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"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
Another Jewish Charm Offensive Won't Fix What nObama Has Broken
Jonathan Tobin
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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Webb ducks - Former Virginia Senator, and possible presidential candidate, Jim Webb, made a second trip to Iowa early this week. Webb, who was the first democrat to form a presidential exploratory committee, wouldn’t comment directly in an interview with Clinton’s recent controversies, saying it’s not his place to comment. “I’m just not putting it into the formula. I mean, those are things that they have the capability of responding to, and I’m sure they’ll have their answers. What we’re really trying to do is connect on the issues that we care about and we’ve been working on.” -Fox News
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WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE
It’s a story worthy of a movie. But is it “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” or “Entrapment”? Bloomberg has the amazing tale of the dispute between a Russian oligarch who has become a pillar of the community in Monaco and the Swiss art dealer who found himself under arrest after selling his client a Mark Rothko painting for $186 million. “The showdown in Monaco has blown the lid off an opaque area of the art market: private sales, in which the most sought-after pieces often change hands through well-connected dealers, avoiding a public bidding war. Of the record [$55.8 billion] in art sold last year, 52 percent of the transactions were private deals, says Clare McAndrew, founder of research and consulting firm Art Economics.” -Fox News
It’s a story worthy of a movie. But is it “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” or “Entrapment”? Bloomberg has the amazing tale of the dispute between a Russian oligarch who has become a pillar of the community in Monaco and the Swiss art dealer who found himself under arrest after selling his client a Mark Rothko painting for $186 million. “The showdown in Monaco has blown the lid off an opaque area of the art market: private sales, in which the most sought-after pieces often change hands through well-connected dealers, avoiding a public bidding war. Of the record [$55.8 billion] in art sold last year, 52 percent of the transactions were private deals, says Clare McAndrew, founder of research and consulting firm Art Economics.” -Fox News
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RAND TACKLES BUSH LEGACY: TOPPLING SADDAM A ‘
'MISTAKE’
NYT: “‘Each time we topple a secular dictator, I think we wind up with chaos, and radical Islam seems to rise,’ Mr. Paul said. Still, Mr. Paul insisted that he did not oppose all foreign military interventions... Speaking at the headquarters of the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, Mr. Paul was unambiguous in arguing that Tehran had only become more powerful since the fall of Mr. Hussein, who he said had been a ‘bulwark’ against Iran’s influence in the region. ‘It was a mistake to topple Hussein,’ the senator said. And he called the 2011 overthrow of Colonel Qaddafi - which he labeled ‘Hilly’s war,’ referring to Hilly Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state at the time - an ‘utter disaster.’ ‘Qaddafi wasn’t a good guy, but he suppressed radical Islam,’ Mr. Paul said, ‘Now that Qaddafi is gone, the country is in civil war, the ambassador was killed, our embassy fled.”” -Fox News
NYT: “‘Each time we topple a secular dictator, I think we wind up with chaos, and radical Islam seems to rise,’ Mr. Paul said. Still, Mr. Paul insisted that he did not oppose all foreign military interventions... Speaking at the headquarters of the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, Mr. Paul was unambiguous in arguing that Tehran had only become more powerful since the fall of Mr. Hussein, who he said had been a ‘bulwark’ against Iran’s influence in the region. ‘It was a mistake to topple Hussein,’ the senator said. And he called the 2011 overthrow of Colonel Qaddafi - which he labeled ‘Hilly’s war,’ referring to Hilly Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state at the time - an ‘utter disaster.’ ‘Qaddafi wasn’t a good guy, but he suppressed radical Islam,’ Mr. Paul said, ‘Now that Qaddafi is gone, the country is in civil war, the ambassador was killed, our embassy fled.”” -Fox News
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Jeb edges Hilly in swing state poll - USA Today: “Former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s case that he would be the strongest Republican candidate against Hilly Clinton received a boost Monday, as a new poll shows him with a narrow lead over the Democratic front-runner in the key swing state of Virginia. Bush, who has not yet formally declared his candidacy, leads Clinton 48%-46% in a hypothetical matchup, a survey from the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University finds. All other GOP contenders trail the former secretary of State narrowly...The poll shows that, much like the rest of the country, Virginia Republicans have not yet coalesced around a candidate. Bush (17%) and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (16%) lead among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.” -Fox News
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Army Day in Iran: Cries of “Death to Israel and U.S.”
(Malid Rafizadeh) - One would think that the ruling clerics of the Islamic Republic would moderate their hatred, anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-Western sentiments after President nObama and Secretary of State hanoi John Kerry handed the Iranian government a lot of compromises, a sweet nuclear deal, eased sanctions...and have turned a blind eye to Iran’s interventionist and expansionists policies. In fact, it is the ongoing argument made by the leftists and liberals that building diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic, reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran, and being quiet on the Islamic Republic’s regional policies and support for extremists proxies in the Middle East, will eventually tone down the ayatollahs’ position and make them responsible and rational actors. However... http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/majid-rafizadeh/army-day-in-iran-cries-of-death-to-israel-and-u-s/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5ea2bb29d9-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-5ea2bb29d9-156509103
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How Iran Saved nObama’s “Blame America” Foreign Policy
(Daniel Greenfield) - nObama’s Middle East policy was doomed to fail because it was based on the myth that everything wrong with the region was America’s fault...Senator nObama had argued that Iraq would fix itself once we pulled out. Without America, the Iraqis would create a “political solution”. Instead the Shiites used the withdrawal to take over the government and Al Qaeda rebounded to dominate the Sunnis. After years of denying what was going on, he was forced back into Iraq after genocide and beheadings filled every television screen. From the White House, he deployed the “Iraq Solution” across the Middle East by withdrawing support from American allies and backing terrorist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The chaos tore apart the region and turned over entire cities and countries to terrorists. http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/dgreenfield/how-iran-saved-obamas-blame-america-foreign-policy/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5ea2bb29d9-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-5ea2bb29d9-156509103
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Ex-DOJ Official: nObama Using Amnesty to Win Elections for Dems
(Selwyn Duke) - It’s not enough that American academia has been indoctrinating native-born youth with leftism, reinforced by the media and entertainment...Nor is it sufficient that our immigration regime has, since 1965, ensured that 85 percent of our immigrants would come from the Third World and Asia, bringing us people who vote overwhelmingly Democrat upon being naturalized. Barack nObama promised “fundamental change.” And fundamental change he will deliver — fast — by hook or by crook. So says J. Christian Adams, a former Department of Justice attorney and whistleblower, claiming that the effort to fast-track illegal aliens to voter status is already underway. As Adamsreported at PJ Media: I pray this backfirers in his face. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/20764-ex-doj-official-obama-using-amnesty-to-win-2016-election-and-permanent-power-for-democrats?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=efe8769687-The_Editors_Top_Picks_3_12_143_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8ca494f2d2-efe8769687-289778381
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Lawsuit Alleges Sexism, Anti-Semitism by Al Jazeera America Official
(investigativeproject.org) - A senior Al Jazeera America manager is facing serious allegations of sexist and anti-Semitic discrimination after an employee filed suit Tuesday for wrongful termination...Matthew Luke is seeking $15 million in damages from the Qatar-owned network. The complaint filed in New York state court accuses Osman Mahmud of sexist discrimination, such as removing female employees from projects and excluding women from emails and meetings related to their assignments. Mahmud also allegedly made anti-American and anti-Semitic comments, such as "whoever supports Israel should die a fiery death in hell." According to the lawsuit, Luke was fired 10 days after filing a report regarding Mahmud's behavior to Al Jazeera's HR department. Mahmud denied the allegations in an interview with the Washington Post. http://www.investigativeproject.org/4836/lawsuit-alleges-sexism-anti-semitism-by-al
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Hilly’s Campaign Chair Lobbies For Russia’s Uranium One
(Chuck Ross) - Chalk it up to a small world or to a tangled web, but Uranium One, the Russian-owned uranium mining company at the center of a recent scandal involving the Clintons and a close Canadian business partner, has lobbied the State Department...through a firm co-founded by Hilly Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman. Senate records show that The Podesta Group has lobbied the State Department on behalf of Uranium One — once in 2012, when Hilly Clinton was secretary of state, and once in 2015. Uranium One paid The Podesta Group $40,000 to lobby the State Department, the Senate, the National Park Service and the National Security Council for “international mining projects,” according to a July 20, 2012 filing. Clinton left the State Department on Feb. 1, 2013. http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/29/firm-co-founded-by-hillarys-campaign-chair-lobbies-for-russias-uranium-one/.
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Dark Days Ahead for the Jews of Russia?
(blog.standforisrael.org) - As we noted yesterday, The Fellowship continues its Freedom Flights, allowing Ukrainian Jews to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) to escape the war and anti-Semitism they face in Ukraine...Today, Commentary’s Seth Mandel notes that an all-too-familiar anti-Jewish sentiment is growing in nearby Russia: The ultimate goal of state censorship is self-censorship among the citizenry. If you can get the people to police themselves, and each other, it takes part of the burden off the state and also makes people complicit in their own oppression. And so it’s disturbing to see things take this turn in Putin’s Russia. As the New York Times reports, Moscow bookstores removed from their shelves–voluntarily (sort of)–their copies of Maus, the pathbreaking graphic novel of Nazi crimes against the Jews. It’s the “voluntarily” part of this that stands out, and makes it clear that Putinism has not been, and will not be, good for the Jews of Russia…Putin’s war on Ukraine scattered the remaining Jewish community in the war zone. His explicitly militaristic nationalism feeds a state-sponsored xenophobia that always has and always will mark Jews as outsiders and a “nation apart.” And of course, “fascist” is in the eye of the beholder; as Paul Goble reported in late March: http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/articles/dark-days-ahead-for-the-jews-of-russia?s_src=DD0429&s_subsrc=ENX1504XXEXXA&utm_campaign=sfi%20daily%20dispatch&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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Palestinians Vote for Iran’s New Ally: Hamas
(blog.standforisrael.or) - There are many frightening implications – besides its desire for nuclear weapons – of the growing reach and power of Iran. Writing at the Gatestone Institute, Khaled Abu Toameh says that one of these is the Islamic Republic’s newly realigned ally, Hamas, and the sway it has with the Palestinians:...Hamas’s crushing victory in the April 22 student council election at Bir Zeit University shows that the Islamist movement continues to maintain a strong presence in the West Bank. Hamas supporters on campus won 26 seats, compared to 16 for their rivals in the Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. The results of the election mean that Bilal Barghouti, who is serving 16 life terms in prison for his role in a series of suicide attacks against Israel, has become the “Honorary Chairman of the Bir Zeit University Student Council.” The Hamas victory came less than 48 hours after its supporters scored a major achievement on another campus: Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron…Besides being a political and moral victory for Hamas, this is a vote of no confidence in Abbas and Fatah. http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/articles/palestinians-vote-for-irans-new-ally-hamas?s_src=DD0429&s_subsrc=ENX1504XXEXXA&utm_campaign=sfi%20daily%20dispatch&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Out ‘Cowardly’ Iranian Foreign Minister
(gopthedailydose.com) - Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is firing back at comments from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about sanctions. In a statement posted on his Senate website, and followed by a series of sharply worded tweets, Cotton goes so far as to call Zarif “cowardly.”...In his statement, Cotton noted that President Barack nObama had “promised sanctions would only be lifted when Iran’s compliance with restrictions on their nuclear program were verified.” However, Zarif has contradicted Obama, issuing his own statement that mentioned Cotton, who had led a group of 47 Senators to sign a letter opposing the deal with Iran unless it was ratified by Congress: If we have an agreement on the 30th of June, within a few days after that, there will be a resolution before the UN Security Council under Article 41 of Chapter 7 which will be mandatory for all member states whether Senator Cotton likes it or not. Cotton came right back at Zarif, saying that the controversy was not about him, but what would “keep America safe from a nuclear-armed Iran,” and attacking the comments by Zarif and other Iranian officials as “demonstrating why Iran cannot be trusted:” http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/04/29/sen-tom-cotton-calls-out-cowardly-iranian-foreign-minister-on-twitter-2/
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House Republicans Go After Birthright Citizenship
(Elise Foley) - Democrats in Congress frequently accuse the GOP of attacking immigrants, and on Wednesday, House Republicans gave them more fodder by holding a hearing on whether the U.S. should continue the longstanding practice of granting citizenship to all children born here...Some Republicans argue that birthright citizenship incentivizes unauthorized immigration and birth tourism. They add that the 14th Amendment, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States," has been misinterpreted to apply to children of undocumented immigrants. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) have both introduced bills this year to end birthright citizenship, but neither has gone for a vote. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/29/house-republicans-birthright-citizenship_n_7174686.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592&utm_source=Liberty_Headlines_Is_Giving_Your_Site_Free_Traffic_for_Now&AID=7236
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8 RINO Republicans Who Refused To Stand Opposed To Terrorism
(rickwells.us) - Mark Levin prepares his audience for what he’s about to tell them saying, it “will absolutely stun many of you.” They shouldn’t be stunned, sellouts within the Republican Party is nothing new...it is in fact becoming the common manner in which the “people’s business” is being conducted. While the American people are staunchly against terrorism and particularly terrorism here at home, there are eight Republicans who don’t share that view, who went so far as to vote against an anti-terrorism component to the Iranian nuclear arms giveaway package that is presently being wrapped and tied up with a Congressional ribbon and bow. Those eight Republicans voted against an amendment to the Corker, Menendez, Lindsey Graham Iranian enabling bill which “surrenders the treaty powers to the ‘president’ of the United States and turns everything on its head, and empowers the Isalmo-Nazi regime in Tehran to nuke-up.” http://www.rickwells.us/mark-levin-8-rino-republicans-who-refused-to-stand-opposed-to-terrorism-against-americans/
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Another Jewish Charm Offensive Won't Fix What nObama Has Broken
Jonathan Tobin
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(jewishworldreview.com) - After several months of insults (chickensh*!t) and threats about re-evaluating U.S. policy, the nObama administration appears to have awakened to the fact that its feud with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone too far..
As the New York Times reports, the White House is making a conscious effort to play down its anger at the Israeli government, primarily by making nice with American Jewish groups.
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But what is sounding very much like another edition of the Jewish charm offensive that characterized administration statements about Israel during the year preceding President nObama's reelection is not going to fix what has been broken by President nObama and his foreign-policy team.
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The problem is an American government that is intent on creating distance between itself and Israel, not misunderstandings rooted in a personality clash between nObama and Netanyahu.
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Its only purpose is to disarm Jewish groups and to persuade them to stay quiet during the impending debate about the Iran nuclear deal while still threatening Israel with diplomatic isolation over the Middle East peace process.
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As with the reelection year charm offensive, the administration is doing little to mend fences with an Israeli government that it has slandered and undermined. Rather, it is focused on holding the hands of Jewish groups that face the difficult choice between standing up to the president or keeping quiet in order to maintain their access to the White House.
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The administration is rightly fearful that its public venting of anger about Netanyahu's opposition to its push for détente with Iran and their insistence on blaming him and not the Palestinian Authority leadership for the latest collapse of the peace process is exposing the rift between much of the Democratic Party and the pro-Israel community.
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That doesn't necessarily threaten the Democrats' hold on the Jewish vote in 2016, but nObama isn't really worried about Hilly Clinton's fate right now. What bothers him is the prospect that a critical mass of American Jews will be sufficiently fed up with the president's threats toward Israel and insufficiently sold on the virtues of the Iran deal that they will exert pressure on wavering Democrats to vote against the agreement if it is actually signed and then comes up for a vote sometime this summer.
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That's what's behind the meetings with Jewish groups (though most of those invited to the tête-à-têtes at the White House have been either loyal administration cheerleaders like J Street and other left-wing groups or mainstream organizations that can usually be counted on not to make trouble for the powers that be) and, just as important, leaks from administration sources that lead to articles like the New York Times feature intended to calm the nerves of the paper's liberal Jewish readership.
Despite the talk of recognition that, in the words of former U.S. ambassador to Israel and veteran peace processor Daniel Kurtzer, "anger was replacing policy," the division between the two countries had little to do with pique on either side of the alliance. The White House temper tantrums about Netanyahu's prickly personality, his acceptance of an invitation to address Congress without bespeaking nObama's permission first, or even some of the things he said in the days before his election victory certainly added to the tensions that have been building for six years. But the real source of the problem lies in policy prescriptions not inadequate personal relations.
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. The president entered office convinced that the U.S. must distance itself from Israel and engage Iran and after years of effort, he finally seems to have accomplished both objectives. To that end, the president has consistently sought to pressure Israel to make concessions and blamed the Jewish state when these efforts failed, as they always have, to entice the Palestinians to make peace.
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Consistent Palestinian rejections of peace offers have convinced most Israelis that peace is impossible in the foreseeable future and to reelect Netanyahu, but the administration has reacted to the same facts by seeking more distance between Washington and Jerusalem and overtly threatening to abandon Israel at the United Nations.
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Even more ominously, the White House has embraced a new bizarrely Iran-centric policy in the Middle East that has alienated both Israel and moderate Arab nations while negotiating an agreement that, at the very least, establishes Tehran as a threshold nuclear power and gives it two paths to a bomb, one by cheating and the other by waiting until the deal expires.
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Neither of these problems can be papered over by mere meetings or statements. President nObama's disingenuous efforts to convince the country that, despite everything that has happened during his time in office that would convince any objective observer to the contrary, he is true friend of Israel ring false even for many Democrats.
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But nObama doesn't need, as he did in 2012, to convince most supporters of Israel that he is one of them. After all that has happened in the last year, let alone the five that preceded it, that isn't going to work despite his avowals of friendship. All he needs is to neutralize the mainstream groups that could make a lot of trouble for him if they decided to go all out to try and defeat an Iran deal that poses a potential mortal threat to the security of the West, regional security, as well as Israel's existence.
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Such an effort on their part might be enough to tip many ostensibly pro-Israel Democrats to oppose the deal even though the president has tried to make support for the deal a test of partisan loyalty.
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That's why nObama says he won't meet Netanyahu until after the Iran deal is finalized and approved even if he has to get that approval by stopping Congress from overriding his veto. Supporters of Israel in both the Democratic and Republican parties need to recognize that what is needed are not feel-good meetings but a presidential promise that the final Iran deal will insist on the inspections and other points the Iranians currently refuse to countenance. They should also get guarantees that the president won't stop backing the Jewish state in the United Nations when the Palestinians and their supporters seek recognition for their state without first being required to make peace. . Anything less than that is a diversionary tactic, not an effort to heal a breach the president has worked so hard to create. .
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0415/tobin042715.php3
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