'Never before seen' video from Hezbullah of the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War
On Wednesday, July 12, 2006, seven IDF soldiers were killed on the Lebanese border - three in an attack by Hezbullah on their 'Hummer' and four when their tank drove over a mine. That attack was the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War. (One soldier from the 'Hummer' survived - in the video below he's in the light blue checked shirt with the trimmed beard. His name is Tomer Weinberg). Hezbullah grabbed two of the bodies - those of Ehud Goldwasser (who was driving the 'Hummer' and seated in the front left seat) and Eldad Regev (who was sitting on the right). They may have been dead when they were grabbed. Their mutilated bodies were returned to Israel in 2008 in exchange for child murderer Samir al-Kuntar (later targeted by Israel and killed) and a few lesser lights.
On Saturday night, Hezbullah's Al Mayadeen television showed the first part of a three-part documentary on the 2006 war. The program contained video never before seen from the planning of the attack and the attack itself. Hezbullah has disclosed that the attack was planned by Imad Mughniyah, who thankfully is no longer among the living.
I'm posting the video (could not figure out how to post part of it). The 'never before seen' footage of the attack itself, which runs about 10 minutes, runs from 42:52 to the end. For those who want to see the entire program, there's a link after the video.
The video is in Arabic with some Hebrew from Israeli television (interviews). Sorry, no English.
Greetings from Ben Gurion Airport, where the Histadrut (may they dissolve speedily and in our times) has ruined my night's sleep by calling a general strike. The strike postponed my 7:35 am departure to 6:05 pm, which means I would miss my European connection. So my travel agent got me on the 10:00 am flight, which is leaving at 5:00 am. That's less than an hour from now, and I'm actually going to the gate in a few minutes.
In the meantime, within the last hour, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon caved to the blackmailers (as all of his predecessors have done) and reached a deal which gives them even more taxpayer money. So this is also going to cost my pocket.
The Histadrut has to be the only labor federation in the world that still strikes without a strike vote, and can shut down the entire country. Back in the late 90's Haim Ramon (you can search that name in the blog) became head of the Histadrut with the goal of shutting it down. Along the way, he lost interest, and he was replaced by Amir 'Comrade' Peretz (the name should tell you enough, but you can search that one in the blog too), who brought the organization back to its former 'glory.'
I hate the Histadrut. Not just because I'm a political conservative, but
because I've never seen a group of government workers that's more
sleazy and self-interested. When I worked in government (yes, I did from
1994-98) we used to have a collection for everyone to throw out their
requests to join together. Every professional in the agency refused to
join....
Have to go board my plane and get some sleep, but since I now have five hours in Europe instead of 2.5, I should have more from there.
Prime Minister Netanyahu may finally be forced to fire Amir 'Comrade' Peretz (right, with the closed binoculars) after Peretz went on a tirade on Channel 2.
Peretz, who was interviewed on Channel 2, announced earlier
he does not intend to remain in Netanyahu’s government, who he said “has
reached a point at which he does not prove his right to continue to be
prime minister.”
"Netanyahu has brought the state of Israel to a state of despair,”
charged Peretz, who declared that he does not intend to vote for the
state budget Monday and added, “The ramifications of this are clear. The
tactical moves – how I will leave the government and when – I want to
[coordinate] with Tzipi Livni.”
He further claimed that Netanyahu is held hostage by the extreme
right wing. “He gives extremists legitimacy to continue to set the
ground aflame,” Peretz charged. “When I heard the prime minister talking
at the memorial ceremony for Rabin, I wanted to get up and leave. I
stayed only out of respect for the event.”
Coalition Chairman MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud) reacted to Peretz's
announcement and said that Peretz is “well acquainted with the rules of
the political game. If he does not want to be a member of the
government, it is not difficult to obtain the fax number of the Prime
Minister's Bureau, to send a letter of resignation.”
Maybe Peretz can take his whole slimy party (the Tzipi Livni party) with him. That would be doing something constructive for the country for probably the first and last time in his political career.
Israel will seek to deal a crushing blow to Hamas's infrastructure in
Judea and Samaria following the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers,
army radio reported on Monday.
Plans to move against the Islamist terrorist movement were discussed
at a meeting of the security cabinet convened by Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu at which ministers discussed punitive steps against Hamas
which Israel says is behind the kidnapping of three teenagers, media
reports said.
Following the meeting, which lasted around 90 minutes, political
sources said Israel would "attempt, in the coming hours and days, to try
and overthrow Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank," the radio's
political correspondent reported.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office.
It looks like we're digging in for a long operation. There are apparently very few clues as to where the three teens are being held (no one has suggested that they're no longer among the living, although God forbid that is certainly a possibility), and on Monday the Prime Minister warned that returning them could take time.
Netanyahu, however, warned the nation, that they might not see immediate results to the IDF's intense military operation to find the teens.
...
The premier also threatened to target anyone who attempts to harm Israeli citizens.
Netanyahu
said Israel's main concern at the moment was to locate the three
missing teenagers and deal with Hamas, whom he accuses of conducting the
abduction. The premier said "we must be prepared that this will take
time."
But he offered no news of the teens, who have been missing since late Thursday night.
Does this sound familiar?
Do you know why I posted the picture just above? This is from July 13, 2006 - the day after Hezbullah 'kidnapped' (probably killed on the spot) Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Defense Minister Comrade Peretz told
the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today that Hezbullah
will not be allowed to return to its former positions in Southern
Lebanon. YNet and the Jerusalem Post are both reporting that under a new
policy, any armed person coming within one kilometer of the Lebanese
border with Israel will be shot.
A
high-ranking IDF source said that the current operation, dubbed
Operation Just Reward, would be "long" and could last up to several
months, or "as long as it takes to destroy the Hizbullah's ability to
launch attacks against Israel."
The IDF source said the Dahiya
neighborhood of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, would be targeted if
rocket attacks continued to hit Israeli cities.
The source said that all terrorists in Dahiya, including Hizbullah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah himself, were fair targets for the IDF. "We will operate against all the terrorists who operate against us," he said, warning that civilians inside Dahiya could also be hurt in a possible IDF strike. Nasrallah's family lived in the Dahiya neighborhood.
YNet points out:
A
special center of the operation is expected to be in the al-Dahiya
neighborhood in Beirut, where Nasrallah has established "a state inside a
state," and where he also lives with his family.
IDF officials
refused to say whether Nasrallah himself is being targeted, and settled
for a general statement about "an operation against all terrorists
wherever they are." Leaflets distributed in the neighborhood called on
the residents to leave the area ahead of a possible strike.
Eight years ago, two IDF soldiers were kidnapped by a terror organization. A search and rescue operation was immediately launched, and it became a war to 'destroy Hezbullah's ability to launch attacks on Israel.' It didn't turn out very well, did it?
Okay, one of the reasons that it didn't turn out very well is that the triumvirate of Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert, 'defense minister' AmirComrade Peretz and forgettable IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz didn't have the stomach for a ground war and attempted to destroy Hezbullah solely from the air. Will Netanyahu, Yaalon and Gantz be better? Maybe.
But the parallels are frightening. Yes, an operation against Hamas is long overdue. But that's completely independent of the fact that they kidnapped three teens.
Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett really thinks he accomplished something this morning. Bennett managed to push a bill through the cabinet - not the full government or the Knesset - which would allow the courts to sentence really heinous murderers to life in prison without parole. When (and if) such a sentence is pronounced, it would take away from the President the power to pardon those murderers (presumably terrorists), which is a necessary prerequisite for the disgusting exhibition of released 'Palestinian' murderers on our television screens and radio waves.
The law, which received the cabinet's recommendation by a vote of 15 –
6, would allow courts to stipulate in sentencing a clause saying that
the president will not – as is the case today – have the powers to
commute the sentences.
The cabinet also agreed that the Defense
Minister will be directed to apply this law to the military courts in
Judea and Samaria as well.
...
Economy Minister Naftali
Bennett said the bill "puts an end to the 'get out of jail free' card
for murderers, which exists only in Israel.
"If Israel can't stand
by basic morality, which dictates that murderers should die in prison,
then from now on there won't be a choice," the Bayit Yehudi leader
added. "If this law existed earlier, then maybe many murderers would
have understood that it doesn't pay to kill Jews."
Bennett also called the legislation a "Zionist response" to the Hamas-Fatah unity government.
The
bill does not ban the president from pardoning and releasing terrorist
prisoners who have already been sentenced to life in prison.
Maybe if the law had existed before it might have helped. Maybe. But in the meantime, there are still thousands of 'Palestinian' murderers in jail who can 'legally' be released as part of a 'gesture.' And there is no guarantee that any judge will use this label to prevent the terrorists' release down the road. How many judges have been willing to label crimes by Knesset members whose name is not Aryeh Deri or Ehud Olmert 'crimes of moral turpitude' to prevent them from running for office again for the next ten years (yes, that one is on the books too).
Here's betting that the only murderers to whom this law will ever be applied are Jews (if they can find a retroactive exemption they'll apply it to Yigal Amir - not that I expect him to be released anyway).
Tsur also emphasized that the bill does not only apply to terrorists or murder motivated by nationalism.
"All
murder is detestable and there are extraordinary cases…in which we
should prevent the murderers from being able to receive a pardon, which
is unjust," he explained. "The bill strengthens judges' authority by
creating an additional level of punishment between life in prison and
death sentences, which do not exist in Israel. This will increase
deterrence and a sense of personal security for all citizens."
Even Amir 'Comrade' Peretz can see right through this one.
"The bill only applies to future murders and not those who are in
prison now. Therefore, it will not bring deterrence. Rather, it will
damage Israel's image and diplomatic standing, because the government
is afraid to govern and is giving the responsibility to someone else
[the courts]," Peretz stated.
Well, yeah, but Peretz is the guy who wants to negotiate Marwan Barghouti's release.
Terror victims head Meir Indor got it right.
Almagor Terror Victims Organization director Lt.-Col. (res.) Meir
Indor pointed out that the "the bill as it currently reads does not
include thousands of murderers that were already sentenced...and could
be released in future negotiations and gestures.
"In order to
solve the problem, hundreds of bereaved families with Almagor demand to
have the bill apply to terrorists who are already in prison, including
those who are on the list for the fourth round [of prisoner releases
in the last round of negotiations]," he said.
But Naftali Bennett is full of pride about this bill. Here's what he wrote on Facebook.
"This moment, the government approved the law against releasing
terrorists," Bennett wrote. "Today, we end the 'murder deal' - a deal
which exists only in Israel. Under the new law, [terrorists convicted
of] serious acts of murder could see the judge give them a life sentence
without the possibility of parole."
If only.... There's only one answer for terrorists. There's only one thing that's permanent, forever. The death penalty. That's what terrorists deserve and that's the only thing that has half a chance of deterring them.
Defense establishment kept Golda Meir in the dark in the lead-up to Yom Kippur War
This was one of the posts I had planned to run on Friday, but did not get to run it.
This past week, some of Golda Meir's testimony to the Agranat Commission (which investigated the government's and the IDF's failure in the Yom Kippur War) was released for the first time. While the headline was that Golda told the Commission that had Israel pre-empted we might not have been resupplied by the US, this is the piece that is truly shocking.
"At the time that this
telegram was sent by you, did the intelligence services or anyone else
bother you with anything urgent? Any other information? The problem here
is that they [in the report] claim that it is only an exercise."
"...I would like to read to you what the
Military Intelligence Directorate received that day: 'We learned that
Syria has evacuated Soviet experts, and that planes have begun taking
them from Damascus to Moscow. The same sources informed us that even the
families of the Soviet diplomats have begun arriving in Moscow from
Damascus. The sources added that the Syrians explained the evacuation by
saying that Egypt and Syria were planning to wage a war against Israel.
For your information."
Meir: "I don't know."
Yadin: "The IDF chief of staff and the defense
minister told us that on Friday evening they had not received such a
telegram. Did you not get one?"
Meir: "No."
Later in that meeting, the commission
discusses certain intelligence information that was not handed over to
the Prime Minister's Office.
Meir: "It may be that the Military
Intelligence Directorate did not feel obligated to share information
with us, but it is very hard for me to understand how it wasn't shared
with the chief of staff."
...
"...Until the very last minute we were still trying to
follow Military Intelligence's conception, that everything that was
happening on the northern and southern fronts was a result of their fear
of an attack by us. To try at the last minute through the Americans to
tell the Russians, and have the Russians tell the Egyptians that we have
no such intention. ... We thought that at the last minute maybe we
could still save. ... For some reason based on what Keating told us
[Kenneth Keating, who was, for a time, the U.S. ambassador to Israel],
it would be at 6 p.m. At one point I said, maybe it was a misprint?
Maybe he meant that it would be at 16:00 [4 p.m.]. ... We thought that
they would still have time to get the message to the Russians and
subsequently to the Egyptians and Syrians, that we are not planning to
attack."
...
Agranat: "I am just trying to
understand the frame of mind. ... I understand that one consideration,
maybe the main one, was that they were afraid of us and therefore we
wanted to communicate the message: know that we have no intention of
launching an attack. But shouldn't the other consideration have been not
that they are afraid of us, but that they want to attack us and they
want to take us by surprise? Or was the assessment that there was a 'low
likelihood' as Military Intelligence calls it, meaning that it wouldn't
happen?"
Meir: "No, because though the Military
Intelligence assessment was as it was -- the conception. I am wary of
speaking in front of two former chiefs of staff, but I think that the
conception was that if the conscription army was on full alert, that
means the air force, and additional units were called up and are there
to assist -- that is enough force to stave off ..."
"On the day of October 5, the chief of staff said, and I
quote: 'We have taken all the preparatory measures. Over this holiday,
the IDF has declared a state of high alert; all vacations have been
cancelled on the lines.' ... That means that the conception was that
blocking [the enemy] is a conscription army on high alert."
It was also disclosed last week that Israel had listening devices on the Egyptian side of the Suez canal. Astoundingly, military intelligence chief Eli Zeirarefused to activate them (while leaving his superiors and the political echelon with the impression that they had been activated).
The week prior to the war was
critical. On October 1, a Monday, the Egyptian army began the "Tahrir
41" exercise, concealing their preparations for an actual attack.
According to Bar Joseph, the Military Intelligence echelon directly
subordinate to Zeira, including the head of research Brig. Gen. Aryeh
Shalev, collection department director Col. Menachem Digli and Unit 848
commander Ben Porat, demanded that the devices be activated and made
operational. But Zeira refused "both because he was afraid of what would
happen to them (the listening devices) and because he was convinced
that no war would break out."
For example, upon discovering that the Soviet
Union was evacuating nationals on the day before the war, Zeira
confessed that "in my view, the Soviet thing is the most problematic and
serious." But he still concluded by saying "I don't see the Egyptians
and the Syrians attacking us."
Col. (res.) Yossi Langotsky, who served as the
commander of the Military Intelligence Directorate's operational
technology unit (in charge of operating the listening devices) confirms
Bar Joseph's sentiments. "I can personally attest to the fact that
during the week prior to the war Digli and Ben Porat approached Zeira
several times and asked for his authorization to activate the devices,
but to no avail. To assuage Zeira's concerns over the safety of the
devices, Digli told him that 'after all, it is for emergency situations
and times of uncertainty like this that these devices were designed.'
There are no words to describe the height of Zeira's arrogance. Despite
the terrible implications of a possible surprise attack, he stuck to his
misguided conception and avoided activating the devices that were
designed precisely to protect against such a surprise," Langotsky says
angrily.
On the other hand, the officials to whom Zeira
was himself subordinate -- the IDF chief of staff and the defense
minister -- were convinced that the assessment indicating a low
likelihood of war relied entirely on intelligence collected by the
special devices.
"Hanoch Bartov, Elazar's biographer, said that
the IDF chief of staff was convinced, up until the start of the war,
and even shortly afterward, that Zeira had activated the special means
of collection," says Adam Raz, a doctoral student in the Political
Science Department of Tel Aviv University, who researched the topic.
"Ben Porat recounted a conversation he had with Elazar, in which he said
that between October 1 and 6 he had asked the Military Intelligence
chief twice if all the sources were being utilized, and the answer was
affirmative. Digli has also said in the past that Elazar had told him
after the war that 'when I asked Eli (Zeira) if, when he says that there
is a low likelihood, he is relying on those sources (the listening
devices) as well, and his answer was affirmative.'"
Later, Elazar explained to Ben Porat: "the
false information that I received about the activation of the means
confused me even more, because I knew what they were capable of. If
there was no intelligence of impending war coming from them (the
devices), that means that everything is okay. It is now very clear to me
that I was not told the truth."
When facing the Agranat commission, Elazar
testified that "the incident (failure to activate the listening devices)
was not decided by me nor was it brought to my knowledge… I learned
only after the war that the […] was not turned on in those days. That is
precisely what it was made for -- to give us warning. That was its sole
function, and in essence I did not know that it was turned off."
...
Zeira was asked by the Agranat
commission why he had decided on his own accord not to use the devices
rather than consulting with the chief of staff, while "his superiors
were led to mistakenly believe that the topic had been incorporated into
his assessments." Zeira's reply was that "it is not my nature to
delegate authority upward…I don't bring things that are under my
authority to my superiors, usually, and I don't tell them 'I know it is
my responsibility, but I am handing off the responsibility to you. You
decide.'"
Bar Joseph argues that the decision makers'
faith that the devices were operational but providing no indication that
a war was imminent carried fateful weight in the decisions that were
made. It is the reason they did not rush to deploy the army along the
Sinai and Golan Heights fronts and why they did not recruit the
necessary reserves units. That faith also painted the rest of the
intelligence that came in from the region in a different light.
"During the week before the war broke out, the
decision makers are confident that the listening devices are fully
operational. They don't ask if the devices are working but rather what
information they are yielding. They say so in their Agranat commission
testimonies very clearly, and explain that their confidence that they
would receive notice 48 hours in advance relied on them. Zeira knows
that they think the devices are working, and for reasons known only to
him he does not correct them. That is the most terrible part of this
story. In my opinion, it was not a mistake. It was calculated," Bar
Joseph says.
According to Langotsky, "Zeira first gave the
green light to activate the devices only on Thursday afternoon, and only
for a technical check. The check began overnight between Thursday
October 4 and Friday October 5. His instructions were to complete the
test and report the findings to him personally at his house no later
than 6 a.m. Friday morning, Yom Kippur eve." In other words, when Zeira
says to Dayan that it is "totally quiet" in the "chatter on the Egyptian
lines" it is, according to Langotsky, at least three hours after the
devices were shut off, following a mere technical check. Bar Joseph
claims that due to a malfunction, one of the devices continued to work
for several hours more, but since it was just a technical check and not
full operational eavesdropping, it did not really help.
But Dr. Haim Shine (whom I think I knew in the 1960's), who was seriously wounded in the Yom Kippur War, urges readers not to let Golda Meir off so easily.
For
many years I have refrained from using the word "failure" in regard to
the army's lack of preparedness for that war and the way the country's
leaders made decisions during those days. Immediately after I was
released from a long hospital stay, where I was treated for a serious
war injury, I told the late Menachem Begin what I had seen in battle. He
asked me never to use the word "failure" because mothers had lost their
children in the war, and we mustn't compound their pain with the term
"failure." When I read Meir's Agranat commission testimony, it became
clear to me that it was not a failure at all -- it was in fact a true
crime.
The writing was on the
wall, written in huge red letters, and the irresponsible and
shortsighted leaders simply refused to read. The writing is now written
in small black letters on gravestones in various military cemeteries.
Meir was never fit to
serve as prime minister in the first place. She didn't understand the
first thing about the most fundamental, existential issues facing the
State of Israel. She was a representative of the Mapai establishment
that ruled the country for generations, and refused to step aside. Meir
lacked the ability to stand up to the heads of the defense
establishment. Her opinion did not matter to them, and when it came to
classified information, they didn't even bother informing her.
Then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan's well-publicized heroism and
then-Military Intelligence Director Eli Zeira's arrogance and
overconfidence turned Meir into a marginal character in the mechanism
that made fateful decisions.
After the war, efforts
were made to be lenient with her, in many ways due to pity or other
external considerations. I feel suspicion mixed with contempt toward all
the embarrassing arguments that we must give her credit for her conduct
in the days after the initial surprise of the war. Unfortunately, as
someone who was seriously wounded in that war, giving her credit feels
to me as artificial, worthless and dishonest.
That reminds me of another Prime Minister and Defense Minister we had more recently.... Isn't it sad that 40 years later we have learned nothing?
Israelis are figuring out the truth about their finance minister, Yair Lapid.
Seventy-eight percent of the population disapproves of Yair Lapid's
performance as Finance Minister, a Panels Politics poll for the Knesset
Channel found on Monday.
Asked to grade him in the task of
selecting a new Bank of Israel governor, 53% said he performed badly,
33% gave medium marks, 8% rated the performance good, while a mere 1%
thought it was very good.
The poll may also dampen Lapid's ambitions towards the premiership; 82%
of respondents said he was not fit for the position, versus only 12% who
did. Even Among Yesh Atid voters, 54% said he was not keeping his
promises, and 43% said they would not vote for the party again.
Reminds me of Amir 'Comrade' Peretz as 'defense minister.'
Hopefully the consequences from Lapid won't be as bad as the consequences from Peretz were.
Report: IDF had full al-Dura video the entire time, left defenders to fight France 2 on their own
Who decided to let the IDF shoot the country in the foot? This is simply beyond belief.
It turns out that while Phillippe Karsenty, Dr. Yehuda David and others were defending the IDF against charges that it shot Mohamed al-Dura, the IDF had the full video that proved the death was staged and didn't bother to tell anyone.
Now [Israel Police Weapons Lab director Elliot Springer] has revealed that just weeks after the alleged shooting,
senior IDF officials met and watched the entire video, rather than the
edited version presented by France’s Channel 2 that sparked the
accusations against Israel.
"Despite the media reports based on edited and doctored video
footage, we watched the original, and all sounds of IDF fire was muffled
- far away in the background. When the barrage fired at al-Dura was
fired, the audio was suddenly close by - in other words Arab gumen right
beside the camera near al-Dura fired them, not the IDF,” he reported.
Springer’s testimony strengthens those of other witnesses and experts
who have declared the IDF innocent of shooting Al-Dura. However, it has
also raised a disturbing new question: if the IDF had the original,
full footage of the shooting, why did it not share it with Dr. Yehuda David, French media analyst Philippe Karsenty, or others who attempted to advocate on Israel’s behalf?
Both David and Karsenty fought in court to force France’s Channel 2
to reveal the full footage. Both needed it to help their own cases:
Karsenty was sued for accusing French media of deliberately staging the
video, while David was sued by Al-Dura’s father, Jamal, for revealing
that scars Jamal had claimed were the result of bullet wounds sustained
in the shooting were in fact from an incident years earlier in which Jamal had been attacked by an Arab gang.
Both men fought lengthy legal battles over their attempts to defend
the IDF from libel – and yet the IDF apparently did not offer them help
when it could, by making the full video available to them.
It is also not clear why the IDF did not make the whole video public
in order to boost the growing body of evidence showing the IDF did not
cause Al-Dura’s death.
Yes, you guessed it. With the exception of Yaalon, who took over three months ago, every single one of them belongs to the Left (don't let the Likud next to Mofaz's name fool you - he's belong to Kadima since late 2005). In fact, Ehud Barak's two terms add up to nearly 8 of the 13 years in question. Do you think he knew about this? I would bet on it. So why didn't he tell anyone?
I leave speculation about that question to the reader rather than making my blood boil.
Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party leader Naftali Bennett has become an errand boy between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid in what one Bayit Yehudi insider is calling 'a game of chicken gone wrong' (Hat Tip: Eliana).
Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett
is on his way to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the second
time Wednesday, after he met with Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid in
Lapid's Tel Aviv home.
Bennett is the interlocutor in a crisis between Netanyahu and Lapid that threatens to derail the coalition talks, just as they appear to be near conclusion.
"Hell is breaking loose," a knowledgeable Bayit Yehudi source told
Arutz Sheva Wednesday. "Lapid thinks Bibi will fold, but Bibi won't.
It's a game of chicken gone wrong."
The main points of contention are Yesh Atid's demand to receive the
Education Ministry and Knesset Finance Committee, as well as the roles
of MKs Amir Peretz (Tzipi Livni's party) and Shaul Mofaz (Kadima). Lapid
wants Mofaz in the government, while Netanyahu does not. He also wants
Netanyahu to reopen his agreement with Tzipi Livni and leave Peretz out
of the government, while Netanyahu does not want to do this.
One cannot help but wonder at what point Naftali Bennett will realize that his and his party's interests lie with Netanyahu and not with Lapid. In the campaign, they promised to be a Right anchor in a Netanyahu government. Bennett's moment of truth appears to be here.
By the way, no surprise that Netanyahu doesn't want Mofaz. Some of you may recall that Mofaz brought Kadima into Netanyahu's government in May of last year (leading to the cancellation of early elections) and removed them in July of last year.
Livni will be Israel's next justice minister, while her party's number
three, Amir Peretz, will be the environmental protection minister. In
addition, a member of Livni's party will chair an unspecified Knesset
committee.
Perhaps most importantly, Netanyahu apparently has allowed Livni to
take charge of peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. She
will also appoint a special staff for the talks, but as a caveat,
Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho will be a member of the negotiating
team.
Livni's ability to strike a peace deal with the
Palestinians will also be hindered by Netanyahu's insistence that any
agreement must be voted on and approved both by the Knesset and the
cabinet.
The agreement also included pledges to attempt to
increase equality in the burden of IDF service, institute electoral
reform, lower the cost of living and fight racism.
The deal is a
generous offer by Netanyahu for a party the size of Hatnua (6 Knesset
seats), and could represent a backlash against posturing by other
parties, notably Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid. An official said Bayit
Yehudi was offered to be the first party to join the government but it
rejected the offer and said it would not join a coalition without Yesh
Atid.
As we get closer to Prime Minister Netanyahu forming a cabinet, we must remember that there is another country in which incompetence is no disqualifier from holding a ministry.
For those who have been lucky enough to get the image of Israel's then-'defense minister' looking through covered binoculars out of their mind over the last six years, the original story is here.
This may be speculation on my part, but based on who won and who lost in the Labor party primary on Thursday, I would venture to guess that Labor's voters are a lot more interested in returning the country to socialism (God forbid) than they are in the 'peace process.'
The proof? High placements of the likes of (former Welfare Minister) Yitzchak Herzog, (former Histadrut Labor Union Chairman) Amir 'Comrade' Peretz, (social protest leader) Stav Shafir and (student union head) Itzik Shmuly, and out-of-the-money placements for (selfish hypocrite) Noam Shalit and ('Peace Now' chairman) Yariv GoogleheimerOppenheimer.
The vote showed how much influence party leader Yacimovich has, as
opposed to the growing opposition within Labor led by MK Amir Peretz.
Yacimovich has tried in recent weeks to position Labor as a centrist
party, saying on Tuesday night that she hoped the list would not be “too
left-wing.”
Former defense minister Amir Peretz got the third spot, followed by Itan Cabel, former Haaretz columnist Merav Michaeli and MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Herzog received 3,000 votes more than rival Peretz.
Peretz
told Israel Radio he is pleased with the results. "I'm very pleased
with what we got here today - both important experienced Labor members,
people I've aided, and new, young members that I believe will help the
Labor party," Peretz said.
Peretz stated he intends to "bring back
the diplomatic agenda to the negotiating table" in the 19th Knesset. "I
was the first to put the social topic on the agenda, but without peace
we can't fix the social issue," Peretz told Israel Radio.
Leaders
of the summer 2011 social protest Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuly also got
high spots, with Shaffir getting the 8th spot and Shmuly getting the
12th spot.
Michaeli and Yacimovich are not the only former
journalists to receive high spots on the party's list, investigative
journalist Mickey Rosental got the 13th spot on the list.
Noam Schalit came through just 39th
on list after he left his hi-tech job and met Labor members across the
country for a year, whilst Peace Now former secretary-general Yariv
Oppenheimer came in 27th.
Yacimovitch was trying to attract Tzipi Livni to run with her. Maybe she should send Livni Shalit and Oppenheimer instead.
LATMA interviews 'Palestinian' Minister of Uncontrollable Rage on Iran and sings about Israel's prosecuting attorneys
LATMA interviews Tawil Fadiha, the 'Palestinian' Minister of Uncontrollable Rage on Iran (with English subtitles), and sings about Israel's prosecuting attorneys.
'Expert' says we need twice as many Iron Dome deployments
Former defenseless defense minister AmirComrade Peretz says Israel needs twice as many Iron Dome deployments as it has ordered in order to 'cover' the entire country. Peretz also reveals how well the Obama administration has Israel's back on Iron Dome.
While it is reasonable to acquire a total of only 13 batteries, as Israel currently plans to do, Peretz said, "If we want complete coverage we will need to get to between 20-26 batteries."
No, what we really need to do is to defeat the enemy around us so that they aren't shooting missiles at us all the time. Even with Iron Dome, people in the affected areas constantly have to seek cover. And that assumes that Iron Dome hits everything it's supposed to hit. You can't live like that. Ask anyone in the south over the past month.
Peretz also warned against using the Iron Dome system to defend military and strategic sites instead of population centers.
"With all due respect, the bases were not meant to be covered by the Iron Dome," Peretz said. "There's no way that bases will be preferred over civilians."
Last year, the United States warned Israel that it would have to review funding for the anti-rocket system if it were deployed to protect bases instead of civilians.
See how Obama has Israel's back? He'll pay for anti-missile systems but only if they're defending defenseless civilians and not if they might give Israel deterrence that would allow us to strike back. (I agree that Iron Dome should be deployed to defend civilians but that's a long way from threatening to cut funding if it defends military targets).
Then there's Peretz on Iran:
"We should prefer an outside actor does it because Israel doesn't need to be confronted by the whole Muslim world," Peretz said.
"We know that a minute after an attack, it will be comfortable for the Western countries to point a blaming finger at Israel. If it's an American actor, the crisis will be smaller. We need to think about the day after."
And now you know why he was a complete incompetent as defense minister. Why would anyone think that we won't be blamed and we won't be hit if the US carries out an attack? That's absurd!
Breaking: 'Palestinians' claim US suggests releasing convicted terrorist to compete in elections
I postponed the overnight music video for an hour because this is breaking news that needs to be reported.
If this story is true, and unfortunately I suspect that it is, it shows just how low the Obama administration has sunk.
Palestinian media are reporting based on Israeli sources (not reported yet in any Israeli media that I have seen) that the United States has 'suggested' to Israel that it release convicted terrorist Marwan Barghouti (one of the 'heavy' terrorists that Israel refused to release in the 'terrorists for Gilad' deal) from jail so that Barghouti can compete in the 'Palestinian elections' against Hamas (link in Arabic). Barghouti is serving multiple life sentences for murder.
Israeli sources said that the U.S. administration is concerned about the prospects for the victory of Hamas in Palestinian elections in the event of future conduct in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The radio said, the occupation army from those sources that concern the U.S. is increasing in light of certain information received from Arab countries on the determination of the Palestinian president to leave office and not to run for president, opening the door to the Hamas victory, even in the presidential election and full control over the Palestinian situation.
Meanwhile, Israeli sources said that the American delegation discussed the important role during the last few months and down with officials in Tel Aviv, the idea of releasing a member of the Central Committee of Fatah, Marwan Barghouti from prison so that the occupation of the movement's leadership in the face of Hamas in the upcoming elections.
The sources pointed out that Netanyahu rejects the idea of releasing Barghouti, considering it an extension of the late Palestinian leader 'Yasser Arafat' where he helped the two together in planning to kill dozens of Israelis during the second intifada, according to those sources.
The sources pointed out that many mediums, including an Israeli Knesset member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and former Defense Minister Amir Peretz and some leaders of security agencies and Mossad, the former does not oppose the release of Barghouti, considering him one more Palestinian commitment to peace with Israel.
If he ever had one, Barghouti no longer has any commitment to peace with Israel. Ben Eliezer and Peretz are both Labor party MK's who were both failures as Defense Minister (Peretz should never have gotten the job in the first place). And if Obama is willing to make an outrageous demand like this one during an election campaign, imagine what he will demand if God forbid he is reelected.
AmirComrade Peretz, who was our defenseless 'defense minister' when Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, has suddenly realized that retired IDF Colonel Ronen Cohen made Peretz look pretty bad last week with his description of the IDF's non-response to Shalit's kidnapping. So Peretz is now claiming that a deal to free Shalit two weeks after he was kidnapped 'fell through' and that the IDF did look at military options. Yeah, sure.
"[Former] prime minister Olmert told me that apparently a deal was set and that Gilad will be released on Friday at four o'clock in the afternoon and it's done," Peretz said. "We expected to receive a message from Mubarak and we promised to release prisoners to Abu Mazen (PA President Mahmoud Abbas), but something blew up there."
Peretz said they continued to explore other negotiating options in the following months, even turning to high-level officials in the Hamas leadership in Syria.
"We didn't even hesitate to negotiate with officials in Syria - that went up to Khaled Mashaal. A month and a half after the kidnapping, we appointed a coordinator. We acted decisively to find a military option as if there were no negotiation, and conducted negotiations as if there were no military option."
Ultimately, Peretz blamed intelligence failures for precluding military actions to free Schalit.
Okay folks, whom do you believe? A retired military intelligence colonel or a conniving politician who's trying to save his political career, but is such a moron that he doesn't know how to take the covers off his binoculars (see above). I go with the colonel.
Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reports that Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is threatening that the next time there is a war between his organization and Israel, Hezbullah will hit Tel Aviv first, and not Israel's northern cities.
The Hezbollah strongman also addressed recent reports of foreign agents operating within the Lebanese terror organization. In a meeting with Hezbollah leaders, Nasrallah admitted that information passed to the CIA and Mossad by three of Hezbollah's members hurt the organization.
However, Hezbollah will be able to recover from the incident, he asserted, saying that the organization has the courage necessary to fix mistakes.
A month ago Hezbollah detained four of its own members on charges of spying for Israel while a fifth fled, the London-based daily Asharq Alawsat reported.
Let him start with Tel Aviv. Amir 'Comrade' Peretz is no longer the Defense Minister, Dan Halutz is no longer the IDF Chief of Staff, and Ehud K. Olmert is no longer Prime Minister. Hitting Tel Aviv first - even if (and hopefully) it is unsuccessful - will ensure the kind of response that Israel did not make to Hezbullah aggression five years ago, which will ensure a short war.
Former Defense Minister AmirComrade Peretz escaped from London on Saturday night just ahead of a warrant for his arrest for committing 'war crimes' during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The arrest would have been carried out under Britain's still-unchanged universal jurisdiction law.
The former defense minister refused to cancel his visit, claiming that by doing so he would be admitting defeat, sources said. The Justice Ministry accepted his stance, but was prepared to stand by with a legal team.
Peretz was scheduled to give a speech at a London university, and elements estimated that the anti-Israel activists would ambush him there before police would arrive to arrest him.
Following the defense elements' advice, Peretz decided to trick the activists; he e-mailed the university administration to inform it that he had to cancel the trip for personal reasons. The plot worked, causing the activists to call off the arrest warrant.
...
Peretz then traveled to the UK and fulfilled his other engagements, keeping a low profile. He spoke before an Israeli business club, and met with representatives of London's Jewish community.
But word of Peretz's trip eventually reached the activists, who renewed the efforts to issue a warrant against him. The defense establishment then advised the MK to push his return up from Sunday to Saturday evening – a move that evidently saved Peretz embarrassment, as the arrest warrant was eventually issued right after his departure.
I would have thought that these 'activists' would want Peretz to be defense minister rather than arresting him. After all, he was so successful the last time he held the job....
Why is Israel continuing to absorb rocket attacks from Gaza? Here's Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Israel Radio Sunday morning explaining why (sorry - Hebrew only but a summary in English follows).
Let's go to the videotape.
DM Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that restraint is strength and those wanting absolute quiet should move to Finland. DM Barak said Israel would act to bring down the Hamas regime in Gaza only when absolutely necessary because such action would require entering and retaking the Gaza Strip.
Remember Amir Peretz and Dan Halutz, the two failures who decided that Israel could drive Hezbullah out of southern Lebanon without putting a single soldier on the ground - until it was too late and the opportunity was lost? Ehud Barak sounds more and more like them every day.
In the meantime, if you don't like the missiles, move to Finland. What could go wrong?
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
