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(Ft. Myers, Florida) — The following are excerpts from my new column for Fox News: 03/19/2018 Vladimir Putin didn’t simply secure re-election on Sunday, winning 77 percent of the vote in a rigged election. He has consolidated all power in his hands and emerged as a modern-day Czar. He has also set his country on a collision course with the West, one that could prove catastrophic. A close look at Putin’s record and rhetoric reveals a man consumed with re-creating a totalitarian state, expanding the country’s borders and rebuilding the glory of Mother Russia…. In the face of such a grave and …

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03/19/2018 The Syrian regime is preparing countermeasures against a possible American military offensive, the London-based Arabic-language Asharq al-Awsat daily reported this morning citing Western diplomats.   As part of these measures, Russian military forces were deployed in “sensitive targets” of the regime in order to deter the United States from striking there.   One of the diplomats said that Syrian President Bashar Assad met last Saturday with the heads of the army and defense establishment, and decided to take a series of precautions, including calling on Russia and Iran to provide Syria with protection. Ynet

Ankara may move refugee populations back over border after taking control of Kurdish area, enlarging its territory By AFP/03/18/2018  — The capture of Afrin from the Kurds by Turkish-led fighters on Sunday could have major repercussions for Syria’s protracted war. Here we look at what it means for Turkey, the Syrian regime, and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia who were in control of the city. Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top storiesFREE SIGN UP What has Erdogan won? Forces led by Turkey launched an offensive on January 20 to retake the …

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President Morales promises 18,000 pro-Israel advocates he’ll relocate his embassy to holy city two days after the US does, for Israel’s 70th birthday By ERIC CORTELLESSA/03/04/2018 WASHINGTON — Guatemala’s president told the AIPAC Policy Conference on Sunday night that he will move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem in May, and that the relocation will take place two days after the United States moves its embassy to the holy city, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding. “In May of this year, we will celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, and under my instructions two days after the US will move its embassy, …

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Billy Graham’s role as an influential adviser who made an enormous impact on Israel is reminiscent of the story we will read on Purim. BY TULY WEISZ  FEBRUARY 27, 2018 issie Graham-Lynch heard about the passing of her grandfather Billy Graham while she was visiting Israel last week. At a meeting in Jerusalem last Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally extended his condolences to Cissie and expressed his admiration and appreciation for the 99-year-old “pastor to the presidents” who had died just hours earlier. Graham’s role as an influential adviser who made an enormous impact on Israel is reminiscent of the story …

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02/26/2018 Speaking on February 1, 2018 in Mashhad, at the Conference for Support of the Palestinian Intifada, Ali Akbar Velayati, senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, responded to Iranian critics of the regime who, during last month’s uprising, protested against Iran’s involvement in various battlefronts in the Middle East. Addressing an audience of students, he stated that Iran would maintain its involvement and presence in the region, in order to thwart the plots of Israel and the U.S., among other goals. The following are his main points, as reported by the Iranian news agencies ISNA and Fars. According …

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European Union and Arab League countries call for Jerusalem to be the joint capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state. Elad Benari, 27/02/18  European Union (EU) and Arab League countries on Monday called for Jerusalem to be the joint capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state, The Associated Press reported. Speaking after talks between EU and Arab League foreign ministers, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the “special status and character of the city must be preserved.” She added the two blocs “see eye to eye” that there can only be a two-state solution to the conflict, with Israel …

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PM wants to support Trump, thinks Palestinians should pay for boycotting peace effort, but said to fear a ‘disaster’ in Gaza Concerned that a threatened cut in US funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA could lead to a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is privately urging the Trump Administration not to implement the threat, a TV report claimed Thursday. “Behind the scenes, the prime minister is now in contact with the Americans in order to prevent the massive cut [in US funding for UNRWA] — to prevent it, you heard right,” the Hadashot news report …

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BY MICHAEL WILNER  JANUARY 2, 2018  “By the thousands, Iranian citizens are taking to the streets to protest the oppression of their own government,” US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley said. — US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley on Tuesday called on Iran to unblock social media sites used by anti-government protesters to organize their demonstrations and on “freedom-loving” nations to rally to their cause after violent unrest gripped the Islamic Republic for a fifth day. Reading the slogans of protesters from outside the Security Council, Haley rejected claims from Iranian leaders that “foreign enemies” were behind the demonstrations: “We …

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By JPOST.COM STAFF 01/02/2018 “We are trying to promote the peace process, but if that will not happen, the president will not continue to fund it,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said.   US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley threatened Tuesday to cut funding to UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency) until the Palestinians return to the negotiating table. The president “doesn’t want to give additional funding or stop funding until the Palestinians agreeing to come back to the negotiating table,” she said. “We’re trying to move for a peace process. But if …

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IDF Chief of Staff speaks with Saudi newspaper, says Israel and Saudi Arabia see eye to eye on Iranian threat. Arutz Sheva Staff, 16/11/17  IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot gave a rare interview Thursday to Elaph, a Saudi newspaper based in London, in which he called for a new regional coalition to counter Iran’s growing influence and threats in the Middle East. “The State of Israel is now in its best position militarily,” Eizenkot said at the beginning of the interview. “We have developed a lot, we have the military force, the intelligence, the air force, the infantry that is in …

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Trilateral consultations between Russia, Iran and Turkey indicate that within the next few months, the countries will be able to further expand mutual cooperation on a number of pressing issues, Farzad Ramazani Bonesh, an independent Iranian expert on the Middle East, told Sputnik Iran. Bonesh specifically pointed to the normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey last year and Ankara’s readiness to bolster its ties with Iran, something that he said added significantly to “progress in the development of full-fledged trilateral cooperation.” “First and foremost, the parties will cooperate on the Syrian crisis. Several rounds of negotiations on Syria in Astana, the creation of a tripartite committee and the sides’ willingness to expand …

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TOVAH LAZAROFF  AUGUST 29, 2017 38 years after returning to the West Bank City, Hebron’s Jewish community has acquired the official status of an independent settlement. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman upgrade the municipal status of the Hebron’s Jewish community, giving them separate powers from Palestinian Municipality that governs the West Bank city. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced the change in the status of the 1,000 Jews in Hebron during briefing he held with reporters in Tel Aviv. A 1997 agreement split the city, of what is now over 220,000 Palestinians, leaving 80 percent of it under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority …

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At event marking 11 years since end of Second Lebanon War, Hassan Nasrallah warns against Israeli invasion BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF August 13, 2017 The leader of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah hinted on Sunday that Israel should relocate its Dimona nuclear reactor because it too is a target for his organization, and one whose destruction could have more dire consequences than an attack on the huge ammonia tank in Haifa that he previously threatened to destroy. Speaking from his hidden bunker to a Hezbollah event in the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon to mark 11 years since the end …

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