BIDEN WATCH: 6.26.21 - New government, new threats

New government, new threats – Caroline Glick - https://www.jns.org/opinion/new-government-new-threats/ The day after Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett formed their government, Biden administration officials threw a diplomatic grenade at them. Last Monday, administration officialstold reporters “unofficially” that U.S. President Joe Biden intends to appoint Hady Amr, his Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and the Palestinians, to serve as U.S. Consul General to the Palestinians—in Jerusalem. To deploy Amr to Israel’s capital as consul, the administration will first need to open a consulate in Jerusalem. In accordance with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1996, theTrump administration closed the consulate and turned the building into the Ambassador’s Residence following the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in 2019. And under the Vienna Convention, the United States must ask Israel to permit the opening of theconsulate and accredit the head of mission. The administration’s decision to deploy Amr to Jerusalem as ambassador-in-everything-but-name to a hostile, non-Israeli entity is a double assault on Israel. First, it sendsthe clear message that the Biden administration supports the division of Israel’s capital. Second, by sending Amr specifically to Jerusalem, the administration is making clear that it intends to legitimize and work with Hamas. The administration’s now all-but-declared positions on Jerusalem and Hamas in turn strengthen Iran’s position in Palestinian society. They also legitimize the until-nowunthinkable scenario in which the United States supports a Hamas takeover of Judea and Samaria. The administration’s deep-seated animosity toward Israeli sovereignty over unified Jerusalem makes clear as well just how hostile its positions are in relationto Israel’s strategic requirements and national rights to Judea and Samaria. Although Palestinian Authority chairman and Fatah and PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas initiated the latest round of war last month, he did not benefit politically or militarilyfrom the onslaught against Israel. Hamas did. An opinion poll published last Tuesday by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 77 percent of Palestinians believe Hamas won thelatest round of war. If elections were held today, Abbas would be wiped out, receiving a mere 27 percent of the vote, while Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh would win the leadership with 59 percent of the vote. The only Fatah leader more popular that Haniyehis convicted mass murderer Marwan Barghouti, the architect of the 2000-2004 Palestinian terror war. Barghouti is in prison, serving multiple consecutive life sentences for his direct command of murderous Fatah terror cells. It is true that the Israel Defense Forces wiped out much of Hamas’s military machine in last month’s mini-war. But even in relation to Israel, Hamas emerged stronger fromthe last round of fighting than it was before it began its offensive. Israeli Arab imams aligned with Hamas through the Israeli Islamic movement incited pogroms against Israeli Jews throughout the country. Their actions demonstrated Hamas’s long arm of influencein Israel’s Arab community. Events surrounding last week’s flag march in Jerusalem made clear Hamas’s strengthened position. Hamas threatened to reinstate its assaults on Israel if the government allowedIsraeli citizens to parade through the capital carrying Israeli flags. Rather than ignore the warnings, the security establishment, the media and political leaders treated them like strategic threats. For days, Hamas’s threats dominated the discourse at alllevels of the ruling class. The obsessive concern over the threats showed that despite the operational damage Israel caused to Hamas’s military infrastructure, Hamas today is deterring Israel, at least publicly, far more than Israel is deterring Hamas. All of this brings us to the new government. Although Naftali Bennett is prime minister, the real power in the government is Foreign Minister and Prime Minister-designateYair Lapid. Lapid controls 75 percent of the coalition to Bennett’s 20 percent. The last five percent of the 61-seat coalition is controlled by Mansour Abbas, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned Islamist Ra’am Party. In the ceremony at the Foreign Ministry marking Lapid’s entry into office, Israel’s effective leader laid out his priorities. His top three goals are to rebuild Israel’sties with the Democrat Party, with the progressive U.S. Jewish establishment and with the European Union. With regard to Iran, ignoring Republican opposition, Lapid said the U.S. return to the 2015 nuclear agreement was a done deal. Lapid said that Israel’s job is to preparefor the inevitable. The 2015 agreement provides Iran with an open path to a nuclear arsenal and enriches it through sanctions relief while placing certain restrictions on its nuclear activities for a limited period of time. As for the Palestinians, despite the fact that the Palestinians have refused to negotiate with Israel for the past 13 years, and that in the meantime Israel made peace withfour Arab states and formed an operational alliance with the Sunni Gulf states and Egypt against Iran, Lapid described the Palestinians and their conflict with Israel as the central axis around which all other regional issues rotate. What happens between thePalestinians and Israel, he said, will “define, to a large extent, all the other arenas.” Lapid’s priorities dictate his policies. The tensions in Israel’s relations with the Democrats, the progressive American Jewish establishment and the European Union werenever about personalities. They are and always have been about positions. Relations with all three became acrimonious because the Democrats, progressive Jews and the European Union embrace policiesthe nuclear deal and Palestinian statehood—that most Israelisconsider dangerous to the state’s survival. The only way for Lapid to mend Israel’s relations with these groups is to adopt their dangerous policy preferences. Although Israel has the power to reject a U.S. request to open a consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, and certainly has the power to reject pro-Hamas Amr as consul,Lapid’s desire to appease the Democrats will prevent him from doing either. As for Iran, while Lapid told the Foreign Ministry officials who attended his inaugural speech, “Israel will prevent in every way necessary the possibility that Iran willattain nuclear weapons,” this commitment cannot be aligned with Lapid’s top three priorities. Haaretz reporter Jonathan Lis wrote last week that in all likelihood, to advance the goals he set for himself, Lapid will seek to implement the diplomatic vision he laidout in a 2018 speech. In that speech, Lapid made the same claim that the Palestinians are the axis around which all other regional issues rotate. In keeping with this view, he called for Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians to receive U.S. supporton Iran. In his words, “I believe that a breakthrough on the Iranian issue depends on the Palestinian issue. We need to work to advance a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinians,only as part of a regional discussion.” He went on, “Can we separate the Iranian problem from the Palestinian problem? Without progress vis a vis the Palestinians, can we enlist the [support of] the Saudi public,the U.S. Congress, American Jewry, the European Union and the money from the Gulf states? Netanyahu says we can. I tell you we can’t. Most security officials say we can’t.” Lapid’s speech didn’t age well. In the months that followed he pronouncement, then President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem and moved the embassy to Israel’s capital.Trump left the nuclear deal and implemented his maximum pressure campaign against the ayatollahs. The Gulf States formalized their operational alliance with Israel through the Abraham Accords. The United States recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights,acknowledged the legality of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and accepted Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria in the Trump peace plan. In his speech last week, Lapid made clear that none of these events made the slightest impression on him. The path he intends to embark upon is based on ignoring the significanceof everything that has been achieved. This brings us to the opposition, which while controlling only 53 seats in the Knesset, represents the wishes of the majority of voters, who elected 65 right-wing politiciansto represent them. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his colleagues must base their platform for bringing down the Lapid government on a recognition of reality. Hamas’s clear influenceover Israeli Arabs brings home the fact that a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem would foment Israel’s destruction. If the Hamas state in Gaza can foment anti-Semitic pogroms throughout Israel, a Hamas state in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem,along with Gaza, will represent a threat to the country that no government will be able to successfully surmount. The opposition’s platform must begin then with a full rejection of Palestinian statehood. Instead, Netanyahu and his colleagues should adopt Bennett’s 2013 plan to applyIsraeli law throughout all of Area C of Judea and Samaria. Flowing from that, and from the Biden administration’s effective embrace of Hamas through Amr, the opposition must oppose completely the establishment of a U.S. consulateanywhere within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries. It must oppose all freezes in recognition of Jewish property rights in unified Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu’s meeting last week with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Christians United with Israel leader Pastor John Hagee was widely attackedby the anti-Netanyahu media. But it was a critical move. In his speech, Lapid effectively threw both Republicans and evangelicals under the bus. It is the duty of the opposition to maintain and strengthen Israel’s ties to both groups through frequent meetingsand exchanges. Lapid’s idea of linking U.S. policy toward Iran with the Palestinians flies in the face of a generation of strenuous efforts by successive Israeli governments to avoid linkageat all costs. Israel opposed linkage historically because it makes no sense. As the Abraham Accords and the Arab Spring before them made clear, regional affairs have nothing to do with the Palestinians and pretending they are linked is a recipe for strategicfailure on all levels. Today, given the Biden administration’s single-minded focus on realigning U.S. policy towards Iran and away from Israel and the Sunni Arab states, Lapid’s position is indefensible.There is no nuclear deal the administration will offer Iran that will protect Israel’s strategic interests even partially. The new government both faces and invites new challenges and threats from Hamas, from Iran and from Washington. If he follows through on them, Lapid’s diplomatic policieswill guarantee that his government will fail to meet them. Under the circumstances, the duty of the political opposition is to present a clear alternative approach and use the tools at its disposal to advance it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRS describing good as evil - Bill Wilson � www.dailyjot.com Let�s say that you are an active Christian and God has called you to educate and inform other Christians. Let�s say that someone described you by saying �you educate believerson national issues that are central to their belief in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. Specifically, you educate Christians on what the bible says in areas where they can be instrumental including the areas of sanctity of life, the definition of marriage,biblical justice, freedom of speech, defense, and borders and immigration, US and Israel relations.� Wouldn�t that be a wonderful complement or recognition of your work? Most of us would say that if you conducted yourself that way, it would be a great exampleto all. But not the IRS. Stephen A Martin is Director of IRS�s Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements and the aforementioned is quoting the very words he wrote in his letter denying ChristiansEngaged their 501(c)(3) designation. Now, I�m not a fan of such designations by the government because the Constitution�s First Amendment prohibits government intervention in the free exercise of religion, so why give the government a nose under the tent,so to speak? But think about what Mr. Martin wrote. He described what most reasonable people would agree are good things to know about the Bible and how they apply to our lives today and good citizenship, but he did so in denying an organization�s legitimacyas a mission. In other words, Martin spoke evil of good. He characterized these very wonderful traits as political. Moreover, he depicted them as affiliated with the Republican Party and candidates, which disqualified ChristiansEngaged from 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. This appears to be an admission, at least by a director at the IRS, that such promotion of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, biblical justice (God�s laws served as the basis for US civil law), freedom ofspeech, national defense, and border security were all detrimental to society. Yet, the IRS designates 501(c)(3) organizations that support nontraditional marriage, abortion, illegal immigration, limits on freedom of speech, dismantling law enforcement andother positions that are even against the US Constitution. There is good. And there is evil. Those things that Martin insinuates as evil are good. They are good for society and good for the country. They should be taught to everyonewho will listen. Yet, for some reason Martin and the IRS appear to be against what is good. Isaiah 5:20 says, �Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!� In writing his opinion against Christians Engaged, Martin implied good was evil. If his views in this letter are representative of the Biden Administration, which appears to be following in the very same footsteps as the Obama Administration, people who wishto do good for the country will be harassed by the IRS, and the government shall have the appearance of supporting evil over good. Say it with me�Stupidocrisy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just type the words IRS, Christian, and Bible in your search engine and you'll get a flood of results, most of them startingwith headlines like this: "IRS denies Christian nonprofit tax exemption, saying biblical values are Republican." Or this, "IRS denies tax-exempt status to Christian nonprofit group because 'Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the Republican Party.'" Naturally, there has been outrage among Christian conservatives over this ruling, pointing to this as yet another exampleof the IRS's anti-Christian, anti-conservative bias. That's also why most of the commentary has focused on the egregious ruling itself, which is being appealed. Yet, in the midst of this very wrong ruling, the IRS made a very right observation: by and large, the Republican Party ismore aligned with biblical teaching than is the Democratic Party. Of course, neither major party is fully aligned with God and His Word. And, without a doubt, the world of politics cannotbe confused with the purity of the spiritual realm and the kingdom of God. We can also debate which party's policies are closest to biblical values when it comes to helping the poor or the immigrant. That's why, on principle, even though I have voted for Republican candidates for years while not voting for a single Democrat,I am registered as an Independent. It's just my way of saying that I cannot align myself fully with any political party. At the same time, when it comes to important biblical values, in the great majority of cases, the Republican Platform ismore aligned with Scripture than is the Democratic Platform, to the point of getting the backhanded recognition of the IRS. IRS Denied Tax-Exempt Status to Christians Engaged As for the organization involved in this ruling, it is called Christians Engaged, and its stated purpose is: to awaken, motivate, educate, and empower ordinary believers in Jesus Christ to: PRAY for our nation and elected officials regularly. VOTE in every election to impact our culture. ENGAGE our hearts in some form of POLITICAL EDUCATION OR ACTIVISM for the furtherance of our nation. Yet when they applied for tax-exempt status, they were rejected. In the words of the official IRS ruling (I'm quoting the most relevant section): Specifically, you educate Christians on what the Bible says in areas where they can be instrumental including the areas ofsanctity of life, the definition of marriage, biblical justice, freedom of speech, defense, and borders and immigration, U.S. and Israel relations. The Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican Party] and candidates. This disqualifies youfrom exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Again, the mocking headlines were well deserved, including this one, from Redstate: "The IRS Says if You Believe in God andthe Bible, You Are Working for the GOP." Tax-Exempt Organizations Don't Have to be Neutral on Public Policy That's why, for good reason, the ruling is being appealed by First Liberty Institute, which has argued that the IRS ruling"errs in three ways: 1) [it] invents a nonexistent requirement that exempt organizations be neutral on public policy issues; 2) [it] incorrectly concludes that Christians Engaged primarily serves private, nonexempt purposes rather than public, exempt purposesbecause he thinks its beliefs overlap with the Republican Party's policy positions; and 3) [it] violates the First Amendment's Free Speech, and Free Exercise, and Establishment clauses by engaging in both viewpoint discrimination and religious discrimination." Yet in the midst of the pushback against the IRS, many have missed the biting irony of the words of the ruling where biblicalteaching is associated with the Republican Party. In large measure, the IRS got this exactly right. As noted in Redstate, "The Bible, yes, IRS, the word is capitalized, is not neutral on the sanctity of life. It is not neutralon homosexuality. It is not neutral on marriage. It is not neutral on justice." The Democratic Party Has Been Growing Spiritually Darker Let's remember that the Democrats positioned themselves as the party of the Religious Nones (meaning, people with no religiousaffiliation). And it is the Democrats who have become increasingly radical in their pro-abortion zeal. And the Democrats who are pushing the Equality Act, which guts religious liberties in favor of LGBT extremism. As I noted in September 2019, "There is no question about it. There is not even a desire to hide it. The Democrat Party continuesto grow spiritually darker to the point of actually proclaiming itself the party of the religiously non-affiliated. Is it any surprise?" Or, as I pointed out in August 2020 (with regard to the Biden-Sanders "Unity Plan"), "God is never mentioned in the document.Not once." In contrast, "the word gender occurs 22 times. "More importantly, 'transgender' occurs twice, and in very specific contexts: 'we will act expeditiously to reinstate Departmentof Education guidance protecting transgender students' rights under Title IX and make clear that schools shall not discriminate based on LGBTQ status.'" In sum, while "'religion' is mentioned once, 'Christian' and 'Jew' and 'God' are not mentioned at all, but 'LGBTQ' is mentioned17 times. Need I say more?" And what of the rising, virtually unchecked tide of anti-Zionism and antisemitism within the Democratic Party? The More Biblically Aligned Party For good reason the IRS pointed to what "the Bible says" with regard to "U.S. and Israel relations." Here, too, the RepublicanParty stands much closer to Scripture than does the Democratic Party. So, while the IRS ruled quite wrongly in denying Christians Engaged tax-exempt status, it ironically got one thing right:if you teach the Bible accurately, by and large, you'll end up siding with the Republicans rather than the Democrats. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM