There Are Only Two Names in the News Today -- Attorney General Barr and Prime Minister Netanyahu

THERE ARE ONLY TWO STORIES TODAY. Prime Minister Netanyahu has won his fifth term as Israel's leader. Attorney General Barr has announced the formation of a team to "look into" the FBI's handling of the Trump probe. • • • NETANYHAU WINS AN HISTORIC FIFTH TERM AS ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER . The Jewish Press, in na article by David Israel, announced at 8 AM on Wednesday : "Benjamin Netanyahu has won it all Tuesday, establishing himself as both the smartest politician in Israel’s history, and, very likely, the longest serving Prime Minister. He also gained the highest number of seats of his career -- as 97% of the votes have been counted Wednesday morning. Likud this morning boasts 35 seats, the same as its rival, Blue and White, but while Bibi has increased the stretch of the right-wing bloc to as much as 65, Benny Gantz has left nothing but rubble and smoldering ashes on the left side of the aisle, with Labor at the lowest point in its history, 6 seats, and Meretz down to only 4 seats, the closest it has ever come to extinction. Netanyahu also got exactly the kind of majority he was praying for : the Haredim at a stunning 16 seats combined -- 8 to United Torah Judaism and 8 to Shas; Bennett below the threshold vote, slated for disappearance; the two Arab factions down from 13 to 10 seats combines; and Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut also below the vote threshold." • The Jewish Press added : "As Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman, who wrested a loss of only one seat from what could have been a total failure to make it into the Knesset at all, officially endorsed Netanyahu, as did Moshe Kahlon, whose Kulanu party sank from 10 to 4 seats, Bibi is king. For one thing, he has several proposed paths at this point to evade prosecution altogether in three expected corruption indictments, with his coalition partners ready and able to legislate whatever Bibi needs to stay alive politically. And the only coalition partner who might object, Moshe Kahlon, can always drop whatever portfolio he receives and leave -- Bibi would still be sitting pretty on 61 seats....Bibi has reached the zenith, with the highest number of Likud Knesset seats in this century, a resounding vote of confidence from the Israeli public, despite his looming legal troubles, and his vociferous rival on the right, Naftali Bennett, gone from politics as this morning’s vote count seems to show. Another possibly troublesome coalition partner, Moshe Feiglin from Zehut, has also been kept out of the Knesset, following a campaign that, days before the election itself, predicted he would win double digits...the Israeli left looks a little like Berlin in 1945. The left and the Arabs have been defeated not by Netanyahu, but by a junta of generals and one charlatan media magician. Three former IDF chiefs of staff and Yair Lapid combined forces to drink up three-quarters of the seats that once belonged to the historic Labor party (together with Tzipi Livni), one fifth of Meretz, and three out of thirteen Arab seats....Is General Benny Gantz prepared to spend the next four years as leader of the loyal opposition, heckling government ministers....? Time will tell. He didn’t come across very exciting when half of Israel (and the world’s media) thought he was going to defeat Netanyahu -- is he cut out for what it takes to be an effective opposition politician?....you know he’s going home before Rosh Hashana. His co-chairman, Yair Lapid, who spent the last four years on the opposition benches, was more likely to be found in Stockholm, Sweden, any day of the week, than in Jerusalem, 'saving Israel’s good name abroad' as he called it." • The Jewish Press noted that : "With the 5-seat religious Zionist faction led by Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich, 21 Knesset seats are occupied by devoted Orthodox Jews, with at least ten more yarmulke-wearing Likud MKs. The 21st Knesset will not only be the most right-wing in Israel’s history, but also the most Orthodox-Jewish and Haredi ['ultra-orthodox" Jews projected to make up 16% of the total population, and by 2065, one third of the Israeli population]....With this kind of power, the Orthodox have a chance to move beyond defending narrow religious issues such as the IDF draft and keeping Shabbat around the country. Our leaders can now look at bringing to the fore Torah ideals such as no usury, legally protected gmachim (not-for-profit financial institutions), just labor conditions....In fact, never before have Orthodox Jews been deposited with this much power and responsibility to do good and show secular Israeli Jews the power and beauty of our Torah. Congratulations." • The Associated Press wrote : "The outcome affirmed Israel's continued tilt to the right and further dimmed hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." • PM Netanyahu got a helping hand from his friend President Trump during the campaign -- but the President's acts were not directed at Netanyahu perse but at firming up Israel's position in the region -- recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017, moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem last May, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. AND, then Netanhyahu helped himself by announcing last weekend that if elected, he would annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. In what could be the worst tactic of his left-leaning campaign, Gantz said a government under his stewardship would pursue peace, but stopped short of committing to the establishment of a Palestinian state. On election night, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said : "Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation." BUT, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014 -- because the Palestinians refused to recognize Israel's right to exist. General Gantz is obviously not good at reading the pulse of the Israeli people -- a lot like leftist US Democrats who keep pushing for open borders in the face of massive and mounting opposition by the American people. • Israel Hayom reported Prime Minister Netanyahu's remarks to his supporters as his victory became evident : "This is an unimaginable achievement. I am very moved tonight, a night of tremendous victory. I am very excited that the people of Israel once again trusted me for the fifth time and with greater confidence. I believe that God and history gave the Jewish people another opportunity to turn their country into a strong nation, and that’s what I’m working for....The next government will be a right-wing government. Yet I intend to be the prime minister of all Israelis, right and left, Jews and non-Jews alike." Israel Hayom said it has also learned that Netanyahu "may ask Kulanu Party leader Moshe Kahlon, a former Likud member, to merge with Likud, thereby making it the largest party. Kahlon has already said that he would back Netanyahu as prime minister." • In a direct criticism of the Blue and White Party and its leader General Gantz, Israel Hayom wrote on Wednesday : "The Blue and White party raised the banner of unity, reconciliation and statesmanship in its election campaign. But there was another side to their purported purist rhetoric, one that spoke of the enemy, in other words, the Right." The article by Akiva Bigman, an investigative journalist who is associate editor of Mida, an Israeli liberal-conservative news and commentary website, stated : "Discussions over the results of Tuesday’s election will go on throughout the day and in the coming weeks. While we may not know the final results, we can still analyze the fundamental results. Every Israeli campaign is instinctive and emotional, as is fitting. But it seems that this time around, we were witness to innovative political rhetoric from the Left, which although it has not been afforded the necessary attention has serious consequences for the country. The Blue and White party raised the banner of unity, reconciliation and statesmanship in its election campaign. These types of words were heard from the list’s spokespeople and in its official statements. But there was another side to the purported purist rhetoric in Blue and White’s talk of the enemy, the other camp, the Right, the group responsible for the lack of unity, reconciliation and statesmanship. On occasion, the target was mentioned specifically -- with slogans like 'Enough, Bibi' in reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At other times, it was merely alluded to as 'the current government' or in calls for a revolution. But it was always there. Netanyahu was consistently accused of the most serious allegations: of being unstatesmanlike, against reconciliation and preventing unity. These are not the typical claims of political discourse, which despite the harsh language and sharp tones, primarily focuses on policy and worldview. But oddly enough, it was precisely on the issues where Blue and White remained vague. A Palestinian state? Disengagements? A Histadrut Labor federation economy? It looks like no one, including party members themselves, knows what Blue and White is planning. But on one issue they have been clear throughout the election campaign: The Right is bad. Netanyahu is guilty. We have grown accustomed to the delegitimization of the policies of the Right -- settlements are an obstacle to peace, government funds should go to the neighborhoods and not the settlements -- but the fundamental and thorough delegitimization of the camp itself is something new....Blue and White crossed many lines in its demonization of the Right. Party members called Netanyahu a traitor. They boycotted the funeral of IDF soldier Zachary Baumel, arguing it would serve as political 'spin' for the Likud, and Gantz said he was convinced Netanyahu would physically harm him if he could. The 'bot' campaign also crossed a line. Instead of directing their poisonous arrows at their political rivals, Blue and White stepped on the gas and targeted private individuals whose only sin was expressing their right-wing opinions online. Reconciliation? Unity? Statesmanship?" • The last word on Netanyahu's victory goes to American Thinker's Ron Jager, a 25-year veteran of the IDF, who served as a field mental health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, he was commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring, he provides consultancy services to NGOs implementing psycho-trauma and psycho-education programs to communities in the North and South of Israel. He was formerly a strategic advisor at the Office of the Chief Foreign Envoy of Judea and Samaria. Jager says : "Benjamin Netanyahu has been declared the winner of an unprecedented fifth term as Israel's prime minister, refusing to be beaten by the combined political force of three former IDF army chiefs; pending bribery and fraud allegations hanging over him; and the combined forces of a hostile broadcast, printed, and digital news media who spent the latter part of the past three years hounding and tarnishing Netanyahu day and night. All have failed to end his political career. Netanyahu, a seasoned conservative politician and a brilliant political tactician, proved once again his ability to lead and overturn what seemed to be a foregone conclusion that he would be ousted....the right-wing bloc has won a clear and undisputed majority in the 120-seat Knesset, being swept back into power and forming Israel's new government in the coming days and weeks. Benjamin Netanyahu's path to becoming once again Israel's prime minister will withstand any last-minute surprises as the tallying of votes is completed....At a gathering of his supporters in Bnei Brak, Naftali Bennett said he believed that once the soldiers' votes were counted, the party would have enough support to enter the Knesset. "We have always taken care of the soldiers and now they will take care of us," Bennett said." Ron Jager's conclusion is this : "The Likud-led platform of Jewish solidarity and support of modern Jewish nationalism based on Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people coupled with unprecedented economic prosperity has convinced the Israeli public that the Left's vision of peace, liberal social values, and socialist economic policies belongs to the past and has been deemed as unrealistic at best and a denial of reality at worst. The never-ending conflict with the Palestinians, based on the 'land for peace' model, is no longer a viable political process due to the unwillingness of the Palestinian leadership to accept Israel's existence and the continuing terror raising its ugly head all too frequently." AND, Jager takes it home to America : "An astute observation of the Israeli election results can also have wider implications for the American elections in 2020 and the re-election prospects of President Trump. The results of last night's election show that Likud's political strength actually rose despite Netanyahu's widely media bias -- espousing politicized accusations and alleged transgressions. Both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu share a loyal base, which feels cheated, deprived, ignored, swindled, and oppressed. As a result, both political leaders have in the past and can in the future give so many disenfranchised voters hope and that their struggles are important and can no longer be ignored." • • • ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR STEPS UP TO THE 2016 PLATE. Will he hit a home run?? • Fox News reporter Gregg Re wrote on Wednesday, with input from Catherine Herridge and Brooke Singman : "Attorney General William Barr has assembled a 'team' to investigate the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign, an administration official briefed on the situation told Fox News on Tuesday. Republicans repeatedly have called for a thorough investigation of the FBI's intelligence practices and the basis of the since-discredited Russian collusion narrative following the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe -- and they now appear to have assurances that a comprehensive review was underway." • Fox News says : "The FBI's July 2016 counterintelligence investigation was formally opened by anti-Trump former FBI agent Peter Strzok. Ex-FBI counsel Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was romantically involved, revealed during a closed-door congressional interview that the FBI 'knew so little' about whether allegations against the Trump campaign were 'true or not true' at the time they opened the probe, noting they had just 'a paucity of evidence because we are just starting down the path' of vetting the allegations. Page later said that it was 'entirely common' that the FBI would begin a counterintelligence investigation with just a 'small amount of evidence.' Former FBI Director James Comey would testify later that when agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government, investigators 'didn't know whether we had anything' and that 'in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn't know whether there was anything to it.' " • AG Barr told lawmakers at a contentious hearing earlier Tuesday that he was reviewing the bureau's “conduct” in particular during the summer of 2016....Mueller's investigation completed last month without securing the indictment of a single American for collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice, "despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign" : "I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016,” Barr said at the hearing." • Barr also was questioned about the initial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants approved to surveil members of the Trump campaign, including former Trump aide Carter Page. Republicans have called for a careful review as to whether the FBI, in violation of Page's constitutional rights and FBI procedures, misled the FISA court or withheld exculpatory information, and Barr testified that a DOJ review of the FBI's FISA practices was in progress. Fox News stated : "The FBI's ultimately successful October 2016 warrant application to surveil Page, which relied in part on information from British ex-spy Christopher Steele -- whose anti-Trump views are now well-documented -- flatly accused Page of conspiring with Russians. Page has never been charged with any wrongdoing, and he since has sued the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for defamation. The FBI assured the FISA court on numerous occasions -- in the October 2016 warrant application and in subsequent renewals -- that other sources, including a Yahoo News article, independently corroborated Steele's claims, without evidence to back it up. It later emerged that Steele was also the source of the Yahoo News article, written by reporter Michael Isikoff. The FBI also quoted directly from a disputed Washington Post opinion piece to argue that Trump's views on providing lethal arms to Ukraine, and working towards better relations with Russia, was a possible indicator that the campaign had been compromised. The Trump campaign, at the time, supported only providing only defensive arms to Ukrainians, and rejected a single Republican delegate's proposed platform amendment that called for providing lethal arms. Later, the Trump administration changed course and approved lethal arms sales to Ukraine. The FBI did not provide its own independent assessment of whether the Washington Post opinion piece contained accurate information, and did not mention that the Obama administration had the same policy towards arming Ukraine as the one Trump's team supported. The FBI also did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign. Instead, the FBI only indicated that Steele's Dossier was prepared in conjunction with a presidential campaign. Fox News exclusively obtained internal FBI text messages last month showing that just nine days before the FBI applied for the Page FISA warrant, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had 'continued concerns' about the 'possible bias' of a source pivotal to the application. Fox News also has been told the Justice Department's Inspector General (IG) was looking separately into whether Comey mishandled classified information by including a variety of sensitive matters in his private memos. A DOJ court filing on Monday night revealed that Comey incorporated into his private documents, among other key details, the name and code name of a confidential human source." • Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Tuesday on “Hannity” that Attorney General William Barr's review of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation will lead to a criminal investigation. Jarrett said : “A headline today is that William Barr's personally reviewing the conduct of the FBI in launching the Trump Russia collusion hoax. He knows and there is a plethora of evidence that the process by the FBI was corrupted by political bias and personal animus.” Jarrett laid out a case for a criminal investigation by Barr while talking to Sean Hannity : "There was never any credible evidence to launch the investigation and Lisa Page verified that in her own testimony, Comey grudgingly admitted it. And then they made matters worse, they lie to FISA judges to obtain a wiretap warrant. So all of this I think William Barr is going to investigate. And when he receives, sometime this week from members of Congress, a criminal referral he will read what they are laying out the facts, the evidence and the law which will initiate, I believe, a criminal investigation by Barr.” • Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who’s a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has already pledged to pursue the issue in the Judiciary Committee he chairs : “Once we put the Mueller report to bed, once Barr comes to the committee and takes questions about his findings and his actions, and we get to see the Mueller report, consistent with law, then we are going to turn to finding out how this got off the rails,” he said in a March 28 interview with Fox News. Senator Graham said Tuesday that he plans to defer his questions about the Russia investigation until Barr appears before his Judiciary panel on May 1. • Fox News reported on AG Barr's Wednesday congressional testimony : "Attorney General Bill Barr testified Wednesday that he believes 'spying did occur' on the Trump campaign in 2016, as he vowed to review the conduct of the FBI's original Russia probe -- and the focus of a related internal review shifted to the role of a key FBI informant. 'The question is whether it was adequately predicated....I think it’s my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane,' he testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, while noting that 'spying on a political campaign is a big deal.' The comments follow a new report that the Justice Department’s internal watchdog also is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who contacted members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, as part of a broader review of the early stages of the Russia investigation. The New York Times reported that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is looking into informant Stefan Halper’s work during the Russia probe, as well as his work with the FBI prior to the start of that probe. Halper, an American professor who reportedly is deeply connected with British and American intelligence agencies, has been widely reported as a confidential source for the FBI during the bureau’s original investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. That official counterintelligence operation was opened by then-senior agent Peter Strzok, who has since been fired from the bureau. During the 2016 campaign, Halper contacted several members of the Trump campaign, including former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and former aide Carter Page. Page also was the subject of several FISA warrants during the campaign -- which is an issue at the heart of the IG's investigation. Republicans, including President Trump, have alleged misconduct in the bureau and Justice Department’s handling of those FISA warrants. 'It was an illegal investigation....Everything about it was crooked,' Trump told reporters on Wednesday, describing it as an attempted 'coup' and reiterating his interest in digging into the probe's origins. 'There is a hunger for that to happen.' The Times, in its report, noted that Halper also contacted former Trump campaign aide Sam Clovis. It is unclear whether Halper had the FBI’s permission to contact Clovis, according to the report. Horowitz, more broadly, is probing alleged wrongdoing related to the issuance of FISA warrants to surveil Page during the election....Barr testified that Horowitz’s investigation is expected to be complete by May or June....On Tuesday, Fox News reported that a source said Barr had assembled a 'team' to investigate the origins of the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign. On Wednesday, Barr testified that he hasn't technically 'set up a team' but has colleagues helping him as he reviews the case. 'This is not launching an investigation of the FBI,' he stressed. 'Frankly, to the extent there were issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem of the FBI. I think it was probably a failure of the group of leaders -- the upper echelons of the FBI. I think the FBI is an outstanding organization and I am very pleased Director Chris Wray is there.' He added, 'If it becomes necessary to look over former officials, I expect to rely on Chris and work with him. I have an obligation to make sure government power is not abused and I think that’s one of the principal roles of the attorney general.' " • • • THE AFTERMATH OF THE MUELLER PROBE AND REPORT. American Thinker's Clarice Feldman wrote a long piece on April 7 titled "Mueller Express Fails to Deliver, Democrats Head for the Abyss." Feldman suggests that : "As the long-running Mueller Witch Hunt pulled into the station empty, the one thing that held together the disparate factions of the Democratic Party -- the thought that Mueller would hand them grounds for impeachment -- was lost and a 'Gadarene stampede' (in Conrad Black’s fine phrase, descriptive of a pack of crazed swine heading for the abyss) has followed. To be sure, those who believed Mueller would save them from the Trump revolution didn’t give up entirely. Tom Maguire had some fun at the expense of the diehards : "The Walls Are Closing In On Trump Again! After a brief respite the media is back to Waiting For The Mueller Report : sources NOT on Mueller's now-disbanded team tell the Times that some of the team think the Barr summary went too easy on Trump. This is impressive 'sources say other sources say' journalism....Mueller ran a tight ship for two years but now his gang is dispersed. Some are back in private practice and no one is worried that Mueller will fire them for chatting a bit. We'll see the report soon enough. Another week or two of staring down their rabbit hole won't hurt the Democrats any." • Clarice Feldman quotes Victor Davis Hanson : "We are going to see hard-left Democrats and socialists force their mostly unpopular agenda on politicians and candidates from their own party. And they are now putting their identity-politics money where their mouth is by openly discouraging candidates on the basis of their race and gender....With the end of the Mueller investigation, thousands of government documents, mostly unredacted, will be released. The result may be that the hunters of Trump soon become hunted by federal prosecutors. Sworn statements of Obama administration officials in the Justice Department, CIA, FBI and other bureaucracies will contradict newly released documents. To escape punishment, all of these players in the Russian collusion delusion may now begin to turn on one another after being so united in going after Donald Trump. The media sensationalism and optics will play out in reverse as the 'noose tightens' and 'the walls close in' on people such as former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. There will also be more infighting over the collective embarrassment of the Russian collusion hoax." • Feldman then turns to Conrad Black : "It’s impossible to disagree with Conrad Black’s description of the present wreck of the Democratic party with 18 announced candidates , not counting Joe Biden : 'It is uproariously entertaining to see the scurryings of the innumerable host of Democratic presidential candidates in what is already more of a lottery than a quest for the nomination of a great party to the world’s greatest office. The Gadarene stampede to (and over) the edge of the abyss of all who advocate open borders, 70 percent income taxes, the green terror, socialized medicine, legalized infanticide, reparations to native and African-Americans, packing the Supreme Court, and vacation of the Electoral College, has finally elicited, in a Churchillian expression, a tiny mouse of dissent....The Democrats temporarily have become a hopeless party. As the Russian collusion fraud vanished, so did any possible argument that there isn’t really a crisis on the southern border. The Trump tax and deregulation reform, which Speaker Pelosi called 'the worst disaster in history' (no 'constructive Trumpian hyperbole' here), maintains a full employment, noninflationary economy with rising family purchasing power and a growing workforce. The Democrats haven’t got the message, but those who aren’t punch-drunk out of their senses will decode the political message the night of the election in November 2020. Then, when they have dug out from under the rubble of their fantasies, they can start to rebuild." • • • DEAR READERS, Clarice Feldman tells us to "prepare now for the consequences of the Deep State’s efforts to directly manipulate the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election." The Republican probes and congressional inquiries will still be going on as the 2020 election rolls around. But, between now and then, there is finally the possibility of separate criminal investigations being opened into the actions of individual participants in the anti-Trump cabal -- think John Brennan, James Clapper, Andrew McCabe, Peter Styrok, and possibly Jim Comey and Rod Rosenstein. They all apparently schemed, seemingly in a conspiratorial arrangement, to keep the duly elected President, Donald Trump, from assuming office. • We must leave Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for later, if ever. We need really hot smoking guns to bring them down. The guns exist, but they may be so well camouflaged that they will never be found. Some of the items Feldman point to that bear investigating include -- Hillary's campaign using the Christopher Steele Dossier, a fact that is covered up by layers of intermediaries /// senior Obama administration officials secretly plotting to involve Senators in the 'Russia' conspiracy /// Clapper trying to use the 'Russia' gambit to get the Supreme Court to invalidate Trump’s presidency /// Natalia Veselnitskaya's role, probably as a Fusion GPS set-up agent working from an Obama official’s office in Washington /// Strzok leading the effort to destroy General Flynn and cover up for Hillary /// Obama using foreign powers, including Germany, to keep the scheme going, even after President Trump was sworn in. • Clarice Feldman puts it in her own inimitable way : "The plotters were too sure of their success to completely cover their tracks and frankly too bumbling to succeed. And the equally incompetent and unlikeable Hillary Clinton failed to make it over the finish line to cover up for them after the fact. In the meantime, the party that relied on these clowns is now heading for the abyss." • There's nothing to add to that, is there?? So, we end with a heartfelt "Mazel tov" to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a job well done and a victory fully merited.