RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-prime-minister-netanyahu-defeats-rival-in-primary-battle-11577399968

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won an overwhelming victory in a primary contest for control of his Likud party, despite corruption charges against him and months of political deadlock, to lead the party into Israel’s third national vote in a year.

His challenger, Gideon Saar, a 53-year-old former interior and education minister long regarded as his only serious rival for leadership of the Likud in Thursday’s party ballot, conceded defeat.

“A huge win! With God’s and your help, I will lead the Likud to a big victory in the coming elections and we’ll continue to lead the State of Israel to unprecedented achievements,” Mr. Netanyahu tweeted Friday morning.

Mr. Netanyahu won 72.5% of the vote, according to final results released by Likud. Nearly half of the 116,000 eligible voters cast their ballots in Thursday’s vote, the spokesman said.

Mr. Netanyahu’s victory, which followed a series of rallies up and down the length of the country, shows his enduring popularity within his party, preparing the way for his campaign for new elections set for March 2.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/setting-the-record-straight-on-allegations-

A news article by Marcy Oster on the JTA news agency/wire service website dated December 24 stated, “The Palestinian village of Deir Yassin was the site of a massacre by Israeli troops in 1948.” The problem: while it is true that Arab and pro-Arab sources have for many years alleged there was a massacre in Deir Yassin — just as they later alleged many Israeli army massacres — there is no evidence that it actually happened.

There were many Arab civilian casualties in the battle of Deir Yassin, but this was because the Arab military forces there employed the time-honored tactic of using Arab residents as human shields. The Jewish forces at Deir Yassin were the pre-state Zionist militias the Irgun Zvai Leumi and LEHI (the Stern Group).

The Zionist militias left one exit from the village open and pleaded with the residents, through a bullhorn, to leave. Many did. But many others were forced to stay in their homes by Arab soldiers. As a result, civilians were killed in the inevitable house-to-house fighting that ensued.

As an aside, it is well worth noting that there were no “Israeli troops” at Deir Yassin as there was no State of Israel when the battle was fought. The Irgun and the Stern Group attacked Deir Yassin because it was where snipers were based who targeted Jewish civilians in western suburban Jerusalem neighborhoods and the British authorities were doing nothing to stop the snipers.

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Getting-down-to-IDF-brass-tacks-612213

At a conference on Wednesday at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi delivered a comprehensive address on Israel’s current military preparedness and future challenges. It was Kochavi’s first major speech since assuming his role in January as head of the Israeli military.

The novelty of his appearance was not the only reason for its prominence at the much-publicized event, held in honor of the late Amnon Lipkin-Shahak – former IDF chief of staff, Knesset member and government minister – who died in December 2012 after a long battle with cancer.

No, Kochavi’s multi-year plan – based on the motto of “readiness and change” – already was unveiled eight months ago when he hit the 100-day mark on the job. Nor was he an unknown entity beforehand, serving in various capacities and leading many operations, including those that have been carried out against Iranian targets in Syria over the past several months.
 
But his words in Herzliya were particularly significant, given their context and timing: with Israel surrounded by enemies on the one hand, and commemorating Hanukkah – the Jewish people’s historical victory over forced assimilation and physical annihilation – on the other.

https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/israel-zionism/2019/12/israel-is-a-tech-superp

The number of AI and cybersecurity startups in Israel makes up close to 20 percent of the world’s total, likely eclipsing China and second only to the United States.

We find ourselves in strong agreement with the two central contentions of Arthur Herman’s valuable new essay in Mosaic, “The Impasse Obstructing U.S.-Israel Relations, and How to Remedy It.” First, China’s growing penetration of Israel’s economy over the past decade, particularly in the high-tech sector, poses real risks to the U.S.-Israel relationship if left unattended. But second, if addressed in a spirit worthy of the profound alliance that has bound these two great liberal democracies together for decades, the China challenge should serve instead as a major opportunity to propel the strategic partnership to new heights.

Indeed, that’s precisely the case that one of us, John Hannah, made in an article earlier this year:

Working together in close consultation, with the protection and strengthening of the alliance uppermost in their minds, [U.S. and Israeli policymakers] should make sure that China becomes the catalyst for the next major leap forward in the U.S.-Israel relationship rather than a dangerous source of division.

Herman is also spot-on in identifying the struggle for technological primacy as the central arena that will shape the geopolitics of the 21st century, in particular the escalating strategic rivalry between, on the one hand, the United States and other free societies, and, on the other hand, China, Russia, and the camp of anti-American authoritarians.

http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001891.html

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces his biggest political challenge to the leadership of Israel’s ruling Likud party for over a decade, when he will be challenged in a Likud primary leadership contest by Gideon Sa’ar (a former journalist, lawyer and then a government minister). If Netanyahu loses, Sa’ar will likely become interim prime minister.

I attach two pieces below, by Anshel Pfeffer in today’s leading left-wing Israeli paper Haaretz, and by Isabel Kershner in the New York Times, a paper that continues to obsess about Israel and devote enormous amounts of space to scrutinizing the small Jewish state while all but ignoring much of the rest of the world.

Pfeffer is a very knowledgeable journalist though sometimes he allows his disdain for Netanyahu and the Likud to cloud the impartiality of his reporting.

Gideon Sa’ar is unlikely to win today’s vote. However, if he makes a strong challenge, as expected, he will set himself up as the clear favorite to succeed Netanyahu should Netanyahu fail to win the Israeli election on March 2 (the third general election in Israel in less than a year) and Netanyahu is then forced from power. (Sa’ar would likely then form a unity government with Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz.)

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/12/hanukkah_and_the_occupation_that_isnt.html

It looks like the holidays cannot be complete without warped political messages. Representative Rashida Tlaib, a known anti-Semite, wished the Jews of IfNotNow a happy Hanukkah. In doing so, however, she supported the organization’s 2020 goals of “defunding the occupation in Falestine [sic] and fighting antisemitism and white nationalism.” IfNotNow claims it is “building a movement of Jews to end Israel’s occupation and transform the American Jewish community.” It also has extensive ties to American Muslims for Palestine, an organization in turn founded by groups that the U.S. government has claimed financed Hamas.

Tlaib and IfNotNow are attempting to accomplish what the Greeks tried and ultimately failed to do many years ago — deny the Jews religious and sovereign rights in their ancestral homeland of Judea and Samaria.