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Trump, Haley and Republicans continue to side with Israel against the U.N.
Meanwhile liberal Jews continue to embrace Democrats who have turned against Israel and embrace anti-Semites. https://fxn.ws/2FqsrVH
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Another Rant. (See 1 below.)
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Stacey Adams bows in in a most inelegant manner. Maybe in the next four years she will learn some manners.
Meanwhile, Democrats have added a new shtick to their series of divisive tactics like identity politics, rich versus poor, antipathy towards police, racial divide etc. Now when they lose they trash the winning opposition so as to despoil their victory and spread doubt about authenticity. Hillary led the way.
Also, seems newly elected Democrats are about to turn their own weapons against their elders as they prepare to determine Pelosi's future.
The new crowd of elected young Democrats are not a happy lot.. They seek fresh blood and appear ready to cause red ripples within their party's ranks.
Regardless of what is the eventual outcome they at least will not have to worry about the mass media's coverage because they will remain in the Democrat's camp. Their discontent with Trump is tattooed on their foreheads and nothing he does will change their coverage which remains , according to statistics, at 92% unfavorable
Republicans also have their crosses to bear. Sen.Flake is appropriately named and I suspect, as the new Congressional session proceeds, Romney will assume McCain's role of being a thorn.
I see nothing on the horizon that will cause the national discord to end. In fact, I believe it will heighten as the Nadler's, Water's, and Schiff's assume their Chairperson positions.
Most politicians are deaf and they do not realize how fed up voters are with the bickering and back biting.
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Will white women become the progressive's next pin cushions? (See 2 and 2a below.)
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This Muslim op ed writer defends Bibi for his actions which he believes demonstrated true statesmanship.
By doing so he claims Bibi deprived Iran of it's goal.
More commentary.
These two articles describe the dilemma Bibi usually finds himself in because he has to knit divergent parties to form a government. (See 3 and 3a below.)
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Fitton continues to pursue Hillary through the court system. (See 4 below.)
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Dick
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1) There is no specific bad news in the US economy, earnings were terrific, core inflation remains low, oil prices are far lower than forecast by anyone, meaning consumers will have an extra boost of spending money for Christmas (gas is below $2.00 in a few places) , wages are growing faster than inflation, manufacturers will have much lower energy costs of production, banks are very solid, and homes are not over-priced other than in a few markets like San Fran, and Q4 GDP will grow at 3%, or better, per the professional economists. Just because Amazon and Walmart slightly missed analysts’ revenue expectations, is no reason to believe overall consumer sales will be anything other than very strong for Christmas. Walmart even raised its forecast for the 4th quarter. Although the dollar is very high, and that is creating problems for other countries and international corporations earnings, it helps keep inflation low. It is true earnings will grow less fast in 2019, and with the rest of the world in slowdown, revenues for exporters will slow. However, the US will still have a strong economy in the first half of 2019, and maybe longer. There are real risks possibly increasing the slowdown in the EU and Asia. Hard Brexit now very possible, May possibly being replaced and the uncertainty that creates, further political dysfunction in the EU with Italy and possible hard Brexit, the dollar debt burden in emerging markets could become a crisis, the Dems are going to create a lot of time wasting diversions and no legislation. A big fight over the appropriations bills will occur in which they will load up with anti-Trump, and immigration, and tax related crap, leading to a possible shut down. The chaos in DC will be unprecedented with 20 Dems running for president, and all trying to get on the news. The uncertainty is causing investors to get much more nervous and conservative. There are so many black swans right now, and uncertainty about the Fed, it is very hard to forecast the next few months. The problem might become negative psychology more than reality. Christmas consumer spend, and the Fed statement in December are the keys to where the market goes. In the meantime expect lots of volatility.
Just consider, GE was considered the best widows and orphans stock, with a rock solid dividend and a AAA rating. Now it is having severe financial problems, and is selling divisions to stay alive. Proves that nothing in business is forever. Jeff Immelt blew up the company and mislead investors. There was always some speculation that Jack Welsh was a master at hiding the reality of the weaknesses of GE which was nothing other than a disparate conglomerate with the finance arm being 40% of the total, and which managed to claim it had few defaults when those of us in the business knew that was a lie.
Many construction projects across the country are missing budget by large sums due to huge increases in construction costs of 20% or more, and a lack of skilled labor creating delays in completions. Go try to find a welder. None anywhere are unemployed. The budgets for a development project that were devised two years ago are way off now. As a result, returns on some projects will be nowhere near projection. Projects are missing cost projections by anywhere from 20% to as much as 50%.
The other real world economic risk is Italy and the EU getting into a major standoff, and the EU could be getting into real crisis mode as a result. It is getting much more uncertain if Brexit can pass Parliament. As of now the May plan is dead on arrival. On the surface, the deal May cut looks very weak, but it is impossible to really know. The cabinet secretary in charge of Brexit resigned and came out against the deal. Boris Johnson is heavily against it. Five other cabinet members resigned this week. The Brits are in a bad box now. Killing her deal will likely mean hard Brexit as time is running out. Approving it will mean no real escape from EU rules, which was the whole point of Brexit. She has created a real mess, and has allowed the EU to roll over her. The next two weeks are key to what happens. There is now a chance May will have to resign. Pay attention. It appears the US and EU will agree a trade deal in the next month or so. A lot of what happens in the stock market will depend on what China and the US do on trade and IP in the next month, and what the Fed does about more increases. I am assuming there will be some sort of preliminary outline of an agreement with China to try to resolve the issues without a trade war. Tariffs will not be raised to 25% in January. It will relieve the threat of a trade war for the interim, and then the hard bargaining will happen. If there is even broad understanding, that will be very good for the stock market. Tariffs are only really impacting 9% of all US companies, and of those, it is in varying degrees, so it is not a major issue to the overall economy yet. Many producers in China have already begun to move manufacturing out of China, increasing the pressure on Xi. One of the potential problems is Dems have already attacked the NAFTA replacement agreement. It is unclear on what basis they object, other than Trump agreed a deal, but you can assume that deal approval will get caught up in the effort by the Dems to stop anything Trump does. The Dems lose on this one because the deal is good for unions and American workers. Despite what chaos the Dems will attempt in DC, the US is the island of strength in a world that is struggling and slowing.
Powell just issued a comment that the economy is strong, but faces headwinds. That sounds like maybe the Fed will reconsider raising three times next year, and maybe they will skip raising in March. If Brexit fails, if the EU Italy crisis gets worse, and if the economies of China, Germany and Japan continue to slow, there is a chance the Fed will delay, and that will boost the stock market along with strong Christmas sales and strong growth in Q4 GDP. Don’t count on the Fed skipping a raise, but the likelihood is now getting much stronger as many more than Trump call for a pause.
Crypto currencies have had their day in the sun. That game is over, and prices are now below $5500, down from the high of $20,000. There may be some revival of crypto at some point in another version, but the mania we saw months ago is finished.
Oil pipelines in the Permian are starting to be completed and opening. This will help move oil to the refineries, and fill the demand. The waivers for 8 countries on Iranian oil will wind down to zero over several months , so next year the price of oil is likely to rise somewhat, but depends on how China, Japan and the EU continue to slow, and if China buys US oil as the say they will. Trump will keep pressure on OPEC to produce, and hopefully the appeal court will reverse the ridiculous decision on Trans Canada, so it is hard to know where oil prices will be by next summer. With the US as the largest producer in the world now, everything has changed in the oil market, and for US national security. You can thank Trump for that.
Some stats
Median pay men with college degree 22 yrs old -$50,700, at 60 yrs old $91,410
Women $39,500 and $61,000
The 401K has become key to a lot of people for retirement
Avg net worth top 10% of world $93,170; top 1% of world $871,320. US has 19 million people with a net worth in excess of $1 million
Macron’s approval is below 27% now, so he is mouthing off about nationalism to get attention. His belief is the EU should be a more cohesive group led by him and France, now that Merkel is on the way out. His idea of a European army is a joke. Merkel going along with that idea is absurd, and is an insult coming from someone who refuses to pay their fair share of NATO. Without the US, NATO is nothing, so what is an EU army supposed to be. They do not even spend their 2% on NATO now, so what are they going to spend on their own separate army. Nationalism means the focus on one’s own county’s sovereignty, and economic and military strength, and free from being dominated by other nations. It means putting your own country interest’s first, then putting the rest of the world second. It does not mean withdrawal from the world, or allies. It is simply a prioritizing whose interests come first. Nationalism is the epidemy of patriotism. It has nothing to do with far right white supremacy as the press tries to make it sound racist, just like they try to make everything racist today. The world tried globalism for 70 years, and while some things were good, it left us today with many potential adversaries and terror, and a series of agreements like Iran, and the Paris climate accord which were terrible deals for the US. Obama was a globalist, and we saw how badly that worked out.
Jim Acosta and the CNN lawsuit are nonsense. No individual reporter has a personal right to a press pass and access to the White House. CNN has 50 other people with the same pass, some of whom attend the briefings, so CNN cannot claim it is shut out of freedom of the press. Acosta is a rude showboat, looking to be a hero to the left and his company, who behaved very badly. Even Bob Woodward thinks the CNN lawsuit is a bad idea.
Maxine Waters wasted no time making stupid statements about how deregulation of banks is ended now. The Fed and the executive branch control a lot of the regulation, so there is nothing she can do in Congress other than a further revision of Dodd Frank will be stopped from going further than it has already. The rest of the Dems plan of a flood of subpoenas that will just waste huge amounts of time and send the press screaming about make believe issues. It seems clear they just want to screw up Trump’s ability to spend time doing productive and good things, so they can attack him for 2020. Those of you who voted for Dems will be sorry when DC becomes an even worse circus. None of this is good for the economy or the country.
Will Nancy be reelected speaker? Very unclear, but it just points up the chasm in the Democratic party between the far left and the moderates. This will be fun to watch as the fight gets really ugly, and gives Republicans grist for pointing out the dysfunction of the Dems. It is possible the Republicans give Nancy the votes she needs and they get some agreements in return.
If you think we still have freedom of speech: a junior at Berkley is a student senator. She is a devout Christian. There was some sort of student senate vote this week on some LGBT issue. She said she was not against gays, but could not vote for this rule because of her moral religious views. She has nearly been run off campus by the mob, and has to have friends walk with her on campus to protect her. The mob demanded she resign as a senator, and some demand she be thrown off campus. There was the exec at Facebook who was fired because he donated to Trump. The stories are widespread on campuses across the country, and in Silicon Valley of how people with a non-conforming view are attacked on social media and by intimidation, and are forced to shut up. It has reached very dangerous levels now. On some campuses students are afraid to walk alone because of their religion or politics. Speakers have to have armed protection on some campuses to give a talk. There is a real crisis on campus and on social media, and we all need to act to stop this or it can destroy the country. At Google they allow the employees to have town halls, and to demand what the company does as to what projects they work on. Very dangerous precedent. It is what happens when far left people run companies, and think it is just an extension of the university. They cower just like the deans, and that leads to more demands by the employees. Then the employees think they can extend that power to everything and demand government do what they say. It is a duplicate of the Bolsheviks and Fascists. George Orwell is alive in Silicon Valley. 1984 has come alive.
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2) A Cold Winter for White Women
The open assault on white women from the progressive left seems to have begun in earnest. It could be rightfully argued that it actually began more than two years ago immediately following the election of President Trump, when presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said, “[Democrats] do not do well with white men, and we don’t do well with married, white women. And part of that is an identification with the Republican Party, and a sort of ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.”
Clinton didn't win over white women for a myriad of reasons but the number of tone-deaf statements she made on why women didn't vote for her, such as this one, certainly did her no favors. Clinton couldn't have been more insulting to her own gender. By making public derogatory statements against white women, Clinton was really signaling that it was time to kick off the white woman blame game. Enter Jada Pinkett Smith, the outspoken racial critic who, just days ago, freely admitted that she just doesn't like white women in general. Smith said on her own talk show, “I have to admit I’m guilty to that to a certain degree because I do have my own biases, specifically to blonde women," she revealed. “Blonde hair on white women just triggers me. I’ve had to catch myself.”
Smith's racist remarks follow on the heels of the media's consistent messaging that it was white women who were to blame for the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Media outlets such as the Guardian, the New York Times, Vogue, and countless feminist organizations were propagating a singular message aimed squarely at the feet of white women. Following the infamous almost all-female Kavanaugh confirmation battle, Vox host Liz Plank tweeted, “The way white women accept to be used as pawns by a party that consistently strips their rights and minorities’ rights away cannot be overstated.”
The progressive left uses minority Hollywood stars to buttress racist arguments of the type we are all too familiar with. White women are racial bigots bent on voting against their own interests and empowering the male patriarchy. Yeah, that one. But this type of race baiting wasn't Smith's first rodeo in the war on whites. Smith boycotted the Oscars because it was too white for her. Chris Rock said at the 2016 Academy Awards, “I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards,” in a nod to Smith's angst over the lack of diversity in Hollywood.
Another minority heavy hitter is Oprah, who only endorses political candidates who are black, such as former President Obama and her recent bid to get Stacey Abrams elected as Georgia's next governor. Oprah has also said that old white people just need to die and that she was a victim of racism when a store clerk wouldn't show her an expensive handbag. Oprah is a baby boomer and no doubt, she did experience racism in her lifetime before becoming one of the most influential and wealthy women in the world, but mark my words, she isn't going to let anyone forget that.
It matters little to these big names that they are famous and rich in large part because of white audiences, they believe their fame and notoriety gives them license to use white people in order to obtain success and then denigrate them for something as benign as their skin color. But that would be missing the point entirely. The point is that these Hollywood minorities -- no matter how wealthy -- continue to be used as pawns in the Democratic race game, which sees color, not individuals, everywhere.
Not only is this racist rhetoric dangerous for society, it is poison to our youth. Young white people today are exposed almost exclusively to angry black artists and Hollywood stars who encourage them to hate themselves for their whiteness, demoralizing and denigrating them for their skin color and culture. But hating oneself for his race is not a virtue. Telling young white people to “check” their white privilege or to hate themselves for their culture isn't just insanity, it's racist. What began as a feminist progressive movement united exclusively against white males has now openly set its sights on white women.
In his lavish Kalorama bunker just blocks away from the White House, Obama continues to curate identity groups to undermine the American voter and encourage the breakdown of racial relationships. The grip Obama has on these fascist groups is as tight as his grip over the Hollywood hip crowd, which is a lot more than you may think. Always a Hollywood darling, Obama is a member in good standing with the Creative Arts Agency (CAA), the influential body that pushes his progressive ideals through clueless actors and hip hop artists, and Obama wasted no time in putting his favorite right-hand gal Valerie Jarrett onto its board.
Jarrett, if anyone can remember her for anything other than the reason why Roseanne Barr was fired from ABC, was a major player in the Galvanize Program, which was launched following the first-ever United States of Women Summit sponsored by Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls. Galvanize is a terrible feminist front group flaming the hysteria of young women in America over imaginary threats to their equality. Think Title IX. In addition to Jarrett, Joe Biden and Arne Duncan -- one of Obama's longest-serving cabinet members -- also joined the CAA with the intent to continue Obama’s public policy work via Hollywood propaganda.
So it was no surprise then when Netflix partnered with Barack and Michelle Obama earlier this year to produce films and series for Netflix, including scripted series, unscripted series, docuseries, documentaries and features. Progressives have backed the entertainment industry with big money and big names in order to continue its influence over culture. While conservatives continue to struggle with the mechanics of being influencers, the left is wasting no time in pushing their current hold over entertainment to further push identity politics.
If you want to know what the next big play is by the progressives, just watch Hollywood. And Hollywood is gunning for white women. It seems that they are angrier than ever following the midterm elections, with head cheerleader Chelsea Handler tweeting, “59% of white women voted for Ted Cruz. I don’t know what it is going to take for us to be sisters to other women, but we have to do better than this.”
The left has invested far too many resources in stoking the racial divide for the sake of hanging on to its most loyal voters. If the Democrats can't get any form of DACA passed over the next several years or slow down Trump's immigration policies, they must absolutely hold onto the black vote. And it is not looking very good for them. Blacks are doing better than ever in the Trump economy and overall, blacks do not support unlimited immigration or granting anchor babies citizenship. With that in mind, the winter forecast calls for more racial hatred aimed squarely at white America, particularly the shaming and name calling of white women.
2a) Dick:
One of the key lessons of the 2018 elections is that the Left is waging – and winning – a linguistic war.
The Left claims and occupies more and more linguistic ground with each new fight.
Defense of the Founding Fathers becomes defense of white, racist, slaveowners.
Defense of American identity becomes an act of white male domination.
Racism is so commonly used by left-wing news media and politicians to describe conservative positions that one poll shows that 61 percent of Democrats believe Republicans are racist/bigoted/sexist (a study of CNN’s and MSNBC’s use of the word racist to describe conservative and Republican positions would be breathtaking).
Wanting to obey the law in counting votes becomes an effort to suppress votes and disenfranchise poor people, minorities, and immigrants.
The presumption of Democrats winning is so great that Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said, “[I]f Stacey Abrams doesn't win in Georgia, they stole it, it's clear.”
Every day, we are watching Democrats break and stretch the law for the sole purpose of winning, while they attack Republicans for wanting an honest count of legal voters.
Democrats and their liberal media allies know that if they repeat something often enough it begins to be accepted as truth.
However, the Left’s interest in winning the language war is only the first step toward legitimizing real threats and mob behavior.
Once they win the language fight, they can claim moral superiority. Once they have gained moral dominance, they can do anything to their opponents because they will be presumed right, and their opponents will be presumed wrong.
This is how Tucker Carlson’s wife found herself home alone, facing a mob that was pounding at her door so hard they cracked it.
The most recent example of the left-wing fascist threats and their impact comes from Seattle, where an independent candidate has been intimidated into withdrawing from a city council race by left-wing thugs.
As the former candidate, Christopher Rufo, wrote to his supporters:
“I had hoped that this would be a campaign of ideas, but I quickly discovered that there are some activists in this city who have no interest in ideas. Since the campaign launch, they have harassed and threatened my family nonstop. I was prepared to take the heat, but unfortunately, they have focused their hatred on my wife and children. They’ve made vile racist attacks against my wife, attempted to get her fired from her job, and threatened sexual violence. They even posted hateful messages to my 8-year-old son’s school message board. I know that as the race progresses, they will ratchet up their hate-machine and these attacks will intensify significantly…
“I know in my heart that our cause is just and our ideas would make Seattle a better place. But my primary responsibility is to make sure my family is healthy, happy, and safe. That’s not possible in our current political climate, which has been overtaken by polarization and the ever-present threat of violence.
“I’ve learned that our problem here in Seattle is much deeper than the city council’s policies—we have created a culture of intolerance that is deeply destructive to the common good.”
“I know in my heart that our cause is just and our ideas would make Seattle a better place. But my primary responsibility is to make sure my family is healthy, happy, and safe. That’s not possible in our current political climate, which has been overtaken by polarization and the ever-present threat of violence.
“I’ve learned that our problem here in Seattle is much deeper than the city council’s policies—we have created a culture of intolerance that is deeply destructive to the common good.”
We are entering a dark period where freedom of speech becomes intimidation by the Left, where freedom of association becomes mobs threatening violence, where the very meanings of words are twisted to browbeat conservatives into silence.
The efforts to steal the governorships of Georgia and Florida and the Senate seat in Florida are only the tip of the iceberg of illegality and hostility that the Left now practices routinely.
Conservatives must develop new strategies, approaches, and skills to defeat the linguistic war of condemnation, hatred, and intimidation being waged every day by the Left.
This is a new era with new requirements. The skills and strategies of the past will simply fail.
Developing the conservative solution to the Left’s linguistic war is a major step toward winning in 2020 – and preserving our society.
Your Friend,
Newt
3)1) Why Israel Doesn’t Want A War With Gaza
The Israeli people are rarely as angry with their political leadership as they are today – and the reason for their anger is clear: they believe that their leadership has failed to take decisive military action against the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
As witnessed by the world a few days ago, Hamas began shooting rockets at southern Israeli towns and villages. In total, more than 500 rockets were launched, and in response, Israel undertook very precise, decisive and surgical military air strikes, hitting some of Hamas’s most significant facilities and military installations.
This brought about a very quick cease-fire, a cease-fire that has come as a disappointment for many Israelis – especially those who bore the brunt of the attacks. Apparently, the Israeli public wanted military actions that would either annihilate Hamas, or, at least, serve as a deterrent that would force it to stop shooting rockets into Israel.
The call for tough military action against Hamas is so strong that Netanyahu’s Minister of Defense, Avigdor Lieberman, resigned in protest after the Prime Minister settled for a quick cease-fire despite Hamas’s defiance, millions of dollars in damage, and more financial support from Iran.
Apparently, the Israeli public was further provoked when they saw Hamas celebrating the ceasefire, jubilantly declaring it a “victory” against Israel specifically, and Jews, generally. While militant Hamas operatives celebrated, many Israeli politicians, writers, and commentators are fed up and spitting bullets over what they perceive as the Prime Minister’s inherent weakness in combating terrorism. As a result, hundreds of Israelis from the targeted southern villages protested publicly against the ceasefire.
While the anger of many Israelis is understandable, the facts on the ground clearly explain Netanyahu’s decision to agree to a quick ceasefire – a ceasefire that saved lives on both sides.
Simply put, Hamas wants war. It is my experience that when an enemy is so determined to get into an armed conflict, one must be very careful not to give the enemy what they want. Additionally, we have to realize this: those pushing the Hamas buttons are heavily financed by Iran, through the mother group, the Muslim Brotherhood, who is also deeply in bed with Iran. Therefore, it is no stretch of the imagination as to why Hamas started provoking Israel: The military actions started shortly after US sanctions on Iran took effect. In fact, unprovoked, Hamas did not have any apparent reason to start fighting; to the contrary, things were going well for Hamas. On the very day Hamas began firing rockets, they received $15 Million from Saudi Arabia and $60 Million from Qatar to pay its public servants who have not received pay checks. As a result, a joyous atmosphere was dominant in Gaza.
At this point, evidence shows that it is safe to say that Hamas operates upon orders from its Iranian mentors. Iran is already feeling the pain caused by the US-imposed sanctions, and with more sanctions likely to come in the future, they are lashing out – and Israel is their best bet to rally support for them. In other words, Iran needs a war as a diversion from its predicaments, and to tell the US that it could cause trouble and must be left alone, otherwise full scale war will break out.
That said, Netanyahu clearly could have launched a war that would have brought him tremendous public support and strengthened his political position with the Israeli public. Nonetheless he did not give in to public pressure, and did what he felt was right based on military intelligence, because he knew the outcome would hurt Israel’s interest in the long run.
The world has to recognize that if Iran got the war it wanted, it would have been the best thing that could happen for them. To make matters worse, their puppets in Hamas really don’t care how many of my people are killed in the process. That is because their terrorist leaders are millionaires hiding in bunkers. In other words, Hamas didn't have much to lose, while Iran had a lot to gain – and Netanyahu understands this.
On the other hand, Hamas fulfilled its ‘handshake agreement’ with their bosses, and eventually agreed to a ceasefire, against their wishes. In support of this, an Egyptian military intelligence source confided in me yesterday, saying that Egypt conveyed a stern message to Hamas. He told me that the message said the following: “Unless you stop, President Trump will allow Israel to annihilate you”
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This scared Hamas to the core, and forced them to agree to the ceasefire.
As for Netanyahu, he has risked his public approval ratings and political career for the sake of his nation’s interest. This is true diplomacy and should be supported around the world. As an Arab, Palestinian, Jordanian and a Muslim, I could not help but think how Arab leaders regularly sacrifice their people for political gain while an Israeli leader is risking his entire political career to save his people. Thisbelieve that their leadership has failed to take decisive military action against the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. is the difference between a politician, and a statesman.
3a) How Hamas Brought Israel to The Brink of Election Chaos
BySeth Frantzman
Israel’s defense minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned on November 14 in the wake of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza. His resignation has now plunged Israeli politics into chaos as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must juggle what’s left of his fragile coalition government and is being pressured to appoint Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, as the new defense minister. Hamas, which has been challenging Israel with six months of protests and rocket fire from Gaza, has now achieved what it sees as a victory. Despite its inability to penetrate Israel’s defenses around Gaza, it may bring down the government.
The latest round of violence, that resulted in Lieberman’s departure, began on Sunday, November 11, when an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) special unit ran into trouble in Gaza during what has been characterized as a sensitive reconnaissance or surveillance operation. During an exchange of fire with Hamas near Khan Yunis, a high-ranking Israeli officer was killed and in subsequent air strikes seven Palestinians were also killed, including a senior Hamas commander. The next day tensions were palpable, and Israel heightened security around the Gaza Strip. Armored personnel carriers were brought up to the border. At dusk Hamas fired a Kornet anti-tank missile at a bus carrying soldiers and unleashed a barrage of rockets. Over the next twenty-four hours more than 460 rockets were fired at Israel, killing one man in Ashkelon. Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted most of the rockets that were headed for towns and cities near Gaza. Others landed in open areas. The IDF retaliated by striking 160 targets.
This kind of cycle of rocket fire and air strikes has become common over the last six months. It began with Hamas launching the Great March of Return in late March of this year, sending tens of thousands of protesters to the border fence. Hamas wants to achieve relevance after twelve years of governing Gaza with nothing to show for it. Hamas has been isolated in the last year not only by Israel’s blockade, but also because the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has sought to sanction civil servants in Gaza and cut their salaries. Opposed by Egypt, Hamas receives some financial support from Qatar and Iran, and verbal backing from Turkey, but it has failed to govern. It has also failed in its terror campaign against Israel as Jerusalem has found ways to stop Hamas tunnels, confront its “naval commandos” and thwart its rockets. In October, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets at Israel and the IDF struck eighty targets in Gaza. In July, after Hamas fired 170 mortars and rockets into Israel, the air force also struck forty sites in Gaza.
The latest round of violence, that resulted in Lieberman’s departure, began on Sunday, November 11, when an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) special unit ran into trouble in Gaza during what has been characterized as a sensitive reconnaissance or surveillance operation. During an exchange of fire with Hamas near Khan Yunis, a high-ranking Israeli officer was killed and in subsequent air strikes seven Palestinians were also killed, including a senior Hamas commander. The next day tensions were palpable, and Israel heightened security around the Gaza Strip. Armored personnel carriers were brought up to the border. At dusk Hamas fired a Kornet anti-tank missile at a bus carrying soldiers and unleashed a barrage of rockets. Over the next twenty-four hours more than 460 rockets were fired at Israel, killing one man in Ashkelon. Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted most of the rockets that were headed for towns and cities near Gaza. Others landed in open areas. The IDF retaliated by striking 160 targets.
This kind of cycle of rocket fire and air strikes has become common over the last six months. It began with Hamas launching the Great March of Return in late March of this year, sending tens of thousands of protesters to the border fence. Hamas wants to achieve relevance after twelve years of governing Gaza with nothing to show for it. Hamas has been isolated in the last year not only by Israel’s blockade, but also because the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has sought to sanction civil servants in Gaza and cut their salaries. Opposed by Egypt, Hamas receives some financial support from Qatar and Iran, and verbal backing from Turkey, but it has failed to govern. It has also failed in its terror campaign against Israel as Jerusalem has found ways to stop Hamas tunnels, confront its “naval commandos” and thwart its rockets. In October, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets at Israel and the IDF struck eighty targets in Gaza. In July, after Hamas fired 170 mortars and rockets into Israel, the air force also struck forty sites in Gaza.
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Netanyahu’s real concern is the Iranian threat and especially Iran’s role in Syria and Lebanon. He has called for Iran to leave Syria and Israel has waged a campaign against Iranian targets in Syria and against Iranian weapons transfers to Hezbollah. Since 2011, Israel has struck three hundred targets in Syria, two hundred in the last two years. Israel has also warned about Hezbollah’s growing network of rocket factories and facilities in Lebanon, especially as Iran’s ballistic missiles become more precise and Iran is alleged to have transferred that precision guidance to Hezbollah. In October, Russia transferred the S-300 anti-aircraft system to Syria and warned in late October against any “hot heads” in Israel testing the air defense. This means Israel has to work doubly hard to figure out how to continue to confront the Iranian threat in Syria. It also means working with the U.S. administration. U.S. envoy James Jeffrey said on November 14 that it was the U.S. goal to see Iranian forces leave Syria. Also, Netanyahu recently visited Oman and Israeli ministers visited the United Arab Emirates in early November. This points to a breakthrough in Israeli relations with the Gulf and is part of the wider regional strategy to confront Iran.
Given the Iran-focused regional strategy, the last thing Netanyahu wants is a difficult ground war in Gaza. Netanyahu already presided over the 2014 war in Gaza and the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, which achieved little except setting back Hamas’s capabilities. Those conflicts were largely the result of Hamas importing weapons and expertise via smuggling from Sinai, taking advantage of the chaos of the Arab Spring. Now Hamas is weaker and its conduit to Sinai is cut off. Netanyahu and his security establishment, according to numerous conversations I had, are prone to avoid another war. They want an Egyptian-backed ceasefire to hold while maintaining the status quo in Gaza. This enables Israel to focus on the region, instead of inflaming the region with a war in Gaza.
It was in this complex context that Lieberman resigned. A competent defense minister who helped manage Israel’s $19 billion defense budget and helped secure the $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid that was signed in 2016, he shepherded through deliveries of the first F-35s and also contemplated new purchases by Israel of a squadron of F-15s and new helicopters.
But politically Lieberman found himself isolated at the defense ministry. Eran Lerman, vice-president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, and a former deputy director for foreign policy and international affairs at the National Security Council in the Israeli prime minister’s office, describes Lieberman as isolated by the rest of Netanyahu’s security cabinet which supported the ceasefire. Those who supported the ceasefire included the Mossad, the Israel security agency (Shin Bet) and the chief of staff of the army. In such a position, Lieberman’s role as defense minister became less relevant and he chose to resign so as to appear more hardline on Gaza than Netanyahu. This will play well in upcoming elections, which will be held sometime next year, because many Israelis in the south who have been affected by the rockets think that Jerusalem should deal Hamas a strong blow. That was clear on Wednesday and Thursday night as protesters burned tires near Sderot, one of the towns often targeted by Hamas. Protesters have also marched on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Domestic policy is now ruffling Netanyahu’s carefully crafted foreign policy and strategic equation. In this respect, Hamas’s claims of “victory” in the ceasefire are not just empty rhetoric. Hamas didn’t achieve a military victory. But toppling the defense minister is a kind of victory because it shows that Hamas can shake Jerusalem’s politics at the very top, after years of being unable to put a dent in the iron ring of security fences and missile defenses around Gaza.
Now Netanyahu will be faced with several complex choices. Naftali Bennett, the head of the Jewish Home party, says he wants the defense portfolio. But Bennett, like Lieberman, will want to be an independent defense minister. This would once again challenge Netanyahu to do more in Gaza. The prime minister could also take on the job of defense minister himself, something former Israeli prime ministers have done. But Netanyahu is already the foreign minister, how he would handle the three top jobs, concentrating so much power, is unclear.
If Israel’s Prime Minister is unable to sort out the current instability, then the country will go to elections. Given Netanyahu’s interest in the current regional strategy, elections would be another distraction. This was exactly what he sought to avoid in Gaza, but now it may be presented in another form. After almost ten years in power, Netanyahu will have trouble winning another election. He wants to preserve his legacy and being forced into elections and potentially forced from office now would be humiliating. Lieberman has thrown Israel’s politics into momentary chaos at a crucial time in the region. Hamas thinks it has gained an advantage and it may try to press that advantage or seek to interfere if it thinks it can gain something amid the instability in Netanyahu’s coalition.
Seth J. Frantzman is a Jerusalem-based journalist who holds a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis and a writing fellow at Middle East Forum.
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4)Court Orders Clinton to Answer Email Questions
Federal Court Orders Hillary Clinton to Answer Additional Email Questions Under Oath
Apparently, no one in the federal bureaucracies cares to fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s email misconduct, but we are doing it, and we’re making progress.
This week U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that within 30 days Clinton must answer under oath two additional questions about her controversial email system.
In 2016, she was required to submit under oath written answers to our questions. Clinton objected to and refused to answer questions about the creation of her email system; her decision to use the system despite warnings from State Department cybersecurity officials; and the basis for her claim that the State Department had “90-95%” of her emails.
After a lengthy hearing Judge Sullivan ruled that Clinton must address two questions that she refused to answer under oath.
- Describe the creation of the clintonemail.com system, including who decided to create the system, the date it was decided to create the system, why it was created, who set it up, and when it became operational.
- During your October 22, 2015 appearance before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi, you testified that 90 to 95 percent of your emails “were in the State’s system” and “if they wanted to see them, they would certainly have been able to do so.” Identify the basis for this statement, including all facts on which you relied in support of the statement, how and when you became aware of these facts, and, if you were made aware of these facts by or through another person, identify the person who made you aware of these facts.
The court refused Judicial Watch’s and media’s requests to unseal the deposition videos of Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and other Clinton State Department officials. And it upheld Clinton’s objections to answering a question about why she refused to stop using her Blackberry despite warnings from State Department security personnel. Justice Department lawyers for the State Department defended Clinton’s refusal to answer certain questions and argued for the continued secrecy of the deposition videos.
This hearing and court ruling is the latest development in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to Clinton. The lawsuit, which seeks records regarding the authorization for Abedin to engage in outside employment while employed by the Department of State, was reopened because of revelations about the clintonemail.com system (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)). The court also granted discovery to Judicial Watch to help determine if and how Clinton’s email system thwarted FOIA.
It is good news that a federal court ordered Clinton to answer more questions about her illicit email system. But it is shameful that our attorneys must continue to battle the State and Justice Departments, which still defend Hillary Clinton, for basic answers to our questions about Clinton’s email misconduct.
The public and the media have a right to a full accounting about the Clinton State Department. In lieu of a much-needed, new and untainted investigation by the FBI, the continued work of Judicial Watch in the courts is clearly the only hope of bringing sunlight into the Clinton email issue and completing the public record...
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