Israel Matzav

Former Shin Bet chief apes Chicken Little

The former chief of the Shin Bet General Security Service has been imitating Chicken Little, telling a conference on Wednesday that the 'Palestinian problem' is a bigger danger to Israel than a nuclear Iran, and of course, that 'settlements' must be stopped.

To solve the conflict, Israel must immediately freeze Jewish building in the West Bank outside the settlement blocs, and pledge to release all Palestinian prisoners at the end of the negotiations, Diskin said at the 10th anniversary event hosted by the Geneva Initiative.

“The implications of the absence of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more existential than the Iranian nuclear issue,” Diskin told an audience at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

A few comments:

1. There is very little actual building going on outside the 'settlement blocs' and none going on outside the boundaries of existing Jewish cities and towns.

2. Officially freezing Jewish building gives the 'Palestinians' hope that they can just drag
the 'negotiations' out forever, since it means that they have nothing to lose by not negotiating seriously.

3. 'Palestinian prisoners' are terrorist murderers. We're already releasing them to bring the 'Palestinians' to the table. Does Diskin think that's a good idea too? eave aside whether th was a good deal or the right thing to do. at

4. We agreed to release those 'Palestinian' murderers in exchange for NOT having a 'settlement freeze.' Leave aside whether that was a good deal or the right thing to do. If we now give the 'Palestinians' a 'settlement freeze' as a gift, what message are we sending the 'Palestinians'?

5. The absence of a solution to the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict is not an existential issue, and is certainly not more of an existential issue than a nuclear Iran. But giving the 'Palestinians' all of their demands would place Israel in existential danger.

Sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu slammed Diskin and his comments, saying that “anyone who thinks that the Palestinian threat is greater than the threat of a nuclear bomb in the hands of Iran, which calls for the destruction of the Sate of Israel is divorced from reality and lacking any strategic vision.”

...

Netanyahu will be influenced by neither “recycled statements, nor the righteous preaching that flows from the personal frustration of someone who wanted to be appointed the head of the Mossad, but did not get the job,” the sources said.

Very nice but the international community - correctly - sees Netanyahu as spineless and pliable and as long as that continues to be the case, he and we will be under pressure.

To see the rest of Diskin's fantasies, read the whole thing.

Labels: Geneva initiative, Iranian nuclear threat, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, settlement blocs, Yuval Diskin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:44 PM