Tuesday, May 24, 2011

  • Tuesday, May 24, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Here is a report of day two of the AIPAC conference by Bruce:



In an only slightly less dramatic day at the jam packed AIPAC conference, another leading Democrat, soft spoken Harry Reid, broke ranks with President Obama and criticized his party's leader on his feud with Israel Senator Reid stated:

The parties that should lead those negotiations must be the parties at the center of this conflict – and no one else.  The place where negotiating will happen must be the negotiating table – and nowhere else. Those negotiations will not happen – and their terms will not be set – through speeches.  

The crowd at Monday night's Gala dinner again roared approval in another stirring standing ovation. 

Protesters were slightly more bold today, but their paltry numbers were in stark contrast to an AIPAC Gala Dinner that could not fit all of their 10,000 plus delegates in the same room!  A separate room was set up to accomodate the spill over.  An AIPAC representative told the crowd that [paraphrasing] "we have grown so large that no venue in Washington, DC can accomdate us." 

The highlight of the day was Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was warmly greeted by enthusiastic delegates and also interrupted several times by protestors who managed to get inside.  This year, however, the crowd around the protesters wisely stood to block the media's view and chanted "Bibi, Bibi..." to drown out the protesters.  Netanyahu himself noted "do you think they have these protests in Gaza?" 

His polished speech was notable for it's noble, statesmanly character, and his emphasis that Israel is not the central problem in the MidEast.  No trace of the confrontations of the last few days.  He stated:

"Israel's not what’s wrong with the Middle East. Israel is what’s right about the Middle East."  

He plans to hammer home that point tomorrow in his speech to Congress.

Monday, May 23, 2011

  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
I just gave a speech in East Brunswick, NJ, at Middlesex County Torah Links, an adult education program.  The room was full. And only a few of those who attended had ever read my blog!


The topic was "How to be a media-savvy advocate for Israel."


Luckily for you listening, my projector didn't work so there is nothing that you are missing visually. 


Enjoy!






You can download the MP3 file of the speech here.

UPDATE: For those who are here for voting in the Pro-Israel Blog Off Finals, the first five minutes or so of the speech are just me introducing myself and saying some of what I've done, to an audience who mostly never heard of me. If you want to jump right into the meat of the talk, skip to the 4:30 mark.
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From AFP:
A Malaysian aid ship attempting to land in Gaza after being warned off by Israeli naval forces last week has been forced to abort its mission after engine trouble, activists said.

Matthias Chang, who is heading the mission for the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, told AFP on Monday that the MV Finch was now stuck six nautical miles from Egypt's El-Arish port.

"At about 5:30pm local time (0330 GMT), our vessel developed engine trouble and we lost our steering capability, so we had to stop our attempt to reach Gaza by sea," he said.

"However, the Egyptian foreign minister has given his assurance that we will be allowed to unload our humanitarian cargo and that it will be taken by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency into Gaza," Chang said, adding that Egypt is bound by international law to lead the vessel to safety.

"Although we were not able to reach Gaza by sea, we have achieved our aim of breaking the Israeli embargo by breaching their protection zone last Monday and if the Egyptians deliver on their promise, we will have also achieved our aim of delivering aid to Gaza," Chang said.

Perdana Foundation officials said the MV Finch left Greece on May 11, carrying plastic pipes to help restore the sewage system in Gaza.

However, Israeli naval forces fired warning shots at the vessel when it was in Israeli waters, about 400 metres (yards) from Gaza, and forced the ship into Egyptian waters.

Chang said the 12 activists and crew onboard the ship, had on Monday told Egyptian authorities to either allow the vessel to dock and unload its aid or they would carry on to Gaza by sea.

As the Egyptians did not respond to the ultimatum, Chang said the ship left the waters off El-Arish, heading towards Israeli waters.

Malaysian journalist Alang Bendahara, who was also aboard the vessel, told AFP the aid ship was escorted by an Egyptian navy patrol vessel, which cautioned that Israel's naval forces could attack if they entered Israeli waters.

"The mood onboard the ship was very subdued as we were contemplating what would happen but it was clear that everyone was determined to continue so that we could get this much needed aid to Gaza," he said.
Keep in mind the timeline - the ship was not allowed to dock at El Arish for days before its crew decided to try for Gaza again.

Yet no one is blaming Egypt for not letting them unload their precious cargo. Even though Egypt claims that it has/will open Rafah.

Sounds like Egypt is blockading Gaza, doesn't it?

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Palestine Media Watch:


Transcript:
“National reconciliation [between Hamas and Fatah] is required in order to face Israel and Netanyahu. We say to him [Netanyahu], when he claims – that they [Jews] have a historical right dating back to 3000 years BCE – we say that the nation of Palestine upon the land of Canaan had a 7000 year history BCE. This is the truth, which must be understood and we have to note it, in order to say: 'Netanyahu, you [i.e., Israel] are incidental in history. We are the people of history. We are the owners of history.'”

That's funny. I wonder why they don't call the land "Canaan," then.
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Tundra Tabloids: Netanyahu Urges U.S. Return to 1845 Borders (satire)

Aryeh Tepper: Israel and Western guilt

A non-public YouTube video showing the staging of an anti-Israel propaganda movie in Syria

Yaacov Lozowick's must see series of posts called Don't Divide Jerusalem are now all in one spot.

IDF helping Palestinian Arabs from Jenin sell cucumbers.

An Israeli professor's speech in Montreal and the hate it generated. The speech was on the geopolitics of energy.

A Scottish council wants to ban all Israeli books, or books by Israelis, from its libraries.

Colonel Richard Kemp's speech to 'We Believe in Israel' Conference, from TheJC

More hate links to report, from Giyus

Details on how the PA puts terrorists on their payroll, from Evelyn Gordon

The hunger to come to Egypt by Spengler

(h/t Yerushalimey, Greg, Silke X3, Yisrael Medad, Anne, T34)
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From The Times of London, May 17th (not available online):
An Israeli human rights group has warned Lloyd's of London that it may be liable for massive damages if it insures ships that are used by suspected terrorist organisations to sail to the Gaza Strip.

The legal warning, sent to.Lloyd's and all the other main maritime insurance companies in the world, asserted that under international law Lloyd's would be open to charges of aiding and abetting terrorism jf it contributed in any way to the passage of ships to Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, an Islamist movement designated by the United States, Israel and the European Union as a terrorist group.

Lloyd's is the biggest insurance market in the world.

The announcement, issued by Shurat Din, a legal centre in Tel Aviv, came on the day that the Israeli navy fired warning shots at a Malaysian chartered ship carrying sewerage pipes to Gaza from the Egyptian port of al Arish, forcing it to turn back.

The Malaysian aid group that organised the delivery said that the ship was a few hundred yards off the Gaza coast when the Israeli naval vessel forced it back.

Nitsana Darshan Leitner,the founder of the Israeli law centre, said that the point of the legal threat was to prevent a flotilla of aid ships from approaching Gaza this month to mark the first anniversary of a raid by Israeli naval commandos on a Turkish ferry heading for the blockaded enclave.

Lloyd's said that it would refuse to underwrite a vessel backed by terrorist or related organisations on any trip that would be in breach of sanctions.

The insurance market said: "Hamas is subject to UK and EU terrorist financing sanctions.As such, any  vessel identified as being owned or controlled by that organisation would not be permitted to be insured by Lloyd's, or any other EU insurer."

It declined to address the veiled legal threat in the letter directly.

Any shipowner planning to send vessels into Gaza would have to notify the Lloyd's of London market in  advance, 'providing details of the cargo, because Israel is designated a war risk for the purposes of providing cover.

Lloyd's indicated that if its members had been deceived about the true purpose of a trip the insurance cover would instantly be invalid.

Darshan Leitner, an Israeli lawyer who specialises in cases involving victims of terrorist attacks, said: "Before Israel gets into another mess with the navy and the flotilla, we don't want bloodshed on the sea again. This is a way that the private sector can help the Government prevent terrorism."

She said that under international law no link had to be established between a specific terrorism attack and a particular ship heading into Gaza: "That's the beauty of this. It doesn't have to link directly. The law in the US and Israel and maybe in other countries is that when it comes to terrorism, it is very strict that anyone aiding and abetting a designated terrorist organisation, the liability is on you for any terrorist attack that that  organisation carries out," she told The Times.

More from Shurat HaDin here.

(h/t Zach N)
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Netanyahu's words at the White House were positively obsequious compared to Menachem Begin's reaction to what he characterized as US "punishment" of Israel for the Osirak attack, Golan Heights law and Lebanon invasion, in December 1981.

From Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website:

In an unprecedented move, Mr. Begin summoned the United States ambassador to Israel, and read to him the following statement. It was later read to the cabinet and issued to the public. Mr. Begin complained that the U.S. had punished Israel three times in the past six months. Israel was no. "vassal state" or a "banana republic." He also hinted of anti-Semitic overtones in some of the punitive measures taken by the United States. Text:

Three times during the past six months, the U.S. Government has "punished" Israel.

On June 7 we destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor "Osirak" near Baghdad. I don't want to mention to you today from whom we received the final information that this reactor was going to produce atomic bombs. We had no doubt about that: therefore our action was an act of salvation, an act of national self-defense in the most lofty sense of the concept. We saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including tens of thousands of children.

Nonetheless, you announced that you were punishing us - and you left unfilled a signed and sealed contract that included specific dates for the supply of (war) planes.

Not long after, in a defensive act - after a slaughter was committed against our people leaving three dead (including an Auschwitz survivor) and 29 were injured we bombed the PLO headquarters in Beirut.

You have no moral right to preach to us about civilian casualties. We have read the history of World War Two and we know what happened to civilians when you took action against an enemy. We have also read the history of the Vietnam war and your phrase "body-count". We always make efforts to avoid hitting civilian populations, but sometimes it is unavoidable - as was the case in our bombing of the PLO headquarters.

We sometimes risk the lives of our soldiers to avoid civilian casualties.

Nonetheless, you punished us: you suspended delivery of F-15 planes.

A week ago, at the instance of the Government, the Knesset passed on all three readings by an overwhelming majority of two-thirds, the "Golan Heights Law."

Now you once again declare that you are punishing Israel.

What kind of expression is this - "punishing Israel"? Are we a vassal state of yours? Are we a banana republic? Are we youths of fourteen who, if they don't behave properly, are slapped across the fingers?

Let me tell you who this government is composed of. It is composed of people whose lives were spent in resistance, in fighting and in suffering. You will not frighten us with "punishments". He who threatens us will find us deaf to his threats. We are only prepared to listen to rational arguments.

You have no right to "punish" Israel - and I protest at the very use of this term.

You have announced that you are suspending consultations on the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation, and that your return to these consultations in the future will depend on progress achieved in the autonomy talks and on the situation in Lebanon.

You want to make Israel a hostage of the memorandum of understanding.

I regard your announcement suspending the consultations on the memorandum of as the abrogation (by you) of the memorandum. No "sword of Damocles" is going to hang over our head. So we duly take note of the fact that you have abrogated the memorandum of understanding.

The people of Israel has lived 3,700 years without a memorandum of understanding with America - and it will continue to live for another 3,700. In our eyes it (i.e., the U.S. suspension) is an abrogation of the memorandum.

We will not agree that you should demand of us to allow the Arabs of East Jerusalem to take part in the autonomy elections - and threaten us that if we don't consent you will suspend the memorandum.

You have imposed upon us financial punishments - and have (thereby) violated the word of the President. When Secretary Haig was here he read from a written document the words of President Reagan that you would purchase 200 million dollars worth of Israel arms and other equipment. Now you say it will not be so.

This is therefore a violation of the President's word. Is it customary? Is it proper?

You cancelled an additional 100 million dollars. What did you want to do - to "hit us in our pocket"?

In 1946 there lived in this house a British general by the name of Barker. Today I live here. When we fought him, you called us "terrorists" - and we carried on fighting. After we attacked his headquarters in the requisitioned building of the King David Hotel, Barker said: "This race will only be influenced by being hit in the pocket" - and he ordered his soldiers to stop patronizing Jewish cafes.

To hit us in the pocket - this is the philosophy of Barker. Now I understand why the whole great effort in the Senate to obtain a majority for the arms deal with Saudi Arabia was accompanied by an ugly campaign of anti-Semitism.

First, the slogan was sounded "Begin or Reagan?" - and that meant that whoever opposes the deal is supporting a foreign prime minister and is not loyal to the President of the United States. And thus Senators like Jackson, Kennedy, Packwood and of course Boschwitz are not loyal citizens.

Then the slogan was sounded "We should not let the Jews determine the foreign policy of the United States." What was the meaning of this slogan? The Greek minority in the U.S. did much to determine the Senate decision to withhold weapons from Turkey after it invaded Cyprus. No one will frighten the great and free Jewish community of the U.S., no one will succeed in cowing them with anti-Semitic propaganda. They will stand by our side. This is the land of their forefathers - and they have a right and a duty to support it.

Some say we must "rescind" the law passed by the Knesset. "To rescind" is a concept from the days of the Inquisition. Our forefathers went to the stake rather than "rescind" their faith.

We are not going to the stake. Thank God. We have enough strength to defend our independence and to defend our rights.

If it were up to me (alone) I would say we should not rescind the law. But as far as I can judge there is in fact no one on earth who can persuade the Knesset to rescind the law which it passed by a two-thirds majority.

Mr. Weinberger - and later Mr. Haig - said that the law adversely affects UN Resolution 242. Whoever says that has either not read the Resolution or has forgotten it, or has not understood it.

The essence of the Resolution is negotiation to determine agreed and recognized borders. Syria has announced that it will not conduct negotiations with us, that it does not and will not recognize us - and thus removed from Resolution 242 its essence. How, therefore, could we adversely affect 242?

As regards the future, please be kind enough to inform the Secretary of, State that the Golan Heights Law will remain valid. There is no force on earth that can bring about its rescission.

As for the contention that we surprised you, the truth is that we did not want to embarrass you. We knew your difficulties. You come to Riyadh and Damascus. It was President Reagan who said that Mr. Begin was right - that had Israel told the U.S. about the law (in advance) the U.S. would have said no. We did not want you to say no - and then go ahead and apply Israeli law to the Golan Heights.

Our intention was not to embarrass you.

As regards Lebanon, I have asked that the Secretary of State be informed that we will not attack, but if we are attacked, we will counterattack.
Somehow, Israel survived this verbal attack on its ally.

A two-year old article that compares Begin with how Netanyahu had been acting in the face of American pressure can be found here.

(h/t Yisrael Medad)
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From the Jordan Times:
Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Sunday stressed the importance of the right of return for all Palestinian refugees, which is a top priority for Jordan.

During a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman yesterday, Bakhit said Jordan is concerned about recognition of the right of return before discussions on the mechanisms to implement it.

During His Majesty King Abdullah’s meeting with US President Barack Obama recently in Washington, the King underlined the firm Arab stance regarding Palestinians’ legitimate rights and that reaching a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should be at the top of the global political agenda, Bakhit said.

Abbas voiced appreciation for the King’s supportive stances towards the Palestinian people in international forums, stressing that King Abdullah’s positions are in line with the Palestinian national principled stands.

Abbas underlined the importance of Israel’s recognition of the Palestinian refugees’ right of return and compensation, adding that it should also recognise Jerusalem as part of the occupied Arab territories.
Is Jordan really keen on the rights of Palestinian Arabs to "return" to their homes?

In Jordan, in the town of Jerash, is a "refugee" camp that is mostly made up of Gazans who fled in 1967. It is even known as the "Gaza camp." Some 24,000 people live there.

The homes that the Jerash Palestinians want to return to are not in Israel, but in Gaza. Moreover, Gazans in Jordan do not enjoy the benefits of citizenship so they are living in really wretched conditions with very few human rights.

If Jordan is so interested in the "right to return," then why aren't they insisting that the Jerash camp be dismantled and the people go back to Gaza? Right now, there is nothing stopping Jordan from arranging safe passage through Egypt to Gaza. They can go back and claim their old homes, just like the other "refugees" want to do in Israel.

So why is there no Arab demand that Jerash residents go to Gaza?

The same UNRWA money being used to maintain the camp in Jordan can be redirected to Gaza. No doubt there would be plenty of international support for building new shelters if necessary. Free Gaza and the IHH would contribute all the money needed, as would Arab nations who are interested in the "right to return."

After all, these people lost their homes and want to go back. This is the essence of "return."
It is a consensus position among Arabs. Israel can't stop them at the Rafah border. So what's the problem?

The Jerash residents themselves clearly want to go back to Gaza. From 2005:

As children in the street chanted "Gaza is liberated," 65-year-old Ayed Suleiman Abu-Hashish broke into tears.

"I can't wait to go back," he said. "I bet it has changed a lot since I left nearly 40 years ago."

For many in this squalid refugee camp, Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip (search), which began Monday, revived hopes they could return to homes they fled in the 1967 Middle East War.

Could it be that Arab idea of "return" is only to parts of "historic Palestine" and not to others? And those parts all happen to be Israeli?

The fact that Jerash exists today, six years after Israel left Gaza, without anyone calling for it to be dismantled, shows that the Arab demand for "return" has nothing to do with their feelings towards their Palestinian brethren - and has everything to do with destroying Israel.

(h/t Sabril, Joel)
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From JPost:

Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinians need to hear one line from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in order to return to the negotiating table. "There's one line," Erekat told Army Radio Monday, that "negotiations should lead to two states along 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps."

The PA, he repeated, is "waiting to see if Prime Minister Netanyahu says he accepts two states on 1967 lines with agreed swaps. Until we hear that, I think it would be a waste of time to speak about any other issue."

Didn't Erekat resign a few months ago? Or was that just one of the many lies that he likes to tell?
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
An old joke:

Two Jews are dragged off by anti-Semites before a firing squad. The first one cries, "Stop! Stop! You're murdering an innocent man."

"Shhhhh!" hisses the second Jew. "Don't cause trouble!"


Throughout the history of the Diaspora, Jews have become almost genetically programmed to embrace the philosophy that they must meekly submit to the will of their rulers, that the worst thing to do was to call attention to themselves. Back-room politics was the preferred way to get things done, in places that Jews could exercise that prerogative. This was a very good survival tactic for a small nation that was spread out in the world.

Zionism brought with it an alternative method: defending your people from a position of pride and a knowledge that you are right.

These two methods have clashed in the past. During the Holocaust, there were many (mostly religious) Jews who tirelessly fought behind the scenes to save as many Jews as possible; there were others who fearlessly went public with their battles - much to the dismay of Jews who were raised with the idea of the Yiddish "Sha, shtil!" - "Shut up!"

The same battle occurred during the long fight to open up the Soviet Union to allowing Jews to emigrate. In that case, the loud people won. The mass rallies in Washington were noted in Moscow, and they brought the issue to the forefront in Congress and in the White House. Ultimately, the loudmouths won.

Israel finds itself still under attack by the "Sha, shtil" Jews, Jews who are fundamentally uncomfortable with the idea of fellow Jews acting truly independently. These Jews cannot wrap their heads around the idea of Israel proudly acting for its own best interests, or at best, acting against what they arrogantly believe are Israel's best interests from the Diaspora.

Jeffrey Goldberg's latest column shows him to be a "sha, shtil!" Jew.

Like many of you, I watched the Prime Minister of Israel publicly lecture the President of the United States on Jewish history with a mixture of shock, amusement and bewilderment.
Notably, not an ounce of pride.

It wasn't the content of Netanyahu's lecture that I found so shocking -- Jews, over a few thousand years, have earned a great deal of our paranoia -- but that he chose to hector the American president, an American president who, the day before, gave Netanyahu two enormous gifts -- a denunciation of the radical Islamist terror group Hamas, and a promise to fight unilateral Palestinian efforts to seek United Nations recognition as an independent state -- in public, in the White House, in a tone that suggested he thought he was speaking to an ignoramus. Politico's Mike Allen, who writes Washington's most influential tip sheet, framed the Bibi lecture this way: "Netanyahu scolds Obama in Oval," and he goes on to quote NBC's Andrea Mitchell telling David Gregory, "I was told that even some Israeli officials, David, were uncomfortable with what they acknowledged was a lecturing tone by the prime minister. But he felt very strongly he had to say this to the world, (in) President Obama's face."
It is telling that Goldberg feels that an American president denouncing a terror group is an "enormous gift." Jews should genuflect when a president acknowledges the bleeding obvious?

Goldberg also doesn't get who Netanyahu's audience was, as alluded to by Andrea Mitchell. Netanyahu wasn't so much lecturing Obama - he actually took pains to be polite in his unscripted, un-teleprompted  speech - as much as he was using the opportunity to speak to the world. Rarely do Westerners actually get to hear the words of an Israeli leader beyond sound-bites, and here Netanyahu had an audience much larger than he ever had speaking to Wolf Blitzer. It might have been a lecture, but it was largely meant for the world.

Goldberg lists the reasons for his "sha, shtil!" discomfort:
There are a number of problems, tactical and strategic, with Netanyahu's pedantic behavior:
1) President Obama actually does understands Jewish history: he understands it well enough to know that the permanent occupation of the West Bank would be an historical anomaly;
Netanyahu did not say, or even imply, anything about a permanent occupation of the entire West Bank. This is Goldberg putting his "hawkish Likud" meme ahead of what was actually said. Netanyahu's words could have been said with very little change by Tzipi Livni or Ehud Barak and still been consistent with their parties' policies.

It is also profoundly troubling that Goldberg has no feelings at all about Israel losing its holiest places because they happen to all be in what he apparently believes is Arab, Muslim land and whose Jewishness is merely an "historic anomaly."
2) Even if Obama didn't understand Jewish history, it is still off-putting for many Americans to watch their president being lectured by a foreign leader in his own house;
"Sha, shtil!" People understand, and respect, pride and the truth. Netanyahu's major point was that too much of Western Middle East policy is based on not wanting to ruffle the feathers of the Arab world and therefore avoiding saying basic truths, like the fact that Palestinian Arab "refugees" are never, ever going to "return." If Obama would have stood up and actually said that in his address, it would have been the biggest step towards real peace in recent memory.

3) The Prime Minister doesn't seem to understand what President Obama is trying to tell him: That Israel cannot maintain the occupation of the West Bank without becoming a pariah state (previous LIkud-bred prime ministers, namely Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, both understood this);
Given that this is a theme that is found ad nauseum in every liberal publication, it is absurd to think that Netanyahu doesn't understand this perspective. And, again, Goldberg is believing that "occupation" is an all-or-nothing game; he has bought the lie that somehow an independent Palestine must be along some arbitrary lines that have nothing to do with security and are themselves the real historical anomaly.  Goldberg here is engaging in the same kind of condescending rhetoric that he accuses Netanyahu of.
4) The Prime Minister desperately needs President Obama to defend Israel in the United Nations, and even more crucially, to confront Iran's nuclear program, which poses an existential threat to the Jewish state; angering him constantly doesn't seem to be an effective way to marshal the President's support;
And when, exactly, have the "sha, shtil" methods made Obama more likely to love Israel and understand her position? Whether Goldberg likes it or not, Obama has publicly moved closer to Israel's correct positions exactly because of external pressure, not from Goldberg's style of trying to privately convince him.
5) Based on the mail I've been receiving, and conversations I've been having with Jewish leaders of various ideological persuasions, there is a great worry that Netanyahu, through his behavior even more than his policies, is alienating other of Israel's friends, needlessly.
The kind of people that Goldberg is corresponding with are the kinds of people who already agree with his "sha, shtil"  mentality.

As I have pointed out previously, the supposedly moderate Mahmoud Abbas has truly insulted Obama - directly, not couched in diplomatic niceties - only a few months ago. Goldberg didn't rage against this slap in the face of his President then. Perhaps he was not even aware of the fact that the PA government officially called the US an obstacle to peace and said it cannot be an honest broker - words that make Netanyahu's look like fawning praise.

What was the penalty to Abbas for putting out this press release on his own government website? How did it affect US/Palestinian Arab relations? Where was the gnashing of teeth by Palestinian "moderates" about how Abbas crossed the line?

In short, why is Israel standing up for its principles so awful when her enemies do it routinely - and insultingly without any repercussions?

It is because Arabs never grew up with the concept of "sha, shtil!"
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Fellow blogger Bruce is attending the AIPAC conference and he filed this report from Day 1:


In the first day of the conference, two politicians elicited howls of support from over 10,000 AIPAC delegates, after they publicly criticized President Obama's stance on the pre-Six Day War lines.  

In a dramatic speech just moments before President Obama took the podium, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer [D] jabbed the President emphasizing "if peace and security are to exist, Israel's borders must be defensible and must reflect reality on the ground."  That a fellow Democrat would sting the President seemed to thrill the crowd, which erupted in a howls of agreement which lasted for several minutes.  It was the most dramatic moment of the day, which began with hours of exhausting pre-conference security dictated by President Obama's attendance.  

AIPAC President Lee Rosenberg's introduction of President Obama was unusual, but carefully scripted to help the President avoid a cold greeting.  Mr. Rosenberg gave a traditional introduction, the crowd rose to stand for President Obama, but then Mr. Rosenberg awkwardly added "before the President addresses us, I'd like to add..."  He then gave a rather long list of thank-yous ["we thank you Mr. President..."], seemingly to remind the crowd of times when we were happier with him.  When Rosenberg finished, the President received a respectful welcoming, which included a milquetoast standing ovation.

President Obama's speech was well crafted and took us through areas of common ground [Iron Dome & Iran].  The two most poignant moments of his speech was when he insisted that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist before any negotiations and his call for Hamas' release of Gilad Shalit.  All of this was, of course, absent from Thursday's "Arab Spring" Speech.  One had the distinct impression that the President was trying to clean up the electoral problems created by his picking yet another fight with Netanyahu.  To his credit, the President pointedly said that he knew that he "generated some controversy over the past few days."  But then he had the chutzpah to quote the offensive lines from his Arab Spring Speech, trying to claim that he was merely misunderstood.  That earned him the only audible booing of the speech.  

The most intelligent comments of the day came from Majority Whip Eric Cantor [R].  His speech included the following:  


"In order for us to win this great struggle, we must have the courage to see the world not as we wish it to be, but as it truly is. It is not morally equivalent when the offenses of terrorists are equated with the defenses of Israel. 
The following story illustrates Israel's dilemma.  
A Palestinian woman from Gaza arrives at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for lifesaving skin treatment for burns over half her body. After the conclusion of her extensive treatment, the woman is invited back for follow-up visits to the outpatient clinic. One day she is caught at the border crossing wearing a suicide belt. Her intention? To blow herself up at the same clinic that saved her life. 
This is the root of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It is not about the '67 lines."

With that the crowd again erupted in the longest standing ovation of the day 

Cantor added: 


"To Mr. Abbas, I say: Stop the incitement in your media and your schools. Stop naming public squares and athletic teams after suicide bombers. And come to the negotiating table when you have prepared your people to forego hatred and renounce terrorism - and Israel will embrace you."

While Minority Whip Hoyer earns the "most dramatic moment of the day" award, Majority Whip Cantor earns the "most intelligent comments of the day" award. 
 
  • Monday, May 23, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Donations are being solicited to put a billboard near the UN, in an initiative that is supported by the Shalit family, asking that the international community works to free Gilad Shalit.


This is a great idea to keep his plight in the public eye.

Here's a JPost article about this campaign.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

  • Sunday, May 22, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Twice this week we have heard President Obama declare, as if it is self-evident, that "the status quo is unsustainable."

It is worthwhile to examine exactly why the President believes that.

These seem to be the reasons he gave Sunday:
First, the number of Palestinians living west of the Jordan River is growing rapidly and fundamentally reshaping the demographic realities of both Israel and the Palestinian territories. This will make it harder and harder – without a peace deal – to maintain Israel as both a Jewish state and a democratic state.

This is an old argument, and I cannot say that I am expert enough to say how true it is. But it is worth mentioning that this is hardly a universal view, and that there is much evidence that shows otherwise. As with everything else, the truth needs to be determined outside of politics.

Second, technology will make it harder for Israel to defend itself in the absence of a genuine peace.
A genuine peace is one where Israel's neighbors do not even fantasize about attacking Israel. Not one where they are coerced into not attacking by an ephemeral government, not one where they do not attack because of the military consequences - but one where they simply have no desire to, as I imagine most nations in Western Europe and the Americas are.

This will never happen in the Middle East. There will never be that level of peace, just as there wasn't between Israel and Egypt. The best we can ever hope for realistically is a detente where the weaker party has no desire to stir things up, even if it covets everything owned by the other.

This means that the best that Israel can hope for is a "Palestine" that keeps a short leash on its terrorists out of fear. Not love, not friendship, but fear. Just as Israel is not currently overly concerned about rocket attacks from Egypt, because it knows that Egypt will work to stop any such attacks, that is the best that Israel can want from a Palestinian Arab state.

And this is exactly the status quo today.

Anything that upsets this status quo will inevitably increase the danger to Israel's citizens. The reason is simple: real peace is not possible between Arabs and Jews who are not in a dhimmified state and who control land considered to be both Arab and Muslim. Muslims aren't going to change their religion and Arabs are not going to change their culture just because the president wishes to use his supposed great powers of personal persuasion.

And third, a new generation of Arabs is reshaping the region. A just and lasting peace can no longer be forged with one or two Arab leaders. Going forward, millions of Arab citizens have to see that peace is possible for that peace to be sustained.

The Arabs who are revolting have shown not only no desire to have a peaceful relationship with Israel but a significant desire to fight Israel. Whether this trend wil continue with each Arab uprising remains to be seen but there is little reason to be optimistic. Optimism, in this case, is the enemy of reality, and saying that peace must occur because it, um,  just has to is simply ignoring reality. Israel can do nothing to make Arabs like them enough for real peace, in this or any other universe.

Just as the context has changed in the Middle East, so too has it been changing in the international community over the last several years. There is a reason why the Palestinians are pursuing their interests at the United Nations. They recognize that there is an impatience with the peace process – or the absence of one. Not just in the Arab World, but in Latin America, in Europe, and in Asia. That impatience is growing, and is already manifesting itself in capitols around the world.
Is impatience a reason to do something foolhardy? I can guarantee that if these impatient countries knew that the "peace process" would lead to war - and that this is pretty much inevitable - their enthusiasm would wane quickly. They are also wishing and hoping for a peace that is impossible.

Right now, under this supposedly unsustainable status quo, West Bank Palestinian Arabs are in about as good shape as they were during the 90s under Oslo - an economic boom they threw away with the second intifada. Gazans, now that they have mostly stopped rocket attacks, are also in better shape then at any time since Hamas took over Gaza.

If an independent Palestine was declared, the economies of both areas would plummet again. Israel would wash its hands of existing agreements that have helped make Ramallah and Nablus and even Jenin normal places again. The PA economy, right now completely dependent on Israel (and curiously deficient in having forged close trading relationships with other Arab countries) would go into a tailspin, budgets wouldn't be met, police and security personnel wouldn't be paid, and they would then migrate over to (probably Iranian-funded)  terrorist alternatives. This is not a pessimistic Likudnik pie in the sky theory - this is what we saw happen during the second intifada. If police aren't paid, they join terror groups who will pay them. In Gaza, they're a bit more honest about it.

All of a sudden, the status quo doesn't look so bad. The "unsustainable" status quo is a far sight better than what will replace it.
  • Sunday, May 22, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
People who want to boycott Israeli goods are invited to print this and carry it with them at all times.

On the back is the fine print:

Israel is a leader in biotechnology development
Israel developed a drug that delays Alzheimer’s and helps Parkinson’s patients
Teva is a leading pharmaceutical firm from Israel - no medicines from them
Two out of three common Multiple Sclerosis drug treatments were developed in Israel
Israeli company Given Imagining, developed the PillCam for examining the esophagus and digestive tract.
Medical researchers in Israel developed a device that looks like a regular pen, but tests and identifies unwanted substances in bodily fluids
Israel developed a revolutionary device for diagnosing sleep related breathing disorders

(h/t Harry's Place via Ploni Almoni)
  • Sunday, May 22, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
The headline has since changed, but the caches show that it was really what they had written originally.

Details at Tundra Tabloids.

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