Tag: Benjamin Netanyahu

It should be clear by now that Donald Trump and the rightwing movement that supports him is not a phenomenon unique to the United States. In Russia, it is impossible to tell where the decisions of government end and the interests of Vladimir Putin and his circle of oligarchs begin. We must understand that these authoritarians are part of a common front. The Mercer family, for example, supporters of the infamous Cambridge Analytica, have been key backers of Trump and of Breitbart News, which operates in Europe, the United States and Israel to advance the same anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim agenda. Our job is to fight for a future in which new technology and innovation works to benefit all people, not just a few. Together governments of the world must come together to end the absurdity of the rich and multinational corporations stashing over $21tn in offshore bank accounts to avoid paying their fair share of taxes and then demanding that their respective governments impose an austerity agenda on their working families. In order to effectively combat the rise of the international authoritarian axis, we need an international progressive movement that mobilizes behind a vision of shared prosperity, security and dignity for all people, and that addresses the massive global inequality that exists, not only in wealth but in political power. While the authoritarian axis is committed to tearing down a post-second world war global order that they see as limiting their access to power and wealth, it is not enough for us to simply defend that order as it exists now. We must take the opportunity to reconceptualize a genuinely progressive global order based on human solidarity, an order that recognizes that every person on this planet shares a common humanity, that we all want our children to grow up healthy, to have a good education, have decent jobs, drink clean water, breathe clean air and live in peace. It is high time that Democrats from across the world form a Progressive International in the interests of a majority of people on every continent, in every country.

White House national security adviser meets with Israeli prime minister to discuss Syria, Gaza and Iranian 'aggression'; Trey Yingst reports from Jerusalem.

A look at some of the biggest charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu. She’s not the only one under a microscope, however, her husband is facing multiple police investigations too FOX News Channel (FNC) is a…

Conor Powell reports on the clashes at the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network…

It was a historic and bloody day for Israel but also a deeply revealing moment in US domestic politics. At the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a prayer and a benediction were given by two Christian evangelicals from Texas notorious for insulting other religions. For others on the Christian right, it was an important show of solidarity with the hardline Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. And the daily barrage of scandals around the US president – including an alleged affair with the pornographic film actor Stormy Daniels – has done nothing to shake their faith. Indeed, a survey last month by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that white evangelical support for Trump is at an all-time high, with three in four holding a favourable view of the president. During the 2016 Republican primary campaign, many initially flocked to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a diehard conservative. According to the PRRI, Trump’s favourability among white evangelicals never reached 50% during the primary season. But as Cruz’s candidacy collapsed in the face of Trump’s populist onslaught, many rallied to the New York businessman and TV celebrity’s side. Not even the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which he boasted about grabbing women’s private parts, cost him support among voters who regarded him as preferable to Hillary Clinton. Luntz added: “It comes from a fear of where the culture’s headed and an inability to stop it.

Kelly told National Public Radio (NPR) in a rare interview broadcast on Friday that Robert Mueller’s investigation inevitably crops up when the US president hosts his foreign counterparts. The anti-Obama: Trump's drive to destroy his predecessor's legacy Read more “There may not be a cloud, but certainly the president is, you know, somewhat embarrassed, frankly,” Kelly, a retired four-star marine corps general, said. “When world leaders come in, it’s kind of like you know Bibi Netanyahu [of Israel] is here and he – who’s under investigation himself – and it’s like, you know, you walk in and you know the first couple of minutes of every conversation might revolve around that kind of thing.” Kelly, who is Trump’s second chief of staff, said he spends five to eight hours a day with the president. His tenure has been the subject of recent speculation after reports that his influence is waning and that he branded the president an “idiot”. But he told NPR he thinks Trump is “a super-smart guy”. Sometimes he takes the opinion, sometimes he doesn’t.” Kelly denied reports he had threatened to resign but admitted: “There’s times of great frustration, mostly because of the stories I read about myself or others that I think the world of, which is just about everybody who works at the complex, and wonder whether it’s worth it to be subjected to that.” He did not name his predecessor, Reince Priebus, but said he wishes he had been in the role sooner. He said most people coming into the country without documentation “are not bad people”, but they will not assimilate easily. They don’t speak English; obviously that’s a big thing. The New York Times reported that she had drafted but not submitted a resignation letter after Trump lambasted her at a meeting for failing, in his view, to secure US borders. The DHS denied the claim.

Former Green Beret weighs in on the debate over the Iran nuclear agreement. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has evidence Iranian officials were lying when they said Iran wasn't pursuing nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement Tuesday evening that he will take steps to appoint a parliamentary inquiry commission to probe the activities of the New Israel Fund set a new nadir in his politics of incitement, and proved irrefutably that Israel is headed by a man who has no red lines, who has lost all restraint. All means are justified for the end of shoring up his government. Netanyahu, who only a day earlier presented and defended the new plan for dealing with African asylum seekers, on Tuesday accused the New Israel Fund of being “the main source that applied European pressure on the Rwandan government to pull out of the agreement to remove the infiltrators from Israel,” thereby “jeopardiz[ing] the security and future of the State of Israel as the country of the Jewish people.” Anyone following the reactions on the right to Netanyahu’s announcement Monday of the agreement signed with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees saw the way the wind was blowing. Israelis are all too familiar with his corrupt ways. Employing McCarthy-ite rhetoric against “the enemy within,” he slandered the left-wing activists who have bravely battled the disgraceful plan to deport the asylum seekers: “The New Israel Fund is a foreign organization that receives funding from foreign governments and from elements that are hostile to Israel such as the funds of George Soros,” he charged. He even added, “The New Israel Fund has been funding anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian organizations for decades, among which are those that slander Israeli soldiers such as Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem and those that fight for Palestinian terrorists such as Adalah.” The dangerous incitement against the New Israel Fund is merely a way to lure back disgruntled Likud voters who were upset about Netanyahu’s decision to absorb 16,000 Africans into Israel, jeopardizing the purity of the Jewish people. Representatives of the right in the cabinet, the Knesset, the media and on social media sent Netanyahu a clear message: Don’t be deluded, you’re in power to represent the extreme rightist ideology, and there’s no room for getting soft. No one knows better than Netanyahu that being labeled a leftist is a political death sentence, even for a “magician” like him. For the first time in a long time, Netanyahu bled supporters, and he was forced to supply a generous portion of incitement to satisfy their ultra-nationalist appetite. Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon wrote in a legal opinion delivered back in October that the Knesset cannot conduct an ideologically-based investigation of civil-society organizations.

“King Bibi,” however, survived them all. The US and EU have deepened their ties with Israel while pretending that the prime minister was committed to the peace process following his 2009 Bar-Ilan speech. Various polls suggest that Likud could lose some seats in the next election (currently set for 2019), but will remain the leading party. Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid is predicted to acquire major electoral gains and to pose a serious bid for the prime minister’s post; polls show his party to be neck-and-neck with Likud. Juxtaposed against the Jewish parties stands the Joint List – the union of the four main Arab political factions in Israel – which faces separate and compound challenges. Despite being the third largest party in the Knesset with 13 seats, the Joint List is aggressively targeted by the right wing and at ideological odds with the Jewish center left. Parties rise and fall on a regular basis; politicians may move from one faction to another; and factors like violence or other crises can alter public opinion (including a possible war over Syria). Grassroots and civil society organizations: In the absence of international diplomatic action, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is one of the few actors imposing material and psychological costs on Israel’s political decisions – a fact that has spurred the Israeli authorities to label its nonviolent strategies a “strategic threat.” In the face of measures to silence the movement around the world – such as through legislation, administrative measures, and accusations of anti-Semitism – legal and human rights groups must actively intervene to secure people’s right to boycott and protest for Palestinian rights in all forums. Foreign governments and international institutions: The international community can no longer grant impunity to Israel’s worsening politics. Until consequences are imposed on the status quo, no Israeli party will dare to unravel the racist and oppressive systems that deny Palestinians their basic human rights.