Compassionate Muslims and Clueless Christians!

Smart cookie!                                                    Liberals who are obsessed with Trump, when
                                                                           they should focus on and be throwing up over
                                                                           their own creepy candidates!!
                                                                       
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This from a sad friend who came to America and loves this country.  He is a longtime memo reader and sent this to me:

"I look at your intelligent blog and informative articles and I cry in my heart.

America has changed to such an extreme. I am in this Country since 1972.

I have witnessed, with my own eyes, the decline of this Country, every year a little bit more.

All the devastation has one huge common denominator, the Country is managed by a Congress, a Senate and Presidents that don’t love America and are completely ignorant and mentally inferior to see the Enemy that eats their Country a bite at the time. And obviously they don’t care

IT ALL STARTED BY MOVING MANUFACTURING OUT OF AMERICA; BY CREATING LAWS THAT ALLOWED ENEMIES OF AMERICA TO TAKE AWAY WHAT  MADE THIS COUNTRY GREAT NAMELY MANUFACTURING. A COUNTRY THAT HAS NO MANUFACTURING CAN NOT AND WILL NOT LAST , PERIOD !

I FIND IT BIZARRE THAT IN 2016 FINALLY TWO POLITICIANS, THAT AMERICANS THINK ARE CRAZY, NAMELY TRUMP AND BERNIE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE THE COURAGE TO SPEAK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MANUFACTURING JOBS.

NOBODY ELSE EVER DID OR DOES !!!! (OR PROBABLY WILL  IN THE FUTURE)

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE GIANT PURCHASES CHINA MAKES IN THIS COUNTRY?

ARE YOU AWARE SAUDI ARABIA BUYS RAW LAND IN THIS COUNTRY?

AND, AS I ALWAYS CLOSE, “ AND NOBODY IS ON THE BARRICADES”……………… M========="

My response: "I believe you overstate the case about politicians not loving our country. The problem has to do with their desire to be re-elected so they put their interests ahead of the country they love.  They just love their  cushy jobs more. Me"

and this from one of my oldest Atlanta friends and fellow memo reader commenting about my last memo: 

"Great piece,. People of great wisdom are too often shrugged off by the masses and just happen to be too stupid to realize what is happening to our nation. D===="

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Palestinian Muslim Leaders are erasing Christian history so they will be able to claim more rights to the land and edifices they covet and are plundering. 

This was written by my courageous Arab Israeli friend.

If you expect Obama, his Sec. of State or the U.N  to voice a protest or do anything you are a big fool. One day, perhaps before it is too late, Christians will wake up and realize they are under attack.  Not French, not Germans, Not Americans - Christians!!! (See 1 Below.)

The Israelis understand the threat to them and the Christians from the Muslim world. (See 1a below.)

I pose this question to liberals, to Christians, to anyone who will listen.  Obama says we need to open America's doors to Muslims, to Syrian refugees etc. How many Arab/Muslim nations are willing to resettle Christians in their lands?  Hell, they do not even want Palestinians. They hate each other, they are suspicious of their own and they have every right to be because they know themselves and they know their own are no different.

Killing and hating is part of the Muslim culture, it is condoned, even commanded, by their religion and is part of their DNA. 

Obama knows we are soft and he can shove Muslims down our throat claiming they are refugees of oppression. Why?  Because we are a nation of the oppressed and we have come to be ruled by PC guilt.

Obama knows, in a short number of decades the Muslim influence will grow rapidly and will alter the face of America. He may not live to see us become France but that is his intent. Muslims out breed Caucasians who are not even procreating at their own survival rate. 

Meanwhile,Fahad Nazer believes the special relationship between The Saudis and America will persist but he calls attention to more recent foreign policy divergences driving an opening between the two nation's.  (See 1b below.)

Finally, will Obama stick it to Israel through the U.N right before leaving?  I do not put anything past him.

Stay tuned. (See 1c below.)

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Paul Ryan no fool!  He also proves my point that no one with real talent and integrity really wants to be president.

Look at the four main contenders and I rest my case! (See 2 below.)

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More crap from Hilarious. (See 3 below.)

Off to Athens fro Committee Meeting of GMOA which I chair in Athens.
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Dick
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1) Palestinians: Erasing Christian History

by Khaled Abu Toameh

• For Palestinian Christians, the destruction of the ancient Byzantine church ruins is yet a further attempt by Palestinian Muslim leaders to efface both Christian history and signs of any Christian presence in the West Bank and Gaza, under the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas. A growing number of Christians feel they are being systematically targeted by both the PA and Hamas for being Christians.
• Bulldozers were used to destroy some of the church artifacts; some Palestinian Christians accused both Hamas and the PA of copying ISIS tactics to demolish historic sites.
• "Where are the heads of the churches in Jerusalem and the world?... Where are the Vatican and UNESCO? Where are the leaders and politicians who talk, talk, talk about national unity and the preservation of holy sites? Or is this a collective conspiracy to end our existence and history in the East?" — Sami Khalil, a Christian from the West Bank city of Nablus.
• The plight of Palestinian Christians does not interest the international community. That is because Israel cannot be blamed for demolishing the antiquities. If the current policy against Christians persists, the day will come when no Christians will be left in Bethlehem.

Palestinian Christians are up in arms over the destruction of the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church that were recently discovered in Gaza City.

The protest, however, failed to win the attention of the international community, especially United Nations agencies such as UNESCO, whose mission is to secure the world's cultural and natural heritage.
The ruins of the 1800-year-old church were discovered in Palestine Square, in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, where Hamas is planning to build a shopping mall. The dramaticdiscovery of the antiquities did not seem to leave an impression on the construction workers, who removed artifacts and continued with their work at the site.

Defying belief, bulldozers were used to destroy some of the church artifacts, drawing sharp criticism from Palestinian Christians, some of whom rushed to accuse both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) of copying ISIS tactics to demolish historic sites.

For Palestinian Christians, the destruction of the church ruins is yet a further attempt by Palestinian Muslim leaders to efface both Christian history and signs of any Christian presence in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas has destroyed the ruins of an 1800-year-old Byzantine church that was recently unearthed in Gaza City.

The charges reflect the bitterness felt by Palestinian Christians against their leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The charges also reveal the growing sense of marginalization and persecution that many Christians feel under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Palestinian Christians also express disappointment with the lack of interest that the international community, including the Vatican and Christian communities around the world, have shown in this case, which they regard as an assault on their heritage and holy sites.

Hamas claims that it does not have the resources to preserve the ancient site of the church. Preserving the Christian site, they say, would require millions of dollars and hundreds of workers at a time when the Islamist movement is facing a financial crisis due to the ongoing "blockade" on the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority, for its part, maintains that, as it is not in control of the Gaza Strip, the destruction of antiquities is out of its hands. Still, the PA leadership in the West Bank has not come out publicly against the demolition. This is the same PA that promotes a stabbing and car-ramming "intifada" for the Jews' "desecrating" the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by touring the Temple Mount under police protection.

As far as the Palestinian Authority is concerned, visits by Jews to the Temple Mount are far more dangerous than the wrecking of important Christian sites in the Gaza Strip. Instead of denouncing Hamas's actions itself, the PA's official news agency, Wafa, ran a report quoting Palestinian archeologists and historians voicing their outrage over the destruction of the Christian site.

One of the leaders of the Christian community in the West Bank, Father Ibrahim Nairouz, wrote an angry letter to PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah complaining about the wanton mishandling of the church ruins in the Gaza Strip.

Father Nairouz wrote in his letter: "Would you have handled this issue the same way had the ruins belonged to a mosque or a synagogue?"

He also announced his decision to boycott a tour of the Palestinian prime minister to Bethlehem and

Hebron, in protest against the destruction of the church ruins in the Gaza Strip.

Father Nairouz's protest was joined by many angry Palestinian Christians -- and some Muslims -- who voiced their revulsion at the wreckage.

Sami Khalil, a Christian from the West Bank city of Nablus, wrote:

"I think that silence is up to the stage of conniving. But the question is where are the artists to preserve our Christian Heritage? Where are the heads of the churches in Jerusalem and the world? Where are the bishops? Where are the Vatican and UNESCO? Where are the leaders and politicians who talk, talk, talk about national unity and the preservation of holy sites? Or is this a collective conspiracy to end our existence and history in the East?"

Another Christian, Anton Kamil Nasser, commented: "Whether it was a church or something else, this is a form of intellectual terrorism and retardation."

Abdullah Kamal, a staff member at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, said: "Regrettably, the silence over this destruction of this Heritage and historic site in our country is tantamount to a crime."

A Christian woman from East Jerusalem remarked: "Shame on us. If this happened under the Jews, they would have turned the site into a museum."

Yes, all is not well under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for the Christian minority.

It is no secret that a growing number of Christians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip feel that they are being systematically targeted by both the PA and Hamas for being Christians.

The ravaging of the ancient Byzantine church in Gaza is just one example of the disrespect with which the Palestinian Authority and Hamas deal with their Christian residents.

In yet another incident that has enraged Christians, the PA police last week arrested a prominent Christian businessman in Bethlehem, 60-year-old Raja Elias Freij.

The Palestinian Authority claims that Freij was arrested for threatening a merchant from Bethlehem -- a charge he, his family and many other Christians strongly deny. Last weekend, several Christians staged a protest in Bethlehem's Manger Square to demand the release of Freij, and accused the PA of religious discrimination against him.

The plight of Palestinian Christians does not interest the international community. That is because Israel cannot be blamed for demolishing the antiquities. If the current policy against Christians persists, the day will come when no Christians will be left in Bethlehem, and pilgrims visiting the city will have to bring their own priest with them to lead the prayers.

Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.

1a)  Islam is Colonialism, Palestine is Colonialism
By Daniel Greenfield

At Israeli Apartheid Week, campus haters claim to be fighting “colonialism” by fighting Jews. Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies, dedicated to a country that doesn’t exist and which has produced nothing worth studying except terrorism, features diatribes such as Palestine Re-Covered: Reading a Settler Colonial Landscape”. This word salad is a toxic stew of historical revisionism being used to justify the Muslim settler colonization of the indigenous Jewish population.

You can’t colonize Palestine because you can't colonize colonizers. The Muslim population in Israel is a foreign colonist population. The indigenous Jewish population can resettle its own country, but it can’t colonize it.

Muslims invaded, conquered and settled Israel. They forced their language and laws on the population. That's the definition of colonialism. You can't colonize and then complain that you're being colonized when the natives take back the power that you stole from them.

There are Muslims in Israel for the same reason that there are Muslims in India. They are the remnants of a Muslim colonial regime that displaced and oppressed the indigenous non-Muslim population.

There are no serious historical arguments to be made against any of this.

The Muslim conquests and invasions are well-documented. The Muslim settlements fit every historical template of colonialism complete with importing a foreign population and social system that was imposed on the native population. Until they began losing wars to the indigenous Jewish population, the Muslim settlers were not ashamed of their colonial past, they gloried in it. Their historical legacy was based on seizing indigenous sites, appropriating them and renaming them after the new conquerors.

The only reason there’s a debate about the Temple Mount is because Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and ordered a mosque built on a holy Jewish site. The only reason there’s a debate about East Jerusalem is because invading Muslim armies seized half the city in 1948, bombed synagogues and ethnically cleansed the Jewish population to achieve an artificial Muslim settler majority.

The only Muslim claim to Jerusalem or to any other part of Israel is based purely on the enterprise of colonial violence. There is no Muslim claim to Israel based on anything other than colonialism, invasion and settlement.

Israel is littered with Omar mosques, including one built in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, because Islam is a colonial entity whose mosques testify to their invasive origins by celebrating colonialism as their true religion. The faith of Islam is the sworn religion of the sword.

Islam is a religion of colonialism that spread through invasion, settlement and conquest. Its caliphs, from the original invaders, including Omar, to the current Caliph of ISIS, wielded and wield religious authority in the service of the Islamic colonial enterprise.

Allah is the patron deity of colonialism. Jihad is just colonialism in Arabic. Islamic theology is nothing but the manifest destiny of the Muslim conquest of the world, colonial settler enterprises dressed up in the filmy trappings of religion appropriated from the culture of conquered Jewish and Christian minorities. Muslim terrorism is a reactionary colonial response to the liberation movements of the indigenous Jewish population.

Even “Allahu Akbar” did not originate as a religious sentiment. It does not mean “God is Great”, as it is often mistranslated. It was Mohammed’s taunt to the Jews he was ethnically cleansing. His purge of a minority group proved that “Allah was Greater”. Islamic colonialism is used to demonstrate the existence of Allah. And the best way to worship Allah is through the colonialism of the Jihad.

Islam would not have existed without colonialism. It still can’t exist without it. That is why the violence continues. The only way to end the violence is for Muslims to reject their theology of colonialism.

But instead of taking ownership of their real history, the Muslim settler population evades its guilt through propaganda by claiming to be the victims of colonialism by the indigenous Jewish population. This twisted historical revisionism is backed by bizarre nonsense such as claiming that Jesus was a Palestinian or that the Arabs are descended from the Philistines. The Muslim settlers insist on continuing to celebrate colonialism while claiming to be an indigenous population that was always living in Israel.

You can have one or the other. You can have your mosques celebrating the conquest and suppression of the indigenous population or your claims of being the indigenous population. But you can’t switch from being the indigenous population to being its conquerors whenever it suits your pseudo-historical narrative. You can’t claim to be the Philistines, the Jews and their Islamic conquerors at the same time.

From its Roman origins, Palestine has always been a colonial fantasy of remaking Israel by erasing its original Jewish identity. The Arab mercenaries who were deployed by the Romans in that original colonial enterprise continued it by becoming self-employed conquerors for their own colonial empire. The name Palestine remains a linguistic settlement for reimagining a country without a people and a past as a blank slate on which the colonial identity of the invaders can be written anew. That is still the role that the Palestine myth and mythology serves.

Abdul Rahim al-Shaikh complains about “linguistic colonialism”. When Muslims rename the Spring of Elisha, a Jewish biblical figure, Ein as-Sultan in honor of an Islamic colonial ruler, that’s linguistic colonialism. When Jews restore the original indigenous names that Jewish sites held before Muslim colonialism, that’s not colonization. It’s the exact opposite. It’s decolonization.

Promoting mythical claims of a Palestinian state isn’t decolonization, it’s colonization. Or recolonization. Advocates for “Palestine” are not fighting colonialism, but promoting it. They are advocating for a discredited Muslim settler fantasy and against the indigenous Jewish population of Israel.

Abdul Rahim al-Shaikh complains about “geographic amnesia” among “Palestinians”. There’s no geographic amnesia because you can’t remember what never existed. There’s only paramnesia because there was never a country named Palestine.

Palestine has no history. It has no people. It has no borders. It has never been anything except a colonial invention. It is a name used by a variety of foreign settlers operating on behalf of colonial empires.

You can’t colonize Palestine. How can you colonize a colonial myth? You can only decolonize it.

Every Jewish home built on land formerly under the control of the Caliphs is decolonization and decaliphization.

When Jews ascend the Temple Mount, they are also engaging in decolonization and decaliphization.

When the liberation forces of the Jewish indigenous population shoot a Jihadist colonist fighting to impose yet another Islamic State on Israel, that too is decolonization and decaliphization.

Resistance to Islamic terrorism is resistance to colonialism. And Jews have the longest history of resisting the Islamic State under its various Caliphs throughout history. Israel is still resisting the colonialist Jihadist plans for the restorations of the Caliphate.

Zionism is a machine that kills Islamic colonialism.

The existence of Israel not only means the decolonization of Abdul Rahim al-Shaikh’s imaginary colonial fantasies of “Palestine”, but inspires resistance in peoples struggling against Islamic colonialism throughout the region, from the Copts to the Berbers to secular intellectuals fighting for freedom.

Islamic colonialism has always been defeated, whether at the Gates of Vienna or in the Sinai Desert. Its colonial fantasies are false and will be defeated as many times as it takes, whether in the form of Palestine or ISIS.

1b) Will US-Saudi 'special relationship' last?

By Fahad Nazer

Secretary of State John Kerry gives a thumbs-up to Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir after a check of his translation headset before their remarks to reporters alongside the Gulf Cooperation Council ministerial meeting in Manama, Bahrain, April 7, 2016. (photo by Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Much has been written and said in recent months about what some — myself included — have described as a “strain” in US-Saudi relations. Those who subscribe to this view have focused on what appears to be a philosophical difference between the administration of President Barack Obama and the Saudi leadership. While one of the pillars of the “Obama doctrine” appears to rest on the principle that the United States should avoid becoming militarily — or perhaps even politically — entangled in any Middle East conflict unless it poses a serious and imminent threat to its security, the Saudis appear to have adopted a very different if not completely opposite foreign policy posture.

What some have called the “Salman doctrine” appears predicated on the idea that the unprecedented tumult that has gripped the region requires Saudi Arabia to play a leadership role. It holds that the Saudis must fill the vacuum left by the United States by adopting an assertive foreign policy to bring a modicum of stability to the region, one that is not averse to the use of force when necessary. While political differences between the two governments should not be dismissed, bilateral relations between the two countries have not endured for over seven decades by happenstance. A plethora of mutual interests will ensure that Saudi Arabia and the United States will remain important allies for the foreseeable future. This is especially the case in the old “oil-for-security” equation, which had sustained the relationship for decades. It has been reformulated in light of the shale oil revolution in the United States that made it less dependent on oil imports and as the Saudi armed forces's military capabilities have improved significantly in recent years.

For starters, the two countries continue to support each other in the military campaigns that each of them is leading. Not only has Saudi Arabia been participating in the ongoing US-led airstrikes against the strongholds of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Syria, but it has done so in a very public fashion. Saudi Arabia’s public support for the campaign — one of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud’s own sons flew a mission in its early hours — added a crucial air of international legitimacy to the US effort. Although this contribution has decreased in recent months in part because of Saudi Arabia’s focus on its own campaign in Yemen, its participation in the US-led coalition has made it much more difficult for critics to portray it as a Western “crusade” against Muslims. Saudi Arabia’s participation bolstered the claim that the campaign was the international community’s response to IS’ onslaught against humanity. For its part, the United States is providing vital intelligence and logistical support to the Saudi-led campaign against the Iran-supported Houthi rebels and the allies of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen. In addition to supporting the UN resolution that lent international support to the Saudi effort by holding the Houthis responsible for the instability and violence in the country, the United States has provided Saudi Arabia with advisers to provide assistance in minimizing collateral damage.

The two countries also cooperate very closely in the fields of intelligence gathering and counter terrorism. It is well documented that Saudi Interior Minister and Crown Prince Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef provided the United States with vital information that enabled US security officials to prevent a potentially devastating terrorist attack in 2010. The two countries have also worked in tandem since 2004 to curtail terrorism financing by designating entities and individuals as terrorism supporters.

In the same vein, Saudi Arabia continues to exhibit a clear preference for US weapons and training. The Obama administration approved a $60 billion arms package to Saudi Arabia in 2010, the biggest in US history. Recent reports suggest that since the May 2015 Gulf Cooperation Council-US Summit, in which the United States not only reiterated its support for the security of the Arab Gulf countries but also promised to expedite weapons sales, the administration has authorized the sale of $33 billion worth of weapons to the GCC.

There is little doubt that the Saudi-led “Arab coalition” in Yemen has generated most of the attention — and scrutiny — that Saudi Arabia has received in the international media since Salman ascended to the throne in January 2015. The campaign does represent a dramatic departure from Saudi Arabia’s quiet behind-the-scenes diplomacy that it had favored for decades. Much of this coverage has focused on the man who is considered the face and perhaps mastermind of the campaign, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. And although this shift in Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy posture is significant, the economic reforms that are being considered and have been proposed by the deputy crown prince — who is also the head of the Economic and Development Council — could potentially have even longer-lasting repercussions for Saudi Arabia’s economy and future.

In recent interviews in the Western press, Mohammed has made it clear that he is intent on weaning Saudi Arabia from its current dependence on oil, which still constitutes approximately 40% of its GDP and 80% of government revenues. The prince wants to privatize several government-owned entitles and has even said that approximately 5% of the national oil company Aramco would be listed in an initial public offering. The prince has also stressed that he is seeking to attract foreign investors to spur this transition.

In September 2015, Mohammed gave American companies a preview of his vision for the future of the Saudi economy when he unveiled a “raft” of business opportunities estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Just as importantly, Salman, who headed the delegation to the United States, spoke unequivocally about how he intended to make the United States his first official visit.

When asked about the current state of relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia during a recent interview, Mohammed said, “We consider ourselves to be the main ally for the US in the Middle East and we see America as our ally as well.” It is also worth noting that over the past three weeks, three different congressional delegations headed by Senators Lindsey Graham and Ben Cardin and House Speaker Paul Ryan have visited Saudi Arabia and met with senior leaders including Salman.

Just as importantly, Saudis continue to send their children to the United States for their higher education by the thousands, while thousands of others come for tourism or medical care. The fact that Saudis have been coming to the United States for decades and that American companies have helped develop the oil sector that has been the lifeblood of the Saudi economy has created a level of familiarity, comfort and even trust with Americans that should not be underestimated. In short, US-Saudi relations will continue to be “special.”

Fahad Nazer is a senior political analyst at JTG Inc., a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, and a former political analyst at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, CNN, The National Interest and The Hill, among others. His writing has also been published by The Atlantic Council, Middle East Institute, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

1c) Palestinians hope for Obama change of heart with UN vote

File – In this March 4, 2016 file photo, Israeli soldiers stand guard at Gush Etzion junction.

JERUSALEM (AP) — With President Barack Obama in his last months in office, the Palestinians are hoping he will follow up his historic breakthroughs with Iran and Cuba with a push for their cause as well.

The first step is reintroducing a United Nations Security Council resolution the United States vetoed back in 2011 seeking “accountability” for Israeli West Bank settlement building.

In an interview, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the hope is that Obama, freed of re-election concerns, will break with American protocol and refrain from vetoing it this time around.

“There are indications that President Barack Obama may try to put a basis for a new era regarding the Palestinian-Israeli issue before leaving the White House after his achievements in Iran and Cuba,” Malki said. “Thus the U.S. administration may surprise Israel by voting in favor of a Palestinian resolution or at least not to use the veto against it.”

The draft, which Malki said stresses the “violence and terrorism of the settlers,” still needs approval from Arab nations before the Palestinians would consider presenting it. But the move signals a renewed effort to get back on the agenda.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down some two years ago, and the Palestinians have struggled to attract international attention as the world focuses on the Syrian civil war, the migrant crisis in Europe and the U.S. election.

The Palestinians have long sought to press their case in the United Nations, where they enjoy widespread support. In 2012, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly accepted the Palestinians as a nonmember state, giving them upgraded status that, among other things, has allowed them to push for war crimes charges against Israel.

A Security Council resolution is generally considered legally binding and would add even more pressure on Israel.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but nearly 600,000 Israeli settlers remain in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Palestinians claim all three areas for a future state, a position that has wide global support. Similarly, the international community widely sees Israeli settlements as illegal or illegitimate, and a major obstacle to peace.

Israel's closest ally, the United States, also opposes new settlements, but has consistently opposed moves in the Security Council against Israel, arguing it would complicate peace negotiations.

Asked last week about the latest Palestinian proposal, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington had no position, saying the draft is still at a “very early stage.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the Palestinian efforts at the U.N. as an attempt to impose a solution on Israel and circumvent negotiations.

Last week, he accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of “taking a step that will push negotiations away. The only way to advance peace is by direct negotiations.”

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2) Speaker Ryan: 'I Do Not Want, Nor Will I Accept The Republican Nomination'

By Matt Vespa

Earlier this afternoon, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan put to rest rumors that he would be running for president, and told members of the press “to count me out” regarding a possible 2016 campaign. At his news conference on Capitol Hill, he added that he has too much work to do in the House to let this speculation fester.

“Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept the Republican nomination,” said the speaker. “So let me speak directly to the delegates on this: If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only choose a person who actually participated in the primary. Count me out.”

He added, “I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee – to be the president – you should actually run for it. I chose not to. Therefore, I should not be considered. Period.”

The speaker also noted that there is another debate going on that goes beyond the 2016 candidates–it’s the direction we want our country to take. As a consequence of that debate, Speaker Ryan said that he’s not going to be the Republican nominee, but he’s not going to evaporate into the ether. Given his platform, he said he has an obligation to foster and move that debate forward. Upon his election to the speakership, Ryan said he was focused on formulating a policy-based agenda to counter the Democratic Party’s vision of this country, which is grounded in larger government, more taxes, more regulations, a less secure border, and less jobs.

He concluded by saying, “This job provides a platform to communicate a conservative vision for our country. And I’m intent on using it. Not for me, but for my House colleagues and for all those who believe that conservatism holds the key to a more confident America.”

“This is a critical role that has to be played and I am in a position to play it. To prepare for a Fall campaign with our nominee that gives a clear and compelling choice to our fellow citizens so we can earn the mandate to get things right.... to fix our problems and get our country back on track,” he added.

His full remarks here:

I just returned from a weeklong trip to the Middle East to meet with our allies and partners there. We had some important conversations about ISIS, the security threat in that region, and those around the world

But I’ll tell you, it’s amazing how closely our politics is followed overseas. I was asked about it everywhere I went.

I’m also aware that while I was overseas there was more speculation that someone other than the current candidates will emerge as our party’s nominee.

I want to put that to rest once and for all.

As you all know, I’ve stayed out of this race and remained neutral. As chairman of the Republican convention, my job is to ensure that there’s integrity in the process… that the rules are followed by the book.

That means it’s not my job to tell the delegates what to do. But I've got a message to relay today.

We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or have my motivations questioned.

Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept the Republican nomination.

So let me speak directly to the delegates on this: If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only choose a person who actually participated in the primary. Count me out.

I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee – to be the president – you should actually run for it. I chose not to. Therefore, I should not be considered. Period.

I just think it would be wrong to go any other way.

So, let me say again, I’m not going to be our party’s nominee.

But I’ll also be clear about something else: not running does not mean I’m going to disappear.

When I accepted this speakership, I did so on the condition that I would do things differently than they were in the past. For one, I made clear that this would be a policy and communications-focused speakership. And secondly, I made clear that we would put together a policy agenda and offer a clear choice to the American people.

That’s what I told my colleagues I would do, and it’s exactly what I’ve done.

Look, there is a big debate going on right now. It’s about what kind of country we’re going to be.

As Speaker of the House, I believe I have not just an opportunity, but an obligation to advance that debate.

As I’ve talked about before, politics today tends to drift toward personality contests, not policy contests. Insults get more ink than ideas.

But we still owe it the county to show what we would do if given a mandate from the people. We have an obligation to give a clear picture – a clear choice. To talk about solutions.

That’s why I’ve been giving speeches, that’s why I’ve been communicating a vision for what our party and country can be. And I’m going to continue doing it.

I believe we can once again be that optimistic party that is defined by a belief in the limitless possibility of our people. We want to be a party defined by solutions... by being on the side of the people. We want to take our principles and apply them to the problems of the day.

Embrace free enterprise and reject cronyism… Promote upward mobility… Provide solutions for those stuck in poverty… Offer a tax code that rewards hard work, not the well connected… A strong and focused military… A health care system that promotes choice and flexibility… A secure border… A government that allows people to fulfill the American idea – that the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life.

That’s the kind of agenda we’re building right now and will release in the next couple months.

This job provides a platform to communicate a conservative vision for our country. And I’m intent on using it. Not for me, but for my House colleagues and for all those who believe that conservatism holds the key to a more confident America.

This is a critical role that has to be played and I am in a position to play it. To prepare for a Fall campaign with our nominee that gives a clear and compelling choice to our fellow citizens so we can earn the mandate to get things right....to fix our problems and get our country back on track.

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3) What Hillary Clinton REALLY Thinks of American Gun Owners

• by: AAN Staff

- See more at: http://americanactionnews.com/articles/what-hillary-clinton-really-thinks-of-american-gun-owners#sthash.Bm8FAFin.dpuf
Are tens of millions of American gun owners all terrorists?

Hillary Clinton thinks so.

And she even believes gun manufacturers are part of an Internet conspiracy to arm terrorists.

The Daily Caller reports:

“If we all get angry enough we can start saving lives and stop making…our citizens are the terrorists,” said a woman who took part in a gun violence forum in Port Washington, N.Y...

...“We’re so worried about terrorism but we have terrorism on our own soil. Our gun manufacturers, our ammunition manufacturers are making terrorists out of our citizens. A sobering fact,” the panelist continued.

“Go online,” she said as Clinton continued to nod approvingly. “Go buy a semi-automatic weapon. They’re all available online with not much to prove because mom and pop somewhere out there are making them, and there’s nothing to prevent people who are mentally ill and people who are on terrorist watch lists to making our citizens become terrorists.”

Despite her wild claims, no one can buy a gun online without a background check.  Guns purchased online must be picked up at a federally-licensed dealer, who must conduct a background check. - 

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