Monday 1 February 2010

Israel Matzav: 'Palestinian Authority' funding and participating in anti-'security fence' demos

'Palestinian Authority' funding and participating in anti-'security fence' demos

The 'Palestinian Authority' is funding, and senior members of the 'Palestinian Authority's leadership are participating in, violent, weekly demonstrations against the 'security fence' that has kept suicide bombers out of the 1949 armistice lines for most of the last five years.

The Palestinian Authority is funding and even participating in violent demonstrations against the construction of the West Bank security barrier, defense officials said on Thursday, warning that if not controlled the protests could escalate into a new wave of a Palestinian resistance.

The IDF has noted a growing presence of PA government officials at the weekly demonstrations north of Modi’in Illit, in Bil’in, Na’alin and near the settlement of Neveh Tzuf (Halamish), where a top PA official was spotted two weeks ago.

According to information obtained by Israel, the escalation and funding has been endorsed by the PA’s President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

“We have reason to believe that the PA is supporting and funding these demonstrations,” one official said. “We are afraid that this will spin out of control.”

And guess what folks: If the 'Palestinian Authority' is funding those demonstrations, guess who is really funding them? Uh huh. Those are your tax shekels (and dollars) at work.

What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: 'Palestinian Authority' funding and participating in anti-'security fence' demos

Love of the Land: Hamas is Threatening Who?

Hamas is Threatening Who?


Tariq Alhomayed
Asharq Al-Awsat
01 February '10

Following the assassination of Qassam Brigades leading figure Mahmoud al Mabhouh in his [hotel] room in Dubai, the leaders of Hamas came out threatening and promising to avenge his death. This is understandable and only expected due to the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; however what was not clear was whether Hamas was threatening revenge on Israel or was threatening to violate the land of Arab countries.

Some Hamas leaders began to remind us of the history of the intelligence war between the Palestinian Liberation Organization [PLO] and Israel in the past and it seems that for the first time Hamas is acknowledging the PLO’s struggle and what it did for the Palestinian cause, as Hamas mentioned conflicts that took place in Cyprus for example. Mahmoud Zahar, a leading Hamas figure, went further than that when he openly threatened that “we send a clear message to the Arab countries with ties to the Zionist side to learn from the lesson of this crime that was committed.”

He added, (and this is the crux of the matter), “Today, the incident has been repeated in the UAE, and I believe that the UAE and other [states] must realize that the Zionist side does not respect the sovereignty of any Arab country nor of any state in the world, and that its own interest takes precedence over all interests of nations. [In this regard] there must be reconsideration of ties between the Zionist enemy and the states and [there must be] evaluation [of ties] in light of the crimes committed by the occupying state against the Palestinian people.”

The first mistake is that the UAE does not have ties with the “Zionist side” to use Zahar’s terms. Is Hamas trying to say that Mossad agents are moving around freely in UAE territory for example and that this is known to the authorities there? If Mahmoud al Mabhouh himself – the Hamas commander who was assassinated in Dubai and who was assigned the task of liaising between Hamas and Iran – entered the UAE from Damascus on what was said to be an Iraqi passport (but that is another story altogether) and using a different name, and the UAE authorities did not know at the time that he was a leading figure of the Qassam Brigades or that he was wanted by Mossad for 20 years, then how would the UAE security authorities or others know whether or not those coming to the UAE are agents of Mossad or other apparatus?

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Hamas is Threatening Who?

Israel Matzav: IDF Deputy: Goldstone Report a Trojan horse

IDF Deputy: Goldstone Report a Trojan horse

IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Benny Gantz told the opening session of the Herzliya Conference on Sunday that the Goldstone Report is a Trojan horse "taking advantage of a legal speculum that will eventually harm us."

Speaking at the 10th annual Herzliya Conference, Gantz said, "Our moral soundness is clear after dozens of investigations and interrogations. The [same] army doctor who visited Haiti (as part of the IDF taskforce) also took part in Cast Lead.

"Israel must make it clear that while we share a number of values with the West, there is a basic difference. We live with our values in a war zone. This fusillade does not allow us to respond any other way. We must remove this threat. We cannot remain victims."

...

Gantz said that during the war in Gaza his mother, who passed away five months ago, told him, "Don't stop sending them food, and don't stop fighting."

"This is the essence of it all," said the deputy IDF chief, "We must remain moral, but at the same time continue to fight in the face of the threats."

Actually, much of the West is now living in a war zone. They just don't recognize it yet.

Israel Matzav: IDF Deputy: Goldstone Report a Trojan horse

Israel Matzav: Human Rights Watch scolds Jordan on 'Palestinians' citizenship

Human Rights Watch scolds Jordan on 'Palestinians' citizenship

Back in July, I reported that the 'Palestinian state' had started revoking citizenship from its citizens of 'Palestinian' origin.

As a preemptive measure, the Jordanian authorities recently began revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians, leaving many of them in a state of panic and uncertainty regarding the future.

The Jordanians have justified the latest measure by arguing that it's aimed at avoiding a situation in which the Palestinians would ever be prevented from returning to their original homes inside Israel.

Since 1988, when the late King Hussein cut off his country's administrative and legal ties with the West Bank, the Jordanian authorities have been working toward "disengaging" from the Palestinians under the pretext of preserving their national identity.

That decision, said Jordan's Interior Minister Nayef al-Kadi, was taken at the request of the PLO and the Arab world to consolidate the status of the PLO as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

"Our goal is to prevent Israel from emptying the Palestinian territories of their original inhabitants," the minister explained, confirming that the kingdom had begun revoking the citizenship of Palestinians.

"We should be thanked for taking this measure," he said. "We are fulfilling our national duty because Israel wants to expel the Palestinians from their homeland."

Six months later, the self-declared protectors of human rights have finally noticed (Hat Tip: Abu Aardvark via Twitter).

Jordan should stop withdrawing nationality arbitrarily from Jordanians of Palestinian origin, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Authorities stripped more than 2,700 of these Jordanians of their nationality between 2004 and 2008, and the practice continued in 2009, Human Rights Watch said.

The 60-page report, "Stateless Again: Palestinian-Origin Jordanians Deprived of their Nationality," details the arbitrary manner, with no clear basis in law, in which Jordan deprives its citizens who were originally from the West Bank of their nationality, thereby denying them basic citizenship rights such as access to education and health care.

"Jordan is playing politics with the basic rights of thousands of its citizens," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Officials are denying entire families the ability to lead normal lives with the sense of security that most citizens of a country take for granted."

Maybe someone should tell them about all the 'Palestinians' living in 'refugee camps' in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon (among others) who are denied citizenship, the right to work, the right to hold a passport, the right to vote, etc. It would give Human Rights Watch the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the 'peace process.'

I know, I know - it'll never happen. But I can dream, can't I?


Israel Matzav: Human Rights Watch scolds Jordan on 'Palestinians' citizenship

Miflas HaKinneret

Miflas HaKinneret

Among the many important things about Israel you'll never learn by following the media is the matter of the surface level of the Sea of Galilee. About a third of Israel's water is stored in the lake, but since the rest is in underwater aquifers they can't be seen; the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret) is right out there where we all see it. And boy do we watch: Nachum Barnea, the country's top journalist, once remarked that being an Israeli means getting up each morning and checking how high (or low) the surface level of the Kinneret is. So much so, that the Hebrew word miflas (surface level) has been loaned to other existential worries: miflas ha-harada, for example, means the level of national dread - a term which doesn't even exist in any other language I'm aware of. (That miflas is actually rather low these days: defeating the 2nd Intifada, building the barrier, hitting Hamas in Gaza so hard that it stopped rocketing; all these things for which much of the world detests us have made life much less stressful, at least for the time being).

The surface of the Kinneret reaches its highpoint each year in May, then sinks until the rains of the following winter begin re-filling it, usually sometime in December. This summer it went lower than ever, which was very bad; the winter rains in the Galilee, however, have been plentiful this year.... But we couldn't know how much this was raising the sea surface, because the Water Authority staff was on strike since early December.

This week they resolved it, and we can now follow our Kinneret again. Here, even if you don't read Hebrew, I think you'll be able to figure it out. (Keep in mind that the Sea of Galilee is beneath Sea Level - 213.38 meters, as of this morning). Check it each day, to give yourself the feeling.
Originally posted by Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Elder of Ziyon: Parents abandon Gaza baby - Israel blamed

Parents abandon Gaza baby - Israel blamed

Palestine Today has a story about a baby born in a Gaza hospital. He has dark skin, short arms and legs, and is very hairy, so much so that he has the nickname "gorilla."

The horrified parents refuse to take him home.

So who are the Palestinian Arabs blaming? Why, Israel, of course.

You see, every Gaza baby born over the past few months who is less than perfect is automatically considered to be a victim of "white phosphorus." So even though this baby is apparently a newborn, and was conceived months after the war, the puerile Palestinian Arabs love to say that Israel is the reason for all of their problems, which includes birth defects.


Elder of Ziyon: Parents abandon Gaza baby - Israel blamed

Elder of Ziyon: Moderate PA TV: "Jews are the enemy of humanity"

Elder of Ziyon: Moderate PA TV: "Jews are the enemy of humanity"

Elder of Ziyon: Hamas/Galloway fundraiser in Boston tonight

Elder of Ziyon: Hamas/Galloway fundraiser in Boston tonight

The Torah Revolution: Temo per la Comunità Ebraica di Roma

Temo per la Comunità Ebraica di Roma

B"H

Temo per la Comunità Ebraica di Roma.

Sembra che i cosiddetti rabbini lì riescano a farla franca e passare la responsabilità per l'enorme Chilul Hashem (dissacrazione del Nome di D-o), che loro hanno voluto ed in cui loro hanno partecipato, su ogni membro di quella comunità, compromettendo le posizioni dei membri, in questo mondo e nel Mondo che Verrà.

Sembra che gli ebrei romani odierni non si rendano conto della gravità della situazione in cui si trovano a loro malgrado, che siano ammutoliti dallo shock e che gli manca la forza persino per distinguere fra quello che è permesso a loro e quello che non è permesso: abbracciare o assistere all’abbraccio, anche se passivamente, di idoli e di adoratori di idoli, nel luogo di culto proprio, pubblicamente, in quanto ebrei, nei loro migliori vestiti, di fronte alle telecamere di tutte le nazioni - oi, non è davvero uno spettacolo bello!

Molti ebrei nella nostra storia hanno preferito di morire piuttosto di tradire la Torah e molti sono stati crudelmente assassinati perché hanno rifiutato di compiere un gesto simile.

Temo per la Comunità Ebraica di Roma.

Sembra che le spinte per il quieto vivere che si nasconde nell’accettare persino i più aberranti abusi dei poteri costituiti, siano più forti rispetto alla Verità, che così rischia di rimanere rinchiusa nei nostri libri sacri.

Ebrei romani, liberate la Verità del nostro D-o geloso! Mandate a casa questi "rabbini". Fatelo con convinzione e fatelo adesso, senza ulteriore perdita di tempo! Una comunità come la vostra, molto assimilata, non può essere guidata da "rabbini" politicanti. Serve una prestigiosa mano sicura, per ricondurre la gente a D-o.

Ariel Ben Yochanan
Israele


The Torah Revolution: Temo per la Comunità Ebraica di Roma

Israel Matzav: Refresher course: The Palestine Liberation Organization's phased plan

Refresher course: The Palestine Liberation Organization's phased plan

Here's a refresher course on the Palestine Liberation Organization's phased plan. If you think the establishment of a 'Palestinian state' would cause peace to break out all over the Middle East, you are sadly mistaken.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).


Israel Matzav: Refresher course: The Palestine Liberation Organization's phased plan

Love of the Land: Planting the Land and the Child

Planting the Land and the Child


Paula R. Stern
A Soldier's Mother
01 February '10

Seasons in Israel are so different than they were in the United States. In the US, they seemed to gently glide, one into the other. Summer gave way to cooler nights and then the leaves began to turn all manner of wonderful colors. Fall had arrived. The frost came and the nights became colder. Winter. And so it went, season after season, each marked by a gradual changing of the weather. Each season came with a bit of warning, a taste before the fury of the cold or the heat. Fall and spring were welcome breaks from the extreme and provided the glide into the next.

In Israel, like life itself, the seasons are less defined, more drastic. One day the cold comes; winter...but what happened to the fall? And then it suddenly gets hot and summer has arrived; somehow spring never really comes to Israel. Of course, the temperatures are less extreme than they were where I lived in the States. Snow here is rare; summer's typically hotter and drier.

One thing that marks the transition between winter and summer is Tu B'Shevat - it's the new year of the trees. Yes, that's right - even the trees can celebrate their own fresh start. Tu B'Shevat is when the almond trees start to blossom and you know that though winter hasn't finished, the land is reawakening already. In America, Tu B'Shevat was the time we donated a few dollars to have someone plant a tree in Israel.

(Read full story)


Love of the Land: Planting the Land and the Child

RubinReports: How Can the U.S. Stop Iran's Nuclear Program if it Doesn't Want to Scare or Hurt the Tehran Regime?

How Can the U.S. Stop Iran's Nuclear Program if it Doesn't Want to Scare or Hurt the Tehran Regime?

By Barry Rubin

With virtually simultaneous editorials in both the New York Times and Washington Post, it's clear that the foreign policy establishment is becoming aware that something is wrong with the administration’s Iran policy.


The Times weighed in on January 29 with, “Iran, After the Deadline,” remembering that four years ago the UN started demanding that Iran stop enriching uranium and that President Barack Obama promised to do something about sanctions by the end of December. Since, “Tehran has shown no interest in resolving the dispute over its nuclear program. It is time for President Obama and other leaders to ratchet up the pressure with tougher sanctions.”

With the pomposity only it can muster, “We were glad to see Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly warn China, which seems especially intractable, that it faces diplomatic isolation if it fails to back new sanctions.”

This kind of writing shows the true isolation from reality of the establishment. Let me see now, aside from everything else, China has a huge hold on the U.S. debt. America’s economy is also dependent on imports from China. So is the United States really going to do anything to pressure Beijing? Of course not.

So the Times shouldn’t be sucking up to the secretary of state but should simply be pointing out how unlikely it is that China, or Russia for that matter, will change course. Given that fact, it should then discuss what the United States might do in that situation. Perhaps they will get around to dealing with that in a year or so.

The Times’ next point is also fascinating in its lack of logic. It praises the administration’s initiative in engaging Iran for proposing a deal by which uranium would have been processed abroad into being harmless. It then adds: “That wouldn’t have solved the problem, but it would have bought more time for negotiations.”

Yes, and for Iran using the time to develop nuclear weapons, too. Again, there is no serious analysis. The question is whether the Times believes this time might have produced an agreement or not. To do so would require considering the nature of the Iranian regime, its leadership and goals.

Then the Times, despite a show of independence, then endorses the administration’s foolish sanctions policy, with words that sound like they were written in the White House, indeed follow the administration’s talking points:

“New United Nations sanctions must be deftly targeted to inflict maximum damage on the levers of repression — especially the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also runs the nuclear program — without imposing additional suffering on the Iranians. That circle must somehow be squared. And the door must remain open to negotiations.”

This is sheer nonsense. Sanctions that don’t damage Iran’s economy will have no effect. Focused sanctions on a group that operates within Iran won’t even hurt the elite. The administration’s sanctions policy is a joke, appearing to do something while really doing nothing.

While they do advocate U.S.-Europe joint action if the UN doesn’t act—a good thing—it opposes the idea already passed by Congress to stop gasoline exports to Iran, saying, “That may be necessary at some point, but right now we are concerned that this approach will hurt too many Iranians outside the government.”

In other words, sanctions must not affect people. But if they don’t, why should Iranians press their government to stop nuclear weapons’ development as the country’s main priority? Why should the Iranian regime care when sanctions won't make the elite suffer in the elite? What's the administration's plan going to do in practice, stop Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' generals from vacationing in Disneyland?

Then we get a Times specialty, the setting up of a phony extreme position that it can oppose while ignoring reasonable alternatives:

“Some experts say the government is so weakened that the United States should withdraw its offer to improve relations and focus solely on regime change. No one has put forward a compelling plan for achieving that, but military action would be a disaster. As we saw in Iraq, talk of regime change can be an unpredictable and dangerous game.”

So that’s the choice: weak sanctions or trying to overthrow the regime? How about a balanced strategy of strong sanctions, assembling an alignment of all forces that oppose Iranian ambitions, plus backing for the opposition? That’s what I favor and that seems to be what Congress favors, too.

The next day, the Post weighed in with an editorial, “The key to dealing with Iran: Press ties with opposition.” It wisely points out precisely the point the Times ignored regarding the administration’s plan:

“Yet any new measures are likely to take months to approve and implement, and Iran has shrugged off the three previous Security Council sanctions resolutions.”

Regarding the administration focus on narrow sanctions plus engagement, the Post adds:

“The problem with this strategy is that it keeps the administration focused on the least likely scenario for success--a deal with the current regime--instead of the more likely one, which is an opposition victory.” It advocates more pro-opposition broadcasting into Iran, financing opposition groups, and more speeches by Obama supporting citizen rights in the country.

The editorial concludes:

“The regime professes unconcern about another round of sanctions--perhaps with some reason. But it does not hide its terror and paranoia about the possibility that the United States would help to sponsor a popular `color revolution.’ If the object of sanctions is to punish the regime and force it to make concessions, why not begin to do what it fears most?”

Personally, I don’t think the opposition is going to overthrow the regime. It is good the Post does raise this issue more strongly, though. Again, what is needed is a balanced policy: real and tough sanctions, support for the opposition, and building a united front against Iran and its allies (Syria, Hizballah, Hamas) in the region to the greatest extent possible.

Yet in the end the most impressive point is the lack of sophisticated strategic thinking on the part of both newspapers' editorial boards. They fear criticizing the executive branch of government too much and hold back from supporting the legislative branch. While it is completely understandable that they want to avoid military confrontation, they are too eager to avoid diplomatic battle.
What both seem to miss is that the purpose of sanctions is to frighten the regime (not make it double over with laughter) that America is out to destroy it, damage the country’s power, deny it resources for using toward military ends, and isolate it. The administration’s policy and the Times’ view do none of these things; at least the Post understands better and wants to try harder, achieving at least some real goals.


RubinReports: How Can the U.S. Stop Iran's Nuclear Program if it Doesn't Want to Scare or Hurt the Tehran Regime?

Israel Matzav: Will Hezbullah help Hamas avenge Mahbouh?

Will Hezbullah help Hamas avenge Mahbouh?

Israel fears that Hezbullah may help Hamas try to strike Israeli or Jewish interests abroad in an effort to avenge the death of Mahmoud al-Mahbouh. Mahbouh was found dead in a Dubai hotel on January 20. Hamas believes that Israel was responsible for his death.

The assessment in Military Intelligence is that Hamas will try to strike at Israeli targets overseas, to avoid disrupting the status quo between Hamas in Gaza and Israel. Hamas is strongest overseas in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and could work together with Hizbullah to strike at Israel in other places as well.

By the way, the more we hear about Mahbouh, the bigger a fish he turns out to be. Consider this:

Israel is now concerned that Hamas will increase its efforts to strike at Israeli targets overseas, in response to the assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud Mabhouh, one of the key operatives behind the smuggling of Iranian weapons into the Gaza Strip.

Mabhouh helped found Hamas’s armed wing Izzadin Kassam in the 1980s, was behind the kidnapping in the first intifada of two Israeli soldiers and later established strong ties in Sudan, which he used to smuggle weaponry from Iran to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

He was reportedly responsible for the weapons convoy that, according to foreign reports, Israel bombed during Operation Cast Lead as it was making its way to Gaza through the Sudanese desert.

Hmmm. It's good that he's gone. Whether or not we did it.

Israel Matzav: Will Hezbullah help Hamas avenge Mahbouh?

Love of the Land: Hezbollah’s crisis

Hezbollah’s crisis


Nadim Koteich
Now Lebanon
01 February '10

For a resistance movement, bravado is not a substitute for actually fighting.

Hezbollah is no exception to this rule, and this is at the heart of the crisis within the party.

More than three years after the 2006 war with Israel and two years after the assassination of its top commander, Imad Mugniyah, in a heavily secured zone in Damascus, Hezbollah hasn’t launched one resistance operation. On the contrary, South Lebanon is enjoying the calmest period it’s had since 1978, according to UNIFIL’s recent assessment.

Even on the five or so occasions when Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel from South Lebanon since the July War, Hezbollah was always among the first parties to deny any involvement and has sometimes gone as far as to condemn the attacks.

Hezbollah’s leadership can't miss the signs their community sends during such incidents. Images of southern villagers fleeing in packed cars with their possessions strapped on top flutter across Lebanese TV screens every time attacks are launched from the Hezbollah-dominated South into northern Israel.

It is a normal reaction, given that the memory of the 2006 war is still fresh in southerners’ minds, something Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has noted in his speeches.

Yet in a recent address he called upon his audience "to withstand and fight" as Shia Imam Hussein and his followers did in the battle of Karbala back in the 7th century, should Israel impose the fight "upon us."

It is hardly an appealing invitation. The "Husseinis", as Nasrallah may recall, perished in the battle of Karbala, and their school of fighting, which Nasrallah is promising to imitate, ended with a crushing military defeat in which humiliated prisoners of war were forced to walk from the battlefield in Iraq to Damascus. It is a fight that goes down in military history as an example of how not to go to war.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Hezbollah’s crisis

Israel Matzav: But the Pope blames Israel

But the Pope blames Israel

You will recall that two weeks ago I reported that the Vatican is blaming the Jooos for the declining number of Christians in the Middle East. Here's some evidence otherwise.

Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows.

In June 2007, Hamas toppled the Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup. Several months later, Radical Islamic Entities began murdering innocent Christian civilians within the Gaza Strip. The first victim was Rami Ayad, a young man in his thirties and a father of two who worked in a church organizing charitable activities. Following his murder, members of Hamas desecrated his body and cut him up into pieces. Former target and political refugee General Kamel al-Tarzi stated, "They did not just attack Rami, they are attacking the entire Christian community. They shoot at their feet, burn churches, offices, institutions, and all kinds of buildings that serve the Christian community." For weeks reporter Henrique Zimmerman gathered testimonies and evidence from Christian families that fled the Gaza Strip as a result of religious persecution. The people who were interviewed adamantly claim that Islamic Organizations in the Gaza Strip are trying to conduct an ethnic cleansing campaign against the remaining Christian Minority who live there. "I have to say that the reality is painful. When we come and say that members of the Christian community in Gaza, the institutions, associations and churches have been attacked by unrecognized extremist Islamic groups ultimately, in one way or another, in effect they are all one group with different names. They all have the same approach, based entirely on the Koran." (General Kamal al-Tarzi)

What part of that is the Pope incapable of understanding?


Israel Matzav: But the Pope blames Israel

Israel Matzav: Obama on Israel sans teleprompter

Obama on Israel sans teleprompter

I tried to get this video at the end of last week. Fortunately, Captain Ed posted it today as the Obamateurism of the day (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).

Let's go to the videotape.



On the one hand, on the other hand.... Note how he cannot even bring himself to answer the question about the closure and how he doesn't even mention Egypt. He may not have a teleprompter but the speech is definitely canned. He doesn't like Israel's Right. And her harbors the delusion that Abu Bluff wants peace.

What could go wrong?

By the way, Ed posted the video for a different reason. You may want to check it out.

Israel Matzav: Obama on Israel sans teleprompter

Love of the Land: War and Peace in the Levant

War and Peace in the Levant


Noah Pollak
Contentions/Commentary
01 February '10

The dramatic scale of Hezbollah’s rearmament will not be without consequences. Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told Haaretz yesterday that “he was growing increasingly worried by reports describing the quantity and types of weapons being smuggled to the terrorist organization.” The Washington Post reports that Hezbollah has dispersed its rockets throughout Lebanon, ensuring a conflict that will engulf the entire country. Tony Badran wonders whether Bashar Assad has foolishly convinced himself that he will again be held harmless if another war breaks out.

The war calculations of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah involve an estimation of how much time the Obama administration will give Israel to fight. In 2006 — very much owing, of course, to Israel’s poor performance — the IDF fought for only a month before accepting terms from the UN. There are good reasons to believe that next time, Israel will have even less time.

A new war would explode the myth that Obama’s outreach to the Arabs and pressure on Israel have set the Middle East on a new path. Israeli-Arab wars, this narrative holds, were the kind of things that happened during the Bush years, when the president ignored the peace process and alienated Muslims, and neocons imperiled world peace before breakfast. To have a war unfold in the enlightened, post-Cairo speech era, after dozens of visits by George Mitchell to the region — that would be quite an embarrassment.

How many days — much less weeks — would pass before Obama began criticizing the Israeli operation and refusing diplomatic protection at the UN?

The resistance groups are surely counting on America to enforce a short conflict that restricts the IDF’s ability to strike back forcefully at Hezbollah. But it is not clear, given Obama’s declining political fortunes, how much leverage he will have over Israel. In private, the Arabs will be telling Obama to let Israel finish the job. What Nasrallah is counting on, Obama may not be able to deliver. Or may choose not to. Or F-16s may begin sorties over Damascus. The uncertainty about where America stands is dangerous.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: War and Peace in the Levant

Elder of Ziyon: PalArabs vs. Kurds in their quest for freedom

Elder of Ziyon: PalArabs vs. Kurds in their quest for freedom

Israel Matzav: Good news: Abu Bluff adds more conditions for 'talks'

Good news: Abu Bluff adds more conditions for 'talks'

In an interview published Sunday, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen told al-Guardian that he would return to 'direct talks' with Israel in exchange for a three-month freeze on construction in 'east' Jerusalem.

Israel's continuing colonisation of the West Bank is leading to a "one-state solution", the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has told the Guardian, while indicating that he may be poised this week to accept a US proposal for "proximity talks" with Israel through American mediators.

In an exclusive interview, the Palestinian Authority president also insisted he would not allow any return to armed resistance; offered direct negotiations with Israel in exchange for a complete three-month settlement freeze; claimed he had come close to a comprehensive agreement with former Israeli leader Ehud Olmert that went beyond anything negotiated by Yasser Arafat under President Bill Clinton; and defended Egypt's construction of an underground wall to prevent smuggling into the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.

But don't worry: The 'talks' Abu Bluff proposes have a pre-ordained outcome, which of course is not a 'precondition.'

"If there is any substance in the response from the Israeli side – for example, if they accept the framework of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders and an end to occupation, with timelines and mechanisms – then there will be progress," Abbas said.

Israel is being pressed by the US to respond with confidence-building measures, including an end to military incursions, dismantling of checkpoints and release of prisoners, if indirect talks take place.

Abbas also said he would be prepared to resume full face-to-face peace negotiations if Israel froze all settlement construction for three months and accepted its June 1967 borders as the basis for land swaps. "These are not preconditions, they are requirements in the road map. If they are not prepared to do that, it means they don't want a political solution."

We don't want a 'political solution' in which terms are dictated to us by the losing in a war we didn't start.

And by the way, Israel only accepted the road map subject to fourteen reservations made by the Sharon government. Isn't it odd how the World forgets that?


Israel Matzav: Good news: Abu Bluff adds more conditions for 'talks'

Israel Matzav: A good case against Goldstone?

A good case against Goldstone?

Since the IDF released its response to the Goldstone Report, we keep hearing how the international community won't accept IDF investigations anyway. Amos Harel argues that the IDF report shows that Israel has a good case against Goldstone, and he wonders why, given that, Israel is so wary of a commission of inquiry. The most remarkable details concern the one time disciplinary measures were taken against senior Israeli commanders in the operation:

Following what he saw as unjustified artillery fire at a Hamas compound in the Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, GOC Southern Command Yoav Gallant decided to officially reprimand two officers: a brigadier-general and a colonel.

Their names and the details of the reprimand are not specifically mentioned in the report. [Except that Haaretz mentioned them earlier Monday and they are all over the Internet. CiJ].

The Golani brigade was known to be operating in the area where the shooting took place.

Another revelation is the fact that in November, the chief of staff set up a new General Staff investigative team to investigate one incident in which a mosque was destroyed and another in which many civilians were killed, and also to look into a number of complaints about inappropriate treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Israel's detailed and well-argued report shows that the country has a reasonably good case against the Goldstone accusations. This naturally begs the question why Israeli leadership is so wary of a state commission of inquiry that could ostensibly clear up matters once and for all.

Here are some of the arguments against a commission of inquiry:

1. One never knows what the commission might recommend aside from any findings of fact. This is especially true if the commission is headed by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, as everyone assumes it would be.

2. The precedent that IDF investigations aren't good enough could leave us setting up commissions of inquiry every week because of incidents that routinely take place.

3. The army would be demoralized by the necessity of conducting an outside investigation.

4. There will be no real investigation on the Hamas side regardless of what Israel does.

5. The 'international community' will not be satisfied with an Israeli commission of inquiry that does not find fault. They are out for blood.

Feel free to think of more reasons.

Israel Matzav: A good case against Goldstone?

Israel Matzav: Obama bows again

Obama bows again

Last Thursday, President Obumbler bowed to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

This year, for the first time in four years, Iorio declined to honor a group she had honored previously by giving them their own day in Tampa.

Details here.
Israel Matzav: Obama bows again

Israel Matzav: Galloway in Boston Monday night

Galloway in Boston Monday night

He may be persona non grata in Egypt and banned from Canada, but that won't stop the People's Republic of Massachusetts from welcoming George Galloway on Monday night (Hat Tip: Masha via NY Nana).

Here's how you can go to the counter-demonstration (and send me your pictures so I can post them on Tuesday morning).

CJUI and ATP are co-sponsoring a protest against a fundraiser for Hamas at the Palestinian Cultural Center, 41 Quint Ave., Allston, MA on Monday, February 1st at 6:00 p.m.

George Galloway, who is banned from entering Canada and was recently deported from Egypt, has entered the U.S. to raise money for his Hamas-affiliated organization. The Palestinian Center is hosting him for a talk and a $1,000-per-plate dinner.

Please join us outside the Center at 6:00; signs and other materials will be provided. Let them know we want Hamas Out of Boston!

Can someone please explain to me why Galloway is not on the no-fly list?

Final thought: Wouldn't it be neat if Senator Scott Brown showed up for the rally outside?

Israel Matzav: Galloway in Boston Monday night

Israel Matzav: 'He who builds for Jews is a traitor'

'He who builds for Jews is a traitor'

The 'Palestinian Authority's spiritual leader, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, has said that Arabs who work in construction for Jews in 'east' Jerusalem are 'traitors' who deserve imprisonment.

The highest spiritual authority in the PA, Imam Tayseer Tamimi, has said that Arabs who serve as construction workers in East Jerusalem for Jewish projects are from nothing but traitors who deserve imprisonment.

Arabs in Judea and Samaria have complained that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's freeze on Jewish construction is harming their livelihood.

In other words, Tamimi is trying to convince Arabs who have been thrown out of their jobs in Judea and Samaria due to the 'settlement freeze' not to work in construction in 'east' Jerusalem. Instead, he wants them to starve because he loves them so much.

If the name sounds familiar to you it should. No, he did not lead the suicide bomber to Sbarro - that was Ahlam Tamimi (anyone know how they're related? I assume that they are). But Sheikh Tamimi gave a vile ten-minute diatribe in front of Pope Benedict XVI during an inter-religious dialogue that took place during the Pope's visit to Israel last year. The Pope feigned innocence, but JPost pointed out that Tamimi did the same thing during Pope John Paul II's visit in 2000, and should not have been allowed on stage again.

Yes, this hatred fomenting cleric is the perfect spiritual leader for the 'Palestinian' suicide bombers.


Israel Matzav: 'He who builds for Jews is a traitor'

Israel Matzav: Bat Yeor: Judeophobia in Europe will lead to Europe's destruction

Bat Yeor: Judeophobia in Europe will lead to Europe's destruction

Islam scholar Bat Yeor delivered a lecture at Hebrew University on Sunday in which she showed how what she terms Europe's Judeophobia holds the seeds for the continent's destruction. You can watch the lecture (which has three videos, which should play one after the next) below (Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs).

Let's go to the videotapes.


Israel Matzav: Bat Yeor: Judeophobia in Europe will lead to Europe's destruction

Israel Matzav: The New Israel Fund has crossed a red line

The New Israel Fund has crossed a red line

In the wee hours of Monday morning, I reported on a demonstration outside the home of Naomi Chazan, a former Knesset member of the Meretz party and the current chair of the New Israel Fund. Here's how the New Israel Fund describes itself:

We fight inequality, injustice and extremism because we understand that justice is the precondition for a successful democracy – and the only lasting road to peace. The New Israel Fund's founders wanted to connect with Israel in a way that reflected their progressive values, and thousands of Israelis and Diaspora Jews have joined with us for that reason. Our supporters love Israel, and see it clearly as striving for an ideal not yet attained. As a vanguard organization that does not shy from difficult challenges, we know that the issues we take on today will become mainstream tomorrow.

The demonstration outside Chazan's home took place because of a report in the Hebrew daily Maariv over the weekend that showed that 92% of the derogatory statements in the Goldstone Report were provided by organizations supported by the New Israel Fund. In other words, the New Israel Fund is the MoveOn.org of Israel. See more details here and here.

The ad below appeared in Maariv over the weekend. For those of you who are Hebrew speakers, you can find the ad - which has changing quotes that I could not capture with my screen capture tool, and which I suggest you look at - here.

Shmuel Rosner - who is much more centrist than I am - discusses the accusations against the New Israel Fund.
1. That NIF has nothing to do with the Goldstone report.

2. That NIF has too many friends supportive of the Goldstone report.

3. That whether one likes it or not - those friends will define NIF's image in the eyes of the Israeli public.

4. That NIF, for too long, had been more concerned with its liberal supporters abroad than with the Israeli public.

5. That NIF supported, during those years, too many questionable projects (You can read an article I wrote in 2007 about NIF and its support of one questionable cause. It was engaged in "verbal acrobatics" three years ago - it is engaged in verbal acrobatics today).

6. That the current campaign against NIF was inevitable.

7. That this campaign is ugly both in tone and content.

8. That NIF attackers should remember that these are good people trying to do good things for Israel.

9. That NIF defenders will better serve their cause by thinking not just about the viciousness of the attacks but also of their own contribution to the atmosphere that made such broad and effective attack possible.
Sorry, but I disagree with 1, 7 and 8 above.

The New Israel Fund and the organizations it supports have much to do with the Goldstone Report. No, they didn't hire Judge Goldstone to write it, nor did they vote in favor of it in the 'Human Rights Council.' But their continuous attacks on the State of Israel have helped fuel an atmosphere that allows anti-Semites to point at Israel and say that even the Jews - and even Israel's own Jews - agree with the attacks on Israel. It's that 'Israel can do no right' atmosphere that gave birth to the Goldstone Report.

If the campaign is ugly in tone and content it's because the campaign is answering ugly and unsubstantiated accusations. Those campaigning against the New Israel Fund have given up on the 'high road.' Western Jewry doesn't know who the New Israel Fund really is. When they see words like "Our supporters love Israel, and see it clearly as striving for an ideal not yet attained," they take those words at face value. The average American Jew is likely clueless about the fact that the New Israel Fund supports groups that seek to destroy the Jewish state. While this campaign is currently only in Israel, it is hoped that stunts like having 'Hamas' demonstrate outside the home of the New Israel Fund's chair will attract attention from abroad and raise awareness of the New Israel Fund's agenda. Obviously, the attempts by academics like Professor Gerald Steinberg to expose that agenda have not been enough.

Rosner is dead wrong that "these are good people trying to do good things for Israel." Here are some of Professor Steinberg's examples - I'm sure you will all agree with me that these are not 'good people trying to do good things for Israel.'
  • Five grantees – Machsom Watch, Coalition of Women for Peace, Women Against Violence, Social TV, and Mossawa – signed a divestment letter, which was sent to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund.
  • Adalah ($500,000 in 2008) promotes a “Democratic Constitution” calling for eliminating Israel’s Jewish framework, and based on the “one-state solution.” Adalah officials were also involved in writing and editing a May 2009 South African publication “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel´s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law.” The document refers to Israeli occupation as a “colonial enterprise which implements a system of apartheid.”
  • I've discussed one of those organizations - Machsom Watch - several times on this blog, see here (watch the video of them in action), here and here.

    The New Israel Fund and the organizations they support are not nice people and they deserve all of the acrimony that has been heaped on them for the last several days. Someone needs to remind Shmuel Rosner that he no longer writes for Haaretz (he used to), and therefore he no longer has to be politically correct.
    Israel Matzav: The New Israel Fund has crossed a red line

    Israel Matzav: Japan trying to mediate Iran nuclear deal

    Japan trying to mediate Iran nuclear deal

    Politico's Laura Rozen reports on the increasingly important role being played by Japan, which is currently a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, in trying to convince Iran to reach a compromise on sending its low enriched uranium abroad.

    Washington Japan hands said a recent effort by Japan to invite Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani to Tokyo to discuss a possible nuclear fuel swap deal had been less than promising, while Iran experts said Japan had briefed the Obama administration earlier this month on a possible uranium fuel swap plan that resulted from their consultations with the Iranians.

    Under the alleged compromise fuel swap deal that Japanese diplomats quietly briefed U.S. officials on earlier this month, some 70% of Iran’s low enriched uranium stockpile would be moved to Japan, according to what one Washington source, speaking anonymously, was told by the Japanese. Japan would then take responsibility for the stockpile, and ensure the delivery to Iran of fuel rods for nuclear medical use.

    Japanese diplomats were said to consult several U.S. officials of the possible plan in Washington around January 15th, including a deputy to undersecretary of state Bill Burns, who was headed to New York for a January 16th meeting of the P5+1 group on Iran. The deal was described as having met a key western demand that Iran was previously said to reject: that 70% of Iran’s LEU stockpile would be moved out of the country in one batch. U.S. officials did not provide comment for the article.

    But a Washington Japan hand said Japanese-Iranian consultations on a possible uranium fuel swap deal this month had been less productive, and that the Japanese Foreign Minister had made public comments this month indicating Japan might be willing to go along with the international community should it decide to impose further economic sanctions on Iran.

    So hinted a senior U.S. administration official when, in a background briefing Friday on the Taiwan arms deal, he was asked whether the Obama administration expected the arms sale to further reduce chances that China would go along with a new, fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions on Iran.

    “The diplomacy surrounding the overall strategy with Iran extends beyond the P5+1,” the senior administration official told journalists in a background briefing Friday. “In recent high-level meetings with other key Asian countries, the Secretary [of State Hillary Clinton] and others have underscored – for instance, Japan and others – that the next step will involve a more comprehensive set of stakes, taking affirmative actions, and that we are looking to support from key states like Japan in this process.”

    Getting at least one of the leading Asian powers, China or Japan, on board the international sanctions push was described as a key goal of the Obama administration to help legitimate any further economic sanctions and to make them more effective, a Washington Asia expert said. But Japan's support for such measures is not yet a sure thing, and the Obama administration would see failure to get both China and Japan on board any further Iran sanctions push as a disaster, the Japan expert said.

    I'm betting that these discussions will be rendered moot on February 11, when Iran announces that it has enriched uranium to the 20% level. But even if that does not happen, cutting a deal with Iran now would be a mistake.

    Iran has shown time and time again that it is willing to hide its nuclear developments from the international community. It is a danger to its own people, to its neighbors and to countries further afield. It ought to be clear to everyone that Iran's intentions are not benevolent, and the world community needs to start dealing with Iran accordingly. It may already be too late.

    The picture at the top is Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Larjani.

    Read the whole thing.

    Israel Matzav: Japan trying to mediate Iran nuclear deal

    Israel Matzav: Iran threatens to deliver 'harsh blow' to 'global arrogance'

    Iran threatens to deliver 'harsh blow' to 'global arrogance'

    Iran is threatening to deliver a 'harsh blow' to 'global arrogance' next Thursday, the anniversary of the Islamic revolution (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

    "The Islamic Revolution opened a window to liberty for the human race, which was trapped in the dead ends of materialism," Ahmadinejad said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

    "If the Islamic Revolution had not occurred, liberalism and Marxism would have crushed all human dignity in their power-seeking and money-grubbing claws. Nothing would have remained of human and spiritual principles," he added.

    Ahmadinejad said that in the three decades of its history, the Islamic Revolution had inspired some great developments in the world.

    Given what we know about corruption in Iran, it's funny to hear Ahmadinejad talking about the 'dead ends of materialism.' Has he looked around lately?

    But my guess is that he's referring to the report I blogged on Saturday night that said that Iran will announce next week that it has enriched uranium to 20% on its own. Of course, that would moot the West's offer to exchange 20% enriched uranium for Iran's current stock of low enriched uranium, which the IAEA keeps insisting is still on the table.

    What could go wrong?



    Israel Matzav: Iran threatens to deliver 'harsh blow' to 'global arrogance'

    Israel Matzav: Scapegoats found?

    Scapegoats found?

    Two senior IDF officers are being offered up as scapegoats to satisfy the World's lust for Jewish blood in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead.

    Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ilan Malka, were the subject of disciplinary action by GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant after headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in approving the use of phosphorus shells that endangered human life, the Israeli government report said.

    The incident in question occurred on January 15 of last year, two days before the end of Operation Cast Lead, in the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, at a time when the Givati brigade and other Israeli forces were in the area.

    In the course of engagement with a Hamas squad, which according to IDF intelligence possessed advanced anti-tank missiles, it was decided to use phosphorus smoke munitions to create cover that would make it harder for the Hamas fighters to see the IDF soldiers.

    According to Israeli intelligence, the Hamas forces were stationed in a commanding location from which they could easily see the soldiers and the UNRWA compound that was located between the Israeli forces and the Hamas position.

    The munitions disperse hundreds of pieces of felt impregnated with phosphorus and at least some of the pieces fell into the UNRWA compound, causing injury to an UNRWA employee there as well as to two Palestinian civilians who took cover at the location.

    The question of why Hamas had stationed its terrorists such that the UN compound was between them and the Israeli troops is of course ignored.

    It's a war damn it, and in war, unfortunately, civilians are injured. Especially when one side insists on using them as human shields.

    What could go wrong?


    Israel Matzav: Scapegoats found?

    Israel Matzav: Jordan said to have arrested 'dozens'

    Jordan said to have arrested 'dozens'

    Jordan is said to have arrested 'dozens' of Muslim terrorists in connection with an attack on a convoy of Israeli embassy personnel making its way from Amman to the Allenby bridge two weeks ago.

    A Jordanian security official says authorities have arrested dozens of Muslim militants in connection with a failed bomb attack on Israeli diplomats.

    The official said Sunday that dozens have been detained in a police crackdown mostly on Salafists — militants who seek to revive strict Muslim doctrine dating back to the era of the 6th Century Prophet Muhammad.

    He said the crackdown was continuing across Jordan.

    Sounds like another opportunity for the Jordanian government to lock up a few people that it considers threats to its stability. They may or may not have had anything to do with the bombing attempt.

    Israel Matzav: Jordan said to have arrested 'dozens'

    Israel Matzav: MK calls for investigation into extreme Leftist organizations

    MK calls for investigation into extreme Leftist organizations

    Kadima MK Yisrael Hasson has called for an investigation into Leftist organizations that were involved in the Goldstone Report. Hasson is a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

    Yisrael Hasson of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is initiating a special committee meeting following reports of involvement by extreme leftist organizations in formulating the Goldstone report, which charges Israel with war crimes in the execution of the Cast Lead counter-terror campaign in Gaza last winter. The Kadima lawmaker says the state is the body that should have acted as the Im Tirtzu non-governmental organization did to uncover the leftist connection.

    Interviewed by Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service, Hasson said, "It can't be that the prime minister defines the report as a strategic threat and now it becomes clear that it came from home."

    What's mildly surprising here is that Hasson is from Kadima and not from the Likud or anyone further right than that. That ought to show you all how strong the consensus is here that Goldstone is wrong.


    Israel Matzav: MK calls for investigation into extreme Leftist organizations

    Israel Matzav: Jerusalem afraid to enforce building codes against Arabs

    Jerusalem afraid to enforce building codes against Arabs

    The City of Jerusalem is afraid to enforce its own building codes against Arabs.

    In a letter obtained by Arutz Sheva on Sunday, the man responsible for building inspections for the Jerusalem municipality said that the city is afraid to enforce laws against illegal Arab building because of the threat of disorders.

    Responding to contact on the matter, Ofir Mai wrote, "Because of security limitations, I am not able to carry out effective enforcement in the neighborhood of Silwan (Shiloach in Hebrew), so many building violations in the neighborhood are not dealt with." He noted, "Every [inspection] tour in the neighborhood draws protests, rock throwing and disturbances." He added that regional inspectors would carry out the work.

    What could go wrong?


    Israel Matzav: Jerusalem afraid to enforce building codes against Arabs

    Israel Matzav: 'Hamas' demonstrates against New Israel Fund head

    'Hamas' demonstrates against New Israel Fund head

    A group of Jews dressed as Hamas members demonstrated outside the home of former Meretz chairperson and current head of the New Israel Fund Naomi Chazan on Saturday night. Organizations funded by the New Israel Fund provided 92% of the damning statements from Israeli NGO's that were quoted by the Goldstone Report.

    Im Tirtzu, a growing grassroots movement which calls itself “the second Zionist revolution,” pretended to be Hamas terrorists during a demonstration outside the home of New Israel Fund (NIF) Chairwoman Naomi Chazan Saturday evening. The protesters donned Arab headdresses and imitated terrorists who thank Chazan for the NIF's support following IDF counter-terrorist operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

    The protest marks the launch of a public campaign against the New Israel Fund and was timed to coincide with the upcoming publication of an IDF report on the campaign of lies and defamation that it faced during and after Cast Lead.

    Im Tirtzu conducted its own study of the allegations in the infamous “Goldstone report” on Cast Lead, and its findings were published in Friday's Maariv newspaper. The research found that 16 groups funded by the NIF provided 92 percent of the damning statements quoted from Israeli NGOs in the Goldstone report.

    She looks kind of like Helen Thomas, doesn't she?


    Israel Matzav: 'Hamas' demonstrates against New Israel Fund head

    Love of the Land: On Palestine and Barrack Obama

    On Palestine and Barrack Obama


    Ira Sharkansky
    Shark Blog
    29 January '10

    Here is something that President Obama and his advisers should consider before spending any more of their time nudging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to negotiate a peace.

    The details are not entirely clear, but reinforce the larger story of corruption in high places of the Palestine Authority, the lack of popular confidence in the Authority among Palestinians, and the likelihood that Hamas would take over the West Bank if Mahmoud Abbas and his people were not propped up by Israel, Jordan, and the United States.

    The article resembles what I heard from a lecturer at a Palestinian university who visited me at the Hebrew University. The lecturer's biography featured numerous consulting activities with Palestinian companies and public authorities that had been financed by European and North American governments. When I probed the details and asked if any of the consulting had produced improvements in administration, the answer was negative. My visitor confirmed my impression that a great deal of foreign aid given to Palestine does nothing but provide employment for a few Palestinians. The article in the Jerusalem Post indicates that a fair amount of the aid ends up in the overseas bank accounts of Palestinian officials. It is more public relations for the donors than anything that helps to develop the Authority. "Is the Authority a serious entity?" I asked my visitor. The answer again was negative.

    Other news includes revelations from ranking Palestinians of what they claim Ehud Olmert offered close to the end of his service as prime minister, and what the Palestinians rejected. The acceptance of one thousand refugees from 1948 was not enough to justify a response. Neither was what Olmert offered with respect to transferring neighborhoods of Jerusalem to Palestine, and other territorial swaps. The Palestinians were not willing to accept Israel's control of Maale Adumim, a suburb of Jerusalem where 30,000 Jews have made their homes.

    We cannot be sure about the above details, insofar as disinformation is as much a part of Israel-Palestine relationships as it is of other political feelers that may be preparing the road for serious negotiations, or preparing the way to avoid negotiations. However, they fit the image of an Authority that is more comic opera, or Greek tragedy, than serious entity.

    The best guess is that Palestinians are willing to turn the clock back to 1967, 1948, or 1947--depending on who is talking--but not to engage in their share of concessions in order to end the dispute.

    So what should Israel do? And what should be the posture of the Obama administration?

    Nothing is the answer appropriate to both questions.

    (Read full post)


    Love of the Land: On Palestine and Barrack Obama

    Love of the Land: The Aftonbladet Organ-Trafficking Accusations against Israel: A Case Study

    The Aftonbladet Organ-Trafficking Accusations against Israel: A Case Study


    Mikael Tossavainen
    JCPA
    Institute for Global Jewish Affairs
    Published January '10

    -In August 2009, Sweden's largest daily Aftonbladet, a tabloid, published an article implying that the Israel Defense Forces kills Palestinians to provide the Israeli medical establishment with organs. The article was heavily criticized in the Swedish media, and several papers denounced it as anti-Semitic. The Swedish government refused to comment on the article, claiming legal factors prevented them. When the Swedish ambassador to Israel published a condemnation of the text, she was forced to retract it.

    -In Israel the article stirred outrage and shock. The Israeli government demanded that its Swedish counterpart condemn the article. The Swedish government still refused to comment. As a consequence of the harsh official reactions in Israel, the debate in Sweden shifted, and Aftonbladet now portrayed itself as the defender of free speech against pressures from a foreign government.

    -The affair created an echo in international media, and the Italian government tried to get the Swedish government to join it in a common condemnation of anti-Semitism. The Swedes still refused.

    -Swedish-Israeli relations suffered from the affair. A planned visit to Israel by Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was canceled. Since Sweden held the rotating presidency of the European Union, the EU's role as a broker in the Middle East peace process also suffered.


    The Swedish media tends to be biased against Israel in its reporting from the Middle East.[1] Nevertheless, the Swedish mainstream media is generally free of anti-Semitism. However, the summer of 2009 offered one of the rare exceptions when the country's largest daily, the tabloid Aftonbladet, published an article that stirred reactions beyond the limited Swedish public discourse.

    (Read full report)


    Love of the Land: The Aftonbladet Organ-Trafficking Accusations against Israel: A Case Study

    Love of the Land: J Street

    J Street



    Some background info about today's cartoon:
    1.The "J" in J Street does not stand for "Jewish".

    Want to learn more? Click here for full background info.

    Of related interest: Im Tirzu: NIF NGOs made up bulk of Goldstone testimonies


    Love of the Land: J Street

    Love of the Land: Unsentimental Education

    Unsentimental Education


    What has Obama learned about peace?

    Marty Peretz
    The New Republic
    29 January '10

    (While not agreeing with some of his conclusions, this article just has too many good points to pass by. Y.)

    “The cruel God of the Jews has you beaten too.”--Racine

    An interview by Joe Klein in Time magazine is hardly a historical event. But, when the interview is with Barack Obama, it lays claim to some newsworthiness. This is especially true when it is ballyhooed as a firstanniversary event. Since, moreover, (right after awarding himself good grades on Al Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia) it’s clear that Obama wanted to make a point: “The other area which I think is worth noting is that the Middle East peace process has not moved forward. And I think it’s fair to say that for all our efforts at early engagement, it is not where I want it to be.”

    Klein then throws the president an easy ball, which Obama hits just outside the third baseline. “I’ll be honest with you. ... This is just really hard. Even for a guy like George Mitchell, who helped bring about peace in Northern Ireland. This is as intractable a problem as you get.” I suppose this is an admission of sorts for the president. But, as he goes on, you find that his understanding of “the problem” is not an understanding at all. It is a disposition, and the disposition is his. Not his alone, mind you. Still, it is his, and that’s what counts.

    How does one characterize this disposition? Of course, you can read the interview. Or let me quote briefly: “Both sides--the Israelis and the Palestinians--have found the political environment, the nature of their coalitions or the divisions within their societies, were such that it was very hard for them to start engaging in a meaningful conversation. ... Moving forward, though, we are going to continue to work with both parties to recognize what I think is ultimately their deep-seated interest in a two-state solution in which Israel is secure and the Palestinians have sovereignty and can start focusing on developing their economy and improving the lives of their children and grandchildren.” One is tempted to ask what Arab model the Arabs of Palestine will use as a prototype for their own prosperity and freedom. Is there such anywhere in the Arab world? Perhaps the president will himself propose one.

    (Read full article)


    Love of the Land: Unsentimental Education
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