Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Israel Matzav: Problems for Israeli nuke scientists traveling to US not new

Problems for Israeli nuke scientists traveling to US not new

Last week, I reported on the problems Israeli nuclear scientists were having with obtaining visas to visit the United States for conferences and the like. Roger Simon reports that those problems did not start recently.

This morning (Pacific time) I was able to reach Dr. Alfassi in his office at Ben Gurion University in the Negev. Apparently, my report — and the newspaper’s — was inaccurate. The professor informed me that while it was extremely difficult for scientists who worked at Dimona to obtain U.S. visas, this was not a new policy of the Obama administration. This problem has been going on since 9/11.

Alfassi explained that formerly he and other scientists were able to go through travel agents to obtain visas to the U.S. Now they have to go personally to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. He knows of at least one case of a scientist who was not able to attend a conference in this country because of this system. European scientists, he said, did not have this problem.

Dr. Alfassi was quite cordial in answering my questions and I thank him.

Okay, one thing we can't blame on Obama.

Israel Matzav: Problems for Israeli nuke scientists traveling to US not new

Israel Matzav: Florida 19 goes to the polls

Florida 19 goes to the polls

For those of you in Florida's 19th Congressional District, please go to the polls today (Tuesday) and vote for Ed Lynch.
Israel Matzav: Florida 19 goes to the polls

Israel Matzav: Forget the nukes, hit the government?

Forget the nukes, hit the government?

Michael Totten has an interesting take on a possible Israeli attack against Iran.

A military attack against Iran should be rolled out only if every conceivable peaceful solution fails first. Striking Iran would, in all likelihood, ignite several Middle Eastern wars all at once. Hamas and Hezbollah would bombard Israel with missile attacks. Lebanon and Gaza would both come under massive counterbattery fire. The war could easily spill over into Iraq and put American soldiers at risk.

The above scenario may sound like the worst, short of nuclear war, but it isn't. The worst-case scenario is a regional war that fails to stop Iran's nuclear program while keeping the regime in place. If the Israelis decide to use force, the nuclear facilities should not be the target. The government should be the target. And the U.S. should back Israel's play and even assist it, no matter how enraged American officials might be. The last thing any of us needs is a bloodied Iranian government with delusions of invincibility that later acquires the weapons of genocide and then sets out for revenge. As Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said, "If you shoot at a king you must kill him."

"If any power takes on the Revolutionary Guards," Kahlili says, "they will find sympathy from the Iranian people. Even Israel. Iranian people do not hate Israel like they do in Arab countries. We aren't Arabs. Persians are very different from Arabs."

Some may find it hard to believe Iranians might thank Israelis for ridding them of their government, but I don't. Not if civilian casualties are low and there's no occupation.

There are precedents.

Read the whole thing. It's a follow-up of his interview with Kahlili, which I discussed here.

I agree that taking out the nukes but leaving the government intact would cause problems (and trying to take out the nukes but failing would cause even more problems), but I'm not convinced the nukes would be dropped if we take out the government and leave the nukes intact. I'd rather see the IDF take out both.


Israel Matzav: Forget the nukes, hit the government?

Israel Matzav: Where's the outrage?

Where's the outrage?

In the course of commenting on Prime Minister Netanyahu's Holocaust Day address, Jennifer Rubin takes the American Jewish community to task for its lack of outrage over the Obami's silence on Iran.

And frankly, there is a shocking lack of urgency within the American Jewish community, as well. When the president goes into his que sera, sera stance regarding the crisis in Iran, where is the outrage? Where are the statements and the protests? Entirely lacking. It is not hard to discern the administration’s abject lack of seriousness with regard to stopping the mullahs’ nuclear program, yet the leadership of the American Jewish community has play-acted along with the administration. Oh yes, sanctions are coming. We got very reassuring answers from Hillary. This is what you hear from supposedly serious-minded Jewish activists. Certainly they have read Secretary of Defense Robert Gates pooh-poohing of military action and the news reports of watered-down sanctions. So when do they plan on speaking up? Are we to see a repeat of the 1930s and 40s, when the American Jewish community remained largely mute, wary of raising a fuss as the Nazi menace ravaged European Jewry?

As usual, Jennifer is spot-on. Those who have replaced Judaism with the religion of 'Liberalism' feel no obligation and have no ability to empathize with their Jewish brethren in Israel. They are more concerned with Obamacare and 'global warming.' Perhaps, this account of what's known as the Rabbis' march from 1943 is relevant:

The Rabbis' March was a protest for American and allied action to stop the destruction of European Jewry. It took place in Washington, D.C. on October 6, 1943, three days before Yom Kippur. It was organized by Hillel Kook, nephew of the chief rabbi of mandatory Palestine [also known as Peter Bregson. CiJ], and involved more than 400 rabbis, mostly members of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada[1], from New York and cities throughout the eastern United States.

Though the delegation was reluctantly received by Vice-President Henry Wallace, President Franklin D. Roosevelt avoided meeting the rabbis, both out of concerns regarding diplomatic neutrality, but also influenced by the advice of some of his Jewish aides and several prominent American Jews. Many thought the protest would stir up anti-Semitism and claimed that the marchers, many whom were both Orthodox as well as recent immigrants (or first-generation Americans), were not representative of American Jewry. Shortly before the protest reached the White House, FDR left the building through a rear exit to attend an Army ceremony, and then left for a weekend in the country. Disappointed and angered by the President's failure to meet with them, the rabbis stood in front of the White House where they were met by Senator William Warren Barbour and others, and refused to read their petition aloud, instead handing it off to the Presidential secretary, Marvin McIntyre.

The march garnered much media attention, much of it focused on what was seen as the cold and insulting dismissal of many important community leaders, as well as the people in Europe they were fighting for. The headline in the Washington Times Herald was, "Rabbis Report 'Cold Welcome' at the White House." Editors of the Jewish Daily Forward commented, "Would a similar delegation of 500 Catholic priests have been thus treated?"

One of the participants was Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, later to be one of the most important and famous American Orthodox rabbis.

That sounds about like Obama would treat such a protest against Iran today.

For those who aren't aware, by October 1943, the sainted Roosevelt knew exactly what was going on in Europe.

Meanwhile, the Reform movement and the forerunners of J Street, who were Roosevelt's court Jews, were advising Roosevelt not to meet with the likes of Rabbi Feinstein (who arrived in America in 1938 and after whom several streets in Israel are named).

Deja vu all over again? The parallels are striking.

Israel Matzav: Where's the outrage?

Israel Matzav: The Holocaust and morality

The Holocaust and morality

I would be remiss if I did not pass along this thought-provoking piece by Yair Lapid.

Every Israeli with a hint of historical memory (and who doesn't have it?) knows that our existence is fragile. Our homes, malls, and the roads we paved – all the asphalt and steel monsters that are supposed to represent unshakeable continuity – are merely a thin camouflage net placed over constant anxiety in the face of the people who wish to kill us.

If we let go for a moment of the notion of survival, the new Nazis will rise – and it doesn't matter whether they don keffiyahs or Wermacht helments – and try to kill us. We also learned that we must not count on the world to protect us. It will be deeply shaken to the core of its delicate soul, of course, and may even set up an orphanage for our children on the outskirts of Brussels, but we better not expect much more than that.

This is the reason, by the way, why the average Israeli is overcome by justified fury when he encounters the New Left's intellectuals, who pretend that Israel is part of the enlightened Europe and that for the sake of the human rights discourse we must concede to the oppressed masses, whose only sin is their desire to kill us. "Auschwitz cannot be an excuse for everything," they keep telling us. However, Auschwitz is not the excuse, but rather, a tangible and still-relevant reason, backed up by millions of corpses.

...

However, during the Holocaust the only moral people were precisely the ones who refused to listen to the ruling establishment in their countries. Hannah Arendt wrote that had we accepted the moral perception that existed until the Shoah, we could not have brought Eichmann to justice. After all, he acted in line with the morality that was common during his time, certainly in his own country.

Yet if we nonetheless indicted Eichmann, it was an act of faith in the human race: We believed, and we still do, that every person has the ability to distinguish good from bad, even if the entire world says otherwise. And if we executed Eichmann nonetheless, it was a resounding message that nobody can shirk the responsibility to take a moral position in favor of life. Hannah Arendt was wrong about one thing: It is not the "banality of evil" that threatens us, but rather, the banality of silence. Nobody must be silent in the face of death.

The survivors taught us, painfully late, that this was not the truth only in respect to the Germans, but also in respect to the victims. In his great book, Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl, an Auschwitz survivor who lost his entire family, wrote: "In the concentration camps, in that living laboratory, we saw some of our comrades behaving like pigs and others behaving like saints. Both alternatives are hidden in a person; and which will be realized depends on decisions and not on conditions."

Read the whole thing.

Yair Lapid is a journalist and the son of Tommy Lapid, who was a Holocaust survivor who became virulently anti-religious and founded a political party - Shinui - that was anti-religious but eventually turned Right on security issues and joined Ariel Sharon's cabinet in 2001. I discussed Tommy Lapid (who passed away about two years ago) here and here.

I have not read enough of Yair's work to comment on the extent (if any) to which he shares his father's anti-religious feelings. But I can tell you that to the extent that I am aware of it, he attempts to practice what he preaches. Yair Lapid has set up a program that allows Israelis imprisoned abroad to return to Israel and serve out their sentences here. And I know that he takes religious Israelis into that program.


Israel Matzav: The Holocaust and morality

Israel Matzav: Haaretz willing to turn over documents but....

Haaretz willing to turn over documents but....

Incredibly, under Israeli law, a journalist's source has some limited immunity from prosecution. On the assumption that the reason he is staying in London is to protect her, Kam has waived that immunity in the hope that Blau will come back to Israel.

Israel Radio just reported (9:00 am news on Tuesday) that in light of Kam's waiver, Haaretz is willing to return the documents that Blau got from Kam, but the Shabak (General Security Service) is insisting on examining Blau's entire hard drive and materials (you mean they don't trust him - what a shock!) to make sure that everything is returned and that 'no journalist could give in to such a demand.'

Has anyone started a Facebook page yet to shut down the traitors at Haaretz?

Haaretz is now reporting that two CD's with 2,000 documents stolen by Kam have 'disappeared.'

By the way, someone on the radio on Monday noted that no Haaretz writer from the Right (there are a couple) has written an opinion piece about Kam or anything else since the story broke last week. Coincidence?

Israel Matzav: Haaretz willing to turn over documents but....

Israel Matzav: Credit where it is due

Credit where it is due

For the most part, Israel's media elites have rallied around Ha'aretz and its reporter-in-hiding Uri Blau. There have been individual reporters here and there who have maintained common sense (Ben Dror Yemini of Yediot, for example, did a good interview on Israel Radio on Monday morning - I only caught the tail end of it). But the media and the chattering classes themselves have been falling all over themselves to defend Blau (retired Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner has even called for Blau not to be arrested!). One notable exception is the Jerusalem Post.

Anat Kamm stole those documents, and many, many more, during her army service from 2005 to 2007 in the office of the commander of the Central Command. The very fact that these documents had been stolen, and the indiscriminate nature of her theft, might have given the newspaper pause, but it acted properly within the framework of military censorship by getting approval from the censor before publishing specific articles based on particular documents.

It argued that this material fell firmly within the definition of public interest. And it gave the IDF advance notice of the articles, to enable the IDF to respond.

From this point onward, however, Haaretz’s behavior deviates from acceptable journalistic practice. Most troubling is the paper’s willingness to back reporter Uri Blau, presently in self-imposed exile in Britain, if, as is alleged by the state, he is holding on to what may be some 2,000 sensitive documents, 700 of which are judged by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to be of a confidential or highly confidential nature.

Security sources say the documents contain top-secret information concerning General Staff orders, personnel numbers in the Central Command, intelligence information, information on IDF doctrine and data on sensitive military exercises, weaponry and military platforms. The files also allegedly contain details on what the Central Command does in the event of a major escalation – how it deploys forces to the West Bank and where it stations them there.

Far less comprehensible than Kamm’s alleged ideologically motivated decision to steal so many documents is Blau’s refusal to hand them back. He’s had the documents since at least October 2008, when he began publishing reports based on them.

Damage control is possible only after the Shin Bet verifies precisely which classified documents were taken by Kamm and who received them. The public interest in such damage control, given the sensitivity of the material, should be obvious to Blau and to Haaretz. This is a matter of life-and-death national security.

...

Regrettably, however, the unwillingness of Blau and his newspaper to meet the Shin Bet’s demand to return stolen documents whose content would aid our enemies and render our people more vulnerable raises grave questions about the paper’s priorities.

Has Haaretz adopted the radical agenda of some of its writers, who focus obsessively in its pages on Israel’s purported brutality while ignoring Palestinian terror, violence and incitement? Or is the paper truly interested in strengthening Israeli democracy via constructive criticism? The way to clear up the doubt would be to return the stolen documents to the Shin Bet as quickly as possible.


Israel Matzav: Credit where it is due

Israel Matzav: CD with top secret stolen IDF documents missing

CD with top secret stolen IDF documents missing

Anat Kam has told the media that she wanted to change how the IDF relates to the 'Palestinians' in Judea and Samaria, and that when she did not succeed in doing so during the course of her military service, she decided to expose the IDF's 'crimes.'

"I did not succeed in changing many of the things I wanted to change during my military service. I thought exposing them would bring about change, and this is why it was important for me to publicize the IDF policies in the territories," Kamm said.

Who the hell does this 22-year old pisher think she is? Who the hell is she to decide that the things that the IDF does to protect us from the kinds of murderous suicide attacks that took place here between 2000 and 2004 are 'crimes'? Has she been to law school? Has she studied criminal law or human rights law?

Following her hearings, Hammer said Kamm "did not think her actions jeopardized the state's security since she did not think the journalist will focus on the nuances of IDF operative activity but rather on the principles of policy underlying decisions by the major general and his staff officers. She turned to Israeli journalists because she believed the censor would not allow the publication of material whose publication carried security risks."

And what the hell did that have to do with stealing the country's deployment plans in case of war?

But the IDF is not guiltless either.

Tel Aviv District Court judge Zeev Hammer, who presided over hearings in Kamm's case already two months ago, was sharply critical of the military. "I was amazed by this inconceivable failure and faulty, careless information-security procedures," he said.

No, it's completely conceivable. Because we live in a country whose media and academia is dominated by a Leftist elite. Therefore, the Shin Bet (General Security Service) has a 'Jewish section' that is run by Leftists that seeks to investigate political activists on the Right, but has falsely assured itself that there is nothing to investigate on the Left. Ha'aretz - which ought to be shut down until it brings Kam's partner in crime back from London - has more of Judge Hammer's comments.

Presiding Judge Ze'ev Hammer wrote that "in order to inform the public of several aspects of IDF action in the West Bank, or to investigate war crimes in the West Bank, there is no need to gather and steal thousands of classified documents from the IDF which deal with the various military planning and action."

"Kam admitted during her investigation that her computer is not guarded and that she did not take interest into where the Haaretz reporter Uri Blau would store the documents or who would have access to them," Hammer added.

"She disrespected their [the document's] safekeeping and the importance and secrecy of the information," Hammer added.

But here's the clincher from JPost:

[Kam] also said she had lost a disc onto which she had copied IDF computer presentations, and had no idea what happened to it.

Kam should be locked up just like Yigal Amir (who was convicted of assassinating Yitzchak Rabin) is locked up for life. She has done at least as much damage to the country and probably more. She 'doesn't know' what happened to a CD of top secret documents that she stole from the IDF? What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: CD with top secret stolen IDF documents missing

Elder of Ziyon: Model Zionist

Model Zionist

It's been a while since I gratuitously posted pictures of beautiful women, while tenuously finding a connection between them and the themes of this blog.

So...meet Alanna Drasin:

From The Justice, the student newspaper at Brandeis University:

Alanna Drasin '13 is a midyear from Beverly Hills, California. While the 5-foot, 9-inch, slender, long haired brunette Politics major may appear to be a normal first-year who just happens to have impeccable style, she in fact has made her own part-time career out of fashion modeling for American Apparel and other companies. At Brandeis, Drasin is involved with the Sundeis film festival and is an active member of the Brandeis Zionist Alliance.



Elder of Ziyon: Model Zionist

Elder of Ziyon: Honor killing in Gaza

Honor killing in Gaza

A woman who was murdered yesterday in Gaza was he apparent victim of an "honor killing," according to PCHR:

At approximately 11:50 on Monday, 12 April 2010, the body of Sherin Khamis Zayed (al-‘Attar), 32, was brought to Martyr Kamal ‘Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, as she was hit by several bullets to the head and the chest. The chief of police in Beit Lahia town, Sameh al-Sultan, told a PCHR fieldworker that the police opened an investigation into the incident and arrested a number of the victim’s relatives, including her father. The father told the police that five masked gunmen raided his house on Monday morning and pulled his daughter outside the house and fired at her. Data provided by the police indicates that this crime was committed allegedly to “maintain family honor.”

In a related story, PA police announced that they managed to crack a three-year old "family honor" murder, where a man killed his brother for reasons of honor. (That usually means that the victim was gay, or raped.)

Hamas police also arrested two people for the murder of a 65-year old woman last year.



Elder of Ziyon: Honor killing in Gaza

Elder of Ziyon: Earthquake fears in Tehran

Earthquake fears in Tehran

From AFP:

At least five million Tehran residents need to relocate elsewhere because Iran's capital sits on several fault lines and is threatened by earthquakes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday.

"We cannot order people to evacuate the city... but provisions have to be made. At least five million should leave Tehran so it is less crowded and more manageable in case of an incident," Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

Tehran province has nearly 14 million inhabitants, eight million of whom live in the city which straddles several fault lines. Experts warn that a strong quake in Tehran could kill hundreds of thousands of people.

"We cannot predict when an earthquake will happen. But if anything happens to Tehran province's 13.8 million residents how can we manage that?" he asked.

Ahmadinejad always has plan B: start a war to hasten the Mahdi's return, and he will fix everything!



Elder of Ziyon: Earthquake fears in Tehran

Elder of Ziyon: More financial woes for Hamas

More financial woes for Hamas

Al Arabiya has more about Hamas' financial woes that I mentioned yesterday:

Hamas has begun taxing Gaza street vendors and shopkeepers, raising speculation the ruling Islamist group is in a financial crisis fuelled partly by Egypt's building of a border wall to stop smuggling tunnels.

Experts said on Monday that perhaps only a few dozen of the hundreds of tunnels are still functional as a result of the steel wall being pounded deep into the ground along the 14-km (8-mile)-long frontier.

For Gaza's Hamas government, which takes a cut from Palestinian merchants who move items ranging from cars to fuel to food along the subterranean route, that means lower revenues in an impoverished enclave under an Israeli-led blockade.

Weapons, and it is widely believed cash, also come in via the tunnels.

"There is a real financial crisis," Palestinian economist Omar Shaban said.

The Hamas administration, he said, employed 34,000 people in the Gaza Strip and had put much of its liquidity into the purchase of buildings and land.

"The crisis may also indicate either a lack of foreign financial support, Arab and Islamic, or a difficulty to get that support into the territory for some reasons," Shaban said.

For the first time since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from the rival Fatah movement of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, it has begun to collect taxes from street merchants and small business owners.

"They asked me to pay 1,100 shekels ($290) a month. How much did I earn to give them what they asked for?" asked the owner of a shop selling falafel (fried chickpea) snacks.

"Instead, I asked them to take the store and pay me the 1,100 shekels every month. It would be a better deal for me," he joked.

A Hamas lawmaker confirmed that the Islamist group ruling Gaza was facing a financial "crisis" because of Egypt's moves to seal its border and a boycott by local banks.

"The government is facing a crisis," MP Jamal Nassar said in a statement. "The siege on the (Hamas-run) Palestinian government has been tightened recently and because of this it has been unable to bring in funds from abroad."


Elder of Ziyon: More financial woes for Hamas

Elder of Ziyon: Neo-Nazi site returns again to Google AdWords

Neo-Nazi site returns again to Google AdWords

As I reported a few times last year, Google AdWords has resumed once again accepting ads from NSM88 Records, a purveyor of neo-Nazi and "white power" paraphernalia.

It seems that they have scaled back on selling the most egregiously racist items, such as this one:



This may be the reason that Google no longer considers them offensive enough to ban from advertising.

But they still have lovely items like this one:

Which they claim is anti-Zionist, not anti-Jewish.

They also sell a full reproduction of Julius Streicher's edition of Der Sturmer that accuses Jews of ritual murder, a few Holocaust denial books, and other virulently anti-semitic books from the Nazi era translated into English.

Google must consider Jew-hatred acceptable but black hatred to be over the line.

HRW's former "military expert" Marc Garlasco would also feel at home with the many "militaria collectables" they have for sale, which all center on Nazi-era items, just like Garlasco's collection.

Complaints to Google should be sent here, and the URL of the offending ad is http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=CSfLDxFDES7neJ5aYlQeJxdzMApTzxnXY-4mxCIHd9gcIABABIMm4rQtQzt--lgdgyZ7yirSk2A_IAQGqBBlP0Hl8kFUQvermac_LZwV5nAexgkvoLV85&sig=AGiWqtz9fXFzkxN6FPfzFMjE7APX2FblfA&q=http://nsm88records.com/theshop/product_info.php%3Fproducts_id%3D1664 .

Elder of Ziyon: Neo-Nazi site returns again to Google AdWords

RubinReports: How Has President Obama Been Weak and Lost Credibility Over Iran: Answering a Reader’s Question

How Has President Obama Been Weak and Lost Credibility Over Iran: Answering a Reader’s Question

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By Barry Rubin

A reader asks [my summary]: Why do you and so many people in the Arabic-speaking world view President Barack Obama as weak regarding Iran. After all, he doesn’t want to go to war with Iran or support an Israeli attack. And isn’t the fault due mainly to the Europeans, Russia and China?

My response: There are a number of reasons for this but let me focus on three. First, Obama’s total failure to implement increased sanctions on Iran--whether or not they were effective—after 15 months in office is a huge failure. If the media would be treating Obama as a normal president he would be criticized and ridiculed for this on a daily basis.

Remember, the president first said he would increase sanctions last September and failed to do so. He then set a December deadline and again did not act. Now in April 2010 the prospects for sanctions still seem poor.

Indeed, the administration has not even announced its plan. What we do know is that the administration has announced in advance that it will not propose sanctions that might hurt Iran’s economy which means they—that is, targeted sanctions on a small number of rulers and regime institutions--will be a joke.

Aside from this, congressional proposals for reasonable sanctions on Iranian energy imports were ignored by the administration. The White House discouraged Congress from acting, too.

True, traditionally the Europeans have been very wimpy about such actions. But in this particular case, Britain, France, and Germany are ahead of the United States. Obama is holding them back rather than vice-versa. The EU as a whole is a problem since a country like Sweden can paralyze action. But it was Obama’s choice to seek backing from the entire EU rather than take the lead along with the three main European allies.

This problem arises partly from Obama’s philosophy of refusing to be a world leader but just “one of the guys” going along with a sanction. While the world doesn’t want the United States to be too unilateral—their criticism of George W. Bush—Obama has gone too far in the opposite direction, which is equally bad.

As for Russia and China, Obama is responsible for misleading the country and making a serious error by continuing to insist that he will win them over when it was clear a year ago that they are never going to support serious sanctions. Having seen that, U.S. policy should have adjusted either to create a coalition of the willing or to ram through the UN a reasonable plan.

Another reader just send me two headlines, one of which says China won't support sanctions and the other saying it will. He asks: These articles can't both be right? Actually, the texts of the articles are both right. They simply say this: The Obama Administration has won a big victory because China now agrees to discuss sanctions. They just won't support or implement them. As of today, Russian leaders are still openly stating that they won't support sanctions.

Second, Obama has openly preferred engagement and concessions to America’s enemies—notably Iran and Syria in this case—rather than to support its friends. The Middle East is often presented as if this only applies to Israel, but when Arabs complain about Obama’s weakness and unreliability they are talking about a lack of backing for Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, the liberal forces in Lebanon, and others.

To cite only one example, when Iraq wanted U.S. help in pressing Syria to stop supporting terrorists who are killing hundreds of Iraqis, as well as U.S. troops, the Obama Administration refused. This is genuinely shocking. Many other cases could be cited.

Third, when the regime in Iran stole the election, the administration’s refusal to speak out and support the opposition was disgraceful, particularly from a government, which describes itself as liberal and claims to support human rights.

No one serious is advocating that the United States go to war with Iran or attack Iran. As for Israel, there has never been any intention of attacking Iran in 2010 at all. Israeli policy has been to urge the world to try sanctions and to wait until Iran was on the verge of actually getting nuclear weapons to decide what to do.

Whether or not sanctions would work is another question but the failure to show leadership effectively and try has two implications. It is a test that the administration has failed, which indicates how it would probably perform in a future crisis. In addition, this failure has left the United States less well situated to manage this problem in the future.

Failing to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons through diplomatic means, and instead eroding U.S. credibility, actually makes a war more possible in future. And I’m not referring here to an Israeli attack but to a conflict arising from Iranian support for revolutionary Islamist subversion of Arabic-speaking countries.

RubinReports: How Has President Obama Been Weak and Lost Credibility Over Iran: Answering a Reader’s Question

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: A Window to Hope and Despair

A Window to Hope and Despair

One more day with Yehuda Poliker's 1988 Holocaust record and we'll move on.

The Jewish calender has cycles. One ancient one is from Pessach, signifying liberation from bondage, until Shavuot (Pentacost), seven weeks later, signifying liberation to live as Jews. There has always been a tension to the period, in which the nation is free but still lacks positive content for its freedom. About 1,800 years ago an additional layer was added, when it was decreed that a month of those seven weeks were a period of mourning for the destruction of Judea by Hadrian (143CE), and the end of any hope for political renewal following the earlier destruction of the temple (70 CE). Weddings are forbidden, men don't shave, music isn't played and so on.

Then, in the 1950s, a new cycle was inserted into the double-layer ancient one. The date of the independence of the State of Israel was decided by the British who left on May 14th 1948. After the ensuing war, however, the Knesset decided (twice, in 1953 and again in 1959) that the day before Independence day would be Yom HaZikaron, the day of commemoration for the fallen soldiers; the day one week before that was designated to remember the Shoah. These decisions were the result of political horse-trading, but sometimes even politicians get it right, even beyond their wildest dreams, and without intending it they had added modern depth to the traditional cycle. (I once read the record of their deliberations: they really didn't intend anything so profound)

So now we're in the week of trepidation. It's a week of palpable sensitivity, even as everyone goes about their normal business. What better a way to introduce it, I tell myself, than with Poliker's Chalon el hayam hatichon, a Window to the Mediterranean Sea.

The lyrics were written by Poliker's partner Yaacov Gil'ad, but the story is that of Poliker's father. A man who had lost his entire family including his children at the hands of the Nazis. His wife, likewise. Now, in December 1950, he has traveled to Israel without his new wife and son, to scout for a better future. He has found a one-room apartment in Jaffa, and he writes her (no iPhones in those days) to tell that perhaps, perhaps (ve-ulay) there's a chance, one in a million, that they can still somehow forge a new, better life. Maybe there's a slim hope, climbing in the window.

To add to the poignancy, the window faces west, back to Europe, to where there's no hope only despair. On that level, the window is false; the hope, if it's there, is climbing in from the street of Jaffa, the local reality, not from beyond the view. But that's just my reading.

Hebrew lyrics
English translation
I promised to write when I left you
but I didn't write for a long time
now I miss you so much
such a pity you are not here
after I arrived in Jaffa
hopes were born out of despair
I found my self a room and a half
on the roof of a deserted house
I have a folding bed here
if the three of us want to sleep
you the kid and I
against a window looking out
to the Mediteranean Sea

And maybe from afar
there is a one in a million chance
and maybe from afar
some joy is sneaking up to the window

The end of December 1950
outside there is war between the winds
suddenly we had snow fall
so white and reminds me what I already forgot
The wound is still open
if only you were here with me
I would have simply told you
what ever a letter will not say
If you want you have a home here
and you will have me
much kid's laughter coming to the house
and a window looking out
to the Mediterranean Sea

And maybe...

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: A Window to Hope and Despair

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: The Story Keeps Coming

The Story Keeps Coming

The Anat Kamm story continues to supply interesting insights, so I'm still on it; apologies if I'm boring you.

A friend told me today that during a recent visit to Tel Aviv she saw graffiti from the gag-order period,encouraging pedestrians to "Google Anat Kamm": a way to spread the word as widely as possible. Yet it's becoming increasingly clear that the original story was false: long long ago, say, early last week, the line was that the entire story was well known outside Israel but gagged at home. By now it's clear that what was widely known abroad was a selective, carefully tailored story disseminated by Kamm's ideological fans, who were feeding foreign sources with the story they wished everyone to believe; once the authorities began releasing their version the story changed significantly.

Yesterday we saw the publishing of a court decision from February, when Kamm was sent to house arrest. This document contains various points of interest. Kamm is under mere house arrest, for example, not because the allegations aren't serious but because the assumption is that shorn of her special access to secret documents she isn't dangerous. If she's eventually convicted, she'll go to jail. She made two disks of copied documents, one of which she lost, and the other someone else lost (we aren't told who). The security measures in the general's office were so shabby as to be criminal; after having copied thousands of documents in a folder, Kamm simply asked a colleague to burn them onto disks, and it was done.

On the matter of her intent, it seems I was wrong. My initial reading was that she was out to promote her investigative abilities; apparently, she really did see herself as a whistle-blower - though on this point the story still seems to support both versions.

Regarding the prosecution's contention that Kamm intended to harm state security, the judge wrote that a high probability of harm to state security was enough to attribute such intent.

This is an interesting comment: when the probability of an outcome is plausible, the law sees action towards it as intent. Ponder that for a moment, because it isn't obviously so; one could easily argue that a plausible outcome is not enough to tell of intent to reach it; nor is the matter trivial. Any criminal proceeding that requires intent for conviction - and there are many such - will be influenced by it.

On the other hand, the judge cites Kamm's own words telling about her intent to uncover wrong-doing:

Hammer also referred to Kam's testimony regarding her motives to give material to Blau. He quoted her as saying, "there were aspects of the [Israel Defense Forces'] activity in the territories that I thought should be brought to the knowledge of the public."

"[When] I copied the materials I thought that as far as history is concerned, people who have warned of war crimes, they are forgiven .... I hadn't managed to sufficiently change enough of the things that were important to me at the time of my army service, and I thought exposing them would bring about change, so it was important to me to bring the IDF's policy in the territories to the knowledge of the public."

She said she contacted Israeli journalists because she assumed the military censor "would not allow publication of any material that was especially highly classified or [involved] danger in their publication." The judge noted that under questioning, Kamm had admitted that she knew of the practice of Israeli journalists to circumvent censorship by leaking information to the foreign media. (My italics: so she gave it to an Israeli journalist, knowing full well it might not go through the censor. So much for that argument).

From Kamm's perspective, the tragic part of the story is that she broke the law to warn Israelis their generals were breaking the law, when they weren't, but she was. She was so immersed in the lefty political narrative whereby Israel's military authorities are mostly wrong when dealing with Palestinians, that she was incapable of understanding that the actions she was warning about were in no way illegal. On the contrary. She was merely supplying documentation that the IDF indeed is acting within the law. She's now facing jail for bravely warning us from a danger that was invented by her friends and political colleagues, but which was never there at all.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: The Story Keeps Coming

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Talmudic Cows

Talmudic Cows

I don't know if Norm ever studied Talmud; I haven't thought of asking him. Whether he has or not, he certainly has the knack of it: he's a natural, one might say, assuming one might agree what constitutes being a natural.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Talmudic Cows

Peres: Syria Arming Hizbullah with Scuds While Talking Peace - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Peres: Syria Arming Hizbullah with Scuds While Talking Peace - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Over One Quarter of US Jews: US-Israel Relations Negative - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

Over One Quarter of US Jews: US-Israel Relations Negative - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

'Jewish Ties to Temple Mount Will Bring Peace' - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

'Jewish Ties to Temple Mount Will Bring Peace' - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

IDF Kills Four Terrorists Trying to Place Roadside Bomb - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

IDF Kills Four Terrorists Trying to Place Roadside Bomb - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Kam 'Lost' Disc with Top Secret Material - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Kam 'Lost' Disc with Top Secret Material - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Kadima's Shamalov Joins Demand to Close Down Haaretz - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Kadima's Shamalov Joins Demand to Close Down Haaretz - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

China against Sanctions on Iran despite Obama-Chinese Handshake - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

China against Sanctions on Iran despite Obama-Chinese Handshake - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Chesler Chronicles » Jews Confront the Abyss. “The Absence of Outrage is Outrageous.”

Chesler Chronicles

April 13th, 2010 9:44 am

Jews Confront the Abyss. “The Absence of Outrage is Outrageous.”

What more can be said? Are mere words sufficient? By now we know that Jew haters are never deterred by facts—only by force. We also know that the Arab-Muslim world has brainwashed its citizens and the world with a steady stream of blood libels against Jews and Israel. The United Nations, international human rights organizations, the world media, and the world’s so-called intelligentsia have all piled on, as have President Obama and his carefully chosen advisors. Obama, who bowed to the Saudi King, and who publicly shamed the Israeli Prime Minister, has also, for the first time, decided to sell no bunker buster bombs to Israel; to deny Israeli scientists who work at Dimona visas to study in the United States; to manufacture a sham crisis over Israel building apartments in north Jerusalem—all in order to “impose” a Solution (hopefully not another Final Solution) on Jewish Israel.

The Man wants to show the world he’s “tough” where the Jews are concerned so that it will not notice how “weak” he is in terms of confronting Iran’s Ahmadinejad, Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai, North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir, etc. But many see that Obama is “weak,” beginning with the very Arab and Muslim countries he most wishes to impress.

If this were not sorrow enough, our cup runneth over because we also know that some Jew-haters and Israel demonizers are themselves Jews. Their names are legion. We also know that most American Jewish leaders have left a great deal to be desired.

America is rapidly changing in terms of its relationship to Israel and to Islamism. My passport is ready, near my bedside. Others are worried, just as I am. For example, read Daniel Greenfield at SultanKnish, Marc Prowisor at Yesha News, and Ed Koch at The Huffington Post. Just last night a friend who has lived in North Africa, Israel, Europe, and the United States suggested that we might slip away to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, maybe Costa Rica because “war is here, war is everywhere, but what jihadist group is going to target such countries?”

Jews cry: “Never again.” Jews cry: “No more will we be silent.” In memory of the six million who perished in the Holocaust because most American Jews were more concerned with their own survival than with that of their endangered brethren—and because they were misled by most of their Jewish leaders and by the Court Jews of the day; and in memory of all those Israeli civilians and soliders who have fallen since the state of Israel was created (in 2009, that number was 24,293), I will now endanger myself further and begin “naming” some names. It is the very least I can do.

In early 2004, eight months after my book The New Anti-Semitism was published, I wrote that, in a sense, a new Holocaust had already begun in Israel.

At the time, the leaders of the major American Jewish organizations paid absolutely no attention to what I’d writen—or, when we found ourselves on a panel, actually mocked me as “the Jewish Cassandra.” Ken Jacobson of the ADL did so at a panel at Columbia. I hope I am no Cassandra; no one listened to the Trojan princess who bore that name and Troy went down in flames. From the beginning of the Intifada of 2000, well-heeled professional American Jews in handsome three piece suits, herd-animals, self-important cowards, continued to deny and minimize the danger and to assure their funders that the alarmists were wrong, that they—the men in the suits–had it “all under control.” How could it be otherwise? They were dining with Arab oil Sheiks and attending interfaith conferences at five star hotels. They were okay—it must mean that the rest of us were okay too.

Back in the fall of 2003, Abe Foxman of the ADL finally published his book about anti-Semitism; the book saw little danger emanating from the Islamic and Islamist world. To Foxman, the Christian right wing still remained the major threat. In 2003, when Congressman Tom Lantos wanted to create a U.S. government Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, I was told, repeatedly, that Foxman was trying to block this effort. Perhaps my information is incorrect, but I doubt it. Of course, my sources will not go on record because Foxman wields far too much power. In 2004, when Lantos’ Office was, nevertheless, created, Foxman immediately issued a press release “welcoming” the government’s move and appearing to take some credit for it too. In 2004, Foxman raised holy hell about Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ. First, he saw Gibson as “anti-Semitic,” saw the film itself as either “anti-Semitic,” or not “anti-Semitic” but “painful.” Foxman feared it could “fuel latent anti-Semitism.” Of course, no Christians have perpetrated pogroms against Jews. However, during this time, Muslim Islamists have perpetrated countless barbarous pogroms against Christians and Jews in the Middle East and in the Muslim world.

Every so often, Foxman will issue a press release about “Islamic extremism” but really taking it on would offend his largely liberal Jewish base and so he comments on specific incidents but has not launched a campaign of any kind against Islamism. Or against radical jihad. Nor has he conducted a campaign to condemn “Islamophobia” as a false concept. On the contrary. Foxman has seen “Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and Christianphobia” as similar and related realities.

They are not. And, when someone serious actually tries to wrestle with the growing danger of Islamism/political Islam, Foxman goes out of his way to attack that person. I am thinking here of Foxman’s 2009 condemnation of Wilders, a principled man who is under siege for his views.

Now, in 2010, nearly ten years after the Al-Aqsa Intifada began, after so many chickens have come home to roost—after all the Jewish liberals have voted for Obama and continue to work or stand by their man, Foxman has, for the first time, called for a Jewish march on Washington to demonstrate support for the state of Israel. .

I’m glad Foxman has finally seen the need for such a march—although it’s rather late in the day.

The Office, envisioned by Lantos, is now headed by Obama’s appointee, Hannah Rosenthal, who sits on the board of J Street. And, this is not the time to appeal to Jews only to support Israel. There simply aren’t enough Jews in the country or in the world. Foxman’s call, and any similar calls, must now go out to Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, atheists, Muslims and ex-Muslims who oppose Islamism and radical jihad. There are at least two organizations that are already working in such coalitions. None are funded like the ADL is. I am sure that if Foxman views it as profitable and fashionable to embrace such a vision, he will pretend that it was his idea all along, buy up some of the grassroots activists, and continue to—make no difference.

For the record: This vision has already been undertaken by the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam, of which I am a member. The vision has also been undertaken by Jeff Imm of Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) who, to his credit, will not work with racists or supremacists even if they understand and wish to combat the forces of jihad.

This year, I tried to watch Schindler’s List which aired on HBO. I have seen it before. Now, I could barely watch it. I see how easily it could happen again. Yes, I know: Israel is a well-armed, nuclear ghetto. I know that Israel is also strong culturally and economically. (Many European Jews were also strong culturally and economically). But, I sense our incredible vulnerability. Jews are irrationally hated in a world that stood by and did nothing to stop the massacres of civilians in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan—and the world had no blood lust for any of these victims. The world chose not to stop the Islamist terrorism against Israeli civilians and, in so doing, has now reaped the whirlwind of similar Islamist and jihadist homicide bombers. This comeuppance gives me no pleasure.

Wisely, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu chose not to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. Why cross oceans to be insulted, shunned, shamed, blamed? More important: Why waste time when the 46 countries in attendance are not yet prepared to stop Iran from going nuclear? Who would rather stop Israel’s launch of a pre-emptive attack than stop Iran from penetrating Tel Aviv (or Mecca) with a nuclear bomb.

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu just delivered a speech at Mount Herzl as part of Yom Hashoah Day. Gain strength from his strong and inspiring words. He said, in part,

“Today, 65 years after the Holocaust, we must say in all honesty that what is most outrageous is the absence of outrage. The world gradually accepts Iran’s statements of destruction against Israel and we still do not see the necessary international determination to stop Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons. But if we have learned anything from the lessons of the Holocaust, it is that we must not remain silent and be deterred in the face of evil.

I call on all enlightened countries to rise up to forcefully and firmly condemn Iran’s destructive intentions and to act with genuine determination to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons. These are the three lessons of the Holocaust: fight evil, teach good deeds and fortify your strength.

My friends, where does our strength come from? From our unity, from our heritage, from our common past and future. Together, we treasure our past. Together, we forge the path to our future. We are not here by chance. We returned to this land because it is our land; we returned to Zion because it is our city. We are paving roads north and south, and transforming a barren land into a flourishing garden. This is our answer to those who seek our destruction. As the prophet Isaiah said:

“Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off… Even unto them will I give in My house and within My walls a monument and a memorial…I will give them an everlasting memorial, that shall not be cut off.”


Chesler Chronicles » Jews Confront the Abyss. “The Absence of Outrage is Outrageous.”

RubinReports: U.S. Engages Syria; Syria Escalates Weapons' Supply to Hizballah

U.S. Engages Syria; Syria Escalates Weapons' Supply to Hizballah

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By Barry Rubin

It's completely predictable. In fact, I predicted it. The more U.S. policy engages Syria and stifles criticism of that dictatorship, the more confident (arrogant is a better word) Syria's regime becomes. It continues to help terrorists kill Americans in Iraq; tightens its alliance with Iran; and now sends advanced Scud missiles to Lebanon. At the same time--according to the U.S. Defense Department--Iran is providing advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Hizballah which pass through Syrian hands. Human rights violation continue in Syria, too.

Israel is extremely concerned with the build-up which violates the UN resolution and promises made to Israel at the end of the 2006 war. But to raise the whole matter to the heights of satire, Lebanon--whose government includes Hizballah--is now on the UN Security Council and next month will be chairing the Security Council! This is just in time to run the meetings about efforts to put sanctions on Iran, which is of course Hizballah's patron.

So to summarize:

--Hizballah, a revolutionary terrorist group, violates a UN Security Council resolution but in essence is going to control the UN Security Council. (Sort of goes along nicely with Iran being so powerful on the Human Rights committee while Libya has chaired the General Assembly.)

--Syria keeps slapping the United States in the face but it has no apparent effect on U.S. policy. The more the Obama Administration engages Syria, the more Syria embraces Iran. Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee--when I was working in the Senate he was regarded as a zero--is now energetically championing U.S.-Syria detente, advised by Robert Malley, friend of America's enemies, no less.

Where is Lewis Carroll now that we need him. (see note)
So, does the U.S. government draw any conclusions from this? Does it criticize Syria or reinstitute sanctions or postpone sending the U.S. ambassador back? Well, Congress is angry, but as for the White House, as I warned it won't criticize Syria or put pressure on it lest that interfere with engagement!

For the United States, engagement has become an end in itself. For Syria, taking over Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinians, and Israel, while driving U.S. influence out of the region is an end in itself.

Note: Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland which, in the days before Middle East policy, was the greatest fantasy in the world.


RubinReports: U.S. Engages Syria; Syria Escalates Weapons' Supply to Hizballah

Elder of Ziyon: Gaza power woes continue - but not because of Israel

Gaza power woes continue - but not because of Israel

Gaza experienced blackouts over the weekend as money to pay for fuel for the power plants ran out again.

The Gaza Electricity Company transferred 3 million US dollars to the Palestinian Authority treasury in Ramallah on Sunday, after Palestinian factions met to discuss the means to bring an end to blackouts experienced across the Gaza Strip.

The sole power generator in the Gaza Strip was completely closed down on Saturday, the head of the electric company announced , following a day of unheeded warnings that a humanitarian crisis was at hand.

Shortly after the announcement, both the PA and the Gaza government launched accusations at each other over responsibility for Gaza's ongoing fuel shortage, with Hamas alleging the Ramallah-based leadership had used EU funds intended for diesel transfers to increase civil servants' salaries.

Some Gaza residents have discovered power inverters as a better alternative to dangerous gasoline-powered generators that many have been using. The power inverters can be connected to car batteries of they can be charged during the times that electricity is available, or even with solar panels, to provide electricity when needed.


Elder of Ziyon: Gaza power woes continue - but not because of Israel

Elder of Ziyon: "Siege" news: Wood and aluminum for Gaza

"Siege" news: Wood and aluminum for Gaza

Palestine Press Agency and Ma'an report that Israel plans to resume shipments of wood and aluminum to Gaza, with the first shipment of wood scheduled for Thursday.

It is unclear whether that this is related to Hamas' recent reported actions to stop other terror groups from attacking Israel, or rather if this is in response to US pressure.

Another news item says that Hamas has allowed its own government engineers to visit Israel to learn more about maintenance and repair for Gaza's waste treatment plants. Hamas denied the story as just more rumors meant to destroy its reputation.



Elder of Ziyon: "Siege" news: Wood and aluminum for Gaza

Elder of Ziyon: UK KFC tries to please Muslims, fails badly

UK KFC tries to please Muslims, fails badly

From News of the World:

[KFC], Britain's second biggest fast food chain hoped to woo the Islamic market by opening 86 trial outlets selling halal-only meat - that's from animals slaughtered under strict religious guidelines.

But KFC's target diners insist the chickens are not being killed in the right way and say they will stay away.

And furious non-Muslim customers have set up Facebook groups protesting that the trial branches, which also ban pork, have dropped their favourite bacon-topped Big Daddy burger from menus.

Groups with names such as "Against the KFC Halal Trial" and "No Halal at Colne KFC" - referring to a branch in the Lancs town - are rapidly attracting members. For meat to be halal, the animal must be alive when its throat is cut as a verse from the Koran is recited.

KFC insists their methods meet the approval of the Halal Food Society. But Islamic leaders disagree, saying the pre-stunning of animals in the chain's mechanical process means a third are already dead at the point of slaughter.

And the fact the prayer is played over a speaker means each bird it not blessed individually as it is killed.

They have now threatened to warn the UK's 2.4million Muslims not to eat KFC meat, and will meet with the fast food giant on Wednesday to question how it is killing chickens sold as halal.

Imam Yusuf Shabbir of the Lancashire Council of Mosques said: "If KFC confirms to us that it has no intention of changing the mechanical method of slaughter we will advise members of the Muslim community this."

But a KFC spokesman said: "We've worked with animal welfare organisations and the Halal Food Authority to ensure our processes fully comply.

"And wherever possible we've made sure our trial stores are near non- halal restaurants, to provide customers with a choice."



Elder of Ziyon: UK KFC tries to please Muslims, fails badly

DoubleTapper: Tuvia Bielski Action Figure

Tuvia Bielski Action Figure

Daniel Craig played Tuvia Bielski in the movie Defiance
Check out this Tuvia Bielski action figure created by fellow blogger Alex

There are many more pictures here


The attention to detail is incredible and his blog is well worth a visit


DoubleTapper: Tuvia Bielski Action Figure

The Torah Revolution: Of course there is an explanation

Of course there is an explanation

B"H

Of course there is an explanation. It's just that you continue not accepting it: "If Israel repent, they will be redeemed. Otherwise, God will bring a king whose decrees are harsher than Haman's, and they will repent and be redeemed.." (Sanhedrin 97b)

- This is talkback # 15 on There is no explanation


The Torah Revolution: Of course there is an explanation

Love of the Land: If You Shoot at a King You Must Kill Him

If You Shoot at a King You Must Kill Him


Michael J. Totten
Commentary Magazine
12 April '10

Last week I spoke with Reza Kahlili, a man who during the 1980s and 1990s worked for the CIA under the code name "Wally" inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. He wrote a terrific book about his experience as an American agent called A Time to Betray, and today he's issuing a serious warning about his former Iranian masters: they mean what they say, and the West had better start taking them seriously.

He thinks President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei fully intend to use nuclear weapons if they acquire them, either by exploding them in enemy cities or holding the Middle East and the world's energy resources hostage. It's hard, to be sure, for even a well-placed expert to know this for certain. Perhaps not even the leadership knows exactly what it will do with the bomb once it gets the chance. (Either way, a nuclear-armed Iran won't suddenly play well with others.) What happens in the region over the next couple of years may depend in large part on whether the Israelis are willing to chance it.

We should not, Kahlili says, expect Iran's people to applaud an Israeli attack on the weapons facilities. "People in Iran do not sympathize with Israel the way they sympathize with the U.S.," he told me. "They're looking for help, right? But they're not looking for the same kind of help from Israel. So if Israel bombs the facilities in Iran, don't expect people to come out into the streets to celebrate or confront the government forces. That's not going to happen. They're just going to sit at home and pray this thing doesn't get out of hand."

(Read full article)


Love of the Land: If You Shoot at a King You Must Kill Him

Love of the Land: What are nations really for, then?

What are nations really for, then?


Hazem Saghiyeh
NOW Lebanon
12 April '10

MP Nawwaf Moussawi deserves nothing but respect for telling Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai, “If things comes down to a choice between the Resistance and any kind of unity, then the Resistance would take precedence.” Moussawi said: “When it comes to its sustainability, survival, strength and progress, the Resistance’s history proves that it holds these elements above all other considerations.”

The Hezbollah MP deserves respect for being honest and describing things as they really are, as seen and applied by Hezbollah. Indeed, he did not say that the Lebanese unanimously agree on the Resistance, nor did he say that the Resistance is ready to dismantle its structure in order to preserve national unity. In so doing, he is departing from the deceit and lies that have become customary in this country.

Truly, the Resistance exists and shall endure, regardless of what the Lebanese think of the matter and regardless of how they may perceive their interests and the interests of their country. This is precisely the reaction of conquerors, which has but one logical completion: It is only by having recourse to force that you will do away with the Resistance. As for democracy, spare us this distasteful farce which is used only to serve the Resistance’s purposes, and if it contradicts them, then let us bid democracy farewell.

Moussawi’s statement is likened to two partners telling one another: I shall take my interest alone into consideration. As for our common interest, it concerns me only insofar as it serves my own.

(Read full post)


Love of the Land: What are nations really for, then?

Israel Matzav: Overnight music video

Overnight music video

Here's Avraham Fried singing Father Don't Cry (and since it's in English, I don't need to translate it).

Let's go to the videotape.


Israel Matzav: Overnight music video

Elder of Ziyon: Mads Gilbert and his love of terrorists

Mads Gilbert and his love of terrorists

From the Norway, Israel and the Jews blog (h/t Zvi):

NRK journalist Øyvor Bakke hosts the program ”Middagselskapet” (The Dinner Party), where the guest is invited to present three people he or she would have liked to invite to a dinner party. On April 9th the guest of the evening was Mads Gilbert, a maoist physician who became famous when he covered the 2009/2010 war between Hamas and Israel from the safe spot of Shifa hospital, where Gilbert served as a NORWAC doctor and which Hamas fighters used as a base. See the clip on NRK.

Mr.Gilbert’s imaginary guests turned out to be Charlie Chaplin, Author of “The elegance of the Hedgehog” Muriel Barbery and Abu Jihad, who masterminded the worst terrorist act in Israel’s history in which 37 civilians were murdered in a bus hijacking led by Dalal Mughrabi in 1978. Program host Øyvor Bakke does not bat an eyelid at Gilbert’s dream-cast of guests, but introduces Abu Jihad to her audience with the words: “Next man out is what must say is… a powerful man…”

The following then ensues:

Øyvor Bakke: Abu Jihad as he is also known is a powerful political figure…

Mads Gilbert: Yes, and I would love to invite him… and it might as well have been a woman from the Palestinian liberation movement or from one of the other liberation struggles in the third world, against occupation, against colonization. Abu Jihad was a special person in the Palestinian struggle, he was a great teacher, a philosopher, he was an analyst, he was very knowledgeable about language, culture, and so forth, knew the Palestinian history inside out, and many Palestinians still say today that if Abu Jihad had been alive we would have had a different situation. He was liquidated by the Israelis in 1988 in Tripoli. The Israelis call him a terrorist, and that brings us into the interesting discussion, the liberator of one is the terrorist on another. The Palestinians say that the Israelis are the terrorists, while the Israelis say that it is the Palestinians who are the terrorists…

Øyvor Bakke: Is it true that you have met with him?

Mads Gilbert: I met Abu Jihad in Lebanon in 1981, while we were there with the first surgical team from the Palestine Committee… it was a significant meeting.

Øyvor Bakke: What was he like?

Mads Gilbert: The silent type, wise, very dignified, very.. in many ways a representative for the Arab culture but also for Palestinian pride… a listener, and at the same time an inexhaustible source of knowledge, so I learned a lot from that, it was not a long meeting, a couple of hours, but it was… it stuck.

Abu Jihad was, of course, the person behind the Savoy Hotel murder of 8 Israeli civilians and the Coastal Road Massacre where 35 civilians were killed.

Gilbert has been on the record for supporting terrorism for a long time, however. After 9/11, he told a Norwegian newspaper that he would have supported the attacks as a legitimate reaction to US actions in the Middle East.



Elder of Ziyon: Mads Gilbert and his love of terrorists
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