The Katzav Connection
Moshe Katzav was elected to replace Ezer Weitzmann, who had quit because of corruption charges which were on the verge of being proven. In Israel, the state president is elected by the Knesset, the Parliament, and like in Germany, is a position with little power. The man who ran against Moshe Katzav, the man who was the odds on favorite to win the position, was - have you guessed it yet? If you haven't, the man was none other than Shimon Peres. Mr. Peres lost this election, as he lost so many others.
But now Mr. Katzav, who is the perfect picture of a head of state, is in trouble himself. Gershon Baskin reports that Katzav may be forced to resign himself. Several charges have been laid against him, and there is a very good chance that the Knesset will again have to choose a president. If so, there is a very good chance that Shimon Peres will finally get the position he has been angling for a number of years now. But I think there is more to this than just Peres becoming head of state. Mr. Peres is an admirer of the French government, and I suspect that there is a very good chance that Peres will suggest (indeed, more than suggest) reorganizing the Israeli executive echelon along the French model, arguing that this would give the country the stability it truly needs. The traitor will pretend to be a savior of the nation.
At the appropriate time, the jowly old man, whether he is president or not (Peres is in his 80's,) will ask for NATO help to accomplish what he will feel he cannot on his own, the forcible evacuation of Jews from northern Samaria. The NATO forces will enter the country and attempt the evacuation. At some point, either during this attempted evacuation, or not too long afterwards, but within 2½ years for sure, Iran will attack. The deferral period will be over and a war will have begun.
It's just a guess, and I could be wrong. I have been before. But the elements I've outlined here are the elements of the events that I'll be looking for over the next 30 months or so.
In Chapter 32 of Devarim(Deuteronomy), the following is written about the enemies of Israel,
"Mine is vengeance and retribution at the time that their foot will falter, for the day of their catastrophe is near, and future events are rushing at them."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Thank you for your help on this, Mark... Thank you very much.
2 - sharon grindle
Extremely informative. I try to emerse myself in everything Israel, from politics too popular trends and everything inbetween. What I am most interested in is how modern day politics and history line up to present themselfs as proof of the Bible's validity, relevance and predicter of things to come. I have learned quite alot from your article. Thank you. Let's pray that it doesn't play out that way. What do you think about Bibi, he also argued for "land for peace" is he singing a different tune these days?
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"What I am most interested in is how modern day politics and history line up to present themselves as proof of the Bible's validity, relevance and predicter of things to come."
Join the club, Sharon. The line forms to the left, over there. See that guy with the beard and the broadbrimmed hat selling backscratchers for a couple of dollars a piece? You're right behind him. If you get hungry, go to Moshiko's on ben Yehuda for some great falafel or shwarma and some pear nectar...
Seriously, thank you for your kind words.
As for Bibi, when he figures out that a poor person has the same dignity as a rich one, and when he stops following the prescriptions of the IMF to impoverish this country, then I'll listen to him and see if he has anything worthwhile to say. So far, he sounds like the same bought out opportunist he was a decade ago. Of course, I didn't know he was a bought out opportunist a decade ago. But that's just my opinion.
Effie Eitam, a guy with a beard and a kippah, is also singing the "land for peace chorus" scripted in Washington these days too, so praying three time a day doesn't make you any better than a guy who enoys shrimp cocktail in restaurants on Friday nights. If you are "treif" (non-kosher) in your heart, it doesn't matter which rabbis bless your food.
Hmmm... Where have I seen that concept before?
4 - Jet in Columbus
Will I need a secret password Ruvy??? ...See that guy with the beard and the broadbrimmed hat selling backscratchers for a couple of dollars a piece? You're right behind him. If you get hungry, go to Moshiko's on ben Yehuda for some great falafel or shwarma and some pear nectar...
5 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
What password, Jet? You need 7 shekels for the pear nectar, 12 shekels for the falafel, 22 shekels for the shwarma, and 10 shekels for the backscratcher (these are all actual prices, by the way, and Moshiko's has been around for an awful long time, as has the guy selling backscratchers) A purple 50 shekel note will buy all of this and you'll be absolutely stuffed afterwords. If you want a 1.5 liter bottle of water as well, it will cost you another 7 shekels, so you'll need that purple 50 shekel note, a five shekel coin, and a one shekel coin...
Shekels are the secret password, Jet. As King Solomon wrote, "money answers all things..."
Actually, there is no secret password. The trick to all of this is putting away the Christian book, picking up a Hebrew Bible and reading, while studying the geography of this country (preferably while visiting).
Saying that the Bible is nothing but a novel or stupid superstition may sound OK elsewhere. Here it won't wash. The evidence is just too damned overwhelming and the Bible is, if nothing else, a geographic guide to the country. When you read some of the dialogues in it and listen to Israelis and the way they argue, you realize that it also the psychological guide to this country and much of its culture...
Last night, I was patrolling a "trampiada" (a hitchhiking station) located at the edge of the city where several very busy highways merge into a number of busy roads. Hitchhikers looking for a "tramp" (that's British English) stood in the middle of the road with fingers extended looking for a ride. Many of them wear the black coats of the Haredím, so at night, they are somewhat hard to see.
I get annoyed at seeing this. A jackass has more brains and I keep wondering which rabbi teaches them to do this. You're supposed to LIVE to perform the commandments, not die like as jackass in the middle of the road! To illustrate how litte people resprct cops here, when I say this in English to my partner, those standing in the middle of the road, if they hear this, will often move very close to the sidewalk. When I tell them in Hebrew to get on the sidewalk, they often argue with me.
Anyhow, I'm not supposed to be saying things like this as it lowers the esteem in which these people who stand in the middle of the road may be held by others. But you get the idea...
The point is that this behavior is so stupid and suicidal - and yet there has not been a single accident at this trampiada where someone has been run over and killed. G-d is certainly watching over these not terribly overbright individuals....
If He is watching over them, He is watching over me - and you too.
6 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I shouldn't let myself get carried away like this. The topic is news analysis, not the habits of people who want to tramp a ride here...
7 - Nancy
Ruvy, I thought at least a part of the christian bible WAS the hebrew torah? Isn't that what the first 5 books of the O.T. are?
8 - Nancy
As usual, excellently analyzed & written; I have to keep re-reading it to keep it all straight, lol. Another question: why on earth would the educated, secular elites support the mullahs or any other religious goons, anymore than I would contribute to some organized religion here myself? I should think that would be the last thing they'd be doing.
9 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Nancy, those are two excellent questions.
The first point. The Hebrew Bible consists of the Torah, Prophecy and Writings. It ends with the Books of Chronicles, a record of the doings of the kings of Israel and Judah until both nations were destroyed.
Christians have a series of books that begin with the four gospels, and continue on with a number of what appear to be letters, and end with a book of revelation. That is generally their scripture. The Catholics append to this the books of the Maccabees. There are a number of other works, like the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees and the like that talk about ancient Israel, etc...
The second point about why the financial elites of Iran support the mullahs. It is healthier than being tortured or killed.
10 - Nancy
So, their support of the mullahs is more like state-sponsored blackmail.
Ruvy, FYI the christian bible consists of TWO parts: the old testament (OT) & the new. The new is as you described it: 4 books followed by letters, ending with an apocalyptic prediction. But the bigger part of the bible is the OT, which consists of the 5 books of the torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy); the 12 hebrew histories from Joshua to Esther; 5 poetic books including proverbs, Job, Solomon, Ecclesiastes and the psalms; and finally the 17 books of the prophets; surely you know that. Additionally, the RC version tacks on a few chapters called the apocrypha, which are not generally accepted as genuine by all christian sects, & not even all RC bibles have them anymore.
The christian bible isn't just the NT. If you leave out the OT, you kind of decorticate the entire basis for the NT & the teachings of Yeshua ben Miriam.
11 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Thank you for clarifying this. It has been my experience in the past that Christians tend to ignore the Hebrew Bible, except where it appears to justify various tenets of their own branch of Christianity, which is why I characterized their scripture as I did.
12 - Nancy
Nope. The entire NT is postulated on the Old. Those that ignore this are working with only half a motor, as it were. Or half a religion. Kinda like those folks who forget Jesus was a Jew...? What's that old saw: "if King James English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me"? In fact, there's a feeling among some christians that, St. Peter aside, perhaps they should observe Jewish customs? I myself have a mezuzah on my door (altho not on every single one, like you're supposed to). Anything that's a blessing is a good thing.
13 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Now it is time for some news. If I had nopt seen some of the other crap pulled off by courts in this country, I would not believe it. But I have seen, and I do.
Terrorists Attacked You?? State of Israel: "Pay them!" Honenu: "Oh, no!!"
Based on an article by Yair Shapira, Besheva newspaper, 7/9/06
Almost a decade ago, Dr. Michael Ezer, a historian and former USSR refusenik who had made aliya to Kedumim, Israel, was stoned on his way home. Several dozen Palestinians blocked the road and lobbed large rocks at the car, smashing the car windows including the front windshield. Dr. Ezer managed to escape, and even to apprehend one of the attackers, Tsafadi, who had slipped, rock in hand, when trying to run away. Dr. Ezer transported Tsafadi to the nearest army patrol and handed him over.
End of story? No. Believe it or not, the State Prosecutor's office insisted on prosecuting -- no, not Tsafadi for an attempted lynch -- only Dr. Ezer was indicted: for "assaulting" and "kidnapping" Tsafadi, of course. In parallel, no action whatever was initiated
against Tsafadi; in fact Tsafadi and his cohorts were never even questioned. An Israeli court dutifully convicted Dr. Ezer of assault
-- because he had held Tsafadi by the ear, although no ill-effects of this "violence" were discovered by the doctor who examined Tsafadi
just after the event -- nor did Tsafadi complain of such.
The story goes on. An Arab organization discovered Tsafadi's "cause" and, enthused by the verdict, filed a civil suit against Tsafadi's
near-victim -- Dr. Michael Ezer. The Israeli courts ruled against Dr. Ezer again, and he was recently ordered to pay 48,000 NIS (about
$10,000) to his own attacker, Tsafadi.
Not to be outdone, Dr. Ezer countered with a civil suit of his own against Tsafadi. Surely, he reasoned, the emotional distress felt by
someone who is stoned by a mob, barely escaping with his life, must be larger than the emotional distress one experiences if someone merely holds you by the ear. Surely? Not in modern Israel. The judge who heard the case rejected it. Dr. Ezer was told that Tsafadi owed him nothing.
Dr. Michael Ezer, a man of very modest means (his criminal conviction also had the effect of torpedoing his modest academic career) is now
stuck with a bad verdict, a bad precedent (that is, bad for the Jewish people -- not for him personally) -- and only one more chance to appeal. Honenu*, the legal aid fund, is now raising the funds that are needed to mounting a spirited defense on behalf of Dr. Michael
Ezer.
If this succeeds, it will fend off an avalanche of future Palestinian "court cases" filed on behalf of Palestinian perpetrators -- against
their own Jewish victims. If this fails, contributions will be needed so that Dr. Ezer can pay the verdict rather than being harrassed
further by Tsafadi.
*Just a brief note here. Honenu is a legal aid fund that exists to aid Jews attacked by Arabs because the Israel Human Rights Association does not believe that Jews have human rights and will not help a Jew, either against an Arab or against illegal prosecution by the government.
The Israel government has placed the fellow ho runs the Honenu website under administrative detention, and the website has been inoperative.
14 - Nancy
This is almost as outrageous as some US "justice".
15 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
More news:
Malcolm Hoenlein* fuming about Iranian Presidents visit to UN
Jewish leaders in New York are spurning a request from the Council on Foreign Relations to meet with the president of Iran when he arrives for the U.N. General Assembly.The vice president for communications at the **Council on Foreign Relations, Lisa Shields, confirmed yesterday that President Ahmadinejad has been invited to address members of the council.
“Our invitation to Ahmadinejad is no different than our invitation to other heads of states during the General Assembly,” she said. “We have had an invitation out over the years to the Iranians as they come to the United Nations. This year they accepted.”
“I think this is outrageous,” the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, said. “Ahmadinejad has proven that dialogue serves no useful purpose except to give him legitimacy and recognition. How can you have a dialogue with someone who says he is guided by the hidden imam who died in the ninth century?”
Mr. Hoenlein added that he declined the council’s invitation. His organization is organizing a protest against Mr. Ahmadinejad.
The national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, said that initially the Iranian president was invited to a dinner at the council.
“This was over the top,” Mr. Foxman, who also declined the council’s invitation to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad, said. “It’s one thing to invite him to hear his views. But it’s something else to break bread with him.”
Mr. Foxman added, “He has a right to address the United Nations. Anything beyond that is a courtesy he has not earned. For someone who publicly and continuously denies the Holocaust, and for someone who continuously threatens to wipe off the face of the map Israel, a member of the United Nations, is certainly not one with whom decent people should dialogue.”
The Iranian leader said last month that he was backing the U.N.-brokered cease-fire between Israel and the Iranian-funded Hezbollah until the Jewish state could be destroyed. Beyond his hostility to Jews and Israel, Mr. Ahmadinejad has overseen a purge of Iran’s universities.
*A year ago, Malcolm Hoenlein expressed pride in the qvisling government's decision to expel 10,000 Israeli citizens from their homes in Jewish Gaza and north Samaria.
**The Council of Foreign Relations was the world's first think tank, and what its funders (the Rockefellers, Morgans, Harrimans, etc.) wanted it to think about was how to infiltrate the American government to make sure there would never be the kinds of losses suffered by its funders during the Great War. And there weren't. The Dulles brothers saw to that after the continuation of the Great War, WWII (see works by John Loftus or Joel Bainerman). The CFR regularly issues position papers on foreign affairs, and its position papers very often, if not always, become foreign policy adopted by the American state department.
In this article, I postulated that a deal would be cut essentially deferring a war between America and Iran with the price being Israel, Jews, and non-Shia residents of Lebanon. I wouldn't be surprised if this deal was cut at this meeting.
16 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The folloing is an essay by Dr. Eugene Narrett, a professor of classics.
NON-ALIGNED NATIONS, Sept. 17, 2006, -- EN
The non-aligned nations are composed of multi-textured lies. They are states, not nations; artificial states created in almost every case by western imperial powers during the past six or so decades. Few if any of them consist of a people unified by a language, religion, customs, distinct history, form of government and sense of their own unique identity over a lengthy period of time. This is a nation. The so-called non-aligned nations are not nations, they are imperial puppet-states that bite the hands that feed and, in various ways, continue to direct them.
There are 118 of these lies built of lies scarring the face of God's good earth...
Nor are these states neutral, fair or, as they have it, non-aligned, as their recent confab and closing pronouncements show. They unanimously blame Israel for its attacks in the Lebanon. Apparently their fair judgment is that Jews should be showered with rockets, kidnapped and murdered without fighting back.
Let's see, that aligns them with the Nazis and against the lives of the Jewish people. Jews aren't able to fight back and live in Islamic or Hispanic states, either, which is what most of these states are. Once again, the inquisition and the crescent work in synchronization.
These states did not condemn Hizballah, a branch of the Iranian army that attacked Israel and that for three decades has vowed it will annihilate Israel. This is a committment to genocide; the annihilation of a member UN state also is against the UN chareter (the so called non-aligned states are about two -thirds of the UN).
So here is another proof that the UN, whose creation was justified by the shoah, was formed by the powers and their clients in order to continue the shoah by attrition (though they tried to do it quickly in 1948 and 1967).
Thus, the UN is basically a fascist and neo-Nazi organization. Not surprisingly, the non-aligned states, like the UN also blamed America for nearly everything for which it blamed Israel, and more.
Here's another proof: the original, already too late UN "deadline" for Iran to provide information on its uranium enrichment program was July 12. Via Hizballah, it attacked Israel so, after some pushing by America, the UN gave it an extension to August 31. Aryan Nation ignored that, and now the non-aligned states, so called, and the UN want to give it another extension. It seems that for the world community [sic] the real DEADLINE is when it produces a FLAT-LINE where Israel is...
Iran's "Mahdi scouts" are modeled on the Hitler Youth and like them are taught to hate and annihilate the Jews. They use the Nazi salute; Iran means "Aryan" in Farsi...
The reason that Israel and America remain within the so-called world community of murderers, slave-traders, drug-dealers, thieves and thugs testifies to the treacherous attitudes of the diplomats in the targeted as well as the targeting states.
Ahmadinejad should be arrested (accoriding to the UN charter, let alone laws of the United States) when he arrives in NY. Instead, Colin Powell wants President Bush to debate the lunatic.
The powers are pursuing their goal of blotting out the name and memory of Israel. Thanks to the quislings in America's (and Israel's) diplomatic service, they may succeed, to their own cost, and to ours.
17 - Martin Lav
It is daylight in Afghanistan. There are many unwelcome fires there, and, many, many human beings are trying to put them out.
-Kurt Vonnegut
18 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Time to post more news:
This is a couple of days old, but it drives home again why the leaders on government hill are qvuislings in the worst sense.
Ehud Olmert spoke often of the need for post-Disengagement "internal reconciliation" with the pro-Land of Israel public. His gov't is now busy arresting many of that public's most active members.
Nationalist Camp Loyalists Arrested, Detained, and More
By Hillel Fendel -
A large ad published in Haaretz in early August 2005, just before the Disengagement from Gush Katif and northern Shomron, proclaimed that a campaign had begun to promote "mending the rift within our people" the day after the expulsion.
In July of 2005, it was Ehud Olmert - then a Likud minister and front-man for Ariel Sharon - who kicked off the campaign himself. He declared that immediately after the Disengagement, the country must concentrate entirely on two issues: internal reconciliation and solving social problems.
More recently - this past May, when he presented his new government - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, “I am convinced, with all my heart, that it [partition of the land] is necessary and that we must do it with dialogue, internal reconciliation and broad consensus.”
Yet recent measures taken by the authorities show that he and his government are not taking that approach.
Arrests for Expulsion Refusals
Over the past two weeks, close to 20 reserve soldiers living in Judea and Samaria have been arrested - for refusing, a year ago, to take part in the expulsion of Jews.
Some of them were given suspended sentences, but at least two - from Tekoa and Yitzhar - have been incarcerated for 25-28 days each.
House Arrest and Deportation
Another resident of Yitzhar, Ariel Gruner - married with one child, eight months old - was placed in administrative detention earlier this summer. He is now under house arrest, and faces deportation this week to a non-religious community in the Jordan Valley. His crime: resistance to the evacuation and destruction of the hilltop community on which he lives. He says that it appears that the government is set to proceed with the destruction of several outposts in Judea and Samaria, despite the security situation.
Another nine people have received orders to leave Yitzhar as well. One of them, Boaz Albert, has a wife and five children, from whom he is to be separated for a full year. Three other citizens have been ordered to leave their homes in Maon and Brachah, for various durations of time of several months each.
In a small community outside Shilo, the hilltop of Achiyah, Hanoch Albert was briefly arrested today for violating his terms of house arrest. He, too, is scheduled to be deported this week to a non-religious community near Jericho - not the same one as Gruner.
Warning Arrests
Also today, Rabbi Yossi Paley, a teacher and rabbi in the yeshiva in Yitzhar, was arrested for an article he wrote five years ago. The police claimed he was arrested on charges of "inciting his students to attack Arabs." The article in question, however, was written "for study and not for practice," as are many scholarly Jewish articles of this type, on the issue of Maimonides' approach to various relevant issues. Paley was released several hours afterwards.
Similarly, three months ago, the head of the Yitzhar yeshiva, Rabbi Itzik Shapira, was arrested and released the same day because of what he had written.
Teenaged Girl Remains in Jail
Elsewhere in Israel, a 15-year-old girl who has been in jail for two months was nearly released today - but in the end, was merely transferred to the N'vei Tirtzah prison for women. Originally arrested on charges of interfering with Arab olive growers - whose groves are often used to camouflage attacks on Jews - she refuses to recognize or cooperate with the court system, and certainly not to show up for court hearings. She is now being held for refusing to agree to show up to future court sessions.
Though others in this situation have ultimately been released after a number of weeks, there is no sign of Judge Ori Ben-Dor relenting in this case. The girl's grandmother nearly signed for her today, but in the end, she was persuaded not to by the girl's older sister. The older sister faced a similar situation herself in the past, but had her stubbornness pay off in the form of an unconditional release. She told her grandmother that if she signed, the younger girl would be required to show up for future court hearings and lose a monetary deposit - thus that her two months in prison would have been for naught. The grandmother backed down.
The girl's next hearing has been scheduled for two months from now. A person close to the case told Arutz-7 that even the prosecutor is aware of the lack of justice in keeping a teenaged girl in prison for so long: "The prosecutor reminded the judge that even if he believes it is her own fault for remaining in prison, he must still schedule court hearings as frequently as possible in order to end the case once and for all - but he doesn't seem to care."
Released to House Arrest - Again
In one positive development, Shimshon Cytryn - the 19-year-old yeshiva student charged with attempted murder of an Arab rock-thrower in Gush Katif last summer - was released to house arrest yesterday. He had already been out on house arrest, but was re-arrested several weeks ago while in the course of delivering supplies to the war-battered north.
Shimshon's family issued a special announcement to thank the Honenu civil rights organization for its help. Honenu has similarly helped many of those mentioned in this article. Cytryn was arrested in the alleged “lynching” attempt during a rock-fight between Arabs and Jews. Though many, including then-OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, said nothing even resembling a lynching had occurred, while others feel that the case is trumped-up, Cytryn now awaits trial on charges that could land him in prison for 20 years. For more information, click here and here.
Mother of Six
In yet another case, mother-of-six (and daughter of a long-time Soviet refusenik from Moscow) Miriam Adler was in court today, after having been violently arrested several weeks ago. Her story:
"We lived last year in Sa-Nur, one of the four Shomron communities destroyed in the Disengagement. My husband and I were both placed in jail, in administrative detention, for the two critical weeks of the expulsion, so that our children had to go through it without us.
"When they arrested me, it was very violent; the police charged me with violence, and I charged them with the same. My complaint was of course ignored, but their charges that I had attacked a policeman were taken very seriously. They called me in several times and I didn't show up. Finally, three weeks ago, instead of conducting the hearings without me, as they often do in these cases, the judge decided to order my arrest.
"The police came with a very large force to our home in Tal Menashe, and it took them five hours to get past all the protestors and finally arrest me. I was in jail overnight, and then in the morning they threatened me that I would sit in prison until the end of the proceedings against me. I admitted defeat - I have children at home, and I couldn't allow myself to remain in prison; I was even afraid that they would take my baby away from me - and so I agreed to their conditions. I will show up at future hearings, but I will not participate, and I will not actively defend myself. I refuse to recognize this justice system.
"True, this State was to be the beginning of our Redemption, but I'm not so sure anymore. In any event, I care about it and about our People too much to merely go along with them, as if this were some foreign country. This country is mine, and I feel a responsibility to the People of Israel, and I hope that my gestures will be a step along the right path."
Concluding Reminder
Ariel Gruner, under house arrest and awaiting possible deportation, sums up:
"The situation won't improve until we have a leadership that truly wants Redemption, and until we once again remember our national destiny."
19 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
It's late in Jerusalem, and it's time to post some news. Yesterday, I had to go to Jerusalem to pick up some prescriptions and medicine for my wife. I sat on the bus for three hours because there were roadblocks in place for fear of terror attacks. The roadblocks were for entry into Jerusalem, as well as the center fo the country.
The security situtation is beginning to rot away. The theme of the story that follows is on that rot. Carolyn Glick's article Israel's strategic rot is from 18 September.
Again last week our hopes were raised, only to be dashed once more. OC Northern Command Major General Udi Adam raised our hopes when he
resigned his command. Adam, the first of our incompetent leaders to leave his job after mishandling the war against Hizbullah this
summer, made us think that perhaps other incompetents in the IDF and the government would follow his example.
Our hopes were also raised later in the week when former IDF chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Ya'alon made public his demand
that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and his successor, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, quit or be forced from office due to
their mismanagement of the war.
Charging at the heels of Ya'alon's frontal assault were the retired generals. In a meeting with Halutz Friday afternoon the IDF elders,
too, told him he must go. And Halutz isn't the only commander who needs to resign.
During the meeting, one of the retired generals read aloud an order of battle authored by Division 91 Commander Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsh, who
led much of the ground operation in Lebanon. Hirsh ordered his forces to conduct "a massive infiltration with a small signature, charge,
quick deployment in the commanding territories and the creation of cataclysmic contact with the
built-up areas while inducing shock and awe."
Got that? While the incoherent order evoked laughter in the audience, as one of the generals commented to Yediot Aharonot: "It is more sad
than funny. It sounds like a poem, not an order of battle."
Clearly the IDF is due for a serious house-cleaning. But Halutz, like Olmert and Peretz, refuses to follow Adam's example and go away.
LIKE OLMERT and Peretz, Halutz justifies his refusal to take responsibility for his failure and resign by arguing that letting someone else try to succeed where he failed would be irresponsible.
Halutz will fix Halutz's mistakes.
But his investigation of the war's operational and tactical management makes you wonder. Division 91's operations are being reviewed by none other than Brig.-Gen. Hirsh - who has asked to extend his command.
So if Halutz won't quit and his investigations won't solve the problems, then we place our hopes in the newly appointedWinograd
Commission, which received a governmental mandate Sunday to investigate the war.
The committee, chaired by a retired judge and manned by a law professor, a political scientist and two retired generals,received a broad mandate for investigation. Not only is it empowered to investigate the conduct of the war and the preparations leading up to the war, it has been mandated to investigate the actions of past governments and IDF General Staffs going back to "the period when Hizbullah first began fortifying itself along the border."
That is, the committee will investigate how successive governments and IDF General Staffs contended with the Hizbullah threat as it grew
since the IDF withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000.
It isn't clear what professional qualifications the members of the committee have to judge military and policy blunders. But assuming
that its members are competent to fulfill their mandate, is there room for hope that this committee of retirees can fix what needs to
be fixed?
Unfortunately, no matter how talented its members may be, the Winograd Commission has no chance of fixing what is broken in the IDF, or in the government. Its failure is preordained by its mandate.
THE OPERATIONAL and tactical failures of the brigade, division and regional commanders in the war did not come out of thin air. They stemmed from a basic strategic misreading of reality which has informed all governments from 1999 until today.
That strategic failure does not relate to what Israel did or did not do after the withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.
The strategic error that stands at the root of the latest war, as well as at the root of the war with the Palestinians is the IDF's
withdrawal from south Lebanon itself and the erroneous thinking that caused it. By beginning the inquiry into the latest war from the
period that followed the withdrawal, the commission, whatever its qualifications, is blocked from investigating the source of the
operational and tactical confusion and incompetence that followed.
Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon was predicated on the unfounded notion that Hizbullah - an Iranian-proxy organization
dedicated to the eradication of Israel and the US and the establishment of a global caliphate through jihad - was only fighting Israel because Israel maintained its security zone in south Lebanon. Were we to leave, Hizbullah would magically abandon its core belief, accept Israel and become a political party.
THE IDF and the entire defense establishment completely opposed this militarily and strategically unjustifiable initiative. Yet the notion of embracing surrender as a national security doctrine, spawned circa 1996 by EU-financed Israeli politicians like Yossi Beilin and EU-financed non-profit organizations like Four Mothers, captured the imagination and received the unqualified backing of the radical
leftist media, particularly at publicly financed Israel Radio and TV.
And so it was that Ehud Barak, who until Ehud Olmert's ascension to power had no competition for the title "The worst prime minister in Israel's history," scored his greatest "achievement" in the office of prime minister by carrying out the strategically
indefensible withdrawal. In so doing he handed the global jihad movement its first strategic victory against the "infidels" since the
Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Hizbullah, an Iranian-commanded Shi'ite band in the Lebanese backwater, became, overnight, a symbol of Islamic strength. It earned
the distinction of being the first Arab army to defeat the Jews.
THE PALESTINIANS made no attempt to hide the fact that it was Hizbullah's victory over Israel that inspired them to begin their jihad against Israel four months later, in September 2000.
Hizbullah's victory convinced them that the Jews would run away if you attacked them. Terror, not negotiations was the way to destroy the Zionist entity.
As to Israel, neither the media, which was directly responsible for pressuring Barak to order the withdrawal, nor the Barak and Sharon
governments had an interest in questioning the wisdom of the withdrawal from Lebanon.
And so, rather than sound the alarms as Hizbullah overtly armed itself with thousands of rockets and missiles, the governmentand the
media lulled the public into complacency. Any general, politician or commentator who dared to point out that since the withdrawal Hizbullah had been transformed from a tactical nuisance into a strategic threat, was dismissed as a warmonger. And based on the perceived success of the Lebanon withdrawal, the Sharon-Olmert-Livni government convinced the public that the model ought to be implemented in Gaza and northern Samaria as well.
Olmert insisted that the Winograd Commission investigate the handling of the Hizbullah threat since the withdrawal because he, Halutz and
Peretz want to spread the blame as widely as possible. In line with these efforts the three failed leaders are blaming the war on Ya'alon
and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz by asking why they did nothing to contend with the growing Hizbullah threat during the years
they led the IDF under Ariel Sharon.
BUT HERE we enter the heart of the matter. The moment Israel left Lebanon, the political cost - both domestically and internationally - for contending with the growing threat from izbullah was raised exponentially. After bragging about how brilliant we had been to enable Hizbullah to build fortifications adjacent to Metulla and
Kiryat Shmona, how could the government have taken action against a few thousand silly missiles? Particularly in light of the media's
pro-European pacifism, the reputational cost of striking Hizbullah was too high for politicians to bear.
By propagating its own delusions, Israel had maneuvered itself into a position where it could take no preemptive action against Iran's proxy force at its doorstep.
Yet, one may argue, Israel's intelligence capabilities are such that the IDF didn't need to maintain its presence in Lebanon to contend
with Hizbullah. Our spies in the Mossad or Military Intelligence or the Shin Bet could have taken on the missile threat through "massive
infiltration with a small signature," to quote the poet.
Yet to argue this is to ignore one of the side effects of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. When the IDF pulled out it abandoned the best allies Israel had ever had - the soldiers and officers of the South Lebanese Army, who fought side by side with the IDF for nearly 18 years. After this betrayal it doesn't take a genius to understand the kind of difficulties Israel experienced in finding spies.
It is clear, then, that our irresponsible and incompetent leaders have placed us in a situation where no effective action is being
taken to fix what is clearly broken. It is similarly apparent that they wish to lull us again into complacency by investigating
everything except the cause of everything. They intend to capture our attention with juicy stories about various generals' malfeasance on
the third or 13th day of the war, and so delude us into believing that something is being done.
But the only way for something to be done is for the current leadership to be replaced. The only commission of inquiry that will be capable of clearing out the rot is general elections.
The only way we can remedy our operational and tactical woes is by having leaders who can understand, and are brave enough to correct
our strategic mistakes.
20 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Elisheva was kind enough to post this at DesiCritics, and I am reposting her submission here.
8 German warships set sail for Lebanon
By IMKE ZIMMERMANN, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago Thu Sep 21, 7:45 AM ET
WILHELMSHAVEN, Germany - Germany began its biggest naval operation since World War II on Thursday as eight warships set sail for the eastern Mediterranean to help the U.N. keep the peace in Lebanon.
The first of the ships, the frigate Karlsruhe, pulled away from the dock at the North Sea port at Wilhelmshaven and moved smoothly across the calm harbor after a farewell ceremony.
The German force of two frigates, two support vessels and four fast patrol boats, along with three ships from Denmark, are to arrive off the Lebanese coast in 10 to 14 days.
Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said the force would make a contribution to peace by supporting the U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended Israel's monthlong war with Hezbollah guerrillas.
"Unless the weapons are silent there is no chance for peace in the Middle East," Jung said at the ceremony.
Germany is taking charge of a multinational naval task force with a mandate to prevent arms shipments from reaching Hezbollah -- a key component of the cease-fire agreement.
The naval detachment is led by the 459-foot frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, equipped with a 76 mm cannon and space for two patrol helicopters.
Parliament approved the deployment on Wednesday, although some lawmakers voted against it because of misgivings linked to Germany's Nazi past and the Holocaust.
Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out sending combat troops to Lebanon in an attempt to ensure that no German soldiers could get caught up in any confrontation with Israeli forces.
Parliament approved a mandate allowing the deployment of up to 2,400 service personnel. Germany is also sending police and customs officers to advise and train Lebanese security forces on tightening border controls.
21 - Martin Lav
Wolves in sheeps clothing huh Ruvy?
22 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
To my brothers and sisters in the Tribe, to all of you -
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a sweet, healthy and prosperou 5767;
May the Almighty watch over you and grant you and yours mercy rather than judgment;
If you live outside of Israel, may this be the last year you say "Next Year in Jerusalem"; May the Almighty bring you home in dignity and honor.
May the Almighty bring us redemption soon and at a near time; may we all live to see the coming of trhe messiah.
Shana Tova u'm'tuka,
Reuven
From the Hill of Frankincense in the mountains north of Jerusalem, the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People
23 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This article from Haaretz "the last days of President Katzav" outlines the campaign to get rid of him. The next step is to see who the various papers in the mainstream media push for president. As you can guess, I have my money on Peres.
24 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I just got this in my e-mail a few minutes ago from Aryeh Gallin. It confirms much of what I've been writing about lately...
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Aryeh comments; So this is the spiel Debka's Mossad flunkies have been ordered to feed the public: Blame The Three Stooges Olmert/Peretz/Halutz for doing what they were ordered to do by Bush & Co., of which this next step is just a part, on the way to dismantling the State of Israel as we have the misfortune to know it and its transformation into a province of the New World Order globalist empire/Middle East region.
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Downside of US policy shift in support of Palestinian unity is the downgrading of Bush’s strategic relations with Olmert government
September 21, 2006, 1:17 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that the Middle East Quartet’s support for a Palestinian unity government is just the first step in a new, not fully-consolidated Bush administration initiative on the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. The steps to come will exact from Israel the full price for losing ground in the Lebanon War.
Nonetheless, the three war leaders, prime minister Ehud Olmert, defense minister Amir Peretz and chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, continue to evade the sorry consequences of that war and play down the resulting rift with the Bush administration. Indeed the trio shouts down voices calling for an accounting and declares no one can better correct their mistakes and prepare the army and country for another conflict.
In contrast, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah is paying for his blunders. Iran has confined his duties to domestic politics and public appearances in which he excels, no longer empowering him to decide when to fire rockets into northern Israel, order deep cross-border incursions or abduct Israeli soldiers.
President George W. Bush cannot demote the Israeli premier, only their relations; and distance him from White House Middle East decision-making.
On Sept 13, Bush looked in on a discussion between visiting foreign minister Tzipi LIvni and his National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley on the Lebanon and Palestinian issues and the Iranian nuclear threat.
He exchanged a few words with her for the clear purpose of sizing his visitor up.
Jerusalem is playing down that seemingly casual encounter like the many symptoms of the widening breach with Washington for the following reasons:
1. The cracks were evident in the course of the 33-day Lebanon War when the US president never once conversed with the PM Olmert.
2. The impression the US president gained of Livni at the White House did not change his mind about not doing business with the Olmert government or persuade him she was of a different caliber.
3. Washington is not blind to the low esteem in which the Israeli public holds the prime minister, his team and his party. One of the opinion polls published Thursday, Sept. 21, on the eve of the New Year festival, gives Olmert an approval rating of 7%! Yet he continues to declare that no one is better qualified to lead the country.
This gap in the Israel government’s credibility at home and abroad convinced Bush to launch a new Middle East initiative headed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice without conferring first with Jerusalem. The Quartet’s announcement at UN Headquarters caught Livni by surprise Wednesday, Sept. 20, the day of her address to the General Assembly.
“The Quartet welcomes the efforts of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to form a government of national unity, in the hope that the platform of such a government would reflect Quartet principles and allow for early engagement.”
This announcement not only opens the way for international recognition of a Palestinian government led by Hamas, but is also the first step towards engaging that government in peacemaking, without requiring Hamas to recognize Israel’s existence or forego terrorism.
The US president has no guarantee that engaging the most radical Palestinian elements in a fresh round of Middle East diplomacy will be any more successful than his failed attempt to pacify Iraq by dealing with its violent Sunni insurgents. But whatever the outcome, Israel has taken a dive in Washington’s strategic calculations.
------------------------------------------------
So I reiterate. This "re-discovery" of the Saudi "Israel Suicide Plan" of 2002 is just Olmert's attempt to change the subject and get back into Bush's good graces.
If I weren't enjoying it so much, I'd say it's a pity that Olmert has to kiss a Saudi's ass to save his job.
25 - MAOZ
Ruvy, re the idea you mention in the post about ousting Katzav and consolidating the positions of President and Prime Minister -- you know, I've heard some co-workers bring up that very idea more and more frequently. I really doubt that they came up with that thought all by themselves -- I think they're unconsciously reflecting a media band-wagon effect.
Shavua tov (have a good week); gmar chatimah tovah to you and yours (may you all be inscribed and sealed for a good year).