Israel Matzav

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Looking forward to Super Bowl XLVI

One week from tonight.

Anyone want to buy me a ticket?

Labels: New England Patriots, Super Bowl XLVI

Knesset to investigate Lapid's use of Vitamin P

Every Israeli knows what Vitamin P is. Vitamin P is protectzia. The latest and most public instance of the use of protectzia in Israel is Yair Lapid's acceptance into a PhD program at state-funded Bar Ilan University (ironically, the university that I've heard many people claim is 'more religious' and a 'better environment' for religious Jewish Israelis than Hebrew U, because it has fewer Leftists and Arabs), without so much as a high school matriculation certificate (there are no real high school diplomas here - either you pass the matriculation exams or you don't).

But because Lapid is someone that an awful lot of parties in the Knesset would like to exclude, Lapid's acceptance to the program is going to be scrutinized by the Knesset. Yes, Tommy, there are downsides to being so popular and well-connected.

The Knesset Education Committee plans to investigate television personality turned politician Yair Lapid's acceptance into Bar Ilan University's doctoral program for hermeneutics, in a televised meeting on Monday.

Lapid does not have a Bagrut (high school matriculation) certificate, nor did he complete B.A. studies.

The Bar-Ilan University website explains that the hermeneutics program, which combines master's and doctoral studies, is "meant for students who completed their bachelor's degrees with honors."

When asked on his Facebook page about his acceptance to the doctoral program, Lapid wrote: "Think about what a compliment this is. After all of the investigations on me, they could not find anything, and had to make up a story."

Last week, the Council for Higher Education announced that it would investigate Lapid's acceptance to the program.

He doesn't deserve to be in the program, and they all would probably do the same thing he is doing if given the opportunity.

Unfortunately, you don't need a bagrut (matriculation certificate) to become a member of the Knesset, and that's reflected in the body's general lack of intelligence.

And you thought Jews were smart....

Labels: Israeli Knesset, protectzia, Yair Lapid

'Palestinians' form civil guard units to defend mosques

The 'Palestinians' have formed civil guard units to defend mosques against attacks allegedly carried out by revenants. The IDF is concerned that the units could be a cause of violence.

The civil guard units consist of men who rotate shifts throughout the night to protect mosques and homes inside the villages from so-called “price tag” attacks by settlers and right-wing extremists.

...

The IDF Central Command recently held a number of surprise inspections of the civil guard units and discovered that the villagers were unarmed and that there were no grounds to dismantle the units. The units have been established in dozens of villages.

“These are people who are simply trying to protect their homes,” a senior IDF officer said. “Our concern is what happens if a group of Jews enter the village and are caught by the units.”

The IDF believes that most of the price-tag attacks are carried out by just a few dozen youth, who mainly come from outposts and settlements in northern Samaria.

In addition to concern that perpetrators of an attack will be caught by the civil guard units and then beaten or murdered, there are also fears that an attack will spark a new wave of Palestinian violence throughout the West Bank. The IDF is on high alert in the West Bank due to intelligence that Palestinian terrorists are plotting to kidnap a soldier or settler, murder him and then use the body as a bargaining chip to negotiate for the release of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Because we all know that if the 'Palestinians' catch a price tag attacker, they won't just call the police.... But what if the price tag attacker is a 'Palestinian'? Hmmmm.

Labels: Palestinians, price tag attacks, revenants, Tuba Zanghariya mosque

Ron Paul's website promotes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Here's a screen cap (done as a pdf and embedded on my blog via ScribD) of a page from Ron Paul's website that promotes that anti-Semitic classic, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Ron Paul's website promotes Protocols of the Elders of Zion

From the PJ Tatler:

According to Adam Taxin of the NY Jewish Examiner, Paul’s website has been publicizing and distributing the infamous anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Meetings of the Elders of Zion for the last three years!

Writes Taxin:
The website for “Campaign for Liberty”, an organization started by “Republican” anti-Israel Presidential candidate Ron Paul, has, since late 2008, been featuring a page offering the opportunity to purchase the notorious forged anti-Semitic book The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

As word spreads of this, inevitably Paul’s campaign will take down the page and claim the situation was a mere innocent mistake with which Paul (who of course hopes to lend his managerial skills to the entire nation) had nothing to do, a la the controversy over his newsletters in the 1990s. This of course despite the fact that the page with the link has now been up for over three years.
Indeed the web pages involved have now been taken down. The links, available from Taxin’s article, now read: “This blog entry doesn’t exist. Perhaps it once did, and was un-published or deleted, or maybe it’s just an invalid entry ID…” Maybe, maybe not. Unfortunately, Taxin has the screen grab with all the creepy ravings of one who calls himself “Free American.” The web is written in indelible ink, as we know.

Still waiting to hear from all the Jews who come on here every time I post something about Ron Paul to see if they try to explain this one away. Hey - if you're really Jews, you're supposed to be smart. Open your eyes and stop deluding yourselves. The man is an anti-Semite.

Labels: anti-Semitism, Campaign 2012, Ron Paul

Death threats for Dutch satirist over hit song Do the burqa

A Dutch satirist has declined to perform his hit song Do the burqa on stage due to death threats (Hat Tip: Jack W).

Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix has decided not to perform his latest hit Do the Burqa onstage following death threats.

The song, a carnival parody to the music of Van McCoy's Do the Hustle, is a huge success on YouTube, so much so that the video provider has switched off the comments facility. Too many people were posting angry reactions saying that they had been insulted.

The images show a woman wearing a T-shirt which can be instantly converted into a burqa, be it one that does not cover the breasts.

Mr Vlemmix said he had expected some commotion over his song: "I'm not exactly dumb." But he had failed to anticipate the virulence of the reactions: "I really meant it as a joke. Because the burqa is banned in the Netherlands I thought it was fun to offer a carnival alternative for it: the burqa shirt."

Carnival, a colourful, musical and noisy feast celebrated annually in the southern half of the Netherlands, is often used to mock authorities and make fun of social issues by people dressed up or disguised in humorous creations.

...

He has not only stopped performing the song onstage, Johan Vlemmix has also cancelled the option to order the shirts via his website. But he stops short at pulling the video from Youtube: "I made it because I was convinced it was right, and I refuse to take it down."

The video (or at least a portion of it) is available at the link above. It's not appropriate for Orthodox Jews (although there's nothing wrong with the song, which has been played at Orthodox Jewish weddings for years).

Labels: Burkha Woman, Holland, satire

This is rich: Haaretz brags that pro-'Palestinian' hackers apologize for bringing down its website

The cartoon at the top comes from here, and although it appears to be directed at the Israeli Supreme Court, it could indeed have been directed at Haaretz, which brags on Sunday about receiving an apology from pro-'Palestinian' hackers who took down its website last week.

The pro-Palestinian hackers that took responsibility for bringing down Haaretz's Hebrew website posted an apology on their Twitter account on Friday.

"@haaretzprint we are sorry , we didn't know that haaretz is a good newspaper,we sorry about this , and be sure no one will attack u again," @AnonPS posted.

On Wednesday, Haaretz Hebrew website was brought down in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, after hackers had paralyzed several other Israeli websites earlier that day.

We don't call them 'Israel's Hebrew Palestinian Daily' for nothing. Unfortunately, a few people in Israel and way too many of you abroad still read the rag (or its website) and believe what it says.

Labels: Israel's Hebrew Palestinian daily

Hamas forcefully breaks up anti-Assad rally in Gaza

Hamas may not be willing to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but on the verge of also losing their Iranian patron, they don't want their population in Gaza demonstrating against Assad either.

Hamas is opposed to public demonstrations against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Gaza Strip, and has broken up demonstrations in favor of the Syrian opposition, pan-Arab Asharq Alawsat reported Saturday.

Hamas security forces "forcefully" dispersed a pro-Syrian opposition protest in Gaza City just days before Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is expected to head to Iran, according to the report.

Hamas forces also arrested the head of a group spearheading the pro-Syrian opposition protest movement in Gaza, Al-Sheikh Yasser Abu Houli. The Salafist group, "Ibn Baz," runs under the banner "support from the people of Palestine for the oppressed people of Syria," according to the London-based newspaper.

According to an unnamed Palestinian source, Hamas had encouraged protest leaders in the Strip to carry out their support of the Syrian opposition less visibly, and to avoid media coverage. Perhaps wary of the Gaza leadership's political bureau in Syria, Hamas is trying to maintain a neutral position on the Syria issue, the report said.

The Islamist group is backed by Iran, which also backs Syria and Hezbollah as part of a regional alliance. Hamas does not want to be seen as putting that necessary alliance in jeopardy.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will embark on a trip to Tehran next week, but the report said it was not clear if the prime minister and Iranian President Mahmoud Abbas would discuss Hamas's position vis a vis Syria.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Heh.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Gaza, Hamas, Syrian uprising

Video: Mordechai Kedar on how to speak to Muslims

On Friday, my 12-year old came home from school and told me that one of the teachers had shown the video of Mordechai Kedar on al-Jazeera talking about Jerusalem. He started telling me about the clip and I pulled it up from my blog for him (of course, he saw it with Hebrew subtitles in school and I showed it to him with English subtitles). Part of that clip is below - the full clip is here.

Here's an interview with Professor Kedar in which he talks about how to talk to Muslims.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Jack W via Answering Muslims).

Labels: Mordechai Kedar, Muslim Jew hatred

Video: Left and Right unite on Israel

Here's a fascinating video that shows Bob Kunst, who has been with the Democratic Left all his life talking about supporting Israel with Dr. Rich Swier. I'll tell you the conclusion because it's in the first video anyway: Obama must go. Kunst, who has never voted Republican in his life is ready to vote for Newt.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Newt Gingrich

Video: Barack Obama's Valentine

Too good to not post. Here's Barack Hussein Obama's valentine. Can you guess who it is?

Let's go to the videotape.

Heh.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama

Overnight music video

Here's Avraham Fried with Mitzva Gedola (It is a great mitzva to be happy always).

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Avraham Fried, Mitzva Gedola, overnight music video

Netanyahu takes a page out of Sharon's book, threatens to fire ministers

You may recall that when Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister, and he could not get his cabinet to vote in favor of expelling all the Jews from Gaza, he fired ministers and got himself a new cabinet. Binyamin Netanyahu has apparently learned from Sharon. He is about to do the same thing over the issue of 'illegal outposts.'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to inform Likud ministers on Sunday that any Likud minister who votes for the Outpost Law will be fired from government.

The bill, authored by Minister Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), would forbid eviction and demolition orders for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that have stood for four years and have at least twenty families.

It also stipulates that all petitions disputing land claims must be proven through accepted evidentiary means in a court competent to hear the case. Should such a claim be found valid the court would be directed to order monetary compensation or alternative grant of land for the plaintiff.

Netanyahu, who has pointedly refused to bring the law to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation for several weeks in fear it will pass over his objections, wishes to ensure the law fails in the Knesset plenum.

Without the backing of the Ministerial Committee, laws generally fail to garner sufficient support to be passed into law. But Netanyahu and his office are painfully aware that many Likud ministers and faction heads intend to back the law, irrespective of his position.

Orlev is expected to put the Outpost Law on the Knesset agenda even without the Ministerial Committee's endorsement, on Monday.

Observers say the Outpost Law would could then be brought to a vote in the plenum as early as Wednesday. Nor, they say, will Netanyahu likely be able to convince Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to refuse to bring the law to a vote.

Rivlin has gone on record saying that "one way or another" the community of Migron, which the bill seeks to save (among others), will be legalized.

Orlev is well aware that his bill has strong support among Likud lawmakers and other MKs in the ruling coalition who see it as a way to stop further demolitions of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria.

According to a recent poll 67% of the Likud-base supported the Outpost Law, while only 26% opposed it and 7% held no opinion.

When asked whether Likud ministers or faction members opposing the Outpost Law would cause them to vote against them in the coming Likud primaries 45% answered in the affirmative, 38% said it would have no impact, and 22% said they were unsure.

However, more telling was that 32% of the Likud base said, were Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to champion the Outpost Law, they would seriously consider transferring their support to his Israel Beiteinu faction in the next elections, if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opposes it and the threatened communities are uprooted.

Analysts say, with Likud primaries just around the corner, that Likud lawmakers find themselves faced with a double edged sword vis-a-vis the Prime Minister and Likud base.

Netanyahu backed a proposal by Benny Begin to move Migron in order to avoid the need for this law.

Moshe Feiglin should be all over this issue. It's a winner for him. The Likud primaries are Tuesday. Hmmm.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud party, Moshe Feiglin, outposts

'Palestinian' girls and women having forced hysterectomies at 'Palestinian Authority' hospitals

This story actually comes from a 'Palestinian' blogger who claims to have fled the 'Israeli occupation forces' to Vienna. I guess that's why she's free to write stories like this one.

There are a large number of hysterectomies being done at 'Palestinian' hospitals, allegedly on girls and women who have 'mental disabilities.' But maybe they don't. And maybe the hysterectomies are being done to preserve 'family honor.'

A Palestinian researcher at Birzeit University uncovered a scandal and crime against humanity in which Palestinian families in the West Bank force their daughters to undergo “uterine surgery” (hysterectomy). The girls are mostly said to have mental disabilities, the hospitals are administrated by the Palestinian National Authority (“PNA”). The surgeries are performed after these families are talked by doctors and religious authorities into fearing that their daughters can be raped, become pregnant or be unable to care about themselves during the period due to their (supposed) mental disability.

A Palestinian psychologist revealed that there currently are 50 cases of girls in the West Bank which are still on the waiting list for these operations for their daughters.

In a desperate attempt from the Islamic religious authority, which works under the power of PA, the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Palestinian Lands, who before had issued a religious edict (“fatwa”) allowing Palestinian families to have hysterectomy performed on their daughters (a crime against humanity), criticized these same Palestinian families saying that they should not make use that “old” religious edict which supposedly was issued by the Islamic authority for one specific case, allowing one family to allow a hysterectomy to be performed on their daughter. The Mufti denied releasing a fatwa which permits any family to conduct such an operation!

Sheikh Mohammed Hussein said “there was no edict issued which legitimizes and permits in general the eradication of the wombs of girls with disabilities, adding that the fatwa referenced was a one-time permit which had been exploited by some parents, indicating that it may not be a mainstream opinion at all, and that the fatwa was in reaction to a necessity in order to avoid a health risk to which the girl in question may have been exposed to.

...

According to our sources, there is a group of doctors working at the PA hospitals who are bound together by private interests for a net of (“Fat Cats”), several staff of the Palestinian National Authority who take money for covering these crimes. The doctors are conducting these and other operations for a high price, which goes directly into the pockets of these “fat cats”. All these operations are deleted from the hospital computers. Some of the doctor makes the operations in their own clinic, at home, in complete disregard for their duty as doctors and the dignity of the patients.

In connection with the hysterectomies it must be noted that the issues of sexual abuse and incest are widespread in the Palestinian territories and within families, schools, and institution in the cities, villages and the government institutions. In such a morass, forced hysterectomies of young girls and women who are accused of having “mental problems” are more than convenient to avoid unwanted pregnancies and the shame they would bring. All these crimes are banned from public discussion and publication in the media. In all cases, these crimes are treated in a way that will cover up the perpetrators, protecting and helping them to continue perpetrating more crimes, and by punishing the victims (women, minors, girls) or killing them in so-called “honor” killings, and forcing disabled or mentally ill (real or adduced) girls to undergo hysterectomy operations. This has the added “benefit” of income for the perpetrators and the facilitators, who wear expensive suites and ties and work at PA institutions.

There are no Jews involved so this story will likely be of little interest to the media. The blog post is from the beginning of January, and this is the first I heard of it.

Labels: family honor, Palestinian Authority corruption

Tuba Zanghariya mosque fire was set by Muslims!

I trust that many of you remember the Tuba Zanghariya mosque fire back in October, and all the Israeli politicians tripping over each other to apologize to the 'Israeli Arabs' and to blame the evil 'settlers' for another 'price tag' attack. If you don't read French, you probably don't know that the crime has been solved. I know you'll all be shocked to hear that no 'settlers' were involved. The Tuba Zanghariya mosque was burned down by Islamists (link in French).

As it happens, my French is quite poor (I haven't really used it in nearly 40 years), so I'm going to post a Google translation, and if anyone speaks French and can make it clearer, please chime in. There's also a video report I'm posting at the end of this - that's in Hebrew.

On October 3, an AFP report, published by L'Express among others, and taken up by many French media reported the arson of a mosque in a Bedouin village in northern Israel, Touba-Zangariyya .

The Express attributed, without nuance or reservation or doubt expressed in the "settlers" in Israel.

Criminals who left behind them on a wall in the place of worship burned, the inscriptions "price tag" the price. Words that had been used by extremists of Jewish settlements, tagged with graffiti on a mosque in the West Bank Arab village of Yatma, two months earlier.

The initial police suspicion fell upon Israeli extremists with an identical profile, but failed to identify the culprits.

Mena had reacted immediately upon the announcement of the fire, in a dispatch dated October 3 (Fire of the mosque in the Upper Galilee: rogue!), Writing that it was highly unlikely that this event is the result of a political act committed by Jewish settlements.

Analysts at the agency, like many people in the upper Jordan Valley, in fact, knew enough about their region and the peculiarities of the village concerned, to issue this warning.

...

At Mena, we felt very strongly a new scrambles, telling us that everyone was wrong. But intuition is not a certainty for a journalist, and certainly does not replace the need to conduct a thorough investigation. That we did. It is in that context that I went to Touba-Zangariyya to meet with an important chieftain (Visit to Dalton City, Galileo). In writing, we did not cease to follow the evolution of events.

And, as usual, a few months after the crime, the languages began to loosen. Until a resident of Touba-Zangariyya, Bassem Souad, a Sunni Muslim, does not reveal the essential elements of the identity of criminals.

The man, under clear from the very imposing stature, took only a few minutes before giving me the interview I had to ask. A few hours later, he gave me a demonstration of what it was impossible that the fire has been committed by Jews. Conversely, Souad showed me that this act of arson was committed by people of his village.

"This mosque was burned Zangariyya" (Zangariyya-Touba is the result of the unification of the two villages and Zangariyya Touba), explain my interlocutor.

"Individuals from outside would have set fire to the mosque of Touba, the single entry of the two villages. For those of Zangariyya to join, you have to take a long road begins with Touba, and, above all, through the entire village. Arsonists Jews, burning a mosque under these conditions, with constant tension prevailing in the village, and dozens of machine guns and grenades in it, had virtually no chance of coming out alive.

On the other hand, the impact that media seeking the perpetrators of this mischief, there was no difference between destroying the mosque Zangariyya, or of Touba, located only a few steps from the exit of the village. Sensible person would have taken a risk as useless! "Says our man.

"For the rest," said Bassem Souad, "entries drawn on the ruins of the mosque have been using a piece of coal. It is a means commonly used by the Arabs, unlike the Jews, who, at all price tag in the West Bank, have used sprays.

This crime, "says the 43 year old man," was committed for political reasons. It is the prerogative of a small Islamist faction of Touba, recently formed, whose aim is to cause trouble between Jews and Arabs. Everyone in the village knows what group it is, but one is to tell the police as informers in our tradition, part of a crime more serious than that which was committed. Still, this small group tried awkwardly to imitate the way of acting Jewish extremists in order to be accused of this act. "

In advancing such remarks, Bassem Souad knows he risks his life. But that does not stop men like him to do what they consider just and necessary. It should be noted that, like other Bedouin, Souad is a reserve lieutenant colonel in the Israeli army, he spent over twelve years in Lebanon as such, most of them at the head of commandos special.

Still, the risk is very tangible. Thus, hours after the broadcast of an interview on Israeli Channel Two television, despite the security measures deployed around his home, the men shot at his house and its occupants live ammunition. They have missed the head of his 16 year old daughter a few centimeters.

His 17 year old son, who also prepares to join the ranks of the IDF in a month, was almost murdered. A hooded man, probably one of the Islamists, threw himself on the young man with the intent to stab him. Fortunately, the villagers who were nearby were able to repel the potential murderer.

A-Zangariyya Touba, we do not resolve their disputes in court, but stab wounds, machine guns, grenades and firebombs. These are four good reasons why the locals to remain silent, even if, privately, they say they revolted by the crimes of the Islamists.

Islamists, who may also make future costs of these laws Western, even though nothing in the words of Souad, evokes the possibility.

Read the whole thing. And here's the video of the Channel 2 interview with Mr. Souad, referred to above. Unfortunately, it's in Hebrew only, without subtitles.

Let's go to the videotape.

By the way, this story is two weeks old, and there is not a single link in the Google search that is not in French. At least until now.

For you non-Israelis, you may not realize just how big a deal was made of the Tuba Zanghariya mosque fire - for which 'settlers' were blamed - in October.

UPDATE 12:37 AM

Here's a Hebrew blog about it in December telling the same (ignored) story. I doubt you'll see it in the New York Times tomorrow either.

UPDATE 1:12 AM

Here's the original Channel 2 report (the one I showed you earlier was the one on the shooting at Souad's house). This is the report where Souad says that the mosque was burned by Muslims. Again, sorry, but it's Hebrew only with no subtitles.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Tuba Zanghariya mosque

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Mubarak asks World leaders to save him

Egyptian daily Ruz al-Yusuf reported on Saturday that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has asked nine World leaders to intervene to allow his family to leave Egypt and to save his life.

In the letters, which were most likely addressed to the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon, the ailing Mubarak pleaded with the leaders to mount pressure on Egyptian authorities to allow his two sons, Gamal and Alaa – who are also facing trial – and his wife to leave the country without being sent to jail.

Mubarak also reportedly plead with American officials to dissuade Egyptian authorities from sentencing him to death, claiming that the current rulers of Egypt and his historic rivals – the Muslim Brotherhood – will not allow the court to acquit him.

Well, I hope he's not expecting Obama to save him.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Hosni Mubarak

What's a terror organization to do?

What's a terror organization like Hamas to do? Longtime politburo chief Khaled Meshaal wants to retire. Meshaal has also effectively left Syria, embarrassed by Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, which is killing Sunni allies of Meshaal's patron, the Muslim Brotherhood. Iran has stopped funding Hamas - bringing an end to an odd situation where a Shiite terror state was supporting a Sunni terror organization. And Guy Bechor writes that Hamas is having trouble finding a new home (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

Where will it go now? There were hopes that Jordan will take in Hamas’ headquarters, until the group’s leadership was stunned last week to hear that Jordan is imposing limitations. Jordan’s prime minister made it clear that the country will host senior group figures and their families as “individuals,” banning them from any political activity. Hence, the Jordan option is no longer viable in furious Hamas’ view.

The Egypt option remains, yet with the Muslim Brotherhood aiming to portray itself as pragmatic and realistic in the eyes of the world, moving the headquarters of a terror group to Cairo would be an embarrassment. Haniyeh himself visited Egypt and spoke at length about Israel’s demise, yet Brotherhood representatives kept silent, and this silence should worry him.

The Muslim Brotherhood now needs to care not for 50,000 people, but rather, for 88 million. After all, the burden of running the state has been imposed on the Islamic movement, and should it fail to show an improvement in Egypt’s economic status, the streets’ fury will soon turn against the Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, moving Hamas’ headquarters to Gaza is out of the question, as the group’s senior figures believe that Israel could target them there.

Awwww..... Things aren't looking much better for Hamas in Gaza.

On a final note, Hamas won momentary global glory as result of the so-called blockade on Gaza. Yet now, when the siege is no longer in place with the border crossing to Egypt open to people and goods, how will the organization survive on the public relations front? This may be the worst problem faced by a group that lives off anti-Israel slogans and now finds itself crashing against the rocks of reality.

Better question: What will they do when their own people awaken to the reality that it is Hamas that is causing their starvation and not Israel? Well, Hamas is a heck of a lot better off economically than Egypt is, so don't expect anyone in Gaza to leave.

Heh.

Labels: Hamas, Khaled Meshaal

US bunker busters can't destroy Iranian nuke plants

The United States has concluded that its existing bunker busters are not capable of destroying Iran's underground nuclear facilities, and it is seeking strong weapons.

But initial tests indicated that the bomb, as currently configured, wouldn't be capable of destroying some of Iran's facilities, either because of their depth or because Tehran has added new fortifications to protect them.

Doubts about the MOP's effectiveness prompted the Pentagon this month to secretly submit a request to Congress for funding to enhance the bomb's ability to penetrate deeper into rock, concrete and steel before exploding, the officials said.

The push to boost the power of the MOP is part of stepped-up contingency planning for a possible strike against Iran's nuclear program, say U.S. officials.

...

Officials said the planned improvements to the MOP were meant to overcome shortcomings that emerged in initial testing. They said the new money was meant to ensure the weapon would be more effective against the deepest bunkers, including Iran's Fordow enrichment plant facility, which is buried in a mountain complex surrounded by antiaircraft batteries, making it a particularly difficult target even for the most powerful weapons available to the U.S.

Developing an effective bunker-buster is complicated in part because of the variables, experts say. Penetration varies depending on factors such as soil density and the types of stone and rock shielding the target.

Boeing received a contract in 2009 to fit the weapon on the U.S.'s B-2 Stealth Bomber. The Air Force began receiving the first of the bombs in September, a time of growing tensions with Iran. The Air Force has so far contracted to buy 20 of the bombs, and more deliveries are expected in 2013, after additional tests are made.

Should a decision be made to use the MOP as currently configured, it could cause "a lot of damage" to Iran's underground nuclear facilities but wouldn't necessarily destroy them outright, Mr. Panetta said.

"We're developing it. I think we're pretty close, let's put it that way. But we're still working at it because these things are not easy to be able to make sure that they will do what we want them to."

Mr. Panetta added: "But I'm confident, frankly, that we're going to have that capability and have it soon,"

...

According to Air Force officials, the 20.5 foot-long MOP carries over 5,300 pounds of explosive material. It is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding. The mountain above the Iranian enrichment site at Fordow is estimated to be at least 200 feet tall.

Israel has large bunker-buster bombs but the U.S. hasn't provided the MOP to any other country.

Hmmm. It seems to me that what you ought to do is to hit Iran now with what you have to delay them and then develop the MOP further to stop them completely.

But Obama won't do that. He'll wait for Iran to attack Israel first (God forbid).

What could go wrong?

Labels: bunker busters, Iranian nuclear threat, Massive Ordnance Penetrator, Qom

Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler

Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Friday, January 27.

1) The fault lines of the 'Arab Spring'

Jonathan Spyer in PJMedia 'Arab Spring' leaves a weakened Hezbollah:
This investment in the survival of Assad indicates which of the four aspects of Hezbollah’s identity mentioned above are most important to it. The link with the Iran-led alliance and maintaining the ability to wage war against Israel are the cardinal interests. To maintain these, Hezbollah has to a great extent sacrificed its more nebulous self-image as a leader of pan-Islamic “resistance.” Syrian Sunnis leading the uprising against Assad now count Hezbollah among their enemies. The movement’s flag has been burnt at opposition rallies.
So the uprising in Syria has served to remove the veil of “resistance” from the face of Hezbollah. The sectarian visage beneath has been revealed. Hezbollah has been exposed as a sectarian, Iran-aligned Shia force, backing a vicious, non-Sunni dictatorship in its war against its own, largely Sunni people.
Polls show the resulting disappearance of the high regard in which Hezbollah was once held across the Arab world.
Guy Bechor in Ynet, Hamas in deep trouble (h/t Challah Hu Akbar):
Nothing stopped Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, from making Ahmadinejad-style declarations that Israel’s days are numbered and calling for the establishment of an Arab Jihad army for Palestine’s liberation. Yet behind the pretentious slogans lies a grim reality for Hamas that can no longer be hidden.
First, Hamas’ alliance with Iran has come to an end. This pact was unnatural to begin with, given that we saw a Sunni organization endorsing a non-Arab Shiite state. Yet when Hamas refused Iran’s orders to support the fading Bashar Assad, Tehran shut its door to the group. What’s worse, the flow of money used by Hamas to pay some 50,000 officials and troops in Gaza has ended.
Hugh Naylor in The National Hamas Attack on Gaza Shiites May Indicate Political Shift (h/t Daily Alert)
Saturday's crackdown on Shiites - occurring as Hamas dismantles its headquarters in Damascus amid Syrian president Bashar Al Assad's political troubles - is an obvious affront to its long-time patron and may be a sign that one strut of that axis is rickety.
It also may be an indication that the tectonic political shifts underway since the Arab Spring erupted last year may be affecting the Gaza Strip.
"Because Hamas is straying from this Hizbollah-Syria relationship, that means they are freer to do these kinds of things," said Hani Habib, a political analyst and writer, who lives in Gaza.
Hamas might not suffer long term ill effects from losing its Iranian sponsor, with the Sinai being a new front, Hamas should be able to get significant new sources of financing and weaponry. Hezbollah's situation would appear to be a bit more tenuous.

Finally, there's Michael Segall's Iran: The Syrian Highway in the Fight Against Israel Is Still Open:
For as long as it lasts the crisis in Syria will manifest the inter-Arab fault line of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states vs. Syria, and deepen the Persian-Arab, Sunni-Shiite, and historical Persian-Turkish (Ottoman) fault lines. Parallel to the metahistorical processes is the ongoing weakening of the United States in the Middle East and the rise of Islamic regimes that, albeit mostly Sunni, are much closer to Iran than to America. From Tehran's standpoint, the real challenge is Turkey, as illustrated by the crisis with Syria. Turkey sees what is happening in Syria - its backyard - as part of the Arab Spring and calls on the president to respond to the will of the people, while Iran keeps backing Bashar and claims the Arab Spring is just a pretext to get rid of him. Both of these states have a superpower-imperialist past they would like to bring back, and will continue their dispute as the Middle Eastern tumult intensifies and even when the dust of the "Arab revolutions" settles. Both, with their apparent Islamic agenda, are competing for the same public, but still a wide gap yawns between them.
Iran appears to be at an advanced stage of reshaping what it calls the resistance camp. The fall of one of its mainstays, the Assad regime, would affect Iran's ability to help Hizbullah in "real time" in the event of another round of hostilities with Israel, and the freedom of action of the Hamas headquarters in Damascus. Yet, at the same time, opportunities will open for Iran in the region. In its view, the electoral victories of the Islamic forces (even if Sunni) and the possibility of communicating with them without fear of governmental repression - particularly in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, while in eastern Saudi Arabia the Shiite minority is still under tight control - opens for Tehran a new range of ideology-driven opportunities. As in the past, the common denominator around which it seeks to unite all members of the camp is hatred of the West and Israel. Here, Iran's rhetoric about the Syrian crisis, which it portrays as an attempt to harm a central Arab actor that has operated against Israel and has paid and is paying a price for its actions, plays a salient role.
Iran will try to consolidate the resistance camp in accordance with the changing geostrategic conditions of the region. In the first stage, it will work to widen the camp's ideological reach to include both a religious basis of Islam and an ideological-political basis of hatred of Israel and the United States. As for the practical aspects of the struggle against Israel, Iran will continue to leave them in the hands of Hizbullah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, attempting to broaden the scope of military-terrorist conflict with Israel in the future. Meanwhile, Iran is assigning an important role to its nuclear program and to formulating an appropriate deterrence concept that will be combined with its current "resistance camp" doctrine.
As the Muslim Brotherhood and its associated movement gain strength Shi'ite Iran holds less interest for the newly dominant Sunni Islamists coming to power. Colin Kahl writes:
When Mubarak fell, Iran's leaders moved out with swagger. They saw one pivotal U.S. ally gone, and perceived an opportunity to exploit unrest to undermine other pro-Western regimes, especially Saudi Arabia. They sought to develop contacts with Islamists in Egypt and Libya, expand ties to opposition movements in Yemen, and capitalize on the indigenous Shiite protests in Bahrain. And Iran's leaders seemed confident that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, Tehran's state ally in the Middle East, was immune from the populist wave because of its militant stance toward Israel and the United States.
One year later, however, it is hard to find evidence that Iran has benefited from the Arab uprisings. In fact, Iran's regional position has taken a big hit. With the partial exception of Yemen, Tehran has struggled to build new networks of influence with emerging Islamist actors. Meanwhile, Assad's regime has been thoroughly delegitimized, expelled from the Arab League, and is wobbling in the face of nationwide protests. This, in turn, has created considerable anxiety for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that constitutes Iran's chief non-state ally.
The perception of Iranian meddling has also decimated Tehran's "soft power" appeal across the Arab world. Surveys conducted in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates by Zogby International show Iran's reputation in free fall since the Arab Spring began. Just a few years ago, Iran enjoyed a strong majority of support among the populations of all these countries; as of July 2011, Iran had a net unfavorable rating in every country but Lebanon.
2) Pre-occupation with occupation

UN Watch asked a spokesman for the UN if Gaza was still occupied. The response was not encouraging, though hardly surprising.:
Furthermore, there is a resolution from the General Assembly from 20 December 2010, and while it noted the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank, it also stressed, in quotes, “the need for respect and preservation of the territorial unity, contiguity and integrity of all of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. So just to repeat that the United Nations will continue to refer to the Gaza Strip as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory until either the General Assembly or the Security Council take a different view on the matter.
Elder of Ziyon recently attended a lecture given by Prof. Eugene Kontorovich that addressed this very issue. Toward the end, Elder of Ziyon presents this summary of Kontorovich's conclusions:
Kontorovich didn't get into the issue of Gaza, which may seem to be a problem since it has a different government, but he argues that since Area A is unquestionably part of what is claimed to be Palestine, that West Bank entity is undoubtedly a state. Having defined territory is not the same as having defined borders, and "Palestine" has st least some territory that it can call its own.
Therefore, the professor says, the entire issue nowadays between Israel and the Palestinian Arab state is not an issue of occupation or legality - it is simply a border dispute that must be resolved the way all border disputes are resolved (or not.)
The UN seems intent on maintaining the Palestinians' grievances against Israel. It is those who deny Israel's many concrete concessions over the past 18+ years and who attach importance to a phony definition of "occupation" who are undermining peace and keeping the conflict alive.

3) The ugly American Jewish supporters of Israel

The AP has a generally unflattering profile of Sheldon Adelson, perhaps Newt Gingrich's largest individual donor (actually he doesn't give to Gingrich directly but to his related PAC), Gingrich’s biggest benefactor is a casino mogul, a hardliner on Israel and very, very rich. The article observes:
No other candidate in the race for president appears to be relying so heavily on the fortune of a single donor. It’s been made possible by last year’s Supreme Court rulings — known as Citizens United — that recast the political landscape by stripping away restrictions on contributions and how outside groups can spend their money.
Sheldon Adelson is Citizens United come to life.
“The bottom line is that it creates that potential for one person to have far more influence than any one person should have,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign finance watchdog group Democracy 21.
In addition to portraying Adelson as extreme here the article accuses him of (legal) corruption. Is there any evidence for Wertheimer's charge? Of course not. In the The mainstreaming of antisemitism, Meryl Yourish writes:
This is how modern anti-Semitism works. In the shadows of the mainstream press, with the wink-wink nudge-nudges of innuendo and reading between the lines. Sheldon Adelson has bought and paid for a candidate who is running for president, and it’s clear that the quid pro quo will be Israel. Watch for Andrew Sullivan and his progressive brothers-in-arms to wave this news article like a flag on how Israel is controlling America.
A brother in arms, Wayne Barrett has done exactly that at the Daily Beast. (h/t Lauri Regan)
Of course the Jewish American press has been up in arms over this viciousness. Actually it hasn't. The Forward's Gal Beckerman piles on with the offensive What Sheldon's money buys, which isn't appreciably different from the AP article.

Generally when the subject is Jewish support for Israel, the media is willing to engage in all sorts of innuendo, suggesting that support for Israel is based on ignorance, misplaced priorities or even dual loyalty. Prior to the Democratic primary in Florida four years ago, Jodi Kantor of the New York Times wrote, As Obama Heads to Florida, Many of Its Jews Have Doubts:
Because of a dispute over moving the date of the state’s primary, Mr. Obama and the other Democratic candidates did not campaign in Florida. In his absence, novel and exotic rumors about Mr. Obama have flourished. Among many older Jews, and some younger ones, as well, he has become a conduit for Jewish anxiety about Israel, Iran, anti-Semitism and race.
Mr. Obama is Arab, Jack Stern’s friends told him in Aventura. (He’s not.)
He is a part of Chicago’s large Palestinian community, suspects Mindy Chotiner of Delray. (Wrong again.)
The gist of the article is that the only reason Jews wouldn't vote for Obama was out of ignorance. The tone of the article was extremely condescending.

Back in 2003, a former managing editor of the Washington Post, Robert Kaiser wrote Bush and Sharon Nearly Identical On Mideast Policy. Despite the anodyne sounding headline, the article asserted:
Since then, U.S. policy has been in step with Sharon's. The peace process is "quiescent," said retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, Bush's special envoy to the region. "I've kind of gone dormant," he added. In December Bush appointed an articulate, hard-line critic of the traditional peace process, Elliott Abrams, director of Mideast affairs for the National Security Council.
"The Likudniks are really in charge now," said a senior government official, using a Yiddish term for supporters of Sharon's political party. Neumann agreed that Abrams's appointment was symbolically important, not least because Abrams's views were shared by his boss, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, by Vice President Cheney and by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "It's a strong lineup," he said.
Abrams is a former assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration who was convicted on two counts of lying to Congress in the Iran-contra scandal, then pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. In October 2000, Abrams wrote: "The Palestinian leadership does not want peace with Israel, and there will be no peace."
Later on the article suggested that support for Israel was also tied to support for attacking Iraq. While many American supporters of Israel did support the second Gulf War, official Israel didn't see Saddam as an immediate threat. Kaiser didn't consider the merits of the Israeli arguments, just that the administration was following Israeli or neo-conservative dictates. Pat Buchanan cited Kaiser as proof that Jews were leading the United States into war against its own interests.

The trend Meryl Yourish observed of grossly overstating Jewish influence in politics and ascribing sinister motives to that influence has been going on for awhile and unfortunately it is likely to continue.

Labels: anti-Semitism, Arab spring, Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Gaza, George W. Bush, Hamas, Hezbullah, Iran, Middle East Media Sampler, Newt Gingrich, occupation, Sheldon Adelson, Soccer Dad, Syria

Abu Mazen's witch hunt

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy, but.... Abu Mazen is really obsessed with Mohamed Dahlan.

The unraveling occurred in the summer of 2007, when Hamas overran the Gaza Strip and picked apart the Palestinian Authority’s forces there. Someone needed to be blamed. Although Dahlan had been out of the country for medical treatment, Fatah figures began calling for his removal. Dahlan resigned, but affirmed his loyalty to Abbas.

At the time, amid fears of a similar Hamas takeover in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority was in complete disarray. Bush administration officials moved quickly to stabilize the situation, and sought people they could trust in Ramallah. By October, Washington was actively pushing Dahlan, who maintained strong ties with U.S. intelligence and the Israeli defense establishment, to serve as Abbas’s deputy in the newly formed emergency government. Abbas rejected this suggestion, and the feud went public.

By 2008, Dahlan spent most of his time in Cairo. But his popularity had not waned within Fatah. In 2009, the party named him to the Fatah central committee, a group responsible for many key Palestinian decisions. Emboldened, Dahlan began brazenly challenging Abbas over the Palestinian leader’s lack of transparency and increasingly tight grip on power. He even went as far as to call for Fatah elections to select new leadership—a direct affront to Abbas.

Dahlan opened a TV station, Falastin al-Ghad (or Palestine Tomorrow), in the West Bank that year. By 2010, however, Abbas had shut it down. Amid allegations that Dahlan was maneuvering to succeed him, Abbas ordered an investigation into allegations that Dahlan had embezzled public funds. Palestinian Authority security forces also questioned Fatah members over reports that Dahlan was forming a militia. By December 2010, Abbas had Dahlan’s membership in Fatah’s central committee suspended.

In January 2011, Dahlan bravely traveled to Ramallah to face a commission investigating his alleged embezzlement and attempted coup. Predictably, Dahlan denied all the claims against him, and as one Abbas aide confided, the spat could be distilled down to “a personal or business dispute… many of the reports that talked about a coup are exaggerated.”

But the probe did not end. In April 2011, Fatah announced a new investigation alleging that Dahlan provided Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi with weapons to repel the uprising that soon spiraled into the Libyan civil war.

By June 2011, Abbas had shuttered a number of Dahlan’s political websites, and expelled Dahlan from Fatah. In response, Dahlan boldly stated on Al-Hayat TV that, “Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] can shove it.” The following month, Abbas arrested 15 of Dahlan’s supporters, and Palestinian security forces raided Dahlan’s villa in Ramallah, arresting more than 20 security guards, and confiscating two cars and more than a dozen weapons. This was widely viewed as illegal, since it ignored Dahlan's immunity as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Irate, Dahlan fired back, alleging that Abbas stole over $1 billion from the Palestine Investment fund, a sovereign wealth vehicle. The Abbas camp responded with a 118-page report alleging that Dahlan had stolen $300 million in aid from the United States, and poisoned Arafat.

While Dahlan remained a popular figure in Fatah, it soon became clear that Abbas had gained the upper hand. In August 2011, an official noted that Dahlan’s expulsion from Fatah “is now final. It can’t be appealed or canceled.”

For now, Dahlan has reportedly found refuge in the UAE, where the ruling elites have reportedly grown tired with the Palestinian president’s personal vendettas. Abbas’s tenacious pursuit of him makes it hard for Dahlan to return to Ramallah, Amman, or Cairo—the other places he calls home. New reports also suggest that other Middle East states may soon move on Dahlan’s assets.

While Dahlan will probably not pose a political threat from exile, Abbas will likely keep after him. But it won’t end there, either. The Palestinian president has also picked fights with other potential political threats, including Prime Minister Fayyad, and Yasser Abbed Rabbo of the PLO. All three share a belief that the Palestinian Authority under Abbas has become less transparent and strayed from its original goal: a viable and transparent state that coexists with its neighbors, including Israel.

Just imagine what Abu Mazen will do if he gets his reichlet and has nothing else to do with his time.

What could go wrong?

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Abu Mazen

The most popular video of the week is....

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

You won't believe what the most popular video on YouTube was this week, garnering over 40 MILLION hits.

Let's go to the videotape.

More here.

I wonder why he didn't mention Iran.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, China

Friday, January 27, 2012

Sabbath music video

Here's Mordechai Ben David with l'Keil asher shovas (to the God who rested), which comes from the Sabbath morning prayers.

Let' s go to the videotape.

Shabbat Shalom everyone.

Labels: l'Keil Asher Shovas, Mordechai Ben David, Sabbath music video

Israel makes border proposal to 'Palestinians'; 'Palestinians' call it non-starter

At the final round of the Amman talks this past week, Israel presented the 'Palestinians' with a proposal to resolve the borders issue despite the fact that it is not in Israel's interest to resolve borders without the rest of the open issues being resolved at least at the same time.

According to the official, Molcho did not draw a line on a map, but rather spoke in general principles about what Israel would take into consideration when drawing that line.

Israel's presentation of the principles guiding its thinking on the border issues, follows a similar presentation Israel gave the Palestinians Saturday night in Amman outlining the principles outlining its thinking on security issues.

...

In an apparent effort to preempt Palestinian claims that Israel refuses to deal with the border issue, the official said Israel "is dealing with the issues that the Quartet believes are important."

He said that both sides asked for clarification from the other regarding issues that were raised. "Israel's position remains that within the framework of a peace process moving forward, we are ready for mutual confidence measures. But the talks must be without preconditions."

One of the steps the Palestinians are asking for is a release of Fatah prisoners held in Israeli jails. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has made clear that one of the steps he expects from the Palestinian side is an end to incitement within the Palestinian Authority.

Whatever Israel offered on Wednesday night, the 'Palestinians' have decided it wasn't enough. They are calling it a non-starter.

Palestinian officials said Friday that Israel's presentation of its ideas for border and security arrangements of a future Palestinian state at a meeting in Amman on Wednesday was a non-starter, envisaging a fenced-off territory of cantons that would preserve most Jewish settlements.

Israel's envoy to the talks, Yitzhak Molcho, outlined Wednesday night for the Palestinians the principles and parameters that will guide Israel's policy on border issues, an Israeli government official said. According to the official, Molcho did not draw a line on a map, but rather spoke in general principles about what Israel would take into consideration when drawing that line.

"He killed the two-state solution, set aside previous agreements and international law," said a Palestinian Liberation Organization source of Molcho's presentation. "Basically, the Israeli idea of a Palestinian state is made up of a wall and settlements."

An Israeli official said the presentation was in line with a framework for talks set by the Quartet -- the United States, European union, Russia and the United Nations.

Maybe it's time to stop making proposals to the 'Palestinians' and let them come back with one of their own and commit to live with it. Oh wait - they might actually have to make a concession to do that, and that's not going to happen.

What could go wrong?

Labels: defensible borders, direct talks, Middle East quartet

Israel believes Iran is bluffing

I don't remember whether I have ever said this on the blog, and given that it's Friday afternoon, I'm not going to look. But trust me on this - deep down, I don't believe that Iran will retaliate in any meaningful way if we take out their nukes. They might have Hamas and Hezbullah shoot off some rockets (and take the retaliatory hits), but I don't believe Iran is going to go to war with us over their nukes, just like Syria and Iraq didn't. At least not if we do it before they have a nuclear weapons capability.

The New York Times reports that the working assumption of the Netanyahu government is that Iran will not retaliate. Or at least not very much.

But conversations with eight current and recent top Israeli security officials suggested several things: since Israel has been demanding the new sanctions, including an oil embargo and seizure of Iran’s Central Bank assets, it will give the sanctions some months to work; the sanctions are viewed here as probably insufficient; a military attack remains a very real option; and postattack situations are considered less perilous than one in which Iran has nuclear weapons.

“Take every scenario of confrontation and attack by Iran and its proxies and then ask yourself, ‘How would it look if they had a nuclear weapon?’ ” a senior official said. “In nearly every scenario, the situation looks worse.”

The core analysis is based on an examination of Iran’s interests and abilities, along with recent threats and conflicts. Before the United States-led war against Iraq in 1991, Saddam Hussein vowed that if attacked he would “burn half of Israel.” He fired about 40 Scud missiles at Israel, which did limited damage. Similar fears of retaliation were voiced before the Iraq war in 2003 and in 2006, during Israel’s war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. In the latter, about 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel by Hezbollah, most of them causing limited harm.

“If you put all those retaliations together and add in the terrorism of recent years, we are probably facing some multiple of that,” a retired official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, citing an internal study. “I’m not saying Iran will not react. But it will be nothing like London during World War II.”

A paper soon to be published by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, written by Amos Yadlin, former chief of military intelligence, and Yoel Guzansky, who headed the Iran desk at Israel’s National Security Council until 2009, argues that the Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is largely a bluff.

The paper contends that, despite the risks of Iranian provocation, Iran would not be able to close the waterway for any length of time and that it would not be in Iran’s own interest to do so.

“If others are closing the taps on you, why close your own?” Mr. Guzansky said. Sealing the strait could also lead to all-out confrontation with the United States, something the authors say they believe Iran wants to avoid.

A separate paper just published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies says that the fear of missile warfare against Israel is exaggerated since the missiles would be able to inflict only limited physical damage.

Most Israeli analysts, like most officials and analysts abroad, reject these arguments. They say that Iran has been preparing for an attack for some years and will react robustly, as will its allies, Hezbollah and Hamas. Moreover, they say, an attack will at best delay the Iranian program by a couple of years and lead Tehran to redouble its efforts to build such a weapon.

But Mr. Barak and Mr. Netanyahu believe that those concerns will pale if Iran does get a nuclear weapon. This was a point made in a public forum in Jerusalem this week by Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, chief of the army’s planning division. Speaking of the former leaders of Libya and Iraq, he said, “Who would have dared deal with Qaddafi or Saddam Hussein if they had a nuclear capability? No way.”

I agree with the assessments that Iranian retaliation will not be much so long as they don't have a nuclear weapon. The Arabs are like a child throwing a tantrum - the screaming and crying is a lot worse than the actual physical consequences. The problem is that if God forbid they get a nuclear weapon, then it just becomes a question of pushing one button, and that's a whole different ballgame. That's why it's so important to stop Iran before they get a nuclear weapon.

JPost reports that US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, who visited Israel last week, believes that a strike against Iran is premature.

"I do think the path we're on - the economic sanctions and the diplomatic pressure - does seem to me to be having an effect," Dempsey said. "I just think that it's premature to be deciding that the economic and diplomatic approach is inadequate."

...

Dempsey admitted differences in opinion between the US and Israel's leadership on the Iranian threat and how soon to act against it.

"We have to acknowledge that they ... see that threat differently than we do. Its existential to them," he said. "My intervention with them was not to try to persuade them to my thinking or allow them to persuade me to theirs, but rather to acknowledge the complexity and commit to seeking creative solutions, not simple solutions," he said.

But saying that there are differences in opinion because to us the threat is existential is only half the story. This is from the Times again.

The official said that the defense establishment was not enthusiastic about an attack. It hoped that sanctions and diplomacy would work and that if military action were needed it would come from the United States.

But this approach poses a difficulty. America’s weapons and equipment are far more powerful than Israel’s. So as Iran enriches uranium underground, Washington can wait longer to decide to attack and still be effective. Israel worries that in the coming year Iran will enter what officials call a zone of immunity, meaning its facilities will move beyond reach.

And at this point, we have no commitment from the Obama administration to take military action to stop Iran - just vague speeches that Iran will be stopped - and I doubt most Israelis would accept a promise from Obama anyway. So Israel has to accept the reality that it may be up to us to stop Iran.

If we get past the US election and there is a new Republican administration that can be trusted (i.e. not Ron Paul), it may be possible to make an agreement that Israel will stand down for some period of time and let Washington deal with Iran.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iranian nuclear threat

LATMA's tribal update featuring Ahmed Tibi's Zionist roots and the Obama administration guarantees the peace with Egypt

Here's the weekly LATMA tribal update featuring Ahmed Tibi's Zionist roots and the Obama administration guarantees the peace with Egypt.

Let's go to the videotape.

Two small tips. Obama's adviser's name is Zelokoreili ("Zeh-lo-korei-li"), which in Hebrew means "it doesn't happen to me."

And the building pictured in the last item is the Knesset (I wonder how they decided to use that and not the Supreme Court).

Labels: Ahmed Tibi, Barack Hussein Obama, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, LATMA

Israel cuts Turkey off from UAV technology

It's about time! Israel has decided that it will no longer supply UAV technology to Turkey (Hat Tip: Joshua I). This comes from a Turkish military website and as you read this, you will feel some of the tension between the Turkish military and the Erdogan regime.

Growing political hostility between Turkey and Israel has led to the Israeli military cancelling the export permit for UAVs and support services for Turkey. This will cost the firm that sold Turkey Heron UAVs some $90 million. The Israeli military has veto power over any arms exports and in this case believed it was too risky to complete the supplying of Turkey with UAV technology.

Meanwhile, Turkey has a Plan B. Two months ago, four American Predator UAVs, which had long operated in Iraq, were moved to Turkey. There, the American UAVs will be under the control of the Turkish security forces and assist in tracking Kurdish separatist (PKK) rebels. American UAVs based in Iraq had been helping the Turks track the PKK, but with all American forces gone from Iraq, the Turks were happy to give some of the Iraq-based Predators a new home.

Turkey has six Predator and four Reaper UAVs on order but there is a big backlog. Meanwhile, Turkey has been using ten Israeli Heron UAVs. This has been complicated because of growing Turkish hostility towards Israel. The latest accusations are that Israel is assisting the PKK and the Turkish media is having a good time with this sort of thing. After that sort of thing, the Israeli armed forces decided that the Turks could not be trusted. This was not a sudden change of mind. Last year Israeli UAV technicians and instructors were recalled from Turkey, where they were training Turkish troops on how to operate and maintain Israeli Heron UAVs. The Israeli personnel were withdrawn because it was believed they might be attacked.

The Turkish government has become increasingly anti-Israel in the last seven years. The Islamic politicians, who were elected in 2002, adopted an anti-Israel, anti-West attitude and strove to increase their stature in the Islamic world. Actually, the Turks are trying to regain the stature they used to have in the Islamic world. Until 1924, the Sultan of the Turks was the Caliph (technically the leader of all Moslems). But in the 1920s, Turkey turned itself into a secular state. Although Turkey became a major economic power in the Middle East, with one of the best educated populations, it was still hobbled by corruption and mismanagement. The current Islamic politicians promised to attack the corruption (which they have) and return religion to a central place in Turkish culture (in progress). This has upset a lot of secular Turks. But the Islamic politicians have made it fashionable to hate Israel.

The Turks ordered ten Herons seven years ago but delivery was delayed because of problems with the Turkish made sensor package. Meanwhile, the Turks were still fighting Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq and really needed those UAVs. Four years ago, the Israeli manufacturer made an interim deal to supply Israeli (without the Turkish sensors) Herons, along with support personnel, on a $10 million lease. But now those Herons are inoperable and the Turks have turned to locally made IHA UAVs, which are much less effective.

This is long overdue.

Now let's hope Israel comes full circle by assisting the PKK.

Labels: Turkish-Israeli relations, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Assad's mercenaries

I would have suspected this even if they had not reported it, but now that it's been reported, we can make it official. The people doing the shooting in the streets of Damascus are forces loyal to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and to Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

SYRIA is deploying large numbers of Hezbollah and Iranian snipers as "military consultants" to murder anti-regime protesters, a senior government defector has told The Times.

The salaries of the marksmen are paid through a slush fund replenished with US dollars flown in from Iran, according to Mahmoud Haj Hamad, who was the treasury's top auditor at the Defence Ministry until he fled Syria last month.

The same fund is used to pay the Shabiha, the gangs of thugs who have joined the state security services in torturing and killing protesters.

Mr Hamad, appalled at the destruction of cities by the armed forces, fled Syria with his family last month. His account is the first by a senior insider to confirm the presence of foreign forces in Syria to help to prop up the regime.

Even as the government was blaming the uprising on plots by its Arab neighbours and "foreign elements", it was turning to its regional allies to help to suppress the protests.

"The Syrian intelligence weren't qualified, they didn't have decent snipers or equipment," he said in an interview. "They needed qualified snipers from Hezbollah and Iran."

Both have tight military ties with the regime of President Assad, a member of the Alawite sect, a sub-group of the Shia branch of Islam.

Mr Hamad said: "At the beginning there were hundreds, then when things started to get worse they started to bring in more outsiders. The numbers were huge - in the thousands."

The foreign reinforcements are prized by the regime for their street-fighting abilities, having crushed dissent in Iran and Lebanon.

Mr Hamad said that he could see the men living in compounds around his office on the 12th floor of a Ministry of Defence building in the Damascus neighbourhood of Kafar Souseh, a facility shared by military intelligence.

This isn't at all surprising. Some of you may recall that there were Syrian and Hezbullah forces deployed on the streets of Tehran in the summer of 2009.

Here's a video from the Syrian opposition, which captured five Iranian snipers on Thursday in Homs. The video is in Persian and Arabic, but an English summary follows.

Let's go to the videotape.

Here's the message that goes with the video:

Five of these malignant animals were captured with their guns and the other two are workers in a state company in Syria. The Free Syrian Army will allow those last two to go home with no condition whatsoever but with others: Iran Must remove all their mercenaries working with the 'Syrian' regime , who are helping each other in killing innocent civilians, then the FSA will set those free. We respect the Shia religion and we demand from Ali Khamie to tell the Iranian government to stop supporting the brutal regime in Syria and take all their thugs out of Syria.

Hmmm.

UPDATE 1:39 PM

Israel Radio reports on a couple of the things said in the video above. The five prisoners - who were captured in Homs on Thursday - admit that they are Iranians and that they are members of the Revolutionary Guard forces.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbullah, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian uprising

Maybe this will convince the morons in the Obama administration to rethink the Muslim Brotherhood

Just a few hours ago, I reported that the Obama administration plans to reward the Muslim Brotherhood for refusing to speak with Israel by speeding up US aid to Egypt. Now, it appears that the shoe is on the other foot as well. Perhaps that will change things.

Reports out of Cairo indicate that six Americans who were working for American-funded organizations promoting democracy in Egypt have been barred from leaving the country. One of them is Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Ray LaHood is a Republican and the son of a Lebanese father and an American mother. Sam (pictured with his father at the father's swearing-in ceremony) is being held in what's being called de facto detention. And the Obama administration is said to be outraged (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

The travel ban came to light on Thursday after the International Republican Institute, an American-backed democracy-building group, disclosed that the Egyptian authorities had stopped its Egypt director, Sam LaHood, at the Cairo airport on Saturday before he could board a flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Mr. LaHood is the son of Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation and a former Republican congressman from Illinois. He is one of six Americans working for the Republican Institute or its sister organization, the National Democratic Institute, whom Egypt has blocked from leaving as part of a politically charged criminal investigation into their activities.

Just a day before Mr. LaHood was detained temporarily, President Obama had warned Egypt’s leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, that this year’s American military aid hinged on satisfying new Congressional legislation requiring that Egypt’s military government take tangible steps toward democracy, said three people briefed on the conversation.

Mr. Obama referred specifically to the criminal inquiry into several democracy-building groups with foreign financing, including the Republican Institute, the people who were briefed said, and he made clear that Egypt had not fulfilled the Congressional requirements, but Field Marshal Tantawi did not seem to believe him.

So it's Tantawi's fault and not the Brotherhood's? Of course, why didn't I think of that? But the result will be the same: This could lead to a hold-up of US aid money to Egypt.

But here's the weird part. The Obama administration seems to be wanting to play good cop, bad cop over this - and to make Congress the bad cop.

Then, after the travel ban on the Americans became public on Thursday, the administration made the warning public as well. “It is the prerogative of Congress to say that our future military aid is going to be conditioned on a democratic transition,” Michael H. Posner, an assistant secretary of state responsible for human rights issues, said at a previously scheduled press conference in Cairo on Thursday.

Boy is that one rich. Didn't Hillary Clinton argue precisely the opposite six months ago? This is from the Times:

Though members of Congress have talked this year of imposing conditions on American aid to Egypt, the Obama administration had previously opposed the idea.

The White House negotiated intensely to allow the president the option of waiving the conditions, if necessary, in the name of national security. Now Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, is required to certify that Egypt is making democratic progress — carrying out “policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion, and due process of law” — before releasing the aid this fiscal year.

I don't see how she can certify any of those things regardless of whether these six people are released. Freedom of religion with a parliament that's dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists? You've got to be kidding.

Representative Frank R. Wolf, a Republican from Virginia who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said the Egyptian government continued to flout American efforts and to undermine democratic rights. “This is out of control,” Mr. Wolf said on Thursday. “If the administration follows the law, there’s no way they can continue the aid.”

And in case you're wondering about the head count...

In addition to Mr. LaHood, four other employees from the Republican Institute, including two Americans, had been barred from travel. Officials of the National Democratic Institute said that six of its employees had been banned, including three Americans.

Hmmm.

Labels: Egypt, Hussein Tantawi, Muslim Brotherhood, US foreign aid

Video: Romney and Gingrich both tell a 'Palestinian' why there's no peace

Here's a clip from Thursday night's Republican debate in Florida with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich both telling a 'Palestinian-American' why there's no peace in the Middle East.

Let's go to the videotape. I'll have more beneath the fold.

YNet refers to this as a 'rare agreement' between Romney and Gingrich.

All I ask is that whoever of them wins (or Santorum or anyone else in the race other than Ron Paul), please God let them beat Obama.

Labels: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Palestinians, Republican party

Sudanese cleric: Jews want to claim property in the Arab world, next they'll sue the apes

This ought to give you an idea of the depth of anti-Semitism in the Muslim world. As far as I recall, there were never any Jews living in Sudan and no one is claiming that they abandoned property there as is the case throughout the Arab world. Nevertheless, here's a scathing attack on Jews (not Israelis, Jews) from a Sudanese cleric who worries we will 'sue the apes.'

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Muslim anti-Semitism

Overnight music video

This week's Torah portion is Bo, which includes the Exodus from Egypt. And so, without further ado, here are Yaakov Shwekey and Yonatan Razel with v'Hi she'Amda (And that which stood for our forefathers and for us) from the Passover Haggada.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: overnight music video, v'Hi She'amda, Yaakov Shwekey, Yonatan Razel

Obama rewards Muslim refusal to talk with Israel

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has announced that it will not talk to Israel - a country with which it has a peace treaty. And US President Barack Hussein Obama has announced that he will reward the Brotherhood by speeding up assistance to it. This is from the first link (Hat Tip: Dan F).

Mahmoud Ghazlan told London’s Asharq Alawsat daily that the Islamist group’s position is “clear and not up for discussion.” Ghazlan denied his organization had been contacted by Israel’s embassy in Cairo, and said it would “reject any request from the Israeli embassy to meet with leaders of the Brotherhood.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Army Radio on Tuesday that Israel “has not closed the door” to the new government in Cairo and “would be happy to conduct dialogue with anyone prepared to talk with us.” Palmor said he believes Egypt would continue to honor the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which he said serves the interests of both countries.

Ghazlan flatly rejected the prospect of talks with the Jewish state.

“Our group is not prepared to conduct dialogue with Israel – that is our decision.

Our position is consistent and clear, and is not up for discussion,” he said.

“It is illogical to open dialogue, any dialogue, given the current Israeli policies against the Arab peoples,” he said. “We will reject any request from the Israeli embassy to meet with leaders of the group.”

Earlier this month the deputy leader of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said it would not recognize Israel “under any circumstances.”

And the Obama administration's response?

U.S. President Barack Obama plans to accelerate the pace of American aid to Egypt, a top State Department official said on Wednesday, as the most populous Arab nation reaches a critical stage in its uncertain transition away from autocratic rule.

Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats, part of a U.S. delegation that held unprecedented talks last week with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, said Washington wanted to provide "more immediate benefits" to Egyptians, who earlier this month conducted their first democratic elections in decades.

"During this period, we want to be as supportive as we can. This is an historic moment. Egypt's a country of enormous importance," Hormats said.

Under the plan, some non-urgent U.S. aid slated for other countries - he did not name them - would be redirected to Egypt. And funding in the pipeline for long-term programs in Egypt would be shifted to quick-impact projects, he said.

Hormats, speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum, emphasized that the White House had not made any final decisions, and that he was providing Washington's "broad thinking" on the subject.

It was unclear whether the total amount of U.S. aid to Egypt would be increased. "Whether it's an increase or whether it's reprioritizing existing assistance, we're still working this out," Hormats said.

How much do you want to bet that one of those countries whose aid is 'redirected' is Israel? What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Muslim Brotherhood

Israel Matzav

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Looking forward to Super Bowl XLVI

Knesset to investigate Lapid's use of Vitamin P

'Palestinians' form civil guard units to defend mosques

Ron Paul's website promotes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Death threats for Dutch satirist over hit song Do the burqa

This is rich: Haaretz brags that pro-'Palestinian' hackers apologize for bringing down its website

Hamas forcefully breaks up anti-Assad rally in Gaza

Video: Mordechai Kedar on how to speak to Muslims

Video: Left and Right unite on Israel

Video: Barack Obama's Valentine

Overnight music video

Netanyahu takes a page out of Sharon's book, threatens to fire ministers

'Palestinian' girls and women having forced hysterectomies at 'Palestinian Authority' hospitals

Tuba Zanghariya mosque fire was set by Muslims!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Mubarak asks World leaders to save him

What's a terror organization to do?

US bunker busters can't destroy Iranian nuke plants

Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler

Abu Mazen's witch hunt

The most popular video of the week is....

Friday, January 27, 2012

Sabbath music video

Israel makes border proposal to 'Palestinians'; 'Palestinians' call it non-starter

Israel believes Iran is bluffing

LATMA's tribal update featuring Ahmed Tibi's Zionist roots and the Obama administration guarantees the peace with Egypt

Israel cuts Turkey off from UAV technology

Assad's mercenaries

Maybe this will convince the morons in the Obama administration to rethink the Muslim Brotherhood

Video: Romney and Gingrich both tell a 'Palestinian' why there's no peace

Sudanese cleric: Jews want to claim property in the Arab world, next they'll sue the apes

Overnight music video

Obama rewards Muslim refusal to talk with Israel

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