With the end of the holiday and the Sabbath here in Israel, it's become clear that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen's United Nations General Assembly speech was quite a success... but not quite for the reasons he wanted. Abu Mazen has managed to unite Israeli politicians across the board in blasting him for his hatred.
"Mahmoud Abbas has again proved his only expertise is spreading lies
and incitement against Israel," Communications Minister Gilad Erdan
(Likud) slammed Saturday night. "He has denied the Holocaust in the past and now, in this surreal speech at the UN, he has accused us of 'genocide.'"
"This is not how a 'peace partner' talks, and certainly not anyone
who wants for 'reconciliation between peoples," Erdan continued. "Now it
is clear why he insists on partnering with the Hamas terrorist
organization, with whom he shares the 'struggle against Israel' and will
promote our delegitimization through false propaganda."
"Mahmoud Abbas always finds a soft spot for murderers, rocket
launchers, and our enemies in general," Jewish Home Chairman and
Economics Minister Naftali Bennett added. "We saw missiles launched at
Ben Gurion Airport two months ago, and it's good to know these launchers
are members of Mahmoud Abbas's 'Palestinian state.'"
"Now Israel must find new and creative ways to allow us to just
survive here," Bennett fumed. "A Palestinian state west of the Jordan
River is not one of them."
Even the extreme left took issue with Abbas's speech.
"While Israel has acted harshly in Gaza and made things difficult
[for the Palestinians], you cannot call it 'genocide," Meretz Chairman
Zahava Gal-On stated Saturday. Gal-On - who did not explicitly condemn
Abbas - did add, however, that Abbas's words were "serious and grave." [But see below. CiJ]
"These are false and outrageous statements," MK Eitan Cabel (Labor),
added. "It would have been better if they had not spoken, and these
words are worthy of condemnation from all who truly love peace."
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon had some more biting remarks.
"Through his speech at the UN, Mahmoud Abbas proves for the umpteenth
time: this is not a leader who wants peace and the advancement of his
people's lives, but a person who distributes lies, incitement, and hate
speech against Israel," Ya'alon stated Saturday. "Mahmoud Abbas is not a
man of peace, and is not really interested in an agreement with Israel,
which means recognition of the Jewish national homeland."
"Time after time, Mahmoud Abbas goes on to deceive the international
community, to throw at Israel false and racist accusations out of the
hope that threats, pressure, and lies will scare us and make us
acquiesce [to his demands]," Ya'alon continued.
Ya'alon implied that Abbas's speech was particularly grave, and may have jettisoned future plans to renew peace talks.
"He has no partner for a political agreement - which is essential to
end the conflict - and we will therefore not compromise the security of
Israeli citizens," Ya'alon said, referencing plans to make a Palestinian
state in Judea and Samaria. "In every situation, we are responsible for
our own destiny and our own security, and we will be in the future."
Ya'alon concluded by blasting Abbas for "not really coming to terms
with our own existence" and added that the claims "are detached from
reality."
Prime Minister Netanyahu is on his way to the United States to counter Abu Mazen's (and Iranian President Hassan Rohani's) 'slander and lies.'
But despite the quotation above, Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On actually backed Abu Mazen.
“Meretz supports Abbas’s international efforts to bring the end of the occupation and to get international recognition as a [Palestinian] state and member of the UN before and as a corridor to reaching peace in bilateral negotiations between equals,” the party leader said.
The speech reflected Abbas’s total distrust of Netanyahu as a partner for peace, Gal-On said.
According to Gal-On, “Netanyahu refused to negotiate for five years and the talks under American sponsorship led nowhere and wild construction continued in the settlements. Now Netanyahu wants to continue ‘managing the conflict’ instead of solving it,” she lamented.
Gal-On proves the prophet Isaiah right once again. Isaiah warned that those who would destroy us would spring forth from among us. What could go wrong?
Will Yair Lapid's Sabbath press conference become the excuse to undo the coalition?
No one is fooling himself that Yair Lapid is a Sabbath observer. But the Israeli government nominally observes the Sabbath. And when the Finance Minister calls a press conference on the Sabbath to announce that there will soon be a solution to the 'budget crisis' (not exactly a matter of life and death that would permit desecrating the Sabbath), it could lead to the undoing of Lapid's agreement with the Jewish Home party and the end of the current coalition.
It should be noted that in December 1976, then-Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin broke apart his coalition with the Mafdal religious Zionist party
over tensions, after an IAF ceremony at an airbase welcoming the
arrival of the first three F-15 fighter jets to Israel desecrated the
Sabbath.
Jewish Home, the offshoot of Mafdal, has yet to issue a response to
Lapid's Shabbat gaff, which comes mere days before the Jewish New Year
(Rosh Hashana) on Wednesday.
However, Jewish Home MK Shuli Muallem hinted that Lapid's move may
indeed cost the coalition, saying on Saturday "Yair Lapid has the right
to do as he pleases in his private home - to cut down trees or pump
water (forbidden acts on Sabbath - ed.) - but Yair Lapid works on
Shabbat and desecrates the day of rest with the goal of gathering a few
lost mandates."
"Jewish Home as a religious party in the coalition can not sit in the
government with someone who gathers mandates and desecrates the Sabbath
as if it's a normal work day," said Muallem, without elaborating on
what exactly her statement will mean in terms of practice.
Surprisingly, the criticism of Lapid didn't just come from the Right.
Surprisingly far-left Meretz party chairperson Zehava Galon joined the criticism of Lapid on Saturday.
"While you were enjoying your day of rest, Finance Minister
Yair Lapid decided to drag all the financial journalists from their
homes in the middle of Shabbat, inviting them to park at the entrance to
his house in Tel Aviv so that they could hear him read off a
thoughtless announcement," charged Galon.
"The reading took exactly a minute-and-a-half, but it certainly was
enough to destroy the Shabbat of the camermen and journalists forced to
arrive to hear the utterances of his excellency the finance minister,"
added Galon tongue-in-cheek, noting the "unfairness" towards Sabbath
observant journalists wasn't the only problem about his "futile
announcements" on Shabbat.
At least the Israeli government is actually thinking
The timing of an announcement that the government is turning approximately 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres) of land near Gush Etzion into government land (what might be called a taking by eminent domain in the United States) for the Sunday of Labor Day weekend shows that at least someone in the government has their thinking caps on. It slowed the international reaction to a move that would inevitably be unpopular outside of Israel. But now the United States has criticized us, and so has Ban Ki-Moon. Is Netanyahu up to the challenge? This is from the first link.
The IDF on Sunday conferred the status of state land on 4,000 dunams in the Gush Etzion region, thus ending the civil administration’s investigation into the possibility that parcels were private Palestinian property.
The new designation for an area known as Gevaot opens the door for settlers to advance plans to build a fifth city in the West Bank on those dunams.
"We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity," a State Department official said. "This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue, is counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians."
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the US official said in Washington.
What if our 'stated goal' were not a 'two-state solution'? What if Netanyahu had the guts to reverse the Bar Ilan speech and say 'We tried. We've been trying for over 20 years. We failed. What we would need to secure us in the event of a two-state solution is much more than the 'Palestinians' are willing to agree to. It's time to move on.'Would Israelis agree?
Based on their political affiliations (at least in polls), the answer ought to be yes. But Israelis have been so conditioned - both by the media and by too many of our own politicians - to the idea that there is no solution other than the 'two-state solution' that much must be done to reverse this boxlike thinking. Perhaps this morning was a start.
I turned on the radio briefly this morning (I've avoided it entirely since we left Jerusalem on Sunday) and heard that Labor party leader Yitzchak Herzog and Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On said that this is the time to make a big move forward in the 'peace process.' Huh? MK Zev Elkin (Likud) slammed Herzog (Gal-On spoke in response to Elkin) saying that he's out of touch with what Israelis want and that having seen what happened in Gaza, almost no Israelis would agree to taking the chance of turning Judea and Samaria into another Gaza.
Would Netanyahu agree? Would he say so?
By the way, note that the condemnation comes from a 'State Department official' - not Obama or Kerry. Could they finally be getting the idea that this is not the time to push for a 'Palestinian state'?
If you read the whole thing, you will discover that the plan to turn this into a Jewish city has been in place for nearly 30 years. Hmmm....
Zany Zehava calls for investigating Rabbi Lior for stating Jewish law in time of war
Zany Zehava Gal-On of the MeretzSheretz party has called on the Attorney General to 'investigate' Rabbi Dov Lior for 'incitement' for stating that Jewish law permits punishing and crushing the enemy, including the civilians among whom Hamas embeds itself.
Lior said that he had received questions about whether it is permitted
according to Jewish law to harm a civilian population not directly
involved with the combatants.
“At a time of war it is permitted for the people who are attacked to
punish the enemy population with measures such as blocking supplies or
electricity and to shell the entire area according to the considerations
of the minister of the army and not to needlessly endanger soldiers but
rather to take crushing warning steps to exterminate the enemy,” Lior
wrote.
Addressing the current hostilities with Hamas, the rabbi
continued “In the case of Gaza, it would be permitted for the Minister
of Defense to even order the destruction of all of Gaza so that the
south will no longer suffer and to prevent injury to our people who
have been suffering for so long from the enemies surrounding us.”
Lior
added that “talk of humanism and consideration are as nothing when
weighed against saving our brothers in the south and across the country
and the restoration of quiet to our land.”
You might recall that the IDF's previous chief rabbi, Avichai Ronsky, was forced out for a similar 'offense' to Lior's.
And perhaps this is the place to include a video that many people have sent me over the past week, and which I was holding because I thought it included music and we don't listen to music now - the three week mourning period over the destruction of the Temples. But this isn't music - it's only singing.
Moments before these Israeli soldiers enter Gaza and place their lives at risk for the sake of the Land of Israel, they prepare themselves by singing and dancing songs of faith in the G-d of Israel. They are singing:
1) "The whole world is a narrow bridge and the main thing is not to be afraid" - a famous rabbinical phrase
2) Serve G-d with joy and come before Him with song
3) "We Have No one Rely Upon Except Our Father In Heaven"
Let's go to the videotape.
I'm sure that the soldiers' reliance on God rubs Zany Zehava the wrong way.....
Pigs fly: Netanyahu calls Erdogan an anti-Semite, Zany Zehava blasts Erdogan too - UPDATED WITH VIDEO
Israeli politicians across the political spectrum have decided that they don't care how much President Hussein Obama loves Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They are going to call a spade, a spade.
Prime Minister Netanyahu called US Secretary of State John FN Kerry on Saturday night to complain about Erdogan's anti-Semitic comments, and even Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On has gotten into the act, blasting Erdogan as well.
After years of publicly restraining himself regarding Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US
Secretary of State John Kerry that the words of the leader of
Washington’s close NATO ally were anti-Semitic.
According to diplomatic officials, Netanyahu spoke to Kerry overnight on
Sunday about the Gaza operation, and said that Erdogan's anti-Semitic
comments profaned the memory of the Holocaust.
Erdogan, in the midst of a presidential campaign, said on Saturday that
“Those who condemn Hitler day and night have surpassed Hitler in
barbarism.”
...
Meretz head Zehava Gal-On was withering in her criticism of Erdogan,
calling his comments “appalling” if they were written in the form of a
“talkback” to an article on the Internet, and all the more so when
uttered by the head of a state, especially a state with diplomatic ties
with Israel.
She said that it seems that because of the presidential election Erdogan
has lost “control.” Nevertheless, she said, there can be tolerance for a
person who thinks he can use his status as the representative of the
Turkish people “to spread ugly and baseless lies.”
Gal-On, who points out that she has criticized the use of force in the
current operation, said that a leader who “is able to look his citizens
in the eye and claim Israel is committing genocide is despicable, vile
and irresponsible.”
Israel's foreign ministry has urged Israelis to avoid 'non-essential' visits to Turkey.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin (Likud-Beytenu) said that the PA
“once again has exposed the true unity of purpose between the hamas
terrorists and the Fatah leaders – the annihilation of the Jewish
state.”
"One should not be surprised that those who refuse to even discuss
recognition of the Jewish state in any borders whatsoever, and pays huge
salaries to Palestinian terrorists who murdered Israelis and are doing
time in Israeli jails, finally found his natural place in the warm
embrace of the Hamas murderers.”
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Likud-Beytenu) said that PA head
Mahmoud Abbas “needs to decide if he wants to make peace, and if so –
with whom. One cannot make peace both with Israel and Hamas, a terror
organization that calls for the annihilation of Israel.
"The signing of an agreement on a unity government of Fatah and Hamas
is also the signing of the end of negotiations between Israel and the
PA,” he declared.
...
Jewish Home chairman, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, stated that
“Hamas will continue to send terrorists to murder Jews and Abu Mazen
[Abbas] willl continue to demand their release. Whoever thought of Abu
Mazen as a partner needs to recalculate his route.”
“The agreement joining Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad puts the Middle
East in a new era,” Bennett added. “The PA has become the largest
terror body in the world, just 20 minutes from Tel Aviv. Just as the US
does not talk to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Qaeda, Israel has to state
clearly: no talks with terrorists.”
Does Bennett mean to imply that the 'Palestinian Authority' was anything but a terror organization before this happened?
MK Nachman Shai (Labor) said that it was a “serious mistake, in time and
location,” to send the IAF to strike in Gaza while fatah and Hamas were
signing an agreement. “Any action of this nature will be seen as an
attempt to torpedo the Palestinian reconciliation and will present
Israel again as tripping up any chance of an accord.”
Why shouldn't Israel try to trip up a reconciliation between terror organizations?
On the left, Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On said Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu pushed Abbas toward Hamas and then asked the PA
president to choose between Hamas and Israel.
"This request goes
against Israeli interests. Any reconciliation between Gaza and the West
Bank is necessary, as long as any agreement between Abbas and Israel
includes Hamas, which would include the end of violence [from Gaza],"
she explained.
Herzog calls on Lapid and Livni to leave the government
Labor party leader Yitzchak Buzhi is calling on Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid and the Tzipi Livni party's Tzipi Livni to leave the government to protest the collapse of the 'peace talks.'
"The failure echoes in all areas. This is a government of failure
that doesn't provide peace, only depression," the Labor leader said.
Herzog's comments came after Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said at The Jerusalem Post's Annual Conference in New York on Sunday that he would rather hold early elections than go back to the "grand deal"
to extend peace talks which would have seen Israel release 26
terrorists, in addition to 400 other Palestinian prisoners of Israel's
choosing.
"Liberman spoke the truth," Herzog stated at the Knesset plenum on Monday. "There is no choice other than an election."
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-on attacked Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and
Hatnua chief Tzipi Livni for remaining in Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu's coalition.
"Livni and Lapid are Netanyahu's
collaborators in making the negotiations a charade, because nobody in
the Netanyahu government truly has an interest in signing a peace
agreement," Gal-on charged.
"The negotiations which the Netanyahu
government has led are pointless, because they are meant only to serve
the political survival of the coalition partners and not to really reach
an accord," she stated.
Gal-on accused Livni and Lapid of lying
to the public and breaking there promise to quit the coalition if the
negotiations break down.
As much as I detest both Lapid and Livni, I have to ask: What would Herzog and Gal-on have done differently? Let's take some educated guesses.
They would have imposed a 'settlement freeze' on all of Judea and Samaria and on at least 'east' Jerusalem.
They would have done without Abu Mazen saying he recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.
Other than that, what can they honestly say they would have done differently while still calling themselves Zionists?
Would they have given Abu Mazen the 'right of return' he wants? Doubtful. There wouldn't be a Jewish state left if they did. The left's whole point is that they want a state without 'Palestinians,' just like the 'Palestinians' want one without Jews.
Would they have gone back to the 1967 borders and expelled 600,000 Jews from their homes instead of the 100,000 this government sought to expel? If yes, I'd love to hear how they propose to pay for it.
So why do Herzog and Gal-on think that Lapid and Livni should pull out of the government? Do they want to try their luck at an election? Bet on it. At least until the next poll comes out. My guess is that this collapse drives the country even further right.
This time might be for real: 'Peace process' on verge of collapse, Obama may go 'all or nothing'
This time, it sounds like it's for real: Haaretz's Barak Ravid is reporting that the 'peace process' is on the verge of collapse. But of course, in response, US Secretary of State John FN Kerry is trying to get more 'flexibility' from Israel. And Obama and Kerry are considering an 'all or nothing' move.
U.S. pessimism started about 10 days ago. Meetings between Kerry and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris were the watershed. When
Abbas returned from Paris, Ilan Baruch – the political adviser to MK
Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) – talked to a number of Abbas’ advisers.
He heard
anger mixed with disappointment, and that the process was on the verge
of collapsing.
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) last week
brought similar messages back to a number of officials at the Knesset,
including Livni, after returning from a meeting with Abbas in Ramallah.
Livni, who is devoting all her time to preventing a failure of the
American peace initiative, is said to be very concerned.
It is
unclear whether Kerry made a mistake in understanding the positions and
maneuvering room of Abbas, or if the Palestinian president hardened his
line suddenly. The bottom line is that the talks in Paris revealed how
far away a framework agreement is.
Herzog met with Kerry and U.S.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice and encouraged them to keep on
working toward an agreement. Herzog told Kerry not to be concerned about
noisy protests from the Israeli right, who, Herzog said, “don’t
represent the atmosphere in the Israeli street.”
It is difficult
to overstate the critical nature of the deadline at the end of March.
This is the date when the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners is
released. The Americans believes that if understandings about the
agreement are not attained by then, it will be very difficult to go
through with the release. The result will be a breakdown of the entire
process.
As a result, efforts are persisting more intensely than ever.
...
The Americans are looking for ways to square the circle and arrive at
proposals that both Netanyahu and Abbas can live with. After reaching
certain understandings with Netanyahu, they found they were still far
from what Abbas is prepared to accept. A senior Israeli official said
one conclusion the Americans have reached from talks with Abbas is that
they must adopt a more balanced proposal and persuade Netanyahu to be a
bit more flexible, so as to give the Palestinian president room to
maneuver allowing him to say yes.
...
A senior Israeli official intimately involved
in the talks said some of Obama’s top advisers are considering a
dramatic all-or-nothing move – setting out an American document with
principles for solutions to the core issues. Netanyahu and Abbas will
have to say yes or no to it. If the answer is no, the Americans will
leave the peace process until the parties agree.
Speaking at the event, Housing Minister Uri Ariel said that Israel
would not surrender to pressure “no matter what its source” on halting
Jewish settlement efforts in Judea and Samaria.
“The Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” he said, adding
that “there are people who believe that if they follow the dictates of
the rest of the world in these matters we will have peace and quiet.”
Israel already succumbed to pressure and withdrew from Gaza, throwing
10,000 Jews out of their homes, Ariel said, and the results speak for
themselves. “Look at the missiles being fired at Beersheva, Sderot,
Ashkelon, and many other cities,” he said. “We cannot surrender. The
more we back down, the more they pressure us. As Housing Minister, I am
declaring before the Prime Minister that we are here to ensure that you
fulfill your promise to build here,” Ariel added.
Ariel invited leaders and members of the hareidi community to join
the efforts. “Together with the hareidi community we will strengthen the
world of Torah,” he said. “I call on them to settle Judea and Samaria
and strengthen the entire Land of Israel.”
Also speaking at the event was Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin,
who said that “the people have decided – we want building, not building
freezes, in the Land of Israel. We must remain determined, because
justice is with us.
“They are threatening us now with boycotts and demanding that we
accept conditions that will damage our security,” Elkin added. “We want
to create a solid belt of settlement in Jerusalem, from west to east,
and the Palestinians want to create their belt of settlement from north
to south.” E1 was where the showdown would take place, Elkin said.
“Someone will win in the end, and they are not prepared to surrender. We
must overcome the Palestinians and build in E1. Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu said this,” Elkin reminded listeners, referring to past
comments by the PM prior to taking office.
Also speaking at the event was Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir, who
said that the government “is with you. The reason I am in politics is to
be doing exactly this. I joined the government in order to raise my
hand at the right time and to say the right things. We will not lose
faith in the justice of our path, and only with faith will we be able to
complete our vision.”
"The participation of minsters from the government and Knesset MKs
reveals Netanyahu's [Prime Minister Binyamin] two-headed monster,"
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On said on Friday.
The rally on Thursday
took place at E1, which is an uninhabited area of the West Bank
settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. Settler leaders and Right-wing politicians
at the rally called for the state to build homes for Jews in the area.
"Today
it is clear that in the framework of a peace deal the city of Ma'aleh
Adumim will remain under Israeli sovereignty," Gal-On said.
Well, clear to everyone except the 'Palestinians' to whom Maaleh Adumim, Jaffa, Jerusalem and the tiniest outpost of Samaria are all the same....
Gal-On said that Katz and Ariel know that building in E1 would divide
east Jerusalem from the Palestinian populated areas of the West Bank and
it would lead to complete Israeli control of the eastern part of the
capital. The building would hinder the possibility for east Jerusalem
to be a capital of a future Palestinian state, would split the West Bank
in two and would prevent the Palestinian state from having any
territorial contiguity, the Meretz leader added.
Zany Zehava Gal-On of Meretz knows exactly what could 'kill peace': Asking the people of Israel to vote whether they actually want it on the terms being agreed to by Tzipi Livni. A bill to remind us that the government promised to do just that is making its way through the Knesset.
The legislation in question essentially turns the existing Referendum
Law into a Basic Law, meaning that is meant to eventually become part
of the constitution. It also adds a clause making the day of the
referendum a vacation day.
The Referendum Law requires any treaty
conceding sovereign land to be brought to the Knesset. If over 80 MKs
approve, the deal can be implemented. If 61 to 80 MKs approve, it will
be brought to a referendum. If less than half of all MKs approve, the
treaty will be rejected.
The legislation does not apply to a
treaty conceding parts of the West Bank, but it does apply to east
Jerusalem, the Golan and anything within the 1949 armistice lines.
A
joint panel of the Knesset House Committee and Law, Constitution and
Justice Committee approved the proposal and rejected any changes to
it. The bill is expected to go to a final vote in the plenum in the
second week of March, as part of a coalition legislative package
including haredi enlistment and electoral reform bills. Levin explained
that the new bill is a technical change that was part of coalition
agreements.
...
In an earlier joint committee meeting on the bill, Levin said
reinforcing the Referendum Law as a Basic Law is meant to to defend it
from petitions to the Supreme Court. Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On,
however, said the bill undermines peace and the Knesset.
"The
Knesset must preserve its dignity and its status, not only in decisions
on the budget but also in important diplomatic matters," Gal-On said.
"The
referendum bill that [Finance Minister Yair] Lapid and [Economy
Minister Naftali] Bennett are trying to promote will change the rules of
the game and move the responsibility from the legislature to the
nation. This will harm the Knesset and its authority in a representative
democracy."
According to Gal-On, "anyone who is trying to promote a referendum wants to sabotage a peace agreement."
Sabotage? Errr.... no.... Both the treaties with Jordan and Egypt got more than 80 MK's. What this legislation is aimed to do is to ensure that we aren't sold out for red Mitsubishi's again.
Remember when Haaretz editor-in-chief David Landau asked Condoleeza Rice to rape Israel? Meretz party leader Zany Zehava Gal-On has just asked US Secretary of State John FN Kerry to do the same. Gal-On is afraid that Kerry is giving Israel too much wiggle room.
She focused her criticism on a decision by Kerry to enable both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to express reservations to the framework he intends to present.
"I
think the US is surrendering to rejectionists on both sides by letting
them express reservations," Gal-On said. "A framework with
reservations is a farce. It will allow everything the Americans did so
far to fall by the wayside, while both sides stall without paying a
political price."
Gal-On said Kerry "has good intentions" and has
used the proper resources to advance the diplomatic process. She
expressed sympathy for the criticism he has faced from both the Israeli
Right and the Palestinians but did not refrain from expressing her own
frustration with him, even on personal terms.
"Everyone who
comes thinks he invented the wheel," Gal-On said. "I'm not looking to
attack the Americans. I respect them, but their policies are
incorrect."
Gal-On called on Kerry to put more pressure on both
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority chairman
Mahmoud Abbas.
"Instead of forcing the Israelis and the
Palestinians to make a decision and really obligate themselves, even at
the cost of changing their governments, Kerry is giving Netanyahu and
Abbas the ultimate excuse to continue dragging their feet," she said.
"Virtual negotiations will not lead to an agreement for two peoples, only to political survival at the expense of our future."
More pressure? There hasn't been any pressure put on Abu Bluff yet. While she's at it, why doesn't she just call on Kerry to impose a settlement? In fact, why doesn't she call on him to send in the Marines to expel the 'settlers' from their homes?
This is your ally, Yair Lapid. What could go wrong?
We've all heard ominous threats about the United States imposing a 'settlement' with the 'Palestinians' or with the Arab countries on Israel. In fact, those threats go back at least to the first Nixon administration. But somehow with a President whose 'achievements' - which were dubious in the first place - are going up in smoke (Hat Tip: Memeorandum), the threat to try to force a quick agreement on a tiny country that has no other friends in the world gains a lot of credibility.
IDF Radio reports that the United States intends to impose a solution on Israel if agreement is not reached in the ridiculously rushed 'peace talks' between Israel and the 'Palestinians.' That timetable would work out to early May, which would work out conveniently for Obama and the Democrats having an 'achievement' to present for the 2014 mid-term elections.
The radio station says the US has informed Israel and the Palestinian
Authority that if negotiations between them do not advance, Washington
will propose its own solution, that will include a US position on every
point that is in contention. In effect, according to the report, this
will be an attempt to force the sides to agree on a solution formulated
by the US.
The US moves comes after three months of talks between the sides which have reportedly made very little headway.
The US plan reportedly is similar to the Clinton outline, which is
based on an Israeli retreat to 1949 armistice lines, and some swaps of
territory.
The Obama Administration is reportedly determined to achieve “a
diplomatic breakthrough” by mid-2014, and believes that Israel under
Binyamin Netanyahu and the PA under Mahmoud Abbas are capable of
reaching agreement.
Until now, the talks were based on the idea that the two sides negotiate directly, with the US only acting as a mediator.
The American decision to present a proposed agreement was reportedly
communicated by several senior officials, including the Special
representative to the talks, Martin Indyk. Secretary of State John Kerry
reportedly briefed Netanyahu on the matter when they last met, in
Italy.
Zehava Gal-On, chairwoman of the far Left Meretz party, said almost the same thing after meeting with 'Palestinian' and American officials on Monday morning.
"There will be a new diplomatic program, based on the pre-1967 lines
with agreed land swaps," Gal-On said in a statement after meeting with
Palestinian and American officials on Monday morning.
The statement said that the US has made a subtle but significant
switch from a "third-party trying to bring the two sides together, to a
role of direct involvement in the process."
Gal-On attributed the
American's preparedness for increased involvement to the general feeling
of skepticism among the public on both sides regarding the talks.
I'm sure that will give the 'Palestinians' anno incentive to finally make their first concession. After all, why make concessions when you can rely on Abu Hussein forcing the other side to give you whatever you want anyway?
Zany Zehava: 'Palestinians' more important than Iran
Meretz's Zehava Gal-On gives conclusive proof that she's part of Israel's loony left and not part of its sane left. Gal-On told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday night that solving the 'Palestinian problem' is more important than stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
"The fear of a nuclear Iran and the enrichment of uranium that is
obviously not only for purposes of peace is understandable, but instead
of threatening a unilateral attack on Iran, Prime Minister [Binyamin]
Netanyahu should commend [the international community] for making
diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, while
protecting Israel's security," Gal-On told Ban, referring to
Netanyahu's speech at the UN earlier this week.
Gal-On also pointed out that "Iran is not only Israel's problem; it is the whole world's problem."
The Meretz leader called for Netanyahu to join international diplomatic efforts.
Instead of using his speech to discuss Iran,
Netanyahu should have explained how he plans to reach a final-status
agreement with the Palestinians, because "the continued occupation" is
Israel's biggest problem, Gal-On added.
"Even though most of
Netanyahu's government doesn't want an agreement, 77 MKs support a peace
treaty with the Palestinians on pre-1967 lines," Gal-On stated, asking
Ban to help Netanyahu "cross the Rubicon on the way to a peace treaty."
There is very little on which 77 MK's can agree this day, and you can bet that there are not 77 MK's - and probably not 27 - who support a 'peace treaty' with the 'Palestinians' on the 1949 armistice lines. What a bunch of....
His father must be rolling over in his grave. In a joint statement with visiting Polish officials, Prime Minister Netanyahu has just said (Hat Tip: Chico Menashe via Twitter in Hebrew).
One may never question the right of the 'Palestinians' to a state.
Menashe comments that Netanyahu sounds like Meretz's Zehava Gal-On, and indeed he does.
Obama's advisor on his post-American foreign policy and suicide bomber go on strike
The Tribal Update brings you Obama's advisor discussing his great foreign policy successes, Jamil and Awad and the suicide bomber strike in Gaza, and MK Zehava Gal On marks the Nakba.
MK Nitzan Horowitz
(Meretz), Meretz Knesset candidate Michal Rosin and Meretz leader Zehava
Gal-On gathered under a staircase in Meretz MK Ilan Gilon's home
Monday, after a siren went off during an anti-war forum hosted by the
party and attended by residents of the south.
Gal-On said that
true security can only come as a result of a negotiated agreement, and a
land incursion can "trap Israel in the Gazan mud and bring a high price
in human lives."
Really? Do we have 'true security' with the Islamist regime in Egypt thirty years after Camp David? Do we have 'true security' with Jordan 18 years after we signed a treaty with them, and will we still have it if the Muslim Brotherhood replaces the house of Hussein? Do we have 'true security' with the 'Palestinian Authority' 19 years after Yitzchak Rabin stood on the White House lawn with Yasser Arafat and Bill Clinton?
No. We have security with none of them. All of them would like to wipe us out, and would do so in a New York minute if they are ever - God forbid - given the opportunity.
Does France have security from Germany today? Does England? Does Belgium?
Does South Korea have security from Japan today? Does Russia? Does the Phillipines?
What's the difference? The difference that World War II was fought until there was a winner and a loser. The winners have security. The losers surrendered.
We will have security - and therefore peace - when we trust in God enough to fight the Arab terrorists to the finish. When they see they cannot defeat us, we will have both peace and security. When we come cowering for peace because we are tired of fighting, we will have neither peace nor security.
True security as a result of a negotiated agreement? Name me one time in history that it's happened.
Jewish Leftist party head refers to 'Jew-boys from Brooklyn' on Army Radio
Zehava Gal-On, the leader of the shrunken Meretz faction in the Knesset (a far Left, but Jewish party) made a reference to 'Jew-boys from Brooklyn' during an interview on Razi Barkai's Army Radio show on Wednesday (Hat Tip: Aryeh Z).
While discussing the influence Diaspora Jews exert in Israel, Galon expressed frustration at the possibility of “Jew-boys” (the derogatory word is Yehudonim in Hebrew) deciding Israel’s fate.
Before her slip, Galon made reference to Nazi Germany when discussing Israeli politics and attempts to limit the Supreme Court’s power. “This is a matter of principle, are we an enlightened country that builds a wall to protect ourselves from a fired-up mob or oppressive majority… That is why they allowed judicial overseeing from the Supreme Court… It is the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, we’ve seen the power of an oppressive majority…”
Barkai responded by joking, “I’ll erase that from the protocol.”
Galon continued, “If 10 mandates [in Knesset] are enough to change how Israel determines whether to go to war with Iran or not. Organized groups will come from Brooklyn and get the right to vote. All the decisions about life and death here, whether to evacuate the territories, whether to authorize outposts, those sitting in New York or Brooklyn will decide for us?
“Groups of Jew-boys… Jews, organized in the Diaspora, will decide how we live here?” Galon continued, quickly correcting her mistake.
“That’s what our government wants to do,” she concluded. “No more human rights, no more democracy, no more court system to protect us.”
Gal-On later described her words as a 'slip of the tongue.'
But they weren't. This is really the way Israel's Left (and most of the 'Supreme Court' justices are in tune with Meretz's political philosophy) thinks. They have nothing but contempt for religious Jews, and would sooner give the land to the Arabs than make it more comfortable for religious Jews to live here. They must be defeated if Israel is to thrive as a Jewish state.
MK Zahava Gal-On on Sunday submitted a law that would require products produced in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan as such, in order to allow Israelis like her to more easily boycott such products. Gal-On said that she personally did not buy any products produced in Yesha or the Golan in order not to “support the culture and economy of occupation” associated with such purchases.
The Knesset is set on Monday to approve a measure that would prevent the government from doing business with any entity that boycotts products from Yesha and the Golan, or that participates in such a boycott by doing business with companies, local and foreign, that make a point of not buying Yesha and Golan products. Commenting on Gal-On's proposal, National Union Chairman MK Ya'akov Katz (Ketzaleh) said that "Gal-On's proposal reminds us of dark periods in Jewish history when we were marked for exile and destruction. She does not hide her hate and hostility for Israel."
Indeed. There is no Jew-hater like a self-hating Jew.
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
