Trump resets US relations with Israel, seeking broader alliance against Islamist Iran, terror

Sarah Netanyahu, Melania Trump, Pres. Trump, Israeli Premier Netanyahu

Pres. Donald Trump demonstrates Israel's first family the respect which Democrat White House denied them.

Transcript And Analysis: Trump And Netanyahu Hold Joint Press Conference

President Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday. The two held a joint press conference amid differing messages emanating from the Trump administration about its stance on the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. NPR journalists with expertise in politics, national security and the Middle East have annotated a transcript of their remarks.

Premier Netanayhu in joint press conference with Pres. Trump

President DONALD TRUMP: Thank you! Today, I have the honor of welcoming my friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the White House. With his visit, the United States again reaffirms our unbreakable bond with our cherished ally, Israel.

The partnership between our two countries, built on our shared values, has advanced the cause of human freedom, dignity and peace. These are the building blocks of democracy. The state of Israel is a symbol to the world of resilience in the face of oppression. I can think of no other state that's gone through what they've gone, and of survival in the face of genocide. We will never forget what the Jewish people have endured.



Your perseverance in the face of hostility, your open democracy in the face of violence, and your success in the face of tall odds is truly inspirational. The security challenges faced by Israel are enormous, including the threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions, which I've talked a lot about. One of the worst deals I've ever seen is the Iran deal.

My administration has already imposed new sanctions on Iran, and I will do more to prevent Iran from ever developing — I mean ever — a nuclear weapon. Our security assistance to Israel is currently at an all-time high, ensuring that Israel has the ability to defend itself from threats, of which there are unfortunately many.



Both of our countries will continue and grow. We have a long history of cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the fight against those who do not value human life. America and Israel are two nations that cherish the value of all human life.

This is one more reason why we reject unfair and one-sided actions against Israel at the United Nations, which has treated Israel in my opinion very, very unfairly, or other international forums, as well as boycotts that target Israel.

Bibi addresses press conf. with Pres. Trump (Photo: Matzav.com)

Israeli Premier BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:   

President Trump, thank you for the truly warm hospitality. You and Melania have shown me, my wife Sara, our entire delegation. I deeply value your friendship. To me, to the state Israel, it was so clearly evident in the words you just spoke, Israel has no better ally than the United States. And I want to assure you, the United States has no better ally than Israel.

Our alliance has been remarkably strong, but under your leadership, I'm confident it will get even stronger. I look forward to working with you to dramatically upgrade our alliance in every field, in security and technology and cyber and trade and so many others, and I certainly welcome your forthright call to ensure that Israel is treated fairly in international forums and that the slander and boycotts of Israel are resisted mightily by the power and moral position of the United States of America.

As you have said, our lives are based on a deep bond of common values and common interest. And increasingly, those values and interests are under attack by one malevolent force, radical Islamic terror. Mr. President, you've shown great clarity and courage in confronting this challenge head on. You call for confronting Iran's terrorist regime, preventing Iran from realizing this terrible deal into a nuclear arsenal, and you have said that the United States is committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons. You call for the defeat of ISIS.

Under your leadership, I believe we can reverse the rising tide of radical Islam, and in this great task, as in so many others, Israel stands with you and I stand with you. Mr. President, in rolling back militant Islam, we can seize an historic opportunity because for the first time in my lifetime and for the first time in the life of my country, Arab countries in the region do not see Israel as an enemy, but increasingly as an ally.

Read more (along with NPR's leftist analysis). 

DEBKAfile reports: Trump reacted positively to Netanyahu’s proposal to broaden the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to a regional effort as a “very important” new idea “on a broader canvas” which he believed could succeed. Netanyahu said that the regional fears of Iran also presented an opportunity for cooperation against the Islamic State and radical Islamic terror. 

Trump and Netanyahu putting Palestine in context of
broader Middle East peace arrangement
(Courtesy: La Historia con Mapas)

These sentiments reflected agreement in principle between Trump and Netanyahu to seek an Israeli peace accord with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates as the lead-in to negotiations for an accord with the Palestinians. Egypt, Jordan and Turkey with whom Israel already has normal relations would jump in later. This deal fits in with the US plan reported more than once on these pages for a regional peace between the Sunni Arab nations and the Jewish State.

Some of the spadework may have been performed by CIA Director Mike Pompeo who paid a secret visit to Ramallah Wednesday morning for talks with Mahmoud Abbas, after trips to Ankara and Riyadh, following which Turkey upgraded its diplomatic mission in Israel


This plan was the fulcrum for the president to push back against the two-state solution advocated by the Obama administration as the cure for the conflict. It remains to be seen if this plan takes on life outside the White House and in the region’s capitals.


Trump realistically called on Israel to “hold back settlements,” show flexibility and make compromises for a peace deal. He urged the Palestinians to “get rid of hate starting in the schoolroom.” Whatever the Israelis and Palestinians agree to in direct talks - one state or two – “I will accept,” he said, adding, “I believe we will have a deal that is better than many Israelis think.”

Journalists escaping Gaza tell of Hamas-inflicted horrors: The truth about Hamas vs Israel will never appear on your television

Hamas' rockets mistakenly destroyed their own electrical plant

Israel’s military has estimated that more than 10 percent of Hamas missile launches fell in the Gaza Strip.

Bibi depicted conducting Coliseum bloodsports in Gaza

The military has asserted that nearly 300 rockets fired by Hamas and its Palestinian militia allies landed in the Gaza Strip. In at least one case, a medium-range M-75, based on Iran’s Fajr-5 rocket, exploded during launch. The rocket contains a conventional warhead of at least 100 kilograms and at least seven Palestinians were killed.

A Hamas rocket is fired from the Gaza Strip.
“Over the course of the operation approximately 280 rockets were launched and landed within the Gaza Strip,” the military said on July 30. (World Tribune)

Elder of Ziyon reports:  I have been on a bit of a rant about Gaza reporters giving only one side of the story.  A Facebook post by Israeli media figure Michael Grynszpan described how Hamas is controlling the message conveyed by the international media:

Islamists abducted Wall St. Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
investigating the World Trade Center bombings in 
Pakistan 2002 (Courtesy http://www.saintanthonyofpadua.net/)

I met today with a Spanish journalist who just came back from Gaza. We talked about the situation there. He was very friendly. I asked him how comes we never see on television channels reporting from Gaza any Hamas people, no gunmen, no rocket launcher, no policemen.. We only see civilians on these reports, mostly women and children.

He answered me frankly: “It’s very simple, we did see Hamas people there launching rockets, they were close to our hotel, but if ever we dared pointing our camera on them they would simply shoot at us and kill us.”

Wooh, impressive. Then I asked him “would you mind saying that on camera? I can film you explaining this…”

For some reason I cannot really understand he refused and almost ran away. I guess my camera is as dangerous as Hamas threats…

“So just for you to know, the truth will never appear on the images you see on television,” Grynszpan concluded.

World Affairs journalist Michael Totten tells DemoCast of  his experience with Hamas' conditions that distort honest reportage from Palestine.

"JOURNALISTS FEARING RETALIATION FROM HAMAS TELL OF GAZA HORRORS ON RETURN HOME" BREITBART.COM

by PAUL MILLER 31 Jul 2014

With the mainstream American and International Press desperately looking to find a moral equivalency between the U.S.-deemed terror organization Hamas and the State of Israel, media reports have been quick to point the finger at the Jewish State for Palestinian civilian causalities, especially the tragic deaths of children in Gaza. 

But journalists who haves left the Hamas controlled territory – no longer fearing retaliation from the militant group – are confirming Israel’s claims that Hamas is operating out of hospitals and firing rockets from civilian neighborhoods – using their citizens as human shields – killing their fellow Palestinians when rocket attacks don’t reach Israel and detonate in Gaza. 

 Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati took to Twitter Tuesday and reported:

The Jerusalem Correspondent for Radio Popolare Milano, and former correspondent for Beijing’s Sky Italia, also backed up an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman claim that Hamas rockets, not IDF strikes, hit the United Nations run Shati refugee camp, killing nine children.

Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson asks on the website Legal Insurrection: “How many more of the civilian casualties have been caused by Hamas and Islamic rockets that fell short or misfired?”

Jacobson, who serves as Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell, raises a question all responsible journalists need to be asking and stipulating when they report casualties from the Gaza Strip. But as more reports of journalist intimidation from Hamas are revealed, it’s clear honest and objective reporting is nowhere to be found in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Daughter of Gaza, Nonie Darwish explains Islamic Jew-hatred mandates war to conquer Israel

Gaza-born, former Muslima, Nonie Darwish, lectures a group of Israeli-Americans about the bigotry in Islamic culture towards Christianity and especially Judaism which underlies the conflict against Israel and Christian minorities.

Mrs. Darwish authored three books, ‘Now They Call Me Infidel”, “Cruel and Usual Punishment”, and “The Devil We Don’t Know; the dark side of revolutions in the Middle East."

Nonie holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology and Anthropology and was a journalist at the Middle East News Agency. She founded www.ArabsForIsrael.com, 1994, to promote understanding, peace and a new paradigm for Arabs to view Israel.   Recorded July 20th in Los Angeles, California

1 million Palestinian Muslims demonstrate goal of reconquering Jewish Israel

Palestinians Dream of Destroying Israel, Peace Treaty or Not

by Khaled Abu Toameh, in Gatestone Institute  March 25, '14

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry may be able to force Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, under threats and pressure, to sign a "framework agreement" with Israel.  But as this week's rally of hatred in the Gaza Strip shows, even after the signing of a Palestinian-Israeli "peace" treaty, a large number of Palestinians will not abandon there dream of destroying Israel. 

"Jihad in Palestine is not terrorism. Jihad in Palestine is a sacred duty." — Yusef Rizka, representative of Hamas 

A mass rally held in the Gaza Strip on March 23 showed that Hamas continues to enjoy popular support among Palestinians. Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets to attend the rally commemorating the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. 

(Photo: The Palestinian Information Center)

Hamas officials claim that nearly one million Palestinians attended the rally in the center of Gaza City. March 23, '14.

Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas has good reason to be worried in the aftermath of the latest show of force by Hamas. When tens of thousands of Palestinians take to the streets of the Gaza Strip to call for the destruction of Israel and an end to the peace talks between the PA and Israel, it is clear that a large segment of Palestinian society remains opposed to any compromise with Israel.

                                                             (Video: Courtesy IDF-North American Desk)

The pro-Hamas rally is also aimed at sending a message to the U.S. Administration that Mahmoud Abbas does not have a mandate to sign any document that declares an end to the conflict with Israel.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry may be able to force Abbas, under threats and pressure, to sign a "framework agreement" with Israel. But as this week's rally of hatred in the Gaza Strip shows, even after the signing of an Israeli-Palestinian "peace" treaty, a large number of Palestinians will not abandon their dream of destroying Israel.

Prof. Barry Rubin's death revives interest in video interview about his views on west's Mid-East policies

Barry Rubin, a prominent Middle East policy analyst, died in
Israel on Monday following an 18-month struggle with lung cancer. Prof. Rubin survived just past his 64th birthday.  He is survived by his journalist wife, Judith Colp Rubin, and their daughter and son.

Barry Rubin’s reach in the world of Middle East scholarship was broad and deep.  He served as director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, a columnist at The Jerusalem Post, the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs and a contributor to the PJ Media website.

History-buff Rubins participated in Civil War re-enactments

Rubin, a D.C. native, had been a Fulbright scholar and a fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received his doctorate from Georgetown University in 1978. He was a noted skeptic of Palestinian nationalism, saying that Islamism was too deeply embedded in the region to accommodate a true peace with Israel.


“Clearly, the Obama administration does not understand Middle Eastern regimes and terrorist organizations, and if it doesn’t, it will meet miserable defeats,” he wrote on Jan. 12 at PJMedia.

His passing revives interest in his ideas. We re-publish an article of Mr. Rubin's on the Obama administration's Middle East policy, supplemented with a TV interview he did with us in 2011.

"The Solution: How to Deal with Obama Middle-East Policy" by Barry Rubin 

It is likely that the efforts of the Obama Administration during its second term will fail, not only because of its lack of understanding of the region and its ideology, but also due to the specific agenda.  No Middle Eastern country (only hostile ones or movements) can depend on the United States.  And to clarify this further:  No country -- including Israel -- can depend on the Obama Administration.

But as I noted above, this U.S. policy of Obama’s second term will fail. For example, the main goals of the second term are four big issues:

1)  Israel-Palestinian peace

2) Egypt government coalition with Muslim Brotherhood

3) Syrian civil war resolution with rebel victory

4)  U.S.-Iran rapprochement resolving nuclear issue.

Video 1- Leftist journalistic-bias intentionally whitewashes malevolence of Muslim Brotherhood

Yet because of irreconcilable differences, these may well be unresolvable. Due to such failures and hardline radical positions (Palestinians, Muslim Brotherhood, Syrian Islamists and regime, Iranian regime), the next administration would probably be forced back on recognition of extremism, support of allies, and U.S. interests.

Thus, regarding the “peace process,” we may well see the typical pattern in which the Palestinians wreck the peace process by rejecting or demanding even more concessions. Once again, it will only be necessary to wait until American negotiators learn better why their goals are impossible. Radicals will just raise their demands and demonstrate their anti-Americanism, and necessary priorities will shift.

Anniversary of Women's Devotional Prayer Confronting Destruction of Their Jewish Gaza Civilization

Covenant-keeping, pilgrim Jewish women pray their unswerving devotion to God's will in the face of the failure of their resistance against the destruction of their temple and civilization in Gush Katif's Neve Dekalim, August 2005. Moving.



Israelis withdrew themselves as a step for the Palestinian Arabs to reciprocate and show their willingness to co-exist in peace. Instead, the Muslims burned the synagogues and launched ongoing rocket attacks from closer to Israeli population centers, requiring the Operation Cast Lead incursion of 2008.  Updated from Jul 2006 to Aug 2014.