After finally taking the offensive in the war against Palestinian terrorism, we seem to be moving in the wrong direction.
If corruption can wait, terrorism can also wait. That is the opinion of those who believe that unilateral withdrawal and uprooting the Jewish residents from Gush Katif and northern Samaria - euphemistically referred to as disengagement, or getting out of Gaza, or making sure Israel will be a democratic Jewish State (take your choice) - is the be-all and end-all of a grand strategy and micro-tactics all rolled into one for Israel at the present time.
For weeks, the residents of Gush Katif and the settlements south of Ashkelon, Sderot and the western Negev have been subjected to a daily shower of mortar shells and Qassam rockets. Nothing has been done to put an end to this outrage. People have been killed and injured, property has been damaged, and the government's policy seems to be a repetition of the nonresponse to acts of terror that a few years ago was promoted under the slogan of "restraint is strength."
If he plays his cards wisely, he can say no to Obama and avoid an open confrontation.
Just ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s trip next week to Washington, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas went on a charm offensive towards the Israeli media. On Tuesday, Abbas invited representatives of the Hebrew-language press to his office in Ramallah and assured them of his good intentions towards Israel.
We have been here before. In Netanyahu’s last go-around as prime minister, it seemed like every time he was due to visit Washington, then president Bill Clinton’s advisers would set up a meeting for Abbas’s predecessor Yasser Arafat with the Israeli media. Arafat would talk about how much he wanted peace with Israel, and how he was just waiting for Netanyahu to agree to embrace the cause of peace.
Thanks to U.S. taxpayers, an Islamic enclave is being carved out of the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. And how generous have you been with your tax dollars? You just gave
$1.6 billion for the privilege of turning over all this cash to the Islamic community.
The person doing the carving is Kenny Gamble, the author of such hit songs as “Love Train” and “Me and Mrs. Jones.”
So far Americans have shelled out $1.6 billion in federal grants, loans, and “charitable” gifts to create an alleged “Muslims-only” community.
Israel’s predicament uncannily resembles the plotline in Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s now-classic 1956 tragicomedy ‘The Visit.'
There was a rapturous turkey trot in old Turkey the other day. Led by President Abdullah Gul, the Turks and their guests jumped for joy and did their springy one-step to celebrate Israel’s obvious ostracism.
“This is a clear manifestation of how Israel isolated itself,” Gul, who chaired the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, exulted. Twenty-one of CICA’s member-states (with the single exception of Israel) “deeply deplored” its interception of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara.
Speaking Ruth Sinai, Jamil Hamad, Yitzhak Noy and Jay Bushinsky
June 28, 2010
Audio Clip:
The campaign under way in Israel to convince the government to pay the price demanded by Hamas to free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is weighed by the three panelists on "Middle East Perspective" as are the arguments against doing so. Ruth Sinai, a veteran journalist, Jamil Hamad of Time and Yitzhak Noy of Israel Radio consider the humanitarian and political issues with Jay Bushinsky of CBS Radio as moderator. They also discuss the dispute between religious and secular Jews about school segregation and the proposed destruction of 22 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem's ancient Silwan sector.
The Middle East has its Hitler wannabe in Iranian President Ahmadinejad. His nuclear weaponization program has accelerated over eighteen months while Obama's "engagement" is being rebuffed with contemptuous defiance from Tehran. Like Hitler in Mein Kampf, Ahmadinejad has made clear his belief that the Jews of Israel should be annihilated.
Every Hitler needs his Mussolini. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan -- a man I know well -- is enthusiastically volunteering for that role.
Hamastan has just marked its third birthday. It was a glad gala indeed, punctuated with buoyant morale and maritime hijinks by “freedom flotillas” raucously rushing to spark the celebrations.
Unbelievably the anniversary of Hamas’s hegemony in the Gaza Strip came and went with scant critical appraisal anywhere. The Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, which took over Gaza in a spasm of violence during June 2007, now appears an acceptable regional fixture. Nobody demands even a modicum of good behavior from it. Hamastan gets such pampering press that it seemingly cannot set a foot wrong.
By Dr. Alexander Murinson
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 110
June 23, 2010
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israeli–Azerbaijani trade, security, and diplomatic ties have raised Iran’s ire and exposed Azerbaijan and the Israeli assets there to terrorist threats. Azerbaijani security forces, in cooperation with Israel, have thwarted several Iranian-backed terrorist operations in that country, but there are reasons to believe that radical Islamic terrorist groups continue to operate in Azerbaijan at Iran’s behest. Israel should not only continue its successful joint security efforts with the government of Azerbaijan, but should also employ ‘soft power’ to enhance its positive image among the population and to counter Iranian influence.
Introduction
Shortly after obtaining independence in 1991, Azerbaijan established friendly relations with Israel and has continuously been expanding its economic, political, and military ties with the Jewish state, as the state visit by Israeli President Shimon Peres on June 28-29, 2009 reinforced. Azerbaijan is Israel's top trade partner in the Muslim world with an annual trade volume in 2008 of $3.5 billion. It is the second largest exporter of oil to Israel after Russia. Relations between Baku and Jerusalem are perceived by the Iranian regime as a strategic threat.
An open letter from actor Jon Voight to President Obama:
June 22, 2010
President Obama:
You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies. You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone's enemy — and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm's way, and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world.
You have brought this to a people who have given the world the Ten Commandments and most laws we live by today. The Jewish people have given the world our greatest scientists and philosophers, and the cures for many diseases, and now you play a very dangerous game so you can look like a true martyr to what you see and say are the underdogs. But the underdogs you defend are murderers and criminals who want Israel eradicated.
You have brought to Arizona a civil war, once again defending the criminals and illegals, creating a meltdown for good, loyal, law-abiding citizens. Your destruction of this country may never be remedied, and we may never recover. I pray to God you stop, and I hope the people in this great country realize your agenda is not for the betterment of mankind, but for the betterment of your politics.
With heartfelt and deep concern for America and Israel,
Speaking Avi Beker, Shlomo Aronson, Yitzhak Noy and Jay Bushinsky
June 21, 2010
Audio Clip:
The substantial easing of Israel's overland blockade of the Gaza Strip is discussed and analyzed in great detail by the three panelists on "Middle East Perspective -- Shlomo Aronson of the Hebrew University, Avi Beker of Tel Aviv University and Yitzhak Noy of Israel Radio. Jay Bushinsky of CBS Radio is the moderator. They also deal with the flotilla carrying humanitarian supplies that was bound for Gaza that was intercepted by the Israeli Navy. Also on the agenda: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Obama which scheduled for July 6.
By José María Aznar
Former Spanish Prime Minister published in the British newspaper 'The Times'
June 17, 2010
Anger over Gaza is a distraction.
We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region.
For far too long now it has been unfashionable in Europe to speak up for Israel. In the wake of the recent incident on board a ship full of anti-Israeli activists in the Mediterranean, it is hard to think of a more unpopular cause to champion.
In an ideal world, the assault by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara would not have ended up with nine dead and a score wounded. In an ideal world, the soldiers would have been peacefully welcomed on to the ship. In an ideal world, no state, let alone a recent ally of Israel such as Turkey, would have sponsored and organised a flotilla whose sole purpose was to create an impossible situation for Israel: making it choose between giving up its security policy and the naval blockade, or risking the wrath of the world.
Salami-slicing, a familiar if infamous ploy, has long been a favorite of assorted shysters whether in business, party politics or geopolitical machinations. It wasn’t invented by the Arabs in their tactically mutating but strategically consistent war against the Jewish state. That said, the Arabs are matchless masters at deploying the deceit, whereas delusional broad-minded Jews voluntarily cast themselves as the ultimate dupes.
In a recent Tack I wrote that “while Israel serially drew back from its positions... Arab orientations during all that time hadn’t budged a fraction of a millimeter. Their only modifications were tactical. Instead of eradicating Israel in one fell swoop (which they didn’t do only because they couldn’t), they settled on slicing Israel’s salami bit by bit to deprive it of strategic depth, render it more vulnerable to predations and erode it by demonization and demoralization. The basic premise remains that at most the existence of the unwanted ‘Zionist entity’ is admitted temporarily de facto, that this entity must shrink and that Arabs have a right to deluge it.”
Otto von Bismarck, the founder of modern Germany is considered to be the wisest of German politicians ever. He also is deemed one of the most enlightened of all. His command of the German language was as and still is incomparable. His sharp tongue worked well in Russian, French and English. He also was able to foresee historical developments.
During the year in which he died, 1898, he was asked what the next century would be like. The 84 year-old Iron Chancellor did not hesitate: “The most important event in the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.” He was right, of course. From its outset, the 20th century was the century of North American English which defined the unprecedented successful power of the United States.
By backing the terrorist group against Israel, western countries are backing Hamas against Fatah and Islamist states against ME moderates.
Since the navy’s May 31 takeover of the Turkish-Hamas flotilla, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his advisers have deliberated around the clock about how to contend with the US-led international stampede
against Israel. But their ultimate decision to form an investigatory committee led by a retired Supreme Court justice and overseen by foreign observers indicates that they failed to recognize the nature of the international campaign facing us today.
Speaking Jamil Hamad, Avi Beker, Yitzhak Noy and Jay Bushinsky
June 15, 2010
Audio Clip:
"Middle East Perspective" deals with three subjects: the investigatory commission appointed by Israel's government to probe the interception of seven Gaza-bound ships, the postponement of the Palestinian elections and the arrest in Poland of an Israeli national described as a Mossad agent who forged passports in connection with the assassination of a Hamas official in Dubai. The panelists are Jamil Hamad of Time magazine, Avi Beker of Bar-Ilan University and Yitzhak Noy of Israel Radio.
Jay Bushinsky of CBS Radio is the moderator.
This program can be heard on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m in Montreal on CJRS -- 1650 AM.
Rabbi David Nesenoff tells Haaretz the incident opened his eyes as to the extent of anti-Semitism in the world and how central it was in certain social groups.
By Natasha Mozgovaya Tags: Israel news Helen Thomas Barack Obama White House
"Hitler was right. Time for you to go back in the oven," is one of the more subdued expressions to be found in the thousands of missives received by the rabbi whose interview with Helen Thomas included the veteran White House correspondent sending the Jews back to Poland and Germany.
"I asked everyone the same question about Israel, since I wanted to make a video supporting Israel," Rabbi David Nesenoff told Haaretz, saying his encounter with Thomas on May 27, too place as the White House celebrated Jewish Heritage Month, the first such event to organized by U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Apart from the fact that isolation is hardly an end in itself and is pointless if Iran rushes headlong to become a nuclear power, the very claim of Iran’s increasing isolation is increasingly implausible.
In announcing the passage of a UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, President Barack Obama stressed not once but twice Iran’s increasing “isolation” from the world.
This claim is not surprising considering that after 16 months of an “extended hand” policy, in response to which Iran actually accelerated its nuclear program – more centrifuges, more enrichment sites, higher enrichment levels – Iranian “isolation” is about the only achievement to which the administration can even plausibly lay claim.
MGI News is the sole U.S. incorporated news and programming
organization specializing in the Middle East directed by Jay Bushinsky, founding
Bureau Chief of CNN Jerusalem. Topics from President Barak Obama, Binyamin
Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hamas, Hizbollah and more...
Topics include: Middle East News, President Barak Obama, Netanyahu, Abbas,
Ahmadinejad, Hamas, Hizbollah, Goldstone Report, Nobel Peace Prize,Al Qaeda,
Terrorists in the U.S., Iran, Palestinians, Israel, Enriched Uranium, Two-State
Solution, UN Security Council, Human Rights Commission, Paelstinian Authority,
Yitzhak Noy, Elif Ural and more...
Hamastan has just marked its third birthday. It was a glad gala indeed, punctuated with buoyant morale and maritime hijinks by “freedom flotillas” raucously rushing to spark the celebrations.
You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies. You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone's enemy — and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm's way, and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world.
Salami-slicing, a familiar if infamous ploy, has long been a favorite of assorted shysters whether in business, party politics or geopolitical machinations. It wasn’t invented by the Arabs in their tactically mutating but strategically consistent war against the Jewish state. That said, the Arabs are matchless masters at deploying the deceit, whereas delusional broad-minded Jews voluntarily cast themselves as the ultimate dupes.