8chan/8kun QResearch Posts (537)
#6915944 at 2019-07-04 18:23:49 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #8846:Betsy Ross flag 1792! Editio
'Whirlwind of politics not for women': Prominent Israeli rabbi reacts to talk of female party leader
Hardline conservative Israeli rabbi, Shlomo Aviner, has said that women have no role in politics, arguing that former justice minister Ayelet Shaked should not lead the right wing coalition party, stoking a wave of criticism.
Aviner told an Israeli broadcaster on Thursday that "It's not ok" for Shaked to head up the Union of Right Wing Parties (URWP), adding "the complicated whirlwind of politics is not the arena for the female role."
Aviner's comments come on the heels of a letter which he signed alongside dozens of fellow religious leaders urging the URWP to back a "God fearing and Torah observant" candidate, though the rabbi went further than the letter itself, which did not single out Shaked.
Though she served as a member of the Knesset for the Orthodox Jewish Home Party until 2018, Shaked is an avowed secularist.
The rabbi provoked a torrent of disapproval from lawmakers across the spectrum of Israeli politics, who slammed the comments as bigoted.
"These comments represent a minuscule percentage of the religious-Zionist community and cause a desecration of God's name,"said New Right Party chief Naftali Bennett on Twitter.
"Every initiative I did in my life, I did with talented women leaders, in high-tech, in the public realm, and in politics," he added. "The place of women in politics, and all aspects of society is not in doubt."
Co-chair of the left-of-center Blue and White Party Yair Lapid also condemned the remark, tweeting that "Religious and chauvinistic fanatics should not be involved in politics. And, actually, not in the rabbinate."
Israel Weiss, the former chief military rabbi for the Israel Defense Forces, though not as harsh in his response, stated he had "no problem" with women taking part in politics.
Aviner is no stranger to controversy. Most recently, the religious leader turned heads when he suggested the fire that broke out at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris may have actually been divine retribution for policies of the Kingdom of France in the 13th century, and has previously stirred debate with his advocacy of gay "conversion therapy," and his insistence that Talmudic law forbids Jews from renting property to Arabs.
https://www.rt.com/news/463399-rabbi-politics-not-for-women/
#6681606 at 2019-06-06 00:59:13 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #8544: Shills Still Crazy After All These Years Edition
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-appoints-loyalist-amir-ohana-as-justice-minister/
Netanyahu appoints Amir Ohana justice minister, first openly gay cabinet member
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday confirmed loyalist Amir Ohana as justice minister in the run-up to elections on the September 17.
Ayelet Shaked formally departed from the Justice Ministry on Tuesday, two days after she was fired by Netanyahu in a cabinet reshuffle that also targeted her political ally education minister Naftali Bennett. The move was widely seen as a bid to prevent the once-popular right-wing duo from using their cabinet positions to bolster their campaigns ahead of the new national vote.
Ohana is a lawyer by training who became the first openly gay MK in a right-wing party when he was elected to the Knesset in 2015. In announcing his appointment Wednesday, the Likud party noted that he would also be the first openly gay minister in Israel's history.
"Good luck to Justice Minister MK Amir Ohana!" Netanyahu tweeted Wednesday evening.
Thanking the prime minister, Ohana said in a tweet that it was "a great honor to serve the State of Israel in the role of justice minister."
Ohana is among the only senior members of Likud to have publicly backed Netanyahu's drive to secure immunity from prosecution in the cases against him. Earlier this year, he struck out at legal authorities over the Netanyahu investigations, charging that judicial officials, who have announced their intention to charge the prime minister pending a hearing, were usurping the will of the Israeli voters.
"This is what happens when bureaucrats who are not chosen by the public and don't have to ask for its trust once every four years decide to take for themselves the reins of the state," he was quoted as saying by the Ynet news site.
Netanyahu is suspected of corruption - including one count of bribery - in three cases, one of which involves gifts from wealthy associates, with the other two involving potential quid pro quo deals for regulatory favors in exchange for positive media coverage.
The prime minister has long accused police, the media, judicial officials and the political left of conducting a witch hunt against him, and has denied any wrongdoing.
Following Shaked's dismissal, the position of justice minister reverted to Netanyahu, who as well as prime minister, already holds the defense and health portfolios.
Initially, the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu would temporarily assume the mantles of education and justice minister, but that sparked a backlash, with critics saying he could not hold the latter portfolio with an indictment hanging over his head. His office then backtracked and announced that interim ministers would be named within 48 hours.
Bezalel Smotrich of the Union of Right-Wing Parties on Monday called on Netanyahu to appoint him as Shaked's replacement, later saying he wanted to impose Jewish religious law on the country. In response, Likud sources were quoted as saying there was no chance Smotrich would get the position after his comments, which Netanyahu also criticized in a Facebook post.
Likud's Yariv Levin, currently minister of tourism as well as immigration and absorption, has long been angling for the Justice Ministry, but on Sunday said he had no interest in serving there in an interim capacity ahead of the elections.
After Wednesday's announcement, Smotrich tweeted that Ohana was a friend and worthy recipient of the post, but charged that Netanyahu was discriminating against his religious Zionist partners.
"But he isn't the story," he added. "The story is that Netanyahu wouldn't treat any of his other partners like he allows himself to treat religious Zionists."
"The time has come to draw our own conclusions," said Smotrich, who had also demanded to be appointed justice minister in the wake of the April 9 elections.
Shaked wished Ohana luck, tweeting, "It is an important and challenging ministry with the most talented staff. I'm at his disposal for any help or questions."
On May 29, the Knesset voted to disband and called new elections for September 17 after Netanyahu failed to build a coalition due to an impasse between the secular Yisrael Beytenu party and ultra-Orthodox parties.
Given the seven-day post-election advisory period for the president's appointing a PM-designate, and the roughly seven-week period usually granted to premiers to negotiate a coalition, Ohana could serve in the position well into mid-November.
#6681588 at 2019-06-06 00:57:06 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #8544: Shills Still Crazy After All These Years Edition
https://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-appoints-israels-first-openly-gay-minister-194304522.html
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday tapped Amir Ohana as acting justice minister, the first openly gay minister in the country's history.
The appointment of Ohana, from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, comes as Jerusalem prepares for its annual Gay Pride celebrations on Thursday.
"Amir Ohana is a jurist who knows the legal system well," the premier's office said in a statement.
He takes up the position from Netanyahu's right-wing rival Ayelet Shaked, fired by the premier on Sunday along with education minister Naftali Bennett after the prime minister failed to form a government following April elections.
Netanyahu opted for parliament to dissolve itself and approve new elections, preventing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin from selecting someone else to form a government.
Shaked and Bennett had left the Likud years earlier, but their New Right party failed to win enough votes in April's poll to clear the threshold to join Israel's parliament.
Israeli ministers remain in their posts immediately after elections, until the formation of the next administration.
But Netanyahu's office confirmed their sackings at the weekend.
Justice ministry hopeful Betzalel Smotrich, of the religious far-right alliance United Right, said Monday the country should be run according to biblical laws, sparking outrage among secular Israelis.
Netanyahu responded by saying "the state of Israel will not be a halakha state", referring to Jewish law.
Thousands of people are expected to converge on Jerusalem on Thursday for its "march of pride and tolerance" to support the rights the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community, amid tight security.
In 2015, a 16-year-old demonstrator at the march was stabbed to death by an ultra-orthodox Jew.
Israel has presented itself as a pioneer in LGBT rights in the region, but homosexuality is deeply rejected by conservative religious parties whose support Netanyahu is likely to need in order to form his next government.
It has also been accused of "pinkwashing", or pushing its reputation for tolerance, in an effort to restore a liberal image tarnished by its occupation of Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu's failure to form a coalition was due to strongly secular right-wing former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman's refusal to back down on demands for legislation to force religious Jews to serve in the army along with other Israelis.
#6672669 at 2019-06-04 23:35:15 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #8533: Royal Dinner Edition
Netanyahu becomes Israel's new Justice Minister while he still faces criminal charges
Israeli politics reached a new level of absurdity on Tuesday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who is facing three separate corruption charges - allocated the justice portfolio to himself, on top of his other ministries.
The move leaves Netanyahu, who has served as Israel's premier continuously for the last decade, in control of four ministries -in addition to the prime minister's office- including Defense, Health, Education and, now, Justice.
Netanyahu's decision to retain the justice portfolio for himself, effectively immunizing himself from the law, has left him open to harsh criticism, as he has effectively put himself in charge of the very officials tasked with scrutinizing his own alleged improprieties.
Three criminal cases have hung heavily over Netanyahu since February, when Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced he would indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust over his relationships with media moguls, which are alleged to have involved political favoritism.
Filling the post of justice minister fell to Netanyahu after he axed from his cabinet Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday, two lawmakers who failed to return to the parliament after their upstart New Right party failed to get enough votes in April's national elections.
But Netanyahu's curious decision to hoard portfolios would seem to result from his hesitation over appointing a religious rival to one post, precisely when he is coming under public criticism for granting too many concessions to religious parties.
After he failed to appoint a replacement for Shaked, judiciary officials said that it was unthinkable for Netanyahu to retain the post for himself. "Netanyahu cannot fill in for the Justice Minister for even a single day," unnamed Israeli figures told Israel's Channel 13.
"The prime minister must immediately appoint a replacement for the Justice Ministry," said the Movement for Quality Government, an Israeli civil society group, calling Netanyahu's assumption of the post "a shameful political trick that harms the public trust in the legal system."
"It's not only psychotic that he will serve even for a second as justice minister - he should have been forbidden from even firing the [previous] justice minister, and from hiring a new justice minister," tweeted prominent independent journalist and anti-corruption activist Or-ly Barlev.
After Netanyahu failed to form a government in the six weeks allotted to him after winning at the polls in April, his ruling Likud party led the parliament in dissolving itself, setting the stage for new national elections, to be held on September 17.
https://www.rt.com/news/461082-netanyahu-justice-minister-charges/
#6514379 at 2019-05-16 19:13:37 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #8330: Thursday Morning Digs Edition
Netanyahu corruption case files leaked
Evidence pertaining to one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption cases has been leaked to the media, appearing to show his quid pro quo deal with a newspaper tycoon in return for favourable media coverage.
Published by Israel's Channel 12 last night, the leak included a transcript of a conversation between Netanyahu and the publisher of popular Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which lies at the centre of what has become known as Case 2000. In the case, Netanyahu allegedly offered to pass legislation that would impede the activities of Mozes' rival newspaper, Israel Hayom, in return for more favourable media coverage of the prime minister and his policies.
Israel Police also suspect that, in return for curbing Israel Hayom, Mozes offered to hire journalists recommended by Netanyahu to undermine his rival politicians.
In the leaked conversation, "Mozes can reportedly be heard admitting [to] slanting coverage against Netanyahu's election rivals and 'hiding' negative articles about the premier's wife [Sara], while urging the prime minister to file a libel lawsuit and figuratively 'kill' a Yedioth writer who is a fierce Netanyahu critic," the Times of Israel (ToI) reported, citing the Channel 12 broadcast.
The TV channel said that in a recording from December 2014 - ahead of Israel's 2015 election - "Netanyahu can be heard complaining to Mozes that [election rivals Yair] Lapid and [Naftali] Bennett were being handled with kids' gloves in Yedioth and [its associated online publication] Ynet".
ToI adds that the pair "also discussed Netanyahu's desire to ensure that Bennett win 'under 15' seats in the election," adding that his Jewish Home party "eventually won eight [seats], but was projected at the time for as much as 17," suggesting the policy was successful.
READ: Netanyahu to curtail Israel Supreme Court, guarantee immunity from prosecution
The leak of the recordings will likely be greeted with frustration by Netanyahu and his legal team, who have fought to keep such information out of the media.
In March, the prime minister's lawyers asked Israel's Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, not to release the case materials until after the general election on 9 April, fearing any leaks could drive voters away from his Likud party in the final weeks of campaigning. Mandelblit relented and agreed to withhold the evidence until 10 April, making the evidence available for collection immediately afterwards.
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/72712/netanyahu-corruption-case-files.html
In new transcripts, PM and newspaper boss discuss his demand for kinder coverage
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-new-transcripts-pm-and-newspaper-boss-discuss-his-demand-for-kinder-coverage/
#6456465 at 2019-05-09 21:29:14 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #8256: Rosenstein Sent Off A Hero Edition
Bennett: Jewish 'assimilation' is a 'disaster' for Israel
In what appears to be an admission of the growing divide between Israel and Jews living outside the country, the outgoing Minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett warned against what he sees as "assimilation" of Jews with communities around the world, describing it as "one of the greatest disasters in the history of the Jewish people".
The remarks, which were reported by Arutz Sheva, were made at the annual International Bible Quiz in Jerusalem, which takes place each year on Israel's Independence Day. It's reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in audience.
Expressing grave concern over Jewish "assimilation", Bennett who heads the New Right party with Ayelet Shaked, is reported saying: "The State of Israel has experienced the most prosperous and successful era it has known, but during these very days, one of the greatest disasters in the history of the Jewish people is taking place - we are losing millions of our Jewish brothers and sisters in the diaspora. Like an iceberg melting away, so many of our people are slipping away before our eyes."
He called on the state of Israel to act "without delay, with all [our] strength, creativity, and determination, in order to save [our] brothers and sisters, members of the Jewish people around the world, from assimilation and anti-Semitism."
Bennet insisted that the task of stemming the tide of Jewish "assimilation" needed to be "the project of the state of Israel", explaining that "whenever we needed financial or political assistance, the Jews of the world mobilised to help".
Bennet concluding his addressing saying: "We have a duty to ensure that we will be a sovereign and united Jewish state for all eternity."
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190509-Bennett-jewish-assimilation-is-a-disaster-for-israel/
Hey but it's ok to flood every other country with every other race….FFS
#5689960 at 2019-03-15 01:30:25 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #7277: Surprised By Ingenuity Edition
'It's time to defeat Hamas': Israeli minister speaks to RT after Gaza rocket fire (VIDEO)
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has blamed Hamas for firing two rockets into Israel, which triggered alarms near Tel Aviv. He told RT that it was time for Israel to retaliate against the "radical Islamic terror state."
While both the Hamas military wing and the hardline militants from Islamic Jihad denied responsibility for the latest rocket fire that hit Israeli territory on Thursday, Bennett has called to force the militants out of the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas has been shooting rockets at the southern part of Israel for roughly a year now and now they shot two rockets at the Tel Aviv area. It's time to defeat Hamas, it's time to demilitarize the Gaza Strip," he told RT.
Bennett blamed Arabs for turning Gaza into a failed state, to which Israel now must retaliate.
"When we handed it over to the Arabs, they turned it into a radical Islamic terror state and now it's time to fight back against that state and we will."
The minister dismissed as "utter nonsense" the argument that both sides have been equally responsible for the violence that is raging in the region.
"We left Gaza. We want peace. The moment they stop shooting missiles at my children's school and kindergarten is the moment there will be peace."
Bennett, who is a member of the Israeli Security Cabinet and a proponent of his own version of a one-state solution, also brushed off international calls for Israel to stop its rampant settlement construction.
"As long as it's up to me, I would build for Jews anywhere in Israel, because this is our home. I would build much more Jewish communities within our land."
US special Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt has echoed Bennett, blaming Hamas for the attack and "failing their people day after day."
WATCH the full interview
https://www.rt.com/news/453853-bennet-hamas-rocket-fire/
Those who create V those who destroy
#5684451 at 2019-03-14 20:52:56 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #7270: Fun Nonetheless Edition
Gantz threatens to kill Hamas leaders, resume targeted killings
"They [New Right] do not even need to bring Kahanists to the Knesset because they themselves are like that."
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz warned the leaders of Hamas on Wednesday that if they attack Israel while he is prime minister the policy of "targeted killings" of Hamas leaders would return.
Speaking on a tour of the Gaza periphery together with fellow Blue and White leaders, Yair Lapid, Moshe Ya'alon, Gabi Ashkenazi, Gantz promised that there would be "zero tolerance," for firing on the Israeli south.
Gantz declared Operation Protective Edge that he commanded in Gaza success, and said it brought quiet to the south. But that after he left his post, kites and other projectiles were fired.
He also said he would insist of the return of the bodies of soldiers held by Hamas.
Gantz accused New Right co-chairman Naftali Bennett of "incitement," for statements he made.
Previously on Wednesday, Gantz and Bennett exchanged heated words regarding the government's attitude toward Hamas.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Gantz-Naftali-Bennett-exchange-fire-over-Hamas-583292
#5533379 at 2019-03-06 06:14:17 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #7075: WWG1WGA Edition
'I am told I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel' and that's problematic - Ilhan Omar stands strong amid blizzard of attacks
Ilhan Omar's statement last week about the role of the Israel lobby- "I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country" - has ignited a firestorm of criticism, including from House Democratic colleagues such as Eliot Engel, chair of House Foreign Affairs, who called on her to apologize for a "vile, anti-semitic slur." Engel is a regular at the Israel lobby organization AIPAC, where he has promised to keep support for Israel bipartisan.
Nita Lowey has also been outspoken against her colleague:
Lawmakers must be able to debate w/o prejudice or bigotry. I am saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel. I urge her to retract this statement and engage in further dialogue with the Jewish community on why these comments are so hurtful.
Lowey is also an AIPAC regular. That event was closed to the public, in a Westchester temple.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz has also slammed her colleague:
Sadly, misunderstandings over anti-Semitic, hurtful comments continue, as does hateful Islamaphobic rhetoric. Dialogue leads to understanding. @IlhanMN, repeated misunderstandings would seem to require dialogue to avoid repetitive harm.
Wasserman Schultz led the cheers for Netanyahu when he came to the Congress in 2011 and defended settlements against the pressure from President Obama. She and Eliot Engel have embraced Israeli rightwinger Naftali Bennett, who is now leading the charge to annex the West Bank.
Ilhan Omar has stood strong. Here is her thread from yesterday afternoon, responding to Nita Lowey. Note that she calls out her colleagues for being silent. Note that she finds it problematic that "I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel." And she knows many agree with her. "I just happen to be willing to speak up."
Our democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman! I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee. The people of the 5th elected me to serve their interest. I am sure we agree on that!
I have not mischaracterized our relationship with Israel, I have questioned it and that has been clear from my end.
I am told everyday that I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel. I find that to be problematic and I am not alone. I just happen to be willing to speak up on it and open myself to attacks.
My Americanness is questioned by the President and the @GOP on a daily basis, yet my colleagues remain silent. I know what it means to be American and no one will ever tell me otherwise.
I am in the Horn of Africa this weekend, proud to see peace prosper here and to be part of the first American delegation to Eritrea🇪🇷 in decades is one I am grateful for. I fight peace and justice because only those who experience the pain of war, know the joy of peace. ?🏽
Being opposed to Netanyahu and the occupation is not the same as being anti-Semitic. I am grateful to the many Jewish allies who have spoken out and said the same.
We must be willing to combat hate of all kinds while also calling out oppression of all kinds. I will do my best to live up to that. I hope my colleagues will join me in doing the same.
more
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/03/american-problematic-blizzard/
#5421955 at 2019-02-27 22:10:55 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6931: Delectable Panic Edition
>>5421900
Kushner, Rothschild, Genie Energy, Goldman Sachs, Israel connections
Greenstein is or was also both President and Treasurer of American Friends of Mosaic United. Mosaic United is an organization spearheaded by the Israeli government's Naftali Bennett, with it being the flagship project of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry of Israel, Bennett previously called for the world to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and for a population boom to take place there through new settlements. Bennett also compared the Golan Heights to the West Bank and stated that it is land that must not be given to enemies.
Who do they want us to give the Golan to? To Assad? Today, it's clear that if we listened to the world we would give up the Golan and ISIS would be swimming in the Sea of Galilee. Enough with the hypocrisy.
Mosaic United, a reincarnation of the Government of Israel World Jewry Initiative, had attracted attention last year when it created a database of Jewish students to micro-target Hasbara toward abroad-before it was suspended.
Bennett has been the Minister of Diaspora Affairs since 2013, more recently a bill proposed by him while Minister of Education has been passed through its first reading, which criminalizes criticism of the Israeli military.
Direct ties to Israel's own affairs such as these is tantamount to Greenstein essentially working for the Israeli government's interests (A violation of the Logan Act), especially as it relates to specific geopolitical goals, such as controlling the Golan Heights. Like Kushner, whose name was removed from the Friends of the IDF (FIDF) website where he was a board member, it is not clear what Greenstein's continued role in Israeli organizations like Mosaic United still is.
Bennett also stated during Trump's victory in 2016, that it essentially meant the end of the Palestinian state, which again is an objective reflected in the Trump administration such as recognizing Jerusalem or moving the embassy.
Earlier, a key ally in Netanyahu's center-right coalition, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, said Tump's victory means that "the era of a Palestinian state is over." The Palestinians want a state in lands Israel captured in 1967...
Greenstein is or was also a Director of Regal Bank in Livingston, New Jersey, where Kushner had listed $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 in corporate stock, which he had indicated on his form as still being in the process of being divested.
Cont. in link
https://animeright.news/zanting/ira-greenstein-jared-kushners-criminal-deal-with-israel-behind-u-s-involvement-in-syria-for-genie-energys-control-of-the-golan-heights/
PART 3
#5416716 at 2019-02-27 16:43:39 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6924: Allowed To Break The Rules Edition
Jewish Insider's Daily Kickoff: February 27, 2019
Israeli startups shine in the $92 billion cybersecurity market; new government documents reveal Jared Kushner's Secret Service codename as 'Mechanic'
KUSHNER MIDEAST TOUR - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet Jared Kushner in Ankara on Wednesday. Erdogan told NTV television on Tuesday that he and Kushner would discuss conflicts in the Middle East as well as economic relations.
It's worth noting that Kushner is not visiting Egypt or Jordan on this trip, two countries likely critical to any peace plan rollout, as the primary goal of his current Middle East tour is raising funds for a large financial investment with the Palestinians and Israel's other neighbors. According to former U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk, the number Kushner has in mind is $65 billion, a rather ambitious fundraising goal.
"Kushner is trying to raise $65 billion in funds to support not just the Palestinians but also Egypt and Jordan. So there's no reason to go there on this trip. They're supposed to be beneficiaries, not donors," Indyk explained to Jewish Insider.
Asked how much of the $65 billion he thinks the Trump administration will be willing to put up, Indyk replied: "Somewhere between 'effes and shum davar' (zero and nil). Actually, I have no idea but it's probably the second question the potential donors will ask. The first question will be: 'What's in the plan?' And since it could cause an upheaval in Israel if any part of the plan leaks, he [Kushner] probably can't answer that."
New government documents reveal Jared Kushner's Secret Service codename as 'Mechanic' - by Justin Rohrlich: "Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner's Secret Service codename is "Mechanic," a new government filing reveals." [Quartz]
Top Israeli minister to Trump: Reveal plan before the election: "Israeli cabinet minister Naftali Bennett is calling on President Donald Trump to reveal his much-anticipated 'Deal of the Century' for Middle East peace before the upcoming Israeli election. Bennett... says Tuesday that Trump is leaving Israelis in the dark before a crucial election and 'friends do not keep secrets' from each other." [AP]
SCENE LAST NIGHT - by JI's Laura Kelly: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told a group of Jewish Democrats that Israel as a bipartisan issue is being put at risk by people who would like to separate the Jewish community and the Democratic Party. [Pic]
At a reception hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), the majority leader said Democratic members were united in criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for touting an anti-Semitic trope on Twitter. "Well we made some criticism when one of them said something we thought was not appropriate and gave the wrong message of anti-Semitism, but she apologized... I said, 'We're prepared to criticize our own,'" Hoyer said.
Over a dozen members of Congress came out to the event, held at the Liaison Hotel in Washington, DC. "We are a wonderful noble country and in the last few years, there have been real attempts to derail that," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said at the opening of the event, before heading to a fundraiser across the hall.
Also speaking at the event were freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who voiced greater action in confronting anti-Semitism, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), who promoted Jewish values as central to democratic values, and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that strong support of Israel is essential for America's national security. "I know that the Israelis are key to our national security as well, in terms of their partnership, in terms of their sharing information with us - we've got to end this notion that somehow one party or the other is promoting stronger ties with Israel. We should all be promoting stronger ties."
>https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-insiders-daily-kickoff-february-27-2019/
I'll let you faggots chew on that.
>We want moshiach now, we want moshiach now!, we want moshiach now!, we want moshiach now!, we want moshiach now!
#5378812 at 2019-02-25 19:22:33 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6875: Big Name Coming Edition
New Right, Likud accuse each other of enabling Kushner's two-state push
After US president's adviser talks peace plan, Likud says PM 'safeguarded Israel in face of Obama's hostile administration, will do in face of Trump's sympathetic administration'
Likud and the New Right entered into a mudslinging match Monday evening, after US President Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner gave an interview on the administration's upcoming peace plan - with each party issuing stark warnings that the other would enable the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Kushner, in an interview with Sky News Arabic, said the administration's long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan will focus on "redrawing of boundaries and resolving final status issues."
The statements set off a combative back and forth between the coalition's New Right, headed by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, with the two parties jostling to boost their right-wing credibility.
"There's a clear and immediate danger in front of us: the establishment of a Palestinian state," Bennett said in response to the Kushner interview.
"What Kushner said proves what we already knew - the day after the elections the Americans will push the Netanyahu-Lapid-Gantz government to allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state... and for the division of Jerusalem," Bennett said in a statement.
"There's only one way to prevent this: a strong and powerful New Right party which will boost Netanyahu but put pressure on him against Palestine," he said.
Likud responded to Bennett's charges, saying: "When Bennett and Shaked established the New Right they said they were doing it in order to pull votes from Lapid and Gantz to enlarge the right-wing bloc, and that they wouldn't subject us to friendly fire. Now they are making false charges against Likud with the goal of pulling votes from Likud, which will bring about the rise of the left-wing government of Lapid and Gantz, whose party will be bigger than Likud."
Likud further claimed that representatives of the New Right have "made contact with Lapid and Gantz to join them after the elections," while Netanyahu "has made it unequivocally clear that he will form a right-wing government.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu has safeguarded the Land of Israel and the State of Israel against Obama's hostile government and will continue to do so in the face of Trump's sympathetic administration," it said.
Responding to Likud's claim that the party held talks with Gantz and Lapid, the New Right said: "The Likud announcement is pure fake news and utter nonsense. The pressure is clear... It's the right or Palestine. Only the New Right will prevent the establishment of Palestine in the Land of Israel."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-right-likud-accuse-each-other-of-enabling-kushners-two-state-push/
#5378403 at 2019-02-25 18:56:40 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6874: Next to Fall Edition
Israeli news anchor defends anti-occupation comments despite death threats
An Israeli news anchor who has blamed the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands for turning regime troops into "animals" has defended her comments despite having received death threats from "thousands."
Israeli Channel 13 TV anchor Oshrat Kotler had last week denounced the mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli custody following a piece aired on the channel about five Israeli soldiers indicted for beating two handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinians - a father and his 15-year-old son.
According to the indictment, the father was hospitalized for three days after sustaining multiple broken ribs, a "severely" broken nose, and subdermal bleeding around his stomach. The son also suffered a number of wounds to his head and "significant swelling" on his face.
After the report was aired, Kotler said, "We send children to the army, to the [occupied] territories, and get back animals. That is the result of the occupation."
Her remarks infuriated extremist Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, both demanding that the TV host apologize.
On Saturday, however, Kotler said she stood by her comments despite having been flooded with death threats, according to The Times of Isreal.
She accused Israeli politicians of taking "cynical" advantage of her comments and taking them out of context in the midst of an election campaign.
"I am sorry if I hurt anyone with my words, but I cannot see the price we pay through our children for the reality of controlling another nation," she said, appearing to fight back tears and referring to Palestinians. "We have lived this reality for 52 years. I do not have a magic solution; I am not a politician."
'Thousands of death threats'
She said her comments, "spoken with great pain," had been "directed only at the soldiers who violated the law" and not all Israeli troopers.
"Thousands threatened my life and the life of my family, and I am afraid, but I hope to find the strength to continue and express my opinion as a reporter," she said.
Israeli NGO Peace Now backed Kotler, saying, "It is permissible and even desirable to look into the mirror from time to time and honestly admit to the damage [caused by] the occupation. Those whose children's futures are important to them should work to end the conflict rather than maintain it, because the price is high."
Tamar Zandberg, the leader of left-wing Meretz Party, called the attacks on Kotler "pathetic and yet predictable... shutting your eyes [to the problem] and then assailing the messenger is not a solution."
Israeli forces have on numerous occasions been caught on camera brutally beating or killing Palestinians, with the videos going viral online and sparking widespread condemnations.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/02/24/589385/Israel-news-anchor-occupation-defense-death-threats
#5306213 at 2019-02-21 18:30:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6781: Eyes On Increasing Edition
Netanyahu Merges Extremist Parties, Seeking Support in Election
Racist party of Kahane loyalists has a shot at getting seats in upcoming vote
With the various far-right portions of the previous coalition government now split, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking for newer, farther right parties to court. He has made a deal on the merger of two extremist parties to try to get them above the electoral threshhold, and a deal to see those MPs join a Netanyahu-led coalition.
The merger combines what is left of the Jewish Home party, which is tiny since Naftali Bennett and other leaders left to form the New Right, and the Jewish Power party, a collection of racists loyal to the banned movement of Rabbi Meir Kahane.
This has sparked some criticism from Netanyahu's rivals, with him trying to cobble together potential allies from racists and homophobes, in an effort to keep his far-right coalition standing, no matter how much farther right it has to go.
While these parties are both very divisive and not palatable to the mainstream, they are both extremely pro-settler, and in Israel's notoriously-tight elections, courting the comparatively small number of settler voters is always seen as a priority for coalition-builders.
https://news.antiwar.com/2019/02/20/netanyahu-merges-extremist-parties-seeking-support-in-election/
#4630074 at 2019-01-06 19:56:22 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5907: "PANIC IN DC" Edition
>>4629961
>>4630029
>>4630042
Gaining control of the Golan Heights has long been a goal of Israel.
In 2015, prominent Israeli politician Naftali Bennett called for the world to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, while calling for the expansion of Jewish settlers in the region.
“I want to challenge the entire world,” Bennett said at the 15th annual Herzliya Conference of the Institute for Policy and Strategy. “I want to give the international community an opportunity to demonstrate their ethics. Recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”
In mid-February 2017 during his visit to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which was seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and unofficially annexed in 1981.
Netanyahu told Israeli and foreign media after his meeting with President Trump that he had raised the Golan issue, and said without elaborating that the U.S. leader was not surprised by the request. Israel made a similar request to the Obama administration in 2015, but it was rejected.
On February 15th 2017 the Independent reported that billionaire globalist activist George Soros, known for his investment in pro-western color revolutions, had invested $14.9 million in Goldman Sachs in the fourth quarter of 2016.
#4624254 at 2019-01-06 09:51:24 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5899: Timing Is Everything Edition
Israeli alliances crumble as candidates envision a post-Netanyahu era
JERUSALEM (NYTIMES) - With elections a few months away, it is political fratricide season in Israel: From left to right, candidates are sticking knives in the ribs of their natural allies in hopes of elevating their own chances of succeeding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This week, the Zionist Union, a 4-year-old liberal alliance, blew itself up as the Labor Party chief, Mr Avi Gabbay, humiliated veteran politician Tzipi Livni by abruptly breaking with her and her boutique party Hatnuah (The Movement) while television cameras rolled.
Popular ministers, Mr Naftali Bennett and Ms Ayelet Shaked, abandoned their right-wing party, the Jewish Home, to form a new one - the New Right - that they vowed would be less beholden to religious leaders but would still push to settle the West Bank and oppose a Palestinian state.
"People can say, 'Netanyahu will win anyway, so maybe I'll vote for so-and-so'," Prof Rahat said. "For the Likud, it's not good."
Mr Netanyahu has a more immediate reason to fear: Waiting just offstage with the equivalent of a broadaxe in hand is the Israeli attorney general, Mr Avichai Mandelblit, who is expected to decide in the coming months whether to heed police recommendations that he indict Mr Netanyahu on bribery or other charges arising from three major corruption investigations.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/israeli-alliances-crumble-as-candidates-envision-a-post-netanyahu-era
#4580695 at 2019-01-03 18:33:05 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5843: Happy Birthday Brad Edition
Early Elections: Who Will Dethrone 'The King of Israel'?
"A historic mistake" is how Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu responded to calls for early elections last November. A few weeks later, he spoke, in exaggerated confidence of the "unanimous" agreement of his right-wing coalition that early elections must be held next April.
So why the change of heart?
Netanyahu may not be a good leader, but he is certainly a cunning politician. The fact that he is gearing up for a fifth term at the helm of Israel's fractious political scene speaks volumes of his ability to survive against many odds.
But it is not all about Netanyahu and his clever ways. Israeli politics are truly dismal. The Left, if it ever earned such a title, is marginal, if not entirely irrelevant. The Center lacks any real political identity or decipherable discourse concerning, for example, foreign policy or true vision for peace and coexistence. The Right, which now defines Israeli society as a whole, has moved further to the right, and is saturated in religious zeal, ultra-nationalism, while some of its parties are flirting with outright fascism.
As strange as this may sound, in the company of Education Minister, Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, and the recently-resigned Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu is not the most extreme.
Indeed, per Israel's Orwellian politics, nothing is what it seems.
Netanyahu is now paying the price for his overconfidence. The right-wing creature that he has so diligently created to quash his enemies, has grown so powerful and unhinged, that even the prime minister himself could no longer control political outcomes.
The once unchallenged Israeli leader has himself grown too comfortable with power. His family too has become too accustomed to the good life. His wife is now standing trial for corruption and misuse of public funds.
As of early December, the police have recommended, and for third time, that Netanyahu be charged with fraud, accepting bribes and breach of trust. Between direct involvement in the massive corruption racket that his office has espoused, and the dirty dealings of his own circle of aides and profiteers, the Israeli leader is no longer untouchable.
Netanyahu's sense of safety has always been buttressed by his good standing in opinion polls.
Even now, his numbers are still relatively high. His Likud party would still win an easy election - 30 seats in the Knesset's 120 seats - if the vote was to be held today.
https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2019/01/02/early-elections-who-will-dethrone-the-king-of-israel/
#4566748 at 2019-01-02 18:40:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5825: Low Gas Prices Edition
Israel opposition in dramatic split ahead of election
Israel's centre-left opposition dramatically split on Tuesday ahead of an April 9 election, with leader Avi Gabbay announcing he would no longer partner with veteran politician Tzipi Livni as she sat stone-faced next to him.
The announcement means the end of their Zionist Union alliance, which finished with the second most seats in the last general election in 2015 but which has since tumbled far in opinion polls.
Zionist Union included Gabbay's Labour party and Livni's Hatnuah.
It won 24 out of 120 seats in 2015, behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, which won 30.
Since Gabbay took over as head of Labour in 2017, his partnership with Livni had been uneasy and it was unclear if the alliance would continue for the election.
He inherited the partnership from the previous Labour leader, Isaac Herzog.
"I still believe in partnership, in connections, in uniting a large camp committed to change, but successful connections necessitate friendship, upholding agreements and commitment to a course," Gabbay told a meeting of Zionist Union parliament members.
"That didn?t happen in this partnership," he said, adding that he believed voters agreed.
Livni approached the podium immediately afterwards and said tersely she would take time to reflect on Gabbay's announcement before responding. It was unclear if she was given advance notice.
In a statement shortly after Gabbay's announcement, Livni said it was "good that the doubts had been cleared," vowing to focus on winning the upcoming poll.
Gabbay's decision is the latest realignment ahead of the election and more are expected.
On Saturday, two right-wing ministers, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, announced they were splitting from their Jewish Home party to form a new one that they hope will attract a mixture of secular and religious voters.
A popular former armed forces chief of staff, Benny Gantz, has also signalled his intention to run by forming a new centrist party.
Polls show Netanyahu is likely to remain prime minister after the elections despite corruption allegations against him.
The attorney general is expected to announce his decision on whether to charge Netanyahu in the coming months. The premier would not be required to step down if indicted.
Netanyahu currently leads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israel's history and says he would like to have a similar coalition after elections.
"I won?t intervene in how the left divides its votes," he said in a statement after Gabbay's announcement.
"What?s important to me is that the right forms the next government too, and continues to lead Israel."
https://www.france24.com/en/20190101-israel-opposition-dramatic-split-ahead-election
#4523967 at 2018-12-30 19:16:00 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5769: Shining Beacon Edition
Elections Don't Make Israel a Democracy
It's official, Israel is racing towards early elections. But no one is talking about who can vote in them.
New elections were nearly called in November 2017 after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned in protest of Israel not going to war with Gaza and right-wing leader Naftali Bennett threatened to pull his party from the coalition if he was not given the defense portfolio. However, Netanyahu outfoxed Bennett by claiming that it was too dangerous a time to go to elections and retained the defense portfolio for himself (Netanyahu is now Israel's prime minister, defense minister, and foreign minister), utilizing a slim 51% ruling majority.
Until last week it looked like the coalition would hold together with its small majority. But following the Knesset's inability to reach agreement on a bill dealing with military conscription of the ultra-orthodox, and, much more importantly, leaked information that the ministry of justice was recommending Netanyahu's indictment on charges of bribery, on Monday Netanyahu announced "It's too difficult [to pass laws], we need elections." With that, the Israeli national election is scheduled to take place on April 9.
Much of the already up and running election coverage is focused on the coming indictment of Netanyahu. Will he be able to stave off the attorney general until April? If he is reelected, will he try to get his coalition partners to pass a measure forbidding the prosecution of a sitting prime minister?
Other election issues under discussion are the certain increase we will see in pandering to settlers. Netanyahu has already begun that.
Absent entirely from the election conversation is the Palestinian population living under Israeli control without voting rights.
20% of Israeli citizens are Palestinian. They can vote in all Israeli elections and have representation in Knesset. However, these Israeli Palestinians represent only about one third of the Palestinians living under Israeli rule and military occupation.
https://original.antiwar.com/Ariel_Gold/2018/12/28/elections-dont-make-israel-a-democracy/
#4450211 at 2018-12-24 14:07:16 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5674: ebake
>>4450152
https://outline.com/DKBFK3
Israel headed to elections as Netanyahu's coalition dissolves parliament
DECEMBER 24, 2018
JERUSALEM - The coalition of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday it was dissolving parliament and calling a general election as soon as April, after failing to garner the necessary support to pass controversial legislation aimed at drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military.
Local media said national elections would most likely take place on April 9.
Netanyahu's coalition has been teetering on the edge since the Nov. 14 resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who stepped down over the government's handling of ongoing tensions with the Gaza Strip.
Since then, the government has limped along with a one-seat majority in the Knesset, or parliament. Each crisis looked set to bring down the government and take the country to an early election.
That seemed imminent after Liberman's resignation, as ultranationalist Education Minister Naftali Bennett threatened to withdraw his Jewish Home party from the government if he could not take over the defense portfolio. But Bennett was forced to backtrack after Netanyahu said he was determined to hold onto the important security post, as well as filling the roles of foreign minister, immigration minister and health minister.
A statement Monday from Netanyahu's ruling Likud party said "national and budgetary responsibilities" had pushed the leaders of the coalition parties to "dissolve the Knesset and go to new elections at the beginning of April after a four-year term."
But the decision appeared to be linked to an earlier announcement from Yair Lapid, head of the opposition Yesh Atid party and Netanyahu's main challenger, that his faction would not support legislation aimed at drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the army.
While all Jewish Israelis are required to serve in the military at the age of 18, those who study the Torah in recognized yeshivas, or religious schools, have traditionally received an exemption. However, manpower shortages in recent years and growing demands for equality have forced the government to reevaluate the matter and craft new legislation that would exempt only the top religious students - a move that the ultra-Orthodox have resisted.
Drafting a law that would satisfy all members of Netanyahu's coalition has proved to be a source of tension over the past year, threatening to break apart the government.
From the outside, Lapid, who has pushed for new legislation, said the law did not go far enough and suggested that Netanyahu had "surrendered to the ultra-Orthodox."
Liberman, who Netanyahu's coalition had hoped would support the law despite his resignation last month, said the law in its current format had been "emptied of content" after agreements were reached between Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
#4404782 at 2018-12-21 05:48:39 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5615: Military Intelligence, No Such Agency = Key Edition
Israel Prepares for Mass Immigration of French Jews
TEL AVIV - Israel is launching a government-wide initiative to encourage as many as 200,000 French Jews to immigrate to Israel, Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett announced Wednesday.
Concerned about their future in France in light of a series of Islamic terrorist attacks in recent years, as well as a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in general, French Jews are increasingly investigating the idea of resettlement in Israel. Data shows that 43% of French Jewry, or some 200,000 people, have expressed interest in making aliya, or immigrating to the Jewish state.
"Every Jew in France should know, as should Jews anywhere in the world, the State of Israel awaits them with open arms," Bennett said in statement.
"Immigration to Israel does not end on the day of arrival, that is just the beginning," Bennett continued. "The State should assist in absorption in all areas - language, education, housing, employment and more. We will do it."
The proposal for the project, led by Bennett and National Economic Council Chairman Avi Simhon, will be presented to Israel's Cabinet on Sunday. Representatives present will be from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Social Services, the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure, Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.
The final proposal will be drafted within two months and presented to the Ministerial Committee for Absorption and Immigration under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently serving as minister of absorption. The committee also includes Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Environmental Protection Minister Ze'ev Elkin, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Simhon and the prime minister's chief of staff Yoav Horowitz.
"These are ethical people, Zionists, lovers of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and it is our moral obligation to help them," Bennett said of French Jews last week.
In 2015, following a spate of terror attacks in which five Jews were killed, Netanyahu said in a televised speech that "the State of Israel is your home."
"All Jews who want to immigrate to Israel will be welcomed here warmly and with open arms," he added.
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2018/12/20/israel-prepares-for-mass-immigration-of-french-jews/
#4353525 at 2018-12-18 01:54:55 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5548: Refiling Files Edition
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2018/12/17/ministers-approve-law-to-expel-families-of-terrorists/
Israel Advances Bill to Expel Families of Terrorists From Their Homes
Israeli Ministers on Sunday night approved legislation that would allow Israel to expel the families of Palestinian terrorists from their homes to other areas of the West Bank within seven days of an attack or an attempted attack.
The bill, which was promoted by Education Minister Naftali Bennett and MK Motti Yogev from the Jewish Home party, was voted on by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation after a lengthy and complicated debate. It proceeded despite the opposition of the judicial authorities, Bennett's party said in a statement.
#3961805 at 2018-11-19 18:36:49 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5040: Resolute Edition
One-Man State: Netanyahu Is Defense Minister, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister & Health Minister Of Israel
On November 18th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named himself Defense Minister in addition to also being the Foreign Minister and Health Minister.
He began his speech with a long and detailed account of the five years he spent in the military, as a soldier and officer in the IDF's most elite of units, Sayeret Matka. He also spoke about how he almost died in the Suez Canal during the War of Attrition. He also mentioned how he was wounded in the rescue mission on the hijacked Sabena Airliner in 1972. He did not mention that he was wounded by friendly fire. He also mentioned his brother, Yoni's death in Entebbe.
He emphasized his combat record, not only because he assumed the post of Defense Minister, but also because this was his first election speech of the 2019 campaign.
Experts and media are expecting snap elections, and according to Haaretz it is likely that Benjamin Netanyahu will lose them. The Prime Minister, of course, refuses to acknowledge that there will be elections.
Netanyahu insisted that there should be no election for another 12 months and that in such "a complex security period" it would be "irresponsible" to hold an early election.
"We are in them midst of a military campaign, and you don't leave during a campaign, you don't play with politics," he said, criticizing former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's decision to resign, as well as Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is threatening to also leave. "The security of the state is above all else," Netanyahu said.
He also condemned that Jewish Home Chairman Bennett demanded a ministerial position as a condition to stay in the coalition. "There is no place for politics or personal considerations," when it comes to Israel's security.
The current Education minister threatened to "bring down the government" if he is not named Defense Minister. Without the Jewish Home, Netanyahu's coalition would shrink from 61 seats to just 53 and lose the required majority of the 120-seat Knesset to survive no-confidence motions.
Bennett, along with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also threatened to leave the government on the morning of November 19th.
It should be OK, however, even if both Bennett and Shaked resign. Netanyahu is more than likely capable of encompassing all minister positions in his own cabinet, to highlight Israel as "the only democracy in the Middle East." And not simply a totalitarian regime in which the Prime Minister can also hold three different positions in his own cabinet simultaneously.
On the morning of November 19th, Bennett and Shaked walked back on their resignation threats handing Netanyahu a "big win". The Education Minister also downplayed "the apocalyptic predictions" that Netanyahu made in his speech.
"We are facing a security challenge not because of an apocalyptic reason but because there have always been threats," Bennett said. "Something bad is happening to Israel. We have stopped winning."
In his Trump-style, "winning-focused" speech Bennett also reiterated the government's inability to implement right-wing policies.
"The ship, called the State of Israel, is floating in a wrong direction," Bennett said. "There is what to do and when Israel decides to win we will go back to winning."
He also reiterated that Netanyahu is capable of restoring Israel's strength and deterrence and if that happens the Education Minister would remove all his conditions.
https://southfront.org/one-man-state-netanyahu-is-now-defense-minister-prime-minister-foreign-minister-health-minister-of-israel/
#3951420 at 2018-11-18 18:08:31 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5026 Lets Do Research & Quit Sliding the Bread About Muh Notables Edition
Israel's Netanyahu Makes Last-Ditch Effort to Save Government
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he was heading into a meeting with his top coalition partner in a "last effort" to prevent the collapse of his government, which has been rocked by the resignation of its defense minister over a cease-fire agreement with Gaza militants.
Speaking at his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said it would be unwise to embark on a divisive election campaign during such a sensitive time for Israeli security. He said he would try to convince Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his centrist Kulanu party to stay in the fold.
"It would be both unnecessary and incorrect to go to elections. We remember well what happened when elements inside the coalitions took down Likud governments in 1992 and in 1999," he said, noting the past two elections in which the Labor Party came to power.
"We need to do everything we can to prevent repeating these mistakes," he added.
The sudden coalition crisis was sparked by the resignation of Israel's hard-line Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who had demanded a far stronger response last week to the most massive wave of rocket attacks on Israel since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. He alleges the truce will put southern Israel under a growing threat from Hamas, similar to that posed to northern Israel by Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah group.
The departure of Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party leaves the coalition with a one-seat majority in the 120-member parliament. Netanyahu's other partners say that makes governing untenable and would leave the coalition susceptible to the extortion of any single lawmaker until elections scheduled for November 2019.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, has already threatened to bring down the government if he is not appointed defense minister. Kahlon says another year of such instability will harm the economy.
Netanyahu is trying to convince them to stay, and his Likud allies are already preparing to pin the blame on them if that effort fails.
"I think that there is no reason to shorten the term of a national government, not even for one day, and at this moment it's in the hands of the education minister and the finance minister," said Gilad Erdan, the minister of public security.
No Israeli government has served out its full term since 1988. Since then, elections have almost always been moved up because of a coalition crisis or a strategic move by the prime minister to maximize his chances of re-election.
Though Netanyahu has been reportedly flirting with the idea of moving up elections himself in recent months, the current timing is not ideal for him.
He has come under heavy criticism for agreeing to the Gaza cease-fire, especially from within his own political base and in the working-class, rocket-battered towns in southern Israel that are typically strongholds of his Likud Party. But with Lieberman forcing his hand and the other coalition partners appearing eager to head to the polls he may not have a choice.
Most opinion polls show Netanyahu easily securing re-election, which would secure him a place in Israeli history as the country's longest-serving leader. But several factors could trip him up, including a potential corruption indictment that could knock him out of contention.
Police have recommended he be indicted on bribery and breach of trust charges in two cases and have questioned him at length on another. The country has long been eagerly awaiting the attorney general's decision on whether to press charges.
Netanyahu has angrily dismissed the accusations against him, characterizing them as part of a media-driven witch-hunt that is obsessed with removing him from office.
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2018/11/18/netanyahu-last-effort-to-save-government/
#3935875 at 2018-11-17 04:32:04 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5006: Quiet Night Shift Edition
Is The Gaza Ceasefire The End For Netanyahu?
Authored by Tom Luongo,
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
H. L. Mencken
The resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman over the terms of the ceasefire with Palestinians in Gaza has thrown Israeli politics into real turmoil.
Depending on whose analysis of this situation you read you may be tempted to see this as a good thing or a bad thing.
Bernard at Moon of Alabama sees a weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being forced to sue of peace after the upgraded response from Gaza. From MoA:
The short conflict demonstrated that:
Israel is deterred. It does not want to launch another war on Gaza.
The siege of Gaza, by Israel, Egypt and by the Palestinian authority under Mahmoud Abbas, failed. The reputational cost of the siege became too high after Israel killed some 160 Palestinians during weekly protests along the demarcation fence. It had to allow diesel fuel and money from Qatar to reach Gaza.
The siege failed to prevent that Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other groups acquired a larger number of missiles and other new capabilities.
The Palestinians in Gaza are united. The resistance against the occupation is alive and well.
This leaves Netanyahu scrambling to fend off snap elections and the rise of the even more hard-line Naftali Bennett who has threatened Bibi's coalition outright unless he is made Defense Minister, replacing Lieberman.
MoA sees Netanyahu in a very precarious position, which he is, and will be forced to placate Bennett or risk a snap election that could see his government fall.
And it is on this point that Mintpressnews's Whitney Webb takes another view, namely, that this is not the political victory for Gaza the Palestinians think it is. Since Bennett will step up the brutality to include all Gazans, including children.
With Lieberman's party already withdrawing from Israel's far-right coalition, Netanyahu will likely capitulate to Bennett's demands in order to stabilize the current government and avoid dissolving the Knesset and subsequent snap elections. Thus, the current instability facing the Likud-led coalition now seems fated to result in a rightward surge, whether it's through snap elections or through Netanyahu-led efforts to placate other right-wing parties and prevent them from defecting.
Other powerful politicians within Jewish Home, such as Uri Ariel, have also pushed for Bennett to be appointed. Ariel told Israeli media outlet Arutz Sheva:
Prime Minister Netanyahu should appoint Minister Bennett as defense minister and this government can continue to function. I think there is an advantage in stability, of course assuming that Bennett will bring security policy to a much better place.
Naturally, there is a desire of more than one person to be defense minister, but the most appropriate one is Minister Bennett, who was promised the portfolio by the prime minister in the past, and the promise was not honored."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-16/gaza-ceasefire-end-netanyahu
#3917841 at 2018-11-15 22:19:55 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4983: Arizona Audit Edition
Netanyahu said to tell ministers he may not be able to hold coalition together
Finance Minister Kahlon reportedly vetoes Bennett's demand to be defense minister, apparently making elections inevitable, probably between March and late May
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly told ministers in his coalition that he will not be able to appoint Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home party to the defense minister post because of opposition to the move from other coalition partners, a development which likely puts Israel on course for early elections.
According to Channel 10 news, Netanyahu told ministers during meetings throughout the day that the main stumbling bloc to keeping the coalition together was the demand from the national-religious Jewish Home party that its leader Bennett be given the newly vacated defense ministry, or it will topple the government.
According to the report on Channel 10 and Hadashot news, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who already called for elections in the wake of the sudden resignation this week of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, is said to be vetoing Bennett's appointment. Neither report cited sources from the closed-door meetings.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-said-to-tell-ministers-he-may-not-be-able-to-hold-coalition-together/
#3915144 at 2018-11-15 18:13:58 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4979: Manufactured Conflict Edition
Netanyahoo's Likely Fall Destroys Trump's Middle East Strategy
The political upheaval in Israel is a problem for the White House and its Middle East plans.
Today Israel's defense minister Avigor Lieberman resigned and called for new elections. He disagreed with prime minister Netanyahoo over the renewed ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahoo had worked towards the earlier ceasefire to split Gaza under Hamas from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas. That split is along the ideological line of the larger split in the Middle East between Qatar and Turkey as the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the absolute rules like the Saudi clown prince Mohammad bin Salman. Qatar is now financing Hamas in Gaza while the Saudis prop up Abbas.
This splitting up of the Palestinians is an intended part of the Jared Kushner 'peace' plan for the Middle East. The Palestinians shall no longer be recognized as a people but must be splintered into small local groups without a common identity who can then be more easily suppressed.
Lieberman seems to disagree with this plan. He wants to wage war against Hamas and defeat it. Any such attempt would of course reunite the Palestinians. But there is a loud constituency in the Zionist population that supports Lieberman's way.
This photo was taken today shortly before Lieberman resigned. Netanyahoo was not happy about the dilemma he is now in.
He wanted to avoid an early election. His Likud party just lost seats in local elections and he is afraid of a campaign that would play out over Gaza and his 'dovish' stand in the latest conflict.
But with only a two seat majority and an unstable coalition Netanyahoo will have trouble to hold on.
Naftali Bennett, the leader of the rightwing religious Jewish Home party, demands to be made defense minister. Netanyahoo does not want to give Bennet such a high profile job. But Bennett threatens to resign and to bring the Netanyahoo's coalition down if he does not get his will.
Netanyahoo is already the prime minister, foreign minister and health minister of Israel. He will now add the title of defense minister if only for a short time. Elections will likely be held in March.
There are currently some 18 parties and political groups in the Knesset. Netanyahoo's Likud party holds 30 of 120 seats but could easily lose some in a new election. With a smaller base Netanyahoo would have difficulties to build a new coalition and to again become prime minster.
Jared Kushner, the son in law of president Trump, has his 'deal of the century' Middle East plan build on his very personal relation with Netanyahoo and Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. If Netanyahoo is no longer prime minister that plan is even more dead than it already seems to be. The Trump administration has no alternative policy and Kushner is not the one to develop and pursue it.
The common patron and biggest donor of Trump and of Netanyahoo is the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Can he buy Netanyahoo a new premiership? If he can't, and Trump's Israel policy is thereby dead, will he still support Trump in his re-election campaign?
The White House will have to think about that and come up with a plan to support Netanyahoo. What could it do?
As for Lieberman. He is a brash and thuggish man with little political foresight. In 2016 he boosted that he would kill Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, should he become defense minister. Six weeks later he became defense minister.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/11/netanyahoo-might-fall-and-trumps-middle-east-strategy-with-him.html#more
#3906309 at 2018-11-15 00:56:44 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4968: A Fresh Start Edition
Netanyahu Coalition In Crisis Over Liberman Resignation
TEL AVIV - Israel's governing coalition hung in the balance Wednesday in the wake of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's announcement that he was resigning over Israel's "capitulation to terror" by agreeing to a ceasefire with the Hamas rulers of Gaza, and his subsequent call for new elections.
"I am here to announce my resignation from the government," Liberman said.
"What happened yesterday, the ceasefire, together with the deal with Hamas, is a capitulation to terror. There is no other way of explaining it," he added.
Israel and Palestinian terror groups in Gaza arrived at a ceasefire agreement after close to 500 rockets and mortars were fired over the border toward Israeli territory.
"What we are doing right now is buying quiet for a heavy price with no long-term plan to reduce violence toward us," he said of the ceasefire deal.
He added that the IDF did not respond harshly enough.
"To put it lightly, our response was drastically lacking to the 500 rockets fired at us," he said.
Liberman also slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he "fundamentally disagreed with him" - and pointed to the government's decision to allow $15 million in cash to be transferred from the Qatari government to Hamas on Friday.
"I opposed it. The prime minister needed to write an executive order for it to go above my head," Liberman claimed.
He added that the money was not used for humanitarian purposes, rather it went toward compensation to the families of Hamas terrorists killed on the Gaza border in clashes with the IDF, as well as funding the production of more missiles.
"I could not remain [in office] and still be able to look residents of the south in the eye," he said.
Meanwhile, a statement from the ruling Likud party said the government would complete its term and the defense portfolio would go to Netanyahu, who apart from serving as premier, also holds the foreign minister post. In addition, Netanyahu will take the helm of the Immigration Absorption Ministry, since current minister Sofa Landver will leave the coalition with Liberman's Yisrael Beitenu party.
Officials from the Jewish Home party threatened that if their chairman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, does not become defense minister, they would also quit the coalition.
Two other likely challengers for the defense portfolio are Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz, and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman and former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter.
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2018/11/14/netanyahu-fears-government-to-fold-over-liberman-resignation/
#3906293 at 2018-11-15 00:54:46 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4968: A Fresh Start Edition
Israeli Opposition Leaders Join Avigdor Liberman in Call for Early Elections
Zionist Union chairman Avi Gabbay and Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni joined the chorus calling for new elections in the wake of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's snap resignation over the government's "capitulation to terror" by reaching a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Liberman called for elections to be set "as soon as possible."
With Liberman's Yisrael Beitenu party quitting the coalition, Netanyahu will be left with 61 seats - a majority of one.
Meanwhile, officials from the Jewish Home party threatened that if the party's chairman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, does not become defense minister, it too would quit the coalition.
Gabbay called it "a day of hope" and said that the precarious situation between Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been simmering for a while and it was only a matter of time before there was an "explosion." He added that Liberman's announcement would set off a process of change that the country greatly needed.
"After the explosion there will be a process of change, a process of recovery," Gabbay said. "I call for elections now, there is no other solution, it's time for a big, big move, toward a process of unity."
He added that Liberman was "totally unsuited to the post of defense minister."
Livni said it was "an important day" in which Liberman unwittingly "opened the door" for change.
She acknowledged, however, that Liberman was correct in his assessment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Liberman is right, the king is naked and he revealed what we already knew for a long time, namely, that this government is impotent when it comes to terror," she said, in an apparent mocking of the premier's derogatory moniker, King Bibi.
She accused the government of "abandoning the residents of the south" and providing "zero security."
Former defense minister and prime minister Ehud Barak echoed Livni's words, saying in reference to Netanyahu, "The emperor has no clothes. ... This is the beginning of the end."
He seemed to compliment Liberman, however, saying his resignation showed "independence and consistency."
Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said Liberman's resignation proved that Netanyahu has "no solution to Gaza."
"Today, the quest began for the return of security, responsibility, and leadership to the State of Israel. Yesh Atid is ready. I am ready," he stated, as if new elections were a fait accompli.
Tamar Zandberg, head of the left-wing Meretz party, slammed Liberman for being a racist and a key part of the most racist government in Israel's history.
"It's a blessing that we have gotten rid of Liberman, the racist and corrupt minister who debased Israeli politics. All the government ministers must follow in his footsteps," she said
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party leader Aryeh Deri praised Liberman for serving his country faithfully: "The resignation of my friend Avigdor Liberman from the role of defense minister saddens me. Liberman served faithfully, devotedly, and extremely professionally, and his resignation weakens the government."
Israel and Palestinian terror groups in Gaza arrived at a ceasefire agreement Tuesday after close to 500 rockets and mortars were fired over the border into Israeli territory.
Liberman bitterly opposed the move, calling it "capitulation to terror," prompting his resignation.
"What happened yesterday, the ceasefire, together with the deal with Hamas, is a capitulation to terror. There is no other way of explaining it," he said in a press conference Wednesday.
"What we are doing right now is buying quiet for a heavy price with no long-term plan to reduce violence toward us," he said of the ceasefire deal.
He also blamed the IDF for not responding more forcefully to the barrage.
"To put it lightly, our response was drastically lacking to the 500 rockets fired at us," he said.
"I could not remain [in office] and still be able to look residents of the south in the eyes," he added.
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2018/11/14/opposition-leaders-join-liberman-in-call-for-new-elections/
#3900500 at 2018-11-14 17:22:20 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4960: Northern Winds Edition
Israel's Defense Minister Resigns Amid Truce With Hamas In Gaza, Pro-War Protests In Southern Israel
In the evening of November 13, hundreds of Israelis were protesting against the reported ceasefire with Gaza.
Protesters in the town of Sderot were blocking roads and burning tires. Some of them chanted "Bibi go home," using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Confrontations were reported between protesters and policemen.
Police said they were working to restore order, saying they would "allow freedom of expression and lawful protest" but not "disturbance of public order, violence towards policemen and civilians and riots on major roads."
Approximately 500 people took part in the protest according to reports. Hadashot TV news claimed that southern residents were planning further protests and road blocks in Tel Aviv on November 14th.
Zionist Union leader Avi Gabbay expressed support for the protesters, saying it was a "justified" response to the government "forsaking" them. According to him, the government failed the southern residents by "neglecting" the issue of Gaza since the 2014 war.
He, however, did not extend hawkish calls. "This is not the time for another fragile truce," he said. "This is the time for a true diplomatic initiative in Gaza, that will lean on the recommendations of the security establishment," he said.
"Israel maintains its right to act. Requests from Hamas for a ceasefire came through four different mediators. Israel responded that the events on the ground will decide [if a ceasefire will go into effect]," an anonymous senior Israeli diplomatic official was cited by Times of Israel.
According to Channel 10 news on November 13th, at least four ministers opposed the decision for a truce during the security cabinet meeting. The report said Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Environmental Protection Minister Ze'ev Elkin, and Education Minister Naftali Bennett proposed an alternative response, but it was rejected by the other ministers.
An anonymous source told Times of Israel that no vote to determine next steps took place during the meeting.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the security cabinet released a statement that read, "The security cabinet discussed the events in the south. The cabinet received briefings from the IDF and defense officials on the [IDF] strikes and widespread operations against terror targets in Gaza. The cabinet instructed the IDF to continue its strikes as needed."
Hamas and other Gaza groups said that they had accepted an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel. Israel did not provide an immediate comment and the terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Terms of the deal appeared to be modest. Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad militant group, said each side would promise quiet in exchange for quiet.
"It's a mutual commitment to the cease-fire," he said. "From our side, we responded positively to the Egyptian endeavor on the condition that the occupation does the same."
https://southfront.org/israels-defense-minister-resigns-amid-truce-with-hamas-in-gaza-pro-war-protests-in-southern-israel/
#3897155 at 2018-11-14 09:31:25 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4956: WTF Is That? Edition
Lieberman widely expected to step down as defense minister
Speculation that Avigdor Lieberman was about to resign as defense minister was rife on Wednesday, Nov. 14, after he was isolated by the prime minister and army chiefs on Gaza policy. The rumor gained momentum after Lieberman scheduled a news conference for 1 pm Wednesday, Nov. 14, the day after he and three other ministers objected to the security cabinet's decision to accept a ceasefire with Hamas, after nearly 500 rockets were fired into Israel in 24 hours. Lieberman advocated intensified punishment for the Palestinian terrorist organizations led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad and objected to giving them a breather.
His situation worsened upon discovering that Netanyahu and the army chiefs had already decided that Israel could not afford to take on Hamas and the pressing threat from the North at the same time, and therefore Israel must accept Egyptian and UN efforts for a ceasefire. While cabinet ministers were discussing the Gaza issue, Netanyahu was running a parallel diplomatic track with international and Arab contacts outside the room. That is why the critical cabinet session ended with a vague communique: "IDF attacks on Gaza will continue as required."
The defense minister and his other cabinet members had the sense that the prime minister had cast them in the role of film extras while pursuing the real action, totally at odds with his views, somewhere else. He had moreover cut the defense minister off from the military chiefs over whom he had charge.
Lieberman's immediate options are to swallow his pride and toe the prime minister's line against his own convictions, hand in the defense portfolio and stay on as a minister, or step down and as head of the Yisrael Beitenu party cross the line from government coalition to the opposition and follow his own path. In the second case, he could fight Netanyahu at the head of an opposition bloc inside the government, along with Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. But if he decides to quit, he would be the third defense minister to opt out of a government led by Netanyahu. His predecessors, Ehud Barak and Moshe Ya'alon, have become the prime minister's bitterest critics. Netanyahu will need to appoint a new defense minister without delay, given the urgent security challenges confronting the country. Rather than a cabinet shakeup, he may call a snap general election and meanwhile appoint a temporary stand-in as minister of defense.
https://www.debka.com/lieberman-widely-expected-to-step-down-as-defense-minister/
#3888802 at 2018-11-13 21:01:51 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4945: Fueled by Salty Shill Tears Edition
GAZA
Did Lieberman order the incursion to undercut Netanyahu ceasefire while he was in France???
The Short War With Gaza Exposed Israel's Weakness
Last week a ceasefire was agreed upon between Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel:
The aim of the change, in a plan mediated by Egypt and with money supplied by Qatar, is to provide much-needed relief for Gaza, restore calm on the Israeli side of the border and avert another war.
On Sunday night Israeli special forces broke the ceasefire by invading Gaza under disguise. Such incursions happen quite often but are usually left unreported. The invaders wore civilian clothing and some were cloaked as women. Their cars arrived at the house of a local Qassam commander but suspicious guards held them up. A firefight ensued in which 7 Palestinians and 1 Israeli officer were killed. It is not clear what the intent of the Israeli raid was. A car left behind held what appeared to be surveillance equipment. The intruders fled back to Israel.
It is likely that rivalry within the Israeli government was behind this provocation:
[T]he perception that Israel, by allowing the fuel and cash shipments into Gaza, was paying off Hamas set off acrimonious wrangling between two rival right-wing members of Israel's security cabinet.Earlier Sunday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett called the cash infusion "protection money." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Mr. Bennett of having supported such payments and of having opposed in recent weeks the more aggressive military reprisals against Hamas that Mr. Lieberman favored.
...
By night's end Mr. Netanyahu had cut short his trip [to Paris] and was flying back to Israel in response to the Gaza hostilities.
Did Lieberman order the incursion to undercut Netanyahoo ceasefire and his rival Bennet?
The breach of the ceasefire by Israel set off another round of tit for tat strikes. A commando unit of Hamas' Qassam brigade launched an attack against a bus that had carried Israeli soldiers to the border. To avoid further escalation the shooter waited until the soldiers were out of the way before hitting it. Only the driver was injured. Then the Israeli air force destroyed the al-Aqsa TV station in Gaza city after notifying the Palestinians of its intent. It also damaged a university building. Rocket volleys from Gaza followed and the Israeli air-force hit several buildings. After 48 hours the ceasefire was renewed.
https://southfront.org/the-short-war-with-gaza-exposed-israels-weakness/
#3349832 at 2018-10-05 18:27:28 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4244: 404'd E-bake Edition
Israel Launches Internet "Command Center" to Monitor Social Media
Many social media users have no doubt noticed a massive, coordinated censorship campaign in recent months. Many in the alternative media blame it on "The Left" trying to prevent their political opponents from influencing public discourse. But the video above indicates that a major driving force behind these free speech-stifling activities is, in fact, the Israeli government.
Video compiled from various sources. Hebrew portions removed for brevity.
If Americans Knew
On January 25th 2018, Israel's Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Naftali Bennett, announced a new Israeli system, developed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense over the previous year, that monitors social media and provides real time data and analysis of so called "online anti-Semitism."
According to Israel, many statements about Israel constitute "antisemitism." In fact, an Israeli minister originated a new formulation for antisemitism in which many factual statements about Israel are supposedly "antisemitic." Thus, this new system is often monitoring statements or information about Israel that the Israeli government dislikes.
The "Anti-semitism Cyber Monitoring System", or ACMS allegedly examines every single post on Facebook and Twitter, uses artificial intelligence to determine whether or not to classify them as "anti-Semitic", and then categorizes its findings according to geographic location, language, and other factors.
According to an Arutz Sheva article, the system scans around 200,000 suspected posts and tweets each day. Of these, roughly 10,000 are deemed to be "anti-Semitic." Without access to Israel's spreadsheet of such "antisemitic posts," it is impossible to know how many truly constitute bigotry, and how many concern Israeli violations of human rights and/or international law.
The day after President Trump announced the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the ACMS reportedly detected 9 times as many. On that day and the day before three Palestinians attacked by Israeli forces had died, including a nine-year-old boy.
Attempting to limit the free speech of others is nothing new for Israel and its advocates. Several months ago, If Americans Knew reported on numerous programs by Israel partisans to "control the narrative" by censoring the internet. Israel has used its powerful influence over many western nations to institute Israel-centric "antisemitism" laws. Some states in the U.S. have passed such legislation, thereby potentially impeding free speech and academic inquiry.
Similarly, Israel partisans are working to outlaw boycotts against Israel, despite the fact that such civil actions have normally been considered legal, valid methods of opposing wrongdoing. In fact, many legal analysts consider the right to boycott to be protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
At the end of the video, Bennett claims that "anti-Semitism" is violence.
Even some Israel partisans oppose these Orwellian infringements on American fundamental rights. Anyone who is familiar with the Streisand Effect knows that they may ultimately produce the opposite of their intended result.
https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-launches-internet-command-center-to-monitor-social-media/
#2884329 at 2018-09-05 06:58:22 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #3647: "Like Mother Like Daughter" Edition
In Israeli Schools, Less Science and English, More Jewish Studies
Figures reveal that the number of hours allocated to English, math and science for grade schoolers has been cut under Education Minister Bennett
Lior Dattel Sep 05, 2018 12:13 AM
The minimum number of instruction hours in math, science and English for Israeli grade schoolers has been cut under Education Minister Naftali Bennett, while funding for religious-education nonprofit groups is…
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-under-Bennett-less-math-and-science-more-religious-education-1.6450991?utm_source=Push_Notification&utm_medium=web_push&utm_campaign=General
#2229825 at 2018-07-21 11:47:45 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #2811: Shill Sandwich Heavy on the Shill Edition
Israeli minister calls for killing children by warplanes
Monday 16/July/2018
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett during a cabinet meeting on Sunday called for targeting Gaza children who fly fire kites near Gaza border by warplanes.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday, a sharp dispute broke out in the Israeli cabinet session. The ministers disagreed on the direct shooting of Palestinian children flying kites and balloons over Gaza border fence. Naftali repeatedly called for children to be targeted by warplanes.
"Why do not we shoot at anyone who fires aerial weapons at our communities? There is no legal impediment. Why do we shoot next to them and not at them? We are talking about terrorists in every respect."
Read more at
https://english.palinfo.com/news/2018/7/16/Israeli-minister-calls-for-killing-Gaza-children-by-warplanes
#1399197 at 2018-05-13 19:32:03 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #1754: The Full Circle Edition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Heinz
Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira was born in Mozambique, at the time a Portuguese overseas colony,[2] to Portuguese parents, tropical-disease specialist Dr. José Simões-Ferreira, Jr. (1910-1989),[3] and Irene Thierstein (1912-1997). Irene, a Portuguese and British[4] national in Lourenço Marques,[5] was the daughter of Alberto Thierstein,[6] a British national from Valletta, Malta (at the time a British-ruled territory), and Maria Burló,[7] born in Alexandria, Egypt, who both migrated to Portuguese East Africa.
Checked both FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com to see what they had on Alberto Thierstein. Neither had any info on his parents, but they appear to be Jews who lived in Malta. Malta, Malta, Malta…
However, Ancestry had this:
"Alberto Thierstein was born on August 9, 1873, in Malta. He had one daughter with Maria Burló in 1912. He died on July 7, 1948, in Maputo, Maputo, Mozambique, at the age of 74."
So not much genealogical info, but then THIS turned up, by our pal Andrew Mitchell at NBC News:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kerrys-brother-johns-not-anti-semitic-were-jewish-n30576
"John Kerry's brother has responded to charges of anti-Semitism against the U.S. Secretary of State by some conservative Israelis - including a prominent minister - by writing publicly about the family's Jewish roots.
Cameron Kerry wrote a column in Israel's largest circulation daily newspaper, Yediot, saying the accusations "would be ridiculous if they were not so vile."
The move illustrates how seriously the State Department wants to rebut the charge of anti-Semitism by some conservative Israeli critics of the Secretary of State's peace negotiations.
Earlier this month, members of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet accused Kerry of endorsing "anti-Semitic" efforts to impose sanctions on Israel when he voiced concern that failure to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians could lead to economic boycotts.
"The risks are very high for Israel," Kerry said after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Munich on Feb. 2.
Naftali Bennett, the industry minister, was among several high-placed officials who responded to Kerry's comments.
"We expect of our friends in the world to stand by our side against the attempts to impose an anti-Semitic boycott on Israel, and not to be their mouthpiece," he said.
John Kerry said it was a "revelation" when he learned in 2003 from a Boston Globe report, shortly before he ran for president, that his grandfather changed his family name from Kohn and converted to Catholicism before coming to the U.S. in 1905.
Andrea Mitchell: Kerry's Brother Pens Op-Ed
00:51
Cameron Kerry married a Jewish woman and the family are practicing Jews. He writes that their relatives were killed in the Nazi death camps.
Kerry's story echoes that of Czech -born Madeleine Albright, who learned her family was Jewish from a Washington Post story when she was being confirmed as Secretary of State in 1997.
"There is no truth and no good that can come by calling into question John Kerry's good faith toward his own heritage," Cameron Kerry concluded in his column, a translation of which was posted on the U.S. Embassy's Facebook page. "Israel and the Jewish people deserve better than that.""
#1298179 at 2018-05-04 20:04:21 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #1627
>>1298133
https://www.haaretz.com/1.5101511
The Right's Latest Weapon: 'Zionist Editing' on Wikipedia
'Idea is not to make Wikipedia rightist but for it to include our point of view,' Naftali Bennett, director of the Yesha Council says.
"The Internet is not managed well enough, and Israel's position there is appalling. Take for example the Turkish flotilla [to Gaza]. During the first hours we were nowhere to be found. In those first hours millions of people typed the words Gaza-bound flotilla and read what was written on Wikipedia."