Category: Frontlines

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North Korea, Iran, and the Militarization of the United States

President Donald Trump’s tweet last week after the UN Security Council voted to put new sanctions on North Korea held within it loads of information that should have alarmed both the President’s most dedicated followers as well as most Americans. Here it is again:

While the UN Security Council vote was important, the idea that more sanctions would cause North Korea to simply just roll over is pure fantasy.

At the same time as the UN Security Council vote North Korea’s “Number Two” headed to Iran for ten days to strengthen ties between the two countries.  These ties have been covert for years, but now with official sanctions having been increased, Iran’s backing to the North Korean regime becomes key in allowing the nuclear progress to continue at an increased pace.

Furthermore, as long as the world believes Iran is abiding with the Nuclear Deal then cash will continue to flow into Iran.  These investments by Russia and China are no doubt now being channeled back into North Korea for nuclear weapons development.

A Soft Coup in the US by the Generals?

With the take over of Gen. Kelly as White House Chief of Staff and the growing influence of Generals McMaster and Mattis, the alt-right has been abuzz with the rumors of a soft coup. No matter the exact terminology, there is a growing sense that all the President has is his Twitter feed.

Anytime there is military personel involved with the day to day running of the government, especially when war is on the horizon, the chances for direct conflict can and will increase.

While Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric against North Korea, the real question on why he has allowed Generals who have either bent over backwards to support the Iranian nuclear deal or at least have been complacent with the Persian expansion to continue to strengthen their control over America’s foreign policy.

By not tackling the growing partnership with Iran, the US has forfeited their ability to shut down the orth Korean threat in a peaceful manner.  The world’s money is pouring into Iran and thus enabling Kim Jong Un to move beyond theatrics.

General McMaster, the head of the NSC has not only been one of the biggest supporters of the Iranian nuclear deal, he has cleared the NSC of any opposition to that deal. By creating an atmosphere where Iran gets a free ride and thus empowers a situation where North Korea can trigger a nuclear war is not only negligent, but downright dangerous. The current situation has lead to a militarization of the American government in both day to day thinking and actual action.

The following Tweets from Trump hold an ominous tone:

The world has every right to be nervous. Afterall the Executive branch is being run by three generals and they have not only choked off President Trump’s closest friends, but have left him with only a Twitter feed to vent.

Buckle your seat belt, the World is about to get very rocky!

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Jerusalem Arabs Still Simmering as Silwan Residents Firebomb a Jewish Vehicle Overnight

Police are reporting that three Arab residents of the Silwan were arrested overnight as a result fo a targeted operation.  The three are suspected of being responsible for throwing molotov cocktails at a Jewish security vehicle in the neighborhood.  Although the vehicle burned, the security team escaped unharmed.

“Immediately after the incident, a targeted operation was carried out in the village. The area was closed and evidence was collected from the site. Investigators and police detectives soon arrived to identify the suspects and arrested them while they were at home.,” a statement from the Israeli police said.

Incidents in the Yeminite Village now renamed Silwan by the neighborhood’s Arab squatters have increased since the beginning of the riots over the Temple Mount.  The neighborhood was built in the 1880s by Jews coming from Yemen. The Yemenite Village ultimately destroyed by marauding Arabs in the riots of the 1920s and 1930s.  The British colonists agreed to eventually return the Jewish population, which never happened.

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In recent years Jews have begun to move back into the neighborhood, most times under great difficulty and danger. Despite this, the Jews of the Yemenite Village have succeeded in reclaiming a number of buildings as well as the original Synogogue built in the 1880s.

Daniel Luria, Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim said the following concerning the incident:

“Why the silence from the authorities when the Jewish residents Shiloach (Silwan neighbourhood)  which number over 100 of the Shiloach in the heart of Jerusalem near the Temple Mount, Ir David and the Old City, are under constant attack from some of the local hate-driven, violent and intolerant Arabs? I say enough is enough.”

The latest attack comes after five Jewish vehicles were firebombed in recent weeks.  Despite the neighborhood being a national landmark, the government has never put in the kind of infrastructure needed to ensure the violent Arab clans would have less leverage on the residents.

“The time has come for a major switch in thinking in the heart of Jerusalem near the Old City. If we are truly the sovereign body here in united Jerusalem, then a message of strength and conviction must be given to the Arabs in these neighbourhoods. The weakness and capitulation recently shown by the Government has not helped in the slightest and in fact has caused great damage,” Daniel added.

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Is the Temple Mount the Fulcrum of Israel’s Break Up with Jordan?

It was never a happy marriage, but gone are the days between those euphoric moments in 1994 when Israel and Jordan first signed their peace treaty. Jordan, a made up country ruled by the minority Hashemite royal family from Saudi Arabia over which close to 80 percent of its citizens are second class Palestinians has steadily become unabashed about its in built anti-Semitism and anti-Israel modus operandi.

The trigger for the latest spate of anti-Israel vitriol is the fact that nearly 1,300 Jews ascended the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av, Israel’s day of mourning for the destruction of the two Temples that rested there.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi was outraged that so many Jews took the time to walk quietly on the Temple Mount.

“The number of extremists who stormed Al-Aqsa today stands at a record number that has not been recorded since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967.” 

“The crisis is over but further and more dangerous crises will break out as a result of Israel’s continued provocation, if Israel will not uproot the source of the tension, if the occupation will not end and if East Jerusalem will not become the capital of an independent Palestine.”

Jordan has for years funded extremists while feigning to be moderate.  Their entire country is geared towards repressing the rights of their Palestinian majority while ensuring the Hashemite family and its bedouin backers remain in power. For Jordan, the Temple Mount is all it has. It has no historical claim to the area nor does it truly have the backing of its citizens.

Mordechai Kedar wrote the following in Midah:

In 1994, Israel signed a peace agreement with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In this agreement, Israel granted “special status” (Article 9) to the Jordanian government on the Temple Mount (‘Muslim Holy Shrines in Jerusalem’). This concession to the Jordanians was totally unnecessary since King Hussein needed peace with Israel more than Israel needed it with Jordan, and a peace agreement was achievable without it. Even ignoring this, what normal country grants another country ‘special status’ in its capital city and in the place most holy to its nation. This special status that recognizes a degree of Jordanian sovereignty on the Temple Mount has been disastrous for Israel and the devastating effects of this blunder have played themselves out once again in the wake of the latest terrorist attack on the Temple Mount, where two Israeli border policeman were killed.

The biggest mistake Israel has made with regard to Jordan is the ‘insurance policy’ it has given to the Hashemite Kingdom for the past 23 years under the baseless assumption that Jordan can deliver on its part.  This insurance policy is that Israel would protect the Hashemite Kingdom if in danger of being overthrown, and in turn, Jordan would serve as a buffer zone protecting Israel from the potential dangers threatening it from the east: Iraq falling apart, Iran and the Ayatollahs, ISIS and Al-Qaeda. As a result, the Hashemite Kingdom, whose origins are in Saudi Arabia, continues to rely on the minority Bedouin population to rule the majority Palestinian population, which thus prevents the natural process of Jordan becoming a country which is ruled by the Palestinian majority, or Jordan being split into a Palestinian and Bedouin state.

This policy of propping up a regime that clings to a false narrative has begun to unravel.  Jordan cannot exist as a country that has no real history and yet to cling to power by whipping up religious radicalism when necessary. The Temple Mount has become the focal point in the debate on who this Land actually belongs to. For Jordan, their presence on the Temple Mount is not only alien, but provocative and destructive.

With statements like Safadi’s the time is ticking until another deadly attack or a creeping play for more Jordanian control in the Old City.

 

What is the Israel’s Government Afraid Of?

Netanyahu has always pushed the far right of his coalition forward in order to hold onto the base of his party, while cutting deals to temper the very situation the right flank is pushed to set up.

In the case of the Temple Mount, the proverbial genie is out of the bottle. After years of tacit support for religious rights activists in encouraging Jews to ascend the Temple Mount, Bibi cannot simply pull them all back.  In fact, a majority of the country while not even religious support the rights of Jews to pray at their holiest site.

The murder of the two Druze policemen on the Temple Mount triggered a deep sense of collective duty to ensure the gates of Jewish prayer would be kept open and firmly established on the Temple Mount. This is a moment of reckoning concerning a policy that is not only discriminatory against Jews, but absurd in that it empowers a regime that is only at peace with Israel on paper.

The latest tension with Jordan over the Temple Mount is not only the initial stages of the end of the peace agreement signed in 1994, but one that has the potential to bring a fall to a regime in Jordan that is not only destructive to its own people, but one that is thwarting true reconciliation and peace in the region.

 

 

 

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Israel’s Growing Alliance with India Exposes the Weakness of its China Policy

After Modi’s historic visit to Israel, questions remain on how the elevated partnership between Israel and India will play in China. Israel’s relationship with China has steadily grown and while this has not been a huge boon for trade, it has been an excellent gateway to Asia for Israeli innovation.

India and China have fought three wars since India’s independence and although they have an advanced trade relationship their disputes have created tension between the two countries.  With India battling Islamic militants on its Western border and an open dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, China’s support Pakistan’s claim to Kashmir as well as its military support for Pakistan has increasingly unnerved India.

Israel has long viewed its entry into Asia as one of neutrality. This is due to Israel’s perception that its role in Asia is purely economic.  Israel’s growing partnership with India, culminating in Modi’s visit changes that assumption. India and Israel see one another as kindred spirits bound from their ancient roots. In truth, the same relationship could have grown in China, but it has remained largely surface level and business oriented.

With Chinese expansion under Xi Jinping more than just economic, India’s partnership with Israel has triggered  a realignment within Middle East affiars.  Noticebly, Modi’s visit to Israel did not include Ramallah. In fact the most Modi has done is to give ceremonial mention of the “two-state” solution. Compare this to China who has been openly courting Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas is scheduled to visist China for three days where he is expected to ask Xi to support the “Palestinians” in international forums. More than this, there is talk of China financially supporting the PA.

Israel’s assumption was that China could be convinced to eventually move to a neutral position when it came to Israel and the Palestinians. This has not happened.  The growing Israel-Indo partnership has forced China to align itself with those groups who are antagonistic to Israel. China’sdrive for hegemony beyond its regionconfronts Israel with a dilemma. Does it push back on China by strengething its relationship with India even more or do they keep the status quo?

With China openly courting the Palestinians and supporting Pakistan, the ball is in Israel’s court to carve out a place where their alliance with India does not force those players in the Middle East to over power the Jewish State due to help from China.

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JERUSALEM GAME CHANGER: Old City Hotels to Be Handed Over to Jewish Ownership

After thirteen years in the Israeli Court system – the district court ruled that the Imperial and Petra Hotels at the Jaffa gate entrance – the “key to the Old City”, are formally and officially in Jewish hands. The Greek Orthodox Church was also told to pay symbolic court costs to the Jewish concerns.

It has yet to be determined what will be the the fate of the current tennants, but not withstanding the slight possibility of an appeal by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Supreme Court, it is still a wonderful and uplifting court ruling.

A spokesman from Ateret Cohanim said the following in relation to the news:

“This was a great day…G-D hasn’t forgotten…turning days of fasting to days of joy. This is a perfect answer to recent harsh days in these three weeks.”

The acquisition of the two hotels will dramatically increase the overt Jewish and Israeli presence at the main gate most tourists take to enter into the Old City. More importantly, it shatters the feeling that the “Arab” Shuk is off limits to Jews, breaking down the forced quarter system the British imposed on the Old City during the years they occupied Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. The quarter system was forced on Jerusalem’s Old City in order to control its population. The result lead to a strengthening of the Arab presence at exense of the Jewish population, which was then the majority of the city.