Israel-Sudan Deal: What Does the Pact Mean, and Why Now?
Gabriele Steinhauser and Nicholas Bariyo
WSJ, Oct. 23, 2020Sudan on Friday became the latest nation to make peace with Israel, after reaching a deal with the Trump administration ending the African nation’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The agreement to normalize relations further shifts the balance of power in the Middle East and northern Africa away from Iran.What does normalization mean for Sudan and Israel?Sudan is joining a growing list of countries in the region that recognize Israel as a sovereign state, ending decades of hostilities. Getting Sudan’s backing also carries symbolic value for Israel, since Khartoum hosted the famous 1967 Arab League summit in which eight Arab nations approved what became known as the “Three Nos”—no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel. A White House statement on the deal said the two countries agreed to start economic and trade relations, which could help Sudan revive an economy on the brink of collapse.How was the deal brokered?The normalization of relations follows months of discreet, U.S.-brokered contacts between the erstwhile foes. It started with a February meeting in Uganda between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the military council that runs Sudan’s transitional government along with civilian leaders. The United Arab Emirates, which also recently made peace with Israel and which has close ties to Sudan’s military, hosted talks between Khartoum and the U.S., including on economic assistance. What clinched the deal, however, was a decision by the Trump administration to make the normalization of ties with Israel a precondition for removing Sudan from the list of states the U.S. considers sponsors of terrorism. That designation blocked Khartoum from seeking much-needed help from international financial organizations such as the World Bank and imposed limits on U.S. companies doing business in Sudan.Why was Sudan on the list of state sponsors of terrorism?
The State Department added Sudan to the list in 1993 for allegedly harboring terrorists, such as members of Hezbollah and al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden. By doing so, the U.S. says, Sudan assisted in terrorist attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000—charges that Sudan denies. Iran, Syria and North Korea remain on the list.
What did Sudan have to do to get off the U.S. list?
Sudan agreed to pay $335 million for compensation to U.S. victims of the terrorist attacks, following several years of talks between Washington and Khartoum. In recent months, the White House also linked Sudan’s removal from the list to normalizing ties with Israel—a demand that Sudanese officials initially resisted. Congress has 45 days to review President Trump’s decision to remove Sudan from the terror list, and can block it. … [To read the full article, click the following LINK – Ed.]
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Donald Trump May Be The Most Pro-Jewish President Ever
Josh Hammer
NY Post, Oct. 22, 2020
This election, there is no subgroup for whom the stakes are higher than my Jewish co-religionists.
That’s because, for starters, Donald Trump is quite possibly the most pro-Jewish president ever — or at least since George Washington famously assured the Jews of Newport, RI, that each child of the “stock of Abraham” would forever “sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree.”
Through word and deed, President Trump — a father of an observant Jew and grandfather of Jewish children — has repeatedly established himself as a true friend and guardian of the people of the covenant. And in the post-1948 era of Zionism, Trump has been by far the most loyal and transformative friend of the world’s sole Jewish state.
Trump ended decades of presidential timidity and promise-breaking by finally moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. He withdrew the United States from the harrowing capitulation to evil that was the Obama-Biden nuclear accord with Iran and has slapped crippling sanctions on the mullocracy.
He decimated the Islamic State “caliphate” and decapitated Iranian arch-terrorist Qassem Soleimani, both threats to Israel and Jews everywhere. He closed the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission in Washington and defunded the Palestinian Authority itself due to its barbaric “pay-to-slay” subsidies.
Trump also cut funding or outright withdrew from three anti-Israel UN bodies: the (grossly misnamed) UN Human Rights Council, UNWRA and UNESCO.
And we’re just getting started. Team Trump has boldly stood up for Israeli “settlements” in Judea and Samaria. The president formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and rolled out the most pro-Israel plan for peace with the Palestinian Arabs that a US president has ever endorsed.
Most remarkably, the man who wrote “The Art of the Deal” shepherded through not one but two (thus far!) separate normalization agreements between Israel and the Arab world. That’s probably the most important positive diplomatic triumph for Israel (and for Jews worldwide, who benefit from a strong Jewish state) in decades. Imagine what a second term could bring.
On the domestic front, Trump signed a groundbreaking executive order to protect besieged Jewish and Zionist university students under the statutory ambit of Title VI — a dynamic move that has already led to a high-profile settlement agreement between the Department of Education and NYU. The order is perhaps the single most emphatic pro-Jewish action a sitting president has ever taken.
On religious liberty, Trump appointed myriad staunch First Amendment defenders up and down the federal judiciary. He’s also pushed administrative rules to protect religious social-service providers and faith-based adoption agencies from discrimination. And under Trump, the Department of Justice has routinely defended Jewish communities under assault. And, of course, Jews have benefited from tremendous economic gains under Trump.
Compare all that with a Biden-Harris administration — which would lend a voice to Jew-haters like Linda Sarsour and Ilhan Omar and, indeed, likely undo most (if not every one) of Trump’s advancements. … [To read the full article, click the following LINK – Ed.]
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Is a Vote for Joe Biden in the Interest of American Jews?
Janet Levy
American Thinker, Oct. 18, 2020
A recent study conducted by the Jewish Electorate Institute found that 67% of American Jewish respondents planned to vote for Joe Biden and 30% for President Trump. Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed claimed to be pro-Israel and 64% said Israel is an important election issue. Most ranked Biden higher on U.S.-Israel relations, the handling of anti-Semitism, and ensuring the security of the Jewish community. The survey results are surprising, given Trump’s stellar record on Jews and Israel. American Jews must reconsider, for Biden’s record and positions on critical topics belie these perceptions.
Record on Israel
Biden’s record should dispel any notions he is staunchly pro-Israel. In 1982, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations committee as a Democratic senator from Delaware, he argued with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. He threatened to cut aid to Israel if settlement expansion continued in Judea and Samaria, shouting and banging the table when Begin wouldn’t budge.
In 2010, Biden upbraided Israel for building apartments in a Jewish section of East Jerusalem and opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to extend sovereignty over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
In 2016, he pressured Ukraine, an abstainer, to vote for U.N. Security Council measure 2334, which identified the Jewish Quarter, the Temple Mount, and the Western Wall as located in “illegally occupied Palestinian territories,” an affirmation that defies historical fact. UNSC 2334 also condemned Israel building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Approval of the resolution emboldened the Palestinian Authority to call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Judea, Samaria, and the Jewish Quarter, reversing decades of U.S. vetoes against such moves. That year, the U.N. General assembly passed 20 resolutions against Israel. There were only six against other countries.
Biden’s anti-Israel stance is further confirmed by how the Obama administration interfered in the 2015 Israeli elections and tried to get Netanyahu defeated. Obama and Biden tried to rupture Netanyahu’s governing coalition and move it to the left. That year, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found the State Department had granted $350,000 to OneVoice, a radical anti-Israel organization that supports Hamas and the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. The funds were issued for a political campaign known as V15 or Victory 2015, a political campaign that used voter contacts and State Department-funded activists to defeat the incumbent government. The Obama-Biden administration also published never-before-released details of Israel’s nuclear program, heedless of its profound impact on Israel’s security and the balance of power in the region. … [To read the full article, click the following LINK – Ed.]
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Joe Biden and Jews with Trembling Knees
Stephen Silbiger
Front Page Magazine, Oct. 21, 2020
Before the Democratic Party’s lurch to the Left and his selection by Barack Obama, Joe Biden saw himself as a quasi-Dixiecrat. In his first try for the Democratic Presidential he bragged that he had received an award from George Wallace and boasted that “Delawareans were on the side of the South in the Civil War.”
In 1982, as he was probably beginning to plan that campaign, Biden thought he could appeal to the perceived nativism of the Dixiecrats by publicly threatening to cut off aid to the Jewish state. In July of that year, he used an appearance of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin before the Senate Finance Committee to threaten to cut off aid to Israel. After enduring Biden’s fist-pounding tirade, Begin responded with the eloquence that was his trademark. Looking directly at Biden, he said.
“Don’t threaten us with cutting off aid to Israel. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
The always proper and dignified Begin then lectured Biden on his manners. Looking directly at him he said, “This desk is designed for writing, not for fists.” Biden’s behavior was so out of line that immediately after Senator Moynihan approached the Jewish Prime Minister and praised him for his cutting reply.
Unfortunately, much of the American Jewish Community is composed of Jews with trembling knees. Although Donald Trump has been the most pro-Israel President in history and will receive a record Jewish vote, he may receive fewer Jewish votes than Joe Biden, despite the latter’s checkered record on Israel and his support for reinstating Obama’s deal with Iran.
It has now been established beyond any reasonable doubt that the Ayatollah’s nuclear program has no peaceful purpose and is designed to fulfill Iran’s stated goal of destroying the Jewish state. And there is no doubt that a Democratic victory will encourage the most belligerent elements in the Arab world to step up their terrorism and viciously target Jews for murder. Yet Democratic operatives who are afraid of their political futures and Jewish Wall Street financiers afraid of missing out on deals are working overtime to defame Trump. … [To read the full article, click the following LINK – Ed.]
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For Further Reference:
Trump’s Middle East Metamorphosis: Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, Oct. 19, 2020 — George W. Bush and Barack Obama both tried to transform the Middle East. Neither found the kind of success he sought.
Berkowitz: ‘Nervous’ about Potential Biden Win, Could Damage Abraham Accords: Lauren Marcus, World Israel News, Oct. 23, 2020 — On Wednesday, special advisor to Jared Kushner and presidential assistant Avi Berkowitz said he feared a negative impact on Israel’s normalization with other countries in the region if Joe Biden wins the presidency in November.
Trump’s Accomplishment in Africa: Editorial Board, WSJ, Oct. 21, 2020 — It’s rare for a country to turn from a regional menace into a responsible partner, but the Trump Administration’s diplomacy with Sudan is helping make that happen. This project has reached a critical point, and Congress should support the White House effort.
Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes—or Joe Biden’s Big Mouth: Lee Smith, Tablet, Oct. 18, 2020 — The move by Facebook and Twitter to censor a New York Post story about Joe Biden was Silicon Valley’s version of an October surprise.
Joe Biden’s Boosters Wrote His Prodigal Son’s Entire Resume: Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations, Oct. 16, 2020 — Hunter Biden profited from his father’s political connections long before he struck questionable deals in countries where Joe Biden was undertaking diplomatic missions as vice president.
Trump Announces Declassification of Russia Collusion, Clinton Email Probe Documents: Jack Phillips, Epoch Times, Oct. 6, 2020 — President Donald Trump announced in a Twitter post late on Tuesday he has authorized the “total” declassification of all documents relating to the Russia collusion and Hillary Clinton email probes.
