2011: A Good Year For Israel

If you were to only go by the pantings of various derangers and Useful Idiots, you would think Israel is coming apart at the seams of late, and it is only a matter of time before the Jewish state collapses due to demographics, internal dissent, international public opinion, or some combination thereof.

But in reality, looking back 2011 was a pretty good year for Israel and the country looks as strong and prosperous as ever. Let's recount what happened:

Economically: The year closed with two major deals being inked, one with Apple to open its first technology development center outside of the United States, the other featuring the Technion in a $300 million partnership with Cornell University to open a major center in New York City.

While these deals in particular show that the BDSers have not gained any traction with those who matter, more importantly, they are emblematic of how the high tech Israeli economy is humming along as a powerhouse. Israel's unemployment level is a tiny 5.3%, unmatched by any other Western country, and GDP growth has been higher than the US or any European country. The "Silicon Wadi" is still second only to Silicon Valley in metrics like numbers of startups and NASDAQ listed companies. Israel's Human Development Index is by far the highest in the Middle East, and is now higher than some prosperous Western European countries such as Austria and France. Not bad for a tiny country under siege which a large portion of the World is supposedly boycotting!


Militarily: 2011 saw the Obama Adminstration request $205 million for deployment of the Iron Dome Missile Defense system, which has been developed within Israel. This has been one sign of the increasing military cooperation between the US and Israel, and the Obama Administration's support for Israeli defense, as outlined by Ehud Barack and discussed here previously.

Israel also enjoyed the foreign policy success of stopping this year's incarnation of the Hamas support flotilla dead in its tracks in Greece, without firing a single shot. Meanwhile the Stuxnet computer worm, which it seems Israel had a hand in, retarded the Iranian regime's nuclear program, as did several explosions and assassinations.


Demographically: There are signs that the demographic pendulum is swinging back in favor of Jews, after many years of favoring Arabs, which was the cause of much concern. There are also signs that the Israeli Arab minority is trending toward normalization of life within Israel, such as participation in the alternate national service program, and that the Haredi community is becoming more involved in the mainstream life of the state, such as in the Nahul Haredi IDF battalion.


The war of public opinion: Finally, it has been a pretty good year for the battle of public opinion in the I/P conflict. A lot of European leftists have been the usual basket cases, but here stateside BDSers lost again, garnering only 17% of the vote at the Sacramento Food Coop, adding to their string of non-successes. Another year has passed and the movement has failed to gain any further traction.

The return of Gilad Shalit, in addition to being a practical and moral victory, was also a public opinion coup. Israel was shown to be willing to release 1000 killers of its citizens for one captured soldier, whose demeanor and body told of his abuse at the hands of his captors. While Shalit was shown first in a ridiculous propaganda broadcast and then with his family, the contrast with the Hamas celebrations was quite stark.

Public opinion in the US remains firmly on the side of Israel and shows no signs of going anywhere, only growing stronger in recent years. This will probably continue as the result of the Arab Spring seems to be turning out to be regimes and societies that will be less pro-Western and less secular. Meanwhile, Israel has won another Nobel Prize with Dan Shechtman.

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I used to think that time was not on Israel's side, and that a window of opportunity was closing for Israel to reach a final settlement to the I/P conflict before demographics and world public opinion made a one state outcome (or worse) inevitable. In reviewing Israel's strengths, and her enemies weaknesses, I am not sure of that anymore. If current trends continue, Israel will continue to have a strong economy, pumping out startups and Nobel Prizes, a vibrant culture, and a strong military, not to mention further 'facts on the ground' in East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, 'right-of-return' claims for the great-great-grandchildren of refugees will be increasingly difficult to justify, as the existence of Israel becomes ever more normalized. Israel has challenges, and the justice of a two-state outcome is needed, but it seems it may be Israel's enemies that have the most to lose going forward.

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The thinking behind this post was inspired by an article by Yaacov Lozowick, which posits that Israel is in fact as strong as ever.

Arab Christians and Antisemitism

When my parents were growing up in Detroit in the 50s, many of their neighbors were from the various Christian communities in the Middle East. The city and surrounding area had a large population of Lebanese and Syrians (including native sons Casey Kasem, Jamie Farr, and Danny Thomas), Pontian Greeks from Turkey (as popularized in Jeffery Eugenedes' novel Middlesex), and an ethnoreligious group from Iraq who refer to themselves as "Chaldeans" and are not well known in the US outside of Michigan. Long before there was ever an All American Muslim TV show set in Dearborn, it was these Christians from the Middle East who were Detroit's "All American" immigrants. As far as I am aware, there was no ethnic tension between these groups and their Jewish neighbors.

I later learned the fascinating history of these groups. The Chaldeans, which many ethnographers call 'Assyrians', consider themselves to be the true descendants of the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations, and DNA evidence has shown that they are somewhat ethnically distinct from their Muslim neighbors. The Coptic Christians in Egypt were the most direct link to that country's ancient past, having spoken the Egyptian language until several centuries ago. Christians were a majority in Syria and Lebanon until massive immigration in the 20th century reduced them to a vulnerable minority.

Today, throughout these regions, Christians are in a precarious situation. Possibly half of Iraq's remaining Christians have fled sectarian violence in recent years, and those that remain are in danger from frequent attacks, including church bombings, assassinations, and massacres. In Egypt, the Coptic community, which makes up about 10% of the population, has suffered persecution for years, including increasingly frequent and violent massacres and a second-class status in many respects. Syria's small Christian minority lives in fear of what a toppling of the Assad regime might bring.

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Given their fascinating ancient origins, tenacity for holding onto their culture and traditions, and current percarious minoirty status with widespread victimhood at the hands of the local Muslim majorty, I had assumed that the Arab world's Christians would be natural allies for the Jews of the Middle East. If not allies, then at least more moderate in their opposition.

But personally, my experiences at a certain blog did not bear that out. The Arab commenters there were all Christians, without a single Muslim among them, and yet were far from moderate in their politics with regard to Israel and Jews, even famously favoring nuclear arms in the hands of Hezbollah and Iran. I don't believe there was a person among them who supported a two-state solution. I often wondered why such folks would want to cast their lot so thoroughly with predominantly Muslim contemporary regimes and movements that obviously dispised them, and under which they would not fare well.

Now my internet combing has led me to some fascinating and disturbing quotes, reported in this article featured on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's website. It seems that some Christian religious leaders in the Middle East are trying to out perform their Islamist neighbors in Jew-hate and incitement.

There are the standard doses of Elders of Zion conspiratorial nonsense:

George Saliba - the Syriac Orthodox Church's Bishop in Lebanon when asked by Al-Dunya TV, who was behind the Arab Spring, responded "the source... behind all these movements, all these civil wars, and all these evils" in the Arab world is nothing other than Zionism, "deeply rooted in Judaism." The Jews, he says, are responsible for financing and inciting the turmoil in accordance with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

including 'if it's bad, it must be the Joooooz':

Last fall, the world was shocked by the horrific attack on a Baghdad church that left 58 dead and 67 wounded. Despite the fact that Muslim fanatics had posted threats on the Internet for weeks prior to the slaughter, Melkite Greek Patriarch Gregory III Laham said the terrorist attackers were certainly not Muslims, but probably those trained and supervised "by global Zionism." It was part of "a Zionist conspiracy against Islam," the Christian leader declared, adding that, "All this behavior has nothing to do with Islam... but it is actually a conspiracy planned by Zionism...and "is also a conspiracy against Arabs and the predominantly Muslim Arab world that aims at depicting Arabs and Muslims in Arab countries as terrorist and fundamentalist murderers..."

And even the old "Christ-killer" charge:

Back In 2007, Pope Shenouda III (of the Egyptian Coptic Church) denounced Western churches for exonerating Jews for Christ's death. Jews were "Christ-killers" because "the New Testament says they are."

Pope Shenouda also goes for full-on Israel derangement:

Jews are a cursed people who have their hands indulged in the blood of Palestinians.

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Now of course it is possible to find awful quotes from just about anywhere, directed at just about anyone, but in the last case we are talking about the Coptic Pope, a man who had to live in exile for several years because of persecution from the Egyptian regime.

Which brings me to an interesting hypothesis:

One could think that this seeming wave of immoderation in regard to Israel and Jews on the part of these Arab Christian leaders is the result of their percarious situation in their own countries, where they feel the need to prove their solidarity with their local majority and preempt the inevitable accusations that they are a potential Western and/or Zionist fifth column. Or the result of being steeped in an environment of constant anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda.

But especially Pope Shenouda's comments envoke an older, and more specifically Christian, sort of antisemitism. The Jews as 'Christ-killers' is not something that it seems would derive from, or would particularly resonate with, Muslim or Arab-nationalist style antisemitism. It is possible we are seeing a sinister merging of old-fashioned religious-based Christian antisemitism with contemporary ethnically based antisemitism.

Discourse in the Arab world toward Jews and Israel has become toxic. It is long past time for not only Muslims but Christians as well to walk it back. In the 1950s in the upper Midwest Jews and Christian Arabs lived in harmony as neighbors. Today in the Middle East they do not, and it is not primarily because of what Israel has done, but what has been allowed to fester in the toxic rhetorical environment.

It only took 1,500 years

The internet is still relatively young, not even 50 years even if you count precursors, but the concept of hypertext is much older. One of the earliest written examples of hypertext is the Talmud, the 63-volume compendium of wisdom, law, and guidelines for life used by traditional Jews since its compilation over 1,500 years ago. Virtually every page of the text refers readers to other sources -- in fact, if you use some electronic versions of the Talmud, links to those references are included, though traditional Jews wouldn't use such a version on Shabbat or during chagim, good times for studying -- and if the text doesn't do it, the commentary will. A typical page of Talmud in contemporary volumes includes commentary from Rashi (11th century French rabbi known as the definitive commentator of virtually all Jewish texts to that time), Tosafot (medieval critical and explanatory commentaries), a series of cross-referencing tools, and sometimes a few other commentaries.

The Talmud was originally passed down orally; it wasn't redacted until about 1500 years ago, but even then it still had to be memorized -- it's not like there were enough copies for everyone to have their own. But even with the advent of the printing press, there has never been a widely recognized, accepted index.

Until now:

The index has 6,600 topical entries and 27,000 subtopical entries that point students to the treatises and pages of text they are seeking. In these passages, sages analyze matters like whether one can remarry a former wife after she has been betrothed to another, or how one should handle a lost object found in a garbage heap. The index guides the student to significant laws about Sabbath and daily observance, as well as maxims, parables, commentaries and Talmudic personalities.

The index was compiled by an immigration lawyer, Daniel Retter (though it's been hechshered by some leading Talmudic scholars). When asked why he invested so much time and effort into this project, he said the following:

I’m a lawyer, and if I want to know the law, I look it up in an index.

Sounds reasonable enough to me. That's pretty much what we all do, regardless of our professions -- if we want to know the exact facts about something and don't necessarily trust our own memories for every last detail, we look them up. And it's helpful to have a handy reference to make it easier.

This is one of the things I've always loved about our traditions -- no matter how much we've studied, no matter how well we know our material, we still recognize that we can come up with better ways to learn. Even if it takes a few hundred years.

Ron Paul Wishes Israel Didn't Exist

The title basically says it all.

According to a former senior aide who worked with Ron Paul for 12 years, the 'libertarian' Republican presidential candidate is not an antisemite, but fully wishes that Israel didn't exist.

Mirroring the more 'moderate' anti-Zionist rhetoric that we see on the internet, Paul apparently believes that Israel's creation was a mistake and that it is a burden to America

Paul's view, he said, "is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer. He sides with the Palestinians, and supports their calls for the abolishment of the Jewish state, and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs."

If this the whole thing is true, it would place Paul in that highly theoretical category that I am always told exists but have never seen much direct evidence of, that of an anti-Zionist that is not an antisemite. Or it is entirely possible that Paul is also an antisemite, given his history of bigoted statements against many groups.

In either case, if true, this shows yet again that Ron Paul is unfit to be anywhere near the levers of power. He would abandon one of America's major allies and trading partners, and a country that shares its values and aspirations, and provides much needed self-determination to the Jewish people.

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Also, I have to note that yet again a (big L) Libertarian refuses to live up to what he or she preaches. Libertarians and Ayn Rand heads are supposed to be all about survival of the fittest and letting the marketplace and/or Darwinian logic decide who wins and loses, without compassion or help for the losers. Well, who has won and proved their value in a more dramatic Darwinian fashion than Israel? A tiny country with a tiny population surrounded and perpetually attacked by hostile enemies, they have nevertheless built themselves up into an economic and military powerhouse. If (big L) Libertarians like Ron Paul were actually consistent in their ideology, they would love Israel and want it to continue to succeed.

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And lastly, there has been much talk, not entirely unjustified, about how anti-Zionism and antisemitism has crept into some quarters of the progressive movement. Well, now we have an actual Republican Presidential candidate, one who may very well win the Iowa caucus, who has now gone farther into anti-Zionism than any presidential contender in recent memory.

Just like support for Israel is bi-partisan, it seems like Israel derangement is too. Which, for supporters of Israel is a good thing - it means that candidates who want to resonate with a majority of Americans will still have to prove their pro-Israel cred. But it does deflate the argument that the Democratic tent is more hospitable to anti-Zionism / antisemitism than the Republican one.

World's Oldest Hate Increases As We Enter Another Year

Getting into the season, here's sufganiyot (donuts) representing each officially documented antisemitic hate crime recorded in the United States of America just over this past year (as of October 2011) -

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We'd need a lot of oil to fry those up. Perhaps even enough to run America's energy needs for a week? If only that energy could be directed towards aims other than the centuries-old game of hating Jews, of course. The age-old problem, eh? The world's oldest disease.

Jump with me below the fold.

Israel May Recognize Armenian Genocide

Yesterday, for the first time, the Knesset held an open hearing on whether to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, where 1.5 million people, two thirds of the Armenians, were slaughtered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in its final days after World War 1.

This is significant because previously, mindful of previously robust ties with Turkey, Israel had resisted recognizing the Armenian genocide. Currently the Armenian genocide is officially recognized by less than 20 countries, an indication of how much diplomatic weight Turkey has been able to throw around.

Now it seems that Turkey's diplomatic firewall might be cracking. Last week the lower house of the French Parliament voted to make Armenian genocide denial a crime, at which point Turkey recalled its ambassador. This follows on the heels of the long running diplomatic spat between Turkey and Israel stemming from the killing of Turkish "peace activists" on the 2009 Gaza Flotilla.

(Authors note: It is a testament to the Orwellian lies surrounding I/P that people who intend to forcefully break a military blockade against a medieval terrorist organization are called peace activists)

It seems that the current moderate Islamist Turkish government is moving toward trying to win the admiration of the Arab/Muslim street rather than the west, as they 1) continue to militarily occupy half of an EU member state (Cyprus), 2) risk a spat with France, and 3) foment a split with Israel.

In that case, there seems to be less for Israel to lose in recognizing the Armenian genocide, as pointed out by some right wing Knesset members:

Ori Orbach, a parliamentarian from the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi party, challenged the government’s concerns about what Turkey might do and spoke for many conservatives here.

“How many times can they recall their ambassador?” he asked rhetorically. “What can Turkey do to us? It’s our duty to teach what happened to the Armenian people.”

The fault lines in the Knesset debate over the Armenian are interesting, and yet again demonstrate how traditional left/right demarkations are difficult to apply in Israel.

The session was launched by the combined efforts of Alex Miller of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party and Zahava Gal-On of the left-wing Meretz party. Enthusiastic advocates include many members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish Likud party — yet Mr. Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, telephoned (Knesset speaker) Mr. Rivlin of Parliament on Sunday and tried to get the session canceled.

Speaker Rivlin himself said

As a people and as a country we stand and face the whole world with the highest moral demand that Holocaust denial is something human history cannot accept

But there are also the voices of pragmatists, who think that Israel's strategic relationship with Turkey can be salvaged:

Otniel Schneller, a parliamentarian from the opposition Kadima Party and himself the son of Holocaust survivors, spoke against the commemoration, saying the region was growing more hostile to Israel in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings and that Israel had to be pragmatic.

“This is the time when we must rehabilitate our relations with Turkey because this is an existential issue for us,” he said. “We have to integrate into the Middle East. Sometimes our desire to be right and moral overcomes our desire to exist, which is in the interest of the entire country.”

So what should win out? Israel's relationship with Turkey is historically important but frayed. The Armenian genocide was in some ways a prelude to the Shoah, and Turkey seems to be showing signs of casting its lot with Israel's enemies.

The False Mask of Peace in the Middle East

It is big news that Hamas is joining the PLO. It marks for the first time in years that the Palestinian polity has it's two largest groups Hamas and Fatah as part of the same governmental authority. Aside from numerous internal sticking points however, one external point remains glaring at all those who can simply recognize it. Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel as a legitimate nation.

Now, I am not an Israeli and in the end it is up to them to decide what they feel is right. I never served in the Israeli Defense Forces, I never had to put on a uniform once per year to do Milluim.... Nothing. So, I am not one who can negotiate for the Israelis for Peace. I don't have to deal with the constant threat of terrorist attacks hanging over my head. Day after day after day. My only experience was that I had to live with it for a year when I got spend my Junior year abroad in Haifa, Jerusalem, a Kibbutz in the North, and a short time (two weeks) on an Army base in the South.

All of this said I am a Jew, and Israel does represent something important to me. I support Israel because of what it means to me, I care about Israelis as fellow Jews - that frankly means something to me. To a degree I admire Israelis who have to face this everyday but have built a nation that to this point they should be proud of.

I have issues with Israel as well. As an American, I gladly vote for people that will support my nations friendship with Israel and my tax dollars and individual contributions are real factors to help that happen. My country has political goals in the Middle East, I am concerned that things Israel does at times affects those interests. I have issues with some of the things they do relative to the Palestinians because as a Jew and as a Human Being, I don't care for injustice to any fellow human being.

Overall though... I firmly support Israel as a friend and an ally. To me, Israel and Israelis represent something special and something that needs to continue into the far, far future. SO... that all said - here is my take on the new inclusion of Hamas, and here is what I want to say to Israel.

"Guys.. the Palestinian Polity is not interested in Peace with you, this is clear". Sure individual Palestinians want Peace, but does the polity as it stands? I think the inclusion of Hamas sends a clear message of "NO" they don't. Why do I say this... Well, let's look at the words spoken by Hamas officials.

Here is a report from Maan News quoting an anonymous Hamas official:

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas's Mashaal had told Abbas that his group was "in favor of peaceful resistance and a truce in Gaza and the West Bank at this stage".

The official offered no further explanation on what that might mean. Hamas has said in the past it would agree to a long-term truce with Israel, but remains sworn to its destruction.

And here is Ahmed Youssef a political advisor to Hamas:

Ahmed Youssef, a political adviser to Hamas' Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that the group had to "create popular resistance that draws the world to our struggle, and that doesn’t give the Israelis the justification to hit us hard."

"The non-violent approach is part of a strategy for our present situation to draw world sympathy to our cause,” the top aide said adding that the possible change in strategy was also a result of Hamas' “vulnerable situation against the Israelis, who have a huge propaganda machine.”

Further, here is Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh himself talking about this:

"Resistance is the way and it is the strategic choice to liberate Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea and to remove the invaders from the blessed land of Palestine," Haniyeh told the crowd, which chanted: "We will never recognize Israel."

"Hamas, together with other stubborn resistance factions, will lead the people towards uprising after uprising until all of Palestine is liberated," Haniyeh said, referring to territory that includes the occupied West Bank and what is now Israel.

Now many supporters of the Palestinians look at what Khalid Meshaal just recently said when he declared that he would accept a Palestinan State within the 1967 borders as de facto acceptance and recognition of Israel. However the words of his officials, Haniyeh, and Youssef all prove that to be a lie. Of course Meshaal will take Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders as a first step to ending Israel. Who wouldn't (if that was their goal)?

Further, Meshaal's own words lend further creedance to the fact that he has no intention of accepting Israel whether there are two States or not:

During the AP interview in Cairo after his meeting with Abbas, Meshal said Hamas would not renounce its own armed fight against Israel. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis, most of them civilians, in suicide bombings, shootings and rocket attacks since the Islamist group was formed in 1987.

"As long as there is an occupation on our land, we have the right to defend our land by all means, including military resistance," he said.

Take this last statement in context that Hamas considers all land from the Jordan River to the Mediterannean Sea "Occupied Territory". The inclusion of Hamas into the P.L.O. (along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad) with it's genocidal charter, and it's committment to end the existence of Israel simply makes the P.L.O. no partner for peace. Plain and simple.

So what do I suggest: Well, I think the Occupation is the wrong thing to do from both a human perspective and a perspective based on wanting to see preserved as a Jewish State and Democracy for all of it's citizens. Therefore, I suggest that the Israelis work with the U.S. to secure borders that will guarantee their security and will end the Occupation of populated Palestinian areas in the West Bank. I foresee a similar map to the final map issued by Ehud Olmert in 2008.

This map would guarantee Israeli security, since it is obvious that the struggle against it would simply continue albeit with them in reduced borders plus it would mean that there would not be a huge population
of people there to compromise the premise of Israeli Democracy. Of course, if once, there was guerilla action against Israel they could simply act as one nation does towards another that attacks it, and then there would be no issue of borders or anything.

Will this make some people upset? Probably. Do I as someone who supports Israel's continued existence care? Not really. The Palestinians by bringing in P.I.J. and Hamas have set this ball in motion. There are a million different things they could have done differently - they chose this path. Now.... they have to live in it.

UT Young Republicans: "It may be tempting but, Don't shoot the President...."

My oh My 'tis the season. The Right wing seems to be in full out "Teh Loonies" mode this season. It's not bad enough that the Republican rhetoric and hatred for the President is in full display from the hard Right wing. Hatred that only leads to villification and violence, hatred that leads to Americans turning against their own country and the vast majority of it's own citizens all in the interests of winning an election.
So where does our latest bout of 'Teh Loonies" take us.. to the University of Texas where the College Republicans seem to have a real issue with President Obama for reasons of their own... Heh.

So first off we had the ex-President of the UT College Republicans Lauren Pierce Tweet:

“I know it may be tempting, but don’t shoot President Obama. We need him to go down as the worst president in history."

Now Pierce did later apologize AND step down, but still.. this is a pretty horrific statement and I have a feeling that if it was said by a Democrat or anyone else they would be talking to members of the Secret Service for threatening the Presidents life.

So... what happens next. Cassandra Wright, who was just elected president of the College Republicans a few weeks ago replacing Pierce tweeted this:

“My president is black, he snorts a lot of crack. Holla!”

Hmmm.... The President of the College Democrats tried to take the high road by saying:

“I was really surprised by her tweet last night. It was clearly offensive and it definitely had that strain of racism in it," said president-elect of the U.T. College Democrats Huey Fischer. "She seems like a really smart girl. She's a really upbeat person. Someone who seems politically correct most of the time.”

Had a "strain" of racism in it. Holy crap... You think? It's straight up racist. Also, I am not sure what being upbeat or trying to be politically correct has to do with being a flaming bigot. Smiling and successfully hiding ones intentions is does not make one a nice person, it just makes one a decent actor.
The Republican response:

A republican insider told KVUE that sources close to Cassie Wright believe that she may have gotten the idea for the tweet from a rap song by an artist called Young Jeezy. His song called “My President is Black” does not mention anything about crack cocaine nor does it say anything about President Obama doing drugs.

“I honestly don't know what she was thinking when she tweeted this. I don't know if it was just a simple mistake. I don't know if her account was hacked or not. It could definitely have been just a careless remark," said Fischer. "It was definitely insensitive. It was definitely inappropriate and not something someone in her position should have tweeted.”

Let's look at this one for a second... "I don't know if it was just a simple mistake"WTF???? Leaving the water running in the sink or leaving your door unlocked is a "simple mistake". Making a racist slur about the President... ummm no. That is not a simple mistake. That is straight up bigotry. And then to double down with "Well, it could have been a careless remark"... Sure, because we all just make highly inflammatory racist comments offhand. (/snark)

Or how about this "It was not something someone in her position should have tweeted"..... WHAT? So in other words if she was not in that position it would have been ok???? WTF is that.  What does her "position" have to do with racism? How about we start to face down racism with a comment. "It was inappropriate and something this hateful should not be encouraged, said, or tweeted. This behavior is completely unacceptable".

How about that?

President Obama and the U.S. - Supporting Israel yet AGAIN!

Despite the ridiculous talking points of the Republican party and it's apologists once again the President and his administration PROVE that there really is no better friend to Israel and the Jewish People.

First there was the unprecedented move of bringing Seders as annual events to the White House. Then there was the declaration that May, 2011 would be Jewish American Heritage Month. Then there was the Presidents support for maintaing American aid to Israel throughout 2018. Of course those detractors hesitate to point out that the President also firmly stood by the U.S. in the U.N. and that alone of all the Security Council nations has consistantly stood with Israel despite condemnations from everyone else.

Even when the President voted to earmark $ 205 million dollars in additional aid in the development of the Iron Dome Missle Protection System the detractors said "not enough:". But the President has stood firm in his friendship with Israel.

SO in contrast to the message spread by those with ODS (Obama Derangement Syndrome), the U.S. has shown over and over again what a great friend to Israel it is. Just today - the U.S. Government allocated an ADDITIONAL $ 235 million to develop the Arrow and David's Sling Missle Defense Systems.  As Ynet Reports:

WASHINGTON – The Unites States has announced it will allocate $235 million for the development of safeguards against rockets and missiles that could be launched towards Israel by Hezbollah and Iran.


A large part of the funds will go towards the development of the David's Sling system, designed to intercept medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles, and the Arrow 2 and 3 systems against long-range ballistic missiles.


An Iron Dome Battery in Southern Israel

However, Pentagon officials were the ones who requested that Congress approve a $106 million aid budget for Israel's defense systems against missiles, on top of the Iron Dome budget.

Congress chose to nearly double that amount, approving a budget of $235 million for 2012, amounting to $25 million more than in 2011.

Also in Haaretz today: Israel's Defense Minister praises Obama's resolve, denies tensions with Netanyahu

The Israeli Defense Minister yet again spoke of the Presidents committment to the security of Israel and this time had kind words for the Administration as well. But more than that he said this regarding President Obama:

Barak said Israeli-U.S. defense coordination was "absolutely fine" and played down tension between Obama and Netanyahu. "They don't have to love each other. It's enough that they respect and understand that no one works as if they were alone, in a bubble."....

......"We are asked, sometimes, whether Obama is really a soft appeaser. To that, I say: 'Go ask Osama bin Laden." U.S. special forces killed the long elusive al Qaida leader in a lightning raid on his Pakistan hideout last May.

How much more does President Obama have to do for the sufferers of ODS? Nothing. He has done what it takes. He walks the walk.

The record is quite clear - President Obama and his administration is a friend to Israel in both word as well as in action. There is simply no way that a reasonable person can deny that fact.

Hamas to Join the PLO

Reports out of the Middle East are saying that Hamas is joining into the Palestine Liberation Organization. According to Haaretz (reporting on an AP story):

Hamas' leader Khaled Meshal on Thursday joined a committee that will prepare for elections to the PLO leadership, according to AP.

Those elections are likely years away but Meshal's move means he will work with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the rival Fatah party.

The PLO is the umbrella group of the Palestinian independence movement. Should Hamas join the PLO, it would have to accept all of the PLO’s commitments, including those toward Israel.

Maan News is also discussing this:

The report comes as President Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Cairo to put "final touches" on an agreement to reconcile the leaders' rival factions.

Fatah leader in Gaza Yahiya Rabbah said the meeting was intended to agree on a final arrangement before the outcome was announced officially later Thursday.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Wednesday that Palestinian factions have reached agreement on several steps to be taken as part of ongoing reconciliation talks.

A committee composed of nine members has been formed to take charge of elections. The names will be reviewed by Abbas, who will issue a decree to form a new elections committee.

Now of course with Hamas' inclusion into the PLO, how will the Palestinian Polity regard any steps towards peace. The P.L.O. recognized Israel when Yasser Arafat renounced the original charter in 1993, however, while Hamas has hinted at recognition in the past as part of a thinly disguised publicity ploy to convince Westerners it has since pulled even that hint back stating just recently (on 12/15/11):

Resistance is the way and it is the strategic choice to liberate Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea and to remove the invaders from the blessed land of Palestine," Haniyeh told the crowd, which chanted: "We will never recognize Israel."

"Hamas, together with other stubborn resistance factions, will lead the people towards uprising after uprising until all of Palestine is liberated," Haniyeh said, referring to territory that includes the occupied West Bank and what is now Israel.

Of course, Israel has rejected all peace talks with the Palestinians as long as Hamas is part of the Palestinian Government.

In their statements of December 15th Hamas of course seems to be tracking back to the Charter which calls for the elimination of the Jewish people in Article 7:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

and trades in anti-Semitic tropes and memes including asserting that the anti-Semitic forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are actually true in Article 32:

"Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."

So, how will the two sides reconcile this? Here is my take:

The PLO will see no inconsistency in allowing Hamas to continue their rejectionist ways, citing that though they recognize Israel they also call for complete and total Right of Return as defined by the U.N. which will cause a demographic shift in the populace and end up creating One Palestinian State from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. This will then allow Hamas to maintain it's credibility as a rejectionist party that did not compromise on it's ideals at the same time it will give them diplomatic cover for gullible activists and Western nations questioning their Middle Eastern support of Israel.

One thing this will also do is lock down support for a nationalist foreign policy. I cannot see Israel compromising in the face of a PLO that is hand in hand with Hamas and until Hamas rejects it's charter, I can't see why they should. Does that mean I support the continuance of the Occupation? Absolutely not. I think it makes ending the Occupation even more imperitive. I think it just means that the Israelis end it on their terms, and their terms alone.

The Palestinians by bringing in an unrepentant Hamas as an equal partner in their government, a Hamas who as late as last week vowed non-recognition of Israel AND  who promised "total liberation" of the land between the Jordan and Med. have made their position clear as a bell. That they will currently not recognize Israel as the National Homeland and State of the Jewish People, and that in doing so are not partners for peace.

One note... I think the timing here is interesting as well. Currently with the Assad regime facing revolution and the possibility of a fall, Hamas is losing a major patronm, even now Khalid Meshaal and the Syrian Regime are arguing with each other. Hamas might look to Egypt under the leadership of the Brotherhood and the Salafists (although they are not that kindly disposed to Hamas) as more of a patron. By folding into the PLO they could make up for the fall off in support from Damascus with support from a new regime in Cairo.

Now some may say that by folding into the PLO that will moderate their stance. My feeling is that this is simply wishful thinking. One thing about Hamas is that they don't like compromise. They see it as weakness. At the same time Hamas has talked with Israel before and the two governments have had unofficial meetings. To take a nuanced view one could and rightly argue that Hamas could be dealt with on a short term basis. Israeli deals with Hamas have shown that to be true. At the same time, I think those agreements are only short term and in the long run Hamas has done nothing to show anything that would lead one to believe they would agree to or support a permanent agreement.

Please discuss.

Flaming Radical Supporters of Jihadists Claim Right Wing Bills Are a Danger to Israel (parody)

Well those wild radical supporters of the Worldside Jihad were at it again criticizing Israel and it's turn to the Right. What will these nefarious liberals think of next? Why do they continue undermine the State while the rest of the Arab World rapidly becomes the Evil Empire of Mordor (Thanks Michael) run by the Ghosts of Haj Amin and Osama Bin Ladin.

Who are these evil, evil liberals that dare threaten Israel like this....

One of them is none other than...(Dramatic Music insert here) this maniacal soul:


Dorit Beinish, Secret head of Sharia Law in Israel

Who is Dorit Beinish... the President of the Israeli Supreme Court. Justice Beinish had this to say:

"However, the supreme court chief added, "the events of the last months, and the various bills that are being submitted to the Knesset, some of which seem to change the basic principles, raise the fear that the structure that has been built here in the last sixty years, and specifically in the last twenty years, is standing on an insecure foundations."

On what she called an "optimistic note," Beinish said that the fact that new Basic Laws were not been legislated does not indicate the end of efforts toward a constitution.

Another crazed pro-jihadist radical Former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak said that: "that Israel witnessed in recent months a "wave of murky legislation," as well as an attack on the courts that borders on "incitement."  and "bills are being considered that, on the face of it, seem unconstitutional. That is not the way the Knesset conducted itself in the past."

Gathering courage from these eliminationist radicals, Israeli Attorney General and noted Jihadi, Yehuda Weinstein offered this statement of comfort to the bomb-throwers:


The modern face of Radical Jihad - Israeli A.G. Yehuda Weinstein

"The attorney general's policy is to refrain as much as possible from declaring laws unconstitutional, out of respect for the legislative work of the cabinet and Knesset," Weinstein wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this weekend explaining his unusual decision. "But in light of the blatancy of the case before us, deviating from this policy is justified. What this means is that if these bills become law, I won't be able to defend them against the petitions that will be submitted to the High Court. That is what I intend to tell the Knesset, and afterward the Supreme Court."

"Imam" Weinstein went on to say this:

"They deal a harsh blow to a long list of constitutional rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right to equality," he wrote. "Instead of enabling open discussion in an efficient 'marketplace of ideas,' they try to suppress speech. They put Israel on a par with the handful of countries that have taken similar steps, and I doubt the State of Israel should be jealous of these regimes and act like them."

While the bills' declared aim is to prevent foreign states from intervening in Israeli public life, in fact, money from abroad is welcomed in many areas of Israeli life, he wrote. "Therefore, it seems the true aim is different. From the bills' explanatory notes and the discussions in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, it seems the bills are meant to prevent support for organizations that slander the State of Israel. These are mainly human rights organizations. But even if this is the goal, I doubt it's an appropriate goal, because silencing legal activity cannot be a legitimate goal."

BUT that's not all. The head of these dangerous sympathizers PM Binyamin Netanyahu  in a move sure to bring down the fall of Israel in it's naivete actually dared to freeze the bills so that they cannot be voted on. How can this traitor not see that suppression of rights in Israel is necessary due to the darkness that is spreading around the last beacon of light left in the world (outside of anyone in the U.S. who is not named Barak Obama or identifies as a liberal - that is)?

EDITORIAL NOTE: For those that haven't noticed this is an extremely sarcastic article. Criticism of the legislation proposed by Ofir "My pal Joe McCarthy" Akunis (Likud) and cohort Faina Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beiteinu) has been questioned as appropriate (not the word used) and lacking in proper focus. It is my contention that we not ignore what even the most respected legal authorities in Israel say. Further, these laws represent a threat to Israel as a Western Democracy. Is this really the direction David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Rabin and the rest would have gone? Well, wait.. we can answer this - no they didn't so I think we can safely say they would not have gone this way.,

Discuss.

If I Was At The Poverty Line, I Wouldn't Be Able To Eat A Single Thing

This is just going to be a short note to share something that I never really realized before.

I was reading interesting articles debating whether the "poverty line" as defined by the US government was an accurate measure of real poverty. It occurred to me that I had no idea what the poverty line actually is.

Well here it is, straight from Uncle Sam: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml
For a single person household like me, it is an annual income of $10,890. I don't know if that is before or after tax, and at that level it probably doesn't matter.

I live in a studio apartment. And it is subsidized, below market rate Univeristy faculty housing at that. So my housing situation is not extravigant by any means - although it is amazingly close to work and amazingly convenient, it is not more expensive than anything else in the area. And my rent is around $1100 per month.

That means that if I made the poverty line level income, I would not be able to purchase one bit of food the entire year! Let alone any medications or doctor co-pays (assuming I had insurance), gas for my car, clothes, or anything else that one needs to live. I would say that qualifies as impoverished.

This tells me that the federal poverty line, and all of the statistics based on it, must be drastically underestimating the amount of poverty in America. Now of course there are vast regional differences in cost of living, but many millions of Americans do live in the expensive large metros.

There must be benefits that the poor receive, such as food stamps, Medicaid, and so on, that function as some additional income. But still. From what I can see the Federal poverty line seems ridiculously low.

Thoughts?

Semi Daily Discussion - Polls and Opinions

Today we start off with the latest Poll out of Israel a Panels Internet Poll. Knesset Jeremy reports:

An internet based poll by the Panels Polling Company on Decemeber 12, 2011, offers an explanation for why Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to call for early primaries for the Likud chairmanship. According to the poll Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud would gain five seats and enjoy a 13-seat lead over second place Kadima. Labor drops from the second largest party position in recent polls to third and would win only four more seats than it had under Defense Minister Barak in 2009. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman drops to 13 seats in this poll and is a main reason his party is against calling for early elections. The poll only showed the results for the four largest parties and chose not to show the results of the other nine parties currently represented in Knesset. The poll does show that the four larger parties would gain three seats from its smaller counterparts.

If elections held today (expressed in Knesset seats)

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]
32 [27] Likud
19 [28] Kadima
17 [08] Labor
13 [15] Yisrael Beitenu
39 [ 42] Other Parties

Granted that this is an Internet Poll so anything here is subject to question. However this follows on the heels of a Haaretz/Dialogue Poll from 12/5/11 which shows:

The latest poll conducted on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, and published in the print edition of Ha’aretz on Thursday, December 1, 2011, shows that despite the latest wave of controversial bills the nationalist block is gaining strength.

According to the poll Netanyahu’s Likud and his senior coalition partner, Liberman’s Y.B., would both receive two additional seats. Opposition leader Livni’s Kadima continues its recent trend of dropping in the polls and would lose 11 seats. Yachimovich’s Labor is starting to drop from recent polls and dips under 20 seats for the first time since late August. Interior Minister Yishai’s Shas would drop two seats. A merged National Union and Jewish Home would become the sixth largest party with seven seats, and Meretz would be close behind with six seats after a gain of three.

The poll had a sample of 505 adults Israelis, and the statistical error was +/- 4.5 percentage points.
If elections held today (expressed in Knesset seats)

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]
29 [27] Likud
19 [08] Labor
17 [28] Kadima
17 [15] Yisrael Beitenu
09 [11] Shas
07 [07] National Union and Jewish Home
06 [03] Meretz
06 [05] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
05 [04] Hadash
05 [07] Ra’am, Ta’al and Balad
00 [05] Independence

In both polls, Likud and the Nationalists hold on to the Knesset while Labor and Kadima jostle each other for seats with Meretz picking up some either Kadima or Labor. Either way, here is just a snapshot of what is happening.

Today, I want to print some articles from some columnists I agree with. First we have Brad Burston lamenting some of the issues facing Israel today. In his column: Israel 2012, Teaching the Horse to Starve, Burston rightfully takes on those people that diminesh the dream of Jewish Democracy and the principles that founded Israel.

We all know who the balagulas (from a joke referenced early in the piece) are. The foreign minister who doesn't believe in diplomacy, the finance minister who doesn't believe in economic opportunity, the health minister who doesn't believe in doctors, the minister for fostering aliyah who extols an Israeli ad campaign for America which directly offends U.S. Jews.

Day by day at home, this Israel teaches the horse to starve when it demands more and more of the non-Haredi young and provides less and less: in return for less education, more fees, in return for more inequitable army duty and taxation, less affordable housing.

Day by day the prime minister, in callous insult or in condescension, in domestic calculation or out of personal need, teaches the horse to starve when he reduces Israel's support abroad, alienating traditional allies and the Jewish world. Pledging to work for two states, and then ensuring that state number two will be the People's Republic of Judea.

Until this year, the rule of balagulism proved itself. The balagulas taught the horse to starve, and, holding all the power, gave the horse no option but to obey. The balagulas were – are - pleased as punch with themselves. And when it all collapses around them, they will always have the horse to blame.

Burstons commentary seems to come from a sense that the leaders of his adopted home Israel (Burston is an Oleh) are betraying the foundations of the Country set forth by David Ben-Gurion and the Yishuv. Given the diplomatic failures (only held by the friendship of the U.S.) and internal economic issues this seems like a valid contention.

Our Next Opinion column is from Zvi Bar'el discussing the IDF and the recent attacks on it by Right Wing elements:

Here Bar'el makes a great case for why the IDF needs to move against "price tag" attacks and how the IDF is the one thing in Israeli society that can improve on this:

It's too easy to mock faulted democracies such as Egypt or Turkey, where citizens are tried for insulting the army. In such countries one doesn't even have to throw stones at officers in order to be locked away for years. But in true democracies, the army isn't raised from the people, and the civilian public is the sovereign, holy party that is untouchable.

In true democracies, the army isn't an educational body, and certainly isn't an organization that defines cultural or political borders. In Israel, the army acquired a unique status, and now it cannot renounce its responsibility.

Only the IDF, as a chief arbiter of the public forum, can now alter the definition of terror, before the whole state of Israel falls victim to a "price tag" operation.

Bar'el rightly points that that had these elements happened, an assault on the IDF, or the burning of a Synagogue, or stone throwing assaults on settlers by Palestinians they would be treated as terror attacks YET, they are not characterized this way when the Settlers do this to fellow Jews or the military. So it is up to the IDF to lead the way and protect all of it's citizens.

Our third piece is a Haaretz editorial that regards Economic Justice:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed determination on Sunday when he voted in the cabinet meeting for most of the recommendations on increasing competitiveness in the economy suggested by the Trajtenberg Committee. 

The recommendations approved by the cabinet are truly historic. They include establishing metropolitan authorities to manage cities' public transportation, increasing competition in public transportation, taking the gas stations away from big energy companies and giving broader powers to the Antitrust Authority to break up companies that wield too much economic power. These structural recommendations are of unparalleled importance and will increase competition in Israel.

This said the editorial also explores the issue of controlled imports and how important they are to lowering prices for the Middle Class.

Anyway, please discuss and have fun!

Semi Daily Discussion News Wrap up

Here we go for Tuesday, December 20th:

First off we have this tidbit from Haaretz: Barak: U.S. committed to Israel's security more than ever before

Despite attempts from those with "ODS" (Obama Derangement Syndrome) to try to convince American Jews not to vote for President Obama because supposedly he is bad for Israel at least the Israelis are not falling for that one. Here is Defense Minister Ehud Barak talking about America and Israel:


photo courtesy of Haaretz

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday that "the U.S. stands besides Israel in terms of its security more than ever before," and that "both countries agree that everything should be done to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon." \

Speaking with reporters at a Hanukkah ceremony in the Efraim IDF Base that was attacked by right-wing settlers a week ago, Barak said that "it is still time for diplomacy, but we will see what will happen as time goes on."
Panetta said Israel's concern for a nuclear Iran is a "common concern" of the U.S., and that Washington would not rule out a military attack.

"The United States does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us and that's a red line, obviously, for the Israelis," he told CBS.

Meanwhile, the U.S.¬ and other nations meeting Tuesday in Rome to discuss sanctions against Iran for its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons have resolved to boost pressure on Tehran to restart negotiations, Italian foreign ministry officials said.

Oh well so much for those right wing memes

Our second story comes courtesy of Jeremy's Knesset Blog (a great resource for info. on what is actually being discussed in the Knesset.

First of all - the Government today threw back three no-confidence measures:

* Kadima’s no-confidence motion titled ‘The Netanyahu government undermines the middle class and the disadvantaged groups’ was defeated 32-48 with 40 MKs not present.
* Hadash, Ra’am-Ta’al and Balad’s joint no-confidence motion titled ‘The government is trying to bury the demands of social justice’ was defeated 30-49 with 41 MKs not present.
* Labor and Meretz’s joint no-confidence motion titled ‘The IDF’s decision to bury the Segev Committee report requiring equality between men and women’ was defeated 30-49 with 41 MKs not present.

Second of all one can see here that there were some important bills to vote on and one was a Tax Bill. Unlike in the U.S. where Republican politicians are holding the economy country hostage to their claims of cutting taxes on the Rich, the Israelis (even the right to a small degree is getting somethings partially right). Though this does not in my opinion go far enough - it's a good start:

Funds Committee Chairman Gafni (U.T.J.) explained the amendment would raise the corporate tax by 1% to 25%. It would also lower income tax in the NIS 8,000 – 14,000 per month bracket by 2%, raise the negative income tax on women by 50%, raise men’s bonus points by two for children under the age of 3, and raise the senior citizens’ interest tax exemption from NIS 9,000 to NIS 13,000 per month for an individual and up to NIS 16,000 for a couple. In addition, the amendment would grant the authorization and transfer of property of secondhand homes to the buyer after the tax authority receives a portion of the purchase tax- NIS 7,500 for apartments built after 2001 and NIS 15,000 for apartments built before.  The amendment would also lower interest rates on mortgages of under NIS 220,000 by 1% only for 2012. He stated the bill will help the middle class at the expense of the rich elite and the bill will assist families in buying their homes.

Our third note comes also from Jeremy's Knesset blog. Please note the comments of the N.U. and Hadash representatives. These are the extremes that are gaining footholds within their respective (Palestinian and Israeli) polities. Of course it should be noted that these folks still do represent the extremes and that in next eleceions right now they do not poll particularly highly (with the exception of Yisrael Betainu). Here it is in full:

Amendment to the Museums Bill

MK Ariel (N.U.) explained the amendment would apply the museum bill to Judea and Samaria. He noted four museums that would now be able to receive government funding like other Israeli museums. He asked why 400,000 Judea and Samaria residents have taxation without representation as unequal citizens under Israeli law. He expressed hope that this will be the first step in righting that wrong.

MK Molla  (Kadima) announced that Kadima had decided to allow every MK to vote according to their belief on this bill. He expressed his view that Israel should end the occupation and that he will support this bill until the residents of Judea and Samaria return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders.

MK Barakeh (Hadash) called this bill a win to the land grabbers, hilltop youth and price taggers. He called on the government to fund a Palestinian museum on the occupation and settler violence. He said that the settlers are not citizens and therefore do not deserve rights. He stated his belief that the settlements are temporary.

MK Swaid (Hadash) said that this bill is meant to annex Judea and Samaria into Israel. He said the land is occupied and can’t be annexed. He said this bill is parallel to the construction of a museum of tolerance over a Muslim cemetery. He asked if Israel wants to annex the King Solomon borders and rule over the whole Middle East.

MK Khenin (Hadash) said this bill teaches us that Israel is still trying to play the Zionist game of the 1940s. He said that the world will never accept the occupation and that Israel will eventually give up on ruling over the Palestinians.

MK El-Sana (R.T.) accused Netanyahu for supporting a two state solution of Israel and a second country for the settlers of Judea and Samaria, leaving nothing for the occupied Palestinians. He said that the Jews have no historical or geographic claim to Israel. He said as the decedents of Abraham the Palestinians deserve at least 50% of historic Palestine.

MK Zahalka (Balad) stated there is a normalization of the occupation and that is the reason this bill doesn’t receive press coverage. He called the bill a violation of international law. He called Israel a criminal nation.

MK Eichler (U.T.J.) supported the bill and praised it. He slammed the Muslims for denying the Jewish state of Israel and the Supreme Court for accepting many of these ridiculous Muslim claims.

MK Ben Ari (N.U.) rejected the Palestinian claims that they are Jebozites, noting that they were idol worshipers, not Arabs or Abrahamites. He praised the bill.

MK Rotem (Y.B.) noted that there was never any Palestinian state and that Israel conquered Judea and Samaria from Jordan. He said that the U.N. partition plan called for a Jewish land and an Arab land, and both were created- Israel and Jordan. He stated that the Palestinian people are a new invention, their land is not occupied and the bill is not a violation of international law. He praised the bill.

The bill passed its first reading 19-3 and was sent to the Culture Committee.

Our next story comes from Maan News where despite claims of progress to a "unity government" Eight of the smaller Palestinian factions walked out when told they could not participate because they were not part of the PLO. Apparently, the so-called "democratic movement" representing the Palestinians is not very democratic at all.

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A member of the Hamas political bureau said Tuesday that attendees at a meeting to discuss reconciliation postponed the decisive issue of PLO membership until later in the week.

Izzat al-Risheq said “elections dates were discussed and agreed on forming a central elections committee. The committee is formed from one delegate from each party and they will meet tonight”.

Risheq's comments came after eight factions walked out of a meeting meant to represent all parties after being told they could not participate because they were not part of the PLO.....

The Popular Resistance Movement, the Popular Resistance Committees, the al-Ahrar Movement, Fatah al-Intifada, as-Saiqa and the Popular Struggle Front were excluded, sources at the talks said.

“The insistence by Fatah to exclude eight Palestinian factions from reconciliation dialogue ... casts doubt upon Fatah’s attitude to reconciliation," a statement from the PRM said.

"Such an attitude only maintains a state of disagreement."

Now it also should be mentioned that in Lebanon yesterday some of the smaller factions traded gunfire with Fateh affiliated people in a Palestinian refugee camp. It will be interesting to see how the autocratic nature of the PLO deals with political challenges from outside of it's ranks. Even more interesting to see how those moves will affect any potential peace with Israel.

For our next story we have some news coming from Israel and the Prime Ministers office regarding recent Price Tag attacks where PM Netanyahu just called Price tag attacks a "stain on the State":

"If you take the whitest shirt and slap it with a single stain, then the whole shirt is stained. This incident stains the State of Israel as a law abiding nation," he said. "We must join forces against this extremist phenomenon and erase this stain.

Netanyahu denounced "price tag" acts, saying "we cannot accept vandalism of mosques or harming police officers, soldiers or innocent people. This can happen, but if it does, we must act with full authority against the perpetrators."

Interestingly enough apparently though some Right Wing critics don't call the acts of physical attacks with stones (unless Palestinians do it), or defacing Holy Sites and other "price tag" attacks terror. The Israeli Government and Military does. Who knew they were not as strong defenders of Israel as the keyboard commando's here in the states (just kidding - I knew that). Here is Defense Minister Barak speaking to that:

"Some 99.9% of settlers are law abiding people. We must protect them and the Palestinians that are under our control," he said.


Answering to reporters' questions, Barak said he considered the incident an act of terror. "This transgression in my opinion is self-made terrorism and our duty is to do everything we can to stop it, including emergency regulations and punishments."

Now when the government actually does something about stopping settlers from burning down Olive fields and throwing stones at Palestinians in the same manner that they crack down on Palestinian Stone throwers then I will give more creedence to their words. However, this is a start. Perhaps the government is seeing the hydra that it is releasing when it refuses to deal with the settlers when they attack the Palestinians. Even IDF soldiers in the Territories comment on this.

In a related story our final piece is regarding Quartet condemnation of Israeli housing in the West Bank and East J'slem. Haaretz is reporting that European members of Security Council condemn Israeli settlements, settler violence. Yep, pissing off the UNSC particularly when the P.A. is moving in the U.N. is really not helpful to the Israeli cause.

"We call on the Israeli government to reverse these steps," the statement said. "The viability of the Palestinian state that we want to see and the two-state solution that is essential for Israel's long-term security are threatened by the systematic and deliberate expansion of settlements."

The statement, issued following the 15-country Security Council's closed-door discussion on the situation in the Middle East, condemned Israeli settlers' violence against the Palestinians, including the burning of the Nebi Akasha mosque in West Jerusalem and the Burqa mosque in the West Bank.

It called on Israeli leaders to boldly demonstrate political will and leadership to break the impasse in negotiations with the Palestinians. It called on both Israelis and Palestinians to agree on a package of proposals to settle security and border issues in order to advance negotiations toward ending the conflict.

The four countries reiterated support for the creation of a "sovereign, independent, democratic, contiguous and viable Palestinian state living in peace and security side by side with Israel."

Ron Prosser, the Israeli Ambassador responded to the statement by the UNSC. by saying: "HEY... LOOK OVER THERE!" (/snark - I couldn't help it)... Prosser did make some comments that did make sense in that the UN does turn a blind eye to many of the injustices in the world and does hold Israel to a higher standard than anyone else. At the same time... simply put. The UNSC is not wrong here. Settler violence is a problem. No amount of saying "SQUIRREL" (reference to the movie "Up") is really going to make a difference. As to the settlements, they do stand in the way of a peace deal. If Israel won't put out a "map" then how can anyone tell what they are doing. Either they want to annex the West Bank or not. If not, why continue building?

Anyway please discuss.

Shalom and Happy Chanukah!

More Bigoted Statements By Ron Paul Come To Light

Some things are just so predictable you can set their watch by them.

As soon as the derangers started embracing Ron Paul, it was only a matter of time before some new revelations would come out about how in his extremism he has promoted homophobia, racism, antisemitism, and bizarre CT. After all, for people so far Left they are Right, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, and bizarre CT are apparently in the 'pluses' column.

Now, according to the New York Times, previously unpublicized statements of Paul's have come to light. The story has been further investigated by The Weekly Standard, who, say what you will about them, appear to have done the investigative reporting here that other organizations haven't.

Reporter James Kerchick tracks down Paul's statements from his former newsletters, sone of which are in state historical society archives dedicated to the materials of far right groups. While Paul claims that not all articles in his newsletters were written by him personally, he published and distributed them himself, and they all contain his name, with titles such as Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, the Ron Paul Political Report, the Ron Paul Survival Report, and the Ron Paul Investment Letter.

There are examples of Paul's racism:

“Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks,” read a typical article from the June 1992 “Special Issue on Racial Terrorism,” a supplement to the Ron Paul Political Report. Racial apocalypse was the most persistent theme of the newsletters; a 1990 issue warned of “The Coming Race War,” and an article the following year about disturbances in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., was entitled
“Animals Take Over the D.C. Zoo.” Paul alleged that Martin Luther King Jr., “the world-class philanderer who beat up his paramours,” had also “seduced underage girls and boys.” The man who would later proclaim King a “hero” attacked Ronald Reagan for signing legislation creating the federal holiday in his name, complaining, “We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day.”

And, of course, as predictable as the Sun rises, anti-Israel Paul is revealed to love antisemitic CT as well:

No foreign country was mentioned in the newsletters more often than Israel. A 1987 newsletter termed it “an aggressive, national socialist state,” and another missive, on the subject of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, concluded, “Whether it was a setup by the Israeli Mossad, as a Jewish friend of mine suspects, or was truly a retaliation by the Islamic fundamentalists, matters little.” In 1990, the newsletter cast aspersions on the “tens of thousands of well-placed friends of Israel in all countries who are willing to wok [sic] for the Mossad in their area of expertise.”

And general nuttery:

Another newsletter warned that “the AIDS patient” should not be allowed to eat in restaurants because “AIDS can be transmitted by saliva,” a strange claim for a physician to make.

Paul gave credence to the theory, later shown to have been the product of a Soviet disinformation effort, that AIDS had been created in a U.S. government laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

The articles go on to discuss Paul's ongoing relationship with extremist insame CT peddler Alex Jones, and various truther movements.

------------------

Ron Paul is a true right wing nutball, unfit to be anywhere near the levers of government. It is truly sad that there is more consensus around that simple fact at The Weekly Standard than there is among the supposedly liberal or progressive people who embrace him.

Daily Discussion News Wrap Up

Hi all, first we had Fry'd Daze (which we will always have) but I want to try something new here. I want to try a daily news wrap up of interesting articles from around the "papers" involved with Israel and Palestine. We can look at four or five stories, and discuss. If someone wants to add stories - dynamite.


GROUND RULES: The stories have to be from reliable news sources. I do not want faux news sites like MondoFront or it's Zionist equivalent. The opinion section comes from you... the commentators. Further, please let's have no meta wars. I don't care what Daily Kos or anyone else is doing. It's just not that interesting. Let's do our own thing over here.

That said here are my first  stories:

From Maan News apparently the Left are not the only folks up in arms regarding issues of Gender Segregation in Israel. Maan, never a "friend" to the Israeli coalition is reporting that the  Israeli PM criticizes religious gender segregation:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- A woman's refusal to sit at the back of a Jerusalem-bound bus as demanded by ultra-religious Jews moved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to warn about the dangers of gender segregation in Israel....
The episode followed widespread outrage at zealot settlers in the occupied West Bank who have vandalized Palestinian property and turned on Israel's revered conscript military by rioting at one of its garrisons.

"Israeli society is a complex mosaic of Jews and Arabs, of secular and religious and ultra-Orthodox, and to this day we have agreed to peaceful coexistence," Netanyahu told his cabinet in broadcast remarks.

"Recently we have witnessed attempts to fray this coexistence," he said, citing Rosenblit's experience. "I totally oppose this. I think that we must not let fringe groups dismantle our common ground, and we must preserve public spaces as open and safe spaces for all the citizens of Israel."

Strong words and apparently they had an effect as Transportation Minister Israel Katz (Likud) pledged to continue to step up the ban on segregation on public transit.

HOWEVER, it should also be noted that the government is complicit in some of this as it has allowed it's rightist and religious partners unprecedented power and influence in the government. This coalition has created an atmosphere where these things are allowed to flourish and it is not until that they hit the press (both domestic and international) that they are addressed. It takes the courage of one 28 year old woman to stand up to this behavior for them to really take notice.

So... it is nice that the Prime Minister says this and hopefully follows up on this. BUT, if the government is really serious about this then they will immediately step up to arguing against the anti-democratic and gender biased rules proposed by his rightist allies.


Our next story involves the transfer of 550 more Palestinian Prisoners as part of the Shalit deal.


Photo courtesy of Ynet



Photo courtesy of Haaretz

News outlets are reporting that (Ynet):

The relatives of the Palestinian prisoners, who also hurled Molotov cocktails at soldiers, gathered at the scene to welcome the prisoners but were asked to evacuate the area. Firebombs and rocks were thrown at the soldiers during the ensuing clashes, the army said. The Palestinians also set tires on fire. Soldiers responded by firing gas canisters at the rioters.

and:

Hours before the release got underway, hundreds of Palestinian clashed with Israeli soldiers at a central West Bank checkpoint. They were among the crowd gathered at Beitunia, southwest of Ramallah, anxiously awaiting their relatives who are being freed.

Tempers ran high and, when youths began pushing the nearby security fence and throwing rocks, soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said some of the protesters also threw firebombs.

Several were injured after inhaling tear gas.

An IDF soldier was also lightly injured due to a stone being tossed.

Most of these prisoners were not security risks and had served 2/3 of their terms for throwing Molotov Cocktails and Stones. Also of the prisoners 55 were minors between the ages of 14 and 17 and six were women. To be fair there were also three people released who were in prison for Terror related incidents. Salah Hamouri - who planned attacks (including a plan to assasinate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef) planted bombs and took place in gun attacks in the Ramallah region, Darwis Dadar who was involved in planning a suicide bombing that killed three Israelis, and Jaber Badr, who was caught planning a suicide attack.

Our next story comes from Egypt where The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists captured 70% of the vote in the second round of the Egyptian election.
The Muslim Brotherhood party secured 39 percent of the vote, while the Salafi Al Nour party won 31 percent of the vote in the second stage of Egypt’s landmark post-Mubarak elections, according to unofficial results published on the website of Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper on Sunday.

The unofficial results for the second stage of elections for the lower house of the Egyptian parliament also showed that the secular, liberal Wafd party won 22 percent of the vote. Islamist parties won some 70 percent of the total vote, a similar result to the first stage of elections, which took place on November 28.

Turnout in the second round of voting in Egypt's parliamentary elections reached 67 per cent, with most constituencies expecting run-off votes, elections officials said Sunday, with more than 12 million citizens casting their ballots on Wednesday and Thursday.  

The turnout was higher than that of the first round, estimated by the High Elections Commission at 60 per cent. A final round, with the remaining nine provinces, has been set for January.

Now there has been discussion here and on other blogs whether the Obama Administration was handling this the right way by proposing talks with the Brotherhood as they seem to be the party with the largest amount of support in the Egyptian polity. One of the topics was, is this good for Israel that the Obama Administration discuss things with potential new rulers of Egypt. Now whether or not you feel this actually shows anything regarding Israel is one thing and as many here know I support the Obama Administration in their dealings with Egypt at this point.  Some however, have said "NO" that shows a bias against Israel. Well there is someone else apparently that these folks should also add to the list of those biased against Israel... The Israeli Foreign Ministry. Yep that's right - the Israeli Froeign Ministry is reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood to discuss matters.

According to Haaretz:

Israel's new ambassador in Cairo, Yaakov Amitai, will attempt to open communication channels with Islamic officials in Egypt, including representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and the radical Salafi movement's Al-Nour Party, according to a senior diplomatic official in Jerusalem.

The official told Haaretz that, as ambassador, Amitai must make contact with all relevant entities in positions of power, and talk to "anyone who wants to and agrees to talk to him, even if those contacts are not made public."
Finally we have this from East Jerusalem and the West Bank

The Housing Ministry published tenders on Sunday for 1,028 homes to be built in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, part of a plan to build 6,000 housing units throughout Israel.         

According to a statement by the ministry, 500 homes will be built in Har Homa in south Jerusalem, on land occupied during the 1967 Six Day War; 348 in the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit; and 180 in Givat Ze'ev, which lies between Jerusalem and Ramallah.         

As would be expected this move was received with condemnation by the Palestinian Authority.and other political authorities. Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP in response to the move.

"The building in Efrat is especially sensitive in my opinion, because it is east of the road leading to Bethlehem," Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP in response to the move.

"That means that if Israel wants to annex Efrat, it will cut off Bethlehem from the southern West Bank."

To note an interesting aside here.. On Dec. 8th 2011 the M.K. Eldad (National Union) and MK Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) proposed bills about Jerusalem. As Jeremy's Knesset Blog reports:

MK Eldad (N.U.) said that Jerusalem has been the capital and heart of the Jewish people for thousands of years. He noted that no foreign conqueror ever declared Jerusalem as its capital. He noted that divided Jerusalem served as Israel’s capital from its establishment until it was reunited in 1967 and since then a united Jerusalem serves as Israel’s capital. He explained the point of this original bill is to tell the foreign countries to stop telling Israel they can’t build in their capital. He expressed hope that this bill will strengthen Jerusalem. He agreed to postpone the vote on the bill in order to give the government more time to come around and support it.

MK Orlev (J.H.) said this bill is important for the Jewish people in the Diaspora. He slammed the Labor party for doing a 180 and opposing the bill, something that hurt the advancement of the bill as a Basic Law. He said this isn’t a political bill but rather a Jewish bill. He agreed to postpone the vote on the bill in order to give the government more time to come around and support it.

These are very controversial bills that would pretty much end any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians as they are not going to negotiate away their claims to Al-Aqsa and East Jerusalem (al-Quds). It is also interesting to note that these bills were shelved for the time being.

As always, please discuss. AND if you don't have something positive to add... don't add it. That means no anti-Semitism or Islamophobic comments. Add those and I will delete them PDQ. Have fun.

Which way is up... Confusion in the messages of Peace.

With Palestinians meeting in Cairo in a series of meetings where first it seems that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are meeting and then the other factions to meet on Monday, Ynet is reporting a very interesting story: Abbas: Hamas agreed to renounce terror. This seems based on a report from a month ago when Palestinian President Abbas met with Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal. Abbas had this to say:

We set the agreement's pillars, and Hamas agreed with us that resistance will be popular and adopt peaceful ways, rather than military resistance," the Palestinian president said. "The solution is the establishment of a state in the 1967 borders, and Hamas agreed to that, as well as to holding the elections on May 5, 2012."

The surprising statements were made a day before another meeting is slated to be held in Cairo where the two Palestinian movements will be discussing the implementation of their reconciliation agreement.

However, (and the article notes this as well) these sentiments are contradicted by last weeks comments from Hamas' Leadership in Gaza where Ismail Haniyeh said:

Resistance is the way and it is the strategic choice to liberate Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea and to remove the invaders from the blessed land of Palestine," Haniyeh told the crowd, which chanted: "We will never recognize Israel."

"Hamas, together with other stubborn resistance factions, will lead the people towards uprising after uprising until all of Palestine is liberated," Haniyeh said, referring to territory that includes the occupied West Bank and what is now Israel.
The Group then went on to talk about their military acheivements (or lack thereof):

The armed wing of Hamas, meanwhile, announced figures detailing its resistance against Israel. It has fired 11,093 rockets at Israel and killed 1,365 Israeli soldiers since Hamas was formed in 1987, it says.

In a report marking the anniversary, the al-Qassam Brigades said 6,411 Israeli soldiers had been injured in the group's 1,117 military operations and claimed to have arrested 24 Israeli soldiers.

Some 1,848 Hamas militants have been killed, the group said.

I notice that the group has nothing to say about how many civilians it has killed since 1987 either.

Anyway....

Akiva Eldar writing in Haaretz saw this while attending the fourth annual conference of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, headed by former president of Portugal Jorge Sampaio.

Netanyahu. Both the impoverished West and the increasingly wealthy Gulf states are preparing to deal with the Arab world’s youth revolution....

In one corner of the large lobby, I saw a group of young people pinning badges on their shirts that bore maps of greater Palestine ‏(the Land of Israel?‏) and the inscription “Right of Return.” Among them were two teenage girls from Tunisia, two Yemenite men and an Iranian. I introduced myself as a peace-seeking Israeli Zionist. I wondered what they had to do with a conference devoted to an alliance among civilizations and how their map accorded with the Arab League’s peace proposal, which adopted the 1967 borders.

“That belongs to an earlier time, to [ousted Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak and [ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine] Ben Ali,” said one of the girls. “Don’t you know that everything has changed?” Her friends nodded their heads in agreement.

Eldar makes an interesting point... Against the backdrop of an Israeli crackdown on civil rights both inside the Green Line and in the West Bank, how easy would it be for radicals, and Islamists to make headway with those who see these assaults on the Arab (and Jewish population - just look at reactions to the Knesset's latest flirtation with the Far Right) population and not feed on the frustrations and political immaturity of the young - as witnessed by those talking with Eldar at that conference.

On the other hand, the Israeli Government is facing no coherent message from the Arab Polity. On one side you have those supporting President Abbas who (if the Palestine Papers are correct) is at least willing to discuss a moderate path, (though his representatives say otherwise). On the other you have Hamas in Gaza talking about "We are coming Jerusalem" and "liberating all "Palestinian" land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Even within Hamas, apparently there are glaring contradictions between what Hamas - Gaza and what Hamas - Damascus want to do.

Then you have Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the smaller factions to a group NOT recognizing Israel and these groups while small do have the power to affect the peace process.

SO.... what is there to do?

In my opinion, (and I hope all here will discuss) the answer lies in security assessments of Israel made in concert with an important determination regarding the long term aspects of liberalizing both the State and the Occupation. It is my contention that liberalizing the occupation can be accomplished along with various security steps that will NOT subject Israel to the terror strikes it dealt with at an earlier time. Does that mean doing away with checkpoints, and monitoring roads... certainly not. But it does mean allowing for Peaceful protest and NOT responding with heavy handed methods that simply cause more resentment and hatred from a group of people that don't want the soldiers there in the first place. By allowing expressions of protest and working with local authorities to develop autonomy, it could lead to the beginning of a Palestinian Polity that would learn restraint and state building.

There are those in the Palestinian Polity, like Salam Fayyad who in my opinion, are partners for a peaceful solution with the Israelis and who seem to want just that. While Fayyad is not popular with HamasAs Haaretz reports;

The reason for the hostility toward Fayyad both in Hamas and Fatah may be found in a survey released last week in the West Bank, conducted by a research institute in Ramallah. The survey shows that more than half (57 percent ) of the people want Fayyad to serve as head of the unity government. Fayyad is popular even among some Hamas supporters, 20 percent of whom said they would like to see him as prime minister. Fayyad is the favorite candidate for prime minister of the transitional government among 78 percent of Fatah supporters.         

And this number in itself sends yet another confusing message to the Israelis and shows just how divided the Palestinian leadership is on the issue of peace.

One does have to be fair to the Palestinians though on this as well in that the current Israeli Government has not presented a "map" of what it wants set for borders. We have the 2008 Olmert map which would have resulted in a Palestinian State in 96.2% of the West Bank with some swaps in Israel as well. But that Kadima led government is out of power. We have a Foreign Minister (YB's Lieberman) who has a plan for a Palestinian State in 50-60% of the West Bank, and we have vague suggestions from PM Netanyahu regarding a map that combines the Kadima map with the Alon plan. Finally we have the YESHA and the extreme right that want the entire West Bank along with Israel.

So in reality what are the Palestinians looking at when they are trying to decide how to approach any peace. Now some will say that the Palestinians have no desire for peace, and that would be accurate coming from the armed wings of Fateh, all of Hamas, P.I.J, the PFLP, the DFLP (and the Judean Peoples Front - haha just kidding). But then looking at the discussions and the people's support involving President Abbas and PM Fayyad that doesn't necessarily seem to be the case. SO... where do we go from here?