Tuesday 11 August 2009

Israel Matzav: BNP Councillor's Nazi license plate

Israel Matzav: BNP Councillor's Nazi license plate

Lieberman Tells Democrats: PA Burying Peace Plan - Politics & Government - Israel News - Israel National News

Lieberman Tells Democrats: PA Burying Peace Plan - Politics & Government - Israel News - Israel National News

Hizbullah Boasts, Dismisses Talk of War - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Hizbullah Boasts, Dismisses Talk of War - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

HRW: Too Little Too Late

HRW: Too Little Too Late

Israel Matzav: Israelis urged not to travel to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya

Israelis urged not to travel to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya

With the vacation season in full swing, Israel's National Security Council is urging Israelis not to travel to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco or Kenya.

According to the NSC statement, due to hostility against Israel among Jordanians, people who have the option of postponing a trip are urged to do so, with the exception of tourists having a stopover at Amman airport when flying via the national carrier, Royal Jordanian.

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Israel Matzav: Israelis urged not to travel to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya

Israel Matzav: Good news: Terrorist mercenaries making their way from Iraq to Gaza

Good news: Terrorist mercenaries making their way from Iraq to Gaza

With the United States winding down its war in Iraq, many of the terrorists who fought with American troops are heading for their next engagement: Gaza.

The flow of foreign terrorists to Gaza will gradually increase, defense officials forecast, as the friction between the extremist Sunni groups and U.S. forces in Iraq diminishes in advance of the expected American withdrawal. Israeli officials are of the opinion that Hamas is not particularly interested in having these foreigners enter the Strip since they do not act under Hamas instructions and are identified with even more extremist and uncompromising ideologies than Hamas itself.

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Israel Matzav: Good news: Terrorist mercenaries making their way from Iraq to Gaza

Israel Matzav: Congress reining Obama in on Israel?

Congress reining Obama in on Israel?

Has Congress had enough of President Obama browbeating Israel? Well, maybe. There are two signs that maybe Congress has had enough.

Two weeks ago, I reported that two Senators - Even Bayh (D-Ind) and James Risch (R-Idaho) were circulating a letter among their Senate colleagues that urges President Obama to pressure the Arab countries to make peace overtures to Israel. As of last week, 44 Senators had signed on. Now, The Hill reports that a whopping 71 Senators have signed on to the Bayh-Risch letter.
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Israel Matzav: Congress reining Obama in on Israel?

Israel Matzav: Life Magazine photos of Israel 1948-67 Part 2

Life Magazine photos of Israel 1948-67 Part 2

This is the second part of Ben Atlas' spread of Life Magazine photos of Israel from 1948-67. Like the first part, this one is also from the 1948 war.

I'm going to give you one photo with some of the fascinating detail, and then send you off to view the rest of this remarkable collection.

The caption for this one is "Arab soldiers with rifles being transported in military vehicles. March 1948." But there's more to it than that.

The photo of the arab troops packed into requisitioned civilian lorries with extempore wooden safety grills - in that they are not a standard British or US issue (and do not have French Citroen or Renault trademarks either?) - are carying rifles with muzzles projecting well over the forestock furniture. These are probably French Lebels and so a Syrian unit in spite of the British pattern '37 braces they are wearing. From 1940 to '46 French units in Syria and elsewhere would have used replacement clothing from British or US stocks. By 1948 Syria & Lebanon were independent at British (1945?) insistence which was the French gripe that led to French support of Haganah Aliyah Bet and the independence of Israel in 1948.

Secondly the status & responsibility of client state troops is politcally nice. The Arab Legion was British equipped, trained and had a lot of British field officers (majors & colonels) and its commander all, "on contract," or, "secondment." In 1920 - 46 it was the originally gendarmerie desert patrol force of the Emirate of Transjordan which the British had created within the Eastern part of the Palestine Mandate. In English English, "gendarmerie" is a nationally organised, armed but police force at the direction of civil power, local and central (state troopers in US?). Britain audited TJ's books ie approved the budget, and supplied quite a few senior civil officers all supervised by a Resident who reported to the High Commissioner in Jerusalem his immediate local senior, and directly to the Colonial Office, London. So in the 1941 Iraqi campaign and for internal security ie guard duties in Palestine 1945-47 inclusive, the Arab Legion was available (from '46, turning itself into an "army") to the British commander in Palestine or Iraq as another British unit - having formally asked for their service through usual channels from the Transjordanian government which was internally fairly independent - or had to be treated as such to keep up appearances and so political effectiveness. In 1946 the British signed a treaty with Transjordan to become the Kingdom of Jordan and so strictly an ally, rather than a dependent territory - but it depended on a pa sub of £4 ($11) million from London till the 50's when Hussein fired Glubb and the US after '56 gradually substituted for UK as it frequently has across the World since 1945, but in its own variations of retired officers on contract in Kossovo Iraq and other locations.

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Israel Matzav: Life Magazine photos of Israel 1948-67 Part 2

Israel Matzav: Lebanon, Hezbullah and Iranian nuclear weapons

Lebanon, Hezbullah and Iranian nuclear weapons

Michael Totten travels to Lebanon again and interviews Salim al-Sayegh, the Kataeb (Phalangist) party Vice President. At one time, the Phalangists were Israel's allies in Lebanon, but today it sounds like they're just trying to survive (Hat Tip: Instapundit). Al-Sayegh makes three points regarding Israel.

First, he claims that if only, Syria would renounce its claims to Sheba Farms (Mount Dov), Israel would hand it over to the United Nations, which would in turn hand it over to Lebanon. Al-Sayegh argues that would undermine the reason for Hezbullah's existence as a 'resistance movement.' Totten tries to nudge al-Sayegh in the direction of admitting that when Israel withdrew from Lebanon to the 'blue line' in 2000, Israel, Lebanon and the United Nations all agreed that Israel had complied with UN Security Council Resolution 425 and that there was nothing more that needed to be done.

MJT: If I remember correctly, when the Israelis left South Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah agreed that Israel had completely withdrawn to its side of the Blue Line. Only after the United Nations certified the Israeli withdrawal did Hezbollah claim Shebaa Farms was Lebanese territory under Israeli occupation. If this were true, why wouldn't Hezbollah say so in 2000 when they were negotiating with Israel over the troop withdrawal?

Salim al-Sayegh: The Israelis took Shebaa Farms from the Syrians, not from the Lebanese. The Israelis are saying they can give it to Syria. And the Syrians are saying Shebaa Farms is Lebanese. The United Nations says, according to our cards, Shebaa Farms is Syrian, not Lebanese.

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Israel Matzav: Lebanon, Hezbullah and Iranian nuclear weapons

Israel Matzav: The issue shifts to 1948

The issue shifts to 1948

In Tuesday's New York Times, Hussein Agha and Robert Malley - former State Department Arabists in the Clinton administration - argue that a 'two-state solution' between Israel and the 'Palestinians' doesn't resolve anything.

Over the past two decades, the origins of the conflict were swept under the carpet, gradually repressed as the struggle assumed the narrower shape of the post-1967 territorial tug-of-war over the West Bank and Gaza. The two protagonists, each for its own reason, along with the international community, implicitly agreed to deal with the battle’s latest, most palpable expression. Palestinians saw an opportunity to finally exercise authority over a part of their patrimony; Israelis wanted to free themselves from the burdens of occupation; and foreign parties found that it was the easier, tidier thing to do. The hope was that, somehow, addressing the status of the West Bank and Gaza would dispense with the need to address the issues that predated the occupation and could outlast it.

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Israel Matzav: The issue shifts to 1948

Israel Matzav: Yahrtzeits

Israel Matzav: Yahrtzeits

Israel Matzav: Lawsuit against EU demands more than 'rocketproofing'

Israel Matzav: Lawsuit against EU demands more than 'rocketproofing'

Israel Matzav: Even Israel's Left feels an existential fear

Israel Matzav: Even Israel's Left feels an existential fear

Israel Matzav: Obama will never like Israel, but....

Obama will never like Israel, but....

While I agree with Batya at Shilo Musings that President Obama will never like Israel, I'm afraid that this is a bit over the top.

Most American Jews can't comprehend the ingrained anti-Jewish feeling in the Black community. The phenomena of "projection" protects most from the paranoia which should exist. Yes, there's a rational reason American Jews should fear the Blacks, and that includes U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama and his wife, Michelle.

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Israel Matzav: Obama will never like Israel, but....

Israel Matzav: Mary Robinson: Obama's choice

Mary Robinson: Obama's choice

In this post, I discussed whether Medal of Freedom recipient Mary Robinson was not properly vetted by the White House, or whether choosing her was a deliberate act by the Obama administration. Jennifer Rubin supplies a strong argument that President Obama deliberately chose Mary Robinson.

Neither Durban nor Robinson’s UN tenure is incidental to her career. Moreover, her rhetoric and outlook bear an uncanny resemblance to the approach taken by the Obama administration. Obama is full of invective and regret for America’s actions—be they in the war on terror or in our historic record of dealing with Iran and Central America. As for human-rights outrages in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, or China, he has been largely, if not entirely, mute. No wonder Robinson was selected.

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Israel Matzav: Mary Robinson: Obama's choice

Israel Matzav: Tweet4Shalit

Israel Matzav: Tweet4Shalit

Israel Matzav: A worthless piece of paper?#

A worthless piece of paper?

Jordanian blogger Black Iris (who may be horrified to see a link from an Israeli blogger) shows a picture of something called the Wadi Araba mural (there's a second picture here).


The picture's description is as follows:
Artists draw a mural that calls on Jordan to cancel a 1994 peace treaty with Israel at the premises of the Islamists-dominated Professional Associations

Under the 1994 treaty with Jordan, Israel resolved its border disputes with the Hashemite Kingdom by giving up land or leasing it on a long-term basis. Israel also agreed to give Jordan millions of cubic meters of water - our most precious commodity - every year.

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Israel Matzav: A worthless piece of paper?

Israel Matzav: 'East' Jerusalem is different from the 'West Bank' says... Steny Hoyer

'East' Jerusalem is different from the 'West Bank' says... Steny Hoyer

There may be nothing that would more concern the Obama administration than Democrats taking independent positions on issues that are important to the administration. That especially goes for Democrats in leadership positions. In that light, this story takes on added significance. The dispute between Israel and the 'Palestinians' is to the Obama administration's foreign policy as 'Obamacare' is to its domestic policy.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Monday, House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) said that 'east' Jerusalem is different than the 'West Bank settlements.'
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Israel Matzav: 'East' Jerusalem is different from the 'West Bank' says... Steny Hoyer

Knowing What You're Talking About

Knowing What You're Talking About

Barry Rubin analyzes the results of the Fatah conference by taking a close look at each of the 18 members of the new Central Committee. He's not bowled over with optimism.

I don't know if he's right. On the one hand, he kows a lot more about this than I do. On the other hand, I remember watching Mikhail Gorbachow, back in the old days, doing precisely not what any of the experts said he would do, so I'm wary of experts knowing stuff in advance.

But it is refreshing to see what an expert can do. Have a look at his piece, then tell me when was the last time you saw any analysis of anything about the Palestinians that was remotely as well-informed as this? You know what? Tell me if you know of any Western journalist who even knows all the names of these fellows.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Credits: Post based in the article: Fatah Congress Election Results: Quite Different From What You Will be Told - By Barry Rubin (http://rubinreports.blogspot.com)

Jewish Identity in Politics

Jewish Identity in Politics

Adam Serwer thinks some American Jewish pundits are using identity templates borrowed from the African-American experience. Apparently he's being derogatory. I don't know enough about it to comment one way or the other, but I'd like to draw attention to some peculiarities on the edge of his argument.

The first is his thrice repeated allegation that Netanyahu called David Axelrod and Rahm Emanual "self hating Jews". This is very important to Serwer, and he gets quite worked up about it. Of course he has no source for the statement; nobody does. It's a cannard which fits lots of peoples' idea of how things should be, irrelevant of whether they are or not, and so gets repeated so many times it acquires the immunity of an article of faith.

Netanyahu's office has denied he made the statement (no, I have no link. It was on the radio). Also, contrary to what the media tells you, had he said it it would have been uncharacteristic of him, but as we say in Hebrew, try to prove you don't have a sister.

The second thing that saddened me was this

In the blogosphere, conservative Jews have a term for a group of prominent liberal Jewish bloggers who have been critical of Israel’s behavior in the region: the “Juicebox Mafia.” Two weeks ago, Jamie Kirchick, a blogger for Commentary and The New Republic, wrote that the “Juicebox Mafia crew” was motivated by “a visceral hatred” of its “Jewish heritage,” prompting Matthew Yglesias to assert his love of knishes and Woody Allen.

And so it has come to this. A prominent American Jewish blogger thinks there's a connection between knishes and liking Woody Allen, and being seriously Jewish; even if he was being facetious, Serwer takes him seriously.

Which, if you think about it for a moment, is far more damning than that "self-hating" line.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Things You Can Say With Impunity

Things You Can Say With Impunity

A Dutch journalist says the Jews have invented Swine Flu as part of some conspiracy. This particular lie has a pedegree going back at the very least to the 14th century, and you'd think it would have disappeared by now, what with our being in the modern world and all that.

Upon reflection, however, why should it? Respectable and otherwise normal-seeming people routinely cast every action Israel takes as a conspiracy against the Arabs - say, designing the Oslo process as a way to strenthen its control over the Palestinians, or leaving Gaza in 2005 as another way of doing the same, and so on ad nauseum. True, not everyone subscribes to these halucinations, but they can always find platforms in respectable media outlets.

When it comes to Jews, sizable segments of Western society, and almost the entire Muslim world, routinely depart from their senses and jettison their capacity for empiric analysis. So why draw the line before stories such as this one? Scheming to murder Palestinian children, yes, but disseminating Swine Flu no? Why?
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Fewer Dead Civilians

Fewer Dead Civilians

In Afghanistan. This is good news. First, because killing civilians is bad. Second, because the world needs the Afghani populace to support the West's effort to beat the Islamists.

It's also a bit strange, the report. Read it carefully and tell me if you can figure out how many civilians ISAF has killed, in, say, 2009. I tried but didn't manage; the number doesn't seem to appear anywhere. Odd. Whenever Israel goes to war the numbers are splashed all over the media in advance, and the longer the fighting goes on, the higher the imaginary numbers get; they then keep on growing after the fighting is over, too.

I was also comforted by some of these sentences:

"When the Taliban are moving in our village, we are scared, but the good thing is there has been no bombing of civilian homes," said Baz Mohammad, a grape farmer from the village of Nilgham in the southern province of Kandahar. "A few months ago there was bombing every day in our district."
"You're starting to see a lot more emphasis now on using the least amount of force necessary to get the result we want," said Capt. Frank Harnett, a spokesman for U.S. Air Force Central Command. "There's an added emphasis about noncombatant casualties. That will drive decisions made out in the field."

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

DoubleTapper: Israel from Space

DoubleTapper: Israel from Space

The Spectator-The bitter fruits of appeasement

The bitter fruits of appeasement

Monday, 10th August 2009


As we all know, because President Obama, UK Foreign Secretary Miliband and the serried ranks of the EU keep telling us, it is Israel’s obduracy which is holding up a resolution of the Middle East impasse. If only it dismantled its settlements in the ‘occupied’ territories and agreed to split Jerusalem there would be peace. Well, now those ‘moderate’ Palestinians who Obama, Miliband and the EU would have us believe only want to live peacefully alongside Israel have stated what they actually want. They don’t want half of Jerusalem. They want it all – and they want it ethnically cleansed of Jews altogether, every last Jewish man woman and child: gone, disappeared, airbrushed out of the picture, vanished altogether from Israel’s capital and Judaism’s foundational holy city. And they will continue to use violence to bring this about. Ha’aretz reports:

According to Israel Radio, the Fatah general conference, which convened in Bethlehem for a three-day gathering, adopted a position paper which also states that the Palestinian national enterprise will not reach fruition until all of Jerusalem, including the outlying villages, come under Palestinian sovereignty.

...’Fatah will continue to sacrifice victims until Jerusalem will be returned [to the Palestinians], clean of settlements and settlers,’ the paper states. According to Israel Radio, the paper does not make a distinction between the eastern and western halves of the capital, nor does it distinguish between the territories within the Israeli side of the Green Line and the areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

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The Spectator-The bitter fruits of appeasement

Remains from Period of King Hezekiah Discovered - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Remains from Period of King Hezekiah Discovered - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

US Army Turns Tables on Anti-Semitism, Offers Kosher Food, Rabbi - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

US Army Turns Tables on Anti-Semitism, Offers Kosher Food, Rabbi - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

Baby Boom Intifada: European Muslim Population Time Bomb - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Baby Boom Intifada: European Muslim Population Time Bomb - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Israel Matzav: Shocka: 'Crippling sanctions' won't have much effect on Iran

Shocka: 'Crippling sanctions' won't have much effect on Iran

You probably could have guessed this: Those 'crippling sanctions' that Secretary of State Clinton has been waving at Iran are unlikely to have any effect on it. And you can probably guess at least some of the reasons why:

Effective sanctions, say Administration officials, require participation by Iran's key trading partners. That's a problem, since neither Russia nor China is convinced that there's an imminent danger of Iran producing nuclear weapons. Coalition of the willing–style sanctions of the sort envisaged by the congressional legislation may have limited impact because they're unlikely to be implemented by neighbors such as Turkey and Iraq. And the use of naval power to enforce a blockade could easily provoke a war that the U.S. military is eager to avoid.

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Israel Matzav: Shocka: 'Crippling sanctions' won't have much effect on Iran
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