Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you. I know that it's been a while since I posted on this blog - finding the time to sit down and write more than 140 characters has been difficult recently because of work. But it's been quiet today and I thought I would post something.
When does no one care if 'Palestinians' die? When they are killed by other 'Palestinians.' I've been saying that for years, but now, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said the same thing - to Russian Middle East envoy Nikolay Mladenov.
According to the statement, Liberman protested that the UN is ignoring a
number of killings and executions that have happened in recent days
among the Palestinians in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, as
well as in Gaza.
“The international community’s ignoring dozens
of dead and wounded shows again the hypocrisy and the double standard
that the world employs by ignoring these grave incidents, while on the
other hand condemning Israel’s justified actions against terrorism,” he
said.
Liberman, according to the statement, expects that the
issue of intra-Palestinian killings will be raised at the next meeting
of the UN Security Council.
Who does he think will raise it? Does anyone really care?
Mladenov’s office issued a “no comment” when asked about the phone call.
...
On Saturday, Mladenov issued a statement saying that he was “deeply concerned” by growing tensions in Gaza.
He
said that over the past decade the Palestinians in Gaza “have lived
through four conflicts, with no freedom, unprecedented Israeli
restrictions, a dire humanitarian crisis, high unemployment, an ongoing
electricity crisis and the lack of political perspective.”
Mladenov
called on all Palestinian factions to allow the Palestinian Government
to assume its responsibility in Gaza. “Gaza is an integral part of the
future Palestinian state and no efforts should be spared to bring about
real national reconciliation that ends the division. Leaders have a
responsibility to avoid escalation and bridge the growing divide between
Gaza and the West Bank that further fragments the Palestinian people.”
'Unprecedented Israeli restrictions'? Really? That would be news to East Germans, Hungarians, Czechoslovaks and ordinary Russians.
And which 'Palestinian Government' does Mladenov expect to function in Russia? The one that is in the 12th year of its four-year term? Or the Hamas 'government' which throws its opponents off building roofs?
No, the world doesn't care when 'Palestinians' or other Arabs die - so long as Israel is not involved. That double standard is anti-Semitism - pure and simple.
Obama's hatred of Israel isn't just personal animus against Netanyahu
When Barack Hussein Obama ordered his UN ambassador to abstain in Friday's vote against the 'settlements' at the United Nations, it wasn't just personal animus against Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Mr. Obama’s animus toward Prime Minister Netanyahu is well known.
Apparently Mr. Obama took it as an affront that the President-elect
would express an opinion about this week’s U.N. resolution.
It
is important, though, to see this U.S. abstention as more significant
than merely Mr. Obama’s petulance. What it reveals clearly is the Obama
Administration’s animus against the state of Israel itself. No longer
needing Jewish votes, Mr. Obama was free, finally, to punish the Jewish
state in a way no previous President has done.
What Obama did on Friday went against the views of the vast majority of the US Congress, the vast majority of the American people, and of course, the vast majority of Israelis - including the sane part of the Israeli Left.
I call upon the Obama administration to veto this resolution against Israel at the UNSC.>>
For those who speak Hebrew, there's a video of Lapid blasting the resolution on Saturday here.
What Obama did on Friday will permanently cloud the possibility of any kind of peace. This is from the first link, a Wall Street Journal editorial.
No effort to rescind the resolution, which calls the settlements a
violation of “international law,” will succeed because of Russia’s and
China’s vetoes.
Instead, the resolution will live on as Barack
Obama’s cat’s paw, offering support in every European capital,
international institution and U.S. university campus to bully Israel
with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Here in Israel, there's a palpable fear that the mamzer in the White House isn't done 'punishing' us yet.
At the cabinet meeting yesterday the experts on foreign affairs
presented a scenario in which Obama could even on his last day in office
cause harm to Israel.
The concern is that Obama may promote a move in the UN Security
Council giving guidelines for a peace agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel would
find it hard to present an alternative model after these guidelines are
set.
The experts on foreign affairs also posed another concern regarding
the Paris conference which is supposed to take place during the course
of February. At the conference a pro-Palestinian peace initiative may be
presented and could be viewed as authoritative if it is adopted.
I'm less concerned about what could happen in February - when Donald Trump is President - than I am about what could happen in the next three weeks.
Obama has earned the title ימח שמו וזכרו - may his name and memory be obliterated. May God Bring that about speedily and in our time.
Obscenity personified: Obama lies, stabs Israel in the back, wishes us a Happy Chanuka
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone. And a freilichen (Happy) Chanuka too.
The title of this post was stolen from a tweet by Anne Bayefsky after the United States abstained in the Security Council on Friday, allowing a resolution to pass that condemns as 'a flagrant violation' of 'international law' Israel's 'settlements' in the 'West Bank' and 'east' Jerusalem.
Will this resolution matter? John Bolton thinks it will. Let's go to the videotape.
Meanwhile the killing in Syria continues, but since there are no Jews involved, no one cares.
What better time to break with 50 years of US policy in the Middle East and try to impose a 'solution.'
Oh and guess what the mamzer was doing at the very moment he let the resolution pass... he was wishing all the stupid Jews who voted for him a Happy Chanuka.
Thanks for the stab in the back Obama.
While the resolution has not woken up too many Democrats to the fact that Obama's a Jew hater, it has woken up the Israeli government. In fact, Prime Minister Netanyahu claims that Obama had specifically promised to veto any UN resolutions in his last days in office.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday accused President Barack Obama of breaching a specific commitment to Israel by allowing through Friday’s UN Security Council anti-settlements resolution, and compared the outgoing president’s behavior to that of predecessor Jimmy Carter, “a president who was hostile to Israel.”
Vowing not to be forced by international
pressure into withdrawing from disputed territory, he said the incoming
administration of President-elect Donald Trump had indicated that it
would join an all-out war against what he called a “shameful” and
“scandalous” decision.
He described the 14-0 vote in the Security
Council, with the US abstaining, as “the swan song of the old world that
is anti-Israel.” Now, he said, “we are entering a new era. And as
President-elect Trump said, it’s going to happen a lot faster than
people think.”
In this new era, it will a lot more costly for those who seek to harm Israel, he warned.
Practically speaking, Netanyahu also announced
that Israel was re-evaluating all of its dealings with the United
Nations, and that he had already instructed officials to cut off “30
million shekels ($7.8 million) of funding for five UN bodies that are
particularly hostile to Israel.” More such action will follow, he
promised.
He noted that he had recalled Israel’s
ambassadors from New Zealand and Senegal, two of the four countries that
sponsored the resolution that have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israeli aid to Senegal has also been halted, he said.
I think he should recall his ambassadors from the UK and France and Egypt as well, and call the US and Russian ambassadors in for a dressing down.
Netanyahu had more to say.
The US abstention came in “a complete
contradiction” to a “specific commitment by President Obama in 2011,” he
said. It was “a shameful anti-Israel ambush” by the administration, he
said.
“The whole Middle East is going up in flames,”
he said, “and the Obama administration and the Security Council” target
Israel, the region’s only democracy. “How shameful.”
...
US legislators intend to pass a law to punish
states or organizations, including the UN, that seek to hurt Israel. The
US alone, he noted, provides a quarter of the UN’s funding.
He said Israel was “on a journey” to improve
its relations with the nations of the world. “It could be that this
scandalous decision yesterday will accelerate this process. This is the
straw that broke the camel’s back. Yesterday’s decision is a recruitment
call to all our many friends in the US and around the world — friends
who have had enough of the UN’s hostile treatment of Israel and who
intend to push fundamental change at the UN.”
Therefore, he said, invoking the spirit of the Hanukkah festival which began on Saturday, “the light will oust the darkness.”
EXCLUSIVE/ Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the US has
started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania,
against the background of worsening relations between Washington and
Ankara.
According to one of the sources, the transfer has been very challenging in technical and political terms.
“It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,” said the source, on conditions of anonymity.
According to a recent report by the Simson Center,
since the Cold War, some 50 US tactical nuclear weapons have been
stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, approximately 100 kilometres
from the Syrian border.
During the failed coup in Turkey in July, Incirlik’s power was cut,
and the Turkish government prohibited US aircraft from flying in or out.
Eventually, the base commander was arrested and implicated in the coup.
Whether the US could have maintained control of the weapons in the
event of a protracted civil conflict in Turkey is an unanswerable
question, the report says.
Another source told EurActiv.com that the US-Turkey relations had
deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer
trusted Ankara to host the weapons. The American weapons are being moved
to the Deveselu air base in Romania, the source said.
Deveselu, near the city of Caracal, is the new home of the US missile shield, which has infuriated Russia.
The Romanians are denying the story. And of course, no one else is confirming it.
According to practice dating from the Cold War, leaked information
regarding the presence of US nuclear weapons on European soil has never
been officially confirmed. It is, however, public knowledge that
Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy host US nuclear weapons.
From Israel's perspective, anything that gets nuclear weapons away from Turkey is good for the Jews.
How to stop 'Palestinian' and other Islamic terrorism
Greetings from the Holy City of Jerusalem. I am home.
There's been another terror attack this afternoon. An Israeli father and husband has been murdered, and the wife and mother and two children have been wounded near Otniel in the Hebron Hills. More on that in a bit, but I'd like to talk about something else that's been bothering me: How do we deal with terrorists?
I spoke with a cousin of mine while I was in Boston, and he had a great idea: If the terrorist lives through the attack, castrate and lobotomize him and return him to his family to deal with him for the rest of his life. If the terrorist dies, run his body through a meat grinder, mix it with ground pork, and return it to the family in a nice box for burial.
On September 30, 1985, a group of gunmen seized four Soviet diplomats
and embassy workers (Arkady Katkov, Valery Myrikov, Oleg Spirin, and
Nikolai Svirsky) in Beirut. During the kidnapping right outside the
embassy, Katkov was wounded in the leg.
The abductors called themselves "The Khaled Al-Walid Force" and the
"Islamic Liberation Organization". According to SVR (Foreign
Intelligence Service) Colonel Yuri Perfilyev, who at the time was the
KGG rezident (station chief) in Lebanon, the kidnapping was
orchestrated by infamous Hezbollah operative Imad "Hyena"Mugniyeh in
response to an offensive by Syria-backed leftist militias in the
Lebanese city of Tripoli. The Shiite radicals demanded that Moscow force
Damascus to suspend the Tripoli offensive and close its embassy in
Beirut. To demonstrate that they meant business, only two days after the
kidnapping, Mugniyeh murdered the wounded Katkov by riddling him with
machine gun bullets and left his body in a Beirut rubbish dump.
Perfilyev then met up with Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah, then
spiritual leader of Lebanese Shiites and told him: "A great power cannot
wait forever. From waiting and observing, it can proceed to serious
action with unpredictable consequences". Met with silence from
Fadlallah, the KGB station chief spoke bluntly:
We aren't only talking about people in Beirut. I'm talking about Tehran
and Qom [Shiite holy city and the residence of Ayatollah Khomeini],
which is not that far from Russia's borders. Yes, Qom is very close to
us and a mistake in the launch of a missile could always happen. A
technical error, some kind of breakdown. They write about it all the
time. And God or Allah forbid if this happens with a live, armed
missile.
The visibly shaken Fadlallah responded after a moment of silence: "I
think everything will turn out well". Later, his closest advisor
"Hassan" (Nasrallah?) told Yuri Perfilyev that no one dared to talk to
the Grand Ayatollah in such a fashion.
But the ominous threat against one of the holy cities of Shiism was
only one prong in the Soviet strategy. According to Benny Morris, who
was Jerusalem Post's diplomatic correspondent at that time and
later became famous as a brilliant historian, in tandem with the
threats, the Soviets took sharper action:
[T]he KGB kidnapped a man they knew to be a close relative of a
prominent Hezbollah leader. They then castrated him and sent the severed
organs to the Hezbollah official, before dispatching the unfortunate
kinsman with a bullet in the brain.
In addition to presenting him with this grisly proof of their
seriousness, the KGB operatives also advised the Hezbollah leader
that they knew the indentities of other close relatives of his, and that
he could expect more such packages if the three Soviet diplomats were
not freed immediately.
Soon thereafter, the surviving three hostages were dropped off by the
Soviet embassy "from a late-model BMW that couldn't drive away fast
enough" and never again was a Soviet (diplomat or otherwise) kidnapped
in Lebanon. As Benny Morris put it: "This is the way the Soviets
operate. They do things - they don't talk. And this is the language the
Hezbollah understand." Not only Hezbollah, but ISIS and every other
Muslim terror group.
Kerry won't commit to US veto of Iran-Russia arms deal
Under the terms of the Iranian nuclear sellout, the United Nations Security Council must approve the sale of certain conventional weapons to Iran. Since the United States has a veto in the Security Council, this means that the United States can veto such sales.
It was recently announced that Iran intends to purchase the latest Sukhoi-30 warplanes from Russia. Those warplanes would need to be approved by the Security Council under the terms of the nuclear sellout. But under questioning before the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Representative Brad Sherman (D-Ca) on Thursday, Secretary of State Kerry refused to commit to the United States vetoing the sale.
This is from an email I received from Omri Ceren of The Israel Project.
The context is the recent Iranian announcement that they intend to
purchase Sukhoi-30 warplanes from Russia. According to UNSCR 2231 that
sale has to go through the Security Council, which means the U.S. can
veto it. The relevant language says weapons sales to Iran need to be
approved by the UNSC "in advance on a case-by-case basis" if the weapons
fall under the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. The
section even explicitly specifies "combat aircraft" [a].
At today's HFAC briefing Rep. Sherman asked Sec. Kerry whether the
U.S. intends to veto the sale. Kerry refused to commit to a veto:
SHERMAN: ... under the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, Russia
can't sell fighter planes to Iran unless the Security Council
specifically approves that. I'll ask you, will we use our veto to
prevent fighter planes from being sold to Iran from Russia? KERRY:
Well, I don't think you have to use a veto. I think it's a matter of a
committee. There's a committee and it's in approval in the committee,
but we would not approve it. SHERMAN: And would we use our veto if necessary to prevent the sale? KERRY:
To the best of my knowledge, Congressman, I don't, I haven't looked at
the specifics of the transaction, etc. In principle, we are very
concerned about the transfer of weapons and so, you know, we would
approach it with great skepticism. But I haven't seen the specific
transfer or what the request is. We have a committee that will analyze
this thoroughly before anything happens and the committee signs off on
it, I assure you. We'll stay in touch with you.
It's not obvious why the Secretary hadn't been briefed about "the
specifics of the transaction." The Sukhois took up a week of press
inquiries about Iran. Nonetheless his answer is part of a pattern - now
several weeks old - of administration officials refusing to commit to
vetoing the warplane sale.
The sale first broke across U.S. wires on Feb 10. Reuters quoted
Iranian DM Hossein Dehghan revealing "we have even decided on the number
of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets" to buy and the AP had him elaborating "we
told them that we need to be involved in the production" of the
warplanes [b][c]. Michael Singh - Washington Institute Managing Director
- quickly tweeted "For the next five years, US or other P5 member could
block this per UNSC Res 2231" [d].
Over the next week the administration went from: denying it could veto to not knowing if it could veto to refusing to answer if it would veto.
For the first few days the administration flat out denied that it had
the ability to block weapons sales. All of that was off the record. Then
reporters started asking questions publicly at briefings, and State's
position shifted: for two consecutive days - Feb 16 and 17 - State
Department spokesman Toner told journalists the administration wasn't
sure if the U.S. could veto [e][f]. Then on Feb 18, more than a week
after the news first broke, the State Department acknowledged the sale
is illegal and falls under UNSCR 2231 [g]. Subsequent coverage that day
indicated the Obama administration did indeed have the authority to
block the sale [h].
But it was still not clear if the White House would actually use its
veto authority, and it's still not clear after today's hearing, with
Kerry expressing ignorance of the details of the sale.
Some skeptics are now suggesting that the administration is trying to
sandbag Congress on the Sukhoi sale. The move would be repeat of what
happened throughout the two years of nuclear negotiations:
administration officials would routinely brush off questions about
specific concessions by declaring that the entire package was made up of
moving parts that all had to fit together, so nothing was final until
everything was final.
Then when all the details were finalized, the
entire package was presented to Congress as a fait accompli: lawmakers
were told that the deal couldn't be reopened and that rejecting it would
lead to war.
If that modus operandi sounds familiar, it should - it's the foreign policy equivalent of how Obamacare was railroaded through Congress. And somehow there are people out there who still think that this administration is pro-Israel....
Obama could stop Iranian weapons purchases... but he won't
Under the atrocious nuclear agreement with Iran, President Hussein Obama has the legal authority to stop Iran from purchasing all those Russian weapons. But, reports Adam Kredo, he won't.
“We’re aware of ongoing discussions between Russia and Iran regarding
possible purchases of military equipment,” a State Department official
who was not authorized to speak on record told the Free Beacon
in response to inquiries. “If we have concerns about specific
transactions, we’ll express those concerns through the appropriate
channels, whether bilaterally with Russia or at the U.N. if any
specific transaction violates any U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
However, critics of the administration’s outreach to Iran expressed
skepticism. They maintain that the White House is turning a blind eye to
Iranian violations of the nuclear accord in order to preserve
diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.
“The U.N. resolution to endorse the flawed Iran nuclear deal actually
gives the United States and other members of the Security Council the
power to review and legally block arms sales by Russia or other actors
to Iran,” Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.), a critic of the nuclear accord,
told the Free Beacon. “But as Russia and Iran further escalate
their use of indiscriminate military force in the Middle East, the
administration appears wholly unwilling to use this power.”
According to the terms of the U.N. resolution governing the nuclear
agreement, the U.S. and other Security Council members are provided with
the power to approve “in advance on a case-by-case basis” most
conventional arms sales to Iran.
The statute specifically applies to the “supply, sale, or transfer”
to Iran of many conventional arms, including “battle tanks, armored
combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft,
attack helicopters, warships, missiles, or missile systems,” according
to the resolution.
Iran is reportedly seeking to purchase from Russia a new cadre of advanced Russian-made warplanes and other arms.
The provision requires the Security Council to individually approve
the sale of these weapons for the next five years. Any member of the
council has the right to veto a measure, meaning that the United States
“could effectively block such a sale,” according to Michael Singh, a
former White House national security official who worked on the Iran
portfolio.
“It appears that the Obama administration has the authority to block
any sale of fighter aircraft to Iran,” said Singh, managing director of
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “In pressing for the
approval of the nuclear deal by Congress, the administration discussed
these arms restrictions (and related missile restrictions) as de facto
bans, there will certainly be an expectation that they would use that
authority.”
...
“Critics of the deal insisted that the Obama administration would be too
intimidated to ever use those mechanisms because then Iran would walk
away from the deal,” the source said. “This arms sale suggests the
critics were right and that the deal supporters bamboozled Congress.”
After Kredo's piece was published, the Obama administration tried to sound a more forceful note.
Update 4:10 p.m.: Following publication, officials
familiar with the situation said they expect the administration to be
more forceful in raising concerns about these sales, particularly the
transfer of advanced war jets.
Barack Obama’s
repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office – and that
there are ‘moderate’ rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him –
has in recent years provoked quiet dissent, and even overt opposition,
among some of the most senior officers on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
Their criticism has focused on what they see as the administration’s
fixation on Assad’s primary ally, Vladimir Putin. In their view, Obama
is captive to Cold War thinking about Russia and China, and hasn’t
adjusted his stance on Syria to the fact both countries share
Washington’s anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and beyond Syria;
like Washington, they believe that Islamic State must be stopped.
The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a
highly classified assessment, put together by the Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then led by General Martin
Dempsey, forecast that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos
and, potentially, to Syria’s takeover by jihadi extremists, much as was
then happening in Libya. A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs
told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on
information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a
dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to
finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. By then, the CIA
had been conspiring for more than a year with allies in the UK, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar to ship guns and goods – to be used for the overthrow
of Assad – from Libya, via Turkey, into Syria. The new intelligence
estimate singled out Turkey as a major impediment to Obama’s Syria
policy. The document showed, the adviser said, ‘that what was started as
a covert US programme to arm and support the moderate rebels fighting
Assad had been co-opted by Turkey, and had morphed into an
across-the-board technical, arms and logistical programme for all of the
opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State. The so-called
moderates had evaporated and the Free Syrian Army was a rump group
stationed at an airbase in Turkey.’ The assessment was bleak: there was
no viable ‘moderate’ opposition to Assad, and the US was arming
extremists.
Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA
between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant
stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire
consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control
of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling of
foreign fighters and weapons across the border. ‘If the American public
saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive
level, they would go ballistic,’ Flynn told me. ‘We understood Isis’s
long-term strategy and its campaign plans, and we also discussed the
fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of
the Islamic State inside Syria.’ The DIA’s reporting, he said, ‘got
enormous pushback’ from the Obama administration. ‘I felt that they did
not want to hear the truth.’
‘Our policy of arming the opposition
to Assad was unsuccessful and actually having a negative impact,’ the
former JCS adviser said. ‘The Joint Chiefs believed that Assad should
not be replaced by fundamentalists. The administration’s policy was
contradictory. They wanted Assad to go but the opposition was dominated
by extremists. So who was going to replace him? To say Assad’s got to go
is fine, but if you follow that through – therefore anyone is better.
It’s the “anybody else is better” issue that the JCS had with Obama’s
policy.’
But what's more shocking is what the Joint Chiefs decided to do about it.
The Joint Chiefs felt that a direct challenge to Obama’s policy would
have ‘had a zero chance of success’. So in the autumn of 2013 they
decided to take steps against the extremists without going through
political channels, by providing US intelligence to the militaries of
other nations, on the understanding that it would be passed on to the
Syrian army and used against the common enemy, Jabhat al-Nusra and
Islamic State.
Germany, Israel and Russia were in contact with the
Syrian army, and able to exercise some influence over Assad’s decisions
– it was through them that US intelligence would be shared. Each had
its reasons for co-operating with Assad: Germany feared what might
happen among its own population of six million Muslims if Islamic State
expanded; Israel was concerned with border security; Russia had an
alliance of very long standing with Syria, and was worried by the threat
to its only naval base on the Mediterranean, at Tartus. ‘We weren’t
intent on deviating from Obama’s stated policies,’ the adviser said.
‘But sharing our assessments via the military-to-military relationships
with other countries could prove productive. It was clear that Assad
needed better tactical intelligence and operational advice. The JCS
concluded that if those needs were met, the overall fight against
Islamist terrorism would be enhanced. Obama didn’t know, but Obama
doesn’t know what the JCS does in every circumstance and that’s true of
all presidents.’
Once the flow of US intelligence began, Germany,
Israel and Russia started passing on information about the whereabouts
and intent of radical jihadist groups to the Syrian army; in return,
Syria provided information about its own capabilities and intentions.
There was no direct contact between the US and the Syrian military;
instead, the adviser said, ‘we provided the information – including
long-range analyses on Syria’s future put together by contractors or one
of our war colleges – and these countries could do with it what they
chose, including sharing it with Assad. We were saying to the Germans
and the others: “Here’s some information that’s pretty interesting and
our interest is mutual.” End of conversation. The JCS could conclude
that something beneficial would arise from it – but it was a military to
military thing, and not some sort of a sinister Joint Chiefs’ plot to
go around Obama and support Assad. It was a lot cleverer than that. If
Assad remains in power, it will not be because we did it. It’s because
he was smart enough to use the intelligence and sound tactical advice we
provided to others.’
R. Moshe Shternbuch: If Russia conquers Istanbul put on your Sabbath finery for the Messiah
Some of you might recall this post which quoted the Vilna Gaon as saying that a war between Russia and Turkey would be a precursor to the Messiah's arrival. Someone questioned whether the Gaon actually said that. Thanks to Yonatan H who put me onto this audio of Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, the head of the Badatz Eida Haredith in Jerusalem who says in the name of the Gaon (known as the Gra) that if Russia conquers Istanbul, get ready for the Messiah's arrival.
For the Hebrew readers, there's more here (including the audio).
Turkish general says government has to own shooting down of Russia plane
Back in November, the Turkish air force downed a Russian jet. Afterward, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that had they known that the plane was Russian, they might have acted differently during what was about 17 seconds(!) over disputed Turkish-Syrian territory. Now, a Turkish Air Force General says - surprise - that's a lie.
Pilots of the Turkish Air Forces (THK) followed the rules of engagement as outlined by the government during the downing of a Russian
jet near the Syrian border on Nov. 24 and would have been accused of
neglecting their duty if they hadn't done so, a general who remained
anonymous told a daily on Wednesday.
Speaking with the Sözcü daily, the general from the THK underlined
that the government must accept any political responsibility as it is
the government that outlines the rules of engagement for border
violations, which are considered orders to the army.
THK head Gen. Abidin Ünal has been targeted by pro-government Twitter
users saying that he had placed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in a difficult
situation after bilateral relations with Russia broke down as a result
of the downing of the jet.
According to Sözcü, some Twitter users tweeted after the incident
that Ünal must resign as he shot down the Russian jet without orders
from the president. “Resign! Otherwise, Reis [Erdoğan] will take care of
you,” another user tweeted.
The anonymous general also underlined that it is a border violation
when any jet belonging to a foreign nation violates another nation's air
space, even for a second. “The rules of engagement are outlined by the
government according to a specific time, region and purpose to protect
its borders. The armed forces will automatically follow them,” general
said.
“Had we known it was a Russian plane we might have acted
differently,” Erdoğan said in an exclusive interview with France 24 news
channel on Nov. 26. “But our pilots know the rules of engagement and
have to do their duty to protect Turkish airspace,” he added.
During a parliamentary group speech of his party on Nov. 25, Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the THK had carried out orders given by
him personally. “Despite all the warnings, we had to destroy the
aircraft,” he said.
According to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the Russian jet violated
Turkish airspace for 17 seconds and there were no warning shots.
The Turkish General Staff said on Nov. 24 that it shot down the
Russian Su-24 jet after warning it 10 times in five minutes by radio.
However the Russian Defense Ministry claims it was shot down in Syrian
airspace.
Something tells me that the Turks are going to be really sorry about this. On Sunday, I posted this on my Twitter feed:
Heard over the weekend that Vilna Gaon said Russian ship firing on Turkey = outbreak of Gog Magog war @zpyaromhttps://t.co/LhrOR1LvBP
I have since spoken to a neighbor who is an expert on the writings of the Vilna Gaon who has confirmed to me that the passage does exist, but he has not yet shown/told me where it is.
Report: IAF striking multiple Hezbullah targets in Syria, casualties reported
I have not seen this elsewhere, but thought I'd post it so that you all can keep an eye out for updates during the night. It's time for me to go to sleep (still a bit jet lagged - normally I try to return to Israel on Thursday night or Friday and then sleep it off over the Sabbath).
There are two tweets out there that claim that the IAF struck multiple Hezbullah targets in Syria about two hours ago and that casualties have been reported. Here they are:
DEVELOPING: Reports of Israeli air force striking multiple Hezbollah targets in Syria moments ago, details unknown as of now
Russia sanctions Turkey over downed jet, will buy from Israel instead
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced sanctions against Turkey over the Russian jet that was downed by Turkish forces this past week.
The decree published
on the Kremlin's website Saturday came hours after Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan had voiced regret over the incident, saying his
country was "truly saddened" by the event and wished it hadn't occurred.
It
includes a ban on some goods and forbids extensions of labor contracts
for Turks working in Russia as of Jan. 1. It doesn't specify what goods
are to be banned or give other details, but it also calls for ending
chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism
companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in
Turkey.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the week had ordered his cabinet to develop a list of goods to be sanctioned.
Putin's
decree also calls for ending visa-free travel between Russia and Turkey
and orders the tightening of control over Turkish air carriers in
Russia "for security reasons." The decree was issued "to protect Russian
citizens from crimes," a Kremlin statement said.
In terms of filling the void, Israeli tourism providers have already
begun selling the Jewish state as an alternative attraction for Russians
seeking a break in the sun, and say deals are in the works.
Israel's tourism ministry has stepped up its game as well, investing $2.6 million in efforts to woo the Russian market.
As for food imports, Russia's Minister of Agriculture Alexander
Tkachev said his country would be replacing Turkish produce with goods
from Iran, Israel and Morocco.
The minister officially sites healthy and safety concerns, but the
timing of the announcement indicates it is politically-motivated.
...
Over the past 10 months Turkey imported agricultural produce and food
worth just over $1 billion (one billion euros) to Russia, down 21.2
percent compared to the same period last year.
"Turkish vegetables account for 20 percent of the total Russian
imports of vegetables. Import of vegetables, tomatoes in the first
place, will be substituted with those from Iran, Morocco, Israel,
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan," he told Russian media.
Turkey also accounts for a quarter of Russian citrus fruit imports,
he said, adding that the country would similarly be switching to
alternative providers.
"Turkey imports about 250,000 tons of citrus fruits, a quarter of the
total citrus imported into Russia. We can replace citrus imports by
supplies from South Africa, Morocco, China, Argentina, Israel, Abkhazia,
Georgia," Tkachev stated.
Russia also said it could redirect its Turkish exports including wheat and oil to countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Over the past 10 months, Russian exports to Turkey amounted to $1.3 billion.
As long as that doesn't mean a price rise in Israel, that's fine with me, except that there are Jewish law issues with exporting the citrus crop this winter because it is considered produce of the Shmittah (Sabbatical) year.
In the meantime, the 'Palestinians' can cry me a river!
Russian plane brought down by 'external force' in Sinai
Russia is saying that a Kogalymavia Airlines passenger jet that crashed in Sinai on Saturday while enroute from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg was brought down by an 'external force.' ISIS has claimed that it shot the plane down presumably as revenge for Russian military activity in Syria. All 224 passengers and crew on the plane were killed.
"We exclude technical problems and reject
human error," Alexander Smirnov, a Kogalymavia airline official, said at
a Moscow news conference as he discussed possible causes of the crash.
He
added that the crew did not issue any warnings or communications during
the final moments, indicating that the flight crew must have been
disabled and not able to radio out.
However,
Smirnov said that while the plane's flight and voice data recorders had
been recovered, they had not been read or decoded.
But no one else wants to believe that ISIS is responsible. No one, that is, except Lufthansa, Air France, Emirates, Air Arabia and Air Dubai, all of which have announced that they will not be flying over Sinai until further notice. This is from the first link.
Officials have played down an apparent
claim by Islamic militants in Sinai that they brought down the Airbus
A321-200, saying technical failure is the most likely reason for the
crash.
But so far, they haven't been
able to give a definitive explanation for what happened, with the
Egyptian President suggesting investigations could take months.
This is not the first flight out of Sharm to crash since Israel returned the resort to Egypt as part of the Camp David treaty. In 2004, a Flash Airlines charter flight from Sharm to Paris crashed into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff. A former work colleague of mine who had subsequently moved to France was aboard that flight.
You might recall that in 2006, El Al announced that all of its planes are equipped with the Flight Guard anti-missile system. In 2008, American Airlines decided that the system was too expensive for its planes. Given that this is the second time in the last 16 months that a commercial passenger jet has been shot down, perhaps the airlines ought to consider installing the Flight Guard system.
Russia - not Israel - is touting strategic cooperation
It is Russia - and not Israel - that has gone public about the strategic coordination between the two countries. The Israelis, while realistic about the decline in American activity in the region due to the Obama administration's tendency toward isolationism and Islamophilic behavior, nevertheless do not wish to stick it in the United States' face, probably in the hope that some day a different administration will take charge. The Russians, on the other hand, have no reason to hedge their bets and are proud that Israel is cooperating with their camp.
"We don't interfere with
them and they don't interfere with us," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon
said in a radio interview, tersely summing up Israel's accommodation
with Russia.
Another reason Israel is holding back could be because it does
not know the full extent of Russia's plans for Syria or what effect they
could have on Assad's allies – Iran and the Lebanese guerrilla group
Hezbollah.
A de-facto axis between Moscow and Israel's two most powerful
regional enemies could seem an unsettling scenario for Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's government, but it might also be seen as providing a
moderating influence.
"The new order in the Middle East is loose coalitions for
specific purposes, so a Russian partnership with Iran and Hezbollah to
save Assad is not necessarily bad for us," a Netanyahu confidant told
Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not looking to mess with
Israel, and it's unlikely he would look kindly on Iran or Hezbollah
messing with Israel now, either," the confidant said.
The assurance has been echoed by Russia, which hosted Netanyahu for Syria "deconfliction" talks on Sept. 21.
It took until this week for the United States, whose forces have long
been in sync with Israel on Syria, to agree on similar coordination
with Russia.
...
Shein said Russia was
familiar with the reasoning behind past Israeli air strikes in Syria,
including against alleged arms transfers by Iran or Assad's army to
Hezbollah, and "fully aware of Israel's strategic importance in the
Middle East."
But he said Syria's neighbors and overall regional stability were
threatened by the conflict, suggesting Israeli security might be best
served by an Assad victory.
Israel called for Assad to be ousted after the civil war began but
the Netanyahu government has recently preferred neutral rhetoric even
though Western powers continue to demand an eventual change of
leadership in Syria.
...
Moscow, meanwhile, has made no secret of seeing vindication for its Syria strategy in the Netanyahu government's posture.
"Israel’s prudence from the outbreak of the conflict in Syria has
become apparent in the fact that Israel did not consider the overthrow
of President Assad as an indispensable condition to avoid foreign
intervention and impediment for the beginning of a national
reconciliation," Shein said.
He linked this to what he described as Israel's "wisdom" in not
taking sides when Russia seized the Crimea region from Ukraine last year
following the removal of a Ukrainian president who was sympathetic to
Moscow.
"I hope it reflects concern for the development of Russian-Israeli
relations in a true, friendly and cooperative manner," Shein said.
Israeli officials have spoken respectfully, but not lavishly, about their evolving relationship with Russia.
A diplomatic dividend such as Russian recognition of Israel's
ownership of the Golan Heights is nowhere on the horizon, and Moscow's
growing relationship with Iran worries the Netanyahu government.
Images captured earlier this month from the Eros-B, a dual-use
imaging satellite owned and operated by ImageSat International, reveal
high operational tempo at Latakia International Airport, where Moscow
has based some 12 Su-25 fighters, a similar amount of Su-24 bombers, 16
Mi-35 attack helicopters and a small amount of Su-30 and Su-34 aircraft.
Outsized
Antonov 124 and Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft are seen offloading
additional cargo, all of which is protected by at least one SAM-22
surface-to-air missile system.
In an image dated Oct. 10, support
vehicles and open cockpit canopies indicate high levels of alert while
another image taken on the same day shows a foursome of Su-30 attack
fighters in so-called fast launch positions at the end of the runway.
Such
imagery taken by the relatively low end of Israel’s satellite force
represents a mere snapshot of the Jewish state’s persistent ability to
monitor areas of interest throughout Syria and beyond.
With more
than a handful of satellites orbiting the Earth at 90-minute intervals,
Israel has multiple opportunities every day to revisit suspected sites.
...
IDF officers and their Russian counterparts plan to hold their second
round of so-called deconfliction talks in Moscow later next month, with
an eye toward establishing a mechanism to prevent unintended
consequences in the event that Russian and Israeli aircraft are flying
in the same airspace.
Over the weekend, the Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command announced that it would enter into an intelligence sharing agreement “about ISIS terrorism” with Syria, Russia and Iran.
Exactly what sort of information Iraq agreed to share with Russia, or
has shared already, was a matter of some confusion during Tuesday’s
Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob
Work acknowledged that the Defense Department doesn’t have a firm handle
on the sort of communications going on between the Iraqi government
and Moscow.
“We were caught by surprise that Iraq entered into this agreement
with Syria, Iran and Russia. Obviously, we are not going to share
intelligence with either Syria, or Russia, or Iran. So we are in the
process of working to try and find out exactly what Iraq has said.
Certainly we are not going to provide any classified information that
would help those actors on the battlefield.” Work said in response to a
question from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Russia was in
Syria primarily to bolster President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s claims this week that his forces were in
Syria to defeat the Islamic State was, Clapper said, “a
belated motivation.”
Clapper suggested that mutual mistrust between the parties could
limit the scope of the Iraq’s intelligence sharing agreement. “As far as
the joint intelligence arrangement is concerned. Can’t go into detail
here in this forum … But each of the parties entering into this are a
little bit suspicious of just what is entailed here. We will have to see
how robust a capability that actually provides.”
U.S. Cyber Command commander and NSA
chief Adm. Michael Rogers identified Russia as probably the most
capable adversary the United States faces online. The recent breach of
the Joint Staff civilian email system, for instance, has been attributed
to a Russian affiliated group and affected as many as 4,000
email accounts.
In fiscal 2015, Congress appropriated more than $1.6 billion in train and equip funding
for the Iraqi military, including trucks and small arms but also some
potentially sensitive pieces of equipment related to improvised
explosive device detection. Detailed information about how U.S.
troops detect mines and explosive devices on the battlefield could
represent a vulnerability for the United States if that equipment were
to fall into the wrong hands. And then there are the people, more than
3,550 U.S. troops are in Iraq right now officially serving in train and assist roles. But that’s not all they do. In May, a U.S. Special Forces raid resulted in the death of Abu Sayyaf, an ISIS senior leader in Syria.
It's kind of hard to believe that Israel is not sharing intelligence with the US on an area that's quite close to our eastern and northern borders. Was our information shared too?
If you're looking for Obama, he's on the golf course, trying to find a way to blame Bush.
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
