Love of the Land: Can the US Contain a Nuclear Iran?

Can the US Contain a Nuclear Iran?

Emily B. Landau
INSS Insight No. 171
24 March '10

With any hope of a new round of UN Security Council sanctions on Iran now postponed until June, and the understanding that if at all, these will be weak and ineffective measures, Obama's diplomatic initiative is slowly grinding to a halt. Taking into account Iran's steady progress in developing fissible material, its work on producing a nuclear warhead, and its ever-improving missile capabilities -- together with low expectations that anything in this dynamic will impress upon the Obama administration the need to ultimately take military action -- part of the discourse on this topic is changing track. Instead of focusing on the stinging failure to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, some are arguing that it's now time to move on. They say that in the likely scenario that Iran becomes the next nuclear state, the US will simply resort to its ultimate strategy that has worked in other cases: it will contain a nuclear Iran.

But will the US indeed be able to contain a nuclear Iran? The answer to this question involves two levels: first, US credibility vis-à-vis Iran, and second, what the US will be seeking to contain. On both counts, there is little room for optimism.

Containment (and deterrence) of an adversary necessarily depend on a state's ability to transmit to the adversary credible threats of consequences for certain behavior on the part of the adversary. In this regard, the idea that the US can contain Iran cannot be divorced from what has transpired over the past year vis-à-vis the diplomatic initiative that Obama has pursued from his first day in office. The lesson that Iran has learned from the Obama administration is that while there has been no shortage of threats of consequences, there have been little to no actual consequences. Iran has seen that the US sets red lines and deadlines that in practice are virtually meaningless. The US has undermined its own ability to present a credible threat by saying outright that it has no intention of taking military action because it is overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it has clarified through its actions that broad multilateral agreement is more important than demonstrating resolve to Iran in the economic realm as well. Why should we assume that the US will be any more successful in projecting credibility toward Iran when this state becomes a nuclear state than it has been in the period before Iran crossed this line?

(Read full report)

Love of the Land: Can the US Contain a Nuclear Iran?

Love of the Land: Tel Aviv and AFP's Lousy Synedoche

Tel Aviv and AFP's Lousy Synedoche

Honest Reporting/Backspin
24 March '10

Synedoche is a figure of speech where a part is substituted for its whole. Common examples include:

"All hands on deck" ("all people on deck")
"Boots on the ground" ("soldiers on the ground")
"100 head of cattle" ("100 cows")
"The White House said . . ." ("The Executive Branch of the United States said . . .")

One common synedoche journalists and bloggers use is to refer to the capital city as the government of that country. You'd think the usage would be straightforward enough. Except when the city's not the capital.

Which brings us to AFP, which provides today's example of deliberately lousy usage:

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Tel Aviv and AFP's Lousy Synedoche

Love of the Land: Guardian calls Israel “an arrogant nation”, and also gives op-ed to Foreign Office grandee who complained about Jews on the Iraq inquiry

Guardian calls Israel “an arrogant nation”, and also gives op-ed to Foreign Office grandee who complained about Jews on the Iraq inquiry

Robin Shepherd
Robinshepherdonline.com
24 March '10

Charles de Gaulle once famously referred to the Jews as an “arrogant and domineering people”. The Guardian newspaper in its editorial today refers to Israel as “an arrogant nation that has overreached itself”. Not the government of Israel — castigated by the Guardian for using British passports in a “Mossad murder squad” in Dubai, as well as over the spat with Washington — but the nation of Israel itself.

I suppose they would argue that that there is still enough daylight, however thin a sliver of it, between de Gaulle’s open disdain for Jews and their equally open disdain for the Jewish state.

But let’s leave whatever room for discussion may still be available on that particular question to one side for a moment, and move on to an op-ed piece published alongside the editorial by a senior Foreign Office mandarin who last year made one of the meanest anti-Semitic remarks to have been made in mainstream Britain for many years.

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Love of the Land: Guardian calls Israel “an arrogant nation”, and also gives op-ed to Foreign Office grandee who complained about Jews on the Iraq inquiry

Love of the Land: The Orwellian Peace Process

The Orwellian Peace Process

Rick Richman
Contentions/Commentary
24 March '10

We are indebted to George Orwell for the observation that the corruption of public life begins with the corruption of language, and nowhere has that been more evident than in the “peace process” — whose very name has proved Orwellian.

The “peace process” has so far produced three wars. The first occurred in 2000, after Israel offered the Palestinians a state on all of Gaza and virtually all of the West Bank. Yasir Arafat rejected the offer, returned home to a hero’s welcome, and commenced a barbaric terror war, quaintly named an “intifada,” waged in Israeli restaurants, discos, hotels, schools, and buses. In 2005, Israel removed every soldier and settler from Gaza to enable the Palestinians to demonstrate their willingness to live “side by side in peace and security”; the result was a rocket war against Israel from new forward positions. In 2008, Israel offered a state on 100 percent of the West Bank and Gaza (after land swaps) with a shared Jerusalem; the “peace partner” rejected the offer. A month later, a new war in Gaza became necessary to bring the rockets to a halt.

In 2003, the Palestinians agreed to a three-phase “Performance-Based Road Map” and then failed to perform Phase One — dismantling terrorist groups and infrastructure — much less Phase Two. The result was that their “performance” was waived and the U.S. pushed immediate Phase Three final-status negotiations. The failure to abide by the Road Map was called “accelerating” it.

“Peace process,” “peace partner,” “intifada,” “side by side in peace and security,” “accelerating” — these are all Orwellian terms designed to mask the fact that the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected a state in order to pursue the Orwellian “right of return” — an alleged “right” not given to the millions of other 20th century refugees (including the 820,000 Jews expelled from Arab lands), much less to those whose refugee status resulted from their decision to reject a two-state solution in 1948 and start a war instead.

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Love of the Land: The Orwellian Peace Process

Love of the Land: Obama and Netanyahu: pointless poison

Obama and Netanyahu: pointless poison

Jackson Diehl
Washington Post
24 March '10

So it’s now been two weeks since President Obama chose to seize on a poorly-timed Israeli announcement about new Jewish housing in Jerusalem to launch another public confrontation with the government of Binyamin Netanyahu. The results, so far, are these:

Obama’s demand, through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that Israel reverse its decision on the new neighborhood and freeze all other new construction in Jerusalem has been publicly rejected by Netanyahu. And the administration, for the second time in a year, has backed down. “Ultimately,” said State spokesman P.J. Crowley at his briefing Tuesday, “the future of Jerusalem can only be resolved through the direct negotiations [between Israel and the Palestinians] that we hope will get started as quickly as possible.” That, word for word, has been the Israeli position all along.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has adopted Obama’s original demand as his own: He’s saying he won’t begin even the indirect, “proximity” talks he previously agreed to until Israel accepts the Clinton terms on Jerusalem. How could he do otherwise? The Palestinian leader cannot be less pro-Palestinian than the White House. But Abbas cannot climb down from his position so easily -- which means that, for the second time in a year, the Middle East peace process has been stalled by a U.S.-engineered deadlock. U.S. and Israeli negotiators worked until 3 a.m. Wednesday in an attempt to come up with a formula that would allow the talks to go forward. They met again Wednesday morning. So far, no luck.

Finally, Obama has added more poison to a U.S.-Israeli relationship that already was at its lowest point in two decades. Tuesday night the White House refused to allow non-official photographers record the president’s meeting with Netanyahu; no statement was issued afterward. Netanyahu is being treated as if he were an unsavory Third World dictator, needed for strategic reasons but conspicuously held at arms length. That is something the rest of the world will be quick to notice and respond to. Just like the Palestinians, European governments cannot be more friendly to an Israeli leader than the United States. Would Britain have expelled a senior Israeli diplomat Tuesday because of a flap over forged passports if there were no daylight between Obama and Netanyahu? Maybe not.

(Read full story)

Love of the Land: Obama and Netanyahu: pointless poison

Love of the Land: The world wants to kill Jerusalem

The world wants to kill Jerusalem

Elder of Ziyon
24 March '10

All the people who hyperventilate over new buildings, projects and plans for Jerusalem seem to forget the most basic fact there is: Jerusalem is a modern, living, growing city.

It is not a fossilized museum piece.

Jerusalem has not always been as dynamic as it is today. The portions of the city under Jordanian rule from 1948-67 did not grow to an real extent. In fact, the Jordanian municipality of Jerusalem was a mere 2 square miles in size. Its population decreased, and many citizens moved to Amman.

Under Israeli rule, however, Jerusalem has flourished. Its population has nearly tripled since 1967. It boundaries have grown in all directions.

Any vibrant city needs to make plans. Jerusalem, by its nature, requires very sensitive urban planning, as many of the religious populations want to remain in homogeneous areas but at the same time discrimination is to be discouraged. Children want to live near their parents. Growth is inevitable in a living city and it needs to be managed. Much of that management must be in terms of the mundane facets of everyday life - building approval, zoning laws, creating residential and business districts.

In Jerusalem it is even trickier, as you need to add enforcing the unique character of certain neighborhoods, protecting holy sites, and ensuring equal access to all.

The international community, however, wants to stop the municipality from acting as all cities must. It wants to treat every new initiative and approval as an international incident. It wants to give veto power over Jerusalem to people who do not live there, who never lived there and who showed no interest in the city when they had the means to do so.

In short, the world wants to kill Jerusalem.

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Love of the Land: The world wants to kill Jerusalem

Love of the Land: Pallywood Returns: Palestinian Doctors and Human Rights Group B’Tselem Smear Israel with a Likely Faked X-Ray (PJM Exclusive)

Pallywood Returns: Palestinian Doctors and Human Rights Group B’Tselem Smear Israel with a Likely Faked X-Ray (PJM Exclusive)

They want an investigation, claiming the IDF fired real bullets into a crowd. Instead, the investigation should be of the accusers — the evidence is almost assuredly a fraud.


Bob Owens
Pajamasmedia.com
23 March '10

An Israeli human rights group is calling for an investigation into the deaths of two Palestinians who died as a results of wounds they sustained during a riot in Nablus. Israeli forces claim they fired rubber-coated bullets in an attempt to disperse a violent crowd. But B’Tselem claims that an X-ray of the skull of Osayed Qadus clearly shows a regular rifle bullet in his head. And a claim that live bullets were fired at Palestinian protesters is nothing more or less than an accusation of attempted murder.

Indeed, the image released to the media does seem to show what may be a bullet in what is purported to be the skull of Osayed Qadus. Unfortunately for B’Tselem and for the credibility of the Palestinian doctors at Nablus Specialty Hospital, the identity of who put the bullet in Qadus’ head is very much in doubt.

Almost certainly, the bullet depicted in the X-ray did not come from an Israeli rifle.

To understand the problem with B’Tselem’s claim, it helps to have an understanding of both the rubber-coated steel projectiles used as less-lethal weapons by Israel and the very deadly bullets used to kill by armed forces in both sides of the ongoing conflict.

(Read full story)

Love of the Land: Pallywood Returns: Palestinian Doctors and Human Rights Group B’Tselem Smear Israel with a Likely Faked X-Ray (PJM Exclusive)

Love of the Land: The Innocents Pack for Damascus

The Innocents Pack for Damascus

Michael J. Totten
Contentions/Commentary
24 March '10

Lebanese scholar Tony Badran quotes Robert Ford, President Barack Obama’s unconfirmed pick for ambassador to Syria, and Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, making statements last week that are breathtaking in their disconnection from reality.

Kerry said he believes Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, “understands that his country’s long-term interests … are not well served by aligning Syria with a revolutionary Shiite regime in Iran and its terrorist clients.” Ford, at the same time, said the U.S. “must persuade Syria that neither Iran nor Hezbollah shares Syria’s long-term strategic interest in … peace.”

These statements are simply off-planet. Either Kerry and Ford don’t know the first thing about how the Syrian government perceives its own interests, or they’re making stuff up for the sake of diplomacy.

It could be the latter. That happens. In Baghdad in 2008, a U.S. Army officer told me that the U.S. said things that weren’t strictly true about Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia to make it easier for him to save face, climb down out of his tree, and cut a deal. The American and Iraqi armies were still fighting his men in the streets but pretended they were only battling it out with rogue forces called “Special Groups.”

“We are giving the office of Moqtada al-Sadr a door,” the officer said. “We want them to be a political entity, not a military entity. So if you’re fighting coalition forces or the Iraqi army, we’ll say you’re a Special Groups leader or a Special Groups member.”

“So,” I said, “this is like the make-believe distinctions between military wings and political wings of Hamas and Hezbollah?”

“Yes,” he said. “That’s it. That’s exactly it.”

I’d like to give Kerry and Ford the benefit of the doubt here and assume that that’s what they’re doing with Assad, that they know Syria’s alliance with Iran is three decades old and therefore well thought-out and durable, that they know his foreign policy goal is one of “resistance” rather than peace, but I have my doubts. They otherwise shouldn’t find engaging him worth the humiliation and bother.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: The Innocents Pack for Damascus

Elder of Ziyon: "Arabs should use Holocaust as a political weapon"

"Arabs should use Holocaust as a political weapon"

In an ironic op-ed at Asharq Al Awsat called "The Crocodile Tears of the Holocaust Industry," Hamad Al-Majid writes: A young Jewish American woman approached the prominent Jewish professor; she had been attending the lecture he was conducting [at the University of Waterloo] when she asked a question before breaking down in tears. In a trembling voice, the student asked "During your speech, you made reference to Jewish people – some of whom are in this audience – describing them as Nazis, how can you do this? I find that extremely offensive." This young woman was talking to Jewish American professor, academic, and writer, Dr. Norman G. Finkelstein. Finkelstein's mother survived the Majdanek concentration camp, while his father survived the Auschwitz concentration camp; every single member of his family on both sides was killed by the Nazis. Dr. Finkelstein is one of the bitter opponents of Israel, and he has harshly criticized the Israeli criminal actions and brutality against the Palestinian people. The young woman's tears did not move the professor, and instead he fiercely criticized her with the vigour of a wounded Palestinian whose home, wife, and children had all been taken away from him by the Zionists. Frowning at the young student, Dr. Finkelstein reacted angrily saying, "I don't respect that…I don't like and I don't respect your crocodile tears. I don't like to play the Holocaust card before an audience, but my late father was in Auschwitz and my late mother was in Majdanek, every single member of my family on both sides was exterminated, and it is precisely and exactly because of the lessons that my parents taught me that I will not be silent while Israel commits crimes against the Palestinians. There is nothing more despicable than to use their suffering and martyrdom to try to justify the torture and brutalization and the demolition of homes committed by Israel against the Palestinians. If you had a heart, you would be crying for the Palestinians." The lesson that Majid learns from this sickening episode? This is a positive way of dealing with the Holocaust, and this is something that wise Jews and Westerners should promote in order to prevent such injustice occurring again. In my opinion, this is better than entering bitter controversy over the veracity of the Holocaust, and casting doubts and denying it. If we compare the French Muslim intellectual Roger Garaudy's denial of the Holocaust with Dr. Norman G Finkelstein's condemnation of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews, as well as the Israeli Holocaust against the Palestinians, and how – in his view – the former is being used to justify the latter, we find that Finkelstein's controversial view is far more influential in the West than Garaudy's. This writer is saying that he prefers using the Holocaust as a political weapon against Israel than denying the Holocaust altogether, because the former is more effective. Holocaust denial isn't wrong - it is just not effective. The corollary to this argument is that if, at some time, Holocaust denial becomes a more effective argument, then that would be the preferred weapon. The only thing missing from his argument is any reference to the truth. Truth, he believes, is completely irrelevant - absurd Holocaust analogies must be used as a club to beat Jews with, because that hurts them more than denying the Holocaust does, and the goal, of course, is to hurt the Jews. The ironic part is that the same people who accuse Jews of politicizing the Holocaust to justify Zionism are now politicizing the Holocaust to denounce Zionism. Somehow, to them, this is not a problem. And the reason is, as mentioned, that the truth is not a factor in this battle.

Elder of Ziyon: "Arabs should use Holocaust as a political weapon"

Elder of Ziyon: Arab analyst notices Abbas' tactic of passivity

Arab analyst notices Abbas' tactic of passivity

From an op-ed in Asharq al-Awsat by its editor, Osman Mirghani: The Palestinian situation is now at its worst stage with division and conflict between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Even if reconciliation efforts are successful, mutual confidence between the two parties is something that may remain absent for a long time. This would mean continuation of a state of weakness and the absence of true bargaining power. To be clear, the Palestinians should not expect an Arab miracle that will result in all their dreams and aspirations being fulfilled. The current Arab situation is extremely frail, and even if there is a desire to take serious steps to support the Palestinian negotiator, this is something that would require the Arab position to derive its strength from the cohesion and strength of the Palestinian position. It is not logical for the government of President Mahmoud Abbas to pin all of its negotiation hopes on the US effort, just as it is not acceptable for Hamas to stall reconciliation and subject the fate of the Palestinians in Gaza to the calculations of Tehran. While Fatah and Hamas fight over power, Palestinian suffering is increasing; their lands are being confiscated, and the dream of a Palestinian state is diminishing day by day. What is currently required of the Palestinian leadership is for it to rise to the level of responsibility and stop jeopardizing the rights of its people. Without complete reconciliation, neither the Arab states nor Washington will be able to do anything for the Palestinians. While I obviously disagree with Mirghani's politics, it is refreshing to see an Arab call out the Palestinian Arabs for their lack of leadership and their waiting game. Abbas pretends that the US will create a state for him with no effort on his part, and while the direction of the US has changed, in the end he will need to make decisions that he has been assiduously avoiding - because of his fear of criticism. Chances are, he will continue to avoid these decisions until he dies, because Abbas has never shown the slightest ability to lead.

Elder of Ziyon: Arab analyst notices Abbas' tactic of passivity

Elder of Ziyon: Jews distribute pamphlet to Muslims asking them to leave

Jews distribute pamphlet to Muslims asking them to leave

A pamphlet that some religious Jews distributed to Jerusalem Arabs, asking them to leave the Holy Land, was translated by Firas Press to Arabic. It was distributed two weeks ago and no organization claimed responsibility. It is remarkably polite. The pamphlet starts with a Koranic quote: "Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way - except in the case of those of them who do wrong - saying, 'We have belief in what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to you. Our God and your God are one and we submit to Him." Appeal to all Muslims living in the Land of Israel We want to explain to you in this letter the opinion of the Torah for the accommodation of non-Jews in the land of Israel. According to the Torah, every human being is created from the same God, and should be treated with respect. Do not look at the Jewish religion as racist or inhumane, this is a scriptural duty. The origin of our religion is faith in God, King of the world, and according to our belief and faith God has given us the Torah and the commandments, messages and we must do. In the Holy Qur'an there is no contradiction between what the Bible ordered us to do and what is commanded you by the Koran. Jews must assume the duties of the Torah, and in the Torah it is written in several places that the land of Israel was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. We are descendants of the ancient people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is also written in the Torah that the land of Israel, this small land, is the property of the Jewish people only, and others are prohibited from permanently living here. Also written in the books of the Prophets is that due to how we're doing the Divine will, the Jewish people were exiled for 2000 years. Now the return of the people of Israel to the Land of Israel, as promised the prophets, has occurred, and it is time for the people of Israel to implement this divine command, so we ask you to leave the land of Israel. We say that from a religious point of view, to ensure peace in the land of Israel, we explain to you the biblical and Qur'anic statements... This is what the Lord God said to Moses: Numbers 33:50-56: 50 And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: 51 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. 53 And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for unto you have I given the land to possess it. 54 And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families--to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance; wheresoever the lot falleth to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye inherit. 55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those that ye let remain of them be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell. 56 And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto you. : In the Holy Qur'an: Surat Al-Isra: And we said to the Children of Israel afterwards, "Go live into this land. When the final prophecy comes to pass, we will summon you all in one group." ...Surat Al-Maida: "Lo! We did reveal the Torah, wherein is guidance and a light, by which the prophets who surrendered (unto Allah) judged the Jews, and the rabbis and the priests (judged) by such of Allah's Scripture as they were bidden to observe, and thereunto were they witnesses. So fear not mankind, but fear Me. And barter not My revelations for a little gain. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disbelievers. " After you saw the heavenly words, and because Islam is a religion of morality you should not be opposed to this - and you have other countries where you can live - and you will understand that we must do as is written in the Torah. Because it is not easy to leave millions of people without financial assistance, we suggest that you have to negotiate with the State of Israel (which reflects the promises of the prophets), that you can obtain economic aid for moving elsewhere. When we all obey God, we can live in peace, we and you, our children and your children for many years, as the Prophet Isaiah: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Elder of Ziyon: Jews distribute pamphlet to Muslims asking them to leave

Elder of Ziyon: Today's PalArab news (3/25/10)

Elder of Ziyon: Today's PalArab news (3/25/10)

Elder of Ziyon: Palestinian Arabs to complain about Hurva at Arab Summit

Palestinian Arabs to complain about Hurva at Arab Summit

At the Arab Summit to be held in Libya this weekend, the Palestinian Arab delegation will present a report detailing their complaints about Jews rebuilding the Hurva synagogue. The first issue is that they still believe that the discredited prophecy attributed to the Vilna Gaon associating the Hurva reconstruction with the building of the Third Temple on March 16th is guiding Israeli policy. Their second problem is that the Hurva is to be administered, they say, by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, thus tying Hurva to the Temple Mount. The third issue is that the "so-called" Jewish Quarter never existed and the Hurva was built on top of a Muslim neighborhood. They say that an archaeologist named Meir Ben David agreed that it was not an archaeological site "contrary to Jewish claims." They claim that the Hurva is "tens of meters" from the Al Aqsa Mosque. Finally, they complain about the intolerable fact that the Hurva dome, at 24 meters, appears to be higher than the Dome of the Rock and is meant to hide the Temple Mount and make the Hurva appear more prominent from many angles. I love Palestinian Arab "scholarship." Incidentally, the best pictures of the Hurva come from Muslim sites complaining about it.

Elder of Ziyon: Palestinian Arabs to complain about Hurva at Arab Summit

Elder of Ziyon: The myth and reality of Jerusalem (guest post)

Elder of Ziyon: The myth and reality of Jerusalem (guest post)

Elder of Ziyon: The Elder gets ripped off by - a "Palestinian" news blog

The Elder gets ripped off by - a "Palestinian" news blog

An alert reader pointed out to me that one of my posts from last month was copied, verbatim, including original links, into the Palestine Note blog. The author is given as one "Mohamed Naseredin." The usual contributors to that blog are people like MJ Rosenberg, Jonathan Cook and J-Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami. Not exactly the company I normally keep!

Elder of Ziyon: The Elder gets ripped off by - a "Palestinian" news blog

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: No Water? Let Them Drink Wine

No Water? Let Them Drink Wine

Something like 98% of the interest in Israel focuses on its relations with the Arabs, mostly the Palestinians. The remaining 2% focus on the weirdos, such as the odder part of the Haredi community. For those of us who live here, however, there are other parts of life, too. The water we drink, for example. It's no secret, and hasn't been ever, that while our national water management systems may well be better than those of many other folks, seen on their own they're wasteful, inefficient, and act on the basic assumption that disaster simply won't happen and need not be prevented; better to get on with an endless method of patches, band-aides, rubber bands and crossed fingers.

This week a committee submitted a comprehensive - and devastating - report. So now it's official, not merely common knowledge.

There are two options for the next step. One is the time honored treatment for most committee reports: it will be filed away, and someday, many years from now, it will be dug up by somebody for a spot of "I told you so!" fun. (Or it will get lost in the archives... another topic one might write about...).

The second option is that someone will set about fixing things in a sensible and intelligent manner.

Part of Israel's great strength is that the second option does exist, and is reasonably plausible. Not certain, no. Not obviously inevitable, alas. But it is plausible. Those of us who have been watching this place for a long time know that there is constant improvement on many fronts. Go back and read the old Efraim Kishon stories, for example, which poke fun at the strange ways things get done in Israel: they're still funny, but many of them are no longer true in any recognizable form. (Some still are).

So here's hoping.

PS. The wine-drinking option is no joke. In Medieval Europe the water sources were often so filthy that people drank wine as the only option. Cheap wine, I expect, but not water.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: No Water? Let Them Drink Wine

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: An Israeli Perspective on Obama

An Israeli Perspective on Obama

Quite a number of people, including readers of this blog, feel Obama is an antisemite and hates Israel. I don't. He clearly isn't enamored of us, that's true, but his problem is broader than animosity towards Israel: the man doesn't understand the world. Being the president of the United States means he can call in whatever experts he wishes, and his lack of understanding of the world is so comprehensive he doesn't recognize that the folks feeding him data and interpretations are inept. As I've repeatedly said, it takes two years to learn the job of president of the US, so perhaps he may yet learn - though time is running out, and he's making things worse as he goes (not only on our subject).

Here's an article in Hebrew about how he's screwing up Israel-Palestine. There's nothing particularly new in it, and the reason I'm linking is the identity of the author: prof. Eitan Gilboa, perhaps Israel's most prominent scholar on the US and on Israeli-American relations. He's a centrist, like most of us, not a firebrand. When he writes a column flatly declaring "Obama is tripping-up Netanyahu" (whom Gilboa probably didn't vote for), and it appears on Y-net, it reinforces the commonly accepted version around here in a way that an op-ed in Haaretz never will.

I fail to see how forging an Israeli consensus that America is not to be trusted can remotely promote peace. Someday, should an agreement ever be reached, Israel will be required to take enormous, life-endangering risks. We won't take the risks because of our love and trust in the Palestinians; if we can't trust the Americans, it will be all that harder to convince us. This may not be just, but it's the real world.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: An Israeli Perspective on Obama

The Torah Revolution: The J-Price - pls fw to your friends and contacts

The J-Price - pls fw to your friends and contacts

B"H

OK, so here's how it is: the fixed-length hours time as we know it is not Jewish. It's goyshe. Our halacha (Jewish Law) divides the day into daylight time and night time. This means that the length of the hours (and the minutes, etc.), varies constantly every day, according to the length of the time between sunrise and sunset. So, here is an X-Price-like challenge for electronics engineers and software developers, without the millions in price-money, the J-Price: design and build a wrist-watch AND a computer program that keeps the G-d given Torah time, with the constantly changing length of the daylight and night-time hours, so that it can eventually replace the "Daylight Savings Time" or "Summer Time" with the relative twice-yearly changing of the clocks madness that everyone hates and that creates only problems for farmers and families with babies, with pets, etc.

- This is comment # 5 on "Summer Time (1988)"

The Torah Revolution: The J-Price - pls fw to your friends and contacts

DoubleTapper: IDF Woman to Receive Receive Presidential Citation of Excellence

IDF Woman to Receive Receive Presidential Citation of Excellence

First Sergeant Marina Izmailov and her dog Case, of the IDF Oketz canine unit, will appear together in the President’s residence to receive a citation of excellence from Israeli President Shimon Peres on Israel’s 62nd Independence Day - April 19th 2010.

1st Sgt.Izmailov will appear along with her dog Case, who is trained to find hidden explosives. Case will also go on stage to receive his citation.

1st Sgt.Izmailov and her dog Case


1st Sgt.Izmailov and her dog Case

The Oketz (Sting) unit, founded in 1939 as part of the Haganah (Jewish Defense Force of Palestine pre Israeli Independence), incorporates both IDF Women and Men Canine handlers who train and fight with their dogs and specialize in different fields including attack, pursuit, search and rescue and locating explosives.

Video of the IDF Canine Unit Oketz

DoubleTapper: IDF Woman to Receive Receive Presidential Citation of Excellence

Chesler Chronicles » Bin Laden Threatens America, NYC Welcomes Tariq Ramadan

Chesler Chronicles » Bin Laden Threatens America, NYC Welcomes Tariq Ramadan

Chesler Chronicles » An Honor Killing That Was Not An Honor Killing After All

Chesler Chronicles » An Honor Killing That Was Not An Honor Killing After All

Is the US Eroding Israel's Qualitative Edge? - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Is the US Eroding Israel's Qualitative Edge? - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Obama Dresses Down Netanyahu: No Photo Ops or Statements - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Obama Dresses Down Netanyahu: No Photo Ops or Statements - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Ministers Helping Netanyahu Stand Strong - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Ministers Helping Netanyahu Stand Strong - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Nationalists Blame Obama-Livni Collusion for Jerusalem Leaks - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Nationalists Blame Obama-Livni Collusion for Jerusalem Leaks - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

PA Faked Cancellation, Named Square After Terrorist Murderess - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

PA Faked Cancellation, Named Square After Terrorist Murderess - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Moskowitz Prize Winners for Zionism Announced - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Moskowitz Prize Winners for Zionism Announced - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Saudi Arabia Airs Turkish Anti-Israel Show - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Saudi Arabia Airs Turkish Anti-Israel Show - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Israel Matzav: The White House uses another big word

The White House uses another big word

The White House has used a new word in an escalating rhetorical war against the Netanayhu government. The word is "destructive," as in the construction of 20 (count 'em) Jewish apartments in Jerusalem's Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood is "destructive" to the 'peace process.'

The White House says it is seeking clarification of Israel's plans to build 20 new apartments in east Jerusalem. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor says the White House continues to believe that Israeli building in Jerusalem is destructive to the Middle East peace process.

He says the United States is urging both Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from acts that could undermine trust as the Obama administration looks to jump-start the stalled peace process. Vietor would not say whether President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the specific building project in their meetings at the White House late Tuesday.

Leaving aside for a minute the fact that these apartments are being built privately (the land was purchased by American Irving Moskowitz in the 1980's), for a to be destructive of b, b has to exist. The 'peace process' has not existed since the Obama administration took office and ran the 'Palestinians' up a tree of a 'total settlement freeze.' And when Israel decided to solve Obama's problem by giving the 'Palestinians' a way down from that tree, Obama did nothing to encourage them to get on the ladder.

Building Jewish homes in Jerusalem cannot be destructive of the 'peace process' because right now there is no 'peace process' to be destroyed.

The Obama administration might help itself to accomplish its goals (if they exist) by admitting the reality that right now there is no 'peace process.'

Israel Matzav: The White House uses another big word

Love of the Land: The Shadow Viceroy

The Shadow Viceroy

Lee Smith
Tabletmag.com
24 March '10

If no one was sure what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was going to tell the 7,500 delegates who descended on Washington for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference early this week, everyone knew what Elliott Abrams was going to say. For more than a year, the former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush has been the most vocal critic of the Obama Administration’s handling of the U.S.-Israel relationship. With the recent Washington-Jerusalem confrontation over 1,600 apartment units still simmering, Abrams drew a standing-room-only crowd to his two AIPAC panels.

“If we distance ourselves from Israel,” Abrams told the audience, “the Jordanians, Egyptians and the rest of our allies in the Middle East will think, ‘if they can do it to the Israelis, why not us?’ ”

Abrams, while well under 6 feet tall, is a commanding physical presence, with broad shoulders and a prominent chin and nose, a profile worthy of a Roman coin. And like a provincial governor, he wielded power on behalf of a hegemon in a way that earned him more enemies at home than abroad. His rivals mock the policies he advocates, describe him as arrogant, and fear winding up on the wrong end of his sharp wit. While in the United States he is best known for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, in the Middle East, he is simply “Elliott”—the man tapped by Bush to administer the daily conduct of U.S. policy in large parts of the region, with particular attention to democracy promotion and the Bush Administration’s “Freedom Agenda” in Egypt and throughout North Africa, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: The Shadow Viceroy

Israel Matzav: Overnight music video

Overnight music video

Here's something different.

A Philharmonic Tribute: Celebrating The Centennial Of The Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson The Chabad Centennial Symphony Performed Live Orchestrated & Conducted By Yisroel Lamm In Manhattan Center On March 10 2002 NYC.

Let's go to the videotape.

Israel Matzav: Overnight music video

UNIVERSAL TORAH: TZAV

UNIVERSAL TORAH: TZAV

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: Parshas TZAV Leviticus 6:1-8:36
Jeremiah 7:21-8:3, 9:22-23

THE ALTAR FIRE

Parshas TZAV is taken up with sacrificial laws and rituals. For many people, it is easier to relate to narrative portions of the Torah or commandments that apply in our day than to those dealing with Temple sacrifices. It is now one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six years since sacrifices were offered to HaShem in the Temple in Jerusalem: the last time was in 68 C.E., before the Second Temple was destroyed. Many people would find it hard to conceive how the sacrificial system could actually be restored in practice in the foreseeable future, given the apparent geopolitical realities of today. Moreover, nothing could seemingly be more remote from the sensibility of contemporary Jews and Gentiles alike than the daily ritual slaughter of animals, sprinkling their blood and burning their fat and other parts with libations of flour, oil and wine on the Temple Altar. [Instead of accepting the Temple idea, a world unable to make peace watches the willful daily slaughter and injury of human "sacrifices", the civilian and military victims of global war and terror. in the name of what?]

The same world that resents two daily lambs on G-d's Altar in Jerusalem happily slaughters and consumes literally millions of oxen, sheep, and other living creatures every single day for its own enjoyment. While meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and other gifts of G-d's bounty are consumed in homes, restaurants, bars and canteens throughout the inhabited world every day, how many pause for a moment before they eat in order to bless the Giver of that bounty? How many stop to thank G-d after eating and enjoying their food, before continuing with other activities?

The Temple Altar may be more understandable if we think of it as a MASHAL or metaphor for the actual table at which we ourselves eat every day, containing lessons about the attitude with which we should go about satisfying this vital natural function. The daily "diet" of animal, wheat, oil and wine offerings on the Temple Altar corresponds to man's daily diet, be it of animal and grain products, fruits, and vegetables or any of the other foods and beverages that go onto his table and into his mouth.

Maybe the reason why some feel uncomfortable about the sacrificial ritual is precisely because it presents our existential situation so starkly in the form of the animal blood, fat and other offerings on the Altar. It is a fundamental law of creation that higher life forms consume lower forms of life in order to subsist. When a lower form of life is eaten and ingested by a higher form, the lower life-form is "elevated" in the sense of actually turning into the body and feeding the activities of the higher life-form. As humans, our blood and fat are made up of materials derived from other, lower levels of existence, mineral, vegetable and animal. Our physical life-functions come to "feed" and serve a higher life-form: the soul.

The Temple Altar and sacrificial system come to guide us to elevate our own blood, fat and energy to fuel the fire of the Service of G-d on the Altar of our own bodies. The Altar fire is a metaphor for the human soul, which indeed can only survive in the human body through a daily diet of "offerings", the various foods that "keep body and soul together". Our bodies "burn up" the various nutrients we take in, just as the Altar "consumes" the sacrifices.

The body requires tending in order to serve as an "altar" for the service of God, just as the Temple Altar had to be tended. Our parshah of TZAV opens with the Mitzvah of TERUMAS HADESHEN, tending the Altar each morning by removing the ashes, followed by stoking the fire with wood to keep it burning bright. This opening mitzvah of the day in the Temple -- removal of the ashes of consumed sacrifices -- may be compared to what is normally the first physical functioning in a person's day: elimination of wastes to cleanse the body for the service of G-d.

Keeping the Altar fire stoked was the daily task of the priests. So each one of us has the task of keeping the "altar" of the body, the digestive system and the liver, properly stoked with the right nutrients in the right quantities. As priests of our own bodies, our aim must be to keep the fire of the soul burning brightly every day -- as a "fire offering, a sweet savor for HaShem".

Last week's parshah of VAYIKRA introduced the subject of sacrifices by setting forth all of the different categories of sacrifices and the various animals, birds or produce that are to be brought in each case. The major part of our present parshah, TZAV, is a continuation of the subject of sacrifices. TZAV explains the specific procedures accompanying the actual offering of the each of the different kinds of sacrifices. The parshah begins with the daily procedure of removing the Altar ashes because this was the start of the Temple service each morning. Removal of the ashes and stoking the fire were preliminaries before slaughter of the daily TAMID (perpetual) sacrifice and burning of its parts on the Altar.

TZAV continues with the procedures accompanying the MINCHAH-flour offering, the CHATAS-Sin and ASHAM-Guilt offerings, the SHELAMIM-Peace Offering, and another specific kind of peace offering: the TODAH-Thanksgiving Offering for those who have been miraculously delivered from serious danger (illness, captivity, shipwreck or being lost in the wilderness).

Some sacrifices, such as the OLAH-Whole-burned offerings and certain other offerings, were "consumed" only on the Altar and were not permitted to be consumed by any humans. However, the priests had a share in eating Sin, Guilt and Minchah offerings, as well as the Peace and Thanksgiving offerings. In the case of the last two, the person who brings the offering also has a share in it together with his dear ones.

The fact that a priest can eat from a sin or guilt-offering and thereby accomplish atonement for the sinner is a wonder. So too is the eating of an animal to make peace between man and G-d. What distinguishes holy eating from animalistic eating for the sake of pure self-gratification is the motive of the person who is eating -- his KAVANAH (= intention). Having the correct intention is a recurrent theme in our parshah. The priest has to have the correct intention at every stage in the sacrificial ritual.

So too, when we eat, everything depends on our intention. The parshah is teaching us to eat with the intention of stoking the Altar of G-d with nutrients that we can elevate to His service by using this energy for our prayers and our mitzvot day by day. The blessings we make before and after eating serve us to focus upon this intention.

Eating may serve as a means of celebrating, as in the case of the TODAH-Thanksgiving offering. The rabbis stated that in the future, this is the one kind of personal offering that will remain. (Since people will be cleansed of sin, there will be no more place for sin and guilt offerings.) May we be worthy of offering the THANKSGIVING PEACE-OFFERING in the rebuilt HOLY TEMPLE in order to celebrate the true end of war and the inauguration of genuine peace with the coming of MELECH HAMASHIACH very soon in our times. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom!!!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

--
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Screw-up, Second Round

Screw-up, Second Round

Jackson Diehl at the Washington Post describes how Obama is running his Israel-Palestine act all wrong. Worse: he's refusing to learn from his mistakes, preferring to repeat them.

The facts of the case are not complicated. When Obama was elected there was a significant Israeli proposal on the table, which the Palestinians were studiously averting their faces from, pretending not to see. 15 months into Obama's term, the animosity on all sides is stratospheric, and the Palestinians and Israelis can't even find their way into the same room. Not all of this is because of American missteps - but most of it is.

Way to go!

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Screw-up, Second Round

Elder of Ziyon: The Elder Haggadah is still available

The Elder Haggadah is still available

Last year I made a religious Zionist Haggadah, using commentaries from various Internet sites. About a thousand people downloaded it. I had hoped to clean it up, re-edit it to eliminate any potential copyright issues and maybe make a hardcover version this year, but I never did find the time. So you can still get last year's version for free, here.

Elder of Ziyon: The Elder Haggadah is still available

Life in Israel: Obama humiliates Netanyahu

Obama humiliates Netanyahu

Obama can meet, be seen and photographed, have press conferences, with every cholera from the Middle East or other parts of the world, but to be seen in public after a meeting with Netanyahu, is not appropriate?

An administration official said "photographs would have been inappropriate given the current situation" as the reason why no photographs were taken of the two of them during or after their meetings, and why there was no joint press conference.

It is ok for the US to humiliate Israel, treating it publicly in a degrading fashion, yet they get all huffy and insulted when Israel announces plans to expand a Jewish neighborhood?

If he wants to be treated with respect and goodwill, he should treat us that way as well.

Life in Israel: Obama humiliates Netanyahu

DoubleTapper: US Airport Security to Copy Israeli Security Model

US Airport Security to Copy Israeli Security Model

Retired Major General Robert Harding, Obama's nominee to oversee security at U.S. airports said on Tuesday he wants to shift screening closer to the Israeli model of Airport Security to include more behavior detection in a bid to thwart terrorism plots.

Retired Major General Robert Harding was nominated earlier this month to head the Transportation Security Administration after serving more than three decades in the military, including a stint as deputy to the Army's chief of intelligence and director for operations in the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Aviation security has received heightened attention in recent months after a Nigerian terrorist tried to blow up a U.S. commercial airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit last Christmas with a bomb hidden in his crotch.

Harding said that while the Israeli security system was smaller, it offered a blueprint for trying to thwart terrorism plots in the aviation system, which has remained a target for militant groups like al Qaeda.

"We should move even closer to an Israeli model where there's more engagement with passengers," Harding told the Senate Commerce Committee that is considering his nomination. "I think that increases the layers and pushes the layers out."

He said the TSA had about 2,000 behavioral detection officers and that expanded training was needed.

DoubleTapper: US Airport Security to Copy Israeli Security Model

RubinReports: A Further Note on U.S.-Israel Relations

A Further Note on U.S.-Israel Relations

By Barry Rubin

A lot of nonsense has been written about the Obama Administration seeking or deliberately creating a crisis in U.S.-Israel relations. This has little or nothing to do with the actual events:

1. The crisis began with the announcement by a low-level Israeli committee about the future construction of apartments in east Jerusalem (yes, we know it wasn't deliberate, etc.) at the very moment when Vice-President Joe Biden was in the city and indirect Israel-Palestinian Authority talks were about to begin.

2. The U.S. government didn't seek a crisis, it neither planned nor wanted this problem.

3. The crisis gave the PA the excuse to walk out of negotiations the U.S. government had spent months in organizing. Without these indirect talks the administration looks like a fool.

4. The administration is now trying to bring the crisis to an end, with its goal being to lure the PA back into indirect talks by delivering unilateral Israeli concessions (and we understand why this won't work).

If the administration had a choice there is no doubt it would have picked having no problem, getting the indirect talks going by now, and bragging about its alleged big success.

Any talk about some White House conspiracy or wider agenda here is just flat not in accord with the facts. It wants to keep the Israel-Palestinian issue relatively quiet and is willing to accept the appearance of progress without its reality. The U.S. government wants to keep its emphasis on Iraq, Afghanistan, and sanctions on Iran (which are about to be its next big failure).

Given its own interests, the administration doesn't want a confrontation with Israel nor is there any grand scheme going on.

Just ask yourselves a simple question. What does the Administration prefer:


A. A big mess with Israel that makes it look stupid and incompetent, ticks off a lot of Congress against the White House, kills the indirect negotiations which would be the only thing it has to show after fifteen months in office, and gives the PA a chance to wriggle out once again of doing anything.

Or

B. A nice start to (meaningless but only we know that) indirect Israel-Palestinian talks with Obama looking like a great statesman, presiding over a lot of back and forth; the U.S. government says to the Arabs, see we are making great progress on peace; and telling the American people, You see! W are having lots of foreign policy successes.

For a longer analysis of this crisis, see here.

RubinReports: A Further Note on U.S.-Israel Relations

Love of the Land: Hillary Clinton's unfortunate mistake

Hillary Clinton's unfortunate mistake

Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik
and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)
23 March '10

Someone in the State Department is giving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton imprecise information about Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

In her speech to AIPAC yesterday, Clinton condemned Hamas for renaming "a square after a terrorist who murdered innocent Israelis," saying it was "wrong and must be condemned." On the other hand, Clinton "commended" PA Chairman Abbas.

Clinton's condemnation of Hamas alone, because the municipality that named the square after the terrorist is run by Hamas, was erroneous. In fact, it has been the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas, not Hamas, who have been leading the Palestinians in glorifying Dalal Mughrabi, the terrorist bus hijacker who was responsible for the killing of 37 civilians, whom Clinton accurately called the "terrorist who murdered innocent Israelis."

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the continuous Mughrabi veneration by Abbas and the Palestinian Authority in recent years, both in connection to the square near Ramallah on the West Bank and in many other contexts. The following are 15 examples of the glorification of this one particular terrorist, Dalal Mughrabi. Five by Abbas himself, five by the Palestinian Authority or its leaders, and five by Fatah or its leaders:

1) It was Abbas himself who defended the naming of the square after Mughrabi: "I do not deny it. Of course we want to name a square after her." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2010]

2)It was Abbas himself who on December 31, 2009 honored that same terrorist Mughrabi by sponsoring a celebration of her birthday. [PA TV (Fatah) News, Dec. 29, 2009]
It was Abbas's Fatah youth movement who prepared the Mughrabi square for the ceremony. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 8, 2010]

3)It was Abbas himself who funded a computer center after that same terrorist. "Present at the event were President Mahmoud Abbas's advisor... inaugurating the [Dalal Mughrabi] center, funded by a contribution from the President's [Abbas's] Office." [Al-Ayyam, May 5, 2009]

(Read full report)

Love of the Land: Hillary Clinton's unfortunate mistake

Love of the Land: Around and Around Foggy Bottom

Around and Around Foggy Bottom

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
24 March '10

(These State Department briefings are really something else. From this example you can definitely see how the reporter can set the agenda with his questions. Y.)

At the State Department briefing, one sometimes gets the sense it’s Abbott and Costello time (”Who’s on First?”). Reporters on Tuesday tried in vain to get answers to two questions: have the Obami thrown in the towel on the Jerusalem housing issue and have proximity talks actually begun. You can read the transcript in full and not find an answer. A sample of the questioning gives you the sense the Obami would just rather not talk about much of anything right now.

On the housing issue:

QUESTION: Yeah. Yesterday in her speech to AIPAC, Secretary Clinton said that Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank — but we’ll just confine ourselves to Jerusalem here — was — did not help; it damaged the credibility of both the peace process and also the credibility of the United States as a mediator. Several hours after she spoke and after she met with Prime Minister Netanyahu, he addressed the same crowd and said that Jerusalem is not a settlement, it’s our capital. He said that Jews have been building in Jerusalem for 3,000 years and would continue to do so.

What gives here? Where is — is there any attempt to reconcile these positions or have you just — have you guys just decided that they win and you’ll agree to disagree on this?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we are continuing our discussions with Israeli officials and with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He’ll meet President Obama later this afternoon. We understand that Jerusalem is deeply important to Israelis and Palestinians, and to Jews, Muslims, and Christians everywhere. We believe it’s possible to reach an outcome that both realizes the aspirations of all parties in Jerusalem and safeguards its status for the future.

Without getting into the specifics of our ongoing conversations with the prime minister or with Israeli officials, we’ve raised our concerns with them. Jerusalem is one of those issues. The prime minister has responded to our concerns. During the course of our dialogue over the past two weeks, he has added some thoughts of his own in terms of how we can create an atmosphere of trust and move the proximity talks forward, address the substance, including Jerusalem. It’s a final status issue. The only way to ultimately resolve competing claims on the future of Jerusalem is to get to direct negotiations.

We’re not putting any preconditions on this. Our task at the present time is to get the parties — get the proximity talks moving forward, get the parties into direct negotiations, putting the substance on the table, and finding a just resolution that ultimately reaches a peace agreement. That is our ongoing effort, and that conversation and that effort will continue this afternoon at the White House.

QUESTION: Yeah, but he was extremely emphatic, so I’m a little suspicious about whether this response that he gave to the Secretary contained anything in it that you would like — that you actually want to see done. I mean, how can you convince us that, in fact, progress is being made when he basically said last night that he’s taking your suggestion on East Jerusalem and said thanks but no thanks?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, the Israeli Government has a policy, but we also have a point of view that Jerusalem is a final status issue. And we look forward to addressing these issues first within the proximity talks, moving to direct negotiations. Ultimately, the future of Jerusalem can only be resolved through the direct negotiations that we hope will get started as quickly as possible.

QUESTION: And you don’t see him — you don’t see what he said last night, and not just in the comments that I quoted, but in others, as that Israel does not agree that Jerusalem is a final status issue?

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Around and Around Foggy Bottom

Israel Matzav: Victor Davis Hanson on Obama's abandonment of Israel

Victor Davis Hanson on Obama's abandonment of Israel

I wish things weren't this bad, but unfortunately, Victor Davis Hanson has nailed it once again.

So we are watching unfold a sort of Chicago-style Realpolitik, flavored with the traditional academic leftist disdain for the Jewish state. The subsequent result is not so much a cut-off of U.S. aid as a subtle shift in perception abroad: Israel’s multiple enemies now are almost giddy in sensing that America is not all that into protecting the Jewish state, intellectually or morally. And given the nature of the UN, given the power of oil, given endemic anti-Semitism, given the collapse of classical liberal thought in Europe (e.g., Britain was far more deferential to Libya in repatriating a supposedly “terminally ill” mass murderer to Tripoli than it is currently with Israel), and given the realpolitik amorality of Russian and Chinese foreign policy, the world as a whole can now far more easily step up its own natural pressure on Israel, at just the moment when it increasingly has no margin of error with a soon-to-be nuclear Iran.

Once the U.S. blinks, the floodgates open — that is the real lesson from the incremental, but unmistakable shift in U.S.-Israeli relations. Like radical shifts in thinking about health care, energy use, and amnesty, so too abroad Obama realizes that the difficult process of "change," in this case of becoming a neutral in the Middle East and deeming Israel's democracy unexceptional in the region, will require all sorts of dissimulation, denials, clarifications, and acrimony. But ultimately, the end of "solving" the Middle East crisis will be seen as well worth the now unpleasant and often tawdry means of doing it.

Read it all. And start praying for us.

Israel Matzav: Victor Davis Hanson on Obama's abandonment of Israel

Israel Matzav: They apparently agreed on nothing

They apparently agreed on nothing

There were several requests on Wednesday from people I follow on Twitter to come forward with information about Tuesday night's Obama - Netanyahu meetings. If they got anything, I didn't see it. Here's what Ben Smith at Politico has figured out. It's not much.

Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with Special Envoy George Mitchell today after more than two hours with President Barack Obama last night apparently didn't produce enough agreement even to release a joint statement.

"There are areas of agreement and areas of disagreement but the conversation is ongoing," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said, when asked about last night's conspicuous silence.

"The President and Prime Minister met and had a full discussion about issues related to the US- Israel relationship, including regional security and peace efforts," he added in an emailed statement. "The President asked the Prime Minister to take steps to build confidence for proximity talks so that progress can be made toward peace."

It's amazing how far back this administration has taken us. Now we have to build confidence so that George Mitchell can shuttle between Netanayhu and Abu Mazen.

By the way, as much as I don't care for Mitchell, I don't believe he's to blame for this. He's not the one who decided to demand a total Israeli 'settlement freeze' as a pre-condition for re-starting talks. It's the boob in the White House's fault. Henry Kissinger couldn't get them talking under these circumstances.

Israel Matzav: They apparently agreed on nothing

Israel Matzav: Aides working on joint statement

Aides working on joint statement

Several hours ago, it was reported that aides to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama were working on a joint statement to be released before Netanyahu leaves Washington. I haven't seen it yet.

Israel Matzav: Aides working on joint statement