ISRAEL WATCH: 11.28.20 - At a diplomatic crossroad, it's time for Israel to act

At a diplomatic crossroad, it's time for Israel to act – CarolineGlick - https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/11/20/at-a-diplomatic-crossroad-its-time-for-israel-to-act/ The events of the last several days demonstrate clearly where we are and where we are heading. It is critical that Israel take advantage of where we are to secure its interestsas it enters a new diplomatic reality in January Three diplomatic events transpired this week. Together they describe the crossroads before which Israel now stands following the US presidential elections. First, on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority announced it is renewing its security coordination with the IDF after suspending it six months ago. The PA also expressed willingnessto accept tax revenues that Israel collects on its behalf. The PA has refused to accept the tax revenues since June because, in accordance with Israeli law, the government announced that it would deduct the sums the PA pays monthly to terrorists from the taxrevenues it transfers. The PA's sudden willingness to renew security coordination and accept money from Israel is clearly intended as a gesture of goodwill towards presumptive president-electJoe Biden and his team. Over the past two weeks, the members of Biden's team have made it clear in open and closed forums that they intend to reinstate the Obama administration's Palestinian-centric Middle East policies immediately after taking office. Speaking of the Biden team's messaging, a Palestinian official explained earlier in the week, "We have received many positive messages from the Biden team in the past fewdays. We are looking forward to opening a new page with the Biden administration after the damage caused by the Trump administration." According to Israeli political sources, Biden's team intends to reinstate negotiations between Israel and the PLO on the basis of the long-mordant Oslo accords. The sourcesclaim Biden is even taking Oslo mediator Dennis Ross out of cold storage for that purpose. Ross's longtime deputy Aaron David Miller penned an op-ed in Canada's National Post this week where he argued that President Donald Trump has been bad for Israel andgood for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden, Miller insisted, would be good for Israel, (and by extension, bad for the democratically elected prime minister). Miller argued that Israel is better off when theUS places the Palestinians center stage and joins the Europeans in genuflecting before Iran and its nuclear weapons program under the guise of nuclear diplomacy. In 2013-14, Martin Indyk served as the head of then-Secretary of State John Kerry's negotiations team. Indyk pulled out all the stops to coerce Israel into transferringthe vast majority of Judea and Samaria to PLO control and to partitioning Jerusalem. He bitterly blamed Israel when his aggressive efforts came to naught. Now back in business, Indyk published an article last week on NBC's website setting out how Biden should go about reinstating Obama's Middle East policies. Indyk argued that to advance the cause of peace, Biden should pick on Israel. Biden, Indyk advised, needs to force Israel to accept the Kerry (Indyk) plan as a basis fornegotiations, ban all Israeli Jewish construction in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and force Israel to give land in Judea and Samaria to the PLO. Indyk called on the Arab states that have peaceful relations with Israel to reinstate the Palestinian veto – conditioning ties with them on Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. Indyk's advice is noteworthy in the context of the two other events that happened this week. First, Wednesday saw Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani arrive inIsrael for a first official visit by a Bahraini leader. During his meetings in Jerusalem, al-Zayani formally requested to open a Bahraini embassy in Israel and committed to further strengthening bilateral ties between Manama and Jerusalem. Along the same lines, last week, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed accepted President Reuven Rivlin's invitation to pay an official visit to Israel. Al-Zayani'svisit, like bin Zayed's announcement, indicates that Israel's partners in the Abraham Accords have no intention of following Indyk's advice and subordinating their national interests to the whims of the PLO's decrepit leadership. Indeed, they have positively had it with the Palestinians and their grievance-mongering. Last month, a UAE official referred to the PA and Hamas as "corrupt murderers,"and last Friday, Saudi writer Osama Yamani published an article in the regime-backed Ukaz newspaper rejecting the Palestinians' Islamic significance. Titled, Where is Al-Aqsa Mosque? Yamani's article insists that the Palestinian and Muslim Brotherhood claims regarding al-Aqsa, the place Islam's Prophet Muhammed alightedto in his nighttime flight to heaven, are false. The Palestinians and the Muslim Brotherhood say that al-Aqsa is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But in keeping with Saudi Wahabi belief, Yamani insisted that al-Aqsa is in Jarana, a village located 30 kilometers(18 miles) northeast of Mecca. Needless to say, if the Sunni Arab world outside the Brotherhood's orbit embraces the Wahabist view, Arab support for the Palestinian war against Israel will dry up regardlessof who sits in the White House. The third diplomatic event of the week was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's historic visit to a winery in Samaria. Psagot winery's award-winning wines have made it atop target for the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel. Ahead of Pompeo's visit, the first by a US secretary of state to an Israeli community in Judea and Samaria, the secretary of state met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem.Referring to BDS as a "cancer," Pompeo announced, "We will recognize the global BDS campaign as anti-Semitic." Pompeo visited the Psagot Winery because a year ago, its owner created a new blend called "Pompeo" in honor of the secretary of state following Pompeo's landmark decisionto renounce the State Department's longstanding position that Israeli communities beyond the 1949 armistice lines are inherently illegal. The Pompeo Doctrine determined that there is nothing inherently illegal about Israel's communities in the areas. Pompeo's visit wasn't merely a public relations victory for Israel and its long fight against those who reject its very right to exist, and al-Zayani's visit was no mereformality. Both visits, like bin Zayed's decision to come to Jerusalem and Yamani's article, are invitations for the Netanyahu government to make the best use possible of Trump's remaining time in office. While fighting his legal battles to against what appear to be gross acts of election fraud which may even have tipped the elections in Biden's favor, President Trump isalso working to anchor and solidify his achievements. Foreign affairs have figured prominently in these efforts. Trump's decision to fire his contrarian Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other key Pentagon officials and replacethem with professionals who share his strategic outlook has been seen mainly as a means for Trump to keep his 2016 pledge to draw down US forces from Afghanistan after 19 years. But it is possible that there will be other consequences to Trump's late change of Pentagon leadership, particularly in relation to Iran and its nuclear weapons program. This week, the New York Times reported that after the elections, Trump considered taking military action against Iran's nuclear installations but was convinced to standdown. It's impossible to assess the credibility of the report but it seems far-fetched that administration officials involved in such classified discussions would share their contents with a paper that has spent the past four years bashing Trump. What we do know from the past four years of Trump's leadership of US policy towards Iran is that although he is not at all eager to fight Iran directly, Trump won't tryto stop US allies from fighting Iran directly. Earlier this week it was reported that Israel is grudgingly presenting Biden's team with its positions ahead of their renewed nuclear courtship of Iran. As Netanyahu andhis advisers prepare for a Biden administration, it behooves them to take advantage of the current diplomatic and strategic state of play to minimize Iran's ability to develop a nuclear arsenal. With the Saudis and other Arab governments publicly warning Bidenand his associates not to re-enter nuclear talks with Tehran, it is a safe bet that Israel won't be alone in its efforts. As for the Palestinians, in his missive, Indyk wrote contemptuously, "Trump's 'deal' [for peace between Israel and the Palestinians] should be taken off the table when hedeparts the White House." Biden's team's efforts to date indicate they have share Indyk's view and fully intend to begin where Indyk, Kerry and Barack Obama left off four years ago. But, as Pompeo's visit to Psagot Winery makes clear, for now, Trump's "deal of the century" which supports Israeli sovereignty over the Israeli communities in Judea andSamaria and in the Jordan Valley is still very much on the table. The leaders of the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are calling for the government to use the next two months to normalize the status of Israel's younger communitiesin the areas. It certainly makes sense to follow their advice with all due haste. It is similarly important for the government to restore the decision-making power for planning and construction schemes in Judea, Samaria and unified Jerusalem to local planningboards. As part of the Obama administration's explicit efforts to demonize Jewish life in these areas, Obama coerced Netanyahu into agreeing that every new construction projectin them would require the prime minister's signature to move forward. That move, made under duress, should be abrogated immediately. More to the point, in the face of the open hostility, Biden's team is now expressing towards those property rights and towards Israel's sovereign rights in Judea and Samariamore generally, it would be eminently reasonable, and indeed a matter of great urgency, for the Netanyahu government to secure Trump's permission to apply our sovereignty to Israel's communities in Judea and Samaria and to the Jordan Valley in the frameworkof the Trump peace plan. A good target date for such a move would be Dec. 23 the fourth anniversary of the Obama administration's facilitation of the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2234,which libelously defined Israeli communities and neighborhoods in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation of international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace." The Abraham Accords have ushered in an era of comprehensive peace. The two-state solution, such as it is, can only be viable if Israel has secure borders and if the Palestiniansrecognize the Jewish people's national rights to our ancestral homeland, which includes unified Jerusalem, the communities in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley. And, as the Pompeo Doctrine made clear, the Israeli communities are not inherently illegal.Israel has sovereign rights to Judea and Samaria under international law. The events of the last several days demonstrate clearly where we are and where we are heading. It is critical that Israel take advantage of where we are to secure its interestsas it moves towards a new diplomatic reality in January. Iran Deal 2 Jim Fletcher - www.thegodthatanswers.com I'm counting on Sidney Powell and Rudy Guliani overturning the fraud election, for many reasons. A whole laundry list of things will be in peril if Biden/Harris� take power (even though we all know they won� be the ones pulling the strings). One of the biggest threats we all face is the prospect of Joe Biden appeasing his masters in Tehran by rejoining the diabolical Iran Nuclear Deal that was crafted by hisold boss, the Marxist Barack Obama. The deal of course (with the negotiating help of John Kerry) would allow the Iranians to keep working their nuclear program, and enable them to build nukes. That made it all the more odd that Benjamin Netanyahu would engage Biden just after the election, going so far as congratulating him, as if Biden is truly the president-elect.He is not. Yet Netanyahu is also a consummate politician, and was no doubt covering his bases. Of course if Trump remains in office, Israel can rest much easier. That Trump has unfollowed� Netanyahu on Twitter is an indication that some repair must be done to the relationship, and I don't blame Trump one bit. This week, according to the Jerusalem Post: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a clear message to President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday that he would push back against American efforts to rejoin the Iran deal. Do not return to the previous [Iran] nuclear deal, Netanyahu said at a memorial service for first prime minister David Ben-Gurion. We must keep to an uncompromising policyto ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. (Notice that even the JPost has joined the media bandwagon by declaring Biden the winner. The Supreme Court in a few weeks will have something to say about that.) Biden has claimed he will work to strengthen and extend it, while more effectively pushing back against Iran other destabilizing activities. An apparent choice for secretaryof state, Chris Coons, has also claimed they will work to ensure there are strict guidelines for the Iranians to adhere to. All that is poppycock. We are now seeing the mask being pulled of the hideous creature known as the Globalist Deep State, with even election payoffs swirling. It's now apparent that the Iraniannuclear deal, crafted with the help of American elected officials, involves payoffs. And Bibi knows who he is dealing with. He's known Biden for 40 years and knows he is a career grifter disloyal even to his own country. Israel would be thrown to the sharksfrom Day 1. Not surprisingly, Iran has already demanded to be paid for financial hits incurred after President Trump's sanctions hurt the regime badly. So Biden would sending planeloadsof cash again. All this is more indication that we cannot and must not put our hopes and faith in politicians. Only the Prince of Peace is worthy of our gaze and our pleas. And remember when you become fearful of the future,our future is glorious, because our King is coming. More than meets the eye in secretive meeting between America, Israel and Saudi Arabia- Israel Kasnett � https://www.jns.org/more-than-meets-the-eye-in-secretive-meeting-between-america-israel-and-saudi-arabia/ The private jet that took off from Israel on Sunday and banked south towards Saudi Arabia may have had some important passengers on board, but no one is talking about it.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad director Yossi Cohen reportedly met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman while U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was visiting the kingdom. Netanyahu was reluctant to admit his presence at the meeting,saying, �I never talked about these kinds of things, and I will not start now. I�m committed to strengthening Israel.� The visit by Netanyahu comes as Israel is ramping up ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Last week, Bahrain�s foreign minister made his first official visitto Israel, and Netanyahu is reportedly going to visit the UAE and Bahrain soon. Why the sudden flurry of activity, and why did the trip to Saudi Arabia need to be so secretive? Joshua Krasna, an expert on strategic and political developments in the Arab world at the Moshe Dayan Center, as well as a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute,told JNS that while the common denominator is the issue of stopping Iran�s path to nuclear weapons, other important issues remain at play here. �The issue here is mostly the United States,� he said. �Both Netanyahu and MBS were key�and high-profile allies of [U.S. PresidentDonald] Trump�and made it clear until very late in the game when they, not very convincingly, tried to adopt an air of �neutrality� that they preferred his re-election.� �They need to consult on how to jointly deal with an administration that will be less forgiving for Israel, and perhaps even hostile,for Saudi Arabia,� he said. With Iran the main concern of both countries, Krasna said MBS and Netanyahu �may need to revive and re-tool the joint, active anti-JCPOA political and information campaignfrom 2015 in the U.S. against the possibility of an Iranian and U.S. willingness to return to the agreement.� Krasna said Netanyahu �may have thought that he could rush the Saudi timeframe on formalizing relations, which doesn�t seem to have worked.� �Three countries coordinated regarding threats from Iran� Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, was slightly more cynical. He told JNS that Netanyahu is pressuring the Bahrainis andEmirates because he needs the photo op for any upcoming Israeli elections, of which there is currently speculation. On Facebook, Guzansky posted that the meeting between the three leaders �did not occur in a vacuum.� �For some time now, Riyadh has been preparing the ground in various ways for the possibility of normalizing its relations with Israel,and it is now considering possible prices and conditions, and the appropriate manner and timing,� he wrote. With regard to Iran, Guzansky said the meeting �sends a message that the three countries are coordinated regarding the threats from Iran and the possibility of heighteningthe measures against it in what remains of the Trump presidency.� According to Guzansky, Israel and the Gulf states fear that the United States under a Biden administration will work to reduce the sanctions pressure on Iran and even returnto the 2015 nuclear deal without taking into account their concerns, �and therefore, they seek to be involved in any possible U.S.-Iran negotiations.� In a recent meeting he had in the Gulf, Guzansky said senior officials there told him that �we need to be on the same page.� By appointing former Obama officials to key positions, Biden has seemingly made it clear he plans to return, at least to some extent, to the policies of the that administration. President-elect Joe Biden�s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has previously said that the administration would likely keep sanctions on Iran in place. However,it�s no secret Biden has been critical of Trump leaving the deal and will likely seek ways to eventually re-enter or re-negotiate it. Based on this, Guzansky believes MBS should take steps to prepare for a Biden administration and should wait before making any further gestures towards Israel with regardto normalization or even a surface partnership against Tehran. �If I were MBS, he said, �I would wait a few months until the next administration enters the White House.� �Israel wants to normalize with everyone,� he added. �We are not the question. The question is what price the Saudis will demand andwhat Biden will be willing to give. I am not sure Biden is willing to give as much as Trump did.� He noted the Saudis �enjoyed an intimate relationship with the Trump administration,� but pointed out that with an incoming Biden administration, �it will be a totally differentstory now.� �Wanted to deflect public attention� Clearly, the meeting initially was secret but was purposely leaked to send a message. Krasna pointed out that the outgoing administration, specifically Pompeo, may want to take action against Iran in the little time it has left. �Perhaps the visit was aimed at a more specific and concrete goal of consulting on the advisability of such an action [or receivingupdates],� he suggested. �In that case, the exposure of the meeting�s existence would make little sense.� Krasna noted that there is also a political aspect at play with regard to the alleged meeting, saying Netanyahu �wanted to deflect public attention� from Defense MinisterBenny Gantz�s announcement on Sunday that he is appointing a committee of inquiry into the submarine issue. Netanyahu is currently under investigation in Israel over three cases of possible bribery and corruption. A fourth case, known as Case 3000, involves allegations of a potentiallymassive bribery scheme around Israel�s purchase of submarines from German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp. Krasna said that by keeping the meeting secret, the prime minister may have wanted to portray himself as �a diplomatic high-roller while again leaving his partners/rivalsin the dark.� If Netanyahu does make the trip to Bahrain next week, it �makes sense with the opening of diplomatic relations and also serves the political agenda,� said Krasna, �especiallyif he didn�t get quite what he wanted from Saudi Arabia.� Rabbi: Prophecy Shows why President Trump will yet Prevail � By Rivkah Lambert Alder - https://www.israel365news.com/161322/rabbi-prophecy-shows-why-president-trump-will-yet-prevail/ �In that day, I will make the clans of Yehuda like a flaming brazier among sticks and like a flaming torch among sheaves. They shall devour all the besieging peoples right and left; and Yerushalayim shall continue on itssite, in Yerushalayim.� Zechariah 12:6 (The Israel BibleTM) It�s almost as if Rabbi Isser Z. Weisberg has been chosen to unlock Biblical codes related to President Trump, the End of Days and the arrival of Moshiach for our time. Over the past month, Weisberg has uploaded a seriesof nine short videos on these topics that have collectively garnered well over 100,000 views. In his most recent video, titled �Mazel Tov President Donald J Trump on your victory!� Weisberg offers yet another argument for President Trump returning to the White House for a second term, based on Biblical prophecy. According to Weisberg, President Trump still �needs to publicly acknowledge that the entire Land of Israel and the entire Jerusalem was given to the Jewish people. It is not enough that the US Embassy was moved to the westernpart of the city.� Weisberg reports that even former President Obama, who wanted to give control on the Temple Mount to the Muslims, was �okay with Jews retaining the western part of the city because it is actually not even part of BiblicalJerusalem. �Gog, from the land of Magog, wants to take the real Jerusalem and the holiest site in the world � the Temple Mount � away from the Jews. He wants the Jews to be happy with Mt. Herzl,� Weisberg asserts. Mount Herzl, whichcontains Israel�s national cemetery, is located in Western Jerusalem. A PROPHETIC HINT ABOUT JERUSALEM AND TRUMP�S FUTURE At this point in the recorded talk, Weisberg turns his attention to chapter 12 of the Book of Zechariah, which discusses the aftermath of the war of God and Magog. He focuses listeners� attention on the end of verse 6, specifically on the idea that Jerusalem will remain on its site in Jerusalem. In that day, I will make the clans of Yehuda like a flaming brazier among sticks and like a flaming torch among sheaves. They shall devour all the besieging peoples right and left; and Yerushalayim shall continue on its site,in Yerushalayim. Zechariah 12:6 Weisberg asks, �What is he [the prophet Zechariah] talking about? What does it mean it�s going to remain on its site? Is it flying away that God promises that He�s going to hold it in place? �What the prophet is obviously referring to is the nefarious plan, cooked up by the inventor of modern-day terrorism, Arafat yemach shemo (a Hebrew curse meaning �May his name be erased�) and his progressive enablers, includingObama, to move Jerusalem of the Jews away from its actual site.� Weaving Biblical prophecy with current events, Weisberg asserts that this is the most important job left to President Trump to complete. �Trump needs to once and for all bury the ridiculous notion that the fictitious Palestinianpeople, who are simply Arab Muslims from the Middle East, no different from the ones living in Jordan, Syria or Lebanon, are entitled to their own state and that the Jews need to donate it to them from their tiny country.� A second presidency for Trump will give him time to accomplish this goal, ensuring that Biblical Jerusalem remains in the hands of the Jews. Weisberg also addresses the necessity for President Trump to �completely obliterate� the nuclear capability of Iran. WILL TRUMP BE THE LAST US PRESIDENT? In the balance of the 17-minute video, Weisberg responds to the question of why it�s not feasible for President Trump to simply return to office in four years to complete these tasks. He presents a series of calculations,based on the Bible and rabbinic sources, that all point to the same conclusion � that Moshiach (messiah) is expected to arrive before the next US presidential election. According to this view, whoever assumes the presidency in January, 2021 may well be the last US president in history. VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM