Sanders and Bloomberg boost hopes for Netanyahu election win

[Published 27 February 2020]

Democratic Party contenders for the American Presidency — Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg — have unwittingly given Israel’s Prime Minister — Bibi Netanyahu — an unexpected boost to becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister on March 2.

During a nationally-televised Democratic Party Presidential contenders’ debate, Sanders made this inflammatory claim:

“I am very proud of being Jewish. I actually lived in Israel for some months. But what I happen to believe is that, right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country.”

This “reactionary racist” just happens to be Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister — victorious after six election campaigns conducted in fully democratic and openly transparent elections. Sanders’ comment doesn’t say much for his opinion of the majority of Israelis whose votes have kept Netanyahu there.

Bloomberg was motivated to chime in with his take on Israel:

“Well, the battle has been going on for a long time in the Middle East, whether it’s the Arabs versus the Persians, the Shias versus the Sunnis, the Jews in Israel and the Palestinians, it’s only gone on for 40 or 50 years.

Number one, you can’t move the embassy back. We should not have done it without getting something from the Israeli government. But it was done, and you’re going to have to leave it there.

Number two, only solution here is a two-state solution. The Palestinians have to be accommodated…”

The conflict between Jews and Arabs in former Palestine has been going on for 100 years — not 40 or 50 years. Brainwashed by Arab propaganda — Bloomberg had erased the origins of the conflict which began with the San Remo conference and Treaty of Sevres in 1920 and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

Bloomberg - in mentioning the need for a two-state solution - was apparently ignorant of the fact that the Palestinian Arabs had been allocated 78% of Palestine in 1922 - which subsequently became a sovereign state renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946 — today called Jordan.

For someone aspiring to be America’s next President Bloomberg displayed an appalling lack of knowledge about this long running and unresolved conflict.

Had President Trump obtained a quid pro quo from Israel for moving America’s Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem he would have risked impeachment by the Trump-hating Democrats. The Embassy was moved because American embassies are always located in the capitols of each country.

One major policy difference between Netanyahu and Gantz makes this Israeli election an especially historic and momentous one:

Netanyahu is offering — if re-elected and with Trump’s approval — to immediately extend sovereignty into the Jewish People’s heartland — Judea and Samaria — after a 3000 years absence

Netanyahu’s chief rival – Benny Gantz will not do so until the Arab States and the international community agree.

Sanders and Bloomberg’s disparaging anti-Zionist rants could prove to be the catalysts needed to see the Jewish People turning this 3000 year dream into a living reality.

Sander’s and Bloomberg’s comments could galvanize tens of thousands of angry Israelis - who don’t usually vote out of sheer apathy — into voting for Netanyahu.

Voter turnout at Israel’s last election in September 2019 was a disappointing 69.83% — only slightly higher than the 68.46% in the February 2019 elections — given the huge incentive to vote to break the unprecedented February deadlock.

Latest polls indicate Netanyahu has now moved ahead of Gantz for the first time.

Sanders and Bloomberg have ensured Netanyahu’s late momentum continues — which could indeed see Israel finally ending the political stalemate that has marked the previous two deadlocked elections.


Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Voter apathy threatens reunion of Judea and Samaria with Israel

[Published 23 February 2020]

Crunch time has come for approximately 6.5 million Jews and Arabs to vote on Israel regaining immediate sovereignty in parts of the Jewish People’s biblical and ancient heartland in Judea and Samaria - 3000 years after its loss.

Voter apathy could possibly see this historic opportunity being lost because of these existing political realities:

1. Current Prime Minister and determined proponent for claiming immediate sovereignty in Judea and Samaria – Bibi Netanyahu – could lose voter support as corruption charges against him have been fixed to commence just fifteen days after the March 2 elections

2. Netanyahu’s challenger as Israel’s next Prime Minister — Benny Gantz — wants to maintain the current status quo in Judea and Samaria pending agreement in tandem with Israel’s Arab neighbours and possibly in co-ordination with the international community — which could mean never.

3. These upcoming elections will be the third held in the last 12 months since two earlier elections in April and September 2019 — which resulted in deadlocks that prevented either Netanyahu or Gantz being able to acquire the 61 seats required to form government.

4. Voter turnout at the April 2019 election was only 68.46% and only slightly higher in September 2019 at 69.83%

5. Support for the major Arab political parties has risen from 7.82% in April 2019 to 10.6% in September 2019

6. Gantz has refused to have any televised debates with Netanyahu.

7. Gantz is now facing a probe by the Attorney General into the affairs of a bankrupt company — The Fifth Dimension — of which Gantz himself was Chairman

Voters might be tempted to throw up their hands in despair at this seeming turmoil in Israel’s political system and simply not turn up to vote — thereby possibly denying the fulfilment of a dream that was reborn 100 years ago at the San Remo Conference in April 1920 and sealed with the Treaty of Sevres in August 1920 — culminating with the League of Nations unanimously creating the Mandate for Palestine in July 1922 recognizing the Jewish People’s right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Palestine.

100 years later the Jewish National Home exists — but sovereignty in its ancient and biblical heartland — Judea and Samaria — does not.

President Trump’s Peace Plan released on January 28, 2020 recognizes Israeli sovereignty being extended into parts of Judea and Samaria whilst recognizing the creation of a 22nd Arab State in the residue for the first time in recorded history.

Rejection of Trump’s Plan by the Arab League on February 1 has led to the formation of a joint American-Israel Mapping Committee which is expected to produce a map in two months designating the areas of Judea and Samaria where Israeli sovereignty can be extended immediately.

Gantz has not embraced Trump’s Plan with the same enthusiasm as Netanyahu — choosing to maintain the existing status quo in Judea and Samaria for an indefinite period of time.

Had Gantz and Netanyahu agreed — voter apathy would not have mattered. Both major political parties would have been locked in to immediately implementing sovereignty in Judea and Samaria with America’s approval. Lack of unanimity demands condemnation by Jews worldwide.

The portents for another low voter turnout have been signalled by the announcement that only 66% of eligible Israeli diplomats, members of official delegations and their families abroad have voted — a decline from the 69.5% turnout in the September 2019 election.

Hopefully the historic significance of these elections will generate a much larger local turnout of at least 75-80%. The future of the Jewish People’s heartland deserves this level of minimum participation from those Jews and Arabs blessed to have been chosen to make this momentous decision.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.

Netanyahu goes into Judea and Samaria where Gantz fears to tread

[Published 19 February 2020]

The formation of a joint America-Israel committee to map out the areas of Judea and Samaria within which Israel’s sovereignty will be recognized by America has presented Israeli voters with a real choice between the policies of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz at upcoming March 2 elections.

Addressing Likud Party supporters at a campaign launch event in Jerusalem on January 21, Netanyahu promised to “impose Israeli sovereignty on the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea” and to all Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria “without exception.” Netanyahu’s proposal to take such unilateral action was tempered with the release of President Trump’s deal of the century on January 28 containing the following conceptual map indicating those areas of Judea and Samaria where America would recognize Israel’s claim to sovereignty:

America’s Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, warned Netanyahu against precipitately undertaking his own sovereignty plan — explaining there was a waiting period before sovereignty could be extended:

“The waiting period would be the time it takes for them to obtain internal approvals and to obviously create the documentation, the calibration, the mapping, that would enable us to evaluate it, makes sure it’s consistent with the conceptual map. If they wish to apply Israeli law to those areas allocated to Israel, we will recognize it"

Both Israel and America probably would have prepared their own maps already. Jared Kushner - chief architect of the Trump plan — has virtually confirmed this — saying it will take only “a couple of months” for the Committee to complete its work. Marrying the two maps to achieve this truly historic outcome is that close.

Ambassador Friedman heads the three-man American delegation now sitting down with the three-man Israeli delegation on the Mapping Committee.

Gantz has been powerless to stop the formation and work of the Mapping Committee. Indeed Gantz urged Trump to release his peace plan before the elections. Gantz has not even requested that one of his nominees be part of the Israeli delegation on the Mapping Committee.

In ignoring the Mapping Committee, Gantz is signalling the continuation of his policy opposing Israel extending its sovereignty into Judea and Samaria with America’s approval.

Gantz has made his own policy very clear:

“After the elections, we will work to apply [Israeli] sovereignty on the Jordan Valley. We will do this in a nationally agreed process and in coordination with the international community.”

Believing the international community would ever agree to Israel extending its sovereignty into any part of Judea and Samaria — without swaps of existing Israeli sovereign territory — is totally unrealistic. The international community has been fixated for decades on seeing another Arab State created in the entirety of Judea and Samaria — or in an area of the same size including land currently part of Israel.

Gantz — in limiting sovereignty to just the Jordan Valley — is dashing the hopes of an estimated Jewish population of 464,353 in 131 settlements seeking unification with Israel.

Israeli voters now have a clear choice to end the political deadlock that has followed two indecisive elections held in the past twelve months:

1. Is it Netanyahu — promising the restoration of sovereignty in parts of the heartland of the Jewish people’s historic and biblical homeland for the first time in 3000 years?
OR
2. Is it Gantz — promising more of the same in Judea and Samaria that has been going on for the last 53 years?

A third deadlocked election result now seems increasingly unlikely.

The choice is stark and the direction Israel will take for generations to come is at stake.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” - one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.

Trump moves to end 3000 years wait by the Jewish People

[Published 11 February 2020]

President Trump’s deal of the century (Deal) to end the 100 years old conflict between Arabs and Jews in former Palestine has seemingly hit a brick wall — following a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the 22 member countries of the Arab League on 1 February.

Their communique declared:

“The Arab League rejects the deal as it does not satisfy the minimum rights and ambitions of the Palestinians and violates international law and United Nations resolutions,”

Those minimum rights and ambitions have been spelled out for the last 46 years by their sole recognized spokesman — the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the creation of an independent Arab State for the first time in recorded history on all the land lost by Jordan and Egypt to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War and having its capital in East Jerusalem.

Trump apparently thought he had broken through the Arab League’s long-standing support for these non-negotiable demands as three Arab ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates stood beside him with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when releasing his Deal on January 28.

The optics were good — but that vision was lost just four days later.

Trump appeared to have miscalculated the strength of Arab League opposition to his Deal. However that rejection has given Trump the opportunity to immediately proceed to complete that part of the Deal promised to Israel — the extension of Israeli sovereignty in parts of Judea and Samaria (West Bank).

That possibility had first been raised by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman — on June 8, 2019 when he indicated Israel had a right to annex at least some, but “unlikely all” of the West Bank.

Friedman then added:

“We really don’t have a view until we understand how much, on what terms, why does it make sense, why is it good for Israel, why is it good for the region, why does it not create more problems than it solves. These are all things that we’d want to understand, and I don’t want to prejudge.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cleared the way for Friedman’s scenario to happen on November 18, 2019:

“The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law”

Pompeo stressed that this decision was:

“based on the unique facts, history, and circumstances presented by the establishment of civilian settlements in the West Bank.”

Pompeo however added a warning caveat:

”…we are not addressing or prejudging the ultimate status of the West Bank.This is for the Israelis and the Palestinians to negotiate.”

Outright rejection by the PLO and the Arab League of Trump’s Deal has removed Pompeo’s caveat

Friedman — not unsurprisingly tweeted on February 9:

”.. the application of Israeli law to the territory which the Plan provides to be part of Israel is subject to the completion of a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee.”

The PLO and the Arab League had committed political suicide in rebuffing Trump – ensuring that part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) will soon come under Israeli sovereignty whilst the Arabs correspondingly miss out. Another golden opportunity to end the Jewish-Arab conflict has been lost by continuing Arab intransigency.

Trump’s strategy will see new boundaries being determined for Israel incorporating part of the Jewish People’s biblical, historic and ancestral heartland in Judea and Samaria.

The area will be small in size but massively significant for the psyche of the Jewish People — who have been waiting for this day to arrive for 3,000 years.

President Trump is bringing that very long wait to an end.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” - one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Trump Plan to end Jewish-Arab conflict sees PLO implode

[Published 5 February 2020]


The PLO will maintain its long-standing rejectionist policy of not recognising Israel as the Jewish State after Abbas panned the Trump plan in the following denigrating and unequivocal terms:

“They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not,” Abbas told the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers.

“Trump asked that I speak to him over the phone, so I said ‘no’, and that he wants to send me a letter, so I refused to receive it.”

Holding up a map that shows the gradual geographic reduction of Palestine through four stages from pre-1948 to Trump’s Middle East plan, Abbas said: “I challenge any of you, if you can even see us on the map. If you ask a child in first grade to draw Trump’s map he will never know how to.”

“This is a disgrace,” he added.

Abbas also said that he will cut security ties with both Israel and the US: “We’ve informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States, including security ties,” he said.

Abbas has lost the plot.

The map Abbas held up (pictured below) - was false and misleading — comprising only 23% - not 100% of Historic Palestine

Abbas’s map excluded Transjordan — 77% of the land in the League of Nations 1922 Mandate for Palestine. Transjordan was closed to Jews to reconstitute the Jewish National Home there under article 25 of the Mandate — reserving this 77% of Palestine for the Arab residents of Palestine.

Transjordan remained part of the Mandate until it was granted independence by Great Britain in 1946.

A textbook containing a similar map was trashed by Publisher McGraw Hill in 2016.

The following map accurately records these historical facts:

Jordan and Israel are the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine — currently exercising sovereignty in 95% of former Palestine. Sovereignty in the remaining 5% — Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza — remains undetermined.

The PLO refusal to negotiate with Israel on the Trump plan will have the following results:

1. No second Arab state — in addition to Jordan — will be created in former Palestine

2. US$50 billion in development aid will not be required to build and develop that new State

3. Gaza and the West Bank will remain politically divided

Jordan should now replace the PLO in negotiations with Israel on Trump’s plan because:

1. Jordan was the last sovereign Arab state to occupy the West Bank between 1948 and 1967 when the PLO expressly rejected any claim to sovereignty.

2. Jordan conferred Jordanian citizenship on the Arab residents of the West Bank between 1950 and 1988

3. The 1994 Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty will ensure good-faith — not confrontational - negotiations

The areas designated for A Future State of Palestine in the Trump Plan (pictured below) now become possible areas for transfer to Jordanian sovereignty in negotiations with Israel.

Successful Israel-Jordan negotiations would be a real game changer — holding out great prospects that the long-running Jewish-Arab conflict could finally be achieved.

Failure by Jordan to negotiate with Israel could see Israel extend its sovereignty to all of Area C in the West Bank.

President Trump needs to phone King Abdullah of Jordan and persuade him to embrace Trump’s “deal of the century”.

The PLO has blown its chance to do so.