The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Israel's Diplomatic Spring
by Caroline Glick
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. Lynch and Comey Have Some Explaining to Do
Attorney General Loretta Lynch officially closed the investigation into liar-Hillary Clinton's private email server and mishandling of classified information Wednesday. Lynch said in a statement, "I met with FBI Director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation ... [and] I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation."
To be clear, she both hand-selected these "career prosecutors" at the Justice Department and likely knew the verdict before announcing last week that she would merely accept the recommendation. As Mark Alexander wrote yesterday, "Of course she could remove herself. She knew the fix was already in." Also, the clean sweep absolving everyone is simply because they couldn't prosecute the little guy without prosecuting the big girl.
Both Lynch and FBI Director James Comey are testifying before Congress today over the decision not to pursue charges against liar-Clinton. "The FBI's recommendation is surprising and confusing," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), chairman of the Oversight Committee. "The fact pattern presented by Director Comey makes clear Secretary liar-Clinton violated the law. Congress and the American people have a right to understand the depth and breadth of the FBI's investigation."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) noted that the FBI's decision "raises serious concerns" and is "uniquely troubling in light of Attorney General Lynch's secret meeting with former President Bill liar-Clinton."
Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, wrote a letter to Comey, saying, "You determined that Secretary liar-Clinton's 'handling of very sensitive, highly classified information' was 'extremely careless.' However, you found that the actions of Secretary liar-Clinton did not lead to a recommendation to pursue criminal charges, including charges under the 'gross negligence' standard. ... What is the difference, in the FBI's view, between extreme carelessness and gross negligence?" That's a good question. We expect both Lynch and Comey to stand firmly behind their stone wall — neither is going to admit the system is rigged. But that's the clear message, and we hope voters act accordingly. -The Patriot Post
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Perspective on Police Shootings
Two white Baton Rouge police officers shot and killed a black man, and the predictable outrage ensued. Video of the Tuesday incident emerged, showing Alton Sterling being wrestled to the ground and then shot multiple times in the chest while pinned by police. But as we have said before in such cases, the video doesn't tell the whole story.
Here are some additional useful considerations. The altercation took place at a convenience store where Sterling frequently runs a table from which he sells bootleg CDs. Police were called after Sterling allegedly ordered another person away from the property at gunpoint. Sterling was indeed armed — police retrieved a handgun from his right pocket, and the video shows them wrestling his right arm during the struggle. One officer yells, "He's got a gun!" Store owner Abdullah Muflahi said police "were really aggressive with him from the start." But Sterling also has a long rap sheet, which includes drug, theft, domestic battery and weapons charges.
Were the responding officers aware of Sterling's record? What exchange happened before the video? Were officers excessively aggressive? We don't yet know these answers, making jumping to conclusions because of a "Black Lives Matter" social media hashtag the wrong thing to do. In any case, Barack "racist cops" nObama's Social Justice™ Department has launched a civil rights investigation.
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, an Asian officer shot and killed another black man, Philando Castile, Wednesday during what should have been a routine traffic stop for a busted tail light. Castile's girlfriend, whose four-year-old daughter was in the car at the time, live streamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook. She explained, "He let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in his arm." Castile was legally licensed to carry and he was exercising that right at the time. He also worked for a local school and, unlike Sterling, had no prior record — though they had "weed in the car," the girlfriend admitted. This case seems more clearly a wrongful death, but again, all the facts are not known.
By and large, the 900,000 police officers who patrol America's streets do their jobs with dignity and honor. But there are undoubtedly bad apples in the mix, and there are unjustified police shootings. Each case should be viewed on its own merits and not pre-judged by activists with an axe to grind. And we might note to the Black Lives Matter crowd that 2,000 people have been shot in Chicago this year; 319 of them have died, and the vast majority are black. Those lives matter every bit as much as Sterling's or Castile's. -The Patriot Post
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Edward Snowden Slams liar-Hillary's
Non-Indictment with One Emoji
by Paul Bois
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{truthrevolt.org} ~ American defector Edward Snowden did not welcome the FBI Director James Comey's announcement that liar-Hillary Clinton will not be indicted for using a private email server when handling classified information... Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, became a polarizing figure in American politics after blowing the whistle on the agency's domestic surveillance program, which drew both praise and ire from all walks of political life. Democrats and mainstream Republicans generally viewed Snowden as a traitor while libertarians and Bernie Sanders supporting leftists hailed him as a hero...http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/edward-snowden-slams-hillarys-non-indictment-one-emoji
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How a higher minimum wage makes everyone worse off
by Paul H. Forbes
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{aei.org} ~ A colleague of mine who is deeply concerned about the problems in Puerto Rico dropped by to ask if I could explain a puzzling pattern in the data. When he looked at government wage rate statistics for Puerto Rico... the data suggested that increasing the minimum wage had raised the average and median wages on the Island, thus making it appear that raising the minimum wage had improved island living standards. But being an island native, he knew that the opposite was true. The imposition of a federal minimum wage in reality had turned Puerto Rico into an economic basket case. Working age islanders were fleeing to the mainland in search of new opportunities and a better life. So, could I explain how raising the minimum wage could increase the wages of workers but at the same time lower Puerto Rico’s standard of living? What seems like a conundrum at first turns out to be exactly the pattern we should expect to see. An easy way to unlock the data puzzle is to consider what happens when a minimum wage is imposed on a very simple model economy. My example economy has five workers, named A through E. Each worker works for an hour, produces a product, and is paid a competitive wage for his or her output. Each worker’s productivity varies. Worker A’s output is worth 5; worker B’s output is 10; and so on, until worker E, who has an output valued at 25... http://www.aei.org/publication/how-a-higher-minimum-wage-makes-everyone-worse-off/?utm_source=paramount&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AEITODAY&utm_campaign
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nObama’s money and Israel’s sovereignty
by CAROLINE GLICK
by CAROLINE GLICK
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{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ This week, MK Michael Oren stood up to his boss in the Kulanu party, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, to the political Left, including hundreds of retired security brass, and to the IDF General Staff... The former ambassador to Washington urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to sign the multi-year security assistance deal that US President Barack nObama demands Israel accept. The problem isn't the money. By all accounts, nObama's multi-year military assistance package is generous. The problem is that in exchange for the expanded military aid, nObama is demanding that Israel surrender its diplomatic and military independence to the White House. For more than 40 years, every US administration - including the nObama administration - that has sought to harm Israel in any way has hit up against an unmovable obstacle. Whether the White House wanted to enable the UN Security Council to pass an anti-Israel resolution, place an embargo on military exports or bureaucratically slow them down to force Israel to stand down during wartime; whether the White House wanted block expanded trade deals, crowd out Israel's military industries, or sell game changing weapons systems to Israel's enemies, the US Congress has always stopped it in its tracks... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/obamas-money-and-israels-sovereignty?f=must_reads
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Nearly One Million Illegal Aliens at Large
by MICHAEL CUTLER
by MICHAEL CUTLER
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{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ On July 1, 2016 the title of a Washington Times published report, "Nearly 1 million immigrants - including more than 170K convicts - ignoring deportation," makes clear that the term "immigration law enforcement," under this administration especially, is an oxymoron... Reportedly 170,000 of these aliens have serious criminal histories and pose an immediate threat to the residents of the towns and cities where they live and may continue pursuing their criminal "careers." "Sanctuary cities" that shield them from detection by the federal government may attract these aliens, thereby endangering their decent law abiding residents. A recent article published by the Discovery Institute, "Sanctuary Cities Can Provide Safe Havens For Terrorists," focused on the threats sanctuary cities pose to national security and quoted from one of my recent commentaries. My recent article, "nObama's Victims: Released Criminal Illegals Commit Rape, Murder, Molestation" explained how the administration's malfeasance has undermined public safety and has resulted in more innocent people being assaulted and killed... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/nearly-one-million-illegal-aliens-at-large?f=must_reads
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Democrats Disrupt House of Representatives Again
by Dan Spencer
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{redstate.com} ~ Democrats disrupted the House of Representatives again Thursday in another terrible twos-like temper tantrum thrown over the Republicans preventing them from further suppressing our Constitutional rights to due process and keep and bear arms... The Democrats, who held a House Rules-Breaking Occupy the House sit-in last month, started showing up on the House floor Thursday afternoon and took turns showing photos of victims of crimes committed with guns and asking that the House bring up the Democrats' flawed so-called gun control bills. As each request was rejected, another Democratic would stand and repeat the request. The Democrats did this for about two hours before Republicans stopped them. Speaker Paul Ryan said that Republicans are still working on a package of anti-terrorism bills that includes gun legislation, but "We're not going to rush it . . . We're going to get it right." That was after Conservatives voiced concerns with the bill Ryan was planning to bring to the floor...
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The Unconditional Love of God vs.
the Conditional Love of Allah
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{answeringmuslims.com} ~ The Qur'an asserts that the God whom Christians and Jews worship is the same one whom Muslims worship (Q 29:46). This claim is of course blatantly false as the description and characteristics of God in the Bible are very different from that of Islam... God is Father to His people, and He is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3). The God of the Bible is limited by His own perfection, thus He cannot sin, He cannot lie, He cannot deny Himself. God cannot create contradictions such as square circles and married bachelors. The old dilemma, "can God create a rock so big that He cannot lift?" which tries to argue against God's omnipotence is nonsensical. God cannot create anything bigger or better than Himself because there is nothing greater or bigger than God. By definition, anything God creates is a creature and belongs to the category of creation. God is the only Being who is uncreated. Allah however, unlike the Yahweh of the Bible, can do anything he wants. He is unfettered, even by his own nature which according to Islam is beyond human comprehension. Thus when the Qu'ran quotes the Jews as saying, "Allah's hand is fettered" and it replies by saying, "Their [the Jews'] hands are fettered and they are accursed for saying so" (Q 5:64; Pickthall), this has been understood as a rejection of the notion that Allah operates the universe by certain discernible laws and that a fixed order exists within the creation. While both Jews and Christians hold to this notion of God's creation and His ordering of the universe which is the very basis of being able to do science and engage in rational discourse, Islam categorically rejected it. Allah is bound by nothing at all and "He will not be questioned as to that which He doeth, but they [the unbelievers] will be questioned (Q 21:23)... http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2016/07/the-unconditional-love-of-god-vs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+answeringmuslims%2FynNl+%28Answering+Muslims%29
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nObama Officials Accused of
‘Deceiving’ Congress on Gitmo Releases
by Morgan Chalfant
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{freebeacon.com} ~ Officials in charge of implementing President nObama’s plan to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay defended themselves Thursday against charges that they deceived Congress on detainee transfers... Chairman Ed Royce (R., Calif.) in opening remarks at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing alleged that Lee Wolosky and Paul Lewis, special envoys in charge of Guantanamo closure at the Departments of State and Defense, respectively, made statements before congressional lawmakers in March that were “inconsistent” with classified intelligence documents provided to the committee by the nObama administration. It was during the same testimony that Lewis acknowledged that Americans had died at the hands of former Guantanamo Bay detainees, a revelation that led to a Washington Post report asserting that around a dozen former Guantanamo prisoners have attacked U.S. or allied forces in Afghanistan, killing a half dozen Americans. The officials said Thursday that 14 former detainees had been responsible for these deadly attacks...
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Administration Officials Circumvented Constitution
to Make nObamacare Payments
by Ali Meyer
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{freebeacon.com} ~ nObama administration officials circumvented the Constitution and appropriations laws in sending taxpayer dollars to insurance companies for nObamacare payments... according to a joint report from the House Energy and Commerce and House Ways and Means committees. A provision in nObamacare known as the cost sharing reduction program lowers deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance for individuals who qualify to provide extra savings. The nObama administration has been paying for this program without congressional appropriation since January 2014, despite the fact that the Constitution makes clear that the executive branch cannot spend taxpayer money without the approval of Congress. The administration has been funding it through a permanent appropriation, which can only be used for specific programs including tax refunds and enumerated refundable tax credits. The permanent appropriation must be amended by Congress to include other programs...Whats going on Congress? Arrest the jerk. http://freebeacon.com/issues/report-administration-officials-circumvented-constitution-making-obamacare-payments/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=11b2504d49-WFB_Morning_Beacon_7_8_167_7_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-11b2504d49-45611665
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Germany's New "No Means No" Rape Law
by Soeren Kern
by Soeren Kern
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{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ The German parliament has approved changes to the criminal code that expand the definition of rape and make it easier to deport migrants who commit sex crimes... Under the bill, also known as the "No Means No" ("Nein heißt Nein") law, any form of non-consensual sex will now be punishable as a crime. Previously, only cases in which victims could show that they physically resisted their attackers were punishable under German law. The changes, which were prompted by the sex attacks in Cologne, where hundreds of women were assaulted by mobs of mostly Muslim migrants on New Year's Eve, is being hailed as a "paradigm shift" in German jurisprudence...
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ The German parliament has approved changes to the criminal code that expand the definition of rape and make it easier to deport migrants who commit sex crimes... Under the bill, also known as the "No Means No" ("Nein heißt Nein") law, any form of non-consensual sex will now be punishable as a crime. Previously, only cases in which victims could show that they physically resisted their attackers were punishable under German law. The changes, which were prompted by the sex attacks in Cologne, where hundreds of women were assaulted by mobs of mostly Muslim migrants on New Year's Eve, is being hailed as a "paradigm shift" in German jurisprudence...
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State Department
Reopens liar-Clinton Emails Probe
by BRADLEY KLAPPER
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{stream.org} ~ The State Department is reopening an internal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information by liar-Hillary Clinton and top aides, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday... Although the former secretary of state’s closest confidants have left the agency, they could still face punishment. The most serious is the loss of security clearances, which could complicate her aides’ hopes of securing top positions on her national security team if she becomes president. The State Department started its review in January after declaring 22 emails from liar-Clinton’s private server to be “top secret.” It was suspended in April so as not to interfere with the FBI’s inquiry. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the probe is restarting after the Justice Department’s announcement Wednesday that it won’t bring any criminal charges... https://stream.org/state-department-reopens-clinton-emails-probe/
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Israel's Diplomatic Spring
by Caroline Glick
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{truthrevolt.org} ~ We are living at a time when preconceived notions are crashing down one on top of the other.
We thought that nothing would ever change in the Arab world. But the Arab world hasn’t merely changed, large portions of it have collapsed. And regimes that have so far survived are beating a path to Israel’s door.
We thought that American dominance in the Middle East would last forever. And today the US is withdrawing. Its withdrawal may be short-lived, or it may stay out for the foreseeable future. Whatever the case, Russia is already picking up the pieces.
We thought that nothing would ever change in the Arab world. But the Arab world hasn’t merely changed, large portions of it have collapsed. And regimes that have so far survived are beating a path to Israel’s door.
We thought that American dominance in the Middle East would last forever. And today the US is withdrawing. Its withdrawal may be short-lived, or it may stay out for the foreseeable future. Whatever the case, Russia is already picking up the pieces.
That would be shocking enough. But even worse, as it has withdrawn, the US has turned a cold shoulder to Israel and its Sunni allies in a bid to build an alliance with Iran.
We thought that the European Union was the rising world power. We thought the euro was the currency of tomorrow.
Instead, Britain decided to bolt the EU and the euro zone is a disaster zone. European economic growth is sclerotic. European societies are coming apart at the seams under the crushing weight of failed monetary policies, over-regulation and mass emigration from the ruins of the Arab world.
Now we are witnessing the collapse of yet another preconceived notion.
For more than 20 years – indeed, since the initiation of the phony peace process with the PLO in 1993 – the who’s who of Israel’s chattering classes have told us that our growing diplomatic isolation is the result of our failure to make peace with the PLO. Everything will change for the better, immediately, they tell us, the minute we give up Jerusalem, expel hundreds of thousands of Israelis from their homes in Judea and Samaria, and hand security control of the Jordan Valley over to someone else.
But amazingly, despite the fact that there is no peace process, rather than suffering from diplomatic collapse, it is springtime for Israeli diplomacy as governments around the world seek out closer ties with the Jewish state.
And they aren’t coming to us, despite our supposed moral failings. They are coming to us because they admire us.
Exhibit A: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Last week Putin delivered an address before the All Russian Historical Assembly about the importance of teaching Russian history to Russia’s citizens.
Putin used Israel as a model for how historical knowledge empowers a nation.
Putin said, “Israel... relies and develops its identity and brings up its citizens with reliance on historical examples.”
Putin’s use of Israel as a positive role model showed that Putin’s sudden courtship of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not solely the product of strategic and economic interests.
He happens to admire Israel.
Next week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will embark on a five-day visit to Africa. During the trip he will visit Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
He may meet with additional heads of state during one of his stops. Netanyahu’s visit marks the first prime ministerial trip to Africa since Yitzhak Rabin visited in the early 1990s.
Africa isn’t Russia. But it is an important arena.
For nearly a century and a half, Africa has been the playing ground of world powers. In the 19th century, the European powers divided it up among themselves. In the Cold War, the newly independent states of Africa were sucked into the superpower competition as the US and the Soviet Union competed for turf through their African proxies.
Since the end of the Cold War, both world powers and regional ones have been drawn to Africa who view it as a convenient economic and strategic stomping ground.
Over the past decade and a half, China has emerged as the dominant economic player in Africa.
The Chinese move from state to state, building infrastructure in exchange for mining and petroleum contracts.
The US has opted not to challenge China’s economic dominance in Africa. The US’s nonchalance is either a function of indifference or of ignorance of the toll that China’s economic behavior will eventually take on US companies in Africa.
Case in point is Gabon. The West African nation is an oil power. According to business sources in Gabon, President Ali Bongo Ondimba is a pro-Western Muslim. He is interested in expanded trade ties to the US.
Ondimba’s electoral opponent, Jean Ping, a former senior UN official and former foreign minister, is oriented toward China. Yet, the US is allegedly supporting Ping over Ondimba due to dissatisfaction with the latter’s human rights record. If Ping is elected in August, US oil companies in Gabon are liable to see their contracts challenged.
Human rights and democracy promotion are major themes of US policy in Africa. Since the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, counterterrorism has also been a major concern. During his presidency, George W. Bush established the US military’s Africa Command to run US operations in the continent.
However, as part of nObama’s policy of winding down the US’s war against terrorism, and following the US’s contribution to the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the US has constrained its operations. Its minimalistic approach to fighting Boko Haram in West Africa and al-Qaida offshoots in East Africa makes clear that the US’s strategic disarray, after seven-and-a-half years of the nObama presidency, has not left Africa unaffected.
World powers are not the only players in Africa.
Regional powers are also on the scene. Iran, for instance, views Africa as a theater for expanding its influence over the Middle East. Last month The Wall Street Journal reported on Iran’s growing missionary presence in West Africa.
Iran and Hezbollah are running Islamic centers in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and Cameroon, and they’re getting results. Whereas in 1980, a Pew Survey showed no adherents to Shi’ite Islam in Africa, today, 12 percent of Nigeria’s 90 million Muslims are Shi’ites. So are 21% of Muslims in Chad, 20% in Tanzania, and 8% in Ghana.
Much of the missionary work is being handled by Lebanese expatriates in West Africa. Many of these former Lebanese are suspected of having close ties to Hezbollah. Indeed, earlier this year, the US Treasury Department named three Lebanese nationals living in Nigeria as Hezbollah operatives.
During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s tenure as Iranian president, Tehran expended enormous resources expanding and deepening its presence in Africa.
Among the fruits of his efforts was the Eritrean regime’s agreement to allow Iran to operate a naval base in the Horn of Africa. Iran’s cooperation with Sudan, and its use of Sudanese territory to ship advanced weapons to Gaza, reached new heights.
Iran’s Africa strategy took a major hit earlier this year, however. Owing to massive Saudi pressure, and, in all likelihood, massive payoffs, Sudan, Comoros, Somalia and Djibouti cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January. Sudan even joined Saudi Arabia in its campaign against Iran in Yemen. Eritrea reportedly permitted the Saudis to launch operations in Yemen from its territory.
This then brings us back to Israel, and Netanyahu’s visit to Africa.
In recent years, Israel has also been expanding its relations with African nations. Even South Africa, Israel’s greatest antagonist in Africa, indicated earlier this year that its hostility isn’t all-consuming.
In March, Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold paid a prolonged visit to South Africa where he was the guest of his South African counterpart.
South Africa aside, African nations from all over the continent view Israel as a rich source of technology and security expertise they are keen to tap.
They also view Israel as a rising economic power.
With an average economic growth rate of 6%, Africa is also an attractive market for Israeli companies across a swath of industries.
The most practical lesson from power politics in Africa is that for Africans, nothing is a done deal.
African states can cooperate simultaneously with competing outside powers and everyone benefits.
For instance, according to reports, Eritrea allows Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia to operate on its territory simultaneously. In other words, there is no reason to ever consider anyone in anyone’s pocket, and no reason not to ask for what we want. We may get it.
In recent years, Israel has done this to our advantage in the diplomatic realm, long thought to be a lost cause.
Last September, a draft resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency calling for Israel to open its nuclear sites to UN inspectors came up for a vote. It was defeated due to opposition from African states.
So, too, in late 2000, a draft UN Security Council resolution recognizing “Palestine” was defeated because Nigeria and Rwanda chose to abstain from voting. The African representatives’ action caught supporters of the resolution by surprise.
The Israeli leader most responsible for those successes was then-foreign minister Avigdor Liberman.
During his tenure at the Foreign Ministry, Liberman conducted two prolonged visits to Africa during which he visited seven countries, including Nigeria and Rwanda.
There is every reason to expect that during Netanyahu’s visit to Africa, Israel will expand and deepen its ties with Africa still further. And at some point, those deepened ties will result in further African support for Israel at the UN.
This returns us to our shattered accepted wisdom about Israel’s diplomatic isolation.
The view that Israel’s diplomatic fate is directly tied to its willingness to give up Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem is based on the Eurocentric view that the EU is the most important player in the diplomatic arena and that Israel cannot be successful unless Brussels supports us. For Israel’s elites, the fact that the EU is hostile to Israel is taken as proof that we are morally compromised and don’t deserve its support.
But as Israel’s diplomatic rise in Africa, Asia, Russia and beyond makes clear, the Eurocentric view is wrong. Israel needn’t waste its time and energy trying to appease the Europeans. Not only is it an exercise in futility, given Europe’s boundless and unhinged hostility. It is also unnecessary, given Europe’s economic weakness and political decay.
Due to our elite’s continued allegiance to the Eurocentric view, scant media attention has been paid to Israel’s diplomatic blossoming. Much of the public is unaware that far from being isolated, Israel is enjoying a diplomatic rise unseen since the end of the Cold War.
The time, however, has come for us to recognize the change. For the faster we come to terms with our new position, the faster we will maximize its potential.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/glick-israels-diplomatic-spring
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