Obama secretly pledges to PA a Divived Jerusalem.Will press Israel into new so-called land-for-peace talks.

Related: What Ali Abunimah, a Chicago-based anti-Israel extremist, wrote about his last conversation with Obama in early 2004, as the latter was in the midst of a primary campaign for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Abunimah wrote that Obama warmly greeted him and then added: "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I'm hoping when things calm down I can be more up front." More: referring to Abunimah's attacks on Israel in the Chicago Tribune and elsewhere, Obama encouraged him with "Keep up the good work!"

Obama secretly pledges to PA a Divived Jerusalem.Will press Israel into new so-called land-for-peace talks.(KleinOnLine).By Aaron Klein.TEL AVIV – Now that he has secured his second term, President Barack Obama has already secretly pledged to the Palestinians he will press Israel into a new round of so-called land-for-peace negotiations, a top Palestinian Authority negotiator told KleinOnline.
The negotiator said top members of the Obama administration told the Palestinians the U.S. president will renew talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state in the so-called 1967 borders – meaning in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and, notably, eastern Jerusalem.
The negotiator further revealed when it comes to dividing Jerusalem, Obama wants to rehash what is known as the Clinton parameters.
That formula, pushed by Bill Clinton during the Camp David talks in 2000, called for Jewish areas of Jerusalem to remain Israeli while the Palestinians will get sovereignty over neighborhoods that are largely Arab.
Just before November’s presidential election, a senior PA negotiator claimed to KleinOnline if Obama secures another four years in office, he will use his second term to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main party to blame for the collapse of Mideast peace talks.
The negotiator further claimed Obama quietly pledged to the Palestinians a campaign at the United Nations to renew U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for a Palestinian state in the “1967 borders.”
The negotiator further said Obama had promised the PA that the establishment of a Palestinian state will be one of the main priorities for a second term. “We were told that the negotiations for a Palestinian state will be a main goal for Obama,” said the negotiator. “Netanyahu will be declared the main person responsible for the collapse of the peace process.”Hmmm...."Israel doesn't know What Its Best Interests Are"Read the full story here.

Related: Democratic platform advocates talking to Hamas, a 'Palestinian' 'right of return' to 'Israel proper,' 1949 armistice lines and a capital where?

A picture from 1998 shows Obama listening reverentially to anti-Israel theorist Edward Said. Obama sat idly by as speakers at an event in 2003 celebrating Rashid Khalidi, a former PLO public relations operative, accused Israel of waging a terrorist campaign against Palestinians and compared "Zionist settlers on the West Bank" to Osama bin Laden. 

"Hitler is in the Eye of the Beholder?" - Leading News Agencies Comparing Netanyahu to Hitler?

"Hitler is in the Eye of the Beholder?" - Leading News Agencies Comparing Netanyahu to Hitler?(INN).A disturbing thing happened in the course of Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations General Assembly Thursday. The world's two largest news agencies, Associated Press and Reuters, both selected photos of the same moment in Netanyahu's speech to send to their subscribers worldwide.
That moment was one in which Netanyahu raised his left hand, his arm straight, in a position that immediately calls to mind Adolf Hitler giving a Nazi salute in the course of a speech.
Netanyahu was not saluting, of course. Rather, he was saying this:
"Recently, I was deeply moved when I visited Technion, one of our technological institutes in Haifa, and I saw a man paralyzed from the waist down climb up a flight of stairs, quite easily, with the aid of an Israeli invention."
The arm gesture illustrated the story of the man climbing the stairs.
The average consumer of news would have a hard time realizing that AP and Reuters had done something wrong. The news agencies sell their reports and photos to newspapers, websites and television stations, which are the ones who pass the materials on to the end consumer. The agencies essentially serve as reporters-for-hire, for news outlets that rely on them to cover the events in a purely professional manner. Therefore, it takes a journalist to fully recognize the apparently base and manipulative nature of what the agencies did.The Weekly Standard noticed, and featured the story under the headline "Shock Photos of Netanyahu at U.N. from AP, Reuters."
The Daily Caller went a step further and contacted the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Abe Foxman.
“I can’t believe it, if it in fact happened,” Foxman told The Daily Caller. “I think it is ugly, disgusting, offensive."
Arutz Sheva has contacted the Prime Minister's Office and asked for a reaction, but has not yet received one.Hmmmm........."Hitler is in the Eye of the Beholder?"Read the full story here.

Israeli PM cancels early election after surprise coalition with Kadima

Israeli PM cancels early election after surprise coalition with Kadima.(AA).In a surprise maneuver, Israel’s parliament postponed plans to vote for an early national election on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forged a deal for a broader coalition with the centrist Kadima party, officials said. “We have been rescued from holding an early election. There will be a broad-based government,” Meir Sheetrit, a senior lawmaker and former finance minister with Kadima said on Israel Radio, according to Reuters. The agreement, expected to be signed later on Tuesday, is destined to give Netanyahu the support of as many as 94 lawmakers in Israel’s 120-member parliament and help his government survive without calling an early poll. News of the deal negotiated secretly, called off a marathon debate being held in Israel’s parliament that had been expected to culminate in a vote to dissolve itself after Netanyahu called last week for an early election to be held on Sept. 4. After hours of deliberation, the Knesset announced early on Tuesday it would not hold a final vote for dissolution. The Knesset also said in a statement that as the plenum was preparing to vote, Netanyahu’s Likud party and the opposition Kadima party had “urgently met ... to discuss significant political developments, apparently talks for a national unity government.” Under the deal, Shaul Mofaz, a former military chief now head of Kadima after a party election ousted Tzipi Livni from that job in March, will be named vice premier in Netanyahu’s government, officials said. Details of the agreement were still to be finalized, AFP reported. But according to reports, they included an understanding that Kadima would back Netanyahu in return for changes to a contentious law that allows ultra-Orthodox Jews to defer their military service. Members of Kadima would also take up key positions including on the Knesset's foreign affairs, defense and economic affairs committees. The deal also involves a commitment to restart the peace process with the Palestinians and an agreement on the next state budget. Kadima, with 28 seats, would add significant weight to Netanyahu’s government and expectations are that if the alliance survives, Netanyahu could remain in power through the end of his term in late 2013. Netanyahu’s coalition with religious and ultra-right parties had been shaken by disputes over legislation exempting devoutly Orthodox Jews from military service, and next year's budget. Zehava Galon, leader of the leftwing Meretz party, denounced the deal as a cynical political maneuver while Labor party chief Shelly Yachimovich slammed the “pact of cowards.” “This is the most ridiculous zigzag in the history of Israeli politics,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “With this final burial of Kadima, we have received a rare and important opportunity to lead the opposition, and will do so with energy and faith.”Read the full story here, more here @ IsraelMatzav.

One Leader Who Will be Re-elected: Israel Goes to Elections‏.

One Leader Who Will be Re-elected: Israel Goes to Elections‏.(DocsTalk)By Barry Rubin.Israel is apparently going to have elections this autumn and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will almost certainly win by a big margin. Understanding why explains a lot about the country that people think they know the most about but in fact comprehend the least.

According to polls, Netanyahu’s Likud party may go from 28 to 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset. That may not sound like a big percentage but with around 12 different parties likely to win seats that margin would be sufficient.

One key element in this equation is that the country is doing pretty well. True, it faces serious security problems but that’s the norm for Israel. Indeed, with no other trusted leader on the horizon, Netanyahu is the one most trusted to manage that dangerous situation.

rue, too, there has been increasing attention paid to social problems, including the gap between low salaries and high living costs that provoked protests earlier this year. That the protests have dissipated and Israel’s economy is doing better—including low unemployment, low inflation, and manageable state debt--than any other in the West, partly due to the same economic problems that impose those social costs.

A third factor is the total fractionalization of the opposition. Indeed, one might speak of Netanyahu and the seven dwarfs. Aside from Kadima there are three other mid-sized parties that take votes from the same potential constituency and quarrel among themselves:

--Kadima, the main opposition party which is vaguely centrist, is so discredited by its former, failed leader Tzipi Livni that it will not be saved by its new head, the militarily competent but colorless Shaul Mofaz, from falling as far as losing 20 of its current 29 seats.

--Labor, which has reinvented itself as a social issues party has an untested leader who is a radio personality, might come in a distant second.

--A new centrist party—named, perhaps in wishful thinking for itself—There is a Future—pushes the same secular centrism that has repeatedly produced one-election parties before.

--Israel Our Home, headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, has a solid base among immigrants from the former Soviet Union but by that very fact—and given the fact that Lieberman is widely disliked and close to indictment—should hold but not expand its base.

It is ironic to think that the Obama Administration, whose ignorance of Israel and its politics cannot possibly be overestimated, thought it was going to bring down Netanyahu and replace him with a more pliable Livni. In fact, by its periodic bashing of Israel and ham-handed Middle East policy promoting Israel-hating Islamists, Obama unintentionally mobilized domestic support for Netanyahu.

Speaking about myths about Israel and Israeli politics here are some of the main ones:

--Netanyahu is no longer a “right-winger” in the way he was 15 years ago. He has moved into the center, a key factor explaining his success.

--Israelis do not believe they have a peace option at present, with the Palestinians uninterested in a deal and Egypt, Iran, Turkey, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria in an all-out hostile mode.

--There is no faith in U.S backing given the Obama Administration’s views and actions.

--Israeli are neither stupid—giving away everything, as the foreign right often seems to think—or evil, as the foreign left definitely does think.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His book, Israel: An Introduction, has just been published by Yale University Press. Other recent books include The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center and of his blog, Rubin Reports. His original articles are published at PJMedia.

Former Shin Bet chief :"Netanyahu, Barak not fit to stand at Israel helm."

Former Shin Bet chief :"Netanyahu, Barak not fit to stand at Israel helm."(YNet).Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin on Friday leveled harsh criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying "I have not trust in the current Israeli leadership." Speaking at a conference in central Israel, Diskin said: "I don't trust a leadership that relies on messianic leadership. Our two messiahs from Caesarea and from the Akirov Towers are not fit to stand at the helm of the government."
"Believe me, I have observed them from up close... They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off. These are not people who I would want to have holding the wheel in such an event," Diskin said.
The former Shin bet chief slammed the Netanyahu and Barak over the Iranian nuclear program, saying that they "present the public with a mirage. "If Israel acts against the Iranian nuclear bomb, the attack will encourage the Iranians to produce a bomb even faster," he noted.Diskin also noted that peace with Jordan and Egypt was made by leaders who actually wanted peace: "Netanyahu knows that if he makes a small gesture toward the Palestinians, his coalition will fall apart. "If we don’t come to our senses soon," he warned, "When (Palestinian President) Abbas steps down in a year or two, we might be in a worse-off situation."Commenting on internal tensions in the Israeli society, Diskin cautioned that the "phenomenon of Rabin's murder might repeat itself. "There are dozens of Jews in the territories and in Israel that are willing to use firearms against other Jews. "Some of those living in Judea and Samaria don’t believe in change," he said in reference to the ongoing tension between settlers and security forces.Read the full story here.

Text of Netanyahu’s Holocaust Remembrance Day speech.

                                                   photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90

Text of Netanyahu’s Holocaust Remembrance Day speech.(TimesOfIsrael).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at Yad Vashem on Wednesday, April 18, Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Official Prime Minister’s Office translation from the Hebrew.) Yesterday morning, I visited an old-age home for Holocaust survivors. There, I met Idit Yapo, an amazing woman of 104, clear and lucid. I dit fled Germany shortly after Hitler gained power, in 1934. I met 89-year-old Esther Nadiv, one of Mendele’s twins. She was reading a book, Golda Meir’s biography, and she told me, with a glint in her eye, she said: “I am so proud, so very proud to be a part of the State of Israel which is in constant development.” I met Hanoch Mandelbaum, an 89-year-old survivor of Bergen-Belsen. Shortly after he came to Israel, as a young carpenter, he helped construct the desk upon which Ben Gurion signed the Declaration of Independence. That is MiSho’a liTkuma – from holocaust to resurrection. And I met Elisheva Lehman, an 88 year-old Holocaust survivor from Holland, who was a music teacher. I asked Elisheva if she would play something for us and she did. She enthusiastically played “Am Yisrael Chai” and we all sung together. It was quite emotional. Ladies and Gentlemen, Am Yisrael Chai [The nation of Israel lives] Our enemies tried to bury the Jewish future, but it was reborn in the land of our forefathers. Here, we built a foundation for a new beginning of freedom, hope, and creation. Year after year, decade after decade, we built the foundations of our country, and we will continue to yearly strengthen the pillars of our national life.
On this day, when our entire nation gathers together to remember the horrors of the Holocaust and the six million Jews who were murdered, we must fulfill our most sacred obligation. This obligation is not merely an obligation to remember the past. It is an obligation to learn its lessons, and, most importantly, to apply them to the present in order to secure the future of our people. We must remember the past and secure the future by applying the lessons of the past. This is especially true for this generation – a generation that once again is faced with calls to annihilate the Jewish State.
One day, I hope that the State of Israel will enjoy peace with all the countries and all the peoples in our region. One day, I hope that we will read about these calls to destroy the Jews only in history books and not in daily newspapers. But that day has not yet come. Today, the regime in Iran openly calls and determinedly works for our destruction. And it is feverishly working to develop atomic weapons to achieve that goal. I know that there are those who do not like when I speak such uncomfortable truths. They prefer that we not speak of a nuclear Iran as an existential threat. They say that such language, even if true, only sows fear and panic. 
I ask, have these people lost all faith in the people of Israel? Do they think that this nation, which has overcome every danger, lacks the strength to confront this new threat? Did the State of Israel not triumph over existential threats when it was far less powerful than it is today? Did its leaders have any qualms about saying the truth?
David Ben Gurion told the people of Israel the truth about the existential dangers they faced in 1948 when five Arab armies tried to snuff Israel out in its cradle. Levi Eshkol told the people of Israel the truth in 1967 when a noose was being placed around Israel’s neck and we stood alone to face our fate. And when they heard these truths, did the people of Israel panic or did they unite to thwart the dangers? Were we paralyzed with fear or did we do what was necessary to protect ourselves. I believe in the people of Israel – and this belief is based on our experiences. I believe that the people of Israel can handle the truth. And I believe that they we have the capability to defeat those who seek to harm us. Those who dismiss Iran’s threats as exaggerated or as mere idle posturing have learned nothing from the Holocaust. But we should not be surprised. There have always been those among us who prefer to mock those who tell uncomfortable truths than squarely face the truth themselves. That is how Zev Jabotinsky was received when he warned the Jews of Poland of the looming Holocaust. This is what he said in 1938, in Warsaw: “It is already THREE years that I am calling upon you, Polish Jewry, who are the crown of World Jewry. I continue to warn you incessantly that a catastrophe is coming closer. I became grey and old in these years, my heart bleeds, that you, dear brother and sisters, do not see the volcano which will soon begin to spit its all-consuming lava… I see that you are not seeing this because you are immersed and sunk in your daily worries… Listen to me in this twelfth hour: In the name of G-d! Let anyone of you save himself, as long as there is still time, and time there is very little.” But the leading Jewish intellectuals of the day ridiculed Jabotinsky, and rather than heed his warning, they attacked him. This is what Sholem Asch, one of our nation’s greatest writers, said about him: “What Jabotinsky is now doing in Poland is going too far. His statement is detrimental to Zionism and to the vital interests of our people… It is disgraceful that these are leaders of a nation.”
I know there are also those who believe that the unique evil of the Holocaust should never be invoked in discussing other threats facing the Jewish people. To do so, they argue, is to belittle the Holocaust and to offend its victims. I totally disagree. On the contrary. To cower from speaking the uncomfortable truth – that today like then, there are those who want to destroy millions of Jewish people – that is to belittle the Holocaust, that is to offend its victims and that is to ignore the lessons.
Not only does the Prime Minister of Israel have the right, when speaking of these existential dangers, to invoke the memory of a third of our nation which was annihilated. It is his duty. There is a memorable scene in Claude Lanzmann’s documentary Shoah that explains this obligation more than anything. In the harsh existence in the Warsaw Ghetto, Leon Feiner of the Bund and Menachem Kirschenbaum of the General Zionists met with Jan Karski from the Polish World War II Resistance Movement. Jan Karski was a decent, sensitive man, and they begged him to appeal to the conscience of the world against the Nazi crimes. They described what was happening, they showed him, but to no avail. They said: “Help us. We have no country of our own, we have no government, and we even have no voice among the nations” They were right. Seventy years ago the Jewish people did not have the national capacity to summon the nations, nor the military might to defend itself. But today things are different. Today we have an army. We have the ability, the duty and the determination to defend ourselves. As Prime Minister of Israel, I will never shy from speaking the truth before the world, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem to some.
I speak the truth at the United Nations; I speak the truth in Washington DC, the capital of our great friend, the United States, and in other important capitals; And I speak the truth here in Jerusalem, on the grounds of Yad VaShem which are saturated with remembrance. I will continue to speak the truth to the world, but first and foremost I must speak it to my own people. I know that my people is strong enough to hear the truth. The truth is that a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat of the State of Israel. The truth is that a nuclear-armed Iran is an political threat to other countries throughout the region and a grave threat to the world peace. The truth is that Iran must be stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons. It is the duty of the whole world, but above and beyond, it is OUR duty.
The memory of the Holocaust goes beyond holding memorial services; it is not merely a historical recollection. The memory of the Holocaust obligates us to apply the lessons of the past to ensure the basis of our future. We will never bury our heads in the sand. Am Yisrael Chai, veNetzach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker [The Nation of Israel Lives, and the Eternal one of Israel does not Lie].Source.