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.

French experts have ruled out any possibility that Yasser Arafat died of poisoning, as his widow Suha and the Palestinian Authority have charged, with the finger pointed directly at Israel.

The Israeli government reacted to the latest development in the blood libel with a simple “no surprise” statement.

The French report does not necessarily put an end to the accusations, backed by Swiss scientists and blown up last year by an Al Jazeera investigation that covered all the bases to blame Israel. Its  47-minute report, which can be seen below, left the clear impression that Israel poisoned Arafat with plutonium, and that if results prove otherwise it would only because of a cover-up to prevent the end of the peace process and the catalyst for a regional explosion.

Today, Al Jazeera published the French news agency AFP’s report on the conclusion of the French experts without fanfare, excuses or apologies.

“The report rules out the poisoning theory and goes in the sense of a natural death,” a source told the news agency. That contradicts last month’s statements from Swiss scientists that there is evidence to “suggest” that the terrorist who won the Nobel Peace Prize was killed by plutonium.

The Jewish Press carried here out a report three months ago that totally debunked the idea as being ridiculous on the basis of simply chemistry.

The French experts’ conclusion puts an end to criminal charges because it was France that launched a formal investigation into his death following the Al Jazeera documentary.

Swiss and Russian scientists also participated in the probe, with a team from each country taking samples from Arafat’s remains last year, eight years after his death.

Now that French has torn apart the possible of poisoning and the Swiss team has left it open for question, the ball is in the court of Russia, which has not yet issued its findings

A Russian medical agency in October denied it has made any statement after Interfax quoted its official as saying that Arafat “could not have been poisoned by polonium.”

The Palestinian Authority has not commented on the French report.

Al Jazeera suggested in its document last year that the Palestinian Authority was careful to keep its investigation secret, and the news agency directly suggested that officials wanted to hide the “truth” that Israel killed Arafat.

The contradictory reports leave the Palestinian Authority, which whose oxygen comes from foreign money and domestic propaganda, with the possibility of being able to use the inconclusive Swiss report  to hang Israel as an eternal suspect in the death of its “father,” Arafat  the “Palestinian,” who was born in Egypt in 1929.

His father was originally from Gaza and his mother was Egyptian.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would be willing to speak to the Knesset, but only on the issues he chooses.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Abbas last week to address the Knesset and said he would be willing to travel to Ramallah to speak to the PA leadership.

“Netanyahu comes up with an offer and then immediately puts forward his own terms – that this and that should be said and so on. No, if those terms are put forward, I do not accept that,” Abbas told the Voice of Russia in remarks broadcast Friday. “But if he wants me to come and say the things I want to say, then I am ready to do it — but only in order to say what I want to say and not what he wants to hear. ”

Abbas did not mention whether the Israeli Prime Minister would be welcome to speak in Ramallah.

Netanyahu had said that Abbas would be welcome to speak to the legislators if here prepared to recognize that Israel is a Jewish state.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu challenged Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas Monday to address the Knesset and recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

“I call on him from here today: let’s break the deadlock,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Knesset and in the presence of visiting French President Francois Hollande.

Netanyahu then invited himself to Ramallah, saying he would go there after Abbas answers his call to speak to the Knesset. That is likely to happen about the same time the Republican party approves Obamacare.

Abbas two months ago, Abbas said he was willing to go to Jerusalem and sit down with Netanyahu, but neither man has to worry too much about the threat that they will meet. There really is not much for them to talk about except how much they distrust the Obama administration.

Netanyahu, in his speech to the Knesset, returned to his favorite taunt of Abbas. “Get up on this platform and recognize the historical truth: the Jews have a nearly 4,000-year-old link to the land of Israel,” he said. “ The Jews are a people with a right to self-determination. In real peace, all Palestinian claims regarding the State of Israel will end, including national claims on its territory and sovereignty.”

Abbas has said that Israel does not need his seal of approval for its being Jewish.

The entire “Jewish State of Israel” gambit is a code word for Israel’s blocking the Arab world’s demand of the so-called “right of return,” meaning the right of several million Arabs to turn Israel into a non-Jewish state, based on the claim of lineage from former Arab residents of the country.

Both Abbas and Netanyahu know it is not going to happen, and both men are playing gamesmanship to avoid the wrath of President Barack Obama, who in turn would be happy if Abbas and Netanyahu were to hang themselves and let the United States off the hook and go back to worrying about its own affairs.

A London newspaper report of a  European Union audit citing gross corruption in the Palestinian Authority is the latest, but not the last, exposure of a PA regime that is a decaying creature living on borrowed time.

In August, the United States signed a $148 million agreement with the Palestinian Authority to support the budget in Ramallah.

U.S. Consul General Michael Ratney stressed how much the Obama administration supports Abbas government in order to strengthen its institutions, all part of the master plan to show that the Palestinian Authority functions as a state. All it needs, according to the U.S. State Dept., is the stamp of approval that it is a country.

The very idea of creating a new Arab state within Israel’s current borders is a dream for President Barack Obama, so he had no trouble in August to waive restrictions set by Congress to send more tax dollars to Ramallah,  part of a prize for resuming the so-called peace talks that are rapidly on their way to joining previous discussions in the grave from which they were exhumed in July.

Shortly after the U.S. aid, France and the Palestinian Authority signed a $15 million agreement to bail out Abbas’ depleted coffers, which have a bottom line of approximately minus $500 million.

Hamdallah then met EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, one of Israel’s biggest thorns in the you know where, to ask for more money.

When it comes to schooring, Abbas has it all over the Jews.

As usual, the PA says it needs money because Israel is choking it as well as Gaza with the famous siege that does not exist., except for that which the Egyptian military regime has imposed. But  that does not count since it is not part of the Zionist lobby.

Make no mistake about it, says Abbas. “Israel exploits our resources and lands which directly leads to an increase in the deficit which we must contend with,” and “the central reason for this is the Israeli occupation.”

That is the magic code word for Abbas to get whatever he wants. If there is not enough rain, it is because of the occupation. If it is Tuesday and not Wednesday, it is because of the occupation.

Now it is October. It’s salary time again, and guess what? Palestinian Authority  Finance Minister Shukri Bishara told Abbas it has no money to pay its workers, who officially comprise nearly 8 percent of the total population in Judea and Samaria, but in fact the number is far larger.

It has been reported year after that the Palestinian Authority is a welfare state and that it cannot exist on its own.

Anyone who simply travels through Judea and Samaria can see for himself huge villas and thousands of luxury cars. What people don’t see, or don’t want to see, is that many of those homes and cars were paid for by the billions of dollars a year that are controlled by officials who make Congressmen’s pork barrel look like small potatoes.

The Times of London revealed Sunday that a European Union audit shows that corruption and mismanagement managed to waste about $2 billion, which is three or four times the annual deficit and also is nearly equal to the total amount of money the EU has given to the Palestinian Authority in the four-year period ending last year.

This is no news to Palestinian Authority Arabs. The EU auditors could have saved themselves a lot of work and trouble if they simply had asked the local Arabs, just like pollsters did last year, when they discovered that an overwhelming 71 percent of Arabs believe that there is corruption in their government.

In order to boost the confidence of Abbas to remain corrupt, Uncle Sam will pay out approximately $440 million to Ramallah this years, which is less than the $513.4 million doled out last year but still $440 million more than zero, not including support for UNRWA.

Aid to Israel is in the billions, but a large part of it is funneled right back into the United States for purchases of Made in USA defense components.

In the case of the Palestinian Authority, the only money that goes back into the coffers of the United States is that which Abbas forks over in restaurants when schnooring in Washington.

Noam Glick (Noam bat Michal), the 9 year old girl shot in the Psagot terror attack on Saturday night, is currently listed in an improved light to medium condition following her surgery at Sha’arei Tzedek hospital.

Doctors were initially unsure if she was stabbed or shot based on her wounds. But with the discovery of the improvised gun that appears to have been used to shoot her in the shoulder/neck and through the back, it is clear why the weapon type was not immediately clear.

At one point, residents of the town reported that the terrorist was captured, but the IDF is currently stating that the terrorist escaped into a nearby village.

Residents of the “Nof” neighborhood of Beit El found themselves under a barrage of stones this evening as they were outside building their Sukkahs.

The Arab assailants were very surprised to discover that these Beit El residents weren’t very passive when it came to responding to the Arab attacks. The Beit El residents quickly reacted, damaging the vehicles of the assailants.

In other stone throwing incidents today, Arabs threw a rock into an oncoming car near Ramallah. There were no injuries in that attack.

There were also quite a number of other stone throwing incidents today near Hebron, Afikim, Itamar, Efrat, Beit El, Mevoh Dotan, El Hadr, and along Road 60. Vehicles were damaged in some of the attacks.

Reports for HaKol Hayudi were used in this report.

A new oil discovery in southern Israel might turn out to be the catalyst for an internal and self-destructive war in the Palestinian Authority, with Hamas in Gaza and chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah likely to claim ownership of a new Israeli offshore oil discovery near Ashdod.

When the Tamar and Leviathan gas and oil fields off the Haifa and Hadera coast, in northern Israel, were discovered, Lebanon and Hezbollah quickly claimed that energy reserves were in their territorial waters.

The oil and gas reserves are clearly within Israel’s territorial waters, but the fields could extend as far as the waters off the Lebanese coast.

Lebanon warned the American Noble Energy company not to approach its territory, and Hezbollah it would go to war over the oil and gas fields. Since then, Israel has brought gas into production, and Lebanon and Hezbollah have kept quiet, partly because the United States has mediated by proposing a boundary between Lebanon and Israel’s maritime economic zones.

Now comes the Israeli Shemen Oil and Gas Company which reported on Saturday indications of  “high quality of oil”  following offfshore drilling at its Yam-3 well, 10 miles from the southern port city of Ashdod, located only a few miles north of Gaza.

The drilling reached a depth of 19,000 feet undersea, but the possibility of commercial production awaits further tests.

“This is good news for Shemen but it is still too early to pop the champagne,” Noam Pincu, an analyst at Psagot Investment House Ltd. in Tel Aviv, told Bloomberg News. “We have to see the results of the production tests to estimate the quantities and quality of oil at the site.”

It still is not clear from the drilling report how thick the reservoir is and how much much oil could be commercially produced. Analysts said it could be only a few barrels a day or it could be several hundred a day, which would bring in millions of dollars.

If the Yam 3 well turns to be commercially viable, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu might be able to relax at U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace talks and let Fatah and Hamas knock each other out.

Hamas and its rival Fatah movement likely would be at each other’s throats, literally, to claim that Israel is “stealing” the reserves from them.

Abbas was head of all of the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria as well as Gaza until Hamas completed a bloody military coup six years ago. Abbas dissolved the Fatah-Hams coalition government and declared himself as ruler of Gaza by presidential decree, which Hamas correctly terms as “worthless.”

Abbas and Hamas de facto prime minister Ismail Haniyeh have since failed to carry out several declarations of unity.

All it will take is a few barrels of oil near Gaza’s waters for both leaders to draw their knives and guns for energy reserves that are so close to Gaza that Haniyeh and Abbas can claim that Israel is “stealing” them by drilling diagonally into Gaza waters.

Both Ramallah and Gaza City are in serious trouble financially. Egypt’s new war on terror in the Sinai has choked off the flow of commercial goods through the border at Rafiah, and Abbas is totally dependent on the economically ailing European Union, to stave off bankruptcy.