The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Discrimination to advance the cause
of 'peace'? nObama and his
brown-nosers defend it
by Caroline B. Glick
~~~
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Trolling Trump Over Second Amendment
Political spin is what makes politicians famous and infamous. It is the art of spinning one's own words to play positively and one's opponent's words negatively. And it really helps when the Leftmedia is your partner.
Enter Donald Trump. He's passionate regarding the serious issues facing the nation, yet, with his politically unorthodox manner, he often finds himself having to refute the continued political spin his untamed tongue has brought to bear. Yesterday, Trump attempted to make the case for just how dangerous a liar-Hillary Clinton presidency would be, saying, "liar-Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. ... [I]f she gets to pick her judges, [there's] nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day." Cue the spin that Donald is calling for liar-Clinton's assassination or armed revolution. Oh, come on. But this is how the political spin game works.
Remember back in 2008 when liar-Hillary Clinton was asked why she had not yet conceded the race to Barack nObama? She made the following remarks: "I don't [concede], because, again, I've been around long enough. You know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary. ... We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California." Did liar-Hillary really intend to suggest that she was waiting for nObama to being assassinated? You can bet that if she had been running as a Republican, that would have been the story.
Fast forward back to today, and clearly Trump was referencing Second Amendment defenders, who are quite a political force for the preservation of Americans' right to bear arms. liar-Clinton and her campaign are simply using Trump's off the cuff remark as another means of trolling him, seeking to spin everything he says against him. But let's be honest — Trump's lack of speaking discipline, while refreshing to some, has made him an easy target. His task is to stay on message, like the hard-hitting economic speech he gave Monday. -The Patriot Post
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The 2016 Rio Olympics: 'Welcome to Hell'?
Louis DeBroux: Pestilence. Disease. Roving bands of criminals. Unfinished buildings dotting the landscape.
No, this isn't the backdrop to the latest installment of The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner, this is the reality facing the city of Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Olympic Games.
In 2009, Brazil was awarded the bid for this year's summer Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in part by using guilt over the fact that Brazil was the only one of the world's 10 largest economies to have never hosted an Olympic Games — North America, Europe and Asia had all hosted the games a number of times. Brazil desired mightily to prove that it was no longer an underdeveloped Third World country, but instead a model socialist utopia. Mission most certainly not accomplished.
Like South America's own Baghdad Bob, the host country and the IOC have desperately tried to deny and dismiss the massive problems facing Rio in the months leading up to the opening of the games. And boy, are there some serious problems.
Brazil is in the midst of an outbreak of the Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitos and can lead to serious illness and even death. It has caused deformities and death in the babies of infected pregnant women. The outbreak is so concerning (despite the IOC and World Health Organization promising that everything will be fine) that a group of 200 doctors and bioethicists signed a letter months ago urging the games be postponed or moved to another city. Many athletes pulled out of the games rather than risk infection. Understandable, considering one athlete had to have emergency surgery after a minor cut became infected in Rio's waters.
Zika is not the only infection risk facing athletes in Rio. Massive amounts of pollution and raw human sewage, including feces, continue to be dumped into the river and waterways where athletes will be competing in the sailing, rowing and open-water swimming events. The level of dangerous viruses in the water is astonishingly high — so much so that Dr. Valerie Harwood, Chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida, warned athletes not to put their heads under water, lest they accidentally ingest some of the polluted water and become "violently ill." The situation is so bad that athletes and visitors are being warned that even the sand on the beach contains dangerous levels of viruses. The beaches have also been found to contain drug-resistant bacteria.
If you attend the Olympics and manage to survive the polluted water, deadly viruses and drug-resistant bacteria, you are still at significant risk to your life and safety. Because of a strike by the police, the Brazilian military has been brought in to provide security. At the Rio airport, visitors are greeted by police holding a banner reading "Welcome to Hell: police and firefighters don't get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe!" That's comforting.
Rio is also plagued by heavily armed criminal gangs roaming the streets. These gangs have committed nearly 100,000 violent crimes in the first six months of this year, including 31 victims killed during attempted robberies. Already, Olympic athletes have been robbed, news crews have been attacked and had their equipment stolen, and one athlete was kidnapped and driven around the city, forced to withdraw money from ATM's. These criminal gangs also seem to prefer international visitors, with an average of 15 foreign tourists targeted for attacks each day since the opening of the athletes' village on July 24. All of this is on top of the political unrest that was already present before the start of the games, as well as the ever-present danger of terrorists targeting such a high-profile event.
And if you manage to avoid the deadly viruses, polluted water, roving criminal gangs and terrorists, you are still at mortal risk from the infrastructure itself. Last month, the New York Times' Vanessa Barbara revealed that, with just weeks before the start of the Olympics, the city looked like a "huge construction site," stating that "almost all venues are still under construction." Even as the games were getting underway workers were still lazily working on these unfinished projects. The quality of the work is extremely suspect as well. In April, a bike path collapsed and killed two people.
The construction debacle is reminiscent of Beijing's 2008 games, which our own Mark Alexander attended and recounted.
The people who suffer most may be the people of Brazil themselves. The final cost for hosting the Olympics looks to be $12 billion, while revenues are projected to be just $5-6 billion — and half of that will go to the IOC. This is a difficult burden to bear for a country struggling through its worst financial crisis and recession in a quarter century. And if history repeats itself, within just a few years these infrastructure investments will be abandoned and dilapidated. Just 20 years after Atlanta hosted the 1996 summer Olympics, the only Olympic structure still standing is Turner Field, which will no longer be hosting games after this season since the Braves are moving to suburban Cobb County. The city of Boston turned down the Olympics after refusing to put its taxpayers on the hook for the inevitable cost overruns. City leaders were onto something.
It may be amusing in the abstract to sit back and look at this massive comedy of errors on display by a nation trying to highlight the grandeur and majesty of its socialist utopia, but the dangers facing the Olympic athletes and the tens of thousands of visitors is not the least bit funny. Here's praying that we make it through this Olympiad with no deaths or injuries from disease, crime, terrorism or collapsing infrastructure.
And yet for all the doom and gloom, it sure is fun to watch American athletes win so many gold medals. Indeed, the glory of it all is what makes countries and cities fight through the problems to host the quadrennial spectacle. -The Patriot Post
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nObama Committed Treason Doctoring
Intelligence With America At War
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Donald Trump finds it unacceptable that ISIS is on the march, expanding now to a presence in 28 countries, and the official nObama response is “I don’t like Donald Trump’s tone.”... Mike Huckabee notes that a GOP Congressional report has been issued documenting the fact that the nObama regime has been distorting and manipulating intelligence data in order to paint a picture that matches their narrative of success. He quotes Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS) stating that the goal of the intelligence distortion was, “Tell a story that ISIS was the JV and that we had al-Qaeda on the run.” Against that backdrop Huckabee asks Gen. Anthony Tata, “This seems to be an incredible report that shows that intelligence data was cooked for the express purpose of politicizing and making things seem better than they really were.” General Tata describe it as the tip of the iceberg, that he has credible sources on the inside that tell him that someone from the office of the Director of National Intelligence who frequently meets with the ‘president’ directed a senior official in Central Command to quit producing products of record, as they’re called, that showed negative intelligence that did not fit the narrative of the nObama administration.”... http://rickwells.us/gorka-obama-treason-america-war/
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Surge of Mexicans, immigrants for
citizenship to vote for president
by Paul Bedard
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ The number of immigrants seeking citizenship has surged this year, driven by desire to vote in the fall presidential election, according to a new report... In the first two quarters of the year, applications from legal immigrants to become naturalized citizens have jumped 21 percent over last year. From October to March, 440,000 immigrants applied. Over 653,000 immigrants were naturalized in the United States last year, winning the same rights as native-born Americans, including to vote. The Migration Policy Institute said that a drive to vote in November and a new nObama policy aimed at providing citizenship has fueled the surge...
.
nObama Admin Gives Green Light for Iran
to Build Two New Nuclear Plants
by Adam Kredo
{freebeacon.com} ~ Iran is permitted to pursue the construction of two newly announced nuclear plants under the parameters of last summer’s nuclear agreement, nObama administration officials informed the Washington Free Beacon... setting the stage for Tehran to move forward with construction following orders from President Hassan Rouhani. Ali Salehi, Iran’s top nuclear official, announced on Thursday that Iran has invested $10 billion into the construction of two new nuclear plants after receiving orders from Rouhani, according to reports in Iran’s state-controlled media. A State Department official said to the Free Beacon following the announcement that Iran is allowed to move forward with this venture under the nuclear agreement, which does not prohibit this type of nuclear construction... http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-admin-gives-green-light-iran-build-two-new-nuclear-plants/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=3a90a6bec9-WFB_Weekend_Beacon_08_13_168_12_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-3a90a6bec9-45611665
.
Churches take new security measures
in face of terror threats
by Hollie McKay
{foxnews.com} ~ Oh nice. So this is what we have to look forward to in nObama’s “new America.” As Father Josiah Trenham prepared to read the Gospel, several parishioners discreetly scooped up their babies... retreated up the aisles of St. Andrew Orthodox Church and out into the spring air, so as not to allow the crying of little ones to disturb the divine liturgy. The time-honored tradition was shattered when a car passed by the Riverside, Calif., church, slowing down as the front passenger leaned out of his window and bellowed menacingly through a bullhorn, according to witnesses. “Allahu Akbar!” the unidentified man repeated several times as the unnerved parents drew their infants close and exchanged worried glances...Their here folks. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/09/churches-take-new-security-measures-in-face-terror-threats.html
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Bill And liar-Hillary Clinton
Bonnie And Clyde With Fleas
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Judge Jeanine Pirro starts off her open by refuting a couple of the most often repeated lies of the liar-Clinton campaign, saying, “It wasn’t about convenience and this is not old news.”... She then goes into the details, saying, “She set up the personal server to prevent us from learning her private business. And it is only because of a government watchdog group and an ethical federal judge that we found out why this week. Why? Because Bill and liar-Hillary Clinton are the Bonnie and Clyde of American politics.” Judge Jeanine continues, “Now follow me on this one. Why would a woman, a lawyer, no less, one experienced many times over in the ways of Washington, risk placing classified information, our live assets, the placement of satellites, drones and our most secret plans, on an unprotected, non-government, non-capturable server? Judge Pirro asks, “Why would she violate federal regulations upon which she was schooled just before she became Secretary of State? Not to mention violate federal criminal laws that would put her in jail? She’s too smart to do that. Why would she take the time to make the effort to hide, destroy and delete 33,000 emails? Now we know; she did it for the most selfish of reasons, the oldest of motives. She did it for greed and for power and for the almighty dollar.”...
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Carly Fiorina Readies Bid to
Become Next RNC Chair
by Natalie Johnson
{freebeacon.com} ~ Former 2016 presidential candidate and Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is preparing a bid to become the next chair of the Republican National Committee, Time reported Tuesday... Fiorina, who suspended her presidential campaign in February, is expected to spend the next few months traveling across the United States to help elect down-ballot Republicans while courting support from the nearly 170 RNC members. The RNC will have to elect a successor to Reince Priebus in January if the current party chair decides against seeking a fourth term. Priebus has so far declined to confirm whether he will seek reelection... http://freebeacon.com/politics/carly-fiorina-readies-bid-become-rnc-chair/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=5bd1214a4f-Best_of_the_Beacon_8_14_168_12_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-5bd1214a4f-45611665
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liar-Hillary Demands Americans Change
Religious Beliefs To Suit Her
by Joe Newby
{lidblog.com} ~ Since we’re dedicated to vetting Democratic Party nominee liar-Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most evil person ever nominated by a major party for the highest office in the land... something, by the way, the so-called “mainstream media” won’t do — we thought it important to remind you of something she said at the 2015 Women in the World Summit. There, she informed Americans that they must change their religious beliefs to suit her, especially on issues like abortion. “Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper,” she told those in attendance. “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will…And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”...
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UK: 30,000 persecuted Ahmadi gather
to oppose terrorism – media in tears
by Patrick Lion
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It's official: nObama to send TPP to Congress
by Curtis Ellis
{wnd.com} ~ The White House has put Congress on official notice that it will be sending lawmakers a bill to implement President Barack nObama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement later this year... The White House submitted what’s known as a Statement of Administrative Action giving Congress a 30-day notification that the administration plans to present legislation implementing the TPP. nObama has previously said that he intends to push the TPP in the lame-duck session of Congress after the election. Congressional leaders have said they would not consider the so-called “free trade” deal before the election because it is extremely unpopular with voters... http://www.wnd.com/2016/08/its-official-obama-to-send-congress-tpp/
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So is liar-Clinton Foundation under investigation or not?
by Joseph Farah
{wnd.com} ~ First we were told the FBI was investigating the shockingly apparent violations of ethics and the law involving Bill and liar-Hillary Clinton’s misuse of her office and the liar-Clinton Foundation they use as a personal tax-exempt piggybank... Then we were told by FBI Director James Comey his agency was not. Now we’re being told once again, by an “unnamed senior official” it is. What are we to believe about this? I have two guesses, based on the unscrupulous history of the Democratic Party, Barack nObama and liar-Hillary Clinton:...
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Discrimination to advance the cause
of 'peace'? nObama and his
brown-nosers defend it
by Caroline B. Glick
{jewishworldreview.com} ~ Why did the nObama administration decide to escalate its attacks against Israel last week? What was the purpose of the State Department’s shockingly hostile assault last Wednesday following the Israel Land’s Authority’s announcement that it is publishing tenders to build 323 apartment units in Jerusalem’s Gilo, Har Homa, Pisgat Zeev and Neveh Ya’acov neighborhoods? The statement needs to be seen to be believed.
“We are deeply concerned by reports today that the government of Israel has published tenders for 323 units in East Jerusalem settlements. This follows Monday’s announcement of plans for 770 units in the settlement of Gilo,” it began.
“We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.”
The Americans then attacked Israel for advancing plans to build in Judea and Samaria. The projects now on the table involve building apartments in the city of Ma’aleh Adumim and in Kiryat Arba and authorizing the already constructed Amona neighborhood in Ofra. The statement attacked Israel for enforcing its land laws toward non-Jews.
“We are also concerned about recent increased demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which reportedly have left dozens of Palestinians homeless, including children....”
Finally, it concluded, “This is part of an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansion, legalizations of outposts, and denial of Palestinian development that risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict. We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counter-productive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.”
Elliott Abrams, who was president George W. Bush’s adviser on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, expressed shock at the statement’s hostility. In written commentary, Abrams hypothesized that the statement was directed toward the Europeans.
He offered that it was likely meant to signal to them that they are free to attack Israel as harshly as they wish.
Maybe. But after seven-and-a-half years of the nObama presidency, the Europeans need no such reassurance. They know that the White House has their back when it comes to Israel-bashing. A more likely explanation lies elsewhere. To understand it though, it is important to recognize that the positions expressed in last week’s statement weren’t altogether new.
In January, then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon announced the inclusion of a 10-acre plot of land adjacent to Route 60 south of Jerusalem within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The plot in question was lawfully purchased eight years ago from the Presbyterian Church by the late Irving Moskowitz and his wife, Cherna Moskowitz.
The State Department reacted with rage to Ya’alon’s announcement. Condemning the decision, spokesman John Kirby called settlements, “illegitimate and counterproductive to the cause of peace.” Kirby continued, “Actions such as this decision clearly undermine the possibility of a two state solution.”
Irving Moskowitz, who passed away in June, and his widow, Cherna Moskowitz, are Americans, not Israelis. The American couple privately purchased the 10-acre plot, along with eight buildings located on the plot from the Presbyterian Church – a private entity. The sale took place not in the US, but in foreign territory.
US law does not bar US citizens from buying land in Judea and Samaria. In fact, in other cases, the administration actually encourages US citizens to purchase and develop land in the areas. For instance, the father of the Palestinian settlement of Rawabi in the Binyamin district is Bashar al-Masri.
Masri is a US citizen.
Far from condemning Masri, or the Palestinian Authority which is expanding Rawabi with him, the US government is funding Rawabi. The administration upholds Masri as a hero.
Legally, there is no difference whatsoever between the Moskowitzes and Masri. The only difference between them is their religion. The Moskowitzes are Jews. Masri is a Muslim.
And while the State Department condemned the lawful purchase of land by the Moskowitzes, and Israel’s incorporation of that land, in accordance with their wishes, within the boundaries of Gush Etzion, the administration celebrates land purchase, appropriation and development of Rawabi by Masri.
There is a name for this type of behavior. It is called discrimination. It is also called anti-Semitism.
Last week’s State Department condemnation was no different.
To understand why this is the case it is important to bear in mind that a few weeks before last Wednesday’s announcements about construction tenders in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods, Israel Lands Authority announced it is issuing tenders for 600 apartments in Jerusalem for Arabs-only in Beit Safafa and additional housing for Arabs-only in Beit Hanina.
Whereas the State Department harshly condemned last week’s announcement, it said nothing about the previous ones. In other words, it distinguishes between building for Jews and building for non-Jews. It seeks to trample Jewish civil rights while championing those of Arabs. Indeed, it defends Arab lawlessness.
This too is a policy predicated on bigotry, on anti-Semitism. There is one more component to nObama’s actions, which, like his anti-Jewish rationale, has spanned the length of his presidency.
In 2010, then-secretary of state liar-Hillary Clinton shocked Israeli society by screaming at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the telephone for 45 minutes. liar-Clinton upbraided Netanyahu for a decision by a Jerusalem municipal planning board’s to approve a stage in the planning process toward building apartments in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Israelis – and many Americans – were shocked by her behavior, because no previous administration had ever treated neighborhoods in Jerusalem as controversial. Everyone, including nObama, acknowledged that like the major population centers in Judea and Samaria, these neighborhoods will remain part of Israel in perpetuity.
Yet suddenly in 2010, liar-Clinton and nObama began castigating them as “illegitimate settlements.” In other words, they expanded the meaning of “settlement” to include all Jewish communities located in areas that had been under Jordanian occupation between 1949 and 1967.
Last week’s State Department’s statement made clear, yet again, that it is official US policy to view Gilo, a neighborhood of 40,000 people, and Ma’aleh Adumim, a city of 40,000 people, as indistinguishable from a few mobile homes in the middle of nowhere with a dozen 20-somethings camped out in them. For the past seven years, the US has viewed these residential areas all as equally evil, equally “corrosive” and equally “illegitimate,” despite the fact that their only shared quality is that they all house Jews. To be clear, none of this has any connection to international law. This is why the administration prefers the meaningless term “illegitimate” to the term “illegal.”
The administration argues that it discriminates against Jews to advance the cause of peace. But as Abrams made clear, this claim is completely absurd. Again, the nObama administration itself acknowledges that these areas will remain part of Israel under any possible peace deal.
Then there is the awkward issue of the Palestinians.
The Americans reject Jewish civil rights and blame Israel’s respect for those rights for the absence of peace at the same time that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is spewing blood libels about Jews at the European Parliament and suing Great Britain for the Balfour Declaration.
In other words, they are accusing Israel of destroying prospects for peace when it is clear to everyone – including nObama’s own negotiators – that the only side unwilling to make peace is the Palestinians.
Some argue that the administration’s condemnations are geared toward setting the conditions for a UN Security Council resolution against the settlements.
nObama, they warn, intends to enable such a decision to pass after the presidential election in November.
But these condemnations can just as easily make it politically difficult for nObama to carry out his plan. By condemning Israel in such an openly bigoted manner, nObama opens himself up to denunciations by Israel’s many friends in Congress, and indeed, in presidential politics. These allies can easily demand that Democratic nominee liar-Clinton reject his anti-Semitic policies. In doing so, they will ensure that even if an anti-Israel resolution passes in November, it will be forgotten the moment nObama leaves office.
Given the fact that the US public does not share nObama’s hostility toward the Jewish state, prudence would recommend that he advance his bigoted aims as quietly as possible. So what is he up to? Since the Europeans don’t need a US condemnation to act, and anti-Israel resolutions at the UN are best advanced through quiet diplomacy, not public condemnations of a popular ally, the only remaining option is that nObama’s actual target audience is the US itself. With three months until the election, nObama is focused on legacy building.
Demonstrates that shaping the US’s future policy toward Israel is a major component of the legacy he is building. And what is the shape he is giving to that policy through his actions? By openly employing anti-Jewish policy rationales, nObama shows that the legacy he intends to pass on to his successors is a US policy toward Israel based neither on US interests nor on American values. Rather, it is predicated on unabashed anti-Jewish discrimination.
In other words, nObama’s presidential legacy is the promotion of anti-Semitism as the guiding principle shaping and informing US Israel policy.
This is, to be sure, a stunning – indeed shocking – conclusion. It points to the depth of nObama’s hostility to Jewish national and civil rights. But as his administration’s statements make clear, the conclusion that anti-Semitism is the guiding principle of his policies is unavoidable.
Those running to succeed nObama should be urged to denounce his bigotry and renounce his legacy. By the same token, the Israeli pro-Palestinian Left and the American pro-nObama Left should be urged to distance themselves from him.
As long as they refuse to do so, as long as they continue to support nObama, they make clear that for them, anti-Jewish bigotry is no big deal. As far as they are concerned, Jewish rights should only be respected when doing so advances their political goals.
This means that nObama’s supporters can no longer claim to be liberals. Now that we understand that anti-Jewish bigotry, and the rejection of Jewish civil rights, is the rationale informing nObama’s policy toward the Jewish state, it is clear that it is no longer possible to be both a liberal and an nObama supporter.
This is his legacy. And this is their choice.
“We are deeply concerned by reports today that the government of Israel has published tenders for 323 units in East Jerusalem settlements. This follows Monday’s announcement of plans for 770 units in the settlement of Gilo,” it began.
“We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.”
The Americans then attacked Israel for advancing plans to build in Judea and Samaria. The projects now on the table involve building apartments in the city of Ma’aleh Adumim and in Kiryat Arba and authorizing the already constructed Amona neighborhood in Ofra. The statement attacked Israel for enforcing its land laws toward non-Jews.
“We are also concerned about recent increased demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which reportedly have left dozens of Palestinians homeless, including children....”
Finally, it concluded, “This is part of an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansion, legalizations of outposts, and denial of Palestinian development that risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict. We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counter-productive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.”
Elliott Abrams, who was president George W. Bush’s adviser on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, expressed shock at the statement’s hostility. In written commentary, Abrams hypothesized that the statement was directed toward the Europeans.
He offered that it was likely meant to signal to them that they are free to attack Israel as harshly as they wish.
Maybe. But after seven-and-a-half years of the nObama presidency, the Europeans need no such reassurance. They know that the White House has their back when it comes to Israel-bashing. A more likely explanation lies elsewhere. To understand it though, it is important to recognize that the positions expressed in last week’s statement weren’t altogether new.
In January, then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon announced the inclusion of a 10-acre plot of land adjacent to Route 60 south of Jerusalem within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The plot in question was lawfully purchased eight years ago from the Presbyterian Church by the late Irving Moskowitz and his wife, Cherna Moskowitz.
The State Department reacted with rage to Ya’alon’s announcement. Condemning the decision, spokesman John Kirby called settlements, “illegitimate and counterproductive to the cause of peace.” Kirby continued, “Actions such as this decision clearly undermine the possibility of a two state solution.”
Irving Moskowitz, who passed away in June, and his widow, Cherna Moskowitz, are Americans, not Israelis. The American couple privately purchased the 10-acre plot, along with eight buildings located on the plot from the Presbyterian Church – a private entity. The sale took place not in the US, but in foreign territory.
US law does not bar US citizens from buying land in Judea and Samaria. In fact, in other cases, the administration actually encourages US citizens to purchase and develop land in the areas. For instance, the father of the Palestinian settlement of Rawabi in the Binyamin district is Bashar al-Masri.
Masri is a US citizen.
Far from condemning Masri, or the Palestinian Authority which is expanding Rawabi with him, the US government is funding Rawabi. The administration upholds Masri as a hero.
Legally, there is no difference whatsoever between the Moskowitzes and Masri. The only difference between them is their religion. The Moskowitzes are Jews. Masri is a Muslim.
And while the State Department condemned the lawful purchase of land by the Moskowitzes, and Israel’s incorporation of that land, in accordance with their wishes, within the boundaries of Gush Etzion, the administration celebrates land purchase, appropriation and development of Rawabi by Masri.
There is a name for this type of behavior. It is called discrimination. It is also called anti-Semitism.
Last week’s State Department condemnation was no different.
To understand why this is the case it is important to bear in mind that a few weeks before last Wednesday’s announcements about construction tenders in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods, Israel Lands Authority announced it is issuing tenders for 600 apartments in Jerusalem for Arabs-only in Beit Safafa and additional housing for Arabs-only in Beit Hanina.
Whereas the State Department harshly condemned last week’s announcement, it said nothing about the previous ones. In other words, it distinguishes between building for Jews and building for non-Jews. It seeks to trample Jewish civil rights while championing those of Arabs. Indeed, it defends Arab lawlessness.
This too is a policy predicated on bigotry, on anti-Semitism. There is one more component to nObama’s actions, which, like his anti-Jewish rationale, has spanned the length of his presidency.
In 2010, then-secretary of state liar-Hillary Clinton shocked Israeli society by screaming at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the telephone for 45 minutes. liar-Clinton upbraided Netanyahu for a decision by a Jerusalem municipal planning board’s to approve a stage in the planning process toward building apartments in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Israelis – and many Americans – were shocked by her behavior, because no previous administration had ever treated neighborhoods in Jerusalem as controversial. Everyone, including nObama, acknowledged that like the major population centers in Judea and Samaria, these neighborhoods will remain part of Israel in perpetuity.
Yet suddenly in 2010, liar-Clinton and nObama began castigating them as “illegitimate settlements.” In other words, they expanded the meaning of “settlement” to include all Jewish communities located in areas that had been under Jordanian occupation between 1949 and 1967.
Last week’s State Department’s statement made clear, yet again, that it is official US policy to view Gilo, a neighborhood of 40,000 people, and Ma’aleh Adumim, a city of 40,000 people, as indistinguishable from a few mobile homes in the middle of nowhere with a dozen 20-somethings camped out in them. For the past seven years, the US has viewed these residential areas all as equally evil, equally “corrosive” and equally “illegitimate,” despite the fact that their only shared quality is that they all house Jews. To be clear, none of this has any connection to international law. This is why the administration prefers the meaningless term “illegitimate” to the term “illegal.”
The administration argues that it discriminates against Jews to advance the cause of peace. But as Abrams made clear, this claim is completely absurd. Again, the nObama administration itself acknowledges that these areas will remain part of Israel under any possible peace deal.
Then there is the awkward issue of the Palestinians.
The Americans reject Jewish civil rights and blame Israel’s respect for those rights for the absence of peace at the same time that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is spewing blood libels about Jews at the European Parliament and suing Great Britain for the Balfour Declaration.
In other words, they are accusing Israel of destroying prospects for peace when it is clear to everyone – including nObama’s own negotiators – that the only side unwilling to make peace is the Palestinians.
Some argue that the administration’s condemnations are geared toward setting the conditions for a UN Security Council resolution against the settlements.
nObama, they warn, intends to enable such a decision to pass after the presidential election in November.
But these condemnations can just as easily make it politically difficult for nObama to carry out his plan. By condemning Israel in such an openly bigoted manner, nObama opens himself up to denunciations by Israel’s many friends in Congress, and indeed, in presidential politics. These allies can easily demand that Democratic nominee liar-Clinton reject his anti-Semitic policies. In doing so, they will ensure that even if an anti-Israel resolution passes in November, it will be forgotten the moment nObama leaves office.
Given the fact that the US public does not share nObama’s hostility toward the Jewish state, prudence would recommend that he advance his bigoted aims as quietly as possible. So what is he up to? Since the Europeans don’t need a US condemnation to act, and anti-Israel resolutions at the UN are best advanced through quiet diplomacy, not public condemnations of a popular ally, the only remaining option is that nObama’s actual target audience is the US itself. With three months until the election, nObama is focused on legacy building.
Demonstrates that shaping the US’s future policy toward Israel is a major component of the legacy he is building. And what is the shape he is giving to that policy through his actions? By openly employing anti-Jewish policy rationales, nObama shows that the legacy he intends to pass on to his successors is a US policy toward Israel based neither on US interests nor on American values. Rather, it is predicated on unabashed anti-Jewish discrimination.
In other words, nObama’s presidential legacy is the promotion of anti-Semitism as the guiding principle shaping and informing US Israel policy.
This is, to be sure, a stunning – indeed shocking – conclusion. It points to the depth of nObama’s hostility to Jewish national and civil rights. But as his administration’s statements make clear, the conclusion that anti-Semitism is the guiding principle of his policies is unavoidable.
Those running to succeed nObama should be urged to denounce his bigotry and renounce his legacy. By the same token, the Israeli pro-Palestinian Left and the American pro-nObama Left should be urged to distance themselves from him.
As long as they refuse to do so, as long as they continue to support nObama, they make clear that for them, anti-Jewish bigotry is no big deal. As far as they are concerned, Jewish rights should only be respected when doing so advances their political goals.
This means that nObama’s supporters can no longer claim to be liberals. Now that we understand that anti-Jewish bigotry, and the rejection of Jewish civil rights, is the rationale informing nObama’s policy toward the Jewish state, it is clear that it is no longer possible to be both a liberal and an nObama supporter.
This is his legacy. And this is their choice.
