The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Is Israel a pariah?
Not according to its powerful new friends
by Eli Lake
~~~
. OPINION IN BRIEF
Star Parker: "Perhaps it is gruesome to say — but this is gruesome business — that if Justice Breyer had a daughter who was a victim of Kermit Gosnell, he would be far less cavalier in his conclusion [on abortion regulations]. Would he still believe that the conditions in Texas before the passage of H.B. 2 were just fine and that it was more important that droves of women could be assured of abortions with little effort or worry? ... Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which somehow found a constitutional justification elucidating a woman's right to destroy her unborn child at will, there have been almost 60 million unborn babies destroyed. What kind of mind would conclude that 60 million destroyed fetuses demonstrates the success of our constitution to 'secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity?' It is a total perversion of the purpose of society. Our constitution is supposed to be rooted in our Declaration of Independence, which declares our inalienable right to life. We now live in a culture that denies the priority of life and posterity and is about the convenience of the moment, meaninglessness, and death. Is it any wonder that terrorists, who put no value on life, don't fear us and feel so free to attack us?" -The Patriot Post
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liar-Clinton Corruption Continued
So Bill liar-Clinton met Attorney General Loretta Lynch privately Tuesday when the pair spent 30 minutes aboard her government airplane on the tarmac in Phoenix. Why does that matter?
liar-Hilly Clinton, the presumptive Democrat nominee, is still under investigation by the FBI over her private email server. She almost certainly broke federal law regarding the handling of classified material. The FBI is under the direction of the Justice Department, which is headed by Lynch, who was chosen by Barack nObama. Lynch will ultimately decide whether any FBI recommendation of indictment against liar-Clinton actually go anywhere. Oh, that's why it matters.
Will FBI Director James Comey conclude liar-Clinton broke the law and recommend an indictment? Will Lynch take that recommendation and actually press charges? Will liar-Clinton step or be pushed aside in favor of loose lips-Joe Biden? We suppose the answers to those questions depend in some measure on how well Bill schmoozed Loretta aboard that plane.
Lynch says the meeting was "primarily social" and topics included his grandchildren, travel and golf, not the investigation or any other government business. Give us a break. The attorney general just happened to have an unscheduled private meeting with the spouse of an FBI suspect who wants to succeed the AG's boss and we're supposed to believe that never came up.
Such corruption is par for the course with the liar-Clintons. Newly uncovered emails reveal that liar-Clinton's campaign communicated with her buddy and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on his plan to grant voting rights to 200,000 felons in time to turn Virginia blue this November. He was working with other leftist groups, too, not state election officials. But we're sure that's all just as much a coincidence as Bill's chance meeting with Lynch. -The Patriot Post
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nObama Chases an Unclean Energy Legacy
The North America Leaders' Summit — or what the Investor's Business Daily editorial board aptly calls the "'Three Amigos' summit" — began Wednesday in Ottawa, Canada, and it involves that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with Barack nObama and Mexico's Pena Nieto. According to the White House website, the trio is unveiling "[a] historic goal to achieve 50% clean power across North America by 2025."
"The administration calls it 'ambitious,'" says Investor's. "We call it 'ludicrous.'" Here's why:
"Since the U.S. accounts for three-quarters of the total energy produced by these three countries, the responsibility of living up to any such agreement would fall most heavily on the U.S. ... According to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, 'clean energy' — nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, wind, biomass, etc. — makes up less than one-fifth of U.S. energy production. ... So the only way to get there would be to dramatically increase one or all of these sources in nine years."
And even then, IBD elucidates, the problem becomes fourfold: 1. Ecofascists are opposed to an energy infrastructure that relies heavily on hydroelectric and nuclear power. 2. Even if America did decide to broaden its reliance on nuclear energy — and there are no plans to do so — the process for developing the infrastructure would take far longer than the White House's timeframe. 3. On the remaining options — wind, solar and biomass — "production levels from these sources would have to increase something like 470% in nine years for clean energy to account for half of the nation's energy production." Even the optimists would agree that's an unrealistic expectation. 4. A pledge may look great on paper, but will Canada and Mexico follow through? That's the trillion-dollar question.
"For a guy who is desperately fishing around for something to claim as a legacy," IBD concludes, "President nObama's running around making promises that he knows will never be kept is an odd way to go about things." In other words, when it comes to nObama fulfilling his pledges, don't hold your breath. On second thought, maybe you should. You might just save the world — and his legacy. -The Patriot Post
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MRC's Bozell Reacts To GOP Benghazi Report
by MRC Action
.
.
{MRC Action} ~ After two years of investigation surrounding the attack on Benghazi, the House Select Committee on Benghazi released an 800-page report on their findings. Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued the following statement:...
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtpZ62y_Or4&feature=youtu.be
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtpZ62y_Or4&feature=youtu.be
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liar-Clinton’s Private E-Mail Use Said
to Frustrate Top Aide Huma Abedin
by Ben Brody
.
.
{1776coalition.com} ~ A top aide to liar-Hilly Clinton said the former secretary of state’s use of a private e-mail server to conduct government business on at least one occasion got in the way of liar-Clinton’s work and left the aide frustrated... according to two people who witnessed the aide’s deposition Tuesday. Huma Abedin, liar-Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and now the vice chair of her presidential campaign, was being deposed about the context of a November 2010 e-mail she sent liar-Clinton that they “should talk about putting you on state email or releasing your email address to the department so you are not going to spam.” Prompting the note, according to the e-mail chain released last week by the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act, was a missed scheduled phone call, one of a number of communications mishaps detailed in liar-Clinton’s 55,000-page e-mail record... http://www.1776coalition.com/rise-up-2/clintons-private-e-mail-use-said-to-frustrate-top-aide-huma-abedin
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Benghazi Probe: nObama Officials Refused t
o Address Gun-running
by Alex Newman
.
.
{thenewamerican.com} ~ In its final report on the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya, the GOP-controlled House Select Committee on Benghazi failed to provide meaningful answers or accountability on the most serious issues and questions surrounding the attack... Chief among those issues was the nObama administration's bizarre and unconstitutional decision, based on a United Nations resolution, to ally itself with al-Qaeda and other jihadists in the war on a former U.S. terror-war ally, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Another crucial issue left essentially unaddressed was the nObama administration's lawless gun-running programs delivering weapons to known terrorists in Libya, and later to dangerous jihadists in Syria. While the report did highlight certain blatant lies by the administration — the deliberate lie about a “spontaneous protest” over an “anti-Muslim video,” for example — critics blasted the congressional probe as a whitewash and a wasted opportunity. Even some lawmakers spoke out. Crucial to understanding the attack is understanding what was happening in Libya before the attack. Unfortunately, the congressional report sheds little new light on that question. Perhaps that should not be surprising, considering the fact that GOP leaders failed to uphold their oath of office by failing to rein in nObama when he illegally announced his UN-approved war against Libya. Only Congress has the power to declare war under the U.S. Constitution, and UN resolutions purporting to commit American troops to a war hold no legitimate authority. Instead of stopping nObama, though, Congress allowed him to launch an illegal war and said practically nothing, with a few notable exceptions in both parties who pointed out that it was an impeachable offense... http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/23532-benghazi-probe-obama-officials-refused-to-address-gun-running
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Senator Sessions Calculated The Hundreds of Billions In Cost For Just One liar-Clinton Program
by Rick Wells
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.
{rickwells.us} ~ Senator Jeff Sessions notes the election of liar-Hilly Clinton as president would be a costly mistake for our nation in so many ways, financial and otherwise... Sessions puts the total in the hundreds of billions of dollars range for her Islamic invasion plan alone. He posted a statement on his website detailing some of the consequences should the naïve, stupid and corrupt in our midst once again be successful in putting yet another treasonous criminal Democrat into the White House. Senator Sessions wrote on Monday: Presumptive Democratic nominee liar-Hilly Clinton has announced her desire to admit at least 65,000 refugees from Syria – on top of the existing refugee flow already entering the United States. What liar-Clinton has not explained, however, is that in addition to the clear national security implications related to accepting more refugees, there are massive financial costs that would be borne by federal, state, and local governments. Assuming liar-Clinton’s desire to bring in 65,000 Syrian refugees is in addition to the nObama Administration’s current goal of admitting 10,000 this fiscal year (out of 85,000 total refugees), that would amount to an increase of 55,000 refugees. 55,000 on top of 85,000 totals 140,000 refugees. The nObama Administration’s target for FY 2017 is actually 100,000 refugees, meaning that adding 55,000 refugees to that would result in 155,000 refugees each year. Due to statutory flaws in our Refugee Admissions Program, the number could be as high as liar-Hilly Clinton desires. Assuming her goal is to admit 155,000 refugees each year during a hypothetical first term in office, a liar-Clinton Administration would admit at least 620,000 refugees in just four years – a population roughly the size of Baltimore... http://rickwells.us/sessions-billions-finance-deadly-clinton/
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Why the Generation that Left Egypt
Was Kept in the Desert
by Atar Hadari
.
.
{mosaicmagazine.com} ~ This week’s reading of Shlaḥ l’kha (Numbers 13-15) is unusual for focusing less on the Almighty’s relationship with the children of Israel than on the latter’s view of themselves—on what’s in their own heads... The title echoes that of Lekh l’kha (Genesis 12-17), where the Lord tells Abraham to leave his father’s house and his idol-worshipping native land and “go for yourself” to a promised land where the Lord will make him into a great nation. Our reading, analogously, begins with God commanding that select Israelites be sent from the desert encampment to scout out the promised land. But here is a crucial difference: shlaḥ l’kha means not “go for yourself” but “send for yourself.” The ensuing events reveal not what the Israelites actually see but who they think they are:... http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2016/06/why-the-generation-that-left-egypt-was-kept-in-the-desert/
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Gross appearance of impropriety in AG Lynch private meeting with Bill liar-Clinton
by William A. Jacobson
.
.
{legalinsurrection.com} ~ What do you call an Attorney General who meets privately with the husband of a person under FBI investigation, and only discloses it when asked?... This is the last straw for me, when it comes to Lynch. I opposed my former law school classmate’s nomination because her congressional testimony indicated she would be too political. Events have confirmed my fears, from suggestions that “hate speech” might be prosecutable, to the threat to sue people who disagree with the administration on climate change, her political grandstanding on the North Carolina bathroom law, to the attempt to edit out references to Islam and ISIS from the 911 transcript of the Orlando terrorist. None of that is quite as outrageous as the news today that Lynch met privately with Bill liar-Clinton at the Phoenix airport for 30 minutes, a meeting that was revealed only when a local news crew asked her about it at a press conference. ABC15 reports:... http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/06/gross-appearance-of-impropriety-in-ag-lynch-private-meeting-with-bill-clinton/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29
{legalinsurrection.com} ~ What do you call an Attorney General who meets privately with the husband of a person under FBI investigation, and only discloses it when asked?... This is the last straw for me, when it comes to Lynch. I opposed my former law school classmate’s nomination because her congressional testimony indicated she would be too political. Events have confirmed my fears, from suggestions that “hate speech” might be prosecutable, to the threat to sue people who disagree with the administration on climate change, her political grandstanding on the North Carolina bathroom law, to the attempt to edit out references to Islam and ISIS from the 911 transcript of the Orlando terrorist. None of that is quite as outrageous as the news today that Lynch met privately with Bill liar-Clinton at the Phoenix airport for 30 minutes, a meeting that was revealed only when a local news crew asked her about it at a press conference. ABC15 reports:... http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/06/gross-appearance-of-impropriety-in-ag-lynch-private-meeting-with-bill-clinton/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29
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Election 2016 – Rome is burning, and
someone wants to be Nero?
by Dr. Robin McFee
by Dr. Robin McFee
.
.
{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ It takes a special kind of (I know the word you are thinking) person to run for office. OK, I will grant sometimes "special" does mean stupid... But it can mean gifted, patriotic, or self-sacrificing....think Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Monroe, or Madison for starters. Sometimes "special," does mean someone who ought to wear a beanie or "L" on his or her forehead eating an ice cream cone out of their ear (as in the film Multiplicity, referencing the clone of a clone), think dinky-Harry Reed or Nancy Pulosi or Debbie Democrat (there are GOP members, too!). And sometimes "special" means ‘special' in all the good that word implies. An individual, a candidate, who if called upon, is willing to run into a burning building or fight the fights that need fighting, not merely pandering to partisans - someone who understands a time of destiny, and the decisions we make will become the stuff of history and legend - earning posterity's adoration or condemnation -think two great Presidents....Truman and Reagan. So what special kind of person are the three remaining major candidates who willingly will take on the challenges we face, one of whom we will as a nation select to lead "Rome" i.e. the USA, before the fires go citywide toast fest, and what are the challenges they face? Challenges we have! For starters....~ 10 million illegal immigrants within our borders, some good and contributing, some posing serious costs to our communities, some are felons (think the need for Kate's Law), some just trying to raise families. Both parties have foisted upon the middle and lesser classes problems without clear solutions that benefit America...
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Lawsuit Aims to Get to the Bottom of State Department's
'Shameful Cover-Up' of Press Briefing
by PATRICK GOODENOUGH
by PATRICK GOODENOUGH
.
.
{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ The State Department may have hoped a furor over a censored press briefing video was over, but now it faces a federal lawsuit brought by a group determined to get to the bottom of what it calls a "shameful cover-up" relating to the Iran nuclear deal... The American Center for Law and Justice on Tuesday filed a lawsuit, demanding that the State Department release all records that will show who was responsible for asking a technician to delete a portion of the official video clip of a Dec. 2013 departmental daily briefing. "We demand the right to know who was involved in that cover-up," said ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow. "Today, we are taking the nObama administration to court so the American people can unearth the truth behind President nObama's Iranian deal."... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/lawsuit-aims-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-state-departments-shameful-cover-up-of-press-briefing?f=must_reads
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Over 5,300 U.S. Water Systems are
in Violation of the Law — Poisoning Millions
by Claire Bernish
.
.
{activistpost.com} ~ According to a new report, some 18 million Americans “live in communities where the water systems are in violation of the law.”... Flint apparently marked the tip of a nefarious iceberg, and lead isn’t the only contaminant polluting drinking water for millions in the United States. “Imagine a cop sitting, watching people run stop signs, and speed at 90 miles per hour in small communities and still doing absolutely nothing about it — knowing the people who are violating the law. And doing nothing,” illustrated Erik Olsen, health program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which analyzed EPA data for the report. “That’s unfortunately what we have now.”...
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Here’s The BIG LIE nObama Told America About The Newtown Mass Shooting!!
.
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{americanspotlight.com} ~ We all know how much liberals love to bend the truth when it comes to pushing their deceptive political narratives, and no one is better at it than President nObama himself... Watch his speech after the deadly terrorist attack in Orlando and see if you can spot the big lie: Did you catch it? If you said, “hey, a background check wouldn’t have prevented Newtown because the shooter stole his guns from his mom” then you win a shiny star sticker!! But you see nObama is pushing absurd regulations that liberals are obsessed with, so he’ll shoehorn it onto any mass shooting, whether it fits or not... http://americanspotlight.com/news/heres-the-big-lie-obama-told-america-about-the-newtown-mass-shooting/
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Is Israel a pariah?
Not according to its powerful new friends
by Eli Lake
.
.
{jewishworldreview.com} ~ Many activists celebrate "Israel Apartheid Week" by agitating against the Jewish state at a rally or perhaps a roundtable discussion. This year Dore Gold, director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, marked the occasion by visiting the government that replaced the apartheid regime in South Africa.
The symbolism is delicious. Here is a top diplomat from a country compared by its foes to the regime of P.W. Botha meeting in Pretoria with diplomats who helped to bring that regime down. Gold made sure to visit Nelson Mandela's home in Soweto, which is now a museum, in case the point was missed.
And yet many activists on both sides of this issue have been missing this point. First there is the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, known as BDS. One of its founders, Omar Barghouti, wrote in January that a meeting of an Israeli Knesset committee to combat BDS revealed an "Israeli fear of isolation." In the absence of a peace process, BDS appears to have momentum as more and more academic associations, student governments and churches sign on to the campaign.
Then there is the counter-BDS movement. Earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, announced he would divest his state's funds from businesses that engaged in the boycott of Israel, and even individuals who advocate for such boycotts. Other states are now considering similar laws and prominent Jewish philanthropists are funding efforts to BDS the BDS movement, so to speak.
Both sides of this fight give the impression that Israel is becoming a pariah. And yet BDS has failed as both an economic and diplomatic weapon. Consider that since 2006, when the movement began, Israel's gross domestic product has nearly doubled, going from a little over $154 billion to $299 billion for 2015.
Israel is also warming ties with countries all over the world, even as Europe and the U.S. are increasing the pressure over Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Let's start with Africa. Next month, Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin to travel to African capitals for meetings with the leaders of Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Netanyahu's visit to Uganda is particularly significant because his brother was killed in Israel's raid on Entebbe in that country 40 years ago to free hostages kidnapped by German and Palestinian Marxists. Back then, Uganda's government gave refuge to terrorists; today it seeks Israel's help in fighting them.
Israel under Netanyahu is also expanding links with China, now the country's third-largest trading partner. Gold told me this week at his Foreign Ministry office that it's almost impossible to get a seat these days on the El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Beijing.
A similar story can be told about Israel's relationship with India, whose Narendra Modi is expected to be the first Indian prime minister ever to visit Israel later this year. As the Israelis increase defense trade with India, it has also begun to end some of its historic support for the Palestinians at the United Nations.
Then there is Russia. Netanyahu has met with President Vladimir Putin four times in the last year. He has also worked out a deal, according to senior officials who spoke to me on background, in which Russia will allow Israeli jets to target members of the terrorist group Hezbollah operating in Syria, where Russians now control the air space.
"The prime minister is cognitive of the fact that the United States is the number one ally," Gold told me. "But the relationship with Putin has vastly improved. Instead of being in conflict with him like we were, we are now making sure there is a line open to him."
Finally, Israel is repairing and enhancing relationships in the Middle East. In 2011, Turkey downgraded its ties following Israel's raid on a flotilla trying to breach the naval blockade of Gaza. This month, Turkey's foreign minister announced that his country was one or two meetings away from normalizing the relationship again.
There is also much secret diplomacy between Israel and the Gulf monarchies. Israel has had such contacts with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the height of the peace process in the 1990s. But Gold told me there was an important difference between Israel's Arab diplomacy today and during the peace process years.
In the 1990s, Israel was allowed to open trade missions and begin contacts with Arab states because a process was in place to create a Palestinian state. During the second intifada of 2000-05, these openings closed. Now, Gold says, his diplomacy with the Arab states resembles the dynamics that created the predecessor of the European Union after the end of World War II.
"The European Union was formed because of a mutual threat from Soviet armored divisions," Gold said. Today, he argued, the Middle East faces the twin threats of Iran and the Islamic State, which "creates a lot of mutual interests between Israel and the Arab states."
Not everyone is convinced on this last point. In April, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy hosted a rare public conversation between retired Israeli general, Yaacov Amidror, and former a Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal. Despite the cordial environment, the Saudi prince made it clear that there would be no formal recognition of Israel until there was a just peace with the Palestinians.
Edward Djerejian, a former senior U.S. diplomat who directs the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, agrees. "The Palestinian issue remains a central political issue that deters Israel's full integration in the region," he told me.
Nonetheless, the flow of diplomacy in the region is reversing. In the 1990s, Europe tried to persuade Israel's Arab neighbors to accept it. Today, Israel quietly collaborates with its Arab neighbors as European states threaten to distance themselves over the Palestinian issue.
This is why so many Israelis worry, despite the new outreach to India, China, Russia and the Arab states. Yair Lapid, the leader of a major centrist party here, this year said his country had never been as isolated as it is today.
Ksenia Svetlova, a former journalist and Labor Party member of Knesset who serves on its foreign affairs committee, stressed this point as well. She told me she was more concerned with how Europe and America viewed Israel than she was with Turkey, Russia or Saudi Arabia. "We can have great tactical relations with non-democratic countries, Egypt is the proof," she said. "But the true bond will always be with other countries that act like us and share our values."
Put another way, Israel's new friends are no substitute for its old ones.
The symbolism is delicious. Here is a top diplomat from a country compared by its foes to the regime of P.W. Botha meeting in Pretoria with diplomats who helped to bring that regime down. Gold made sure to visit Nelson Mandela's home in Soweto, which is now a museum, in case the point was missed.
And yet many activists on both sides of this issue have been missing this point. First there is the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, known as BDS. One of its founders, Omar Barghouti, wrote in January that a meeting of an Israeli Knesset committee to combat BDS revealed an "Israeli fear of isolation." In the absence of a peace process, BDS appears to have momentum as more and more academic associations, student governments and churches sign on to the campaign.
Then there is the counter-BDS movement. Earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, announced he would divest his state's funds from businesses that engaged in the boycott of Israel, and even individuals who advocate for such boycotts. Other states are now considering similar laws and prominent Jewish philanthropists are funding efforts to BDS the BDS movement, so to speak.
Both sides of this fight give the impression that Israel is becoming a pariah. And yet BDS has failed as both an economic and diplomatic weapon. Consider that since 2006, when the movement began, Israel's gross domestic product has nearly doubled, going from a little over $154 billion to $299 billion for 2015.
Israel is also warming ties with countries all over the world, even as Europe and the U.S. are increasing the pressure over Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Let's start with Africa. Next month, Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin to travel to African capitals for meetings with the leaders of Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Netanyahu's visit to Uganda is particularly significant because his brother was killed in Israel's raid on Entebbe in that country 40 years ago to free hostages kidnapped by German and Palestinian Marxists. Back then, Uganda's government gave refuge to terrorists; today it seeks Israel's help in fighting them.
Israel under Netanyahu is also expanding links with China, now the country's third-largest trading partner. Gold told me this week at his Foreign Ministry office that it's almost impossible to get a seat these days on the El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Beijing.
A similar story can be told about Israel's relationship with India, whose Narendra Modi is expected to be the first Indian prime minister ever to visit Israel later this year. As the Israelis increase defense trade with India, it has also begun to end some of its historic support for the Palestinians at the United Nations.
Then there is Russia. Netanyahu has met with President Vladimir Putin four times in the last year. He has also worked out a deal, according to senior officials who spoke to me on background, in which Russia will allow Israeli jets to target members of the terrorist group Hezbollah operating in Syria, where Russians now control the air space.
"The prime minister is cognitive of the fact that the United States is the number one ally," Gold told me. "But the relationship with Putin has vastly improved. Instead of being in conflict with him like we were, we are now making sure there is a line open to him."
Finally, Israel is repairing and enhancing relationships in the Middle East. In 2011, Turkey downgraded its ties following Israel's raid on a flotilla trying to breach the naval blockade of Gaza. This month, Turkey's foreign minister announced that his country was one or two meetings away from normalizing the relationship again.
There is also much secret diplomacy between Israel and the Gulf monarchies. Israel has had such contacts with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the height of the peace process in the 1990s. But Gold told me there was an important difference between Israel's Arab diplomacy today and during the peace process years.
In the 1990s, Israel was allowed to open trade missions and begin contacts with Arab states because a process was in place to create a Palestinian state. During the second intifada of 2000-05, these openings closed. Now, Gold says, his diplomacy with the Arab states resembles the dynamics that created the predecessor of the European Union after the end of World War II.
"The European Union was formed because of a mutual threat from Soviet armored divisions," Gold said. Today, he argued, the Middle East faces the twin threats of Iran and the Islamic State, which "creates a lot of mutual interests between Israel and the Arab states."
Not everyone is convinced on this last point. In April, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy hosted a rare public conversation between retired Israeli general, Yaacov Amidror, and former a Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal. Despite the cordial environment, the Saudi prince made it clear that there would be no formal recognition of Israel until there was a just peace with the Palestinians.
Edward Djerejian, a former senior U.S. diplomat who directs the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, agrees. "The Palestinian issue remains a central political issue that deters Israel's full integration in the region," he told me.
Nonetheless, the flow of diplomacy in the region is reversing. In the 1990s, Europe tried to persuade Israel's Arab neighbors to accept it. Today, Israel quietly collaborates with its Arab neighbors as European states threaten to distance themselves over the Palestinian issue.
This is why so many Israelis worry, despite the new outreach to India, China, Russia and the Arab states. Yair Lapid, the leader of a major centrist party here, this year said his country had never been as isolated as it is today.
Ksenia Svetlova, a former journalist and Labor Party member of Knesset who serves on its foreign affairs committee, stressed this point as well. She told me she was more concerned with how Europe and America viewed Israel than she was with Turkey, Russia or Saudi Arabia. "We can have great tactical relations with non-democratic countries, Egypt is the proof," she said. "But the true bond will always be with other countries that act like us and share our values."
Put another way, Israel's new friends are no substitute for its old ones.
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