Friday, 5 June 2009

There are no shortcuts.

Yoel Meltzer
11 Sivan 5769/June 3, 2009

For more than 15 years Israel has been plagued by the "Oslo mindset". This way of thinking, which did not appear out of a vacuum but slowly evolved over the course of years, is still alive and kicking despite all that has transpired. Its current outward manifestation, the much talked about "two-state solution", is gaining momentum every day despite the obvious danger that undertaking such a measure would entail to the state of Israel.

Although the "Oslo mindset" has had many opponents, most have invested their energy in opposing the various outward manifestations of the mindset, rather than focusing on the faulty mindset itself. The result of this has been that Oslo opponents simply gained a reputation of always "opposing", like a group of pessimistic naysayers, without ever proffering any alternative of their own. Moreover, by constantly focusing on the outward manifestation, they repeatedly engaged the Oslo proponents in a battle they were sure to lose, since who can appear victorious when arguing against measures allegedly designed to bring "peace" or "improved security"?

Unfortunately, the Oslo opponents continue to make the same mistake. The real battle should have been, and still needs to be, against the mindset. Moreover, rather than simply wasting negative energy attacking a certain way of thinking, positive energy should be invested in promulgating a different way of thinking. This point is crucial, since changes in the way one thinks, be it as an individual or a nation, are frequently the catalyst for changes in the physical realm. Obviously, it would have been preferable if such an approach had begun 15 years ago, but nonetheless it's never too late to start. Therefore, I would like to briefly present some key points of what can hopefully become the cornerstone of a proper and healthy "Jewish mindset".

Although the following is certainly not an all-encompassing list and many of the points are not new, it is my firm belief that these ideas need to first be outlined in a clear and concise manner in order for them to be easily disseminated, discussed and internalized by as many Jews as possible.

The 18-point list, the basics for a healthy "Jewish mindset", is as follows:

Read All at :

Esser Agaroth - Towards a Jewish Mindset

Israel Matzav: Yet another reason why 'sanctions' against Iran will never work

Yet another reason why 'sanctions' against Iran will never work

On Wednesday, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a Chinese state company, signed a $4.7 billion contract to help Iran develop a major gas field in the Persian Gulf. CNPC is replacing France's Total Oil, which had started to get queasy about the project, and which had been accused by National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Iran's state oil company, of causing delays in the project.

With Western firms wary of investing in the Islamic state due to its nuclear row with the United States, Tehran has increasingly been looking towards energy-hungry Asian countries for investment to help exploit its vast gas and oil reserves.

Despite the global economic slowdown, China is keen to ensure energy does not constrain future growth and force up the prices it pays.

Israel Matzav: Yet another reason why 'sanctions' against Iran will never work

Israel Matzav: Discussing Israel with the 'Muslim world'

Discussing Israel with the 'Muslim world'

I've said many times before that I believe that our war with the 'Palestinians' is a religious war, and that the 'Palestinians' and their Arab patrons will never accept our presence here because they are religiously proscribed from doing so. But I was surprised to find out that Barack Obama apparently believes the same thing (Hat Tip: Tom Gross).

Obama, the White House press office told reporters last week, will address among other issues the Arab-Israeli issue. What does it imply to raise this issue in a speech to the "Muslim world"? Nearly 700 million of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims live in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, countries which share no linguistic or cultural affinities with the Arabs, and have only religion in common.
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Discussing Israel with the 'Muslim world'

Israel Matzav: US forced Egypt to invite Israel's ambassador to Obama's speech

Israel Matzav: When Egypt occupied Gaza

When Egypt occupied Gaza

Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip from 1948-67. Had they chosen to do so, and if the real goal of the 'Palestinians' and the Arab countries had been to do so, Egypt could have granted Gaza independence as a 'Palestinian' state. (Jordan could have done the same with the 'West Bank').

But that was not Egypt's goal and the Arab countries have no interest in the 'Palestinians' or a 'Palestinian state.' Here are a couple of examples of how the 'refugees' in Gaza were treated in the 1960's, long before there was any 'occupation.' It sounds remarkably like today, doesn't it?

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: When Egypt occupied Gaza

Israel Matzav: Video: Liz Cheney on Obama's speech

Israel Matzav: Ahmadinejad: The 'great deception' of the Holocaust

Israel Matzav: Obama on the 'Saudi plan'

Israel Matzav: President Bush on popularity

Israel Matzav: Iran responds to Obama with a clenched fist

Iran responds to Obama with a clenched fist

This is what President Obama had to say about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. Note that it includes a jab at Israel, which I have highlighted for you.

The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons.

This issue has been a source of tension between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is indeed a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against US troops and civilians. This history is well known. Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build. [Note the implicit apology for the overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953. But the Islamists also opposed that government. CiJ].
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Iran responds to Obama with a clenched fist

Israel Matzav: Obama's moral equivalence of the day

Obama's moral equivalence of the day

Then we have President Obama's moral equivalence of the day (text also here (Hat Tip: Memeorandum)):

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and antisemitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Obama's moral equivalence of the day

Israel Matzav: Obama: Hamas and Hezbullah are no longer terrorists

Obama: Hamas and Hezbullah are no longer terrorists

I want to recap a few points about Obama's speech, which I will do through several posts. First, I noted during the speech that it seems that in Obama's world, the only terrorists are al-Qaeda. A review of the transcript confirms that perception. (The transcript is also here. (Hat Tip: Memeorandum)). He then uses that appellation to justify the war in Afghanistan (and Pakistan), but not the war in Iraq which he distinguishes by calling it a 'war of choice.' Calling Iraq a 'war of choice' in comparison with Afghanistan is absurd, but it's not my issue.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Obama: Hamas and Hezbullah are no longer terrorists

Israel Matzav: Obama castigated by Congressional Democrats

Israel Matzav: Webcast of President Obama's speech in Cairo

Webcast of President Obama's speech in Cairo

I hope you all find this useful (picture added at Shy Guy's request). I will be liveblogging below this post. For those in Israel, this post will not have the Hebrew translation that you are stuck with on the radio and television here.

Here's the webcast.

[Webcast has ended]

You can also find it here.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Webcast of President Obama's speech in Cairo

Israel Matzav: A picture says 1000 words

Israel Matzav: Carter to visit Israel, Gaza, bringing message from Obama

Carter to visit Israel, Gaza, bringing message from Obama

Former American President Jimmy Carter will be visiting Israel next week after 'supervising' the June 7 elections. As happened the last time he was here, Carter will likely be shunned by all of Israel's political echelon with the possible exception of Shimon Peres. Officially, Carter's visit is dubbed a 'private' visit.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Carter to visit Israel, Gaza, bringing message from Obama

Israel Matzav: Obama to visit Gaza?

Obama to visit Gaza?

A delegation of moonbats from Code Pink is carrying a letter to President Obama urging him to visit Gaza to listen to Hamas' point of view. The letter was written by Ahmad Yussef, Undersecretary of Hamas' 'Ministry of Foreign Affairs,' and was to be delivered to President Obama by Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin at the US embassy in Cairo on Thursday morning. US officials in Jerusalem (why are they being asked rather than US officials in Cairo, given that the letter is being delivered there) have not yet responded to the letter

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Obama to visit Gaza?

Israel Matzav: Obama abroad losing ground

Israel Matzav: Dana Perino on Bush v. Obama

Dana Perino on Bush v. Obama

Former Bush press secretary Dana Perino looks back at a speech that then-President Bush made in Cairo last year and asks whether President Obama will uphold it.

The question I have is whether he’s willing to talk about the difficult steps on the road to that destination. In President Bush’s speech, he made specific points about supporting democracy advocates, free and fair elections, free-market entrepreneurs, and women. Given that, the questions I have are:
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Dana Perino on Bush v. Obama

Israel Matzav: President Obama on relaxing

Israel Matzav: Showdown at the University of Cairo Mosque

Showdown at the University of Cairo Mosque

JPost reports that the Netanyahu government is waiting with tense anticipation for President Obama's speech on Thursday in Cairo.

"Like everyone else we will be following the speech very closely," one senior official said Wednesday. While officials in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office did not see a draft of the speech, nor were they asked for their input, they were briefed on the overall content, the official said.

While the Israeli-Arab conflict was expected to be touched upon during the address that will be delivered at Cairo University, it was not expected to be the focus. Rather, Obama has made clear, the focus would be America's relationship with the Muslim world.
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Showdown at the University of Cairo Mosque

Israel Matzav: Amateur hour at the State Department

Amateur hour at the State Department

Today's daily press briefing at the State Department was given by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs P.J. "this is my seventh day on the job here at the Department of State" Crowley. Even the fact that he is a Red Sox fan cannot redeem this sequence.

QUESTION: Well, as you know, I mean, the Bush Administration made kind of democracy in the Middle East, you know, a big cornerstone of its foreign policy, but a lot of people were disappointed with the results. I mean, how do you think that President Obama and this Administration is going to push ahead on issues of democracy in the Middle East? Do you think it’ll be more private, more bilateral, or --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, it’s going to be – obviously, what you’re seeing from the administration in its first five months is a return to high-level engagement in the Middle East, at the presidential level, when appropriate. We’ve had a number of our most seasoned diplomats put into positions where we can have dialogue, with Iran if they’re willing, with Israel and Palestine. George Mitchell will be going back out to the region in the next couple of weeks.
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Amateur hour at the State Department

For Zion's Sake: The Cairo Obamination

The Cairo Obamination

Before the eyes of billions of people worldwide, the leader of the free world munched happily on Mohammedan tuches. In what is without a doubt the largest example of appeasement before terror and fascism since Chamberlain, Obama brought his message of love, peace and reconciliation to the Islamic world, in Cairo. Crying "peace, peace in our time", he repeated ad nauseum myths and revisionist history about "civilization's debt to Islam", his hope for peace between "all the children of Abraham", and apologized for America upsetting the Islamic world. This speech is extremely significant in light of the declaration of jihad against the United States and the Western world, since the victim of aggression cannot even recognize that he is at war. Here are parts of Hussein Obama's speech, with my comments interspersed.

I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement.

Such higher learning is manifested in Al-Azhar's Grand Sheikh's approval of suicide bombings on Islamic grounds.

Read All at :

For Zion's Sake: The Cairo Obamination

Life in Israel: Obama on nuclear weapons

DoubleTapper: IDF Women on and off duty

The Afternoon After the Speech

As a historian, I could quible with the speech Obama just gave in Cairo. He set up a partial narrative of the past, choosing the elements that were convenient to string together a vision of the future as he'd like it to be. Yet he's not a hisotrian. He's the most powerful man in the world, and he's trying to use his limited power to make it a better place. The narrative he presented and the vision drawn from it were admirable. It was a fine articulation of an Enlightened goal for humanity. Sadly, it's a rare politician who ever takes the time even to try to make such an encompassing articulation, much less set it up as a beacon to guide the formulation of policy. He deserves credit for trying. His determination to "tell truth" was also admirable: the speech may have been an interpretation of history but it was consistent and honest about its essential componants: Fight violent extremists; two states in Israel/Palestine (with a loud rejection of Holocaust denial); no nuclear race which at this point means no nuclear Iran; democracy (tho he could have been more explicit for my taste); equality of women; respect for all religions (though he mentioned only the Abrahamic ones); equal opportunities.

What was there not to agree with?

A wise Israeli Prime Minster such as we don't have, would have gone on air two minutes after Obama's speech and said "As the elected leader of Israel and foremost political figure in the Jewish world, I welcome President Obama's speech wholeheartedly. He speaks for us, too, in our joint aspirations for peace dignity freedom and well-being in the Middle East and everywhere. We will do whatever we can to assist him in realizing his fine vision".

Let the Arabs wriggle and squirm. Why should we be defensive after such a positive speech? Of course much of what he asked for will never happen. Let the enemies of the vision stand forth and reject it. How did we paint ourselves into their camp?

taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Na LaGa`at. A Profoundly Moving Place

Yesterday we went down to Jaffa and saw a show at the Na LaGa'at center. It was presented by a troupe of actors, some quite talented, who are deaf and blind.

Both. They don't see (some used to, a few have remnants of sight), and also don't hear (some used to, and some still have remnants). Can you even begin to imagine the extent of their solitude, of their disconnect from the rest of us? On stage, they have no way of knowing what's happening right next to them, unless through physical contact. As one of them says during the show, I need people to shake my hand otherwise I don't know they exist.

Na LaGa'at (which means "please touch") has built a social center for people who are either blind, or deaf, or both. Here's their website - go have a look. They claim they're the only such group in the world, and I expect they're right. If you ever have the chance to visit them, in the port of Jaffa, one of the world's oldest ports - don't miss it. If the troupe ever comes to a city near you - say, 500 miles - go see them. They can't see you, but they'll make your effort worthwhile and unforgetable.

taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

THE MORNING BEFORE THE SPEECH

The Morning Before THE SPEECH

President Obama will give his speech in Cairo in three hours, and eveyone who has any interest in such things is all agog.

I'm mostly peeved.

If we assume Thomas Friedman more or less knows what's going to be in the speech - and having just spent 20 minutes talking about it to the President, I doubt he's way off - there will be nothing in it that Israel should be leery of. As Friedman has Obama telling, it won't change the world, either; at best, it will articulate a change of tactics, some of them quite significant tactics, with which America deals with the Mideast. Since the troubles of the Mideast are profoundly fundamental, not tactical, it's hard to see a speech changing much, though I think it's worth trying. But I'll have my say on that after the President explains his position.

Meanwhile, according to Aluf Benn, a generally knowledgable journalist at Haaretz

The American determination caught Netanyahu and his aides by surprise, and
they were neither party to the drafts of the president's speech nor were they
able to influence its content. The PM's Bureau is finding it difficult to
function and is barely able to respond to telephone calls, much less put
together a counter-spin.

This I totally fail to understand. Me, all I am is a minor blogger and sometime hi-tech entreprenuer, yet I saw this possibility from ten miles away. The Prime Minster and his aides, we pay their salaries so that they deal with reality in a way that promotes our interests. That's why we give them power and its trappings. What was so hard to forsee? Why manouver us into a position where we appear to be thwarting the wishes of a popular American President who isn't asking of us anything we haven't already agreed to anyway?

Benn, by the way, predicts Netanyahu will back down quite soon:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will back down. Another week, another month,
and he will give into American pressure and will be forced to accept the
two-state solution and also agree to some sort of concessions on settlements.

What Benn doesn't add is that if Netanyahu doesn't back down, we'll fire him. This may take a bit of time, but I'd measure it in months, perhaps many months, not years.

taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations