In response to The New York Times reporting on the leaked manuscript from former National Security Advisor John Bolton&#8217;s upcoming book about his time working for President Trump, Bolton&#8217;s former chief of staff wrote a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ambassador-bolton-withdraw-your-book-fred-fleitz">scathing op-ed for Fox News</a> that denounced the book for setting a &#8220;dangerous precedent&#8221; while demanding he withdraw it from publication until after the 2020 election.
&#8220;It was crushing to read weekend press reports that my friend and former boss John Bolton plans to publish a tell-all book on his time as President Trump’s National Security Advisor,&#8221; Fred Fleitz begins in the lengthy op-ed. &#8220;The book reportedly will be published in March 2020. Given the importance of protecting a president’s confidential discussions with his senior advisers, I strongly disagree with Bolton’s decision to release the book before the November presidential election and call on him to withdraw it from the publisher immediately.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/critics-hammer-bolton-after-book-pre-order-goes-live-following-leaked-manuscript-published-by-nyt">reported</a> by The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ryan Saavedra on Sunday, the Times wrote that Bolton alleges in his book that President Trump told him to freeze the $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until officials agreed to investigate Joe Biden&#8217;s corruption and 2016 election meddling.
Though Fleitz commends John Bolton for his service after knowing him for 30 years, praising his work in the State Department and in the Trump administration, he ultimately feels that Bolton&#8217;s book undermines executive privilege and will ultimately discourage future presidents from discussing important matters of foreign policy in confidence.
&#8220;Presidents must be able to candidly consult with their advisers without worrying they will leak these discussions to the press or obtain high-dollar book contracts to publish them,&#8221; Fleitz says in the op-ed. &#8220;A book by a former national security advisor ahead of a president’s reelection bid may set a dangerous precedent since it could discourage future presidents from seeking advice from expert advisers on sensitive national security matters.&#8221;
&#8220;This is why executive privilege exists: To allow the president and other senior officials to keep certain communications and internal deliberations private if disclosing them would disrupt the functions or decision-making processes of the executive branch,&#8221; he continues.
Not only does Fleitz slam Bolton for seeking to publish the book in the first place, he also takes issue with Bolton&#8217;s decision to submit it for review with the National Security Council (NSC) despite knowing how prone the agency is for leaks.
&#8220;It also is inexplicable how such a sensitive manuscript could be sent to the NSC in the middle of the impeachment process,&#8221; he argues. &#8220;Under such circumstances, a leak of the manuscript was all but certain. If a manuscript of this sensitivity was to be published at all, this should happen after the election, not in the spring of 2020,  I don’t understand the need for a former national security advisor to publish a tell-all book critical of a president he served, especially during a presidential reelection campaign that will determine the fate of the country.&#8221;
Fleitz concludes his op-ed by referencing former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who chose to publish his book “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War&#8221; that was critical of the Obama administration only after the 2012 election. In fact, Gates waited until January of 2014 to publish it.
&#8220;Gates established a principled precedent on how senior advisers to presidents should write about their experiences,&#8221; concludes Fleitz. &#8220;Given Ambassador Bolton’s long and distinguished record of government service, I believe it is vital that he follow this precedent.&#8221;

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton Delivers Keynote Address At CSIS Forum

John Bolton’s Former Chief Of Staff Slams Him: ‘Withdraw Your Book,’ ‘Sets A Dangerous Precedent’

2016 election

2020 Election

Donald Trump

Impeachment

Joe Biden

John Bolton

New York Times

Obama Administration

Robert Gates

State Department

According to a letter sent today to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that was just obtained by The Daily Wire, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced Texas&#8217;s refusal to accept any additional refugees for fiscal year (FY) 2020. The letter was prompted by <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-enhancing-state-local-involvement-refugee-resettlement/">Executive Order 13888</a>, on &#8220;Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement,&#8221; which was issued by President Donald Trump on September 26, 2019.
According to the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-enhancing-state-local-involvement-refugee-resettlement/">text</a> of the September executive order, &#8220;[t]he Federal Government consults with State and local governments &#8230; to be respectful of those communities that may not be able to accommodate refugee resettlement.&#8221; Furthermore, &#8220;if either a State or locality has not provided consent to receive refugees under the Program, then refugees should not be resettled within that State or locality,&#8221; and &#8220;the Secretary shall notify the President of such decision.&#8221;
Today, Greg Abbott, governor of the nation&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-at-texas-scorecard-texas-is-a-less-business-friendly-environment-than-you-might-think-its-time-to-fix-that">most iconic red state</a>, has made clear that Texas does not consent.
&#8220;Texas is one of the most welcoming states for refugees seeking to escape dangers abroad,&#8221; Abbott begins. &#8220;Since FY 2010, more refugees have been received in Texas than in any other state. In fact, over that decade, roughly 10% of all refugees resettled in the United States have been placed in Texas. Even today, the process of resettling continues for many of these refugees.&#8221;
&#8220;In addition to accepting refugees all these years, Texas has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system,&#8221; the governor continues. &#8220;In May 2019, for example, around 100,000 migrants were apprehended crossing this state&#8217;s southern border. In June 2019, individuals from 52 different countries were apprehended here. And in FY 2018, the apprehensions included citizens from disparate countries like China, Iran, Kenya, Russia, and Tonga. Texas continues to have to deal with the consequences of an immigration system that Congress has failed to fix.&#8221;
&#8220;At this time, the state and non-profit organizations have a responsibility to dedicate available resources to those who are already here, including refugees, migrants, and the homeless — indeed, all Texans,&#8221; the Republican writes in his denouement. &#8220;As a result, Texas cannot consent to initial refugee resettlement for FY2020. This decision does not deny any refugee access to the United States. Nor does it preclude a refugee from later coming to Texas after initially settling in another state.&#8221;
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&#8220;Texas has carried more than its share in assisting the refugee resettlement process and appreciates that other states are available to help with these efforts,&#8221; Abbott concludes.
Abbott&#8217;s bold stand will please immigration hawks, who have long sounded the alarm on America&#8217;s shoddy, loophole-ridden refugee system and our wholly inadequate vetting capabilities for prospective refugees. As the Center for Immigration Studies&#8217; investigative journalist extraordinaire Todd Bensman <a href="https://cis.org/Bensman/Idiot-Lights-Blinking-Vetting-Failures-Still-Favor-Lying-Terrorist-Migrants">wrote</a> last April: &#8220;Few outside of intelligence and law enforcement circles — and perhaps not even those inside the circles — really know the actual extent of vetting failures that grant legal status to those hiding terrorism involvement. <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/extreme-vetting-immigrants-estimating-terrorism-vetting-failures" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">One tally</a> found an entirely unacceptable 13 cases of vetting failures involving actual terrorists caught or killed between 9/11 and April 2018. But the numbers are undoubtedly higher, accounting for cases where the liars just haven&#8217;t been made public yet or there was strong terrorism intelligence rather than some sort of conviction under terrorism statutes or attack.&#8221;
Abbott&#8217;s move also follows closely on the heels of at least 15 separate Republican governors who have all affirmatively signed onto more refugee resettlement in their states in the aftermath of Executive Order 13888. Immigration hawk Daniel Horowitz recently <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/15-gop-governors-asking-refugee-resettlement-red-states/">excoriated</a> these governors at Conservative Review: &#8220;Except for New England, these are all states carried by Trump, some of them by a very wide margin. Trump won every single county in West Virginia and Oklahoma, for example. Why are conservatives with platforms not talking about this? &#8230; Who needs George Soros when you have GOP governors endorsed by Trump doing his bidding, along with the help of so-called evangelical groups?&#8221;
Governor Abbott will take no shortage of heat for this move, even within the still-reliably Republican Lone Star State. But he should rest well at night, for he has done the right thing for his state.
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Texas Governor Greg Abbott

BREAKING: Texas Governor Abbott Boldly Rejects Additional Refugee Resettlement

Greg Abbott

Immigration

Mike Pompeo

Refugee

Texas

Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said on Friday that she was &#8220;outraged&#8221; at President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to kill Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html">reported</a> on Thursday that Soleimani and top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, who headed the Iranian-linked Popular Mobilization Forces, were killed in an airstrike on Thursday at Baghdad International Airport when when an American MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missiles on a convoy the two terrorists were riding in.
Omar initially responded to the news by writing on Twitter: &#8220;So what if Trump wants war, knows this leads to war and needs the distraction? Real question is, will those with congressional authority step in and stop him? I know I will.&#8221;
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded to Omar, &#8220;According the the Obama Department of Defense, Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist directly responsible for the murder of over 500 US service men &amp; women. Why are congressional Dems outraged that he’s finally dead? See more: [link to news article]&#8221;
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According the the Obama Department of Defense, Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist directly responsible for the murder of over 500 US service men &amp; women. Why are congressional Dems outraged that he’s finally dead? See more: <a href="https://t.co/7MrD4tyM5y">https://t.co/7MrD4tyM5y</a> <a href="https://t.co/cKYSPLSLmj">https://t.co/cKYSPLSLmj</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1212958723074867201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Omar responded, &#8220;We are outraged the president would assassinate a foreign official, possibly setting off another war without Congressional authorization and has zero plan to deal with the consequences. But of course you know that.&#8221;
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We are outraged the president would assassinate a foreign official, possibly setting off another war without Congressional authorization and has zero plan to deal with the consequences. 
But of course you know that. <a href="https://t.co/GzfdKilV4t">https://t.co/GzfdKilV4t</a>
&mdash; Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1213152758976647174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The U.S. State Department released the following facts about Qassem Soleimani:
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<blockquote>Since 1998, Qassem Soleimani commanded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the terror arm of the Iranian regime. The IRGC-QF is tasked with planning and executing terror and military operations outside Iran’s borders. Under Soleimani’s command, the IRGC-QF has fueled destabilizing sectarian conflicts throughout the Middle East for decades.</blockquote>
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<li>
<blockquote>The IRGC-QF continues to wage an illegal campaign of terrorism, assassinations, and violence. At Soleimani’s direction and with his oversight and guidance, the IRGC-QF has planned and conducted terrorist attacks across six continents and inside the United States.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>The United States designated IRGC-QF a Foreign Terrorist Organization for its activities, and the United States designated Soleimani as a Specially-Designated Global Terrorist.</blockquote>
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<li>
<blockquote>As the leader of the IRGC-QF, Qassem Soleimani was directly responsible for arming, funding, and training proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Operations carried out by these proxy groups have led to the death and suffering of tens of thousands, including many hundreds of Americans. These proxies routinely target and kill civilians, intensify sectarian conflicts, and prolong the suffering of innocent men, women, and children.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>Soleimani personally directed and provided arms to militias in Iraq for more than a decade. These militias undermine the sovereignty of the Iraqi state, threaten the legitimacy of Iraq’s security forces, and target American citizens and forces. With Soleimani’s support and lethal assistance, proxies of the IRGC-QF targeted and killed over 600 Americans between 2003 and 2011.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>We can confirm that in the past several days, General Soleimani had been traveling in the Middle East coordinating further imminent large-scale attacks against U.S. diplomats and service members. These threats were highly credible and the intelligence is sound. General Soleimani’s travel also violated the ban imposed by the United Nations Security Council.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>Recent orders given by General Soleimani dramatically escalated Iran’s campaign of violence and terrorism against Americans and American interests in the Middle East. He orchestrated a series of attacks against American forces in Iraq in the past several months, culminating in the rocket attack on December 27, 2019, which resulted in the death of an American citizen, wounded four American service members, and threatened the lives of many more American personnel. General Soleimani also ordered the assault on the American Embassy in Baghdad. General Soleimani continued to command Iranian supported proxies in Iraq, which posed an escalating threat to the lives of Americans.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>For his actions, Soleimani had been designated and sanctioned by the United Nations, European Union, and United States and is banned from international travel by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231. In defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions, however, Soleimani continued to travel to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon directing and coordinating lethal actions that pose a threat to regional peace and security.</blockquote>
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</ul>

Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar: I’m ‘Outraged’ Trump Killed Iranian Terrorist Who Killed Hundreds Of Americans

Iran

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

The State Department, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has responded to the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Pompeo tweeted Tuesday morning: “We responded defensively to the Iranian proxy attack that killed an American citizen and wounded American and Iraqi soldiers. Now, Iranian backed groups are threatening our Embassy in Baghdad.”
“I spoke with Prime Minister Mahdi and President Salih to reiterate their obligation to protect our U.S. personnel and property,” he added.
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I spoke with Prime Minister Mahdi and President Salih to reiterate their obligation to protect our U.S. personnel and property.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1212021025950621697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
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State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus followed up on the secretary’s remarks with a statement about the phone call between Pompeo and Mahdi and Salih, saying they “reinforced their responsibility to protect our diplomatic facilities.”
“We will respond if our people are harmed, and we continue to support an independent Iraq,” she added.
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecPompeo</a> spoke with Prime Minister Mahdi and Presient Salih and reinforced their responsibility to protect our diplomatic facilities. We will respond if our people are harmed, and we continue to support an independent Iraq. <a href="https://t.co/LF9PhlGOlz">pic.twitter.com/LF9PhlGOlz</a>
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) <a href="https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/1212021276233097216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Ortagus’ tweet also included a press release from the State Department regarding Pompeo’s calls with Mahdi and Salih.
“Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Barham Salih separately by phone today from his office in Washington, D.C. The Secretary made clear the United States will protect and defend its people, who are there to support a sovereign and independent Iraq,” Ortagus said in the statement. “Both Abdul-Mahdi and Salih assured the Secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for an would guarantee the safety and security of U.S. personnel and property.”
The violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad followed deadly U.S. airstrikes that had targeted an Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-iran-behind-attack-on-u-s-embassy-in-baghdad-will-pay">reported</a>. The airstrikes occurred on Sunday and killed about 25 members of the Iran-backed militia known as Kataeb Hezbollah.
Hundreds of supporters of the militia took out their frustration on the embassy, breaking down the door to the reception area and setting the room on fire. Embassy guards deployed tear gas and fired shots to stop the attack.
The mob was reportedly chanting “Down, Down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/75228a8a607a44863b57021ac33264dc">reported</a>.
“The mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the wall,” the outlet reported. “Others then smashed the gates used by cars to enter and dozens pushed into the compound. The protesters stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main building. Half a dozen U.S. soldiers were seen on the roof of the main building, their guns were pointed at the protesters. Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area.”
The AP also reported that Iraqi security forces apparently “made no effort to stop the protesters as they marched to the heavily-fortified Green Zone after a funeral held for those killed in the U.S. airstrikes, letting them pass through a security checkpoint leading to the area.”
A State Department spokesperson informed reporters Tuesday morning that U.S. personnel in Iraq are secure and that no breach has occurred. The State Department does not currently plan to evacuate the Embassy and insisted reports that U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Matt Tueller has been evacuated are false. Tueller, the spokesperson said, has been on previously scheduled personal travel and will return to the Embassy.

Michael Pompeo

State Department Responds To Iranian Attack On U.S. Embassy In Baghdad

The United States State Department says that ten percent of bomb-sniffing canines, lent to countries like Egypt and Jordan in a program to help control and prevent bombings, died after being mistreated. The Inspector General that discovered the disturbing trend now suggests the U.S. suspend the program altogether.
<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/475605-a-government-watchdog-said-us-bomb-sniffing-dogs-were-dying-overseas">The Hill reports</a> that the State Department&#8217;s Inspector General found, in September, that &#8220;at least 10 of the 100 explosive-detection dogs sent to Jordan between 2008 and 2016 died of &#8216;various medical problems,&#8217; while others were living in &#8216;unhealthy conditions.'&#8221; Last Friday, the same inspector general released a follow-up report, adding that they&#8217;d &#8220;received notice of additional canine deaths&#8221; since September&#8221; and that the State Department should take immediate action to stop the program.
&#8220;Specifically, the report found that two canines died in Jordan between June and September of this year. One died from heat stroke, and the other died from insecticide poisoning,&#8221; <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/475605-a-government-watchdog-said-us-bomb-sniffing-dogs-were-dying-overseas">The Hill said</a>. &#8220;Another dog mentioned in the report currently suffers from leishmaniasis, a treatable but potentially lethal disease that comes from insects such as mosquitoes, ticks and fleas, according to CNN.&#8221;
The Inspector General&#8217;s report from September recounted similar horrors.
&#8220;The death of two canines from non-natural causes — namely, hyperthermia and poisoning — since June 2019 raises serious questions about the Department&#8217;s contention that it has taken adequate steps to protect their health and safety,&#8221; that report noted. &#8220;OIG is particularly concerned that the deaths of the two additional Jordanian dogs occurred while four Department-funded personnel were in-country to monitor the care of the dogs.&#8221;
Three of ten dogs sent to Egypt also died. At least one suffered from heat stroke.
Initially, the State Department said they were reticent to halt the program, given how important it was to protecting the safety of average Jordanians, who are under regular threat from Islamic militants, from bomb attacks: &#8220;[The State Department] asserted that it had taken significant steps to improve the health and welfare of the canines provided to Jordan and, moreover, stated that the program had to continue, regardless of these health and welfare concerns, due to ongoing national security issues in the region.&#8221;
Instead, the State Department sent four State Department &#8220;mentors&#8221; to Jordan to monitor how the dogs were being treated, at a cost of half a million dollars, and adding a veterinarian to the American diplomatic team serving there, for another half million, per the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stops-sending-bomb-sniffing-dogs-to-jordan-egypt-after-deaths-11577141719">Wall Street Journal</a>. It didn&#8217;t work.
Now, the State Department says it&#8217;s seriously considering making major changes to the canine exchange: “Any death of a canine in the field is an extremely sad event and we will take every measure possible to prevent this from happening in the future,” the State Department said in a statement on Monday.
Photos accompanying the report are heartbreaking and show emaciated dogs who are clearly malnourished and ill cared-for as well as flea-infested, filthy kennels. A whistleblower triggered the Inspector General investigation after seeing a mistreated American dog overseas.
&#8220;There are about 135 U.S.-provided bomb-sniffing dogs overseas in Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Nepal, the Dominican Republic and Afghanistan,&#8221; the Journal said Tuesday. &#8220;The program is implemented by the State Department’s office of Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) and has cost millions of dollars in recent years. A 30-day training program for 10 canine teams costs $640,000, a U.S. official said Monday.&#8221;

Police dog

U.S. Stops Sending Bomb-Sniffing Dogs To Jordan, Egypt After Ten Percent Of Dogs Die From Mistreatment

Dogs

As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/traditional-rabbi-group-blasts-house-democrats-over-false-and-misleading-letter-on-israeli-settlements">reported</a> last month, 106 House Democrats sent a <a href="https://andylevin.house.gov/sites/andylevin.house.gov/files/112119%20Letter%20to%20SecState%20on%20Israeli%20settlements%20FINAL.pdf">scathing letter</a> to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that expressed &#8220;strong disagreement&#8221; with the Trump administration&#8217;s recently promulgated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-administration-announces-major-policy-shift-toward-israel-no-longer-views-israels-west-bank-settlements-as-violation-of-international-law">legal assertion</a> that so-called Israeli &#8220;settlements&#8221; in the biblical Jewish homeland of Judea and Samaria do not per se violate international law.
The House Democrats&#8217; hysterical letter accused Pompeo of &#8220;ignoring international law&#8221; and &#8220;undermin[ing] America&#8217;s moral standing.&#8221; The congressmen continued: &#8220;If the U.S. unilaterally abandons international and human rights law, we can only expect a more chaotic and brutal twenty-first century for Americans and our allies, including the Israeli people.&#8221;
Conservative Zionists quickly and assertively pushed back against the tendentious missive. The <a href="http://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/">Coalition for Jewish Values</a> (CJV), which identifies as &#8220;the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America,&#8221; wrote its own <a href="https://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/191126-Letter-to-Rep-Levin.pdf">powerful letter</a> that deconstructed the House Democrats&#8217; misleading claims. Frequent Daily Wire contributor and CJV Managing Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/author/rabbi-yaakov-menken">Rabbi Yaakov Menken</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/traditional-rabbi-group-blasts-house-democrats-over-false-and-misleading-letter-on-israeli-settlements">told The Daily Wire</a> at the time: &#8220;Word to the wise: If you claim to be pro-Israel, and sign a letter regarding Israel along with Reps. Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez, you’re fooling no one but yourself. It’s amazing to see congressmen telling the administration to ignore Acts of Congress. All the more so when those Acts prevent U.S. tax dollars from being spent to encourage terrorism.&#8221;
Now, as <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Pompeo-slams-Democrats-settlement-fixation-calls-claims-foolish-611116">reported</a> by The Jerusalem Post, Pompeo has powerfully responded himself to the House Democrats&#8217; letter. Pompeo excoriated the Democrats&#8217; letter as &#8220;foolish,&#8221; and he hit the anti-Israel presidency of Barack Obama in no uncertain terms: &#8220;The Obama-Kerry departure from America’s historic support of Israel has done nothing to make peace more attainable.&#8221;
&#8220;While I appreciate your interest in this important issue, I couldn’t disagree more with those two foolish positions,&#8221; Pompeo continued. &#8220;While you are free to fixate on settlements as a barrier to peace, you are simply wrong in referring to that view as being subject to bipartisan agreement.&#8221;
Pompeo then blasted &#8220;the erroneous positions of international law that have gained favor in the past decades&#8221;:
<blockquote>&#8220;We approach the issue pragmatically and diplomatically. But we eschew the erroneous positions of international law that have gained favor in the past decade. … The State Departments’ recent determination that the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se illegal is an important step in the peace process, and we are confident that it creates the right platform for further progress.&#8221;</blockquote>
The full copy of Pompeo&#8217;s letter can be viewed at <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Pompeo-slams-Democrats-settlement-fixation-calls-claims-foolish-611116">the Post</a>, which also quotes U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman as expressing strong agreement with Pompeo&#8217;s letter: &#8220;In his response to the 106 congressmen, Secretary Pompeo lays to rest the criticism that the [Trump a]dministration’s determination with regard to Israeli settlements was contrary to law or inconsistent with bipartisan policy. Indeed, the administration’s decision, in reversing [S]ecretary Kerry’s unfortunate statement in support of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, restores the United States to its historic and appropriate role in mediating the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-trump-administration-is-absolutely-correct-to-call-israeli-settlements-legal">Daily Wire op-ed</a> last month, I wrote approvingly of the Trump administration&#8217;s recently announced position with respect to Israeli &#8220;settlements.&#8221;

Secretary Of State Pompeo Holds At Press Briefing On Iran At The State Department

Pompeo Blasts House Democrats For ‘Foolish’ Stance On Israeli ‘Settlements’

Democratic Party

Foreign Policy

Israel

Middle East

Palestinians

Trump Administration

U.S. House of Representatives

Led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the contingent of impeachment investigators in Congress continue to garner headlines over the probe into the administration’s alleged corruption and solicitation of foreign interference. But perhaps Schiff and his colleagues should first clean their own house.
Flying well under the radar of the ongoing impeachment frenzy was the news that the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund (Armenia Fund) recently <a href="https://jam-news.net/armenian-telethon-charity-drive-raises-record-low-of-10-mln-in-wake-of-scandal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jam-news.net/armenian-telethon-charity-drive-raises-record-low-of-10-mln-in-wake-of-scandal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlD5vfR-IDCz23fHUhqSeeshriIA">raised a record-low $10 million</a> during its annual telethon a year after the <a href="http://asbarez.com/173346/hayastan-all-armenian-funds-director-arrested-for-embezzlement/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://asbarez.com/173346/hayastan-all-armenian-funds-director-arrested-for-embezzlement/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE5YZflNFXABHuRX2xu6X2sx5KBqg">arrest of its director, Ara Vardanyan</a>, on charges of embezzlement and misuse of funds. The same telethon raised <a href="http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHrKnz6j7yda4c6GcS9lQ7TdYB8xA">$11.1 million in 2018</a>, <a href="https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/11/24/Hayastan-All-Armenian-Fund-Telethon/1869753" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/11/24/Hayastan-All-Armenian-Fund-Telethon/1869753&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOo-uCNY5W9n6RVj_NMVuvHy7fyA">$12.5 million in 2017</a>, <a href="https://anca.org/15-4-million-raised-in-2016-armenia-fund-telethon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://anca.org/15-4-million-raised-in-2016-armenia-fund-telethon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1nKOxEp82Nts1lmAfW5DAMJesig">$15.4 million in 2016</a>, and <a href="http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHrKnz6j7yda4c6GcS9lQ7TdYB8xA">$35 million back in 2008</a>. Notice a pattern?
The declining fund’s supporters and telethon guests over the years include House Democrats like Reps. Schiff, Jackie Speier (CA), Frank Pallone (NJ), Tulsi Gabbard (HI), and Brad Sherman (CA), among others. All are highly vocal in the impeachment conversation. (Gabbard initially <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/463071-tulsi-gabbard-transcript-doesnt-show-compelling-case-for-impeachment" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/463071-tulsi-gabbard-transcript-doesnt-show-compelling-case-for-impeachment&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH2g24aMJKHWedSqJxKvVSAJiOgow">expressed hesitation</a> about impeachment, but later <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/tulsi-gabbard-supports-impeachment-inquiry/index.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/tulsi-gabbard-supports-impeachment-inquiry/index.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGp59HfUaFoH4UKNDNpIxiIk0THww">changed course</a>.) Yet their backing of the Armenia Fund could have the makings of its own foreign interference scandal.
The problems begin with the Armenia Fund’s history. Established by Armenian presidential decree in 1992 and setting up shop in Los Angeles in 1994, the fund <a href="https://www.armeniafund.org/about/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.armeniafund.org/about/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEfMe6iHKUw3HfDXiygRoD12ry4QQ">calls itself</a> a “humanitarian organization serving the needs of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic” that carries out a mission “to connect the people of Armenia with the worldwide Armenian Diaspora to create a better homeland for the Armenian nation.” The term “Artsakh” refers to Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani territory that <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFbqZ84LfvVWeWyAkHCN792lAeAkQ">several U.N. resolutions</a> describe as being occupied by Armenia. Meanwhile, calling Nagorno-Karabakh a “republic” contradicts U.S. State Department policy, which <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/103560.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/103560.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHPqwrxdaXEoEnt2-EIbu1dG8f-Q">doesn’t recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country</a> and holds that the territory’s future status “is a matter of negotiation between the parties.”
For its congressional advocates, the Armenia Fund poses a unique dilemma: How can Democrats on the one hand target President Trump’s associates in the impeachment process over their alleged activities as unregistered foreign agents, but on the other hand ignore that a foreign government-established fund <a href="http://usa.mfa.am/en/hayastan-fund/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://usa.mfa.am/en/hayastan-fund/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqTbrYeBB6YiK2yCYhHN2nSQB9Nw">whose board president is Armenia’s own president</a> also remains unregistered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act?
While the Armenia Fund spotlights its work on infrastructure projects such as “schools, roads, hospitals, and community centers,” it is far from the innocuous “humanitarian” group it purports to be. The fund’s affiliates include the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), two political lobbies that campaign in Congress for greater American funding of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. At their core, the Armenian lobbies’ activities serve to drive Armenia and Azerbaijan further away from peace, including through the ANCA’s <a href="https://anca.org/press-release/anca-reaffirms-support-for-osce-minsk-group-rejects-madrid-principles-as-a-flawed-plan-for-lasting-peace/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://anca.org/press-release/anca-reaffirms-support-for-osce-minsk-group-rejects-madrid-principles-as-a-flawed-plan-for-lasting-peace/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHQHrA6LXLqjnWalhRhV-Mpov6dTg">rejection of the Madrid Principles</a>.
The July 2018 arrest of Armenia Fund leader Vardanyan exposed the corruption at an organization that was already deceiving the public as a political front group. The fund’s declining fundraising mirrors the broader <a href="https://spectator.org/the-rise-of-a-state-and-the-decline-of-another-2/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://spectator.org/the-rise-of-a-state-and-the-decline-of-another-2/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFaKPIW_o4YdTggYKKOHvqMLVZn0w">decline of Armenia</a>, arguably the least independent of the post-Soviet states. Armenia has a <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/armenia-population/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/armenia-population/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGKrHikgU9z4OvVLT4SHlsX8yiT6Q">declining population</a> that exhibits what a Gallup poll has recorded as the <a href="https://eurasianet.org/why-is-armenia-angry" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://eurasianet.org/why-is-armenia-angry&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFfDv3Us37j4AJRb2yGcC-BXIlY1w">world’s greatest prevalence of anger</a>. That anger results from Armenia’s floundering, inflation-plagued economy and a so-called “Velvet Revolution” that has <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/26/beyond-armenias-velvet-revolution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/26/beyond-armenias-velvet-revolution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHLhBBOuqO-WWRzBKGNkvob9x_kAA">failed to deliver on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s promises of sweeping changes</a>. Namely, Pashinyan has overseen the persistence of both <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/armenia-isolated-backwater-dump-because-of-russia/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/armenia-isolated-backwater-dump-because-of-russia/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGAjH-Ry-kPw2OGWEvrmG22Ze_B9w">Moscow’s well-documented influence over Yerevan</a> and Armenia’s intransigence in the peace process with Azerbaijan.
Can Armenia turn around its economic malaise and extract itself from Russia’s orbit? Progress will likely be elusive as long as Armenia remains transfixed by its decades-long conflict with Azerbaijan. For the Armenian people, depending on the financial support of controversy-ridden outside groups such as the Armenia Fund will only breed more corruption and disappointment, while relying on the advocacy of the ANCA will continue to damage prospects for peace.
Simultaneously, House Democrats have done the Armenian people no favors by supporting the Armenia Fund and ANCA. Now, as they lead the charge on impeachment, it’s only fair to call out their hypocrisy. How can they stand against alleged presidential corruption when for years they backed an Armenian Diaspora telethon which has been exposed for its corruption? (During those same years, Armenia’s consul general in Los Angeles <a href="http://en.thegreatermiddleeast.com/2017/12/the-diplomatic-elephant-in-the-room-armenias-russian-oligarch-consul-general/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://en.thegreatermiddleeast.com/2017/12/the-diplomatic-elephant-in-the-room-armenias-russian-oligarch-consul-general/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFxUWlQMxtuGU18Ug0gGhZzWJ1bYA">was a Russian citizen and notorious oligarch</a>.) And how can they claim to be advocates for peace when they amplify the ANCA’s talking points, which are antithetical to peace?
It should come as no surprise to see such doublespeak coming from politicians like Schiff, the <a href="https://spectator.org/the-congressman-who-cried-wolf/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://spectator.org/the-congressman-who-cried-wolf/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEVzKvM6KnCTaJyhkFVp_vk7OCOsA">face of the impeachment probe</a> who is <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/schiff-hired-former-nsc-colleague-of-alleged-whistleblower-eric-ciaramella-the-day-after-trumps-ukraine-call" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/schiff-hired-former-nsc-colleague-of-alleged-whistleblower-eric-ciaramella-the-day-after-trumps-ukraine-call&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZTUuJwmrCh8ZorwhbrO2isb3FKw">entangled in his own Ukraine scandal</a>; Gabbard, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-tulsi-gabbard-pro-assad-candidate-2020-paul-miller" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-tulsi-gabbard-pro-assad-candidate-2020-paul-miller&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEKFLv6IYiEfgbwow7G6rOKesN8qw">notoriously pro-Assad presidential candidate</a>; and Pallone, who in October landed in Nagorno-Karabakh on the Armenian government’s own military helicopter to <a href="https://armenianweekly.com/2019/10/01/pallone-i-am-here-because-i-want-to-make-it-clear-that-artsakh-is-a-state-a-democratic-nation/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://armenianweekly.com/2019/10/01/pallone-i-am-here-because-i-want-to-make-it-clear-that-artsakh-is-a-state-a-democratic-nation/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFHGR-iPgvwf0epI7oPBu-5s4_xdA">urge the end of security assistance to a U.S. ally, Azerbaijan</a>.
Until they distance themselves from the Armenian-American fundraising and lobbying apparatus, these lawmakers have virtually no credibility as voices in the debate on foreign influence and impeachment.
&nbsp;
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://salomoncenter.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGpdyXx56KnSUcPnrupcOqwyJFL5Q">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/pauliespoint&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGvssir9fRSC1FevwmmoZR6XEqk-Q">@pauliespoint</a>.

Adam Schiff and House Democrats

MILLER: Impeachment-Focused House Democrats Should Clean Their Own House

Adam Schiff

Armenians

United Nations

Let&#8217;s state the obvious: The U.S. taxpayer funds far too much in the way of foreign military and civilian aid. And though foreign aid constitutes a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-does-us-spend-its-foreign-aid">small percentage</a> (sometimes as low of <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-slash-federal-costs-boost-military-spending-article-1.2985016">1%</a>) of the federal budget, it consistently ranks as one of the <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2016/03/11/foreign-aid">least popular</a> things that the federal government funds.
This widespread sentiment is justified, on the merits. It is possible that there is no more quintessential &#8220;Drain the Swamp&#8221; issue than the notion that we should be far more judicious in how we dole out taxpayer-funded foreign aid to venal and restive foreign countries. Indeed, there is actually a compelling argument that we ought to cut off foreign aid for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-pro-israel-case-against-u-s-military-aid-to-israel">everyone</a>. But we should at least start cutting off aid somewhere, and there is no better place to start than the Hezbollah-overrun Levantite state of Lebanon, which U.S. taxpayers subsidize to the tune of <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/lebanon-is-gone">$250 million</a> per year.
This is not exactly a new battle for fiscal and anti-Islamist conservatives — or really, anyone who opposes the U.S. taxpayer funding of an erstwhile sovereign nation that that has been thoroughly taken over by a transnational <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/">criminal</a> and <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/hezbollah">jihadist</a> outfit. As <a href="https://www.fdd.org/team/tony-badran/">Tony Badran</a>, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has painstakingly demonstrated for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/lebanon-hezbollah-and-irans-emerging-client-state-11568847112">years</a> <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2017/07/26/lebanon-is-another-name-for-hezbollah/">now</a>, there is no longer a tenable distinction between &#8220;Lebanon&#8221; and &#8220;Hezbollah.&#8221; Militarily and politically, they are one and the same — and they have been for <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/why-are-we-funding-hezbollah/">years</a>.
Bear in mind that Hezbollah currently maintains scores of Iranian-funded, <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/hezbollah/hezbollahs-precision-guided-missile-project/">precision-guided missiles</a> currently stationed in southern Lebanon and aimed straight at the hearts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel&#8217;s next war — and it is a matter of when, not if — with Hezbollah is going to be a <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/the-new-hezbollah-israels-next-war-will-be-a-godawful-mess/">long, bloody mess</a>. And foreign aid to Israel aside, the U.S. taxpayer presently also funds the horrifically wrong side of that inevitable war.
Recently, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-missing-the-point-of-the-latest-middle-east-protests">grassroots anti-government uprisings</a> in Lebanon have given U.S. policymakers ample room to pause and reflect upon why taxpayers are still funding an Iranian satrapy on the Mediterranean with a military and government that are both dominated by a leading transnational jihadist organization. &#8220;[M]ilitary aid to Lebanon has been a bipartisan failure for more than a decade, and reconsidering it is overdue,&#8221; Badran <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/lebanon-is-gone">wrote</a> in the Washington Examiner last week. He elaborated:
<blockquote>Sending money to a failed state run by a terrorist group is absurd on its face, which is why advocates of the policy must continuously adjust their talking points. They cannot run with the argument that the aid works against Hezbollah’s military buildup and political dominance in the country, as the aid has done nothing of the sort in the 12 years since it began. In fact, Hezbollah’s power has grown exponentially during that period. &#8230;
The reality is that Hezbollah took over Lebanon years ago. For the past seven years, as Hezbollah prosecuted its war in Syria, Lebanese forces coordinated closely with it and protected the group’s rear and logistical routes. During battles in eastern Lebanon against Syrian militants in 2017, the Lebanese military deployed jointly with Hezbollah and provided it with fire support, using U.S.-supplied munitions and systems. &#8230;
Hezbollah’s power is manifest in Lebanon’s political order as well. Hezbollah’s coalition currently holds the majority in parliament. The executive branch of the government, to which the Lebanese military answers, has been dominated by Hezbollah and its allies.</blockquote>
Again, why on Earth are U.S. taxpayer dollars flowing into this failed and terrorist-overrun nation? Free Lebanese civilians are flocking to the streets of Beirut to decry their Hezbollah-dominated political order. Why would we ever take affirmative steps to boost that jihadist-overrun political order?
A high-ranking Trump administration official spoke with The Daily Wire and described the behind-the-scene machinations that have engulfed various wings of the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development over recent weeks. While there are some clear-headed minds on this issue within the decision-making echelons of the bureaucracy, the overwhelming State Department consensus has remained in favor of maintaining the perverse status quo. And of course, as far as distinctly military aid is concerned, the sclerotic Pentagon apparatus fears nothing more than it fears the nefarious bogeyman of &#8220;<a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/07/23/jim-mattis-warns-congress-not-to-block-turkey-from-f-35-program/">supply chain disruption</a>.&#8221;
To that end, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the unusual step yesterday of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-12/pompeo-intervenes-to-release-115-million-in-aid-for-lebanon">personally intervening</a> to release about $115 million in non-military, civilian aid that had been held up for about a month. The Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-12/pompeo-intervenes-to-release-115-million-in-aid-for-lebanon">piece</a> that broke the story is also unusually personal, singling out by name some who had been closely involved in embargoing the funding: USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick and Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates. The piece also smears purported &#8220;hard-liners&#8221; in Congress — by which it all but assuredly means Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for whom Coates just coincidentally happens to be a former national security underling — for having the temerity to question whether U.S. taxpayer dollars should freely flow to a jihadist-dominated &#8220;state&#8221; entity.
As Badran <a href="https://twitter.com/AcrossTheBay/status/1205286530417332224">tweeted</a>, the anonymous Deep Staters upon whom Bloomberg relied to tar Glick and Coates by name are cowards, pure and simple. The Bloomberg piece stinks of an <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1205312074286587907">orchestrated hit job</a> by State Department apparatchiks against would-be reformers, centered around Cruz&#8217;s broader D.C. orbit, who are trying to defund a de facto terrorist state. The fact that such a no-brainer issue as this is ginning up such intra-executive branch squabbling is, quite frankly, nuts.
Indeed, Pompeo&#8217;s unilateral decision to continue the aid flowing into Hezbollah&#8217;s coffers is naive and woefully misguided, at best — and downright shameful, at worst. The continuation of any and all foreign aid to Lebanon, as long as Hezbollah retains any influence over the country, ought to be wholly and unequivocally halted. It is absolutely bonkers to use U.S. taxpayer dollars to prop up a Hezbollah-overrun Iranian satrapy with scores of precision-guided missiles aimed straight into the heart of Israel. To that end, Cruz&#8217;s &#8220;Stop Sending American Taxpayer Money to Governments Controlled By Terrorists Act,&#8221; which the Bloomberg piece references, &#8220;would block assistance to any Lebanese government that’s unduly influenced by Hezbollah.&#8221; Good.
But it is a travesty that legislation is needed, in the first instance. And a GOP congressional aide closely involved in the fight over Lebanon assistance, speaking to The Daily Wire, was blistering in his criticism of the fact that we are now at this unfortunate crossroads: &#8220;The Deep State is in full-blown panic mode. They&#8217;re leaking the names of individual staffers to reporters, which in Washington is nuclear war. You can understand why. There has never been a serious challenge to their policy of sending billions of dollars to Lebanon, but in recent weeks there have been two serious challenges from inside the administration and now this Cruz bill that will force them to explain why they&#8217;re sending American taxpayer funds to a Hezbollah-controlled government.&#8221;
The Trump administration had the opportunity here to do the right thing. Indeed, it still has the opportunity to do the right thing, going forward: Defund every single penny of U.S. foreign aid to Lebanon unless and until we can authoritatively verify that Hezbollah no longer maintains military or political influence in the nation. And, for goodness&#8217; sake, do it yesterday.

Israel Lebanon map

HAMMER: Defund Lebanon. And Do It Yesterday.

Department of Defense

Lebanon

The news that the deceased suspect of this morning&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-active-shooter-at-pensacola-naval-air-base-at-least-5-rushed-to-hospital-shooter-confirmed-dead">horrific shooting spree</a> at Naval Air Station Pensacola was a Saudi aviation student here to <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/authorities-identify-pensacola-naval-base-shooter-as-saudi-national">train with the Saudi military</a> ought to serve as a wakeup call for American elected officials.
The suspect appears to have been a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-attacker-at-florida-military-base-was-member-of-saudi-military-was-an-act-of-terrorism-congressman-says">student officer</a> with the Saudi Air Force and, while it is unclear right now which U.S. visa he obtained to arrive here, an <a href="https://twitter.com/RMConservative/status/1203012127952449541">A-2 visa</a> — <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/other-visa-categories/visas-diplomats.html">described</a> by the U.S. State Department as appropriate for those &#8220;traveling to the United States on behalf of [his/her] national government to engage solely in official activities for that government&#8221; — is perhaps likely . As The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-active-shooter-at-pensacola-naval-air-base-at-least-5-rushed-to-hospital-shooter-confirmed-dead">reported</a>, there are at least ten victims injured, including three dead.
There is a lot to unpack and unravel here — especially for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-us-must-side-saudi-arabia-against-iranian-josh-hammer">those of us</a> who have generally encouraged closer U.S.-Saudi military ties in order to help deter the far greater Middle East terrorism threat, Iran. This developing story has many moving parts, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ought to be prepared for a Jamal Khashoggi-level public relations blowback when even a stalwart pro-Israel/anti-Iran conservative such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has an <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1203029174753153025">immediate reaction</a> that the Saudi government &#8220;needs to [financially] make things better for these victims.&#8221; Indeed, it is hard to disagree with the governor.
But the focus here must be on immigration policy. As The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ryan Saavedra already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-attacker-at-florida-military-base-was-member-of-saudi-military-was-an-act-of-terrorism-congressman-says">reported</a>, hardline conservative Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has opined that today&#8217;s naval base tragedy &#8220;represents a serious failure in the vetting process and in the way in which we invite &#8230; people into our community.&#8221; Gaetz vowed to help &#8220;ensure that we have extreme vetting for the people that come into our country on our bases and in our communities.&#8221;
This is obviously correct. And it is important that this, and not a short-sighted hard diplomatic pivot away from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at a time when the uniquely evil Iranian regime is yet again on the proverbial ropes and facing an increasingly restive population, become the preeminent takeaway from today&#8217;s horrific incident.
Why, as I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-never-forget-911-we-need-rethink-how-we-josh-hammer">lamented</a> on the most recent anniversary of the 9/11 jihadist attacks, has the U.S. continued to implement an exceedingly generous and lax immigration policy for prospective immigrants from the broader Islamic world? While there will always be dispensations for legal immigration from the Islamic world, why are we not starting from a default baseline level of effectively zero? Our much-ballyhooed &#8220;vetting&#8221; procedures are oftentimes, as was tragically the case today, revealed to be exceedingly inadequate. But hey, in fairness, <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1203010783958982657">how would we ever have known</a> to keep a close eye on Saudi aviation students? It&#8217;s not like we&#8217;ve had <a href="https://twitter.com/Sultanknish/status/1203014470525542400">previous noteworthy incidents</a>, right?
Policymakers ought to heed the unassailable wisdom of the <a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1213676/m1/6/?q=cornerstone">9/11 Commission Report</a>: &#8220;It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country.&#8221; Heck, does anyone even remember that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, according to former CIA contractor James Mitchell, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/307362-9-11-mastermind-al-qaeda-to-use-immigration-to-end-us">allegedly believes</a> that &#8220;the &#8216;practical&#8217; way to defeat America [is] through immigration?&#8221;
Immigration policy is national security policy. And that extends to both illegal immigration and legal immigration. Our policymakers ought to not forget that.

US visa, vintage map and passport background

HAMMER: REMINDER: Immigration Policy IS National Security Policy

Florida

Matt Gaetz

Muslim Immigration

National Security

Ron DeSantis

Saudi Arabia

Shooting

The Trump administration has accused Iran of murdering as many as one thousand of its own citizens, including “at least a dozen children,” following a surge of protests that spawned after the government increased the price of gasoline.  
At a press conference on Thursday, Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, revealed that the State Department had reached the estimate after reviewing evidence sent from Iranian citizens, as well as evidence provided by U.S. intelligence services, reports the <a href="https://apnews.com/f169ac2c8750cd07a1654be90b76387c">Associated Press.</a>  
In the city of Mahshahr, one of many places where protesters took to the streets, the government opened fire on the public “without warning,” Hook told reporters. The military proceeded to follow fleeing protesters into a marshland, where they were surrounded by truck-mounted machine guns and were subsequently murdered. 
“Between the rounds of machine gun fire, the screams of the victims can be heard,” said Hook, who declined to show footage the U.S. government had obtained. 
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/world/middleeast/iran-protests-deaths.html">The New York Times</a> conducted interviews with some of the residents of Mashahr, with one man describing the stipulations the government had placed on families wanting to see the bodies of their slain relatives:
<blockquote>One of the residents, a 24-year-old unemployed college graduate in chemistry who had helped organize the protests blocking the roads, said he had been less than a mile away from the mass shooting and that his best friend, also 24, and a 32-year-old cousin were among the dead.
He said they both had been shot in the chest and their bodies were returned to the families five days later, only after they had signed paperwork promising not to hold funerals or memorial services and not to give interviews to media.</blockquote>
Protests erupted across the country after the government abruptly increased the price of gasoline in mid-November. The day before the protests began, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had announced that the country was facing a budget deficit totaling more than half of its operating budget of $45 billion, reports the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/world/middleeast/iran-gasoline-prices-rations.html">Times</a>. 
The economic strain on Iran comes after the Trump administration placed additional sanctions on the country in September for attacking a Saudi Arabian oil refinery. “It’s going to hell,” Trump told reporters regarding the country’s economy, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/world/middleeast/trump-sanctions-iran.html">Times</a>. “They’re practically broke. They are broke.”
The Iranian regime, which previously referred to demonstrators as “thugs,” has begun to change its attitude towards them, with Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, now calling the dead demonstrators “martyrs,” reports the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/world/middleeast/iran-protests-rouhani-Khamenei.html">Times</a>.
Despite worsening economic conditions, Iran has still refused to meet with President Trump. However, the news agency reports that the government shows signs of trying to communicate with the Trump administration, including sending a foreign minister to Japan, a country that has offered to serve as an intermediary. 
The United States and Iran have not had a direct diplomatic relationship since the Iranian Revolution, during which a group of Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took hostage those inside. The ordeal lasted over a year, with the final hostages being released only hours after the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan.

Afghanistan&#8217;s President Ghani visits Iran

Trump Administration: Iran Murdered Up To 1,000 Citizens During Protest Crackdown

The Napoleonic-era French diplomat Talleyrand famously offered a rather harsh assessment of the Bourbons after they regained power decades after the French Revolution that overthrew them: “They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.” The same might be said for a coterie of American diplomats who, decades after the failure of the Oslo Accords peace process of the 1990s, have failed to learn the lessons of Oslo&#8217;s failure. Worse still, many Western news outlets repeat their claims — many of which have been disproven by both history and experience — as gospel truth.
In last Sunday&#8217;s edition of The Washington Post, Aaron David Miller and Daniel Kurtzer, both former U.S. State Department officials, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/lets-not-pretend-washington-ever-really-tried-to-stop-israeli-settlements/2019/11/21/2fc18316-0c96-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/lets-not-pretend-washington-ever-really-tried-to-stop-israeli-settlements/2019/11/21/2fc18316-0c96-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237582000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFFtqdKQX8xdEfehadfC60p-kVo3g">lambasted</a> the Trump administration’s recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-trump-administration-is-absolutely-correct-to-call-israeli-settlements-legal">announcement</a> that it would not consider Israeli construction in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), or “settlements,” to be “illegal.” The decision, Miller and Kurtzer claim, has “compromised, if not killed” the possibility for any U.S.-brokered “peace deal” between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
They assert that the decision violates international law. <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/294359/israels-rights-in-the-west-bank-under-international-law" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/294359/israels-rights-in-the-west-bank-under-international-law&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE-8RFb84eA-Gbp-IwmxuYIhmsq4w">However</a>, the League of Nations Palestine Mandate, Article 6 (1922) encourages “close settlement by Jews on the land” west of the Jordan River. The U.N. Charter (1945), Chapter 12, Article 80 (“the Palestine article”) upheld the Mandate’s position, as did the San Remo Resolution (1920) and the Anglo-American Convention (1924), which either recognized or assumed the legality of Jewish settlement.
Miller and Kurtzer add: “The United States has known for decades how damaging settlement activity is in the search for peace — Palestinians cannot trade land for peace if they don’t possess the land.”
But the veteran diplomats have it backwards: U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, adopted shortly after Israel seized territories from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria in a 1967 war of self-defense, assumed “peace-for-land” negotiations; first the Arab side would commit to peace with Israel, then Israelis would withdraw from some of the land.
Miller and Kurtzer have misdiagnosed the problem at the root of the conflict. Palestinian-Arab leaders consider all of Israel to be a “settlement” — an “occupation.” And there’s a huge body of evidence to prove it.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has <a href="https://palwatch.org/analysis/97" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://palwatch.org/analysis/97&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEfClXxrHHlebOd717VruCYKiaLqQ">documented</a> how official Palestinian Authority (PA) media routinely refer to all of Israel as “occupied” and deny any Jewish connection to the land. The PA itself uses <a href="https://palwatch.org/page/12774" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://palwatch.org/page/12774&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHQWGntsTl5fQ3FSTKJeWDpNGVqSA">maps</a> that depict all of Israel as “Palestine” and its leaders have <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/fiery-speech-palestinian-president-abbas-condemns-united-states-threatens-violence-denies-jewish-history/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://freebeacon.com/national-security/fiery-speech-palestinian-president-abbas-condemns-united-states-threatens-violence-denies-jewish-history/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG_vvSH7W2SfgJTk7lMeSh8vAr0tQ">asserted</a> that Jews have no historical link to Jerusalem, a city whose historical and religious ties to Judaism predate the creation of Islam by thousands of years.
Indeed, &#8220;settlements&#8221; would be a moot point if the Palestinian leadership had accepted U.S. and Israeli offers for statehood in 2000 at Camp David, 2001 at Taba, and 2008 after the Annapolis Conference. Each of these proposals would have given Palestinian leaders a state and the overwhelming majority of the West Bank. Yet, the PA rejected each offer — without so much as a counteroffer. The 2008 Israeli <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/195315/missed-opportunity-olmert-abbas-and-media-bias" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/195315/missed-opportunity-olmert-abbas-and-media-bias&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHhU0cmZJMsoDaS1OA2FCazaKqZTw">offer</a>, which provided for a Palestinian state with its capital in eastern Jerusalem, was the basis for U.S. attempts to restart negotiations in 2014 and 2016, both of which were <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/02/29/the-palestinian-authority-repudiates-oslo-and-no-one-reports-or-cares/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/02/29/the-palestinian-authority-repudiates-oslo-and-no-one-reports-or-cares/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0RHR-l_OTbyqyBHIl97r6SVroKQ">also rejected</a> by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
The PA’s refusal to resolve outstanding issues in bilateral talks is a violation of the Oslo Accords, which created the PA and remains the basis for its legitimacy. But the PA also <a href="https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/israel-plo%20recognition%20-%20exchange%20of%20letters%20betwe.aspx" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/israel-plo%2520recognition%2520-%2520exchange%2520of%2520letters%2520betwe.aspx&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFZZU947pFwBwWUcnWgd-NzRBhvNQ">violates</a> Oslo — which Miller and Kurtzer championed when in government — in more grotesque ways.
The PA has continued to pay salaries to those who carry out attacks against Jews — even increasing the amount by 11.8% in 2019 alone, as PMW noted in a July 4, 2019 Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/PA-increases-salaries-to-terrorists-in-2019-despite-financial-crisis-report-594600" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/PA-increases-salaries-to-terrorists-in-2019-despite-financial-crisis-report-594600&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF9Un9rY4uSU0mORb0zV7yVvq0Wjg">report</a>. As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) has <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international-affairs/333662-how-the-palestinian-authoritys-social-safety-net" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international-affairs/333662-how-the-palestinian-authoritys-social-safety-net&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFlPfTZLreQ8608uef_JG1u5BL2gg">detailed</a>, the PA’s decision to pay terrorists and their families is enshrined in the PA&#8217;s own laws, passed in 2004 and amended in 2013, stipulating that convicted terrorists <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/28/palestinians-are-rewarding-terrorists-the-u-s-should-stop-enabling-them/?utm_term=.9aafce51bbb9" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/28/palestinians-are-rewarding-terrorists-the-u-s-should-stop-enabling-them/?utm_term%3D.9aafce51bbb9&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFw2r0vy_iOtIri-Ke0cvUfrYb2JA">receive</a> monthly “salaries.” Further, cash grants and priority civil service job placements are offered to those who carry out terror attacks.
Streets, sports teams, tournaments, and even schools are <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/missing-the-palestinian-after-terror-after-party" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/missing-the-palestinian-after-terror-after-party&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGYDQixaNXx05jAhdHQF5jKRDp3Mw">named</a> after murderers of Jews. In but one example, in October 2015, the PA Ministry of Education <a href="http://blog.camera.org/archives/2015/10/moderate_palestinian_authority.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://blog.camera.org/archives/2015/10/moderate_palestinian_authority.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGzAZCLgOBUMqYbjzjvUWSWRanh7A">announced</a> that it would plant olive trees and place signs with the names of terrorists who have died murdering Israelis. One of these terrorists, Muhannad Shafeq Halabi, killed two Israelis and stabbed a two-year old child in an October 8, 2015 terror attack in Jerusalem. For his actions, Halabi was posthumously <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/12/30/palestinian-bar-association-grants-honorary-degree-to-terrorist-who-murdered-two-israelis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/12/30/palestinian-bar-association-grants-honorary-degree-to-terrorist-who-murdered-two-israelis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGjCR_PmISArtnY84MvO61WdFc_1A">awarded</a> an honorary law degree by the PA Bar Association.
This is par for the course for the Palestinian-Arab leadership. Yasser Arafat, Abbas’s predecessor, acted similarly. In a May 10, 1994 <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiOycnJxLjdAhUlheAKHV47A88QFjABegQICRAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F1994%2F05%2F20%2Fworld%2Frabin-says-arafat-s-jihad-remark-set-back-peace-effort.html&amp;usg=AOvVaw3gpH0UWmxGZMhql_BuuEVm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?sa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26cad%3Drja%26uact%3D8%26ved%3D2ahUKEwiOycnJxLjdAhUlheAKHV47A88QFjABegQICRAB%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F1994%252F05%252F20%252Fworld%252Frabin-says-arafat-s-jihad-remark-set-back-peace-effort.html%26usg%3DAOvVaw3gpH0UWmxGZMhql_BuuEVm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237583000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHhbD7E-yXz6jR7YnxGdWweX9vhMg">speech</a> in South Africa — and in another one on August 21, 1995 at Al-Azhar University in Cairo — Arafat compared his decision to participate in the Oslo process to deceptions that the Prophet Muhammad engaged in against rival tribes. As he <a href="http://washingtonjewishweek.com/34878/the-post-gets-lost-inside-a-dead-terrorists-bedroom/editorial-opinion/voices/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://washingtonjewishweek.com/34878/the-post-gets-lost-inside-a-dead-terrorists-bedroom/editorial-opinion/voices/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEiuj6dbwPGR_dkngM2s-EUd-Kbfw">stated</a> in a 1996 speech in Stockholm: “We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. … We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem.”
If Miller and Kurtzer’s argument were true, Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 or from most of the West Bank in the 1990s would have enhanced peace. Instead, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">genocidal terror group</a> that calls for Israel’s destruction, Hamas, was emboldened, winning Gaza elections soon after Israel&#8217;s unilateral withdrawal. And as CAMERA analyst Steve Stotsky has <a href="https://www.camera.org/article/the-straight-facts-about-the-palestinian-authority-and-fighting-terrorism/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.camera.org/article/the-straight-facts-about-the-palestinian-authority-and-fighting-terrorism/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574888237584000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEpFGT8nRFb_WlWN3NGX2JGqqYqLg">documented</a>, terror attacks increased after Oslo, as well.
Put simply: It is asinine to believe that Jewish home construction in Judea and Samaria is more “damaging” to peace than a faux “peace partner” honoring and celebrating those who stab Jewish babies. Palestinian-Arab terrorism, and indeed the 1964 creation of the PLO, predate the much-ballyhooed &#8220;1967 borders.&#8221;
Palestinian-Arab leaders have shown no interest in changing. And regrettably, the same can be said for some policymakers, journalists, and pundits who remain wedded to an idea long after its failure passed from opinion into the realm of fact.
&nbsp;
The writer is a Senior Research Analyst for the Washington, D.C. office of CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

Israel map

DURNS: Slow Learning In The Middle East

Washington Post

In a move that will only further buttress the Trump administration&#8217;s well-deserved claim to being the most pro-Israel American presidency since the 1948 founding of the Jewish state, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-administration-announces-major-policy-shift-toward-israel-no-longer-views-israels-west-bank-settlements-as-violation-of-international-law">announced</a> today that it shall henceforth be the policy of the United States that Israeli &#8220;settlements&#8221; — Jews living in the biblical Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria — do not, by their very existence, violate international law.
&#8220;After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this [a]dministration agrees with President Reagan [that] [t]he establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law,&#8221; Pompeo said. Former top Trump administration Middle East peace negotiator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-trump-administration-right-un-can-never-josh-hammer">Jason Greenblatt</a> further broke down the administration&#8217;s move on <a href="https://images1.ynet.co.il/static/video/vpreview.html?m3u8=https://besttv227-hls-video-ynet.cdn.it.best-tv.com/1119/16c995093f4d46ed55f7bffed4c648f4/master.m3u8&amp;hd1080=0">Israeli television</a>: &#8220;The right [legal] result &#8230; is that Israeli settlements are not per se illegal,&#8221; he explained.
This is a <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1196495392466231296">paradigm-altering</a> and inspired decision for which the Trump administration deserves effusive praise. It is manifestly correct on the black-letter <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AYZBjoeeehg?autoplay=0">international law merits</a>, symbolic in its courageous defiance of the sclerotic groupthink of the ubiquitously anti-Semitic &#8220;international community,&#8221; and stakes out a bold moral starting point in the longstanding fight for Judea and Samaria — which is ground zero in the fight for Western civilization itself.
In many academic, legal, and political circles the world over, it is taken as something of an unassailable given that Israeli &#8220;settlements&#8221; built over the 1967 armistice line are illegal under well-established principles of international law. In reality, nothing could be further from the case. As legal academic Eugene Kontorovich has painstakingly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYZBjoeeehg">pressed for years</a> and as Elliott Hamilton once <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-down-israeli-occupation-myth-elliott-hamilton">argued</a> here at The Daily Wire, it is Israel that actually has the preeminent modern-day legal claim to the biblical Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria — a.k.a the &#8220;West Bank.&#8221;
Israel&#8217;s claim is based on the Balfour Declaration, the League of Nations&#8217; 1922 Mandate for Palestine, the San Remo Conference, <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2011/09/22/article-80-and-the-un-recognition-of-a-“palestinian-state”/">U.N. Charter Article 80</a>, the Arabs&#8217; decision to refuse the U.N.&#8217;s November 1947 partition plan in lieu of attempting to commit genocidal jihad against the Jews, and Israel&#8217;s subsequent victories in the defensive wars against invading Arab foes in both 1967 and 1973. The lands that today constitute Judea and Samaria were never, ever in their entire history part of a sovereign state called &#8220;Palestine&#8221;; on the contrary, they were merely <a href="http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/jordanianocuupationjerusalem.asp">illegally occupied</a> by the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan between Israel&#8217;s independence in 1948 and Israel&#8217;s miraculous victory in the Six Day War of 1967. Watch Kontorovich&#8217;s fuller explication of Israel&#8217;s clearly superior legal claim to Judea and Samaria:
<iframe title="Disputing Occupation: Israel&#039;s Borders and Settlements in International Law" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AYZBjoeeehg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yet for all its black-letter legal correctness, the Trump administration&#8217;s decision is arguably even more indispensable for its pure symbolism. In reversing Obama presidency-era legal precedent and re-asserting the Reagan presidency-era belief that Israeli &#8220;settlements&#8221; are not legally problematic, the Trump administration has flipped two delectably brazen middle fingers at one of the most deeply held shibboleths of the leftist, <a href="https://theresurgent.com/2016/12/27/destroy-the-united-nations/">Jew-hating</a> &#8220;international community.&#8221; In left-leaning legal and political science academe circles, there is perhaps no more agreed-upon &#8220;truth&#8221; than the notion that Israel is an illegal &#8220;occupier&#8221; that flagrantly tramples all over Palestinian-Arabs&#8217; rights to sovereignty and self-determination. The Trump administration has just taken a jackhammer to that golden calf of ivory tower idolatry — and it has done so less than a week after the European Union&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kalev-european-political-opposition-to-the-jewish-state-should-not-be-taken-lightly">anti-Semitic decision</a> to specifically label certain Israeli products made by Jews living in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. Bravo — truly.
Finally, though it would not — and, indeed, does not — admit it, the Trump administration has also just staked out a morally righteous starting point in the final political resolution of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over Judea and Samaria. Secretary Pompeo today was careful today to emphasize that the Trump administration&#8217;s legal proclamation bears no relationship to the ultimate political adjudication of Judea and Samaria&#8217;s status, and we ought to take him at his word that the administration did not intend to put its political or moral thumb on the scale. Indeed, given that the administration&#8217;s unveiling of its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fleisher-clash-american-liberal-jewry-and-israeli-yishai-fleisher">&#8220;Deal of the Century&#8221;</a> peace plan is still awaiting Israel durably securing a new parliamentary coalition, perhaps it would even be politically imprudent for the administration to do so.
But, at least indirectly, it seems to have done so nonetheless. By refusing to pay lip service to demonstrably erroneous legal fictions pertaining to Israel&#8217;s allegedly illegal &#8220;occupation&#8221; in Judea and Samaria, the Trump administration has — at least inadvertently — emboldened Israel&#8217;s political negotiating position. How could Israel not feel empowered to more adamantly push its political position vis-à-vis Judea and Samaria if it knows that the world&#8217;s greatest superpower and its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-pro-israel-case-against-u-s-military-aid-to-israel">chief foreign aid</a> provider does not, in fact, view its purportedly most infamous illegality as not actually being illegal? Israel should feel more secure in its pushing for increased sovereignty over the ground zero battleground between liberalized Western civilization and barbaric jihad that is Judea and Samaria.
The Trump administration has, once again, shown its unmistakable and remarkable commitment to the irreplaceable American ally that is Israel. Thank you, President Trump.

Ariel, Israel

HAMMER: The Trump Administration Is Absolutely Correct To Call Israeli ‘Settlements’ Legal

Lawfare

On Friday, Daily Wire Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer, who is an attorney by training, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SjD3d6gvnM">joined</a> &#8220;Tipping Point With Liz Wheeler&#8221; on One America News Network to discuss reporter John Solomon&#8217;s recent <a href="https://johnsolomonreports.com/hunter-bidens-ukraine-gas-firm-pressed-obama-administration-to-end-corruption-allegations-memos-show/">bombshell revelation</a> that now-infamous Ukrainian energy firm Burisma attempted to leverage employee Hunter Biden&#8217;s stature as the son of former Vice President Joe Biden to obtain access to the U.S. State Department toward the end of the Obama presidency.
As <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/07/emails-reveal-burisma-consulting-firm-leveraged-hunter-biden-to-get-state-dept-meetings/">reported</a> last week by Erielle Davidson of The Federalist, Solomon obtained emails via the <a href="https://www.foia.gov">Freedom of Information Act</a> (FOIA) that &#8220;reveal[ed] that Burisma&#8217;s consulting firm had &#8230; mentioned Hunter Biden when seeking a meeting with the State Department to discuss corruption allegations against the company.&#8221; Solomon&#8217;s FOIA-uncovered &#8220;<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/433389210/Bluestar-Novelli-Contacts" data-reader-unique-id="11">email from February 2016</a> specifically cited Hunter Biden&#8217;s involvement with Burisma when discussing the possibility of setting up a meeting with Burisma’s consulting firm,&#8221; Davidson continued. Here is the full email in which Burisma&#8217;s consulting firm was sure to highlight the then-vice president&#8217;s son as a prominent employee (emphasis added):
<blockquote>Per our conversation, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with [Under Secretary] Novelli [U.S. Government] remarks alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption. She noted that two high profile U.S. citizens are affiliated with the company (including Hunter Biden as a board member). Tramontano would like to talk with U/S Novelli about getting a better understanding of how the U.S. came to the determination that the company is corrupt. According to Tramontano, there is no evidence of corruption, has been no hearing or process, and evidence to the contrary has not been considered.  Would appreciate any background you may be able to provide on this issue and suggested TPs for U/S Novelli’s meeting.</blockquote>
Furthermore, the February 2016 email was <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/hunter-bidens-ukraine-gas-firm-lobbied-state-department-to-end-corruption-allegations-emails-show_3137480.html">sent merely one month</a> before then-Vice President Biden <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/03/what-really-happened-when-biden-forced-out-ukraines-top-prosecutor/3785620002/">pressured Ukraine</a> to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma.
Wheeler and Hammer discussed the stakes of the FOIA bombshell. Wheeler began the discussion by asking Hammer whether the FOIA-released email, which clearly demonstrates Burisma attempting to secure high-level U.S. government access via deploying Hunter Biden&#8217;s name, reveals exactly what the Bidens have denied transpired. Hammer concurred with Wheeler&#8217;s intuition and described the powerful FOIA statutory tool as a &#8220;helluva drug.&#8221;
<blockquote>FOIA is a hell of a drug. FOIA litigation in the federal courts is oftentimes crazy, just because of what it ends up divulging, and this is no different than that. The timeline here is pretty crazy. It looks like one month before Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire this prosecutor who was looking into Burisma — literally one month before that, Burisma was in communication with the U.S. State Department trying to get a meeting. And they were expressly name-dropping Hunter Biden as a reason to get that meeting.
I mean, Liz, the Left wants to talk about foreign interference, foreign governments, foreign corporations, everyone kind of defiling our sovereignty and meddling in our affairs. &#8230; Look at what is going on here: A foreign corporation &#8230; they&#8217;re allowed to lobby, that&#8217;s their right, but to do so in this manner, to expressly name-drop in communication with the State Department that the reason they want this meeting is because the vice president at the time&#8217;s son is on the board &#8230; that is wild. That is a wild, wild revelation.</blockquote>
WATCH:
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Hammer OANN 11.08.19

WATCH: Hammer On ‘Tipping Point With Liz Wheeler’: The Hunter Biden FOIA Bombshell

Hunter Biden

Ukraine

Just days after Attorney General William Barr set off a firestorm among progressive elites for his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-america-is-better-off-for-having-bill-barr">remarkable comments</a> on the importance of morality to the preservation of freedom, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared in a <a href="https://www.state.gov/being-a-christian-leader/">speech</a> that his own leadership is drawn from his Christian faith. Now some are calling for what every American ought to instinctively know is an unnecessary investigation by the inspector general of the United States.
Secretary Pompeo’s speech, delivered to the annual meeting of the American Association of Christian Counselors, made a clear distinction. The fourth in line to the presidency admitted to learning a great deal about leadership while at West Point, in his service in the Army and Congress, and as director of the CIA.  Yet Pompeo tailored his comments to focus on how his faith has also informed his leadership style.
He cited the wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs: “With the humble is wisdom.” Great leaders are humble, he noted, observing how critical such humility is to his work as America’s top diplomat. Looking to the New Testament Book of James, Secretary Pompeo made the point that how one speaks and deals with others says a lot about who one is as a leader. And he acknowledged our responsibility to be wise stewards “of whatever it is that we have been privileged to hold onto,” including the decisions we make in our areas of leadership.
Secretary Pompeo’s leadership — in disposition, dialogue, and decision-making — is informed by the Christian principles of humility, forgiveness, being slow to speak, and stewardship.
For this, Americans United for Separation of Church and State now <a href="https://www.au.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/AU%20Letter%20on%20Investigation%20of%20Sec.%20Pompeo%20%26%20Dept.%20of%20State%2010.18.19.pdf">demands</a> that the United States government officially investigate Secretary Pompeo and the department he leads. To them, Secretary Pompeo gave “a proselytizing religious speech,” thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. When the U.S. Department of State then promoted the speech online, Americans United for Separation of Church and State contends, it too broke the law.
Secretary Pompeo anticipated the pushback. As an anticipatory defense, he invoked President Abraham Lincoln’s famous admission: “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” Had Americans United been established during his presidency, no doubt Lincoln would have received a similar complaint.
It may come as a surprise to some that presidents (and secretaries of state) often look to moral principles — their personal faith — in making leadership decisions.  When those leadership decisions align with calls for social justice and progressive calls for economic equality, the Left celebrates.
Yet, admit that a secretary of state relies upon his faith to be humbler, listen better, and make wiser decisions, and suddenly it crosses the line into a constitutionally dubious attempt to establish an official church of the United States.
The error in thinking by Secretary Pompeo’s critics is that anyone serving in government must relinquish or renounce his/her faith upon entering civil service. Americans United for Separation of Church and State believes that Secretary Pompeo must be converted from religion to secularism in order to be neutral in his office. The group erroneously equates neutrality with government-enforced secularism.
The missionary-like zeal with which these secularists act is damaging to freedom itself. What would they ask the inspector general to do in response to the secretary of state admitting in public that his leadership is informed by his Christian faith? Must he be removed from office? Should the United States fine him for referencing his faith in this speech? Must Secretary Pompeo spend a night and a day in the stocks under a sign declaring, “Thus always to religious civil servants?”
Civil servants are citizens, too. They are, and must be, free to rely upon their religious faith in their efforts and unafraid to admit that they do so. Such honesty contributes to the great diversity of our nation — including religious diversity.
The human right to religious freedom — a freedom, as Secretary Pompeo noted in his speech, denied to 80% of the world’s population — means more than the freedom to worship on Sunday and hum hymns in the recesses of one’s home. Rather, Americans of every walk of life — elected or not — are free to be known by their faith in both public and private life. More than that, they are free to rely upon that faith in their disposition, dialogue, and decisions.
Whether one’s leadership is informed by Jack Welch, Jim Collins, or Jesus Christ should be of little surprise to anyone — let alone cause for an official inquiry by the inspector general.
&nbsp;
Jeremy Dys (<a href="https://twitter.com/jeremydys">@JeremyDys</a>) is Special Counsel for Litigation and Communications for First Liberty Institute, a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all Americans. Read more at <a href="https://firstliberty.org">FirstLiberty.org</a>.

DYS: Response To Pompeo Speech Reveals Anti-Christian Hostility

Constitution

First Amendment

Leftism

Progressivism

Religion

William Barr

As the firestorm over President Trump&#8217;s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to consume the news cycle, the Trump administration has taken new action into a controversy that played a central role in the 2016 election: the Hillary Clinton private email server scandal.
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/state-dept-intensifies-email-probe-of-hillary-clintons-former-aides/2019/09/28/9f15497e-e1f2-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html">The Washington Post</a> reported Saturday that State Department investigators are &#8220;investigating the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email.&#8221;
&#8220;As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials,&#8221; the Post reports. &#8220;Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post.&#8221;
The Post&#8217;s sources say investigators began contacting former officials 18 months ago, &#8220;then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up again in August.&#8221; In &#8220;virtually all&#8221; of the cases, potentially sensitive information was sent to Clinton&#8217;s private, unauthorized server, the outlet notes.
A State Department official stressed to the Post that the renewed investigation &#8220;has nothing to do with who is in the White House.&#8221; The official, who asked to remained anonymous, told the paper, &#8220;This is about the time it took to go through millions of emails, which is about 3½ years.&#8221;
<div class="remainder-content">
<section>In its report on the State Department&#8217;s investigation into Clinton&#8217;s use of an unsecured private server, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-email-server-state-department.html">The New York Times</a> claims that the FBI&#8217;s investigation into the issue concluded &#8220;without finding wrongdoing by Mrs. Clinton.&#8221;But that&#8217;s not what the FBI said at all. In his much-critiqued announcement of the bureau&#8217;s findings just a few months before the 2016 election, former FBI Director James Comey condemned Clinton and her colleagues&#8217; &#8220;extremely careless&#8221; handling of &#8220;very sensitive, highly classified information.&#8221;&#8221;Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/politics/fbi-clinton-email-server-comey-damning-lines/index.html">said</a> Comey.&#8221;There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton&#8217;s position, or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about those matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation,&#8221; Comey asserted.
&#8220;None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these emails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at agencies and departments of the United States government &#8212; or even with a commercial email service like Gmail,&#8221; he said later.
The &#8220;security culture&#8221; of Clinton&#8217;s State Department, said Comey, was &#8220;generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information that is found elsewhere in the government.&#8221;
<div>Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-judiciary-letter-to-doj-ukraine-helped-clinton-campaign-dnc">Senate Judiciary Letter To DOJ: Ukraine Helped Clinton Campaign, DNC</a> 
</div>
</section>
</div>

Hillary Clinton

State Department Takes New Action On Hillary Investigation

James Comey

According to sources who spoke to The Daily Wire from both inside and outside the administration, the Trump administration will not implement any policy that allows countries to import Iranian oil — thus apparently closing the door on a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/03/trump-china-iran-oil-1396052">proposal being circulated among State Department hands</a> that would have allowed China to use an obscure legal loophole to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil imports.
Last Wednesday, Eliana Johnson of Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/03/trump-china-iran-oil-1396052">reported a very interesting scoop</a>: &#8220;The State Department is seriously considering using an Obama-era loophole to allow China to import oil from Iran,&#8221; which would &#8220;violat[e] the Trump administration’s pledge to bring Iranian oil exports to zero.&#8221; Specifically, Johnson cited &#8220;three U.S. officials&#8221; who claimed that the U.S. is considering &#8220;granting China a waiver to a 2012 law [the Iran Freedom and Counterproliferation Act] intended to kneecap the Iranian oil industry.&#8221; The proposal would have effectively allowed China to avoid paying directly for Iranian oil while nonetheless still acquiring it.
For close observers of the Trump administration&#8217;s foreign policy and national security apparatus, this might have seemed more than a little strange. Why would this administration, which famously removed the U.S. from the harrowing capitulation to fundamentalist jihadist evil that was President Barack Obama&#8217;s Iran nuclear deal and has infamous Iran hawk John Bolton as its national security advisor, undercut the thrust of its own <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2019/04/29/trump-ends-waiver-grace-period-for-irans-oil-customers/">hardline Iran oil waivers policy</a> by granting an obscure legal loophole to the U.S.&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47057/hammer-china-americas-greatest-21st-century-threat-josh-hammer">number one 21st century geopolitical threat</a>?
To be sure, Politico almost assuredly did not get the story wrong. Rather, leakers in the famously Arabist/anti-Israel State Department bureaucracy were likely candid about internal deliberations in Foggy Bottom.
But reading Johnson&#8217;s scoop, one is forced to ponder the distinct possibility that the State Department could be wildly out of line with administration officials in and around the White House national security apparatus. Sure enough, a senior Trump administration official contacted by The Daily Wire categorically ruled out implementation of any proposal that would grant the Chinese such a waiver for Iranian oil imports.
&#8220;There will be no waivers issued to any country for the import of Iranian oil, in accordance with the President’s direction,&#8221; the senior administration official stated. &#8220;Importing Iranian oil is a sanctionable activity under U.S. law. U.S. secondary sanctions will be fully enforced.&#8221;
Well.
This is what a brutal inter-agency fight looks like. Hawkish Iran hardliners in the administration are battling — quite publicly now, as of this writing&#8217;s publication — with dovish State Department mandarins.
Contacted by The Daily Wire, a U.S. official familiar with the inter-agency Trump administration battle over Iranian oil waivers put it bluntly: &#8220;The president is under enormous pressure to give Iran a face-saving off-ramp and look the other way at sanctions busting. The Europeans and their friends inside the administration are selling him the delusion that the ayatollah is ready to make a deal, if only he&#8217;ll bribe Iran with a few hundred million dollars. It hasn&#8217;t worked yet. They&#8217;re still trying.&#8221;
This will be a fascinating inter-agency fight to watch unfold. Iran hawks have a very clear rooting interest — and it is surely not with the State Department. Suffice it to say there is no world whatsoever in which China ought to be granted any waivers at all for importing Iranian oil.

HAMMER: INTER-AGENCY FIGHT: White House Closes Door On Plan To Give China ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail’ Free Card For Iran Oil

Barack Obama

Nuclear Weapons

Politico

The State Department has identified &#8220;multiple security incidents&#8221; involving the handling of Hillary Clinton&#8217;s emails by current and former staffers, the agency said in a <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2019-06-05%20State%20to%20CEG%20%28Security%20Investigation%20Follow-Up%29.pdf">letter</a> Monday.
At least 15 people were involved and there were 23 &#8220;violations&#8221; and seven &#8220;infractions&#8221; issued as part of the department&#8217;s ongoing investigation.
The State Department has been investigating Clinton&#8217;s email from the time she was Secretary of State during the Barack Obama administration. She deleted some 30,000 emails and scrubbed hard drives after she left the post, and subsequent probes have found that she mishandled classified material.
No names of Clinton staffers were released. In a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the department said it &#8220;does not release the names of current or former employees participating in the security incident program.&#8221;
&#8220;However, in the spirit of cooperation, the Department can share with you certain information about the status of the ongoing review. To this point, the Department has assessed culpability to 15 individuals, some of whom were culpable in multiple security incidents. DS has issued 23 violations and 7 infractions incidents under 12 FAM 550. This number will likely change as the review progresses.&#8221;
Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the State Department&#8217;s Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, also said the process has been time-consuming.
&#8220;Given the volume of emails provided to the Department from former Secretary Clinton&#8217;s private email server, the Department&#8217;s process has been necessarily more complicated and complex requiring a significant dedication of time and resources,&#8221; Taylor wrote.
The department said it expects to end its probe by September 1.
Clinton had her own private email server in her New York home, which was used by her and her top staff. She&#8217;s been found to have mishandled classified information, including in 2016, when then-FBI Director James Comey said that she had been &#8220;extremely careless&#8221; with such documents in emails.
&#8220;And in March, it was revealed that the Justice Department &#8216;negotiated&#8217; an agreement with Clinton&#8217;s legal team that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-state-department-violations-security-incidents">Fox News</a> reported. &#8220;Former FBI Agent Peter Strzok testified about the arrangement during a closed-door appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last summer, according to a transcript released this year.&#8221;
<blockquote>
&#8220;A significant filter team&#8221; was employed at the FBI, Strzok said, to &#8220;work through the various terms of the various consent agreements.&#8221; Limitations imposed on agents&#8217; searches included date ranges and names of domains and people, Strzok said, among other categories.
</blockquote>
Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton&#8217;s top aide and estranged wife of sex offender Anthony Weiner, also allegedly forwarded State Department emails &#8212; including the classified passwords for government systems &#8212; to her personal email account on Yahoo, a service provider that later saw every account hacked, according to a <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/01/01/abedin-forwarded-state-passwords-to-yahoo-before-it-was-hacked-by-foreign-agents/?utm_source=site-share">Daily Caller</a> report in January.
Explaining its current process, the department said: &#8220;In every instance in which the Department found an individual to be culpable of a valid security violation or three or more infractions, the Department forwarded the outcome to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security&#8217;s Office of Personnel Security and Suitability (DS/PSS), to be placed in the individuals&#8217; official security file. All valid security incidents are reviewed by DS and taken into account every time an individual&#8217;s eligibility for access to classified information is considered.
&#8220;This referral occurred whether or not the individual was currently employed with the Department of State and such security files are kept indefinitely. Consistent with the referral policy, for individuals who were still employed with the Department at the time of adjudication, the Department referred all valid security violations or multiple infractions to the Bureau of Human Resources.&#8221;
Those found in violation can be fired, or, depending on the circumstances, ordered into counseling, reprimanded or suspended, the department said.
President Trump weighed in on the new development, saying, &#8220;Wow!&#8221; and &#8220;This is really big.&#8221;
&#8220;Wow! The State Department said it has identified 30 Security Incidents involving current or former employees and their handling of Crooked Hillary Clinton&#8217;s Emails. @FoxNews This is really big. Never admitted before. Highly Classified Material. Will the Dems investigate this?&#8221; he wrote on Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Wow! The State Department said it has identified 30 Security Incidents involving current or former employees and their handling of Crooked Hillary Clinton&#8217;s Emails. <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> This is really big. Never admitted before. Highly Classified Material. Will the Dems investigate this?
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1140844412127326208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

HILLARY EMAILS: State Department Identifies 23 Violations, ‘Multiple Security Incidents’

Huma Abedin

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is, as The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17362/7-things-you-need-know-about-labour-leader-jeremy-aaron-bandler">long</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47370/sick-hamas-thanks-uk-labour-leader-jeremy-corbyn-josh-hammer">reported</a>, a fairly transparent anti-Semite who has done little to quell the harrowing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43200/corbyn-effect-anti-semitism-uk-reaches-record-high-josh-hammer">rise in anti-Semitic incidents</a> in Britain that has perhaps not so coincidentally overlapped with his political rise to Labour Party national prominence. As Foreign Policy <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/03/jeremy-corbyn-has-a-soft-spot-for-extremists-ira-hamas-hezbollah-britain-labour/">reminded readers</a> last October, furthermore, the leading politician of Britain&#8217;s main center-left party once infamously referred to sharia supremacist jihadist groups Hamas and Hezbollah as his &#8220;friends&#8221;:
<blockquote>
[T]hree days after al Qaeda&#8217;s suicide bombings in London in July 2005, Corbyn spoke at a Stop the War Coalition rally in the city to stress the reason that civilians there were being blown up on trains and buses was &#8220;because of the way we inflict an insecurity on so many other people around the world. We have to be very clear about that.&#8221;
It is a favorite Corbyn theme. At another Stop the War rally (before becoming leader of the Labour Party, attending Stop the War rallies constituted a significant part of Corbyn&#8217;s life), he said the Islamic State&#8217;s beheading of Alan Henning, a British aid worker, was &#8220;the price of jingoism.&#8221;
For groups regarded as less extreme than al Qaeda and the Islamic State, Corbyn has been less restrained &#8212; and often a vocal backer. In a 2009 speech in London, where he was addressing the Stop the War Coalition, Corbyn famously described Hamas and Hezbollah as his &#8220;friends.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Just last week, in fact, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48028/former-british-prime-minister-jeremy-corbyn-anti-josh-hammer">reported</a> how Labour Party ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair &#8212; whose tenure as British leader overlapped with those of U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and was much more of a political centrist than is Corbyn &#8212; recently excoriated Corbyn by bluntly claiming that Corbyn is an anti-Semite who merely does not know yet that he is actually an anti-Semite. Per <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48028/former-british-prime-minister-jeremy-corbyn-anti-josh-hammer">The Times of Israel</a>:
<blockquote>
UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite who doesn&#8217;t know that he is one, Tony Blair said Monday during a visit to Israel, speaking of the &#8220;shameful&#8221; anti-Semitism scandal that has engulfed the opposition party.
Blair, a former prime minister and long-time leader of Labour, said he no longer recognizes the party he led from 1994 until 2007.
&#8220;To be frank, this anti-Semitism row, it&#8217;s a shameful thing,&#8221; said Blair, who was interviewed at a panel event at Bar Ilan University just outside Tel Aviv.
&#8220;If you told me, not merely back in May 1997, but at any point in the next 10 years, that the party I led for 13 years would have a problem with anti-Semitism, I would literally not have credited it, or believed it, and yet it is, and it&#8217;s there today,&#8221; said Blair.
</blockquote>
Now, as the Times also <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/pompeo-us-will-push-back-against-corbyn-before-he-makes-things-hard-for-jews/">reports</a>, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo &#8212; who has long cultivated a philo-Semitic and pro-Israel political profile going back to his tenure as a <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/07/congressmen-discover-secret-deals-iran-agreement/">staunchly anti-Iranian regime</a> U.S. congressman from Kansas &#8212; is vowing to &#8220;push back&#8221; against Corbyn&#8217;s insidious dissemination of venomous anti-Semitism, should the safety and security situation for British Jewry <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43200/corbyn-effect-anti-semitism-uk-reaches-record-high-josh-hammer">continue to deteriorate</a>:
<blockquote>
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a group of British Jewish leaders that Washington would &#8220;push back&#8221; against UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and do its &#8220;level best&#8221; to keep him from taking any steps that would make life difficult for Jews in the United Kingdom, a report said Saturday.
The comments drew outrage in Britain, with some accusing America of interfering in its internal affairs for the second time this month, after US President Donald Trump endorsed Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Conservative Party and prime minister. &#8230;
Citing a leaked recording of a private meeting, the Washington Post said that Pompeo was asked: If Corbyn is elected &#8220;would you be willing to work with us to take on actions if life becomes very difficult for Jews in the UK?&#8221;
Pompeo responded: &#8220;It could be that Mr. Corbyn manages to run the gantlet and get elected. It&#8217;s possible. You should know, we won&#8217;t wait for him to do those things to begin to push back. We will do our level best. It&#8217;s too risky and too important and too hard once it&#8217;s already happened.&#8221;
</blockquote>
It seems that British Jews, much like their <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/27/pompeo-israel-palestine-congress-1238860">American counterparts</a>, ought to continue to be grateful for Pompeo&#8217;s moral clarity and diplomatic stewardship at Foggy Bottom.

U.S. Will ‘Push Back’ Against Jeremy Corbyn’s Anti-Semitism, Pompeo Says

Anti-Semitism

Great Britain

Jeremy Corbyn

United Kingdom

As The Daily Wire&#8217;s Kassy Dillon has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46296/trump-administration-seeks-stop-all-countries-kassy-dillon">reported</a>, the Trump administration recently decided to formally end its program of granting sanctions waivers for certain countries to import Iranian oil:
<blockquote>
&#8220;Our goal has been to get countries to cease importing Iranian oil entirely,&#8221; [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo said. &#8220;Last November, we granted exemptions from our sanctions to seven countries and to Taiwan. We did this to give our allies and partners to wean themselves off of Iranian oil, and to assure a well-supplied oil market.&#8221;
Pompeo then announced that no more exemptions would be granted.
&#8220;Today I am announcing that we will no longer grant any exemptions. We&#8217;re going to zero. We&#8217;re going to zero across the board. We will continue to enforce sanctions and monitor compliance, any nation or entity interacting with Iran should do its diligence and air on the side of caution. The risks are simply not going to be worth the benefits.&#8221;
</blockquote>
The ostensible goal of the U.S.&#8217;s doled out oil sanctions waivers had been to stabilize international energy markets. But as The Daily Wire has also reported, many <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45883/senate-hawks-push-white-house-stop-extending-josh-hammer">Iran hawks</a> viewed the waivers as merely a backhanded way of propping up the fanatical anti-American, anti-Israeli regime that oppressively rules Iran.
Pompeo tweeted at the time that the decision was made to phase out the waivers: &#8220;Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime means maximum pressure. That&#8217;s why the U.S. will not issue any exceptions to Iranian oil importers. The global oil market remains well-supplied. We&#8217;re confident it will remain stable as jurisdictions transition away from Iranian crude.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime means maximum pressure. That&#8217;s why the U.S. will not issue any exceptions to Iranian oil importers. The global oil market remains well-supplied. We&#8217;re confident it will remain stable as jurisdictions transition away from Iranian crude.
&#8212; Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1120308601913073666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
But the waivers, which indeed do <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/27/ted-cruz-right-united-states-axe-irans-oil-waivers/">merely boost</a> the <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranians-chant-death-to-israel-on-anniversary-of-us-embassy-takeover/">genocidal</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">jihadist</a> mullocracy that governs Tehran, will still take 90 days to officially phase out. And this morning, noted <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">Iran hawk</a> Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) found himself in a fiery Foreign Relations Committee exchange on the subject with State Department official Andrea Thompson, who serves as undersecretary for arms control and international security.
Jordan Schachtel of Conservative Review neatly <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/watch-sen-ted-cruz-spars-state-dept-bureaucrat-iran-nuke-program/">summarizes</a> the exchange:
<blockquote>
&#8220;How is it possibly in our best interest to allow Iran to continue doing nuclear research in the Fordow bunker that was built into the side of a mountain to be able to develop nuclear weapons to use to murder Americans? How is that in our best interest?&#8221; Cruz asked.
Failing to answer the question, the unelected State Department official responded that &#8220;everyone in this administration will stand for what&#8217;s right for the safety and security of the American people, bar none.&#8221;
Sen. Cruz repeated his question:
&#8220;Is it in our interest to allow Iran to continue to do nuclear research in the Fordow facility?&#8221;
He then received the shocking response from the unelected bureaucrat that the decisions made by the State Department are &#8220;always in the interest of the American people,&#8221; which Sen. Cruz called an &#8220;Orwellian position.&#8221;
</blockquote>
For decades, the State Department has been known as a particularly restive den of anti-Western, pro-Islamist sympathizing. But what is perhaps even more revealing is the supercilious nature of Thompson, who seems to feel that she is too morally enlightened to feel any accountability for her bureaucracy&#8217;s actions &#8212; no matter how deleterious those actions may be to the national interest.
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StateDept</a> is allowing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a> to continue doing research in their nuclear bunker at Fordow, which Iran dug into the side of a mountain to build nuclear weapons. They are unwilling to explain to the American people why they&#8217;re doing it. <a href="https://t.co/j8L2YvPAgI">pic.twitter.com/j8L2YvPAgI</a>
&#8212; Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/1128702255513907201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Ted Cruz Eviscerates State Department Bureaucrat Over Waivers For Terrorist Iranian Regime

Ted Cruz

U.S. Senate

There appears to be an increasingly wide rift developing in Washington between conservative Iran hawks and Iran lesser-hawks. The issue is whether the United States should fully let expire the next batch of oil waivers for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">fanatical</a> jihadist regime that governs the Islamic Republic of Iran. The rift exposes Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and a small handful of other Republican senators, alongside National Security Advisor John Bolton, on one side, and the institutional U.S. State Department &#8212; embodied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo &#8212; on the other side.
Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-11/fresh-u-s-divide-on-iran-emerges-over-expiring-nuclear-waivers">reports</a>:
<blockquote>
In a letter to President Donald Trump this week, a group of Republican senators demanded that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo stop letting Iran continue its limited civilian nuclear research program.
At issue are three waivers the Trump administration granted after it withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal last year. They allow Iran to work with nations that remain in the deal at three sites &#8212; Fordow, Bushehr and Arak &#8212; to ensure it doesn&#8217;t seek to enrich uranium to high levels. It&#8217;s part of an effort to limit the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation.
In their April 9 letter to Trump, six Republican senators including Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Marco Rubio of Florida argued that the administration shouldn&#8217;t extend the waivers when they expire in early May.
&#8220;There is extensive evidence Iran channeled its nuclear weapons program through civil nuclear projects after 2003,&#8221; the senators wrote. &#8230; They urged the president to &#8220;finally end all U.S. implementation&#8221; of the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
</blockquote>
The Daily Wire received a copy of the senators&#8217; letter, courtesy of a Republican staffer. The letter urges the Trump Administration to take four concrete steps: (1) once and for all end all U.S. implementation of the Iran deal by refusing to reissue waivers permitting civil nuclear work, (2) urge the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to reopen its file on the possible military dimensions of Iran&#8217;s nuclear program, (3) properly designate all Iranian entities named in the Israeli government&#8217;s previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30045/iran-lied-netanyahu-reveals-israel-smuggled-100000-ben-shapiro">seized nuclear archive</a> from Tehran, and (4) explicitly reference the aforementioned nuclear archive in the Trump Administration&#8217;s upcoming report to Congress on &#8220;Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments.&#8221;
At least on issue (2), it seems like the senators may be fighting an uphill battle. As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44212/classic-iaea-head-says-he-can-not-speak-past-josh-hammer">reported</a> last month, the IAEA tends to be less than forthcoming on the issue of Iran&#8217;s hegemonic nuclearization ambitions:
<blockquote>
On Monday in Vienna, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano hedged hard when asked about the extent of the Iranian regime&#8217;s prior nuclear activity. Specifically, Amano said that he could &#8220;not speak of&#8221; such previous activity &#8212; effectively refusing to confirm or deny that the Islamic Republic has engaged in prior nuclearization efforts.
</blockquote>
At The Federalist last month, Erielle Davidson persuasively <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/27/ted-cruz-right-united-states-axe-irans-oil-waivers/">argued</a> Cruz and his fellow senators are correct to push for a full evisceration of Iran&#8217;s oil waivers:
<blockquote>
Waivers have been used as a balm to protect Iran from economic collapse following President Trump&#8217;s exit from the Iran Deal and the swift reinstatement of sanctions this past November. The Trump administration has expressed aims of removing Iranian crude exports entirely from the market very soon, but arguments within the State Department questioning the feasibility of such an aim have garnered suspicion. &#8230;
The waivers have allowed Iran to continue to rake in billions of dollars, thus enabling the country&#8212;and the repressive regime&#8212;to stave off economic collapse. Many experts on both sides of the Iran debate think Iran is positioned to wait out the Trump administration&#8217;s pressure campaign, perhaps indefinitely, unless the Iranian economy sustains a dramatic shock.
</blockquote>
Sen. Cruz has made hawkishness on Iran a centerpiece of his foreign policy profile. As I argued in a Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">op-ed</a> in February:
<blockquote>
Since joining the U.S. Senate in 2013, Cruz&#8217;s foreign policy has consistently been in the wide chasm between Ron Paul-style isolationism and Dick Cheney-style moralistic interventionism. Cruz has been blisteringly hawkish on true national security threats to the United States and our core allies &#8212; his stances on the Shiite supremacist Iranian terror regime mullocracry and the Sunni supremacist Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas alike both come to mind &#8212; but as a doctrinal rule, he has generally been warier of the risk of prolonged military deployments.
</blockquote>

Senate Hawks Push White House To Stop Extending Certain Iran Nuclear Waivers

Marco Rubio

Tom Cotton

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