U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry took out his diplomatic mask Thursday when he told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Thursday, “I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda.”

He then brought out his record player so the Prime Minister could hear again what American officials have said several thousand times – “Israel has the right to defend himself.”

If that is reassurance, Israel is in big trouble because every time the United States, or the United Nations, grants Israel the unique right to defend itself, that means that Israel must exalt in pride for the recognition and shut up and let others decide what is best for the country.

Kerry is fooling himself, President Obama and media monkeys by thinking that Netanyahu believes him when he says, “Israel’s security…, is at the top of our agenda.”

It was at the top of its agenda in 2006 when Israel had to agree to the Second Lebanese War ceasefire resolution that “guaranteed” Israel’s security by forbidding foreign armies, like Hezbollah, to keep weapons.

Tzipi Livni, who then was foreign minister, signed the agreement with a straight face. Don’t forget, the same Tzipi Livni is Israel’s chief negotiator today with the Palestinian Authority.

The American concern for Israel’s security last month meant signing with Iran an agreement that gives it want it wants – less sanctions – without getting anything in return except words, more or less what Israel gets from Kerry and Obama when it gives up its tactical strength to keep the Palestinian Authority from picking then country to pieces, peace by peace.

Kerry’s concern for Israel’s security meant squeezing Netanyahu in July to agree to free 104 Arab murderers in return for resuming talks with the same Palestinian Authority that exalts terror.

Kerry’s soft sell to Netanyahu Thursday was a classic, a continuation of his style of patting Israel on the shoulder while shoving the knife in the back.

Of course, the bond between the US and Israel is “unbreakable,” and so what if there are a few minor differences between friends? After all, the only thing that really counts is that both the United States and Israel want peace on a piece of paper.

Kerry reassured Netanyahu that he has nothing to worry about and that the United States “will do everything in our power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, [and] weaponization possibilities are terminated.”

Given the history of the Obama administration, Israel can be reassured that the United States will not deliver on whatever it promises Israel because the White House assumes that the Netanyahu government is forever masochistic if not suicidal.

Kerry offered a gentle reminder why Washington is so sure that Netanyahu will sit every time an Obama official says, “Nice doggie.”

He referred to the Arrow ballistic missile interceptor at the Palmachim base near Tel Aviv when he said, “I want to see first-hand the remarkable ballistic missile defense technologies in place that our nation has spent over 20 years building with our friends here in Israel.”

If it was not clear that America expects Israel to follow marching orders in return for aid for defense systems, Kerry immediately followed with, “The advancement of these programs in recent years, I think, is a reflection of President Obama’s and his administration’s strong commitment, unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.”

Israel has been in constant war with Arabs even before the re-establishment of the modern state in 1948. It has survived countless double-crosses, agreements and terrorist attacks from all sides.

Therefore, according to American logic, the United States knows how Israel should defend itself.

One has to be sparing with exclamation points, but this one’s a lollapalooza.  A dilly!  A doozie.  A big honkin’ mess-a that Middle East Security Hotness.  You heard right folks:  the United States of America has a “West Bank security proposal” for Israel, and we’re sending a retired Army general to present it to Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, himself.  !!!!!!!!!!

Why did no one think of this before?  Finally, someone has done something pragmatic and positive about the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, and just written up a proposal for the Israelis to chew on already.  The Obama administration has at last gotten things off top dead center with Iran, and it’s time to tackle those other intractable Middle East Security Problems, while the momentum is still red-hot.

The New York Times has done yeoman work in recent years pitching verbatim the information themes of the Obama administration, but interestingly, it comes off as a tad perfunctory in the story about the West Bank security proposal.  The tale seems to lack a little of that believer’s heart to it.  You might almost get the sense that there’s some editorial skepticism about the wisdom of this fresh Brainstorming for Peace initiative.

Almost.  Letting the Obama administration off the hook, as usual, for vagueness and strange diplomatic fire, NYT notes the following:

General Allen’s presentation appears to signify a more active American role, in which the United States is doing more than coaxing the Israelis and the Palestinians to negotiate and is presenting its own ideas.

What are the ideas about, exactly?  The NYT authors again:

Officials involved in the negotiations said security had been the prime focus lately, with most of the discussion revolving around the Jordan Valley. Israel has insisted that its own military continue to patrol there, rather than rely on an international force similar to those responsible for its tense borders with Lebanon and Syria. The Palestinians have said they cannot abide the presence of any Israeli soldiers in their future state.

Keep in mind, if George W. Bush’s officials were being so elliptical about a U.S.-drafted West Bank security proposal, NYT would be right in there concluding indignantly that American troops were about to be drop-kicked into the Jordan Valley to embroil a duped and overextended United States in Another Vietnam Quagmire (Marine Barracks Beirut Variety).  It would be barely possible to figure out what the Bush administration had actually said, so thick would be the underbrush of quotes from policy “critics” through which the reader would have to hack.

No such quotes enliven the current NYT piece.  The Obama administration gets the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe putting U.S. prestige and bona fides on the line with an unsolicited, and apparently very specific, security proposal to an ally isn’t a bad idea.  Maybe it’s not undiplomatic and prejudicial to announce it publicly before our briefer has even presented it to Israel’s prime minister.  Maybe it’s just, what, enthusiastic.  Maybe there’s nothing to be concerned about in the fact that the preemptive announcement is so vague.  Hey, we’re just talking – probably – a about U.S. proposal for administering military security in the Jordan Valley.  What could go wrong?

NYT lets this priceless, preemptive characterization go without comment:

State Department officials described the security briefing as an “ongoing process” and not a finished product on which the United States was demanding a yes-or-no vote from the Israeli side.

Sure, because announcing it in advance will put no onus on Israel to respond in a yes-or-no-type manner.  This formulation is like an addict pleading that he’s not using, he’s just snorting some coke.

The Palestinian Authority continues to operate on the back of Israeli consumers, whose rates for electricity constantly rise while PA Arabs simply don’t pay to the extent that their debt to the Israel Electric Corp. now stands at $750 million.

In the past, Israel simply used Value Added Tax revenues, collected for the Palestinian Authority, to pay off the debt.

That no longer is feasible diplomatically because it would punch another hole in the Obama administration’s cherished peace talks.

Globes business newspaper noted that the Palestinian Authority could reach energy self-sufficiency if it were to take advantage of off-shore natural gas fields, which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ha offered to help develop for the regime.

“Information indirectly obtained by the media indicate that the Palestinians are largely responsible for the problem,” the left-leaning Globes wrote this week. “Their conduct, according to this partial information, has been amateurish, if not actually childish, and is mostly defamatory and slanderous.

Elite Palestinian Authority security forces rounded up suspected Salafist terrorists in Shechem this week but left untouched Mahmoud Abbas’ Al Aqsa terrorist arm, which recently branded their rifles in a march to commemorate the death of Yasser Arafat.

The apparent contradiction highlights the heart of the constant threat that worldwide supplies of heavy-duty weapons for the PA forces will be used against Israel, exactly like the rifles that Israel gave Yasser Arafat in the hey-day of the Oslo Illusions were weapons that killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis when the Oslo Accords exploded.

The Palestinian National Security Forces (NSF) has a new counter-terrorism unit called Special Operations Unit 101 (SOU 101), deployed in Jenin, and its “Brigade 9” in Shechem. The NSF rounded this past Sunday 20 Salafist terrorist members in Jenin, Shechem and Kalkilya.

Palestinian Authority sources insisted that the Salafists were not directly affiliated with Al Qaeda despite a shared ideology. Three days before the roundup, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the IDF killed three Salafist terrorists south of Hevron and whom the Mujahedeen Shura Council said were “the tip of the iceberg.”

“By the will of God Almighty, the global jihadist doctrine has reached the bank of pride, the West Bank, planting its foothold after all attempts to thwart its presence,” the Council said after their members were killed.

It was later revealed that the Palestinian Authority had arrested several other Salafists in an apparent coordinated effort with the IDF.

A Palestinian Authority official told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency that all of the Salafists who were arrested were former members of Hamas.

In October, the PA elite unit operated in Jenin. Its commander Major Sadam Amr, told IHS Jane’s that around 150 soldiers are in the unit and are armed with Zastava M70 assault rifles, fitted with picatinny rails so they can be used with the red dot, laser and night vision sites acquired by the unit.

“Each rifle upgrade cost us $1,000, “Major Amr told Janes, which added, “The unit is also equipped with a tactical communications system made by a UIS company called Tiger. The radios allow members of the unit to stay in contact with each other in their operations room.

“The unit uses Ford F-150 pick-up trucks, several of which have been fitted with protective armor…as well as 7.62 mm machine guns to provide fire support.

That should be a great relief to Israelis, now certain that Mahmoud Abbas deployed his forces to tear down the terrorist infrastructure,

The problem is that in the Palestinian Authority, “terrorists” are Hamas members and Salafists, while Abbas’ Fatah party “military” squad, quaintly named the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, simply is a group of resistance fighters.

With masks over their faces and assault weapons in their peace partner hands, they held a military parade between Ramallah and Jerusalem two weeks ago to mark the ninth anniversary of Arafat’s death.

The Oslo Accords are not relevant any more. The Palestinian Authority has broken word after word and clause after clause, but some of the text bears repeating.

The number of armed forces in the Palestinian Authority is way beyond the limit stated in the Accords, which also declare, “The Palestinian Police will act systematically against all expressions of violence and terror. The Council will issue permits in order to legalize the possession and carrying of arms by civilians. Any illegal arms will be confiscated by the Palestinian Police.”

The agreement also states, “The Palestinian Police will possess the following arms and equipment: up to 4,000 rifles;  up to 4,000 pistols; up to 120 machine guns of 0.3″ or 0.5″ caliber; and up to 15 light, unarmed riot vehicles.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a Hanukkah party Monday night that he will use the $1 million Genesis Prize to  “promote commerce between the people in Palestine and the people in Israel,” the Daily Forward reported.

It is not yet known which organizations will be assisted by the prize money. Bloomberg made the announcement at the party at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

In his third and final term as New York mayor, Bloomberg was chosen from among more than 200 nominees worldwide because of his “track record of outstanding public service and his role as one of the world’s greatest philanthropists,” according to the prize committee.

The foundation was established last year by the Genesis Philanthropy Group, a consortium of mega-wealthy philanthropist-businessmen from the former Soviet Union including Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and German Khan; the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel; and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Monique Ofer, whose husband and retired IDF Col. Sraya Ofer was murdered in October by two Palestinian Authority terrorists, narrowly escape with her life in the attack, according to documents filed this week in the military court where the terrorists are to be tried.

Prosecutors stated that that the terrorists, both from the Hevron area, planned the attack for six months, contradicting their earlier claim that they only were planning to rob the Ofer home. Their plan was to kidnap Monique, but she escaped the killers, who had tried to grab her in the late night attack, by crawling to the main highway, where she flagged down help.

The terrorists beat her husband to death with metal clubs and axes.

Jerusalem police said Tuesday they have arrested five  Jerusalem boys, ages 14-17, for last week’s rock attack on a car, in which a two-year-old girl was seriously injured. Four of the boys confessed and said they attacks passing cars because they “hate Jews.”

Four other youth who had been arrested have been released after police concluded they were not involved in the incident, which occurred in the mostly Jewish neighborhood of Armon HaNatziv, adjacent to an Arab neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem.

The victim of the attack, Abigail Ben Zion, is recovering from head injuries from the rock, described as being very large.

Several rock-throwing attacks have resulted in serious accidents and sometimes in death, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told Channel 2 television that authorities should understand that rocks are weapons.

Israel Border Police arrested on Tuesday another Palestinian Authority Arab planning to stab Jews at the Patriarchs’ Cave in Hevron, where attempted knife attacks have become routine.

The 21-year-old terrorist from the Hevron area admitted to police, who discovered he was hiding a sharpened tool behind his back, he was planning to stab a soldier in revenge for previously having been arrested in Beit Shemesh.

The official Palestinian Authority WAFA website continued on Tuesday to incite Arabs against a Jewish presence in and near the Patriarchs’ Cave. It reported that Jews tried to turn a nearby building “into a Jewish temple.” Their proof was that “Jewish settlers brought chairs and other furniture,…which indicates they want to turn it into a prayer area for Jews.”