Sabbath music video
Here's Avraham Fried singing Keil HaHodo'os from the Friday night evening service.
Let's go to the videotape.
Let's go to the videotape.
Israel Matzav: Sabbath music video
Posts
5 hours ago
Friday, 9 April 2010
Love of the Land: The Islamization of Jerusalem
The Islamization of Jerusalem
Mordechai Kedar
Hudson New York
09 April '10
Posted before Shabbat
Although the importance of Jerusalem for Christians and Jews is part of universal concepts of history and theology and beyond dispute, when it comes to modern politics, we hear over and over again Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims demanding that Jerusalem become the capital of the future Palestinian state, owing to its holiness in Islam.
The question is: When and how did this city became holy to Muslims?
When the Prophet Muhammad established Islam, he introduced a minimum of innovations. He employed the hallowed personages, historic legends and sacred sites of Judaism, Christianity, and even paganism, by Islamizing them.
According to Islam, Abraham was the first Muslim, and Jesus and St. John (the sons of Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron) were prophets and guardians of the second heaven.
Many Biblical legends (“asatir al-awwalin”), which were familiar to the pagan Arabs before the dawn of Islam, underwent an Islamic conversion; the Koran as well as the Hadith (the Islamic oral tradition), are replete with them.
Islamization was enforced on places as well as persons: Mecca and the holy stone -- al-Ka’bah -- were holy sites of the pre-Islamic pagan Arabs. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Great Mosque of Istanbul were erected on the sites of Christian-Byzantine churches -- two of the better known examples of how Islam treats sanctuaries of other faiths.
Jerusalem, too, underwent Islamization: At first Muhammad tried to convince the Jews near Medina to join his young community. By way of persuasion, he established the direction of prayer (kiblah) to be to the north, towards Jerusalem, in keeping with Jewish practice; but after he failed in this effort, he turned against the Jews, killed many of them, and directed the kiblah southward, towards Mecca.
(Read full article)
Love of the Land: The Islamization of Jerusalem
Israel Matzav: Recovering from a rock attack
Recovering from a rock attack
The reports I see show daily rock attacks against Israeli vehicles in Judea and Samaria. In many of the attacks there is 'only' damage to the car. But sometimes it's worse - much worse - God forbid. This is one of those occasions.
Shmuel Cohen, who suffered a broken skull in a rock attack at the Yitzhar junction a week ago, is having difficulty recovering from the attack.
Cohen was sent home by the hospital following surgery dictated by the wounds. His brother reported that Shmuel began to suffer and could not get to sleep. He suffered excruciating pain, dizziness, and difficulty with memory and focusing. The brother asked, "How can they release someone after head surgery without comprehensive examinations and rehabilitation?"
I hope none of us ever has to find out.
Israel Matzav: Recovering from a rock attack
Elder of Ziyon: Meanwhile, in Lebanon...
Meanwhile, in Lebanon...
From Ya Libnan:
Firas Press mentions that at least one person was killed. In 2006, Lebanon vowed to disarm all Palestinian Arab armed groups outside the camps and to regulate weapons within the camps. This obviously never happened. |
Elder of Ziyon: Meanwhile, in Lebanon...
Israel Matzav: Russia's LUKOIL to stop supplying gasoline to Iran
Russia's LUKOIL to stop supplying gasoline to Iran
Russian oil giant Lukoil will cease supplying gasoline to Iran. LUKOIL, Russia's No. 2 oil company, has been supplying gasoline to Tehran intermittently, moving between about 250,000 barrels to 500,000 barrels of gasoline every other month, traders said.
"They are not one of the major players in supplying gasoline to Iran, they do it on occasion," a trader said.
"But now they will stop because of pressure coming from their head office in Moscow."
...
LUKOIL has significant exposure in the United States with about 2,000 retail gasoline stations, the largest presence there among Russian oil firms. ConocoPhillips is a major shareholder in the company.
In March Anglo-Dutch oil firm Shell announced that it had stopped gasoline supplies to the Islamic republic joining two of the world's largest independent trading companies Glencore and Vitol who had taken similar decisions.
US politicians are working on legislation to penalize fuel suppliers to Iran in an effort to pressure Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
Israel Matzav: Russia's LUKOIL to stop supplying gasoline to Iran
Israel Matzav: State Department gets a clue, condemns 'Yihya Ayash Street'
State Department gets a clue, condemns 'Yihya Ayash Street'
In what can practically be called a flying pigs moment, State Department spokesman Phillip J. Crowley addressed the naming of Yihya Ayash Street in Ramallah. Well, sort of. Speaking to reportes, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley t addressed both the recently uncovered naming of a Ramallah street after the Hamas suicide bombings mastermind Yihyeh Ayyash, as well as to statements made by PA officials, condemning the refurbishing of an ancient synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City.
"We also strongly condemn the glorification of terrorists," Crowley said, adding that "honoring terrorists who have murdered innocent civilians, either by official statements or by the dedication of public places, hurts peace efforts and must end."
The State Department official also added that the U.S. would " continue to hold Palestinian leaders accountable for incitement."
Crowley also addressed comments made by PA officials in the wake of the rededication of the Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.
Last month Palestinians rioted in Jerusalem as part of a "day of rage" declared by Hamas, also protesting the rededication of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Fatah official Khatem Abd el-Kader, called Palestinians to "converge on al Aksa to save it" from "Israeli attempts to destroy the mosque and replace it with the [Jewish] temple," calling the synagogue's rededication a "provocation," adding that Israel is "playing with fire."
In his statement Thursday, Crowley said that the U.S. was "disturbed by comments of Palestinian Authority officials regarding reconstruction and refurbishing of Jewish sites in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City."
The problem with that statement is that the 'Palestinians' don't consider Ayash a terrorist. Note also that there's nothing that says the US condemns the 'Palestinian Authority' for naming the street after Ayash. It sort of just happened. As to holding 'Palestinian' leaders 'accountable' for incitement, that's like we're holding Iran accountable for their nuclear weapons development. It's not happening. It's a meaningless phrase. As to the Churva, they're 'disturbed' at the comments of 'Palestinian Authority officials,' as if those officials were acting on their own. And what does 'disturbed' mean anyway? Someone woke Crowley up from his afternoon nap? Why don't they condemn those remarks by persons speaking on behalf of the 'Palestinian Authority'?
Meanwhile, Israel's UN delegation is seeking UN action censuring the 'Palestinians.'
Meanwhile, Israel's UN delegation is seeking UN action censuring the 'Palestinians.'
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations demanded on Thursday that the world body sharply censure the Palestinian Authority's intent to name a street for Hamas terrorist Yachya Ayash, whose nickname was "The Engineer". Ayash is believed to be behind suicide bombings that caused the deaths of about 90 Israelis before the Shin Bet Israel security agency killed him with a booby-trapped cell phone in 1996
In a letter to the UN's Secretary for political matters, Professor Gabriella Shalev wrote that the PA had committed itself to refrain from any sort of incitement against Israel. That would include glorifying a terrorist.
Good luck with that.
Israel Matzav: State Department gets a clue, condemns 'Yihya Ayash Street'
Israel Matzav: Krauthammer on Obama's Orwellian National Security Strategy
Krauthammer on Obama's Orwellian National Security Strategy
Here's Charles Krauthammer on President Obama's Orwellian National Security Strategy. It’s fatuous. It borders on the Orwellian. If we weren't involved in a war against Islamic radicals and jihadism — which is what it is — it wouldn't be as tragic.
The commander in chief has just sent 30,000 Americans to fight, and some will die in battle against whom? Against what? He, himself, has said openly it's about a-Qaeda. But what is al-Qaeda? Is it just a gang of violent extremists? What does that tell us? What is their ideology? What exactly are we preventing?
The idea is to prevent it from taking over the region and the entire Middle East. Well, it's openly proclaimed itself as an Islamic movement. That's how it sees itself — [an] interpretation of the Koran and religion which would impose Sharia law in a violent way on everybody and produce in the Middle East and the world what we had in Afghanistan before the American invasion.
Now that is a specific [program] — it isn't a prejudice of ours or a stereotype of ours. That's the essence of their ideology. And to deny it is absurd.
In Pakistan, we have allies, the moderates in the government and in the army who are now at war with the same jihadists. Do you think the Pakistanis, who are Muslims, are denying that the enemy is jihadism — and the imposition of Sharia law? For us to deny it is to say that our own allies — the moderate Muslims — are deluded.
Indeed.
Israel Matzav: Krauthammer on Obama's Orwellian National Security Strategy
Israel Matzav: Good news: Regime change still not a goal of Iran sanctions
Good news: Regime change still not a goal of Iran sanctions
Laura Rozen reports on a press briefing on Iran sanctions by two of Obama's national security advisers in Prague. Obama national security advisers Michael McFaul and Ben Rhodes, and spokesman Robert Gibbs briefed the press today on Iran sanctions in Prague. McFaul said that Iran had been a substantial topic of discussion at a meeting today between Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“We want to use sanctions to change Iranian behavior,” McFaul says.
Medvedev gave Obama details on what would and would not be acceptable to Russia in the new resolution, McFaul said.
"We discussed categories of the new resolution today," McFaul said. "But we are in the heart of what should be in the resolution." The process toward sanctions, he said, "took a step forward today."
...
From 44:Asked at a press conference in Prague whether Iran sanctions on the energy sector have been taken off the table by the Russians, Michael McFaul, an adviser on Russian affairs, says "it is not off the table."
"Where it ends out, I honestly don't know," the White House adviser says, but it is not a "category" that is off the table.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, says, "We have not set regime change as a goal of these sanctions."
What, they think Ahmadinejad is going to change his mind? You have got to be kidding.
Israel Matzav: Good news: Regime change still not a goal of Iran sanctions
Israel Matzav: Reactions to the Anat Kam treason affair
Reactions to the Anat Kam treason affair
Arutz Sheva has some interesting reactions to the Anat Kam treason story that's covered in the previous post (below). I'll try to stick with the ones I found especially surprising or interesting. This is Yoel Hasson, former Deputy Head of the Shabak (General Security Service) and now a Kadima MK: Member of Knesset Yisrael Hasson, a former deputy director of the Shabak Israel Security Agency, called Thursday on subscribers of the Haaretz daily to freeze their subscriptions until reporter Uri Blau is fired and returns all the classified military documents he received from Anat Kam.
The Kadima lawmaker said, "It's impossible to break the law and harm national security while covering one's self under the fig leaf of 'freedom of expression' and 'the public's right to know'."
National Union's Michael Ben Ari has asked Interior Minister Eli Yishai to close down Haaretz until Blau and the stolen documents are returned.
Member of Knesset Michael Ben-Ari asked Interior Minister Eli Yishai on Thursday evening to use his authority under the journalism regulations to close the Haaretz daily in the wake of revelations that the newspaper had printed articles by Uri Blau which contained classified military documents.
In a letter to the Shas party chairman, Dr. Ben-Ari noted the preciousness of freedom of expression in a democracy, but added, "when Haaretz announces that the newspaper will financially support Uri Blau and at the newspaper's initiative, Blau is not returning to the country, there's no choice but to order the closing of Haaretz - and not for a short time - until Blau returns, reports for questioning and returns the documents."
I doubt that will happen - and if it did, the Leftist Supreme Court would overturn it in no time.
There are more reactions here.
There are more reactions here.
MK Ronit Tirosh, of the centrist-left Kadima party, was very strident: “It is infuriating that on the eve of Holocaust Day [this coming Sunday night and Monday], we find that displays of anti-Semitism exist even in our midst. Justice must be meted out to all those involved in this story, and the media and especially Haaretz must take careful stock of their actions. Spies in our midst are the last thing that the State of Israel needs now.”
...
Haaretz, for its part, did not agree to the offer proposed by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) regarding the return of the documents. So said ISA head Yuval Diskin at a press conference on Thursday. Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, who received the secret documents and published an article based on them, including copies of two secret documents, is abroad, and refuses to return to Israel for questioning. Blau returned 50 of the documents, but still retains the rest.
Based on the above, Diskin said: “We have additional indications that Blau is still holding documents that were not returned. He has now become an intelligence target for hostile elements, and therefore we will make sure to speed up the investigation. Our attempts to retrieve the documents by consent didn’t work; our overall goal is to make sure that they don’t fall into hostile hands… We acted too softly here. We should have taken off the gloves much earlier. We were too sensitive to the media, and we drew the story out too long. It should have ended much earlier. This is the main lesson we have learned.”
“It is the dream of every enemy nation to put its hands on documents of this sort,” Diskin said. “Anat Kam belongs in prison.”
The Mattot Arim (Cities of Israel) grassroots organization: “This story must be a warning light for all IDF generals and security officials, who have long been convinced that their enemy is the Jewish population in Judea and Samaria and that the radical pro-Palestinian elements are ‘progressive’ and deserve their trust and encouragement. This explains how then-Central District Commander, Yair Naveh, didn’t ‘notice’ that 2,000 documents were being copied under his nose – because he was so busy running after Jewish settlers and patriotic Israeli outposts.”
Residents Committees in Judea and Samaria: “Radical left-wing elements serving in official positions are like a fifth-column against Israel’s interests. This is a black day for free press when extremist propagandists infiltrate it disguised as objective journalists.”
...
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union): “The ideological left has once again crossed all lines and acted to harm the security of Israel and the IDF. Those who don’t hesitate to recruit countries and donors to harm Israel in the framework of associations supported by the New Israel Fund are liable to go even further and actually spy, in order to turn Israel into a ‘state of all its Arabs.’… Worst of all is the media’s deep involvement in the plot to harm the country.”
Baruch Marzel of Hevron wants to know why Kam was placed under house arrest for so long: “The Prosecution and courts knew how to throw 13-year-old girls from the nationalist camp into prison until the end of the proceedings against them just because they blocked a highway – but allow a spy to remain in her home? The rule of law in Israel is in trouble.”
And here's more.
Terror victims' advocacy group Almagor issued a statement in which it demanded that Anat Kam – who is accused of stealing the documents and giving them to Blau – be placed under full arrest until her trial ends, and not under house arrest as she is presently. It noted that in previous espionage cases, the individuals charged were always jailed during their trials.
Almagor further demanded that Kam be tried before a military court since she was a uniformed soldier when she carried out her alleged espionage. “Only a panel of judges that includes people of military background can fully appreciate the severity of her deeds, especially given the light atmosphere that is being created by her attorneys and those who side with them in some of the media,” the group said.
...
Indeed, much of Israel's media coverage of the treason case show news outlets playing defense for the suspected journalist spies and placing the media's rights to information above the law, this despite IDF statements that Israeli lives might have been threatened by what was contained in the stolen documents.
For hours on end Thursday, Israel's online media outlets in English headlined the espionage case involving two journalists, one of whom was a soldier at the time, in a way that appeared to favor the suspects. In the afternoon and evening, the top stories in the Ynetnews, JPost and Haaretz websites curiously focused on the accused spy's version of the affair, depicting her as more of a victim than a villain.
Ynetnews's top headline was “'Case threatens democracy'” – actually an abbreviated version of a quote from Kam's defense lawyer. JPost also gave prominence to the defense lawyer's version, with the headline “Former IDF soldier's lawyer: Case damaging to democracy.” The English-language version of Haaretz, a suspected culprit in the affair, quoted the same attorney's claim that his client, who is accused of wilfully copying thousands of IDF classified documents on to her own computer, had been “made a scapegoat” in its headline.
Channel 2's central evening newscast featured numerous sound bites from another one of Kam's lawyers, high-profile attorney Avigdor Feldman, and a sympathetic interview with Kam's mother. Anchorwoman Yonit Levy spoke with Guy Peleg, the channel's reporter on legal affairs, and suggested that the accusation of espionage was "too harsh."
Ynet in Hebrew provided a long video report on a demonstration by about a dozen radical leftists in Tel Aviv who accused the IDF of crimes and praised Kam.
By evening, Haaretz in Hebrew had moved the story that caused shockwaves throughout Israel down to the number five position, giving it less importance than a story about the Obamas' intention to appear on American Idol.
When I checked Haaretz's English site on Friday morning, it seemed that every single columnist had written an article in support of Blau (no, I haven't and won't bother to read them).
The media and its elites constitute approximately 2.5% of this country (based on the three seats that Meretz has in the current Knesset). Unfortunately, those views get far more exposure than they deserve. I agree that Kam should be in jail and not under house arrest. And I believe that the Mossad should do whatever has to be done to bring Blau back to Israel and lock him up permanently. It's outrageous that this small band of traitors should be allowed to endanger the entire country's security.
The media and its elites constitute approximately 2.5% of this country (based on the three seats that Meretz has in the current Knesset). Unfortunately, those views get far more exposure than they deserve. I agree that Kam should be in jail and not under house arrest. And I believe that the Mossad should do whatever has to be done to bring Blau back to Israel and lock him up permanently. It's outrageous that this small band of traitors should be allowed to endanger the entire country's security.
Israel Matzav: Reactions to the Anat Kam treason affair
Israel Matzav: Israel's traitors
Israel's traitors
I've had a story open on my computer all week (and part of last week) that I assume most of you abroad already know about. In Israel, there was a gag order on publication, and since I live in Israel and blog from Israel and had no particular desire to violate the gag order, I have remained silent about it.On Thursday, it was cleared for publication (when the prosecution withdrew its secrecy request) that a 23-year old 'journalist' has been arrested and indicted for stealing some 2,000 confidential IDF documents during her compulsory army service and handing them over to Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily. The reporter who actually used the documents to write the article in question is hiding out in London, where no one is threatening to arrest him under England's universal jurisdiction law, unlike Doron Almog and Tzipi Livni.
Here's what the State of Israel allowed to be released on Thursday.
Journalist Anat Kam, 23, is accused of stealing over 2,000 IDF classified documents, many hundreds of which are termed “secret” and “top secret.” The alleged crimes occurred when she served as a soldier clerking in the IDF military - specifically, in the office of the Commander of the Central District - between 2005-2007.
She allegedly handed over many of the “top secret” and “secret” documents to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau. Blau, who was abroad when the investigation started, has refused thus far to return to Israel for investigation. It is suspected that many of the classified papers are still in his possession – despite an offer made to him that the returned documents would not be used to prosecute him or his source, Anat Kam.
Kam, who was secretly arrested during the investigation, has been indicted in the Tel Aviv District Court. She stands accused of collecting secret information, giving it to unauthorized individuals, and attempting to harm state security.
Some of the documents include detailed plans for military operations, the deployment of IDF forces in routine and emergency situations, operations against terrorist leaders, evaluations, and more.
According to foreign media, Kam's trial is due to begin on Wednesday and she is being charged with treason. Treason is one of two crimes in Israel that carries the death penalty (the other is Nazi war crimes), but I doubt Kam would be sentenced to death. It is far more likely that she will be sentenced to a lengthy - perhaps even lifelong - stay in prison (cf. Mordechai Vanunu). The New York Times claims 15 years (I believe that Vanunu was originally sentenced to 18).
The Blau article that is the main subject of the indictment - according to the foreign media - is here. It is titled License to Kill (or Licence to Kill in some foreign media - that's for the benefit of the Google searchers) The foreign media claims that it was cleared for publication at the time by the IDF censor. Blau makes the same claim in an article in Friday's Haaretz. The article was published just three weeks before Operation Cast Lead began. It is clear from reading the article that Blau must have had access to confidential IDF documents. Kam worked in Central Command Chief Yair Naveh's office and apparently stole the documents that were the story's basis from there.
The Blau article that is the main subject of the indictment - according to the foreign media - is here. It is titled License to Kill (or Licence to Kill in some foreign media - that's for the benefit of the Google searchers) The foreign media claims that it was cleared for publication at the time by the IDF censor. Blau makes the same claim in an article in Friday's Haaretz. The article was published just three weeks before Operation Cast Lead began. It is clear from reading the article that Blau must have had access to confidential IDF documents. Kam worked in Central Command Chief Yair Naveh's office and apparently stole the documents that were the story's basis from there.
On April 12 Naveh convened another meeting about Malaisha. This time he decided that permission would be granted to carry out the assassination of the target and "another two people at most." On the day of the meeting in Naveh's office another discussion took place, chaired by the head of the Operations Directorate, Brig. Gen. Sami Turjeman. At the meeting, the plans for a preventive operation against Malaisha were presented, and the head of the Operations Directorate explained that "a preventive strike in Ayush [Judea and Samaria] is an exceptional sight ... It could be seen as an attempt to damage the attempts to stabilize, which means that it requires sensitivity to causing a minimum of collateral damage. Everything possible must be done to prevent harm to those who are uninvolved." The target of the operation, he added "leads a 'ticking' infrastructure and meets the required criteria for a preventive strike."
At this point Turjeman spelled out the conditions of Malaisha's incrimination, and ruled that only if they existed would the targeted assassination get a green light. He added that no more than five people (including the driver) should be assassinated in the operation. Turjeman approved the operation even if there should be one unidentified person in the car. Regarding the matter of timing, he said that "in light of the anticipated diplomatic events, the prime minister's meeting with Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] and the visit of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, I recommend ... implementation afterward." In the discussion Turjeman also referred to the High Court ruling about appointing a committee whose job would be to examine targeted assassinations after the fact, and said that in light of the High Court instructions on the matter, the operation should be documented.
The next day the operation was brought up for the approval of Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. A limited number of senior officers convened in his office, including his deputy, the head of the Operations Directorate, the head of the Operations Brigade, the chief military prosecutor, a representative of Central Command and a representative of the Shin Bet. The paper summing up the meeting says that Ashkenazi "emphasized that due to the High Court orders regarding the establishment of a professional committee on targeted assassinations, the composition of the committee should be agreed on with the Shin Bet as soon as possible."
Although Malaisha was defined as part of a "ticking infrastructure," Ashkenazi too was disturbed by the timing of the action and said that "in light of the diplomatic meetings anticipated during the course of the week, the date of implementation should be reconsidered." Ashkenazi prohibited attacking the vehicle in which Malaisha was traveling if it was discovered that there was "more than one unidentified passenger" in it.
Two months after the Two Towers plan was approved, and long after the diplomatic visits and meetings that took place in the second week of April 2007, came the operation in which Malaisha was killed in the Jenin area.
I've written on this blog before that I don't believe that the Supreme Court should be interfering with the nitty gritty of IDF operations. But here's what the court's ruling that's the subject of Blau's article actually said (according to Blau - I have not looked up the original ruling):
According to the High Court ruling, well-founded and convincing information is necessary in order to classify a civilian as being part of a group of civilians who are carrying out hostile acts; a person should not be assassinated if it is possible to use less damaging methods against him; and he should not be harmed more than necessary for security needs. In other words, a person should not be assassinated if it is possible to arrest him, interrogate him and indict him. However, if the arrest involves serious danger to the lives of the soldiers, there is no need to use this means; after every assassination a thorough and independent examination must be conducted regarding the degree of precision, the identity of the man as a terror activist, and in the case of mistaken identity, the payment of compensation should be considered; harm to innocent civilians should be avoided as much as possible during an assassination, and "harm to innocent civilians will be legal only if it meets the demands of proportionality," ruled Barak.
In this context, Barak gave an example according to which "it is possible to fire at a terrorist who is firing from the balcony of his home at soldiers or civilians, even if as a result an innocent bystander is liable to be hit. Such a strike at an innocent civilian will meet the demands of proportionality. That is not the case if the house is bombed from the air and dozens of its residents and bystanders are hit."
Barak stated that, "The struggle against terror has turned our democracy into a 'defensive democracy' or a 'fighting democracy.' However, this struggle must not overturn the democratic nature of our regime."
The main accusation of the Haaretz article in question is that Malaisha could have been arrested rather than killed. However, even Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak did not require that terrorists be arrested rather than killed when doing so would involve "serious danger to the lives of the soldiers."
The JPost reports that the documents allegedly stolen by Kam had a significant effect on how the IDF conducted operations during Operation Cast Lead. It doesn't elaborate.
From my perspective, there are two takeaways here. First, the IDF has got to get those papers back as quickly as possible and at all costs. I'm amazed that they have not managed to do so since December 2008 (at which time they should have known that there was a problem with anything in Naveh's office). I'm also amazed that Blau was not also placed under house arrest, but was allowed to leave the country in November or December 2009, as is clear from his Haaretz article this morning. Despite Kam's mother's protests (cited by the JPost in the article that I linked) that her daughter is not a traitor, I would not put it past Kam or Blau to hand the article to the US media or even to the more hostile British media, which would gladly splash them all over their front pages. Given that the documents include "detailed plans for military operations, the deployment of IDF forces in routine and emergency situations, operations against terrorist leaders, evaluations, and more," the verified recovery of all copies of those documents has to be the top priority.
Second, I don't know a whole lot about how secret and top secret security clearances are given in the IDF (if I'm really lucky, maybe someone from the IDF will come on and speak to this in the comments section), but I have a sense that it's not always as rigorous as is the case in, for example, the US. I once applied for a job in Israel for which I needed security clearance. I received the security clearance (I then declined the job offered), and from what I recall the thing that most interested them was speaking with people who knew me at various stages of my life who now lived in Israel. I wonder whether native born Israelis go through less rigorous screening than I went through at the time (this was around 1993 and I had only been here two years). But clearly, the IDF must examine how someone with Anat Kam's proclivities managed to get security clearance to work in Yair Naveh's office.
For those of you sitting overseas and trying to judge us through the lens of American or British or other Western democratic values, please keep in mind that living in Israel means constantly being at war, and in war sometimes liberties get restricted. It's unfair to hold Israel to an American standard of free speech or press that was made at any time subsequent to the civil war. And as to the Brits - most of our laws in this area derive from what they did during the Mandate.
I don't like everything that is done here in the name of 'security' either and yes, I believe it has a lot of potential for abuse. For example, in the mid-90's, I argued extensively against administrative detention (a law that allows the authorities to hold people for up to six months - subject to extension - without any indication of what the charges against them might be). But when you are surrounded by what the US would term 'enemy combatants' and the people you are holding are alleged to have stolen "detailed plans for military operations, the deployment of IDF forces in routine and emergency situations, operations against terrorist leaders, evaluations, and more," I don't believe that you have a choice but to act.
The JPost reports that the documents allegedly stolen by Kam had a significant effect on how the IDF conducted operations during Operation Cast Lead. It doesn't elaborate.
From my perspective, there are two takeaways here. First, the IDF has got to get those papers back as quickly as possible and at all costs. I'm amazed that they have not managed to do so since December 2008 (at which time they should have known that there was a problem with anything in Naveh's office). I'm also amazed that Blau was not also placed under house arrest, but was allowed to leave the country in November or December 2009, as is clear from his Haaretz article this morning. Despite Kam's mother's protests (cited by the JPost in the article that I linked) that her daughter is not a traitor, I would not put it past Kam or Blau to hand the article to the US media or even to the more hostile British media, which would gladly splash them all over their front pages. Given that the documents include "detailed plans for military operations, the deployment of IDF forces in routine and emergency situations, operations against terrorist leaders, evaluations, and more," the verified recovery of all copies of those documents has to be the top priority.
Second, I don't know a whole lot about how secret and top secret security clearances are given in the IDF (if I'm really lucky, maybe someone from the IDF will come on and speak to this in the comments section), but I have a sense that it's not always as rigorous as is the case in, for example, the US. I once applied for a job in Israel for which I needed security clearance. I received the security clearance (I then declined the job offered), and from what I recall the thing that most interested them was speaking with people who knew me at various stages of my life who now lived in Israel. I wonder whether native born Israelis go through less rigorous screening than I went through at the time (this was around 1993 and I had only been here two years). But clearly, the IDF must examine how someone with Anat Kam's proclivities managed to get security clearance to work in Yair Naveh's office.
For those of you sitting overseas and trying to judge us through the lens of American or British or other Western democratic values, please keep in mind that living in Israel means constantly being at war, and in war sometimes liberties get restricted. It's unfair to hold Israel to an American standard of free speech or press that was made at any time subsequent to the civil war. And as to the Brits - most of our laws in this area derive from what they did during the Mandate.
I don't like everything that is done here in the name of 'security' either and yes, I believe it has a lot of potential for abuse. For example, in the mid-90's, I argued extensively against administrative detention (a law that allows the authorities to hold people for up to six months - subject to extension - without any indication of what the charges against them might be). But when you are surrounded by what the US would term 'enemy combatants' and the people you are holding are alleged to have stolen "detailed plans for military operations, the deployment of IDF forces in routine and emergency situations, operations against terrorist leaders, evaluations, and more," I don't believe that you have a choice but to act.
Israel Matzav: Israel's traitors
Israel Matzav: Obama's nuclear posture review brings war closer
Obama's nuclear posture review brings war closer
Although Secretary of Defense Gates won some aspects of the nuclear posture review, the aspects where President Obama won out degrade the United States' deterrence capability. The problem is the fact that Obama has tampered with a simple, effective nuclear policy that keeps the bad guys in check. That is, use a WMD of any sort on the U.S. or her allies and the response will be apocalyptic in its devastation. That doesn't necessarily have to be true, it just has be to perceived as true by potential adversaries. Deterrence is predicated on fear of force, not force itself. It's classic Sun Tzu -- "to subdue your enemies without fighting is supreme excellence."
In the 2010 NPR, the White House unnecessarily tinkered with that proven policy -- and for what? They believe it will offer the carrot needed for Iran to sign the NPT, open its enrichment facilities to inspectors, and join the community of responsible nations. That's pure fantasy. There's no indication that U.S. nuclear policy has had a shred of influence on rogue states, nor will it ever. Iran will not abandon a program that has cost them billions of dollars simply because Obama pinky swears that he won't drop the bomb on them if the mullahs play nice.
It would have been better for the U.S. to preserve the ambiguity in our nuclear usage policy, and thus kept our enemies guessing. Fear of violence, more so than violence itself, has helped prevent World War III for six decades. If Obama continues to unbalance that successful deterrence equation, the consequences could be dire.
Obama's entire course of action with Iran since the day he took office leaves open only two possibilities. Either he just doesn't get the concept of deterrence or he wants Iran to be able to deter other countries. Neither portends positively for the future.
Read it all.
Read it all.
Israel Matzav: Obama's nuclear posture review brings war closer
Israel Matzav: Netanyahu: 'The hell you'll impose a plan on us'
Netanyahu: 'The hell you'll impose a plan on us'
Prime Minister Netanyahu reacted defiantly to word that the Obama administration may attempt to impose a 'peace plan' on Israel. He said that Israel would not accept such a plan. "It won't work and it won't be acceptable if a settlement is forced on us," Netanyahu reportedly told close aides. He reportedly said Israel would have to retain a military presence along its border with Jordan and that adequate security arrangements would be an important element of any future peace deal.
...
A senior Israeli source said Netanyahu believes security arrangements - especially the need to prevent missiles and rockets from reaching Palestinians in the West Bank - have never been properly dealt with in previous negotiations with the Palestinians. Because of this, the source said, the prime minister says he would not accept security arrangements that do not entail an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley.
If Obama thinks he has two unpopular Middle East wars now, he ought to consider what the reaction would be in the US if he tries to send US troops (as his adviser Samantha Power suggested) to establish a 'Palestinian state.' Given the percentage of Americans that support each of Israel and the 'Palestinians,' that action would be far less popular than either existing war in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Heh.
Heh.
Israel Matzav: Netanyahu: 'The hell you'll impose a plan on us'
Israel Matzav: Dividends of US aid to Israel far exceed cost
Dividends of US aid to Israel far exceed cost
Representative Steve Hoffman (D-NJ) explains how the dividends that the United States receives for its aid to Israel far exceed the cost of that aid. Here's some of his explanation: Second, the U.S. and Israel are jointly developing state- of-the-art missile defense capabilities in the David’s Sling and Arrow 3 systems. These two technologies build on the already successful Arrow 2, jointly developed by our two countries, which is already providing missile defense security to Israel and U.S. civilians and ground troops throughout the region. The knowledge the U.S. gains from these efforts also has a positive multiplier effect on applications to other U.S. military and non-military uses and U.S. jobs.
Third, given Israel’s strategic location on the Mediterranean, with access to the Red Sea and other vital international shipping and military lanes of commerce and traffic, it is critically important to the U.S. that Israel continues to serve as a port of call for our troops, ships, aircraft and intelligence operations.
...
Fourth, America’s special relationship with Israel provides the U.S. with real-time, minute-to-minute access to one of the best intelligence services in the world: Israel’s. With Israeli agents gathering intelligence and taking action throughout the Middle East and, literally, around the world, regarding al- Qaeda, Hezbollah, Iran and Hamas, among others, the U.S. receives invaluable information about anti-U.S. and terrorist organizations and regimes.
Fifth, imagine the additional terrible cost in U.S. blood, and the hundreds of billions more of American taxpayer dollars, if Saddam Hussein had developed nuclear weapons, or if Syria possessed them.
Then remember that it was Israel that destroyed the almost- completed nuclear reactor at Osirak, Iraq, in 1981 and Syria’s nuclear facility under construction at Deir-ez-Zor in 2007.
...
And think about the many operations that Israel’s Defense Forces and intelligence agents have undertaken to foil, slow and disrupt Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability. A nuclear-armed Iran would threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans in the region, all of Iran’s Arab neighbors, the world’s largest oil supplies and those who rely on that oil. It also would provide anti-U.S. terrorists with access to the most lethal Iranian technology and probably set off a nuclear arms race in the region.
For about 2 percent of what the U.S. spends in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan this year, Americans can take pride in the return on our investment in aid to Israel.
And Israel votes with the US at the UN far more often than just about any other country. I'm biased, but I think we're worth the investment.
Israel Matzav: Dividends of US aid to Israel far exceed cost
Israel Matzav: Change: The new vocabulary
Change: The new vocabulary
I know: Let's substitute 'religious activists' for Islamists and 'freedom fighters' for terrorists.
What could go wrong?
Israel Matzav: Change: The new vocabulary
Israel Matzav: Another Obama lie
Another Obama lie
Ira Stoll reminds us of yet another Obama campaign promise that was broken this week. During the presidential campaign, candidate Obama addressed the issue of Brzezinski’s role directly at least twice when asked about it by concerned Jewish voters. Relations between Brzezinski and the Obama campaign were already an issue, with Alan Dershowitz having publicly called on Obama to repudiate Brzezinski when he met with about 100 members of the Cleveland Jewish Community on February 24, 2008. Here’s what he said:
I know Brzezinski. He’s not one of my key advisors. I’ve had lunch with him once, I’ve exchanged e-mails with him maybe 3 times. … I do not share his views with respect to Israel. I have said so clearly and unequivocally….
Then, on April 16, 2008, candidate Obama met with Jewish leaders from the Philadelphia area. This is how the New York Sun reported the April 16 meeting:
Rabbi Neil Cooper of Beth Hillel-Beth El Synagogue came away skeptical. He said he buttonholed the candidate as he was leaving the event and asked him about the connection between Mr. Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and the Obama campaign. “From my perspective, the devil here is going to be in the details,” Rabbi Cooper said. “The questions I have have to do with his very pronouncements on Israel on the one hand, which are positive, and then he seems to attract all kinds of other people who have a different agenda on Israel, like Brzezinski. I said, ‘Why don’t you get rid of Brzezinski?’ He says he listens to Brzezinski on certain things but not when it comes to Israel. (Emphasis added.)
Now comes a report in the New York Times according to which, at a White House meeting, President Obama asked Mr. Brzezinski for his advice on whether to put forward an American plan for Arab-Israeli peace.
Israel Matzav: Another Obama lie
Love of the Land: Fallen major’s widow pleads for Pollard, not for own home
Fallen major’s widow pleads for Pollard, not for own home
Widow of Golani Brigade Maj. Eliraz Peretz, doesn't ask Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin to save her home from imminent demolition.
Tova Lazaroff
JPost
08 April '10
Shlomit Peretz, the widow of Golani Brigade Maj. Eliraz Peretz, did not ask Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin to save her home from imminent demolition, when he sat in her living room on Thursday, in the unauthorized Givat Hayovel outpost on the outskirts of the Eli settlement.
On the wall was a large Israel flag that the couple had used as their wedding canopy.To ward off the chill, she wore a green fleece jacket. She grasped a plastic cup filled with water.
Her husband, 31, was killed in action in the southern Gaza Strip on March 26, along with St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky, 21. On Thursday, politicians made their way to her two-story stone home to speak with her and her four young children.
Of her husband, Shlomit told Rivlin, “He was willing to pay the price and what happened, happened.”
What was important now was to “continue in his path,” she said. “I have to be a vessel to his memory.
“He can not work physically in this world, but I am here to be a vessel for all the things that he wanted to do.”
Among these, she noted, was his desire to have 12 children of his own and to adopt a child.
“There is one thing that I will ask of you,” she told the Likud lawmaker.
“One of the ethics that was very strong for Eliraz was not to leave people behind on the battlefield,” said Shlomit who described how he had helped evacuate his wounded friends from areas under fire.
“The state has left someone in the field for 25 years. If we could return him home, it would be a form of comfort for us,” she said.
(Read full article)
Tova Lazaroff
JPost
08 April '10
Shlomit Peretz, the widow of Golani Brigade Maj. Eliraz Peretz, did not ask Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin to save her home from imminent demolition, when he sat in her living room on Thursday, in the unauthorized Givat Hayovel outpost on the outskirts of the Eli settlement.
On the wall was a large Israel flag that the couple had used as their wedding canopy.To ward off the chill, she wore a green fleece jacket. She grasped a plastic cup filled with water.
Her husband, 31, was killed in action in the southern Gaza Strip on March 26, along with St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky, 21. On Thursday, politicians made their way to her two-story stone home to speak with her and her four young children.
Of her husband, Shlomit told Rivlin, “He was willing to pay the price and what happened, happened.”
What was important now was to “continue in his path,” she said. “I have to be a vessel to his memory.
“He can not work physically in this world, but I am here to be a vessel for all the things that he wanted to do.”
Among these, she noted, was his desire to have 12 children of his own and to adopt a child.
“There is one thing that I will ask of you,” she told the Likud lawmaker.
“One of the ethics that was very strong for Eliraz was not to leave people behind on the battlefield,” said Shlomit who described how he had helped evacuate his wounded friends from areas under fire.
“The state has left someone in the field for 25 years. If we could return him home, it would be a form of comfort for us,” she said.
(Read full article)
Love of the Land: Fallen major’s widow pleads for Pollard, not for own home
Love of the Land: Seven ways to defend Jerusalem
Seven ways to defend Jerusalem
We cannot and must not sit back and passively watch events unfold. Each of us has a role to play to ensure that Jerusalem is never divided again
Michael Freund
Fundamentally Freund/JPost
08 April '10
On Saturday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad threw down the gauntlet. Speaking to Christian pilgrims during Easter celebrations in Bethlehem, he vowed that Israel’s capital would be divided again within 12 months.
“Next year,” Fayyad said, “we shall celebrate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in east Jerusalem, capital of the Palestinian state.” Then, as if to underline the point, he added that “our people, joined by all humanity, will celebrate the creation of the independent Palestinian state on all 1967 borders – a state whose capital shall be Jerusalem.”
It would of course be easy to dismiss Fayyad’s remarks as more of the same tired old rhetoric. After all, he isn’t the first Palestinian leader to cast a covetous eye on the jewel that is Jewish Jerusalem, so why should we take his bluster any more seriously than that of his predecessors?
Yet as the recent international uproar over the capital made clear, this time things might just be different. Never before, it seems, has the simple act of building Jewish housing come under such withering criticism from an American administration, nor has the pressure ever been greater to impose a freeze on Jewish life in the city.
Clearly, the battle lines over Jerusalem’s future have been drawn, and the last thing we can afford to do is to adopt a sense of complacency. Now is the time for each of us to stand up and join the struggle to keep Jerusalem safe and under Israeli control.
FOR THOSE of you who cherish the Holy City as I do and wish to see it remain strong and united, here are a few simple and practical things that you can do to help. They are what I have referred to in the past as the “Seven ‘P’s” of Jewish activism:
(Read full article)
Michael Freund
Fundamentally Freund/JPost
08 April '10
On Saturday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad threw down the gauntlet. Speaking to Christian pilgrims during Easter celebrations in Bethlehem, he vowed that Israel’s capital would be divided again within 12 months.
“Next year,” Fayyad said, “we shall celebrate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in east Jerusalem, capital of the Palestinian state.” Then, as if to underline the point, he added that “our people, joined by all humanity, will celebrate the creation of the independent Palestinian state on all 1967 borders – a state whose capital shall be Jerusalem.”
It would of course be easy to dismiss Fayyad’s remarks as more of the same tired old rhetoric. After all, he isn’t the first Palestinian leader to cast a covetous eye on the jewel that is Jewish Jerusalem, so why should we take his bluster any more seriously than that of his predecessors?
Yet as the recent international uproar over the capital made clear, this time things might just be different. Never before, it seems, has the simple act of building Jewish housing come under such withering criticism from an American administration, nor has the pressure ever been greater to impose a freeze on Jewish life in the city.
Clearly, the battle lines over Jerusalem’s future have been drawn, and the last thing we can afford to do is to adopt a sense of complacency. Now is the time for each of us to stand up and join the struggle to keep Jerusalem safe and under Israeli control.
FOR THOSE of you who cherish the Holy City as I do and wish to see it remain strong and united, here are a few simple and practical things that you can do to help. They are what I have referred to in the past as the “Seven ‘P’s” of Jewish activism:
(Read full article)
Love of the Land: Seven ways to defend Jerusalem
Love of the Land: Next: Returning to Jericho
Next: Returning to Jericho
The Anniversary of the Conquest of Jericho
H/T Yisrael Medad
The 28th of Nissan is the day on which Jericho was conquered by Joshua Bin-Nun
On Monday the 28th Nissan (12/04/2010) at 18:00, we will meet in Beit Hogla for a talk by Rav Yossi Peli and Rav Itzhak Shapira. Everybody will sound the Shofar and burst forth.
Details: Erna, tel 052-8699300; Yoni, tel 052-3527313
Rosh Hodesh Iyar at "Shalom Al Israel" in Jericho
Shaharit Prayer in the "Shalom Al Israel" synagogue in the holy city of Jericho
Where the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan, where the first Brit Mila in the Land of Israel was performed. Here the angel told Joshua "Remove your shoes from your feet, because this place is holy".
On Thursday 1st Iyar (15th April 2010), departure from the community of "Mevoot Yericho" (with IDF escort) at 7:30 AM. A bus will be provided from Binynei HaUma in Jerusalem at 6:30 AM and will stop over at Beit Hogla at 7:00 AM.
H/T Yisrael Medad
The 28th of Nissan is the day on which Jericho was conquered by Joshua Bin-Nun
On Monday the 28th Nissan (12/04/2010) at 18:00, we will meet in Beit Hogla for a talk by Rav Yossi Peli and Rav Itzhak Shapira. Everybody will sound the Shofar and burst forth.
Details: Erna, tel 052-8699300; Yoni, tel 052-3527313
Rosh Hodesh Iyar at "Shalom Al Israel" in Jericho
Shaharit Prayer in the "Shalom Al Israel" synagogue in the holy city of Jericho
Where the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan, where the first Brit Mila in the Land of Israel was performed. Here the angel told Joshua "Remove your shoes from your feet, because this place is holy".
On Thursday 1st Iyar (15th April 2010), departure from the community of "Mevoot Yericho" (with IDF escort) at 7:30 AM. A bus will be provided from Binynei HaUma in Jerusalem at 6:30 AM and will stop over at Beit Hogla at 7:00 AM.
Love of the Land: Next: Returning to Jericho
Love of the Land: The Armageddon Scenario: Israel and the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism
The Armageddon Scenario: Israel and the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism
Chuck Freilich
BESA
Perspectives 104
08 April '10
EXECUTIVE SUMMERY: The Iranian nuclear threat has obscured the possibility of waging nuclear terrorism against Israel. There is a clear rationale for employing nuclear terrorism and countering it needs calibrated policies of prevention and possibly US-Israeli cooperation. The time to prepare for the Armageddon scenario is now.
For the past 15 years, Israel's focus on the Iranian nuclear threat has been nearly all-encompassing, eclipsing virtually all other threats. While understandable, this preoccupation may have distracted Israel from a threat which may be no less likely and actually far more dangerous; nuclear terrorism. Unlike "traditional" terrorism, nuclear terrorism poses a catastrophic threat to the state.
Moreover, those most likely to conduct nuclear terrorism (al-Qaeda, Hizballah, Hamas, Iran, and others) may be fundamentally nihilistic and thus undeterrable. As millennial movements who believe that Israel's destruction is a sacred mission, they may view a nuclear attack, even assuming a devastating Israeli response, to be a worthy means of ushering in a messianic era.
A nuclear terrorist threat against Israel might be designed for:
Actual Use – to deal Israel a devastating blow
Deterrence – to counter Israel's conventional superiority and purported nuclear capability, to deter Israeli attacks, or to conduct attacks with relative impunity
Compellence – to exert a decisive influence on Israeli decision making during crises or over fundamental issues, holding it hostage by the threat of an attack
Weakening – to severely erode Israel's national resilience due to the ongoing need to live in the shadow of nuclear terrorism
Back Up – to strengthen the deterrent value of a state-based (Iranian or Syrian) capability
Decapitation – to remove the Israeli political and/or military leadership
Love of the Land: The Armageddon Scenario: Israel and the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism
Love of the Land: More News the HP Doesn't Cover
More News the HP Doesn't Cover
Zach
The Brothers of Judea
08 April '10
Remember when the Palestinian Authority was going to name a square after a terrorist, and Hillary condemned it? No? Well maybe it's because you're a Huffington Post reader, and they couldn't be bothered to cover either of those stories.
So in that case it seems pretty unlikely that they'll cover this, a report that the PA is now going to name the Palestinian presidential offices after arch-terrorist Yahya Ayyash, aka "The Engineer." Ayyash was directly responsible for the deaths of literally hundreds of innocent Israelis, though Israel caught up to him with a booby-trapped cell phone in 1995.
Remember, the United States considers Palestinian incitement to be equally detrimental to the peace process as Israeli settlements. Yet only one activity gets the lions share of the Huffington Post coverage. I can't help but wonder why.
For more posts from The Brothers of Judea click here
Standing Up Against Hate on the Huffington Post
Love of the Land: More News the HP Doesn't Cover
Love of the Land: Peace Plan No. 6
Peace Plan No. 6
Rick Richman
Contentions/Commentary
08 April '10
Asked about the Washington Post story in which it was reported that the administration is considering its own Middle East peace plan, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley issued a non-denial/denial yesterday, in which the operative words were “at this point”:
I would steer you away from the idea that we are — we’re going to try to, at this point, impose a particular view on the parties … our focus right now is getting them into the proximity talks, into negotiations, and then we’ll see what happens after that. [Emphasis added]
The “peace process” has not suffered from an insufficient number of plans. In the past decade, we have had five of them: (1) the Israeli two-state plan presented at Camp David in July 2000 — rejected by the Palestinians; (2) the Clinton Parameters presented in December 2000 — rejected by the Palestinians; (3) the 2003 Roadmap, calling for the dismantlement of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups as Phase I — ignored by the Palestinians; (4) the 2005 Gaza disengagement, giving the Palestinians a Judenrein Gaza to start their state — which produced a rocket war on Israeli civilians; and (5) the 2007-08 Annapolis Process, a plan for year-long final-status negotiations resulting in still another Israeli offer of a state — rejected by the Palestinians.
Even a casual observer can spot the problem here, and it is not the absence of a plan.
Love of the Land: Peace Plan No. 6
Love of the Land: The son also rises, for Arab misfortune
The son also rises, for Arab misfortune
Michael Young
Daily Star (Beirut)
08 April '10
Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star. Another excellent piece on who are the people in your neighborhood.
In his book “What’s Left,” the British author Nick Cohen quotes a onetime Foreign Office official as saying, “All isms are wasms.” That amusing phrase is an apt summation of Arab nationalism, as regimes throughout the Middle East claiming some sort of fealty to nationalist ideology find themselves at different levels of political breakdown.
The most flagrant sign of the decline of Arab nationalist regimes is their transformation into hereditary republics. Recently, Hosni Mubarak returned from an operation in Germany to face questions about his future. What ailed him remains unknown, but it is no secret that the 81-year-old Egyptian president has long sought to prepare the way for his son, Gamal, to succeed him.
In this, Mubarak is little different than the late Hafez Assad, whose son Bashar followed him as president of Syria. Had Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq, he would almost certainly have handed over to one of his psychopathic sons. Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, hopes one day to see his son Ahmad in office. In Libya, Moammar Gadhafi appears to have similar aspirations for one of his boys, perhaps Seif al-Islam or the younger Moatassem. And in Tunisia, President Zein al-Abedin bin Ali is rumored to want his son in law, Sakher al-Materi, to one day lead the country.
Forgotten in these family plots is that, in several countries, nationalist regimes once drew their legitimacy from overthrowing monarchical orders perceived as corrupt or in the pocket of foreign powers. Inherent in the Arab nationalism of the latter years of colonial rule and the first decades of independence was a conviction that the ideology was a byword for reform. Baathism in Syria and Iraq introduced purportedly egalitarian socialist principles, as did Nasserism in Egypt. Habib Bourghuiba gave Tunisian women rights while also introducing improvements in education and more.
Yet that did not prevent all Arab regimes from consolidating autocratic rule, usually in the guise of family-led kleptocracies. Whereas specific nationalist leaders may have enjoyed legitimacy upon taking office, all came later on to rely substantially on violence to maintain order. This was the case in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia after Bin Ali, and the list goes on. Arab nationalists, previously thought of as representing the vanguard of a new Middle East, instead merely reproduced the methods of pre-Independence regimes, usually in far more brutal ways.
(Read full article)
Love of the Land: The son also rises, for Arab misfortune
Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Stickers
Stickers
Talking politics is an Israeli passion. Hard to imagine if you're not aware of its intensity. One of the many avenues to express political and social sentiments is through stickers. The single most famous was unwittingly authored by Bill Clinton the night Rabin was assassinated, when he stood in the WHite House and said to the cameras: Shalom Chaver, goodbye friend. We were surrounded by politicians giving speeches, and Clinton had said it better in two Hebrew words. Hundreds of thousands of us had that sticker on our bumper by the next day.
Besides that one there have been about 48,356 others, and that's just this decade. (I'm speculating).
A few years ago David Grossman, one of our top novelists, compiled a shir made up entirely of such sticker-slogans. Legend has it that he sent his son, Uri, to scour town in serach of unusual stickers. The song came out, if I remember correctly, in 2005; Uri Grosssman was killed in action in Lebanon in August 2006.
Sung by Hadag Nachash (see yesterday), in a clip which itself is part of the text, if you watch carefully.
Words
English translation
A whole generation demands peace,
let the IDF win,
a strong nation makes peace,
let the IDF mow down,
there's no peace with Arabs,
don't give them guns,
combat-ready is the most, bro
draft for all, exemption for all
there's no despair in the world
judea and samaria is here
na nach Nachman from Uman
no fear, the messiah's in town
no arabs, no terror attacks
the supreme court endangers jews
the nation iswith the Golan
the nation is with the transfer
smog test in Yarka
friend, you are missed
the holy one, blessed be he
we elect you
direct elections are bad
the holy one, blessed be he
we are zealots to you
may the zealots/jealous die.
how much evil can be swallowed?
dad have mercy, dad have mercy
my name is Nachman and I stu-stutter
how much evil can be swallowed?
dad have mercy, dad have mercy
blessed be the Name, for I'm breathing, and therefore...
a state of halachah - the state is gone
whoever's born, scored
long live the king messiah
i'm secure in Sharon's peace
Hebron always and for eternity
whoever wasn't born missed out
Hebron of (our) forefathers
goodbye to transfer
Kahane was right
CNN lies
a strong leader's needed
nice going on the peace
thanks for the security
we have no children left for unnecessary wars
the left helps the Arabs
Bibi's good for the Jews
send the Oslo criminals to trail
us here, them there
brothres don't desert (brothers)
uprooting settlements splits the nation
death to the traitors
let the animals live
death to values!
how much evil can be swallowed...
(x3)
To liquidate, to kill, to banish, to mislead
to annihilate, extradite, death sentence, no fear,
to wipe out, to make extinct, to eradicate, to burn.
all because of you, my friend.
Besides that one there have been about 48,356 others, and that's just this decade. (I'm speculating).
A few years ago David Grossman, one of our top novelists, compiled a shir made up entirely of such sticker-slogans. Legend has it that he sent his son, Uri, to scour town in serach of unusual stickers. The song came out, if I remember correctly, in 2005; Uri Grosssman was killed in action in Lebanon in August 2006.
Sung by Hadag Nachash (see yesterday), in a clip which itself is part of the text, if you watch carefully.
Words
English translation
A whole generation demands peace,
let the IDF win,
a strong nation makes peace,
let the IDF mow down,
there's no peace with Arabs,
don't give them guns,
combat-ready is the most, bro
draft for all, exemption for all
there's no despair in the world
judea and samaria is here
na nach Nachman from Uman
no fear, the messiah's in town
no arabs, no terror attacks
the supreme court endangers jews
the nation iswith the Golan
the nation is with the transfer
smog test in Yarka
friend, you are missed
the holy one, blessed be he
we elect you
direct elections are bad
the holy one, blessed be he
we are zealots to you
may the zealots/jealous die.
how much evil can be swallowed?
dad have mercy, dad have mercy
my name is Nachman and I stu-stutter
how much evil can be swallowed?
dad have mercy, dad have mercy
blessed be the Name, for I'm breathing, and therefore...
a state of halachah - the state is gone
whoever's born, scored
long live the king messiah
i'm secure in Sharon's peace
Hebron always and for eternity
whoever wasn't born missed out
Hebron of (our) forefathers
goodbye to transfer
Kahane was right
CNN lies
a strong leader's needed
nice going on the peace
thanks for the security
we have no children left for unnecessary wars
the left helps the Arabs
Bibi's good for the Jews
send the Oslo criminals to trail
us here, them there
brothres don't desert (brothers)
uprooting settlements splits the nation
death to the traitors
let the animals live
death to values!
how much evil can be swallowed...
(x3)
To liquidate, to kill, to banish, to mislead
to annihilate, extradite, death sentence, no fear,
to wipe out, to make extinct, to eradicate, to burn.
all because of you, my friend.
Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Stickers
Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Six Degrees of Separation
Six Degrees of Separation
That's the number of jumps needed to go from any individual to any individual anywhere: mathematically, any one of us can reach anyone else by going through no more than six acquaintances and acquaintances of acquaintances. Say I wish to reach some Argentinian cowboy in the Pampas: I write to Fake-Ibrahim, and he turns to a radical-lefty at the university of cowboys, and we've still got four jumps which will probably be two or three more than necessary.
Israel being the very small place it is, by late evening yesterday I had found a connection to Anat Kamm, which turned out to be very easy and required only two intermediaries, and neither of them were remotely as far-fetched as the above example. It's a solid path.
The acquaintance of my acquaintance, who has known Kamm for a number of years, insists she's an unintelligent person who thought she could leverage secret documents into a step on the ladder of journalism, perhaps by proving her investigative abilities.
This doesn't exonerate her of anything, but it does make some of the others in the story, first and foremost Haaretz, into greater culprits. I'm not going to take this further at the moment, as I need the time to read Haaretz of today, but I expect I'll do another round-up tomorrow or the next day - so feel free to stay away if you're bored by the story.
Israel being the very small place it is, by late evening yesterday I had found a connection to Anat Kamm, which turned out to be very easy and required only two intermediaries, and neither of them were remotely as far-fetched as the above example. It's a solid path.
The acquaintance of my acquaintance, who has known Kamm for a number of years, insists she's an unintelligent person who thought she could leverage secret documents into a step on the ladder of journalism, perhaps by proving her investigative abilities.
This doesn't exonerate her of anything, but it does make some of the others in the story, first and foremost Haaretz, into greater culprits. I'm not going to take this further at the moment, as I need the time to read Haaretz of today, but I expect I'll do another round-up tomorrow or the next day - so feel free to stay away if you're bored by the story.
Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Six Degrees of Separation
Elder of Ziyon: Canadian TV blames Israel for women stranded in S. Arabia
Canadian TV blames Israel for women stranded in S. Arabia
From Jonathan Kay in the National Post:
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Elder of Ziyon: Canadian TV blames Israel for women stranded in S. Arabia
Elder of Ziyon: The camera angle that the Dubai police withheld
The camera angle that the Dubai police withheld
Al Arabiya is showing an investigative report on the Mabhouh assassination tonight, and parts of it can be seen on their website.  And here she is from the closed-circuit view:  As you can see, the hotel cameras had a clear, direct shot of the hallway where, supposedly, some 27 (or more) spies were hanging around. |
Elder of Ziyon: The camera angle that the Dubai police withheld
Elder of Ziyon: Syria asks Britian to apologize for Balfour Declaration
Syria asks Britian to apologize for Balfour Declaration
Palestine Today reports that Syrian politician and former adviser to Hafez al-Assad, George Jabbour, is asking the UK to apologize for the 1917 Balfour Declaration that promised a Jewish national home in Palestine. |
Elder of Ziyon: Syria asks Britian to apologize for Balfour Declaration
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