RUTHFULLY YOURS

President Obama’s record of lawlessness is prodigious. There is the assumption of a power to rule by presidential decree — unilaterally amending ObamaCare provisions, immigration statutes, and other enactments in flagrant disregard of Congress’s constitutional power to write the laws.

There is rampant fraud on the American people — think: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan, period,” just for a start.

In the Benghazi massacre, we see the arc of administration malfeasance: In the absence of congressional authorization, the president instigated an unprovoked and ultimately disastrous war in Libya, empowering virulently anti-American Islamic supremacists. He then recklessly failed to provide adequate security for US officials who, for reasons that remain mysterious, were dispatched to Benghazi, one of the most dangerous places on the planet for Americans.

Finally, when four Americans including our ambassador were predictably killed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2012, the president took no action to rescue them during the siege and then led a tireless campaign to blame an anti-Muslim video, rather than his wayward policy of empowering Islamists — even trumping up a prosecution against the video producer in violation of the First Amendment.

Making recess appointments when the Senate is not in recess.

Ignoring court orders.

Refusing to enforce the immigration laws.

Still another proposal involves making changes to French law that would enable police to confiscate the passports and seize the assets of suspected would-be jihadists, and to deport those foreigners found to be recruiting jihadists in France.

However, Hollande’s anti-radicalization might turn out to be a case of too little too late.

A French former jihadist in Syria has been arrested over the fatal shooting of three people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on May 24.

The arrest, announced by French and Belgian prosecutors during simultaneous news conferences in Paris and Brussels on June 1, confirms the worst fears about the security threat posed by battle-hardened European jihadists returning from the fighting in Syria.

Western security officials estimate that up to 2,000 Europeans—including 800 from France and 200 from Belgium—have traveled to Syria in the hopes of overthrowing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and replacing it with an Islamic state.

Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national from the northern town of Roubaix, was arrested at the Saint-Charles train and bus station in Marseille on May 30 during a random search for illegal drugs. He was a passenger on an overnight bus that was travelling from Amsterdam to Marseille via Brussels.

Police found a Kalashnikov rifle, a handgun and an “impressive quantity” of high-caliber ammunition in Nemmouche’s luggage. They also found a GoPro miniature video camera as well as a Nikon digital camera containing a 40-second video in which a man believed to be Nemmouche is heard claiming responsibility for the Brussels attack and expressing regret that the GoPro device failed to capture the shooting.

The voice in the video describes the Brussels killings as an “attack against the Jews” and warns that Belgium will experience “fire and blood,” according to Belgian federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw.

The video also shows weapons similar to those used in the Brussels attack and a flag with the words “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” and “Allah is Greater” written on it in Arabic, according to the French anti-terrorism prosecutor François Molins.

In addition, Nemmouche’s luggage was found to contain clothing and a baseball cap similar to that worn by the shooter, as well as press clippings about the Brussels attack.

Britain strips British nationality from immigrants with dual nationality who go to Syria to fight. This act allows British authorities to ban them from re-entering the country. Why don’t European countries do the same?

Yvan Mayeur, the Socialist Mayor of Brussels, said that to combat anti-Semitism and racism, his city needed more “diversity.” But diversity does not mean diversity. Diversity is the new code word for more Islam.

Yesterday, French police arrested the terrorist accused of murdering three Jews in Brussels, Belgium on the eve of the European elections. The killer, 29-year old French citizen Mehdi Nemmouche, a son of Muslim immigrants, had gone to Syria in 2013, where he joined the rebels against President Bashar al-Assad and was trained as a jihadist.

On Saturday afternoon, May 24, Nemmouche walked into the Jewish Museum in Brussels, armed with a pistol and a Kalashnikov assault rifle. He killed three Jews, including two Israeli tourists, and seriously wounded another, who is still fighting for his life in hospital. Then Nemmouche calmly walked out of the museum.

An image of the terrorist, identified by French police as Mehdi Nemmouche, firing his rifle at the Brussels Jewish Museum, taken from security camera footage.

During the past three years, thousands of young Islamic immigrants from France, Germany, Britain and all other European countries, as well as young Western Islamic converts, have gone to Syria, where they trained to be killing machines. Some of them have returned home, where they now constitute the biggest threat to domestic security in decades.

French authorities were able to capture Nemmouche within a week because they had his name on a list of returned Syria fighters. Having his name on a list of jihadists, however, was not able prevent him from committing murder in neighboring Belgium.

In a revolutionary world environment, foreign policy of a great power – and especially the lone superpower – is bound to be full of inconsistencies. Interests are far-flung and constantly demanding new priorities. But one does not have to refer to Machiavelli to recognize rules of the road which when violated are costly and in the case of the U.S., destabilizing for the entire world.

Again, those guidelines are often internally contradictory in the nature of generalizations. But a knowledge of and adherence to them is essential to pursue a foreign policy, and, in this instance, of the superpower, the United States, and world peace and stability..

That we living through revolutionary times does not have to be extensively argued. Suffice it to say that the digital revolution alone has made it harder than ever to distinguish between reality and perception by exaggerating – to quote Sec. Donald Rumsfeld – unknown unknowns. A recent former CIA operative hired by a Swiss bank to prevent fraud put it to me succinctly: the ability to reproduce almost any document [or signature] has led to almost unlimited financial hoax.

In the world of international relations something similar is equally true. But, again, there are basic dictum which are as old, at least, as the European nation-state and apply today as they always have. Many are commonsensical. To be unacquainted with them is to introduce new and additional volatility in an uncertain world.

America’s role Because of its size, its population and continental breadth, and its economy, the U.S. under any conditions would play a major world role — disengaged as well as engaged.. But there are important additional nonphysical aspects. The Founders, however conservative their personal backgrounds [with the unresolved problem of black slavery], constructed a new nation on ideology rather than ethnicity, race or language. They believed that they were creating a new and unique beacon of liberty and justice harking back to Greek and Roman institutions as well as a Judeo-Christian ethic.

That, in essence, is “American exceptionalism”. To associate it with such more precise policies as “interventionism” or “isolationism” is to misunderstand completely. All one has to do is hark back to the 1930s debate of America’s world role in which both poles invoked U.S.singularity, whether Midwest agrarian radical isolationists, or East Coast industrial and financial bureaucratic interventionists.

WHY DID HIS FATHER DELIVER A MESSAGE TO HIS SON IN PASHTUN?….RSK

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last known American POW, was freed after five years in captivity — an ordeal that began and ended in Afghanistan under a shroud of mystery.

The Taliban turned over Bergdahl Saturday morning to US special forces in exchange for five notorious Islamic militants who had been held at Guantanamo Bay and will be sent to Qatar, where they will stay for a year under the terms of the trade.

At least one of the prisoners, ranking Taliban leader Khairullah Khairkhwa, had direct ties to Osama bin Laden.

Bergdahl was picked up by helicopter in western Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.

After climbing aboard, the 28-year-old Idahoan, trying to communicate with his rescuers over the roar of the rotors, scrawled “SF?” on a paper plate — asking his rescuers whether they were special forces.

“Yes,” one of the men shouted. “We’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

The Army infantryman — himself nicknamed “SF” by his comrades for his gung-ho interest in special-forces tactics — began to weep.

Bergdahl’s parents, who had lobbied continuously for his ­release, had not seen him by Saturday night, but intimated that he faces an arduous recovery from his ordeal.

Bergdahl is speaking in what appears to be Pashto, said his dad, Bob Bergdahl. It was not clear whether his son can still even speak English, Bob said.

Everyone is celebrating the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, and we’re glad he’ll be home with his family in Idaho soon.

However, there are questions that must be answered – like, why did the young Soldier walk off his Forward Operating Base (FOB) back in 2009? It’s not the modus operandi for Islamic terrorists to detain American troops when captured, as we reported previously. Our troops are brutally, ritually, and savagely murdered — to include American security contractors (remember the Fallujah bridge) — not held for five years.

And to have this “deal” brokered in Qatar (supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood) calls for even more questions.

What we do know are the identities of the five Afghan Taliban who were released.

According to a report in the Weekly Standard, they are five of the most dangerous Taliban commanders in U.S. custody. The Taliban has long demanded that the “Gitmo 5” be released in order for peace talks to begin in earnest. The Obama administration has desperately sought to engage the Taliban as American forces are drawn down in Afghanistan, but those talks have gone nowhere to this point.

You see, when you’re not comfortable talking in terms of war and victory, you lose the battle of ideas and resolve. I want no part of peace with savages who throw acid on and gun down young girls going to school. I would prefer to crush them and kill them wherever they exist. That’s not being a warmonger. It’s being a realist.

The Weekly Standard reports that the freed detainees are among the Taliban’s top commanders in U.S. custody and are still revered in jihadist circles. Two of the five have been wanted by the UN for war crimes. And because of their prowess, Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) deemed all five of them “high” risks to the U.S. and its allies. The Obama administration wants to convince the Taliban to abandon its longstanding alliance with al-Qaida. But these men contributed to the formation of that relationship in the first place. All five had close ties to al-Qaida well before the 9/11 attacks. Therefore, it is difficult to see how their freedom would help the Obama administration achieve one of its principal goals for the hoped-for talks.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Pancreatic cancer treatment trials continue. Jerusalem-based biotech Tiltan has raised $1.5 million for the completion of its on-going Phase II clinical study of TL-118, an anti-angiogenic therapy for treating metastatic pancreatic cancer. 80 patients are being tested in seven major Israeli oncology centers and also two in the US.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-pancreatic-cancer-treatment-co-tiltan-pharma-raises-15m-1000915007

Generating stem cells quickly and cheaply. (Thanks to Israel21c) Israeli biotech Cellect has developed a stem cell collection kit that could revolutionize the treatment of leukemia and other immune-related diseases. Cellect’s kit takes only 10 hours to generate sufficient stem cells for bone marrow transplants.
http://israel21c.org/health/israeli-stem-cell-technology-targets-leukemia/

Chip in chin prevents sleep apnea. Belgium-Israeli medical device company Nyxoah is gearing up for the European trials of its sleep apnea treatment. A tiny chip is implanted into the patient’s chin, which stimulates nerves to prevent the tongue from blocking airflow – a common cause of sleep apnea.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-sleep-apnea-co-nyxoah-raises-8-million-1000940425

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Israeli chips run Cisco’s best router. Cisco Systems recently declared the ASR 9000 to be its most successful high-end router in a decade. Good news for Israel’s EZchip, which makes the processor that powers it.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-05-18/cisco-s-once-in-a-decade-router-propels-ezchip-israel-overnight

Israeli students excel at Asian Physics Olympiad in Singapore. Israeli 12th graders returned from the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) 2014 with two silver medals, three bronze medals and three honorable mentions. Each of the delegation’s eight members came home with an award. 27 countries competed.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4522479,00.html

Israeli students win engineering prize in Turkey. Three Israeli students from Ben Gurion University won second place at the International Cultural and Academic Meeting of Engineering Students conference (ICAMES), a worldwide engineering project competition organized by the Bogazici University in Istanbul.
http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/news/competition_istanbul.aspx

Israeli companies at LA’s Israel party. Nurit Greenger meets the Israeli companies Cornerstone On Demand, BreezoMeter, NSL.comm., PICO, App-To-Eat and SalientEye that came to Los Angeles to celebrate Israel’s 66th birthday. Also US-Israeli organizations IAC, TAMID at UCLA and SCICC – plus 20,000 people.
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israels-innovations-make-the-world-smaller-place/

Gadget saves space in the kitchen. The Armadillo (RMDLO) is a clever Israeli-designed kitchen strainer / colander that folds flat for easy storage. Strong, flexible and “green”, it also bends to help serve drained food items easily. The RMDLO has now reached its funding goal on kickstarter, but pledges may still be possible.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2086042336/rmdlo-a-revolution-in-kitchen-utensils
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bre0gmRmkUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NhS58v11eE

COMAS – where they developed the cellphone re-charging tree. Tree for charging cellphones; dolls that attach to kids’ clothes; search engine for focused online recommendations. Just a few of the ventures developed this year at the Center of Entrepreneurship at the College of Management Academic Studies (COMAS).
http://www.colman.ac.il/English/AboutUs/News_Noteworthy/Pages/FinalEventEntrepren.aspx

Israel is big on big data (data analysis). (Thanks to Herb) For a small country, Israeli start-ups are really thinking big. Many are at the forefront of “crunching data” to give big companies information on what business would be profitable. (Warning – article is mainly for “geeks” or those with a big interest in IT)
http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/28/the-data-nation-israels-surprisingly-large-imprint-on-big-data/

Free drinking water stations – global pilot begins in Tel Aviv. (Thanks to Size Doesn’t Matter) Israeli start-up Woosh has launched its global pilot, providing free drinking water in Tel Aviv’s public spaces.
http://www.sizedoesntmatter.com/culture/non-stop-city-drinks-non-stop-water/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOooFypoB7g

Sensibo controls the temperature from anywhere. Israeli start-up Sensibo is a remote control technology that controls the temperature of your home. It can reduce energy usage by up to 40 percent. Sensibo is now raising funds on IndieGogo.
http://www.jspacenews.com/israeli-start-lets-consumers-control-home-temperature-anywhere/
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sensibo-make-any-air-conditioner-smart

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

IDF’s first female Christian officer. Yasmin Chayach has become the first Christian woman to complete the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer’s training course. Chayach, who is from Acre, follows in the footsteps of her brother, who also served in the IDF. Christian enlistment in the IDF tripled in 2013.
http://www.jns.org/news-briefs/2014/5/20/israel-welcomes-first-female-arab-christian-idf-officer#.U3yymnaKj2Q

Improved Israel-Arab view of the Jewish State. In a University of Haifa study, the percentage of Israeli Arabs who recognize Israel’s right to continue to exist as a Jewish and democratic state (53%) rose in 2013 compared to 2012 (47%). 64% (up 5%) thought Israel was a good place to live.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israeli-Arab-attitudes-toward-the-state-remained-stable-in-2013-study-shows-352773

Israel helps Gazan Christians travel to see the Pope. Israel allowed around 650 Christians from Hamas-controlled Gaza to travel to the PA-controlled city of Bethlehem during the pope’s visit.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/140522-gazan-christians-travel-to-west-bank-for-pope-visit

Israelis help AIDS patients in Africa. Professor Dan Engelhard of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center founded the Art Joy Love organization to help AIDS patients. In Uganda, his doctors, nurses, medicine, medical clowns, social workers and other volunteers in 18 months have reduced AIDS from 18% down to 16%.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/africa/140526-israeli-hope-in-uganda

India’s Foreign Minister is another friend of Israel. Last week I reported that India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a friend of Israel. He has now appointed India’s first female Foreign Minister. Sushma Swara served as chairwoman of the Indo-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2006 to 2009.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/indias-new-foreign-minister-a-strong-fan-of-israel/

StandWithUs Instagram photographers publicize Israel to millions. StandWithUs brought nine photographers from Brazil, Spain, Austria, Russia, Britain, Italy and the U.S. to Israel for the first time. The nine have 4 million followers on the social media photo-sharing site Instagram.
http://www.standwithus.com/news/article.asp?id=3234

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Fitch Ratings give Israel another “A” credit rating. Fitch gave as positive, Israel’s fiscal consolidation and narrowing of budget deficits. It also noted, “The start of gas production has caused a structural improvement in the balance of payments that will support continued current account surpluses.”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/293951#.U39AqXaKj2Q

Teva’s new treatments are worth $1b. In 2014 Israel’s Teva is launching Zecurity (migraine patch), Adasuve (inhalation powder to treat agitation in schizophrenia patients) and DuoResp Spiromax, (an inhaler). The combined peak sales of these products are estimated to be $1 billion. It also has 15 treatments in Phase III trials.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/teva-pharm-ind-products-idUSL6N0O63LC20140520

Israel passes US, Europe in plastic bottle recycling. 54 percent of Israel’s plastic bottles were recycled in 2012, compared to 31.8% in the U.S. and 52.4% in OECD countries. 2013 data shows that Israel recycled 56% of its plastic bottles. 350 million bottles were recycled thanks to more than 20,000 recycling deposit stations.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=17597

Israel-Jordan container route inaugurated. A new route has been inaugurated for the export of Israeli goods to Asia and the Arab world from the Eilat port via Jordan’s Aqaba. Shipping times and costs to the Far East are less than those from Haifa and Ashdod, as it saves the need (and NIS 300,000 fees) to transit the Suez Canal.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-eilat-aqaba-port-red-sea-route-inaugurated-1000940001

NICE wins 2014 Customer Magazine award. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) TMC Customer Magazine has awarded Israel’s NICE Systems a 2014 CRM Excellence Award. The award recognizes NICE Interaction Analytics for boosting the sales effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency at a leading U.S. retailer.
http://www.nice.com/nice-awarded-2014-crm-excellence-award-presented-customer-magazine

Israeli funds outperform foreign funds. According to a survey released recently by Israel fund administrator Tzur Management, Israel-based hedge funds assets increased in value by 33 percent between 2011 and 2013, outperforming both foreign-based funds and the local equity market.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/26/israeli-hedge-funds-outperform-foreign-funds-industry-experiencing-significant-growth-survey/

Wave energy company wins Mixiii 2014 Innovation Award. Israeli wave energy technology developer Eco Wave Power won “The Most Innovative Technology” award at the Mixiii 2014 event. Although an Israel-only competition, Eco Wave Power has world-changing potential. It has raised $10 million to fund its projects.
http://israelnewtech.com/2014/05/eco-wave-power-won-wow-competitionduring-mixiii-2014-innovation-conference/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCNz-QW3JYY

The mini mobile robot printer reaches its main funding goal. Israel’s ZUtA Labs has raised sufficient funds to complete the development of the tiny printer that you put it in your pocket (or bag, laptop case etc). You can still order one on kickstarter for shipping in January.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1686304142/the-mini-mobile-robotic-printer
http://israel21c.org/technology/worlds-first-mini-mobile-printer/

Five Israeli companies list on London AIM. Israel’s Marimedia, a provider of solutions for optimizing for the sale of online advertising space, has just listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Other 2014 Israeli (or Israeli subsidiary) AIM listings include SafeCharge, Summit Germany, XLMedia and Bagir.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-marimedia-raises-179m-in-london-ipo-1000940566

Hong Kong business heads are impressed with Israel. (Thanks to Herb) Hong Kong’s government recently arranged for 34 Hong Kong businessmen, investors, and entrepreneurs to visit Israel. Israel is Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East, and Hong Kong is Israel’s fifth largest trading partner in Asia.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/27/hong-kong-business-leaders-impressed-with-israeli-innovation/

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

Israeli student film wins Oscar. “Paris on the Water,” by Tel Aviv University master’s student Hadas Ayalon, is one of three winners in the foreign film category of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 41st Student Academy Awards competition. The award will be presented on 7 June in Los Angeles.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=17567

Justin Timberlake brings ‘Summer Love’ to Tel Aviv. American pop star Justin Timberlake rocked tens of thousands of fans in Park Hayarkon during his first-ever Israel concert. Before the event he prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem – the photo posted on his facebook site received over 250,000 likes.
http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Entertainment/Justin-Timberlake-brings-Summer-Love-to-Tel-Aviv-354725 http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Music/Justin-Timberlake-posts-photo-of-himself-praying-at-Western-Wall-354593

Bob Dylan recommended Israel to the Rolling Stones. Ronnie Wood, guitarist for The Rolling Stones, revealed that Bob Dylan put the idea in the Stones’ circle to include Israel as a tour stop. “He said he loved it there,” said Wood. “I said, we’ve never been there, so we’ll have to go play there one day, so there you go.”
http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Music/Rolling-Stones-Ronnie-Wood-Dylan-told-us-to-come-to-Israel-354439

THE JEWISH STATE

On Jerusalem Day, there’s no place like Jerusalem. Rony Yedidia-Clein writes that although she lives temporarily in London, Jerusalem is the place she refers to as her real home, where she will always return.
http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/comment/118843/jerusalem-day-theres-no-place-israels-golden-city

From Sydney to Jerusalem – Isi Leibler shares a Jerusalem Day message. Rabbi Israel Porush, father-in-law of Isi Leibler made a remarkable sermon one year after the Six-Day War. It is still relevant today.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=8557

Not only Jerusalem Day, but also Hebron Liberation Day. In the same Six Day War in which Israel won back the Old City of Jerusalem, the second most holy city to the Jewish People – Hebron – was also recaptured.
http://unitedwithisrael.org/hebron-liberation-day-celebrates-six-day-war-miracle/
Plus a video of the Jerusalem Day atmosphere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXwPBtpCQGI

NYC’s Israel Day mega concert in support of Israel. The 21st free annual Israel Day Concert in New York’s Central Park on Jun 1st celebrates the eternal bond between supporters of Israel in the USA and the undivided capital of Israel, Jerusalem. It features Gad Elbaz, Lipa, Edon, Bennie Friedman, Ari Lesser and many more.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/181206#.U4g533aKj2Q

For most of human history the family was the basic social unit of the species. Family was a way of passing down genes, beliefs and wealth. It was a retirement plan that you paid into by keeping your children alive long enough for them to grow up and support you. It allowed the individual to pass on his ideas to people who would care about them because they were part of their heritage. Family was a collective endeavor, small enough to reflect the individual. It was a practical and philosophical aim that made life beautiful and meaningful.

But who really needs it anymore?
The basic practical functions of the family have been replaced by the nanny state. It is the nanny that takes over the care and teaching of the child as soon as possible. And when their parents grow old, it is that same nanny that oversees their care and death.

Governments have come to serve as undying guardians of human society, ushering new life into the world and ushering old life out of it. New parents are as likely to turn to the government for help as they are to their extended family. When their child is old enough to look around for a career, it is the government that they expect to provide the education and the jobs. And when they grow old, the child can keep on working at his government job and paying off his student loans knowing that the government will be there to make all the difficult and expensive decisions about their care.

With all that taken care of, who needs parents or children anyway?

Denounced by David Ben-Gurion as ‘Vladimir Hitler,’ Jabotinsky is history’s most misunderstood Zionist.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, the intellectual forebear of the secular Israeli right, is the most vilified and mischaracterized figure in Zionist history. Until his death in 1940, eight years before the state of Israel’s birth, Jabotinsky was the principal political rival of David Ben-Gurion, the Labor Zionist leader who became the Jewish State’s first prime minister. Ben-Gurion labeled him “Vladimir Hitler” and denounced him and his followers as extremists and militarists who “educate their youth to kill.” Invented 80 years ago for intramural Zionist political purposes, these slanders have now become standard insults that anti-Zionists use to denigrate the Jewish state.
The right has dominated Israel’s democratic politics since 1977, when Likud’s Menachem Begin, a disciple of Jabotinsky, became the country’s first nonsocialist prime minister. But Jabotinsky’s reputation still awaits general rehabilitation. The cloud that his contemporary rivals cast over him and his political party, which evolved into today’s Likud, has never fully dissipated. To understand contemporary Israel requires an appreciation of its conservative political thought that is deeper than name-calling. This means taking Jabotinsky seriously, which is a pleasure to do, not least because his many writings were prescient, humane, artful and often humorous.

In his engaging and intelligent biography, Hillel Halkin, himself a brilliant Zionist man of letters—translator, novelist and essayist—illuminates Jabotinsky’s multifaceted nature as a littérateur and polemicist, political thinker and activist, family man and frustrated politician. Mr. Halkin’s particular interest is the tension between Jabotinsky’s lifelong, passionate defense of individual liberty and his staunch Jewish nationalism, exaltation of military discipline and tough line toward the Arabs.

Born in 1880 in cosmopolitan Odessa, the only large Russian city in which Jews lived freely, Jabotinsky was secular and sophisticated. Though his father died when he was six and his mother made a meager living running a stationery store, Jabotinsky had a happy childhood in which he played truant and mischief maker, though one with a talent for words. As a teenager, he was already a rising-star journalist, having won a newspaper job by impressing an editor with his translation of Poe’s “The Raven” into Russian.

Zionism was offering a new answer to the so-called Jewish question: what to do about the Jews’ status as unwelcome guests in other peoples’ countries. Jabotinsky grasped that Jews in Eastern Europe lived wretched lives—”always in a state of war,” as he put it in his memoirs—surrounded by neighbors who generally hated them and sporadically battered, raped and killed them in pogroms that government officials often tolerated and sometimes encouraged. He concluded that Jewish assimilationism would fail and that the Zionists were right: The Jews needed a state where they could be the majority and govern and secure themselves. And only the Jews’ ancient homeland—that is, Zion—could attract enough Jews and inspire the exertions necessary to create this new state.

President Obama finally completed the prisoner swap he has been pleading with the Taliban for years to accept. While the president draws down American forces in Afghanistan and hamstrings our remaining troops with unconscionable combat rules of engagement that make both offensive operations and self-defense extremely difficult, the Taliban get back five of their most experienced, most virulently anti-American commanders.

In return, thanks to the president’s negotiations with the terrorists, we receive U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl—who, according to several of his fellow soldiers, walked off his post in 2009 before being captured by the Taliban. (For more on this, see Greg Pollowitz’spost at The Feed.) This was shortly after Sgt. Bergdahlreportedly emailed his parents that “The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at”; that he was “ashamed to even be an American”; and that “The horror that is America is disgusting.”

Sgt. Bergdahl’s father, Robert, was by Mr. Obama’s side during Saturday’s Rose Garden press conference, at which the president announced Sgt. Bergdahl’s return but carefully avoiding mention of the jihadi-windfall the Taliban received in exchange. Mr. Bergdahl is an antiwar activist campaigning for the release of all jihadists detained at Guantanamo Bay. His Twitter account, @bobbergdahl, has apparently now deleted a tweet from four days ago, in which he said, in echoes of Islamic supremacist rhetoric, “@ABalkhi I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners. God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen!”

We have been warning for years here that Obama was negotiating with the Taliban—even as he duplicitously bragged that the U.S. had “removed the Taliban government.” The president and his minions reportedly even turned for mediation help to Sheikh YusufQaradawi—the top Muslim Brotherhood sharia jurist who issued a fatwa in 2003 calling for violent jihad against American troops and support personnel in Iraq. (Indeed, the administration has hostedQaradawi’s sidekick, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah—who also signed the fatwa—at the White House for consultations … and the State Department was embarrassed to be caught touting bin Bayyah just a week ago.)