Jerusalem News
(4 April, 2021; 22 Nisan, 5781)
Contents:
1. 2021 Israel Election Results by Yair Davidiy \
2. EU Intervention in Judah and Samaria
The Invisible War by Victor Rosenthal
3. The Israel Lobby Is Good for America
by Daniel Pipes
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1. 2021 Israel Election Results
by Yair Davidiy
Total Numberso of Seats : 120
Likud 30 (headed By PM Binyamin Netanyahu).
New Hope 6 (headed By Gideon Saar, party composed mainly of former Likud members, considered Right-Wing).
Yamina 7 (headed By Naftali Bennet, former National Religious, considered Right-Wing).
Religious Zionists 6 (headed by Betsalel Smootrich, incudes Itamar Ben-Gvir, former Kahana adherent)..
United Torah Judaism 7 (headed by Rabbi Moshe Gafni, and Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, - Hareidim).
Shas 9 (headed by Rabbi Aryeh Deri, Hareidim Sephardim).
Israel Beitanu 7 (headed by Avigdor Lieberman, Mainly Russians, anti-Hareidim but considered right-wing).
Blue and White 8 (headed by Benny Gantz, moderate to Center).
Yesh Atid 17 (headed by Yair Lapid, anti-Religious, anti-Hareidim, center to left) .
Meretz 6 (left-wing, Socialist).
Labor 7 (moderate Socialist).
Joint List 6 (Radical Arabs).
Ra'am 4 (Religious Muslims but may support a Likud Government).
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2. EU Intervention in Judah and Samaria
The Invisible War
http://abuyehuda.com/2021/03/the-invisible-war/
Posted on March 29, 2021 by Victor Rosenthal
Extracts:
I've written before about the European Union's intervention in Judea/Samaria, how our "friends" in Europe pour massive amounts of money into illegal Palestinian development in Area C � the part of the territory that is supposed to be under full Israeli control according to the Oslo Accords. Control of these areas is absolutely critical for the defense of the State of Israel, both against Palestinian terrorism and against invasion across our borders.
Area C had very few Arab residents, and contains virtually all of the Jewish communities outside the 1949 armistice lines. Although President Trump's "Deal of the Century" encouraged Israel to extend Israeli law to much of this area, it did not happen...
Palestinians and their supporters typically falsely accuse Israel of precisely the evil intentions that they themselves hold toward us, and this is no exception. ...
Thanks to the ever-vigilant European-funded left-wing Israeli NGOs like B'Tselem and others, with the cooperation of Israel's Supreme Court and other elements of the judicial system, there has been very little, if any, growth in the area occupied by Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria for decades. But Palestinian construction, agricultural development, and conversion of state land into what the courts will declare "private Palestinian land" is flourishing in Area C, paid for by money from Europe and Qatar.
The motivations of the EU, which has adopted the Palestinian cause as its own, are manifold. There is the influence of Europe's growing Muslim population. There is the lingering effect of decades of Soviet anti-Israeli propaganda. There is the residual guilt over European colonialism (the European Left is wedded to the view that Israel is a colonial power), and of course over their cooperation with the Nazis. By equating Israel with the Nazis that they allowed (and sometimes helped) to murder the Jews of Europe, and then opposing us, they expiate their guilt.
But regardless of its causes, this is war, a war to conquer and occupy territory, and part of a long-time campaign to end Jewish sovereignty altogether.
Now, thanks to an intrepid undercover operation ... by a volunteer organization called Ad Kan (loosely translated as "this far and no farther"), the joint plans of the Palestinian Authority and European Union have been obtained and exposed. These plans are extremely detailed and represent a blueprint for an Arab takeover of all of Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. If this plan succeeds, it will return Israel to a state with what Abba Eban called "Auschwitz borders," an indefensible enclave surrounded by hostile enemies, without the benefit of the natural geographic features that are so strategically important, and without strategic depth in her most populated region. The EU has promised the PA billions of Euros to complete the takeover.
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3. The Israel Lobby Is Good for America
by Daniel Pipes
JNS, January 25, 2021
https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-israel-lobby-is-good-for-america/
Extracts:
When American citizens pressure their government in favor of Israel, some foreign policy mandarins snootily condemn this as privileging an ethnic group's narrow priorities over the disinterested formulation of foreign policy. But, in fact, lobbies like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) actually improve U.S. foreign policy.
One of the worst bestsellers.
In the 1950s, critics of Israel blamed the "Jewish lobby" for obstructing an anti-Soviet alliance. In the 1970s, they blamed robust U.S.-Israel relations for the Arab oil boycott. In the 2000s, they blamed the Israel lobby for the Iraq war. In the 2010s, they criticized it for first obstructing and later repealing the Iran Deal. Most famously, John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard made the general case against pro-Israel Americans in their 2007 bestseller, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.
In response, pro-Israeli activists typically justify their lobbying efforts on two grounds. (1) Utility: Israel benefits the United States. Americans profit from its developing and testing of advanced weaponry, its intelligence network, its cutting-edge water technology, and its being the strongest, most reliable state in the vital but wildly turbulent Middle East region. (2) Costlessness: U.S.-Israel relations do not interfere with other U.S. ties. In olden times, that meant relations with Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia; nowadays, it refers to Turkey, Qatar, and Iran.
....I propose seeing the Israel lobby in an entirely different way, showcasing its domestic role versus foreign influence.
The Blackstone Memorial, 1891: "Palestine for the Jews."
Israelis and Palestinians each call on the enthusiastic support of a great hinterland. Israelis have the Jewish diaspora, especially its rich and powerful leaders, from Chaim Weizmann to Sheldon Adelson, as well as a worldwide network of Christian supporters from Lord Palmerston and William Blackstone to Clark Clifford and Nikki Haley. In parallel part, Palestinians have counted on Arab, Muslim, European, and Communist states such as, respectively, Egypt, Iran, Sweden, and the Soviet Union, as well as growing support from the global Left, exemplified by Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, as Steven J. Rosen has shown, "the Arab road to Washington runs through Paris, London, and Berlin."
Through the past century, those hinterlands have grown and roughly balanced each other. Both came into existence during World War I, when British Zionists pressured their government to support a Jewish national home in Palestine, as Arab leaders extracted promises from Britain about Palestine before helping its war effort. During World War II, Western Jews and their allies applied desperate pressure on the British government to open immigration to Palestine for Jewish refugees, as Arab rulers threatened to sabotage Britain's war efforts if it permitted that immigration.
After the war, American Zionists moved to the forefront, independent Arab states tripled in number. Zionists successfully lobbied President Truman to recognize the State of Israel in 1948, five Arab states invaded the nascent polity. Each side learned from the other: Israelis developed a powerful army, Arabs won increasing clout in Western politics, media, and education. Each side developed and refined techniques for extracting funds from its hinterland, whether the United Jewish Appeal or Saudi, Kuwaiti, and other government donations.
Repeatedly, when Israel's enemies attack, its American friends defend. Arab states boycotted U.S. firms invested in Israel; Israel's friends won legislation making complying with such boycotts illegal. Arab states withheld oil supplies; Zionists pushed against capitulation to such pressure. As Arab states rounded up overwhelming majorities in international organizations, Israel's friends did likewise in Congress. Each hinterland fights for its cause. Each provides diplomatic support, financial aid, and armaments.
....The Zionists pressure Washington from within, the states do so from without. It's a significant difference but ultimately a technical one.
Thus, the Israel lobby does not impede the formulation of an objective foreign policy but constructively offsets anti-Israel influence. Arguing for Israel is not just protected under the First Amendment and entirely legitimate, but it informs and improves American policy formulation by countering foreign influences. The Israel lobby, therefore, is good for America.