The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
Bibi better have the cojones to take on a White House proudly abandoning Israel
Caroline B. Glick
"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
~~~lll~~~
JEB SET TO DEBUT BIGGEST CASH HAUL EVER
To put Jeb Bush’s first-quarter fundraising in perspective, if it is, as expected, well over $100 million, he may have managed a 70 percent increase over Mitt Romney’s previous quarterly record, and done it a year earlier in the cycle. This is obviously very good news for Bush. For any other candidate hoping to woo big-money donors, a sum so large will make life very difficult. Just as Marco Rubio is ascending to the stratosphere and Chris Christie is getting ready to re-launch, Bush is making it clear that he’s building a Clinton-sized mother ship to take all the big-buck GOPers into orbit. The big donors who believe big money is the key to winning elections aren’t likely to try to try to top this. And for people who give to get access, they follow fundraising leaders rather than chase them. But, on the other hand, Bush is making a big gamble.
Bush is operating in a loophole within a loophole of campaign finance law. Because he is not officially a candidate and isn’t registered with federal elections officials, he can coordinate with the network of super PACs raising and, eventually, spending unlimited sums on his behalf. Other candidates, even the still-technically undeclared Scott Walker, are bound by elections rules related to their current positions. Bush is free to raise and direct the PAC because he is doing so as a private citizen. And because Bush is pioneering a new role for his PAC, it will need all of this and money and much more. But as soon as Bush declares himself a candidate, he will have to sever ties to PAC world. Bush is raising all of this money to hand over to Mike Murphy and say “see you after Election Day.”
Sums so vast provide a lot of cushion for mistakes in judgment. Plus, with this much cash behind him, Bush can start nudging other candidates out of the race. Ideological candidates relying on small-dollar donations won’t scare off easily, others, though, may decide they’d rather not endure having a $1 billion flamethrower in their faces. But Bush is debuting his nine-figure quarter at a moment when the country is very much talking about the dangers and improprieties of funny money and politicians. Team Jeb argues that the only way to beat Clinton cash is with more cash. Perhaps, but the narrative of two rival political families exploiting loopholes to fight a nuclear war of campaign spending won’t exactly stir the hearts of the Republican (or Democratic) base.
-Fox News
Campaigning for Jeb, Dubya escalates anti-nObama rhetoric
Bloomberg: “In a closed-door meeting with Jewish donors Saturday night, former President George W. Bush delivered his harshest public criticisms to date against his successor on foreign policy, saying that President Barack nObama is being naïve about Iran and the pending nuclear deal and losing the war against the Islamic State... Bush then went into a detailed criticism of nObama’s policies in fighting the Islamic State and dealing with the chaos in Iraq. On nObama’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of 2011, he quoted Senator Lindsey Graham calling it a ‘strategic blunder.’” -Fox News
Jewish GOPers up for grabs - David Drucker writing from Vegas, baby: “Sen.Ted Cruz of Texas, who addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition on Saturday during the group's annual spring meeting at The Venetian hotel and casino, wowed the gathering and has quickly - and unexpectedly - established himself as a player for Jewish Republican support, particularly among the grassroots…But the coalition is an Establishment-oriented group. The board and other senior leaders, who include mega donors like Sheldon Adelson and Paul Singer, consist of veteran GOP insiders, including former ambassadors appointed by President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush.” -Fox News
Rubio running away with the ‘pundit primary’ - The Hill: “On newspaper pages and online, the pundit primary is heating up in the Republican Party. The views of conservative columnists such as George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, Stephen Hayes, and Jonah Goldberg will shape the way donors and party leaders view the 2016 candidates... The Florida senator is running away with this contest” -Fox News
Walker makes secret prosecutions a campaign issue - Milwaukee Sentinel Journal: “In a swing through the crucial presidential state of Iowa this weekend, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took the rare step of lashing out at prosecutors who had probed his campaign by questioning whether their tactics were constitutional. In an equally unusual turn, prosecutors fired back by calling Walker's comments inaccurate, offensive and defamatory - with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm suggesting Walker could be criminally charged for lying. They said Walker should call for the release of sealed court records so the public could know more about the investigation and raids on people's homes, but Walker gave that notion little heed...His remarks on the investigation into his campaign were made as the Wisconsin Supreme Court mulls whether to let prosecutors revive their investigation.” -Fox News
1.
Terrorist Activity on Israel-Syria border as Iran to Arm Hizballah
(investigativeproject.org) - Tensions are rising along the Syrian-Israeli border after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) killed four terrorists who infiltrated from Syria and planted explosives in the Golan Heights, the Jerusalem Post reports...The IAF observed the terrorists planting the explosive devices clearly before ordering the strike. The Israel Defense Forces is continuing to conduct routine security missions in the area and stated that it will not "tolerate any attempt to harm or violate Israeli sovereignty." This development comes amid rising border tensions and reports of an alleged Israeli air strike against strategic Syrian military sites housing long-range missiles, intended for the terrorist organization Hizballah. http://www.investigativeproject.org/4834/terrorist-activity-on-israel-syria-border-as-iran
2.
Israel Establishes Red Lines for Iran and Hezbollah
(David Gerstman) - Yesterday afternoon Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned Iran not to arm Hezbollah...It wasn’t clear if Ya’alon was referring to airstrikes targeting weapons depots in Syria, attributed to Israel, that occurred Wednesday and Saturday last week, or if he was threatening future action. Subsequent to Ya’alon’s talk it appeared that he may have intended both. First a terror cell was discovered trying to plant a bomb at the Israel-Syria border and was killed by Israel Air Force. The Times of Israel reported: http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/04/israel-establishes-red-lines-for-iran-and-hezbollah/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29
3.
Turkey's Supposed Nemesis: "The Mastermind"
(Burak Bekdil) - Turkey's biggest enemy, according to its Islamist rulers, is not the fanatical jihadists who now neighbor their country in large swathes of land in Syria and Iraq; nor is it the thousands of "sleepers" at home...the same jihadists who have not staged a sensational act of terror, but might yet. The enemy is not the political and military advance of Shiite radicals in the region, or a nuclear Iran. It is not extreme left-wing terrorists who only recently murdered a state prosecutor. It is not Russia, China or Western civilization. It is what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says is "the mastermind" that tirelessly plots against Turkey. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5608/turkey-antisemitism-mastermind
4.
5.
THE SPIRIT OF JEWISH CONSERVATISM
(Eric Cohen) - Compared with the bleaker moments in Jewish history—and woefully there are many—the present age of Jewish life offers many grounds for celebration and gratitude...In America, Jews are free to build communities and educate their children, free to study and worship without fear, free to pursue the good life without discrimination or disadvantage. In Israel, Jews are sovereign: keepers of their own land, speakers of their own language, shapers of their own national destiny. In these two great centers of modern Jewish life, Jews have the dignity of liberty, and in Israel they enjoy the dignity of Jewish self-government. The old-world problems of the Jews—living in segregated conditions, burdened by humiliating legal restrictions, often impoverished and dispirited—are no longer Jewish problems on any mass scale. Most American Jews have means, and many are wealthy; the Jewish state is strong; and despite the faith-shaking trauma of the Holocaust and the faith-challenging seductions of modernity, many still believe that Jews have a unique purpose in the world. http://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2015/04/the-spirit-of-jewish-conservatism/
6.
American Mom and Her Baby Are Being Held Hostage by The Taliban
(pamelageller.com) - In 2012, a 28-year-old American woman, Caitlin Coleman, was kidnapped along with her husband, Joshua Boyle, while traveling in Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant and gave birth while in captivity. The family has been held ever since by the Taliban...Her name and that of her husband and baby should be on the lips of every American. Another story the media doesn’t report. In his continuing support for the Taliban terrorist group, nObama has refused to call them a terrorist group. They kidnap Americans and the media hardly speaks of it in deference to their dear leader. nObama’s Afghanistan strategy is to cover for his “peace partners.” For years I have reported on nObama’s sanction and support of the savage Islamic group, the Taliban. The jihadist group has long been an avowed enemy of the US, freedom, democracy and equality for all. The Taliban is why we went into Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. They have kidnapped an American mother and baby, but you won’t read about it in the enemedia. http://pamelageller.com/2015/04/an-american-mom-and-her-baby-are-being-held-hostage-by-obamas-partners-the-taliban.html/
7.
(gopthedailydose.com) - Boston Marathon Bombing survivors outraged after learning Tsarnaev’s family’s trip to US paid for with American tax dollars...The family of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been flown to the U.S. from their home in Chechnya, are being housed at a Hampton Inn outside of Boston, and are being guarded 24 hours a day by at least three federal agencies is costing well over $100,000 so far. http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/04/27/obama-regime-uses-americans-tax-dollars-to-fund-boston-marathon-terrorists-family-trip-to-the-u-s/
8.
Congress's Bipartisan nObamacare Fraud
(Phil Kerpen) - One of the most outrageous but least reported ongoing scandals in Washington is that the House and Senate have both falsely certified themselves as small businesses in order to fund health insurance for themselves and their staff with taxpayer dollars, sidestepping provisions of nObamacare...Senator David Vitter (La.) recently tried to subpoena the documents in which the false declarations were made, but he ran into strong bipartisan opposition. Perhaps most shockingly, Senator Rand Paul – who is campaigning for president on a promise to “defeat the Washington machine” – voted to keep this ultimate Washington insider scam secret. But unlike all of the other Americans in that situation, Congress had access to President nObama to personally intervene on their behalf. And he did, with an Office of Personnel Management rule allowing them to have taxpayers continue picking up most of the costs of their premiums. It gets worse. Because there is no mechanism for employer contributions in the individual exchange, Congress also filed false documents claiming the House and Senate each have less than 50 employees to qualify as “small businesses,” even though over 13,700 employees have in fact signed up. That's fraud. https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2015/04/congresss-bipartisan-obamacare-fraud
9.
Islamic State’s caliph still alive, but paralyzed?
(Robert Spencer) - The head of the Islamic State is reportedly injured so badly he can barely move, Kareem Shaheen at The Guardian reports.” Sources tell us Baghdadi is still alive...but still unable to move due to spinal injury sustained in the March air strike,” Shaheen tweeted...Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who last year declared himself caliph of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), was reportedly wounded in a US-led airstrike in March. Martin Chulov at The Guardian, who last week broke the news of the airstrike, also says his sources tell him Baghdadi is still alive and being treated by doctors from Mosul. No one really knows what is going on. The Iranians are saying he is dead. “ISIS leader Baghdadi is reportedly ‘unable to move’ after a spinal injury,” http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/04/uks-guardian-islamic-states-caliph-still-alive-but-paralyzed-from-spinal-injury-in-airstrike-pentagon-denies-hit-him?utm_source=Jihad+Watch+Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=c166d1548c-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ffcbf57bbb-c166d1548c-123451509
10.
A Uranium One sign that points to a 35,000-acre ranch owned by John Christensen, near the town of Gillette, Wyo. Uranium One has the mining rights to Mr. Christensen’s property.
Clinton Uranium Deal Looks Dirtier Than Michael Moore
(Michael R. Caputo) - In 1999-2000, I ran public relations for Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank that paid Bill Clinton $500,000 to speak in June 2010...Soon after, his wife became a decision maker on Russia's acquisition of a company controlling American uranium. Even when I worked there, Renaissance Capital had close ties to the Kremlin - the relationship made Renaissance executives into oligarchs. By 2010, the firm had become a practical arm of Vladimir Putin. Nobody of sound mind would think otherwise. Mrs. Clinton certainly had the power to veto the Kremlin's purchase of our uranium assets, and didn't. But here's an unspoken truth: Who in the CFIUS arena would dare stand against the Clintons? Nobody in nObamaworld. The New York Times details millions more funnelled to the Clinton Foundation from a variety of people who got rich off the UraniumOne sale. The White House hasn't even said a word about these foreign donations which went unreported in brazen violation of the president's policy. Will they ever? How is this even remotely possible? Read this story. And start paying attention. http://www.politicsny.net/feature.php?id=291&c=3#sthash.X6UXvQOn.EjK2GjNu.dpbs
Bibi better have the cojones to take on a White House proudly abandoning Israel
Caroline B. Glick
(jewishworldreview.com) - In testimony last week before the House committee in charge of State Department funding, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power acknowledged that the nObama administration intends to abandon the US's 50 year policy of supporting Israel at the United Nations.
After going through the tired motions of pledging support for Israel, "when it matters," Power refused to rule out the possibility that the US would support anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council to limit Israeli sovereignty and control to the lands within the 1949 armistice lines — lines that are indefensible.
Such a move will be taken, she indicated, in order to midwife the establishment of a terrorist-supporting Palestinian state whose supposedly moderate leadership does not recognize Israel's right to exist, calls daily for its destruction, and uses the UN to delegitimize the Jewish state.
In other words, the nObama administration intends to pin Israel into indefensible borders while establishing a state committed to its destruction.
In about a week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new government will be sworn in. The new government will have no grace period before it will be called upon to forge and implement policies to lead Israel through perhaps the most trying time in its history.
Clearly, developing the means to cope with our deteriorating relations with the US is one of the most urgent issues on the agenda. But it is not the only issue requiring the attention of our leaders.
Israel must quickly determine clear strategies for contending with the consequence of US's strategic shift away from its allies, Iran's nuclear project. It must also determine the principles that will guide its moves in contending with the regional instability engulfing or threatening to engulf our Arab neighbors.
As tempting as it may be to believe that all we need to do is wait out nObama, the fact is that we have no way of knowing how the US will behave once he has left office.
The Democratic Party has become far more radical under nObama's leadership than it was before he came into office. Hilly Clinton may very well become the next president, particularly if Jeb Bush is the Republican nominee. And she has evinced no significant interest in moving the party back to the center.
As secretary of state during nObama's first term in office, Clinton was a full partner in his foreign policy.
Although she appears less ideologically driven than nObama, there are many indications that her basic world view is the same as his.
Moreover, the world has changed since 2009. The Middle East is far more volatile and lethal. The US military is far less capable than it was before nObama slashed its budgets, removed its most successful commanders and subjected its troops to morale-destroying mantras of diversity and apologetics for Islamic terrorism.
In light of these changed circumstances, there are in essence two major principles that should guide our leaders today. First, we need to reduce our strategic dependence on the US. Second, we need to expand our policy of openly and unapologetically making the case for our positions to the American public.
On the first score, the need to limit our dependence on US security guarantees became painfully obvious during Operation Protective Edge last summer.
nObama's interference in military-to-military cooperation between the Defense Ministry and the Pentagon, and his decision to implement an unofficial arms embargo on Israel in the middle of a war, was a shocking rebuke to the powerful voices inside the IDF General Staff and in policy circles that Israel can and must continue to trust the US to back it up in crises.
Our need to limit our dependence on the US to the greatest practicable degree will have consequences on everything from our domestic military production and development industries to intelligence and operational cooperation with the US and other governments.
It is imperative as well that we develop a plan to wean ourselves off of US military aid within the next three-five years.
Netanyahu's critics continue to attack him for his decision to abandon the longstanding policy of settling disputes with the US administration through quiet diplomacy. They blame Netanyahu's decision to publicly air Israel's opposition to nObama's nuclear diplomacy for the crisis in relations. But they are confusing cause and effect. Netanyahu had no choice.
nObama has made clear through both word and deed that he is completely committed to a policy of reaching a détente with Iran by enabling Iran to join the nuclear club. He will not voluntarily abandon this policy, which his closest aides have acknowledged is the signature policy of his second term.
Under these circumstances, it has long been clear that quiet diplomacy gets Israel nowhere. Open confrontation with the administration is the only way that Israel can hope to limit the damage the administration's policies can cause. By publicly laying out its positions on issues in dispute, Israel can provide administration critics with legitimacy and maneuver room in their own critiques of nObama's policies.
The public debate in the US regarding nObama's policy of appeasing Iran was transformed by Netanyahu's speech before the joint houses of Congress last month.
Before he came to town, most of the voices in the US warning against nObama's nuclear diplomacy were dismissed as alarmist. Netanyahu's speech changed the discourse in the US in a fundamental way.
Today, nObama's nuclear deal with Iran is highly controversial and unpopular.
And this brings us to the second burning issue the next government will need to contend with immediately upon entering office: Iran.
Since word of Iran's nuclear weapons program got out more than a decade ago, Israel has operated under the assumption that a sufficient number of members of the policy community in Washington were committed to a policy of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons to make the abandonment of that policy politically impossible. Netanyahu's strategy for dealing with Iran's nuclear program has centered on convincing those policy-makers to take action, whether through sanctions on Iran or through other means that would make it impossible for nObama to conclude a deal with Iran that would give the nuclear program an American seal of approval.
In recent weeks, we have seen the collapse of that assumption. The Senate's feckless handling of nObama's nuclear accommodation of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism exposed Israel's operating assumption as overly optimistic. So the policy must be updated.
An updated policy must be based on two understandings.
First, the US will not stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Second, due to nObama's commitment to nuclear accommodation of Iran, at this point unless Iran's nuclear installations are destroyed through military force, it will become a nuclear power. Israel's survival will be compromised and a nuclear arms race throughout the region will ensue.
Given this reality, Israel's public diplomacy should no longer be viewed as a means to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Rather, Israel should view it as a means to empower American lawmakers and others to stand with Israel in the event that it carries out military strikes against Iran's nuclear weapons.
Open support for Israel by the US public and by politicians and media organs will make it more difficult for the administration to harm Israel in retribution for such action.
As for the strike itself, both the operational and diplomatic aspects of a military action must be calculated to make the most of the changing regional dynamics.
Last summer, in fighting Hamas in Gaza, Israel found itself acting in alliance with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates against Hamas, Qatar, Turkey and the US. The Arab states served as Israel's blocking backs. They enabled Israel to withstand massive pressure from the administration that sought to coerce Israel into ending the fighting on Hamas's terms.
In recent weeks, the media in Egypt and Saudi Arabia have expressed support for an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear installations. This support will be helpful in the aftermath of any such strike as well, and will again make it difficult for nObama to take revenge on Israel. Moreover, Israel must capitalize on these states' opposition to Iran's nuclear weapons program in order to convince them to provide operational support for Israeli forces attacking Iran.
This of course brings us to the third major issue on the next government's agenda: formulating principles to govern our relations with the Arab world.
One thing is obvious. The goal that informed all previous governments in the past — that Israel's top goal should be to sign peace deals with our neighbors — is irrelevant.
Our neighbors are all engulfed in wars or crises spurred by domestic opponents. These opponents have embraced al-Qaida and Islamic State and consequently, their domestic disputes with their leaders have been transformed into existential struggles between Islamic totalitarianism and regular authoritarianism.
Israel's policy to date for handling these affairs has been to support the Egyptian military government and the Jordanians and to prevent Iranian proxies in Syria from directly attacking Israel. This policy is correct and should remain in place. But Israel also needs to adopt policies that will enable it to protect itself in the absence of friendly regimes in Amman and Cairo.
To this end, Israel must stabilize the situation with the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. Israel must ensure that it has complete military control over these areas to prevent a spillover from Syria and to withstand the effect of a potential rise of jihadist forces in Jordan. As for Gaza, Israel must stop viewing Gaza, which behaves as a separate body politic from Judea and Samaria, as related to Judea and Samaria.
Gaza is a base for the global jihad and is a threat to Israel and Egypt alike. It has to be understood and treated as such.
In short, under the current circumstances, just as the notion of sitting down and signing a peace deal with Syria or Saudi Arabia is absurd, so the notion of reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians is a throwback to an entirely different time. Today the only way to keep the Palestinians of Judea and Samaria separated from the chaos and jihad in neighboring states is to make them part of Israel. As a preparatory step toward that goal, the next government must act to more fully integrate Arab Israelis into Israeli society.
To this end, Netanyahu would do well to appoint a Muslim Arab minister to his government charged with integrating the Arabs more fully into Israeli society.
The world has changed since 2009. America has changed. The Middle East has changed. Israel faces an array of challenges and threats it has never faced before. The next government must understand the dynamics of the situation and quickly forge policies based on the world as it is, not as it was or as we would like for it to be.
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