Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Caroline Glick: It’s time to reassess Israel’s strategic assumptions
So here we are, three for three. All of Obama’s second term foreign policy goals are harmful to Israel. Everything that is good for Obama is necessarily bad for Israel.Abbas' speech: All of Israel is occupied Palestine
It is easy to understand why our leaders insist on holding on to strategic assumptions that are no longer valid. The region is in a state of flux. In stormy seas, our natural inclination is to go back to what has always worked. Since 1968, the conviction that a strong Israel is consonant with US global interests has guided US policy in the Middle East. It’s hard to accept that this is no longer the case.
But we have to accept it. By clinging to our now outdated strategic assumptions, not only are we engaging in dangerous behavior. We are blinding ourselves to new strategic opportunities presented by the chaos in neighboring countries.
True, the new opportunities cannot replace our lost alliance with the US or Europe as a trading partner. But they will get us through the storm in one piece.
All of Israel is "occupied Palestinian land" was part of the message of a speech by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at a memorial this month. Delivering "the speech of Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine," member of Fatah Central Committee Jamal Muhaisen stated that "not an inch of the land of Palestine" has been "liberated," including the "1948 lands," which is a term the PA and Fatah use to refer to Israel within the Green Line:Abbas: Israel's claim it wants Jordan Valley for security is a lie
"All our holy places are still under occupation, and so far we have not liberated one inch of Palestinian land. All Palestinian land is occupied - Gaza is occupied, the West Bank is occupied, the 1948 lands (i.e., Israel) are occupied and Jerusalem is occupied."
The statements were published by Abbas’s office on the eve of his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Bethlehem to discuss the crisis in the peace talks with Israel.Netanyahu: PA's position unchanged since 1993
Abbas said that Israel wants to retain a presence in the Jordan Valley for economic and not security reasons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expressed pessimism Monday, ahead of their Wednesday meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, saying the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians seem to be treading water.Time to get ready for a third intifada
"I see no real changes in the Palestinian position since 1993," Netanyahu said in Monday's Likud-Beytenu faction meeting, referring to the year in which the Oslo Accords were signed.
Yes, in Livni's skewed view, the fact that Bennett voiced strong opposition to the release of bloodthirsty Palestinian murderers from Israeli jails makes him more of a threat to peace than Abbas, who is proud of their accomplishments.Akunis: Arrogant PA Wants to Break Off Talks After Releases
The good news here is also the bad news.
No matter what Kerry does or Livni says or Israel agrees to, a third intifada is on its way. Abbas says we can count on it.
The entire incident is just another example of PA “double talk,” Akunis said in the Knesset Monday evening. Israel, he said, had agreed to free terrorists as its “gesture” to encourage the PA to join the talks. Israel had never agreed to a building freeze. “We do not need anyone's permission to build in our land,” Akunis said. “We have built, we are building, and we will build in all parts of Israel.”Poll: 54% of Palestinians support two-state solution
What really angers him, Akunis said, was that the PA was now looking for ways to pullout of the talks, after most of the terrorists it had demanded be released have been sent home. “It is the height of arrogance for them to be trying to break up the talks after these detestable terrorists have been released, he said.
The poll also showed that 58% of Palestinians support non-violent means “to end the occupation” as opposed to 47% of Gaza respondents who believe that armed resistance is the best method to achieve independence.Report: Fewer Rockets Fired on Israel in 2013, Hamas 'Afraid'
But while a majority of 60% believe a third intifada is possible in the near future, only 29% said they would support such a development, the poll showed.
According to Maariv, while over 200 rockets were launched at Southern Israeli cities in 2012, only 40 have been fired so far in 2013. IDF officials have stated that Hamas has been "intimidated" by Israeli military might after successes in last year's Operation Pillar of Defense, which killed top Hamas officials like Ahmed Jabari, the mastermind behind the Hamas takeover of Gaza who also played a significant role in the 2006 Gilad Shalit kidnapping.Fuming Arab MKs storm out of debate on Temple Mount
The subject on the docket was an amendment to the longstanding policy banning Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Judaism and Islam. Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home) remarked that while the Chief Rabbinate traditionally upheld the ban, since the inauguration of new chief rabbis earlier this year, “I sought to put the possibility before them to recognize the reality that there’s a large [portion of the] public whose rabbis permit them to ascend the Temple Mount.”Israeli MK: I am Proud to be Araffat's Friend
Enraged by the prospect of a policy change, Arab MK Jamal Zahalke (Balad) interjected, “There is no such thing as the Temple Mount, there is only the al-Aqsa Mosque,” setting off a shouting match between members of the Jewish and Arab parties.
'Organized' Firebomb Attack on Bus Carrying Knesset Member
Five firebombs were thrown at a bus on Egged's 160 line from Jerusalem to Hevron at midnight, Monday evening, as it passed the Judean Jewish community of Karmei Tzur. IDF troops immediately arrived at the scene to search the area for the perpetrators; forces found additional bottles ready to be thrown. No one was hurt.Compelling Evidence of Serious Maltreatment in Gaza Strip of Cattle Imported from Australia and Israel
Bayit Yehudi MK Orit Struk, who was returning home from a Knesset session on the bus, commented on the severity of the attack, saying that the ambush appeared to have been "planned in advance."
The treatment of cattle and the Halal slaughter practiced in the Gaza Strip constitute a blatant violation of Australian law, which stipulates strict standards for maintaining the health and welfare of animals, and slaughter practices minimizing and shortening suffering.Hamas appoints female writer as Western media spokesperson
To illustrate this case, on June 7, 2011, the Australian minister of agriculture, fishing and forestry ordered the suspension of export of animals for slaughter to Indonesia, after receiving evidence that in several slaughterhouses in that country maltreatment of animals is the norm.
The new spokeswoman has many plans to change the stereotypes affiliated with Gaza, as well as plans to present the regime in Gaza to Israeli media. "I will address Western and Israeli media," she said in an interview, "and I will work on changing the media discourse, painting a different picture of Palestine and Gaza. The West does not understand religious discourse."Israeli PM Netanyahu: U.S. Should Hear Iran Chants of ‘Death to America’ and ‘Give No Discounts to Tehran’
It may be that Al-Mudallal is unaware that the Hamas administration has ordered to ban all Israeli media and journalists over a year ago, but the discrepancy was apparently amended as she has now aligned with the policy and refused to speak with Ynet.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out on Monday that while world powers negotiate with Iran in Geneva over its nuclear capabilities, the regime’s supporters in Tehran are marching to commemorate the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy.Netanyahu presses visiting Chinese, Polish leaders on Iran
“America and the P5+1 should listen to the chants of ‘Death to America’ in Tehran and give no discounts to Tehran,” Netanyahu said at a formal reception honoring the visit of Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski.
Meeting on Monday with Meng Jianzhu, a member of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Political Bureau, Netanyahu told Jianzhu that the pressure on Iran must not be relaxed.Hagel: Israel’s pressure pushed Iran to negotiations
Netanyahu also said Iran must not be allowed to retain centrifuges and a heavy water reactor, which are used to produce nuclear weapons, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
“It’s true that sanctions — not just US sanctions but UN sanctions, multilateral sanctions — have done tremendous economic damage,” Hagel said in an interview with Bloomberg journalist and pundit Jeffrey Goldberg. “Even many of Iran’s leaders have acknowledged that. And I think that Iran is responding to the constant pressure from Israel, knowing that Israel believes them to be an existential threat. I think all of this, combined, probably brought the Iranians to where we are today.”Nobel laureate to EU, US: Ban Iran from TV satellites
Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Monday called on the European Union and United States to ban Iran from using US and European satellites to broadcast what she described as the Islamic Republic's propaganda.‘West may offer Iran cash for halting nuclear program’
Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and former judge who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting human rights in Iran, also accused Western powers of focusing too little attention on rights abuses as they pursue a deal with Tehran aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions.
Iran could be offered a one-time cash payment from its frozen oil revenues as part of a plan reportedly being explored to give the Islamic Republic some immediate relief from crippling economic sanctions.Iranian MP Boasts of Hundreds of Troops in Syria
The money would come in exchange for a complete halting of Iran’s nuclear program while negotiations with Western powers continue, reported the London Times.
The MP, Javad Ghoddousi Karimi, reportedly boasted that hundreds of Iranian battalions are fighting in Syria, where they are fighting alongside troops loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad.Intelligence Between Turkey, Iran in ‘Very, Very Good State’ – Iranian Ambassador
Syrian commanders, backed by Iranian forces, are announcing the army's victories against rebels fighters, he added.
The announcement came hours after it was reported that Muhammad G'malizda, a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed in the Syrian civil war.
The intelligence cooperation between Turkey and Iran is in a “very, very good state,” Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Alireza Bigdeli told Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News Monday.Greek, Bulgarian fences along Turkish border draw criticism
Bigdeli openly mocked Western powers, and Israel, saying they were bothered by the fact that Iran and Turkey’s intelligence cooperation was at a level that reflects the two countries being “strong neighbors and brothers,” Hurriyet reported.
Plans by Greece and Bulgaria to build a fence along the Turkish border have drawn criticism in Turkey as it is widely perceived as the EU's hidden intention to build a wall to mark its borders.
Plans by Greece and Bulgaria to build a fence along the Turkish border have drawn criticism in Turkey as it is widely perceived as the EU's hidden intention to build a wall to mark its borders.
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