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In a somewhat surprising turn of events, this morning's futures reaction to last night's shocking start of a completely unexpected Yemen proxy war, which has seen an alliance of Gulf State launch an air, and soon land, war against Yemen's Houthi rebels, is what one would expect: down, and down big. This is surprising, because on previous occasions one would expect the NY Fed, or its pet hedge fund, Citadel, or the BOJ or ECB (via the CME's "Central Bank Incentive Program") to aggressively buy ES to prevent a slide, something has changed, and for the BTFDers, that something may...

In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear capabilities, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent. But in the declassified document from 1987, which can be viewed here, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth. The timing of the revelation is highly...

With an end-of-March deadline days away, Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back into negotiations with Iran, hoping to seal a framework deal to roll back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Speaking Wednesday morning to U.S. ambassadors, Kerry assailed opponents of a deal. "What happens if, as our critics propose, we just walk away from a plan that the rest of the world were to deem to be reasonable?" Kerry asked. "Well, the talks would collapse. Iran would have the ability to go right back spinning its centrifuges and enriching to the degree they want... And...

The last time a “reassessment” took place was also in March, and the year was 1975. There’s something about the month of March that brings out tensions in US-Israel relations, tensions felt aplenty this month: First with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to US Congress, and then – after Netanyahu’s victory – with Washington’s threat to reassess its Middle East policy. The last time a “reassessment” took place was also in March, and the year was 1975. March 1975 was less than two years since the Yom Kippur War, and then secretary of state Henry Kissinger – after successfully brokering...

Yuval Steinitz says Israel and France share concerns over US-led hasty deal with Iran, as he ends a 2-day special diplomatic mission. Israel's intelligence minister on Tuesday wrapped up a two-day European diplomatic offensive against making concessions to Iran in nuclear negotiations with world powers, his spokesman said. "Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz completed two days of intensive discussion in Paris and London," a statement from Eyal Basson said, adding that the minister was accompanied by National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen and "intelligence experts". "They met the British negotiating team, headed by Simon Gass, and senior intelligence officials," the statement said,...

RUSH: I got up today, I must at you tell you, I bopped out of bed today, one of the first things I do after becoming fully conscious is grab the phone and check to see if there's been any emergency breaking type news overnight during the four or five hours I was asleep. And I see that Netanyahu apologized for his racist comments about the Arab vote. I have to tell you, my heart sank. A little bit of it sank and I started shaking my head and I said, "Why are so many people afraid of this inexperienced...

An Iranian official on Tuesday rebuked the chief of the UN atomic agency for demanding snap inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites, saying the request hindered efforts to reach an agreement with world powers, state TV reported. Earlier this month Yukiya Amano, the head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tehran should agree to snap inspections to reassure the international community. Iran’s nuclear spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said Amano’s comments harm the delicate negotiations. “It would be much better if Amano only talked about the IAEA’s seasonal and monthly reports,” he said, according to state TV. Last June, Kamalvandi said...

"Hundreds of Polish residents took to the streets to give a hero's welcome to a convoy of U.S. troops who are driving through eastern Europe and deliver a damning message to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Children climbed on to Stryker armoured vehicles and even offered souvenirs to the troops, who stopped to pose for pictures in the main square of the eastern Polish town of Bialystok. Meanwhile other residents lined the roads and applauded as the troops from the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the American Army passed by." "The scenes mirrored those in France after Paris...

The landslide victory by Netanyahu is very much the response of the “silent majority” who are no longer willing to go along with the lies, the arrogance, and lack of accountability and taking of responsibility. The elections in Israel have turned out to be Obama’s first loss in a national race. Yes, my friends, the big loser in Israel’s national elections was not the Israeli Labor party nor the other smaller opposition parties all running on an “anyone but Netanyahu ticket”, but Barack Obama who did everything in his power to defeat Benjamin Netanyahu and lost big league. What seems...

In 1982, during one of many visits to Israel, I had the opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who told me, "Israel needs friends." He added that in the end, his nation could not trust any nation with its fate and security. The protection of Israel, he said, was ultimately the responsibility of Israelis. Begin's comment was prophetic given the petulance of our current president, who behaves like an enemy of Israel when he attempts to impose a Palestinian state on Israel and negotiate a deal with Iran that can only lead to new threats against the Jewish...

Chief of Staff Denis McDonough says that Israel’s government must match up ‘words with actions and policies,’ warns Netanyahu’s statements can’t be willed away WASHINGTON — White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough called for the end of Israel’s “50-year occupation” and doubled down on the Obama administration’s critique of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a warmly received speech to the lobbying group J Street in Washington Monday. Speaking to the dovish group’s national conference, McDonough became the latest in a series of Washington officials to highlight the administration’s displeasure with Netanyahu, while also talking up the permanence of US-Israel...

Netanyahu tries to make amends with the Arab sector for Election Day comments warning right-wing voters that Israeli Arabs were voting en masse. Whether Israeli Arabs choose to accept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's apology for his pre-election comments, it appears the Obama administration has decided it will not. US officials continued questioning the leadership and judgment of the newly reelected premier on Monday, after US President Barack Obama said over the weekend that he planned a reassessment of the relationship. "When he says one thing one day and another thing another it's impossible to tell if he's sincere," State Department...

Multiple incidents of voter fraud were reported during elections day last week - including several arrests in Arab communities. Arutz Sheva spoke to Yisrael Zelkovitz, a volunteer who served as a member of a volunteer task force funded by the Samaria Residents' Committee at polling stations tasked with uncovering and preventing voter fraud, to find out more about what really happened on elections day. The project was funded with Likud, Jewish Home, and Yisrael Beytenu support. Zelkovitz stated that he did see incidents of voter fraud, and even caught some suspicious activity on tape - including buying votes and extortion....

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Monday that Iran, which is negotiating with world powers on its nuclear program, should not get "undeserved deals." "It is impossible that Iran should get undeserved deals," Prince Saud said at a joint news conference with visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. Iran and six world powers are in negotiations to clinch a long-sought deal aimed at putting a nuclear bomb out of reach for the country in exchange for easing sanctions on its economy. Tehran denies wanting nuclear weapons. Prince Saud called for guarantees that the program "does not turn into...

PARIS - Israel said on Monday it was probable that world powers and Iran would agree a "bad deal" on Tehran's nuclear program and it would do all it could to toughen any accord before talks resume this week. "We think it's going to be a bad, insufficient deal," Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters in an interview before meeting French officials in Paris. "It seems quite probable it will happen, unfortunately." France, the United States and four other powers suspended talks with Iran in Switzerland on Friday and will reconvene this week to try to break the deadlock...

GENEVA - The United States will not take the floor at the main U.N. human rights forum on Monday during the annual debate on violations committed in the Palestinian territories, a U.S. spokesman told Reuters. The move at the 47-member state forum where Washington unfailingly defends Israel, follows signals that the Obama administration is undertaking a "reassessment" of relations with Israel. The last time that Washington spoke under that stand-alone agenda item was in March 2013, U.N. records show. (This story corrects to removes word "unprecedented" in paragraph 2, adds new 3rd paragraph to clarify)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ‘gevalt’ campaign and media blitz that he kicked off Thursday evening had an immediate affect on the poll, even before the right-wing mass rally and the comments he had made on Election Day regarding arab voters “coming out in the droves,” Netanyahu’s pollster revealed on Sunday. In an interview with John Catsimatidis on the ‘Cats Roundtable’ radio program, John McLaughlin, who served as a pollster and strategist to the Likud Party elections campaign, said that an internal poll conducted for the campaign Sunday night had Likud with 23 percent of the vote (28-29 seats). McLaughlin attributed...

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer received Saturday the full backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid chatter in Washington that replacing Dermer may be necessary to restore the working relationship with the Obama administration. In a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu reiterated what he had said at the AIPAC conference earlier this month that he “couldn’t be prouder to have Ron Dermer representing Israel in Washington.” “That is as true today as it was then,” the statement read. “The prime minister has full confidence in Ambassador Dermer, whose service to the people and State of Israel...

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz headed to Paris Sunday afternoon, as differences emerged over the weekend between France and the US over the negotiating strategy with Iran. "This is an effort to prevent a (nuclear) deal that is bad and full of loopholes, or at least ... to succeed in closing or amending some of these loopholes," Steinitz told Israel radio. He is being accompanied by National Security Council head Yossi Cohen, and several other intelligence officials Steinitz said he may go to other European capitals as well. At one point during the latest negotiations, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius phoned...

This week, the media’s reaction to the Israeli election seemed indistinguishable from the reaction of the Obama White House. Not only were journalists surprised by Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory on Tuesday (they apparently believed pre-election surveys showing his party trailing by 2 to 4 seats; they ended up winning by 6 seats), but they seemed distressed by the result. On Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News, fill-in anchor Lester Holt predicted the results “could destroy any chance of a peace plan.” Over on CBS that night, correspondent Barry Petersen fretted that because of Netanyahu’s victory, “peace will be hard....Not a lot of optimism...