Monday, February 13, 2017

Why Trump stopped a Palestinian from becoming a UN envoy


Here's a video I've received from a reader. It's about Trump at the UN. It provides some background to the essay I published yesterday, "Will there be a real Trump-Israel alliance, or not?"

This video, 3:11 long, addresses only Trump's apparent reasons for refusing to approve a former 'Palestinian Authority' Prime Minister to become a UN envoy (ibid). The additional information provided here is useful. It reveals something about how an anti-Israel UN thinks about Israel. It may also reveal something about how Trump may deal with that kind of 'thinking'.

The video appears to come from a Christian pro-Israel source. It's quotations seem accurate.

Take a look. It was posted on February 13, 2017. 





This video suggests a strong, focused pro-Israel Trump. It suggests a US President not easily fooled--or intimidated--when dealing with Israel-related issues at the UN.

Is that a correct assessment of Trump? 

We're going to start the discovery process for this question on Wednesday, February 15, 2017. That's the day Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet for the first time with the newly-elected Trump. 

Netanyahu will get to make his own assessment of the new US President. We in Israel, meanwhile, will also get to make our own assessment--of Netanyahu.

One question some are asking in Israel is this: with regard to Judea-Samaria, is Trump more pro-Israel than Netanyahu? 

We've got questions for Netanyahu. For example, Trump may be more willing to allow Jewish settlement expansion in Israel than Netanyahu. Trump may be more aggressive with regard to Israel's security than Netanyahu. Trump may also be more aggressively pro-Israel than Netanyahu regarding the question of a 'two-state solution' (Hillel Fendel, "Ignoring warnings, PM already told Trump he favors two states", arutzsheva, February 13, 2017) 

[Some of us don't see a 'two-state solution' as being pro-Israel. We see it as an anti-Israel solution].

How well will Netanyahu handle Trump? The Jewish Prime Minister has spent the last eight years learning how to bow, prostrate himself, appease and eat humble pie before a hostile US president. What will Trump want from Netanyahu?

We won't know the answer to this question this week. But one thing is very possible. Once Netanyahu's airplane lands back in Israel, Israelis might give Trump a higher grade for this first meeting than they give to Netanyahu.

Will that be a problem for Netanyahu?






Sunday, February 12, 2017

Will there be a real Trump-Israel alliance, or not?



New US President Donald Trump has been in office less than a month. He’s barely gotten started. Yet, we’ve already seen changes in how the US treats Israel.

The change is obvious. For example, when Israel passed its “Regulation Law” on February 6, 2017 to legitimize small Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria, Trump refused to criticize or condemn the law. The only comment he made was that ‘West Bank settlement building’ “may not be helpful” to achieving peace (“New Israeli law legalizing settlements draws harsh reaction worldwide”, jweekly, February 9, 2017). Such a muted response from Trump seemed a far cry from Obama’s more strident ‘settlements’ reaction just 28/29 days earlier: “Obama says Israeli settlements making two-state solution impossible” (reuters, January 11, 2017).

Israelis noticed this difference. After the Regulation Law passed, MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), a major advocate of the legislation, thanked the American people for electing Trump (“Israeli lawmakers pass controversial Regulation Bill to legalize West Bank outposts”, i24news.tv, February 6, 2017). Smotrich declared that, without the Trump election, the law might not have passed (“Israeli lawmakers pass controversial Regulation Bill to legalize West Bank outposts”, i24news.tv, February 6, 2017).

In a Friday, February 10, 2017 interview with the Israeli news outlet, israelhayom, Trump was asked, “Will we see America condemn Israel a lot during your Presidency?” (Boaz Bismuth, “'I won't condemn Israel, it's been through enough'”, israelhayom, February 10, 2017). Trump began his answer with, “No, I don’t want to condemn Israel…” (ibid).

While Trump’s full answer can be read more than one way, Israelis responded positively to it (see the headline, ibid). Many saw Trump as a true friend in the White House.

While Trump was giving this interview (February 10th), his US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley was blocking a UN decision to appoint a PLO official as a UN envoy (“US blocks appointment of former Palestinian PM as UN Libya envoy”, dailymail, February 11, 2017). The PLO wasn’t happy. The UN wasn’t happy. But Amb Halley was firm: she said, "For too long, the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel…Going forward, the United States will act, not just talk, in support of our allies" (ibid).

This statement seemed to put the US squarely in Israel’s corner. For Israelis, that was a change.

On the same day Trump and Haley were being pro-Israel (February 10th), the UN made a new decision regarding Israel. It had been preparing a report for an upcoming February 27th meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC). That report was to contain a database of companies who do business in Judea-Samaria, the Golan and East Jerusalem. That database was being developed to create a blacklist for, essentially, a boycott-Israel purpose. That boycott would effectively target all of Israel because most companies that do business in Judea-Samaria, etc. also do business elsewhere in Israel.

The February 10 UN decision was simple: it said it needed more time to figure out how to build its blacklist database (Stephanie Nebehay, “Exclusive: U.N. set to defer report on companies with Israeli settlement ties”, reuters, February 10, 2017). The report suggested another reason for delay: pressure from states (like the US) which didn’t support the creation of a blacklist (ibid).  

The UN announced the database would be ‘delayed’. It didn’t give a future publication date. This seemed a win for Israel. Some attribute this win to Trump’s strong support for Israel (ibid).

That same weekend (February 11-12), the UN floated a rumour: Israel’s Tzipi Livni will be offered the post of UN Under-Secretary General (Nitzan Keidar, “Will Tzipi Livni be appointed UN Under-Secretary General?”, arutzsheva, February 12, 2017). If true, it would be a first for the Jewish state.

Such an honor has never been offered to Israel. It’s considered inconceivable that Obama would have supported it. It’s said that this offer is connected directly to Trump’s UN muscle-flexing on Israel's behalf (ibid).

So far, the only negative in all this pro-Israel news is Trump’s apparent ‘walk-back’ of his pre-election call to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But even if such reports are true, does a walk-back signal a retreat away for Israel?

For the moment, that seems unlikely. If Trump were retreating from Israel, his UN ambassador wouldn’t have blocked a UN attempt to elevate a PLO anti-Jew, the UN wouldn’t suddenly delay a BDS-friendly anti-Israel blacklist—and no one at the UN would be suggesting an Israeli Jew be appointed to a high UN position for the first time in UN history.

Today, Trump stands strong for Israel. Because of him, the future looks bright for Israel. But will that ‘brightness’ last?

Trump is neither politician nor diplomat. He’s a deal-maker--and he's aggressive. When he gives something, he expects something in return.

Today, Trump protects Israel. Will he now expect something in return from Israel? What could that ‘something’ be?

Answer those two  questions, and you’ll know if there’s a true Trump-Israel alliance, or if Trump’s current pro-Israel support is just the opening move in a carefully planned-out ‘deal’ that will push Israel into a corner it won’t want to be in.

Stay tuned.



Friday, February 10, 2017

Palestinian leaders: WE are the Chosen People


When you study history, you learn that nations rise, then fall. You learn how the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ have condemned so many to oblivion.

The more you study history, the more you see how ‘outrageous’ fortune can be. Once a nation falls and its people have been enslaved and dispersed, it doesn’t rise again. It disappears.

But if you add the Jewish Tanach (the Jewish Bible) to your studies, you discover an historical anomaly.  You discover Israel, the Jewish nation.

Tanach teaches the perceptive student that Israel is not like other nations. Israel’s destiny has never been about fortune. Israel has a different destiny.  

Unlike all others, Israel hasn’t just risen and fallen. Yes, that’s happened to Israel. But Israel is unique. After rising, falling, enslavement and dispersal, Israel has done the impossible: it’s risen again.

Who is like Israel? No one.

What’s even more unique about this Jewish nation Israel is the public record of its origin. That public record is the Jewish Tanach, at least half of which was written before the Jewish nation-state was even established.

Unlike all other public records, the Jewish Tanach isn’t hidden away in some office building or museum, where only a few see it. The public record of the Jews’ origin is often called the Old Testament. It’s the most read book in history.

It’s been read and studied, often daily, by more people on earth than any other public record. 

Everyone who’s read this book knows what it says: Israel is the land G-d gave to Jews because the Jews are G-d’s Chosen.

Who are like the Jews? No one.

For almost two centuries—longer than the existence of virtually every other modern nation-state—the Jewish nation was like a sleeping giant. Its power and G-dly blessings lay dormant.

But then, 69 years ago, this giant awoke. Israel was reborn. 
  
Since then, 1948, the G-dly Promises of the Tanach have transformed from debatable Bible statements to indisputable historical fact. Jews have ingathered into the land. Jews have settled the land. They’ve built the land. They’ve built new cities. They’ve rebuilt Jerusalem.

Israel’s land once again becomes a place of ‘milk and honey’. Torah has returned to Israel—and the land becomes purified through the re-institution of Torah land laws.

Today, the Chosen-ness of the Chosen people becomes obvious. G-d blesses His Jewish nation, as Promised.

‘Palestinian’ leaders see the blessings. They see the Promises fulfilled. They see the holiness of the land. They see the ‘Chosen-ness’ of the Chosen.

‘Palestinian’ leaders want that Chosen-ness. They want the blessings. They want that holiness. They want that land.

You don’t believe this? Look at these facts:

-‘Palestinian’ leaders claim Israel to be holy Islamic land (“PA Fatah MP: All Israel is "land of Ribat" [holy Islamic land] that must be liberated”,  palwatch.org (quoting Palestinian Authority (PA) TV), August 25, 2008).

-‘Palestinian’ leaders call Jerusalem holy Islamic land (“Jerusalem is ‘land of Ribat’ - holy Islamic land (ibid, Jerusalem under assault).

-‘Palestinian’ leaders call all of Jerusalem’s Jewish holy sites to be purely Islamic (“WATCH: Jerusalem Holy Sites are ‘Purely Islamic’, Says PA Leader Abbas’ Adviser”, unitedwithisrael, Ocober 27, 2016).

-‘Palestinian’ leaders claim Jews have no rights, claims of ownership or religious connection to anything in Jerusalem: "Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of Palestine - the Jews have no right to it", Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of religious court (Itamar Marcus, Noaz Cohen, “Erasing Jews from Jerusalem”, frontpagemag, May 28, 2009).

-‘Palestinian’ leaders declare Judaism’s holiest site on earth to be Islamic (“Palestinian Official: Western Wall Is Not Jewish”, haaretz, November 24, 2010). They’ve convinced the nations of the world to agree with them (Ariel Zilber, “The Temple Mount and Western Wall - Judaism's holiest site - are reclassified as exclusively Muslim by the UN in major victory to Palestinian cause”, dailymail, October 14, 2016).

-‘Palestinian’ leaders aim to control the Jews of Israel, starting with how many Jews may ascend to Judaism’s Temple Mount (Avi Issacharoff, “PA demands full Muslim oversight over Jewish visitors to Temple Mount”, timesofisrael, October 22, 2015).

-‘Palestinian’ officials order the destruction of ancient evidence of Jewish life in Israel (David Weinberg, “Who’s destroying antiquities?”, davidmweinberg, November 18, 2011).

-‘Palestinian’ leaders preach that all of Israel is holy Muslim ‘Palestine’, not a Jewish Israel (“PA TV: Ramadan lesson teaches that Islam prohibits Israel’s right to exist: Holy Palestine is a waqf... It is forbidden to relinquish a single grain of its soil”, palwatch, ‘religious war’, recorded from broadcast on official PA TV, Palestine in the Quran, June 11, 2016; Note: the word, ‘Palestine’ does not appear once in the Quran.)

‘Palestinian’ leaders refuse to accept Jews as the Chosen. They cry, ‘WE are the Chosen!’  

They’ll do whatever it takes to wear that crown.


Wednesday, February 8, 2017

How Leftists prepare for Israel, Trump and your future



Many people wonder why the Left so condemns Israel. They wonder why the Left so ignores the anti-Israel incitement of the ‘Palestinian’ Authority (PA). They wonder why the Left believes there’ll be peace between Arab and Jew when so many Arabs swear so loudly and so often to destroy the Jewish Israel.

Certainly, the Left’s behavior is curious. For example, the Left believes the ‘Palestinian’ claim that the Temple Mount is Islamic, not Jewish. But all archaeological and historic evidence proves otherwise: the Temple Mount is Jewish.

Why doesn’t the Left see this?

The Left believes the ‘Palestinian’ claim that ‘Palestinians’ have been in Israel ‘since time immemorial’. But there is no long-term historical record of a ‘Palestinian’ nation in Israel. There is, however, a vast historical record of a Jewish presence in Israel that dates back centuries.

Why can’t the Left see that?

Indeed, if the ‘Palestinians’ are as ancient as they claim, their presence in Israel would predate the Quran. But the 1300+ year old Quran never once mentions the words ‘Palestine’ (meaning an Arab Palestine) and ‘Palestinian’—but mentions ‘the children of Israel’ and ‘Jews’.  

Why doesn’t the Left see that?

The Left says the Palestinian Authority wants peace. But if that’s true, why does the PA map of the new Arab ‘Palestine’ show Israel being erased from the world and replaced by the Muslim ‘Palestine’?

That map doesn’t suggest ‘peace’. It shouts for the destruction of Israel. Why can’t the Left see that?

Apparently, the anti-Israel Left doesn’t see very much. Why is that?  


Here’s an answer to that question. It’s a picture that illustrates why the Leftist isn't particularly perceptive about much of anything:  











Image result for more pictures of man with head buried in ground
From: pinterest






A Leftist cannot see any truth that sits right in front of his face. You can see why, above.

To understand why Leftists behave this way, study how the Leftist thinks. Do that and you’ll understand why the Leftist ends up with his back-end so highly placed.

The Left is highly educated. It doesn’t just decide, wily-nily, to build an anti-Israel or anti-Trump ideology. It’s better organized than that. It has a plan.

The Left’s plan is as simple as it is ideological. It uses a familiar process. Whether it’s Marxism, Fascism, Socialism, anti-Trumpism, Communism or ‘Palestinianism’—it’s always the same: the Left creates manufactured claims that have little connection to fact. It creates fakery. 

The  Left creates its fakery because it always has a dream. It always wants ‘better’. But the Left has little faith in its dreams. It worries that its dreams aren't strong enough to survive. It fears its dream are only unrealistic, foolish fantasy.

So it creates fakery. It creates lies. It rewrites reality to force reality into alignment with the dream.

What this means for the Left’s ‘Palestinianism’ is that anti-Jew Arab fakery is always seen as truth. If the Arab narrative says Jews are thieves and occupiers, then they’re thieves and occupiers. If the Arab narrative says ‘Palestinians’ are always victimized by Jews, then they’re always victimized by Jews. 

For the Leftist, truth is irrelevant. Truth won't lead to peace. Fakery will. 

Unfortunately, fakery isn't benign. Lies seldom are. 

Fakery has real-world consequences. The Left’s ‘Palestinian’ fakery harms the chance for peace with Israel. Why would Israel want to make peace with fakers and liars?

The Left’s anti-Trumpism fakery harms America. The Left's lies threaten to push America to civil war.


Fakery is like cancer. It destroys. 

It destroys because it's never about dreams. It's never about 'better'. It's never about truth. 

It’s about malice. It's about hate. It's about conquest.

Ask Trump. Ask Netanyahu.

This drive to sell fakery-as-truth is step one of the Left’s anti-Israelism and anti-Trumpism. Step two is to teach the young-and-ignorant on college campuses that fakery is the only way to peace and freedom.

What do college students know? They're young-and-ignorant.

When their Professors tell them to embrace fakery, they embrace it. Their grades will suffer if they resist their Professor's fakery. Therefore, why resist?

Therefore, they follow their Professors. They believe the ‘Palestinian’ narrative. They believe the anti-Trump narrative. They believe that fakery and malice are superior to truth and respect.

Here's another picture. It illustrates how the young-and-gullible react to their Professors’ view of the Arab-Israel conflict--and to Trump:  











Hiding head in sand : Stock Photo
from: getty images

What can one say? This last picture reveals how today's college youth are being prepared by Leftists to lead us into the future.

Reassuring, isn't it? 



Tuesday, February 7, 2017

More computer questions.


As I mentioned to you last week, I've been having computer troubles. These troubles continue.

I've been talking to a computer man who runs a computer store in Jerusalem. We've done several remote changes and adjustments via a program called team viewer. The results have been both inconclusive and temporary.

As a result, my machine still freezes in a random, unpredictable manner--but only for relatively short periods, say, ten minutes to an hour. 

I do understand that my desktop is 6.5 years old. In computer years, that's old--very old. Is this the time to buy a new machine?

I've got a choice. I can try one last 'fix' before buying a new machine. The fix includes (I think) a complete download followed by some kind of internal 'cleansing' and then a reprogramming of the machine. If that doesn't work, I'll buy a new machine.

The second choice is to purchase right now. That'll save me the cost of the 'fix'.  

Any thoughts about this?

I'd appreciate your feedback.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

The UN says I’m a criminal. Will you stand with me?

(Last update: February 6, 2017)

Muslims of the world are religious. They have mosques. They have prayer rugs. They have their own Islamic religious sites—Mecca and Medina.

But they aren’t satisfied with Mecca and Medina. They want more. They want the Jewish Jerusalem.

They want more than that. They want all of Israel.

This is no secret. Muslims who call themselves ‘Palestinians’ don’t let a month go by without declaring Jerusalem to be theirs. Virtually every day they refer to Jewish Israel as ‘occupied Palestine’.
      
‘Palestinian’ leaders want to wipe out Israel. The PLO Charter says this. The Hamas Charter says it. Muslim clerics declare it in Friday sermons.  

This, too, is no secret. The PA prints maps showing its ‘Palestine’ replacing Israel.  

‘Palestinian’ leaders want no Jews in their ‘Palestine’. They want genocide. The Obama administration never condemned this. Obama ignored it. The nations of the world ignored it. Only Israel objected. 

In its waning days, the anti-Israel Obama administration allowed—or perhaps encouraged--an anti-Israel United Nations to pass UN Resolution 2334. That Resolution made large portions of Israel’s ancestral homeland forbidden to Jews. Specifically, UN 2334 stated that all settlement in territories won by Israel in the defensive 1967 war “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law” (Glenn Kessler, “Fact-checking John Kerry’s speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, washingtonpost, January 3, 2017). This Resolution instantly transformed all Jewish residents in these areas into international law-breakers.

I live in the Judean desert. That means I live in Judea-Samaria. That means I break the law: I’m a criminal.

The land I live in (including Judea-Samaria) was given to my people by G-d more than 3,300 years ago. At that time, our G-d made two Promises about this land. First, He Promised to exile us from this land if we sinned. Then, second, He Promised to return us to this land. This land, He said, is our gift forever from Him.

Our G-d does as He says. He exiled us in the year 70CE. He returned us to our land, as Promised, 1,878 years later, in 1948.

The UN rejects this. It rejects our G-d. It has become so hateful to our G-d that it has begun to carve away from Israel its ancient Jewish religious sites. The UN grants those Jewish sites to Islam.

That’s what the ‘Palestinian Authority’ (PA)’ has been working on since 2008, when PA leader Mahmoud Abbas unilaterally declared that the Jewish Joseph’s Tomb was no longer Jewish, but Islamic (“The destruction of Joseph’s Tomb”, takeapen, no date). At that time, no one complained.

In 2015, with PA urging, the anti-Israel UNESCO declared that both Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs were no longer Jewish, but Islamic (“UNESCO Declares Rachel’s Tomb, Cave of Patriarchs Muslim Holy Sites”, israelbreakingnews, October 22, 2015). In 2016, again at ‘Palestinian’ urging, the UN had the unmitigated gall to declare that Judaism’s holiest site on earth—the Temple Mount--was no longer Jewish. It was, the UN said, Islamic.

No one complained. They applauded.

By anti-Semitic diktat, the UN attempts to erase all Jewish history and Judaic significance from my homeland. Bit-by-bit, the UN reclassifies my Jewish homeland as Islamic.

These Muslim-inspired UN actions are not about statehood. They have nothing to do with creating a ‘Palestinian’ state “to live side-by-side with Israel in peace and security”.

These UN actions are about the destruction of Judaism. They’re about destroying the Jewish community in Israel. They’re about legalizing an Islamic conquest of Jewish Israel.

I’m the criminal?

This Jewish land of Israel is holy. It’s G-d’s land. Our Bible—the most-read book in history—is our written public deed to this land. It is immoral and criminal (genocide) for the Man-made UN to attempt to replace my G-d and my people with an Islamic god and an Islamic people.

The news headlines that report this anti-Jew UN war against both Israel and our Jewish G-d reveal no surprises. More than 2,300 years ago, our Tanach predicted it all. The exact details weren’t there, but the broad outline was: the nations will one day gather to try to un-nation Israel. That’s exactly what’s happening today.

This war against Israel is a Biblical war. It’s about the world’s Biblical ’70 nations’ coming to un-Jewish us (Michael Snyder, “The 70 Nations That Will Meet In Paris On January 15th Are Going To Publicly Commit To Dividing The Land Of Israel”, freedomoutpost, January 12, 2017).
 
The UN empowers those who would destroy Jews, Judaism and Jewish Israel. The UN legitimizes Israel’s enemies. The nations of the world applaud.

The nations see Israel as war-prey. They wait for war. They will blame Israel for it.


As this all unfolds, I stand with the G-d of Israel. Will you stand with me? 

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Computer problems


This is not the post I wanted to write today. But my computer has been out of commission since 7:30 this morning (right now it's 5 pm). I haven't been able to write all day.

I've been on the phone with my computer expert for the better part of the afternoon--on and off. My computer works now.

But I don't know if it'll freeze up again over the next hour.

So--I might be able to post something for you today; or, my computer might freeze again.

If you don't see anything on my blog over the next week, it'll be because I haven't been able to get the computer to work consistently--or long enough to finish an essay. 

If I have trouble between now and Monday, I'll take the malfunctioning CPU into the shop for a diagnosis.That could mean a ten-day no-work period while the 'Computer Doc' operates on the computer.

Stay tuned. I'll get back to the blog as soon as I can.

Thanks for your patience.