Israel Matzav: April 2014

Congressman Gohmert "Our Secretary Of State Has Effectively CURSED ISRAEL!"

Here's Representative Louie Gohmert (R-Tx) slamming US Secretary of State John FN Kerry on the House floor.

Let's go to the videotape.

John Ferry must go.

Labels: Israeli apartheid, John Kerry, Louie Gohmert

Video: Michele Bachmann calls on John Kerry to resign

On April 28, 2014, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) spoke on the House Floor to call on Secretary of State John Kerry to resign for saying Israel is at risk of becoming "an apartheid state" if a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fails.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Israeli apartheid, John Kerry, Michele Bachmann

The Middle East conflict explained in five minutes

The Middle East conflict is framed as one of the most complex problems in the world. But, in reality, it's very simple. Israelis want to live in peace and are willing to accept a neighboring Palestinian state. And most Palestinians do not want Israel to exist. As Dennis Prager explains, this is really all you need to know. In 5 minutes, understand how Israel was founded, and how, since that auspicious day in 1948, its neighbors have tried to destroy it, again and again.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel's right to exist, Israeli-Palestinian conflict

3,000 soldiers from all units protest IDF soldier's dismissal over 'rules of engagement'

On duty in Hebron, surrounded by three Arabs who were threatening him, an IDF soldier from the Nachal Brigade cocked his weapon. Unfortunately, the incident was being taped by activists of B'Tselem, which is funded by the charlatans of the New Israel Fund. The soldier was thrown out of the army. 3,000 other soldiers from every unit in the army have come to his defense. But first, the incident itself.

Let's go to the videotape.

Here's a description of what you've just seen:

The video shows at least three Arab youths behaving in a threatening manner toward the soldier, who was alone. The soldier warns one of the youths not to continue provoking him, after the youth pushes him, but the youth continues to behave in a threatening manner. The soldier cocks his weapon and points it at the youth and at another youth who springs toward him, with what appears to be a set of brass knuckles on his hand. The soldier kicks the first youth away from him.

The video does not include the provocations that preceded the incident. In a longer version he also warns the cameraman to stop videotaping the incident and calls for backup.

Arabs and their left-wing collaborators uploaded the video to the internet and notified the media. The IDF promptly announced that the soldier's behavior “deviated from the norm.”

Military sources said that the soldier used too much violence and acted hastily when he attacked the youth, and that he might be dismissed from his unit as a result. They also said that the soldier would no longer serve in combat positions.

Not serving in combat positions means a cut in salary. Among other things.

Here's what happened next. Let's go to the videotape.

News site 0404's editor, Boaz Golan, told the NRG website that following the story, he received two photographs from IDF soldiers who expressed identification with the Nahal soldier by holding signs that said “I stand with the Nahlawi” (“Nahlawi” is military slang for Nahal soldier).

Once he uploaded the pictures to the site's Facebook page, he was swamped by a deluge of similar photos from all of the IDF's units. “I do not remember such a widespread protest in the IDF, ever,” Golan said. “One can certainly say tht this is a protest that includes all of the soldiers and Border Police, all of the units countrywide. We got more than 3,100 photos with the caption 'I stand with the Nahlawi.'”

"The soldiers we spoke to – including pilots, naval commandos, members of Duvdevan, all of the mandatory service army units and even a battalion commander in an active combat brigade – demand that the Israeli government give them the ability to properly deal with the difficulties they encounter on the ground. They are protesting that their hands are tied and they are unable to respond properly to violence by the Palestinians. They stress that they are not against the IDF and that they are ready to serve and carry out any mission. The main protest is against the policy, which is not determined by the army.”

Here's hoping that this protest snowballs. It's long past time.

Labels: Hebron, IDF rules of engagement, Judea and Samaria

The NBA's double standard

Anyone else think the NBA has a double standard when it comes to ethnic insults?

By the way, compare both of these with the five-game suspension given to French soccer player Nicolas Anelka for giving the Quenelle (Nazi) salute.

I guess the punishment depends upon whom you insult. I can't think of any other consistency in these punishments. Lots of punishment for insulting blacks, little or none for insulting Jews.

The two Knicks (Charlie Ward and Allan Houston) made their comments in a team locker room, while Donald Sterling made his in a private conversation with his girlfriend that she apparently recorded. Nicolas Anelka made his obscene gesture on the soccer pitch in front of thousands of people.

Don't tell me a major league sports owner has to set an example of sterling (pun unintentional and hello George Steinbrenner) character - I'll bet a lot more kids recognize Houston and Ward than recognize Sterling. And for cripes sake - Houston and Ward play in the same league that just banned Sterling.

But it's Sterling who was severely punished - a lifetime ban for a stupid remark during a private argument with his girlfriend. I see no explanation other than the fact that he insulted blacks, while Ward, Houston and Anelka all insulted Jews.

We're not worth much in the eyes of the PC police, are we?

Labels: anti-Black racism, anti-Semitism, political correctness

Hora!

Here are Shea Berkow and the Yedidim choir with Hora!

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Hora, overnight music video, Shea Berkow, Yedidim Choir

Separated at birth?

For those who are Hebrew-impaired and don't recognize the stars, the left is Shimon Peres in 1943 and the right is Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) in 2003. Richards denies that he's Shimon Peres' long lost son.

Labels: separated at birth, Shimon Peres

Malaysia Airlines 370 found?

An Australian company claims to have located the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 in the Bay of Bengal, in the north eastern part of the Indian Ocean. The flight disappeared while enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. 239 people were on board.

In the Bay of Bengal, in the north-eastern part of the Indian Ocean, the company found chemical elements on the ocean floor that are consistent with a Boeing 777 crash, reports International Business Times.

Those findings were not present in imaging from before the day of the crash, strengthening the argument for their being from the disappeared plane.

GeoResonance spokesperson Pavel Kursa stated that at the at the site "we identified chemical elements and materials that make up a Boeing 777...these are aluminum, titanium, copper, steel alloys and other materials."

David Pope, a fellow spokesperson of the company, added that "the wreckage wasn't there prior to the disappearance of MH370. We're not trying to say it definitely is MH370. However, it is a lead we feel should be followed up."

Using various images and information, the company scanned an area of 2,000,000 square kilometers (nearly 800,000 square miles), and in the end located the suspected crash site 5,000 kilometers (around 3,000 miles) away from the current focal point of the search.

Hmmm. (PS Could not find this story in International Business Times).

Labels: hijacking, Islamic terrorism, Malaysia

Gaffe? You call that a gaffe?

Google defines a gaffe as "an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder." Hold that definition for a minute - you'll see why.

In Tuesday's Boston Herald, Adriana Cohen refers to John Kerry's statement that Israel risks becoming an 'apartheid state' as a gaffe.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry has stepped in it again — with a gaffe that this time not only makes him look foolish but makes a mess of U.S. foreign policy and destroys any chance he had of realizing his legacy pipe dream of brokering Middle East peace.

In a private meeting with senior international officials Friday, Kerry said that if the Israelis and Palestinians can’t achieve a two-state solution, Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state with second-class citizens.”

Israelis are aghast — especially with Kerry’s remarks being reported yesterday on Holocaust Remembrance Day — and have started issuing calls for his resignation. Foreign policy experts are stunned, saying Kerry’s racially charged statements are major setbacks to peace negotiations in the Middle East.

“No wonder our diplomacy in the Middle East is so wretched,” former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton told the Herald, calling Kerry’s remarks “outrageous and defamatory.”

But for it to be a gaffe, Kerry would have to be embarrassed about it. There's no sign of that.

"I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes," Kerry said in the statement, issued by the State Department. "I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one."

"I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word," Kerry added.

No apologies there. Caroline Glick writes that there are no apologies because Kerry is an anti-Semite.

John Kerry’s recent use of the term “Apartheid” in reference to Israel’s future was an anti-Semitic act.

...

By ignoring the fact that every Palestinian leader views Jews as a contaminant that must be blotted out from the territory the Palestinians seek to control, (before they will even agree to accept sovereign responsibility for it), while attributing to Jews malicious intent towards the Palestinians that no Israeli Jewish politician with a chance of leading the country harbors, Kerry is adopting a full-throated and comprehensive anti-Semitic position.

It is both untethered from reason and libelous of Jews.

Speaking to the Daily Beast about Kerry’s remarks on Sunday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was quick to use the “some of his best friends are Jewish,” defense.

In her words, “Secretary Kerry, like Justice Minister [Tzipi] Livni, and previous Israeli Prime Ministers [Ehud] Olmert and [Ehud] Barak, was reiterating why there’s no such thing as a one-state solution if you believe, as he does, in the principle of a Jewish state. He was talking about the kind of future Israel wants.”

So in order to justify his own anti-Semitism – and sell it to the American Jewish community – Kerry is engaging in vulgar partisan interference in the internal politics of another country.

Indeed, Kerry went so far as to hint that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is forced from power, and Kerry’s Jewish best friends replace him, then things will be wonderful. In his words, if “there is a change of government or a change of heart, something will happen.” By inserting himself directly into the Israeli political arena, Kerry is working from his mediator Martin Indyk’s playbook.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: anti-Semitism, Israeli apartheid, John Kerry, Middle East peace process

This is rich: Ship that was to carry exports from Gaza to Europe mysteriously sinks

A ship (okay, it's a bit small to call a ship) that was to carry exports from Gaza to Europe mysteriously sank after an explosion early Tuesday morning. This from the ship's web site.

At 3:45 AM Gaza time on April 29th, the night guard on board Gaza's Ark received a call to leave the boat because it was going to be attacked.

The guard left, but when nothing happened, he returned after 5 minutes. A few minutes later, a large explosion rocked the boat causing extensive damage.

The boat sank part way and is now sitting on the shallow sea floor. The guard was not injured but was taken to hospital for tests.

Mahfouz Kabariti, Gaza’s Ark Project Manager, says: “The extent and nature of the damage are currently being investigated. We will provide an update when available.”

"Gaza’s Ark and all our partners in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition are considering our next move in response to this cowardly act of terrorism, but our position remains clear: Neither this nor any other attack will stop our efforts to challenge the blockade of Gaza until it ends," adds David Heap of Gaza's Ark Steering Committee.

"Freedom Flotilla boats have been sabotaged before. This attack comes as we were almost ready to sail. You can sink a boat but you can't sink a movement," concludes Ehab Lotayef, another member of the Steering Committee.

Sorry but terrorism involves randomly killing innocent people - not warning the one person who could be hurt to get away. That would argue against this being an internal Hamas-Islamic Jihad dispute. Maybe....

The JPost adds:

The ship intended to sail from Gaza carrying produce to Europe, Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported. If the activists succeeded in their mission, it would be the first time since the Oslo accords in 1994 that goods from Gaza had been exported by sea.

Only the Europeans would be stupid enough to allow their public to buy produce grown in sewer water. I hope that if it ever gets to Europe it is clearly marked so that all the useful idiots will know to buy it.

Labels: European anti-Semitism, Gaza plenty, Gaza pollution

Did you miss this too?

Did you miss this on the eve of Passover?

"The time has come to acknowledge reality:..There will be no peace along the lines of the model that has stirred such a mighty uproar here for the past decades, over which Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. In fact, let’s admit it -- the uproar has been fading for some time. The burning issue has consumed itself and turned to dust. All that passionate, feverish arguing has grown hollow. All that remains is an empty shell that echoes with the raucous shouts of the ghosts of Rabin Square.

There won’t be two states for two peoples. It’s not going to happen. Jerusalem will not be divided, no arrangement will be found for the Holy Basin, settlers will not be evacuated, construction in the West Bank will continue, the occupation will not end, no agreement will be signed and there won’t be any unilateral withdrawal, no land swaps will take place, America won’t present an ultimatum, Vladimir Putin won’t put a gun to our head, Europe won’t boycott until the situation becomes unbearable..."

Haaretz actually published this. Of course, the fact that they did so after 3:00 pm on the eve of Passover may be one reason why you missed it.

Can't get to the rest of it - it's behind a paywall. But it sounds pretty good.

Labels: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Middle East peace process, one-state solution, settlements are legal, two-state solution, Yitzchak Rabin

John Kerry came in ‘like a wrecking ball’ .... and did more damage to Israel than a year of Hamas missile attacks

Heh.

Hat Tip: Jack W via All the Right Snark.

Labels: Hamas, Israeli apartheid, John Kerry

Senator Ted Cruz calls for Kerry to resign

On the Senate floor on Monday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) called for US Secretary of State John FN Kerry to resign after Kerry warned of 'Israeli apartheid.'

Let's go to the videotape.

More here.

Cruz also appeared on Fox News with Megyn Kelly on Monday night to discuss his call for Kerry's resignation.

Let's go to the videotape.

I didn't realize until I saw that video that there are also Democrats who rose above partisan politics to express fury with Kerry. Hmmm.

Labels: Democrats, Israeli apartheid, John Kerry, Ted Cruz

Prime Minister Netanyahu schools Candy Crowley

Here's Prime Minister Netanyahu taking Candy Crowley to school on why Israel won't negotiate with Hamas.

Let's go to the videotape.

Fuller transcript here.

Crowley learned her lesson - and hopefully so did anyone else Crowley might try to trap in the future:

CROWLEY: So, as I understand you, what you're saying is: First, for me to come back to the table in any way, shape or form, Hamas or a representative -- a top representative of Hamas would have to renounce violence and recognize Israel, or Abbas will have to not have a unity government.

Is that how I read you?

NETANYAHU: I think that's a fair -- that's a fair summation.

Either Hamas disavows the destruction of Israel and embraces peace and denounces terror, or President Abbas renounces Hamas. If one of those things happens, then we can get back to the peace negotiations. I hope that he renounces Hamas. I hope that he gets back to the peace table, as I have just said.

Hmmm.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Middle East peace process

If the 'talks' are over, why are we still making 'gestures'?

The 'talks' between Israel and the 'Palestinians' would officially have ended today in any event, barring an extension, but it appears that the Israeli government may not yet have gotten the message. Hamas is claiming that Israel is about to turn over the bodies of several suicide terrorist bombers according to the terror organization, including the body of Izz al-Din al-Masri, the perpetrator of the August 2001 massacre at Sbarro's Pizza in Jerusalem. It goes without saying that any body turned over to Hamas will receive a hero's burial.

Hamas media sources were cited by Israel Radio on Tuesday that Israel plans to transfer the remains of Izz al-Din al-Masri, the suicide bomber who detonated himself in a Jerusalem Sbarro restaurant in 2001, to the Palestinian Authority. The attack resulted in the death of 19 people.

According to the report, the funeral is to be held in al-Masri's home village in the West Bank.
Israel is also reportedly in the process of handing over the bodies of brothers Abdel and Imad Audallah. The brothers were leaders in Hamas's military wing and were killed by Israeli security forces outside of Hebron in 2008.

A large funeral procession has been planned by the family honoring the Audallah brothers as martyrs' near Ramallah.

Israel began to exhume the remains of a number of Palestinian terrorists to return them to their families for burial early in January, 2014.

So far no denial from the Israeli government. The terrorists' bodies ought to be doused in pig fat and burned publicly or thrown into the sea wrapped in pig fat. What kind of morons run this country anyway?

Labels: gestures, Hamas, Palestinian terrorists, Sbarro terror attack

I believe - Treblinka

This is the story of Rabbi Azriel David Fastag, who wrote the song Ani Maamin (I believe - the Martyrs' song), while on the train carrying him to the Treblinka concentration camp.

Let's go to the videotape.

For those who read Hebrew, the full story is here.

Labels: Ani Ma'amin, overnight music video, Rabbi Azriel David Fastag, Treblinka

AP's Matt Lee hits Jen Psaki on Kerry's apartheid comments

At Monday's State Department press briefing, the AP's Matt Lee hit State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Secretary of State Kerry's apartheid comments. Psaki owned them and warned that 'many' have used similar terms to describe Israel's future.

Let's go to the videotape.

Someone needs to get Matt Lee the figures on the true population of Israel (Jews v. Arabs) and how there really is no demographic threat to the future of Israeli democracy.

In the meantime, the rest of the Obama administration has gone silent on Kerry's comments.

Speaking with The Jerusalem Post, multiple officials in the Obama administration declined to either defend or condemn the most recent remark. Members of his team believe that kernels of truth exist in his controversial statements— that, should a two-state solution fail to come to pass, efforts to undermine Israel's legitimacy may be emboldened, and Israel's Jewish population might come to rule a majority of Arabs and Palestinians in its borders.

His communications staff has made a concerted effort to discipline the secretary's message: the State Department maintains that, without peace, Israel will struggle to remain both Jewish and democratic.

But Kerry has, on several occasions, diverged from that message, to the frustration of his aides.

And American Jewish groups have condemned Kerry's statement across the board.

All major American Jewish or pro-Israel organizations weighed in on the reported comments, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, with a rare statement released on Monday.

"Any suggestion that Israel is, or is at risk of becoming, an apartheid state is offensive and inappropriate," the AIPAC statement read. "Israel is the lone stable democracy in the Middle East, and protects the rights of minorities regardless of ethnicity of religion."

Israel Radio had an interview this evening with a government official who said that Kerry isn't anti-Israel but has gone overboard with love for Israel. Kerry wants his Nobel peace prize and he wants an 'achievement' as Secretary of State. The Obama administration believes that Israel is low-hanging fruit - we're the only foreign country who pays attention to them and who cares at all about what they have to say. But they hate us and treat us with contempt. This administration cannot come to an end soon enough.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Israeli apartheid, Jen Psaki, John Kerry, Matt Lee, Middle East peace process, Nobel Peace Prize

Awkward moment ahead

Here's praying it doesn't happen.

Labels: Hillary Clinton, US presidential campaign 2016

New Israel Fund 'activists': 'The Holocaust is a whore who justifies the occupation'

You can't make this stuff up. The New Israel Fund has reached new heights of anti-Semitism with the dissemination of the video below called 'The Holocaust visits Yad Vashem' (Yad Vashem is Israel's national Holocaust memorial).

Let's go to the videotape (language warning). More after the video.

And the connection to the New Israel Fund? That's here (link in Hebrew). Here's a partial translation:

But beyond the academic interest in a Naziphile fantasy like this one, it would be worthwhile on this day to take an interest in the small people who stand in the background. These are the transparent activists, the epitome of the 'other,' without whom this sort of snorting production would be impossible. The first, the honored matron Moran Sharir, the producer and photographer, who showed off her dream regarding the return of all the 'uprooted Palestinians' to a convention of the Zochrot organization last year, and whose cinematic creations are shown off with others at the 'social television' site (25,000 from the New Israel Fund in 2012.

She and the additional photographer Guy Boktavia (also from the 'social television' of course) are the bread and butter without which the New Israel Fund's prostitution of the Holocaust would not reach our screens.

Second, but not secondary, is Mr. Itamar Shapiro, who lightly skips between activism in the anti-IDF group 'Breaking the Silence' (about 100,000 dollars from the New Israel Fund in 2012) and the establishment of the anti-IDF group 'Fighters for Peace.' In between, Shapiro found time to try to be a guide at Yad Vashem, where he was surprisingly fired after comparing the Holocaust to the occupation. A lot of investment for a cheap provocation.

And of course it would be impossible without the Professor of Honor, the Great Teacher, the Great Oracle of the psychotic Left, Gidon 'I am a Holocaust survivor so I'm allowed' Spiro, who took the trouble to be interviewed in the video, and to inform those few who made it to 7:05 in the video that "the Holocaust victims in Israel are the manufacturers of the next Holocaust."

After it massively and actively supports the boycott of Israel, prevents the IDF from protecting the State's citizens, destroys Israel's economy in the name of utopias of equality (of blessed memory), the time has come to tell the New Israel Fund and the organizations it has spawned: Have the Jewish people not suffered enough?

With the exception of the Shapiro link (a story I covered on this blog at the time), all the rest of the links are in Hebrew.

But keep this video in mind when you see the New Israel Fund-supported groups marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade on June 1. Disgusting, isn't it?

Labels: Holocaust, Jewish anti-Semitism, New Israel Fund

The next time someone tells you that the Arabs of Palestine had nothing to do with the Holocaust...

... show them this picture of Yasser Arafat's uncle.

Labels: Holocaust, Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, Nazis, Palestinians, Yasser Arafat

Knesset coalition chairman writes letter against BDS groups' parade participation

Knesset Coalition Chairman Yariv Levin has written a letter to JCC Watch's Richard Allen opposing the participation of BDS groups in the Celebrate Israel Parade on June 1. The letter is reproduced above.

It would be nice to hear from concrete steps in this regard from Israel's foreign ministry and from its consul general in New York, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Labels: BDS, Israeli Knesset, JCC Watch, Yariv Levin

It's that time of year again

Last night, as my son and I drove back from the north, we made a bathroom stop at a rest area on Route 6 South. It was distinctly uncomfortable. The entire service area was filled with Arabs, who were behaving wildly. The restaurants were closed, the gas station was closed, and although 4-5 people were inside the supermarket, no one else was being allowed in between 6:45 pm (shortly before we arrived there) and 6:00 am. Because the traffic on Route 6 - the country's main north-south highway and only toll road - is constant, the rest areas are supposed to be open 24/7/365. By definition, by the way, the restaurants therein are not Kosher (because they are open on Shabbat), but you can usually buy pre-packaged food that is Kosher.

Sunday night was the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day. It was also one of the last days on which high school and post-high school yeshiva boys are on vacation - they return to their studies on Wednesday and are there until August. Many of them took advantage of the warm weather to go on one last trip. And many of them did not return home before sundown.

But this is the time of year when the Israeli media trains its cameras on yeshiva boys - looking for any who move a muscle during the siren (which is in the morning only on Holocaust Memorial Day - in our family, we always stand still for it) or who otherwise behave in ways deemed improper or disrespectful. Last night, one such group was 'caught' in Beit Shean, and another in Jerusalem's Sacher park. But a secular group behaving even more rowdily was ignored, because they weren't part of the agenda.

The one news site that reportedly did not veer from the annual "tradition" of hunting down hareidim "desecrating" the day was Walla!, which on Sunday reported that "dozens of hareidi families arrived at Jerusalem's Sacher Park, occupied themselves with barbecues, and started the work of grilling."

What remarkably was not covered by the news source was the jovial game of soccer held by a group of secular Israelis directly adjacent to the hareidi barbecue.

The selective reporting angered more than a few journalists on hareidi issues, who posted enraged responses on their Facebook pages.

Reporter Yedidya Meir, whose photographs of the soccer game were published on the site Hareidim 10, wrote sarcastically "certainly tomorrow (the soccer game) will be on (Walla!'s) front page."

"It's already played out," a hareidi businessman from Jerusalem told Arutz Sheva. "Galloping over to Sacher Park to 'trap' hareidim eating dinner has worn itself out, and I'm happy for that."

"Just like we don't expect that seculars will not hold barbecues on Shabbat and holidays because 'they celebrate the Shabbat differently,' the time has come for you to understand that a hareidi 'caught' eating in Sacher Park isn't, Heaven forbid, due to the disrespect he has for this day," noted the businessman.

It is worth noting that the date for observance of Holocaust Memorial Day was instituted by the Israeli Knesset in 1951, and that a number of rabbis did not adhere to the practice, arguing instead that the Ninth of Av has been set aside as the day to mourn national tragedies to the nation of Israel. Similarly the Chief Rabbinate previously in 1949 decided on the Tenth of Tevet as the date for memorial, given that it is the date of the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon.

When we got back into our car last night, I told my son that the rest stop is open on Shabbat, open on Yom Kippur and open on the 9th day of Av. Perhaps it is like the edict under Jewish law that we are more stringent with rabbinic prohibitions because they are more in need of strengthening. And even more stringent with post-rabbinic (rabbis cannot make new edicts today) prohibitions that have no basis in Jewish law.

Labels: Haredim, Holocaust Memorial Day, Israeli media bias

'You are a s**t bag'

One of those refined J Street leaders called Brandeis senior and pro-Israel activist Daniel Mael a 's**t bag' as he walked to his dorm room on campus late Friday night. This is from Adam Kredo.

Mael said that he and a friend were returning to their dorm rooms at around 12:45 a.m. on Saturday when he came across Lepson—who says she currently works as a political intern at the Democratic National Committee (DNC)—and a group of her friends.

“As they approached, Talia Lepson give me a really, really intense stare and then I turned to the students and said, ‘Shabbat shalom,’” said Mael, who is an observant Jew. “I was being serious. I thought that religion and politics are not necessarily intertwined. I thought you could still be nice.”

Lepson “responded by saying, ‘Jews hate you’,” Mael said. “As she continued to walk, she screamed, ‘You are a shit bag.’” Mael said an unidentified person to her right hurled a similar insult.

Students who witnessed the event say they were shocked to see the J Street leader verbally attack Mael.

“It is somewhat scary to witness malice in exchange for benevolence, especially in the context of religion, where we are supposed to set aside politics when embracing it,” said one student who witnessed the incident but was not comfortable speaking out publicly.

Mael said that he “proceeded immediately to the university police to file an incident report” following the run-in with Lepson, who has interned at the White House, according to her LinkedIn profile.

A Brandeis University police official said that the department does not speak to the media on the weekend and recommended a reporter call back later.

Read the whole thing.

J Street tried to turn the tables, self-righteously accusing Mael of harassing J Street's leadership by fabricating stories.

It is one thing to engage in a strong and vibrant argument over the difficult issues at stake in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are deeply committed to an open and engaging dialogue when it is grounded in the substance of our disagreements.

It is another to conduct a campaign of personal intimidation and harassment, which is the pattern of behavior that Daniel Mael, a student blogger at Brandeis, has established in relating to J Street U student leaders.

In a new episode this weekend, a story was fabricated concerning one of the leaders of J Street U Brandeis. That student has now filed a report with the campus police over the incident that Mael invented and his ongoing pattern of harassment at Brandeis. The matter is now in the hands of campus police and we hope the authorities will take action to address our serious concerns.

In the meantime, we ask that others in the Jewish community and media - even those who don't agree with us politically - will distance themselves from this blogger and others with a history of conduct driven by malice and deceit.

That's pretty Orwellian. We don't agree with Mael and therefore you should distance yourself from him and not hear his point of view because we would never be uncivil. Really?

In the meantime, another student has backed Mael's version of the story.

But I'm sure that if they were part of the Conference of Presidents, J Streeters would not be involved in incidents like this. /sarc

Labels: Brandeis University, J Street, pro-Israel pro-peace, pro-Israel students

Shimon Peres describes how his grandfather was murdered by the Nazis

At Yad Vashem on Sunday night, Shimon Peres related how his grandfather HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) was murdered by the Nazis - may their names be obliterated.

The President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, spoke at the official commemoration ceremony for the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem.

President Peres spoke about the horrors of the massacre of Hungarian Jewry which took place 70 years ago today and of the destruction of the community in his home town of Vishneva.
President Peres also took the opportunity to address the dangers of the rise of extremism and the need to be vigilant against anti-Semitism across the world.

The following is a translated version of his speech:

“My brothers and sisters, at this very moment I see before my eyes a heartbreaking image. Tens of thousands of people; young and old, male and female, all concentrated on the banks of the Danube River. They are all under orders to face the river, each one tied to the next. Behind them stand Nazi storm troopers, Germans and locals, who cut them down with bullets in the back. To save bullets they tied weights and stones to them so that the dead will drag the living down with them. Children were tied to their mothers, the young to the elderly.

"The bodies of the victims are pushed into the chilling, foaming waters of the Danube. Their cries rise to the heavens and are left without an echo. The perpetrators stand with smiles on their faces, as if they carried out an act of heroism and won a brave battle. The blue Danube is painted red, in a single moment it became a floating grave, innocent victims, innocent people. Itamar Yaoz-Kest, a Jewish poet born in Hungary and sent to Bergen-Belsen, screams in one of his poems, 'What is there to drink? They tell me people. Water with blood?'

It happened in Hungary.

“But then another image comes to my mind. A photo of the town where I was born and spent the first decade of my life. Vishneva. In Vishneva the Nazis used a different technique. They didn't shoot the Jews. They burnt them alive. The Nazis, Germans and locals, gathered up all the Jews left in Vishneva, (half had already emigrated to Israel) and forced them to march to the synagogue which was made of wood.

"My grandfather, wrapped in a Jewish prayer shawl, stood at the head of the march, Rabbi Zvi Meltzer may peace be upon his soul. The same prayer shawl that I huddled under every Yom Kippur to listen to him recite the Kol Nidre prayer in his beautiful voice. They locked the doors of the synagogue and set it on fire with all the Jews still inside. No-one survived. Nothing was left of the synagogue. I can still hear the Kol Nidre prayer, which my grandfather would recite, in my heart.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Belarus, Holocaust, Hungary, Shimon Peres

Emergency Committee for Israel calls on Kerry to resign after he warns of Israeli 'apartheid'

Today the Emergency Committee for Israel released the following statement on Secretary of State John Kerry's use of the term "apartheid state" to threaten Israel:

On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry raised the specter of Israel as an "apartheid state." Even Barack Obama condemned the use of this term when running for president in 2008.

Yet this was no gaffe. Secretary Kerry's musings on the Jewish state's dire future have become a regular feature of his public remarks. His latest prediction follows other statements in recent months that have in effect threatened Israel -- never the Palestinians -- with a list of disasters should his diplomatic efforts fail: violence, isolation, delegitimization, boycotts -- and now "apartheid."

It is no longer enough for the White House to clean up after the messes John Kerry has made. It is time for John Kerry to step down as Secretary of State, or for President Obama to fire him. And it would go a long way toward repairing the damage Kerry has done if his predecessor as Secretary of State, who is the likely Democratic Party nominee for president, explained why this kind of rhetoric had no place in her State Department and why it will have no place in her presidential campaign.

Amen.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton, Israeli apartheid, John Kerry

Her Ugliness spits in Israel's face

Housing Minister Uri Ariel has slammed European Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton after Her Ugliness chose Holocaust Memorial Day - which commemorates the European slaughter of Jews 70 years ago - to endorse the Hamas-Fatah unity deal.

“On the eve of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Memorial Day, she spit in the face of those who fight against terror around the world," he accused. "European support for the deal will encourage Hamas terror, and will ensure that Europe loses it moral authority as a party that can help solve the conflict.

In a statement, Ashton said that even if Hamas was considered to be a terror group by the EU itself, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority must continue. “Negotiations are the best way forward,” she said. “The extensive efforts deployed in recent months must not go to waste. The EU calls on all sides to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid any action which may further undermine peace efforts and the viability of a two-state solution. The fact that President Abbas will remain fully in charge of the negotiation process and have a mandate to negotiate in the name of all Palestinians provides further assurance that the peace negotiations can and must proceed," she added.

An ugly statement by an ugly woman representing some of the most despicable 'world leaders' on the planet. But perhaps Shas MK Eli Yishai summed it up best:

“Europe's positive reaction to this deal is insulting and upsetting, but expected. Just like 70 years ago, Europe closes its eyes to the dangers that face Jews. Times have changed, but European hypocrisy hasn't,” he added.

Indeed.

Labels: Catherine Ashton, European hypocrisy, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Holocaust Memorial Day

I believe (the maryrs' song)

Here's Ani Maamin (I believe - the martyrs' song) by Mordechai Shapiro.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Ani Ma'amin, martyrs, Mordechai Shapiro, overnight music video

Netanyahu compares Iranian nuclear program to Holocaust

Tony Blinken wasn't the only one interviewed by Candy Crowley on Sunday. So was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyhu. Here's what Netanyahu had to say about Iran.

Let's go to the videotape.

At a Holcaust Memorial Day Ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, Netanyahu made pointed comparisons between Iran's nuclear program and the Holocaust.

"We need to identify existential threats on time, and to act against them on time," he said. "I ask, why in the years preceding the Holocaust did the vast majority of the world's leaders, and the vast majority of the leaders of our people, not see the threats before hand."

In retrospect, Netanyahu said, all the signs were apparent: the arming of the Nazi regime from year to year, the anti-Semitic propaganda that got worse month by month, and the attacks on the Jews.

Netanyahu said that a few world leaders, like Winston Churchill, saw the nature of the threat Nazism posed, and a few Jewish leaders – Like Ze'ev Jabotinsky – warned against the oncoming destruction.

Then, in what seemed like a direct response to critics who accuse him of exaggerating the Iranian threat, Netanyahu said those who warned about the Nazis were roundly criticized, and dismissed them and their warnings as "prophets of doom" and "warmongers."

"I ask how it could be that so many did not understand the reality?" he asked. "The bitter tragic truth is that it is not as if they did not see, they did not want to see. And the reason they chose not to see the truth is because they did not want to deal with the ramifications of that truth."

In an effort to avoid a repeat of the horrors of World War I, the west's leaders wanted to avoid a confrontation at any price. "And by doing so they prepared the ground for the worst war in the history of humanity."

When he talks about Iran, Netanyahu is spot-on. Unfortunately, too many treat him like Chicken Little.

Labels: 1930's, Binyamin Netanyahu, Holocaust, Iranian nuclear threat

Obama to cut aid to 'Palestinians'?

US law requires that the United States cut nearly all aid to any 'Palestinian government' that includes Hamas and does not fulfill three basic conditions. Speaking to CNN's Candy Crowley today, deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken answered yes when asked whether the US would consider cutting aid in the event that a 'government' including Hamas did not fulfill those three conditions.

Let's go to the videotape.

Recalling Crowley's role in the 2012 Presidential debates, you don't think that question was pre-cleared so as not to ask him flat out whether the US would cut aid, do you?

More here.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, liberal media bias, Palestinian elections 2012, US foreign aid

Calls growing to annex 'Area C'

For those wondering, I took my 14-year old son on an all-day trip to northern Israel today. We came home around 9:00 and I immediately collapsed for a few hours....

With the 'peace process' officially over and done with for now, calls are growing within Israel's governing coalition to annex 'Area C,' the part of Judea and Samaria that includes the Jews who live in Judea and Samaria and the highways that Israelis use to traverse those areas. The latest minister to call for annexation is Gilad Erdan, who is the highest-ranking Likud functionary to issue such a call.

On Sunday morning the newly appointed Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Brig. Gen. Yoav (Paulie) Mordechai announced that approvals of master plans for 19 Palestinian villages in Area C had been frozen.

He spoke at a Foreign Affairs and Defense sub-committee on Judea and Samaria, which focused on the issue of illegal Palestinian construction. His statement was unusual. Israel is often accused of imposing a de-facto policy that prevents Palestinian development in Area C, but its officials have rarely publicly articulately a policy to halt such building, even temporarily.

His spokesman Guy Inbar explained that defense minister Ehud Barak gave his initial approval to the plans. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon advanced them during the last nine-months, when Israeli and Palestinian teams were negotiating, Inbar said.

Europe and the United Nations have increasingly in the last few years focused on shoring up Palestinian development in Area C, including with financial assistance, because they view it as vital to the viability of a future Palestinian state.

But as they increase their support for Palestinian development of Area C, political voices in support of Israel's annexation of Area C have grown stronger.

Communications Minister Gilad Erdan – a cabinet minister considered close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – said that Israel should also begin "preparing for the declaration of Israeli sovereignty" over regions of Area C which have large Jewish populations, otherwise known as the settlement blocs, and which it is "clear" will always remain a part of Israel.

In the 1990s, the Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into three “areas:"

Area A, comprising some 18% of the territory, was transferred to the Palestinian Authority, where it enjoys most governmental powers.

Area B, making up 22% of the territories, was divided between Israel and the Palestinians, with Israel retaining security control, and civil matters given to the Palestinian Authority.

Area C, the largest area comprising some 60% of the territory – including all the settlement lands – remained in Israeli hands.

Erdan told Israel Radio that as a result of the Fatah-Hamas unity plan, Israel needed to send a "clear message" to the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian people that "they will lose with their unilateral steps, which will be answered by unilateral steps on our part."

Erdan said that there were clear steps that he felt Israel should already be taking, such as deducting debts the PA owes Israel – for instance to the Israel Electric Company – from the duties and taxes Israel collects for the PA and transfers to them each month.

"But if you ask me," he said, "we need to take more significant steps, such as declaring Israeli sovereignty over Area C, where the Jewish population lives, and is clear to us that they will [continue] to live there."

While Erdan is not the first cabinet minister to suggest annexing parts of Area C as a result of the Palestinian move – Economy Minister Naftali Bennett has already made that suggestion – it has added significance coming from Erdan because he is considered closely aligned to Netanyahu.

Hmmm.

Labels: Ehud Barak, Gilad Erdan, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Judea and Samaria, Moshe Yaalon

An alliance born in sin is coming to an end

The alliance between the Yesh Atid and Jewish Home parties, which was always and solely about trying to bring about the demise of Haredi Judaism in Israel (the only thing on which they ever agreed), appears to be coming to an end. Here are some choice quotes.

“Yesh Atid doesn’t have an alliance with the Bayit Yehudi,” Peri said on Channel 2’s Meet the Press.

Peri blasted Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s party over its stances on negotiations with the Palestinians.

“There is an abyss between Yesh Atid and the Bayit Yehudi, which has made delusional proposals and tried to sabotage negotiations, on both diplomatic issues and religion and state,” Peri said.

The two parties formed an alliance before the coalition was formed last year, forcing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s hand into including both of them in his government. The party’s chairmen, Yair Lapid and Bennett, formed a close partnership at the time, leading them to be nicknamed “brothers,” but it deteriorated over differences in opinion on religious and diplomatic affairs.

Bayit Yehudi faction chairwoman Ayelet Shaked said that “every Saturday on Meet the Press another left-wing minister attacks Bayit Yehudi."

“You know what it’s like to build a career on having a partner for peace [in the Palestinians] and then the partner runs away? It’s tough for them. Maybe they need a Plan B,” she quipped.

Similarly, a Bayit Yehudi spokesman said “the Left should try to keep its cool even when it’s in crisis.”

Meanwhile, the Leftist parties in opposition are urging Yesh Atid and the Tzipi Livni party to withdraw. And they also had some choice words for Netanyahu.

Opposition leader MK Yitzchak Herzog (Labor) on Saturday night launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his coalition, blaming them for the collapse of the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

In a post on his Facebook page, Herzog called on Netanyahu to “initiate a comprehensive and courageous offer” to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

"In recent days, I spoke with the Prime Minister, with Abbas, with [American mediator] Martin Indyk and others, and my impression is that the situation is volatile and very sensitive and we must not take irreversible and potentially harmful steps,” he wrote.

Herzog attacked Netanyahu and wrote that the Israeli government is a "government that is dragged and not a government that takes an initiative. Netanyahu has no plan. He does not know where Israel will be a decade from now.”

He called on the Prime Minister to place on the table "a comprehensive and courageous offer that will win international support, while insisting that the Palestinian government that will be formed recognize Israel and meet the conditions of the international community.”

Elections in September? I'd bet on it. Heh.

Labels: Ayelet Shaked, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jewish Home party, Middle East peace process, Naftali Bennett, Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid party

Go my sons

Here's Avremi Rot with L'Chu Banim (Go My Sons).

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Avremi Rot, L'Chu Banim, overnight music video

What a piece of work...

An American Jew who converted to Islam while living in Israel has been convicted in the United States of criminal incitement and sentenced to 2.5 years in jail for inciting violence against Jews.

Born Joseph Leonard Cohen, Yousef al-Khattab, 45 from New Jersey, converted from Judaism to Islam in his late 20s, when he was living in the Middle East. Upon his return to the US in 2007, he started the Revolution Muslim website.

In a post from 2009, Khattab posted a photo of the Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn with a link to map, noting the main temple was always full during prayer time, the Washington Post reported.

Khattab admitted posting articles encouraging readers to take unspecified action against Jewish leaders and publishing names and addresses of Jewish leaders and synagogues.
Posting a video on YouTube in 2009 of violence in the Gaza Strip, Khattab encouraged Muslims angered by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to "deal with them directly at their homes."

...

Renouncing the articles in court, he asked the judge to hold him responsible only "for what I say, not how people understood it," the Post reported.

In an interview with NPR, Khattab admitted that his actions were "stupid" and "wrong."
"They interpreted me giving the message of Islam as being a threat to the Jewish community, which it wasn't," Khattab told NPR, but could not explain how providing addresses and pictures of Jewish leaders after an anti-Semitic post could be misinterpreted.
Khattab claimed in court that he was a "clown" and "the Gilbert Gottfried of the Muslims," saying he did not intend to incite violence, according to the Post. He also noted he would not make the same posts today.

Yeah, he's a clown alright. A very dangerous one.

Labels: crime, Jew hatred, Jewish anti-Semitism, Muslim Jew hatred

Oh my: Food fight in the coalition

Yesh Atid's Yaakov Perri is accusing Jewish Home's Naftali Bennett and Uri Ariel of 'killing peace' in what could be the beginning of a reshuffling of the coalition.

The pact between Jewish Home and Yesh Atid, by which neither agreed to enter Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition government last year without the other, is over according to Perry, who spoke on Mako's TV show "Meet the Press."

"In recent months there's a gaping chasm in national topics and topics of religion and state" between the two parties, remarked Perry.

That seemingly was less the case as recently as last December, when Bennett voted for a Yesh Atid law to give same sex couples equal tax breaks while the rest of his party abstained, after a compromise removed official recognition of such couples in the wording, saving Jewish Home from being perceived as supporting same sex couples.

The Yesh Atid minister hinting at the possibility that his party would leave following the collapse of talks, saying sharply "neither Bennett nor Ariel - with all of their hallucinatory and sabotaging statements - will decide if we sit in the government."

Netanyahu might want to go into a coalition with the Left, but I doubt that his own party will let him. Unlike Sharon, Netanyahu does not have the support from his MK's to govern using a new party, and would likely have to go to new elections to try to do so.

In the meantime, Jewish Home, which has kept relatively quiet since the 'talks' collapsed, is telling the Left to calm down.

In response to Perry's caustic comments, Jewish Home fired back only a short reply, saying "the left needs to keep self-restraint even in times of distress."

Bennett reportedly gave members of his Jewish Home party orders not to soften their tone towards Justice Minister Tzipi Livni following the deal so as not to drive her from the coalition, saying "it's important not to celebrate too much, and to leave the platform for explaining the decision to (Finance Minister Yair) Lapid and Livni - they'll do that excellently."

Actually, he gave orders TO soften their tone. Faster, faster....

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Jewish Home party, Middle East peace process, Naftali Bennett, Uri Ariel, Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid party

Abu Mazen puts the final nail in the 'peace' coffin

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President ~~Mahmoud Abbas~~ Abu Mazen gave a speech on Saturday that Israeli officials are calling the death of the 'peace talks.'

"Abu Mazen is repeating demands for the same conditions that he already knows Israel cannot accept," the unnamed officials were quoted as saying in response to Abbas's renewed demand for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a total settlement freeze.

Abbas was speaking to a meeting of top leaders in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) gathered for a two-day conference to asses the Palestinian strategy to achieve statehood after US-backed talks began to unravel this month.

...

Abbas, for the first time since the suspension, said he was still open to re-starting the talks and pushing on beyond the deadline so long that Israel freed Palestinian prisoners and froze settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. There was no immediate response from Israeli negotiators.

"How can we restart the talks? There's no obstacle to us restarting the talks, but the 30 prisoners need to be released," Abbas said referring to a fourth batch of long-serving Palestinian prisoners Israel in early April said it would not free.

"On the table we will present our map, for three months we'll discuss our map. In that period, until the map is agreed upon, all settlement activity must cease completely," he told the officials, who were gathered for a two-day conference to asses the Palestinian strategy to achieve statehood.

Abbas also reiterated his position that the Palestinians would never recognize the Jewish identity of Israel, AFP reported.

The PA leader said the Palestinians had recognized Israel in 1993 and should not have to acquiesce to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's demand for a public declaration of Israel as a Jewish state in order to make peace.

Abbas stressed that unity among the Hamas rule in Gaza and the Ramallah-based PLO was necessary to establish an independent Palestinian state," Al Jazeera reported.

Despite expressing his hope to progress peace talks, Abbas charged that Israel was not interested in reaching an agreement for a two-state solution.

Of course, his new partners in Hamas say that they will never recognize Israel as anything....

Arutz Sheva adds:

The PA chairman declared that the new unity government would not continue peace talks - rather he stated that it was the responsibility of the PLO to negotiate.

"I recognize Israel and reject violence and terrorism, and recognize international commitments," Abbas claimed, even while re-declaring that he and his government would never recognize Israel as the Jewish state.

Abbas's outright refusal to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people has brought the talks, which are days before their April 29 deadline, to a constant halt, even before he breached conditions by applying to 15 international conventions at the start of the month.

Abbas continued by declaring that his unity government would not agree to receive a state in the heart of Israel, unless eastern Jerusalem was its capital.

In conclusion, Abbas reiterated his threats, made twice last week, to disband the PA and turn over responsibility to govern Judea and Samaria over to Israel.

"If they (Israel) don't want to commit there is the other solution - for them to take over everything," Abbas said.

The 'talks' are definitely over. What will come next?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Judea and Samaria, Middle East peace process, settlement freeze

And He Will Save us

Here's Shloime Daskal with v'Hu Yoshieinu (And He Will Save us). It's from the Sfard version of the Sabbath Musaf Kedusha.

Let's go to the videotape.

Shabbath Shalom everyone.

Labels: Sabbath music video, Shloime Daskal, v'Hu Yoshieinu

Top 10 reasons not to negotiate with Hamas

It's not exactly a David Letterman list, but the Tower has a list of the top 10 reasons not to negotiate with Hamas.

1. Hamas Is an Internationally Recognized Terror Organization.
...
2. Hamas Was One of the First Two Organized Islamist Terror Groups.
...
3. Hamas’ Biggest State Sponsor Over the Years has Been Iran.
...
4. To Get Rid of Fatah in Gaza, Hamas Tossed Handcuffed Prisoners Out of Buildings.
...
5. Hamas Continues to Be Committed to Destroying Israel.
...
6. Hamas Mastered the Art of Suicide Bombers a Decade Before 9/11.
...
7. Hamas Strangles Palestinians Suspected of Working with Israel.
...
8. Hamas has Launched the Vast Majority of Rockets at Israeli Civilians in the South.
...
9. Hamas is Legally in Very Hot Water.
...
10. Hamas Kidnapped Gilad Shalit and Just Said They Want to Do It Again.

Read the whole thing.

The picture at the top is what was left of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin back in 2004 when Israel disposed of him properly. Too bad we have not gotten rid of the rest of the Hamas 'leadership.'

Labels: Ahmad Yassin, Hamas, Middle East peace process

Obama hasn't figured out that Abu Mazen doesn't want peace

In an earlier post, I reported that World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder had said that now everyone knows that it's Abu Mazen who doesn't want peace. I said that I expected that sentiment to last about a week. I was wrong.

It didn't even last a day. In a statement to the media in Seoul, South Korea this morning, President Hussein Obama ascribed as much blame to Israel as to the 'Palestinians' for the talks' collapse.

Speaking to the press while on a tour of Asia, the president said that Mideast peace has proven elusive due to the unwillingness of leaders in the region to make "hard choices."

Obama said on Friday it was still in the interest of Israel and the Palestinians to seek peace.

'Leaders in the region.' Not Abu Bluff.

But keep taking those risks for peace Prime Minister Netanyahu, because President Hussein Obama's got your back.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Middle East peace process

Ariel University student carjacked by Arab hitchiker

A student from Ariel University made the mistake of giving a ride to an Arab of Friday afternoon, and found himself standing outside a Jewish town in Samaria without the car. The student was physically unharmed.

Students from Ariel University often arrange rides to and from their classes, as many students travel for hours back and forth to the Samaria university.

Alternatively, students with vehicles often pick up fellow students - and hitchhikers - to offer them rides to beat Samaria's oft-dysfunctional bus system.

On Friday, the student picked up a hitchhiker as usual and headed on Route 60, toward the Binyamin area. The hitchhiker then attacked the student and robbed him, hijacking his car outside of the Samaria community of Peduel. The student was left outside the community.

The car thief, apparently Arab, returned to the Binyamin region and entered a Palestinian Arab village. The student is unharmed; police and military forces are searching the area in an attempt to locate the vehicle.

Never give rides to Arabs.... Even 'university students.' This guy is lucky he's alive.

Labels: Ariel University, Palestinians

Netanyahu tweets: 'Abu Mazen says NO to peace'

Finally our leader tells it like it is.

Video: Abu Mazen Says NO to Peace - forming an alliance with a murderous terrorist org that calls to destroy Israel. http://t.co/TsthvAqzRh
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) April 24, 2014

Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Middle East peace process

For the next week, at least, 'everyone knows' that it's Abu Mazen who doesn't want peace

Israel's Channel 10 reports that two hours before the announcement of the Hamas-Fatah unity pact, Prime Minister Netanyahu had agreed to hold 'talks' on borders and a 'settlement freeze.'

Aides to the prime minister are denying the Channel 10 report.

According to Channel 10, while Netanyahu refused Palestinian demands to explicitly present his position on borders, he did give consent to his government's chief representatives in the negotiations - Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and attorney Yitzhak Molcho - to present maps on which both sides would then proceed to sketch the contours of the political boundary that would separate Israel and a yet-to-be-created Palestine.

The prime minister also agreed to a freeze of all new construction in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria, though he insisted that Israel would complete all construction that has already been initiated, according to Channel 10.

The Palestinians, for their part, responded that on the ground the public would not be able to differentiate between a freeze of new construction and the continuation of old project, rendering the offer moot. Aides to Netanyahu denied that the premier agreed to any freeze, according to Channel 10.

...

Just two hours after Israel suspended diplomatic talks with the Palestinians over Wednesday's Hamas-Fatah reconciliation pact, Netanyahu said he will "be there in the future if we have a partner that is committed to peace."

Netanyahu's comment came in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, after the seven-member security cabinet decided unanimously Thursday afternoon following a six hour meeting in Tel Aviv to suspend current talks with the Palestinians.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder says that the American government now 'gets it': Abu Mazen doesn't want peace.

“This is one of the times when people realize what’s really happening and there is no question about it,” Lauder said. “How can Israel negotiate with an organization that wants its destruction?” Lauder, who is well connected with many world leaders, said the overwhelming sentiment among his contacts was support for Israel.

“Last night I was calling around from country to country, group to group, also within the US, to see what’s happening. There was no one I came across that said, ‘You know, it’s a good thing.’ Even the most left[- wing] groups.”

...

Everybody, he asserted, “believes that the Israeli people want peace and that the Palestinian people want peace, and more and more they realize what the real problem is. I don’t think President Abbas could have made a stronger signal that he didn’t want peace.”

...

Israel’s reaction should be firm, but the Netanyahu administration should also handle the issue of the end of the current round of negotiations “delicately,” Lauder added.

“It is also important how Israel handles it,” he said. Israel should “reiterate what Hamas stands for and then say something to the effect that Israel is very disappointed.”

“It shows very much, I think to everybody, that at the end of the day the Palestinians really didn’t want peace, and what they really want is the UN to give it to them. They don’t want to negotiate, and I think the key thing is the politicians get it.”

They supposedly 'got it' in 2000-01 too when Bill Clinton told Arafat that he had made Clinton's peace efforts a 'failure.' That 'getting it' lasted about a week. Don't expect this one to last longer.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Bill Clinton, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Israel wants peace, Middle East peace process, Yasser Arafat

Urgent prayers needed

Please daven for Eliezer Zeev ben Eta Rasha, the 26-year old son of one of my oldest friends in this world, who was in a serious car accident on Sunday and has been in a coma ever since.

Thank you.

Labels: personal stuff

How inconsiderate of Auntie to hold her funeral during a golf game

Fore! How inconsiderate of Aunt Zeituni! Barack has a golf date...

Barack Obama Skipped Aunt's Funeral; Went Golfing Instead

Obama did NOT attend the funeral of his late aunt ZEITUNI ONYANGO. Instead, he went GOLFING.

After Zeituni Onyango, the woman OBAMA once called Auntie, died in a South Boston nursing home this month, her closest relatives gathered her belongings at her nearby apartment. There, framed photographs of her with the President covered the wall.

Weeping before a polished wood coffin at her wake this past Saturday, they described Ms. Onyango, the half-sister of the President’s father, as “the spirit of the OBAMA family” and talked about raising money to send her body back to Kenya. Mr. Obama sent a condolence note, Ms. Onyango’s family members said, but the President did NOT attend, as he was GOLFING.

What an ungrateful moron. Look for Obama to be the first American President to be buried in Kenya. More here (Hat Tip: Jack W).

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Kenya

Krauthammer: Obama cannot stop Iran

Here's Bret Baier's All-Star panel on Fox News talking about the suspension of 'talks' between Israel and the 'Palestinian Authority.'

Let's go to the videotape.

Hmmm.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Charles Krauthammer, Fatah, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Middle East peace process

The true believers

There remain only two true believers in the 'peace process,' neither of whom has gotten the message yet: Israeli Justice Minister and chief ~~negotiator~~ bottle washer Tzipi Livni, and US Secretary of State John FN Kerry. And no, neither of them is giving up. Here's Kerry:

"There's always a way forward, but the leaders have to make the compromises to do that... if they're not willing to make the compromises necessary it becomes very elusive," Kerry said Thursday night.

Kerry, whose peace talks are set to expire on an April 29 deadline, acknowledged the talks have reached "a difficult point," reports AFP.

"We will never give up our hope or our commitment for the possibilities of peace. We believe it is the only way to go, but right now obviously it's at a very difficult point, and the leaders themselves have to make decisions," said Kerry.

"It's up to them," concluded the American secretary of state.

Yeah, there's always a way forward, but if you're going to run into a brick wall, there's not much point to it.

Here's Livni, who as usual is worried about her position in the government more than anything else.

Livni, who is Israel's chief negotiator in the talks, told Channel 2 that "the decision to suspend the talks is the right decision, the combination of the PA and Hamas is bad." The two signed a unity deal on Wednesday, leading to the suspension.
The minister stressed that Israel is only "suspending" that talks, saying "the door has not been shut today," and that the financial sanctions on the PA were "measured" and "would not collapse the PA."

"It could be that this is a political move by (PA Chairman) Mahmoud Abbas, but Hamas is a terror organization that doesn't recognize our existence," stated Livni.

It is worth pointing out that Abbas himself has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, leading peace talks to a dead-end even before he torpedoed them by breaching talk conditions and applying to 15 international conventions at the start of the month.

When asked if Abbas is still a "peace partner" in her estimation, Livni responded that Abbas "made bad decisions in the peace process at sensitive time points; if he's a partner we'll need to see more."

Livni added "I don't like to use the expression partner, he's the representative of the other side."

...

Regarding her Hatnua party's joining of the coalition government last year, Livni commented "exactly what I wanted happened in the government. The process was stipulated by the opening of the peace talks after five years of a freeze, the contents were discussed in a manner that could lead to an agreement."

"The fact that Abbas chose a different path forces me to think about the agreement," acknowledged Livni.

However, Livni emphasized that her fellow Hatnua members agree with her not to leave the government until the end of the peace talks, which are set to expire on an April 29 deadline.

Livni declared that her fellow Hatnua MKs "are synchronized, none of them thinks we need to leave the government. They see how I represent our positions, and even the decision today in the cabinet is measured and doesn't close the door."

Let's see. She got this position because she has a spell on Netanyahu and because Lieberman couldn't be Foreign Minister when the government started. Her policy is a complete and utter failure (can you imagine Matt Lee asking Yigal Palmor to list one accomplishment of Livni's in her position?). Anyone think she should stay on? I think not.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Tzipi Livni

Israel Matzav

Wednesday, April 30, 2014