Secretary of State John Kerry will probably be back in Israel as early as next Monday, for his twelfth (12th) visit here in less than a year (should have signed up for the monthly plan). So that part is not news. What’s news is the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s official news organ, Israel Today, established and paid for by Jewish billionaire and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is quoting “senior political sources” who are far from excited about the visit.

So the following information is like quoting Putin’s RT News agency, or Obama’s NBC, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Turns out that in closed forums in Jerusalem you could hear these past few weeks unprecedentedly harsh criticism of Kerry and his team.

Most notably, those closed forum senior folks have been ridiculing the American plan for defending the Jordan valley. Close as they are to the actual details of the plan, these seniors say it is “ridiculous and does not stand up to the test of reality.”

“Kerry has been visiting here a lot, but he shows no true understanding of what’s going on,” they continue. “The American plans are superficial and not serious. There’s no connection between what’s being said publicly about progress in the negotiations and what’s actually happening. It looks like Kerry is simply not in touch with reality. He is not knowledgeable, to say the least, in the roots of the conflict, he doesn’t know how to present real solutions, and he isn’t even familiar with the maps he is being shown.”

So, that’s the welcoming message Bibi wants Kerry to find upon his 12th arrival. Not bad, actually, if it’s true. that’s the problem with Pravda-style news organs, you never know.

Here are more fun excerpts, courtesy of Adelson Enterprises: “The way the American secretary of state has been handling himself has been obsessive. Some are saying that more than trying to advance the peace, he is trying to use the conflict for his own political ends. According to this view, Kerry must think that the road to the White House for him goes through the signing of a Middle East peace treaty.”

I must intervene here and state that Kerry already tried the White House thing and lost to one of Barbara Bush’s less bright boys during a military fiasco that followed the latter’s losing a chunk of two major American cities while telling a goat story to six year olds. So Kerry is not harboring presidential fantasies, and if he is, the Democrats aren’t buying.

Still, Bibi’s officials have been watching Kerry meeting with opposition politicians and with reporters, making it look like the deal is in the next room, waiting for the caligraphist to copy it onto a nice parchment. But it ain’t, really, it’s not even close.

“Israel is being forced to cooperate with the U.S. plans, especially because we’re afraid that if we don’t, they would blame Israel for the failure of the talks,” they say.

They also believe that, in exchange for Israel’s request to extend the peace process by one year, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will demand additional concessions, such as construction freeze in the settlements and more prisoner releases (that’s murderers of Jewish babies and mothers with blood trickling down from their sleeves).

“And Kerry will support these demands, turning them, in effect, into new American demands, backed by American threats, while the Arabs are yet to have given even a single concession, from Oslo to this day,” Bibi’s circlers are saying.

Finally, all the prime minister’s men complained that “the negotiations are being conducted without any papers and documents being exchanged between the two sides, because the Arabs are refusing to show written paper. The Americans come in with prepared suggestions, they read them, and they, too, leave no documents in either side’s hands. Everything is done by heart.”

Former MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzele), responded Sunday on his Facebook page to Benjamin Netanyahu’s impassioned call on the United States not to proceed with the current deal with Iran, because it’s a bad deal. Katz, one of the prominent leaders of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, called on Netanyahu to avoid the other American “gift” to Israel, the so called peace negotiations with the Palestininas.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, the upcoming deal with [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas is also a bad deal,” Katz proclaimed. “It’s a bad deal for Israel. We’re forced, under American pressure, to negotiate with the Authority headed by Abbas and [Saeb] Erekat.

“Our friend, the U.S. government, forced us at the time to agree to the Gaza elections, and the result was: Hamas took over.

“The U.S. Administration forced elections and democratization on the people of Iraq, and since then they’ve had 12,000 killed each year.

“The Obama Administration forced an election on the Egyptians. The result: the Muslim Brothers, haters of America and Israel, took over.

“In Afghanistan, the Americans forced a so called democratic regime. Since then, not a day goes by there without a car bomb exploding.

“The Obama regime has reached a compromise deal with Syria, which has been exacting the daily slaughter of numerous civilians.

“And now, in Iran, a deal is being cobbled between the Americans and the Iranians, and Prime Minister Netanyahu defines it as ‘a deal which is bad for Israel and bad for the world.’

“In Judea and Samaria live close to 400 thousand Jews. Some 25 thousand live in the Golan, and some 325 thousand in the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

“The indecent and unfriendly treatment we’ve been receiving from the Obama Administration is not rational, and may result in a catastrophe for Israeli society, should images like those of the destruction of Gush Katif come back, under American pressure.

“We turn to Prime Minister Netanyahu: Say on this matter, too, that what the Americans demand of us is ‘bad for Israel and bad for the world,” just as you did about the emerging deal between the U.S. and the E.U. and Iran.

“What’s true about Iran is true seven times over right here, in our capital and our country.”

Minister Israel Katz (best transportation minister ever!) said on Tuesday that if the news is correct, and Justice Minister and Chief Negotiator Tzipi Livni is offering a different position from that of the government she serves, she should put down the car keys and go home (to use a transpiration-related metaphor). She has no backing inside the government, nor does she enjoy a popular mandate to promote her own position.

Katz, writing on his Facebook page, emphasized that he is committed to this government and is against the dividing of Jerusalem.

Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who is considered a Likud leftist, nevertheless reiterated the position that when it comes to Jerusalem Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government object to dividing Jerusalem and giving up any part of Israel’s sovereignty over the city.

Of course, this government supports Arab rule on Temple Mount and is busy keeping Israeli patriots such as Likud MK Moshe Feiglin from setting foot up there, but that’s just a side issue and this is not the right time for pesky reporters to make their own pesky points.

Speaking on Israel Radio, Minister Sa’ar added that an interim deal with the Palestinians would not be out of the question, if there is a willingness on the other side. But he added that the PA is pushing a hard line and initiating anti-Israeli maneuvers while conducting the talks, which he believes they’re doing to make this round of talks fail in order to invite outside pressure to bear on Israel.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yair Lapid told Israel Radio that Jerusalem is not even on the negotiations table with the Palestinians, and nthat the city will not be divided.

“If the Palestinians want a state, they should know it comes with a price, and they will not get everything they desire,” Lapid said.

He did express in faith in the two-state solution, adding that once the process come around to uprooting settlements, Israel will have new elections, or at least conduct a referendum.

The Associated Press reported that Israel and the U.S. have been growing apart on the Iran nuclear threat, so much so that there appears to be a rift between them these days. Essentially, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to sound the alarm tirelessly and at a high pitch, while the West sees genuine Iranian compromises in the Geneva talks.

The different views are only growing more so, threatening to leave Israel in isolation, as the talks between six global powers and Iran appear to be gaining steam, the AP surmises. western negotiators were upbeat after last week’s talks, going into the next round of negotiations, Nov. 7.

If you wanted a Munich moment – this is it, with the Czech ambassador sitting nervously in the waiting room while the British and French prime ministers and the Axis brutes decided his country’s fate.

Most references to the Munich moment usually show PM Neville Chamberlain waving a piece of paper and announcing “peace in our time.” But the really scary Munich moment took place hours earlier, when these dubious characters signed on to the deal. It was about the West’s willingness to knowingly embrace the lies of the thugs it was dealing with, leaving Czechoslovakia to pick up the tab. From left to right, Chamberlain, French PM Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Italian Foreign Minister Count.

In fact, the louder Netanyahu cries out, the more shrill he is bound to sound in the face of the smiling Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

“I think that in this situation as long as we do not see actions instead of words, the international pressure must continue to be applied and even increased,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday. “The greater the pressure, the greater the chance that there will be a genuine dismantling of the Iranian military nuclear program.”

The statement may reflect more how out of touch Bibi is with the winds blowing in Washington DC right now, than a practical strategy. Over the weekend, U.S. officials said the White House was going to offer Iran a chance to recoup billions of dollars in frozen assets—sitting there since the 1979 Islamic revolution—if it scales back its nuclear program. The sanctions will stay in place for now, but Iran would suddenly receive a windfall.

In other words, Iran will receive between $50 and $75 billion, tax free, not for eliminating its nuclear weapons program, but for merely slowing it down.

This is vintage Rouhani, incidentally – the man was the architect of Iran’s winning strategy of fooling the world while flashing many winning smiles. One gets the feeling the Rouhanis wanted their boy to go into modeling for toothpaste ads, instead of running one of the three most evil regimes on the planet, but one thing led to another.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said it was “premature” to talk about easing sanctions, but he did not endorse Netanyahu’s tough line, saying the U.S. is planning a more “incremental” approach in response to concrete Iranian gestures.

It’s 2005 revisited, and Rouhani knows he’s already won this round. He managed to separate Netanyahu from his American benefactors, and isolate Israel which now looks like it’s frothing at the mouth while Iran is all pleasantries and pragmatism. All he has to do from this point on is keep talking, host a couple UN inspectors, mess with their inspections a little, nothing serious, make it impossible to get a real read of what goes on in those plants – but keep on smiling, denying, and never say anything hostile or aggressive against israel or the West.

Bibi cannot win this one, any more than Czechoslovakia could win the diplomatic war against Hitler. Few people know today that on paper the Czechs were superior militarily to the Germans. If they had decided to strike against the Germans, they could have altered world history. They didn’t need British or French protection, they were completely self sufficient in manufacturing their military arsenal. Indeed, it was his bloodless conquest of Czechoslovakia that turned Hitler unstoppable.

B”H – Baruch HaShem, Thank God. Yesterday was an overwhelming success. Some 25,000 people visited the city and participated in the Music Festival. Add on 10,000 the day before, and anther few thousand today and tomorrow. That’s almost 40,000 people in Hebron.

Of course, the murder of Gal Kobi HY”D, the Israeli soldier shot and killed is a tragedy that never should have happened. It will be difficult to console the family. Why should a twenty year old man be shot and killed by an Arab sniper? Only because he was Jewish, Israeli, and serving in the IDF, assisting to protect others living in, and visiting Hebron. And also ensuring that terrorists, such as the animal who killed him, aren’t able to travel freely around Israel, murdering Jews in Tel Aviv, or in his home city, Haifa.

But Israelis showed their bravery and heroism, not allowing this horrendous act to prevent their coming to Hebron. As is said, some 25,000 people yesterday, and thousands today and tomorrow, and next week and next month, vote with their feet – they let their feet do the talking, showing one and all: terrorists will not prevent Jews from visiting and living in their land, their cities, and their homes.

The shows yesterday were great. I caught the last few: Yishai Lapidot, Mendy Jerufi, and Ya’akov Shwekey. They were fantastic. Shwekey was all that was expected and more. See photos on our facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UnitedWithHebron

Immediately following the murder, the director of yesterday’s programming spoke to Ya’akov, telling him about the terror attack. Shwekey assured him, on the spot, that he had no intentions to cancel. The show would go on, as planned.

And what a show it was. He dedicated two special songs. One of his most famous, Tatte, meaning Father, changing some of the original words for Hebron, he dedicated to the memory of the murdered soldier. Another was sung for the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, serving our nation and our people.  It was really something else.

What a day it was.

BS:  A few hours after the murder, the Prime Minister issued a directive, ordering that all measures necessary to allow Jews back into Beit HaMachpela immediately, be implemented. The one and only measure necessary is that of the signature of the Defense Minister, Moshe ‘Bugi’ Ya’alon on a piece of paper, a permit, granting permission for Jews who purchased the site to move back in.

As might be recalled, last year the purchase was completed and Jews moved in. Two days later they were expelled. A military court ruled a couple of months ago, that the purchase was fully legal. The Jews should be allowed back in.

We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting.

As of this morning, the story is that the Defense Minister “authorized” the return to the building, but has yet to sign the permits. So my guess is that, because of his deeply religious practices, he doesn’t write on Chol HaMoed, the intermediary days of Succot, due to the sanctity of this week. (LOL)

So, maybe after the holidays, Thursday night?

BB: Well, actually it’s Bibi. Mr Prime Minister, who split Hebron in January, 1998, after promising he would never do such a thing. A few days ago he stated that anyone thinking they can uproot us from Hebron should know that it will never happen. And he promised, again. Back to Beit HaMachpela.

Well, it seems that a Prime Minister’s directive isn’t enough. Why? Maybe (no, it can’t be) he really didn’t mean it. Maybe (no, it can’t be), the message hasn’t yet filtered down to the Defense Minister. Or maybe there are people, in roles under the Prime Minister, who can control what the Prime Minister is actually able to do, or not do, despite his position and directives. (Yes, it can be!)

Pick one of the above: a, b, or c, or pick all of the above. Or none. Maybe its threats from the direction of the WH, where BB is supposed to go speak BS with next week with POSTUS.

But, we have no doubt, there will be much BH – blessings from above, and in the end, all will work out ok. Because the BH has been around longer that BB or BS or even POTUS, and will still be here when they are long gone.

Baruch HaShem.

Happy holidays from Hebron.

In the course of human events, there are moments when choosing a particular fork in the road means you have altered not just where you’re going, but also, necessarily, who you are.

A case in point is a recent televised interview given by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which Palestinian Media Watch has taken the trouble to translate and disseminate. In it, Abbas is making a cogent point in support of the release of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, once the two-state solution has been reached.

Abbas says: “I demand [the release of] prisoners because they are human beings, who did what we, we, ordered them to do. We – the [Palestinian] Authority. They should not be punished while we sit at one table negotiating. Besides, they spent many years in prison. How much longer? Do they have to spend all their life in prison and even die there?”

So the interviewer asks the obvious question, what about those Palestinian prisoners who have murdered Jewish civilians, whole families, including babies in their cribs and pregnant women who were begging for their two lives and were slaughtered just the same?

“How can we deal with [the Israelis’] criteria of bloodstained hands?” he asks.

To which Abbas responds: “Such talk is illogical talk and I do not accept it. What does a bloodstained hand mean? We were fighting each other. They kill and kill. They hunt down people with planes and tanks and killed. The soldier who kills 50 or 20 persons here and there – are his hands stained with talc powder? They are stained with blood.”

He’s right, of course. In a world in which the Arabs of Eretz Israel—who rejected the 1947 plan that gave them two thirds of the land, and the rest for the Jews—get a second chance to grab at least a portion of that land and make it, albeit belatedly, a country with recognized borders and embassies and some form of an army – in that world Abbas is right and we are wrong.

As soon as we’ve accepted the idea of “land for peace,” we sanctioned all those murders of innocent Jews. We elevated the other side to a position of legitimacy, therefore we’ve also elevated his means of doing war to legitimacy. Suicide bombers shredding children to pieces are now an acceptable form of warfare, not by Palestinian standards — but by Israeli standards!

The history of the last 50 years in Africa is marked with countless examples of wanted criminals, who, on occasion, have been known to commit atrocities against their European rulers and their loved ones—only to turn virtually instantaneously into presidents and parliamentarians and ambassadors, some times serving in the very countries that had reluctantly granted them independence.

Argues (soon to be President) Abbas: “This is war. [Israel] ordered a soldier to kill, and I ordered my son, brother, or others, to carry out the duty of resistance (euphemism for terror). This person killed and the other person killed. So why say this person’s hands are stained with blood, and [he] must be kept in prison? He is a fighter just like any other fighter. We were in a state of fighting.”

Only in a context in which the Arab claim to ownership of a land to which they are not entitled can we make the claim that their prisoners who spilled innocent Jewish blood are mere criminals who should have been executed, but, alas, shall spend the remainder of their lives memorizing the holy Koran on their bunk beds.

We can’t have it both ways. And so, if we support a two-state solution, as our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be, we will have no choice but to release all four to six thousand prisoners, bona fide POWs every last one of them.

“When a truce is reached, in any country in the world, the past is forgotten,” argues Abbas. “What meaning is there to peace with the Israelis if the wanted continues to be wanted, the prisoner continues to be imprisoned, and the deportee continues to be deported? What am I worth in the eyes of the ordinary [Palestinian] citizen? The ordinary citizen will ask me: ‘What did you get me? You ordered me – you are responsible for me.'”

I’ll tell you, it appears that Chairman Abbas cares for his people a whole lot more than the folks on our side do for their own. As they continue to scheme, in hiding, always behind closed doors, always in the dark, always in secret, to eliminate yet another swath of Jewish towns and villages. Just as they did in Gaza, they will—at the same time, possibly on the same day—release the murderers from their prison cells and turn tens of thousands of Jews into the new refugees.

Somebody should tell UNRWA not to close down shop – there are new refugees happening in Palestine…

Bibi Netanyahu walked on the stage at the closing of the President’s Conference (Tomorrow 2013) and I knew he’d be a great speaker – he always is. When he is addressing an international audience, as he knew he would be, his words are strong and resonate with the meaning of Israel. When he speaks to Israelis, that’s when I have more problems because that’s when he is fighting for his political future and in doing so, sometimes forgets to fight for the land and country itself.

He has to play politics, and he does it very well. He has to compromise, to walk a fine line between Lieberman, Bennet, Shas, the Ultra-Orthodox parties, the secular, the opposition. In short, he’s so busy dancing, he forgets to think.

But I knew, I just knew, that at the President’s Conference, he’s shine in a way that few others can. He’s quick-thinking, very intelligent, and dynamic. What follows below is as near to transcription as I could get – almost word for word. If someone prints a transcript later, you are likely to find a few mistakes and some missing sentences, but if no one does-  this will do as a decent transcription.

Minutes after he took the stage, two hecklers stood and began calling out, shouting about the economic situation. While security moved in to remove them – non-violently – Bibi correctly pointed out that this is part of democracy and I quickly tweeted – listen up, Turkey, this is how you deal with demonstrators – not with tear gas and violence. Had these same people stood outside with signs, they would have had a chance to have their say. Once removed from the hall, they will not be beaten, though they may be detained and questioned. For the “sin” of speaking out, they probably won’t even be arrested. He spoke of three goals: security, prosperity, and peace.

Anyway – Bibi’s speech…

Security

There is an earthquake – it is changing the face of the world. It is turmoil and it is unclear. It is not yet clear who will have the upper hand. The jury is out. Now I’m convinced that the forces of freedom, education will ultimately win out; but ultimately that is not good enough for the Jewish people. Ultimately, the forces of goodness overtook the forces of evil but our people paid a terrible price. I will not let that happen again. Israel will not let that happen.

And the danger we face is that the most dangerous weapons will fall into the hands of the most dangerous nations – specifically one nation. Iran’s dictator denies them their rights and prevents them from materializing that future.

The first thing that the new president of Iran said was that Iran must be guaranteed their rights. He didn’t say the Iranian people must be guaranteed their rights. He said IRAN must be. And they think that means nuclear weapons.

We may be seeing a change in style but not in content. The “new” way is that you smile, you talk, and you move forward to nuclear Iran. The second in command in Iran criticizes the last president for not engaging in this tactic. We cannot allow the Iranian regime to play this game. Now there is a critical test.

They must stop ALL enrichment; remove what has been enriched; and shut down the nuclear plants. I say to the international community, you must keep up the pressure.

This is fundamental for international security and fundamental to Israeli security.

Prosperity

You know the old joke – to make a small fortune in Israel, you need to come here with a big one. Well, that isn’t true anymore. There are ways to make big fortunes and in Israel – we’ve shot ahead. Ten years ago, our GPA was 2/3 of European, today, we have passed some and are right there with others.

We once had the economy of a developing company – we’ve emerged. We are one of the most advanced economies in the world. We lead the OECD by opening up our economy… to the genius of our people.

We have to sustain such growth. It gets harder but we are going to do it. We are going to modernize our ports. Just about everything you see – this land, this piece of wood…well, not everything – but just about everything you see goes through our ports and we will make it cheaper and more available.