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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

05/17 Links Pt1: Haley: ‘I Believe the Western Wall Is Part of Israel’; Boteach: We Do Not Forget -- President Trump Promised Jerusalem;

From Ian:

PMW: "To war that will smash the oppressor and destroy the Zionist's soul"
Once again, a young child recites poem calling for war on PA TV kids' program
A poem which encourages Palestinians to go to "war" and "destroy the Zionist's soul" has again been recited by a child on official PA TV, this time on the children's program The Best Home. When the boy finished the poem, the studio audience stood and cheered while the host congratulated him:
Boy: "I am a Palestinian, my name is Palestinian
I've etched my name on all the town squares...

Saladin (i.e., Muslim conqueror of Jerusalem), calls to me from the depths of my heart
All my Arabness calls me to vengeance and liberation...
Thousands of prisoners and thousands who are jailed
call to this great nation and call to the millions
They say: To Jerusalem, the [first] direction of prayer in the faith [Islam]
To war that will smash the oppression and destroy the Zionist's soul
and raise the banner in the world's sky.
Palestinian, Palestinian, Palestinian. "

Official PA TV host: "Bravo."

[Official PA TV, The Best Home, March 17, 2017]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented four other children reciting this poem on PA TV in recent years.
Boy recites poem on PA TV children’s program: “To war that will … destroy the Zionist's soul”


Bereaved Israeli Families Urge Trump to Pressure Palestinian Authority to End Payments to Terrorists
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Jewish state next week, hundreds of family members of Israeli terror victims have signed a letter to the American leader that urges him to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop giving money to terrorists and their families, the Hebrew news site nrg reported on Tuesday.
Before peace talks can be renewed, the letter said, the Palestinians “must demonstrate good faith and show that they are truly willing to change their ways by stopping incitement and halting all payments to terrorists who murdered Israelis.”
Furthermore, the letter’s signatories asked for a meeting with Trump during his time in Israel.
“We are the voice of the terror victims and bereaved families in Israel, and unfortunately, our number and pain are great,” the letter said.
Last week, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called on the Security Council to “act immediately” to halt the flow of money from the PA to jailed terrorists.
Arab Bank settlement over Israel attacks may hit snag in US appeals court
A settlement between Arab Bank Plc and Americans who accused it of facilitating militant attacks in Israel is in jeopardy after US judges said they may not have jurisdiction over an appeal that would determine how much the bank should pay.
Judges of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York raised the jurisdiction issue during an oral argument on Tuesday.
Jordan-based Arab Bank is appealing a September 2014 jury verdict in a Brooklyn federal court finding it liable for facilitating two dozen attacks linked to Hamas by handling financial transactions.
Following the verdict, Arab Bank reached a settlement covering 527 plaintiffs. Under the deal, the bank would appeal the verdict, and the amount it would pay was left subject to whether or not the appeal was successful, lawyers for both the bank and the plaintiffs said during Tuesday's arguments.
Arab Bank said in January 2016 it had accumulated $1 billion in provisions for the case that would cover "expected obligations" under the settlement.
But 2nd Circuit Judge Lewis Kaplan said he was concerned that the court did not have the authority to decide an appeal of the merits of the jury's verdict merely to help the parties determine a settlement payment.
"We don't sit here to provide opinions to fit into some settlement agreement that the parties have," he said.
UN Watch Gala Dinner '17 Israel Video




Trump can set big things in motion on his Mideast trip: It's an opportunity to begin to correct our flawed foreign policy
But to make real progress, Trump needs to augment his unique his "art of the deal" expertise in three ways.
He should work to bring in the process powerful regional actors, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, so they can sharpen the choices and opportunities facing the parties.
With Palestinians, he should pick up a theme George W. Bush championed 15 years ago as a requirement of U.S. partnership and then dropped in the tumult of the Gulf War — an insistence on internal reform, on everything from fighting corruption to stamping out incitement to ending the odious practice of paying terrorists and their families.
And to underscore the path of hard decisions that await real peacemakers, Trump should also firm up understandings on settlement activity with Israel, so there is a visible commitment to limit construction to land inside the security barrier, not deep in the heart of what is likely to be Palestinian-ruled territory.
Countering jihadism. Pushing back on Iran. Preventing ISIS' resurrection after its coming defeat in Iraq and Syria. Injecting real content into a renewed push for Mideast peace. Securing Israel's rightful place in the region. That is a big agenda. You could even call it "huge." And even with all the distractions and missteps on the domestic front, it's doable, too.
Friedman: Palestinians drop settlement freeze as precondition for talks
The United States has not asked for a settlement freeze and the Palestinians have dropped that demand as a precondition for talks with Israel, America’s new Ambassador David Friedman told the Hebrew daily Yisrael HaYom.
“We have no demands for a settlement freeze and [Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas] Abu Mazen wants to meet [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu without any preconditions,” Friedman said in an interview published on Wednesday.
He spoke in advance of US President Donald Trump’s May 22-23 visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
During his trip, Trump won’t unveil a specific “diplomatic plan” or a “road map,” Friedman said.
"The President has clarified that to start with, he wants to see the parties sitting together and talking without preconditions, with the hope that this will lead to peace,” Friedman added.
“The US won’t dictate how you should live together, that is someone you will have to decide on our own,” stated Washington's new envoy to Israel.
Jerusalem mayor Move US embassy, regardless of possible violence
The US embassy should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite warnings that such a move would spark violence in Israel and the West Bank, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said on Wednesday.
“For violence to occur there could be any reason or no reason and if we, God forbid, because of fear of violence wouldn't do the right things there would never be Israel, there would never be a reunited city,” Barkat said at a meeting with journalists at City Hall.
“So I don’t think any one of us should be concerned about the potential threat of violence,” Barkat continued, “If somebody wants to create violence in this region we will fight them and win.”
The mayor’s statements came as President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Jerusalem next Monday. Palestinian and Jordanian leaders have warned the US that moving the embassy could spark violence in Israel, the West Bank and throughout the greater Middle East.
Prominent US figures press Trump to move embassy to Jerusalem
Days before U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Israel, prominent right-wing Americans are calling on him to fulfill his campaign promise to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Evangelical pastor John Hagee compared Trump's current situation -- having to decide whether to move the embassy despite strong opposition at home and abroad -- to then-President Harry Truman's historic decision in 1948 to recognize Israel as a state, despite bitter opposition from Secretary of State George Marshall.
In a letter to the editor of the conservative Washington Times, Hagee wrote that Trump will soon have to face a similar historic decision, because in a few more weeks he will have to decide whether to postpone the embassy's transfer to Jerusalem by at least half a year more.
"Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump promised to move the embassy. This promise was vital to securing the support of millions of Christian Zionists around the country," Hagee wrote.
"Like Truman, Mr. Trump must contend with well-entrenched anti-Israel bureaucrats at the State Department who will try to use their positions to make moving the embassy difficult. But the buck does not stop with bureaucrats."
Report: Trump ‘Delegation Members’ Who Made Western Wall Anti-Israel Comments Exposed as Career Officers Who Served During Obama Admin
For the past twenty-four hours, the Israeli news media have been hyping a story that a senior member of the American delegation prepping President Donald Trump’s trip to Israel sniped at his Israeli counterpart that the Western Wall – Judaism’s holiest site – is “not your territory”; it’s “part of the West Bank.”
The rampant television, radio, newspaper, and Internet news reports framed the official as being associated with Trump’s delegation as if the individual were a member of the administration who came to Israel to help prepare for next week’s presidential visit.
Tuesday, Israel’s Channel 2 identified the individual allegedly involved in the confrontation as David Berns, the political counselor at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem.
According to the television report, Berns was joined by embassy economic adviser Jonathan Shrier, who also was allegedly involved in the episode.
Berns is a career officer at the State Department who has been working at the U.S. Consulate since August 2015. In other words, he received his position there during the Obama administration. According to his LinkedIn profile, Berns served from January 2002 until present as a foreign service officer with the State Department.
Shrier is also a career officer, who arrived at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv in August 2015 – during the Obama administration – as the counselor for Economic Affairs.
On Jerusalem, as on Much Else, It’s Trump vs. ‘Deep State’
President Donald Trump promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, but a recent diplomatic spat showed why it has been so hard for him to do so.
On Monday, the Times of Israel reported that talks between U.S. and Israeli officials coordinating Trump’s upcoming visit to the Western Wall — the holiest site in Judaism — stumbled when a “senior American official” said that the area was not within Israeli control and was part of the West Bank.
That is the official position of President Barack Obama’s administration, and of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, Obama’s parting shot against the Jewish state.
It is not clear who, exactly, the “senior American official” was, but Israel’s Ha’aretz identified the culpable parties as “diplomats stationed at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.” The consulate is located in eastern Jerusalem and has long been regarded as more sympathetic to the Palestinians.
(Update: The name of the official has since been reported as David Berns, a career bureaucrat at State.)
The Trump administration disavowed that official’s view. But generally, it is difficult to overstate the degree to which the career bureaucracy disapproves of moving the U.S. embassy — and not just in the State Department. There are various reasons given, from possible prejudice to peace talks with the Palestinians, to repercussions in U.S. relations with Arab and Muslim countries.
 Ahead of Trump Israel Visit, Jordan, Egypt and Palestinians Declare Eastern Jerusalem ‘Capital of Palestine’
Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority declared eastern Jerusalem as the “capital of Palestine” ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel next week.
“Everyone is convinced that the president of the United States wants to act effectively for peace,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday at a press conference in Amman, alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri and chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat.
“The three of us felt a genuine commitment by Trump to resolve the conflict,” said Safadi.
In addition to conveying optimism regarding the Trump administration’s renewed peace push, the three Arab diplomats pressed for a two-state solution involving an independent Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 lines, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital, insisting it is the only solution for an enduring peace.
The Arab officials also insisted the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root of all tension in the Middle East, and that a two-state solution would remedy regional conflicts and promote stability.
Temple Mount Geography Confounds New York Times
A New York Times news article about preparations for President Donald Trump’s visit to Jerusalem included this sentence about the Western Wall: “The wall lies underneath the Al Aqsa Mosque, or Temple Mount, which is one of the holiest sites in Islam.”
This is inaccurate in at least two ways.
First, it gets the basic physical/spatial geography of the site wrong. The Western Wall is not “underneath the Al Aqsa Mosque.” Any aerial photograph of the city will confirm that, as would a visit there. The mosque hugs the southern end of the Temple Mount, while the Western Wall is a western retaining wall. There’s some considerable distance between the westernmost wall of the mosque and the top of the Western Wall.
Second, the reference to “the Al Aqsa Mosque, or Temple Mount.” The Al Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount are two different things. Muslims call the Temple Mount the Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary, which may have been what the Times was trying to say.
It’s not the first time, by any means, that the Times has stumbled in describing the site. A 2015 Times article about the Temple Mount generated both an editor’s note and a correction, as did another Times article on the topic later the same year.
Haley: ‘I Believe the Western Wall Is Part of Israel’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that the Western Wall is part of Israel, something other Trump administration officials would not unequivocally state the same day.
In an interview with The Brody File on CBN News, Haley said she didn't know what the administration's official policy was on the matter but offered her opinion.
"I don’t know what the policy of the administration is, but I believe the Western Wall is part of Israel, and I think that that's how we’ve always seen it and that’s how we should pursue it," Haley said. "I'm not real sure what happened with that issue, but I know they're trying to fix that … We’ve always thought that the Western Wall was part of Israel."
The debate over whether the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, is part of Israel has boiled over this week. Ahead of President Trump's upcoming visit to the Jewish state, a U.S. diplomat reportedly angered Israelis by saying the site was part of the occupied West Bank and thus not under legitimate Israeli jurisdiction.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster declined twice to answer if he thought the Western Wall was in Israel on Tuesday. Asked why McMaster wouldn't answer the question, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said it was "clearly in Jerusalem," which is Israel's capital, but he didn't state Jerusalem was in Israel.
McMaster on Western Wall: 'Sounds Like That's a Policy Decision'
National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster declined to answer whether President Donald Trump considered the Western Wall in Jerusalem part of Israel. “That sounds like a policy decision,” he said, laughing.
McMaster told reporters in the White House Briefing Room that the president hoped to use his upcoming trip to Israel, the Vatican, and Saudi Arabia to highlight the unity of the world’s three great monotheistic religions against common threats like terrorism.
On Monday, reports emerged of a spat between U.S. diplomats at the consulate in Jerusalem and their Israeli counterparts over the arrangements for President Trump’s personal visit to the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism.
The Western Wall is in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, and abuts the Muslim Quarter. The Old City is the site of Israel’s ancient capital, and was home to Jews for millennia before 1948, when the Jordanian army expelled Jews from the city and destroyed the Jewish Quarter. Israel conquered the Old City in a defensive war in 1967 and reunified Jerusalem.
Shmuley Boteach: We Do Not Forget -- President Trump Promised Jerusalem
There is no better time than President Trump’s upcoming visit to Jerusalem to declare that, a he promised during the campaign, he will move the U.S. embassy to Israel’s eternal capital. Doing so will help him domestically by demonstrating that he is indeed a man of his word. It will help him internationally by showing that he cannot be intimidated by threats. It will advance his interest in peace by sending a message to the Palestinians that he stands by Israel and will not capitulate to their demands or force Israel to do so. Showing his commitment to Jerusalem will also restore the confidence of the people of Israel that the United States has their back. Finally, standing up for American values and correcting a historical wrong will be a part of his presidential legacy, which will earn him the gratitude of the Jewish people and the respect of all Americans.
Last month, on Holocaust Memorial Day, President Trump spoke movingly about the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Second World War. He praised genocide’s foremost witness, Elie Wiesel, as “a great man” whose “absence leaves an empty space in our hearts, but his spirit fills this room.”
This Sunday, at the World Values Network gala, Professor Wiesel’s son, Elisha, will be reciting the very last Kaddish — the Jewish prayer for the dead — for his father. Immediately after that, I will leave for Israel.
We Jews do not forget. We have mourned the destruction of Jerusalem for thousands of years. President Trump has a unique opportunity to turn that mourning into the joy of celebration when he, too, arrives in Israel. He can, at a unique moment in history, move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and confirm its permanence as Israel’s capital.
It is an opportunity he must not decline.
Trump Inauguration Rabbi Slams Administration’s Jerusalem Confusion, But Confident President Will Recognize City as Israel’s Capital During Visit
A prominent American rabbi who took part in President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January expressed sharp disappointment on Tuesday with the White House’s ongoing reluctance to clarify its position on Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem — but also stated he was confident the president himself would rectify the matter once he arrives in the Jewish state next Monday.
Rabbi Marvin Hier — the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) in Los Angeles — told The Algemeiner on Tuesday he believed that Trump, during his upcoming trip, would end the speculation over American policy regarding Jerusalem.
“Trump is not going to let it stand that the Kotel (Western Wall) is going to be under the sovereignty of another nation, or that it’ll be ‘internationalized,’ as the Vatican would like,” Hier said. “Those are unworkable suggestions that are never going to be agreed upon by the State of Israel. Trump has made it clear on so many occasions that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, so it would be quite a reversal for him to state differently on this occasion.”
Sudan leader Bashir, indicted for genocide, to attend summit with Trump
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with war crimes and genocide, will attend the same summit in Saudi Arabia as US President Donald Trump, Khartoum’s top diplomat said Wednesday.
“I can confirm President Bashir will go … to Saudi Arabia,” Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters in Geneva. “We look forward (to) normalization of our relations with the US.”
The Saudi-hosted summit of Arab and Muslim leaders is expected to include top level talks on Sunday.
Trump is scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, from Saturday on his first foreign trip since taking office in January.
Asked if Bashir expected to shake hands with the US president, Ghandour said it was impossible to predict, but added that “a handshake doesn’t mean a lot if relations are not (good).”
PreOccupiedTerritory: Saudis Invite Bashir To Trump Meeting After No Answer From Hitler, Pol Pot (satire)
Royal authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have extended an invitation to genocidal dictator of Sudan Omar Bashir to attend an event hosting American President Donald Trump next week, after earlier overtures to former German Führer Adolph Hitler and Cambodian leader Pol Pot went unanswered.
A spokesman for the Ibn Saud government told reporters that King Suleiman had intended to bring the most genocidal autocrat in the world to mark the occasion, and put out diplomatic feelers regarding the availability of several noted perpetrators of mass murder and ethnic cleansing policies. However, despite the list of potential invitees, in the end the country had to settle for a brute who had overseen merely tens of thousands of murders, instead of the millions they had hoped.
“Of course the roster of mass-murdering dictators we can invite is extensive,” explained Prince Essess. “But not every genocidal potentate is fit to be invited to the presence of His Highness. [Syrian President Basher] Assad might be presiding over the starvation and murder of half a million Syrians, but he is allied with our enemies in Iran. Iran, which facilitates Assad’s bloodshed and oppression, and sponsors terrorism, not to mention calls for the destruction of an entire ethnic state – who are, after all, filthy Zionists – isn’t exactly on our list of friends. We already knew Théoneste Bagosora, the main architect of the Rwandan Genocide, is still in prison. Once we didn’t get an answer from Hitler or Pol Pot, we were forced to skip down to second-rate mass-murderers, and that’s how we wound up inviting Mr. Bashir.”
Seth Frantzman: Tracing the sources of the “Trump gave Russia intel” story
Israel enters the picture
On Tuesday May 16 US press began to claim Israel was the source of the classified information. All of the reports go back to a New York Times story that quotes “according to a current and a former American official familiar.” They write “The classified intelligence that President Trump disclosed in a meeting last week with Russian officials at the White House was provided by Israel…Israeli officials would not confirm that they were the source of the information that Mr. Trump shared, which was about an Islamic State plot.” Haaretz writes that the NYT cites “The report cited a current U.S. official and a former one.” The Jerusalem Post also notes the same “current and former US officials are reported.”
However a May 16th Buzzfeed report claims to have found Israeli officials who will confirm the story. “Two Israeli intelligence officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News Tuesday that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the US regarding ISIS plots to smuggle explosive laptops onto planes, and that it appeared that that intelligence had been shared with Russia without prior coordination.” Unnamed Israeli officials have been used by Buzzfeed in the past and their views have not panned out.
As the story grows, it still goes back to just two alleged officials. Arutz Sheva writes “The life of a spy placed inside Islamic State (ISIS) is at risk after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly disclosed classified information in a meeting with Russian officials last week, ABC News reported on Tuesday night, citing current and former American officials.” But even the juicy ABC report seems based on the same “according to current and former U.S. officials.”
As this story grows I will keep updating information relating to the “sources.”
NY Post Ed: The media might have revealed more intel than Trump
For all the outrage over what President Trump might have told the Russian ambassador last week, aggressive journalism — and ambitious leaks — may have done the worst harm on Tuesday.
Monday’s stories on what Trump told his Russian guests noted that he’d given details that might help them figure out how Washington had gotten the intel.
But The New York Times reported Tuesday that Israel was the source.
And then ABC disclosed even more sensitive specifics: An Israeli spy inside ISIS had uncovered the active plot to bring down a US-bound jet with a laptop bomb able to evade airport security.
This info is said to have been provided on condition that Washington not reveal who came up with the goods. And we’d like to hope that the leaks to the Times and ABC are disinformation to obscure the true source.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster insists Trump didn’t even know where it came from.
So why did the Times and ABC feel compelled to publicly disclose more details? Maybe the Russians hadn’t figured it out — yet now the whole world knows.
McMaster Debunks Post Story on Trump Leaking Secrets
White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Tuesday denied a Washington Post report alleging President Trump had compromised sensitive foreign intelligence secrets to Russia.
McMaster stated that Trump was not briefed on the identity of the source of intelligence on recent Islamic State terror threats to use laptop computers packed with explosives. Trump also did not know where the information originated, information the Post asserted had been compromised during talks with Russians officials last week.
McMaster, appearing before reporters at the White House, said the inaccurate report accusing the president of compromising American security appeared based on leaked classified information that was not discussed with Moscow officials during the May 10 Oval Office meeting.
"I was in the room, the secretary of state was in the room, the deputy adviser for national security for strategy, Dina Powell, was in the room and none of us felt in any way that that conversation was inappropriate," McMaster said.
"It is wholly appropriate for the president to share whatever information he thinks is necessary to advance the security of the American people. That's what he did," he added.
Israeli intelligence source: We must reassess what info we share with US – report
Israeli intelligence is reassessing what information they choose to share with the country’s “greatest ally,” the United States, according to a Wednesday report in the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
“We can’t hand over our crown jewels,” an intelligence source warned following Monday’s bombshell Washington Post story revealing that US President Donald Trump had disclosed highly classified intelligence to Russians officials in the White House last week.
The country supplying the intelligence to the US was identified in the Post story only as “an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State.” Sources told The New York Times on Tuesday that Israel was that country.
The Yedioth source assessed that the “highly sensitive” information disclosed by Trump to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and its US ambassador Sergey Kislyak was handed over recently in several meetings with US officials on the situation in Syria. The intelligence officials speculate that Trump presented this information as a reprimand to the Russians.
Former top Israeli officials break with govt line, call Trump leak very troubling
Multiple top former Israeli officials called US President Donald Trump's leak to Russia, reportedly of Israeli intelligence on ISIS, deeply troubling. breaking with the government's current line of trying to provide a face-saving show of unity with the embattled Trump administration.
The majority of government spokespeople, including US Ambassador Ron Dermer and former Shin bet Chief and current Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Avi Dichter, tried to play down the riff by emphasizing the strength of US-Israeli intelligence sharing. They also stressed that leaders of both countries are known for their discretion regarding issues of intelligence sharing.
However, many former officials were far less sanguine.
This included former officials who had withheld judgment earlier Tuesday in the hopes that Israel was not involved, before a growing avalanche of reports that the leaked intelligence had indeed come from Israel.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman officially reacted to the controversial report on Wednesday morning, taking to Twitter to say that Israel's security relations with its biggest ally remain intact. Liberman did not directly address the intelligence leak saga in his tweet, but did say that "the security relationship between Israel and our greatest ally the United States is deep, significant an unprecedented in volume and in their contribution to our strength," he wrote.
Putin: Trump Didn’t Share Secrets, Kremlin Willing to Hand Over Transcript of His Conversation
Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that President Trump did not share secrets with top Russian officials last week in the Oval Office, offering to give Congress transcripts as proof, The Hill reports.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported the Russian president is willing to hand over the records of the president’s conversation with Russia's foreign minister and ambassador, should the White House approve:
During a joint press conference with visiting prime minister of Italy, Putin also accused U.S. lawmakers of "stupid" and "dangerous" "anti-Russian sentiment" with accusations of sharing intelligence, the AP reported.
Putin said he had "no other explanation" for the allegations other than "political schizophrenia."

According to Reuters, a "Kremlin aide says Putin prepared to provide [the] transcript, not audio recording, of Trump and Lavrov meeting:"
PreOccupiedTerritory: Trump May Have Burned Mossad Agent In Charge Of Controlling Your Thoughts (satire)
Speculation concerning the nature of the information allegedly divulged to Russian officials in the Oval Office this week intensified today amid reports that the president may have compromised the Israeli secret agent tasked with taking control of your brain.
While Israeli security officials declined to address the specifics of the incident and issued a statement in praise of the ongoing cooperation between the two countries, at least one apparent leak regarding the reported sharing of secret information characterized the content of the sharing as referring to the identity of the Mossad operative in charge of manipulating your thoughts. If true, noted experts, the Israeli intelligence agency may face difficulties in continuing their mind-control operations with the same intensity as before in the short term.
It was not immediately clear what impact such a divulging of information would have, but Brookings Institute fellow Martin Indyk expects that the FSB and SVR, Russia’s intelligence and espionage agencies, to tailor their operations and analysis to adapt to this new information.
“This could be the Mossad talking, but I think knowing who the guy with the mind-control expertise is will be of immense help in preparing countermeasures and operations,” asserted Indyk. “As far as anyone can tell, the only person who has been affected by the mind-control system is the current reader of this article, but that does not mean others will not be affected soon enough.”
Police Arrest Jews Who Shot Their Way Out of 20-Arab Ambush
Two Israeli civilians escaped a well organized ambush as they were driving along Rt. 60 early Wednesday morning. Near Silwad, some 8 miles north-east of Ramallah in the Benjamin region of Judea and Samaria, their car was suddenly attacked by dozens of Arab terrorists who started throwing rocks at them. According to a report from Honenu attorney Adi Keidar, the crowd had the full intention of lynching their Jewish victims.
Despite the immediate damage to their car, one of the two Israelis managed to come out with his gun drawn and shot at one of the attackers, causing all of them hightail it.
According to the IDF, at least 20 Arabs were involved in the attempted lynching.
Police did not hesitate and immediately arrested the two victims of the terrorist attack, and took them for questioning at the police station at Sha’ar Binyamin. The two were interrogated for hours and then were released on bail and were told not to contact each other.
Meanwhile, a demonstration was held outside the police station, calling for the residents to be released and for police to change their policy and act against Arab terrorism.
Terror cell planning attack on IDF soldiers arrested by Shin Bet
The Shin Bet internal security service announced the arrest of a terror cell associated with the Islamic Movement that was planning a shooting attack against IDF soldiers in the south of Israel.
According to the Shin Bet, the joint investigation with the Israel Police northern district which took place over the last few week exposed the involvement of terror elements in the banned northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
The investigation found that the three cell members, who have had indictments filed against them, began to plot the attack in November in 2015 in retaliation for Israel’s decision to outlaw the movement.
The cell members were identified as Israeli citizens Muhammad Masri of Rahat, Abdullah Abu Ayyash of Kuseife and Mahmoud Luisi of Qalansawe. According to the Shin Bet, Masri recruited Abu Ayyash who was asked to find a suitable location and vehicle for the attack.
MEMRI: Palestinian Authority President 'Abbas: Palestinian Nakba Continues To This Day – And Its Source Is The Balfour Declaration
In his May 15, 2017 speech marking the 69th anniversary of the Nakba, which he delivered during his visit to India, Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas said that the Nakba of the Palestinian people was continuing to this very day, and that the source of this historic injustice to the Palestinian people was the 1917 Balfour Declaration, for which he called on Britain to apologize to the Palestinian people. 'Abbas stressed that the Palestinians' strategic choice is peace, provided that it is just and comprehensive, based on the UN Security Council resolutions and on the Arab Peace Initiative, and includes the refugees' right of return as well as compensation, as per UN Resolution 194. Also in his speech, he praised the Palestinian martyrs and the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, calling them "heroes" and promising to act tirelessly to obtain the release of every one of them.

The following is a translation of 'Abbas's speech:
"Today we mark the 69th anniversary of the Nakba. Marking the 1948 Nakba is not marking something that is over and done with – it is a painful marking [of something] that continues in our lives [today]. Our Palestinian people, who have paid the price of a history not their own [i.e. the Holocaust of the Jews], still suffer from the very same injustice that began over a century ago, with the Zionist emergence and its false vision denying our existence on our land – that still denies our national and legitimate rights that are explicitly set out in the international legitimate resolutions.
"On this painful anniversary, we are charged with emphasizing that the continually intensifying historic injustice caused to our people actually began with the regrettable Balfour Declaration. From here, I call on the British government to bear historic and moral responsibility and not to mark or celebrate the 100th anniversary of this refuted declaration, but to hasten to apologize to our Palestinian people, who have paid dearly in lives and in uprooting [from their land] as a result of this regrettable declaration's implementation at the expense of our historic homeland and our people and their legitimate rights.
American Jewish Committee Will Not Join Lutherans in Asking US to Pay Palestinian Debts
Lutheran church leaders are again asking the US government to pay some of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) outstanding bills. But, in a reversal of past policy, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) is now declining to support the Lutheran effort.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) — the country’s largest Lutheran denomination — is mobilizing its members to urge Congress to pay the PA’s debts to the Lutheran-sponsored Augusta Victoria hospital in eastern Jerusalem.
The hospital recently announced that it “can no longer receive patients” because the PA has racked up a debt of $41 million to the hospital. According to reports, the debt grows by $4 million each month.
JNS.org reported in March that the AJC, a major mainstream Jewish organization, had quietly pressed US government officials and members of Congress to help pay the PA’s bills to Augusta Victoria. The US has provided $13 million annually to the hospital for the past several years. Another $11 million in American aid was sent to Augusta Victoria in January 2017.
But the AJC has now changed its position. Asked if the organization would be taking action in response to the latest crisis, AJC spokesman Kenneth Bandler told JNS.org that, “The AJC will not ask the US government to pay any portion of outstanding PA bills to Augusta Victoria hospital.”
Venezuelan president 'We are the new Jews'
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has likened the harassment of government officials and their families outside of Venezuela to the treatment of Jews under the Nazis.
Maduro also said in comments to a televised cabinet meeting late on Tuesday that planned opposition rallies in Caracas on Wednesday evening were reminiscent of rallies during the rise of Nazism and fascism in pre-World War Two Europe.
Venezuelans living abroad, many of whom have fled the country's economic chaos, have in recent weeks accosted visiting state officials and their family members.
"We are the new Jews of the 21st century that Hitler pursued," Maduro said during the cabinet meeting. "We don't carry the yellow star of David ... we carry red hearts that are filled with desire to fight for human dignity. And we are going to defeat them, these 21st century Nazis."




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