“Oh Crap — Obama *IS* Jimmy Carter!!!”

CNN, in a move guaranteed to strike absolute terror into anyone old enough to remember the Carter Administration fiasco; announces that President Obama appears to be dedicated to actually becoming Jimmy Carter — at least in the Foreign Policy area:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama will host meetings Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the White House announced Saturday.
Israel has ignored President Obama’s calls to freeze construction of settlements.

The meetings come as hopes for renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks have dimmed despite diplomatic efforts of former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy for the Middle East, who capped off last week’s visit to the region with a second round of talks with both sides.

The meetings, set for the sidelines of next week’s U.N. General Assembly session in New York, are “another sign of the president’s deep commitment to comprehensive peace that he wants to personally engage at this juncture,” Mitchell said in the White House statement.

Obama will talk with each leader separately before all three meet together, the White House said.

Mitchell failed to get a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of next week’s U.N. General Assembly session in New York, according to an Israeli government official Friday, who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

Mitchell had been working to broker a last-minute deal before the start of the Jewish New Year, which began at sundown Friday, and the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday this weekend. One of the sticking points has been the issue of an Israeli settlement freeze.

So, to summarize:

• George Mitchell, a vaguely ineffective former Senator from Maine, has failed to get any agreements prior to the UN meeting this week.
• Israel isn’t about to be bullied on the issue of Settlements.
• Neither Israel nor Palestinian Authority leaders have even agreed to meet, period.
• Therefore, President Narcissist will have the meetings anyway and try to force something through anyway.

What the hell is it with American Presidents and the Middle East anyway?  Only Carter had anything like success there, and only because he threatened and coerced Sadat and Begin into an agreement.

That the road you really want to go down, Barry?

~Johnny~

Read Full Post »

Another Obama Debacle; Syria Slams Door on Obama, Israel Talks

The-always “ahead-of-the-curve” Debka Files has first word that (alleged) President Obama has utterly and completely failed in his Mideast Peace initiative:

After Washington opened the door wide to reconciliation, lavishing goodwill gestures and a procession of emissaries over several months, Assad has abruptly slammed it shut.  Wednesday, Aug. 12, he announced he was off to Tehran next week to congratulate his good friend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his reelection as president and further cement their ties.

He left behind him a trail of dashed hopes in Washington. The Obama administration had made a serious bid to detach Assad from his strategic bonds with Iran and make him the keystone for the president’s comprehensive Middle East program.

Assad first knocked this plan on the head on July 26 in a long conversation he had with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Damascus. Mitchell was completely taken aback by Assad’s reversal. In Washington it was taken as a death knell for President Obama’s plans for Middle East peacemaking and the outright rejection of peace talks with Israel, in view of its poor relations with Ankara. All the same, it was decided to keep the setback quiet and keep going on the path of engagement with the Syrian regime.

Wednesday, Aug. 12, an American military delegation arrived in Damascus led by Frederick Hoff, head of the Syrian desk on the Mitchell team, and Maj. Gen. Michael Moeller of the US Central Command.

This time, the government-controlled Syria media which until then had meticulously noted every sign of progress in the relationship, completely ignored the presence of the high-ranking delegation.

Gen. Moeller was there to apply the stick. DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources reveal the three questions he put to the Syrian ruler:

1. Is Damascus willing to assist the United States’ effort in Iraq by holding down the rising tide of Sunni violence? The general produced intelligence data exposing a swelling influx of terrorists, arms and explosives from Syria into Iraq.

2. Is Syria ready to meet its obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (which ended the 2006 Lebanon War) by sealing its border to the smuggling of arms to the Lebanese Hizballah?

3. Will Damascus accept responsibility for halting arms smuggling to the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip?

Instead of providing answers, Assad prevaricated and, while the US delegation was still standing by, his office announced that the Syrian ruler would travel to Tehran next week for a two-day trip in the course of which he would congratulate Ahmadinejad on his re-election and discuss the strengthening of ties between the two countries.

In two days, the Syrian ruler delivered two resounding snubs to the US president.

In the words of Po-Po (and five bonus points if you know who he is), “Idiot!”

Read Full Post »

BREAKING: Israel Launches Possible Strike . . On Iran?

UPDATED: See Below For Updates.

This series of Tweets from Keeper of Truth on Twitter:

Communications with Ramat David airbase have been shut down. Sealed tight. Last word 6-10 aircraft had taken off.

Lost my contact at Ramat David. At least 2 KC-130H tankers and 4-6 other aircraft have taken off in the last 2 hrs.

Nothing from Ramat David but a txt that said “back in a bit”. 8 planes had taken off, 2 tankers confirmed.

Just got this txt from Ramat David “planes from squad 157 freq tos (takeoffs I think) more later

(Squadron 157 according to Wikipedia is Electrical Warfare unit.)

Maybe radar jamming? post it and see if anyone knows.

I am just giving info – I think it is a precaution just in case, others are saying the attack thing, not me.

(For) the record, I think activity at Ramat David may just be a precaution against a strike by Iran. Im just passing info.

For the record, this could, indeed, be precautionary. The Israeli Air Force trains for this stuff all the time; and when they do, it’s very much ‘real world” with full communications blackouts and the like. That’s why they’re the greatest Air Force in the world.

Having said that, it sounds like 2 KC-135 tankers (Boeing 707′s in the real world) and2-4 F-16 fighters with 2 F-16 (?) Electronic Warfare jets for jamming and communications suppression have launched from Ramat David airbase.

Training? Very likely?

Strike on Iran? Well, they are haivng a lot of protests and riots right now there over the highly-disputed elections. This would be the perfect time to do it when the iranian armed forces are busy partolling the city streets to suppress the disturbances.

UPDATE:

These follow-up Tweets from Keeper of Truth:

Also when the military may not be completely “loyal” – who wants to dogfight the IAF when you don’t know who is (president)?

Excellent point, that.

“TO after TO for about 30 min steady, quiet since”

The texter is referring ot ‘TO (takeoff) after (takeoff) for 30 minutes.” Under combat conditions a plane can launch every 30 seconds; while in peacetime it’s recommended no to lauch more frequently than every 2 minutes to allow the wake turbulence of the previous aircraft to dissipate. So, depending on what protocol they’re following in Israel, anywhere from 15 to 60 aircraft may have launched.

And under extreme combat conditions, 2 aircraft can launch side-by-side on the same runway, although that’s highly discouraged unless under direct attack. So that could double the estimate of 60 aircraft.

There’s a lot of IAF aircraft in the air over the Middle East right now, anyway.

UPDATE 2:

Keeper of Truth has been busy:

Ramat David remains on high alert but comm channels now open. Planes will be in the air in some capacity 24/7. I think they are just rotating, like shifts.

This makes some sense to those of us who remember the Cold War. At it’s height the Strategic Air Command (SAC) kept up to one third of their bombers in the skies at any given time, and pretty much from the 1950′s until about 1991. The theory was that they’d never catch all the bombers on the ground if one third was in the air with tankers all the time.

This is a new thing for Israel, though. It bears watching.

Something else that bears watching is This article from Haaretz.com, which bears a striking resemblance to some of what we’re seeing tonight. It’s a bit of a long read, but a very thorough analysis. A taste:

The study analyzes three possible flight routes and concludes that the optimal and most likely one is the northern one that passes along the Syria-Turkey border, cuts across the northeastern edge of Iraq and leads into Iran. The central route passes over Jordan and is shorter, but would not be chosen for fear of political trouble with the Jordanians. Using the southern route, which passes over Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, might likewise lead to political entanglements.

[ . . . ]

A strike mission on the three nuclear facilities would require no fewer than 90 combat aircraft, including all 25 F-15Es in the IAF inventory and another 65 F-16I/Cs. On top of that, all the IAF’s refueling planes will have to be airborne: 5 KC-130Hs and 4 B-707s. The combat aircraft will have to be refueled both en route to and on the way back from Iran. The IAF will have a hard time locating an area above which the tankers can cruise without being detected by the Syrians or the Turks.

This looks like Israel has established a CAP (Combat air Patrol) over the Meditaerranean of the aircraft necessary to complete a nuclear strike mission.  That way, they can leave immediately and nobody would know they were gone for hours . . .

Watch the skies.

~~ACP~~

Read Full Post »

Pakistan: It’s a *LOT* Worse Than You Thought

Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs Blog is very concerned about the imminent collapse of the pakistan Government:

Courtesy The Jawa Report

The situation in Pakistan is much worse than you are hearing. Much of the coverage (here at Atlas) is the increasing power grab of pious Muslims (“fundamentalists) in SWAT and the rise of the Taliban as well. But the power that holds that fragile tinderbox together is the military, and the military appears to be fracturing. Should that happen, true Islam (“Islamists”) will take over that country.

Marcus Wilder, the author of Naïve & Abroad: Pakistan, Travel in a Land of Mullahs, has said frequently “Sharia Law encourages child brides and wife beating.” Imagine an Al Qaeda lead Pakistani government — with nuclear weapons.  “Child brides and wife beating” will be just the beginning.

Apparently the problem in the Pakistan military is within the junior ranks of the army – right up to Majors. There are many who will not take up arms against the Taleban, “seen as ‘kindred’ souls – in the struggle against the West in general, and the US in particular. To that extent the army is reverting to its post Zia identity as a guardian of the Islamic faith and according it a higher priority than the defence of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the values enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution.” (here)

Want to bet President Obama does nothing more than issue meaningless pronouncements that no one takes seriously?

Want to bet that Israel will be the first target — right after the 800 million people of India — the world’s largest democracy?

Wanna bet they will both beg us for help — and get nothing?

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

Iran Calls Israel Racist; Israel Finds Out Who Their Friends Really Are

And Speaking of Iran, as I was the previous post:

British delegates joined a dramatic diplomatic walkout today when President Ahmadinejad of Iran told a major UN conference against racism that the state of Israel had been founded “on the pretext of Jewish suffering” during the Second World War.

Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, and Finland stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Nine Western countries including Israel and the United States had already decided to boycott the conference entirely because its draft declaration endorsed the conclusions of an anti-racism conference in South Africa eight years ago in which Islamic nations pushed through a text equating Zionism with racism.

Even before the walkout, Mr Ahmadinejad’s speech had been interrupted by three protesters dressed as clowns who where quickly bundled from the vast conference room at the Palais des Nations by guards. Later, other protesters shouted down from the balcony as the Iranian president carried on his address.

Earlier today, Israel recalled its ambassador to Switzerland in protest at a brief meeting yesterday between Mr Ahmadinejad and his Swiss counterpart, Hans-Rudolf Merz.

The conference opened as Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day – which falls this year on the 120th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birth. This morning the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told his Cabinet that while Israel commemorates the six million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis, “in Switzerland, the guest of honour is a racist and a Holocaust-denier who doesn’t conceal his intention to wipe Israel off the face of this earth”.

The Obama administration announced at the weekend that it would boycott the meeting because its draft declaration makes reference to the text agreed in 2001 at the UN’s first anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa. That document was agreed after the United States and Israel walked out over attempts to liken Zionism – the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land – to racism.

Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Poland joined the boycott.

Referring again to the earlier article, this guy gives me no comfort whatsoever that there will be any stability for Israel if a Palestinian state co-exists within it’s borders.

Especially with this nutjob just down the street.

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

Israel, the USA, and the Cyclic Nature of Democracy: A Quantum Shift in Policy Coming

I read this little essay over the weekend which drifted in with the e-mails like unwanted snow in Springtime.  I’ve seen this before, and I’m sure you have too (refresh your memory HERE at The Urban Legends Page), but here it is with the correct attribution for a change:

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

• From bondage to spiritual faith;
• From spiritual faith to great courage;
• From courage to liberty;
• From liberty to abundance;
• From abundance to complacency;
• From complacency to apathy;
• From apathy to dependence;
• From dependence back into bondage.

That’s from a speech given in 1943: “Industrial Management in a Republic” by H. W. Prentis, president of the Armstrong Cork Company and former president of the National Association of Manufacturers. He quotes the “Tytler Cycle” (also known as the “Fatal Sequence”) of Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (15 October 1747 – 5 January 1813) a Scottish-born British lawyer and writer. (Most of the e-mails you’ve seen the last 9 years mis-spell his name as “Tyler.”)

The e-mail asked in it’s title where I would guess we are in the cycle.   Several of the replies in the body of the forwarded letter had various guesses from complacency to apathy to the dependence phases.  Personally, I think we’re split between the apathy and dependence phases; with about 48% apathy and 52% dependence.

That’s the same margins for the last presidential election, if you missed the reference.

That brings me around to this article from Israel Policy Form Blog:

Yedioth Achronoth, the largest circulation daily in Israel, reports today that President Obama intends to see the two-state solution signed, sealed and delivered during his first term.

Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; “In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn’t matter to us at all who is prime minister.”

He also said that the United States will exert pressure to see that deal is put into place.“Any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will be contingent upon progress in the negotiations and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank territory,” the paper reports Emanuel as saying.  In other words, US sympathy for Israel’s position vis a vis Iran depends on Israel’s willingness to live up to its commitment to get out of the West Bank and permit the establishment of a Palestinian state there, in Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

Yedioth also reports that Obama is conveying his displeasure with the new Israeli government in several ways. “US administration officials informed Netanyahu that President Obama will not be able to meet with him in early May, while the AIPAC conference is held in Washington.

“Sources in Washington also said that the Obama administration would not continue the tradition that developed during the Bush administration of hosting Israeli premiers many times during the year, sometimes with just a phone call’s advance notice.”

So far neither the White House or the Israeli government has commented on the report which, it should be noted, comes from Shimon Shiffer, one of Israel’s most highly respected journalists

So, this is not a mere change in Israel policy. This is a radical change; a sea change; a quantum shift in Israeli policy by the United States. We are not just going to work with and negotiate with the Israeli’s on Mideast Policy — we’re going to dictate our policy to them and ram it down their throats, whether they like it or not.

Huh. Who’s the Imperialist now, President Obama?

Marcus Henderson Wilder, author of the new book ISRAEL & PALESTINE: Obvious Questions No One Asks (which you really should be reading!) noted this:

Who are the puppet’s masters? How will they profit from the destruction of Israel?

Emanuel told a reporter there will be a two-state solution in Palestine within four years, no matter who is in charge in Israel.

A Palestinian state would have a standing army which would be Iranian in every important aspect with heavy weaponry at Israel’s borders. As a state, Palestine could have the equivalent of a Foreign Legion. Volunteers without limit could mass on Israel’s borders.

As did the “volunteers” for Al Qaeda in Iraq after the invasion and before the surge.  Surely a frightening prospect for free Israel.  Perhaps even more frightening in the face of an apathetic ordependant America on the way to it’s own bondage.

I noted in a post almost a year ago that our current President makes decisions that can only be termed “thoughtless,” if not seriously impaired HERE. In fact, at the time, I accused him of being on drugs.

I no longer feel that’s the case. I don’t think he’s smart enough for drugs — it has to be pure stupidity. But that brings up the larger question; If he’s not making these decision, who is?

I suspect strongly that Rahm Emanuel is a lot closer to President Obama and a lot more the stronger partner in their relationship.  Does he control the President –I doubt that.  But President Obama’s weak leadership ability and indecisiveness can be easily manipulated by someone bent on whatever agenda they may have.

The Jerusalem Post doubts Emanuel’s ability to recognize he’s a Jew:

National Union chairman Ya’acov “Ketzele” Katz sent a letter to White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel last week admonishing him not to forget his Jewish and Israeli origins. Katz’s missive came in response to a reported verbal exchange between Emanuel and an unidentified American Jewish leader.

In the letter, a Hebrew version of which was provided to The Jerusalem Post by Katz’s parliamentary aide, Katz wrote: “For many Israelis, this report is a cause for worry because it reveals a condescending attitude toward our prime minister and Israeli public opinion. This is an attitude that Israel does not expect from a real friend such as the US, and all the more so from an Israeli Jew who has succeeded in being appointed White House chief-of-staff.”

During the Clinton administration he directed the details of the 1993 Rose Garden signing ceremony for the Oslo Accords, down to the choreography of the handshake between prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

A handshake that appeared forced, pointless, and was eventaully an embarrassment for the Clinton Administration.  So from that standpoint, it certainly seems both the handshake and the new 2-state forced solution will both be the work of the same man.

Is there anyone else who would fit into this scenario?  A liberal, perhaps a Jew as well, who has goals and aims close to the Obama Administration, and no great love for Israel?  Who believes in that “One World’ theory, and doesn’t care what other people think?

George Soros, anyone?  That’s complete speculation on my part, but it would fit the theory.  Obama’s not smart enough to plan this all himsef, and Emanuel has nether the charm nor the political pull to make this happen, although Soros certainly has both the single-mindedness and the money to make it happen.

And you can bet it’s going to happen.  Obama doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him right now, and to all appearances he’s trying to ram his aganda through Congress in his first term — very likely because he know it’s very unlikely he’ll win a second term.

Bondage.  Just who is in bondage, exactly?  If it’s America, I think the Tea Parties are a good first beginning to reverse that trend.

If it’s the decision makers of the Obama Administration, you have to wonder who’s giving those orders.

Thoughts, anyone?

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

The Conservative Papers Part III: Why am I a friend of Israel?

Got this in an e-mail this morning:

{{Why are you a friend of Israel? Just curious.}}

Which got me thinking . . .

Israel is one of only two democracies in the Middle East.  The fact that both of these democracies were created with the intervention of the United States makes them, in a very real way, our spiritual step-children.  Democracy has the greatest potential for the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, and is a cool drink of water compared to the Arab thug-ocracies in the Middle East.  Israel is the closest thing to an American-style democracy anywhere else in the world — in many ways, they have surpassed American-style democracy and encouraged a merit-ocracy.  Pilots in the Israeli Air Force lead by experience, not rank.

The people of Israel – the Jews – have been at the forefront of intelligence and enlightenment for 5,000 years.  Jews were instituting education, farming, crop rotation, and optional military service thousands of years before anyone else even thought of them.  Jews wrote many of the first commentaries on religion; and the first diacritical thought .  This is in spite of being some of the most persecuted peoples in the world for their encouraging intelligence, education, and higher standard of living.  Jews have been systematically eradicated from cultures as varied as Nazi Germany, Medieval Spain, Nebuchadnezzar Babylon, and and multiple points in-between.  Even today Israeli Jews face daily acts of terror — rockets from Gaza, suicide bombers, and rioting Arabs — on a daily basis — and persevere.

Shoot, that’s damn near heroic.  Americans love underdogs, and admire heroism.  Israel is chock-full of both.

Does Israel do things wrong?  Sure.  Does America make mistakes?  Oh yeah, absolutely.  But we both learn from our mistakes.  We practice some level of restraint when we use force.  (Israel did not obliterate Gaza during the recent military force there — although they easily could have.)  Israel as a state is the best hope and example for the rest of the Middle East.

Which is why I’m a friend of Israel.  Israel is most likely to be a friend to me.

~~ACP~~

Read Full Post »

Israeli PM Livni discovers backbone; Stands Up to Iran Since USA Won’t

So, what do you do when your friends leave you, your prime patron betrays you, and you’re forced to go it alone against a country that wants to nuke you?

You go subversive. You go stealth. You make it difficult for them to make those nukes.

Israel launches covert war against Iran

Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran’s nuclear programme, US intelligence sources have revealed.

The Iranian government has become so concerned about penetration of its programme that it has announced arrests of alleged spies in an attempt to discourage double agents. “Israel is part of a detailed and elaborate international effort to slow down the Iranian programme,” said Mr Melman.

Israeli PM Tipi Livni, who is trying to out-butch rival Benjamin Netanyahu. Good for her.

Mossad and Western intelligence operations have also infiltrated the Iranian nuclear programme and “bought” information from prominent atomic scientists. Israel has later selectively leaked some details to its allies, the media and United Nations atomic agency inspectors.

“Without military strikes, there is still considerable scope for disrupting and damaging the Iranian programme and this has been done with some success,” said Yossi Melman, a prominent Israeli journalist who covers security and intelligence issues for the Haaretz newspaper.

Israel has also used front companies to infiltrate the Iranian purchasing network that the clerical regime uses to circumvent United Nations sanctions and obtain so-called “dual use” items – metals, valves, electronics, machinery – for its nuclear program. The businesses initially supply Iran with legitimate material, winning Tehran’s trust, and then start to deliver faulty or defective items that “poison” the country’s atomic activities.

“It was a real company that operated from time to time in Iran and in the nature of their legitimate business came across information on various suspect Iranian facilities,” he said.

Mossad’s covert operations cover a range of activities. The former CIA operative revealed how Israeli and US intelligence co-operated with European companies working in Iran to obtain photographs and other confidential material about Iranian nuclear and missile sites.

On one occasion, Iran itself is understood to have destroyed a nuclear facility near Tehran, bulldozing over the remains and replacing it with a football pitch, after its existence was revealed to UN inspectors. The regime feared that the discovery by inspectors of an undeclared nuclear facility would result in overwhelming pressure at the UN for tougher action against Iran.

Good. Go Israel.

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

Obama Supports Livini government; Just Says No to Netanyahu

Another reason to support a right-wing government in Israel: Barack Obama hates these guys.

That’s good enough for me!

US officials are publicly taking a wait-and-see approach to the formation of a new Israeli government, but privately many have expressed concern that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu might preside over a right-wing coalition.

Arabs see little hope for peace from whatever government emerges. “There would be great unease” at the prospect of such a government, said one Capitol Hill source.

He predicted that a governing coalition of parties from the Right could embolden the left flank of the Democratic party and turn up pressure, particularly in the US Congress, to pass measures that made clear demands on Israel.

Oh, great — we’re making demands on Israel now? And they accused Bush of a “New World Order?”

The Capitol Hill source, who didn’t want to be identified speaking about another country’s internal politics, noted that Netanyahu had made a strong effort to reach out to the Obama administration and made the case to the US and the Israeli public that he could work with the White House.

He said that attitude could help assuage US concerns when presented in a national-unity package, whose positions – whether under Netanyahu or Livni – would be more in line with the US’s own policies of engagement on Arab-Israeli reconciliation.

“The hope is that there is a government that is really committed to peace with the Palestinians,” The Washington Post quoted one senior administration official saying.

In other words, Bend Over, Israel — here it comes again! Thank God Obama has a Jew as his Chief of Staff to temper such, uh, rash, uh . . . .

Never mind.

Still, many political analysts say there’s no doubt the Obama administration would prefer to see a national-unity government headed by Livni.

“The impression in Israel is that the Obama administration has already made its preference known and that its preference is for Kadima – and that impression isn’t going anywhere,” said Georgetown University professor and Israel expert Michael Oren.

“They’d rather work with a centrist government than a right-wing government.”

Probably because right-wing governments tend to  be everything the Obama Administrations is NOT; competent, fair handed, firm in their declarations, keep their word . .

That stuff.

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

Naked Data on Israel and Palestinians

Marcus Wilder of the Naive and Abroad book series offered this.  It’s one of the introductory chapters for a book he’s writing on Israel and Palestinians.

Naked Data

In 1844, the first modern census of Jerusalem found 7120 Jews…5760 Muslims…3390 Christians.

In 1848, the United States took almost half of Mexico in the War of 1848. We still have it.

In 1869, Mark Twain wrote of the emptiness of Palestine. Mark Twain wrote of Arab sloth and filth and flies.

In the 1880s, Americans forced Indians from their land to resettle Indian land with whites. Many Indians had to be killed.

In the 1880s, Australians forced Aborigines from their land to resettle Aborigine land with whites. Many Aborigines had to be killed.

In the 1880s, white New Zealanders forced Maoris from their land to resettle Maori land with whites. Many Maoris had to be killed.

In the 1880s, European Jews bought idle land in what is now Israel, joining Mizrachi Jews continuously there since Abraham.

Beginning in 1882, forty Jewish families settled at Rishon L’Tzion. Four hundred Arab families settled around them. Some of the Arab families were Bedouin. Some came from Egypt.

A British official reported Arabs sought employment, clean drinking water, better health care, and lower infant mortality. The official reported this pattern was repeated across areas where Jews settled.

In the 1890s, Belgians cut off the hands of Africans who did not gather enough rubber.

In the 1890s, Arabs flocked to Jewish areas of Palestine for jobs created by Jewish investment and enterprise.

After WWI, the British tried to set up a governing body of twelve…eight Arabs…two Christians…two Jews. Arabs said two Jews were too many. A cynic might say Arabs knew then two Jews outnumbered eight Arabs.

In 1917, the British Balfour Agreement promised a national home for Jews in Palestine. The British did not mean it.

Arabs turned down two-state solutions in 1917, 1937, 1948, and 2000.

After a Nazi supported Arab revolt in 1936-1939, the British-appointed Arab religious leader Husseini fled to Germany. Husseini is revered throughout Islam today.

In 1939, A British White Paper severely restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine, effectively keeping Jews from escaping the Holocaust.

After WWII, European Jews sought refuge in what is now Israel. The Arabist British did all they could to keep Jews out of Palestine. Under United Nations mandate, Jews established the State of Israel over strong objections from Arab states and Britain.

In the United Nations document authorizing the formation of the state of Israel, an Arab/British/African clause was added to weight population numbers in favor of Arabs. In 1948, the Arab population was still largely transient. This clause identified any Arab who had been in Palestine for two years as a permanent resident.

Do we give casual Mexican labor citizenship after two years in the United States?

In 1948, Arab countries attacked the infant Jewish nation. Jewish citizen soldiers decisively defeated combined professional armies of four Arab nations.

In 1948, a disputed number of Arab residents of Israel fled and/or were expelled. There is evidence Arabs residents were encouraged by Arab invaders to flee to give the invaders a freer hand.

Only Jordan offered refugees citizenship. In all other Muslim countries, Palestinian refugees remain in camps, sixty years later…anti-Israeli propaganda pawns.

In the months following the 1948 war, 850,000 Sephardic/Mizrachi Jews fled or were expelled to Israel from the Arab countries who lost the war. We do not know how many Jews fled to other nations. We do not know how many Jews were killed. Arab nations claim no knowledge of this flight/expulsion.

Sephardic Jews had been in these countries since 1492, Mizrachi Jews since Abraham.

If Palestinians wanted their own country, Palestinians would call a constitutional convention…write a governing document…declare a nation. There is precedent.

Since the 1967 War, these Arabs have been called Palestinians. Palestinians are Arab-speakers…not Arabs. Palestinians came from Cyprus.

Palestinians are the Philistines of the Bible…the Sea People. What is now Gaza was Philistia. Gaza is theirs…unless Gaza belongs to Canaanite peoples Philistines displaced…peoples who had been there since time before memory.

Romans called the province Palestine to insult rebellious Jews. Ottomans kept the name.

If Palestinians had lived in peace beside Jews in democratic Israel, Palestinians would own Israel. With the differential in birth rates, Palestinians could have taken democratic Israel with the vote.

The story of modern Israel & Palestine is not what you have been told. Palestinian leader Musa Alami said in 1948, “The people are in great need of a myth to fill their consciousness and imagination.”

The King Abdullah of Jordan also denied the displacement of Arabs by Jewish settlements. The king said, “The Arabs are as prodigal in selling their land as they are in…weeping [about it].

Read Full Post »

Your Daily Roundup of Unreasoning Jew-Hatred

100,000 – yes, 100,000 Pro-Gaza protesters are openly rioting in London.  The Mail Online has the report.  Here’s a picture:

I’m sorry, handkerchief-in-face boy, whatever you’re protesting, you lost me with the violence.

Here’s one from Los Angeles on January 6, 2009 in front of the Israeli Consulate, via Gateway Pundit: (There’s a video, too)

Lots of Palestinian Single-finger salutes in the video, too.  Nice.  Nothing says “rational, intelligent discussion” like the bird.
Thousands  cheering for Osama Bin Laden at an anti-Israel protest in Chaman, Pakistan; as the Religion of Peace and Easy Bourse report:

Nothing quite says “hillbilly Arab mofo” like a burning flag, does it?

Reuters andYNET have stories on violent protests in Oslo, Norway, where 500 pro-Israel protesters were attacked by over 1000 Pro-Palestinian rioters:

Atlas Shrugs has more:

A Thai Muslim steps on burning Israeli flags during a protest in Muslim province of Yala, in southern Thailand

A South Korean protester shouts a slogan during a rally in Seoul, South Korea

Across the Irish Sea, a 5,000-strong crowd gathered in the centre of Belfast, in a pro-Palestinian protest event organised by the Irish Congress of Trades Unions.

Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Hartley of Sinn Fein said: ‘The full-scale military assault on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people including the slaughter of women and children.

‘Our demands today are simple: The war in Gaza must end now.’

Protesters push and shove during demonstrations outside Parliament in Oslo, Norway

Elsewhere in the world, some 20,000 people took to the streets in Berlin and other German cities. Protesters threw snowballs at two Israeli flags that hung from the windows of a house along the demonstration route, but otherwise no incidents were reported.

In Amman, Jordan, more than 2,000 took to the streets and in Syria, another 2,000 marched in a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus shouting anti-Israeli slogans.

There were also demonstrations in the U.S., France, Norway, Greece, Malaysia, Sweden, Bosnia, Lebanon, Thailand, South Korea and India.

BERLIN GERMANY:

SWITZERLAND:

SRI LANKA

. . . And on it goes.  Now, put it in perspective and watch this video.  The way the Israelis treat their Arab citizens is far and away better than any Arab treats a Jew.

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

“Choose Ye This Day Whom You Will Serve” (Joshua 24:15)

Pam Geller at ATLAS SHRUGS has a great story about what Israel is doing to help some of the victims og Gaza violence.

Oddly enough, the victims are Palestinians. If that surprises you, you’re probably buying into the Mainstream Media propaganda a bit too much. Be educated:

This is a picture from an article on 24Nov Yediot Ahronot titled “The Whole Problem on One Foot” by Asaf Veiss. It tells how (translated from Hebrew) “on one brutal day the Hamas captured 22 Fatah policemen. They severely tortured them until they had to have their legs amputated. Now they are undegoing re-habilitation at Tel Hashomer hospital.

A touching humanistic gesture? It depends whom you ask. ‘It’s an embarrasment’ exclaims on handicapped IDF soldier under care at the hospital -’they are terrorists in every way’ .On the other hand, Dr. Yitzhak Ziv-Ner is convinced otherwise. ‘This is a rare instance of reaching out to our neighbors”

. . . “Zecharia el-Raii:  ‘It will be a problem to go back home. The proteza has a computerized knee which needs to be charged all night. In Gaza there are always power outages such that there may be a situation where I won’t be able to walk.”

The Palestinians can’t keep the power on all night.  The Palestinians kidnap Israeli soldiers, torture them, kill them, and then trade their corpses for convicted terrorists in prison.

The Israelis give their enemies state of the art prosthetic limbs when they’re crippled by their own people.

My money and my prayers are with Israel.

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »

Israel Enters Gaza; Jordanian Gov’t Stooges Burn Israeli Flag **On Parliament Floor**

Gateway Pundit is firstest with the mostest (as usual):

Israeli troops entered Gaza today.

The IDF positioned hundreds of tanks along the Gaza separation barrier Monday as the Air Force resumed aerial attacks. (BBC Photo)
Jordanian Parliament members burned the Israeli flag on Sunday in protest to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead campaign in Gaza. (And Gateway Pundit has the disgusting video of this.)

Israelly Cool has a roundup on the situation in Gaza and Israel including this disgusting protest shot from India:

The Nariman house is the Chabad House in Mumbai, in which innocent Jews were slaughtered by Islamic terrorists last month. The Mumbai terrorists sexually humiliated their victims before killing them. Even the Rabbi and his wife at Nariman House were sexually assaulted and their genitalia mutilated.

(JD’s note: Just so we’re clear here: This Indian from New Nariman House – where radical Muslims tortured, humiliated, and murdered people just a few weeks ago — and Palestinians applauded the act — are now supporting these same Palestinian murderers as Israel wreaks holy vengeance or their cowardly, terrorists butts.

Hey — Just so we’re clear.)

The Muqata also has a lengthy roundup on the situation.

At least 60 rockets were fired at Israel so far today.

Meanwhile… Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said today that, “Hezbollah declared war on us.”

Yisrael Medad reported HERE at 8:00am tEST this morning “An SMS text message hit my cell phone to say Psalms 121 & 142 as ground forces are entering the Gaza district.”

Pray Hard for Israel that they be delivered from their enemies; the Palestinians, the Muslims, -AND- the politicians.

~~JD~~

Read Full Post »