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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a conference of Israeli ambassadors to Europe at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, January 3, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Netanyahu: ‘Very important’ to thwart another UN resolution
PM warns of ‘more than a few’ indications that conclusions reached at upcoming Paris confab could be ratified at Turtle Bay
Israel’s key diplomatic task in the coming two weeks is to prevent an additional Palestine-related resolution at the United Nations Security Council, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
Addressing a conference of Israeli ambassadors and chiefs of mission in Europe at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that it was likely that any conclusions reached at an international peace conference set for January 15, and sponsored by France, could be turned into another resolution.
“The Paris Conference is irrelevant,” he said. “But there are signs that they are trying to turn decisions made there into another Security Council resolution, and that is no longer irrelevant.”
There are more than a few indications for that, Netanyahu added, without elaborating.
“Therefore, our primary effort that we are currently dealing with is the prevention of an additional UN Security Council resolution,” he said.
Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister, went on to say that Jerusalem must also work to prevent another decision or resolution by the Middle East Quartet, which comprises the UN, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
Israel is making a “great diplomatic effort” to prevent further Security Council or Quartet resolutions, Netanyahu said, instructing the Israeli ambassadors to make that the main focus of their work in the days ahead.
“It won’t take much time, but it will occupy us in the next two weeks, and it needs to succeed,” he said. “This is of utmost importance, immediately.”
After concluding his short public remarks, he continued to brief the Israeli diplomats behind closed doors.
On December 23, the Security Council passed resolution 2334, which declared Israeli settlement outside the pre-1967 lines as having “no legal validity” and constituting “a flagrant violation under international law. Fourteen of 15 member states voted in favor of the text. The US abstained, allowing the resolution to pass.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has since delivered a lengthy speech in which he, again, criticized the settlements and laid out his vision of what a future Israeli-Palestinian peace deal could look like. However, he said that a final status agreement “can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties” and that the outgoing administration has no intention of imposing a solution on the sides.
“There are other countries in the UN who believe it is our job to dictate the terms of a solution in the Security Council. Others want us to simply recognize a Palestinian state, absent an agreement,” he said. “But I want to make clear today: These are not the choices that we will make.”
Netanyahu, in his angry response to Kerry’s December 28 speech, said he took no comfort in the pledge not to seek further UN action against Israel. The six “principles” the secretary laid out — including negotiations on the 1967-lines and a Jerusalem as the capital of two states — could be adopted by the upcoming international peace conference in Paris, and then France or Sweden might propose a resolution based on it at the Security Council, he said.
As last week’s abstention on Resolution 2334 showed, the current administration cannot be trusted to protect Israel at the UN, Netanyahu added. “And the United States could say, well, we can’t vote against our own policy, we’ve just enunciated it.”
Other US officials, including senior members of the White House’s national security team, have since vowed to veto any additional Security Council resolution on Israel, including one based on Kerry’s recommendations.
But Miss Cathy called her teenage son Bryce who in turn texted some of his friends—and within a matter of minutes, six young men had volunteered to serve at a stranger's funeral. (Cathy Warden/Courtesy)
Teens Volunteer as Pallbearers for Veteran With No Family
Navy veteran Jerry Wayne Pino died on Dec. 12 in Long Beach, Mississippi. He was 70 years old.
We don't know that much about Jerry. He was born in Baton Rouge and joined the Navy in New Orleans. He was a petty officer third class in Vietnam. That's the extent of his biography.
No family. No friends. He died alone.
Jerry's body lay unclaimed for several weeks at Riemann Family Funeral Homes.
"No one stepped forward," funeral home worker Cathy Warden told me. "He just didn't have any family."
Miss Cathy explained the situation to her colleague Eva Boomer and together they decided something must be done to give this veteran a proper send off.
"Something had to be done with respect," Miss Cathy said. "We had to give him what he deserved. Nobody should go alone."
Miss Eva, who is also a veteran, wondered if some of the boys at Long Beach High School might be willing to serve as pallbearers. It was a longshot, though, seeing how most of the students were out on Christmas break.
But Miss Cathy called her teenage son Bryce who in turn texted some of his friends—and within a matter of minutes, six young men had volunteered to serve at a stranger's funeral.
Nobody should go alone.
"It was the right thing to do," 17-year-old Bailey Griffin told me. "He served our country. He fought for our rights. For him to be buried with nobody there was just sad. I told myself I was going to do it, and I did it."
They buried Petty Officer Third Class Jerry Pino on a Tuesday. The sun was shining and there was a cool, gulf coast breeze meandering through the Biloxi National Cemetery. An honor guard stood at attention.
The boys were smartly dressed in khaki pants and Sunday shirts and neck ties. They solemnly took their places on either side of the flag-draped coffin and escorted a man they did not know to his final resting place.
"I went out there for the service and cried the whole way through," Miss Cathy said. "He had no one there. This veteran had nobody standing there but these boys."
But what happened at the end of the funeral was incredibly moving and poignant.
The flag that had draped Jerry's coffin was folded and presented to the six young men from Long Beach High School, home of the Bearcats.
"It touched my heart," she said.
It's just proof that moms and dads are doing something right in Long Beach, that's what Miss Cathy said.
"Our community is teaching these boys from the heart how it should be—how to care," she said.
They are still trying to figure out what to do with the flag that draped Jerry's coffin. It's being encased in glass—along with a plaque that bears his name.
There's talk about putting the flag on display at the high school or perhaps inside the locker room where four of the pallbearers play football.
It would be a fitting tribute to a man who died alone but who was buried surrounded by his fellow countrymen.
And oh, what a lesson for the rest of us—demonstrated by a group of young boys from Mississippi who committed in their hearts that nobody should go alone—especially a veteran.
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The Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition is defending President-elect Donald Trump's selection of David Friedman to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel and is urging all evangelicals to put pressure on the Senate to push for a vote to rescind United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. (Submitted photo)
Hispanic Evangelicals Express Their Support for David Friedman, Mobilize to Rescind UNSC Resolution 2334
Pastor Mario Bramnick, President of the Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition, said members of his organization enthusiastically support both President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel and efforts in Congress to force the United Nations to rescind Security Council Resolution 2334.
"In light of the Obama Administration's eight years of anti-Israel policy, [Ambassador-designate David Friedman]'s appointment sends a powerful signal that President Elect Trump will strengthen the bond between America and its greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel," he said Monday. "[The Resolution 2334] vote will strengthen the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel; it will lead to more world court actions based on international law. There is a growing global anti-Semitism, and unfortunately it seems to be led by our [President Barack Obama]."
The Friedman Nomination
Bramnick said the Trump Administration has vowed to work to rescind the United Nation's resolution condemning Israel, to roll back the Iranian deal, to move the U.S. embassy to the eternal undivided capital of Israel, Jerusalem, and to repair relations with our greatest ally in the Middle East, which have eroded through the Obama administration over the last eight years.
His organization worked directly with Friedman on developing the Trump-Pence campaign's pro-Israel policy proposals. Friedman said the Trump administration will support Israel in reaching its own conclusion about how to best achieve peace with its neighbors.
"The critical thing is to recognize that there is not going to be any progress on a Palestinian state until the Palestinians renounce violence and accept Israel as a Jewish state," Friedman said before the election. "Until that happens, there is really nothing to talk about in terms of a political process."
"We trust Israel. We think it is doing an excellent job of balancing its respect for human rights and its security needs in a very difficult neighborhood. Israel is a partner with the U.S. in the global war against terrorism—the overall premise of the policy is to respect Israel as a partner and not to unduly influence its decisions."
Although Friedman isn't a "trained diplomat," he is among the world's greatest advocates for the "indivisible Jerusalem" policy, and as ambassador to Israel, he intends to move the U.S. embassy to Israel's eternal capital. He also said he views pro-Israel Christians as full stakeholders in Israel's well-being, not just mere supporters.
"As evangelicals, we believe that the land of Israel, with Jerusalem as the undivided and eternal capital, was given by God to the Jewish people," Bramnick said. "A 2013 Pew Research poll showed 82 percent of evangelicals support Israel based on their faith and biblical understanding that God gave the land of Israel to his chosen people, the Jews."
UNSC Resolution 2334
Friedman also understands free exercise and access to Christian holy sites is in danger and can only be guaranteed by Israel. Nearly every site of religious importance to Christians lies on the wrong side of the so-called "Green Line" and is inside a would-be Arab-Islamic country, according to Obama and UNSC Resolution 2334.
Resolution 2334 explicitly declares East Jerusalem as a settlement. The U.S. has essentially declared that, as a matter of international law, the Jewish state has no claim on the Western Wall, the Temple Mount and indeed the entire Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.
According to the U.N.—and, by its acquiescence, the U.S.—they all belong to Palestine.
"The Temple Mount is the most sacred site in all of Judaism," the NILC declared in a statement about Resolution 2334. "That it should be declared foreign to the Jewish people is as if the Security Council declared Mecca and Medina to be territory to which Islam has no claim.
"This resolution is denying the Jewish people rights to their own homeland as well as threatening the very survival of Christians to our holy sites in the biblical heartland. Regardless of the 4,000 years of documented history of the Jewish people, Obama and the United Nations have denied the Jewish people's right to live and build freely in their ancient homeland, including east Jerusalem, which would include the Wailing Wall in the Jewish quarter."
Bramnick said HILC intends to work with its friends in the Trump administration and in Congress to defund the "morally bankrupt" U.N. while calling upon evangelicals and elected officials across the nation to support the president-elect's efforts to rectify the "reckless actions" of President Obama.
HILC will be bringing its top leadership to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 11 to join Christians United for Israel and 175 other church leaders to show their objection over Resolution 2334, and to encourage their senators to pass a resolution that both condemns 2334 and urges the Obama not to return to the Security Council for another resolution. The U.S. and other nations will be gathering in Paris on Jan. 15 for what is widely expected to be another round of international condemnation for Israel.
"President-elect Donald Trump rejects the false notion that Israel is an occupier, and [he] wholeheartedly helped lead the policy made by the Republican Party platform on Israel," Bramnick said.
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Pastor Jim and Lori Bakker celebrate Jim’s 77th birthday with special guests Dino and Cheryl Kartsonakis
Quotes
The gift of Jesus is in your life today. Receive Him and hold Him dear. -Jim Bakker
Scriptures
Joel 2:25 MEV And I will compensate you for the years the locusts have eaten—the larval locust, the hopper locust,and the fledging locust— My great army which I sent against you.
II Corinthians 10:4 KJV For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;
Job 42:10 MEV And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, I began to read the Book of Esther. I simultaneously began a serious study of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah:
Ezra 8:22, "For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, 'The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.'"
Nehemiah 1:3-4, "The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven."
Nehemiah 2:8, "...for the good hand of my God was upon me."
Daniel was in office the first year of King Cyrus' reign. Daniel and Esther fasted and prayed. Ezra and Nehemiah rebuilt the wall.
Ezra 5:13, "However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt."
Daniel 1:21, "And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus."
Daniel 6:28, "So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian."
Ezra 1:8, "Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah."
During personal Bible study time, it came to me that we should be ashamed to say that we are trusting God, only to then turn to the world's solutions for our problems. I don't mean that we can't use what is available to use because the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. But do we trust that God will guide us in taking possession of the "spoils," or are we relying on getting the goods by our own strength?
For example, the early 21st century stimulus packages and freebies promised by our government may have had some "hidden treasures" in them; but as we rushed to receive the handouts, did we by faith rely on God to direct our approach for the solutions and supply our wants and needs? Or were we looking to God while using earthly solutions? I can't say that God will never instruct someone to do something that we, as Christians, would ordinarily not try because Peter had a dream to eat "unclean" food and God told him not to say what was clean or not, but to let God make those decisions. But do we come up with schemes on our own and then say that, "God blessed us," if we happen to win? I think not.
One reason that America borders on the brink of economic disaster and constant violent upheaval is that we have turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the plight of our brothers and sisters. Like Cain who killed his brother Abel, we have despised good and have turned away from caring about what happens to our brothers and sisters. We must humble ourselves as Nehemiah did: "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days, I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 1:4 NIV).
Early in 2016, America found herself facing the choice of repenting first of her own sins, before taking on the ills of the world; or continuing along the troubled paths that have been set before us. Yes, repenting and returning to God, rebuilding the foundations of a nation that once tried to live up to the creed of being "One nation under God"; or forsaking God altogether and going the way of other civilizations that forsook God and perished. The saga of Sodom and Gomorrah is perhaps one of the more extreme examples of such, but we must ask ourselves if we are closer to experiencing a similar fate than we might realize.
Amazingly, in 2015, there emerged a least likely presidential candidate who wanted to "make America great again." He started speaking of "building a wall" around America's borders. The people became fearful, the naysayers became furious. Yet the talk of America's wall continued.
All of this talk about a "wall" for America has actually caused the hearts of America's prayer warriors to hope again, realizing that a wall must have a strong foundation, a sturdy rock, and a chief cornerstone. Finally, 21st century America seems to have taken notice that something more is required if there is truly to be hope for America.
Yes, there is hope, and there still may be time to return to God and rebuild God's wall of protection around our nation. If we sincerely desire to rebuild our nation, there is much to be learned from the lessons in the books of Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah.
One thing is for sure, many men and women in the Bible came to discover and understand that there is a God in Heaven. Many rejected the ways of the one true God. We learn the consequences of rejecting God through the experiences of those who would not submit to God's sovereignty.
In the Bible, many learned to love, serve and obey God. Their successful testimonies have become our examples for living throughout history, even today. As our Bible heroes began to know and follow God in the fullness of truth, so can we. For those who receive God as Father, Christ as Lord, and Holy Spirit as Helper, God expresses agape love and divine sovereignty.
In God's many expressions, titles and names, God's character is revealed. To name a few we can come to know God as "Adonai" [The Boss], "Christ" [The Redeemer], "Paraclete" [The Holy Spirit, Teacher and Comforter], "The Way, The Truth and The Life," [Jesus], and "Abba" [God, our heavenly Father in Christ].
For those who receive God as Abba, in the fullness of God's loving grace and commandments through the shed blood of Jesus the Christ—they become not only God's creations, but we also become "children of God." (Photo of King family legacy via Alveda King)
Also, we must ever be mindful that God is not a "he." God is not a man. God is a Spirit. In the Christian faith, for those of us who receive God as Abba, God is known as "He." In His earthly life, Jesus Christ was God in the body of a human male. Holy Spirit is also often referenced as "He." Yet, please don't be turned away from God by the human efforts to define God.
"God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?" (Numbers 23:19 NLT)
"God [is] a spirit; and they who worship him must worship [him] in spirit and truth." (John 4:24 DBT)
Here, in the 21st century, the kingly and priestly anointing arise together. Along with the Esthers, Daniels, Nehemiahs, and Ezras—we meet the prophetic. We see Obadiah's hidden prophets emerging from the caves to join Elijah as Jezebel and Ahab are defeated.
During America's 2016 elections, we experienced a season where Jezebel had fallen. "They killed us but they ain't whipped us yet..." according to the report by one candidate, Tim Kaine.
Consequently, we continue advancing God's Kingdom with "thus saying" presenting ourselves to Ahab (and all world government authorities including those in the high places of Ephesians 6:12) so that the latter rain can fall increasingly on the earth (avoiding distractions, yielding always to Father God, championed by Lord Jesus, guided by His Excellency, Holy Spirit):
"It happened many days later that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah in the third year, saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab so that I may give rain on the surface of the earth.'" (1 Kings 18:1 WEB)
It's the season for the "hidden prophets" to speak out:
In the Bible account, Ahab called for Obadiah, his household supervisor. This man, who feared the LORD very much, had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them by fifties in a cave, providing them with food and water when Jezebel was trying to destroy the LORD's prophets.
Let the kings and priests of God arise. Let the prophets and intercessors unite with the high praises of God in our mouths.
In the final analysis, hope springs eternal. Even as the year 2016 was a season for God repairing breaches and unleashing many spiritual gifts to advance His Heavenly Kingdom, I pray that 2017 and beyond will be remembered as the beginning of a new and fresh wave of repentance, healing and forgiveness among families, communities and nations. As hope springs eternal, faith will increase and agape love will grow stronger. As this happens, the repairing, rebuilding, restoring process is all part of God's eternal plan to draw America ever closer to His heart.
Dr. Alveda Kingis an evangelist and civil rights activist; niece of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; daughter of Rev. AD King; and guardian of the "King Family Legacy." Alveda King Ministries aims to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the catalyst for salvation and being born again; promoting traditional family morals and values, from a Biblical worldview. Building strong, healthy families is a cornerstone – where individuals and families are given the necessary tools and resources to live prosperously to their full potential. An aim is to educate through community events, mentoring programs, media campaigns scholarship awards, coalition-building Christian advocacy groups and other means of positive reinforcement in order to lead people to Christ in expectancy of life, family, hope and "agape love" in the global community.
This article originally appeared at ElijahList.com. Used with permission.
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540 Hours of shooting all over Jerusalem, 30 Days of editing - the result is incredible. Fifty years since the city was reunited - experience Jerusalem like you've never seen it before!
President-elect Donald Trump's advisers would like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend his inauguration Jan. 20, the New York Post reported Saturday.
According to a source close to the transition team, the advisers are also exploring the possibility of arranging "a meeting of the two leaders before then."
If Netanyahu accepts the invitation, he would become the first sitting Israeli prime minister to attend a presidential inauguration.
According to the report, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and other transition team officials "have been aggressively courting Netanyahu and want him to attend the Jan. 20 festivities."
"There's a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu," the source said. "They're talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration."
Sources close to Netanyahu said Sunday that the prime minister currently has no plans to attend the inauguration.
This article was originally published at JNS.org. Used with permission.
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Jewish groups are concerned over the amount of influence Ambassador Martin Indyk has had over the Obama Administration and Secretary of State John Kerry's approach to the Palestinian issue with Israel. (Reuters photo)
Jewish Organizations Concerned Over Former Diplomat's Involvement in Current Anti-Israel Efforts
Several Jewish organizations and leaders are expressing alarm over former U.S. diplomat Martin Indyk's role in the Obama administration's recent Israel policy moves.
Indyk served as U.S. ambassador to Israel, and then assistant secretary of state, between 1995 and 2001, followed by a stint as President Barack Obama's envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013-2014.
Reliable Washington sources report that the maps and proposals Indyk and his aides formulated in recent years are still central to the Obama administration's strategy for the Palestinian issue. Indyk also is said to have remained in contact with key U.S. policymakers even though he left the Obama administration and now serves as executive vice president of the Brookings Institution.
In media interviews and on Twitter in recent days, Indyk has emerged as one of the most vociferous defenders of the Obama administration's Dec. 23 vote against Israeli settlements at the United Nations. He is also one of the most vocal opponents of President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of attorney David Friedman as U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Indyk's credibility is now being called into question, however, as several Jewish organizations are urging him to clarify whether or not he made a series of unusually harsh remarks about Israel and Jews in a tape-recorded private conversation when he was executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a prominent think tank.
In that conversation, in 1989, Indyk reportedly said Israelis are "paranoid," "arrogant" and think that "the rules of society do not apply [to them]" because "they are the goy's rules." Connecting Israeli attitudes to what he characterized as Jewish attitudes in general, Indyk reportedly said that "Jews would do whatever they can to avoid paying taxes," and that Jews believe it is justified to "find a way to ignore the law or get around it." He added, "In my own family, my grandfather used to stay up nights to figure out how to avoid paying taxes."
The reported remarks "echo three of the most infamous centuries-old tropes of anti-Semites," Prof. Eunice G. Pollack, a historian of anti-Semitism and co-editor of the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, told JNS.org.
"You have an updated version of the classic 'Jewish swindler,' combined with the 'disloyal Jew' who evades his patriotic duty to pay taxes, and the millennia-old 'arrogant Jew' who, in a more religious era, was accused of deriving his arrogance from his partner, Satan," said Pollack.
Jewish groups want answers
Indyk has not responded to multiple inquiries from JNS.org about the statements. The quotations were first raised by the organization Amcha—the Coalition for Jewish Concerns, headed by Rabbi Avi Weiss, when Indyk was nominated as ambassador to Israel in 1995. But they were not picked up by the news media at the time and were not raised by senators at his confirmation hearing.
Farley Weiss, president of the National Council of Young Israel, told JNS.org, "I hope he didn't say such things, and if he did, I hope he will disavow them. Either way, he needs to address the controversy."
Sarah Stern, president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a pro-Israel think tank in Washington, said in a statement to JNS.org that her organization is "calling on Ambassador Indyk to immediately clarify whether or not he made these horrific statements." Stern said it would be "very ironic" for Indyk to oppose the David Friedman nomination over past statements that Friedman made, "if Indyk made the repulsive remarks he is alleged to have made prior to his own nomination."
In a tweet quoted in The New York Times and elsewhere, Indyk sarcastically asserted that Friedman would be "a great ambassador for the deep settler state. But David Friedman needs to be U.S. envoy to all Israelis. Is he up for that?" In an interview with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, Indyk said Friedman's call for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to western Jerusalem is "incendiary" because it "would imply that the United States was recognizing Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, including the Arab part ... which has the third-holiest mosque in Islam."
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told JNS.org that Indyk "forgot to mention that what he calls 'the Arab part' of Jerusalem includes a large Jewish community, the Western Wall, the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives, which contains the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world. That mosque is the third-holiest site to Islam, but Har Habayit (the Temple Mount) is Judaism's holiest site." Cooper said "the current status quo, in which the U.S. does not recognize any part of Jerusalem as sovereign Israeli territory, is patently unfair."
The Wiesenthal Center, World Jewish Congress, National Council of Young Israel and other Jewish groups have endorsed the Friedman nomination. J Street, Americans for Peace Now and Ameinu oppose it.
EMET's Stern, for her part, said that Indyk's "judgment and objectivity" were "severely undermined" two years ago, when it was revealed that he had accepted a $14.8-million contribution from the government of Qatar for the Brookings Institution. Qatar is the largest financer of the terrorist organization Hamas.
Adam Kredo, a senior foreign policy writer for the Washington Free Beacon, told JNS.org that Indyk "is known among reporters for anonymously criticizing Israel in the press, for planting stories meant to pressure the Jewish state into making concessions, [and for] leading the Obama administration's efforts over the years to discredit Israel and blame it for the failure in peace talks."
Indyk's Twitter war
Indyk took to Twitter this week to accuse Kredo of spreading "fake news" when Kredo reported that Vice President Joe Biden was involved in lobbying on behalf of the U.N. resolution against settlements. Israeli government officials subsequently publicly charged that Biden personally lobbied the government of Ukraine to back the resolution. Biden has denied the accusation.
At the same time, Indyk has been engaged in a Twitter mini-war this week with both an Israeli embassy official and a former colleague. It began with Indyk tweeting that the U.N. resolution was not an attack on Israel but was aimed only at "settlers, who undermine peace negotiations [and] are hurting Israel." Reuven Azar, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, replied, "Please don't lie to your followers. This pro-BDS resolution is unprecedented."
Indyk shot back, "Diplomats are sent abroad to lie for their country. But that doesn't include accusing people of lying. Leave that to your political bosses." Azar responded, "We'll keep fighting for our country and you'll keep lecturing us," to which Indyk sarcastically replied, "Happy Hanukkah to you too."
Robert Satloff, who serves in Indyk's former post as executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, weighed in on Azar's side, tweeting, "I disagree w/my friend @martin_indyk. We've tried and failed using chainsaw on settlement issue; it needs a scalpel."
This article was originally published at JNS.org. Used with permission.
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!
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