(Jerusalem, Israel) — First things first: I want to congratulate Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper — an evangelical Christian and a strong friend of Israel — and his conservative party for winning a big election this week. Harper, in my view, is actually the most pro-Israel national leader on the planet. His minority government recently lost a no confidence vote in parliament, but the opposition’s tactics misfired. Harper and his team are back stronger than ever for the next four years, having won an outright majority of seats. Let’s be praying for Harper to continue being a strong and principled voice for the safety and security of the Jewish State and a strong opponent of the mullahs in Iran, while also showing compassion to the Palestinian people.
That said, Israel is suddenly facing a strange new crisis: the country’s jet fuel supply has been found to be contaminated in a way that could lead to jet engines to clog, stall and planes to crash. Once this was discovered on Thursday, all flights in and out of the country were halted as officials scrambled to figure out where the problem was coming from and how to fix it. As the day progressed, airport officials began allowing new flights to arrive, but all inbound planes are now required to land first in Cyprus and top off their tanks with uncontaminated fuel so that they can then depart the country with a full load of passengers and have enough fuel to get to their intended destinations. At the moment, thousands of tourists are stranded at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv awaiting flights that cannot take off because their isn’t enough safe jet fuel.
By God’s grace, a Joshua Fund colleague and I flew into Israel at 9:30 Thursday morning without incident — that is, without landing in Cyprus — but apparently we got in just under the wire before the problem was detected and the new orders were issued. We’re preparing for hundreds of Joshua Fund supporters from all over the world to arrive late next week for the 2011 Epicenter Conference and our subsequent “prayer & vision tour” of the Land. Please pray that the fuel problem would be resolved quickly for their sake and the sake of all Israelis and tourists needing to fly in the coming days and weeks.
“Dozens of flights scheduled to depart from the Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday were halted until further notice due to contamination discovered in airport’s jet fuel supply,” Ynet News reported Thursday. “Airport management has ordered to suspend all aircraft fueling. As a result thousands of passengers are stranded at the airport. Within a short while it was realized that Israel’s minor airports were also affected by the contamination – including the airfields in Eilat and Haifa.”
“An airline official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that ‘The chaos that confronts us now is colossal. All flights landing in Israel will have to stop in Larnaca, so they have fuel to take off later. That means that the entire takeoffs and landings’ schedule has to be altered in Cyprus, as well as Israel. This will disrupt the entire system and create massive delays… If this problem isn’t solved immediately, chaos will rule.’”
Showing posts with label Jerusalem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jerusalem. Show all posts
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sarah Palin in Jerusalem Baruch HaShem
Sarah Palin overwhelms me. She does everything right and decent and good. It is no coincidence that she is right on every issue. Energy, small government, economics, foreign policy -- she nails it.
She is an extraordinary American, and the more they try to insult and demean her, the larger she looms. I pray she runs -- I really do. She could turn this hot mess around -- I believe few could, but she can.
The Jerusalem Post reports via Powerline:
Palin and her husband Todd arrived for a two-day visit on Sunday afternoon and toured the Western Wall and its adjacent tunnels. They will visit the Old City again on Monday, tour Gesthsemane and the Mount of Olives, and have dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at their official residence in Jerusalem. ...
World Likud chairman Danny Danon and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz served as Palin's tour guides on Sunday night. Palin was told that Jews were not allowed to pray openly on the Temple Mount and about the Arab riots that accompanied Netanyahu's decision to authorize the creation of an exit from the Western Wall tunnels in 1996.
"Why are you apologizing all the time?" Palin asked her guides.
Good question. Palin expressed the view that Jews should be able to pray openly on Temple Mount. Why should that be controversial?
"It's overwhelming to be able to see and touch the cornerstone of our faith," Palin told reporters upon exiting the tunnels. ... "She said that she absolutely supports Israel and that America is the biggest friend that Israel has," Rabinowitz said. ...
Danon said that Palin's visit to the Western Wall Tunnels was very exciting. He called upon Obama to make his first visit to Israel as president as soon as possible.
"She really connected to the story of the Jewish nation," Danon said. "She knows the material but there's nothing like standing in front of those big stones and hearing about the connection. I know that she loves Israel, and after a visit like this, she has a personal connection to the Western Wall."
190407_197381650285081_112791015410812_565642_7938836_n.jpg
Palin, who was wearing a large Star of David, told Danon that she had flags of Israel "on my desk, in my home, all over the place" and that she would carry around a flag she bought in Israel.
"She didn't go into diplomatic issues, but I can clearly say from the questions she asked in relation to our conflict here with the Muslims in these holy sites that she knows that we are right and that the Muslims are just claiming things for provocation and they're not right," Danon said.
She toured the Kotel (the Wall) tunnels.
Pam Geller
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
No. Sudan Claims Arab Riots vs Jerusalem
Islamic Northern Sudan says Muslim Riots a Prelude to "Liberating Jerusalem"
Is it any wonder that Southern Sudan voted for independence to escape these annihilationists and supremacists (after decades of ethnic cleansing of non-Muslims)?
The newly born country of Southern Sudan has, on the other hand, indicated they want future ties with Israel.
Sudan says Arab revolts a prelude to liberating Jerusalem Sudan Tribune
March 5, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A senior figure in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan said today that recent revolts in the Arab world is the beginning of the move towards liberating Jerusalem from Israeli occupation.
The secretary for organizations at the NCP Qutbi Al-Mahdi told the founding conference of the Association of Women for Jerusalem held in Khartoum that the revolutionary tide and awakening in the region is a precursor to the liberation of the disputed city.
Popular revolts sweeping across the Arab world over the past two months have toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, inspiring protests in some Gulf countries and an outright rebellion in Libya. Sudan says that these regimes are gone because they oppressed the local Islamist movements.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that has not won international recognition.
Al-Mahdi said that once the unrest unfolds the people in the Arab world will then devote all their energies towards Al-Aqsa holy mosque in Jerusalem.
The NCP official urged Muslims to counter what he described as the Jewish conspiracy to displace the inhabitants of Jerusalem and building The Temple Mount of King Solomon.
The 8th-century Al-Aqsa mosque also stands on the stone esplanade, about the size of a large city square. Judaism’s Western Wall, a Jewish prayer site believed to be a perimeter wall of the second biblical Temple, sits just below.
In Muslim tradition, prophet Mohammad ascended into heaven from the rock at the center of what is now the Dome of the Rock.
Al-Mahdi suggested that Arab regimes are complicit in what the Jews are doing to Al-Aqsa mosque and their plans to make Jerusalem their capital.
He said that Sudan has went a long way in supporting Jerusalem through inaugurating a piece of land that will be used as a plot to build a tower that will see its proceeds go to the cause of Jerusalem adding that it will stand witness to the solidarity of the Sudanese people and as defenders of the sanctity of the Islamic nation.
On Sunday, the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will address the 8th international conference on Jerusalem hosted by Khartoum and attended by heads of the Jerusalem Foundation and international Trustees of the institution in Arab countries and other delegations.
UPDATE: Speaking of the riots in the Muslim world: (thanks to JCPA)
• Gaddafi Forces Repel Libyan Opposition, Escalate Counterattack - Steve Hendrix , Anthony Faiola and Samuel Sockol Moammar Gaddafi's loyalists escalated a lethal counterattack on Sunday, heightening assaults on rebel-held cities near Tripoli and pushing back opposition forces attempting to advance toward the capital. Gaddafi's expanding campaign appeared to dash rebel hopes of putting a swift end to his rule. (Washington Post) See also Syrian Pilots Shot Down in Libya? - Michael Rubin The civil war in Libya has become essentially a tribal conflict, with Gaddafi's Gadhadfa tribe versus everyone else. Al-Jazeera is reporting that Gadhadfa officers executed 20 officers from the Firjan tribe who refused to fire on their fellow Libyans. Al Jazeera is also reporting that free Libyan forces have downed two Syrian planes in Ras Lanuf, about 400 km. west of Benghazi. (Commentary)
• Egyptian Protesters Overrun State Security Headquarters in Cairo - William Wan and Liz Sly Hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Egypt's State Security Investigations agency in Cairo on Saturday, marking another step toward dismantling the administration of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. State Security was responsible for suppressing domestic political dissent, as well as for internal counterterrorism, and had a reputation for torturing detainees. (Washington Post)
• Middle East Protest Has Limited Impact for Palestinians - Joel Greenberg While throngs have taken to the streets to oust autocratic rulers and demand political freedoms in neighboring Arab countries, protests in the West Bank and Gaza have been much more modest, and protesters have not called for the ouster of their own leaders. Abed Jabaiah, an appliance store owner, explained: PA President Mahmoud Abbas, elected in 2005, is not an autocratic ruler who has seized and held power for decades; Palestinians in the West Bank enjoy a measure of free expression; and their standard of living is better than in many neighboring Arab countries. Furthermore, the split between Hamas and Fatah also had a chilling effect on attempts to demonstrate against the leaderships in the West B ank and Gaza. Anti-government dissent in either place is often viewed as support for the rival faction. In addition, Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Israel has resonated positively among Palestinians, blunting anti-government sentiment. (Washington Post) See also All Quiet on the West Bank - Josef Olmert (Huffington Post)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
• Netanyahu Blames Palestinians for Avoiding Peace Process - Barak Ravid "We are prepared to sit down and negotiate peace," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Sunday. "And the Palestinians have found a variety of excuses not to do so." Netanyahu said the Palestinians were avoiding talks because they are hoping to persuade the international community to impose a solution to the conflict. "Basically, they say, we don't have to negotiate, we can sit back, we can teach our children to idolize mass killers - they named a public square in Ramallah 10 minutes from here for a terrorist who murdered 400 innocent Israelis. They can do that and get away with it," Netanyahu said. After listing Israeli gestures a imed at advancing the peace process, including the 10-month freeze on settlement construction and the removal of numerous checkpoints and roadblocks, he added, "Unfortunately, everything that we did...[was] met with no response by the Palestinian Authority." (Ha'aretz)
• New Egyptian Leaders Not Israel's Best Friends - Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel The new Egyptian prime minister, Essam Sharaf, was never a great fan of the peace agreement with Israel. He opposed normalization between the countries so long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prevails. The leading candidate for presidency seems to be the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. Like Sharaf, Moussa is not seen as a friend of Israel's, and Israel needs to resign itself to the fact that any new regime in Egypt will likely be less friendly than Mubarak's. Nevertheless, Moussa is not expected to damage ties with Israel. The sense of national pride created by the revolution in Egypt is overwhelming. Egypt sees itself as a great nation able once agai n to lead the way for the entire Arab world. (Ha'aretz) See also Egypt's New Foreign Minister Accused Israel of Genocide Nabil Elaraby, a former judge in the International Court of Justice, accepted the post of Egypt's foreign minister on Sunday. During an August 2001 interview with an Egyptian newspaper, Elaraby was quoted as saying, "I personally support an Arab Muslim claim against Israeli crimes." Two months later he was appointed as a judge at the ICJ, where he was a member of the panel that issued the advisory opinion on the construction of Israel's security barrier. (Ynet News)
• Sanitation Worker Loses Hand in Terror Bombing in Jerusalem - Melanie Lidman A sanitation worker from the Jerusalem Municipality lost his hand on Sunday when a garbage bag he was lifting exploded in the first terrorist attack in the capital in more than a year. Another sanitation worker was injured by the explosion. The explosion was caused by a pipe bomb and was nationally motivated, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
• Mideast Revolution Isn't Turning Out So Well for U.S. and Israel - Leslie H. Gelb The uncontested winners in the still-roiling revolutions of the Middle East and North Africa are those who own, sell, and bet on oil. In the last month alone, oil prices have leaped almost 10%. To date, the revolutions have generated far more drama and hope than real change as power structures remain largely intact. Israel is the biggest strategic loser. The Jewish state has relied on Arab autocracies to subdue the anti-Zionist sentiments of their peoples. And Israel can't do anything to fix its plight. Times are not at all conducive for new talks with Palestinians. Whatever happens, Washington will confront greater anti-Americanism. The fact is that Arabs generally see the United States as the protect or of the corrupt autocrats who long ruled them and the savior of the hated Israel. Counterterrorism operations and anti-Iran diplomacy will suffer. The writer is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Newsweek)
• World's Top Ten Gaddafi Toads - Walter Russell Mead As Muammar Gaddafi, Africa's King of Kings and the Great Loon of Libya, does his hideous best to engulf his country in terror and blood for the sake of extending his despicable and destructive rule, it is worth reflecting on the degree to which the "international community" flattered, cajoled and enabled this psychopath. History will not forgive those who colluded with, bribed, defended and helped this grotesque parody of a national leader rape and ruin his own unhappy land. Inviting a series of American intellectuals and scholars to Libya as part of a typical PR offensive, the kind of tactic they teach in the Techniques of Tyranny 101 intro course, Gaddafi gave them the kind of snow job that Hitler and Sta lin used to give visiting foreigners - and too many of them fell for it. As Benjamin Barber wrote in the Washington Post: "Written off not long ago as an implacable despot, Gaddafi is a complex and adaptive thinker as well as an efficient, if laid-back, autocrat." (American Interest) See also How a U.S. Consulting Firm Used American Academics to Rehab Gaddafi's Image - David Corn and Siddhartha Mahanta (Mother Jones)
• In Arab World, It's Not Just about Israel Anymore - Joel Brinkley For more than half a century, ever since the day Israel was founded, Arab leaders have used one consistent strategy to keep their people in line. Our life's goal, they would say over and over, is to take back "Palestine." Nothing else matters. For many years that seemed to work. Then came satellite television, the Internet, and over time, ordinary Arabs began to realize that Israel had nothing to do with their own circumscribed lives. All of it was the fault of their corrupt, implacable dictators. Even after decades of indoctrination, the protesters, in state after state, have nothing to say about Israel. That conflict is not even a tertiary concern. Few Arabs hold warm feelings toward Israel. But for ne arly all of them now, Israel is just an unfortunate fact of life, not an obsession. These people now know that their dictators' alarmist warnings about Israel were cynical distractions. (San Francisco Chronicle) See also The New Mideast No Longer Revolves around Israel - Aner Shalev (Ha'aretz)
Observations:
The Danger of Relying on Cold War Deterrence in the Case of a Nuclear Iran - Shmuel Bar (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
• The policy documents published over the last year by the Obama administration indicate that it believes in the efficacy of traditional Cold War deterrence as the remedy to the challenge of rogue states acquiring nuclear weapons. Another assumption is that the Iranian regime is "rational" and hence deterrable.
• But the cultural propensity of a people toward "rationality" does not determine the behavior of their autocratic leadership. Furthermore, both Sunni and Shiite traditions of Jihad view the willingness to challenge superior force as an exemplary deed. In Shiite Islam, this is augmented by the idealization of suffering and martyrdom.
• Failure to prevent Iran from nearing the nuclear threshold will undoubtedly intensify the drive of other states in the region for nuclear weapons. Given weak command and control structures in the region, nuclear weapons may filter down to quasi-states (such as Kurdistan or the Palestinian Authority), terrorist organizations, and rival ethnic groups.
• The countries of the region will probably be more predisposed than the Cold War protagonists to brandish their nuclear weapons not only rhetorically but through nuclear alerts or nuclear tests, leading to situations of multilateral nuclear escalation that will not be mitigated by Cold War-type hotlines.
• In addition, the absence of a credible second-strike capability may well strengthen the tendency to opt for a first strike. Dr. Shmuel Bar, Director of Studies at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya, served for thirty years in the Israeli intelligence community. See also Deterrence in the Age of Nuclear Proliferation - George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn From 1945 to 1991, America and the Soviet Union were diligent, professional, but also lucky that nuclear weapons were never used. Does the world want to continue to bet its survival on continued good fortune with a growing number of nuclear nations and adversaries globally? There is a daunting new spectrum of global security threats. Continued reliance on nuclear weapons as t he principal element for deterrence is encouraging the spread of these weapons. (Wall Street Journal)
Is it any wonder that Southern Sudan voted for independence to escape these annihilationists and supremacists (after decades of ethnic cleansing of non-Muslims)?
The newly born country of Southern Sudan has, on the other hand, indicated they want future ties with Israel.
Sudan says Arab revolts a prelude to liberating Jerusalem Sudan Tribune
March 5, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A senior figure in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan said today that recent revolts in the Arab world is the beginning of the move towards liberating Jerusalem from Israeli occupation.
The secretary for organizations at the NCP Qutbi Al-Mahdi told the founding conference of the Association of Women for Jerusalem held in Khartoum that the revolutionary tide and awakening in the region is a precursor to the liberation of the disputed city.
Popular revolts sweeping across the Arab world over the past two months have toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, inspiring protests in some Gulf countries and an outright rebellion in Libya. Sudan says that these regimes are gone because they oppressed the local Islamist movements.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that has not won international recognition.
Al-Mahdi said that once the unrest unfolds the people in the Arab world will then devote all their energies towards Al-Aqsa holy mosque in Jerusalem.
The NCP official urged Muslims to counter what he described as the Jewish conspiracy to displace the inhabitants of Jerusalem and building The Temple Mount of King Solomon.
The 8th-century Al-Aqsa mosque also stands on the stone esplanade, about the size of a large city square. Judaism’s Western Wall, a Jewish prayer site believed to be a perimeter wall of the second biblical Temple, sits just below.
In Muslim tradition, prophet Mohammad ascended into heaven from the rock at the center of what is now the Dome of the Rock.
Al-Mahdi suggested that Arab regimes are complicit in what the Jews are doing to Al-Aqsa mosque and their plans to make Jerusalem their capital.
He said that Sudan has went a long way in supporting Jerusalem through inaugurating a piece of land that will be used as a plot to build a tower that will see its proceeds go to the cause of Jerusalem adding that it will stand witness to the solidarity of the Sudanese people and as defenders of the sanctity of the Islamic nation.
On Sunday, the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will address the 8th international conference on Jerusalem hosted by Khartoum and attended by heads of the Jerusalem Foundation and international Trustees of the institution in Arab countries and other delegations.
UPDATE: Speaking of the riots in the Muslim world: (thanks to JCPA)
• Gaddafi Forces Repel Libyan Opposition, Escalate Counterattack - Steve Hendrix , Anthony Faiola and Samuel Sockol Moammar Gaddafi's loyalists escalated a lethal counterattack on Sunday, heightening assaults on rebel-held cities near Tripoli and pushing back opposition forces attempting to advance toward the capital. Gaddafi's expanding campaign appeared to dash rebel hopes of putting a swift end to his rule. (Washington Post) See also Syrian Pilots Shot Down in Libya? - Michael Rubin The civil war in Libya has become essentially a tribal conflict, with Gaddafi's Gadhadfa tribe versus everyone else. Al-Jazeera is reporting that Gadhadfa officers executed 20 officers from the Firjan tribe who refused to fire on their fellow Libyans. Al Jazeera is also reporting that free Libyan forces have downed two Syrian planes in Ras Lanuf, about 400 km. west of Benghazi. (Commentary)
• Egyptian Protesters Overrun State Security Headquarters in Cairo - William Wan and Liz Sly Hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Egypt's State Security Investigations agency in Cairo on Saturday, marking another step toward dismantling the administration of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. State Security was responsible for suppressing domestic political dissent, as well as for internal counterterrorism, and had a reputation for torturing detainees. (Washington Post)
• Middle East Protest Has Limited Impact for Palestinians - Joel Greenberg While throngs have taken to the streets to oust autocratic rulers and demand political freedoms in neighboring Arab countries, protests in the West Bank and Gaza have been much more modest, and protesters have not called for the ouster of their own leaders. Abed Jabaiah, an appliance store owner, explained: PA President Mahmoud Abbas, elected in 2005, is not an autocratic ruler who has seized and held power for decades; Palestinians in the West Bank enjoy a measure of free expression; and their standard of living is better than in many neighboring Arab countries. Furthermore, the split between Hamas and Fatah also had a chilling effect on attempts to demonstrate against the leaderships in the West B ank and Gaza. Anti-government dissent in either place is often viewed as support for the rival faction. In addition, Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Israel has resonated positively among Palestinians, blunting anti-government sentiment. (Washington Post) See also All Quiet on the West Bank - Josef Olmert (Huffington Post)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
• Netanyahu Blames Palestinians for Avoiding Peace Process - Barak Ravid "We are prepared to sit down and negotiate peace," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Sunday. "And the Palestinians have found a variety of excuses not to do so." Netanyahu said the Palestinians were avoiding talks because they are hoping to persuade the international community to impose a solution to the conflict. "Basically, they say, we don't have to negotiate, we can sit back, we can teach our children to idolize mass killers - they named a public square in Ramallah 10 minutes from here for a terrorist who murdered 400 innocent Israelis. They can do that and get away with it," Netanyahu said. After listing Israeli gestures a imed at advancing the peace process, including the 10-month freeze on settlement construction and the removal of numerous checkpoints and roadblocks, he added, "Unfortunately, everything that we did...[was] met with no response by the Palestinian Authority." (Ha'aretz)
• New Egyptian Leaders Not Israel's Best Friends - Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel The new Egyptian prime minister, Essam Sharaf, was never a great fan of the peace agreement with Israel. He opposed normalization between the countries so long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prevails. The leading candidate for presidency seems to be the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. Like Sharaf, Moussa is not seen as a friend of Israel's, and Israel needs to resign itself to the fact that any new regime in Egypt will likely be less friendly than Mubarak's. Nevertheless, Moussa is not expected to damage ties with Israel. The sense of national pride created by the revolution in Egypt is overwhelming. Egypt sees itself as a great nation able once agai n to lead the way for the entire Arab world. (Ha'aretz) See also Egypt's New Foreign Minister Accused Israel of Genocide Nabil Elaraby, a former judge in the International Court of Justice, accepted the post of Egypt's foreign minister on Sunday. During an August 2001 interview with an Egyptian newspaper, Elaraby was quoted as saying, "I personally support an Arab Muslim claim against Israeli crimes." Two months later he was appointed as a judge at the ICJ, where he was a member of the panel that issued the advisory opinion on the construction of Israel's security barrier. (Ynet News)
• Sanitation Worker Loses Hand in Terror Bombing in Jerusalem - Melanie Lidman A sanitation worker from the Jerusalem Municipality lost his hand on Sunday when a garbage bag he was lifting exploded in the first terrorist attack in the capital in more than a year. Another sanitation worker was injured by the explosion. The explosion was caused by a pipe bomb and was nationally motivated, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
• Mideast Revolution Isn't Turning Out So Well for U.S. and Israel - Leslie H. Gelb The uncontested winners in the still-roiling revolutions of the Middle East and North Africa are those who own, sell, and bet on oil. In the last month alone, oil prices have leaped almost 10%. To date, the revolutions have generated far more drama and hope than real change as power structures remain largely intact. Israel is the biggest strategic loser. The Jewish state has relied on Arab autocracies to subdue the anti-Zionist sentiments of their peoples. And Israel can't do anything to fix its plight. Times are not at all conducive for new talks with Palestinians. Whatever happens, Washington will confront greater anti-Americanism. The fact is that Arabs generally see the United States as the protect or of the corrupt autocrats who long ruled them and the savior of the hated Israel. Counterterrorism operations and anti-Iran diplomacy will suffer. The writer is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Newsweek)
• World's Top Ten Gaddafi Toads - Walter Russell Mead As Muammar Gaddafi, Africa's King of Kings and the Great Loon of Libya, does his hideous best to engulf his country in terror and blood for the sake of extending his despicable and destructive rule, it is worth reflecting on the degree to which the "international community" flattered, cajoled and enabled this psychopath. History will not forgive those who colluded with, bribed, defended and helped this grotesque parody of a national leader rape and ruin his own unhappy land. Inviting a series of American intellectuals and scholars to Libya as part of a typical PR offensive, the kind of tactic they teach in the Techniques of Tyranny 101 intro course, Gaddafi gave them the kind of snow job that Hitler and Sta lin used to give visiting foreigners - and too many of them fell for it. As Benjamin Barber wrote in the Washington Post: "Written off not long ago as an implacable despot, Gaddafi is a complex and adaptive thinker as well as an efficient, if laid-back, autocrat." (American Interest) See also How a U.S. Consulting Firm Used American Academics to Rehab Gaddafi's Image - David Corn and Siddhartha Mahanta (Mother Jones)
• In Arab World, It's Not Just about Israel Anymore - Joel Brinkley For more than half a century, ever since the day Israel was founded, Arab leaders have used one consistent strategy to keep their people in line. Our life's goal, they would say over and over, is to take back "Palestine." Nothing else matters. For many years that seemed to work. Then came satellite television, the Internet, and over time, ordinary Arabs began to realize that Israel had nothing to do with their own circumscribed lives. All of it was the fault of their corrupt, implacable dictators. Even after decades of indoctrination, the protesters, in state after state, have nothing to say about Israel. That conflict is not even a tertiary concern. Few Arabs hold warm feelings toward Israel. But for ne arly all of them now, Israel is just an unfortunate fact of life, not an obsession. These people now know that their dictators' alarmist warnings about Israel were cynical distractions. (San Francisco Chronicle) See also The New Mideast No Longer Revolves around Israel - Aner Shalev (Ha'aretz)
Observations:
The Danger of Relying on Cold War Deterrence in the Case of a Nuclear Iran - Shmuel Bar (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
• The policy documents published over the last year by the Obama administration indicate that it believes in the efficacy of traditional Cold War deterrence as the remedy to the challenge of rogue states acquiring nuclear weapons. Another assumption is that the Iranian regime is "rational" and hence deterrable.
• But the cultural propensity of a people toward "rationality" does not determine the behavior of their autocratic leadership. Furthermore, both Sunni and Shiite traditions of Jihad view the willingness to challenge superior force as an exemplary deed. In Shiite Islam, this is augmented by the idealization of suffering and martyrdom.
• Failure to prevent Iran from nearing the nuclear threshold will undoubtedly intensify the drive of other states in the region for nuclear weapons. Given weak command and control structures in the region, nuclear weapons may filter down to quasi-states (such as Kurdistan or the Palestinian Authority), terrorist organizations, and rival ethnic groups.
• The countries of the region will probably be more predisposed than the Cold War protagonists to brandish their nuclear weapons not only rhetorically but through nuclear alerts or nuclear tests, leading to situations of multilateral nuclear escalation that will not be mitigated by Cold War-type hotlines.
• In addition, the absence of a credible second-strike capability may well strengthen the tendency to opt for a first strike. Dr. Shmuel Bar, Director of Studies at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya, served for thirty years in the Israeli intelligence community. See also Deterrence in the Age of Nuclear Proliferation - George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn From 1945 to 1991, America and the Soviet Union were diligent, professional, but also lucky that nuclear weapons were never used. Does the world want to continue to bet its survival on continued good fortune with a growing number of nuclear nations and adversaries globally? There is a daunting new spectrum of global security threats. Continued reliance on nuclear weapons as t he principal element for deterrence is encouraging the spread of these weapons. (Wall Street Journal)
Monday, January 24, 2011
Palestians Were Willing to Cocede All J-m but 1 Neighborhood
In supposedly earth-shattering news, both Al-Jazeera and al-Guardian have reported that the 'Palestinians' offered to let Israel keep all of the Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem except Har Homa (population 9,331, or about as many Jews as were expelled from Gaza five and a half years ago, most of whom still have no place to live). The 'Palestinians' are denying the reports.
Palestinians were prepared to compromise over two of the toughest issues, Jerusalem and refugees, during peace talks in 2008, the Al-Jazeera TV channel reported Sunday, quoting from documents it said came from the talks.
Palestinian negotiators quickly denied the reports, saying parts of the documents were fabricated. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has kept Arab countries fully briefed on the negotiations with Israel.
Al-Jazeera said the Palestinians offered to let Israel keep all but one of the Jewish enclaves it build in east Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Mideast war. About 200,000 Israelis live there now.
In return, according to the quoted documents, the Palestinians wanted Israeli land, including a section close to the West Bank-Israel line where many of Israel's minority Arab citizens live.
Also, they proposed international control of the key Jerusalem holy site as a temporary measure. The Palestinians, Israel, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan would administer the site where the Al Aqsa Mosque compound sits atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples, until Israel and the Palestinians could work out a permanent arrangement.
On the issue of refugees, the documents said the Palestinians agreed that Israel would take in 10,000 refugees a year for 10 years — a total of 100,000. The Palestinians have insisted that all refugees from the 1948-49 war and their descendants — several million people — have the right to return to Israel. The Israelis have always rejected that as a threat to the Jewish character of their state.
The chief Palestinian negotiator in the 2008 talks, Ahmed Qureia, told The Associated Press that "many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership."
He denied making an offer about the Jewish enclaves in east Jerusalem, claiming that Israel refused to discuss the issue.
The current chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, dismissed the TV report as "lies and half truths."
They can deny it all they want, but much of this has been reported before. In fact, it was reported more than a year ago.
JPost also reports that the 'Palestinians' put forward a proposal under which they would get 98.1% of Judea and Samaria.
The Palestinians were willing forego only 1.9% of the Judea and Samaria territories, but they were willing to accept that Gush Etziyon, Modi'in and several other settlement remain in Israeli hands.
In Jerusalem, the Palestinians were willing to accept the neighborhoods of Ramot, Ramot Alon, Ramat Shlomo, Pisgat Ze'ev, Neve Ya'akov, Ma'alot Dafna, French Hill and Gilo, the southern neighborhood which has recently become a sticking point not with the Palestinians but with the United States after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would build several hundred new housing units there.
However, according to the report, the Palestinians themselves have [should be "had" CiJ] agreed to forego areas where they now demand Israel implement a complete halt to construction.
There are a lot more details there too - read the whole thing.
Over at al-Guardian, Jonathan Freedland wonders who will be hurt by these disclosures (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
Many on the Palestinian streets will recoil to read not just the concessions offered by their representatives – starting with the yielding of those parts of East Jerusalem settled by Israeli Jews – but the language in which those concessions were made.
To hear their chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, tell the Israelis that the Palestinians are ready to concede "the biggest Yerushalayim in Jewish history" – even using the Hebrew word for the city – will strike many as an act of humiliation.
Referring to Ariel Sharon as a "friend" will offend those Palestinians who still revile the former prime minister as the "Butcher of Beirut" for his role in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Telling Tzipi Livni, Israel's then foreign minister, on the eve of national elections "I would vote for you" will strike many Palestinians as grovelling of a shameful kind.
It is this tone which will stick in the throat just as much as the substantive concessions on land or, as the Guardian will reveal in coming days, the intimate level of secret co-operation with Israeli security forces or readiness of Palestinian negotiators to give way on the highly charged question of the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Of course it should be said that this cache of papers is not exhaustive and may have been leaked selectively; other documents might provide a rather different impression. Nevertheless, these texts will do enormous damage to the standing of the Palestinian Authority and to the Fatah party that leads it. Erekat himself may never recover his credibility.
But something even more profound is at stake: these documents could discredit among Palestinians the very notion of negotiation with Israel and the two-state solution that underpins it.
And yet there might also be an unexpected boost here for the Palestinian cause. Surely international opinion will see concrete proof of how far the Palestinians have been willing to go, ready to move up to and beyond their "red lines", conceding ground that would once have been unthinkable – none more so than on Jerusalem.
He goes on to say that Israel will be made to look bad by these papers. I disagree. I don't think any of the 'Palestinian' concessions here are so earth shattering - they're largely in line with what most people expected. And I don't think anyone will see Israel in a bad light (except those who already do, which unfortunately is much of the world), because there is so much we are already conceding here, and because what's left unsaid is who put a stop to the 2008 negotiations. We all know the answer to that last question: The 'Palestinians' stopped them when Operation Cast Lead started.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Abu Ala, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat, Tzipi Livni
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:07 AM
Palestinians were prepared to compromise over two of the toughest issues, Jerusalem and refugees, during peace talks in 2008, the Al-Jazeera TV channel reported Sunday, quoting from documents it said came from the talks.
Palestinian negotiators quickly denied the reports, saying parts of the documents were fabricated. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has kept Arab countries fully briefed on the negotiations with Israel.
Al-Jazeera said the Palestinians offered to let Israel keep all but one of the Jewish enclaves it build in east Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Mideast war. About 200,000 Israelis live there now.
In return, according to the quoted documents, the Palestinians wanted Israeli land, including a section close to the West Bank-Israel line where many of Israel's minority Arab citizens live.
Also, they proposed international control of the key Jerusalem holy site as a temporary measure. The Palestinians, Israel, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan would administer the site where the Al Aqsa Mosque compound sits atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples, until Israel and the Palestinians could work out a permanent arrangement.
On the issue of refugees, the documents said the Palestinians agreed that Israel would take in 10,000 refugees a year for 10 years — a total of 100,000. The Palestinians have insisted that all refugees from the 1948-49 war and their descendants — several million people — have the right to return to Israel. The Israelis have always rejected that as a threat to the Jewish character of their state.
The chief Palestinian negotiator in the 2008 talks, Ahmed Qureia, told The Associated Press that "many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership."
He denied making an offer about the Jewish enclaves in east Jerusalem, claiming that Israel refused to discuss the issue.
The current chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, dismissed the TV report as "lies and half truths."
They can deny it all they want, but much of this has been reported before. In fact, it was reported more than a year ago.
JPost also reports that the 'Palestinians' put forward a proposal under which they would get 98.1% of Judea and Samaria.
The Palestinians were willing forego only 1.9% of the Judea and Samaria territories, but they were willing to accept that Gush Etziyon, Modi'in and several other settlement remain in Israeli hands.
In Jerusalem, the Palestinians were willing to accept the neighborhoods of Ramot, Ramot Alon, Ramat Shlomo, Pisgat Ze'ev, Neve Ya'akov, Ma'alot Dafna, French Hill and Gilo, the southern neighborhood which has recently become a sticking point not with the Palestinians but with the United States after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would build several hundred new housing units there.
However, according to the report, the Palestinians themselves have [should be "had" CiJ] agreed to forego areas where they now demand Israel implement a complete halt to construction.
There are a lot more details there too - read the whole thing.
Over at al-Guardian, Jonathan Freedland wonders who will be hurt by these disclosures (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
Many on the Palestinian streets will recoil to read not just the concessions offered by their representatives – starting with the yielding of those parts of East Jerusalem settled by Israeli Jews – but the language in which those concessions were made.
To hear their chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, tell the Israelis that the Palestinians are ready to concede "the biggest Yerushalayim in Jewish history" – even using the Hebrew word for the city – will strike many as an act of humiliation.
Referring to Ariel Sharon as a "friend" will offend those Palestinians who still revile the former prime minister as the "Butcher of Beirut" for his role in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Telling Tzipi Livni, Israel's then foreign minister, on the eve of national elections "I would vote for you" will strike many Palestinians as grovelling of a shameful kind.
It is this tone which will stick in the throat just as much as the substantive concessions on land or, as the Guardian will reveal in coming days, the intimate level of secret co-operation with Israeli security forces or readiness of Palestinian negotiators to give way on the highly charged question of the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Of course it should be said that this cache of papers is not exhaustive and may have been leaked selectively; other documents might provide a rather different impression. Nevertheless, these texts will do enormous damage to the standing of the Palestinian Authority and to the Fatah party that leads it. Erekat himself may never recover his credibility.
But something even more profound is at stake: these documents could discredit among Palestinians the very notion of negotiation with Israel and the two-state solution that underpins it.
And yet there might also be an unexpected boost here for the Palestinian cause. Surely international opinion will see concrete proof of how far the Palestinians have been willing to go, ready to move up to and beyond their "red lines", conceding ground that would once have been unthinkable – none more so than on Jerusalem.
He goes on to say that Israel will be made to look bad by these papers. I disagree. I don't think any of the 'Palestinian' concessions here are so earth shattering - they're largely in line with what most people expected. And I don't think anyone will see Israel in a bad light (except those who already do, which unfortunately is much of the world), because there is so much we are already conceding here, and because what's left unsaid is who put a stop to the 2008 negotiations. We all know the answer to that last question: The 'Palestinians' stopped them when Operation Cast Lead started.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Abu Ala, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat, Tzipi Livni
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:07 AM
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Israel ARRESTS 2 Brit Consulate Wkers in J-m BOMB Plot
Israel says it has charged two workers at the British Consulate in Jerusalem with arms trafficking, in connection to an alleged plot by militants to fire a rocket into a football stadium.
Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency is accusing the two Palestinians of helping two other suspects who are allegedly members of Hamas to acquire guns.
The four are being linked with an alleged conspiracy to launch a rocket attack on Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium.
Britain's Foreign Office has confirmed the arrests and says the UK is urgently seeking confirmation of the charges.
"We have been told by the Israeli authorities that the investigation into our two employees is unrelated to the work they do at the consulate," the spokesman said.
British sources in Israel say the pair are not thought to be senior members of staff. All staff at British embassies and consulates abroad are meant to undergo strict security screening.
Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency is accusing the two Palestinians of helping two other suspects who are allegedly members of Hamas to acquire guns.
The four are being linked with an alleged conspiracy to launch a rocket attack on Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium.
Britain's Foreign Office has confirmed the arrests and says the UK is urgently seeking confirmation of the charges.
"We have been told by the Israeli authorities that the investigation into our two employees is unrelated to the work they do at the consulate," the spokesman said.
British sources in Israel say the pair are not thought to be senior members of staff. All staff at British embassies and consulates abroad are meant to undergo strict security screening.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Hamas planned Rocket Attack on Jerusalem
Hamas terrorists, with funds from Saudi Arabia, plotted a missile attack on a soccer game at Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officials disclosed Sunday.
Officials said they arrested two Jerusalem Arabs who carried out surveillance from a hill overlooking the stadium in order to find the best place to launch rocket attacks on the packed stadium, home of the Beitar soccer team.
The plot began following Israel’s counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead operation two years ago. The terrorists were identified as Muslim Brotherhood members Moussa Hamda Matzour and Bassam Omri, who bought several revolvers and attempted to buy weapons and ammunition. Officials also arrested relatives of Matzour who were involved in the purchase of the guns.
Security officials said Matzour traveled to Saudi Arabia several times to meet Muslim Brotherhood members. At one meeting, a Saudi official gave him money to buy weapons in return for gathering intelligence information on several locations in Jerusalem.
The investigation also revealed Hamas involvement on the Temple Mount, including funding of maintenance work, bringing school children to the site and subsidizing other activities. Palestinian Authority leaders have joined Arab world attempts over the past several years to claim that the holy site, where the First and Second Temples stood, have no connection with Judaism.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in the Jewish world.
Officials said they arrested two Jerusalem Arabs who carried out surveillance from a hill overlooking the stadium in order to find the best place to launch rocket attacks on the packed stadium, home of the Beitar soccer team.
The plot began following Israel’s counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead operation two years ago. The terrorists were identified as Muslim Brotherhood members Moussa Hamda Matzour and Bassam Omri, who bought several revolvers and attempted to buy weapons and ammunition. Officials also arrested relatives of Matzour who were involved in the purchase of the guns.
Security officials said Matzour traveled to Saudi Arabia several times to meet Muslim Brotherhood members. At one meeting, a Saudi official gave him money to buy weapons in return for gathering intelligence information on several locations in Jerusalem.
The investigation also revealed Hamas involvement on the Temple Mount, including funding of maintenance work, bringing school children to the site and subsidizing other activities. Palestinian Authority leaders have joined Arab world attempts over the past several years to claim that the holy site, where the First and Second Temples stood, have no connection with Judaism.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in the Jewish world.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Fayyad Barred from Entering Jerusalem
Western-looking 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Salam Fayyad has been banned from entering Jerusalem. Fayyad had planned ot attend a dedication ceremony for an 'east' Jerusalem school that the 'Palestinian Authority' paid to renovate. The 'Palestinian Authority' has no sovereignty in 'east' Jerusalem and under the terms of the Oslo accords is forbidden from carrying out official activities in 'east' Jerusalem.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch signed an edict according to which Palestinian Authority officials are prohibited from engaging in any activity inside Israeli territory without special approval.
The order was signed ahead of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's scheduled arrival at Jerusalem Tuesday for a protest.
And to think that until 2002, we tolerated the presence of Orient House in 'east' Jerusalem (literally across the road from several Jewish Jerusalem neighborhoods. Wow, were we idiots.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:19 PM
Monday, March 15, 2010
Fatah Urges Provocative Barricades in Jerusalem
he 'moderate' Fatah terror organization (our 'peace partner') has joined a call by Sheikh Raed Salleh's Northern Front Islamic organization ('Israeli Arabs') for Arabs to storm the Temple Mount and barricade themselves inside al-Aqsa mosque on the Mount.
Meanwhile, the police have denied a Jewish group's request to hold a cornerstone laying ceremony for a Third Jewish Temple (the first two having been destroyed 2,600 years ago and 2,000 years ago).
Who is spoiling for a fight?
The 'Palestinian' call is linked to Monday's re-dedication of the Churva synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City.
Top Fatah official and holder of the Jerusalem portfolio Khatem Abd el-Kader called Palestinians on Sunday to “converge on al Aksa to save it” from what he called “Israeli attempts to destroy the mosque and replace it with the [Jewish] temple.” Khader was speaking ahead of a dedication of a renovated synagogue in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, planned to take place Tuesday.He called Israel’s renovation of the Hurva Synagogue a “provocation” and warned Israel that it was “playing with fire.”
Is there anything Jews do in Israel that is not a 'provocation' to 'Palestinians'? Probably not. After all, when we die (God save us), we are buried somewhere in the country. Anything we do while alive, the 'Palestinians' consider 'provocative.'
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:03 AM
Meanwhile, the police have denied a Jewish group's request to hold a cornerstone laying ceremony for a Third Jewish Temple (the first two having been destroyed 2,600 years ago and 2,000 years ago).
Who is spoiling for a fight?
The 'Palestinian' call is linked to Monday's re-dedication of the Churva synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City.
Top Fatah official and holder of the Jerusalem portfolio Khatem Abd el-Kader called Palestinians on Sunday to “converge on al Aksa to save it” from what he called “Israeli attempts to destroy the mosque and replace it with the [Jewish] temple.” Khader was speaking ahead of a dedication of a renovated synagogue in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, planned to take place Tuesday.He called Israel’s renovation of the Hurva Synagogue a “provocation” and warned Israel that it was “playing with fire.”
Is there anything Jews do in Israel that is not a 'provocation' to 'Palestinians'? Probably not. After all, when we die (God save us), we are buried somewhere in the country. Anything we do while alive, the 'Palestinians' consider 'provocative.'
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:03 AM
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Obama Speech: Pundits Erred; People Got It Right
Jerusalem's Gresghom Gorenberg was the only writer to grasp the import of the speech.
Suddenly Obama was here to "fix things," while reducing our problems to the size of a footnote. I support Obama, at least in comparison to his war-mongering colleagues. But we don't need his leadership, or anyone else's for that matter.
Today, for instance, marks 42 years since the Six-Day War began. Ever since then, the term “June 4 lines” has referred to the on-the-ground border between Israel and its Arab neighbors on the eve of the war - not the lines marked on maps, but the lines marked by forward military positions. On the Syrian front, for instance, the actual positions lined up with neither the pre-1948 international border between Palestine and Syria, nor with the 1949 armistice agreements. The small distances on the ground make for big problems in peace negotiations.
As of yesterday, however, June 4 means something entirely different. It now refers to the day on which Barack Obama chose to speak in Cairo. “June 4 lines” henceforth mean the line of thinking that the president laid out for reconciliation between the U.S. and the Muslim world, and along the way, between Israel and the Palestinians.
His message to us was very, very basic Obama: First, I acknowledge your history. Second, it’s time each of you recognize the other’s side history, that you stop thinking that somehow by admitting the other’s side suffering you’ll erase your own. And now that you’ve acknowledged history, stop holding on to it as if electricity were running through it, as if your hand can’t let go. Move forward. Turn history into history - the text explaining how we got here - and stop treating it as an ever-repeating present.
Gresghom Gorenberg, South Jerusalem
Suddenly Obama was here to "fix things," while reducing our problems to the size of a footnote. I support Obama, at least in comparison to his war-mongering colleagues. But we don't need his leadership, or anyone else's for that matter.
Today, for instance, marks 42 years since the Six-Day War began. Ever since then, the term “June 4 lines” has referred to the on-the-ground border between Israel and its Arab neighbors on the eve of the war - not the lines marked on maps, but the lines marked by forward military positions. On the Syrian front, for instance, the actual positions lined up with neither the pre-1948 international border between Palestine and Syria, nor with the 1949 armistice agreements. The small distances on the ground make for big problems in peace negotiations.
As of yesterday, however, June 4 means something entirely different. It now refers to the day on which Barack Obama chose to speak in Cairo. “June 4 lines” henceforth mean the line of thinking that the president laid out for reconciliation between the U.S. and the Muslim world, and along the way, between Israel and the Palestinians.
His message to us was very, very basic Obama: First, I acknowledge your history. Second, it’s time each of you recognize the other’s side history, that you stop thinking that somehow by admitting the other’s side suffering you’ll erase your own. And now that you’ve acknowledged history, stop holding on to it as if electricity were running through it, as if your hand can’t let go. Move forward. Turn history into history - the text explaining how we got here - and stop treating it as an ever-repeating present.
Gresghom Gorenberg, South Jerusalem
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Is Anybody Decent? Huckabee in Jerusalem
Is Anybody Decent?
McCain and Huckabee profess allegiance to a democratic nation that has killed over 6,000,000 Asians since the beginning of the
Huckabee is in
If Americans had any decency, they would lock men such as McCain and Huckabee until the devil comes to take them.
Do they intend to vaporize Iranians to gain a few points in the popularity polls?
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Bush Knesset Speech
Seth Coulter Welles, HuffPost
According to 29-year CIA veteran and former NSC official Bruce Riedel, Wednesday's announcement of joint peace negotiations between
"Think of the irony," Riedel said. "George Bush goes to
Riedel, who served as a special assistant to the president until 2002 and is now with the Brookings Institution, said the lack of weight accorded to Bush's appeasement speech "shows more and more that the Middle East is not listening to him anymore, as does the deal announced in
But not all observers are that optimistic. Independent analyst and Israeli political adviser Dahlia Scheindlin cites a recent report by the War and Peace Index that suggests Israelis are more willing to consider a compromise over certain areas in
According to that study, only 19 percent of Israelis support the idea of giving up the Golan, while 40 percent are willing to consider giving up Arab neighborhoods in
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Fist Fights Erupt in Jerusalem Church
Barenaked Pundits.com reportIsraeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites.
The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Orthodox Palm Sunday.
Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is uneasily shared by various Christian denominations.
In this case, witnesses say an Armenian priest forcibly ejected a Greek priest from an area near the tomb of Jesus.
They say the attacker felt the Greek priest had spent too long at the tomb.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Lone Gunman May End the World
Attack Will be Seen in Messianic Terms
Amir Mizroch, jpost.com
While defense establishment officials sitting in the Kiriya military headquarters in Tel-Aviv ponder the diplomatic-security implications of last night's attack, a totally different analysis will be taking place this weekend around Shabbat dinner tables across
Thousands of people were at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva Friday morning for the eulogies of eight students killed by a Palestinian terrorist on Thursday night.
The people directly affected by the deadly terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva are not just the students, their relatives and friends, but the much wider larger segment of the religious Zionist public. This segment of the population, already seething with anger, which started with the Disengagement in 2005, the Amona pullout, the government promises to
This attack was aimed specifically for the religious Zionist and settler population, and the terrorists knew that by speaking in this language, to these people, their message could only be interpreted in one way. This will be seen in terms of Ishmael and Isaac.
Being messianic religious people, the religious Zionists are going to see this attack through the prism of messianic prophecy. Already I am hearing on religious Zionist radio stations people talking about the attack in prophetic terms, such as Isaiah 59 verse 20: And a redeemer will come to
Settler radio talk- show hosts are interpreting this prophecy by saying that if the Jews don't stop Hamas, the Palestinians, Hizbullah and any other Islamic fundamentalists God will force the Jews to do it. The talk-show hosts blame Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President Shimon Peres, and several callers into the broadcasts are unanimous in their condemnation of the Israeli government and calling on its removal.
The fact that the Foreign Ministry has already come out with a formal statement saying the attack won't derail the talks with the Palestinian Authority will only fuel the anger of the settler population this weekend. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the Knesset from Sunday and the implications on the coalition. Shas will come under immense pressure to bolt the government.
At the funeral procession speeches Friday at the Yeshiva, Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar began his comments with the Psalm for Assaf: "They have spilled blood like water around
Many of the top leadership of the religious Zionist movement, speaking at the funerals, spoke of revenge of the blood. The fact that the Jewish students were killed in a house of God touched the most basic nerve of many Israelis, and especially of the religious Zionist public.
The rabbis called on the students not to carry out acts of revenge, saying that judgment is in God's realm. "God's vengeance will come swiftly," Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu's secretary cried out in his rabbi's name. The eulogists also praised the deceased for their studiousness and deep connection to Torah and entreated those in attendance not to falter in their study of the sacred writ.
Very few people outside the religious Zionist population have even heard of Mercaz Harav, let alone know somebody who studies there. This was not an attack aimed at the wider Israeli public, but a strategic attack against a very vocal public who will be demanding action of the government. There may even be some on the fringes of the settlement movement who will want to take the law into their own hands and carry out a revenge attack, maybe even against targets in
The fact that the attack was carried out in the way it was - live fire, chasing down the students and shooting them at point blank range, as well as confirming the kills - and not by a suicide bombing, will add to the sense of brutality, of the narrative of good versus evil.
For more of Amir's articles and posts, visit his personal blog Forecast Highs
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