The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
The case for Israel
is rooted in more than security
Jeff Jacoby
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
~~~lll~~~
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SHADOWBOXING DEMS SET IOWA EXHIBITION
Like a lopsided heavyweight bout, the Democratic Party knows that staging a primary battle where the challengers are likely to go down in the first round means pumping up the sparring events. Hence word that Hilly Clinton and rivals Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb will share the stage at the 2015 Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration July 17 in Cedar Rapids. In contrast to numerous Republican multi-candidate events in the state, the Cedar Rapids gathering will be the first where the Democratic contenders will appear together, according to Iowa Democratic Party spokesman Sam Lau.
[On his second trip to Iowa since announcing his candidacy, Martin O’Malley has a trio of events in the Hawkeye State today. Bernie Sanders begins a two day tour on Friday. Jim Webb heads to Iowa next week] -Fox News
Like a lopsided heavyweight bout, the Democratic Party knows that staging a primary battle where the challengers are likely to go down in the first round means pumping up the sparring events. Hence word that Hilly Clinton and rivals Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb will share the stage at the 2015 Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration July 17 in Cedar Rapids. In contrast to numerous Republican multi-candidate events in the state, the Cedar Rapids gathering will be the first where the Democratic contenders will appear together, according to Iowa Democratic Party spokesman Sam Lau.
[On his second trip to Iowa since announcing his candidacy, Martin O’Malley has a trio of events in the Hawkeye State today. Bernie Sanders begins a two day tour on Friday. Jim Webb heads to Iowa next week] -Fox News
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Clintons clash over Bubba’s email - Fox News: “[A]t a Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Denver…[Bill Clinton] said the ‘only time’ he got on the Internet was to do ‘two emails’ and order Christmas presents…The statement echoes what a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal in March -- that the ex-president had only sent two emails in his life, one to U.S. troops and the other to astronaut John Glenn. Yet, when Hilly Clinton held a press conference in March explaining her personal email use, she said her private server ‘contains personal communications from my husband and me.’”
[But who will pay the bills? - Asked if he’ll continue to rake in six-figure speaking fees if Hilly wins the White House, Bubba told
[But who will pay the bills? - Asked if he’ll continue to rake in six-figure speaking fees if Hilly wins the White House, Bubba told
Bloomberg: “No, I don’t think so.”] -Fox News
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THE JUDGE’S RULING: BAIT AND SWITCH
Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano says replacing the expired section authorizing the NSA’s bulk collection of phone data under the Patriot Act with the Freedom Act has changed little. In what he calls an “insidious bait and switch,” the judge asks, “What is the value of a constitutional guarantee if the people into whose hands we repose the Constitution for safe keeping can change it as they see fit and negate the guarantee?” Read more here. -Fox News
Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano says replacing the expired section authorizing the NSA’s bulk collection of phone data under the Patriot Act with the Freedom Act has changed little. In what he calls an “insidious bait and switch,” the judge asks, “What is the value of a constitutional guarantee if the people into whose hands we repose the Constitution for safe keeping can change it as they see fit and negate the guarantee?” Read more here. -Fox News
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COON HUNTING HELPS RYAN MOVE TRADE BILL
AP: “Immigration hardliner Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he moved from leaning ‘no’ to a solid ‘yes’ after [Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.,] assured him that trade negotiations would include no changes to immigration policy. ‘It’s actually a significant benefit because it will prohibit the negotiation of immigration provisions of any kind in any trade agreement that’s negotiated under the TPA,’ said King, who spoke for 10 to 15 minutes with Ryan during which time King spotted a raccoon heading out of his barn to prowl. That led to a discussion of raccoon hunting and guns before they reached agreement on the trade bill, King said.” -Fox News
AP: “Immigration hardliner Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he moved from leaning ‘no’ to a solid ‘yes’ after [Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.,] assured him that trade negotiations would include no changes to immigration policy. ‘It’s actually a significant benefit because it will prohibit the negotiation of immigration provisions of any kind in any trade agreement that’s negotiated under the TPA,’ said King, who spoke for 10 to 15 minutes with Ryan during which time King spotted a raccoon heading out of his barn to prowl. That led to a discussion of raccoon hunting and guns before they reached agreement on the trade bill, King said.” -Fox News
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Islamic State: The Myth of a Baathist 'Hidden Hand'
(Aymenn Jawad al-Tamini) ~ Since the full-blown revival of Iraq's Sunni insurgency at the beginning of 2014, there has been much misunderstanding of the relationship between the Islamic State and insurgents of Baathist orientation, principally represented by the Jaish Rijaal al-Tariqa al-Naqshabandiyya(JRTN)... Much of the discourse on this subject attempts to tie the JRTN to the Islamic State, arguing that a so-called "alliance of convenience" between the two groups has been key to the Islamic State's maintenance of power in areas outside of government control. Linked to this theme is the portrayal of the Islamic State as somehow Baathism reincarnated, most commonly noting the former careers that many leading figures in the group had in the security apparatus of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's government. As such, it is worthwhile to trace the relationship between the JRTN and the Islamic State from the initial emergence of the former until the present day, primarily focusing on the aftermath of the United States' military withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011, in order to highlight that the common notion of the "alliance of convenience" is mistaken and that there is a clear dividing line between the two groups. http://www.meforum.org/5312/isis-baathist-hidden-hand
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nObama’s Marxist Social and Demographic Engineering of America
(Terresa Monroe-Hamilton) ~ nObama is now making offers to debt-ridden municipalities that they dare not take. It’s like the devil offering you a way out and then collecting on that debt. Or, if you prefer, it’s like the mafia giving you money to solve your problems and then you owe them. Forever... The leaders in these areas won’t ask the residents and voters, they’ll let the silver cross their palms and will be blinded by the shininess of the coin they pocket. Corruption will finish selling free America down the proverbial river. I’ll be blunt… these municipalities should not be taking money from the feds. They should solve their problems at the local level, stand on their own and not be beholding to a governmental behemoth. Under the guise of nObama’s Utopia, our president has been plotting for years the ultimate wealth redistribution here in America. It’s Marxist social and demographic engineering on a breathtaking scale. I believe this is the most insidious thing he has planned for us and it is a killer. http://www.trevorloudon.com/2015/06/obamas-marxist-social-and-demographic-engineering-of-america/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewZeal+%28New+Zeal+Blog%29
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U.S. Agrees to Let Iran Keep Nuke Secrets
(pamelageller.com) ~ The nObama administration will agree to let Iran bypass questions about its past nuclear military work under any final deal signed in the coming weeks, according to reports... Western officials were quoted as telling the Associated Press on Friday that the United States has given up a major concession to Iran on the military front. While senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State hanio John Kerry, have long insisted that Iran will immediately have to submit to wide-ranging inspections and disclosures regarding its past nuclear work, the new reports indicate that this demand has been cast aside as world powers work to strike a final deal with the Islamic Republic by the end of June. I wonder if anyone saw this coming? Surrender and capitulation. Catastrophe to follow. http://pamelageller.com/2015/06/u-s-agrees-to-let-iran-keep-nuke-secrets.html/
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China Conducts Fourth Test of Wu-14 Strike Vehicle
(Bill Gertz) ~ China this week carried out the fourth test of an ultra high-speed nuclear delivery vehicle that conducted what intelligence officials say were extreme maneuvers... The test of the Wu-14 hypersonic strike vehicle was carried out Sunday, launched atop a ballistic missile fired from a test facility in western China. It was the fourth successful test of the Wu-14 in the past 18 months and the frequency of tests is being viewed by U.S. intelligence analysts as an indicator of the high priority placed on developing the weapon by the Chinese. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-conducts-fourth-test-of-wu-14-strike-vehicle/
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6 Yemeni jihadis at Guantanamo Bay sent to Oman
(Robert Spencer) ~ It was the first movement of detainees out of Guantanamo in five months as Congress considers new restrictions on transfers... The six men boarded a flight Friday from the U.S. facility in Cuba, and their transfer reduced Guantanamo’s population to 116. President Barack nObama has now transferred more than half the 242 detainees who were at Guantanamo when he was sworn into office in 2009 after campaigning to close it. But he is far from achieving that goal. With just a year and a half left in his second term, final transfer approvals are coming slowly from the Pentagon and lawmakers are threatening to make movement out even harder. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/06/6-yemeni-jihadis-at-guantanamo-bay-sent-to-oman
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Noura Erakat Wages Lawfare on Israel
(Cinnamon Stillwell) ~ Since the 2014 Gaza war, proponents of lawfare have sought to use the International Criminal Court to punish Israel for daring to respond militarily to Hamas’s unrelenting aggression... Noura Erakat, an assistant professor in legal and international studies at George Mason University and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, presented her case in a recent talk atStanford University titled, “War on Gaza in the Age of Human Rights: Prospects for Accountability.” The niece of Palestinian Authority (P.A.) chief negotiator Saeb Erakat, Erakat’s tone was calm and measured, her demeanor pleasant, and her partisanship unmistakable, even when couched in the dispassionate language of international human rights law. Seated in a conference room before an audience of approximately forty, many of them fellow academics, Erakat began by noting that because this was “not a legal audience,” she would depart from her planned presentation and instead focus on “setting the framework for the lead-up” to the war and on providing “the legal and political context” for the situation in Gaza. These people are really sick. Israel can't defend themselves? http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/06/noura-erakat-wages-lawfare-on-israel
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Pacific Ocean off California Coast Turning into Desert-Like Dead Zone
(worldtruth.tv) ~ It’s anyone’s guess why temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are heating up off the coast of Southern California. Is a natural El Niño effect occurring, or is there something more sinister happening under the blue ocean waters... Off the coast of California, drastic signs of a rapidly changing Pacific Ocean are cropping up. Warmer currents have forced species of fish away from the coast. A massive fish migration, coupled with typical overfishing, has led to dwindling populations of key species like sardines, oysters, shellfish, scallops and krill. As the aquatic species move away from the coast in search of a better habitat, the sentinel California sea lion population is suffering. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that more than 3,000 sea lion pups have become stranded in 2015. The Marine Mammal Center is sending out veterinarians to rescue the stranded sea lions so they can be nursed back to health. http://worldtruth.tv/pacific-ocean-off-california-coast-turning-into-desert-like-dead-zone/
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Extortion 17 Parents Still Getting the Word Out About the Scandal
(Tim Brown) ~ Many of you are familiar with Billy and Karen Vaughn, parents of fallen Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn who died on board Extortion 17 in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011... Well, as a result of the tragedy they faced in their lives, God has given them a platform to speak out on the corruption of this current administration across the nation. And they are still doing it! The Vaughns have been speaking to Tea Parties all across the country and they are looking to get into churches to speak to them as well. They have warned that the greatest threat to America resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Billy has pointed out the demoralization of the Special Forces under Barack nObama, as well as taken former Defense Secretary Robert Gates to task for his silence during his time in office, but cashing in when it came to a book he published. http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/06/extortion-17-parents-still-getting-the-word-out-about-the-scandal-thats-bigger-than-benghazi/
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The Clintons: Corruption On Top of Corruption
(PJ Media) ~ Remove one layer of Clinton corruption, only to find... another layer of Clinton corruption. They've been horrible people for 3 decades, why stop now?... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W83hnFEfOso
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While media blames Pamela Geller for 1,400 years of Jihad...
(themuslimissue.wordpress.com) ~ This is absolute insanity. Pamela Geller is being blamed for receiving Muslim death threats. Muslims have been threatening to behead people for 1,400 years, long before Pamela Geller ever existed... If the government doesn’t protect Geller – then they won’t protect anyone else either; your children, your family, your future, and the would deserve nothing but violent opposition. The vile and revolting dhimmitude the media has shown to this topic, trying to imply that Geller is somehow responsible for the attempted Texas attack shows how delusional people are about Islam. Pamela Geller did not invent Jihad. Jihad is 1,400 years old. It did not begin in Texas on May 3rd. Cartoons did not create Jihad. Islam created Jihad. There is nothing that we, non-Muslims, can do that does not offend Muslims. Being dressed without the black gallon sack is offensive to them. Democracy is offensive to them. Being friendly with each other, from different ages, genders, status is offensive to them. Celebrating Valentine’s to honor those you love is offensive to Muslims. Love is offensive to them. Freedom is offending them. America itself is deeply offensive to them. Women liberated to make up their own mind is offensive to them. If you don’t submit, surrender and permit Islam to rule over you – you are provoking Muslims and they are offended. In other words, every single non-Muslim and ex-Muslim provokes them and aggravates them, according to their way of seeing the world. https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/while-media-blames-pamela-geller-for-1400-years-of-jihad-muslims-share-her-personal-address-on-twitter/
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The case for Israel
is rooted in more than security
Jeff Jacoby
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(jewishworldreview.com) ~ Noses went out of joint and knickers got in a twist when Israel's new deputy foreign minister delivered her inaugural speech to the Jewish state's diplomatic corps..
"We need to get back to the basic truth of our right to this land," said Tzipi Hotovely, who is running the foreign ministry's day-to-day operations, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retains the title of foreign minister. The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, she declared, and their claim to it is as old as the Bible. "It's important to say this" when making Israel's case before the world, and not to focus solely on Israel's security interests. Of course security is a profound concern, Hotovely observed, but arguments grounded in justice, morality, and deep historical rights are stronger. She even quoted the medieval Jewish sage Rashi, who wrote that Genesis opens with God's creation of the world to preempt any subsequent charge that the Jewish claim to the land was without merit.
"We need to get back to the basic truth of our right to this land," said Tzipi Hotovely, who is running the foreign ministry's day-to-day operations, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retains the title of foreign minister. The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, she declared, and their claim to it is as old as the Bible. "It's important to say this" when making Israel's case before the world, and not to focus solely on Israel's security interests. Of course security is a profound concern, Hotovely observed, but arguments grounded in justice, morality, and deep historical rights are stronger. She even quoted the medieval Jewish sage Rashi, who wrote that Genesis opens with God's creation of the world to preempt any subsequent charge that the Jewish claim to the land was without merit.
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Needless to say, Hotovely's message was scorned on the left as primitive zealotry. "Her remarks raised eyebrows among many in the audience," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. One diplomat said his colleagues "were in shock" at the suggestion that they should cite the Torah when advocating for Israel abroad.
Needless to say, Hotovely's message was scorned on the left as primitive zealotry. "Her remarks raised eyebrows among many in the audience," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. One diplomat said his colleagues "were in shock" at the suggestion that they should cite the Torah when advocating for Israel abroad.
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Diplomacy is not Bible class. Yet why should Israel and its envoys shrink from making the fullest defense of Jewish rights in what was always the Jewish homeland? Though modern Zionism didn't arise as a political movement until the 1800s, the land of Israel has always been at the core of Jews' national consciousness. Even during 19 centuries of exile, Jewish life in Israel (renamed "Palestine" by the Romans) never ceased. In all those years, no other people ever claimed the land as their country, or built it into their own nation-state.
Diplomacy is not Bible class. Yet why should Israel and its envoys shrink from making the fullest defense of Jewish rights in what was always the Jewish homeland? Though modern Zionism didn't arise as a political movement until the 1800s, the land of Israel has always been at the core of Jews' national consciousness. Even during 19 centuries of exile, Jewish life in Israel (renamed "Palestine" by the Romans) never ceased. In all those years, no other people ever claimed the land as their country, or built it into their own nation-state.
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Jewish sovereignty wasn't regained by downplaying the historical and religious bonds linking the Jews to the land. World leaders and opinion-makers didn't regard those links with patronizing disdain; many found them intensely compelling.
Jewish sovereignty wasn't regained by downplaying the historical and religious bonds linking the Jews to the land. World leaders and opinion-makers didn't regard those links with patronizing disdain; many found them intensely compelling.
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In 1891, alarmed by reports of Jews being massacred in Russia, hundreds of prominent Americans signed a petition urging the restoration of Palestine to Jewish rule. "According to G0D's distribution of nations it is their home, an inalienable possession from which they were expelled by force," declared the petition, among whose signatories were the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the speaker of the House of Representatives, future President William McKinley, and scores of influential industrialists, bankers, educators, and journalists. (One of them was Charles H. Taylor, the first publisher of the Boston Globe).
In 1891, alarmed by reports of Jews being massacred in Russia, hundreds of prominent Americans signed a petition urging the restoration of Palestine to Jewish rule. "According to G0D's distribution of nations it is their home, an inalienable possession from which they were expelled by force," declared the petition, among whose signatories were the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the speaker of the House of Representatives, future President William McKinley, and scores of influential industrialists, bankers, educators, and journalists. (One of them was Charles H. Taylor, the first publisher of the Boston Globe).
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Twenty-five years later, when Britain famously committed itself to "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," its motives were not only strategic and pragmatic, but religious. Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour spoke feelingly of Jewish history. "I could tell you all the kings of Israel," Lloyd George said, recalling his school days, "but I doubt whether I could have named half a dozen of the kings of England."
Twenty-five years later, when Britain famously committed itself to "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," its motives were not only strategic and pragmatic, but religious. Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour spoke feelingly of Jewish history. "I could tell you all the kings of Israel," Lloyd George said, recalling his school days, "but I doubt whether I could have named half a dozen of the kings of England."
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President Woodrow Wilson, whose father was a Presbyterian minister, also endorsed the Zionist cause. "To think," he later exclaimed, "that I, the son of the manse, should be able to help restore the Holy Land to its people!" Still more enchanted with the revival of Jewish governance in the Jewish homeland was Harry Truman, whose lifelong study of the Bible strengthened his conviction that the Jews had a legitimate historical right to Palestine.
President Woodrow Wilson, whose father was a Presbyterian minister, also endorsed the Zionist cause. "To think," he later exclaimed, "that I, the son of the manse, should be able to help restore the Holy Land to its people!" Still more enchanted with the revival of Jewish governance in the Jewish homeland was Harry Truman, whose lifelong study of the Bible strengthened his conviction that the Jews had a legitimate historical right to Palestine.
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The immemorial Jewish bond with the land is even enshrined in international law. When the League of Nations set the terms of the Mandate for Palestine in 1922, it unanimously recognized "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine" and the justice of "reconstituting their national home in that country." It was essential, wrote Winston Churchill at the time, to stress that the Jews were "in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance," and that the Jewish national home there "be formally recognized to rest upon ancient historic connection.".
Israel has gained nothing from its unwillingness to vigorously assert the Jewish claim to the land as a matter of historical justice and biblical legitimacy. It has only made it easier for its enemies to promote a false narrative of Zionist aggression and illegal occupation. Hotovely may have "raised eyebrows" in exhorting Israel's diplomats to focus unapologetically on Jewish rights and history, but the record is clear: Those are the arguments that have always gained the most traction.
Israel has gained nothing from its unwillingness to vigorously assert the Jewish claim to the land as a matter of historical justice and biblical legitimacy. It has only made it easier for its enemies to promote a false narrative of Zionist aggression and illegal occupation. Hotovely may have "raised eyebrows" in exhorting Israel's diplomats to focus unapologetically on Jewish rights and history, but the record is clear: Those are the arguments that have always gained the most traction.
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To repeat: Diplomacy isn't Bible class. But the strongest case for Israel is rooted in something more transcendent than security. Even now, according to the Pew Research Center, 44 percent of American adults — and 55 percent of American Christians — believe that Jews have a God-given right to the land of Israel. A backward superstition? On the contrary. The Jewish nation's ties to its homeland are an enduring element of the human story, and an asset that Israel underrates at its peril.
To repeat: Diplomacy isn't Bible class. But the strongest case for Israel is rooted in something more transcendent than security. Even now, according to the Pew Research Center, 44 percent of American adults — and 55 percent of American Christians — believe that Jews have a God-given right to the land of Israel. A backward superstition? On the contrary. The Jewish nation's ties to its homeland are an enduring element of the human story, and an asset that Israel underrates at its peril.
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('' YOUR OPINION IS IMPORTANT TO ME WHAT DO YOU THINK ? '')
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