.

Barry Shaw is the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Jewish Federation ends its boycott of us??!? The story is : HERE

8.Jewish Federations Allows Visits to Settlements on Israel Missions

by JNS.org OCTOBER 28, 2016 7:40 AM

The Psagot settlement. Photo: Wikipedia.

David Ha’ivri, a prominent pro-settlement voice and former head of the Shomron Liaison Office, welcomed the news, telling JNS.org that he congratulated JFNA “for amending the rules.”

“Visits by the leadership of the American Jewish community to Shomron [Samaria] and Judea are long overdue,” Ha’ivri said. “Regardless of one’s personal thoughts on the future of this area, it is extremely important to see the reality on the ground. I would be glad to host personalized experience visits to Shomron by American leaders.”

Yishai Fleisher, the international spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, said, “I think we can safely say this decision is long in coming, and I think this is going to give North American Jews access to very special holy places rooted in the Jewish story. [People] want access to these places and to see it for themselves.”

“There is absolutely no reason why somebody at the top should tell people how to think or how to feel,” Fleisher added. “I think now, with this decision, we’re going to see Jewish Americans who care about Israel judge things for themselves & they will connect with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who care very much about Judea & Samaria and made these places the center of their lives.”

JNS.org — One of the largest North American Jewish organizations adopted a new policy Wednesday, allowing participants on its Israel missions to visit Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as cities under Palestinian Authority control.

Senior leaders of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), an umbrella organization representing hundreds of local Jewish communities in the US and Canada, made the decision during a conference call ahead of a high-profile trip run by the affiliated Israel Action Network (IAN).

“Six months ago, the IAN transitioned into the JFNA’s administrative structure,” the organization said in a statement. “Today, the JFNA Board of Trustees approved a number of appropriate and necessary protocols to support the advocacy and educational trips of IAN. This vote ensures that IAN will continue to travel to Israel and surrounding areas not historically visited by JFNA staff. We are pleased that the board reaffirmed the ability of IAN to continue this mission-critical work.”

US Jewish Federation Allows Visits to Settlements on Israel Missions

9.Netanyahu: Push for UK Apology for Balfour Declaration Reveals Conflict Is NOT About Land or Palestinian Statehood

by Barney Breen-Portnoy The Algemeiner DECEMBER 7, 2016 7:30 PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

A campaign to get the United Kingdom to apologize for the 1917 Balfour Declaration is “very revealing about the true source” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel’s prime minister said Tuesday.

“The Balfour Declaration recognized this land as a home for the Jewish people, which obviously had consequences later on down the line,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the 2016 Jewish Media Summit in Jerusalem. “But if the Palestinians, 100 years later, are challenging even the idea that the Jewish people have a home here, you know that they are not really gung-ho on…a nation-state for the Jewish people.”

“It’s not about territories, even though that’s an issue,” he continued. “It’s not about settlements, even though that’s an issue. But it’s not ‘the’ issue. It’s not even about a Palestinian state…it was offered again & again & again. It was never & is still not about a Palestinian state. It’s always been about the Jewish state & the fact that there’s a challenge to the Balfour Declaration 100 years later tells you that we haven’t come very far.”

In his UN General Assembly address in September, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said, “We ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous declaration, to draw the necessary lessons & to bear its historic, legal, political, material & moral responsibility for the consequences of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes, misery & injustice this declaration created & act to rectify these disasters & remedy its consequences, including by the recognition of the state of Palestine. This is the least Great Britain can do.”

Netanyahu: Push for UK Apology for Balfour Declaration Reveals Conflict Is Not About Land or Palestinian Statehood

10.Will Obama Launch January Surprise at UN?

by Edwin Black DECEMBER 7, 2016 7:24 AM

Photo: The Official White House Photostream via Wikimedia Commons: US President Barack Obama

Anxiety continues to roil through the pro-Israel community about a possible last-minute political move by the Obama administration that could permanently alter the Israeli-Palestinian geopolitical landscape.

Forty-eight hours after the November 8 election, I flew to South Florida for a series of lectures and briefings organized by StandWithUs, NOVA Southeast University and other organizations, as part of the State Department’s International Education Week. The goal of my tour was to analyze the prospects regarding relations with Israel in the last weeks of the Obama administration.

Audiences everywhere were on the edge of their seats, asking whether President Obama would take extraordinary passive or active action at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to recognize a Palestinian state or to impose a peace settlement, including a territorial mandate tracking the lines of the 1948 truce. Unlike General Assembly resolutions, which are not binding, the UNSC generally creates lasting pillars of international law.

As we approach January 20, 2017, uncertainty abounds about Obama’s intentions — even among political experts.

President Obama remains personally silent, and his administration has offered some assurances in recent days. But embedded ambiguities in each of those assurances only increase the speculation. For example, in recent days, unnamed administration sources have been quoted by the Associated Press suggesting that President Obama “has nearly ruled out any major last-ditch effort to put pressure on Israel over stalled peace negotiations with the Palestinians.” The phrase “nearly ruled out” sticks out to many.

Earlier this week, America’s ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, told Israel’s Army Radio that America “will always oppose one-sided initiatives,” adding that this position “is a long-term policy. Whenever there were one-sided initiatives, we opposed them in the past and we will always oppose them.” Skeptics note that “opposing” such a UN move is not the same as blocking it with a veto.

Those who know the administration best remain queasy that a sudden and unexpected move may play out in the Security Council in the coming weeks. Obama has circumvented Congress on the Iran nuclear deal and other issues where the President can act unilaterally. This has led many to worry about his true intentions.

Congressman Ed Royce told an interviewer, “If you are heavily signaling that you’re not going to oppose and veto UN Security Council resolutions that seek to impose one-sided solutions, the consequence is others will take your measure, and the momentum will build, given the natural attitudes at the UN.”

Most likely scenarios for any Obama action at the UNSC are variations of the following 3:

1. Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state within specified or approximate borders following the 1948 armistice lines, where no Palestinian state ever existed. In virtually all world forums, this would more juridically move the status of Israel’s administrative presence in Judea and Samaria from disputed to occupation.

2. Abstain from vetoing a pending French resolution that would impose settlement lines and/or recognize a Palestinian state within 18 months, absent an agreement by the parties.

3. Impose a territorial settlement within a 2-year deadline if the parties do not craft one themselves.

Any of these three measures would undermine the prospects for direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and bring the parties closer to an entrenched stalemate.

The suspense has been intensified by developments in recent days.

On November 28, former President Jimmy Carter authored a passionate op-ed in the New York Times entitled “America Must Recognize Palestine.” Carter advised President Obama to exercise one final chance of “countering the one-state reality that Israel is imposing on itself and the Palestinian people.” Carter continued, “Recognition of Palestine and a new Security Council resolution are not radical new measures, but a natural outgrowth of America’s support for a two-state solution.”

Carter has not been a lone voice — many leftists are urging such a move by Obama to thwart any Trump policy moves after January 20, 2017. Trump is expected to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence recently repeated that stance.

On December 1, President Obama once again signed a 6-month extension of the presidential override preventing the implementation of the Congressional mandate moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President-elect Trump has promised to move the embassy.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is fully aware of the US political dynamics, and recently confirmed that he continues to stay in close contact and coordination with the French government over its pending UN resolution. Abbas has repeatedly assured his people and the world that the UN would deliver Palestinian independence in 2017.

Eighty-eight US senators have written a pointed bipartisan letter to Obama warning him not to launch a lame-duck effort at the UN. Likewise, after his electoral win, Trump’s Mideast adviser sent a private message to the White House warning against any such action in view of the overwhelming popular and congressional sentiment against it.

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton, on behalf of the President-elect, was far more audible in an interview on November 20, 2016, when he publicly warned Obama against any UN action that imposes peace or recognizes a Palestinian state. On November 29, the House of Representatives passed a nonbinding bipartisan bill urging President Obama to continue blocking any UN resolution that would unilaterally impose a one-sided peace, including by a failure to veto such a resolution in the UN Security Council.

If push comes to shove, some observers suggest that Israel may have an unforeseen ally in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev are in regular communication with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Putin, as many observe, would love to frustrate the Obama Administration, as he has on Syria, and openly coordinate with the incoming Trump administration. For his part, Abbas met with Medvedev just last month in Jericho, and reportedly even named a street after him.

In a speech on December 4 at the annual Saban Forum, Secretary of State John Kerry said the US would oppose a resolution that “is a biased, unfair resolution calculated to delegitimize Israel,” but didn’t rule out the possibility of a veto suspension.

Until 11:59 a.m. on January 20, 2017, no one knows whether President Obama will add another notch to his legacy or allow the future destiny of Israel and Palestinians to be written by others, including the parties themselves.

11.’He sacrificed himself for the Jewish people’

Rest house for soldiers dedicated to Tuvia Yanai Weissman, slain by Arab terrorists during attack on supermarket in Samaria.

By Eliran Aharon, Arutz Sheva 07/12/16 12:29

Yael Weissman – Eliran Aharon

Family, friends, and neighbors of an IDF soldier slain by Arab terrorists while he was shopping at a local supermarket with his wife and child, gathered on Wednesday to dedicate the opening of a new rest house for soldiers in his honor.

Sergeant Tuvia Yanai Weissman was murdered while on leave when two terrorists attacked shoppers at a Rami Levy supermarket in Sha’ar Binyamin north of Jerusalem in February. The unarmed fighter rushed to their aid and was stabbed to death. IDF rules did not allow soldiers to take their weapons with them when on leave. He was awarded the IDF citation for extraordinary bravery after his death.

The 21-year old soldier left behind his wife, Yael & four-month old daughter, his parents & three brothers. Yael & Tuvia Yanai were high school sweethearts who wed while he was still in the army.

Now, almost 10 months after his murder, a rest house for soldiers, “Beit Yanai”, has been dedicated to his memory in the town of Michmas, where the Weissmans lived.

“With time, I’m learning to live with the knowledge that Yanai won’t be able to come back to see [our daughter] Neta grow up and develop, and I won’t be able to run to call him up and to wait for him to come home from the army on Fridays,” Weissman’s widow, Yael, told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday.

“We miss him,” Weissman’s father, Avraham, said. “A great abyss has opened up in our lives and I don’t know if we will ever be able to close it. The one comfort we have is knowing that he sacrificed himself for the Jewish people.”

“We didn’t want a monument – that doesn’t meaning anything to us. This place will be alive, soldiers can come and rest or have a coffee. Yanai would be very proud.”

12.High Court allows destruction delay of Gush Etzion memorial

The High Court agreed to delay the destruction of a memorial for fallen IDF soldiers in Gush Etzion, cites sensitivity towards families.

The High Court approved Wednesday evening the state’s request to delay the scheduled destruction of a memorial in the Netiv Ha’avot neighborhood of Gush Etzion in order to prepare the memorial for transfer to another site in cooperation with local authorities.

The justices wrote in their decision: “We cannot ignore the wishes of the families to prepare for the construction of a memorial organized elsewhere, and have therefore decided to grant the request to postpone the date of demolition.”

They noted that the fact that the neighborhood included a memorial site was not brought to the attention of the court. “The professional bodies did not inform the State prosecution and the political echelon about the nature of the structure. We wonder how it is that only now, three months after the ruling for demolition was handed down explicitly [was the matter brought to the court’s attention].”

Arutz Sheva Staff, 07/12/16 20:49

Minister Ariel at memorial- Eliran Aharon

The justices nevertheless stated that they were taking the feelings of the residents and relatives into account and agreed to delay the destruction of the memorial until May 7, 2017.

The memorial was dedicated in honor of fallen IDF soldiers Lt. Col. Emmanuel Moreno and First Lt. Asher Ezra, who were killed in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan said earlier that after touring the site, he believes that the memorial can be moved to a nearby plot of land.

“The monuments will not be destroyed. We will move it a few meters forward and the monument, along with the lookout spot, will stay whole and intact.” he told Army Radio.

High Court allows delay in destruction of Gush Etzion memorial

14.Producing APC in US would cost 2000 jobs in Israel by Yuval Azulai Globes 12/7/16
Manufacturers Association: Production lines in dozens of plants around Israel would be closed if the Eitan were produced in the US. http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-producing-apc-in-us-would-cost-2000-jobs-1001165612
Manufacturers are severely criticizing the plan to outsource future production of the Eitan armored personnel carrier (APC) to the US in order to buy it with US defense aid. At the beginning of the week, “Globes” revealed that the IDF ground forces and the Ministry of Defense were considering importing the new APC from the US, while keeping installation of the systems used in it in Israel.
“Israel has to preserve its technological, security, and employment interests, and manufacture the Eitan APC in Israel,” Manufacturers Association of Israel President Shraga Brosh told “Globes.” Manufacturers
Association sources said that the project for developing and producing the future wheeled APC slated for use by the IDF ground forces could put NIS 2 billion into the economy, provide work for 200 industrial companies, and accommodate 2,000 jobs, mainly in outlying areas.
Defense manufacturers warned that Israeli armored fighting vehicles industries had already suffered a serious blow in 2010, when the Ministry of Defense decided to transfer production of the Namer APC to the US, leading to the loss of 2,000 jobs. “It appears that the government is about to make the same destructive mistake by considering the removal of another flagship labor, technology, and know-how-intensive project from Israel to the US. We must not allow them to do this,” a manufacturer involved in the matter said.
Manufacturers Association of Israel Merkava tank industries forum chairman Avraham Bar David said, “Transferring production of the APC to the US will lead to the closing or constriction of production lines in dozens of plants around Israel, have a negative impact on exports of systems used in the Eitan, and damage the civilian sources of know-how and development based on the technologies used in the Eitan. I call on the Ministry of Defense to reconsider its decisions on the matter, and to leave production and development of the Eitan in Israel.”
The Eitan is a wheeled APC whose development began following the lessons learned in Operation Protective Edge 2 years ago. It is slated to replace outmoded unprotected APCs still used by IDF infantry brigades. Development of the Eitan was revealed 4 months ago. It is still being tested under various battle scenarios & a decision about its procurement will be made only when these tests are completed.
The model under which the Ministry of Defense is considering outsourcing most of the Eitan’s production to the US and its procurement with the use of US aid money has already been used for the Namer APC. 60% of the production work on these APCs is done by US companies, and the finishing is done in Israel. In the case of the Eitan, consideration is being given to having a larger proportion of the work done by US companies, at the expense of the work done by Israeli industries.
“The state has to learn from the US itself, which is having its taxpayers’ money used for the development of local industry,” Brosh said. “The Indian government has also set a policy of transferring production & know-how to the country. Instead of regarding the development of local industry as a strategic goal, as other countries do, we are transferring know-how & business opportunities to foreign countries because of short-term considerations.”
Defense sources told “Globes” that the armored fighting vehicles industry in Israel had always been based on the development and production of the Merkava tank, which will remain in Israel. This program is estimated at NIS 1 billion a year. The sources asserted that as long as production of the Merkava remains in Israel, the hundreds of industries involved in it would not be affected.
Commenting on the possibility of outsourcing production of the Eitan outside Israel, the Ministry of Defense said at the beginning of the week, “The Eitan is still in the development stages & has not yet been approved by the IDF for procurement & mass production. If and when decisions are taken to produce it & in what volume, the Ministry of Defense Merkava Tank Administration, which regards the involvement of Israeli industries in the Merkava project as a strategic asset, will take steps to ensure the share of Israeli industries in the project, as it has done up until now.

We emphasize that after the project is approved, production of the Eitan will take place simultaneously with production of the Merkava & Namer. In view of the increased procurement of armored fighting vehicles following Operation Protective Edge, Israeli defense industries’ share on all these projects will increase, not decrease.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on December 7, 2016
_______________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST – December 8, 2016

For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace and 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 >

15.White House “Champion” Blasts Muslims Who Talk to Any Pro-Israel Jews: IPT News December 7, 2016

http://www.investigativeproject.org/5722/white-house-champion-blasts-muslims-who-talk-to-any-pro-Israel-Jews

Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour took to Twitter Nov. 22 with a quick, venting post: “You know what I can’t stand? people. Bitter people That’s all.”

Sarsour spoke at the annual American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) conference three days later. Evidently, she can’t stand herself.

Sarsour, who describes herself as a “racial justice and civil rights activist,” lashed out at Jews who extended a hand of friendship and solidarity over concerns that increasing hostility toward Muslims in America might lead to draconian government action. And she lashed out at fellow Muslims who accepted the gesture and joined in a new inter-faith dialogue.

Why the bitterness?

The Jews at issue support the state of Israel, support its existence and its vitality. Sarsour wants none of that.

“We have limits to the type of friendships that we’re looking for right now,” Sarsour told the AMP conference, “and I want to be friends with those whom I know have been steadfast, courageous, have been standing up and protecting their own communities, those who have taken the risk to stand up and say – we are with the Palestinian people, we unequivocally support BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctioning Israel] when it comes to Palestinian human rights and have been attacked viciously by the very people who are telling you that they’re about to stand on the front line of the Muslim registry program. No thank you, sisters and brothers.”

It’s a message that fit right in at the AMP conference. AMP claims its “sole purpose is to educate the American public & media about issues related to Palestine and its rich cultural & historical heritage.” But in practice, the group has defended Hamas and its leaders admit they seek “to challenge the legitimacy of the State of Israel.”

Sarsour, a media darling honored by the Obama White House as a “Champion of Change” & a high-profile surrogate for Bernie Sanders‘ failed Democratic presidential nomination campaign, seems to strike a different tone in public appearances. Her biography says she is “most known for her intersectional coalition work & building bridges across issues, racial, ethnic & faith communities.” That clearly wasn’t her intent at the AMP conference.

She acknowledges there’s a rift among Islamists about how hard a line to draw in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, yet she was intent on pouring gasoline on the fire.

The “cracks in our community” are so wide, she said, they’re visible to “right-wing Zionists, Islamophobes, white supremacists.”

“They know where we’re divided. They know that we’re segregated,” she said. “So they, we could easily be targeted when we’re a fragmented community. But if we were a strong, united, steadfast community that stood up for each other first and foremost, you’d better believe that no opposition would ever be trying to take us down, because we’d be too big, too strong and too united.”

Some of her comments likely were directed at Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt. Should a Trump administration create a registry for Muslims, an idea that does not seem to be on the table, Greenblatt recently pledged that “this proud Jew will register as Muslim.”

Sarsour not only rebuked the gesture, she cast Muslims who might respond more positively as sellouts of the Palestinian cause. Cooperation & solidarity gestures should only be reserved for those who share the depth of her hatred toward Israel, she said.

“I am tired of Muslims working towards acceptance and not respect of our communities. I’m also tired of the Muslims willing to sell Palestine just for a little acceptance & nod from the white man & white power in these US of A,” Sarsour said.

Despite this extreme stance, Sarsour is a rising star among American Islamist activists. She has been welcomed to the White House at least 10 times during President Obama’s tenure, most recently in July for a celebration of the Muslim Eid holiday. Last year, a glowing NYT profile described her as “a Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab.”

“But the most apparent thing about her voice is that it is exceedingly Brooklyn,” the story said. “She says ‘swag’ instead of ‘charisma.’ (‘Mr. B. has swag …) She calls her father, a Palestinian immigrant in his 60s, ‘Pops.’ Like the actress Rosie Perez in a hijab, Ms. Sarsour has perfected her delivery of the head-swaying ‘Oh no you dih-int’ and pronounces the word ‘Latino’ like, well, a Latino.”

Sarsour also says “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” and all-but accused the CIA of faking an attempted terrorist attack.

Those statements didn’t make the Times profile. They didn’t prompt the Obama administration to reconsider the wisdom of elevating Sarsour’s clout with repeated White House access.

In February, just over a year after terrorists massacred the staff at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, saying they “avenged the Prophet,” Sarsour told a Council on American-Islamic Affairs (CAIR) banquet in Chicago that she would not stand with the victims. The magazine was “a bigot and a racist” for publishing caricatures of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, she said. The images served to “vilify my faith, dehumanize my community [and] demoralize my prophet.”

Building off Sarsour’s rejection of anyone who breaks bread with Zionists, former AMP New York President Raja Abdulhaq defined the BDS movement – not as a tool to lead to peaceful negotiations – but as way to break Israel into total surrender.

“The rights are non-negotiable. And that’s the whole point of BDS, is that we demand, we want to apply pressure,” Abdulhaq said, “not sit down in a negotiated setting & figure out what you can give up so that I can give up something in return, because what you’re essentially doing is you’re asking the other side – give up your illegality, stop your illegality & I will give up my rights. What kind of negotiation is that? No, I demand my rights & you stop your illegality. That’s the whole basis of BDS.”

Among the non-negotiable “rights” Abdulhaq says AMP and the BDS movement insist upon is the so-called “right of return” for Palestinians. That would lead to a huge influx of Palestinians into Israel, swamping the country demographically and ending its existence as a Jewish homeland.

That’s just fine with conference speaker Lamis Deek, an attorney and board member for CAIR’s New York chapter. She repeatedly described Israelis as “serial killers” intent on ethnic cleansing.

“There is a serial killer in our home,” Deek said. “What do you do when you are confronted with a serial killer, right? You protect yourself. You protect your family. You scream for help. You expect that when you scream for help from a serial killer everybody is gonna come to your aid, they’re gonna come protect defend you. Right? You don’t expect somebody to intervene on behalf of the serial killer … and say ‘the serial killer has some rights, let us tell you about the rights the serial killer has’ as he begins to kill you. Right?”

Like Sarsour, Deek expressed frustration at Muslims who accept other viewpoints.

“Nothing has set back the Palestinian movement in the U.S. more than demands by people who want to work and focus their efforts on [Washington] D.C., by their demands that we tame our demands for Palestine,” she said.

Dawud Walid, CAIR’s Michigan director, echoed the message about Muslim groups who appear too accommodating. “If these organizations claim to represent the Muslim community,” he said, “then when we see them doing things that go outside of the mainstream of the (UI word) of our community, we need to hold them accountable, and if they continue to step outside of the boundaries, then we should withdraw our support and make that very public.”

Walid has acknowledged that his employer, which works hard to project an image as a civil rights organization, really sees itself as “defenders of the Palestinian struggle.”

Deek, meanwhile, spoke of harm done to the Palestinian cause by the U.S.-brokered Oslo Accords. “While Oslo may have given Palestinians autonomy, it came at the cost of unity.” she said.

It’s not clear what she means. But, since 2006, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority has governed the West Bank while Hamas controls Gaza.

Oslo also made it more difficult to engage in terrorism – what Deek calls “armed resistance.”

“Now armed resistance, self-defense, has been the only direct challenge to Zionist colonial expansion. Nothing else is a direct challenge,” she told the AMP conference. “Everything else is an indirect challenge, right? Pressure – economic pressure, diplomatic pressure. So this national united Palestinian body was able – by supporting the resistance – was able to be part of directly impacting and influencing Zionist policy.”

Advocating more Palestinian violence is consistent for an AMP gathering. The organization never mentions peaceful co-existence. Investigative Project on Terrorism found connections between at least 5 AMP officials, speakers & the defunct Hamas support network: “Palestine Committee.”

During the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, AMP’s then-National Campus Coordinator Taher Herzallah posted images of wounded Israelis, calling them “The most beautiful site (sic) in my eyes.” He defended indiscriminate Hamas rocket fire at Israeli civilian communities as “an audible cry for help”& “an act of resistance.”

Two clear messages emerged from the AMP conference. “Resistance” is better than renouncing violence and seeking peace. All Muslims who might disagree,even if they see eye-to-eye on other

issues, are no longer welcome. These extreme stands came from speakers who enjoy prominent political profiles and high-level contacts.

Sarsour is right about one thing. There is a rift in her community. She and her AMP panelists are the ones widening it.

15.Kushner NYT story: comment by Public Editor Yisrael Medad

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/public-editor/friday-mailbag-omissions-exclusions-language-and-fox-tv.html?emc=edit_tnt_20161209&nlid=14635827&tntemail0=y

The public editor’s column also recently addressed how much an Op-Ed story should disclose about its author. A piece in Sunday’s Times Magazine on a Palestinian refugee camp in East Jerusalem similarly raised readers’ eyebrows regarding a piece of information it did not include: the name of the organization partly financing the project.

Why was it not disclosed in the recent article by Rachel Kushner about the Shuafat refugee camp that her experience at the camp was organized and coordinated by Breaking the Silence, a political NGO largely funded by Europe whose stated goal is to “end the occupation”? You are promoting a political agenda by neglecting to expose the bias underlying her observations.

Howard Brown, North Kingstown, R.I.

In the piece, Kushner notes, “I was invited on an extensive tour of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and was asked to choose a subject to write about, for a book to be published next year.” We asked the magazine’s editor, Jake Silverstein, to talk about the story’s provenance:

The writers who are contributing pieces for the book are not being paid for their work. Their travel expenses are being covered through the advance that HarperCollins paid for the book. The editors of the book, the authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, have worked with a number of individuals and organizations within Israel on this project. Among them is “Breaking the Silence”, which helped to administer some of those travel costs in the region, and which also made additional general contributions toward travel costs for Chabon and Waldman’s project. “Breaking the Silence” had no direct involvement with Kushner’s reporting or writing from Shuafat.

This public editor’s take: I found Kushner’s magazine story to be an exceptional piece of reporting and writing, one that didn’t seem to be carrying anyone’s political agenda. That said, the wiser choice would have been to make clear the role of “Breaking the Silence” in the project. Disclosure ahead of time is better than questions afterward: Commentary by Yisrael Medad