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Netanyahu Wins Nail Biter Re-Election, Supporters Wave Trump Flags

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has solidified a fifth term in a nail biter election against Benny Gantz. At 2 a.m. in Tel Aviv, Netanayhu gave a few brief remarks, thanked voters and kissed his wife.

Netanyahu will now work to form a government. He has 42 days to do so. (Read more from “Netanyahu Wins Nail Biter Re-Election, Supporters Wave Trump Flags” HERE)

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Netanyahu: There Will Be No Palestinian State

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The U.S. is fully aware of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flat rejection of the creation of a Palestinian state along with his plans to extend Israeli law to West Bank settlements, the Israeli premier said on Monday.

In an interview with Channel 12, Netanyahu pushed back against his main challenger Benny Gantz’s claims that his vow to annex the West Bank was nothing more than an empty campaign promise.

Netanyahu over the weekend historically declared that he fully intends to extend Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. The incumbent prime minister also said he had told President Donald Trump that would not evacuate “a single person” from the 400,000 or so Jews residing in the West Bank.

“Why did it take two years to get recognition of the Golan Heights even with such a friendly president? These things takes time,” said Netanyahu in reference to Trump’s presidential order last month recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. . .

“There will be no Palestinian state,” he said, “not like the one people are talking about. It won’t happen.” (Read more from “Netanyahu: There Will Be No Palestinian State” HERE)

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Israel, Palestinian Militants Trade Fire as ‘Truce’ Appears to Unravel

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The Israeli army on Tuesday bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip as Palestinian militants responded with a new barrage of late-night rocket fire, demonstrating that a truce with Hamas rulers showed signs of unraveling.

Tuesday night’s airstrikes came in response to a lone rocket attack. The military said it hit a Hamas military compound and a weapons manufacturing warehouse in southern Gaza. Militants responded by firing another rocket. Israel said both projectiles landed harmlessly in open areas.

The violence, less than two weeks before Israel holds national elections, is likely to become a major theme in the final stretch of a tight reelection campaign for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who indicated the election would not deter him from acting.

Netanyahu cut short a visit to the U.S. and rushed back to Israel on Tuesday to deal with the crisis. After meeting with Netanyahu, Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, ordered an additional troop buildup along the border.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to give a speech in Washington to the AIPAC pro-Israel lobbying group. Instead, he addressed the group by satellite, telling them that over the past 24 hours Israel had pounded militant sites in Gaza on a scale not seen since a 2014 war with Hamas. (Read more from “Israel, Palestinian Militants Trade Fire as ‘Truce’ Appears to Unravel” HERE)

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2020 Democrats Abandon Pro-Israel Pretense

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The leadership in the Democratic Party used to believe that it was important to at least be perceived as supportive of America’s closest and most strategically important Middle East ally. But aspiring Democratic presidential hopefuls have decided to abandon Israel, as proven by their refusal to speak at next week’s AIPAC Policy Conference.

The list of speakers at next week’s AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., includes not a single declared 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

AIPAC, a bipartisan pro-Israel organization that advocates for the strengthening of the U.S.-Israel bond, is the opposite of a fringe group. In fact, many in the pro-Israel community have become frustrated with its watered-down stances in order to accommodate Democrats’ increasing abandonment of the Jewish state. If anything, AIPAC has become what can be fairly labeled a center-left pro-Israel organization. AIPAC has continuously appeased liberals through its support of the two-state solution and continuing engagement with the Palestinian Authority.

Anti-Israel zealots in the Democratic Party have attempted, with now demonstrable success, to make support for Israel politically toxic. Popular Democratic members of Congress such as Islamist anti-Semite Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have slandered AIPAC, labeling the group a shadowy, nefarious actor that undermines the American political system.

Some Democratic hopefuls have already confirmed that they will not be speaking at next week’s conference, while others have abstained from commenting on their schedule.

Several of the same 2020 Democrats who refuse to attend the AIPAC policy conference unanimously agree that it is essential to re-engage in the Obama-brokered Iran nuclear deal. The deal gave Iran, which openly calls for Israel’s destruction, $150 billion in unfrozen assets and a pathway to nuclear weapons.

Even President Obama, who was very hostile to Israel, spoke at AIPAC, both as a presidential candidate in 2008 and later as president in 2012. At the time, Democrats calculated that it was important to at least be perceived as pro-Israel. During the course of the Obama presidency, top cabinet official spoke at every annual AIPAC conference and stressed their commitment to the US-Israel alliance.

It appears those days are over. The Democratic Party has become an anti-Israel party. And 2020 Democrats’ harmonious refusal to attend a middle-of-the-road, bipartisan pro-Israel conference cements that reality. Scorched-earth leftists are rapidly transforming the Democratic Party into the party of anti-Israel hate. AIPAC, due its unapologetic support for Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state, has officially become politically toxic for 2020 Democrats. (For more from the author of “2020 Democrats Abandon Pro-Israel Pretense” please click HERE)

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Beto 0’Rourke Attacks Israeli Prime Minister

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Speaking at Keene State College in New Hampshire on Wednesday, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he “openly sided with racists,” while characterizing Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, whose organization pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to Palestinian terrorists who murder Israelis, as “ineffectual.”

Questioned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, O’Rourke stated, “right now we don’t have the best negotiating partners on either side: we have a prime minister in Israel who has openly sided with racists — who, in a previous election, warned that the Arabs were coming to the polls — and on the Palestinian side, you have an ineffectual leader, in Mahmoud Abbas, who has not been very effective in bringing his side to the table either.”

When he was queried about accepting money from pro-Israeli lobbyists in his failed campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2018, O’Rourke stated, “If you’re asking if the contributions I accept connect to the policies I support, the answer is no. He asserted, “I believe in peace and dignity and full human rights for the Palestinian people and the Israeli people. The only way to achieve that … is a two-state solution.”

O’Rourke, while in Congress strongly supported the Iran nuclear deal that posed a existential threat to the state of Israel tweeting, “Although the Iran Deal is not perfection, it is a critical international effort to ensure Iran doesn’t acquire nuclear weapons. The United States of America should not be giving up on diplomacy.”

(Read more from “Beto 0’Rourke Attacks Israeli Prime Minister” HERE)

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Israel Launches Airstrikes on ‘Terror Sites in Gaza’ After Attack on Tel Aviv

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The Israeli military early Friday announced it had launched airstrikes on “terror sites in Gaza,” a retaliatory move after rockets blamed on the militant group Hamas were fired on Tel Aviv.

The strikes were occurring in Khan Younis, roughly 15 miles south of Gaza City, according to The Associated Press. There were no immediate reports of injuries. . .

The military later said they confirmed “the rockets fired from #Gaza at #TelAviv earlier tonight were launched by the Hamas terrorist organization.”

Israeli media initially reported that one of the rockets was intercepted by the country’s Iron Dome missile defense system. However, the IDF later said neither of the rockets was, adding that they landed in the sea or on open land.

People living in the area reported hearing an explosion in addition to the sirens. It was not clear what caused that explosion. No damage or casualties were reported. (Read more from “Israel Launches Airstrikes on ‘Terror Sites in Gaza’ After Attack on Tel Aviv” HERE)

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Rep. Tlaib Endorses Boycott of Israeli University

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When it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., endorses boycott of Israel at all costs — even disregarding over 7,000 Arab college students at an Israeli university.

The newly elected congresswoman was photographed this week endorsing a boycott against a prestigious university in Israel. But this is not simply another Israeli university. The school that Rep. Tlaib is attempting to isolate has the highest proportion of Arab students in the entire country.

The University of Haifa has the largest percentage of Arab students in Israel: 41.1 percent of the 18,000 students enrolled there are Arabs, according to a 2017 Israeli government study. Rep. Tlaib is targeting a student population that contains over 7,000 Arabs.

Tlaib, an ethnic Arab whose parents grew up in territories controlled by the U.K. and later Jordan, identifies as a Palestinian national. She has fully endorsed a total boycott of the State of Israel. She has referred to the country as an apartheid state, claiming that the country suppresses religious and ethnic minorities. However, Israel’s Arab population is thriving. The government study shows that Arab-Israeli enrollment in the university system continues to break all-time highs year after year, and the number of Arabs students attending universities in Israel has grown over 79 percent since 2010.

Rep. Tlaib’s obsession with the world’s lone Jewish state became clear on her first day in Congress, when her staff replaced Israel with “Palestine” on a map in her office.

Her boycott against Israel is hardly the only evidence of the Michigan congresswoman’s Islamic supremacist bigotry. She has frequently advocated for radical groups and individuals on the campaign trail and during her time in Congress.

Tlaib’s personal associations show a disturbing trend. She has been photographed with supporters of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations in Hamas and Hezbollah. Moreover, she regularly keynotes fundraising events held by the Hamas-tied Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). This weekend, she is scheduled to speak at a CAIR-Michigan fundraiser alongside a radical Imam who has described homosexuality as a “disease” and a “repugnant shameless sin” that should be punishable by death. (For more from the author of “Rep. Tlaib Endorses Boycott of Israeli University” please click HERE)

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Soros Money Used to Promote Movement Against Israel

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Money tied to George Soros, a liberal billionaire who uses his wealth to support a number of Democratic and progressive causes, funded the creation of a database that singles out business investment in Israel.

The EIRIS Foundation, a charity organization that focuses on investment research, received donations totaling nearly $300,000 from Soros’ Open Society Foundations to build a “Business in Occupied Lands” database, according to financial reports from the U.K. Charity Commission between 2015 to 2017.

The database is advertised as a way to help companies practice better corporate social responsibility, i.e., ethical business investing. However, the information from the database only focuses on two areas: Crimea and Israel, which the EIRIS Foundation simply refers to as “Palestine.” Despite claiming the Business in Occupied Lands project to be an “objective” collection of information on corporate operations in Israel, the EIRIS Foundation frames the region as “illegally administered.”

While a growing number of companies across the world are implementing corporate social responsibility into their business practices in an effort to promote justice, experts point out that more partisan-driven actors have weaponized corporate social responsibility to reach political goals. Namely, it has been used to boost the BDS movement, a global campaign that seeks the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” of Israel and Israeli-linked businesses.

“In addition to being promoted by groups affiliated with the BDS movement, elements of the Foreign Boycott Campaign have recently been adopted by [corporate social responsibility] advisors and companies that employ CSR programs. As a result, the Foreign Boycott Campaign represents the intersection of several strains of discrimination with CSR,” Marc Greedorfer writes in an upcoming law review article. (Read more from “Soros Money Used to Promote Movement Against Israel” HERE)

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Israeli Archaeologists Find 2,700-Year-Old Artifact That Backs Biblical Record

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By The Blaze. According to Reuters, archaeologists in Israel have discovered a 2,700-year-old seal impression that they say validates part of the biblical record.

According to the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the seal was excavated by Shimon Cohen and bears an inscription in ancient Hebrew that reads “belonging to the governor of the city.” The seal was unearthed near the plaza of the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Bible references governors of Jerusalem on multiple occasions in the Old Testament.

The seal is made of clay, and is about the size of a small coin and depicts two men facing each other. It measures 13 x 15 mm across its face and 2-3 mm thick. According to the Antiquities Authority, it was most likely originally attached to a shipment or sent as a souvenir.

According to the excavator, Dr. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, the seal “supports the Biblical rendering of the existence of a governor of the city in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.” (Read more from “Israeli Archaeologists Find 2,700-Year-Old Artifact That Backs Biblical Record” HERE)

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Israeli Archaeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Clay Seal That Once Belonged to a Biblical Governor of Jerusalem

By Daily Mail. Israeli archaeologists have unveiled a 2,700-year-old clay seal which once belonged to a biblical governor of Jerusalem.

The tiny object depicts two men in striped robes facing one-another above the inscription ‘lesar ha’air’ which in ancient Hebrew means ‘belonging to the governor of the city.’

Researchers an unsure of the exact purpose of the seal, but speculate it could have been attached to some kind of transport and served either as a logo or a souvenir for the recipient, likely a figure of importance. . .

Hebrew University Professor Tallay Ornan and Tel Aviv University Professor Benjamin Sass wrote of the seal: ‘The title “governor of the city” is known from the Bible and from extra-Biblical documents, and refers to an official appointed by the king.

‘Governors of Jerusalem are mentioned twice in the Bible: in 2 Kings, Joshua is the governor of the city in the days of Hezekiah, and in 2 Chronicles, Maaseiah is the governor of the city in the days of Josiah.’ (Read more from “Israeli Archaeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Clay Seal That Once Belonged to a Biblical Governor of Jerusalem” HERE)

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FAIL: Rashida Tlaib Calls for a Boycott of Israel, but Used Israeli Company to Build Her Campaign Website

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a leading advocate of the boycott, divest, and sanction movement against Israel (BDS), reportedly used an Israeli tech company to build her campaign website.

The British pro-Israel organization Israel Advocacy Movement first pointed out that Tlaib used the Israeli tech giant Wix to build her campaign website.

In a video, the founder of the Israel Advocacy Movement, Joseph Cohen, called Tlaib the “Palestinian Queen of BDS” and said she “has a website that was built and bought from Israel.” . . .

“These hollow threats of boycott are nothing but political stunts that could never be implemented,” Cohen added. “Could you imagine how many people would suffer because they were deprived of the medical breakthroughs and technological advances that come out of this small nation? It won’t bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s simply narcissistic self-gratifying virtue-signalling that makes the world a much more divided place.” . . .

“We congratulate Congresswoman Tlaib for her decision to use the best products she can find instead of discriminating against Israel in way that increases hostility, thereby making peace between Israelis and Palestinians more difficult to achieve,” Mark Mellman, the President of the Democratic Majority for Israel said in a statement. “We need to foster economic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians instead of encouraging boycotts. We hope Congresswoman Tlaib’s use of Israeli products indicates she has changed her mind on boycotting Israel.” (Read more from “FAIL: Rashida Tlaib Calls for a Boycott of Israel, but Used Israeli Company to Build Her Campaign Website” HERE)

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