“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122: 6
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Lazar Berman—It’s going to get bad fast between Israel and the US:
Dysfunctional. Rocky. Frosty. There are a variety of terms pundits have used to describe the relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama over the past five years. Though the atmospherics improved somewhat after Obama’s 2013 trip to Israel, the relationship has chilled again in the wake of the nuclear deal with Iran.
And it’s about to get a lot worse.
Only five years ago, Obama was a political and cultural phenomenon, a transformative leader who millions of young Americans expected to usher in age of domestic unity and international cooperation. Famous singers turned campaign speeches into songs. His photograph became an iconic piece of pop art. Health care would become affordable and painless, supporters dreamed, America’s erstwhile enemies would sit down and find common ground with this new president, oceans would stop rising. The expectations even came complete with a Nobel Prize, which the award committee voted on only 12 days after he took office.
But five years is an eternity in politics, and things look very different in Obama’s second term. The rollout of the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature domestic achievement, has been an unmitigated disaster. A Democratic senator recently warned of a “complete meltdown” in the program. Obama’s approval ratings have dropped below much-reviled predecessor George W. Bush’s at this stage of his presidency, with 42% approving of his job performance in the latest poll, against 54% disapproving. The numbers were reversed a year ago.
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Analysis: Ya’alon reveals why he rejected US security proposals
‘Wary of US pressure, PM’s pro-settler allies brace for West Bank construction freeze’
Livni: Israel won’t keep isolated settlements in final agreement
US official: Kerry to push for permanent peace agreement by April
Cameron, Merkel scheduled to visit Israel in February
19,200 Jews Immigrated to Israel in 2013
Israel’s Population Reaches 8 Million
Netanyahu in hospital for routine medical exam, Liberman temporarily takes over
New coalition bill seeks to limit terrorist releases
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Israeli Offer to PA: Annex Israeli Arabs
PA: ‘Netanyahu Promised to Free Israeli Arab Terrorists’
NGO: ‘C’tee Robs From the Sick to Fund Abortions’
Arabs Pelt Habima Actors on Route 443
MK Akunis: Jordan Valley is our ‘Iron Wall’
‘Syrian Chemical Attacks Show Danger to Israel’
Livni: Negev and Galilee Better than ‘Settlements’
Jordan: Palestinian Pro-Democracy Activist Charged
Egypt Seizes Assets of 500 Brotherhood Leaders
Lebanon Arrests Head of Al-Qaeda Affiliated Group
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Iran says understanding reached on nuclear deal details
Egypt refuses to extradite convicted PA official
In protest, PA holds cabinet meeting in Jordan Valley
Netanyahu condemns hero’s welcome for prisoners
Israel’s tech successes 2013: The rest of the story
French ‘quenelle’ comedian faces trial for gas chamber slur
Nazi-looted art in the German parliament building?
Over 130,000 dead in Syria conflict, group says
Israeli ultra-Orthodox leader to receive UK honor
European Jews ask soccer authorities to combat racism
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Global poll: US is the greatest threat to world peace
‘Kerry’s framework proposal could be explosive’
Report: Obama to Hand Over Christian Holy Sites to Palestinian Thugs
Abbas Says Jordan Valley “a Red Line”
Kerry to Propose Outline for Mideast Peace Talks
Netanyahu: Palestinians Must Recognize Jewish State
Jubilant Scenes as Israel Releases 26 Palestinians Convicted of Deadly Attacks
Report: Erdogan Supporters Shout ‘Are You Jewish’ While Attacking Istanbul Woman
Israeli Minister Bennett: Handing Over Jordan Valley to PA Would be Suicidal
Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says
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Zvika Fogel: We cannot give up the Jordan Valley— A short memory often causes us to make the same mistakes. Failing to learn from experience is stupid. Combining these two things could engender an existential threat. The recent talks over the expected withdrawal from the Jordan Valley have been causing me to lose sleep. We’re at the cusp of an existential threat and we’re allowing it to develop, uncontrollably. We withdrew — or to put it more dramatically, we abandoned — south Lebanon, and in less than five years Hezbollah capitalized on that lawlessness to establish a terrorist state, which has become a constant menace to northern Israel. We withdrew — or to put it more mildly, we conceded — our presence in the Gaza Strip, and in less than five years, Hamas managed to establish a terrorist state that jeopardizes Israeli security from the west.
Jerusalem Post Editorial: The Jordan Valley’s Fate—Beginning with the 1967 Allon Plan, Israeli control over the Jordan Valley has been a centerpiece of the security establishment’s conception of the Jewish state’s essential defense needs. In October 1995, almost two years after signing the Oslo Accords, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin declared that “the security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.” 63% of Israelis said they opposed an Israeli pullout from the Jordan Valley in a survey conducted in October; 74% were opposed to having international forces in the Jordan Valley instead of IDF troops. Retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, tasked by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with formulating a solution in the Jordan Valley, has reportedly accepted the idea that Israeli, not American forces, must remain on the ground there.
Josh Rogin: Islamic Front Spurns U.S. Outreach—The Obama administration’s outreach to the Islamic Front in Syria earlier this month failed due to a flawed plan and unrealistic goals, insiders say. “The Islamic Front did not meet with the United States because of certain preconditions the U.S. had insisted on, as well as the fact that the Islamic Front wholly rejects a second Geneva” conference with the Assad regime, said Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force.
Jonathan D. Halevi: Hamas: Abbas Does Not Represent the Palestinians in Negotiations—American policy regarding the peace process is based on the premise that it is possible to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians represented by the PLO-Palestinian Authority (PA) under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). However, the PA does not represent all of the components of the Palestinian people, nor does it have a mandate to make decisions on the core political issues in the name of the Palestinian people. The Hamas movement, which in the last elections (2006) won an overwhelming majority in the Palestinian Parliament, uncompromisingly opposes any negotiations with Israel, does not accept the PA as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and has reiterated its firm stance that any agreement reached with Israel will be worthless and will not represent the position of the Palestinian people.
Yoav Limor: Jihad in our future— The Katyushah rockets fired at northern Israel on Sunday were most likely a preview of the future security reality along Israel’s borders, entailing surprise terror attacks by an unknown and undeterred enemy, leaving Israel with only a limited ability to respond. The obvious representatives of this reality are the various world jihad groups operating in the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights and Lebanon. Their only agenda is to promote mass chaos and for them, this end justifies any and all means. Some of these groups truly subscribe to the radical Salafi ideology preached by al-Qaida, but most of them just comprise mercenaries looking for some action.
Arun Rath, Host, NPR: Who Will Lead The Middle East Out Of Turmoil?—To the Middle East now where 2013 has been a dark year. The promise of the Arab Spring has been reality checked by events in Syria, Egypt and across the region. Marc Lynch is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. As the end of the year approached, he sat down and made what he calls a dark list, people in the Middle East who have contributed to the chaos. He says much of the violence stems from a failure of leadership. MARC LYNCH: In some ways, almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And where we are now is, in some ways, almost the worst-case scenario from where we were at the outset of 2011, whether it’s Egypt, Syria, Libya, Tunisia. Nothing has really gone as we had hoped, and that almost creates a perfect storm, which has made it very difficult for even the very best thinkers to have anything really constructive to say at this point. RATH: So following that dark thread to its logical point, instead of a list of influential and positive political thinkers, you propose what you call a dark list. These are people who have done the most to make 2013 a dismal year in the Middle East. Is there anybody that would’ve jumped from a positive list two years ago to this dark list?
Udi Dekel and Orit Perlov: The Rising Power and Influence of Civil Society: Discourse from the Middle East Social Networks— The changes in the Arab world primarily reflect processes underway in Arab civil society, resulting from the rise in power of a younger and more educated middle class population that is mainly secular and has access to new communication technologies. As the processes unfold, it is difficult to predict where they will lead in the long term – to chaos, or to the rise of a new social order and state frameworks, along with the emergence of new elites. Nevertheless, it seems that the changes have passed the point of no return, and a return to previous social structures is unlikely. This article surveys the principal elements of the social changes as reflected in the social media in the Middle East, and considers the ensuing challenges facing Israel.
Rachel Leshaw: How Orthodox Jews Taught Me Yoga— Most yoga classes are full of asana, touch on philosophy and ignore God. When I teach, I don’t want to offend anyone. When I take class, I don’t want to be preached to. We do yoga to become steadier, expand our comfort zones and practice falling gracefully. We coordinate movement with breath and body with mind. Yoga helps us cope with life and even thrive. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras instruct us on how to achieve yoga, or union, between the soul and the Infinite. So try as we might to ignore God, eventually we have to talk about it.
Professor Ira Sharkansky: Palestinian History— Was Jesus a Palestinian? That is the latest historical claim of Mahmoud Abbas. The status of Abbas is its own problem, due to his term as President of the Palestine National Authority having run out in January, 2009, and there being no subsequent election. His claim about Jesus is even more problematic. While the reliable documentation is sparse, most agree that he was born to a Jewish mother in what was then Judea, three or four years before or after the beginning of what became the Common Era. The area did not become “Syria Palaestina” until Hadrian made it such some 60 years after Jesus’ death.
Mark Hibbs: Unrealistic Expectations for Iran—Unrealistic expectations about the Iran deal need to be revised downward. Iran and the West will continue to have major differences whether or not there is a final nuclear pact. The November deal will not lead to a transformation of the West’s relations with Iran, and the act of signing a deal will not mean Washington and Tehran have somehow overcome their multiple fundamental differences and become partners.
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Email Distribution List:
I have created an email distribution list that I use to notify people when I post a new SnyderTalk. If you would like to be on that list, send your email address to nhsny@yahoo.com, and put “add me to your distribution list” in the subject line. If you know others who are interested in SnyderTalk content, tell them to send me their email address, and I’ll put them on the list.
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The scripture below is from the New American Standard Bible, and the hyperlinks associated with each word are from Strong’s Concordance for the New American Standard Bible.
Habakkuk 1: 9-12
“All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces [moves] forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it. Then they will sweep through [like] the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god.” Are You not from everlasting, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Yahweh, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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The Palestinian Charter Still Calls for Israel’s Destruction
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
