Pseudonym Joe: How Biden used personal email to share some government business with son Hunter - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is now pressing National Archives to release unredacted emails between Biden, his son and business partners.

 

In late November 2014 -- before the rest of the world knew that American Martin O'Connor was about to be released from detention in Turkey -- the U.S. embassy in Istanbul sent an email to the State Department that was then forwarded to senior advisers to then-Vice President Joe Biden, the Obama White House point man for many foreign policy crises.

"The lead attorney for Mr. O'Connor reports that the court granted the detention appeal and he expected Mr. O'Connor to be released from jail today, barring any unforeseen problems," the U.S. embassy in Istanbul wrote in an email that got forwarded to top Obama administration security and diplomacy officials, including current Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland. "Mr. O'Connor will not be allowed to leave the country until his next hearing which is set for December 11, 2014. The lawyer expressed confidence that he will be able to leave after that hearing. The attorney is handling his release arrangements, pick up and temporary housing near his law firm's office. Istanbul consular plans to speak with Mr. O'Connor after his release."

State Department officials forwarded the information to the vice president's office, where Biden aide Colin Kahl (now President Biden's Undersecretrary of Defense for Policy) sent it to the private email account robinware456@gmail.com. It wasn't just any private account. It was one of three pseudonym accounts used by Joe Biden.

Soon after the then-vice president would forward the information to his globetrotting son Hunter Biden with the subject line "Fwd: Mr. O'Connor Being Released from Detention today."

Fwd Mr OConnor Being Released from Detention today.pdf

The email is one of more than a dozen that Just the News obtained and reviewed over the last two years showing how Joe Biden's personal email accounts were sometimes used during his first White House tenure to forward government information or discuss government  business with his son.

The practice is now at the center of the expanding congressional investigation into the Bidens' foreign business dealings as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer demands the National Archives turn over unredacted copies all emails Joe Biden sent his son and Hunter's top business partners during his time in the Obama administration.

"The Committee’s need for these Vice-Presidential records is specific and well- documented," Comer wrote Thursday to Colleen Shogam, the head of the the National Archives and Records Administration. "The Committee seeks to craft legislative solutions aimed at deficiencies it has identified in the current legal framework regarding ethics laws and disclosure of financial interests related to the immediate family members of Vice Presidents and Presidents— deficiencies that may place American national security and interests at risk."

You can read the full letter here.

NARA - special access request (1).pdf

Comer's inquiry was prompted by an email quietly released in January as part of the Obama presidential archives. In it, a White House staffer writes Joe Biden on a personal pseudonym email account named Robert L. Peters about a planned call with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The staffer copied Hunter Biden's email address at Rosemont Seneca Partners.

At the time, Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company called Burisma Holdings that was deemed to be corrupt by the Obama-Biden State Department.

"Boss--8:45am prep for 9am phone call with Pres Poroshenko. Then we're off to Rhode Island for infrastructure event and then Wilmington for UDel commencement," the staffer wrote the then-vice president. "Nate will have your draft remarks delivered later tonight or with your press clips in the morning."

You can read that email here:

NARA5-26-16emailHBidenJBidenUkrainecall.pdf

The National Archives released a handful of other emails, some redacted, with other private communications. Comer said he needed the fully unredacted emails, making what is known as a "special access" request to the National Archives. His inquiry identified at least three pseudonym email accounts Joe Biden used under the names Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware.

Such private pseudonym accounts have caused heartburn for prior politicians. Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server led to a full-blown FBI criminal investigation that tarnished her 2016 campaign. Mitt Romney, likewise, was forced to admit he had a Twitter account under the  pseudonym Pierre Delecto.

 You can read the full letter here.

NARA - special access request (1).pdf

Just the News found several emails between Joe and Hunter Biden usin the pseudonym accounts. Messages, sometimes signed "Dad," were found on a Hunter Biden laptop seized by the FBI in December 2019 from a Delaware computer shop owner.

Some of the messages from the vice president to his son obtained by Just the News were deeply personal, others were political in nature, and still others clearly addressed business matters, often forwarding information coming from senior officials in the White House, the State Department and other government agencies.

One such email involved current Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

In January 2013, Blinken emailed Joe Biden at his private email recounting a colleague's conversation about the Pulitzer-winning journalist, author and screenwriter Richard Ben Cramer's last minutes before dying. At the time, Blinken was Joe Biden's national security adviser.

"Called to say that he was with Richard Ben Cramer in the hospital before the latter passed and they were talking about you till the end," Blinken wrote the vice president and his family, including Hunter Biden. "Richard apparently said he was gratified the country is finally finding out what he knew about your leadership and talents many years ago."

Fwd Mark Zwonitzer.pdf

Hunter Biden on a few occasions reached out directly to his father on the private email address to ask for help, the memos from the laptop show. In January 2012, for instance, Hunter Biden forwarded a request to have the vice president prepare a video message for an event honoring Texas Democratic activist Ben Barnes.

"We are working on it," the vice president wrote his son in reply.

On another occasion in June 2014, Hunter Biden suggested someone he wanted to see appointed as a detailee to the Treasury Department. "Before you fill the positions, pls talk to me," Hunter Biden wrote his father.

The vice president responded, "Call me right away, Dad."  

Politics, including the potential for Biden to run for president in 2016, were sometimes the subject of emails coming to and from the RobinWare456@gmail.com account.

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Kaufman, who succeeded Biden as a Delaware senator after serving decades as his chief of staff, sent an email Nov. 3, 2014 that included a Wall Street Journal article negative to Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 challenger to Biden before the vice president declined to run that year. The article was entitled "Hillary Clinton's Wall Street problem."

"In case you missed it," Kaufman wrote Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Joe Biden's late son Beau. The subject line read, "Excellent."

Excellent.pdf

When a poll came out showing the late Beau Biden was still popular as attorney general in Delaware, the vice president used his private email to applaud.

"Strong," he wrote, signing it with his name "Joe."

Sometimes, Vice President Biden's messages to his son took a more personal note, like the day the Wall Street Journal broke the story in October 2014 that Hunter Biden had been discharged from the Navy over a positive cocaine test.

"Good as it could be," Joe Biden wrote in an email chain that included the article forwarded to the vice president's email address by White House staff. "Time to move on, Love Dad."

The vice president also flashed some of his trademark self-deprecating humor, once forwarding an astronomy story suggesting a planet be named for him. From his private email, Joe Biden wrote his family, "Only time in history." The subject line was: "Why I deserve more respect."

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/ukraine-turkey-joe-biden-used-personal-email-share-some-government

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Jake Tapper admits ‘Trump was right,’ ‘Biden was wrong’ about Hunter Biden in 2020 presidential debate - Gabriel Hays

 

by Gabriel Hays

Tapper noted reporting on Hunter Biden's business dealings 'directly goes against what Joe Biden said in the debate'

 

CNN host and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper admitted that former President Donald Trump "was right" when he accused then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden of accepting large amounts of foreign money during the 2020 presidential debates.

On CNN's "The Lead" Thursday, Tapper also declared that Biden "was wrong" during the match-ups between the two candidates three years ago, when the then-Democratic nominee denied Trump’s allegations that his son made "a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow and various other places."

At the time Biden flatly rejected the claim, saying, "None of that is true." Tapper gave Biden the benefit of the doubt in his commentary, stating he didn’t know whether the then-candidate was "lying" at the time.

CNN'S DANA BASH DECRIES DOJ LACKING 'HUMANITY' FOR 'STRINGING ALONG' HUNTER BIDEN: 'THAT'S NOT REALLY FAIR'

In a Thursday segment, CNN anchor Jake Tapper admitted "Trump was right" when he accused Hunter Biden of accepting large amounts of foreign money during the 2020 presidential debates. (Screenshot/CNN)

Tapper played a compilation of the two debate exchanges and compared them with a recent report from Washington Post chief-fact checker Glenn Kessler showing Biden to be wrong.

The host stated, "Glenn Kessler from the Washington Post had a fact check about Joe Biden from earlier this month noting that Hunter Biden admitted in court in July that he was in fact paid substantial sums from Chinese companies."

Citing the piece, Tapper said, "Kessler wrote, ‘Hunter Biden reported nearly 2.4 million in income in 2017 and 2.2 million in income in 2018,’ most of which came from Chinese or Ukrainian interests."

He then took a swipe at Biden’s 2020 claims, before playing footage from the debates, "This directly goes against what Joe Biden said in the debate in 2020 with Donald Trump. Take a listen."

After playing the footage of then-President Trump’s allegations and Biden’s denial, Tapper admitted that Trump was correct about Hunter Biden's business dealings.

"So this is from two different debates but, I mean, Trump was right. I mean, he did make a fortune from China and Joe Biden was wrong," Tapper declared.

HUNTER BIDEN SPECIAL COUNSEL APPOINTMENT CALLED ‘DEBACLE’ FOR BIDEN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

President Biden has snapped at reporters who have asked him about alleged corruption involving him and his son, Hunter Biden, who's been engaged in several controversial foreign business deals. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

About Biden’s denial, he added, "I don’t know that he was lying about it. He might not have been told by Hunter, but this blind spot is a problem."

After Tapper asked his panelists whether they considered this blind spot to be an issue for the president going forward, former Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., played the issue off, saying, "Well I think dads sometimes, and parents sometimes, have blind spots about their kids for sure and the president may be no exception. But nothing has tied the president to any of Hunter Biden’s dealings. There’s no whiff of him being involved or implicated in it."

"I think it’s not something the voters care a lot about," he added. 

Though Biden denied his son’s alleged corrupt business dealings while on the presidential campaign trail, CNN recently mentioned that the president has been "very obsessed" with the topic and sensitive to how it’s being portrayed in the media.

Earlier on Thursday, CNN’s John Avlon stated, "And in private also, I've heard reports that he’s very obsessed with the negative coverage of Hunter. He’s concerned about it, it’s an irritant. And that’s understandable. But not one that allies around him want to raise because it will derail a conversation."

Video

Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

 

Gabriel Hays

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/jake-tapper-admits-trump-right-biden-wrong-hunter-biden-2020-presidential-debate

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Blinken omitted key docs related to Afghan withdrawal in response to House Foreign Affairs chair - Nicholas Ballasy

 

by Nicholas Ballasy

The Needle and the Haystack: Though the State Department provided about 300 docs to House Foreign Affairs Committee it didn't include eight potentially critical documents that Chairman McCaul requested in his August 9 letter to Secretary Blinken

 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken omitted eight key documents related to the Afghanistan withdrawal in his response to a request from House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, Just The News has learned. Commentators on foreign policy, such as former Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Ok.), called the withdrawal "disastrous." 

The State Department provided about 300 documents to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday but it didn't appear to include the eight that McCaul requested in unredacted form in his August 9 letter to Blinken, according to a committee source. The deadline to provide those was Tuesday.

The requested documents included several memos from Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Todd Brown that McCaul said are identified in the Afghanistan After-Action Review (AAR). "The AAR files are necessary to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again." said McCaul in a statement on August 10.

"The Department’s anemic subpoena response suggests that it is either deliberately obstructing the Committee’s oversight, or that its document retention, location, and production procedures are astoundingly deficient. Neither is acceptable," McCaul wrote in the August 9 letter.

The department dumped 300 documents on the committee this week, but a committee source told Just The News that it mostly contained already known information.

McCaul said he was pleased that the department responded to his request with the additional 300 documents and he hopes the cooperation continues on a regular basis.

“After a call with Secretary Blinken where he promised more regular production of documents, the State Department released another 300 pages of documents related into our investigation into the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. I appreciate the secretary’s commitment to me to provide more regular document production going forward and hope he is true to his word on that," McCaul said. "Time is of the essence and we owe our veterans and our Gold Star families answers."

McCaul has also vowed to get more answers from the Biden administration with regard to the attack that killed 13 service members and 170 Afghans during the chaotic withdrawal from what the White House called "Operation Freedom’s Sentinel." He said that U.S. intelligence was aware that ISIS was planning an attack to kill Americans in Afghanistan but a request for a preemptive U.S. airstrike was denied, according to a report.

“I will not rest until we get answers and accountability as to what happened,” McCaul said. “How did this go so wrong?”

Nicholas Ballasy

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/blinken-omitted-key-docs-related-afghan-withdraw-response-house-foreign-affairs

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Will China, Russia, and North Korea Launch Their Nukes? - Gordon G. Chang

 

by Gordon G. Chang

Perhaps of greatest concern is that all three regimes [China, Russia and North Korea] share a nuclear weapons doctrine of "escalate to de-escalate" or "escalate to win": threatening the use of nuclear weapons to keep others from defending their intended victims. Xi and Putin appear capable of actually using their most destructive weapons.

• Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un see the world in the same terms, and they all realize that none of them will accomplish their goals unless they get the United States out of the way.

• Perhaps of greatest concern is that all three regimes [China, Russia and North Korea] share a nuclear weapons doctrine of "escalate to de-escalate" or "escalate to win": threatening the use of nuclear weapons to keep others from defending their intended victims. Xi and Putin appear capable of actually using their most destructive weapons.

• Kim has made threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively. His regime last year even enacted a law authorizing such use.

• When aggressors threaten the use of nuclear weapons, anything can happen. America will have to be prepared that China, along with its friends, are willing to do anything to get what they want.

The regimes of China, Russia and North Korea share a nuclear weapons doctrine of "escalate to de-escalate" or "escalate to win": threatening the use of nuclear weapons to keep others from defending their intended victims. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin appear capable of actually using their most destructive weapons. Kim Jong Un has made threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively. His regime last year even enacted a law authorizing such use. (Image source: iStock)

This week, the U.S. Navy's Carrier Strike Group 5, centered around the USS Ronald Reagan, has been steaming off the east coast of Taiwan.

Be glad it is there. China has been throwing a diplomatic tantrum — fiercer than usual — because the Biden administration allowed William Lai Ching-te, Taiwan's vice president, to make "transit" stops in New York and San Francisco on his way to and from Paraguay.

Beijing in response promised "resolute and forceful measures." There have been numerous Chinese air and naval provocations near the embattled island republic in the last few days. As soon as Lai arrived in New York, the Chinese foreign ministry called Taiwan "the core of the core interests of China."

So, will China go to war soon? And if war comes, will it embroil the world's great powers?

China's regime has already declared a "people's war" against America, and has been waging such a struggle with its "unrestricted warfare" tactics.

But what about a "hot war"? War between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, as Henry Kissinger said in early June to Bloomberg, is "probable." China can still be deterred — the presence of the USS Ronald Reagan is almost certainly giving the Chinese military second thoughts — but one thing looks increasingly likely: If there is a war, Russia and North Korea will fight alongside China. The world is dividing into camps.

China is telling the world that Lai is a one-man provocation. For one thing, he is currently leading in Taiwan's January 13, 2024 presidential election, and Beijing is unhappy, to say the least. The Chinese Communist regime considers Lai, running on the Democratic Progressive Party line, the "separatist" candidate. Beijing has already labeled the frontrunner a "troublemaker through and through."

One American China-watcher, the astute Guermantes Lailari, thinks Chinese ruler Xi Jinping will move on Taiwan this month, perhaps taking one of its offshore islands. Others believe that he will wait for the January election before deciding what to do. These analysts see China's military exercises as merely an intimidation tactic, meant to make the Taiwanese "fear war."

In any event, Xi has internal reasons to go to war: His domestic policies are rapidly failing and his only way out is to rally the Chinese people with a crisis. He is in fact not only talking about war but also fast making preparations to wage one.

One of those many preparations is recruiting combatants. As Gregory Copley, president of the International Strategic Studies Association, told Gatestone, "The People's Republic of China will attempt to bring in those states that Beijing believes are its allies."

Xi is particularly counting on Russia and North Korea. The Russian and Chinese navies at the turn of the month sent 11 ships toward the Aleutians in an extremely provocative exercise. The effort was almost certainly intended to show that Moscow would fight with China against America over Taiwan. During the joint drill, the Chinese and Russians demonstrated progress in achieving interoperability by, among other accomplishments, developing joint command-and-control.

Furthermore, North Korea has rhetorically lined up on Beijing's side. On August 4, the Chinese affairs department of North Korea's foreign ministry called an American aid package for Taiwan a "dangerous political and military provocation." "It is," said a statement, "the sinister intention of the U.S. to turn Taiwan into an unsinkable advanced base against China and the first-line trench for carrying out its strategy for deterring China." Apparently, Beijing had leaned on its client state to make a pronouncement that had nothing to do with North Korea.

Copley, also editor-in-chief of Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, suggested that China is not the leader it appears to be. "Moscow would probably not break with Beijing if it went to war to capture Taiwan, but it would be most reluctant to actually provide military aid, or military force, to Beijing," he says. That would be payback, he points out, for China not giving Moscow all it needs to fight in Ukraine.

Similarly, Copley stated that "Kim Jong Un cannot easily move against the PRC, but he will be careful about supporting Xi against Taiwan." "Yes," Copley said, "there would be 'demonstrations' of North Korean missile and nuclear capabilities, but Kim would be reluctant to do anything that might involve massive retaliation."

Copley is correct that Russia and North Korea would probably prefer to stay out of a conflict over Taiwan, but there are other factors at work.

First, a Chinese attack on Taiwan would allow Moscow and Pyongyang to grab territories they have long coveted. The Russians have desired all of Japan's northern islands, the Kurils, and North Korea wants to absorb South Korea.

Second, Russia and North Korea are particularly dependent on China, and China would lean on both of them with all it had.

Third, Moscow and Beijing are already close partners in combat in North Africa, where they are fueling insurgencies that look like wars.

Fourth, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un see the world in the same terms, and they all realize that none of them will accomplish their goals unless they get the United States out of the way.

Perhaps of greatest concern is that all three regimes share a nuclear weapons doctrine of "escalate to de-escalate" or "escalate to win": threatening the use of nuclear weapons to keep others from defending their intended victims. Xi and Putin appear capable of actually using their most destructive weapons. Kim in this regard is an unknown, but both his father and grandfather believed in taking everyone down with them. "If we lose, I will destroy the world," said Kim Jong Il, father of the current North Korean leader.

Kim Jong Un has apparently been inspired by Xi's and Putin's nuclear warnings. Beginning last year and continuing into this March, Kim has made threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively. His regime last year even enacted a law authorizing such use.

When aggressors threaten the use of nuclear weapons, anything can happen. America will have to be prepared that China, along with its friends, are willing to do anything to get what they want.

• Follow Gordon G. Chang on Twitter

Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19905/china-russia-and-north-korea-nukes

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Smoke and Mirrors Middle East Diplomacy - Fred Fleitz

 

by Fred Fleitz

The Biden administration manufactures 'wins' to bolster its abysmal foreign policy record

 

Despite recent media stories about two supposed Biden Administration foreign policy “wins” in the Middle East, a closer look indicates these wins are not what they seem and may harm U.S. national security.

One of the alleged wins concerns the Biden Administration’s effort to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. On August 9, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. and Saudi officials agreed to a framework for a deal under which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel in exchange for Israeli, Saudi, and American concessions. Although Biden Administration officials said this agreement would take nine months to a year to finalize and faced long odds, they also described it as potentially “the most momentous Middle East peace deal in a generation.”

Another alleged Biden foreign policy win, announced on August 10, is a tentative deal to swap American and Iranian prisoners in exchange for unfreezing $6 billion of Iranian assets held by a South Korean bank. Biden officials said these funds would go through a Qatari bank to ensure they are used only for humanitarian purposes. Five Americans have been released from an Iranian prison under the deal but are under house arrest in Iran until an agreement allowing them to leave the country is finalized.

On the surface, both initiatives appear to be diplomatic breakthroughs. But a closer look indicates the Biden Administration is trying to claim credit for dubious, unfinished agreements and hide some dangerous details from the American public and Congress.

The alleged Saudi/Israel normalization agreement is years away if it ever occurs because it is based on many conditions that will be impossible to meet. Although Congress might agree to the enhanced security assurances that would be part of the agreement, it is very unlikely to approve Saudi Arabia’s demand that the U.S. help it develop a nuclear power program that includes uranium enrichment.

There are other major obstacles to a normalization agreement. For example, the Saudis want concessions from Israel to advance an eventual peace agreement with the Palestinians. Israeli officials say they are open to this but will not agree to a Saudi demand for Palestinian statehood. It is improbable that Palestinian leaders will agree to a new deal without this concession and probably will not agree to any agreement because of their long history of rejecting Israeli peace offers.

The Biden Administration also wants Saudi Arabia to substantially cut back its growing relationship with China as part of a normalization agreement, including not permitting China to establish military bases in the country, not using sensitive technology from Chinese companies like Huawei, and not allowing China to purchase oil with Chinese currency.

Although Saudi Arabia might agree to limit its military relationship with China, it is unlikely to make any significant concessions on its economic or energy relationships because China is Saudi Arabia’s top trading partner and the leading buyer of Saudi oil.

Moreover, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS), the country’s de facto leader, is implementing more independent foreign and defense policies to make his country less reliant on the United States. The prince has doubled down on this effort since 2021 because the Biden Administration’s hostility toward Saudi Arabia made him question America’s reliability as an ally. As a result, MBS probably will not agree to curtail the growing Saudi relationship with China to get a normalization agreement and instead will continue to hedge his bets with the U.S. by building relationships with China and other American adversaries like Russia and Iran.

Because of these factors, a Saudi/Israel normalization agreement is unlikely for the foreseeable future.

The new agreement to swap American and Iranian prisoners is more problematic for two reasons.

First, the American prisoners are hostages freed by a $6 billion ransom payment. The U.S. repeatedly paying ransom to Iran to free innocent Americans has set a bad precedent that has emboldened Iran to take more American hostages.

This is at least the third time the U.S. has paid ransom to Iran to win the release of unjustly imprisoned Americans. In 2011, the Obama administration paid Iran $500,000 “bail” through Oman to win the release of three American hikers who accidentally wandered into Iranian territory and were charged with espionage. In 2016, the Obama administration paid Tehran $1.7 billion in the form of “pallets of cash” to free five Americans as part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (the JCPOA).

Second, as I discussed in an Aug. 4 American Greatness article, the U.S./Iran prisoner exchange is part of a new, secret agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that the Biden Administration is trying to hide from the American people and Congress.

Under the agreement, Iran reportedly will get $20 billion in sanctions relief and be permitted to enrich uranium to the near weapons-grade level of 60% uranium-235. Iran also will be allowed to keep all of its nuclear weapons-related infrastructure.

I agree with Caroline Glick, an Israeli foreign affairs analyst and journalist, who said during an Aug. 16 Newsmax TV panel that the Biden Administration’s new concessions on Iran’s nuclear program mean it has decided to enable Iran to become a nuclear-armed state but wants Tehran to delay its official entrance into the nuclear club until after the 2024 presidential election.

In addition, this secret deal reportedly is silent on Iran’s sale of drones and other weapons to Russia for its use in its war against Ukraine.

To conceal this agreement from the American people and evade a 2015 law requiring congressional oversight of nuclear agreements with Iran, the Biden administration negotiated it as a set of unwritten understandings. Many Members of Congress, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, have protested this arrangement as a ploy to circumvent congressional oversight and are demanding the Biden administration submit this new nuclear agreement for congressional review.

From the war in Ukraine, a surge in tensions with China, Iran, and North Korea, a new Chinese/Russian alliance, and other national security threats, Americans see the world as much more unstable and dangerous today than when President Trump left office. Biden officials know the American people blame President Biden’s foreign policy for this.

As a result, the Biden Administration is promoting the Saudi/Israel normalization agreement and the prisoner swap deal as major wins even though both agreements are unfinished and have significant drawbacks to manufacture wins to bolster its abysmal foreign policy record. Although the mainstream media is sure to swallow this line, because of the growing severity of foreign threats facing this country and the weakness of these Middle East initiatives, most Americans won’t be fooled.

Fred Fleitz is vice-chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security. He previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/18/smoke-and-mirrors-middle-east-diplomacy/

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Biden Administration Funding Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program, Incentivizing Terror - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

For a start, the Biden Administration, seemingly to avoid congressional oversight and a potential veto, essentially nullified the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 that requires Congressional approval of any Iran deal, and got away with it.

 

• The Biden Administration has destabilized the Middle East, launched a potential international nuclear arms race, incentivized global terrorism, increased American taxpayers' funding both sides of the Ukraine war, crushed even further a people fighting for their freedom and appeased yet another rogue regime -- after Afghanistan, China and Venezuela – this time one that the US State Department itself has called the "top state sponsor of terrorism," Iran, all in one week.

• The Biden Administration reached a deal with the Iranian regime behind closed doors on August 10, in which the United States agreed to pay $6 billion dollars and release a handful of Iranian nationals who are serving prison sentences in the US, in exchange for the release of five Iranian-Americans imprisoned in Iran – more than a billion dollars per head.

• Worse, more billions apparently, is waiting in the wings.

• More importantly, "That [the deal] will encourage hostage diplomacy among our foes is the least of the problems." — Richard Goldberg, former White House Security Official, thedispatch.com, August 15, 2023.

• For a start, the Biden Administration, seemingly to avoid congressional oversight and a potential veto, essentially nullified the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 that requires Congressional approval of any Iran deal, and got away with it.

• Moreover, as Goldberg notes, the price for Russia releasing Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich probably just went up, not to mention the extremely real danger of what China, based on its new laws that say might well be tempted to do to visiting American business leaders, or just any American outside wandering around outside the US. According to Voice of America, the new "anti-espionage" law, "relying on espionage organizations and their agents," as well as the unauthorized obtaining of "documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests" can constitute a spying offense.

• China's new law also states that it has the right to "to take corresponding countermeasures and restrictive measures" against acts that violate international law and norms and that "endanger China's sovereignty, security and development" – apparently meaning that a crime is anything the Communist Chinese government says it is.

• The Obama administration shipped $400 million in an unmarked plane to Iran for the release of four Iranian-American prisoners. "Predictably," Goldberg noted, "Iran took more hostages in the months and years thereafter, believing it could get an even better price from a future U.S. president."

• All this just so the Biden Administration will not have Iran introducing its nuclear weapons breakout while Biden is still in office, especially before an election. After that, thanks to the Biden Administration, unlimited nuclear weapons will presumably be a global free-for-all.

(Image source: iStock)

The Biden Administration has destabilized the Middle East, launched a potential international nuclear arms race, incentivized global terrorism, increased American taxpayers' funding both sides of the Ukraine war, crushed even further a people fighting for their freedom and appeased yet another rogue regime -- after Afghanistan, China and Venezuela – this time one that the US State Department itself has called the "top state sponsor of terrorism," Iran, all in one week.

The Biden Administration reached a deal with the Iranian regime behind closed doors on August 10, in which the United States agreed to pay $6 billion dollars and release a handful of Iranian nationals who are serving prison sentences in the US, in exchange for the release of five Iranian-Americans imprisoned in Iran – more than a billion dollars per head.

Worse, more billions, apparently, are waiting in the wings. According to former White House Security Official Richard Goldberg:

"At least $16 billion has now been made available to Iran without any congressional input—and more might be on the way. Another $6.7 billion is reportedly moving to Iran via the International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights... and reportedly ... another $3 billion of regime assets frozen in Tokyo. India and China...."

Appeasing terrorists, as we all know, only incentivizes them, and breeds more terrorism and hostage-taking; it seems to be an endless, deliciously profitable jobs and extortion program for the Iranian regime and all terrorists.

"Releasing $6 billion to the butchers in Tehran just so American hostages can go to a different type of prison is a terrible deal," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed out. "Iran shouldn't profit from holding Americans hostage."

Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch noted:

"While I welcome home wrongfully detained Americans, unfreezing $6B in #Iranian assets dangerously further incentivizes hostage taking & provides a windfall for regime aggression. The Biden Admin must punish those who use Americans as political pawns and work to end this practice."

More importantly, as Goldberg also pointed out: "That [the deal] will encourage hostage diplomacy among our foes is the least of the problems."

For a start, the Biden Administration, seemingly to avoid congressional oversight and a potential veto, essentially nullified the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 that requires Congressional approval of any Iran deal, and got away with it. According to Goldberg:

"That the White House announced this deal during the August congressional recess was no coincidence.... President Biden has successfully evaded the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which requires him to notify Congress of any agreement with Iran related to its nuclear program before lifting sanctions."

Moreover, as Goldberg notes, the price for Russia releasing Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich probably just went up, not to mention the extremely real danger of what China, based on its new laws that say might well be tempted to do to visiting American business leaders, or just any American outside wandering around outside the US. According to Voice of America, the new "anti-espionage" law, "relying on espionage organizations and their agents," as well as the unauthorized obtaining of "documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests" can constitute a spying offense.

China's new law also states that it has the right to "to take corresponding countermeasures and restrictive measures" against acts that violate international law and norms and that "endanger China's sovereignty, security and development" – apparently meaning that a crime is anything the Communist Chinese government says it is.

In addition, Saudi Arabia now feels forced to demand nuclear know-how too, and as Goldberg suggests, Turkey and Egypt are sure to follow. It would be so much easier and less costly for the for the security of the world, he states, for the international community and the United Nations to require their "snap-back option," demanding that Iran to go back to zero uranium enrichment. No enrichment, no nuclear weapons.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department, will most likely be the first beneficiaries of any extra revenues and Biden's $6 billion gift. The Iranian regime will likely use additional funds to deliver weapons to Russia and strengthen its military. Increased revenues will also allow the IRGC and Khamenei to crack down more easily on any domestic unrest against their government. The other priority of Iran's regime is to "export the revolution" and military domination. Targets include Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Latin America, and to empower its militia and terror groups.

Even though Iran is a party to the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, the regime has long taken foreign hostages as pawns to extract economic concessions and achieve geopolitical and financial gains. The Obama administration shipped $400 million in an unmarked plane to Iran for the release of four Iranian-American prisoners. "Predictably," Goldberg noted, "Iran took more hostages in the months and years thereafter, believing it could get an even better price from a future U.S. president."

The extent to which the Biden administration is willing to go in order to appease the ruling mullahs of the Iranian regime boggles the mind.

All this just so the Biden Administration will not have Iran introducing its nuclear weapons breakout while Biden is still in office, especially before an election. After that, thanks to the Biden Administration, unlimited nuclear weapons will presumably be a global free-for-all.

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19906/biden-iran-nuclear-weapons

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Vivek Ramaswamy shares 10 commandments of 2024 campaign, starts with 'God is real,' 'There are two genders' - Lawrence Richards

 

by Lawrence Richards

Ramaswamy, a rising star among 2024 Republican candidates, currently polls behind Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis

 

 

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy shared a list of what he called 10 truths to social media Thursday, with references to faith, gender, and capitalism.

Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who is seeking the Republican nomination, shared the ideals on X, starting with, "God is real" and "There are only two genders" — the latter being a contentious claim by those on the Left.

The list also promotes the importance of fossil fuels, condemns "reverse racism," defends the role of parents in choosing their own children's education, and boasts the U.S. Constitution as the "strongest guarantor of freedoms in history."

While many voters may have started the 2024 presidential campaign unfamiliar with Ramaswamy, some polls have the rising Silicon Valley star in the top three among GOP candidates, behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

RAMASWAMY GOES VIRAL FOLLOWING EXCHANGE WITH LGBTQ ACTIVIST: 'I RESPECT THAT YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION'

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to New Hampshire voters at a campaign stop in Milford, N.H. on August 3, 2023. Behind Ramaswamy is a list of his campaign's 'ten commandments.' (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)

"TRUTH," Ramaswamy said in all-caps, starting the post on X.

His list followed:

1. God is real.
2. There are two genders.
3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.
4. Reverse racism is racism.
5. An open border is no border.
6. Parents determine the education of their children.
7. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.
8. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty.
9. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four.
10. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.

TRUTH.

1. God is real.
2. There are two genders.
3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.
4. Reverse racism is racism.
5. An open border is no border.
6. Parents determine the education of their children.
7. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to… pic.twitter.com/O4LvE014gW

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 17, 2023

 

VIVEK RAMASWAMY BREAKS WITH GOP ON DECRIMINALIZATION OF HARD DRUGS: ‘I’M IN THAT DIRECTION'

Ramaswamy's been showcasing his list in recent weeks at campaign stops in the early voting states. He posted the list ahead of an event in California and as he continues a barnstorming blitz in several states before next week’s first Republican primary debate in Wisconsin, which will be hosted by Fox News.

During the event at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum located in Yorba Linda, Ramaswamy shared details of his upbringing and his concern that the American Dream may not exist for further generations.

Vivek Ramaswamy shared the ideals on X, starting with, "God is real" and "There are only two genders." (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/X)

"My parents came to this country 40 years ago with no money in a single generation," he said at the event. "I have gone on to found multi-billion dollar companies and did it while marrying my wife, Apoorva, and raising our two sons. That is the American dream, and I am deeply worried that that American dream will not exist for my two sons and their generation."

Ramaswamy also said the country was in "the middle of a national identity crisis" where traditional ideals of "Faith, patriotism, hard work and family… have disappeared only to be replaced by new secular religions in American life [such as] wokeism, transgenderism, climate-ism, chauvinism, globalism, depression, anxiety, fentanyl, [and] suicide."

"These are symptoms of a deeper void of purpose and meaning in our country," he added.

Biotech millionaire and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy acknowledges his supporters at the conclusion of one of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds' "Fair-Side Chats" at the Iowa State Fair on August 12, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Ramaswamy, 38, also said he and other millennials were "hungry for a cause."

"We are starved for purpose and meaning and identity at a time in our national history when the things that used to fill our void. Faith, patriotism, belief in God, nation. The things we talked about when those have disappeared. That leaves a moral vacuum in its wake. And I think that that presents our opportunity, not speaking to conservatives, I'm speaking to Americans. That is our opportunity to step up and to fill that void with a vision of what it means to be an American today," the candidate said in California.

Ramaswamy will join his other 2024 contenders for the Republican debate at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on August 23, 2023. The debate will be moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

 

Lawrence Richards

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-shares-10-commandments-2024-campaign-starts-god-real-two-genders

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Trump to skip GOP debate for Tucker Carlson interview: report - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

Trump, on average, holds a roughly 40-point lead in the race.

 

Former President Donald Trump will reportedly not attend the first Republican primary debate next week and will instead participate in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

Trump has long hinted that he would not attend the debate and has bristled at the requirement that candidates sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee in order to participate.

The New York Times, which first reported Trump's decision, interpreted the Carlson interview as a snub to Fox News, an outlet with which he has feuded since leaving office. Carlson, for his part, was fired from the network in the wake of a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems related to the network's coverage of the firm.

He has, since his ouster, hosted a program on Twitter that has prompted legal action from his former network.

Trump, on average, holds a roughly 40-point lead in the race, according to RealClearPolitics, which 54.7% of Republicans backing him over nearest rival Ron DeSantis, who earned 14.8% support. No other candidate enjoys double-digit backing in that metric.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/trump-skip-gop-debate-tucker-carlson-interview-report

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In northern Israel, massive 3,800-year-old monument stuns and stumps archaeologists - Melanie Lidman

 

by Melanie Lidman

The size of an Olympic swimming pool, with vaulted ceilings that raise the topographical height of Tel Shimron by 5 meters, the delicate mud brick structure was likely barely used

 

Professor Daniel Master, co-director of the Tel Shimron excavations in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel during the 2023 dig season. (Courtesy Eyecon)

The round knoll of Tel Shimron rises majestically some 70 meters (230 feet) above the Jezreel Valley — but that wasn’t high enough for the rulers of the ancient acropolis during the Middle Bronze Age, who some 3,800 years ago built a massive monument covering nearly the entire top of the hill. Today, archaeologists are trying to figure out why.

Built with mud bricks using the most advanced architectural technology of the time, the monument raised the hill’s height by an additional five meters (15 feet). The complex extends some 1,200 square meters (13,000 square feet) across the top of the hill, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Archaeologists announced the ancient compound’s discovery to the public on Thursday, but don’t go looking for it anytime soon: The monument has been backfilled for preservation and protection and is not accessible to the public.

“When we started digging, we found that this area between the mud bricks was filled with gravel, which is very unusual, so we started removing the gravel,” said Prof. Daniel Master, a professor of archaeology at Wheaton College who has been excavating Tel Shimron since 2017. The current excavation is co-directed by Prof. Mario A. S. Martin of the University of Innsbruk and archaeologists from Tel Aviv University, in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority.

Tel Shimron was not thoroughly excavated before 2017 and the team initially believed it was a typical tel, an archaeological mound made of layers from different time periods. But when the archaeologists started excavating, they found that the first five meters was a man-made structure.

“We kept digging down further, and it was preserved at a depth of one meter, then two meters, then three meters, then four meters,” said Master. “This structure was totally intact, and suddenly we realized we were dealing with the foundation of a building or a superstructure that had been constructed at the top of the site.”

From Mesopotamia with love – and bricks

The recently uncovered complex consists of more than 9,000 unfired mud bricks that were stacked to create a tower and a domed passageway leading down into the city. The two-meter-long passageway is built in “corbelled” fashion, an architectural technique where layered bricks are progressively stepped inward to create a gradually narrowing roof.

The mud brick stairs and corbelled vault ceiling of the passageway at Tel Shimron, blocked by intentional gravel backfill and large boulders during the 2023 dig season in northern Israel. (courtesy Eyecon)

This is the earliest documented example of corbelled architecture in Israel, though the technique was widely used in Mesopotamia during this time period, around 3,800 years ago.

This is the era in which Mesopotamians started constructing the first mega-cities, Mari and Ur, which were home to up to 100,000 people. Since Mesopotamia consists of mostly alluvial floodplains with few large stones, locals constructed buildings and dwellings out of mud bricks. At the time, they had the most advanced brick-building techniques in the world, explained Master. The Holy Land’s rocky terrain meant residents could use stones as well as bricks, so their bricklaying technique was less advanced.

At Tel Shimron, the builders even added an artistic flair: a layer of white chalk between the bricks. Working with scientists from the Weizmann Institute, archaeologists determined the white layer was there purely for aesthetic reasons and did not serve as mortar.

Masters is still incredulous that they found intact arches at all, much less with decorations still visible, since unfired mud brick is a delicate material that rarely stands up to the ravages of time.

“You know how it is with archaeology — usually, you have these stumps of walls that raise up no more than a meter, and you just have the foundations,” said Master. “But all of a sudden, here, we’re dealing with a huge monument that has been constructed at the top of this huge city in the Middle Bronze Age, and that really surprised us in terms of conservation.”

A detail of the decorative chalk striping on the overhanging bricks of the corbelled vault Tel Shimron in northern Israel, during the 2023 dig season. (Courtesy Eyecon)

A massive monument with an unknown purpose

The monument was so well preserved because soon after it was built, it was completely filled in with gravel, which supported and protected the arches, Master explained. They determined it was barely used because the floor and the stairs of the passageways were also built of mud bricks and show very little wear and tear, meaning very few people walked on it after construction.

The monument’s purpose has stumped the archaeologists.

“Why would you put so much effort into something already 70 meters (230 feet) above valley floor, and make it 75 meters (245 feet) above the valley floor?” asked Master. “What would it mean for the landscape around and how people used the site? What are the social implications for building something so massive at the top of the site?”

At first, Master and others thought the construction may have been walls of an ancient fortified city, possibly to protect the area from conquering Egyptian armies. But every place they found a gate, it led to a dead end.

Some theorize the monument could have religious significance. At the entrance to the main passageway, archaeologists discovered a seven-spouted vessel lying in ashy debris. This type of vessel is called a “Nahariya bowl,” since a similar vessel from the same time period was discovered in Nahariya and used for religious rituals.

The complete ‘Nahariyya Bowl’ discovered at Tel Shimron in northern Israel during the 2023 dig season. (credit Christina Carper)

A similarly constructed monument is located in Syria, called the White Monument at Tel Banat, also from the Middle Bronze Age. It is believed to be one of the oldest war memorials in the world, due to the systematic placement of the dead on the mound.

A city at the crossroads

The earliest discoveries at Tel Shimron date from the Neolithic period around 9,000 years ago, but the site’s heyday was in the Middle Bronze Age, almost 4,000 years ago. This was when the city was at its largest and stretched for over 19.5 hectacres (195 dunams). It was an important stop for goods and people traveling north toward Anatolia or Caucus, or south to the port at Akko.

The city was known internationally and is mentioned in Egyptian writings from this period.

“In the Bronze Age and Iron Age,  Shimron is the hub for controlling the east-west trade, everything from the Jordan Valley to Damascus to Hatzor,” said Master.

An aerial view of the Tel Shimron excavation in 2023. (courtesy Eyecon)

The name Shimron is mentioned three times in the Bible, specifically when the Canaanite King of Shimron joined forced with Yavin, King of Hatzor and other kings in a war against Joshua. After Joshua won the war, Shimron passed into the hands of the tribe of Zevulun.

The site was continuously inhabited through modernity, though its population rose and fell. In the 1950s, the area was used for ma’abarot  or tent encampments for the wave of new immigrants to the new State of Israel, mostly from North Africa. Visitors today can still see cement platforms where tents were placed, a physical reminder of a controversial period in Israel’s history that was marked by discrimination against the Sephardic Jews who lived in subpar conditions.

Master said one of the reasons he loves excavating Tel Shimron is because the site holds discoveries from every period, from ancient times through the modern state, though the Middle Bronze Age monument has been the most substantial discovery by far.

Professor Daniel Master, co-director of the Tel Shimron excavations in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel during the 2023 dig season. (Courtesy Eyecon)

Tel Shimron is a nature reserve and park that is open to the public, but history buffs hoping to see the monument for themselves are likely to be disappointed. It will take a number of years for archaeologists to fully excavate the monument. So far, they’ve excavated about 500 square meters (5,400 square feet), and there are around 700 square meters (7,500 square feet) to go.

The monument itself is unlikely to ever be opened to the public because it is so delicate. The only reason the structure survived for nearly four millennia was because it was completely filled in with gravel, and that’s likely the best way to preserve it for the future, Master said.

“If you look at other Middle Bronze Age sites, they have many wonderful things, but they don’t have anything like this, because it’s really hard to keep it intact,” he said. Ashkelon, for example, has several mud brick gates from the same period, but none of the arches survived, and the little brick that is left is carefully protected from the elements by a large roof.

“To have this kind of delicate structure preserved for 3,800 years blew our minds,” said Master. “Everyone we showed it to in the archaeological community could hardly imagine what they were seeing, because it’s so rare to have that level of preservation in these structures.”

Melanie Lidman

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-northern-israel-massive-3800-year-old-monument-stuns-and-stumps-archaeologists/

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Rabbi of Beit El explains: 'PA trying to choke out Jewish communities' - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

The Chief Rabbi of Beit El explains why he and several other Rabbis encouraged construction against government directions.

 

Rabbi Bareli                                                                                                       Courtesy

Rabbi Ariel Bareli, the Rabbi of the town of Beit El, commented on the joint letter from a number of Rabbis that he signed following the demolition of the buildings on a hilltop near the town of Kochav Hashahar in the Binyamin region after some of them were built on private Palestinian land without permits.

Security officials said that Smotrich himself approved the demolition after all attempts to reach an understanding with the local residents about the relocation of the buildings came to naught.

"Sages teach us that the Land of Israel was held for us by our ancestors, and we have never given up on it. In addition, in the War of Independence and the Six Day War, God gave us the privilege of liberating large parts of the country, far beyond the partition plan approved by the United Nations," says Rabbi Barali.

According to him, "There is a law called 'war occupation' which expropriates the private ownership of the Arabs, and henceforth, everything belongs to the State of Israel. By the way, this is the main claim of Judge Edmond Levy, who paved the legal way for the application of Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria also according to international law."

To the question of whether it is possible to talk about an occupation when the state itself does not recognize it, the rabbi replied, "First of all, the state certainly embraces the concept of occupation, and on this basis, it also received international recognition for places that were not in the partition plan and have been part of the State of Israel since the War of Independence. In Judea and Samaria, towns were established on the private land of Arabs (some of which were subsequently legitimized by expropriation orders for security reasons) so that the principle that conquest in a war (especially if the other side started it) gives the winning side the land.

“Unfortunately, due to improper considerations, the State of Israel did not fully apply its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, and the Supreme Court throughout the years has been gnawing at the governance of the state in these places and even established a precedent even when there is no connection between an Arab and the land because he never cultivated it and did not pay the fees to the government. Despite all this, they consider it private land that a Jew is not allowed to settle on, and on this basis, they destroyed the settlements of Amona and Migron."

Regarding Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who backed the destruction of the buildings because the attempts to negotiate failed and said that the law in Judea and Samaria must be respected, Rabbi Bareli replied, "I prefer to adopt his completely different statements from the time he headed the Regavim organization."

"He urged all of us to understand that the towns in Judea and Samaria are in danger. When the Palestinian Authority had a clear plan to strangle the settlements and take over vast areas of land up to the Jordan Valley, Regavim revealed aerial photographs showing construction and new roads in Area C with European funding and without any intervention from the Civil Administration. We are dealing with the Arab takeover of the land and have no plan of action.

For example, all the land along Route 60, which is the main road between Samaria residents and Jerusalem, are properties considered by the Supreme Court as private land (without any clear ownership). It is impossible to close your eyes and wake up to the reality that there is Arab control over all the main Routes in Judea and Samaria."

Rabbi Bareli says that the Rabbis’ position does not conflict with the principles of Rabbi Kook, who claimed that Arabs can own land privately. “Rabbi Kook speaks of those who bought land legally, and even then, if there is a security need, of course, it can be expropriated. The letter talks about lands that do not have specific owners and were distributed during Hussein's days to the Arabs for various reasons and often without their knowledge. Saying that the law of the land has the force of Jewish law is not valid where this is an independent interpretation of the Supreme Court in particular that does not accept as a starting point of our right to the Land of Israel.”

“That's why the rabbis, led by Rabbi Dov Lior, encourage the founding of new communities located in very important areas and that people prevent with their bodies and souls the Arab takeover. These are not boys who come to fight with the Arabs but cling to our holy land out of ideals and a sincere desire to serve God."

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375766

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