What is the change, and how is it being brought about?
The wind is starting to blow in Ma'aleh Levona and the wind of change is coming over the land. The issue is what is the change, and how is it being brought about?…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments126 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Here, we see the Israeli government returning to its normal sinful and hateful ways. The people who command these thugs, the thugs themselves and the government that gave them the orders will all face justice - either the justice of G-d, or the justice of the people, which may not be so merciful.
16-Year-Old Girl Arrested in Kfar Tapuach
16:54 Aug 16, '06 / 22 Av 5766
(IsraelNN.com) Riot squad officers and plain-clothes policemen broke into a home in the town of Kfar Tapuach a short time ago and took a 16-year-old girl into custody. According to the arrested girl's mother, the arrest was unnecessarily violent and some of the officers were without identification tags.
The girl's mother told Arutz Sheva Radio that her daughter had been detained in jail for two weeks, during the period of the Disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria. She said that the police have been searching for her daughter because, they claim, she entered an evacuated town after it had been declared a closed military zone.
127 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Fifth Dentist;
Looking at your comment #124, I wonder if it is even worth the time explaining my concepts of a peace plan fully to you. I was exhausted and begged off until a later time.
But for all that, you missed the main point in it:
"The irony of all this is that there are Arabs willing to negotiate somthing like this with Jews. The Jews who can lead and pull this plan off have yet to have yet to identify themselves..."
The Arabs I referred to are scholars, well respected scholars, in the Arab and Moslem world, not little collaborators with the Shaba"k. But like I said, it may not be worth my effort to explain my thoughts. From what I have read of your comments, you wouldn't even understand what I'm talking about.
And just to be clear, I'm not calling you stupid, even though stupid people do pass bar exams and have law practices. I am calling you closed-minded. That's a much more severe criticism - especially when aimed at an intelligent man, which you appear to be...
128 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Chris asks,
"...who would be the King of Israel in this fanciful daydream of yours, Ruvy?"
The messiah would be king, Chris. But until he shows up, you do what you do in any other kingdom in the absence of a king - you appoint a regency council and get on with business.
129 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This was received from the Root & Branch Information Service, courtesy of Aryeh Gallin
GUSH KATIF AND OUR FALLEN IN LEBANON
copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Yehoshua Friedman
Excerpt: "the technological thinking [of the Israel Defense Forces/I.D.F.] that has lost its moral foundation once again encounters reality. This time it faces an entirely different type of spiritual challenge. A primitive, religiously fanatical Arab [Sheikh Nasrallah] is ranting about his God. Once again, the I.D.F. attempts to deal with a spiritual challenge with a strictly technical solution. And once again it fails. Why? Because the moral stain that 'defiled the I.D.F. uniform' has blotted out the basic values that the army needs in order to win. Technology devoid of belief cannot overcome an enemy that is fighting for its values -- no matter how ghastly those values are".
Note: This essay was written by Rabbi Friedman on August 2, 2006.
I spent last Shabbat in NITZAN, one of the refugee camps for GUSH KATIF/NORTHERN GAZA expellees. I really wanted to say something about that, but it was both too overwhelming and overshadowed by all the events in the North. After Shabbat at some point I got some more names of the fallen from the battle of BINT JBEIL and discovered that among them was Captain Amichai Merchavia of ELI.
Amichai was an amazing son of amazing parents. I knew his parents from the period when KOCHAV HASHACHAR was just getting off the ground. Moshe was the helping hand from the Amana settlement movement in setting up KOCHAV HASHACHAR. My wife and I were members of the original group.
Moshe Merchavia was a legend. He lived, ate and breathed KOCHAV HASHACHAR up to his eyeballs until it got itself organized. The Merchavias lived at the time in OFRA and later moved to ELI to get it started. When Moshe was single in OFRA, he lived in a tent. When buildings with walls became available (refurbished Jordanian army camp buildings), Moshe stayed in the tent.
Let other people have comforts first. I never knew or never noticed before that Amichai Hy"d (may HaShem avenge his blood) had been the co-editor of a volume called Ein Ganim, about the Jewish history of the area around JENIN. It was dedicated to the memory of Shmuel Weiss Hy"d, a boy from KIRYAT ARBA who fell in the battle of JENIN during the Defensive Shield operation.
The weekly Manhigut Yehudit [Jewish Leadership Movement] e-mail newsletter just came in this afternoon with a piece on Amichai which I am passing on:
A Chilling Answer
The following letter was written by Second Lieutenant Amichai Merchavia on the first day of the expulsion from GUSH KATIF. He never got an answer to his letter. The Chief of Staff [Dan Halutz] promptly dismissed him from his position. Only after the soldiers under Amichai's command intervened was he re-instated as officer of his unit. He continued to be an admirable officer and personal example for his soldiers. Amichai Merchavia was killed last week in the battle of BINT JBEL. Perhaps he finally got his answer...
10 Av, 5765
To Chief of Staff General Dan Halutz,
I am writing this letter at a time of deep pain and a feeling of lack of faith in the foundation of justice and morality that is behind the army's orders. Today's difficult pictures of thousands of Jewish brothers being driven out of their land and robbed of their property puts a moral stain on the I.D.F. uniform.
The decision to drive the Jews out of GUSH KATIF that passed in an immoral and undemocratic manner and was authorized by the Supreme Court with a wink of the eye to the government and police is hypocritical from its very foundation. Basic human rights were trampled in the implementation of the decision, effectively turning Israel into a corrupt dictatorship.
I am ashamed of the army and disappointed in the commanders who hide behind empty words of the obligation to carry out orders and army discipline while they are actually working toward a corrupt and immoral goal.
Second Lieutenant Amichai Merchavia
Dan Halutz and Amichai Merchavia are in totally different places. The concept of "morality" comes up again and again in the young commander's short letter. He approaches the Chief of Staff in the language of values. He points to the severe spiritual deterioration of the army and he expects the Chief of Staff to understand his language and to grapple with it.
Amichai lived his values and was willing to put his position and personal comfort on the line on matters of principle. He actively protested the destruction of HAVAT GILAD and of AMONA. But he was naive. He didn't understand that the army heads no longer speak about values. Army language is strictly technological.
A year after Amichai wrote his letter, the technological thinking that has lost its moral foundation once again encounters reality. This time it faces an entirely different type of spiritual challenge. A primitive, religiously fanatical Arab is ranting about his God. Once again, the I.D.F. attempts to deal with a spiritual challenge with a strictly technical solution. And once again it fails.
Why?
Because the moral stain that "defiled the I.D.F. uniform" has blotted out the basic values that the army needs in order to win. Technology devoid of belief cannot overcome an enemy that is fighting for its values -- no matter how ghastly those values are.
Only soldiers like Amichai can save our nation from the Hizbollah and from the Islamic tsunami behind it. Only soldiers like Amichai can counter Nasrallah's deity of holy war and death with the living G-d of ISRAEL -- and back it up with technological know-how.
But Second Lieutenant Amichai Merchavia, may G-d avenge his blood, was killed in the battle of BINT JBEL.
All that we are left with is technology.
Dan Halutz and Amichai Merchavia are in completely different places.
Shabbat Shalom from Kochav HaShachar,
Rabbi Yehoshua Friedman
ABOUT RABBI YEHOSHUA FRIEDMAN:
Board Member, Root & Branch Association, Ltd.;
Chairman, Noahide Fellowship, Root & Branch Association, Ltd.;
Faculty Member, chesder (military) Yeshivat Ma'alei Ephraim
Rabbi Friedman and his wife Janet are among the original founders of Kochav HaShachar, a Jewish Pioneering Community in the Israelite Tribal Territory of Eretz Binyamin (Land of Benjamin), located in what is today known as the Shomron (Samaria).
130 - The Fifth Dentist
Ruvy--
I don't agree that I'm closed minded. In fact, I think I'm as likely as any to be swayed by logical, well-reasoned arguments. I'm not an arab apologist either. I believe that their resort to terrorism combined with their unwillingness to accept the reality of Israel's existence is perhaps 90% responsible for this intractable mess. As a jew, my personal sentiments are with Israel. But I also believe that the lives of all innocent people are equal.
Nevertheless, in all seriousness, your peace plan seems completely bat shit insane to me. It's as if I said that my plans for the future were to build a four story building on the sun. There are no doubt many palestinians whose plans for peace are as unrealistic as yours. They may involve reconstructing the family orange grove in downtown Tel Aviv after all the jews have been removed. To me, your dreams seem like the flip side of the same coin.
But if you want to explain it further, I'd be delighted to listen with an open mind. And thank you for your compliments regarding my intelligence. You are obviously a very intelligent man as well.
131 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
All right Fifth Dentist, we'll try once more.
But let's start with the key point outlined in bold, so that you do not miss it.
The irony of all this is that there are Arabs willing to negotiate somthing like this with Jews. The Jews who can lead and pull this plan off have yet to have yet to identify themselves...
My proposal is to go forward from the 1919 agreement between Sherif Feisal and Haim Weitzmann.
But the going forward is to be done by religious leaders rather than politicians. In the final analysis, it is the religious faith that has brought Jews home, and IMO it is the Islamic religious doctrine that is the key to the possibility of reconciliation between the Children of Abraham.
The concept is simple. There is to be a Kingdom of Arabia and a Kingdom of Israel. The borders of the Kingdom of Israel would be roughly the borders of the present state from the sea to the Jordan River with territory up to the Litani River added in the north and east, and with the Sinai divided, not where it is now, but at El Arish, with the Kingdom of Israel conrolling the eastern third of the Sinai. The territorial ideas about Egypt are mine alone, but the other concepts have been endorsed by Arab scholars.
The Kingdom of Arabia would be ruled by Abdallah II initially from Amman, and would include Jordan, Syria (except for the Golan), and if posible, the Sunni territory of Iraq. The goal of the Kingdom of Arabia would be the reconquest of the Arabian peninsula and the reestablishment of Abdallah as Sherif of Mecca and Medina.*
There is to be no expulsion of Arabs from the territory of the Kingdom of Israel unless they show themselves unwilling to live in peace in the land. The Arabs would be citizens of the Kingdom of Arabia, and for the most part, under its law. They would vote in such elections as were held there, and gradually be expected to develop a fund for each family so that after a generation, it would be capable of relocating from the territory of Israel to Arabia. Aid to each family would be granted, so that when the final relocations did take place, the family leaving would be prosperous and would leave with relative wealth, rather than feeling dispossessed. It would take at least a generation for families to develop clan ties east of the Jordan.
The economies of both Israel and Arabia would be reoriented so as to provide a mutual aid pact, and a customs union. If two different currenies were used, they would rise or fall in value in relation to other currencies together, much as did the various European currencies before the actual introduction of the Euro as a token coinage, and currency. Economically, Israel and Arabia would be one unit. To the degree that was possible, the economic influence of Europe and America would be excluded.
The Kingdom of Israel would publicly observe Jewish law, such as kashrut, the Sabbath, the shmittah, not taking interest on loans and modesty in dress. Beyond this, observance would be a private matter. The Kingdom of Arabia would observe Islam as it saw fit.
It is my understanding that Islam recognizes the ingathering of the Jewish people at the End of Days. That is what made the original agreement beteen Weitzmann and the great grandfather of Abdallah posible. The Sherif of the Two Holy Cities was simply being a good Moslem. The reason fdor the public observance of Judaism in the Kingdom of Israel would be two-fold. The first would be that if we Jews expect the Arabs to be good Moslems, eventually leaving our land, we need to be good Jews. The second is that it is the right thing to do - to make our own people holy enough to perform the task we will be assigned in the future, that of providing spiritual guidance to a dispirited world.
There are issues of economy that I will not discuss here, but the essential point is to see to it that the day that an Arab is paid less than a Jew for work performed in this country ends. Economic exploitation must end.
**The problem with this peace plan is that it requires Islam to gut itself of the Wahhabi infestation, and that the issue of the Shia vs. Sunni must be dealt with. In the final analysis, the problem of the Shia is the problem of the Persian Empire. This war with HizbAllah, what was really a war with Iran, fought through proxies, was the possible undoing of this plan.
132 - Dean
I am reminded of when Hitler and Stalin got together to carve up Eastern Europe.
133 - The Fifth Dentist
Ruvy--
Thanks for explaining. The most unconvincing part is your assertion that there are "Arabs willing to negotiate something like this." Even in your description, it doesn't sound like such a great deal for them. More importantly, even with the willingness to negotiate something like this, there's nobody in the world with either the authority or the power to negotiate something like this. You're talking about taking parts of four countries and wiping Saudi Arabia off the map.
Once again, it's not that I'm closed minded. If a guy living on a navajo reservation claimed he knew a group of Swedes willing to return the United States to him in exchange for a bag of dog crap, I would tend to doubt his claim as well.
134 - Dean
Ruvy's proposal could be the basis for a novel -- provided it is clearly labeled FICTION.
135 - nugget
"Intelligent people discussing a solution to the problems of the Middle East is sorta like going over the grooming options for a dead dog." --shark--
spoken like a true lazy artist.
I like how shark presumes to have any type of scope over the 2000-year-old "problem" in the middle east.
Shark: you know how to stop people from fighting? Easy! Kill them. then they won't exist. Do it yourself. Problem solved! Let's nuke Christians, Jews, and Muslims and then all Faith-haters can live in peaceful bliss.
136 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
And the war goes on
10:25 : ISRAELI RADIO HAS JUST ANNOUNCED: MISSILE WARNING SIRENS ALL OVER THE NORTH!!!!!
Well, kids so much for the cease fire. Those sirens confirm what Moshe Arens wrote in comment #116:
"The long-term implications of an Israeli agreement to a UN brokered cease-fire at this time are obvious. Israel's enemies, and they are
many, will conclude that Israel does not have the stamina for an extended encounter with terrorism. You do not need tanks and aircraft
to defeat Israel - a few thousand rockets are enough. Katyushas today and Qassams tomorrow. Don't let Olmert, Peretz and Livni fool you:
These rockets will keep coming after Israel is seen as not only punished but also defeated in this month-long war."
When the missiles hit Tel Aviv and Lod Airport. I'll be watching from my neigbor's yard...
137 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The fifth dentist writes, "Once again, it's not that I'm closed minded. If a guy living on a Navajo reservation claimed he knew a group of Swedes willing to return the United States to him in exchange for a bag of dog crap, I would tend to doubt his claim as well."
I understand your predicament: If someone told you that a jet had purposely flown into the World Trade Center on 11 September five years back, would you have believed him? A clerk changing dollars to shekels told me just that and I told him he was crazy! Then I went into a pizza shop with my wife for a birthday treat (11 September 2001 was my 50th birthday) and told the counterman what the clerk changing my money had told me and he turned on CNN.
And there it was.
138 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Nevertheless, folks, read this article I got in the mail this morning, courtesy of Allen Mallenbaum. It looks like my ideas for peace will not happen after all - but not for the reasons I thought...
Our TV and print news reports concentrated on the Lebanese "civilians" who were held as human shields by Hizbullah, some of whom were killed
in the fighting which they initiated, some of whom were able to flee as "refugees."
But there were Israeli refugees as well. Some one million Israeli citizens fled northern Israel for safety in the south, including many Israeli Muslims, especially from Haifa.
They soon discovered the true nature of their "brethren." They found out why these Islamic occupiers of Israel's ancient historic homelands of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza have been cast out of virtually every Arab or Muslim
state in and around the middle east. They now understand why the balance of the Islamic world is so determined that they be given their own nation with "the right of return" - so that they can get rid of them!
The Mullahs and Sheikhs and Saudi princes - none of whom like or want this trash - whisper among themselves, "Foist them on the accursed Jews!"
Now Israeli Arab Muslims seem to agree with those evaluations....
-- Allan
ISRAELI ARABS’ WAR EXPERIENCE
Roee Nahmias. YNET 16 August 2006
Several Arab families decided to act on Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah’s "recommendation" and leave rocket-stricken Haifa during the war in south Lebanon. They traveled to Palestinian towns like Bethlehem and Ramallah, and even to east Jerusalem, but soon after decided they had rather return home and face the rocket menace. The reason: The bad treatment awarded to them in hotels, restaurants and stores, as well as ongoing harassments of their wives and daughters on the part of the local residents.
Ghani Abassi, married and a father of three daughters, decided to go with his family to Bethlehem and flee the Katyusha attacks. Abbasi traveled to the Palestinian town with some 10 other families from Haifa, who all chose to stay at local hotels. Unfortunately, this was when their true nightmare began.
"I waited for three days until I got a room. Then it turned out that the air conditioning wasn’t working, and I was told that the reason was the high price of electricity. I decided that this wasn’t that bad, because we felt we were among our brothers at the West Bank and were willing to endure the terrible heat, knowing we’re safe and that our visit was also of financial help," Abbasi described to the website of the Israeli-Arab newspaper al-Sinara.
"However, the treatment we received was disgraceful and dreadful," he said. "We walked around town for a while, but the attitude we encountered on the part of the locals was horrible. The youngsters on the street started harassing our wives and daughters and used shocking expressions that I cannot even bring myself to pronounce," he said.
Another Haifa resident, who went with his family to Jerusalem to escape from the rocket threat, said that the local merchants blatantly took advantage of the situation and inflated the prices in stores. A bottle of mineral water that usually sells for about NIS* 4, for instance, was being sold to the Haifa tourists for NIS 10.
‘Even foreigners are respected there’
"They told us, ‘you are worse than the Jews.’ We heard expressions of joy over the fact we have fled our homes, and some even tried to attack us. We were disgusted and decided to return to Haifa," he said, stressing that he used to be a regular donor to the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. According to him, after that day and the humiliation he experienced in Bethlehem, he does not plan on donating even one shekel. "We thought we are one nation and that what really hurts them, hurts us too. We went to demonstrations for them and we donated a lot of money to them because we thought they are our brothers and that is our obligation. But, what we found was exploitation and undeserving treatment toward someone supposedly from the same nation," he told.
The same resident added that he expected the families from Haifa and Nazareth to be warmly received in the West Bank towns, but what took place was the exact opposite. Today he speaks with regret about the two days he spent in Bethlehem.
"While touring in Ramallah, a few youngsters said to us, ‘you are the same as, even worse than, the Jews.’ We tried to understand why they were acting that way toward us, but they attacked us and a fight broke out. We are very sorry for what happened and we couldn’t have expected such an unfit welcome from members of our nation whom we had respected and appreciated very much. But they didn’t respect us at all, and saw as worse than the Jews. We are very sorry for what happened and that we drove all the way there to see the painful truth that they don’t respect us there," said Ghani Abassi.
Abassi added that the restaurants jacked up prices for customers because they thought they were foreign ‘tourists.’ "Even foreigners are respected there, but we, their own brothers, felt like they don’t respect us, and my friends and I asked why? Are we unworthy of the respect due to members of the same nation?"
Following such treatment, Abassi and his friends hurried back to the lap of the Katyushas and air raid sirens of Haifa. "‘We will never again make a donation or participate in a demonstration for the West Bank from now on," said one of them.
139 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I've read one fellow at BC (see comment #103)call Ariel Sharon's strategy of expelling Jews from their homes in Gush Qastif after the government lured them there with bonuses and cheap loans "brilliant."
These are the results of Ariel Sharon's "brilliant" strategy. This and the Qassams from Hamas. Yep, brilliant, alright.
Shit shines in the sun, too.
Evacuee: I should have blown myself up in Gush Katif
from Ynetnews
One year after pullout from Gaza, evictees speak of their agony, familial problems, and teen delinquency
Eyal Ben
For many of the residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria who were removed from their homes last summer, the displacement undermined the family unit that had once seemed so stable. Many families went through two types of disengagement, one involving removal from their homes and communities, the other involving their marriages. Dozens of couples instituted divorce proceedings, others separated, and many just haven’t been able to get along with each other or their children since then.
“There are always disagreements between members of a couple, but when you have to deal with a crisis, things become more intense,” says Dr. Baruch Kahane, a Gush Etzion psychologist who treats couples and individuals who went through the disengagement. “After the evacuation they found themselves without a community, and in many cases the only support available to them was their spouse. Here the natural limitations of each of them begin to play a role. If someone is quieter, or it’s harder for him to listen, or he has a tendency to move on and not to experience things, there can be very great emotional repercussions that would ultimately lead to a breakup of the family.”
What complaints do spouses have against each other?
“Women have complaints about their husbands, husbands against their wives, that they don’t talk or they don’t listen or that one of them feels that they should fight while the other one wants to lick his wounds a bit. Coping with a very difficult crisis can bring people closer or destroy the relationship.”
The psychologists with whom I spoke see evacuees who suffer from depression, fears, family disintegration. In addition, more than 50 percent (1,300 people) of the evacuees are unemployed, and hundreds are living in the “caravillas” in Nitzan. Nevertheless, some 80 percent of the evacuees have already received full compensation from the government.
“When a person is unemployed, stays at home, and doesn’t go to work in the morning, the pressure in the family pressure cooker increases,” says social worker Ronit Shoham, coordinator of welfare services for the evacuees. “The wife says, ‘go do something, find work, it doesn’t matter what kind.’ And if the man is 50 or older, he can’t find work, he becomes depressed, he is in crisis, and some of them don’t get out of bed. Their wives can’t accept this.”
Do the wives demand that their husbands leave the house?
“There are cases in which the husband decides that the pressure is not good for him, and he himself leaves the house. All in all, you can understand the men. A person who was accustomed to working his whole life and suddenly finds himself with nothing to do feels like a failure, with feelings of inferiority, depression. It isn’t pleasant for him vis-a-vis his wife and children that he is unable to make a living. So many times the best defense is to attack, or to escape. Everyone chooses his way of responding: one person becomes violent, another depressed, and another gets high blood pressure.”
At the caravilla site in Nitzan, Danny Demari, a father of three who is over 50 and unemployed, wakes up to a new morning. “In Gush Katif we would get up at four in the morning, go to the greenhouses, go to synagogue, and then again to the greenhouses, more synagogue, we’d return home at 3, 4, 5 p.m.,” he says. “Here we get up in the morning, go to synagogue, come back from synagogue, what do you do? What are you getting up for? What kind of day are you getting up for? For nothing. We have no reason to get up.”
Does the fact that you and your wife aren’t working affect relations at home?
“Things are very bad. The children have their own demands. They see other children with things that they want, but it isn’t possible because we aren’t working. Also, the children don’t listen any more to their parents. You tell them ‘no,’ and they don’t care. We went to a psychologist with the children, and we were told that things are not OK, that the evacuees are not in good shape. But what are they waiting for, a disaster?"
140 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Looks like the people who need to speak up are finally opening up their mouths...
From Arutz Sheva
Reserves Demo Calling for Gov’t to Resign
Tonight
Thursday, August 17, 2006 / 23 Av 5766
(IsraelNN.com) A group of reserve soldiers, who were recently discharged and are setting up a forum, have called upon Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni to resign. Tonight the soldiers will be holding a demonstration at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv at 7p.m.
The demonstration is expected to be the first of several, under the banner, “You failed " resign!”
In a petition publicized by the forum, the public is asked to sign the following: “We are very worried about the fate of the country. From all ends of the political spectrum, we are calling upon the government, headed by the prime minister, to take personal responsibility for its failure and resign. We believe that we have the power as individuals rallying together, to declare, ‘Never again!’”
141 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Well, the cease-fire in the north is apparently holding... Ynetnews reports that "Malfunctioning radar sets off sirens in north
Sirens heard across north, alarmed residents rush into shelters. IDF says siren was result of malfunctioning radar. Outraged officials: 'Army will have to provide answers for how this could happen, people are in shock'"
Sharon Roffe-Ofir
The full article can be read at the link above...
142 - The Fifth Dentist
Ruvy--
I am unconvinced by your answer (#137) to my argument that your "plan for peace" is an unrealistic fantasy (#133.) Once again, I'm trying to be open minded about this, but I believe your argument is both factually incorrect and relies on at least two logical fallacies.
Your arguement, de-constructed, is that:
(1) your plan for peace requires unlikely and unexpected events to occurr
(2) 9/11 was an unlikely and unexpected event,
therefore
(3) your plan for peace will occurr (or is at least possible)
Correct me if I've misstating your argument.
First of all, prior to 9/11, a number of people predicted that terrorists would try to fly commercial airliners into buildings. The magnitude of this attack was shocking, but the possibility had been considered.
More importantly however, I didn't say that your plan for peace was unlikely. I said it's impossible. In a way, it defies the laws of gravity. In contrast, nobody would have argued that 9/11 was impossible for a group of determined psychopaths to pull off.
However, your primary logical fallacy is to argue that because one unlikely thing happened, a second unlikely thing will also happen. I don't think I need to explain to you why this is a retarded piece of logic.
Finally framing your argument (ie, learning about 9/11 in a pizza joint) as a personal anecdote doesn't really add anything except possibly some kind of an appeal to emotion.
Similarly when you describe unilateral disengagement from the west bank and gaza as "expelling jews from Gush Qastif" you are similarly engaging in an illogical appeal to emotion. Sharon found a realistic path to peace despite his conclusion that he could never find a palestinian negotiating partner. He untied the gordion knot by saying fuck it, we'll do it ourselves. Now Hezbollah countered with their missile attacks. I still believe that unilateral disengagement can work provided that Israel can effectively deter missile attacks with the threat of retaliation. But we'll see. Lebanon appears to have gotten the point they'll be bombed flat if attacks are mounted from within their country.
More importantly, even if unilateral disengagement is a flaed strategy, at least its a strategy. Since you are so critical of making any concession (eg, you suggested hanging the entire cabinet for treason) I really wanted to hear how you'd solve the problem. So far, in my opinion, you haven't put forward a realistic alternative because you can't explain how anyone could possibly implement your utopia, your feeble claim that there's a group of Arabs willing to negotiate this notwithstanding.
But I'm trying to be open minded. If you care enough to change my open mind, please confront my arguments directly without resorting to emotional appeals.
143 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Fifth Dentist,
You misunderstand my argument completely.
The point of the whole argument is that, not having been aware of the security implications, warnings, etc., etc., I thought the clerk was crazy. My reaction to the who event that became known as "9/11" was "it's impossible."
But there it was on CNN, not only possible, but happening in front of my eyes. There was a plane stuck in a building like a cigar. Then, a few minutes later, another plane came and crashed into the other tower - also like a cigar. A little while later, one building collapsed, and then the second.
I could not believe what I had seen. I watched it in the club room of the absorption center where we were living at the time over and over again.
It was impossible - but it had happened.
You've described my plan exactly the same way "it's impossible."
The series of events needed for getting from here to there under the plans I present you include events you are seeing in Israel now but do not hear a great deal about - a collapse of authority over a large amount of the country, the displacement of over 15% of the population, the beginning of a movement to overthrow the government, a change in the attitude of many of the soldiers towards G-d and religion. The very leftists who hailed Sharon as "brilliant" are now eating their words - rueing the day that Israel withdrew from Gush Qatif and south Lebanon. Read comment #109. Read in comment #74, David Bedein's article. Just yesterday, in the central bus station in J-lem, a whole bunch of soldiers, secular kids who would have never done this otherwise, were wrapping t'fillin (phylacteries), one after another.
There has been a sea change here because of the bitter fruits and lies served up by the "crime minister" and all the intellectualizing by the stubborn peaceniks who think that kising Arab ass will get them anythinbg other than death have been answered by funerals.
There is a breakdown in legitimacy, a breakdown in the recognition of the legitimacy of the authority of the State of Israel. All this is necessary in order to see a transition from the the pathetic America-dependent State that rules now to a free and independent people. But it won't occur immediately. The very thing you see as the weakest element of the plan, the claim that there are some Arabs who will negotiate, is the strongest point.
There is a partner to talk to who is a lot more sympathetic than the thugs who run the PA.
The trick is to know what to say and how to say it. This partner believes in G-d and expects his interlocutor to do the same.
That will be the tricky part. The rabbis still do not see themselves as national leaders. Only one could see himself as one, and he was killed for his vision.
144 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The evil of the government still continues, insulting even those who put themselves in harm's way to defend the country. This brilliant stategy will bring doen the wrath of the soldiers upon the scum who command them, as it has already brought down Divine judgment upon the fat scum who expelled 10,000 Jews from their homes in Gush Qatif in order to stay out of jail.
This is from Arutz Sheva
Army Threatens to Destroy Soldiers´ Homes
By Hillel Fendel
The bureaucracy rolls on. With its residents still in Lebanon under emergency call-up orders, the Yesha town of MaalehRehavam learned that officials were headed to post eviction orders on its doors.
Families in Maaleh Rehavam - a small outpost community in eastern Gush Etzion - were surprised to note this morning that Civil Administration officials were on their way to post eviction orders on their homes. Of the 30 residents, including five families, five are in Lebanon after having been called up on emergency basis this past month, and two others are in the standing army.
Some town officials believe that the army wished to take advantage of the situation in which a quarter of the men were away to give out the notices. "It is shocking to think," town secretary Moriah Halamish said, "that with war happening on two fronts, north and south, the defense establishment finds the time to give out these orders. The State is taking advantage of the fact that our men were drafted to war in order to fulfill this new expulsion decree. Good citizens go off to fight with emergency orders, and are then forced to return to receive a slap in the face in the form of an eviction notice on their doors."
Others feel the truth is more mundane: "The bureaucracy has a calendar and a schedule, and no one thinks whether now is a good time to do it or not; it just gets done." So says Nadia Matar, co-chairperson of Women in Green, a grassroots Land of Israel organization. "The previous orders expired," she said, "and they have to be renewed, and that's it. There's no consideration as to whether right now, with people still on the front lines in Lebanon, it might not be a good idea to go ahead with destroying Jewish homes."
Postponed for a Week
In the event, Maaleh Rehavam's secretary Moriah told Arutz-7 this afternoon, "We were informed later today that the 'mission' has been put on hold. I believe this is largely due to the press coverage by Arutz-7... Zambish [Yesha leader Ze'ev Chever] called the Civil Administration, and they said they're sorry, they didn't realize, and they will postpone giving us our eviction notices for another week. But we will not rest; there is no reason for our homes to be destroyed."
Maaleh Rehavam is a mixed religious-secular community, home to five families and several singles. Residents lived in caravans for the first two years after its founding, and three permanent homes have been built in recent years. It overlooks the Judean Desert, the Herodion, Tekoa and Nokdim, home to MK Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu). The community is an eight-minute drive from Jerusalem, but the residents must now drive almost an hour due to the government’s refusal to open a newly paved road.
The community is not illegal - but neither has it been officially approved, and for this reason, the government says it plans to destroy it, in keeping with its promise to the US to raze all "unauthorized" outposts. The radical left-wing Peace Now organization has filed a court suit, demanding to know why the government has not yet implemented the demolition orders it issued regarding Maaleh Rehavam and other small communities throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Demanding an Apology
The people of Maaleh Rehavam recently demanded an apology from the Maariv newspaper for writing that their community is illegally located on private Arab property. "This article presents us as land thieves," a letter from the town's secretary states. "If a serious investigation had been done, as could be expected from a newspaper of your level, you would have found that the neighborhood is [a part of] the town of Nokdim, is totally located on state lands, and that the residents were even allocated land for planting and grazing. The neighborhood is in the process of being approved."
This was not the only time the Maariv newspaper has exposed itself to criticism of being anti-Yesha. Earlier this week it publicized a listing of cities and towns in which the soldiers killed in Lebanon had lived. However, though the chart listed the names of dozens of towns and cities, it concealed the disproportionately large role played by the towns of Judea, Samaria and Gaza by hiding them in the "others" column.
Ronen Tzafrir, of the non-religious pro-Land of Israel Nahalal Forum, had strong criticism of Maariv. "When there is something positive to say about this fantastic public," he said, "which educates towards heroism, sacrifice and love of land, suddenly Maariv forgets the word 'settlements.'"
Tzafrir called upon the public to boycott Maariv.
In fact, nearly 10% of the 117 soldiers who were killed in the five weeks of fighting in Lebanon were from towns in Yesha (Judea and Samaria) - almost twice as much as their proportionate numbers in the population. Their names:
Lt.-Col. Ro'i Klein, 31, of Eli*
Lt. Amichai Merchavia, 24, Eli*
Sgt. Gilad Zissman, 26, from Eli*
Staff-Sgt. Yehuda Greenfeld, 27, from Maaleh Michmas
St.-Sgt. Philip Mosko, 21, Maaleh Adumim
Sgt. Yigal Nissan, 19, Maaleh Adumim
Sgt. Bnayah Rein, 27, Karnei Shomron
Sgt. Amasa Meshulami, 20, Ofrah*
Corp. Ohad Kleisner, 20, of Beit Horon
St.-Sgt. Yotam Gilboa, 21, of Kibbutz Maoz Chaim in the Jordan Valley
Sgt. Gai Hason, 24, Naamah
['Elí and 'Ofrá are neighboring towns to Ma'aleh Levona RiJ]
Yesha Growth
The total population in Judea and Samaria grew by some 3% in the first half of 2006, according to Interior Ministry statistics. At the end of June, the total population in these areas stood at 260,932 people, a growth of nearly 7,200 over the previous six months. The Yesha Council welcomed the news, stating that the extra thousands of new citizens, even as the government continued to talk about uprooting them, showed the strength of the Judea and Samaria settlement enterprise.
145 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
More fallout from the stupidity of the Olmert "government."
Cease-Fire Now Ensures Catastrophic Outcomes
BY YOUSSEF IBRAHIM
August 14, 2006
The most baffling thing about the Lebanon war is that anyone believes a lame United Nations resolution could mitigate its momentous consequences. Stopping the fighting now ensures a new Middle East not at all like the
peaceful pro-Western one President Bush and Secretary of State Rice have in mind.
What looms are four catastrophic outcomes:
. Hezbollah, with its masters in Iran and Syria, will be closer than ever to controlling Lebanon's destiny - as well as the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, close to Iraq and the energy-rich Gulf region.
. Israel's existence will be challenged repeatedly. Its borders have proved vulnerable, its army has been permanently defanged in the Muslim mind, and its political establishment has been ridiculed as recriminations over its
incompetence commence.
. Secularists, moderates, and heads of client states in the Muslim world will be emasculated in the face of a rising tide of jihadist challengers fashioned after Hezbollah, demanding theocratic anti-Western governments.
. The Western world, stymied in an existential quest to eradicate jihadist Islamic fundamentalism, will sink deeper into in a true war of civilizations that in its ferocity will rival the war on communism. Even before the
beginning of the official cease-fire, the thuggish leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, made it clear that another reality has begun. A week ago on Al-Jazeera, he vowed revenge against "those [read: Arab governments]
who let us down and those [read: Christians, Druze, and Sunni] who conspired against us" - which includes the 3 million unarmed non-Shiite Lebanese, out of a total of 4 million citizens in that country. That is tantamount to
announcing another civil war. The July 12 decision by Hezbollah, a minority partner in Lebanon's kaleidoscopic society, to confiscate the country's right to declare war was a sign of its unwillingness to tolerate dissent.
A few days ago, Sheik Nasrallah took things further, telling Hezbollah's Al Manar TV that the day after the war ends is "the day we settle accounts."
Even the Mafia, in its heyday, was not that brazen. But who's to stop the Nasrallah Islamic Republic of Lebanon from emerging, with its superbly armed militia that "defeated" Israel and a long arm that can assassinate any
Lebanese?
Israel is now perceived as fair game to jihadists. Prime Minister Olmert's and the Israeli army's conduct of this war has been at the very least amateur, and in all probability a criminal offense, as I hope the Knesset's
investigation will show.
It is bad enough that Israel's aura of invincibility has evaporated and its borders have been shown to be porous. What's calamitous is that its army has empirically proved it has no staying power; it also lacks enough war tools
to fight anything greater than disheveled Palestinian Arab militias in Gaza or dysfunctional Arab armies.
In Hezbollah, it met an enemy Israeli generals truly feared. In the all-important macho world of Middle East hubris, the Israelis blinked. No
one in the Arab, or Muslim, world missed that.
Within the Muslim world, one need look no further than the demands for jihad everywhere and the outcry against "impotent" governments. The entire network of mosques, madrassas, Islamic fundamentalist institutions, charities,
Islamic parties, and hangers-on are now in an energized frenzy, from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. A new dawn is breaking for them and their many
allies within the armed forces of even the friendliest states to the West, including Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and of course Pakistan.
In the West, liberalism, democracy, and freedom have been dealt a massive blow. The British Muslim conspiracy to bring down airplanes flying to America from Britain was hatched before the Lebanon war, but copycats can only believe the bells also are tolling for them to do what they can to bring down the infidels of the West.
Liberals may not want to accept that a war of civilization beckons, but Muslims have and do. Westerners can choose to lull themselves into believing that a grand majority of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims are moderates, but the Lebanon war has shown that the minority can prevail.
146 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Children Challenge the System
by Moshe Dann
August 14, 2006
This month, two 15-year-old girls, Oriah Shirel and Iska Federman, were released from N'vei Tirza, a maximum security prison in Israel, where they had been kept for eight weeks. Their crime: participating in a demonstration in a neighborhood of Hebron, where they live.
Oriya was not charged with any violence or attempted violence; Iska was charged with throwing stones, but there is no proof.
Oriah and Iska had come to protest the Israeli government's decision to rebuild a wall abutting the Jewish neighborhood of Avraham Avinu and a playground. On the other side of the wall is an Arab home from which Jews have been attacked.
When initially brought before a court, the girls refused to go along with the proceedings. They declared that they did not recognize the legitimacy of the court and what they call a system of injustice that has plagued Israel, especially those Jews living in "settlements" (Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the "West Bank"), and in Hebron, in particular. Judge Uri Ben-Dor ordered the girls held in prison until the end of their trials in November, despite an unusual prosecution request to speed up the process.
Even if convicted of all charges against them, the girls would not have likely been given a prison sentence, certainly not one of such length, and not under harsh conditions. It is clear that the court was punishing these girls for what they believe, not for what they've done.
This is not new. Since the evacuation of Jews from their communities in Gaza and northern Samaria, hundreds of Jews have been jailed, some for months, for minor misdemeanors, civil disobedience - many without charges or trials. Recently, in anticipation of the government's unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, scores of "activists", most with families, have been jailed or given orders preventing them from living in the areas to be evacuated. Hebron, specifically, has had a history of alleged police discrimination against Jews for many years. A report issued more than a decade ago documenting systematic abuse was ignored by the government and the media.
Arab snipers and gangs have murdered and wounded Jews living in Hebron's enclaves since Jews moved back nearly three decades ago to neighborhoods once inhabited by one of the oldest and most prestigious Jewish communities in the world. These areas had been destroyed during the Arab riots of 1929, when 67 defenseless Jews were murdered and scores more wounded and mutilated.
A few months ago, the government arbitrarily and without justification ordered Jews to vacate a building in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood that had been legally purchased from Arabs. Other buildings in the area built by Arabs in the 1950s on land owned by Jews have been slated by the government for evacuation. This, too, has been a source of contention.
While police claim that Jews harass and provoke their Arab neighbors, local Arabs are often arrested for attacks and potential attacks. But several activists in Hebron's Jewish community have been held in administrative detention and under house arrest for long periods of time - without charges or trials.
Twelve years ago, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a physician who served the entire community, both Jews and Arabs, is alleged to have killed 29 Muslim worshippers in the Machpelah Cave, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs built more than 2,000 years ago. As a result, the shrine was divided into exclusive areas for Jews and Muslims. A few years later, in 1997, Israel turned over nearly all areas of Hebron inhabited by Muslims to the Palestinian Authority, as part of the Hebron Agreements. In return, the Palestinian Authority committed itself to stopping all incitement and violence against Jews.
In another case, 15-year-old Tirtza Sariel, from the Jewish community of Elon Moreh, was arrested for throwing olives at Arabs. She has been in prison for over a month and refuses to sign court documents; Judge Ben-Dor decided to keep her in prison until the end of proceedings, which may take months.
Violations of civil (and human) rights are serious issues, especially when children are involved. A year ago and again this month, I contacted the main public organization dedicated to helping children, the National Council for the Child, directed by Professor Yitzhak Kadman. Then and now, they refused to get involved. Professor Kadman said that he thought the girls preferred to remain in prison.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also refused to get involved.
Where are the professionals, the lawyers and social workers?
Newly elected Labor Knesset Member Shelly Yachimovich, chairwoman of the Knesset's Committee on Children, came out strongly against the court's decision regarding the imprisoned children. Prominent legal experts have also questioned the reasonableness and legality of the court's decision. But nothing can be done, since there is no mechanism to challenge the court's decisions in this matter.
The Supreme Court, specifically Justices Aaron Barak, Ayala Procaccia and Dorit Beinish, has supported lower court decisions to imprison and restrict those who oppose government policies, some without charges or trials. This may explain why these young girls (and their parents) have chosen to suffer, in order to expose what many have called Israel's "injustice system."
The only organization that provides immediate legal assistance to Jews who are arrested is Honenu, a tiny non-profit crisis-response group led by Shmuel ("Zangy") Medad. On call day and night, Zangy is usually the only resource available to Jews, as Israel's civil rights organizations seem paralyzed and the courts violate basic norms of democracy and justice. In addition, Civil Rights for Jews in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, directed by Mrs. Orit Struk, works with Knesset members and documents police brutality. Their reports have led to judicial and disciplinary actions against violent policemen.
147 - -E
Congrats! This article has been selected as one of this week’s Editors’ Picks.
148 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I do not think too highly of the person writing this article below, but he has it on the money.
THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE WEST DID NOT AND DOES NOT GIVE A TINKER'S DAM FOR WHAT WE HAVE SUFFERED HERE. IT HAS NOT COVERED THE COLLAPSE OF THE NORTH OR THE ECONOMIC DISASTER THE MISSILE BOMBARDMENTS OF HIZBALLAH CAUSED.
HizbAllah has been the big media winner here. I will not comment further on David Frankfurter's article.
But at the end, there is a link. Go to it and find out what is in store for the "party of god".
When the bastards in Lebanon begin bombarding us again, we will make happen the predictions of this music video.
Dear Friends,
The northern border has been quiet since the cease fire with Hezbollah came into force Monday morning. People are beginning to return to their homes on both sides of the border. And now the clean-up begins.
It is a sobering thought that the damage in Lebanon was a totally predictable outcome of that nation's deliberate flaunting of UN resolutions demanding that it take control of its own territory and disarm the terrorists that were usurping it. Instead, it invited those same terrorists to join its government. Worse, it condoned and encouraged the war crimes of launching attacks against civilians in a neighbouring sovereign state and the use of its own citizens and civilian areas as human shields.
Lebanese infrastructure and many private homes - including those used as weapons facilities and rocket launching pads - will need repair. Iran has stepped up to the plate, and the Hezbollah will once again be its proxy. Europe, concerned about the positive image Hezbollah will gain was quick to announce that they will set aside hundreds of millions in humanitarian aid, which it is channeling through charitable agencies, the UN and the Lebanese government.
All in all, though, the message for those who survived will be that the war was not so bad for Lebanon. Israel got the message, and Lebanon gets lots of new infrastructure houses, and even furniture. All courtesy of international donors.
In all this, however, where is Israel? The international community seems to have completely ignored the affect on ordinary Israeli citizens of the month of war, in which they were the direct and sole targets of Hezbollah's war crimes. Which international charity or donor has come forward to offer even a token?
If you are surprised by the question, consider the extent that your media reported the damage to Israel. Did you know that 500,000 Israelis fled their homes in the north, and that the rest were forced to spend long hours in bomb shelters? Have you heard of the stream of refugees returning to their homes in Israel's north, to confront their damaged houses, destroyed businesses, lost sales. The international coverage has been almost completely focused on Lebanon. Here, though, are the statistics for Israel.
Hezbollah rockets landing in Israel
4,000
Israeli civilians displaced by the war
500,000
Israelis killed
157
Israelis injured
5,000
Israeli civilians treated for shock and distress
1,300
Israeli Buildings destroyed
12,000
Israeli Trees destroyed
750,000
Financial cost of the war and related damage in Israel
NIS 25 billion
Of this: military budget
NIS 7 billion
One of the reasons that the media did not cover the story is that Israel moved its civilians out of danger to the extent possible. All around the country not only did people take in friends and relatives, but also complete strangers. The stories are many and heartwarming. The stark contrast on the other side of the border, where civilians were used as human shields, and in some cases even physically prevented at gunpoint from fleeing is clear.
Of course, as is the case in the Palestinian Authority, international aid will be interpreted as tacit support for the war crimes that created the humanitarian disaster. And Israel will be left to cope on its own.
David
At www.jewlicious.com, go here for the future of HizbAllah...
149 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I forgot to give fellow blogger Mike Wallin the credit he deserves for the Jewlicious link.
Shabbat Shalom, Mike!
150 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
-E,
Thank you very much. I feel honored... I'm debating between writing an article detailing the corruption of the present Israeli "government" or waiting for HizbAllah to break the cease-fire with a rocket attack. "If it bleeds it leads" is the general standard that most folks following the news follow. But staying ahead of the news is what interests me...
Now, on another topic, I just wanted to straighten this out. Do I get that bottle of Hennessey's Cognac from you or from Mark Schannon?
151 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Let's see if Olmert has learned anything about political survival. This should be an interesting test of the man's learning skills...
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Bush administration acts fast to bring France aboard the Lebanon multinational force, gives Israel tacit go-ahead for air strikes against arms trucks from Syria
August 16, 2006, 11:53 PM (GMT+02:00)
Washington took two quiet steps to prop up the Siniora government and retrieve the vanishing multinational force ordered by Resolution 1701.
The first was the promise of an air surveillance wing for UNIFIL to keep a watch over South Lebanon and the border crossings into Syria. This has brought France around to consenting to send troops to the expanded international force. UNIFIL was also promised intelligence data gathered by US satellites on military movements in Lebanon.
Some 1,700 French troops will be deployed in the first stage. This promise led French defense minister Michele Alliot-Marie to announce Wednesday night that France is willing to lead a new UN presence in Lebanon at least until February, so long as it has a clear mandate, real means and strong powers.
The second step taken by the Bush administration was a quiet go-ahead given by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to Israel’s Dep. PM Shimon Peres for the Israeli air force to destroy trucks suspected of carrying rockets and other arms from Syria into Lebanon. Siniora agreed to turn a blind eye to this continuing Israeli air activity over Lebanon as he has for Hizballah’s continued armed presence south of the Litani River.
The first elements of the Lebanese army’s 2nd 3rd and 12th Battalions crossed the Qasmiyeh Bridge over the Litani into South Lebanon before midnight Wednesday, August 16.
France has given itself six months to test how the web of undercover accords and understandings between the US and Israel and the Lebanese government and Hizballah are holding up. Only then will Paris decide whether to extend the mandate of its contingent in Lebanon or even boost it.
152 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
LETTER FROM SALAH CHOUDHOURI ON THE POSSIBLE PLACEMENT OF BANGLADESHI TROOPS IN SOUTH LEBANON AS PART OF UNIFIL (released through the Root & Branch Information Service on 18 August 2006, 24 Av 5766)
A little background here. Salah Choudhoury is a Bangladeshi author who was honored by a group of Israeli authors for reaching out his hand in peace to Israel and was invited to Israel to participate in a conference there. The response of the Bangladeshi government was to imprison the author and revoke his passport. This occurred late in 2003. He has since been released from prison.
On his e-mails, the following appears
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Journalist, Columnist, Author & Political Analyst
PEN USA Freedom to Write Award 2005
American Jewish Committee Moral Courage Award 2006
Editor & Publisher, Weekly Blitz
Chief Editor, Weekly Jamjamat
Chief Editor, Daily frontline
Aryeh Gallin, the president of Root & Branch, Ltd. in Jerusalem, invited Salah to comment on the possibility of Bangladeshi troops being stationed on the south Lebanon border as part of UNIFIL. That story is contqained at this Arutz Sheva article.
Aryeh's letter follows below:
Dear Salah,
No, this is NOT a bad joke, this is HAPPENING.
Here comes a contingent of storm troopers of the Gog and Magog globalist New World Order, ala Ezekiel 38 and 39 (on their way in reality to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount).
Please send me a Personal Message for Root & Branch Readers about this for distribution through the R&B Information Services.
Shabbat Shalom from Liberated Yerushaliyim,
Aryeh
Salah's comments follow.
Shalom Uvracha!
First of all, I would like to draw the kind attention of my friends to a fact that, recently a bridge at country's eastern port city was inaugurated in the name of Hezbollah. And the bridge was inaugurated by the state minister for Communication Salauddin Ahmed (unfortunately this man has a good name with evil soul). So, personally I am disturbed to see that the Hezbollahs in Lebanon are not totally eliminated and they stand as potential threat to the blessed Land of Israel. This is a terrible news for the peace loving people around the world. I would rather cherish if there was a complete eliminated of these nasty devils and if we could see a world without seeing the fangs of Islamist millitants, anywhere. The UN resolution to seize fire will actually give a refheshing chance to Hezbollahs to gather more power from their masters in Syria, Iran and many other pro-terrorist countries. In this case, for obvious reason, I can not see any reason for Bangladesh to be over enthusiastic in sending 2,000 troops to southern Lebanon. I shall be happy in true sense, if one day, my home land would send troops to fight against Hezbollah and Hamas for the cause of global peace. But, anyway, one thing is positive here. Bangladeshi troops will now have the chance to witness the atrocities of Hezbollah in Lebanon, during their stay and this will surely open a new door of understanding for our mighty armed forces and the people of Bangladesh.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
153 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The following article is a backup to comment #152.
Offers by anti-Israeli countries to patrol Lebanon, Hizbullah's welcoming of Lebanese troops and the abandonment of vows to disarm the terrorist group leave Hizbullah stronger and Israel weaker.
Arutz Sheva
Anti-Israel Nations Offer To Patrol Lebanon
09:06 Aug 18, '06 / 24 Av 5766
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Any hopes that the United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution ending the hostilities between Hizbullah terrorists and Israel would make Israel safer continue to dissipate. "Villagers throwing rice and Hezbollah supporters holding banners welcomed the [Lebanese] army to south Lebanon," according to the Associated Press.
Hizbullah terrorists also made it a point to attack the United States and Israel during funeral processions in southern Lebanon. At the village of Kila, several hundred yards from the Israeli border, Hizbullah supporters waved their flags.
In another village, residents scorned American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "You will not see your new Middle East," said one sign addressed to Rice. One man told the Reuters News Agency, "Let them [the Lebanese army] come. We are all Lebanese."
Further complications for Israel are the almost across-the-board abandonment of the UN resolution's vow to disarm Hizbullah south of the Litani River.
Israel has verbally criticized the violation and complained about the failure to bring about the return of two IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists. But beyond statements, Israel seems powerless to stop what is shaping up as a charade.
"I would say the show is on the road," said Mark Malloch Brown, the UN deputy secretary-general.
France disappointed the U.N. with its surprise announcement that it is sending only 200 troops instead of thousands that were anticipated. The absence of the French and the refusal of Germany to place its soldiers in the situation of a direct confrontation leaves Muslim nations with a larger percentage of the proposed force.
Indonesia and Malaysia each have offered to send 1,000 troops. Neither country has diplomatic ties with Israel, and Malaysia as recently as last week encouraged the world to cut off diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. Israel has objected to the placement of troops from countries with which it does not have diplomatic relations.
Turkey has offered to send 5,000 men, more than any other country. However, Turkey also has been a major transit point for Hizbullah terrorist weapons, according to Israeli intelligence and comments made at an American State Department briefing Thursday.
Italy has proposed sending between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers but also has made statements indicating sympathy for Hizbullah. A government minister termed the terrorists' kidnapping of IDF soldiers a military action, and the government emphasized it would not try to disarm Hizbullah.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi told an Italian news service, "The fact that it won't be Italy who will disarm Hezbollah militia seems to me to be a moot point, also because I don't think the attempt would not be productive."
Morocco, which has ties with Israel and has a growing militant Muslim population, has offered to send 1,500 to 2,000 troops. Like many other nations, it wants a clearer definition from the UN what is expected of the soldiers and when they can open fire.
One of the major problems in the UN force that is shaping up is its lack of experience which, accompanied with the presence of a poorly-trained Lebanese army, leaves the area free for Hizbullah to mobilize. Israel already has committed itself to leave southern Lebanon once the UN force is in place.
Brown admitted, "We have it [the force] in quantitative terms but the issue is which battalions we can get there in the timeline required. Are they the right battalions with the right skills and equipment?"
He also explained that the international force, which will join the 2,000-member UNIFIL unit which has proven to be ineffective if not pro-Hizbullah since its introduction to the area in 1978, would not try to disarm the terrorists because of an agreement between Hizbullah and the Lebanese government.
American Secretary of State Rice also has backed down from her previous insistence that Hizbullah cease to be "a state within a state" and that a ceasefire would not leave Israel with the status quo situation that existed before the war.
She told USA Today, "I don't think there is an expectation that this force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah. I think it's a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily."
Hizbullah terrorist leaders have made it clear they will keep their weapons, and its terrorists have vowed to continue their war against Israel. One man, Mohamed Ballout, told Reuters, he is "ashamed that my son was not martyred."
Hizbullah official Sheikh Mohammed Yazbik said, "We will preserve the resistance. We won't give up our weapons, our dignity and our honor."
Pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud clearly defined the Lebanese intentions. "The weapons of the resistance are the only ones, of all Arabs, that succeeded in standing up to Israel and defeating it. No one can take away the weapons of the resistance," he told his cabinet.
The Lebanese army Friday morning continued to take up positions south of the Litani River, the first time it has been deployed in the area for more than 30 years.
Hizbullah has gathered the support of more than 600,000 Shi'ite Muslims in the area and has built weapons and command centers in the last six years, after former Israeli Minister Ehud Olmert Barak ordered a sudden unilateral withdrawal of IDF troops.
Even a senior American official expressed pessimism about the future. "Our history in Lebanon has not been a happy one," lamented American Assistant Secretary of State David Welch."
Published: 05:54 August 18, 2006
Last Update: 09:06 August 18, 2006
154 - Martin Lav
How do 4000 rockets destroy 12,000 bldgs and 750,000 trees?
155 - Dean
With great imagination.
156 - JustOneMan
Again the world has to bail out Israel due to their left wing incompetent government...
157 - Dean
When did Shimon Peres become PM?
158 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Dean,
Shimon Peres is the eminence grise behind the sick charade that is called the government of Israel. He is like J. Edgar Hoover. He has the goods on everybody and knows where all the skeltons in the closets are, particlularly the the ones he himself caused to exist. He has his own little death squad, too. He has to his credit, one former congressman from the States, a popular singer, a judge, a member of the knesset, a retired general, a whole slew of rabbis and two prime ministers and the wife4 of one prime minister. He has managed to have all these people knocked off in one way or another for opposing his policies or becoming useless in his eyes.
The only Israeli that any government official really fears is Peres. His name means vulture and he is as vicious as a shark - and as murderous, too.
159 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I'm disgusted with writing the same article in different words. The government of Israel needs to be overthrown, and the sooner the better. So, I'm resurrecting this article on Mr. Olmert's Little War to pile line upon line, line upon line of reality. Truth - a healthy antidote from the lies of the mainstream media that you receive in America.
This first piece is from Emmanuel Winston who forwards an editorial from Ha'aretz - which until recently was a government mouthpiece.
-------------------------------------------------
WINSTON MID EAST ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY August 21, 2006 Please disseminate & re-post. If you publish, send us a copy. Many of our articles appear on Websites at Gamla & freeman.org.
NO CONFIDENCE IN THE COMMANDER by HA’ARETZ EDITORIAL forwarded with comments by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East Analyst & Commentary
For once Ha’aretz has put aside its consuming interests in maintaining politics as usual. Some saw the collapse of a government without ethics, let alone competence. Ha’are tz is at last using its professional capabilities to tell the people what really happened and how the enablers are now scrambling to save their jobs and power of office.
Hopefully, the other news journals will join Ha’aretz in demanding a full and honest accounting coupled with the demand of an immediate dismissal of those responsible for a war lost, unnecessarily, because the men were courageous and willing. Those must be dismissed who are responsible for the buildup of confidence among Hezb’Allah, Hamas, Iran and Syria that Israel can easily be driven from the field of battle - with more to come. Let the three families who control Ha’aretz, Ma’ariv and Yediot Achranot come together to demand a new doctrine that starts with a clean government.
Last update - 10:02 21/08/2006
NO CONFIDENCE IN THE COMMANDER by HA’ARETZ EDITORIAL August 21, 2006
For now, the weekend papers are taking the place of a commission of inquiry. The frustration and anger expressed by both reservists and regular soldiers who took part in the fighting may never be heard by any official investigative body, but they will echo throughout Israeli homes for many months to come.
The impressions from the battlefield - the confused decision making, the helpless feelings of the untrained and improperly equipped soldiers, the contradictory and constantly changing orders, the lack of coordination and the lack of understanding of the missions and goals - have all caused a loss of confidence in the command ranks and the leadership. Too many fighters have said that if they are called up to fight again, they may not go.
There are many ways to express no-confidence, and this threat by reservists is perhaps the most severe of all. Lack of confidence in the chief of staff cannot be concealed via supportive advertisements organized by his comrades-in-arms. Dan Halutz may be an excellent friend and an outstanding warrior, but his claim that he is "more ethical than many others" does not meet the test of taking responsibility. "A victory on points, not a knockout," as Halutz summed up the war, is not good enough for a small, threatened country such as Israel.
Either we should not have embarked on this war at all, and we should settle accounts with the prime and defense minister over this point, or we should have won it in a way that would deter our neighbors from another round. A war to restore our deterrent power that ends with the feeling that there will soon be another round is a clear failure.
The chief of staff is responsible for the public's lack of confidence in the Israel Defense Forces' ability to win, and he will be responsible for reservists who fail to show up in the future. He is responsible even if other people, both above and below him, are also responsible. The politicians will be judged in the Knesset and in the next elections, and perhaps also by a commission of inquiry, and the day is presumably not far off when Kadima will fade away as if it had activated a self-destruct mechanism on July 12. But all the things that may yet happen must begin with the resignation of the chief of staff, so that it will be clear that change is imminent.
The chief of staff is responsible, according to the definition of his job, for all the failures that emerged in the IDF's operational deployment, training and equipment. Targeted assassinations of Hezbollah's leadership now will not change this impression, and it seems that that idea is meant to serve the army's and the government's public relations. The gap between the exhibitionist appearances of the IDF spokeswoman in the early days of the war, accompanied by senior officers who preached to the enemy in front of the cameras instead of fighting him successfully, and the flight of spokespeople from the screen as the rain of missiles on Israel intensified, teaches that failure is an orphan, and those responsible are now entrenching themselves in a sense of injury - as if the very demand that they take responsibility were an effrontery. Taking responsibility, it seems, requires no less courage than fighting a war.
Israel's culture of government does not encourage resignations or ousters after failures. And the results are clearly visible. The prime minister is already promising to set up a mechanism for learning lessons; the defense minister is appointing an inquiry committee devoid of any authority; and the government is establishing a committee to deal with the home front. Those who should be investigated are dressing up as investigators. Between this and what ought to be happening lies a yawning abyss.
160 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This next piece was forwarded to me by my friend, Sergio Tezza.
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Critics of Olmert complain he lived up to his word when he said "we are tired of winning." The government is weakened by scandals and attacks on several fronts, but there are no signs it will fall.
Olmert Slammed For Being True to Word: We Are Tired of Winning
08:17 Aug 22, '06 / 28 Av 5766
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Reservists have complained that the government and military establishment prevented a solid victory against Hizbullah terrorists by blunders in carrying out the war. The results were in keeping with a speech by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in June 2005, when he was Vice Prime Minister to Ariel Sharon.
He told the Israel Policy Forum, "We are tired of fighting; we are tired of being courageous; we are tired of winning; we are tired of defeating our enemies."
His words have come back to haunt him amid mounting attacks from several fronts on the government, which has been wracked by complaints of soldiers and even senior commanders, bitterness by northern residents who charge they were abandoned, an uncertain ceasefire, lack of return of IDF hostages and scandals in the government.
Justice Minister Haim Ramon was forced to resign because of charges of sexual misconduct. Minister Tzachi HaNegbi had to resign following an announcement that he will be indicted on charges of making political appointments when he was Environment Minister. The investigation was known when he switched from the Likud party to join former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party, in which Olmert was the number two man.
Journalist Yoav Yitzchak has been publicizing for several months documents that suggest the Prime Minister received financial favors in a property deal.
Another scandal likely to damage the reputation of the government involves President Moshe Katzav, who is to be questioned by police on charges by 20 workers that he is guilty of sexual misbehavior. Two women have charged he slept with them, and Channel 2 television reported Monday night that the President will be forced to resign to avoid embarrassment. President Katzav's office called the report a lie.
The harsh condemnation of the government weakens its ability to take leadership but the government is not likely to fall unless enough Kadima Knesset Members, most of whom jumped ship from the Labor and Likud parties, switch again.
"I think Olmert will simply allow the anger to pass and get on with his business," Gadi Wolfsfeld, a professor of political science at Hebrew University, told the The Associated Press.
Olmert has found himself trying to snuff out one brush fire after another, but the multi-prong attacks have been increasing more rapidly than his responses. He weathered the crisis of IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz's selling stocks two hours after Hizbullah terrorists kidnapped two IDF soldiers by saying that he had complete faith in the Lt. General.
However, several days later top commanders and more than a thousand soldiers came forward with evidence of army mismanagement, irresponsibility and failure to provide troops with basic needs.
The Prime Minister tried to answer the criticism by letting Defense Minister Amir Peretz set up an investigative committee, despite public questioning of how his own appointees could fairly question the minister and the government. The Defense Minister appointed his closest war advisor, former Lt. General Amnon Lipnik-Shahak, to head the panel.
Less than 48 hours later, Prime Minister Olmert ordered the committee to halt its work after the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee almost unanimously said it wants a Knesset committee to conduct the investigation. The only voices of dissent came from three Kadima party members.
Kadima leaders were able to stymie a committee decision by pointing out a technicality that the 11-3 vote was not valid because the issue was not on the agenda.
Other voices are demanding a national inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge who would have power to summon witnesses and bring charges against them if officials are found to have violated their responsibility.
Prime Minister Olmert rejected the need for an inquiry, saying, "I won't play this game, the game of beating ourselves up." But no sooner had he blamed his predecessors for being lax and said that energies must be focused on supporting the army, former Chief of Staff Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon stated, "Whoever is responsible should take responsibility and not try to throw it on others."
Outgoing infantry and paratrooper commander Brigadier General Yossi Heiman said this week that the reservists were not trained properly and that senior IDF commanders are "guilty of arrogance."
On the diplomatic front, Prime Minister Olmert is saddled by a United Nations Security Council ceasefire that has become weaker in reality than in writing. Instead of 15,000 troops slated to join the international UNIFIL force in Lebanon, the U.N. is having trouble coming up with 3,500 it vowed will be deployed by the end of the month.
The northern border remains tense and Galilee residents are uncertain about their lives despite the Prime Minister's promise in his 2005 speech that the future is "more security [and] greater safety." He said that the destruction of Jewish communities in the Gaza and northern Samaria areas, which he and Ariel Sharon called disengagement, would be followed by "a lot of joy for all the people that live in the Middle East.
"We are confident that this disengagement will be successful and that it will then lead to the beginning of a new pattern of relations between us and the Palestinian Authority," he said.
161 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This piece also comes from my friend Sergio Tezza. Now that the government has gotten its ass whipped by Iranian puppets supplied by Syria, the police minister wants to hand over the Heights of Golabn to Syria. Such a genius he is... GSS means General Security Service and is the English translation of Shaba"k, Sherút BitaHón Klalít
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Ex-GSS Chief Causes Uproar With Call for Golan Withdrawal
15:33 Aug 21, '06 / 27 Av 5766
by Hillel Fendel
Cabinet Minister Dichter: "After all, we paid similar prices for peace with Jordan and Syria." Just last week, Syrian Pres. Assad said, "Each generation hates Israel more than the preceding one."
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter [pictured], a former head of the General Security Service, says that Israel should give up the Golan Heights in exchange for "true peace" with Syria. Israel annexed the Golan, from which Syria often attacked Israel prior to the 1967 Six Day War, in 1982.
Dichter joined the Kadima Party shortly after its formation late last year.
Speaking with Army Radio today, Dichter did add that the "question of water rights and the Kinneret Sea are matters that I would not cede so easily." But he said that Israel should initiate a diplomatic move to talk with Syria.
"We know the prices," Dichter said. "We are experienced in paying the prices; we faced Egypt and Jordan, and we arranged things. We tried to do this with the Palestinian Authority, but to our sorrow, it did not work. But this doesn't mean that with other countries such as Lebanon or Syria it won't work, and perhaps this will make it clear to the Palestinians that there is no chance for any country to make gains by warring against us." Dichter did not explain how this principle applied to the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
Dichter's remarks drew a storm of outcry, even within his own party. "This is pure amateurism," one unnamed Kadima member said. "No discussion has been held on our diplomatic goals. It sounds like a close-out sale, precisely when Assad sounds such firm threats."
Kadima MK Otniel Shneller said, "Everyone has his own personal agenda, but we have one country, and we are facing a storm; we must first of all abandon our personal agendas and stabilize our ship."
Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz, former Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that to cede the Golan Heights is utter foolishness: "Minister Dichter's proposal is a reward to the Syrians for the speech that Assad just delivered and the hundreds of Katyushas they gave Hizbullah with which to strike Israel... The Golan is critical for the existence of the State of Israel."
Some left-wing MKs, as well as the radical left-wing Peace Now, came to Dichter's defense. Education Minister Yuli Tamir said that Israel must begin negotiations with Syria, and MK Zahava Gal'on of Meretz said that this would remove Syria from the Iranian "axis of evil."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "We will be happy to talk with Syria once it stops supplying rockets and weapons to those who use them against Israel."
The Gush Katif Residents Committee expressed strong opposition to Dichter's approach. "In light of the deterioration of our national security in the year following the retreat from Gush Katif," Chairman Lior Kalfa said, "we now must face the shocking idea that our sacrifice was for naught. How can it be that our ostrich-like government leaders continue to bury their heads in the sand as they consider replicating the failure of the Disengagement? Will they then sacrifice, as well, our brothers in the Golan or Yesha (Judea and Samaria), just because they are afraid to climb down from the tall tree they climbed and admit to the public they made a mistake?"
MK Effie Eitam (National Union), a resident of the Golan and a former IDF Northern Formation Commander, said that Syria cannot be a partner for dialogue. "Our dispute with Syria is not just territorial," Eitam said today, "and therefore a retreat from the Golan will endanger Israel's security. Syria has tied itself with the axis of evil of Hizbullah and Iran, whose goal is to destroy Israel, and cannot be a partner for negotiation."
"The government refuses to learn the lesson of our retreats from Lebanon and Gaza," Eitam said, "which merely increased the danger to Israel."
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union):
"Using Dichter's logic, he would probably offer to give the Galilee to Iran, if Iran would deign to shoot 4,000 Katyushas at us. Whoever doesn't understand that 'territories for peace' never worked and has brought us only bloodshed, would be advised not to give advice on security matters."
Former MK Yehuda Harel, who served one term in the Knesset for a party (Third Way) whose raison d'etre was essentially to oppose a retreat from the Golan, said he fears that the Golan Heights residents do not realize the danger inherent in Dichter's remarks.
---------------------------------------------
The following piece came in the same e-mail. The point of the two articles, taken together is that the police minister shoots his mouth off one way and the "prime minister" shoots his outh ff another.
Published: 15:19 August 21, 2006
Last Update: 15:33 August 21, 2006
Olmert: Syria most aggressive member of the axis of evil
jpost.com staff and ap, THE JERUSALEM POST
Aug. 21, 2006
Syria is the "single most aggressive member of the axis of evil," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday, ruling out a resumption of negotiations with Damascus at this time.
"I am the last person who will say I want to negotiate with Syria," Olmert said in unusually harsh comments. In a visit to northern Israel, Olmert noted that rockets that hit the town in 34 days of Israel-Hizbullah fighting came from Syria.
According to the prime minister, "When Syria stops supporting terrorism, when it stops giving missiles to terror organizations, then we will be happy to negotiate with them."
His comments were made hours after Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said that he was in favor of withdrawing from the Golan Heights in return for true peace with Syria.
The former head of the Shin Bet told Army Radio, "We have paid similar territorial concessions in the past when we signed peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt."
"Any diplomatic initiative is preferred over war, whether in Syria or Lebanon," Dichter said. "With regards to Lebanon, conditions are even more welcoming than they are with Syria. Lebanon can today begin talks with Israel without the Syrians."
According to the minister, "Talks with Syria are legitimate. If there is someone to talk to on the other side, we should talk. Israel can initiate this or turn to a third party."
In response, Olmert said, "I recommend not to get carried away with any false hopes."
"We are not going into any adventure when terror is on their side," Olmert said of Syria. "We're not going into any negotiations until basic steps are taken which can be the basis for any negotiations."
Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said there was "no significance" to talk of peace with Israel as long as it does not withdraw from all territory in conquered in 1967. He stressed that Syria would accept the Arab peace initiative only after an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.
Dichter's comments also elicited a flurry of responses from MKs - among them MK Effi Eitam (NU/NRP), a Golan resident, who protested that "withdrawing from the Golan Heights will only endanger the security of Israel."
"Syria associates itself with the evil axis of Hizbullah and Iran, and its goal is to destroy Israel," Eitam said, and declared that Syria "cannot be a partner for discussion."
Fellow NU/NRP MK Aryeh Eldad claimed that "by the same logic, Dichter will certainly suggest we give the Galilee to Iran if they would be so kind as to shoot 4,000 rockets at us. Whoever doesn't understand that the equation 'land for peace' never worked and has only brought about more bloodshed, would do better not to give advice on security matters."
Meretz MK Ran Cohen, however, supported Dichter's calls for negotiations with Syria, demanding that the government "discuss immediately the initiation of negotiations with Syria and Lebanon for peace agreements."
He added, "We must not sit and wait for the next war. A [peace] agreement in exchange for giving back the Golan would disconnect Syria from Iran and disarm Hizbullah."
Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Monday that the time was not right to resume negotiations with Syria, arguing that Israel was too busy trying to deal with Lebanon and the Palestinians.
Peres said he believes it's unlikely Syrian President Bashar Assad was even contemplating a return to negotiations. "The Syrians, if they are serious (about peace talks), should come and say 'we are interested in holding negotiations,'" Peres said. "I don't see Assad doing this."
Last week Syrian President Bashar Assad warned Israel that peace was not the only way to achieve Syrian goals, referring to the territory Israel captured from Syria during the Six-Day-War, the Golan Heights.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz suggested the possibility of negotiations last week when he said the conflict with Hizbullah may have created a new opportunity for renewed dialogue with Syria.
162 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This came yesterday from Sergio Tezza. If memory serves, Hllel Fendel writes for Arutz Sheva.
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Lebanese war reserve soldier veterans, newspaper columnists on right and left, MKs, new Russian immigrants and more - are calling for the government to resign in the wake of the recent Lebanese War.
Calls Intensify for Government´s Resignation
17:11 Aug 21, '06 / 27 Av 5766
by Hillel Fendel
A group of reserve soldiers who fought in Lebanon will set off on a protest march today (Monday), calling upon Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign. The soldiers say that Olmert and Peretz failed in managing the just-ended war in Lebanon.
The march will set out from the Kastel - an Independence War battle site near Mevaseret Zion - and will head towards the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, a 7-kilometer (4.5-mile) trek. The soldiers explain that the confused and contradictory orders handed down to them during the course of the war indicate an unclear strategy and set of objectives. They also claim that severe problems in logistics, manifest in outdated equipment and lack of food, helped lose some battles.
Two Thursdays ago, some 50 people gathered in Rabin Square to demand "personal responsibility" from the government ministers, and their consequent resignation. This past Thursday, the number grew to 150 - and this coming Thursday, the organizers expect even more. "Among them will be at least one busload of new immigrants from Russia," Ariella, one of the chief organizers, told Arutz-7. "This is apparently the first time they are really taking to the streets for a political cause."
Ariella explained that the people represented at the Thursday rallies are from all parts of the political spectrum.
Haaretz reported that some 160 infantry reserve soldiers accuse their commanders of preventing them from participating in the demonstration. The reservists say their release from the army was delayed just long enough to keep them from taking part.
Just a few days ago, MK Nissan Slomiansky (National Religious Party) said, in response to the government decision to push off a Knesset vote on a budget cut, "In continuation of the general public atmosphere that the time has come to replace this government, it turns out that the government doesn't even have full support within the coalition." MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) called for Olmert to suspend himself.
Columnist Uzi Benziman of Haaretz wrote, towards the end of the war:
"Whichever way you look at it, if the prime minister opposed the broadening of the war, why did he succumb to the pressure of the military establishment? And, if he did approve it, how dare his aides attempt to clear him, in retrospect, of the responsibility for its painful results...?
"Furthermore, how does the decision to rush toward the Litani River fit with the frenzied disposition at the IDF, as the flames are dying, to withdraw 'quickly and carefully' most of the troops from Lebanese soil? And, if Olmert indeed did not intend to broaden the war and was more inclined toward a ceasefire, why did he agree to the dismissal of the head of the Northern Command a day earlier? After all, if the war is about to end, why is it necessary to humiliate the commander of the war front during the last day of the fighting? ...
"When Olmert announces that he, above all others, is responsible for the way the war was carried out, but avoids reaching the necessary personal conclusions, he is behaving according to norms that have dominated public life in recent years: the declaration is enough. In other words, there is no need to pay the price that problematic behavior demands."
The Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick has written that there is no need for an official commission of inquiry to investigate the war - simply because it is obvious that "the Olmert government has failed on every level. The Olmert government must go." If the Knesset does not topple the government, "the people of Israel must take to the streets in mass demonstrations" to demand this.
"It was the government's responsibility," Glick writes, "to question the IDF's operational model of aerial warfare and to cut its losses when after two or three days it was clear that the model was wrong. At that point the government should have called up the reserves and launched a combined ground and air offensive. [Instead,] it abandoned its war goals, declared victory and sued for a cease-fire. When the public objected, after waiting two precious weeks, the government called up the reserves but then waited another unforgivable 10 days before committing them to battle."
Glick says that Foreign Minister Livny "did her best to demoralize the IDF and the public by publicly proclaiming that there is no military solution to what is clearly a military conflict," and chose not to publicly argue Israel's case.
Ari Shavit of Haaretz wrote:
"You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 [159] Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say, 'Oops, I made a mistake, that was not the intention, pass me a cigar, please.' There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front..."
163 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This was received yesterday, tough as you can see, it is four days old...
Column One: The coming wars
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 18, 2006
Sine the cease-fire was implemented in Lebanon, we have heard scattered reports indicating that a prisoner swap with the Palestinians may be in the works. In exchange for hundreds if not
thousands of Palestinian terrorists now held in Israeli prisons, IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage by Palestinian terrorists for nearly two months, may be released from captivity.
These reports lend weight to the view that things are back to normal. Terrorists kidnap Israelis and hold them hostage and Israel releases terrorists in order to free them. It is a comforting thought for people like Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his colleagues and the
members of Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz's General Staff who continue to believe that it will be possible for Israel to sign on a dotted line and achieve "a normal existence." Unfortunately, the chance that Shalit will be released is almost as small as the chance that Israel will be able to achieve a "normal existence." Palestinian sources explain that the decision of whether or not to release Shalit is firmly in the hands of the Iranians and Syrians, and they are not in
any mood to horse trade with the Jews.
Today the Palestinian Authority is nothing more than yet another Iranian proxy. During the past month of war in Lebanon, it was the supposedly moderate Fatah terror group and the supposedly moderate Fatah-led Palestinian security forces that organized mass rallies in the streets of Ramallah and Gaza cheering on Hizbullah and calling for Hassan Nasrallah to bomb Tel Aviv.
Now, in the aftermath of the cease-fire, which handed Hizbullah and its state sponsors Syria and Iran the greatest victory in their history, forces in the PA are actively preparing for a new round of war against Israel. As Hamas spokesmen have put it, Israel's defeat
in Lebanon has convinced them that it is possible to adopt Hizbullah's methods to destroy the Jewish state. Amid false reports that he was planning to dissolve the Hamas government and replace it with a government of technocrats, Abbas went to Gaza on Monday morning and asked Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh if Fatah could join his government.
As instructed by his commanders in Teheran and Damascus, Haniyeh has not yet agreed to Abbas's offer. Rather he set humiliating conditions
which Abbas must accept first. Abbas already agreed to Hamas's demand that he allow the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization to also join the government. He is similarly expected to agree to Hamas's demands that Fatah join the government as a junior partner and that it
abandon its negotiations with Israel.
Throughout the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria, the Palestinians are gearing up for their next round of jihad with Israel. As was the case six years ago, they are beginning with public executions of Palestinians accused of helping Israel combat terrorism. Just this week, a crowd of hundreds hooted and
stomped their feet in ecstasy as unmasked murderers killed one such Palestinian "collaborator" in Jenin.
So while all eyes are glued on Lebanon, the Palestinians may well start the next war. And we know exactly how that war will look. They will use missiles, mortars and rockets that they will smuggle in from Egypt to kill Israelis in their homes in the South. They will infiltrate Israeli cities by digging tunnels under the security fence around Gaza, and from Egypt and from towns and cities in Judea and Samaria and murder us in ever growing numbers. They will receive money, weapons and combat instruction from Hizbullah and Iranian operatives in Gaza and abroad and they will attack us while protesting their everlasting dedication to jihad and their anger over Israel's "aggression."
Then there is Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad's address Tuesday was a watershed event. After 14 years of beating around the bush,
Syria finally came clean. Peace, Assad said, is dead. We hate Israel and we want to destroy it. If not us, then our children will destroy it. All the Arabs that want peace with Israel are traitors. Long live Hizbullah and we're going to war to conquer the Golan Heights as a first step towards destroying Israel.
So Syria is planning to attack us. Perhaps it will do so while Hizbullah is carrying out what Nasrallah called the "building and reconstruction jihad" where with Iranian funding Hizbullah will rebuild Lebanon for the Lebanese and so nail one more nail in the coffin of the Lebanese nation state and move 10 steps ahead in the Iranian colonization of Lebanon. Yes, while Hizbullah goes forward with Lebanese reconstruction, and with Iranian and Syrian assistance reequips and upgrades its arsenal of war and rebuilds its force structure, Syria will likely open a new front on the Golan Heights.
Like the Palestinians, the Syrians will be following the Hizbullah model. Assad knows that his antiquated conventional forces are
incapable of conquering and holding the Golan Heights. But, if Israel fights Syria the same way it just fought Hizbullah, then that doesn't
matter. Syria, with its arsenal of Scud missiles whose range covers the entire country and armed with its chemical and biological arsenals that can act in the best case as a deterrent force, will be able to kill thousands in not tens of thousands of Israeli civilians and soldiers in the coming battle and cause property and economic damage to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.
Syria believes that it will be able to cause sufficient damage to make Israel sue for a cease-fire as we just did with Hizbullah. So like Hizbullah, Syria expects to gain at the UN Security Council what it could never hope to achieve on the battlefield. Specifically,
given the precedent of Resolution 1701, Syria no doubt believes that in exchange for its aggression, it will receive international
recognition for its territorial demands against Israel; an international force on the Golan Heights that will make it difficult for Israel to respond to future attacks; a major upgrade in its international profile; and billions of dollars in international assistance to rebuild in the wake of any damage caused to Syrian
infrastructures by IDF operations.
Behind the Palestinians and the Syrians lies Iran, the guiding light behind the present jihad. Iran, with its burgeoning nuclear weapons
program, is the single greatest danger to international security. It is the single greatest danger to Israel's survival. To date, Iran has made do with fighting Israel through its proxies, to great advantage. But Iran has made it absolutely clear that it intends to join the fray directly - when it is good and ready. And of course it will be good and ready when it has nuclear weapons.
If Iran is allowed to attain nuclear weapons, there is no reason to doubt that it will use them. If Iran attacks Israel with nuclear
weapons, then of course we are looking at a future war scenario involving not thousands of dead, but millions.
As all of Israel's leaders have been quick to point out over the years, the threat of a nuclear armed Iran is not just dangerous for
Israel but for the entire world. Iran has its Persian Gulf neighbors in its gun sites. It has directly threatened the US and Europe.
Although this is true, the fact that Iran is a threat to the entire world does not give Israel the ability to shirk from its responsibility to contend directly with Iran. Doing so would be
tantamount to signing the death warrant of the Jewish people.
In the not so distant future, we will find ourselves at war with Iran. Today, the choice of whether we fight that war in our own time,
and before Iran gets nuclear weapons is in our hands. If we hesitate, if we and the rest of the free world waste precious time with worthless diplomatic wrangling with the ayatollahs, war will come to us, but on the enemy's terms. And we will have only ourselves to blame.
All of these future wars present us with a clear challenge as a country. We must prepare for war. This means, that technologically, we must engage in a crash program to find means to protect our cities from missile attack. We got off relatively easy this time. Hizbullah chose not to attack our industrial centers but showed it has the ability to do so through its missile attacks near Haifa's port and its attacks near Hadera's power plant.
Militarily, we must not relent in targeting our enemies. The IDF must target every Palestinian terrorist. It must reassert control over the
international border between Gaza and Egypt. Israel must accept the reality that the PA is a terrorist organization, not a legitimate
regime, and stop viewing Abbas and his associates in Fatah as potential peace partners. Obviously, Israel must give up the idea of
transferring Judea and Samaria to Palestinian control and take all necessary measures to stabilize the situation on the ground in a
manner that neutralizes the threat of Palestinian jihad.
Furthermore, the war in Lebanon exposed the results of years of neglect of the IDF reserve forces. These forces must be properly equipped, properly trained for war, and properly led. The talk of releasing men from reserve duty at 35 must be abandoned. The IDF has to accept that it is a fighting force in war. Commanders have to stop acting like yuppies in uniform and understand that they have a war to train for and fight and win.
Finally, Israel needs a political leadership that will be capable of telling the Israeli public the truth that has been ignored for the
past decade and a half. We are not a "normal" nation and we are not going to get peace in the coming years. We are an abnormal nation in
our neighborhood and in the world and will always remain so, as is our right. Our people must be ready to sacrifice for the survival of
the state and the defense of our freedom to be abnormal. We need leadership that will tell the Israeli people that a struggle awaits us but that our democracy, our freedom, and our values give us the power of creative thought that will allow us to beat the dull forces of jihad that surround us.
In response to Assad's speech on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that Assad has to decide if he's on the side of peace or
on the side of war. Defense Minister Amir Peretz outdid even that when he said that now that the war is over, it is time for Israel to get down to the real business of peace and to set the conditions for a renewal of the peace negotiations with Syria.
In so responding to Assad's unequivocal warmongering, our leaders again have shown us that they have learned nothing and are incapable
of learning anything from the disaster into which they led us with Hizbullah in Lebanon. There is no missile that is capable of
penetrating their walls of self-deception and delusion. They are blind and deaf to all evidence that their way of appeasement has
failed.
With the Olmert government's stubborn insistence that Israel won the war it just lost, with the General Staff's absurd statements that the
mission was successful, it is clear that both our political and military leadership must be replaced as quickly as possible. Our enemies give us no time for hesitation. They plan their next wars in broad daylight as our leaders squawk in the darkness of their ideological stupor.
164 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This piece, like many others today is from Sergio Tezza. Sarah Feld puts her finger on the problem with her title "Lions of Judah or Ghetto Mice?"
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Lions of Judah or Ghetto Mice
by Sarah Feld
Aug 22, '06 / 28 Av 5766
The left-wing Kadima party-led government proclaims that it is too tired to fight and too afraid to succeed. Incongruous with their status as heads of the Jewish state, it seems they are embarrassed to be genetically identified as Jews. Ehud Olmert's ghetto mentality disregards the legendary military might Israel has developed, with G-d's blessing. He is copiously supported in his desperate policies by Mrs. Olmert and her "Peace Now With No Concern For the Future"-sponsored Women in Black. It was that fearful ghetto outlook that harassed the government into a hasty retreat six years ago, preparing the way for this latest volatile war, extensive terrorist arsenals and so many deaths.
In inverse contrast are the Israelis who have withstood the delusional left-wing media spin of the withdrawal-surrender-war cycle. These include, but are not limited to, the wonderful families in the idealistic "orange" communities. They are not afraid to win.
Jewish tradition lists rules for warfare that military strategists have often referred to. "The best defense is a good offense" is a derivative of "rise first to kill the one who is coming to kill you." The bottom line is evident: those who are tolerant of depravity will become cruel to those who are good. We must annihilate evil people before they can destroy the innocent.
The liberated Jewish mentality accepts triumph with pride. With G-d's help, we are capable and determined to defend our lives and our land. There are liberated, thinking Jews and their supporters who are not afraid to defend themselves, their families or their homes. They do not have a fear of appearing as ruthless occupiers. They aren't running from tyrants. They are committed defend truth, justice and their nation with strength and courage.
My son shared the dilemma of the emergency call up to war with thousands of others. He was recently released from the regular army, where he was trained to fight on the front lines as a demolitions expert in the elite parachutist corps. When the Israeli government's declared mission was to rescue kidnapped soldiers, protect Israeli citizens and annihilate the terrorist invaders, he was resolute to join the war effort.
Then, the politicians of small, ghetto mentalities distorted the objectives. They could not stomach offending the non-Jewish world: 'Israel would just like to push Hizbullah back a bit, if you please, until about the Litani River, more or less. We would not want to seriously hurt the terrorist infrastructure, just get a little breathing space, if you please. Maybe we'll check out how the kidnapped soldiers are faring and then we'll try to figure out some kind of diplomatic resources so maybe they can be released at some future time. Then, when everything is just like it was, without us conquering anyone, of course, we'll go ahead and give away some more land in the territories so that everyone will like us even more.'
Tens of thousands of reservists were milling at the border awaiting orders to fight. Simultaneously, many soldiers at the front were being targeted as they sat, pending orders to proceed - or not. Many of our finest were victims of disastrous, politically correct considerations.
What was a courageous soldier to do? Should he go to fight a hasty, poorly organized, strategically shoddy war with irresolute objectives? Would his sacrifice make any difference?
Thanks to the prime minister's untimely declaration, my son learned that if they won, they were potentially laying the groundwork for the removal of 100,000 Jews, including his own family, from their lands and homes. If he would not come home, then his widow and as-yet-unborn first child would be at the mercy of those who sent him to fight.
Clearly, as we learned from Gush Katif, this government does not exhibit mercy. David Hatuel, whose pregnant wife and four young daughters were murdered at point blank range by Hamas terrorists, was evicted. Chanan Vizner, whose father was stabbed to death while coming home from the synagogue on the Passover holiday, was evicted. The bereaved families of fallen soldiers, whose exhumed remains caused excruciating anguish, were evicted.
It is criminal that our heroic young men should be demoralized by the frightened, indecisive ghetto thinking of his country's prime minister.
It is criminal to fight a war that we strategically aim to lose - or minimally, are too tired to win.
It is criminal that we have agreed to a cease-fire that excludes release of our kidnapped soldiers, the disarming of Hizbullah and destruction of the terrorist infrastructure, including their sources in Syria and Iran, and establishing sane borders.
It is criminal that the precious lives of our soldiers and citizens are deemed by the ghetto thinkers to be less worthy than lives of non-Jews and non-Israelis, including our enemies.
It is criminal to know that this war could lay the groundwork for another withdrawal, forcing some 100,000 Jews to become the new refugees.
It is criminal to set the stage for missiles to attack our entire nation from a third front, the decimated communities of Judea and Samaria.
Those who are behind these criminal actions against the Jewish nation should be brought to justice now.
It is time for the Land of Israel to be ruled by proud Jewish leaders who have exorcised the ghetto fear of fighting to destroy evil. It is time for the Jewish people to roar like the Lion of Judah and stop squeaking like a ghetto mouse.
165 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This was received in the inbox frfom Aryeh Zelasko - another hardhitting piece by Caroline Glick. He received this courtesy of IMRA
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
War hero Emanuel Morano's legacy vs Olmert's war against the Jews
Our World: Emanuel Morano's legacy
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 22, 2006
At around 4 a.m. Saturday, Lt. Col. Emanuel Morano, a senior commander in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal), was killed in a fierce battle with Hizbullah fighters near Baalbek in the Bekaa valley not
far from the Lebanese-Syrian border.
From the details of the commando raid that have filtered into the media, we learned that Morano and his men were airdropped into the area by helicopter along with their two Hummer vehicles, with the mission of attacking a Hizbullah base in the nearby village of Bodei used by the Iranian-sponsored guerrilla fighters for weapons smuggling.
Iran is now working steadily to replenish Hizbullah's surface to surface and anti-tank missile stocks and augment them with anti-aircraft missiles.
Israel's continued sea and air blockade of Lebanon, which Kofi Annan is pushing the Olmert government to lift, forces Iran to resupply Hizbullah by land through Syria and into the Bekaa valley.
Morano and his men were discovered by Hizbullah fighters around the heavily guarded enclave and a pitched battle ensued. Morano was killed, another officer was seriously wounded and a third was wounded lightly. At least three Hizbullah fighters were killed and two were reportedly taken prisoner.
Close air support from helicopters and fighter planes prevented Hizbullah reinforcements from participating in the battle or encircling the IDF commandos who were extracted - with their casualties and prisoners - after a prolonged firefight.
Morano, 35, was a hero. He was admired and respected by his soldiers and officers. Those who knew him well agree that his most outstanding features were his humility and his Zionism. Morano lived modestly with his wife Maya and three young children in Moshav Tlamim by Sderot. He never wore his uniform in his community - he wasn't interested in people knowing how senior an officer he was. He was in the IDF to serve his country and his people,
not for the glory. He was a loyal son of Jerusalem.
EXACTLY A year before his death, Morano's humility and dedication to serving his country brought him to perform a different sort of nocturnal mission.
Every night last August - until precisely 52 weeks before his death - he snuck into Gush Katif to bring food to his brother David and his family who were besieged along with the rest of the residents of Gush Katif by a force of some 50,000 IDF and police forces. These forces, who outnumbered the forces sent into Lebanon to fight Hizbullah a year later by 20,000, were
under orders not to fight Israel's enemies, but to expel loyal, patriotic Israeli citizens from their homes and communities, destroy their homes and communities and abandon their land to Hamas and Fatah control.
David Morano is a major in reserves in another elite IDF unit. Last year in Neve Dekalim he challenged the IDF to find one soldier who would be capable of throwing him and his family out of their home. Taking David's point and seeking to avoid embarrassment, the senior brass of the IDF beat a steady path to his door, attempting to convince him that he must leave. Sitting in a modestly furnished, book-lined living room, David repeatedly demanded to be told the strategic rationale of the expulsions. Why were
these senior commanders following orders to surrender land to terrorists? Why were they turning 8,500 Jews into refugees in the Land of Israel in order to carry out a mission conceived by a prime minister desperate to avoid a felony indictment on corruption charges from the radical leftist state prosecution? David kept repeating over and over again that this was
not the reason he and his four brothers served as combat officers in the IDF. He warned over and over again that expelling the Israelis from Gaza would strengthen Israel's enemies and lead directly to another war.
NONE OF the officers who spoke to David could provide him with answers. The most they could do was lend a sympathetic ear as they suggested he start packing his bags. They could not convince him to leave.
In the end, the events had their own momentum. By Friday afternoon, David and his family were more or less the only family left on their street.
Everyone else had been expelled Thursday. Over the Sabbath, the remaining Jews of Neve Dekalim darted around in the shadows avoiding arrests by
soldiers and police. When they gathered in the synagogue, they were momentarily heartened to see that a couple hundred were still on hand.
But their spirits were broken. By the end of the next week, they were all refugees, their homes and communities laid to waste by IDF bulldozers. Their abandoned synagogues awaited destruction at the hands of Palestinian mobs which came three weeks later.
Some of the most charged moments at David's home last summer came when he expressed his indignation over the way that IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and his generals daily insulted the religious Zionist
community. Halutz threatened to bar the youths who protested the expulsions from serving in the military. Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, who as then OC Southern Command commanded the expulsions, talked about "a lost generation," and
demanded an accounting by the heads of the religious Zionist public for their children who refused to accept the legitimacy of the expulsions. Maj. Gen. Benny Ganz, who then served as OC Northern Command, claimed that the
youth who protested the expulsions were a greater danger to Israel than Hizbullah.
And yet, over the past year, after in many cases having to submit to humiliating interrogations by the Shin Bet, and repeated rejections by draft boards due to their "ideological fervor," thousands of the youths who protested last summer's expulsions were drafted into the army. Like Emmanuel and David Morano and their three older brothers, these soldiers make up the
backbone of the IDF's regular combat and Special Forces units. Like Emmanuel Morano, a disproportionate number of religious Zionist soldiers have died in the past month of war.
LAST WEEK, Vice Premier Shimon Peres tried to silence the growing calls for the government and the members of the General Staff to resign by saying that this is no time for a war between the Jews. His statement is an insult to
the intelligence. Demanding accountability from incompetent political and military leaders who
led us into defeat against an enemy we could and should have beaten is not opening a civil war. It is the proper response from a responsible public that understands our leaders are incapable of defending the country.
Indeed, if Peres is concerned about the possibility of a war between the Jews, then he should be the first one calling for the government to resign.
The Olmert government was elected with a platform explicitly committed to carrying out a war against the Jews through the conduct of mass expulsions of up to 100,000 Israelis from their homes and communities in Judea and Samaria.
In the midst of this month's Lebanon war, as it became increasingly clear that he lacked the will to prosecute the war to victory, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attempted to buck up his support in Europe and among the radical
Israeli Left (of which his children and wife are proud members), by saying that the war in Lebanon would pave the way for the mass expulsion of Israelis from Judea and Samaria.
Saturday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appointed a senior diplomat Yaacov Dayan as her point man for future negotiations with Syria. Her decision to appoint an envoy for talks on surrendering the Golan Heights to Syrian dictator and Iranian toady Bashar Assad came just days after Assad announced that he hates Israel, wants nothing to do with peace and is committed to Israel's destruction. In light of Assad's statements, there are two logical explanations for Livni's move. First, like her colleagues in the Olmert government who also are pushing peace talks with Assad, Livni may be stupid.
Second, Livni may have appointed Dayan in the hopes of stirring up internal fissures over the issue of land for peace. Already the radical leftists who run Israel's media are engaging in surrealistic debates about the possibility of making peace with Assad the warmonger. These debates immediately place religious Zionists on the hot seat for their stubborn insistence on settling the land which makes giving it to Israel's sworn enemies all the more difficult for people like Livni and her friends.
Last summer in Gush Katif, there was no war between the Jews. Last summer, under orders from Ariel Sharon and Olmert, the IDF and the police fought a war against the Jews. David and Emmanuel Morano didn't fight against Israel.
They didn't fight against the IDF.
The Moranos fought against insane policies that victimized 8,500 patriots for no reason other than Leftist anti-religious prejudice, and that caused Gaza to become a new base for global jihad. And then, when war came from our
emboldened enemies, as they warned it would, the Moranos loyally served beside their brothers and countrymen in defense of Israel.
When the outraged Israeli public sends this incompetent government and General Staff home, it will not be starting a war between the Jews. It will be preventing another war against the Jews.
166 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
It's about 21:00 in Israel right now and my kids managed to pick up the BBC.
The bastards are as anti-Israel as I've alleged. The conversation was about the "peacekeeping" force in Lebanon. The only person who was thanked by the host - and cut off - was a fellow who reminded everyone about how Israel had left Lebanon in 2000.
Everyone talked about how Lerbanon had been devastated by an American led war but there was not one peep about how severe the damage of the katyushas was in Israel.
I see easily now how people can think like Chris Rose and others on BC - assuming always that Israel is in the wrong no matter what it does.
167 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, you're still overly sensitized on this. I watch the BBC News along with several other channels including ITV, Fox, CNN and EuroNews. If you watched more of it you would see that it covers all sides of a story and is quite persistent and demanding with all parties.
AS I told you when you complained that the BBC was reporting more about the death and the damage done in Lebanon than about what happened in Israel, there was simply more of it, a lot more.
We are all aware of the death and damage done to Northern Israel but surely even a zealot like you wouldn't try to say that they were at all on a similar scale or extent to that suffered by Lebanon.
Your excessively partisan nature is confirmed by your closing paragraph in which you, yet again, misrepresent my views despite us having been over this ground more than once.
I have NEVER, EVER said, nor thought, that Israel is always in the wrong. So which is it on your part, outright lies or mere excessive bias? Whichever, you may want to have a think about that before criticising anybody else...
168 - Martin Lav
outright lies or mere excessive bias
One man's lie is another man's truth and if you are convinced that everyone is against you, then you have no space in your head or your heart for a different view.
169 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Martin, for many years I tried to dismiss the "the world is against us" attitude. It was relatively easy to do when I wasn't religious, and when I didn't identify too strongly with being a Jew, particularly in the vanilla white culture that was Minnesota 15 years ago.
You just turn your head and ignore - the truth.
But here, it is harder to ignore. Many secular Israelis do try, but the katyushas falling round their heads have made it hard of late. The Israelis in Zion Square who spent a month in internal exile will not forget it - neither will the Jerusalemites around them.
The truth is that the much of the Moslem world wants us dead, and that many Christian would not mind at all, much of the rest of the world doesn't give a damn, and much of the media is intimidated by Moslem violence. Those truths stand, whether you like them or not.
And you cannot escape the truth. Ask Daniel Perle's widow.
170 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
As if to prove my point, Marc, this arrived in my inbox this morning from 18 August...
Special Dispatch-Egypt/Antisemitism Documentation Project
August 18, 2006 No. 1255
The Mufti of Egypt: The True Face of the Blood-Sucking Hebrew Entity has Been Exposed
In an article in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, Egyptian Mufti Sheikh Dr. 'Ali Gum'a expressed his support of the resistance in Lebanon and stated that the lies of the "Hebrew entity" expose "the true and hideous face of the blood-suckers... who prepare [Passover] matzos from human blood."(1)
The following are excerpts from the article:
"Greetings to the Lebanese people, to the Lebanese government, and to the Lebanese resistance - to the small and beautiful country that has proved to the world that the ideals of determination, bravery and self-dignity still exist in this era that has been taken over by the blood-sucking murderers.
"Anyone who follows the news will discover that the Hebrew entity has turned into a [source] of [empty] talk, while the Arab discourse, which was characterized in the sixties [as empty talk], has developed significantly. [The Arabs] have learned a lesson and have moved from talk to action, and from the fostering of illusions to honesty, transparency, realistic goal-setting and ability to change. The Israeli discourse, [on the other hand], has turned to false declarations based on illusions, with wishful thinking taking precedence over facts.
"These lies have exposed the true and hideous face of the blood-suckers who were described by Filmange in his book 'The Treasure Hidden in the Talmudic Laws' [sic], which tells how [the Jews] planned [to prepare] a matzo [unleavened Passover bread] using human blood.(2) If we follow events, the most important thing [that we discover], in my opinion, is that the war going on [today] plants hatred in the next generations, as though one of its goals is to perpetuate the conflict for many years to come.
"A number of questions have been echoing in my mind. I tried to put them out of my mind several times, but they would not let go: Why do these foreigners come from all over the world, [speaking] many different languages, [and settle] in this small and narrow region of Palestine, in order to create so much mayhem and spill innocent blood in such a stupid manner? Why do they so unjustly insist on harming and rejecting the peace process, attacking their neighbors and occupying their lands, [while] constantly hollering that it is they who are threatened and oppressed? [Why do they insist on] destroying property, killing people, keeping the [entire] world busy [with the conflict], and violating all the principles accepted by the human [race]?
"Why are they here? Why do they receive all this support, which costs the U.S. [so much] money? What emotional or practical benefit does [the U.S.] gain [from this support]? Is it [trying to appropriate] the region's natural resources? After all, [it obtains these resources] anyway with the [full] consent [of the countries in the region], based on accepted agreements with which it is satisfied. Is this a clash of civilizations, or [is America acting] out of fear that some force will return to the region? [Is it acting out of] crazy fundamentalist tendencies, in anticipation of the [second] coming of the Messiah? Why is there need for such a large number of Israeli nuclear weapons, which threaten the existence of the entire region?...
"[I convey my] greetings to Lebanon, to the resistance, and to the [Lebanese] people, so unified and dignified, and say to them: You are
writing the pages of the nation's history, [pages of] jihad that will not be in vain. The blood of those you have lost will be a curse on your enemies. You are not only a model for people living [today], you are also lighting the path for the future generations and finding the way to repulse aggression and set priorities, teaching [us] how to fight honorably and fairly, and how to endure the crimes and sins that have taken hold of people's minds...
"All the Lebanese victims of the [Israeli] crimes were civilians, while those killed on the enemy's [side] were all soldiers. This is reality that speaks for itself, and not [empty] talk [that comes to] justify [actions], and will later be exposed as lies..."
Endnotes:
(1) Al-Ahram (Egypt), August 7, 2006.
(2) The Treasure Hidden in the Talmudic Laws (1899) is a compilation of two books, translated into Arabic by Dr. Yusuf Hana Nasrallah. The first is Der Talmudjude (1871), by the antisemitic professor August Rohling, and the other is a history of Syria from 1840, edited by Achille Lorraine. asharqalarabi.org.uk
171 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Martin,
The piece above is just a small sample of the steady barrage of Jew-hatred that infects the Egyptian main-stream media. While the accusations come from an Arab source, do note that the original idea of Jews using the blood of children to make matzot is a Christian invention. It shows up every now and then among Christians as well, who still drink the poison in their own wells...
172 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
More Fallout from Mr. Olmert's Little War
As anyone who has studied the history of the American Revolutionary War knows very well, wars cost money. Raising the money to pay for them is often problematic. Lord North's solution to paying for Britain's conquest of French Canada and French India 2½ centuries ago cost the British Empire its most valuable piece of real estate, the 13 colonies that became the United States.
The efforts of those infant states to pay for their own war expenses caused the original Articles of Confederation that bound them together to be scrapped in favor of a reform document - now known as the Constitution of the United States of America.
So, to restate, wars cost money. And the State of Israel is having a hard time coming up with the more than small change required... There is one item I put in bold in the article that follows below - a bit of hope for this immigrant living on the Hill of Incense in the mountains of Binyamín.
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from Arutz Sheva (Israel National News).
Coalition Head Has Had It With Labor, Threatens New Government
By Hillel Fendel
Coalition head Yitzchaki (Kadima) says Labor's refusal to back Kadima's proposed budget cuts, to be used to pay for the war & northern recovery efforts, means Labor must be thrown out of coalition.
Coalition whip and Kadima MK Avigdor Yitzchaki, responsible for coordinating the coalition in the Knesset, says that the refusal by two Labor MKs to back the proposed budget cuts in the Finance Committee is just about the last straw.
Labor MKs Avishai Braverman and Orit Noked said they would not vote for the proposed 1.8-billion shekel cut that would affect almost all government ministries. "I cannot continue to vote against my conscience," Braverman said. The former President of Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva entered politics on the Labor list late last year, promising to make the budget more weaker-class friendly.
The proposed budget cuts called for a 6% slash in most government ministries, except for the Public Security ministry (3%) and the Welfare and Health ministries (no cut at all). A spokesperson for MK Orit Noked explained to Arutz-7, however, that the cut would really have been an average of 9%.
For instance, the spokesperson said, 33% of the budget for housing aid for the needy was to have been cut, as well as large amounts from the Veterans Law, the development of the Galilee, the development of new industrial zones and Torah education. "The cuts would have affected the people who need the money most," she said, "cutting salaries, jobs and [money for] suppliers."
When Yitzchaki saw that he did not have the required majority for the cut, he had the vote postponed. This is the second time that Labor has thwarted the proposed cuts - and it infuriated Yitzchaki, who said he would recommend that Kadima begin coalition negotiations with other parties that might replace Labor. "The Labor Party's ministers in the government approved the cuts," he said, "and now two MKs come along and vote against?! I'm tired of these games!"
Finance Ministry officials were upset by the lack of a decision, and announced that as of tomorrow, they would not transfer reserve soldiers' salaries to their employers.
MK Braverman said he must be loyal to his voters, namely, the weaker classes, and not merely "get back to them in three years, at the next election." He said he knows that the State of Israel has the money to prevent the welfare cuts.
His party colleague, Minister Yitzchak Herzog, said in response, "This is not the time to dismantle the coalition." He said that the emergency needs now are the war effort and rebuilding the north, and other needs must take a back seat. "If you try to pull the rope from both ends, it will end up ripping," Herzog said.
The coalition currently numbers 67 MKs, comprising Kadima (29), Labor (19), Shas (12), and the Pensioners (7). Kadima has been flirting with Avigdor Lieberman's right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party (11), and with the hareidi-religious United Torah Judaism (6). Both these parties would be required to ensure a majority for a Labor-free
---------------------------------------------------
By the way, tomorrow there will be a demonstration of reservists in Jerusalem protesting the conduct of the war and demandiong a thorough investigation (along with heads on a silver platter - figurative heads, we're Jews after all).
173 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy: I am still waiting your answer to my 167.
Which is it, you are telling lies or are being overly partisan? Or are you simply going to ignore the ugly truth of it, as you normally do when reality is too inconvenient for your religious extremism?
174 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Follow-on to the previous article about a crisis in the coalition. Lots of pisssed off reservists who are not paid are one formula for a coup d'état. This is from Debkafiles
Swelling groups of protesters, led by Israeli army reservists who served in Lebanon, begin gathering outside the Knesset and prime minister`s office Tuesday
August 22, 2006, 11:27 PM (GMT+02:00)
They began organizing after hundreds of officers and men of the crack Alexandroni Brigade hurled charges against the Chief of Staff, Lt. Dan Halutz at a meeting in Hadera. One carried a banner with the motto: You prevented us from winning.
Halutz received them after signs of mutiny appeared among the brigade’s reservists " the first ever staged by a complete Israeli combat unit against the high command.
Brigade officers signed a letter in which they warned that if their willingness to fight for their country continues to be trampled on, there will be no one left to fight the next war. They spoke of a deep crisis of confidence and alienation between the officers and soldiers of the brigade and its commanders, the northern command and the general staff. The reservists repeated the grievances of other units that they were sent into battle without appropriate equipment, food or water. Worst of all, their orders were confused, contradictory and unrelated to what they found in the field. Tactical intelligence data was missing throughout the campaign, forcing them to fight blind.
Last week, the brigade’s commander, Col. Shlomi Cohen, called the protesters “impertinent” and threatened them with court martial.
When the chief of staff promised that every complaint would be thoroughly investigated, one of the participants at the showdown burst out: “Who needs an inquiry " government or judicial? The Lebanon fiasco is so glaring that it cries to heaven. We all know where responsibility lies - in the military and national leadership. They should all resign and not hide behind some probe else the crisis of confidence in the army will deepen.”
In contrast to the chief of staff, the Chief Infantry and Paratroop Officer, Brig. Yossi Maimon, admitted: We have sinned. He confessed to a deep sense of responsibility for failing to better prepare the army and reserve units for battle. “Notwithstanding the heroism the army demonstrated in combat, we are left with a strong sense of missing out,” he said.
175 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Chris,
This is from a different thread.
RiJ: "It's about noon in Spain right now. Why don't you have a spot of lunch and a glass of wine, listen to some soothing music. Don't, whatever you do, listen to breaking news. I hear the planes overhead for the second or third time today. Those nasty Zionists must be up to no good again..."
You responded: "As to your closing remark, I really hope Israel is not breaching the current uneasy ceasefire, again..."
Now let's review comment #151 on this thread.
"DEBKAfile Exclusive: Bush administration acts fast to bring France aboard the Lebanon multinational force, gives Israel tacit go-ahead for air strikes against arms trucks from Syria...
The second step taken by the Bush administration was a quiet go-ahead given by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to Israel's Dep. PM Shimon Peres for the Israeli air force to destroy trucks suspected of carrying rockets and other arms from Syria into Lebanon. Siniora agreed to turn a blind eye to this continuing Israeli air activity over Lebanon as he has for Hizballah's continued armed presence south of the Litani River."....
So, you follow the BBC (and a slew of other useful idiots in the mainstream media) and call this a truce violation. I follow Debkafiles and see that it is not exactly a truce violation, it is an American attempt to shore up the government of Prime Minister Siniora of Lebanon (and possibly that of Olmert as well).
This is just one isolated example of what I'm talking about. Now the point here is not that you view Israel at fault all the time - you may not - but based on the kind of news coverage you get from the BBC and CNN (can't comment on the others) it is easy to see why you would have the views you do.
And while you may not view Israel at fault all the time, in all your correspondence with me that is how it appears, even though you may never have written those words.
I call it as I see it, Chris. I have 20/30 vision in both eyes with corrective lenses, and that is not perfect vision. And as you well know, I'm big enough to apologize when I'm wrong.