Netanyahu: Israel in 'Profound Disagreement' With Obama Admin

Wednesday, February 11, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday released a statement explaining that he intends to go ahead with a contentious address to the US Senate on March 3 in order to dissuade the Obama Administration from negotiating with Iran a nuclear agreement that would endanger the Jewish state.

“I am going to the United States not because I seek a confrontation with the President, but because I must fulfill my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country,” said Netanyahu.

The Obama Administration has been irate over Netanyahu’s scheduled speech, and a number of top Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden, have announced they will not be present for the Israeli leader’s appearance.

But many in Israel, Netanyahu among them, have suggested that it is Israelis who should be upset over the Obama Administration’s handling of the Iran nuclear crisis, which first and foremost threatens the Jewish state.

“…we do have today a profound disagreement with the United States administration and the rest of the P5+1 over the offer that has been made to Iran,” Netanyahu noted. “This offer would enable Iran to threaten Israel’s survival. …It would be able, under this deal, to break out to a nuclear weapon in a short time, and within a few years, to have the industrial capability to produce many nuclear bombs for the goal of our destruction.”

Netanyahu further pointed out that it was not unusual for Israeli and American leaders to disagree, and took aim at those who warn the current disagreements could harm, rather than ultimately strengthen, bilateral relations. Some of those issuing such warnings are to be found within the Obama Administration itself.

“Disagreements over Israel’s security have occurred between prime ministers in Israel from the left and from the right and American presidents from both parties,” the Israeli leader said. “None of these disagreements led to a rupture in the relationship between Israel and the United States. In fact, over time, our relationship grew stronger.”

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Obama Admin Deals Demoralizing Blow to Palestinian Cause

Sunday, January 11, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

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While staunchly backing the establishment of an independent Palestinian Arab state, the Obama Administration last week dealt a demoralizing blow to Palestinian efforts to achieve that goal unilaterally.

Shortly after losing a UN Security Council vote to recognize a Palestinian state and demand a full, unconditional Israeli withdrawal from said state, the Palestinian Authority threatened to become the newest member of the International Criminal Court, where it would no doubt file copious lawsuits against Israel and its leaders.

But US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki reminded the Palestinian Authority that it isn’t a state, and therefore can’t join the ICC.

“The United States does not believe that the state of Palestine qualifies as a sovereign state and does not recognize it as such and does not believe that it is eligible to accede to the Rome Statute,” Psaki said at a Washington press conference.

She went on to warned that the US Congress would now deliberate on whether or not to halt $400 million in annual financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Former US Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross encouraged European powers to take a similar stand against ongoing Palestinian intransigence if they are serious about facilitating a genuine peace.

In a New York Times op-ed, Ross noted that the Palestinian Authority had rejected three separate peace deals - in 2000, 2008, and 2014 - and that the Palestinian leadership had unfortunately been conditioned to believe it could get everything for nothing.

“Palestinian political culture is rooted in a narrative of injustice; its anti-colonialist bent and its deep sense of grievance treats concessions to Israel as illegitimate. Compromise is portrayed as betrayal,” he explained. “If saying yes is costly and doing nothing isn’t, why should we expect the Palestinians to change course?”

Ross insisted that the Palestinians must start suffering consequences for so many failed peace efforts.

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Obummer: Pro-Israel Republicans Take Over Congress

By Lea Speyer November 5, 2014  Breaking Israel News

“I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.” (Psalm 41:11)

For the first time in eight years, Republican lawmakers control both houses of Congress in a major blow to the Obama administration. (Photo: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

As Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday in the midterm elections, many supporters of Israel wondered what the outcome of the elections would mean for the Jewish state.

The results are in and it looks like Israel has gained a major foothold when it comes to bolstering support for Israel among American lawmakers.

For the first time in eight years, Republicans are in control of the US Congress. Republicans won control of the US Senate and increased their majority in the House of Representatives.

Republicans picked up seven seats in the Senate, giving them 52 out of a total 100 seats. In the House, several high-profile races ended in Republican victory, including Florida and Wisconsin. The usually Democratic-leaning states of Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts turned from blue to red.

The results are a major blow to the Democrats, especially US President Barack Obama. Obama now faces an uphill battle during the remaining two years of his presidency with a Congress that is now controlled by a party that firmly and vocally opposes his policies.

The American people have spoken and they are not happy.

Elie Pieprz, the Director of External Affairs for the Yesha Council and a former DC lobbyist, explained to Breaking Israel News that the election results were a bit surprising and created a “much bigger wave than expected” among Republican support.

“The election results are consequential for Israel, especially since Netanyahu is trying to bypass the White House,” Pieprz said.

“The Democrats are trying to differentiate themselves from Obama, who has been radioactive to Israel and the Democratic Party as a whole,” Pieprz said, referring to the rising tensions between the Obama administration and Netanyahu.

In light of the results, Pieprz explained that Obama can either gracefully bow to the needs of the American people or work with Congress, or he can do the opposite. Democrats now have the task of redefining themselves outside of the Obama narrative.

“Many Democrats have seen the mistakes of the Obama administration. In the 2016 presidential election, we will see many Democrat and Republican candidates who will want to restart the relationship with Israel,” he said.

“Many Democrats will say they have a different approach to Israel than Obama. The toxicity of communication between the two administrations is something the Democrats don’t want to replicate again.”

While Obama has hit some pretty intense lows when it comes to foreign policy, Pieprz said that when it comes to Israel, the president has been very “successful in pressuring and pushing Israel.” However, with Congress in the hands of the Republicans, the threats imposed on Israel by the Obama administration will be that much tougher to see through.

“When it comes to Israel, the Senate has more responsibility and authority in regards to foreign affairs,” Pieprz explained. “Now we have a number of Republican senators who are fairly strong in foreign policy and very pro-Israel.”

One such senator is Tom Cotton (R-AK), a Gulf War veteran who is “very strong in international affairs.”

In the House, Representatives such as Lee Zelden (R-NY), the only Jewish Republican in Congress who “campaigned with a strong religious perspective on Israel; Carlos Cordello (R-FL), “a very solid advocate on behalf of Israel”; Alex Mooney (R-WV), who has been to Israel a number of times, worked in Christian political movements and is a “strong asset in the House”; and Mia Love (R-UT), the first African-American female Republican who uses her Mormon religious beliefs to “govern her positions and Israel is certainly one of them,” will be fresh faces and vocal allies of the Jewish State.

“To have these kinds of personalities in Congress is very consequential for Israel,” Pieprz stated.

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/23852/obummer-pro-israel-republicans-take-congress/#BlccycHv7uJt5tEI.99

White House Playing a Dangerous Game with Israel

By John Waage

CBN News Sr. Editor

Sunday, November 02, 2014

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No matter which party winds up controlling the House and Senate after next Tuesday's elections, we will hear the usual calls for bipartisan cooperation.

Many Democratic candidates are running in hyper-drive trying to distance themselves from President Barack Obama.

One area in which they could find some common ground with Republicans is to oppose the increasingly dangerous penchant of the White House and State Department to attack Israel, a country that is already under greater siege because of failed U.S. behavior in the Middle East.

In the past few months, Israel has withstood the terrorist kidnapping and murder of three teenagers, a rocket barrage from Gaza that triggers seek-shelter sirens for some two million Israelis, an incursion to stop those rocket attacks, the murder of an 8-month old American-Israeli baby who was hurled into the air when a terrorist driver plowed into a crowd at a Jerusalem train stop (as well as a tribute to that terrorist by members of Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party), and now the apparently nationalist shooting of an Orthodox Jewish figure on the streets of the Israeli capital.

And all of that happened as ISIS pursues its bloody quest to build a caliphate, Syria's regime kills hundreds of thousands of its own citizens and forces millions to flee, and Iran spins its centrifuges to build the nuclear bombs it craves, while the West yawns.

The administration's response: it allowed a "senior advisor" to tell The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a "chickens***t" and a coward for not striking Iran and for not pursuing U.S. demands for further negotiations now with Abbas and other Sunni leaders.

More significantly, that advisor also seemed to welcome Iran's nuclear progress, while the U.S. foreign policy apparatus bears down on Israel for building apartments in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

When asked by a reporter, "Is the administration trying to figure out who made those inappropriate and counter-productive comments," a State Department spokesperson, showing disdain for the subject, answered, "There are anonymous sources in all of your stories every single day. If we spent all of our time focused on that effort, we wouldn't be working on diplomacy."

Nearly 24 hours later, her boss, Secretary of State John Kerry, finally called the remarks "disgraceful, unacceptable and damaging," and said they did not reflect his views or those of the White House.

Earlier this year, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon was forced to apologize for calling Kerry "obsessive" and "messianic"--not in a public interview, but in a private conversation. Ya'alon believed Kerry's plan for Israeli territorial concessions to the Palestinians would severely compromise Israel's security.

This past week, the administration refused to set up meetings for Ya'alon with Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden while the minister was in the United States.

If the White House and Foggy Bottom aren't held to account for their practice of benign neglect of the world's most dangerous regimes at the expense of Israel, this nation and all of its allies can expect to pay a much steeper price in chaos and disruption.

A few House and Senate Democrats, along with Republicans, have shown courage in raising questions about blanket U.S. funding of Palestinian and U.N. projects that almost certainly have terrorist connections, and about insisting on guarantees that the Obama team allow Congress to have a say in any nuclear deal with Iran.

They would do well to sound the alarm. It is virtually certain that what is happening in Tehran, Jerusalem, and Washington will move quickly up the priority list on the national agenda--and perhaps soon.

At that time, the question of whether our leaders can discern between friend and adversary could become a matter of life and death for many people.

Source: CBN News

Obama and the Rabbis

Thursday, September 18, 2014 |  Tsvi Sadan  ISRAEL TODAY

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Jews are naturally interested in Barack Obama's policy in the Middle East, and not a few rabbis are using telltale signs in American leader’s expressions of religion and moral values to draw somewhat far-fetched conclusions regarding the spiritual nature of his presidency. 

Since Obama's election, Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, the most popular Orthodox Jewish "evangelist" in Israel, has been among those teaching that he is the representation of "Tidal," the "king of nations" mentioned in Genesis 14:1. 

Being the forty-fourth president of the United States, Obama’s presidency will be characterized by bloodshed, because in gematria – where Hebrew letters can take numeric value and vice versa – 44 makes the word for blood. 

Rabbi Yitzhak also views Obama as a Christian Muslim, and as such a representation of both Edom (a euphemism for Christianity) and Ishmael (Islam), Israel's two arch enemies. Obama's presidency therefore will be characterized by dangerous anti-Israel policy that has the potential to bring about Israel's destruction. 

This danger, says Rabbi Yitzhak, can be averted by the repentance of individual Jews. In other words, Israel's wellbeing depends not on the IDF, but on proper Jewish response to God.

Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, another respected figure in certain religious circles, claims that the summer’s Gaza war has initiated the great war of Gog and Magog with nations gathering against Israel prior to the coming of Messiah. The reason for this war, he says, has everything to do with homosexuality, and particularly the annual gay and lesbian parade in Jerusalem, which was postponed this year because of the Gaza conflagration. 

President Obama enters this scheme by being the first American president to openly supported gay and lesbian marriage. 

According to Jewish understanding, incest was the cause of the Flood and incest will be the cause for the last apocalyptic war of Gog and Magog. 

Like Rabbi Yitzhak, Rabbi Schwartz uses esoteric interpretation methods to draw his conclusion that the world is coming to its end. An example is the appearance of the name "Obama" in Ezekiel 38:2, where, in Hebrew, counting seven letters from the last letter of the word "prince" makes the word "Obama." Be that as it may, Rabbi Schwartz still says that Israel bears heavy responsibility for the impending global doom, and therefore must undergo a deep and thorough searching of her soul.

There are other rabbis and small time "prophets" who likewise use a "biblical code" system to find names, places, events and even specific dates that supposedly reveal Obama's most secret intents. 

Intriguing and captivating as it may be, however, relying on such methods for the understanding of current affairs has proved erroneous too many times in the past. Having said that, however, this phenomenon demonstrates that many rabbis harbor a deep and unusual distrust of Obama.

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Joel C. Rosenberg: Netanyahu Would Be Front-Runner in US Presidential Election

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Joel C. Rosenberg: Netanyahu Would Be Front-Runner in US Presidential Election

3/7/2014 JOEL C. ROSENBERG  CHARISMA NEWS

Let’s put it this way: If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to jump into the 2016 presidential race, I suspect he would be far and away the front-runner for both the GOP and Democratic nominations.

He has enormous bipartisan support at the grass roots and overwhelming support on Capitol Hill.

I lost count of how many standing ovations Netanyahu received from the 14,000 pro-Israel activists gathered for the 2014 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference.

It was a far warmer reception than he received from President Obama at the White House on Monday.

His themes were large and consequential.

The prime minister:

• Urged the administration to intensify, not relax, pressure on Iran to give up its bid for nuclear weapons.
• Said he was ready to make a “historic peace” with the Palestinians and urged Mahmoud Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state once and for all: “No excuses. No delays. It’s time.”
• Quoted from the Bible, specifically from Deuteronomy 30, saying, “My friends, on behalf of the people of Israel, I bring you message from Jerusalem, the cradle of our common civilization, the crucible of our shared values. It’s a message from the Bible. [In Hebrew.]  ‘I have put before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life so that you and your offspring may live.’ Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, never forget—America and Israel stand for life. We stand together on the right side of the moral divide. We stand together on the right side of history.”

It is so interesting to hear an Israeli prime minister quote from the Bible. You might think it would be normal, but it’s not. So few Israeli leaders cite Scriptures, at least in English speeches or translations that I hear or read.

How will the speech be received by the president? That remains to be seen. The Palestinian leadership is already denouncing the speech. (See below.)

I urge you to read or watch the full speech, as well as the transcripts of what Netanyahu and the president said at the White House on Monday. Read the full, official text of the prime minister’s speech to AIPAC. Watch the video of the prime minister’s speech to AIPAC. Read the full transcript of Obama and Netanyahu statements at the White House on Monday.

Here’s the latest coverage of the Prime minister’s AIPAC speech:

AP: "Netanyahu to Abbas: ‘Recognize the Jewish State’"

Reuters: "Netanyahu Warns on Iran, Urges No Palestinian ‘Excuses’"

CBS News: "Netanyahu: Nuclear Iran Would Open a 'Pandora’s box' of Proliferation"

Ynet News: "Netanyahu at AIPAC: Ready for ‘Historic Peace’, but Palestinians Must Recognize Jewish State," going on to say, "Day after Obama talks, prime minister says Iran must not be allowed to obtain nukes, he will do what he must to protect Israel."

Haaretz: "Netanyahu: Israel Prepared to Make Peace, but Abbas Must Recognize Jewish State," and continuing with, "Millions in the Arab world could benefit from Israeli technology and innovation, prime minister tells AIPAC conference."

Jerusalem Post: "Netanyahu at AIPAC: Palestinians Must Join Israel, US on the Right Side of the Moral Divide"

Times of Israel: "Without Getting Personal, Netanyahu Hits Back at Obama," going on to say, "PM in AIPAC address argues extensively against White House thinking on Iran and Palestinians, while making just a single reference to the president."

Haaretz:"Palestinians: Netanyahu Speech Effectively Ends Negotiations," continuing with, "Labor leader Herzog ‘believes less and less’ that Netanyahu wants to lead Israel to a diplomatic solution."

Here are some the tweets I sent our (or retweeted) as the prime minister was speaking:

• "It’s wonderful to see so many evangelical Christians attending #aipac2014. Now is the time for us to be standing humbly w/our Jewish friends"
• "@IsraeliPM Netanyahu brings greetings from Jerusalem, 'eternal undivided capital if the Jewish people' 4th standing O"
• "Netanyahu says – 'Israel is humane. Israel is compassionate. Israel is a force for good.' (Shannon Bream, Fox News)"
• "PM Netanyahu: Israel has treated nearly 1,000 wounded Syrians.#AIPAC14 (Embassy of Israel)"
• "Netanyahu: Nasrallah says Hezbollah loves death & Israel loves life & that’s why Hezbollah will win. #aipac2014"
• "Netanyahu: Nasrallah right about 1st part. Hezbollah glorifies death. Israel does sanctify life. But 'dead wrong' on 2nd part"
• "Another Bibi zinger: 'How could anyone fall for the BS in BDS' #AIPAC14 (Chemi Shalev)"
• "Good line. Netanyahu: Israel is boisterous democracy,everyone has opinion and states it.  In Israel, self-criticism is on steroids. (Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post)"
• "I’ve completely lost track of the number of standing ovations for @IsraeliPMNetanyahu. #aipac2014"
• "@IsraeliPM Netanyahu: closes quoting from the Bible, 'I have put before you a choice between life and death. Choose life.' #aipac2014"

Joel C. Rosenberg is the author of numerous New York Times best-selling novels and nonfiction books, with nearly 3 million copies sold. He is also the founder of the Joshua Fund. His books include The Last Jihad (2002), The Last Days (2003), The Ezekiel Option (2005) and The Copper Scroll (2006).

For the original article, visit joelrosenberg.com.