"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My memo list goes out to some 500 people and they, in turn, send to others on their list so I have been inundated with well wishes.
This from a dear friend, fellow memo reader whom we met on a South Pacific Cruise: "Famed near-86 year old tennis jock and political commentator out of action after court collision. Fans despondent."
This is what I sent out to those who have e-mailed their best wishes: " thanks, cat scan reveals slight fracture, probably will need hip replacement. Worst of all my partner is a liberal but a great guy. He feels worse than I do
I shall come back stronger than ever. Me"
Other classics:
"Oh gosh!!!! Hip replacement is bad enough, but tennis with a liberal!!! Ugh!
Keep us posted—if you need anything, we can help. G---"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There comes a time when you have to say no and it is best to walk away and not allow politics to dictate everything you do. Would it not be nice if Democrats understood this? (See 1 and 1a below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Prager on Smollett. (See 2 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BIBI to be indicted. (See 3 and 3a below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I just heard from my ortho doc who is a dear friend and he has me scheduled for interview with one of the best ortho surgeons in the city and if he recommends hip replacement, as I believe he may , I am all for it. So happens my appt is on the 5th our 47th anniversary.
My reasoning is accident it could make my arthritis worse, I will be out of action longer waiting to see do I get worse and, at my age, I don't have a lot longer to play tennis and move about. I have always been a "get it over" kind of guy. I will listen to what Charlie Hope says because I know and respect him but my inclination is do it.
Until then I am curtailing my e- mails and memos. The response to the accident has been heartwarming. Great to have wonderful friends. Wish the U.S. and Israel had more. (See 4, 4a, 4b and 4c below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BIBI to be indicted. (See 3 and 3a below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I just heard from my ortho doc who is a dear friend and he has me scheduled for interview with one of the best ortho surgeons in the city and if he recommends hip replacement, as I believe he may , I am all for it. So happens my appt is on the 5th our 47th anniversary.
My reasoning is accident it could make my arthritis worse, I will be out of action longer waiting to see do I get worse and, at my age, I don't have a lot longer to play tennis and move about. I have always been a "get it over" kind of guy. I will listen to what Charlie Hope says because I know and respect him but my inclination is do it.
Until then I am curtailing my e- mails and memos. The response to the accident has been heartwarming. Great to have wonderful friends. Wish the U.S. and Israel had more. (See 4, 4a, 4b and 4c below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dick
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1)
Trump Ends Summit After Negotiations
Stall
- by: TTN Staff
Wouldn't it have been interesting if, at some point during the presidential campaign
, one of the candidates asked, "Oh, by the way, has anyone in Washington, D.C.,
ever heard of the McCarran-Walter Act Of 1952 ?"
It has been a law for almost 65 years. Here are the historic
facts that would seem to indicate that many, if not most, of the people we elect to work for us in Washington do not have the slightest idea of what laws already exist in OUR country.
After several terrorist incidents were carried out in the United
States, Donald Trump was severely criticized for suggesting
that the U.S. should limit or temporarily suspend the
immigration of certain ethnic groups, nationalities and even
people of certain religions (Muslims).
The criticisms condemned such a suggestion as, among other
things, being un-American, dumb, stupid, reckless, dangerous
and racist. Congressmen and senators swore that they would
never allow such legislation, and our former president called
such a prohibition on immigration unconstitutional.
As Gomer Pyle would say, "Well, surprise, surprise!"It seems
that the selective immigration ban is already law and has been
applied on several occasions.
Known as the McCarran-Walter Act , the Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1952 allows for the - "suspension of entry
or imposition of restrictions by the president, whenever the
president finds that the entry of aliens or of any class of aliens
into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of
the United States."
"The president may, by proclamation and for such a period as
he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens, immigrants or non- immigrants, or impose any restrictions on the entry of aliens he may deem to be
appropriate."
Who was president when this was passed? Harry Truman .
Who do you suppose last used this process? Jimmy Carter ,
no less than 37 years ago, in 1979 to keep Iranians out of the
United States. But Carter actually did more. He made ALL
Iranian students, already in the United States, check in with
the government. And then he deported a bunch of them.
Seven thousand were found in violation of their visas and a
total of 15,000 Iranians were forced to leave the USA in 1979.
So, what do you say about all of the criticism that Donald
Trump received from the Democrat senators, representatives
and the Obama Administration?
Additionally, it is important to note that the McCarran-
Walter Act also requires that an "applicant for immigration
must be of good moral character and in agreement with the
principles of our Constitution."
Therefore, one could surmise that since the Quran forbids
Muslims to swear allegiance to the U.S. Constitution,
technically, ALL Muslims should or could be refused
immigration to OUR country.
Both McCarran and Walter were democrats, by the way.
|
2)
Why Do Blacks and Leftists Wish the Attack on Smollett Happened?
DENNIS PRAGER
The reactions of many on the left to the case of Jussie Smollett prove two important things:
1. There is little racism in America.
2. The left -- white and black -- is morally and psychologically impaired.
There is no doubt that most Americans on the left, including black Americans, are distraught over the fact that Smollet faked the "racist" attack on him. Apparently, leftists, Democratic leaders and, most depressingly, many of his fellow blacks wish Smollett had been attacked by white racist homophobes.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a white leftist, tweeted, "I hope this was not something that Mr. Smollett did to himself, or created...."
Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC there has been "an atmosphere of menace and hate" since Donald Trump was elected president, which made "people want to believe" Smollett's story. Exactly. Capehart a black leftist, wanted to believe that racists yelling "This is MAGA country" beat up blacks.
Another black leftist who writes hate columns for The Washington Post, Nana Efua Mumford, wrote: "I wanted to believe Smollett. I really did." Again, exactly. Mumford wanted to believe that racists yelling "This is MAGA country" beat up blacks.
Corey Townsend, the social media editor of The Root, a black-oriented website (founded in 2008 by Harvard black studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.), opened his column on his private doubts that Smollett was attacked as he claimed with the words, "I wanted to be wrong." Three paragraphs later: "But still, I wanted to be wrong."
This should tell you a great deal about how morally and psychologically sick the left is. And their reactions prove how little racism there really is in America.
Here's the proof of both these assertions: When American Jews, even most left-wing Jews, heard of the mass killing of Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue, how many were hoping the shooter was truly an anti-Semite, and how many were hoping he was a mentally deranged individual who could have just as easily shot up a church? Or, if a well-known Jew had been beaten at 2 a.m. on a Chicago street, how many American Jews would have wanted the attackers to be Jew-haters, and how many would have wished they were just thugs who wanted money?
As a Jew who has been deeply involved in Jewish culture all my life, I am pretty certain the majority of Jews -- certainly liberal and conservative Jews, and even most left-wing Jews -- would have wished that neither the Pittsburgh synagogue nor the theoretical attack on a Chicago street I conjured up were perpetrated by anti-Semites.
Why is that? Why do almost all Jews wish attackers of Jews not be anti-Semites, but so many blacks and so many white leftists wish Smollett had been attacked by racists?
Because Jews want to believe there is little anti-Semitism in America while most black leftists and most white leftists want to believe there is a lot of racism in America.
And why is that? Because the left and many American blacks are politically and personally dependent on one of the greatest mass libels in history -- namely, that America is a racist country. If just one 1 of 5 black Americans woke up tomorrow and announced, "You know, this a great country for anyone, including a black person, to live in, and the truth is the vast majority of white Americans bear no ill will toward blacks [or any other race or ethnicity]," that would end the Democrats' chances of winning national elections. The Democratic Party is dependent on nearly universal black acceptance of the leftist libel of America.
And what about the personal? Why do so many black Americans, living in the freest country for all its citizens -- and in the least-racist multiracial, multiethnic country in history -- want to believe America is racist? That is one of the most important questions all Americans need address at this time.
And there is another one, which I posed in my column last week: Does the left believe its own lies?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3)
The attorney-general also said he would likely indict Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul Elovitch for bribery and obstruction of justice as well as his wife, Iris, and a range of other top Bezeq officials.
Case 4000
There are two premises to the accusations against Netanyahu in Case 4000.
The first premise is that Netanyahu fired Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger and hired his loyalist and ex-campaign manager Shlomo Filber to ensure a government policy that improperly favored Elovitch’s interests in Bezeq.
Filber has since turned state’s witness against the prime minister – a critical breakthrough in gathering evidence of the regulatory half of the bribery case.
The second premise is that in exchange for the positive treatment for Bezeq, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, directed Elovitch’s online news site Walla to give him favorable coverage.
This was arranged through Elovitch, his wife, former top Netanyahu aide Nir Hefetz, who also turned state’s witness against the prime minister, and some of Elovitch’s top Walla employees.
Hefetz’s becoming a state’s witness against Netanyahu was considered a critical turning point in building the media-interference half of the bribery case.
This allegedly constituted bribery, as Netanyahu worked to set government policies that would increase monetary profits for Elovitch in exchange for positive media coverage.
Whereas many news reports have discussed alleged Netanyahu-Elovitch interference with Walla coverage since 2015, the police dated the criminal interference back to 2012, continuing into last year.
Mandelblit is expected to agree with the police recommendation to close the case against Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, due to insufficient evidence.
Both Sara and Yair Netanyahu were allegedly involved in campaigning to get Walla to toe a certain line in media coverage of the Netanyahu family, but the police believed there was more evidence relating to Sara Netanyahu.
Yair Netanyahu, though technically an adult, will likely be let off based on two arguments: he was viewed as not being as fully aware of the situation as his mother, or he might not have known the difference between a media campaign and a bribery-injected one.
Ultimately though, Mandelblit is expected to overrule the police about Sara, closing the case against her as well.
Previously, the police had disclosed that they questioned some 60 witnesses in 176 sessions and gathered massive amounts of documents and recordings, including from foreign countries. Hefetz reportedly taped the Netanyahu and Elovitch families frequently without their knowledge.
Other top officials who Mandelblit is expected to indict based on police recommendations for a combination of bribery, fraud and breach of trust include: former top Bezeq official Amikam Sorer; former Bezeq CEO Stella Handler; Netanyahu and Elovitch family friend and Israel Bonds CEO Zeev Rubinstein; Elovitch’s son, Or; and Eli Kamir.
While the Bezeq-Walla affair dates back to 2015, until February 2018 Filber and Elovitch were the lead suspects. Only after Filber flipped against Netanyahu did the prime minister become the primary suspect.
Filber had been adamant for years that he had acted legally, but upon turning state’s witness he admitted to deceiving the Communications, Finance and Justice ministries about his activities to help Elovitch’s interests in Bezeq and with the Bezeq-Yes merger, all under order from Netanyahu.
Filber also owned a large portion of Yes and is estimated to have profited somewhere between NIS 680 million and more than NIS 1 billion.
Netanyahu denies the charges, saying that the Bezeq-Yes merger was approved by the bureaucracy and that Walla did not give him positive coverage, or if it did, that it is not illegal.
Case 1000
Regarding the Illegal Gifts Affair, Netanyahu is accused of, and admits to, receiving a range of expensive cigars, champagne and other items.
He has denied that he received these gifts for any improper purpose and claimed that the gifts were part of a long-term friendship with billionaires Arnon Milchan and James Packer.
In Case 1000, Netanyahu could face Milchan, Packer, Milchan’s secretary, Yair Lapid, and former chief of staff Ari Harow, who turned state’s witness.
The police recommendations focused on the years 2007-2016. For the vast majority of this time, Netanyahu was prime minister, or at least knocking on the prime minister’s door.
Allegedly, he received a staggering NIS 1 million of illegal benefits from Milchan and Packer.
Milchan and his secretary have made statements to police that even though part of the gift giving started as friends, at some point it evolved to being involuntary.
The police have alleged that part of the evidence against Netanyahu that the gifts were illegal and not part of a standard friendly relationship included the constancy, regularity and involvement of Sara and a bureaucracy of secretaries, drivers and assistants in delivering the gifts.
Allegedly, the prime minister knew about Sara’s requests for gifts, and even intervened on her behalf when her requests were denied.
Late in the investigation, evidence emerged that Netanyahu tried to get a law passed that would get Milchan potentially millions or even hundreds of millions of shekels in tax exemptions as a returning Israeli citizen.
The police have said that Netanyahu even leaned on then-finance minister Lapid to push the law through, but that Lapid or his team blocked the law as against state interests.
Other allegations have been raised about Netanyahu helping Milchan, including the prime minister trying to get him a US visa, but the tax exemption issue is the core quid pro quo.
Case 2000
Yediot Aharonot was losing millions of shekels to Israel Hayom.
Yediot owner Arnon (Noni) Mozes allegedly asked Netanyahu to use his power to eliminate or reduce Israel Hayom so as to get those millions back.
In exchange, Yediot would allegedly not merely give the prime minister a favorable interview, but entirely shift its coverage – a shift that could be decisive whenever elections came around. The value in such a shift in coverage could be viewed as priceless.
The opinion of the vast majority of the prosecution, reportedly including State Attorney Shai Nitzan and prosecution team leader Liat Ben-Ari (who took down former prime minister Ehud Olmert) as well as the official police recommendation, have been to indict Netanyahu for bribery or attempted bribery.
Indications are that Mandelblit did overrule them and reduced the bribery charge to breach of public trust on multiple grounds.
The first reason he might overrule most of his staff would be that, unlike Case 4000, the alleged bribery scheme fell through and never took place. He has viewed proving attempted bribery and intent to bribe without an actual transaction as extremely difficult.
In addition, Mandelblit has been concerned about interfering with politicians’ relations with the media and free speech rights.
Netanyahu says the negotiations with Mozes were an elaborate act and expresses frustration that other politicians involved in similar schemes have not been criminally probed.
Though this same concern existed in Case 4000, there Mandelblit is expected to indict Netanyahu anyway because he views the Bezeq-Yes merger, with hundreds of millions of shekels going into Elovitch’s pocket, as trumping the concern of respecting political-media relations.
Finally, the latest leaks indicate that even though Netanyahu will not be indicted for bribery, Mozes will be.
3)
Mandelblit announces intent to indict
Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery
By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit announced his intent to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery on Thursday in a blockbuster decision that could decisively impact the April 9 election.
Mandelblit said that Netanyahu will be indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000, “the Bezeq-Walla affair,” for breach of trust in Case 1000, “the Illegal Gifts Affair,” and that he would charge him with fraud and breach of trust in Case 2000, “the Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom affair.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party are neck and neck in the polls, and if the prime minister loses even a few seats due to the accusations against him for public corruption, it could turn the tide.
Even if Netanyahu wins reelection, there is a strong chance that Mandelblit, after holding a series of pre-indictment hearings with Netanyahu’s lawyers, will issue a final decision to indict him in the next three to 12 months. This could lead the High Court of Justice to force the prime minister’s resignation if he does not voluntarily step down.
Sources close to Mandelblit have previously told The Jerusalem Post that if the attorney-general moved to indict Netanyahu for the serious charge of bribery – as opposed to a lesser charge – he would not defend Netanyahu before the High Court if a petition was filed to force the prime minister to resign.
Mandelblit said that Netanyahu will be indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000, “the Bezeq-Walla affair,” for breach of trust in Case 1000, “the Illegal Gifts Affair,” and that he would charge him with fraud and breach of trust in Case 2000, “the Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom affair.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party are neck and neck in the polls, and if the prime minister loses even a few seats due to the accusations against him for public corruption, it could turn the tide.
Even if Netanyahu wins reelection, there is a strong chance that Mandelblit, after holding a series of pre-indictment hearings with Netanyahu’s lawyers, will issue a final decision to indict him in the next three to 12 months. This could lead the High Court of Justice to force the prime minister’s resignation if he does not voluntarily step down.
Sources close to Mandelblit have previously told The Jerusalem Post that if the attorney-general moved to indict Netanyahu for the serious charge of bribery – as opposed to a lesser charge – he would not defend Netanyahu before the High Court if a petition was filed to force the prime minister to resign.
Mandelblit also ruled in favor of Sara Netanyahu, closing charges against her in Case 4000, which the police had recommended and which many prosecutors also supported.
The attorney-general also said he would likely indict Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul Elovitch for bribery and obstruction of justice as well as his wife, Iris, and a range of other top Bezeq officials.
Case 4000
There are two premises to the accusations against Netanyahu in Case 4000.
The first premise is that Netanyahu fired Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger and hired his loyalist and ex-campaign manager Shlomo Filber to ensure a government policy that improperly favored Elovitch’s interests in Bezeq.
Filber has since turned state’s witness against the prime minister – a critical breakthrough in gathering evidence of the regulatory half of the bribery case.
The second premise is that in exchange for the positive treatment for Bezeq, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, directed Elovitch’s online news site Walla to give him favorable coverage.
This was arranged through Elovitch, his wife, former top Netanyahu aide Nir Hefetz, who also turned state’s witness against the prime minister, and some of Elovitch’s top Walla employees.
Hefetz’s becoming a state’s witness against Netanyahu was considered a critical turning point in building the media-interference half of the bribery case.
This allegedly constituted bribery, as Netanyahu worked to set government policies that would increase monetary profits for Elovitch in exchange for positive media coverage.
Whereas many news reports have discussed alleged Netanyahu-Elovitch interference with Walla coverage since 2015, the police dated the criminal interference back to 2012, continuing into last year.
Mandelblit is expected to agree with the police recommendation to close the case against Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, due to insufficient evidence.
Both Sara and Yair Netanyahu were allegedly involved in campaigning to get Walla to toe a certain line in media coverage of the Netanyahu family, but the police believed there was more evidence relating to Sara Netanyahu.
Yair Netanyahu, though technically an adult, will likely be let off based on two arguments: he was viewed as not being as fully aware of the situation as his mother, or he might not have known the difference between a media campaign and a bribery-injected one.
Ultimately though, Mandelblit is expected to overrule the police about Sara, closing the case against her as well.
Previously, the police had disclosed that they questioned some 60 witnesses in 176 sessions and gathered massive amounts of documents and recordings, including from foreign countries. Hefetz reportedly taped the Netanyahu and Elovitch families frequently without their knowledge.
Other top officials who Mandelblit is expected to indict based on police recommendations for a combination of bribery, fraud and breach of trust include: former top Bezeq official Amikam Sorer; former Bezeq CEO Stella Handler; Netanyahu and Elovitch family friend and Israel Bonds CEO Zeev Rubinstein; Elovitch’s son, Or; and Eli Kamir.
While the Bezeq-Walla affair dates back to 2015, until February 2018 Filber and Elovitch were the lead suspects. Only after Filber flipped against Netanyahu did the prime minister become the primary suspect.
Filber had been adamant for years that he had acted legally, but upon turning state’s witness he admitted to deceiving the Communications, Finance and Justice ministries about his activities to help Elovitch’s interests in Bezeq and with the Bezeq-Yes merger, all under order from Netanyahu.
Filber also owned a large portion of Yes and is estimated to have profited somewhere between NIS 680 million and more than NIS 1 billion.
Netanyahu denies the charges, saying that the Bezeq-Yes merger was approved by the bureaucracy and that Walla did not give him positive coverage, or if it did, that it is not illegal.
Case 1000
Regarding the Illegal Gifts Affair, Netanyahu is accused of, and admits to, receiving a range of expensive cigars, champagne and other items.
He has denied that he received these gifts for any improper purpose and claimed that the gifts were part of a long-term friendship with billionaires Arnon Milchan and James Packer.
In Case 1000, Netanyahu could face Milchan, Packer, Milchan’s secretary, Yair Lapid, and former chief of staff Ari Harow, who turned state’s witness.
The police recommendations focused on the years 2007-2016. For the vast majority of this time, Netanyahu was prime minister, or at least knocking on the prime minister’s door.
Allegedly, he received a staggering NIS 1 million of illegal benefits from Milchan and Packer.
Milchan and his secretary have made statements to police that even though part of the gift giving started as friends, at some point it evolved to being involuntary.
The police have alleged that part of the evidence against Netanyahu that the gifts were illegal and not part of a standard friendly relationship included the constancy, regularity and involvement of Sara and a bureaucracy of secretaries, drivers and assistants in delivering the gifts.
Allegedly, the prime minister knew about Sara’s requests for gifts, and even intervened on her behalf when her requests were denied.
Late in the investigation, evidence emerged that Netanyahu tried to get a law passed that would get Milchan potentially millions or even hundreds of millions of shekels in tax exemptions as a returning Israeli citizen.
The police have said that Netanyahu even leaned on then-finance minister Lapid to push the law through, but that Lapid or his team blocked the law as against state interests.
Other allegations have been raised about Netanyahu helping Milchan, including the prime minister trying to get him a US visa, but the tax exemption issue is the core quid pro quo.
Case 2000
Yediot Aharonot was losing millions of shekels to Israel Hayom.
Yediot owner Arnon (Noni) Mozes allegedly asked Netanyahu to use his power to eliminate or reduce Israel Hayom so as to get those millions back.
In exchange, Yediot would allegedly not merely give the prime minister a favorable interview, but entirely shift its coverage – a shift that could be decisive whenever elections came around. The value in such a shift in coverage could be viewed as priceless.
The opinion of the vast majority of the prosecution, reportedly including State Attorney Shai Nitzan and prosecution team leader Liat Ben-Ari (who took down former prime minister Ehud Olmert) as well as the official police recommendation, have been to indict Netanyahu for bribery or attempted bribery.
Indications are that Mandelblit did overrule them and reduced the bribery charge to breach of public trust on multiple grounds.
The first reason he might overrule most of his staff would be that, unlike Case 4000, the alleged bribery scheme fell through and never took place. He has viewed proving attempted bribery and intent to bribe without an actual transaction as extremely difficult.
In addition, Mandelblit has been concerned about interfering with politicians’ relations with the media and free speech rights.
Netanyahu says the negotiations with Mozes were an elaborate act and expresses frustration that other politicians involved in similar schemes have not been criminally probed.
Though this same concern existed in Case 4000, there Mandelblit is expected to indict Netanyahu anyway because he views the Bezeq-Yes merger, with hundreds of millions of shekels going into Elovitch’s pocket, as trumping the concern of respecting political-media relations.
Finally, the latest leaks indicate that even though Netanyahu will not be indicted for bribery, Mozes will be.
3a) Mandelblit: From PM’s man to
overthrowing Netanyahu – the timeline
By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Avichai Mandelblit and Benjamin Netanyahu started to have close working relations when Mandelblit fought the Goldstone Report on behalf of the country during his tenure as IDF Military Advocate General 2004-2011.
Netanyahu was so impressed with Mandelblit as an operator that he lured him into becoming his cabinet secretary from 2013-2016 and away from Mandelblit’s likely appointment as a district court judge.
Mandelblit was so successful as cabinet secretary that Netanyahu backed him, along with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, to become attorney-general in 2016.
So Netanyahu literally put his accuser in office.
In fact, the two were considered close enough that some of the judicial selection committee members voted against Mandelblit’s candidacy, viewing him as too close and potentially conflicted if Netanyahu got into legal troubles.
Netanyahu was so impressed with Mandelblit as an operator that he lured him into becoming his cabinet secretary from 2013-2016 and away from Mandelblit’s likely appointment as a district court judge.
Mandelblit was so successful as cabinet secretary that Netanyahu backed him, along with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, to become attorney-general in 2016.
So Netanyahu literally put his accuser in office.
In fact, the two were considered close enough that some of the judicial selection committee members voted against Mandelblit’s candidacy, viewing him as too close and potentially conflicted if Netanyahu got into legal troubles.
From there, we move to the probes against the Netanyahu family.
In June and July 2015, Mandelblit’s predecessor, Yehuda Weinstein, ordered a criminal probe into Sara Netanyahu in the Prime Minister’ Residence Affair, but exempted the prime minister himself.
July 2016 was the first time that Mandelblit himself started on the path of conflict with Netanyahu opening an initial review of the prime minister in an unspecified case.
The initial review was designed to soft pedal the case and save Netanyahu unnecessary embarrassment.
For the next several months, Mandelblit was criticized on the Left for protecting Netanyahu from a criminal probe.
Finally, in January 2017, Mandelblit approved the police questioning Netanyahu in Case 1000, the Illegal Gifts Affair.
Around the same time, the story of Case 2000, the |Yediot ahronot-Yisrael Hayom Affair broke.
Despite the police being convinced that Case 2000 was a slam dunk bribery case, Mandelblit against slow-pedalled the case, viewing it as much weaker.
In July 2017, the state comptroller revealed that Netanyahu had not revealed all of his conflicts with Shaul Elovitch of Bezeq to Mandelblit.
In September 2017, Mandelblit finally crossed the rubicon, filing an indictment against Sara Netanyahu – though critics on the Left focused on his shielding her by closing six out of seven probes and putting off the decision for around two years.
In February 2018, the police recommended indicting Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery in both cases 1000 and 2000.
Mandelblit might have rejected their recommendations, but shortly thereafter in February 2018, his former top aides Shlomo Filber and Nir Hefetz turned state’s witnesses. Suddenly the prime minister became the main suspect in Case 400, the Bezeq-Walla! Affair – which until then had focused on Filber.
In June 2018, the Jerusalem Post reported that Case 4000 was not only the lead case, but that Mandelblit would indict Netanyahu for the grave charge of bribery. The report also indicated that Case 4000 evidence had moved Mandelblit toward indicting Netanyahu for breach of trust in Case 1000.
In December 2018, the police recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery in case 4000 and only a few weeks later, the prosecution announced that decisions in all of the cases would be forthcoming within only a few short months.
Shortly after that announcement, Netanyahu announced early elections.
Netanyahu has been fighting a public relations and legal war against Mandelblit announcing his intent to indict since then.
The attorney-general is known to admire Netanyahu as a statesman and comes from a right-wing political background.
Paradoxically, his ascension to attorney-general, and likely ascension eventually to the Supreme Court, will have been paved by the man who he is probably about to topple.
July 2016 was the first time that Mandelblit himself started on the path of conflict with Netanyahu opening an initial review of the prime minister in an unspecified case.
The initial review was designed to soft pedal the case and save Netanyahu unnecessary embarrassment.
For the next several months, Mandelblit was criticized on the Left for protecting Netanyahu from a criminal probe.
Finally, in January 2017, Mandelblit approved the police questioning Netanyahu in Case 1000, the Illegal Gifts Affair.
Around the same time, the story of Case 2000, the |Yediot ahronot-Yisrael Hayom Affair broke.
Despite the police being convinced that Case 2000 was a slam dunk bribery case, Mandelblit against slow-pedalled the case, viewing it as much weaker.
In July 2017, the state comptroller revealed that Netanyahu had not revealed all of his conflicts with Shaul Elovitch of Bezeq to Mandelblit.
In September 2017, Mandelblit finally crossed the rubicon, filing an indictment against Sara Netanyahu – though critics on the Left focused on his shielding her by closing six out of seven probes and putting off the decision for around two years.
In February 2018, the police recommended indicting Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery in both cases 1000 and 2000.
Mandelblit might have rejected their recommendations, but shortly thereafter in February 2018, his former top aides Shlomo Filber and Nir Hefetz turned state’s witnesses. Suddenly the prime minister became the main suspect in Case 400, the Bezeq-Walla! Affair – which until then had focused on Filber.
In June 2018, the Jerusalem Post reported that Case 4000 was not only the lead case, but that Mandelblit would indict Netanyahu for the grave charge of bribery. The report also indicated that Case 4000 evidence had moved Mandelblit toward indicting Netanyahu for breach of trust in Case 1000.
In December 2018, the police recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery in case 4000 and only a few weeks later, the prosecution announced that decisions in all of the cases would be forthcoming within only a few short months.
Shortly after that announcement, Netanyahu announced early elections.
Netanyahu has been fighting a public relations and legal war against Mandelblit announcing his intent to indict since then.
The attorney-general is known to admire Netanyahu as a statesman and comes from a right-wing political background.
Paradoxically, his ascension to attorney-general, and likely ascension eventually to the Supreme Court, will have been paved by the man who he is probably about to topple.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4) Iranian general: ‘We plan to break US,
Israel, cleanse world of their filth’
IRGC deputy commander Hossein Salami vows to fight regime’s enemies ‘on the global level, not just in one spot’
The deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says Tehran has plans “to break America, Israel, and their partners and allies” in worldwide attacks.
In a speech aired February 19 on Iran’s IRINN TV, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said Iran was preparing to “fight them on the global level, not just in one spot. Our war is not a local war. We have plans to defeat the world powers,” according to a translation published by the Washington-based MEMRI watchdog.
Iran was “planning to break America, Israel, and their partners and allies. Our ground forces should cleanse the planet from the filth of their existence,” Salami said in the latest anti-Western invective from an Iranian military leader in recent weeks.
About a week earlier, on February 11, another top commander in the elite IRGC threatened to destroy two of Israel’s largest cities if Iran is attacked by the United States.
“The United States does not have the courage to shoot a single bullet at us despite all its defensive and military assets. But if they attack us, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground,” Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani was quoted as saying at a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution by Tehran’s state news agency IRNA, according to Reuters.
Top political and military leaders in Iran regularly call for Israel’s annihilation, with a senior general recently claiming it would defeat the Jewish state “within three days” in the case of a war.
In his February 19 speech, Salami said, “We will break our enemy. We have decided to do so. We have a plan. We are organized and motivated. We have faith. We have martyrdom. We have Jihad. Our nation’s sword has been drawn out of its sheath.”
He depicted Iran’s enemies as fragile and all but defeated. “Our enemies should know that we will never let them be,” he said. “The Saud regime should know that it will not last. I know what dreams of horror they have every night. Their lips have become dry [out of fear]. Every day that passes, they are grateful for having lived to see another day. They await death.”
He also addressed the US and Israel. “The same is true of those who are greater than them. America, too, is distressed today,” he said. “It does not have the appearance of a world power at all. America, too, has been defeated.”
Of Israel: “The Zionist regime is struggling to survive by using psychological warfare. Our enemies have despaired. They are helpless.”
He added: “We shall never lay down our weapons. We are holding the banner. We have taken an oath. This is who we are. We were not created for this world. We were chosen to wage Jihad.”
The Iranian regime views Israel as an arch-enemy, and has vowed to destroy it repeatedly. Israel says it has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Iranian-linked targets as part of a campaign to prevent Tehran from establishing a military presence in Syria.
In response to those threats, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened the Iranian regime with destruction.
“I don’t ignore the threats from the Iranian regime, but I’m also not intimidated by them,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language video uploaded to social media.
“If this regime makes the terrible mistake and tries to destroy Tel Aviv or Haifa, it won’t be successful, and it will be the last anniversary of their revolution they will ever celebrate.”
“They should take that into account,” he said.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Israel strikes Hamas posts in Gaza after
explosive balloon attack
Reprisal comes after airborne explosive device damaged home in Eshkol region earlier in the day
Israeli jets struck multiple targets in the southern Gaza Strip linked to Hamas late Wednesday, a few hours after an incendiary device from Gaza damaged a home in the Eshkol region.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Israeli strikes.
According to Palestinian media reports, several Hamas posts in the southern strip were hit, including one in the Khan Yunis seafront and another outside the city.
Some of the sites hit are believed to belong to Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group’s armed wing.
The IDF said the strikes were in response for the “explosive balloons.”
“Our fighter jets and helicopters struck a number of Hamas targets in Gaza in response to the explosive balloons that were launched from Gaza earlier tonight and damaged an Israeli home,” the army said.
The army reiterated its position that it holds Hamas responsible for any violence emanating from the Strip.
A few hours earlier, an explosive device flown into Israel from the Gaza Strip detonated outside a home in the Eshkol region, causing damage but no injuries.
The small bomb had been attached to a cluster of balloons and launched toward Israel from the coastal enclave on Wednesday as part of nightly riots along the Gaza border.
Home in the Eshkol Regional Council damaged by an explosive device from Gaza on February 27, 2019. (Eshkol Regional Council)
“A string of balloons carrying an explosive object was spotted traveling from the southern Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. The object apparently exploded in midair and caused damage to a house in a nearby community,” the army said.
Since March 2018, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have launched thousands of balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices into Israel, causing wildfires in nearby agricultural fields, forests and nature reserves.
An Israeli policeman watches a fire started by a balloon with attached burning cloth launched by Palestinians from Gaza Strip in Karmia nature reserve park near Israel and Gaza border, Thursday, October 11, 2018. (AP/Tsafrir Abayov)
These arson and bombing attacks largely stopped at the end of last year, in light of a de facto ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group, but they returned earlier this month as this understanding began to fray.
Last Tuesday a brush fire in southern Israel was sparked by incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip.
Wednesday night’s balloon attacks came as hundreds of Palestinians took part in riots along the border of the Gaza Strip near the city of Beit Hanoun.
Demonstrators burned tires, threw rocks and explosives at soldiers and attacked the security fence.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4b)
Can Middle East peace be bought?
Jared Kushner’s effort to promote investment in the Palestinian economy is a great idea. But don’t confuse it with a solution to end the conflict with Israel.
Senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump Jared Kushner is on fundraising tour this week, but it’s not to raise money for his father-in-law’s re-election or to bolster his family’s real estate empire. He’s visiting the Middle East with a special emphasis on wealthy Arab states, where he is soliciting investment that he hopes will be the seed money for a new era of peace.
Kushner has spent the better part of the last two years putting together a plan that will attempt to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Few people give the scheme—whose details remain secret and which will probably be made public after Israel’s April elections—a chance of success.
The Palestinian Authority has made it clear that it won’t negotiate and has refused to even speak with the Americans since Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem last May. There’s no reason to expect that P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas is capable of saying yes to any deal, let alone one proposed by this administration.
The administration’s assumption that Arab nations have the power to either persuade or bribe the Palestinians into giving up their century-old war on Zionism is equally mistaken. The Palestinians continue to view peace as a zero sum game in which any recognition of the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where its borders may be drawn, is a defeat for their cause. If the Palestinians wanted to settle for a two-state solution, then they would have already accepted one of the previous Israeli offers.
But by embracing the notion of investment in the territories, as well as for Jordan and Egypt, Kushner is showing that he’s not completely clueless. While it would be foolish to expect that this by itself would lead to peace, he’s right to think that an effort to promote economic development is a prerequisite for hope for a future solution on any terms. That’s a point that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also made in the past.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, Palestinians in the West Bank have suffered under the rule of the P.A. and its Fatah leadership. The same is true in the even more poverty-stricken Gaza Strip that has been ruled by the Islamists of Hamas since 2007. Both are deeply corrupt, operating primarily to enrich and protect their power. Far from encouraging economic development, both governments actively discourage any effort or enterprise that is not controlled by them. The failure of former P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, an American-educated technocrat with no ties to terror, illustrated just how difficult it is to encourage good government in a political culture where terror is still lauded.
That leaves their people trapped in an environment where anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda aimed at perpetuating the conflict dominates the media and education systems. It also largely eliminates the process of business and wealth creation that would normally act as a break on the impulse to sacrifice their community’s well-being for the sake of a useless war on Israel’s existence.
That’s why it makes sense for Kushner to seek to get the Gulf States and other Arab countries to put their money where their mouths are with respect to promoting peace. If a massive surge of investment were injected into the Palestinian areas, it couldn’t help but promote a more realistic attitude towards Israel and create opportunities that will make them less interested in continuing the fight. That investment would also help prop up Jordan and Egypt’s tottering economies and work to keep those two nations in the peace camp.
But the problem with Kushner’s tour is that rather than seeking to create an environment in which peace might be made more likely, the effort to promote investment in the Palestinian economy is linked to the final-status negotiations, which have no chance of success.
In a rare public hint from Kushner about the goals of his plan, he told Sky News Arabia that “the goal of resolving these borders is really to eliminate the borders. If you can eliminate borders and have peace and less fear of terror, you could have freer flow of goods, freer flow of people and that would create a lot more opportunities.”
While the free flow of goods and people sounds like a vision of peace, there’s no reason to believe the Palestinians will give up their long war merely for the sake of prosperity. To the contrary, as the P.A. and Hamas have both made clear, any peace plan that is predicated on the Palestinians giving up their existential war against Israel for a better economy is going to be dead on arrival.
While Marxist theory may hold that people primarily act in their economic interests, the Palestinians have disproved that thesis time and again. Peace has always been in their interests, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing violence and resistance. And as much as many Arab nations want to shelve the conflict against Israel, which they now recognize is as counter-productive for their interests as it is futile, their rulers know that their people won’t accept formal peace with Israel on these or perhaps any terms in the foreseeable future.
What Kushner has done is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. Instead of tying a peace deal to investment, economic development is what will make peace theoretically possible, rather than merely a reward or a bribe to those whom you want to sign on the dotted line. The process of transforming the territories is not something that can be added on as a sweetener to a deal the Palestinians are not ready to make.
While we wish Kushner luck in raising money for this investment, it’s also a reminder that his efforts are doomed to failure as long as he is attempting to pretend that the Palestinians are more interested in prosperity than they are in waging war on Israel.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
4c)
Will America leave the Gulf as China
and Russia gain influence?
By ERIC R. MANDEL
There is a new reality in the Persian Gulf, which we ignore at our peril: the ascendancy of China and Russia, happily taking advantage of America’s withdrawal from the Middle East.
The long awaited American pivot to China may well begin in the Gulf, as the Chinese Belt and Road initiative is a significant challenge to America for global economic influence and dominance, and is a threat to the longstanding US international order.
Just this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that “Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a partner in China’s massive Belt and Road initiative [as] Prince Mohammed signs [a] raft of deals.”
According to William C. Pacatte III writing in Defense 360, President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) “poses a significant long-term strategic threat to US interests… there is enough evidence to suggest that BRI is… more analogous to a neo-colonialist and imperialistic China, under the guise of an economic plan.”
Some claim that this is finally the time to extricate the US from the Persian Gulf, as it is now oil independent and the region is not vital to US national security interests anymore.
After speaking with US officials in the Gulf, I believe that when cooler heads prevail, those sitting 7,000 miles away in Washington will understand that America must stay engaged in the Gulf for our security interests by ensuring the continued stability of its Gulf allies, while securing the world’s energy supply. Instability in the energy supply chain could cause a profound economic reaction in the US economy.
The address for stability in the Middle East in not in Cairo, Damascus, or Baghdad anymore: it is in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, with their outsized political as well as economic influence.
Chinese and Russian political and economic efforts in the region threaten to pull our Gulf friends, in spite of their sharing our most important interests against Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, into the arms of our Chinese and Russian adversaries.
Last fall, I spoke to the point person for the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who led a bipartisan effort to pass the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act, a direct response to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative which offers Asian and African countries loans and guarantees to slow down Chinese economic gains. Those senators should be credited with understanding the importance of counteracting Chinese entrenchment into vital zones of US influence.
Like their ways or not, the Saudi regime is the keystone of stability for the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and even Qatar. If we were to abandon US commitments which support that stability, there would be an upheaval destabilizing the whole Middle East. To resist Iran’s ambitions, the US needs the cooperation of the Gulf States.
For the time being, China is interested in economic advantages, but you don’t need to look into the future to understand that their new naval base in Djibouti, near the vital Bab-el-Mandeb strait on the road to the Suez Canal, is the forerunner of their global ambitions, causing much concern for US military planners.
Russia for its part has been pursuing a strategy to create daylight between Saudi Arabia and the other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) members, undermining America’s interest in a strong GCC. Unfortunately the US initiative for a Gulf NATO has been a failure, with a watered down version of shared military exercises taking its place.
Visiting the region, one finds that the tension between the Gulf states and Iran is at an all time high, while Trump’s decision to leave Syria, despite later backtracking, confirmed to the Gulf nations that America is a fickle friend.
The conservative Gulf is a riddle in transition, especially after the 2019 break between Qatar and its fellow Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. Oman and Kuwait, the other members of the GCC, would prefer reconciliation for their own interests, which the US administration would like to see.
Qatar is the one outlier, using its hosting of America’s Al Udeid Air Base as a hostage against being pushed by the US to distance itself from Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the Qatar air station is an important but not an indispensable base. The UAE can build an equally vital base on its own dime that would force Qatar to choose sides, or be devoured by its Iranian and Salafist friends.
THE CHINESE are moving into the region, and this can be witnessed by the UAE literally rolling out the red carpet for the visit of Chinese President Xi. Xi’s absolute control of China makes dealing with him much easier for the authoritarian GCC nations, than having to deal with the messy US political scene. The same can be said of Russian relations with the Gulf.
China is already Iran’s number one trading partner, and has signed tens of billion of dollars in deals from Saudi Arabia to Jordan and Oman. Russia has become the address for dealing with much of the Middle East and has relationships with every player.
None of this is in America’s interest, unless you are a Rand Paul isolationist.
The US must realize that the Gulf states are in a time of change, feeling more vulnerable due to the dangers of another Arab Winter, with the Muslim Brotherhood destabilizing their regimes.
Yet the US is still their preferred choice as a friend.
For the good news, the Gulf states are talking to the Israelis. These nations are traders, and they see Israel as a good partner, even now visiting Israel to scout out possibilities.
But in order for true change to occur, they must begin the hard process of changing the mindset of their citizens to begin a process of acceptance of the Jewish state. Small steps, like playing the Israeli national anthem at a Judo tournament in the Gulf, are a start.
Going forward, it is important for Congress to figure out how to influence Gulf state human rights abuses without destroying our vital relationship.
As a side benefit, this could also hold the key to improving Israel’s relationship with the Arab world, an important American interest, and forcing the next generation of Palestinians to choose economic advancement over their desire to destroy the Jewish state.
The author is the director of MEPIN™ (Middle East Political and Information Network™), and is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and i24TV. MEPIN™ is a Middle East research analysis read by members of Congress, their foreign policy advisers, members of the Knesset, journalists and organizational leaders.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
