Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is to deliver the keynote at this weekend’s J Street conference, a gathering of left-wing activists opposed to the Israeli government and to recently re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Baker, who served under President George H.W. Bush, is also advising Jeb Bush in his presidential effort, according to a report by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Baker is considered hostile to Israel and is controversial among Jewish voters.
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2015, 9:57 AM PST0
President Barack Obama is determined to be the last person on earth to congratulate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on winning re-election. In addition, the administration says, there will have to be consequences for the way Netanyahu won–for raising concerns about Arab voters being bused to the polls by foreign-funded non-profits, for committing not to agree to a Palestinian state that would hurt Israel’s security. These are bizarre, self-destructive threats.
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2015, 4:49 AM PST0
Controversy continues to rage after the Israeli elections. It is–or ought to be–a scandal for any leader of a civilized nation to urge one group of voters to “punish” their “enemies” from another group of voters. The exact quote was: “We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.” The leader who uttered those disgraceful words was U.S. President Barack Obama in 2010, and the mainstream media ignored him.
by Joel B. Pollak18 Mar 2015, 6:42 AM PST0
Conservatives are thrilled that Netanyahu stood up to the president–who has openly defied the American electorate and the U.S. Constitution–and won in a landslide. The question that remains is why Republicans have failed to do anything like what Netanyahu has done, from a far weaker position.
by Joel B. Pollak17 Mar 2015, 11:05 PM PST0
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently defied the mainstream media and the Obama administration with a stunning, come-from-behind victory in Israel’s elections on Tuesday. Netanyahu’s Likud Party had been projected to lose to Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union by a margin of 26-22. Two exit polls released at the close of voting, however, suggested Likud would win, 28-27 (a third poll showed them tied). Netanyahu is now expected to form a new governing coalition.
by Joel B. Pollak17 Mar 2015, 1:50 PM PST0
The Associated Press reports that the Samiullah Afridi, the attorney representing Dr. Shakil Afridi, who helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden, has been shot and killed. Two Taliban terrorist groups claimed responsibility for his death.
by Joel B. Pollak17 Mar 2015, 11:10 AM PST0
“We will teach our principles—the principles of the Founding and of Lincoln, to anyone—red state or blue state.” That’s the message of Michael Pack, the new president of the Claremont Institute, a bastion of conservative thought in Claremont, CA.
by Joel B. Pollak17 Mar 2015, 6:05 AM PST0
As Israelis vote Tuesday, one critical factor may be the youth vote, newly-energized by a contested race (and by millions of dollars in foreign donations, including from U.S. taxpayers, to left-wing get-out-the-vote efforts). One critical factor in the expected strong performance by the Zionist Union opposition to incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party is that young Israelis voting for the first time will have had no real memory of the Oslo peace process–and its failure.
by Joel B. Pollak17 Mar 2015, 5:42 AM PST0
Israeli voters head to the polls on Tuesday to decide which political parties will fill the 120 seats of the 20th Knesset, and–indirectly–who will form the next government. The Zionist Union–a bloc of left and centrist parties–has seen its modest lead grow in recent days. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a “gevalt” campaign (a Yiddish expression of alarm), warning supporters he will lose unless they turn out to vote for his Likud Party over the alternatives.
by Joel B. Pollak16 Mar 2015, 3:12 PM PST0
Bob Schieffer could barely contain his outrage at Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) for daring to warn the Iranian leadership that any nuclear deal would have to be ratified by the Senate, under the U.S. Constitution, to be binding. As Cotton explained in his appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Iran is clearly not hearing that from the Obama administration itself, which is desperate to achieve “peace at any price,” rather than using constitutional constraints as leverage to force a better deal.
by Joel B. Pollak15 Mar 2015, 1:53 PM PST0
The Times of Israel is leading Sunday evening with a profile of Amos Yadlin, the Israeli left’s choice for defense minister if the Zionist Union wins Tuesday’s election and is able to form a coalition government. Though Yadlin was a pilot during the mission to destroy Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981, and allegedly helped destroy Syria’s reactor in 2007, he suffers under some of the left’s more destructive policy delusions.
by Joel B. Pollak15 Mar 2015, 1:34 PM PST0
I have been warning for months that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might lose the March 17 election. In November 2014, before elections were called, I noted that Netanyahu had been elected on a promise to oppose Barack Obama, and now that Obama’s lame-duck term had begun, Israeli voters might feel secure enough to look elsewhere for leadership. What they–and indeed many Americans–failed to see was how much damage Obama still intended to cause.
by Joel B. Pollak15 Mar 2015, 6:35 AM PST0
Israelis head to the polls on Tuesday, Mar. 17 to elect a new parliament, a new Knesset. There are a total of 120 seats up for grabs, which will be divided proportionally among all parties that manage to pass the minimum threshold of 3.25%. The resulting government will be formed after the ceremonial President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, chooses a candidate for prime minister to assemble a coalition (61 seats or more). Here are five other important facts to know about Israel’s election.
by Joel B. Pollak14 Mar 2015, 6:00 AM PST0
So the mainstream media have returned to Ferguson, Missouri to document the violence they helped foment. No one said “hands up, don’t shoot” when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown in self-defense last summer. But two police officers have now been shot in cold blood and nearly killed at a “peaceful” demonstration incited by President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and serial race arsonist Al Sharpton. It is a familiar pattern–not just in America but the Middle East.
by Joel B. Pollak13 Mar 2015, 5:48 AM PST0
Attorneys from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), representing a whistleblower against Planned Parenthood in California, have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to allow their lawsuit against the organization to go ahead. The suit, in which former chief financial officer of the Los Angeles Planned Parenthood Victor Gonzalez claims that the organization defrauded the federal government of over $200 million by overcharging for medical services, has struggled to survive.
by Joel B. Pollak12 Mar 2015, 6:01 AM PST0
When Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and 46 other Republican Senators wrote their controversial letter to the leaders of Iran, informing them that a deal with President Barack Obama would have no lasting force unless it was ratified by the Senate under the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, Breitbart News predicted that the gesture would set up “checkmate,” forcing Obama to admit that he had no intention of consulting Congress, and solidifying congressional opposition to the deal.
by Joel B. Pollak12 Mar 2015, 5:31 AM PST0
Two police officers in Ferguson, MO were shot Wednesday evening at a protest against alleged racism in the department and the city itself. It was not enough that the chief of police had just resigned. It was not enough that a local judge had quit. It was not enough that the Department of Justice had exonerated former officer Darren Wilson. No–the mob, told by President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder that Ferguson was still guilty of racism, wanted “justice.”
by Joel B. Pollak12 Mar 2015, 5:09 AM PST0
The last pre-election polls in Israel show that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains the overwhelming favorite to lead the country, but show his party slipping to second place, losing ground to its center-left, Obama-backed rival. Bibi’s Likud Party will gain seats, but the rival Zionist Union–an alliance between Isaac Herzog’s Labor Party and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua Party–could also gain enough to win the Mar. 17 election. Netanyahu says there is a “real danger” he could lose.
by Joel B. Pollak11 Mar 2015, 6:39 AM PST0
Democrats and the mainstream media have used the words “traitor” and “treason” to describe a letter to Iranian leaders, drafted by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and signed by 47 Republican Senators, that warns any nuclear deal President Barack Obama signs may be voided by a future administration or Congress if it is not ratified by the Senate. Since they have brought the “t-words” into the debate, it is worth examining the case against Obama himself, which is far more damning.
by Joel B. Pollak11 Mar 2015, 6:15 AM PST0
Democrats are pushing back against the letter, circulated by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and signed by 47 Senators in all, that warns the Iranian regime that any deal it signs with President Barack Obama could be voided by the next president if it is not ratified by the Senate under the U.S. Constitution. They have enlisted Vice President Joe Biden and even retired Sen. Richard Lugar to disparage the effort. In so doing, they have proved Cotton’s point–and checkmated the administration.
by Joel B. Pollak10 Mar 2015, 5:28 AM PST0
J Street, a left-wing organization that was founded by liberal Jews to counter traditional pro-Israel advocacy in Congress, has crossed the line into hate group status with its invitation to Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat to address its conference later this month.
by Joel B. Pollak9 Mar 2015, 9:46 PM PST0
Forty-seven U.S. Senators have released an open letter to the Iranian government warning that any nuclear deal signed by President Barack Obama could be revoked by a subsequent U.S. president unless it is ratified by the Senate. The letter, while addressed to the “Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” is really a warning to Obama not to bypass Congress.
by Joel B. Pollak9 Mar 2015, 5:32 AM PST0
On Sunday morning’s edition of Meet the Press, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called on Hillary Clinton to “come out” with the truth about her emails after it emerged last week that she had used a private email address for all of her correspondence as Secretary of State, against department policy.
by Joel B. Pollak8 Mar 2015, 8:10 AM PST0
The Clintons’ exploitative ties to Haiti apparently continue. Haitians get the rubble–and Rodham, evidently, gets the gold.
by Joel B. Pollak6 Mar 2015, 6:20 AM PST0
A new bipartisan bill to end vaccine exemptions for personal belief has found a powerful opponent: the chiropractors’ lobby.
by Joel B. Pollak6 Mar 2015, 6:06 AM PST0
