Author: Orit ben Tzvi

Orit is Israel Rising's regional and threat analyst. She has a degree from IDC in Middle East Diplomacy and has served both intelligence related activities for the IDF as well as advised privately for firms doing business in the region.
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BREAKING NEWS: Final Decision Pending on Removing Arab Squatters from Susiya

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is set to make a final decision in knocking down multiple makeshift structures erected by Arabs on the ancient Jewish village of Susiya.

These Arabs claim to be the real land owners and have caused multiple problems with local Jews and the State of Israel.  The problem for their case is even a usually sympathetic Supreme Court has ruled that the State must knock the structures down as no clear proof can be shown for there ever being an Arab village there.

“Surveys of villages and populations conducted by the British Mandatory powers in 1945, which mention all of the villages in the area and even some of the inhabitants, prove there is no hint of the existence of an Arab village named Susiya,” says Josh Hasten, spokesman for Regavim an Israeli NGO dedicated to ensuring Israeli land laws are followed especially in the Arab sector. “More recently aerial photos obtained by Regavim from 1999 show nothing resembling a village in that area. An identical photo from 2013 shows how squatters have infiltrated the locale.”

So will Lieberman knock the buildings and tents down? Not if Obama has anything to do it. The State Department has already issued a warning that “there will be severe consequences” if he goes through with it.

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Why Does Obama Care About Susiya?

If there was ever an archeological site that destroys the myth making of the Palestinian Arab population it is Susiya. The village was inhabited continuously by Jews up until the early 8th Century. It was clearly a large commercial hub for the Southern Hebron Hills, showing that it was in fact the Jews that remained the majority population up until the Muslim conquest.

This narrative supports Israel’s solid claim to being the sole indigenous culture in Israel, only being superseded by the conquest of Islam over the Holy land.

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Iran Wins, Israel Loses

Swiss arbiters ruled in favor of the national Iranian oil company in a long-standing dispute with Israel controlled Trans-Asiatic Oil Company.  The  sum to be paid is $1.2 billion. Thanks to the Obama administration’s “landmark” nuclear deal with Iran, its national oil company has been removed from the sanctions list.

The case is interesting in that it recalls a time before radical Islam swept into power in Tehran when Iran and Israel had a budding alliance. Of course in 1979 that all changed along with Iran’s refusal to complete their end of the deal, which called for Iran to deliver oil to Israel until 2017.  Despite this, the Swiss Supreme Court in Lausanne saw things differently, giving into Iran’s accusation that it is owed compensation for the 50 shipments of oil it had already sent to Israel before the Shah’s fall.

The hypocrisy of Iran winning a case whose existence only happened, because the same Iranian regime wanted to cut business ties with Israel to begin with is glaring. What is even more wild is the Swiss arbiters. The logic of their decision lacks foresight. Obviously, the Israeli company would have been glad to continue shipping oil, but the Iranians refused to work with them.

So now Israel must pay a regime money most likely to be used in terrorism against Israelis and Jews worldwide.

 

 

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Black Lives Matter Supports the Slave Trade?

Black Lives Matter Israel

The Black Lives Matter movement has decided to take their struggle to the streets of Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Arabs.  What the correlation is between the two movement isn’t exactly clear. The Black Lives Matter activists claim to see many correlations between the African-American struggle against police brutality and systemic racism in America and the security apparatus that exists in Judea and Samaria.

“Going through checkpoints, seeing rubber bullets, reminds us what our comrades and some of us experienced in Ferguson, IDF soldiers totally remind me of the cops that brutalized me,” said Ash-lee Henderson, a Black Lives Matter movement member. Henderson was left severely injured by an altercation at a rally with a cop.

The Black Lives Matter movement supports BDS and is 100% behind the Palestinian National movement.  Yet, given the Arab history of being behind the African slave trade and continuing to trade in slaves until today, one wonders why BLM wants to associate itself with the very people who have been and in many ways still responsible for oppressing Africans.

Some estimates puts the numbers of slaves taken from Africa by Arab slave traders as 20 million.  Often times these slaves were taken as young boys who were castrated in order to prevent reproduction. In many Arab countries one can still find slaves.  In fact Mauritania only recently criminalized slavery.

The alliance between the Black Lives Matter movement, BDS, and various pro-Palestinian groups have not been lost on pro-Israel African-Americans and there is a growing concern that BLM and its many offshoots are being drawn into completely non-connected cause.  Chloe Valdary, a Black Zionist spoke out against this very phenomenon on widely watched video.

“You want to exploit my people’s history?” Valdary said. “You want to exploit Jewish people’s history and twist and turn it to use towards your political gains? Don’t act like you have solidarity with my people,” Valdery said, adding: “You need to stay in your lane.”

Will Black Lives Matter stop themselves before they become to too attached to a movement that has little to do with theirs and in fact contributes greatly systemic racism in the Arab world? One can only hope.

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Chinese Pay $4.4 Billion for Israeli Company Playtika

A consortium of Chinese companies has announced that it is paying $4.4 billion for Playtika, the Israeli social games developer, which was owned by Caesars Interactive Entertainment. The group, led by an affiliate of Shanghai Giant Network Technology, one of China’s largest online games companies, said it has entered into a definitive agreement with Caesars to acquire the Herzliya-based Playtika in an all-cash deal.

According to reports, Caesars announced it would sell off the Slotomania developer in order to pay down debt. South Korea’s Netmarble reportedly made an offer for the Israeli gaming company but was outbid by the Chinese consortium.

The consortium includes Giant Investment (HK); Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm founded by Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma; China Oceanwide Holdings Group; China Minsheng Trust; CDH China HF Holdings Company; and Hony Capital Fund.

“This transaction is a testament to Playtika’s unique culture and the innovative spirit of our employees who for the past six years have consistently designed, produced and operated some of the most compelling, immersive and creative social games in the world,” said Robert Antokol, Co-Founder and CEO of Playtika.

“We are incredibly excited by the commercial opportunities the Consortium will make available to us, particularly in its ability to provide us access to large and rapidly growing emerging markets. This is an amazing milestone for all Playtikans and we truly value how unique this opportunity is to continue executing our vision with such a strong partner.”

Playtika is credited as the pioneer of free-to-play games on social networks and mobile platforms. It is the creator of Slotomania, House of Fun and Bingo Blitz, which consistently rank among the top-grossing games on Apple’s App Store, Google Play and Facebook. Playtika’s games are played daily by more than six million people in 190 countries, in 12 languages and on more than 10 platforms.

“It has been a particularly rewarding experience growing Playtika from a 10-person start-up, when CIE acquired them in 2011, into a global leader,” said Caesars Interactive Entertainment Chairman and CEO, Mitch Garber.  “Playtika today is a highly profitable growth company with more than 1,300 employees, multiple top grossing titles and millions of daily users.  Robert is a true visionary and Israeli business leader who has created not only a great business, but also the most unique corporate culture I have seen in my career.”

Following the transaction Playtika, which was founded in 2010, will continue to run independently at its headquarters in Herzliya with its existing management team continuing to run day-to-day operations.

Playtika has additional studios and offices in Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Canada, Japan, Romania, Ukraine and the United States.

“Playtika’s growth has been exceptional, and highlights its outstanding team, excellent corporate culture, cutting-edge big data analytics, and its unique ability to transform and grow games,” said a representative of the consortium, Giant’s founder and Chairman Shi Yuzhu.  “We are looking forward to Playtika continuing to innovate and excel.”

The final transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, and is expected to close in the third or fourth calendar quarter of 2016.

(Article source: Israel21c.org)

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Huma Abedin: Yes, Hamas Would Honor Accord on Peace with Israel

The 30 thousand plus Hillary Clinton emails found o WikiLeaks are treasure trove of information.  In 2010 according to one email with the subject: (Reuters) Hamas would honor referendum on peace with Israel, Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s trusted aid and Saudi national answers a back and forth on a reuters article dealing with a Hamas acceptance of an Israeli-Arab peace accord, with just one word: Yes.

One can infer that Huma was giving  credance to naive State Department officials who truly believed and probably still do that Hamas is just a political/social group who at the end of the day will bend.

It is clear if Huma Abedin has changed her mind. This is even after two wars since the email, where Hamas rained rockets down on Israeli populaton centers, but one must assume and believe the US officials think differently now. The question one must ask in assessing whether or not a canidate is particularly pro-Israel or at least supportive of Israeli positions, is if they are surrounded by people who reflect that.

For Hillary to take advice from her Saudi aid on geopolitical manners concerning a country that until recently her country would rather see drown in the Meditereanean seems at the least naive and at the most down right incompetant if not worse.

What will this sort of approach mean for Hillary getting into the White House?  Not much, but if Assange is telling us the truth and there are emails in the next batch that confirm Hillary gaive permisson to fund ISIS then, this email and others provide a perfect background to understanding approach that Hillary ad her staff take with regards to foreign affairs.