9 sept 2018
The US administration has urged Paraguay to keep its embassy in Occupied Jerusalem and refrain from revoking a previous decision taken in this regard by the former president.
According to different news reports, US vice president Mike Pence asked Paraguay’s new president Mario Abdo Benitez to uphold his predecessor’s decision to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Paraguay on Wednesday dealt a blow to Israeli’s quest for recognition of the occupied holy city as its capital, which have received some response this year when the US, followed by Guatemala and Paraguay, relocated embassies there.
Most countries do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire holy city.
Pence spoke on Wednesday to president Benitez, who was elected on August 15, and “strongly encouraged” him to follow through with Paraguay’s commitment to move the embassy to Jerusalem “as a sign of the historic relationship the country has maintained with both Israel and the US.”
A statement from Pence’s office did not say how Benitez responded to the US vice president’s request.
Hours after Paraguay announced it would move its embassy back to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu responded by ordering the closure of Israel’s embassy in Paraguay.
The Paraguayan president on Wednesday defended his decision as part of an effort to support “broad, lasting and just peace” between Israelis and Palestinians.
Former Paraguay president Horacio Cartes opened the new embassy in Jerusalem on May 21, just days after the US and Guatemala did.
7 sept 2018 Sources: Paraguay was disappointed with Israel's behavior
According to different news reports, US vice president Mike Pence asked Paraguay’s new president Mario Abdo Benitez to uphold his predecessor’s decision to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Paraguay on Wednesday dealt a blow to Israeli’s quest for recognition of the occupied holy city as its capital, which have received some response this year when the US, followed by Guatemala and Paraguay, relocated embassies there.
Most countries do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire holy city.
Pence spoke on Wednesday to president Benitez, who was elected on August 15, and “strongly encouraged” him to follow through with Paraguay’s commitment to move the embassy to Jerusalem “as a sign of the historic relationship the country has maintained with both Israel and the US.”
A statement from Pence’s office did not say how Benitez responded to the US vice president’s request.
Hours after Paraguay announced it would move its embassy back to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu responded by ordering the closure of Israel’s embassy in Paraguay.
The Paraguayan president on Wednesday defended his decision as part of an effort to support “broad, lasting and just peace” between Israelis and Palestinians.
Former Paraguay president Horacio Cartes opened the new embassy in Jerusalem on May 21, just days after the US and Guatemala did.
7 sept 2018 Sources: Paraguay was disappointed with Israel's behavior
Responding to the US decision to cancel the $20 million grant allocated to the Palestinian Makassed hospital in occupied Jerusalem, the hospital administration on Saturday that the measure harms live-saving services and confuses political issues with medical and humanitarian ones.
The Hospital admin said in a statement that this decision comes at a time when the hospital is facing a severe financial crisis due to the large cash flow deficit and the outstanding debts of the Palestinian government.
"The hospital's share of the total US grant is 45 million shekels ($12.5 million), which helps a great deal its various departments and the provision of services for its patients who come from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and occupied Jerusalem," it said.
Depriving the hospital of these funds demands an immediate financial intervention from the Palestinian government to help the hospital pay the income tax, the property tax and the pension fund imposed by the Israeli government, said Makassed’s admin.
The statement slammed the US move, which it said makes part of US attempts to pressure the Palestinians to accept its dictates.
US President Donald Trump ordered that $25m earmarked for the medical care of Palestinians in East Jerusalem hospitals be directed elsewhere as part of a review of aid, a State Department official said on Saturday.
Trump called for a review of US assistance to the Palestinians earlier this year to ensure that the funds were being spent in accordance with national interests and were providing value to taxpayers, Reuters reported.
The aid cut is the latest in a number of sanctions by the Trump administration that have stirred the anger of Palestinians, including the recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
"This is not a formula of peace-building, this is a complete inhuman and immoral action that adopts the Israeli right-wing narrative to target and punish Palestinian citizens to compromise their rights to independence," AFP cited a Palestinian official as stating.
Human rights groups also condemned such an act of “political blackmail”, which they said goes against the norms of human decency and morality.
The Hospital admin said in a statement that this decision comes at a time when the hospital is facing a severe financial crisis due to the large cash flow deficit and the outstanding debts of the Palestinian government.
"The hospital's share of the total US grant is 45 million shekels ($12.5 million), which helps a great deal its various departments and the provision of services for its patients who come from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and occupied Jerusalem," it said.
Depriving the hospital of these funds demands an immediate financial intervention from the Palestinian government to help the hospital pay the income tax, the property tax and the pension fund imposed by the Israeli government, said Makassed’s admin.
The statement slammed the US move, which it said makes part of US attempts to pressure the Palestinians to accept its dictates.
US President Donald Trump ordered that $25m earmarked for the medical care of Palestinians in East Jerusalem hospitals be directed elsewhere as part of a review of aid, a State Department official said on Saturday.
Trump called for a review of US assistance to the Palestinians earlier this year to ensure that the funds were being spent in accordance with national interests and were providing value to taxpayers, Reuters reported.
The aid cut is the latest in a number of sanctions by the Trump administration that have stirred the anger of Palestinians, including the recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
"This is not a formula of peace-building, this is a complete inhuman and immoral action that adopts the Israeli right-wing narrative to target and punish Palestinian citizens to compromise their rights to independence," AFP cited a Palestinian official as stating.
Human rights groups also condemned such an act of “political blackmail”, which they said goes against the norms of human decency and morality.
Officials from Israel’s security establishment have concurred that the Israeli government must work to establish an alternative to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip to avoid a humanitarian disaster in the impoverished Palestinian enclave.
Israel’s Haaretz daily reported Sunday that Israeli officials concluded in a meeting last week that a substitute must be developed to channel much-needed aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip in order to avoid further deterioration.
The officials noted during the meeting that only three percent of Gaza’s water supply is drinkable and desalination projects are not being advanced rapidly enough to stave off a water crisis. As a result, many Gazan families are storing seawater for household use, Haaretz added.
According to the report, an Israeli delegation will attend a UN donor conference in New York later this month and encourage countries to supply the necessary funding to guarantee the continued delivery of food, education services and the salaries of some 30,000 UNRWA employees in the Strip.
But, in light of the US decision to de-fund the Palestinian aid agency, the Israeli delegation will instead focus on securing funding for the provision of basic needs, Haaretz further stated.
Humanitarian conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip have steadily declined over the years, exacerbated by a limited power supply and lack of drinkable water.
US President Donald Trump announced at the beginning of this month that Washington would cut almost $300 million in planned funding for the organization which it claimed had become an “irredeemably flawed operation.”
Washington had long been the largest single donor to the agency, supplying nearly 30 percent of the total budget to UNRWA which provides healthcare, education and social service to almost five million Palestinians across the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Israel’s Haaretz daily reported Sunday that Israeli officials concluded in a meeting last week that a substitute must be developed to channel much-needed aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip in order to avoid further deterioration.
The officials noted during the meeting that only three percent of Gaza’s water supply is drinkable and desalination projects are not being advanced rapidly enough to stave off a water crisis. As a result, many Gazan families are storing seawater for household use, Haaretz added.
According to the report, an Israeli delegation will attend a UN donor conference in New York later this month and encourage countries to supply the necessary funding to guarantee the continued delivery of food, education services and the salaries of some 30,000 UNRWA employees in the Strip.
But, in light of the US decision to de-fund the Palestinian aid agency, the Israeli delegation will instead focus on securing funding for the provision of basic needs, Haaretz further stated.
Humanitarian conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip have steadily declined over the years, exacerbated by a limited power supply and lack of drinkable water.
US President Donald Trump announced at the beginning of this month that Washington would cut almost $300 million in planned funding for the organization which it claimed had become an “irredeemably flawed operation.”
Washington had long been the largest single donor to the agency, supplying nearly 30 percent of the total budget to UNRWA which provides healthcare, education and social service to almost five million Palestinians across the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
8 sept 2018
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned, on Saturday afternoon, the United States' decision to cut aid to Palestinian hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem saying that the US has "crossed all red lines."
The ministry said in a statement that "the new US policy aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause under false and meager pretexts through the so-called 'Deal of the Century'."
The US announced, earlier on Saturday, that it will cancel $20 million in aid to Palestinian hospitals of occupied East Jerusalem.
"This dangerous and unjustified American escalation has crossed all red lines and is considered a direct aggression against the Palestinian people, including the humanitarian aspect since it threatens the lives of thousands of Palestinian patients and their families, and could affect the future and livelihoods of thousands of employees of these hospitals."
The ministry said that the decision is "morally bankrupt and inhumane that rarely happens even by the most oppressive and totalitarian regimes in the world."
In its statement, the ministry called upon the international community to take a stand from "American injustice" against the Palestinian people and their rights.
The ministry also urged the international community to make up for the US decisions by allocating direct assistance to the Palestinians.
The ministry said in a statement that "the new US policy aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause under false and meager pretexts through the so-called 'Deal of the Century'."
The US announced, earlier on Saturday, that it will cancel $20 million in aid to Palestinian hospitals of occupied East Jerusalem.
"This dangerous and unjustified American escalation has crossed all red lines and is considered a direct aggression against the Palestinian people, including the humanitarian aspect since it threatens the lives of thousands of Palestinian patients and their families, and could affect the future and livelihoods of thousands of employees of these hospitals."
The ministry said that the decision is "morally bankrupt and inhumane that rarely happens even by the most oppressive and totalitarian regimes in the world."
In its statement, the ministry called upon the international community to take a stand from "American injustice" against the Palestinian people and their rights.
The ministry also urged the international community to make up for the US decisions by allocating direct assistance to the Palestinians.
The United States announced, on Saturday, that it will cancel $20 million in aid to Palestinian hospitals of occupied East Jerusalem.
A US State Department Official told Israeli news outlet Haaretz the decision against the hospitals is part of the administration's broader approach of cutting Palestinian aid and investing it in other priorities.
The decision comes weeks after the US had announced that it will cut all funds to the United Nations Relied and Aid Agency (UNRWA) and the cut of $200 million for economic and social projects for the Palestinians.
Haaretz reported that "the budget cut could cause harm to at least five hospitals in East Jerusalem, including Augusta Victoria hospital near Mt. Scopus and the St. John Eye Hospital, which is the main provider of eye treatments for Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."
"There was indication of the influence of Christian groups supporting these hospitals earlier this year, when congress approved the Taylor Force Act, which put severe restrictions on U.S. funding for Palestinians."
Addressing a conference of Jewish leaders in the US on Thursday, President Donald Trump admitted that his goal is to use US funds to get the Palestinians to surrender to his terms.
US President Donald Trump said, on Thursday, that the aid cut decision was to pressure Palestinians to return to UN-led negotiations with Israel.
"I told them, we're not paying you until we make a deal. If we don't make a deal, we're not paying."
Dave Harden, a former U.S. official who was in charge of USAID in the West Bank, warned, on Friday, that the decision could lead to the "collapse" of Augusta Victoria hospital.
Augusta Victoria and other East Jerusalem hospitals not only serve the Palestinian population of the city, but also Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, including cancer patients and children.
A US State Department Official told Israeli news outlet Haaretz the decision against the hospitals is part of the administration's broader approach of cutting Palestinian aid and investing it in other priorities.
The decision comes weeks after the US had announced that it will cut all funds to the United Nations Relied and Aid Agency (UNRWA) and the cut of $200 million for economic and social projects for the Palestinians.
Haaretz reported that "the budget cut could cause harm to at least five hospitals in East Jerusalem, including Augusta Victoria hospital near Mt. Scopus and the St. John Eye Hospital, which is the main provider of eye treatments for Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."
"There was indication of the influence of Christian groups supporting these hospitals earlier this year, when congress approved the Taylor Force Act, which put severe restrictions on U.S. funding for Palestinians."
Addressing a conference of Jewish leaders in the US on Thursday, President Donald Trump admitted that his goal is to use US funds to get the Palestinians to surrender to his terms.
US President Donald Trump said, on Thursday, that the aid cut decision was to pressure Palestinians to return to UN-led negotiations with Israel.
"I told them, we're not paying you until we make a deal. If we don't make a deal, we're not paying."
Dave Harden, a former U.S. official who was in charge of USAID in the West Bank, warned, on Friday, that the decision could lead to the "collapse" of Augusta Victoria hospital.
Augusta Victoria and other East Jerusalem hospitals not only serve the Palestinian population of the city, but also Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, including cancer patients and children.
6 sept 2018
Speaking in a conference call with Jewish leaders ahead of Rosh Hashanah, US president says his decision to stop all funds to Palestinian refugee agency carries a clear message: 'If you don’t make a deal, we’re not paying.'
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US would not renew its transfer of funds to the Palestinians until they agreed to come to the negotiating table with Israel to end the decades-long conflict.
The Trump administration recently announced it would cease to provide any financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which the US and Israel have accused of deliberately bloating the number of bona fide Palestinian refugees.
“What I will tell you is I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians and the Palestinian leaders,” Trump said in a 25-minute conference call with rabbis and Jewish leaders ahead of the new year festival of Rosh Hashanah.
“The United States was paying them tremendous amounts of money. And I say, ‘You’ll get money, but we’re not paying until you make a deal. If you don’t make a deal, we’re not paying,’” he said.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also participated in the call.
“I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all” for US aid to be used as leverage, Trump said in response to a question posed by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.
“I think it’s disrespectful when people don’t come to the table,” the president continued, according to the Jewish Insider.
Asked by Dershowitz whether the Jewish community could be optimistic about his ability to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict “that we pray for all the time,” Trump responded categorically.
“I think the answer to that is a very strong yes. I really do believe we are going to make a deal. I hope so. It would be a great thing to do,” he said.
“I am a very proud father of a Jewish daughter, Ivanka,” Trump said in his opening remarks, adding that he’s also proud Jared Kushner.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israel war—the War of Independence—in the wake of the exodus of around 700,000 Palestinian refugees.
The nascent state of Israel absorbed Jewish refugees who were expelled or who fled from neighboring Arab countries, while other Arab states refused to grant the Palestinians citizenship.
As a result, UNRWA now looks after more than 5 million descendants of those original refugees, in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel argues that UNRWA perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem by grossly inflating the number of genuine refugees.
Trump also spoke about the Iran nuclear deal from which he withdrew in May, which he has repeatedly described as the "worst deal."
“They should thank us profusely for what we did. We gave them $150 billion. Even crazier sounding to me is that we gave them $1.8 billion in cash. If anybody knows what $1.8 billion in cash looks like, I’m still trying to figure it out. They took the money out of banks from three major states and they didn’t have enough, so they ended using banks from other countries to get them the money. It was the craziest deal," Trump said.
Praising the "tremendously positive impact" that his withdrawal has, Trump said "I think Israel feels a lot safer than they’ve felt in many, many years."
"I can only say from the standpoint of Israel, what I did was a great thing for Israel. And what I did was also a very good thing for world peace, because everywhere we went—especially in the Middle East—where there was a problem, Iran stood behind that problem," the president said.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US would not renew its transfer of funds to the Palestinians until they agreed to come to the negotiating table with Israel to end the decades-long conflict.
The Trump administration recently announced it would cease to provide any financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which the US and Israel have accused of deliberately bloating the number of bona fide Palestinian refugees.
“What I will tell you is I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians and the Palestinian leaders,” Trump said in a 25-minute conference call with rabbis and Jewish leaders ahead of the new year festival of Rosh Hashanah.
“The United States was paying them tremendous amounts of money. And I say, ‘You’ll get money, but we’re not paying until you make a deal. If you don’t make a deal, we’re not paying,’” he said.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also participated in the call.
“I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all” for US aid to be used as leverage, Trump said in response to a question posed by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.
“I think it’s disrespectful when people don’t come to the table,” the president continued, according to the Jewish Insider.
Asked by Dershowitz whether the Jewish community could be optimistic about his ability to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict “that we pray for all the time,” Trump responded categorically.
“I think the answer to that is a very strong yes. I really do believe we are going to make a deal. I hope so. It would be a great thing to do,” he said.
“I am a very proud father of a Jewish daughter, Ivanka,” Trump said in his opening remarks, adding that he’s also proud Jared Kushner.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israel war—the War of Independence—in the wake of the exodus of around 700,000 Palestinian refugees.
The nascent state of Israel absorbed Jewish refugees who were expelled or who fled from neighboring Arab countries, while other Arab states refused to grant the Palestinians citizenship.
As a result, UNRWA now looks after more than 5 million descendants of those original refugees, in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel argues that UNRWA perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem by grossly inflating the number of genuine refugees.
Trump also spoke about the Iran nuclear deal from which he withdrew in May, which he has repeatedly described as the "worst deal."
“They should thank us profusely for what we did. We gave them $150 billion. Even crazier sounding to me is that we gave them $1.8 billion in cash. If anybody knows what $1.8 billion in cash looks like, I’m still trying to figure it out. They took the money out of banks from three major states and they didn’t have enough, so they ended using banks from other countries to get them the money. It was the craziest deal," Trump said.
Praising the "tremendously positive impact" that his withdrawal has, Trump said "I think Israel feels a lot safer than they’ve felt in many, many years."
"I can only say from the standpoint of Israel, what I did was a great thing for Israel. And what I did was also a very good thing for world peace, because everywhere we went—especially in the Middle East—where there was a problem, Iran stood behind that problem," the president said.
Three years ago, it looked like Sheldon Adelson was going to support Senator Marco Rubio for president, and Donald Trump tweeted a lethal assessment:
Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!
After that, of course, Trump blew Rubio away, and it was Trump who got $35 million from Adelson in the presidential race. The relationship hums along. Lately Adelson and his wife Miriam gave $55 million to Trump’s firewall against impeachment, Republican congressional campaigns.
And Trump’s shrewd assessment could not be more accurate. He is Adelson’s perfect little puppet.
All Trump’s major moves in the Middle East, from tearing up the Iran deal to moving the embassy to Jerusalem, to making the Foundation for Defense of Democracies his braintrust, to elevating John Bolton to national security adviser and throwing out realist Rex Tillerson at State, are moves that make Adelson happy. We can just be thankful that Trump has not checked off every box on Adelson’s wishlist, and nuked Iran.
Trump’s latest move, to defund UNRWA, the UN aid organization for Palestinian refugees, is completely in line with Adelson’s agenda. The 85-year-old casino mogul has long maintained there is no such thing as a Palestinian.
There’s no such thing as a Palestinian. Do you know what they are? The Palestinians call themselves southern Syrians. They were the Syrians who were left over from the district of Syria that was so named in the Ottoman Empire… There’s no such thing as a Palestinian people. They have fooled the world very successfully.
By Ottoman Syria, Adelson means Jordan– where Trump wants the Palestinians to move as he redraws the map of the Middle East.
Trump is determined to take “off the table” the biggest issues of the so-called peace process, refugees and Jerusalem and borders. All in Israel’s favor.
His moves destroy any idea of an autonomous Palestinian state, and are completely consistent with Adelson’s other buddy Netanyahu’s promise in 2015 that he would never allow a Palestinian state on his watch.
Sheldon Adelson is very clear about that goal. He says allowing a Palestinian state is equivalent to giving Muslims a license to kill half the Jews:
I can imagine a meeting between an Israeli Jew and the Muslims. ‘Muslims, you want to kill 100 percent of the Jews. We don’t want you to kill anybody. So let’s compromise. We’ll surrender half the Jews so you can kill them. And the other half of the Jews will stay alive. So both of us get a compromise. You can’t get everything you want! But we get some of what we want!’ It’s ridiculous. These people espouse the destruction of the Jewish people worldwide and the state of Israel. When they talk about the little Satan and the big Satan, this is not conjecture… they really mean it.
The scary/remarkable thing about Adelson’s influence is that such a lunatic view of the world gets so little scrutiny in the mainstream media.
But Adelson has been influencing policy on these issues for 18 years without much attention. The last time a Republican was in the White House, Adelson gave tons of money and made sure that the Bush Administration was stocked with his friends.
Adelson was alarmed that the Camp David discussions of 2000 led by Clinton had included the division of Jerusalem and he was determined to prevent that from happening. Doug Feith had helped start a Zionist group called One Jerusalem, and Adelson had funded it.
Now Feith “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth” was installed at the Pentagon as an under secretary, and Elliott Abrams was in the White House, and the settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem grew without any opposition from the United States.
When Condoleezza Rice tried at a late date to restart the peace process at Annapolis, Adelson protested in a meeting with the president, and Bush all but called Adelson an Israel-firster. “Bush put one arm around his [Adelson’s] shoulder and another around that of his wife, Miriam, who was born in Israel, and said to her, ‘You tell your Prime Minister that I need to know what’s right for your people—because at the end of the day it’s going to be my policy, not Condi’s. But I can’t be more Catholic than the Pope.’” (As Connie Bruck reported in the New Yorker.)
(Words Barack Obama would echo a decade later when he said it would be an “abrogation of my constitutional duty” to do what Netanyahu wanted him to do….)
The settlers’ expansion in the early 2000’s killed the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. There are now more than 600,000 settlers in the West Bank, most of them on strategic hilltops surrounding Palestinian population centers, creating islands of Palestinian life. This is the binational reality: there is really only one state between the river and the sea, and one state exercises sovereignty over those lands.
That was Sheldon Adelson’s agenda, and he has gotten his way. The move of the embassy to Jerusalem solidifies this reality. As does the effort to put pressure on Palestinian refugees to get out of the way.
George Bush’s suggestion that Netanyahu is Sheldon Adelson’s prime minister has been echoed by Adelson himself when he says he wished he’d served in the Israeli army, not the American one, and tells young American Jews whom he’s sent on a vacation to Israel that they have to be ambassadors for Israel because “We’re the only democracy in this entire section of the world.”
The idea that Sheldon Adelson cares more about Israel than the U.S. was bolstered by the suppressed/leaked Al Jazeera documentary which reported that the Israeli government regards the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies as an arm of its own diplomacy.
Not that anyone in the mainstream picks that up. The only reason this is not a scandal in the press is that the press is so pro-Israel that it doesn’t really see a problem here.
Jewish Insider just reported on a dinner in New York at which Trump officials unveiled their peace proposals to “influential leaders across the political spectrum.” And who was at that dinner? Paul Singer the neoconservative Republican donor, and Haim Saban the Democratic one. Along with a bunch of hard-core Israel supporters, from neocons like Elliott Abrams to Clintonites Mark Indyk and Gary Ginsberg (who wrote speeches for Netanyahu even as a media exec).
Attendees at Saban and Singer’s dinner included foreign policy experts Elliott Abrams and Martin Indyk, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, former Time Warner executive Gary Ginsberg, Start-Up Nation author Dan Senor, Israel Policy Forum leaders Charles Bronfman and Susie Gelman, Tikvah’s Roger Hertog, former New York Observer editor Ken Kurson, Guess Jeans’ Maurice Marciano, Ira Rennert, Bob Book, and former Conference of Presidents’ Chair Jim Tisch.
Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!
After that, of course, Trump blew Rubio away, and it was Trump who got $35 million from Adelson in the presidential race. The relationship hums along. Lately Adelson and his wife Miriam gave $55 million to Trump’s firewall against impeachment, Republican congressional campaigns.
And Trump’s shrewd assessment could not be more accurate. He is Adelson’s perfect little puppet.
All Trump’s major moves in the Middle East, from tearing up the Iran deal to moving the embassy to Jerusalem, to making the Foundation for Defense of Democracies his braintrust, to elevating John Bolton to national security adviser and throwing out realist Rex Tillerson at State, are moves that make Adelson happy. We can just be thankful that Trump has not checked off every box on Adelson’s wishlist, and nuked Iran.
Trump’s latest move, to defund UNRWA, the UN aid organization for Palestinian refugees, is completely in line with Adelson’s agenda. The 85-year-old casino mogul has long maintained there is no such thing as a Palestinian.
There’s no such thing as a Palestinian. Do you know what they are? The Palestinians call themselves southern Syrians. They were the Syrians who were left over from the district of Syria that was so named in the Ottoman Empire… There’s no such thing as a Palestinian people. They have fooled the world very successfully.
By Ottoman Syria, Adelson means Jordan– where Trump wants the Palestinians to move as he redraws the map of the Middle East.
Trump is determined to take “off the table” the biggest issues of the so-called peace process, refugees and Jerusalem and borders. All in Israel’s favor.
His moves destroy any idea of an autonomous Palestinian state, and are completely consistent with Adelson’s other buddy Netanyahu’s promise in 2015 that he would never allow a Palestinian state on his watch.
Sheldon Adelson is very clear about that goal. He says allowing a Palestinian state is equivalent to giving Muslims a license to kill half the Jews:
I can imagine a meeting between an Israeli Jew and the Muslims. ‘Muslims, you want to kill 100 percent of the Jews. We don’t want you to kill anybody. So let’s compromise. We’ll surrender half the Jews so you can kill them. And the other half of the Jews will stay alive. So both of us get a compromise. You can’t get everything you want! But we get some of what we want!’ It’s ridiculous. These people espouse the destruction of the Jewish people worldwide and the state of Israel. When they talk about the little Satan and the big Satan, this is not conjecture… they really mean it.
The scary/remarkable thing about Adelson’s influence is that such a lunatic view of the world gets so little scrutiny in the mainstream media.
But Adelson has been influencing policy on these issues for 18 years without much attention. The last time a Republican was in the White House, Adelson gave tons of money and made sure that the Bush Administration was stocked with his friends.
Adelson was alarmed that the Camp David discussions of 2000 led by Clinton had included the division of Jerusalem and he was determined to prevent that from happening. Doug Feith had helped start a Zionist group called One Jerusalem, and Adelson had funded it.
Now Feith “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth” was installed at the Pentagon as an under secretary, and Elliott Abrams was in the White House, and the settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem grew without any opposition from the United States.
When Condoleezza Rice tried at a late date to restart the peace process at Annapolis, Adelson protested in a meeting with the president, and Bush all but called Adelson an Israel-firster. “Bush put one arm around his [Adelson’s] shoulder and another around that of his wife, Miriam, who was born in Israel, and said to her, ‘You tell your Prime Minister that I need to know what’s right for your people—because at the end of the day it’s going to be my policy, not Condi’s. But I can’t be more Catholic than the Pope.’” (As Connie Bruck reported in the New Yorker.)
(Words Barack Obama would echo a decade later when he said it would be an “abrogation of my constitutional duty” to do what Netanyahu wanted him to do….)
The settlers’ expansion in the early 2000’s killed the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. There are now more than 600,000 settlers in the West Bank, most of them on strategic hilltops surrounding Palestinian population centers, creating islands of Palestinian life. This is the binational reality: there is really only one state between the river and the sea, and one state exercises sovereignty over those lands.
That was Sheldon Adelson’s agenda, and he has gotten his way. The move of the embassy to Jerusalem solidifies this reality. As does the effort to put pressure on Palestinian refugees to get out of the way.
George Bush’s suggestion that Netanyahu is Sheldon Adelson’s prime minister has been echoed by Adelson himself when he says he wished he’d served in the Israeli army, not the American one, and tells young American Jews whom he’s sent on a vacation to Israel that they have to be ambassadors for Israel because “We’re the only democracy in this entire section of the world.”
The idea that Sheldon Adelson cares more about Israel than the U.S. was bolstered by the suppressed/leaked Al Jazeera documentary which reported that the Israeli government regards the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies as an arm of its own diplomacy.
Not that anyone in the mainstream picks that up. The only reason this is not a scandal in the press is that the press is so pro-Israel that it doesn’t really see a problem here.
Jewish Insider just reported on a dinner in New York at which Trump officials unveiled their peace proposals to “influential leaders across the political spectrum.” And who was at that dinner? Paul Singer the neoconservative Republican donor, and Haim Saban the Democratic one. Along with a bunch of hard-core Israel supporters, from neocons like Elliott Abrams to Clintonites Mark Indyk and Gary Ginsberg (who wrote speeches for Netanyahu even as a media exec).
Attendees at Saban and Singer’s dinner included foreign policy experts Elliott Abrams and Martin Indyk, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, former Time Warner executive Gary Ginsberg, Start-Up Nation author Dan Senor, Israel Policy Forum leaders Charles Bronfman and Susie Gelman, Tikvah’s Roger Hertog, former New York Observer editor Ken Kurson, Guess Jeans’ Maurice Marciano, Ira Rennert, Bob Book, and former Conference of Presidents’ Chair Jim Tisch.
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Nikki Haley was there, too. The UN ambassador with one agenda overall, defending Israel, is a hero of liberal Zionists and neoconservatives alike.
Haley is said to have presidential ambitions. No wonder she just did a star turn at the Adelson-funded shop Foundation for Defense of Democracies. One day she too wants to be Sheldon Adelson’s perfect little puppet. |
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