Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's key Wing Men and key Partners Lieberman, Bennett, Deri, Kachlon ,one and all prefer Hillary Clinton for the 45th President of the USA ..... now even more than in June 2016

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu'knows Israel needs a US president who is measured, consistent and credible, all qualities Trump lacks.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's key Wing Men and key partners ,Naftali Bennett leader of Bayit Hayehudi party and Education Minister, Aryeh Deri leader of the Shas Party and Interior Ministry . Avigdor Lieberman leader of Yisrael Beiteinu and Defense Minister and Moshe Kachlon, leader of Kulanu Party Finance Minister,one and all prefer Hillary Clinton for the 45th President of the USA ..... now even more than in June 2016. Furthermore both Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid and Bougie Herzog of Zionist Union have also repeatedly expressed preference for A Clinton administration over a Trump one that is riddled with uncertainty and an inner circle of known anti Semites like Steve Bannon who is on a leave of absence as CEO of Breitbart News with ties to ex Klu Klax Klan head David Duke and the worst anti semitic elements of the Alt Right.



This article is based on one and one conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu's key wing men DoreGold ( Director General f the Foreign Ministry) , Danny Danon ( UN Ambassador) Ron Dermer ( USA Ambassador ) , Michael Oren ( Previously Ambassador to the US) Tzipi Hotelevy ( Deputy Foreign Minister) and the Cabinet Ministers Tzachi Hanegbi , Avi Dichter,Yuli-Yoel Edelstein,Zeev Elkin,Gilad Erdan.and Yuval Steinitz and just in the interest of complete disclosure , I have been a member of the Likud Central Committee since 1988.

In his heart of hearts, and certainly not to be discussed with his political sugar daddy Sheldon Adelson, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is probably hoping for a Hillary Clinton victory in November’s US presidential election. And despite what former New York City mayor Rudi Giuliani believes, Israel’s right-wing leader will prefer dealing with the first woman president in America’s history than the flamboyant, uncontrollable and unpredictable Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Netanyahu hates surprises, and Trump’s whole candidacy has been one huge surprise, from his decision to run, his winning the Republican nomination and his sudden surge in the head-to-head polls against Clinton. More pertinently for Netanyahu, no one has a real clue as to where Trump stands on issues of vital importance to Israel.

Trump’s flirtation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, unlike our own Avigdor Liberman’s embarrassing endorsement of Putin’s democratic credentials when Liberman was foreign minister, would seriously endanger the West, and by extension Israel, were Trump ever get to sit in the Oval Office. A strengthening of Russia’s standing at the expense of the US would have serious knock-on effects in the Middle East, in particular boosting Russia’s de facto allies Iran and Hezbollah.

More widely, Trump’s willingness to discuss recognizing Russia’s land grab in the Crimean and his threats to weaken NATO would be a disastrous reshuffling of the post-Cold War order. Trump’s strident isolationism will certainly be setting off alarm bells in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. Take a look at Trump’s remarks regarding his commitment to the NATO alliance: “I want to keep NATO , but I want them to pay,” Trump told a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week.

“I don’t want to be taken advantage of... We’re protecting countries that most of the people in this room have never even heard of and we end up in World War Three? ...Give me a break.”

In the past, Trump has also talked of his willingness to “walk” if countries like Japan, Germany or Saudi Arabia do not pay the full cost for American troops stationed in their countries.

Given Israel’s reliance on American military aid, this is certainly not music to Netanyahu’s ears. It’s surely no coincidence that after dragging his heels for over year, convinced he could get a better deal from the next US administration, Netanyahu has suddenly switched gears and begun to move decisively to reach an agreement with President Barack Obama over the next 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on US military aid to Israel.

With a reported $40 billion at stake, Netanyahu has belatedly realized it is not in Israel’s interest for this huge package to become a political football in what promises to be an exceptionally divisive American election campaign. For all Netanyahu and his supporters’ attempts to falsify history and portray Obama as the most anti-Israel US president in recent history, this MoU, once signed, will set the seal on Obama’s pro-Israel legacy and his commitment to Israel’s security.

Israel needs a US president who is measured, consistent and credible, all qualities Trump has already shown he lacks. Shooting from the hip on Twitter is amusing, from the Oval Office it would be a nightmare.

One day Trump says he is “neutral” on Israel and Palestine, and suggests that Israeli obstinacy is behind the difficulty of securing peace: “A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal – whether or not Israel’s willing to sacrifice certain things.”

The next day (when he happens to be addressing the AIPAC convention) he insists he “will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem,” if elected president, a promise regularly made but never kept by would-be American presidents. The Trump-inspired removal of support for the two-state solution from the Republican platform then places the party to the Right of Netanyahu, and offers no insight into resolving the Israel- Palestine conflict.

With Clinton, on the other hand, Netanyahu knows exactly what’s in store – more of the same, and from the prime minister’s perspective, what’s not to like? Despite the clear ideological differences between Netanyahu and Obama, and the clash over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the latter’s administration has never wavered in its support for Israel when it really mattered for Jerusalem.

And neither will Clinton. Her record as a senator and secretary of state is one of a clear supporter of Israel. Under her stewardship, the State Department increased military assistance for Israel every year, from $2.55b. when she took office to $3.1b. in FY2013, a nearly 20 percent increase, while diplomatically she ensured the United States blocked UN Security Council resolutions for Palestinian statehood.

Clinton and Netanyahu might not be friends, but Israel doesn’t need friends, it needs strong allies. A Trump presidency will see a weakening of US alliances across the world as America turns inwards, which is precisely the opposite of what Israel needs.

New IDF Sheriff : Avigdoe Lieberman continues his Game Change .... Disproportional Immediate Response to every Rocket and Mortar that lands in Zion

The game with Hamas has changed



When the IDF hit high value targets in the Gaza Strip following a rocket attack on Sderot Wednesday, Israel was continuing its strategic policy as laid out by new Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman—hit Hamas targets along the border with tanks as quickly as possible after a rocket attack (sometimes less than a minute later), while managing to bomb quality Hamas targets from the air within hours.

This is different than the former policy, where by the IDF would wait until nightfall to carry out its retaliatory attack, causing little damage. Even then, most of the attacks were on missile launch sites, sites which were dismantled anyway by the time the jets came to hit them.

By contrast, on Wednesday the Israeli Air Force hit Hamas targets with heavy bombs all throughout the afternoon. The airstrikes were exact, surgical, massive, and destroyed Hamas offensive strategic capabilities—capabilities that Hamas has been preparing since the end of the last war in preparation for the next one.



The IDF is currently evaluating the results of Wednesday’s attacks on Gaza. The air force hit targets including warehouses used for storing weapons equipment stores used by Hamas naval commandos.

These targets were identified months ago through the joint efforts of the Shin Bet and Israeli Military Intelligence. Destruction of these targets was enabled as a result of the “window of opportunity” provided by the rocket launch from Gaza, and due to the IDF’s newer, harsher policies regarding keeping Hamas from building up its offensive attack capabilities.



According to Israeli security assessments, Hamas is not interested in an escalation of violence, as it is fighting against the Salafi Jihadist organizations in the Strip, which are trying to undermine Hamas’s power.

Israel is also uninterested in an escalation, despite the large scale of recent attacks. In fact, Israel wants to mitigate any chance of an escalation, especially in light of the High Holy Days, during which huge numbers of Israelis travel to the south of the country.

As such, it seems that the IDF isn’t focusing its military efforts on small terror cells that launch rockets of their own accord, thereby leaving these terror cells more or less intact. This despite the fact that Sderot has been hit four times since the end of Operation Protective Edge.



However, according to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, the IDF’s number one target is uncovering and destroying the Hamas “terror tunnels” that cross into Israel. Hamas allocates the majority of its budget to the construction of these tunnels. IDF efforts to mitigate the threat posed by them can be seen with new technology currently being developed and used to locate these tunnels, along with the continuing efforts of Israeli intelligence to locate and destroy these underground threats.

All this notwithstanding, though, the IDF’s new method of hitting high quality Hamas targets in real time may bring about a new threat: namely, that the Hamas military wing might start a new war sooner rather than later.

The first of 75 F-35 Adir 5th Generation Stealth Fighters Delivered to Zion

rival of the F-35 stealth fighter aircraft will beef up Israeli deterrence against its enemies, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said here on Wednesday, during a ceremony to unveil the first of such aircraft destined for the Israel Air Force.

Liberman, speaking during the rollout ceremony, said the F-35 would also greatly improve “our operational capabilities, for a long time.

“The State of Israel is proud to be the first in our region to receive and operate the plane,” Liberman added. He described the jet as “the most advanced in the world, and is the best selection by defense chiefs for safeguarding Israel’s aerial superiority.”

Brig.-Gen. Tal Kelman, the IAF’s chief of staff, said he “had the future in my hands” while testing out the F-35 simulator.

He added that the plane’s breakthrough technology, lethality, and machine-man interface “will lead the world to the fifth generation.”

The roll out ceremony was held at Lockheed Martin’s Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Texas, and was attended by IAF senior personnel, government representatives, as well as US government and military officials.

Lockheed Martin said the warplane will form a key pillar of Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East, adding that the platform is equipped to defeat emerging threats, including “advanced missiles and heavily-defended airspace.”

Israel has ordered 33 F-35A variants, which conventionally take off and land. It also seeking an option of ordering 17 additional F-35A aircraft.

Israel Aerospace Industries are producing F-35A wings for all planes worldwide, while Elbit Systems has produced a third generation helmet-mounted display system for all F-35 pilots.

The US military has begun replacing its fighter aircraft with the F-35. Three distinct variants of the F-35 will replace the F-16 Fighting Falcon for the US Air Force, the F/A-18 Hornet for the US Navy, the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier for the US Marine Corps. They will also form the chief fighter jet platform for at least 10 other countries.

Israel will install its own cyber defenses on the American-made jet, Kelman said. The IAF chief praised the jet across the board, saying Israel’s ability to defend itself would increase.

However, Kelman also expressed concerns over the existing level of cyber defenses on board the aircraft, saying Israel received approval from the US and Lockheed Martin to install its own cyber defenses.

Kelman said the IAF is also striving to achieve an independent ability to maintain the aircraft within the country’s borders, due to daily fighter jet operations, and the need to ensure rapid deployment in the event of a sudden conflict.

“We are integrating Israeli defense companies to carry out some of the maintenance,” he said. The US will still be responsible for basic maintenance functions, which it will carry out at an installation at the IAF’s Nevatim Air Base near Beersheba.

Fifty percent of pilot training will be carried out on the F-35 simulator, Kelman said, amounting to a five-fold increase in the percentage of simulator training that occurs with older, fourth-generation jets like the F-16.

Two F-35 squadrons will be based at Nevatim, and if Israel acquires a third squadron, it would likely be deployed at another base, Kelman said. The IAF is seeking to expand the number of jets it will receive from 33 to 50, with a view of eventually having 75 aircraft at its disposal.

After the first two F-35 jets arrive in 2016, Israel will receive six to seven per year, until the first batch of 33 jets is delivered. One of those planes will be experimental, enabling Israel to later fit the squadrons with Israeli-made munitions and other on-board systems.

An initial squadron has already been set up, and its pilots have been described by Kelman as an air force “dream team.”

“They are the best we have,” he said.

After the squadrons become operational, its pilots will have completed air force training school, and will have flown the older F-16s and F-15s, before taking control of the F-35s.

Zahal Recognizes Same sex Bereaved Families in Zion..... Way to Go and Kudos to New Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman

New defense minister recognizes bereaved same-sex families.Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirms policy of predecessor Moshe Ya'alon by recognizing LGBT partners of fallen soldiers as eligible for benefits • "Proud Reservists" group says it can't rely on declarations, asks him to codify decision in law.

New Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued an official document on behalf of the Defense Ministry on Wednesday declaring that the ministry "views same-sex and heterosexual families of fallen soldiers equally, and operates in accordance with this equality so that there is no difference in recognition and rights."

With the document, Lieberman reiterated the policy formulated by his predecessor, Moshe Ya'alon, who recently made a similar declaration. Since bereaved families are eligible for financial benefits, the distinction has far-reaching implications.

Following a meeting of defense officials and bereaved families a few weeks ago, before he left the minister's post, Ya'alon said, "We are treating bereaved same-sex and heterosexual families the same. It would never occur to us that it could be otherwise, and it won't be."

Members of Ya'alon's bureau said the meeting had been convened at the request of MK Amir Ohana, and was attended by Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Harel and the ministry's Families and Commemoration Department head, Aryeh Muallem.

An announcement put out by Ya'alon's office stated that "the conclusion of the meeting was that there is no difference between recognizing the bereavement of same-sex couples and that of heterosexual couples, so there is no need for legislation."

A message posted Wednesday on Facebook by the group "Proud Reservists Demand Equality" read: "We thank the new defense minister for his support for bereaved LGBT families, but the LGBT community cannot depend on declarations by defense ministers who come and go. As Gay Pride Month gets underway, we hope that these official documents become official legislation. We invite Lieberman to turn declarations into law and propose a cabinet bill as he enters the coalition."

Avigdor Lieberman: New Sheriff in Zion

Actually, Avigdor Lieberman Is Just What Israel Needs Right Now

Avigdor Lieberman believes Israel must end the cycle of Palestinian incitement and violence, not manage it.

Peaceniks may be up in arms about the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as Israel's next minister of defense, but the country's enemies are worried — and rightly so.

Yes, as the inevitable flurry of articles accompanying his appointment are sure to point out, Lieberman once said that Israel could bomb the Aswan dam in the event of war with Egypt and he also said that captured Palestinian terrorists should be "drowned in the Dead Sea." But Lieberman, arguably the biggest loudmouth in Israel (herecently called Netanyahu — the man he's been angling to work for — "a liar, cheater and crook"), is also a reasonable politician.

Lieberman's core beliefs are squarely rooted in principles that most Israelis accept and that make good sense. He has expressed support for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a final settlement, but he also maintains , as he put it at the Saban Forum in 2006, that the negotiating process is based on three fundamentally erroneous assumptions: "that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the main fact of instability in the Middle East, that the conflict is territorial and not ideological, and that the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders will end the conflict."

Lieberman's core beliefs are squarely rooted in common sense principles that most Israelis accept.

Although willing to trade land (including the West Bank settlement of Nokdim, where he lives) under certain conditions, Lieberman resents the Obama administration's relentless pressure for upfront Israeli concessions, noting that two decades and more of concessions to the Palestinians "brought neither results nor solutions." He is correct that finding more things for Israel to give up, even as the cycle of Palestinian incitement and violence continues, is not the answer.

Having experienced poverty first-hand while growing up in the Soviet Union, Lieberman has spoken eloquently about the need to address the deplorable socioeconomic conditions among Palestinians. This is partly why he has long called for toppling the Hamas regime in Gaza, which Netanyahu, former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon and the rest of Israel's political and military establishment have come to accept as a manageable problem.

Lieberman believes the deplorable socioeconomic conditions among Palestinians must be improved to sustain peace.

Not everything Lieberman believes is nestled firmly within Israeli public consensus, but even his more extreme ideas are rooted in hard-nosed realism, not ideology or ethnic particularism. His long-standing advocacy of the death penalty for convicted terrorists, for example, is premised on the simple recognition that Palestinian terrorists are today free to murder based on the correct expectation that they will later be released in prisoner exchanges.

Lieberman is also cognizant of the fact that the U.S.-Israel relationship is of the utmost importance. When Israeli minister Naftali Bennett attacked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to rekindle the peace process, Lieberman quickly fired back, stating , "There can be disagreements among friends, but one [Israel] doesn't have to attack someone [the U.S]. When the supply of ammunition ran out during Operation Protective Edge, it was the United States that supplied it. The Americans were the ones who gave the money for Iron Dome. The United States was the one that helped us at the United Nations Human Rights Council and they prevent a lot of trouble in the Security Council with vetoes."

Of course, Obama administration officials hoped that Netanyahu would stabilize his coalition by drawing in the center-left, not someone like Lieberman. Just days before the announcement, it was widely expected that Netanyahu would form a coalition with Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union, which advocates greater accommodation of Palestinian demands.

A stable, right-leaning government is better-suited to pursue peace than a fragile 'unity' government.

But the Zionist Union has been paralyzed by internal divisions, with numerous members of this bloc openly opposing Herzog's coalition talks with Netanyahu, while Lieberman's MKs are expected to remain loyal. A stable, right-leaning government may have more credibility with the Israeli public than a fragile "national unity" government when it comes to making compromises for peace. After all, it was the "hard-line" Likud leader Menachem Begin who signed the Camp David Accords with Egypt in 1978.

My esteemed colleague David Makovsky worries that Netanyahu is "closing the door" on policies that "could have blunted a string of international initiatives" targeting Israel in the months ahead. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Lieberman accepts the Middle East Quartet's conditions for a two-state solution. Most important,he stated , "When there is a dispute between the integrity of the nation and the integrity of the land, then integrity of the nation is more important. I support a [peace] agreement...when we insist on security arrangements, this is just to avoid the crazy reality we are in."

The doom-and-gloomers are right that Lieberman's appointment to the defense ministry will almost certainly be consequential. Word has it that he demanded and received assurances regarding the latitude he will have in office. But Lieberman may just be the man of consequence Israel needs right now.