Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IAF to dismiss reservists who signed letter demanding prioritization of hostages over war, dozens of Reserve MDs send their demand letter

2025-04-11

[IsraelTimes] 60 in active reserves likely to be booted, but most of the 1,000 signatories are veterans, no longer serving; letter calls to end war but not for refusal to serve; IDF says soldiers can’t ‘use Air Force brand’ for political protest

A group of close to 1,000 veterans of the Israeli Air Force, the vast majority of them in retirement, published a letter Thursday demanding the return of the hostages in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, even if it comes at the cost of ending the war against Hamas
Hamas

..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
entirely.

After the letter was published, the military moved to dismiss every active duty reservist who signed it, saying soldiers cannot use the "Israeli Air Force brand" to protest political matters.

The letter did not call for a general refusal to serve, as had been previously reported, but instead urged the government to prioritize the release of hostages over the continuation of the war in Gaza, which the signatories argue now serves "political and personal interests" rather than national security.

"The continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war, and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF soldiers and innocent civilians," reads the letter, which was published as an ad in a number of Israeli newspapers.

"As has been proven in the past, only an agreement [with the Hamas terror group] can return hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers," it added. "We call on all citizens of Israel to mobilize for action."

The military said later on Thursday that it found that only 60 of those who signed the letter were active reservists. Among the 60, only a handful were competent pilots, while the rest have been serving in headquarters roles, according to an IDF examination of the signatories.

Those 60 are likely to be dismissed.

The remaining 900 signatories were IAF retired veterans and names that were unknown to the military.

Some 40 active duty reservists who were initially on the letter removed their signatures prior to its publication after the IAF held discussions with them.

Among the signatories was former IDF chief of staff and IAF commander Dan Halutz, and Nimrod Sheffer, former head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate.

IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar had sought to prevent the publication of the letter, which was originally slated to be released on Tuesday.

After its publication, Bar, along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, moved to dismiss the active reservists who signed the letter, with the IDF saying that it has no issue with reservists protesting any matter in their civilian lives, as long as they do it without using the name of the military or their role.

Since the letter was signed by "air personnel in reserves and retirement," the military said it could not accept a situation where reservists "use the Israeli Air Force brand" to protest political matters.
"It is inconceivable for someone to do a shift at [the IAF] command center and head out afterward and express mistrust in the task," the IDF added, saying it is operating solely out of "matter-of-fact interests" and working to achieve the goals of the war, especially the return of the hostages.

REFUSAL TO SERVE
After the military said it would dismiss the active reservists who signed the letter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the decision in a statement on Thursday in which he claimed that they had refused to serve: "Refusal to serve is refusal to serve, even if it’s only hinted at in whitewashed language. Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies in a time of war are unforgivable."

Netanyahu called the signatories "a group of fringe Lions of Islam who are trying once again to break Israeli society from within. They tried to do it before October 7 and Hamas interpreted the refusal calls as a weakness."

Amid the mass protests against the government’s judicial overhaul plan in 2023, several groups of reservists, including in the IAF, issued statements saying they would refuse to serve under a regime they no longer viewed as democratic. The IDF has said, however, that Hamas had planned the attack at least a year in advance.

Netanyahu accused the signatories of "acting toward one goal — bringing down the government. They don’t represent the soldiers or the public."

Responding to the letter, Defense Minster Israel Katz slammed the reservists who signed it, saying: "I strongly reject the letter by the Air Force reservists and the attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the just war that the IDF is leading in Gaza for the return of the hostages and the defeat of the murderous Hamas terrorist organization."

"I trust the judgment of the chief of staff and the Air Force commander and am convinced that they will handle this unacceptable phenomenon in the most appropriate way," his statement added.

Far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman also slammed the letter, calling for all signatories to "be fired from the army" and saying that the letter is "part of a media campaign" to undermine the government.

Almog Cohen, a politician from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, called the letter "another open invitation to the next massacre."

"The signatories, including a former chief of staff, continue to trade in the blood of our children with criminal irresponsibility, cynically using their military rank," he said. "My demand from the chief of staff is to immediately dismiss those who are serving and to revoke the ranks and military pensions of those who are no longer serving. Any lenient treatment will lead to the collapse of the IDF."

"The enemy is sharpening his knives and the blood of the victims on the foreheads of the refuseniks who are almost begging for another massacre," Cohen concluded.

The military recently dismissed at least two reservist officers for refusing to serve, including air force combat navigator Alon Gur, who said he told his superiors that "a line was crossed," that the state was "again abandoning its citizens in broad daylight," and that he cannot continue to serve.

According to reports, those incidents were seen by the IDF as isolated cases, but a number of senior IDF officials were reportedly concerned that refusal to serve could become a larger phenomenon among reservists.

At the height of the 2023 protests against the judicial overhaul, hundreds of IDF reservists signed declarations saying they would no longer show up for reserve duty in protest of the government advancing its plans to curtail the judiciary.

However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
when war erupted in Gaza with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and massacres, nearly 300,000 reservists showed up for duty, marking the largest-ever call-up of reservists in Israel’s history.

Dozens of reservist doctors pen letter calling for end to war in Gaza, return of hostages, report says

[IsraelTimes] Dozens of reserve doctors have signed a letter demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the swift return of the hostages, according to a report by Ynet News.

The letter is addressed to Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Chief Medical Officer Brig. Gen. Zivan Aviad-Beer.

“We, reserve doctors serving in various IDF units, demand the immediate return of the hostages and a cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip,” the signatories write.

They stress their commitment during the October 7 attacks, stating: “On October 7, we proudly stood up to defend the State of Israel. After more than 550 days of fighting, which has already taken a heavy toll on the country, we painfully feel that the continuation of the war is primarily serving political and personal interests without any security purpose.”

This is the third such public letter from IDF reservists in recent days. The first was signed by reservists of the Israeli Air Force, and the second by over 150 reservist naval officers, all calling for an end to the war and prioritization of efforts to return the hostages.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Tens of thousands protest, blaming government for failing to free Gaza hostages

2024-09-22

[IsraelTimes] Relatives say Netanyahu ‘sacrificing the hostages’ as northern front heats up without hostage-truce deal with Hamas; police arrest former IDF chief outside PM’s home in Caesarea

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv and across Israel on Saturday night, in support of a hostage-ceasefire deal to enable the release of hostages held captive by the Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
terror group in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
since October 7 and amid the threat of a major assault from Hezbollah in Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
Organizers claimed there were hundreds of thousands at the Tel Aviv protests and tens of thousands more nationwide, though there were no official figures on the turnout.

Tens of thousands it is — or perhaps even less. But if even the Times of Israel does not believe the protestors’ claims, then it cannot be so.

Protests calling for a hostage deal have been held every Saturday night since the first weeks of the ongoing war against Hamas, steadily growing in numbers.

Waxing and waning, actually, with increases when the marketing team can push something interesting to pique interest among the rubes. Otherwise it’s just the same cadre of professional protesters and their useful idiots that have been protesting against Bibi since 2015 and before. They really resent the labour socialists having lost control of the reins of government — they thought they’d driven him out of office in 1999, but ten years later he got himself reelected, just to bedevil them.

For months, they were held alongside separate, anti-government protests, but the two demonstrations joined together three weeks ago, after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages who had been murdered days earlier, sparking outrage across the country.

Eli Albag, whose daughter Liri was kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, told the Tel Aviv rally on Saturday that far-right ministers in the coalition have been intentionally preventing a deal. "It’s clear to us all that Hamas is to blame, but throughout the year there were opportunities for a deal, and you [the government] didn’t take them."

The rally was also addressed by Shahar Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and died in Hamas captivity after not receiving vital medication.

Police later arrested Mor, though it was not immediately clear why. Demonstrators — including Labor MK Gilad Kariv — surrounded a police cruiser in Tel Aviv and blocked it from moving immediately after the arrest. A statement from the police said Mor was arrested near the home of the defense minister, and that he would be released and summoned tomorrow for questioning.

In Caesarea, where Haaretz estimated that about a thousand protesters gathered in front of Netanyahu’s private residence, demonstrators blocked traffic until they were forcibly dispersed by police.

Among those arrested was former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz, whom police lifted by his arms and feet, as other demonstrators shouted at the officers, "Aren’t you ashamed?"

Police also made arrests in Jerusalem, organizers said.

In Tel Aviv, the central protest dispersed around 10 p.m., though organizers said some thousands of people continued to demonstrate on Namir Road, where police put out a small bonfire.

Also on Namir Road, on which a yellow ribbon was painted with the words, "Thou shalt not abandon," cars burned in the October 7 attack were carried by other vehicles in a procession, covered in banners denouncing the government and calling for a hostage deal.

A similar convoy of burned cars paraded through Caesarea.

In Tel Aviv, protesters stopped at the junction of Namir Road and Pinkas Street, near the private residence of MK Gideon Sa’ar of the New Hope party, who is considering leaving the opposition and joining Netanyahu’s government.

Earlier Saturday, Sa’ar announced that he would not accept Netanyahu’s offer to become defense minister in place of Yoav Gallant, a move that the Hostage Families Forum hailed in a statement blasting the potential new addition to the cabinet.

Sa’ar, the statement said, "is among the opponents of the sacred obligation for a deal to return the hostages." A man like Sa’ar, it said, "cannot serve as Israel’s defense minister and cannot lead the Israel Defense Forces, whose entire ethos is based on mutual obligation and the imperative to leave nobody behind."

Protests were also held in Haifa, Beersheba, Rehovot, Hadera, Kfar Saba, Netanya, and numerous highway junctions across the country.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Tens of thousands in Tel Aviv rally against coalition during Independence Day ceremony

2023-04-26

An order of magnitude less than at peak, which is interesting.

[IsraelTimes] As official event held in Jerusalem, demonstrators protest against judicial overhaul, declare Israeli democracy under attack

The sub rosa war of the Biden administration against Bibi Netanyahu continues, determined as they are to get their money’s worth from their payments to far left Israeli “activists”, Movement for Quality Government (MQG). MQG is the current name of Antifa’s branch in Israel for driving Bibi Netanyahu and his supporters out of politics.

Tens of thousands of people held a protest against the government on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv to coincide with the official Independence Day ceremony in Jerusalem that was attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior ministers and officials.

The Tel Aviv rally was organized by screeching muppets who have led opposition to the government’s planned far-reaching changes to the judiciary, which critics say would weaken the country’s democratic foundations.

Organizers described it as an "independence party," and it included music, performances by high-profile singers, and speeches from protest leaders.

Leading figures from the anti-government movement read out sections from Israel’s Declaration of Independence, among them former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, fellow former Israeli Air Forces commander Dan Halutz and award-winning actress Hanna Azoulay Hasfari.

"Israel is marking 75 years since its founding while under a relentless attack on Israeli democracy that is tearing the people apart," organizers said in a statement.

"Facing the attackers are millions of Israelis who love the country, who will not give up even an iota of democracy and equality."

The protesters gathered at the Azrieli Junction and then blocked Kaplan Street and other roads in the area.

As they paraded, some unfurled a huge "Torch of Democracy" banner.

Police issued an alert to drivers of likely heavy congestion across Tel Aviv as a result.

Also Tuesday evening, about a thousand people attended a protest rally in Jerusalem, held close to the location of the official Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl.

As a pre-recorded video message from Netanayhau was screened at the official event, the demonstrators sang the national anthem.

The prime minister did not deliver a live speech at the ceremony, which was held under tight security amid fears screeching muppets would attempt a publicity stunt or disrupt the event.

Smaller protests were held in other locations including Raanana, Yehud, and Zichron Yaakov.

Though the overhaul legislation has been put on hold while the government conducts negotiations for an agreement with opposition parties, mass weekly protests have continued, spearheaded by gatherings on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Former defense minister Mofaz: Bolton tried to convince me to attack Iran

2018-03-25

Former Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Sunday that US President Donald Trump's newly-appointed national security advisor John Bolton had tried to convince him to attack Iran.

Speaking at a conference hosted by Yediot Aharonot, Mofaz said: "I have known John Bolton since his days as US ambassador to the United Nations - he tried to convince me that Israel must attack in Iran.

"I don't think that it's a wise move, not for the Americans today or for anyone until the threat becomes real," he added.

In 1998, Mofaz became the sixteenth IDF chief of staff, serving until 2002. He then served as minister of defense from 2002 until 2006.

"The Iranian threat is very significant for Israel's security. Iran is already at Israel's borders - in Syria and Lebanon," Mofaz warned. "It's impossible to promise a future to the children of Israel if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon."

Bolton is known to be rabidly opposed to the Iran nuclear deal, and is considered a strong friend of Israel. He has also stated that the two-state solution is "dead."

On Saturday night, right-wing Israeli politicians welcomed the news of the hawkish choice to replace Lt.-Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was seen as a constraining influence within Trump’s inner circle.

Bolton’s appointment sends "an unequivocal message to Iran that the days of the terrible nuclear agreement are coming to an end," said Kulanu MK and former ambassador to the United States Michael Oren.

"Bolton is known to hate the agreement," he said.

Sitting alongside Mofaz at the conference were former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon and former IDF chiefs of staff Benny Gantz and Dan Halutz. All four panelists said they were not in favor of nixing the Iran nuclear deal.

Ya'alon emphasized the importance of exhausting non-military options before using force against Iran.

"Leaders in the region have understood that their armies cannot defeat the IDF, and as a result have gone in two directions," said Ya'alon.

"The first is terror, guerrilla, rockets and missiles; the second is an unconventional threat, particularly nuclear," he added.

"To thwart or to destroy? For as long as possible, obtain achievements without using military force. If there's no choice - it'll be necessary to use force."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Lawfare: Terror-hunting attorney sets her sights on Western Union and Boeing

2017-05-30

[IsraelTimes] Western Union and Boeing had better look out. The American giants are in the cross-hairs of an Israeli lawyer with a track record of humbling huge corporations and winning multi-million-dollar settlements for her clients.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has spent the past decade filing lawsuits for the victims of terror attacks against the governments, banks and corporations that enabled or financed the violence. As a result of her efforts, more than $200 million has been collected for terror victims and their families (including out of court settlements), and some $600 million in assets has been frozen.

Darshan-Leitner has also used the courts to fight against what she considers to be unfair lawsuits against Israeli military commanders. In one notable case, she stopped a Spanish lawsuit against Israel’s Chief of Staff Dan Halutz over a bombing raid in Gazoo by filing a similar suit against Javier Solana, a top Spanish politician who had overseen NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
’s bombing of Kosovo. Spain changed the law.

Last year, she won an unprecedented $655 million verdict against the Paleostinian Authority and PLO on behalf of 11 American families whose loved ones had been killed or injured in attacks in Israel. That decision was overturned by the US Court of Appeal, but Darshan-Leitner says she is not deterred.

Darshan-Leitner and Shurat Hadin, the non-profit law center she heads, are self-funding and do not receive backing from any government, including that of Israel. Sometimes she can be more effective even than the Israeli army: In 2011, she prevented a Gazoo-bound activists’ flotilla from leaving Greece after challenging the seaworthiness of the vessels in a local court.

Now she has discovered that Leb-based terrorist group Hezbollah is using Western Union to channel funds, and Iran is planning to use Boeing aircraft to deliver missiles to Syria. She plans to sue them both.

"Hezbollah is launching a fundraising campaign and using Western Union to accept the donations, so one of the moves that we are planning is to go after Western Union," says Darshan-Leitner. "In addition, we learned that Boeing not only signed a horrible deal with Iran providing them with 80 aircraft with a special waiver for the sanctions, Iran actually is using these aircraft to deliver missiles into Syria and let Hezbollah drive them to South Leb to shoot them over Israel.

"We are suing Boeing now to stop the deal, and we are launching a campaign to put pressure on the administration not to let Boeing continue," she says.

Darshan-Leitner is also suing Facebook, Twitter and other social media giants for their alleged role in "facilitating" terror activity.

"Facebook, Twitter and Google provide material support in the form of social media network services to Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,, to ISIS. This is unacceptable. It’s also a violation of American law. So we’ve filed lawsuits against them as well," she says.

Make them live up to their own rules, said Alinsky.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hezbollah's Latest Muscle-Flexing Sign Of Stress, Not Strength

2012-11-03

[Times of Israel] The recent flurry of activity from Hezbollah is a sign of stress, not strength, and Israel should be all the more wary

Hezbollah has been flexing its muscles of late, sending a drone into Israel and establishing a surveillance and telecommunication system along the border. But both of these deeds should be seen as acts of distress rather than signs of strength.

For the Shiite organization, the situation today, with Sunni Islam ascendant and Bashir al-Assad stripped of legitimacy and losing power, is reminiscent of the period in the run-up to the 2006 Second Leb War, when Hezbollah was desperate for an achievement in the aftermath of the Cedar Revolution of early 2005.

The revolution broke out immediately after the Lebanese Sunni Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was murdered in February 2005, and it left Hezbollah on the ropes. A UN investigation into the murder had been launched, and would later indict four senior Hezbollah operatives for the liquidation. Syrian troops, the longstanding backers of Hezbollah, had been ousted from Leb after 29 years of occupation. And a growing chorus of voices was calling for the disarming of the world's most powerful militia. Druze, Christians and Sunni Mohammedans all reasoned that with both Israel and Syria gone from Lebanese soil there was no need for the existence of a private Shiite army in the south of the state. Even some of the Shiite population was drifting toward the rival Amal party.

Hezbollah is a sophisticated entity. It operates on many levels. But one ploy that always seems to work is to goad Israel into a confrontation.

On November 22, 2005, Hezbollah sent several elite squads into Mghar, a village that lies partially in Israel and partially in Leb. The forward squads carried anti-tank rockets and other infantry gear. The rear squad was armed with high-powered off-road cycle of violences and ATVs. The goal of the mission was to ambush Israeli troops and kidnap a soldier.

The head of army intelligence at the time, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash, contacted the OC Northern Command the day before the attack and warned him of the brewing plans, according to Ofer Shelah and Yoav Limor's 2007 book "Captives of Leb." Perhaps word was passed down. At any rate, the local Paratroops company commander changed the positioning of his troops the next night, and when the Hezbollah gunnies arrived, a young sniper, only eight months into his army service, picked off the four members of the forward squad and thwarted the plan.

Zeevi-Farkash was not complacent, however. He wrote to then prime minister Ariel Sharon, that the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, "is willing to go all the way."

The prevailing notion in military intelligence at the time, Shelah and Limor wrote, was that Hezbollah was "under duress" and that it needed to portray itself once again as the defender of Leb.

But that December, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the Chief of the General Staff, dismissed this notion during a General Staff meeting, much to Zeevi-Farkash's chagrin, the authors wrote.

And the following July, apparently far better prepared, Hezbollah achieved its goal -- killing eight soldiers and kidnapping two more, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, who subsequently died, in a cross-border raid.

Israel had many options.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert could have responded with a limited but painful strike, such as the one the IAF carried out on the first night of the war, when, as part of Operation Mishgal Seguli, it eliminated the majority of Hezbollah's medium- and long-range rockets. Instead, on the morning of July 13, Halutz announced that the war would take "take weeks."

Here is not the space to debate the outcome of the war. But one thing is certain: in its wake Hezbollah's political power rose within Leb. In 2008, as a result of the Doha Agreement, it achieved an effective veto in Leb's government, controlling 11 out of 30 cabinet seats.

Today, again, Hezbollah is feeling discontent swirling all around it. Egypt and Turkey are controlled by religious Sunni governments; Jordan may be moving in the same direction; Syria is assuredly being wrested from Allawite hands and will likely be dominated by some sort of Sunni-led coalition; and in Leb the Sunni minority is feeling energized and itching to settle past scores.

Jerusalem would do well to consider these factors if, after the drone and the new surveillance equipment, Hezbollah's next act is more provocative.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Another Former IDF General Says: We'll Have to Bulldoze Gaza

2011-12-06

Former IDF Major General Yoav Galant says Israel's negligence vis-a-vis Gazoo will eventually force it to undertake a major ground offensive.

Major General Yoav Galant (Ret.) said Monday Israel's refusal to take decisive action in Gazoo will only serve to force Israel to make a massive incursion into the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run enclave.

Galant told attendees of a speech at Tel Aviv University that Israel's concerted efforts to dismantle against terror infrastructures in Judea and Samaria caused terror levels to plummet, while Gazoo beturbanned goons were being allowed to thrive and build.

"A lack of action, negligence by military officials, has resulted in a situation in the West Bank where we took care to tend the lawn, but in Gazoo - since we didn't - thorns grew into tree trunks."

"In the end we'll have to go in with bulldozers," Galant added.

Galant, a former contender for IDF chief of staff, added that Gazoo is "something belonging to the Islamic bloc. That's a reality no one knows how to solve."

He also dismissed efforts by Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government saying the differences between the factions could not "be resolved with words."

Galant joins former IDF chiefs of staff Shaul Mofaz, Moshe Yaalon, Dan Halutz, and Gabi Ashkenazi in calling for major operations to root out Gazoo's terror infrastructure. Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch has also publicly called for a Gazoo incursion.

Israel's strategic paradigm of ~~Arclight~~ airstrikes-for-rockets has largely been seen as maintaining the poor security situation of its Gazoo belt communities - which have had over 12,000 rockets fired at them from Gazoo since 2001.

The timing of Galant's remarks come as Hamas' leadership finds itself in a tenuous position in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
as the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
comes under increasing domestic and international pressure for him to step down

Hamas has been openly looking for a new country to host its foreign headquarters for several months, but has reportedly been given an ultimatum by Iran to remain or face losing funding, training, and armaments from Tehran.

Iran has long used terror factions like Hamas and the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
... Paleostinian Marxist movement, founded in 1967. It is considered a terrorist organization by more than 30 countries including the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. The PFLP's stated goal is the establishment of a socialist State in Paleostine. They pioneered armed aircraft hijackings in the late 60s and early 70s...
in Syria and Leb as proxies against Israel - and pro-Western elements in Leb.

Analysts say Israel could potentially use the chaos a future Assad ouster would create for Hamas' foreign leadership and support networks as a window for moving against the terror infrastructures in its Gazoo stronghold.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Halutz: Israel failed to kill Nasrallah

2009-06-02

Former IDF chief of general staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz on Sunday evening revealed that Israel attempted to assassinate Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. "In the Second Lebanon War there was an attempt to hit Hizbullah leader Hassan Nassralah, but it wasn't successful," Army Radio quoted Halutz as telling participants at a Tel Aviv University conference.

Halutz, who resigned from his post following the war, apparently criticized the government's policy regarding reporters in 2006, and said that the policy of openness to the media during the Second Lebanon War was exaggerated.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Hizbullah's leadership instructed all its operatives to raise their alert to "emergency level" for the duration of the IDF Home Front Command's week-long 'Turning Point 3' national drill, Lebanese media reported.

Hizbullah expressed fear over what they called "Israel's attempt to use the drill in order to attack targets in Lebanon or carry out special operations."

The group publicly announced that both its military and political wings were well prepared for such a scenario, saying that "the units have been fortified with additional fighters, and the organization will remain on high alert for the duration of Israel's drill."

Last week, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that an arrest warrant should be immediately issued for Nasrallah, following a German report linking Hizbullah to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

"An international arrest warrant must be issued for Nasrallah, and he must stand trial," Lieberman said before the weekly cabinet meeting last week. "The report about Nasrallah's involvement in the murder of prime minister Rafik Hariri must send a warning signal to the international community."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

What's needed for Bibi to be Bibi

2009-02-24

By Caroline B. Glick
Who can recall the olden days when Kadima was young and proudly proclaimed its identity as the one Israeli political party that stands for nothing? Two days before the 2006 elections, Kadima's Meir Sheetrit grandly announced that his party was the only party in Israel that "has disengaged from ideology."

But look at Kadima now. As far as its leader Tzipi Livni is concerned, ideology is all that matters. Never mind that her ideology - of surrendering land to the Palestinians - was completely discredited by Hamas's electoral victory and subsequent seizure of power in Gaza. Never mind that Kadima's assertion that establishing a Palestinian state is the key to solving all of Israel's problems has been overtaken by Iran's rise as a regional hegemon and aspiring nuclear power dedicated to the eradication of Israel.

As Livni put it Sunday as she rejected Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu's request that Kadima join his government as a full partner, "If we compromise and concede our ideology by joining a government with a path that is not ours, it would violate the trust of our voters."

To try to coddle Kadima into setting aside its newfound ideological fervor, Netanyahu harkened back to its past as party that in Sheetrit's words was "unburdened by ideological baggage" and "looking only to the future." Netanyahu argued that since today there is no chance of establishing a Palestinian state that will live at peace with Israel, Kadima can set aside its differences with Likud and cooperate on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, overthrowing Hamas's regime in Gaza and protecting Israel's economy from the global economic meltdown. But Livni would have none of it.

SINCE LIVNI has been a post-Zionist radical ever since she underwent her ideological conversion from Right to Left in 2004, her position is understandable. Less understandable is her opportunistic party members' willingness to back her up. What accounts for their readiness to leave their cushy ministries for the Knesset's back benches?

Since the election, Kadima's leaders, their fellow leftists in Labor and Meretz and the media have all proclaimed that Netanyahu's rightist coalition is unsustainable. Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik even suggested that Kadima shouldn't discard its campaign literature since new elections will be declared within a year.

On their face these assertions make little sense. A rightist coalition will be comprised of 65 members of Knesset who have nowhere else to go. What possible reason would they have to agree to new elections?

But Livni and her colleagues have three formidable assets giving credence to their claim: The Obama administration, President Shimon Peres, and the IDF General Staff under Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. If these forces act in concert to oppose Netanyahu, his ability to govern and remain in office will indeed be significantly diminished.

Over the past week, the Obama administration has taken a series of steps that show that it plans to push the traditional US policy of pressuring Israel to make unreciprocated concessions to its Arab neighbors to an entirely new level. Whereas the Bush administration rejected the legitimacy of the Iranian-supported Hamas terror group, the Obama administration gave three signs this week that it is willing to recognize a Hamas-led Palestinian regime. First, its surrogate, Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Hamas-controlled Gaza and so effectively accepted Hamas protection. While there, he accepted a letter from Hamas to President Barack Obama and duly delivered it to the US consulate in Jerusalem.
So the Big O is fundamentally willing to throw Israel under the proverbial bus....bottom line.
Second, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that she will participate in next month's Egyptian-sponsored conference which aims to raise money to rebuild Hamas-controlled Gaza in the aftermath of its unprovoked missile war against Israel. This is the first time that the US has willingly participated in raising money for Gaza since Hamas seized power in June 2007.
Thus enabling Hamas and draining our treasury by aiding and abetting terrorists.
Finally, Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has decided to participate in negotiations aimed at reestablishing the Hamas-Fatah unity government. Abbas claims that the US now supports such a government that would again render Fatah Hamas's junior partner. US recognition of such a government would constitute US recognition of Hamas as a legitimate actor.
They are certainly an actor, and as a result of Gaza elections, a legitimate actor, in the eyes of the Paleos. Unfortunately, negotiating with Hamas assumes that they are willing to compromise with Israel. This, on the part of the liberal world, is delusional thinking.
Then there was Kerry's visit to Syria. Not only did Kerry indirectly praise Syria for its support for Hamas by extolling its willingness to support a Palestinian government in which Hamas plays a leading role, he called for the abandonment of the Bush administration's decision to withdraw the US ambassador from Damascus after the Syrians oversaw the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.

OBAMA'S WILLINGNESS to treat with Hamas and Syria is part and parcel of his apparent belief that the principal reason that the Arab and Islamic worlds are hostile towards the US is because the US supports Israel. The notion that Obama blames Israel for the Arab and Islamic hatred of the US gained credence this week when it was reported that Obama intends to appoint former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman to serve as the director of the highly influential National Intelligence Council.

Freeman is known for his virulent animus towards Israel. In numerous public statements he has placed all the blame for Arab and Islamic hostility towards the US on Israel and argued that the US's conflicts with the Arabs will disappear the minute the US abandons Israel.

In one such statement in 2007, Freeman, who extols Hamas as "democratically elected," said, "Those in the region and beyond it who detest Israeli behavior, which is to say almost everyone, now naturally extend their loathing to Americans. This has had the effect of universalizing anti-Americanism, legitimizing radical Islamism, and gaining Iran a foothold among Sunni as well as Shiite Arabs."

By refusing to submit to its Arab enemies, Freeman argues that Israel has earned their wrathful retaliation, which Freeman claims, also places Americans in danger. In his words, "Such retaliation - whatever form it takes - will have the support or at least the sympathy of most people in the region and many outside it. This makes the long-term escalation of terrorism against the United States a certainty, not a matter of conjecture."

President Shimon Peres for his part doesn't share Washington's enthusiasm for Syria or its animus towards Israel. But he does believe that Israel can and must do more to establish a Palestinian state. As the uncontested leader of the Israeli Left, on Friday Peres came out in favor of the so-called "Saudi peace plan." In an indirect, fawning interview with Ma'ariv's political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi, Peres embraced the Saudi initiative, which calls for an Israeli withdrawal to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines and acceptance of millions of hostile foreign Arabs as part of the so-called "right of return."

Both in the interview and in his remarks in the lead-up and the aftermath of the elections, Peres has established himself as the bulwark against a non-leftist government that hopes to place the issue of Palestinian statehood on the back burner. Like Livni, in spite of the fact that there is no Palestinian leader willing to live at peace with Israel, Peres insists that Israel's most pressing challenge is to establish a Palestinian state.

IN THEIR BID to discredit the Netanyahu government, Peres and Obama will apparently enjoy the support of the IDF General Staff. According to a report in Ma'ariv on Friday, IDF Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has embraced defeatism as a national strategy. Ma'ariv's diplomatic commentator Ben Caspit reported that Ashkenazi claims that while it is true that Israel has military capacity to set back Iran's nuclear program significantly, there is no point in doing so.

According to Caspit, as far as Ashkenazi is concerned, rather than removing the immediate threat to its survival, Israel should appease Iran's Arab puppet - Assad. Ashkenazi reportedly believes that Israel should leave Iran alone, and beg Obama to convince Assad to accept the Golan Heights from Israel. Once Assad has the Golan, Ashkenazi argues that he will stop pointing his missiles armed with chemical and biological warheads at Israel, stop supporting Hamas and Hizbullah and generally become a member in good standing of the Western alliance. Why Syria would do such a thing, when it would owe an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights to its alliance with Iran, is a question that Ashkenazi hasn't seen fit to consider.

Ashkenazi is extolled by the leftist media as non-political, but this is untrue. The Chief of General Staff is exceedingly close to former IDF chief of General Staff Amnon Shahak, who signed the post-Zionist Geneva Initiative in 2004 and has established business partnerships with Fatah leaders.

As chief of General Staff during Netanyahu's first term as prime minister, Shahak openly rebelled against the government by refusing to meet with the prime minister or attend cabinet meetings. Shahak announced a failed bid to unseat Netanyahu as prime minister shortly after retiring from military service in 1998.

Ashkenazi, who brought Shahak on as his "professional coach" after replacing Dan Halutz as Chief of General Staff in 2007, clearly shares his political views. He opposed fighting Hamas until missiles began raining down on Ashdod, supports signing a new ceasefire with Hamas today that will give Israeli legitimacy to the terror group, and supported ending Operation Cast Lead without first toppling or even significantly degrading Hamas's ability to control Gaza.

Ashkenazi is also extremely close to former IDF OC Military Intelligence Uri Saguy. Since the mid-1990s, Saguy, who owns large tracts of land in the Galilee, has been one of the greatest champions of an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights. Like Shahak, Saguy serves in the unofficial role of Ashkenazi's professional mentor.

Caspit claimed that right after Netanyahu forms his government, Ashkenazi intends to tell him that the IDF rejects the notion of attacking Iran. That is, according to Caspit, upon entering office, Netanyahu will find the IDF General Staff standing arm and arm with Obama and Peres in a bid to overthrow him.

No wonder Kadima has now found ideology.

IF NETANYAHU wishes to survive in office and actually accomplish the clear aims he has set for his government, he must begin aggressively selling his agenda to the public. By doing so, he will build the kind of public credibility he will need to prevent Ashkenazi from rebelling against him. With Ashkenazi sidelined, Peres and Obama will have less direct ability to prevent Israel from attacking Iran.

During the campaign, Netanyahu chose to keep a low profile in the hopes of neutralizing the media's criticisms by denying them headlines. At the time, there was some justification for that policy. But now that he is forming the next government, the public must know why he wants to do what he plans to do and why we must support him. Otherwise, Kadima is right. There is no reason to join his government.
All these things together shows that the US govt has no interest in the survival of Israel, but in the belief in the meme that Israel is the problem. Israel needs to make unilateral concessions to their enemies in the hope that their enemies will be nice to Israel. If Netanyahu does not project strength, and Israel wanders down this appeasement path, there will be a nuclear war and Israel, plus Iran, Syria, et al, will cease to exist..

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Europe

Spanish court probes Halutz, Ben-Eliezer for 2002 Gaza attack

2009-01-29

A Spanish judge on Thursday launched a probe of seven current or former Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed a Hamas terrorist and 14 other people, including nine children.

The people named in the suit include Dan Halutz, who commanded Israel's air force at the time, and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, then defense minister and currently national infrastructures minister.

Judge Fernando Andreu said the attack against Salah Shehadeh in a densely populated civilian area might constitute a crime against humanity.

The judge was acting under a doctrine that allows prosecution in Spain of such an offense or crimes like terrorism or genocide even if they are alleged to have been committed in another country.

Will they apply that retroactively to the Socialists and Communists who killed so many in their Civil War? To the Spaniards who wiped out the Aztecs, Incans and Mayans? How about to all the slaves they brought to Central and South America?

No?

Andreu announced the probe in a writ issued Thursday.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Israel: Lebanon responsible for Hezbollah actions

2008-08-08

Israel will hold Lebanon responsible for any attacks against Israel, in particular for any Hezbollah efforts to avenge the death of its military leader Imad Mughniyeh. This decision on Wednesday by the security cabinet represents a change in Israeli policy, after always firmly separating Hezbollah and the Lebanese government.

According to defense establishment recommendations adopted by the security cabinet, Israel will treat the Lebanese unity government, which is headed by Fouad Siniora and includes Hezbollah, as responsible for any event that takes place in its sovereign territory or events for which Lebanese nationals are responsible.

A senior Jerusalem source said if Hezbollah attacks Israel from inside Lebanese territory, shoots at Israel Air Force aircraft or carries out a terror attack abroad as revenge for the Mughniyeh assassination (which it attributes to Israel), then Israel will hold Lebanon responsible and respond appropriately. In the coming weeks, Israel plans to start transmitting this message to the United Nations, United States, Russia and European nations, and primarily to Syria and Hezbollah itself.

In the Second Lebanon War, Israel avoided damaging Lebanese civilian infrastructure such as power stations, ports or government institutions, despite the recommendation of then-chief of staff Dan Halutz, due to pressure from Washington on Israel. The U.S. claimed that bombing Lebanese infrastructure would topple the moderate Siniora government.

Defense officials noted in the cabinet meeting that two developments supported a change in policy. The first is the fact Hezbollah is now a partner in a Lebanese unity government and holds veto rights. The second is that the guidelines of the new Lebanese government guidelines, approved by President Michel Suleiman, allow Hezbollah to continue its military activity against Israel.

The defense establishment believes these new conditions improve Israel's deterrent power as Hezbollah understands the severe ramifications of the new situation should there be any action against Israel in Lebanon or overseas.

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Europe

Spain Seeks to Arrest Israeli Minister and IDF Officers

2008-07-23

Ah, yes. Spain...
IsraelNN.com) The National Court in Spain has accepted a Palestinian Authority courtsuit that was filed less than a month ago, and orders the arrest of Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. The explanation: He oversaw the killing of arch-Palestinian terrorist Salah Shehada.

The Spanish court has also ordered the arrest of former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon and other IDF officials, both past and present, for the same reason. The arrest orders are to be executed immediately upon the officials' setting foot on Spanish soil.

Shehada was killed in an Israel Air Force strike in July 2002, shortly before his plans to send a truck loaded with 600 kilograms of explosives to a Jewish celebration in Gush Katif were to be implemented. Slated to succeed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as leader of Hamas, Shehada was responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the deaths of dozens of Israelis.
Geez, there's a real loss for humanity...
More important to ~~persecute~~ prosecute those who remove the scum of the earth ...
Ben-Eliezer of the Labor Party, currently Minister of Infrastructures, was Minister of Defense at the time of the successful liquidation of Shehada. Spain also seeks to arrest then-IDF chief Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Yaalon, then-IAF chief Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz (also a former Chief of Staff), then-Southern District Commander Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, then-National Security Council head Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, and Ben-Eliezer's military advisor Mike Herzog.

The PA suit was filed in Spain by the Palestinian Committee for Human Rights (PCHR), which claimed that the one-ton bomb was too powerful to be dropped on a residential neighborhood.
He was gonna use a 600kg. bomb, so I'd say they were a little light. But it did the job...
Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen notes, however, that it had been widely known during the period of the attack that Shehada and other terrorist leaders often took refuge behind children and other civilians in order to avoid being targeted by Israel. The IDF made it clear afterwards that the bombing of the building in which Shehada was hiding was done only after it was ascertained that no civilians - except possibly the terrorist's wife and daughter - were in his vicinity. The mission had been postponed numerous prior times when it was feared that civilians would be hurt.

In the event, however, 14 civilians were killed, and Israel was widely criticized from all quarters. Gen. Halutz's statement at the time, that all he felt when dropping a bomb was "a small bump in the side of the plane" - designed to express support for his pilots - added to the poor international perception of Israel's humanitarian image at the time. The PCHR often works in tandem with left-wing organizations in Israel, and refers to the IDF (Israel Defense Force) as the Israel Occupation Force.

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