Author: Micha Gefen

Micha is a government policy analyst for Israel Rising.
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North Korea, Iran, and the War Against Israel

With reports flying across the web that the Trump administration is considering the use of force against the North Korean regime, Seal Team 6 and F-35’s are set to participate in the annual Foal Eagle military drills between the US and South Korea.

South Korea’s Joon Gang Daily reports the following:

“The U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare Development Group, better known as the SEAL Team 6, will arrive in South Korea soon for joint military drills and take part in an exercise simulating the removal of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to the Ministry of National Defense Monday.”

A report at the Yonhap News Agency went further:

“A bigger number of and more diverse U.S. special operation forces will take part in this year’s Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises to practice missions to infiltrate into the North, remove the North’s war command and demolition of its key military facilities,” the official told Yonhap News Agency asking not to be named.

As the North Korean regime gears up for further ballistic missile tests, the Trump administration appears determined to preemptively stop them.

What Changed?

Successive American Presidents have all considered North Korea to be one of the most dangerous countries around.  A nuclear armed Kim Jong-Un with what looks to be an upcoming ICBM test puts the US in direct harm.  Most observers consider Kim to be mentally unstable, which complicates any policy in handling him. This is precisely why a military confrontation is far more likely now. Trump cannot allow to develop an accurate way of delivering nukes against the USA let alone Japan or South Korea.

The Iran Connection

It has been known for some time that Iranian missile technology was developed in North Korea.  Both regimes see the USA as their number one enemy and have worked together to build a situation where they would pose a serious threat to the USA. To most observers North Korea and Iran are in constant coordination as can be seen from last week’s ballistic missile test in Ira, which followed North Korea’s launch of four missiles near Japan.

Researchers from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies published a research paper (.pdf) in January 2016 outlining Iran’s past and present military dealings with North Korea, concluding that “the signs of military and scientific cooperation between Iran and North Korea suggest that Pyongyang could have been involved in Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic-missile program, and that state-run trading companies may have assisted in critical aspects of Iran’s illicit nuclear-related activities.”

War Against Israel

It should not be lost on anyone that the same Obama administration that failed to curb Kim Jong-Un’s race towards a nuclear arsenal also actively empowered the Iranian regime in its own nuclear development.  The outcome of this is a nuclear Middle East whose Shiite Crescent with Russian backing threatens to engulf Israel. Trump’s move against North Korea must be coordinated with Israel, because when the war starts on the Korean peninsula the Iranian regime will act aggressively against the Jewish state.

In the coming weeks and months expect American forces to ready themselves to invade North Korea before Kim Jong-Un achieves delivery breakout, because if he does, the world as we know it will look very different.

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Donald Trump Sending B-52 NUCLEAR BOMBERS to South Korea warns North of “Overwhelming Response”

With tensions rising daily between America and North Korea, the US has finally had enough and is sending B-52 Nuclear Bombers to South Korea in preparation of what some analysts believe could be the opening shots in a war with North Korea.

Secretary of Defence James Mattis said the US “remains steadfast in its commitment” to the defence of the South, according to Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt Jeff Davis.

Capt David said: “He further emphasised that any attack on the United States or its allies will be defeated and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with a response that is effective and overwhelming.”

The trigger for this build up was North Korea’s firing of four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.  The Japanese do not have a serious army due to agreements after World War 2 and rely heavily on the US East Asian Security Umbrella. With tensions rising, some Japanese lawmakers wanted to amend their constitution to allow for a more aggressive army.

Will There Be War?

With the Trump administration willing to serously bolster up its forces in South Korea, the theory is Kim Jong-un is a paper tiger and will back down due to his own generals not wanting to “commit suicide” against the United States. Yet, it could very well be that the State Religion has poisoned the minds of the upper staff to the point where they  are all willing to die.

Because of the real possibility of direct conflict, the USA is sending  F-35B stealth fighters from its marine corps base in Japan to South Korea.  These fighters jets can easily evade North Korean radars to deliver devastating strikes on the North.

Connection to Iran

Most analysts and observers admit that Iran and North Korea have been working very closely together for some time. North Korea develops the technology that Iran uses for its ballistic missiles and nuclear programs.  Iran then fine tunes the technology for its needs.

It is no accident that Iran just launched its own ballistic missiles test in the last few days.  With this in mind the looming North Korean conflict may develop into something far larger, which is why Trump and his team want to give a quick knock out blow to the Northern regime.

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Trump Administration Working with Putin to Protect the Kurds, is Kurdistan Coming?

Of all the spinoff conflicts connected to the Syrian Civil War and the fight to destory ISIS, the Turkish offensive to wipe out the growing strength of the Kurdish militia in Northern Syria is the most important.

Despite claims to the contrary, Erdogan helped fund ISIS in its early days in order to create enough chaos to further his interests in spreading Turkish power into Northern Iraq and Syria.  He both allowed ISIS fighters to travel from Turkey into Syria and provided the same fighters medical attention when necessary.

When stories of Turkish aid convoys reached the news, Erdogan pivoted and joined the fight to “destroy the group.” Turkey then used their offensives into Syria to achieve three objectives: show the world it is not in collusion with ISIS, stand up to Russia, and most importantly destroy the nascent Kurdistan.

Kurdistan factors heavily into Trump and Putin’s post ISIS Syria and Iraq.  The Kurdish Peshmerga has been the only force that has showed the ability to defeat ISIS. As long as Turkey stayed out of Syria, the Kurdish YPG could continue gaining ground.

The Battle of Manbij Will Prove Pivotal

Manbij is a Kurdish controlled town  just 40km from the Turkish border and this week it has provided the setting for what will no doubt prove to be the beginning of an independent Kurdistan. With Turkey deciding to push out the Kurds who have controlled the town, the Trump administration took the opportunity to team up with Russia in order to thwart Erdogan’s plans.

Bloomberg reports:

A U.S. deployment and a Russian-brokered deal with Syrian forces created buffer zones that headed off any Turkish campaign against the Kurdish forces who hold the town — seen by Washington as key allies against Islamic State and by Turkey as terrorists.

Once again Erdogan’s plans of dominating the Kurds have faltered.  With Russia and the US working together Turkey is forced to deal with the reality that the Kurds are here to stay.

Is Kurdistan Next?

Although rumors of an independent Kurdistan have risen higher in the years since ISIS came to power, the reality of the rumors have never been more actual than now. Kurdistan offers the ability to right an historic injustice by creating a state for the Kurds who have been stateless for centuries.  In fact, it is the Kurds who are indigenous to the area, going as far back as the ancient Medes. An independent Kurdistan would create stability in the Middle East and act as a buffer to the madness of the Arab tribes to the South and Turkish regional aspirations from the North.

Furthermore an independent Kurdistan would quickly become an ally of Israel in its fight against radical Islam.

Will Trump and Putin make it happen?  So far their cooperation in relation to Manbij makes the prospect likely.

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With America Entering Political Turmoil, Netanyahu Plans to Confront Putin on Iran

For nearly two years since Russias initial involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Israel’s unease at Iran’s movement towards its northern border has been soothed by an understanding crafted between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Putin that effectively allows Israel to check Iran’s ability to harm it.

With the Trump’s middleeast strategy in tatters due to Democratic overreach in forcing his first National Security Advisor out, Israel has had to take matters into its own hands concerning the relationship Iran has with Russia.

Bibi Netanyahu announced his attention to meet with Purin in Moscow this Thursday to discuss Iran. With Iran strengthening by the day, Israel cannot afford to wait for Trump to contain the Obama led insurgency as well as cleaning the Deep State network of spies from within the government.  Iran knows it has a window of time before Trump can right his ship and it is ready to make its move.

Bibi’s visit with Putin is a mission to convince Putin to once again push back against Iran with or without Trump.  Will Bibi succeed?  Israel’s future may depend on it.

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THE WAR WITHIN: Israel and the USA Now Share a Deep State

We often speak about the unique relationship the United States of America has with Israel.  No where has this been as beautifully expressed as John Winthrop’s City Upon the Hill speech, made nearly 350 years ago in new England, which saw America’s future as being bound with ancient Israel.

Yet, with all of the fanfare this special relationship has, the two countries share something antithetical to the foundation of freedom. Israel was founded in 1948 from the outgrowth of the partition plan of the British mandate. There were three main groups fighting for the control of the nascent State of Israel: The Haganah, the Irgun, and Lehi.  With British backing and the need for unity in face of five Arab armies, the latter two groups agreed to work under the leadership of Mapai and the Haganah.  Essentially they ceded power to Ben Gurion and his political apparatus.

The Mapai party was not a Western style political movement, but rather the most moderate of the socialist Zionist political movements.  From the very beginning Ben Gurion and those around him went out to assert their control over the State of Israel at all levels.  They created a bureaucracy so penetrative to the normal Israeli, the State could barely breathe.  In 1977, Menachem Begin surprised the establishment and became the Prime Minister of Israel.  He was the feared leader of the Irgun, demonized by Ben Gurion and the Mapai, but unlike his Mapai counterparts Begin believed in an open economy and the freedom of ideas.

With Begin’s victory and the changing demographics of Israel, the Left realized it could not overtly control the country anymore.  It had to rely on the bureaucracy created in the beginning of the state. The Left embedded itself within Israel’s Justice system, media, and education system.  Despite Begin’s victory and Shamir’s continuance of his legacy, the Left drove the narrative of the country until Bibi became the Finance Minister.  Netanyahu realized the battle is far more deep than appears and went out to unleash the economic potential of Israel thus circumventing the Left’s ability to control events unchecked.  The Deep State continues in Israel through the courts and the media.  It coordinates with its counterparts around the world and seeks only one thing, control of Israel’s future. Economic freedom has pushed back on the Left, but if cannot have contol, the Left is willing to bring the country down.

Trump is Battling an Israeli Style Deep State in America

Obama realized early on that he could be America’s shadow president through the injection of loyalists into the expanding bureaucracy his team was setting out to create. Regulation after regulation and federal job after federal job, Obama’s influence became ever lasting within the confines of Washington DC.  Like the Arabists in the State Department who have controlled Foggy Bottom from the shadows of their offices since World War 2, Obama remade the Federal bureaucracy to follow his orders whether he is in office or not.

This Deep State is real and has no loyalty to the constitution or nationalism.  The Deep State in Israel and the USA is concerned only with its own self-preservation.  It is this Deep State that both Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu are fighting.  The shadows are strong and they change location and tactics, but they must be removed for freedom to truly reign.

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Is Donald Trump Ready to Shatter the Mythical “Palestinian” Narrative?

If the sources coming out of the White House are accurate, President Donald Trump seems to be ready to take on the made up “Palestinian” narrative.  In the latest volley aimed at destroying the “Palestinian’s” use of UN bureaucracy to create a defacto state, the US scuttled the naming of former PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad as a UN special envoy to Libya.

“The United States was disappointed to see a letter indicating the intention to appoint the former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister to lead the U.N. Mission in Libya,” Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said in a statement opposing the selection of Fayyad. “For too long the U.N. has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel.”

“The United States does not currently recognize a Palestinian state or support the signal this appointment would send within the United Nations, however, we encourage the two sides to come together directly on a solution,” Haley said in a vast departure from Obama administration rhetoric. “Going forward the United States will act, not just talk, in support of our allies.”

In a continued transformation of American policy just before Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting with President Trump, sources in the White House claim that Trump will not use the phrase “two-states” or pressure Israel over construction in Judea and Samaria.

Whether due to Trump’s circle of friends, son-in-law, or just a good sense of right and wrong, the President seems to be ready to jettison decades of US policy in favor of backing Israel’s claims to its Biblical Heartland.

Why Now?

The Trump administration sees the world in black and white.  Either you are with the USA or against.  This is why Trump wants to pick his team of allies so to speak and build his foreign policy off of that. Furthermore, he never truly bought into the “Palestinian” victimhood complex. Trump does not like whiners and for him that his what much of the Arab world represents.  True, he needs the “moderate” Sunni states to take on Iran, but they need the USA far more than the USA needs them.

After Wednesday, the world is about to witness the collapse of the world’s only made up people.

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[watch] BREAKING: Yemen Fires Ballisitic Missile on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia…Has WW3 Begun?

The prophecies about the end of days tell us of a final war between Persia and Rome.  This war is sparked by an attack from Persia on [Saudi] Arabia forcing Arabia to ask for help from Rome.  The events of last night, now slowly trickling out of the Middile East is that Iranian backed Yemenis did indeed fire a ballistic missile on Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia last night. Could this be the beginning of the above mentioned war?

With Trump clearly putting the focus on the Iranian regime over the last week, this attack is a test of how committed he is to intervening and going head to head with the Ayatollahs.  If the answer is yes, then the security situation on the Arabian penninsula and beyond will start to unravel as more countries get involved.

The enusing conflict has the ability to quickly spiral out of control and turn into a global war.

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Let’s Dissect Trump’s Statement on Communities in Judea and Samaria

With all of the uproar concerning Donald Trump’s supposed about face concerning Jewish communities in Judea and Samria (collectively known as “settlements”) it is important to look at the entire statement from the administration’s press secretary Sean Spicer.

“The American desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained unchanged for 50 years. While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal. As the President has expressed many times, he hopes to achieve peace throughout the Middle East region. The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month.”

Although the elite media seems bent on misreporting the above statement as opposition to “settlements,” the Trump administration seems to be indicating the opposite.

“…we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace…”

This line is pretty explicit, President Trump does not believe “settlements” are the reason why there has been no peace agreement. It is true the administration then goes on to dictate the extent of Israeli “settlement” construction it deems permissible, however the contours of this are so vast, it would include all government building tenders in the foreseeable future.

Some explanation is needed.

Each community has what is called a blue line or community border.  This is far larger than the built up areas within the communities.  Many communities would be able to double or even triple and in some cases quadruple in size before they were maxed out. The statement does not make a distinction between “settlement blocks” or “isolated settlements.”  Essentially the Trump administration is saying to Israel, don’t make a big deal every time you build some houses and we won’t make a big deal back.

This approach allows President Trump to continue support for Judea and Samaria without disturbing the growing alliance of Sunni Arab states and Israel in opposition to Iran.

Eessntially, what the elite media is reporting is nothing other than fake news.

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Salon’s Attack on Trump’s Plan to Move US Embassy to Jerusalem is FAKE NEWS

This past Sunday, Salon ran a piece titled: “Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is a bad idea for everyone — except Israeli hard-liners and their American friends,” in which the author focused on three main points in an attempt to craft an argument for not moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

The author does this by way of creating a hypothetical meeting between two Arab leaders.  The King of Saudi Arabia and the King of the UAE.

“When the two most influential leaders in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, get together to discuss how Washington can demonstrate its renewed commitment to regional allies, it is a safe bet that moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is not on their list.”

The author uses the above “pretend meeting” to set up a false narrative where a move of the US embassy to Jerusalem reignites the “Israeli-Palestinian” conflict as well as tearing apart the “normally quiet” Middle East.

The move he insists, is being pushed by Trump to soothe his “radical base” as well as supported by Israel’s “hardliners.”

The above could not be further from the truth.

Let’s set the record straight:  President Donald Trump does not view the Two State Solution or the splitting of Jerusalem as necessities in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The fact is, most Israelis support an Israel with a united Jerusalem as its capital.  Given these facts, why does it matter if the Palestinians are erked?  Why are their grievences necessarily assumed to be equal to Israel’s?

Furthermore, the author wants to make the case that the Middle East will fall into chaos if the US moves its embassy to Jerusalem.  Perhaps the author has forgotten about the chaos that flows from Iraq to Syria to Yemen. Let’s face it, the Middle East is about as chaotic as it can get.

As for his assertion that Saudi Arabia or the UAE would care?  So what. They are not going to do anything about it. They both need the USA and Israel to hold off Iran.  The most they will do is throw a public fit in order to appease their wound up street, which deep down inside doesn’t care anyway.

Here are some facts:

  • Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since the 1880s
  • Jews are the nationality to have a continuous presence in Jerusalem for 3000 years
  • Jews are the only people to have an established capital in Jerusalem 3 times

In light of these, why wouldn’t the US move its embassy to Jerusalem? In fact, if one truly wants to make a point of ending the conflict once and for all, taking Jerusalem off the table will bring the “Palestinians” to their knees and yes bring peace faster than leaving the conflict simmering the way it is now.

President Trump and the majority of supporters of Israel as well as the US Congress are completely justified and correct in wanting to move the US embassy to the historical and political capital of the only Jewish State.

The author ends his article with this:

“Rather than demonstrating American resolve and commitment, moving the embassy to Jerusalem actually has the potential to strengthen Iran, weaken Israel’s ties to the Arab world, and sow violence between Palestinians and Israelis. This should all be abundantly clear, but when it comes to U.S. policy in the Middle East, illogical arguments often reign.”

This final statement is the hubris which Middle East policy has been driven through for the last 5 decades.  It is the author who has made a series of illogical arguments.  These arguments and mentality are about to be bulldozed into the dustbin of moral relativism and Arabist apologetics by the 45th President.