Category: Frontlines

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Congress Readies for War with Obama Over Israel Vote

The Washington Free Beacon is reporting that Congress is quietly preparing a string of measures when they come back in session next week as a counterpunch to Obama and Kerry’s onlaught against the State of Israel.

Some of the actions reportedly being considered are:

  • Freezing funds to the UN
  • Expelling Palestinian representatives from the USA
  • Scaling back ties with foreign nations that voted in favor of the controversial measure

“The disgraceful anti-Israel resolution passed by the UNSC was apparently only the opening salvo in the Obama administration’s final assault on Israel,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) told the Free Beacon. “President Obama, Secretary Kerry, Ambassador Power, and their colleagues should remember that the United States Congress reconvenes on January 3rd, and under the Constitution we control the taxpayer funds they would use for their anti-Israel initiatives. The 115th Congress must stop the current administration’s vicious attack on our great ally Israel, and address the major priorities of the incoming administration.”

Ted Cruz and other Senators are aware that Obama, Kerry, and Powers plan on continuing with harsher resolutions against Israel in the days to come, with a possible declaration of final borders of a Palestinian State just before Trump takes over.

Can Obama Be Stopped?

Yes.  If the congress goes as far as withdrawing funds from the UN, it would lack the ability to function.  According to Fox News the USA covers 22% of the UN’s budget.

In 2015, 35 countries will be charged the minimum regular budget assessment of 0.001 percent which works out to approximately$28,269 each. Twenty countries will be charged the minimum peacekeeping assessment of 0.0001 percent or approximately $8,470 apiece.

By contrast, the U.S. is assessed 22 percent of the regular budget (approximately $622 million) and over 28 percent of the peacekeeping budget (approximately $2.402 billion).

Put another way, the U.S. will be assessed more than 176 other member states combined for the regular budget and more than 185 countries combined for the peacekeeping budget. Who says America isn’t exceptional!

Right now congressmen are quiet, but if some of the rhetoric being leaked is an indication of anything, expect some serious salvos thrown at the outgoing administration in the weeks ahead.

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New Zealanders Fight Back Over Their PM’s Support for Resolution 2334

In the wake of New Zealand taking a leading role in pushing through United Nations Security Council resolution 2334, which effectively makes it illegal for Jews to pray at their holiest site and blames only Israel for a lack of peace, 858 Jewish and non-Jewish New Zealanders and 27 kiwi organisations have signed the following letter to Rt. Hon. Bill English, Prime Minister of New Zealand.

 

29 December 2016

The Rt Hon Bill English
New Zealand Prime Minister
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Dear Prime Minister,

Re New Zealand’s vote on UNSC resolution 2334

  1. We, the undersigned are New Zealand citizens and residents, Jewish and non- Jewish, with a spectrum of political views, who write to express our condemnation of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 (“Resolution”), and particularly the New Zealand Government’s involvement in it.
  1. We note at the outset that our dismay at the Resolution does not express a view on the matter of all such Jewish settlements outside of the 1949 armistice lines.
  1. Our concern is that the Resolution is one-sided and continues the UN’s woeful record of rewriting history and delegitimising the Jewish state. It is also counter-productive; undermining, rather than enhancing, the chances of peace in this complex and long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It widens the chasm between both sides, instead of building a bridge.
  1. The UN is a deeply flawed institution whose inherent bias against Israel has been acknowledged by Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, and indeed Minister McCully. The UN has no credibility as regards the question of Israel and the Palestinians. The UN has excoriated Israel at every opportunity, while ignoring the failings of the Palestinians. The Security Council, riven with incompetence and political agendas and has failed to address the greatest atrocity of our time in Syria. It is not the forum to resolve or provide a mechanism for resolution of a long-standing dispute between two parties, especially when one is Israel. Only those parties themselves can arrive at a resolution, through direct negotiations.
  1. However, there is now no incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate, because the outcome of any negotiations has been pre-determined. The Resolution has granted the Palestinians more than they have themselves sought, so that they cannot now accept less through negotiations without losing face. The Resolution has declared what is “occupied Palestinian territory”, being all land beyond the arbitrary 1949 armistice lines that resulted from a war initiated by the Arab states to eliminate the nascent Jewish state. This is land that Palestinians have never had sovereignty over, and that between 1949 and 1967 was occupied by Jordan. The Security Council has apparently enshrined a new principle of international law, that land acquired in a defensive war from an occupying power belongs to a third party who at the time of the war claimed no sovereignty over that land nor sought autonomy. It declares Jewish presence in these lands, a continual presence of thousands of years (except for the ethnic cleansing that occurred under Jordanian occupation) a ”flagrant violation of international law”. It therefore requires that these lands become Jew-free, while Arab Palestinians constitute 20% of Israel’s population and enjoy the full benefits of citizenship.
  1. The Resolution does not differentiate between the “blocs” and other settlements, although all previous negotiations and the Palestinians themselves have done so. It has decreed that East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, is under “occupation” and consequently that some 200,000 Jewish East Jerusalem residents are illegal settlers. It is extremely disturbing and devastating that it makes it illegal for Jews to attend Hebrew University or to pray at their most holy site, the Western Wall, the heart of Judaism, to which Jews have physically and spiritually directed their prayers for thousands of years. By doing so, the Resolution imperils the shared and very special foundation of Judaism and Christianity. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is now also in “occupied Palestinian territory”.
  1. The Resolution rewards Palestinian intransigence, and incitement and glorification of terrorism. It does not hold the Palestinians to account for their corruption, human rights abuses and failures in developing the machinery of a democratic state and civic society. It ignores Israel’s previous settlement offers. It empowers boycott, divestment and sanction against Israel, a country that contributes so much to the world in terms of science, innovation, medicine, technology, humanitarianism, the arts, and counter-terrorism. It does not acknowledge the right of Jewish self- determination—indeed, its very premise violates that right. Settlements are blamed as the root cause of the failure to achieve a lasting resolution, rather than the continued Palestinian denial of sovereignty of the Jewish people over their indigenous homeland.
  1. We are ashamed of the role of New Zealand in this travesty and feel betrayed by our Government. New Zealand partnered with Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela to sponsor the Resolution, countries which do not share our liberal Western values. The Resolution has been praised by Islamic Jihad and Hamas. This is nothing to be proud of. We believe Minister McCully has acted with questionable mandate and has for some time listened only to, and indeed gone so far as advocating for, one side. He has overturned long-standing New Zealand policy and ignored expert advice. He has yet again brought mockery and scorn upon this country and the Government. He has desperately, under urgency (on the eve of Christmas and Chanukah) and without transparency, sought to secure a legacy on the last day of the Security Council’s meeting during New Zealand’s term.
  1. He has indeed secured a legacy. However, it is one that has made the prospect of peace ever more distant for the reasons discussed above, and brought ignominy on New Zealand. It has caused opprobrium among international commentators, calls for boycotts of our goods by supporters of Israel around the world, and demands for an end to our burgeoning relationship with Israel, from which New Zealand has more to gain economically. This is even more distressing given the impending commemoration next year of 100 years since the ANZAC campaign in Beersheva, in which New Zealand played such a proud part in turning the tide of the war against the Ottoman Empire, and therefore a pivotal role in the establishment of Israel.
  1. Minister McCully has also disenfranchised many—until now—loyal National party supporters.
  1. As Prime Minister, we believe it is incumbent upon you to make a public statement on the Resolution and its implications.
 We also request that you meet urgently with representatives of this group.

Yours sincerely,
A group of 858 Jewish and non-Jewish New Zealanders, names withheld from this version. The following organisations also signed the letter:

  • New Zealand Jewish Council
  • International Christian Embassy Jerusalem New Zealand
  • Auckland Hebrew Congregation
  • Australasian Union of Jewish Students
  • B’nai B’rith New Zealand
  • Beth Shalom Synagogue Auckland
  • Bridges for Peace
  • Calvary Chapel New Zealand
  • Celebrate Messiah New Zealand
  • ChangePoint Church Tauranga
  • Christian Friends of Israel New Zealand
  • Christians 4 Israel
  • City Glory Church
  • Ebenezer Emergency Fund Trust New Zealand
  • Ezekiel 33 Trust New Zealand
  • Faithpointe Church – Auckland
  • Hawkes Bay Friends Of Israel Association
  • Jesus First Church
  • Jewish Federation of New Zealand
  • Pacific Pearls
  • Praying for Israel Groups Tauranga
  • South Wind Fellowship
  • Te Hau Wairua
  • The Church of the Rock International
  • The Oasis Church – Napier
  • Trumpet of Salvation to Israel
  • Zionist Federation of New Zealand

To add your name to the letter, sign the petition here.

Originally posted on Shalom.Kiwi

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JOHN KERRY: OBSTACLE TO PEACE

Kerry believes that peace is what happens when the bad guys win.

Before Obama decided to “abstain” from standing with Israel in a UN vote condemning the Jewish State, he had abstained from voting in defense of America in a UN resolution condemning the United States.

Obama, like Power and Kerry, have treated Israel just like they treated the United States.

John Forbes Kerry began his miserable career as a traitor seeking “peace” by pandering to the Communist leader negotiating on behalf of the Viet Cong. He concludes his miserable career in the Senate and as Secretary of State by going to war in the name of “peace” against the only democracy in the Middle East on behalf of a totalitarian Islamic ideology and its terrorist bands of killers.

Half a century has passed. The Berlin Wall fell. So did the Soviet Union. But John Kerry remains the same.

A few months after he slimed his way into the Senate, Kerry flew to Nicaragua to meet with the ruling Communist thugs to try and sabotage aid to the resistance against their regime in the name of “peace”. The Sandinistas treated Kerry like a pathetic patsy, humiliating him by allying openly with the USSR right after their man in Washington D.C. had successfully pleaded their case to his colleagues.

Comandante was only the first of many dictators and terrorists to humiliate John Kerry. But Kerry has never resented any of his Communist or Islamist tormentors. You can set Kerry’s hair on fire and dunk his head in the toilet to put it out… and he will still come crawling back to take your side of things.

But there is one thing that Nantucket’s greatest windsurfer will not forgive or forget. Freedom.

For the worse part of five decades, Kerry has waged a vicious war against countries that have freedom on behalf of those that don’t. Nothing gets his goat like a civilized country, his own or any other, staving off a murderous band of thugs and terrorists. And no country has endured so well in that fight as Israel.

Kerry’s career as Secretary of State has been a miserable failure highlighted by stretches of spectacularly incomprehensible stupidities, from his Syria WMD non-offer to boycotting the solidarity march after the Charlie Hebdo massacre and then trying to compensate by flying in James Taylor to sing, “You’ve got a friend.” Less publicized though was his spectacular failure to negotiate “peace” between Israel and the Islamic terrorists of the Palestinian Authority who are still trying to destroy it.

The Ketchup Gigolo threw everything he had into making “peace”. Just like his effort to make peace with the Viet Cong and the Sandinistas, not to mention sundry other tyrants and terrorists, he went in assuming that the bad guys were the good guys and the good guys were the bad guys.

In the twisted mind under those Frankenstein hair plugs, peace is what happens when the bad guys win.

John Kerry didn’t try to implement the two-state solution that he keeps raving about by encouraging Israel and the Islamic terrorists to negotiate with each other. That would have been absurd. Instead he pretended to act as an intermediary between the two sides while actually representing only the PLO.

As one Israeli official said, “We discovered that throughout the entire period, the Americans didn’t actually talk to the Palestinians, only to us.” Why bother talking to the side that you’re already on?

But, just as it had in Nicaragua, that proved to be a serious mistake. While Kerry focused on pressuring Israel to make concessions, he, like Bill Clinton, hadn’t figured out how to get the Islamic terrorists to accept them.

Kerry brought his wonderful peace proposal to Mahmoud Abbas, a fine graduate of the USSR’s Peoples’ Friendship University, along with Timochenko, the head of the Marxist FARC narcoterrorists. Kerry would, very predictably, meet with Timochenko earlier this year, despite his own State Department having a $5 million reward on his head, in yet another failed bid to force an ally to make peace with terrorists.

Excitedly, the traitor revisited the scene of his past treason, meeting with Abbas in Paris, to give him the good news. Kerry expected the terrorist leader to be overjoyed as the gift that he had brought over. Instead the terrorist turned up his nose. Kerry desperately passed the gift, of land, blood and security, extracted from Israelis, over to Obama to give to Abbas. Obama and Abbas met for two hours in the Oval Office. Abbas told Obama he might think it over and call. Like the bad date he was, he never did.

Kerry desperately wanted to be friends with the terrorists. But the terrorists didn’t want to play. “I have exhausted my time with John Kerry,” Abbas cried. “This is it.”

Instead of negotiating any kind of peace, Kerry relayed blackmail threats from the terrorists. If Israel didn’t release large numbers of convicted terrorists with innocent blood on their hands, Abbas would go to the UN. Israel released most of the prisoners. Abbas went to the UN anyway. Kerry went to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and blamed Israel for the lack of peace.

Since then John Kerry has nursed a special hatred for the Jewish State.

When Muslim terrorists murdered Jews, John Kerry blamed Israel. When ISIS kills other Muslims, John Kerry also blamed Israel. And when John Kerry’s creme brulee donut is stale, he also blames the Jews.

And you can understand why.

John Forbes Kerry isn’t just a traitor. He’s a failed traitor. His treason has never amounted to anything except publicity stunts. The terrorists and tyrants used him, abused him and threw him away. For five decades, Kerry has been trying to defect, but no one, not the Viet Cong, the Sandinistas, Assad, FARC, Iran or the PLO would take him and keep him.

Israel was his last big bid to achieve something. And it failed. And like Carter, he blames the Jews.

Kerry and the rest of Obama Inc. have tried to cloak their campaign against Israel by claiming that they are only attacking the Jewish State because they are just so very devoted to peace.

The Hero of the Purple Band-Aid has denounced Jews living in Israel as the “obstacle to peace”. But the peace that Kerry and his boss are devoted is not the peace of coexistence, but of the triumph of evil. Instead of trying to mediate, Kerry, as always, took the side of the terrorists. He failed because it is the terrorists who refuse to make peace. It does not take a Solomon to understand this simple truth.

But it takes a radical leftist to persistently refuse to see it.

The greatest obstacle to peace is not Israel. It’s John Kerry. It’s all the other leftists like him who believe that peace comes when the terrorists win, not when they are defeated. There could have been peace long ago if Israel had been allowed to win. Instead the promised two-state solution peace has never materialized. And instead of admitting that they were wrong, the peacemakers blame Israel.

It’s either that or admit that the false promises of peace were only an excuse for destroying Israel.

The obstacle to peace does not come from Israel. It comes from its enemies. It comes from the PLO and Hamas, from Obama and from Kerry. Kerry and his ilk believe that peace is what happens when the bad guys win. But that’s their big lie. Peace is what happens when the terrorists and their allies lose.

Originally posted on FrontPageMag.

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Knesset Responds to UN Resolution, Inaugurates Jerusalem Jubilee Celebration

Yesterday (Tuesday), the Knesset Education Committee held the inauguration of “Jerusalem Now & Forever,” a photo exhibition celebrating the 50th year of the reunification of Jerusalem.

The exhibition features photos from the renowned “Photographer of Jerusalem,” Sharon Gabay, which capture the beauty, diversity and tolerance of the Holy City. The exhibition will be displayed in the Knesset over the next two weeks, and will then be exhibited throughout the world in 2017, providing people everywhere with the opportunity to celebrate Jerusalem’s 50th year of reunification.

The exhibition is the initiative of Israel’s largest grassroots Zionist movement, Im Tirtzu, which has teamed up with Sharon Gabay to bring the beauty of Jerusalem to the world. According to Im Tirtzu, the exhibition will serve not only as a tribute to the City, but an answer to those that will use the 50th year of Jerusalem’s reunification to attack the city and the State of Israel.

Members of Knesset from all sides of the political aisle attended the exhibition, including Yehuda Glick (Likud), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Yakov Margi (Shas), Haim Jelin (Yesh Atid), Zouheir Bahloul (Zionist Camp), Oded Forer (Yisrael Beitenu), Meirav Ben-Ari (Kulanu), and Benny Begin (Likud).

MK Glick, who invited the exhibition to the Knesset, delivered the opening remarks: “A picture, as is known, is worth a thousand words. These pictures deliver a clear message that Jerusalem is a beautiful city, alive and well. A city in which millions of residents of different colors and beliefs live in harmony. Jerusalem at its essence, and as evidenced by its name, is a city of peace. In the words of Isaiah the Prophet, ‘for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.’”

Sharon Gabay said: “There are many people here who see the photos and are surprised. I am not surprised – whoever would take a camera and walk around the city – this is what he would see. When they talk about Jerusalem in the news we only see wars, checkpoints, fire and smoke. But I want to photograph the truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem is a pluralistic city that accepts everyone.”

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg talked about the deep connection between the Jewish People and Jerusalem:

“The Jewish nation is the only nation in history that under the wedding canopy makes a declaration to remember their eternal capital. ‘If I forget thee, O Jerusalem’ is not just a territorial promise, but part of the very essence of the nation. Displaying this exhibition throughout the world will enable the Jewish People to experience the joy of Jerusalem.”

Chairman of the Education Committee MK Yakov Margi also blessed the exhibition: “The exhibition expresses the message of Jerusalem: coexistence and peace. This is an exhibition that needs to travel the country and the world, and go to places that only receive a very selective Israeli experience.”

Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Ofer Berkovitch and MK Haim Jelin were also among the speakers at the exhibition.

 

 

Photo credit Ezra Landau
Photo credit Ezra Landau

 

Photo credit Ezra Landau

 

Photo credit Ezra Landau

Information provided by Im Tirtzu

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“Anti-Zionist political organizations that receive funding from foreign governments have no place in Israeli academia”

A stormy debate erupted yesterday (Tuesday) in the Knesset Education Committee when several bereaved families spoke out against academic programs that offer students credits and scholarships for interning in NGOs that defend terrorists in court. The bereaved families waved pictures of their loved ones and demanded to remove these programs from academia.

The committee was convened following the report that academic programs offer students credits and scholarships for interning in foreign government-funded NGOs that engage in a wide array of highly controversial activity. Among these NGOs is “HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual,” which defends terrorists and their families in court. Upon hearing the news, the Forum for Bereaved Families immediately penned a letter to Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) and Chairman of the Education Committee MK Yakov Margi (Shas) urging them to remove these programs from academia.

Devorah Gonen, the mother of Danny Gonen z’l who was murdered by a terrorist while hiking near the village of Dolev in 2015, said: “We feel that our loved ones were murdered a second time. The Council for Higher Education must end this absurdity immediately. This is a dangerous snowball; if today students can intern at organizations that strengthen the murderers of Jews, I fear that the next step will be even worse. It is sad that we have to beg for this. Israeli academia is degrading the murder of our loved ones. The blood of those murdered is crying out from the ground.”

Hadas Mizrahi, who lost her husband Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi z’l in a terror shooting last Passover, said: “Baruch was murdered because he was a citizen of the State of Israel. It is absurd that the Council for Higher Education permits an organization like “HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual” to have a place in academia. What message are we sending to our society? For the murder of Jews we award prizes? For this students receive scholarships? How have we gotten here!?”

A representative from the Council for Higher Education was present at the discussion and said: “The Council rejects all attempts to politicize academia and calls to expose the students to a wide range of opinions. The Chairman of the Council has appointed Professor Asa Kasher to create an ethical code that will examine the connection between politics and academia.”

Doron Mizrahi, father of IDF soldier Ziv Mizrahi z’l, waved a picture of his son to members of the committee and said: “How have we gotten to this situation that we, the bereaved families, need to beg in order to stop this absurdity? It cannot be that our taxes continue to fund organizations that work against Israeli citizens. I demand: help us prevent the next murder.”

Matan Peleg, CEO of Im Tirtzu movement, which exposed these academic programs to the public, said: “Our hearts are with the bereaved families that fight against those who defend the murderers of their loved ones on a daily basis. Now the families are getting another slap in the face, this time from the Council for Higher Education.”

Peleg continued: “Anti-Zionist political organizations that receive funding from foreign governments have no place in Israeli academia. The fact that one can receive academic credits for interning at organizations like “B’Tselem,” HaMoked,” and “Baladna” is an utter disgrace to academia, and strengthens the delegitimization campaign against Israel from within.”

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