#ThanksObama... for making America's former allies into our allies
It's not just Israel that doesn't trust Barack Hussein Obama. And in one of the best examples of countries having interests rather than friends, a group of previously irreconcilable American allies has joined together look out for their own interests in the waning days of the Age of Obama. Bret Stephens reports.
I’ve spent the better part of a week talking to senior officials,
journalists, intellectuals and politicians from across Israel’s
political spectrum. None of it was on the record, but the consistent
theme is that, while the Jewish state still needs the U.S., especially
in the form of military aid, it also needs to diversify its strategic
partnerships. This may yet turn out to be the historic achievement of Benjamin Netanyahu’s long reign as prime minister.
On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon publicly shook hands with former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal at the Munich Security Conference. In January, Israeli cabinet member Yuval Steinitz
made a trip to Abu Dhabi, where Israel is opening an office at a
renewable-energy association. Turkey is patching up ties with Israel. In
June, Jerusalem and Riyadh went public with the strategic talks between
them. In March, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi told the Washington Post that he speaks to Mr. Netanyahu “a lot.”
This
de facto Sunni-Jewish alliance amounts to what might be called the
coalition of the disenchanted; states that have lost faith in America’s
promises. Israel is also reinventing its ties to the aspiring Startup
Nations, countries that want to develop their own innovation cultures.
In October, Israel hosted Indian President Pranab Mukherjee
for a three-day state visit; New Delhi, once a paragon of the
nonaligned movement that didn’t have diplomatic ties to Israel for four
decades, is about to spend $3 billion on Israeli arms. Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, who is personally close to Mr. Netanyahu, sees
Israel as a model for economic reinvention. Chinese investment in Israel
hit $2.7 billion last year, up from $70 million in 2010. In 2014,
Israel’s exports to the Far East for the first time exceeded those to
the U.S.
Then there is Europe—at least the part of it that is
starting to grasp that it can’t purchase its security in the coin of
Israeli insecurity. Greece’s left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
used to lead anti-Israel protests. But Greece needs Israeli gas, so he
urges cooperation on terrorism and calls Jerusalem Israel’s “historic
capital.” In the U.K., Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is moving to prevent local councils from passing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) measures against Israel.
All
this amounts to another Obama administration prediction proved wrong.
“You see for Israel there’s an increasing delegitimization campaign that
has been building up,” Mr. Kerry warned grimly in 2014. “There are
talks of boycotts and other kinds of things. Today’s status quo
absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100%, cannot be maintained.”
Except when the likely alternatives to the lousy status quo are worse.
Maybe we need to say #ThanksObama after all. Just not the way he expected. Heh.
'Israeli Arab' MK Basel Ghattas has announced that he will join the flotilla of fools attempting to reach Gaza from Greece this week. Ghattas is a member of the 'joint list' of the 'Israeli Arab' Knesset parties.
MK Basel Ghattas from the Joint (Arab) List will join pro-Palestinian
activists on a three-vessel flotilla headed for Gaza’s shores over the
next few days in a bid to break the blockade imposed by Israel and
Egypt.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister
Moshe Ya’alon, Ghattas writes that he intends to be part of the
flotilla and does not fear the consequences of such an act, according to
Ynet.
In the missive, Ghattas reportedly warns Netanyahu and Ya’alon to
instruct security forces to let the flotilla through and not intercept
it lest Israel get involved “in yet another international diplomatic
crisis that you and your government will have been responsible for.”
Is Turkey about to attack Cyprus and possibly Greece? After today's events, you have to wonder.
On Friday, Turkey sent a seismographic vessel to look for oil and gas deposits within Cyprus economic exclusion zone. Turkey had already deployed a warship south of Cyprus, and the announcement sent tensions soaring.
On Friday, October 3, a day after US Vice President Joe Biden pontificated
about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “desire” to have “no
Turkish soldiers” remain in Cyprus, Turkey sent Turkish-Greece-Cyprus
tensions soaring by issuing a Navigational Telex, or NAVTEX, according
to which Turkey was sending a seismographic vessel to explore areas in
the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in Cyprus's southern waters.
...
According to the Cyprus Mail and other Cypriot news sources,
the NAVTEX notifies mariners and countries that Turkey, as a sovereign,
is reserving areas south of Cyprus for seismic surveys from October 20
to December 20 of this year. Turkey has basically issued a stark warning
Cyprus, America and Israel that Turkish exploratory vessels were under
Turkish sovereign protection, and were not to be disturbed even though
they were exploring in areas south of Cyprus, an action that Turkey had
never taken before.
Prior to this NAVTEX, the Eastern Mediterranean was already tense due
to the fact that the Turkish armed forces had deployed the Turkish
warship TCG Gelibolu to the south of Cyprus, and had further announced
that the warship would continue to monitor the activities of Italian
firm ENI’s drillship in block 9 in the waters south of Cyprus.
The TCG Gelibolu is participating in an ongoing Turkish Naval
operation, dubbed “Mediterranean Shield.” Under Operation Mediterranean
Shield, Turkish ships are ostensibly “conducting maritime security
operations to provide for the safe and secure movement of vessels at sea
and to deter terrorism.”
In fact, the TCG Gelibolu could be setting the stage for actual armed hostilities.
...
Making matters worse, the Turkish NAVTEX designated and reserved
coordinates that would trespass into Cyprus’ Southern water EEZ Blocks
1, 2, 3, 8 and 9. These are the blocks roughly between Cyprus and
Israel. Inside sources told the Cyprus Mail that “essentially Turkey has
bisected the region between Cyprus’ southern coast and Egypt, as if
Cyprus does not exist.”
A government spokesman in Nicosia said President Anastasiades'
decision was the result of Turkey's "provocative" and "aggressive"
actions to start seismic tests off the island's southern coast later
this month and that the plan was a "serious breach" of its sovereign
rights as well as the rights of its own drilling consortium, consisting
of Italy's Eni and South Korea's Kogas in the EEZ Block 9.
"The least I can say is that negotiations, in order to produce
results, cannot be conducted under such conditions of provocation," said
Ioannis Kasoulides, the Cypriot foreign minister, on Monday.
The looming danger is Turkish Frigate Gelibolu is currently deployed
in the same areas that the Turkish NAVTEX has cordoned off for the
Turkish gas exploration ship, which is set to enter the Cyprus EEZ
blocks on October 20. If these two Turkish ships should act in tandem,
this could be the tinder which could set the area aflame.
בימים ההם אין מלך ... איש כל הישר בעיניו יעשה.
(In those days, there was no King... each man did what he saw fit - translation from the book of Judges).
Barack Obama chose to degrade the United States' capabilities to the point where the world no longer has a (Western, democratic) superpower. And now the rest of the world is doing whatever it wants.
Following the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, NATO member
Turkey adamantly opposed Israeli involvement – “even the most innocent” – in any
NATO programs, he said. These programs included joint exercises, intelligence
exchanges, and research and technological development programs.
“We were
hoping that after the arrangement between [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu
and [Prime Minister Tayyip Recep] Erdogan in the spring, Turkey would pull back
a little and allow some of the programs,” he said. “But there is
nothing.”
By not allowing Israel’s participation in NATO programs, he
added, Turkey was blocking participation with other Mediterranean countries,
because Israel and other nations in the region – Jordan, Egypt, Morocco,
Mauritania and Algeria – took part in NATO projects as a bloc.
“We can’t
cooperate with any of them, because the programs are all blocked, nothing can go
through,” he said.
Lampridis said he was surprised by the continued
Turkish opposition, especially since practical cooperation between Turkey and
Israel was taking place on a daily basis, “like where Turkey has an advantage,
of course, and Israel is demonstrating goodwill.”
For example, since
Turkish goods can no longer be transported overland through Syria to the Persian
Gulf, every week hundreds of Turkish trucks arrive via ferry to the Haifa Port
where they then proceed across the country to the Jordan border crossings,
carrying millions of dollars worth of goods to Jordan and onward to the
Gulf.
...
The Greek ambassador also took Erdogan to task for blaming Jews and Israel for
the unrest over the summer in Turkey and for the overthrow of Egyptian president
Mohamed Morsi.
“You just don’t say such things,” he said.
Asked if
he thought Erdogan was an anti-Semite, he replied, “Even if he is, is it the
position a prime minister takes? He can do it privately if he wants. You don’t
do it openly and expose a whole country – a country that has never been
anti-Semitic in the past, to tell the truth, especially under the Ottoman
Empire, when it was a haven for Jews. Other countries were not, Turkey was.
What’s wrong with the guy? It really beats me.”
I wonder why it doesn't violate the Arab boycott to have goods transported through Israel.
'Without Israel, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia are toast'
Defense strategist Mark Langfan argues that the United States isn't doing Israel any favors by declaring it a 'major strategic ally.' Langfan argues that if Israel were not where it is, the continued independent existence of Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and possibly even Greece could be endangered.
"Without Israel, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia are toast," Langfan told Arutz Sheva, "and they know it."
"Without Israel, oil would be $1,000 a barrel. Without Israel, the US
would have to fund an extra $200 billion yearly defense budget to
defend southern NATO countries from a Muslim caliphate's northward
tsunami."
Following reports of an AIPAC initiative to secure special "strategic
ally" status for Israel, Middle East security analyst Langfan said,
"Without Israel’s order of battle and very existence, it would be
impossible for NATO to defend Greece, let alone Cyprus, from a
Turkish/Muslim Brotherhood tidal wave which would lay waste to
everything in the eastern Mediterranean.
Whether NATO likes it or not,
Israel is a now the heart and soul of NATO’s southeastern flank.”
Langfan also noted that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan issued a
direct threat on NATO when he warned on September 27, 2011, "I recommend
the international community take the necessary lessons from the Battle
of Preveza.”
The Battle of Preveza was a 1538 decisive Turkish/Ottoman naval battle against a Papal “Holy League” Pan-Christian Alliance.
“NATO and the entire EU now have an absolute vested interest against
the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian state in the 'West
Bank,'" Langfan added. "It has become abundantly clear that if such a
state was in existence Hamas would smuggle in thousands of Katyusha
rockets with chemical warheads that have the power to wipe out the
entire Tel Aviv coastal plain that holds 5 million Jews – in one
evening."
Men dressed in military uniforms, holding torches, donning swastikas
and chanting anti-immigrant slogans, marched through central Athens in
what was reportedly a memorial event paying tribute to the party’s
“fallen soldiers,” The International Business Times reported.
"This is a day of remembrance. It's a day to remember that Golden
Dawn is here to stay. And so long as it does, there will be hope for the
country," Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kassidiaris told supporters.
Hundreds of riot police and security officials were deployed to the
scene of the march, which took place near the prime minister's office
and the Turkish embassy in Athens, according to The Times.
The party, which has become notorious
for its blatant anti-Semitic and xenophobic rhetoric and has been
responsible for perpetrating attacks on Jews and foreigners, has begun
spreading its anti-immigration message in schools and youth clubs, as
well as through online social media networks, according to recent
reports in the international press.
Golden Dawn emerged victorious in the country’s general election last
June, gaining 7 percent of the vote and 18 seats in parliament in what
was seen as a barely fathomable increase from its 0.2 percent show of
support in the previous election in 2009.
“As Greece's economic fortunes have plummeted, so Golden Dawn's fortunes have soared,” The Times explains.
Yet another European country that Jews need to leave quickly....
Ironically, Greece has had much better relations with Israel since Israel had a falling out with Turkey starting about four years ago.
It's ironic and a bit strange that as Israel has developed closer relations with Greece (perhaps to replace its relations with Turkey), Greece has a rapidly growing neo-Nazi party. Granted that the story comes from the Forward, which is a left-leaning (at best) publication, and was written by JTA, which is also left-leaning. And granted too that the emphasis doesn't appear to be on Jews, but rather on those seen as destroying the Greek economy. But there is a lot here to make Greek Jews nervous. And let's keep in mind that the German Nazi party also arose in the middle of a crashing economy.
For every Jew who lives in Greece, there are about 100 Greeks who
voted for the country’s neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, last spring.
The party now controls 18 seats in Greece’s 300-member
parliament, and its popularity is rising rapidly: A poll taken in
October showed that if elections were held again today, Golden Dawn
would capture 14 percent of the vote, making it Greece’s third-largest
party. A September poll showed that 22 percent of Greeks have positive
views of Golden Dawn, up from 12 percent in May.
With its swastika-like flag, gangs of black-shirted thugs attacking
immigrants and its ideology of Greek racial superiority, Golden Dawn’s
sudden and significant rise has prompted condemnations from around the
world.
It also has put many of Greece’s 5,000 Jews on edge.
Community leaders already have begun a campaign to educate Greeks about
the dangers of allowing a neo-Nazi party to flourish, and Greek Jews are
trying to figure out what more they can do to arrest Golden Dawn’s
rise.
“We definitely think that a very basic tool to
promoting social equality and combating the rise of extremists like
Golden Dawn is educating schoolchildren,” said Zanet Battinou, director
the Jewish Museum of Greece.
The museum and its programs teach visiting
schoolchildren about Greece’s Jewish community, its heritage and, in
particular, about the Holocaust, in which more than 80 percent of Greek
Jews were murdered.
...
While Golden Dawn mostly has targeted those it holds responsible for
Greece’s dire economic plight and its international humiliation –
immigrants from Asia and Africa, politicians and the Communist
opposition – the party also has a clear anti-Semitic streak.
Golden Dawn’s leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, denies
there were gas chambers or ovens at Nazi death camps and has a penchant
for giving the Nazi salute. Statements from the party refer to Israel as
a “Zionist terror state.” Party spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris, who made
international headlines when he punched a female Communist Party member
in the face during a live television debate, recently read out a passage
from the anti-Semitic forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in
parliament.
"In Israel we know every hill and every mountain and are less
preoccupied with the elements of flying. We're not preoccupied with
navigational orientation, which is an important component of flying",
says Lieutenant Colonel Gadi, Commander of the "Rolling Sword" squadron
and commander of the temporary squadron in Greece that includes
Blackhawk and Apache-Longbow pilots. "Within two or three years, the
average helicopter pilot has flown through the area so many times that
he's not surprised anymore. Here we have no idea. I don't know the place
and I need to study the territory extensively".
But it wasn't only
for the element of surprise that the helicopters flew over to the other
side of the Mediterranean Sea. It's very difficult not to bow your head
in respect when standing at the foot of the 2,900 meter Olympus
Mountain. Major Gad: "Flying through high mountains is more complicated
and requires more power. There are winds, powerful whirlwinds, and it's
difficult to maneuver the helicopter".
In the adjacent line, the
combat helicopter formation is also watching the home of Zeus. "The
higher the helicopter climbs, the more difficult it is for it", says
Captain Or, Deputy Commander of the "Hornet" squadron. "That said, we
were pleasantly surprised: The helicopter functioned a lot better than
we expected and we must've been well prepared for the exercise and
learned how to not to push ourselves into corners. Regardless, the
helicopter makes it easier for you. It knows how to respond when it's
crunch time. It tells you how much power you need, what you need in
order to fly, and what it limits are at that time".
Along with the helicopters are members of Israel's unit 669 - the search and rescue teams.
Kneeling close to the ground, Unit 669 Search & Rescue combat teams
are scattered in the backyard of the base. The crews are in the grove
near by the Squadron's building and are training together with their
Greek counterparts - Unit 31.
The training in the grove is just the
warm-up. Not much time passes until the real-deal arrives: rescue and
evacuation sorties performed by integrated crews of Greeks and Israelis.
The "ride" was mixed as well: one performed by an Israeli Uh-60
Blackhawk, the other by a Greek UH-1.
"Flying in a different aircraft
is a little weird", says First Sergeant Yinon, Commander of the 669
crew, "there are technical differences between the helicopters: the
seating arrangements and the way the equipment is organized. The flying
is different mostly because of the communication with the pilots. We're
used to understanding where we're going and knowing what's going to
happen. On the Greek helicopters only the in-flight mechanics hear the
signal operator and we have no idea what's going on".
Helicopter crews training for search and rescue missions in mountainous terrain? Hmmm.
Hmmm.... Israeli fighter jets exercise over Nicosia, Cyprus
Turkey's Today's Zaman reports that Israeli fighter jets exercised over Nicosia, Cyprus on Sunday (link in Turkish, Google translation here, Hat Tip: Joshua I).
Greek radio RİK foreboding, Israel's warplanes to exercise "the Nicosia FIR," a portion of the line between the hours of 10:00 to 14:00 hours today, "bound" announced.
Abstains from exercise to confirm that the news of the Greek Defense Minister Dimitris İliadis'in specified, İliadis'in "if the exercises are made, this means that Israel is allowed," he was transferred to used. According to the news Iliadis, this "sensing based on international law and respect the principles of the Greek Administration, could be included in the framework of the cooperation with various countries' claims.
Walter Russell Mead writes that Israel's natural gas and oil discoveries are already starting to make a difference in how the Jewish state is treated, and things should only improve in the future.
Israel and Canada have just signed an agreement to cooperate on the exploration and development of what, apparently, could be vast shale oil reserves beneath the Jewish state.
The prospect of huge oil reserves in Israel comes on top of the recent news about large natural gas discoveries off the coast that have been increasingly attracting attention and investor interest. The apparent gas riches have also been attracting international trouble. Lebanon disputes the undersea boundary with Israel (an act somewhat complicated by the fact that Lebanon has never actually recognized Israel’s existence), and overlapping claims from Turkey and Greece themselves plus both Greek and Turkish authorities on Cyprus further complicate matters. Yet despite these tensions, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprisingly cordial visit last week, Gazprom and Israel have announced plans to cooperate on gas extraction.
This suggests at a minimum that Turkish efforts to block gas development in the region will face opposition from Russia as well as from Israel. Gazprom and other Russian companies are also likely to do well in any gas exploration deals developed with the strongly pro-Moscow (and very cash hungry) Greek Cypriot government.
...
The new Israeli-Russian agreement is part of a conscious strategy by the Israeli government to use its nascent energy wealth to improve its embattled political position. With Italy reeling under the impact of big wrong-way bets on Iran, Rome may also begin to appreciate the value of good ties with a closer and more dependable neighbor. Another sensible target for Israeli energy diplomacy would be India: the two countries are already close in a number of ways, including trade and military technology, and India is eager to diversify its energy sources.
Gas is one thing, but potential for huge shale oil reserves under Israel itself, however, is a new twist. According to the World Energy Council, a leading global energy forum with organizations and affiliates in some 93 countries, Israel may have the third largest shale oil reserves in the world: something like 250 billion barrels. (The US and China are both believed to have larger shale oil reserves, with the US believed to have the equivalent of well over 1 trillion barrels of potentially recoverable shale and China having perhaps one third of that amount. Canada’s Athabaskan oil sands reserves may contain the equivalent of 2 trillion of barrels conventional oil, or more than all the conventional oil known to exist in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran combined.) If the estimates of Israeli shale oil are correct, Israel’s gas and shale reserves put its total energy reserves in the Saudi class, though Israel’s energy costs more to extract.
Wouldn't it be funny if the only way that the Arab Muslims could influence world oil prices would be by undercutting everyone else's oil that is more expensive to produce?
The Russians reportedly are interested in a partnership in the Leviathan field, the biggest gas zone found so far in Israel's exclusive economic zone. It contains an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. The next biggest field is Tamar, which contains an estimated 8 tcf.
Officials in Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office say the discoveries could contain double the volume currently listed. They said the known reserves are worth $100 billion-$130 billion.
Israel's gas fields account for only a fraction of the energy riches believed to lie in the Levant Basin that stretches from Syria through Lebanon, Israel, the Gaza Strip and Egypt and includes the waters of the island of Cyprus.
The U.S. Geological Service reported in 2010 that the region contains around 122 tcf of natural gas as well as 1.7 billion barrels of oil.
If Russia joins, they might be seen as taking the side of Israel, Cyprus and Greece in a dispute with Turkey and Lebanon over natural resources.
Acquiring an interest in Israel's boom could be lucrative for Gazprom and extend its international reach. But Gazprom could also be buying into a hornet's nest of energy conflicts between regional rivals that could seriously impede development of gas fields that could transform the economy of the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey, determined to become the region's paramount power and at odds with Moscow over Syria, wouldn't look kindly on Russia muscling into its backyard on such a strategic level.
Such a development could further complicate disputes triggered between the region's states by the energy bonanza, heightening tensions from long-running conflicts in the volatile zone that until the big strikes off Israel was considered poor in natural resources.
Lebanon is at odds with Israel, with which it is technically still at war. Beirut claims Leviathan extends into its waters north of the Jewish state.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 and seized the northern part of the island, which it proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and is recognized only by Ankara.
The island's southern sector remains under the control of Greek Cypriots whose government is recognized internationally.
Turkey, which broke a long-running strategic alliance with Israel in 2010, insists the Greek Cypriots have no authority to conduct a gas exploration program.
Israel and Cyprus, whose EEZs adjoin one another, said they plan to cooperate on gas production, jointly exporting to energy-hungry Europe via Greece.
Europeans spurn their own in favor of the 'Palestinians'
How much do the Europeans hate Israel? Consider this: Last week, the European Union provided 24.7 million Euros in additional aid to the 'Palestinians' while refusing to give money to Greece, which is a member of the EU. In fact, the Euros have provided more than 1.2 billion Euros of aid since 2008. Do the 'Palestinians' need additional aid? The picture at the top is of Ramallah's luxury Movenpick Hotel. Someone is staying in it, and I can guarantee you that they don't get enough Jews from Israel to keep the place open. Here's Tom Gross.
Besides the disturbing fact that in the past large amounts of European taxpayers’ money has been siphoned off into the bank accounts of corrupt Palestinian officials, or used to buy arms, what is startling is that the decision was made on the same day that the EU leadership announced that it can’t give Greece previously promised funds to pay its debts until it takes additional austerity measures, including the dismissal of thousands of superfluous civil servants and a cut in health expenditures.
And yet the EU prefers not to notice how many Palestinian civil servants are superfluous and, as reader Elliot Green notes, some of them are involved in creating and spreading hate propaganda against Jews.
As noted in a dispatch on this website last summer, “the billions that pour into the West Bank mean the Palestinian Authority does not need to try very hard to deliver the services expected by voters, it also stifles the private sector, inflates wages and causes an internal ‘brain drain’. No Palestinian business can compete with European and American-funded NGOs which routinely triple what a local firm would pay. Many NGOs fork out ‘danger money’ and even ‘hardship payments’ to both local and international staff (who then dine daily at the many expensive West Bank and Gaza restaurants) which further undermines the ability of local private businesses to hire.”
The Greeks are held to standards and demands are made of them. But (as Green points out) there are no ultimatums made to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who continues to hold rallies honoring terrorists, name public institutions after suicide bombers, and teach hatred and incitement to Palestinian children.
Yes, but giving the money to Greece wouldn't hurt the Jews or Israel.
The Europeans continue on their quest to - God forbid - finish what they started 70 years ago.
Greece announced on Monday that it will soon begin building a 6-mile-long (10-kilometer-long) fence topped with razor wire on its border with Turkey to deter illegal immigrants.
Thousands of illegal immigrants cross from Turkey into Greece at this point each year, often traveling from there to other parts of Europe.
Greek Public Order Minister Christos Papoutsis went to the border village of Kantanies on Monday to announce that work on the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) fence will start next month and is expected to be finished by September at a cost of more than ?3 million ($4 million). It will stretch from Kastanies to the Greek village of Nea Vyssa, near the northeastern town of Orestiada.
...
Greece is one of the 26 European nations in the Schengen Area, which has external border controls but not ones within the zone. Since Greece is on the southeastern edge of the area, and Turkey has not signed the Schengen Agreement, Greece is required to maintain its border controls.
During Papoutsis' visit to Kastanies, about 40 people protested nearby, saying the fence is a violation of human rights and should not be built at a time when Greece is suffering a deep financial crisis that has led to punishing austerity measures and high unemployment. About 200 riot police stood by, but no violence occurred during the demonstration.
Papoutsis said the fence will be coupled with a network of fixed night-vision cameras providing real-time footage to the new command center.
Most of Greece's 125-mile (200 kilometer) border with Turkey runs along a river known as Evros in Greece and Meric in Turkey. The new fence, which Turkey's government has not opposed, will block a short stretch of dry land between the two countries. Greece already is receiving emergency assistance at the Evros border from the EU border protection agency, Frontex.
On Monday, three men seen entering Greece at the point where the fence will be built told The Associated Press they are illegal immigrants who fled Syria's violence.
Someone today sent me a list on Hebrew about how various countries handle their borders. There are only two countries where illegal immigrants are not either sent back, jailed or shot. Guess who.
Israel is NATO's first line of defense for Greece and Cyprus
American topographer Mark Langfan argues that Israel is the only thing standing between Greece and Cyprus being attacked by Iran and Turkey in a bid to expand Islam across the Mediterranean.
Israel is NATO’s, and the West’s first, and only line of defense, against the Westward advance of the Iranian Caliphate or a Turkish resurrection of its Ottoman Empire. Turkey is trying to steal billions of dollars of Greek Cypriot and Israeli Eastern Mediterranean gas resources to fund billions of further Islamic Mediterranean military build-up.
...Without Israel’s Order of Battle protecting Cyprus’Southeastern Flank and Battle Space, with Turkish frigates and subs infesting the Southern Cyprus waters and cutting off any military reinforcements and with Haifa as Iran’s New Eastern Mediterranean Naval Base, Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes and even Greece will be lost to Turkey and the Iranian Shiite Caliphate. Iranian now-existing Shahib medium range missiles (1000 miles) will range and cover southern Europe from their new bases in Yafo, Greater Iran. Greece will become indefensible. Iran and/or Turkey will be on Europe's doorstep.
And for those who would protest that Turkey is a member of NATO, please consider this (Hat Tip: Joshua I).
Langfan also noted that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan issued a direct threat on NATO when he warned on September 27, 2011, "I recommend the international community take the necessary lessons from the Battle of Preveza.”
The Battle of Preveza was a 1538 decisive Turkish/Ottoman naval battle against a Papal “Holy League” Pan-Christian Alliance.
Adding that, “NATO and the entire EU now has an absolute vested interest against the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian state in the "West Bank". It has become abundantly clear that if such a state was in existence Hamas would smuggle in thousands of katyusha rockets with chemical warheads that have the power to wipe out the entire Tel Aviv coastal plain that holds 5 million Jews - in one evening."
Especially since the Palmer Commission report on the Mavi Marmara incident came out a few months ago, Israel has had improving relations with Greece. Is this a sign that may change?
The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement Tuesday calling on new Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papaedemos “to firmly and unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism,” after the far-right Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party whose leaders have a record of anti-Semitic statements was brought into the ruling coalition as a junior partner.
A similar statement was issued by the American Jewish Committee last week.
According to sources in Jerusalem, Israel is not publicly commenting on the matter so as not to create problems for the small Greek Jewish community of 5,000, which since 2010 has seen the torching of two synagogues – one in Corfu and the other in Crete – and the desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Salonika. The sources pointed out that the Greek Jewish community itself has not related to the LAOS issue, preferring to keep a low profile on the matter.
According to the ADL, LAOS leader Georgios Karatzaferis has said “the Jews have no legitimacy to speak in Greece and provoke the political world,” and has referred to the Holocaust, Auschwitz and Dachau as “myths.” He also claimed Jews and Israel were involved in planning and executing the 9/11 terror attacks against America.
Karatzaferis played an important role in the formation of the government, which was set up last week to extricate the country from its debt crisis.
“At a time when the new government is seeking to set a new tone in Greece, they have included a party whose leaders have openly engaged in old-fashioned anti-Semitic hatred,” said Abraham Foxman, ADL’s national director. “Given the unmistakable anti-Semitism of the LAOS leadership, the prime minister should clearly and publicly state that his government will not tolerate any expressions of anti-Semitism by public officials and will condemn any manifestations of anti- Semitism in Greece.”
The ADL said the party’s newly appointed minister of infrastructure, transport and networks, Makis Voridis, has questioned whether the forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was in fact an authentic document about a global Jewish conspiracy.
The ADL statement also stated that Adonis Georgiadis – the newly appointed deputy minister for development – is reported to have said that “all major banks belong to the Jews” and that “the Jewish Lobby” would determine the fate of Greece’s foreign debt.
The party has only 16 seats in Greece’s 300-seat parliament. It now has one minister, as well as two alternative ministers and two deputy ministers in the new government. It is one of only three parties in the coalition, the others being George Papandreou’s socialist PASOK party and the conservative New Democracy party of Antonis Samaras, which together control 237 seats. While LAOS was not needed to build the coalition, its inclusion is widely believed to be an attempt to garner as much support as possible for the painful austerity steps Greece is expected to take in the coming months.
With that crew in power, they could even reconcile with Turkey....
Take that Turkey! Within the next month, the Greek and Italian air forces will be here in Israel for a joint exercise with the IAF (Hat Tip: Joshua I).
Last year, the IAF was in Greece for joint exercises, and a security official said on Thursday that the reciprocal visit from Greece is very significant.
In addition the IAF will host the Italian Air Force next month for a training session at the Uvda Airport in the Negev. This will be the second time that the Italian air force will train in Israel.
“The Israeli Air Force sees the Italian and Greek air forces’ visits as a step up in strategic cooperation,” a security source said on Thursday.
The announcement on the joint exercises with Italy and Greece came one day after an IAF delegation returned from Sardinia following a week-long joint training exercise with the Italian Air Force.
The delegation included pilots from the “Knights of the North” and “First Jet” squadrons operating the F-16C air superiority fighter, along with pilots from the "Valley" squadron, who operate the F-16D.
The fighter pilots were accompanied by a crew from the “Dakota” control squadron, flying a Gulfstream 5 G-550 radar plane.
The Italian Air Force used its advanced “Eurofighter Typhoon” fighters during the exercise, in which two Israeli pilots were granted exclusive backseat rides.
The exercises, planned months ago, concluded amid a storm of speculation from Israel’s media that leaders in Jerusalem are planning a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The stated goals of the joint exercises were to strengthen ties with the Italian Air Force, learn from NATO's combat doctrine, and practice combat abilities in unknown, vast lands and to leave a positive impression for both sides. A similar exercise took place last year.
David Saltiel, the head of the community in Thessaloniki, which has used its deeper pockets to support needy Jewish communities around the country since the onset of financial troubles, confirmed the severity of the situation.
“I'm afraid that if something does not happen to save all the Jewish communities in Greece we will be in a difficult situation,” he said. “Worst of all is not being able to support Jewish life, the synagogues, the schools and those in need."
Since the recession began last year, revenues from Jewish assets and donations have dropped precipitously making it increasingly difficult for communities around the country to pay for services rendered to its 6,000 members.
The biggest blow so far has been the new property tax. The measure, passed by the Greek government earlier this month in a bid to raise money to pay off its debtors, levies an additional 16 euros on every square meter. Because the Jewish community’s biggest source of income is real estate, its coffers have been particularly badly affected by the law.
“A lot of the property is either vacant because people cannot afford them or the tenants are demanding rents reduced by 40 percent or they threaten to leave,” said Albelas.
In order to avoid bankruptcy, Greek Jews have appealed to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an international relief group based in New York City, for help.
Writing at Huffington Post, Sigurd Neubauer discusses Israel's booming alliances with Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and other Balkan countries. Neubauer attributes those ties to Israel's poor relations with Turkey that have forced it to seek alternatives. At the end, he comes up with this (Hat Tip: Joshua I).
While improved relations with Athens and Nicosia should be considered a significant foreign policy victory for Netanyahu, it remains unclear whether an alliance with Cyprus and the Balkan states can fully substitute for Israel's former strategic military partnership with Turkey. Given Greece's significant financial problems and Israel's own budgetary restraints, it remains also doubtful whether any of the two countries can "afford" prolonged military tensions presented by an (potentially) adversarial inclined Turkey. Additionally, unless a political solution is found to the 2010 Gaza-Flotilla, the Greek-Israeli military partnership could easily escalate into regional instability as maritime tensions in the eastern Mediterranean with Turkey could become inevitable. For those reasons, coupled with the current regional turmoil presented by the "Arab Spring," Netanyahu's diplomatic outreach to the Balkans and Cyprus should aim to maximize economic and military relations well short of establishing an "anti-Turkish" alliance.
Let's get this straight: Israel's relations with Turkey are over unless and until there is a significant change in the Turkish government away from Islamism and back towards secularism. At the moment, that is most unlikely for the foreseeable future. Israel must assume that its rift with Turkey is permanent, not temporary, and it must act accordingly. If forming an anti-Turkish alliance will keep Turkey in check, then by all means, let's do it. Maybe if Greece were not under constant threat from Turkey, it would not be such an economic basket case (admittedly, cleaning up Greece's taxation system would also help).
We have nothing to lose and everything to gain from entering into alliances with others who are the subjects of Turkish threats.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed a security cooperation agreement with the Greek Defense Minister, Panagiotis Beglitis today, Sunday ([September] 4) at a meeting at the Kirya Base in Tel Aviv.
"We welcome the Greek Defense Minister and thanked the Greek government for their rapid assistance during the Carmel fire. We're pleased with the strengthened relationship between Greece and Israel in all aspects, including defense," said Barak at the end of their meeting.
Barak added that the Israeli and Greek nations are "ancient nations that provided the world with culture. Looking ahead, the nations expect to see a deepening of the cooperation between the two governments, defense ministries and peoples."
According to Barak, the security cooperation agreement represents future cooperation with the Greek government. "Both Greece and Israel are undergoing a difficult period in the world and I believe we view each other positively."
In recent years, the IAF has been training with many foreign armies however recently the cooperation between the Greek Army and the IDF grew significantly.
Last June IAF participated in a joint training exercise with the Greek Air Force at the Larissa area using UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters.
So we are now allied with Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, and Turkey is now allied with Iran, Syria and Egypt (next story).
"I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you"
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be about to find out just how true the verse cited in this post's title is. And Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - pictured with Erdogan - may also suffer the consequences.
Writing in Asia Times, retired Indian diplomat M K Bhadrakumar makes a convincing case that Israel has succeeded in turning the tables on Turkey - partly by establishing relations with Greece and Cyprus, and partly through its longstanding relations with the Iraqi Kurds.
True to style, Israel is looking around the region for comfort and companionship with anyone who might also have an intractable problem with Turkey - it didn't have to look far across the Mediterranean.
The two-day visit by the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, to Tel Aviv, which ended on Thursday, was much more than a routine call. The minister had just assumed charge in Nicosia and headed for Israel as soon as her customary first visit to Athens was out of the way.
Quite obviously, Nicosia and Athens (which has an ancient grudge to settle with Ankara) put their heads together and assessed that Israeli regional policies are on a remake. Cyprus and Greece have had indifferent ties with Israel, but a compelling commonality of interests is sailing into view. A realignment of regional powers is taking place in the eastern Mediterranean, the leitmotif being the "containment" of an increasingly assertive Turkey.
The backdrop is easy to understand. Cyprus contracted American oil company Noble Energy to prospect for gas in 350,000 hectares in the eastern Mediterranean, bordering Israel's economic zone where significant gas deposits have been discovered.
But Turkey butted in, saying the hydrocarbon resources also belonged to northern Cyprus (which has been under Turkish occupation since 1974) and Nicosia didn't have the right to exploit resources that belonged to Turkish Cypriots. Turkey threatened to intervene.
Regarding Kozakou-Marcoullis' mission to Tel Aviv, the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia said on Tuesday, "Particular emphasis will be placed in cooperation between Cyprus and Israel in energy issues, and the recent developments in the wider region." Nicosia factored in that the minister would receive a warm welcome in Tel Aviv, which she did from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
The statement issued by Netanyahu's office virtually underscored that Israel has a convergence of interests with Cyprus with regard to Ankara's perceived belligerence. Netanyahu said Israel and Cyprus had "overlapping interests". The statement said Netanyahu discussed with Kozakou-Marcoullis "the possible expansion of energy cooperation given that both countries have been blessed with natural gas reserves in their maritime economic zones".
...
The Israelis are pinning their hopes on Cyprus turning out to be a prize catch, being a member of the European Union, which works by consensus and is shortly expected to evolve a common stance apropos the expected Palestinian move at the United Nations General Assembly session in New York in September, seeking recognition for their "state".
...
Meanwhile, Israeli commentators have also begun rattling Turkey's nerves, already somewhat frayed, over the furious return of Kurdish militancy. Israeli intelligence and businessmen have longstanding contacts with the Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq.
Interestingly, Iran has highlighted lately that Israel could be stirring up the Kurdish pot for Turkey and, therefore, Tehran, Ankara and Damascus would have shared interests in countering the Kurdish separatism that threatened all three countries. Leading Israeli defense specialist David Eshel commented in August about the upsurge of Kurdish insurgency in Turkey's eastern provinces:
The entire Kurdish people could take advantage of the ongoing Arab Spring and prepare the ground for a long-anticipated Kurdistan, linking up with Iraq's ongoing autonomy, the Iranian Kurdish enclave and perhaps even the Syrian Kurdish minorities ... With the Arab world in total turmoil, lacking any orderly leadership, the Kurds could finally achieve their sacred goal for independence, after decades, if not centuries of desecration and oppression ... the ongoing "Arab Spring" could eventually shift into a "Kurdish Summer".
With the dilemma in Ankara growing steadily, the future of Turkey's Kurdish minority is inevitably shifting into national focus. The long unfulfilled quest of the Kurds for independent statehood is not emerging as a major barrier in ... Ankara's relations with the US ... Turkey cannot afford an independent Kurdistan; it would be losing some of its highly strategic and economic assets. In fact, without Kurdish eastern Turkey, the entire nation would break apart.
The most devastating part of Eshel's commentary is his analysis that with the acute ongoing confrontation between the civilian government of Erdogan and the Turkish military, the latter's professionalism and intelligence-gathering capabilities have suffered a severe setback and the Turkish General Staff realizes that any military action in the Kurdish regions would be a "high-risk operation".
Eshel anticipated with an ominous overtone that a criticality might be reached soon if Turkish Kurds merged with the seasoned Iraqi Peshmerga militia numbering more than 100,000 fighters. He warned, "Erdogan is facing his yet most difficult challenge." Given Israel's close links with the Kurdish Peshmerga going back decades, Israel could be signaling to Ankara at various levels that it has the means to hit back at Erdogan.
So where does Putin come into this? Look at the picture's caption. If Cyprus - which is an EU member state - has a huge supply of natural gas, will Europe buy from Cyprus or will it buy Russian gas shipped through a Turkish pipeline, which will undoubtedly be more expensive? So the Russians lose out here too.
God said: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." Perhaps we will merit seeing this verse fulfilled in the very near future.
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
