Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Neville Witkoff

2025-05-30

[Townhall] Donald Trump’s envoy is reportedly hellbent on saving Hamas and Iran.

After the First Gulf War, the PLO was in real trouble. They had backed Saddam Hussein and by doing so lost all of their Saudi and Gulf funding. Yasir Arafat presided over a broken organization that was in Tunis instead of Jerusalem. Who saved the PLO from bankruptcy and irrelevance? Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Through the Oslo Accords, the PLO received international legitimacy, land, weapons, and most importantly, money. The Israeli leadership saved the Palestinian terrorist organization and several thousand dead Jews later, one can conclude that these actions were a disaster.

Donald Trump is ultimately a nice guy. Sure, he can make noise and threats, but deep down, he wants good for others. He said as much during his Gulf visit—namely that he wants good for Iran, for the Palestinians, for the Syrians, etc. There are times in life when one has to be ruthless; great leaders know when they need to destroy their enemy beyond a mere 51 percent victory. Generals Patton and LeMay understood it and pulverized their enemies until they gave up. Donald Trump does not have it in him to crush Iran and Hamas. It’s like a doctor removing a cancer and saying, "What the heck, let’s leave a little of it in there, it’s so cute." Trump and his people often say that Iran will not have a nuclear bomb; I hate to say that they are not the only ones who have a say on the subject. Oftentimes, the reality of a country—North Korea, Pakistan—having a bomb comes too late and as a big surprise. Iran will get the bomb; the only question will be what happens next.
Either that, or Trump will be deeply offended by Bibi.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

The Real Politics of Israel Part 1: The U.S.-Israel Deep State

2025-04-06

[PJMedia] Thanks to the mainstream media in the United States, most Americans believe that Israeli politics are simple; that Israelis are about to have a civil war over hostages and what should be done with Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
; that most Israelis cannot stand Benjamin Netanyahu; and that Netanyahu is a corrupt leader who has betrayed his people for political opportunism.

Nothing could be further from the actual truth on all of these points.

Before going into the details of each of these issues, it is important to remember where these reports are coming from-- namely, the same "news" outlets that said Hunter Biden’s computer was fake, the Russian collusion propaganda was real, and that Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
is a fascist
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
dictator who wants to be the king of America. The exact same people who made those fallacious claims domestically in the United States are making the same type of claims about Israel... and with the same agenda.

The "deep state" in America is mirrored in Israel, where there is a partnership between a leftist media and leftist corrupt leaders who have for years been attempting to take over the politics of the Holy Land. In the same way that we have seen this Deep State attack President Trump, the same has been happening for years against Netanyahu, and for the same reasons: both men truly want what is best for their respective countries; and both men are not willing to succumb to Deep State alliances of media, ~~babus~~ bureaucrats, and corrupt leftists.

For Trump's entire first presidency, we saw an attempted coup to remove him from office that utilized everything from false charges and ridiculous impeachments, to propaganda put out by media outlets, to staged riots and well-funded demonstrations. Looking back, most Americans have recognized the corruption that was involved in these attempts, and that there really was a coordinated effort to remove him from office by any means possible.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has been and is experiencing the same thing. And in the same way that the Deep State of America was exposed and, as a result, weakened, the same exposing must take place of the Israeli Deep State.

It is simplest to start with understanding the man, and why he is hated by his opposition. Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served on and off as prime minister for over 17 years starting in 1996, has dedicated his life to serving Israel. Having first enlisted in 1967 as part of the IDF special forces unit, Sayeret Matkal, he came to the U.S. for college. He earned multiple degrees from both MIT and Harvard; reenlisted in the IDF each time there was a conflict or war; and always strove to honor the memory of his brother and best friend Yonaton, who died rescuing the hostages in the raid on Entebbe, in which more than 100 hostages were rescued in 1976.

By 1978, he had returned to Israel and founded the Jonathan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute. He started to develop political relationships and became involved in Israeli politics, becoming Israel's ambassador to the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
from 1984 to 1989. Netanyahu became a member of the Knesset in 1988, became leader of the Likud party, and first became prime minister in 1996.

From 1967 onwards, this man dedicated his life to the defense of Israel, and specifically since 1978, to fighting terrorism. His political beliefs have always been reflective of the man himself. Willard Mitt Romney, aka Pierre Delecto
...former governor of Massachussetts, the Publican nominee for president in 2012, now Senator from Utah. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals. He is currently a trans Republican and a member in good standing of the Never Trump Party, attempting to assume the mantle of the late John McCain...>
, with whom he worked at Boston Consulting Group directly out of college, described Netanyahu almost 40 years ago as "a strong personality with a distinct point of view." Shaped by the tragic loss of his brother, Netanyahu has, for almost half a century, worked to fight evil and defend Israel.

As in the United States and President Trump's case, having the values of defending your nation and fighting evil do not necessarily make you popular with the "swamp."

Netanyahu was always a polarizing figure in Israel, but everything changed for him and for the world with the election of the self-appointed Messiah, Barack Obama
How much damage could he do in four years?... Eight, then...
, in 2008. Obama, whose actions demonstrated an anti-Semitism that liberal American Jews did not want to recognize at the time, expected Netanyahu to kowtow to his slightest whim. Obama was entirely ignorant of Middle Eastern history, and was committed to a Paleostinian state with 1967 borders and to being allied with Iran.

Netanyahu knew that these values were antithetical to the survival of the State of Israel. Despite Obama's attempts to control Netanyahu through either "the carrot or the stick", Netanyahu kept his commitment to his values, which enraged Obama. In his 2022 memoir, Netanyahu wrote that Obama "had given [Paleostinian Authority President] the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
a secret commitment to establish a full-fledged Paleostinian state before he left office," something that Israel could not and should not ever accept.

The autobiography makes clear the hatred of Obama towards Netanyahu, and the many ways that Obama strove to both hurt Israel politically and Netanyahu personally. He speaks about Obama acting like a gangster with threats, and Obama's fury at Netanyahu not capitulating. When Netanyahu was invited by Congress to speak in 2015 without Obama's blessing, Obama's anger was increased exponentially yet again. And with his anger came actions against Netanyahu.

Similar to the case of President Trump, Obama successfully started using his relationships in the media and the bureaucracy to attack Netanyahu. The Deep State was already well entrenched in Obama's regime. We all now know how it used its partnership with mainstream media to attack Trump repeatedly. But it also attacked Netanyahu.

It wasn't just American media that attacked Netanyahu. As in the United States, there are many leftists involved in Israeli media. The Jerusalem Post is almost identical to the New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
in tone and agenda. As of this week, the editor of the Post, Zvika Klein, is even being questioned about Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
’s financial support of the paper and Klein’s suspected involvement with foreign agents. The Times of Israel, although it does have some conservative voices, is also essentially a mouthpiece for leftist values, as are many of the Israeli television channels. The Deep State in Israel, supported and aligned by the leftists here in the United States, has been attacking Netanyahu for years. And like in America, it is not just the media, but self-serving politicians who seek their own power rather than the good of their nation.

Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition party, was briefly prime minister in between Netanyahu's terms. Like the stereotypical politician, he is concerned with his own power rather than the well-being of his country and people. Even when asked by his government not to travel to the United States, Lapid has taken every opportunity to meet with Obama, Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity....
, and others in the Democratic party leadership to garner their support and his hopeful election. But his efforts to weaken Netanyahu pale in comparison to the attempts by Israeli courts to destroy Netanyahu and legislate from the bench.

Unlike the United States, Israel does not have a formal written constitution. Although in its Declaration of Independence there is a commitment that there would be one, this was supplanted by a concept of Basic Laws in 1950 that eventually became the base of a written constitution. But because of a series of legal judgments by the Israeli High Court, that never happened.

Instead, the Israeli High Court actually holds a tremendous amount of the power, including the ability to change any laws passed by the Knesset. High Court judges are appointed positions and serve until they are 70 years old. Currently, three judges were appointed by Shimon Peres, who had been one of the officials in 2005 supporting Israel's entire withdrawal from 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...
. Four other judges were appointed by current President Herzog, who is a great man on many levels, but a center/left politician who appointed left-leaning judges.

Because the judges of the High Court are not elected but have control over Israeli legislation, there have been many conflicts, especially during the terms of Netanyahu. Recently, in July of 2023, the Knesset passed legislation to prevent the High Court from overturning legislation that was passed by elected officials of the Knesset. This bill was passed to prevent the court from forcing Israel to act based upon the liberal interpretations of the Court, as opposed to the desires of the prime minister, Knesset, and the people themselves. Because of the very odd way the basic law is structured, the High Court was deciding for itself whether it should lose power or not. Unsurprisingly, the court voted 8-7 to overturn this legislation written by elected officials, but that would weaken their own personal power and prohibit them from continuing to legislate from the bench.

A Deep State that includes politicians, media, and the judicial branch: Israel mirrors the United States in this dangerous alliance. And again, just as in the United States, this alliance is joined by well-financed "activists" and demonstrators. In America, this has led to the many attempted coups to remove President Trump from office. In Israel, this same cabal is working in the same way to attempt a coup on Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iranian intelligence penetrates the holy of holies of Israel's nuclear program

2025-03-07

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] The scandal with Israeli reservists who sold Iran some of the secrets of the legendary Iron Dome missile defense system had barely died down when a new spy story shook the country. This time, Iranian agents seriously raised the stakes by encroaching on Israel's "nuclear pearl."

To gain access to the nuclear research center in Dimona (Southern District), a native Israeli was recruited, again with no obvious grievances against the authorities.

And although Israeli intelligence agencies report that they were able to disrupt the enemy operation before the secret information leaked, there are still plenty of “blank spots” in the case.

ENGINEER FROM BEER SHEVA
The Israeli intelligence services spent only a month and a half searching for and capturing the “atomic mole” – in February 2025, Doron Bokobza, who worked as an engineer at Haifa Chemicals South, was arrested.

The company, which specializes in the production of agricultural fertilizers and industrial chemicals, is located in the same area as the research center targeted by Iranian agents. Workers from both facilities often crossed paths in Dimona.

The case materials, which became public a few days ago, noted that in December 2024, Bokobza himself approached an Iranian operative and offered his services. He justified his operational value by "having the necessary contacts" to penetrate the territory of the nuclear complex, and later backed up his words with "photographs of secret facilities."

The motive that pushed the Israeli to cooperate with foreign intelligence is traditionally said to be the thirst for profit.

The accused allegedly had serious financial problems (to which some media outlets added card debts, the existence of which was not mentioned in the case). At the same time, it is impossible to call him an opponent of the current government - he was almost not interested in the political life of the country and did not consider himself a "regular critic" of the authorities.

By the time of his arrest, Bokobza had earned around a thousand dollars from espionage, a record sum among agents recruited by Iran over the past year.

NUCLEAR PEARL
The interest of Iranian intelligence services in the nuclear research center in Dimona is not accidental.

Built in the Negev desert in 1958, the facility has a controversial reputation. Although Tel Aviv explains its work solely for scientific purposes, many are convinced that the complex is also used to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

According to investigators, it is capable of producing, depending on the load, from 15 to 60 kg of weapons-grade material per year. This is equivalent (with an average nuclear warhead weight of 5 kg) to producing 3-12 nuclear weapons annually.

Israel, committed to a policy of “double ambiguity,” neither confirms nor denies the military component of the complex’s operation, but clearly demonstrates its high value for the country.

Thus, the late Israeli leader Shimon Peres (whose name the facility bears today) called the research center the country’s “nuclear pearl” and its main asset.

It is not surprising that any encroachment on the center in Dimona is perceived by Tel Aviv as extremely painful.

PAIN POINTS
Penetration into the inner perimeter of the nuclear center in Dimona opens up wide opportunities for the Iranians. First of all, to obtain data on its real scale.

Back in 1986, defector Mordechai Vanunu revealed to the press information about the existence of secret underground floors beneath the facility, but only in general terms. Israeli intelligence managed to steal it before the dossier was made public in full. Almost forty years later, information about the “forbidden part” of the complex is still fragmentary and contradictory, and it does not provide any insight into Israel’s “nuclear arsenal.”

It is important for Iranian security forces to obtain up-to-date data on the nuclear center's defense systems. Especially since the information from the "Vanunu dossier" is seriously outdated, and attempts to "probe" the defense of the complex with their own proxies (for example, with the help of Hamas missile launches in 2014) have led to nothing.

Having our own “eyes and ears” in the center would allow us to identify vulnerable spots and subsequently use them to guide missiles and drones.

Tehran conducted a simulation of a strike on the center in Dimona back in 2021, as part of the strategic exercises "Great Prophet - 17", and in the context of the growing confrontation with Israel (when Tel Aviv threatens to strike, including on the nuclear infrastructure of its counterpart), the Iranian authorities are keeping the facility in their sights even more.

Finally, Iranian intelligence services have a chance to paralyze the facility from the inside, using malware. Especially since the precedent was created long before that.

In 2012, Israel, using a computer worm implanted in the control system of centrifuges at the low-enriched uranium plant in Netanz, was able to set Iran's nuclear program back several years. And although official Tel Aviv continues to deny participation in the operation, of all Tehran's adversaries at the time, it was the only one with sufficient technical capabilities to carry out an attack of this type.

Tehran has a chance to pay Israel back in the same coin, especially since Iranian “combat viruses” have advanced greatly over the past decade and can reach where missiles and drones cannot. And although the possible damage from disrupting the operation of the Dimona facility is unlikely to be great, the psychological effect of the operation is much more important for Tehran.

SIMPLE TRACE
Although the “Bokobza case” was solved hot on the heels, it contains many oddities.

For example, in the statements of the accused, which were widely circulated by the press, it is emphasized that he never visited the nuclear center, the data about which he was collecting. And he took the photos from open sources - and thus "profited from the gullibility of the enemy."

However, this position contradicts the data of the Shabak: counterintelligence cites at least three instances of the transmission to an Iranian liaison of photographs of objects taken strictly in accordance with the technical specifications.

The description of the first contact also seems illogical: allegedly Bokobza found an account in a messenger with an Iranian flag on the avatar and initiated interaction with the message: “I am Israeli and want to work with you.” The correspondence with the Iranian operative was conducted over an open channel and without allegories. When visiting objects, Bokobza often neglected secrecy and allegedly did everything to attract the attention of counterintelligence.

Such crude work does not fit well with the agent's task: the Iranians hardly expected to take a well-guarded target "by storm". But to briefly throw the Israelis on a false trail, passing off another "disposable" agent as an important target - that's quite possible.

It seems that Israeli detectives have gradually begun to understand this.

A second "Israeli engineer" has appeared in the case, whose personal information has not yet been disclosed. Unlike the main defendant, he was a full-time employee of the nuclear center and could theoretically carry out Iranian intelligence tasks on the "inner perimeter."

True, there is still no guarantee that the second trail will not also turn out to be a side track, and then Iran will have enough time to obtain the secrets of the “nuclear pearl”.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Beersheba man indicted for giving Iran info on Israel’s nuclear program; police say the information was already public

2025-03-03

[IsraelTimes] A Beersheba resident accused of transferring information about Israel’s nuclear program to Iranian agents is indicted by the Southern District Attorney’s office.

Police and Shin Bet agents conducted a months-long investigation into the suspect, Doron Bokovza, who allegedly initiated contact with Iranian agents and offered to sell them information.

The suspect feigned having access to Israel’s nuclear research center in the Negev, but in fact provided his handlers with public information about the facility, the agencies say in a joint statement.

The problem with involving amateurs is that they don’t know what they’re doing… or that they do too well. On the other hand, what we do here involves public information as well, though none of us would ever spy for the enemy.

Police add that Bokovza carried out several tasks for the agents including “photographing facilities and transferring information.”

Bokovza was indicted in the Beersheba District Court on charges of contacting a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.

Southern Israel’s Dimona nuclear research facility, officially called the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, is the home of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons program, according to foreign reports.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Film shows UNRWA teaching kids to kill Jews in Judea and Samaria

2024-09-06

[Israel365News] “The theme of UNRWA education is ‘peace starts here.’ How could it possibly be that a U.N. social work agency would be using their education system to prepare kids for war?”

Revelations by Israel’s government about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency have shattered the group’s carefully cultivated image as a humanitarian organization, revealing it to be no less than an arm of Hamas in Gaza. However, little light has been thrown on UNRWA’s identical role in Judea and Samaria.

A new film, “UNRWA at War,” focuses on the educational side of UNRWA’s activities, in which children are taught not just to hate, but to kill. Just as it did in Gaza, UNRWA is inculcating children with the same genocidal creed in Judea and Samaria, only in this case for Fatah, the controlling party in the Palestinian Authority.

The roughly 20-minute film was released by the Jerusalem-based Center for Near East Policy Research on Sept. 1 and is available online.

The center’s director, David Bedein, told JNS that the movie shows what’s happening in Bethlehem. “That’s the next place they [the terrorists] are going to break out,” he said.

When could such an attack take place? “It could be as soon as tomorrow,” he said.

It's all about killing the Jews. “I want to stab them again and again”, “I want to become a suicide bomber”, etc.

The film shows that terrorists, such as Dalal Mughrabi, a Fatah member who participated in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre in Israel, in which 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were murdered, are routinely held up as heroes and role models in UNRWA schools. Images of Mughrabi and other terrorists adorn the schools’ walls.

In the film, Arab students in Judea and Samaria, products of UNRWA schools, speak of Mughrabi with reverence.

“She’s like my sister, like my mother. She’s part of our people,” says a boy from the Al-Amari refugee camp east of Ramallah. A girl of about six, also from Al-Amari, says, “Dhalal Mughrabi is a Palestinian martyr. She fought against the Jews. She blew them up.”

Bedein, who has been sounding the alarm regarding UNRWA for decades, describes the indoctrination the kids are receiving as “murder education.” UNRWA, he said, is a “machine” that produces genocidal children in a “cookie-cutter” manner.

Kutaiba Hatab, 15, attends the UNRWA Boys School in the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah in Samaria. Asked in the film what he’s taught about the right of return, he says, “To fight, and to keep fighting, until Palestine is liberated!” He goes on to state that when he grows up, “I’ll be a jihadist and fight for Allah!”

“Do you hate Jews,” an interviewer asks Rada Abu-Hatab, 12, an UNRWA student in Jenin. “Yes, a lot,” she answers. “I want to fight and become a martyr and ascend to heaven with Allah!”

Mohammed Mahmud Khalil, an UNRWA student from Ein Arik, an Arab town near Ramallah, says, “What is the solution to Jerusalem? To kill the Jews. We’ll get rid of the Jews … With Allah’s help, I will become a holy warrior.”

All the children connected the Hamas invasion of Oct. 7 to the right of return, characterizing the gruesome attack as an effort to liberate the land from the Jews.

“Oct. 7 is related to the right of return because Hamas reconquered part of our land that was taken by the occupiers,” says Osama Belashe, an UNRWA student from Jalazone. “In school our teacher taught us we have to return. Even if Israel gives us compensation [to stay here] we have to return.”

For Bedein, the most important thing the film documents is that at UNRWA, children receive military training. In previous films, Bedein has shown that these training camps were set up near Israel Defense Forces bases.

He worries that Israel has been slow to adapt to the post-Oct. 7 reality. “They’re making the same mistake they made last October, not paying attention to the preparations for war in the UNRWA camps,” he said.

However, he sees signs of awakening, noting a recent Israel Army Radio report that the military intended to investigate military training at UNRWA camps.

And next week, Bedein is to present his findings to a Knesset committee. “People who did not take me seriously over a period of 36 years are now taking me seriously,” he said.

Incompetence, or willful blindness, on the part of the Israeli authorities is a recurring theme for Bedein.

He said the Foreign Ministry has a special division dedicated to overseeing UNRWA, yet its representatives were oblivious regarding the weapons held at UNRWA camps. He brought them to the Askar camp bordering Nablus (Shechem) to show them. “They had no idea about the guns,” he said.

Moreover, Israel never exercised what oversight it had, he said. “Israel has the power to veto anything in Palestinian education. What we learned from Oct. 7 is that they weren’t doing it,” he added.

“Back in the 1980s, I began this conversation with how humanitarian supplies were sold in the open market and with no supervision,” Bedein said. “And they [Israel] didn’t make any changes. There was no oversight. To say they’re not doing their job is an understatement,” he added.

Although many have argued for doing away with UNRWA, according to Bedein that’s not a realistic solution. The organization is too embedded in the territories and in the United Nations, and the General Assembly would never accept it, he argued. However, he continued, it is possible to change UNRWA from within by pointing out the absurd situation and demanding change.

“The theme of UNRWA education is ‘peace starts here,’” he said. “How could it possibly be that a U.N. social work agency would be using their education system to prepare kids for war?”

Bedein has put together a five-point plan for changing UNRWA from within:

1. Cancellation of the new UNRWA curriculum based on jihad.

2. Disarmament of UNRWA schools and cessation of paramilitary training.

3. Dismissing UNRWA employees affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

4. Resettling fourth- and fifth-generation refugees from the 1948 war rather than keeping them in perpetual refugee status.

5. Demanding an audit of donor funds.

He has met five times with Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, whom he said is open to his proposals.

While UNRWA was always corrupt, he said, it wasn’t always the way it is now, he said.

Even the children going through the schools, while they spoke of “their homes in Jaffa,” didn’t talk about going back and killing everyone in Jaffa as they do now, he said.

“The change took place after 1992 when the PLO was put in charge by [then-Foreign Minister] Shimon Peres,” he said. “UNRWA was handed over to the PLO.”

For years the UN operated schools in Gaza that indoctrinated the youth with hate, antisemitism, and terrorist aspirations. Today we see the results of this evil. pic.twitter.com/xj1AWZrsYC
— Quantum Flux (@QuantumFlux36) October 26, 2023

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

The political ideology that denies reality

2024-06-03

[IsraelNationalNews] While Oct. 7th has woken up many Israelis to understand how the progressive left's ideology is responsible for creating the reality that allowed the Oct. 7th massacre to happen, public discourse in Israel, especially by the establishment media and from IDF senior command, still ignores this reality, even though they are today a minority in Israel.

Here is a fascinating list of questions that I saw posted that really sharpens the issue for people to think about:

-Which political ideology is behind former IDF Chief of Staff (and today leader of the Blue & White party) Benny Gantz's statement at a conference years ago on how proud he was that he decided to risk the lives of IDF soldiers in Sajaiya, Gaza in not attacking terrorists who were hiding in the local Gaza hospital?

-Which political ideology is behind the 1993 decision by then Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and his partner Shimon Peres to sign the Oslo "peace" Accords that armed a known terrorist organization, giving them control of Jewish land, which, over the years, brought about more than 1,500 dead Israelis (not including the Oct. 7th massacre)?

-Which political ideology is behind the 2000 decision by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak to withdraw all IDF troops from South Lebanon thinking that Israel will be safe and that if Hezbollah tries anything against Israel that we would be able to stop it with international recognition to do what we have to do to defend ourselves?

-Which political ideology is behind the 2005 decision by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to destroy 21 Jewish communities in Gaza, while expelling close to 10,000 Jews from their homes, thinking that allowing the Palestinian Authority to self-govern an area without Jews would bring peace to Israel? And that, based on promises by former US President Bush, that if any terror would emanate from Gaza, that we would have full US backing to do what is necessary to end it?

-Which political ideology caused the High Command of the Israel Defense Forces to go back to sleep at 4:30am on the morning of Oct. 7th, without informing Netanyhau and the government about the warnings of an imminent attack from Gaza, and without calling up emergency forces to protect the border?

-Which political ideology is behind the statement of former Chief of Staff Eisenkot (and today #2 leader of the Blue and White party with Gantz) saying that Gaza is a civilian humanitarian problem, more than a security problem for Israel?

-Which political ideology made IDF intelligence head Haliva say, before Oct. 7th, that the most serious danger to Israel is climate change? (No wonder he turned off his mobile phone while on vacation the night of October 7th)

-Which political ideology caused the leaders of IDF intelligence to ignore the actual words, statements and threats of the Arabs in Arabic, year after year?

-Which political ideology caused Israel's Supreme Court to force Israel to allow Hamas demonstrations near the Gaza border fence, endangering Israeli citizens?

-Which political ideology stopped IDF soldiers, tank shooters and airforce/helicopter pilots from firing upon Gazans as they infiltrated into Israel and crossed the border fence on Oct. 7th on their way to massacre innocent Jews?

-Which political ideology caused the opposition to the establishment of standby classes after the massacre in the Gaza Envelope, the Otef?

-Which political ideology is behind the opposition to the distribution of weapons to rapid response civilian teams after the 7.10 massacre?

-Which political ideology caused the IDF High Command years ago to agree to giving away the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights in "peace" deals? (Not done, thank G-d)

-Which political ideology is behind the decision making in Israel to give medical treatment to terrorists from Gaza, like saving the life of today's Hamas leader, Sinwar, responsible for the Oct. 7th massacre who we are searching for now? A certain political ideology is behind Israel saving his life!

-Which political ideology is behind Israel's Supreme Court making illegal a very important IDF tactic of catching terrorists called "the neighbor procedure", in which a local Arab accompanies soldiers to a house where a terrorist may be holed up, so he doesn't shoot, a tactic that saved our IDF soldier's lives?

-Which political ideology is behind not using the Israeli airforce to bomb terrorist squads from the air in Judea & Samaria before the 7/10 massacre?

-Which political ideology is behind the talk, even today after Oct. 7th, of giving away Judea & Samaria to Arab Muslim terrorists of the Palestinian Authority?

The answer to all these questions:

The "progressive" (really regressive) leftist political ideology is responsible for all of those decisions by the IDF senior command and the justice system.

This "progressive" ideology stems from a basic naivety when facing reality in addition to a lack of understanding of the Arabic/Muslim culture of the Middle East in which we live.

Unfortunately, for some on the progressive left in Israel today, it is even worse.

They are convinced even now, post Oct. 7th, that the real danger to the country is not the genocidal IslamoNazis of Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah, Iran or Qatar, but the Jewish right-wing.

They seriously believe that Netanyahu is a bigger danger to Israel than Sinwar (Hamas leader) and Nasrallah (Hezbollah leader).

It is an extremely sad thing to internalize.

And the progressive left's ideology is so dominant in public discourse in Israel, although it is not the belief of the vast majority of citizens, that even though it fails time and time again causing massive deaths in our society, it is forbidden to say loud and clear:

'Having a progressive left-wing view in a country surrounded by enemies like Israel endangers the lives of its citizens and the existence of our country.'

It was only because this dominant progressive left ideology still exists in the senior command of the Israel Defense Forces that they are able to inform the residents of the Bat Hefer community (near Netanya), which was shot at by terrorists in Palestinian Authority controlled areas in Samaria, that the IDF will be reducing the amount of IDF reserve forces used to help protect their community!

Is that logical?

Is that sane??

This is the mindset that still exists within the senior command of the IDF, the establishment media and the intellectual elite.

Hence, this is why I keep on saying that we will overcome our external enemies and our internal challenges. Step one is waking up to the mindset that this ideology has been the root cause of the security issues we have experienced since the Oslo "peace" accords.

We need people who want victory running the IDF and the Defense Ministry.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Gaza should be occupied by the US, UK, France, Germany - opinion

2023-11-04

[JPost] The US, UK, France, and Germany should be the bodies that shall bear the responsibility of governing the Gaza Strip and stabilizing it so there can be elections after a decade.
Welcome to Berlin!
Ruth Wasserman Lande
Ruth is a former member of Knesset, advisor to the late President Shimon Peres and Deputy Ambassador at the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Currently, Ruth is the chairperson of the Women’s Impact Forum at the World Jewish Congress, a writer, speaker, and commentator for various media outlets in English and in Hebrew and is the founder and CEO of Ruth - Global Strategy.

Reasonably brilliant, highly educated Labour Socialist type who moved from the diplomatic corps to politics. I imagine that after her time in Cairo, she knows exactly why Egypt is not interested in getting involved with this tar baby. Perhaps she wants the UK, France, and Germany to absorb the same lesson.

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The Grand Turk

In the war between Hamas and Israel, Erdogan took the same position as on Ukraine

2023-10-12

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kamran Hasanov

[REGNUM] When it comes to the growing conflict between Palestine and Israel, four countries come to mind first. Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

Of all the players, the Islamic Republic has the highest potential for conflict. After all, it is in hostile relations with both Israel and its ally the United States. At the beginning of the year, the IDF even launched a direct attack on a munitions plant in Isfahan. In addition, over the years, pro-Iranian proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Shiite groups in Syria) have engaged in direct battles with the Jewish state.

Egypt is more limited in maneuvers. 40 years ago, he recognized the State of Israel, regained Sinai and kept the border with Gaza closed.

Although Saudi Arabia did not agree to recognition, it was moving towards it. Informal contacts have always been maintained against the backdrop of the common Iranian threat.

Now KSA’s ties with Iran are improving, but the Saudis will not fight together with the Iranians against the Jews. Including so as not to tease their overseas partners. The Arab street may force tough measures to be taken, but they are more likely to be of a political or maximum economic nature, but not of a military nature.

That leaves Türkiye. Like Iran, with the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power, Turkey presented itself as almost the main defender of the Palestinian cause.

De facto, the ideology of both the AKP and Hamas is based on the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation). The only difference is in the methods - Hamas does not deny terrorist ways of solving political problems.

During these twenty years in power, Erdogan has constantly accused Israel of occupying Palestinian lands. At one of the UN meetings, he even showed a map of which lands he was talking about.

At the Davos Forum in 2009, Erdogan got into a skirmish with Israeli President Shimon Peres , accusing his country of killing children on the beaches of Gaza. And when the presenter tried to stop him, Erdogan defiantly left the hall. The promise “I will never come to Davos again!” the Turkish leader still holds it.

The head of the AKP supported the Palestinians not only with words.

The year after Davos, he decided to break the blockade of Gaza by sending the Freedom Flotilla to the shores of the Palestinian enclave. The IDF suspected that instead of humanitarian aid, the Mavi Marmara was trying to deliver weapons to Hamas. The ship was ordered to undergo inspection, the passengers resisted, nine of them were shot.

Since then, relations between Turkey and Israel have remained tense.

Though they were tense before, too.

Tel Aviv refused to apologize, the Turks closed their airspace and expelled the Israeli ambassador. Hamas headquarters appeared in Istanbul.

Economic relations, unlike diplomatic ones, were not interrupted, although the two countries were not key trading partners for each other. But in terms of geopolitics, Ankara and Tel Aviv have been in a state of cold war since the early 2010s.

The crisis has worsened during the Trump administration. When the White House recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Erdogan gathered leaders of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries in Istanbul and tried to put pressure on Israel.

Other regional issues also contributed to the crisis. Israel secretly supported the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Ankara's number one enemy) and sided with the anti-Turkish coalition (Greece - Cyprus - Egypt - UAE) in the dispute over gas in the Mediterranean.

With the onset of the lira crisis and the “change of winds” in the region, Turkey began to realize the pointlessness of continuing the conflict with its neighbors. Because of Erdogan’s ambitions, there are almost no countries left in Syria, Libya and the Mediterranean with whom Turkey does not have problems.

Therefore, Erdogan returned to the “zero problems with neighbors” strategy. Along with the UAE, KSA and Egypt, he went to war with Israel.

In 2022, the countries returned ambassadors, and Ankara was visited by Israeli President Isaac Herzog for the first time in 15 years . Improving ties with Israel could provide bonuses in military-technical cooperation, bring closer the creation of a Turkish gas hub through Israeli supplies and increase Turkey’s credit rating.

When talking about Ankara's current reaction to events in Gaza, two variables need to be kept in mind: commitments to defend the Palestinian cause and the current trend towards normalization with Israel.

Actually, this is where the indecisiveness and dualism in Erdogan’s reaction to the current escalation come from.

On the first day of the Hamas attack, when thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli cities and militants made incursions, Erdogan adopted a conciliatory line. This is what he said at his party congress on October 7:

“Turkey, in light of this morning’s events in Israel, calls on the parties to exercise restraint and refrain from impulsive steps that will lead to an escalation of tensions.”

No clear support for Palestine. No harsh accusations against Israel. Moreover, knowing how skillfully he can perform it.

On the first day, Israel was the injured party. Hundreds of its citizens became victims of attacks. Dozens of women and several IDF officers were taken captive to Gaza. Therefore, Erdogan, in light of normalization with his neighbor, could not openly support Hamas’s aggression.

When the next day the IDF launched decisive counterattacks in the Gaza Strip, the Turkish president began to “butter up” the Arabs:

“The establishment of an independent Palestinian state, within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, is an irreversible necessity that can no longer be delayed.”

He pointed to the root causes of the conflict, supported Palestine, but there was nothing decisive or fundamentally new in the statement. Even at the time of the Duke’s visit,

Eh? What duke is that?

former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that support for Palestine would not stop.

In fact, Ankara took an equidistant position in the conflict between Hamas and Israel. Having ideological sympathies for Palestine, the AKP cannot allow “genocide” in Gaza. On the other hand, pragmatism does not allow us to break with Israel again.

The next stage of activity, in addition to calls for peace, could only be mediation. Erdogan contacted the leaders of Israel and Palestine and personally asked them to stop the violence. Ankara, as in the Ukrainian crisis, is ready to become a negotiating platform. But, as in Ukraine, the parties in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are not yet ready for negotiations. The escalation is only gaining momentum.

Israel has already begun a ground operation. Dozens of houses have been destroyed in Gaza and members of the Hamas government have been killed. The IDF announced that it was no longer a matter of “surgery.”

With further deterioration of the situation and an increase in the number of Palestinians killed, Ankara's rhetoric may become harsher. Demand from the AKP, especially in the run-up to municipal elections, will grow.

However, to have any impact on the situation, Erdogan will have to coordinate his efforts with other strong players. The day before, he called Vladimir Putin. Russia is not trying to play first fiddle, but the visit of the Prime Minister of Iraq and the upcoming trip of the Palestinian leader to Moscow confirm the importance of Russia.

Turkey will have to work with Iran and Saudi Arabia. A consolidated response from the troika, with Russia's consent, may have an effect, but does not guarantee success. It is unlikely that anyone will now decide to declare war on Israel. Türkiye alone - even more so.

In such realities, when everyone understands, but no one can change something, everyone thinks about their own benefit. And Türkiye is no exception.

After the terrorist attack in Ankara, Erdogan again took up the Kurdish case. While the world is consumed by Ukraine and Palestine, Türkiye can quietly solve its problems. Turkish artillery units have already begun striking YPG positions in the village of Sheikh Isa in the Tel Rifat region. The longer the conflict in Gaza lasts, the more time Erdogan will have to complete this task, which is more significant for Turkey.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Oslo is dead: A Palestinian state will never exist

2023-09-10

[Jpost] Next week marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords, one of the most colossal strategic errors in modern Israel’s history.

Three decades after prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat shook hands as a beaming US president Bill Clinton looked on, the smiles have long ago been erased thanks to the disaster wrought by the agreement.

And since the legacy of that catastrophic capitulation by the Jewish state is still very much with us, it is worth gazing back, however briefly, at the folly of that regrettable attempt to appease terror with territory.

Tossing logic to the wind, and blithely ignoring the warnings of senior IDF officials as well as the opposition, Rabin and foreign minister Shimon Peres inexplicably decided to rescue Arafat from political oblivion.

Despite his ignominious career ordering the hijacking of airlines and cruise ships, plotting school massacres, and reveling in the murder of innocents, Arafat was suddenly granted legitimacy as a "partner" by Israel’s government thanks to Oslo.
Socialist f@cktards needed Arab Israeli vote to return to power (in all fairness, there are good reasons to believe that Rabin was non compos mentos and a sock puppet for Peres)
OSLO PREDICTABLY RESULTED IN BLOOD AND TERROR
Not surprisingly, the aftermath of this turn of events was as bloody and lethal as it was predictable.

Consider the following: In the five years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, more Israelis were killed by Palestinian terrorists than in the 15 years prior to the agreement. A total of 279 men, women, and children were murdered in the half decade following the Accords, whereas 254 were killed in the 15 years that preceded it.

All told, there have been thousands of Israelis murdered and wounded by Palestinian terror in the past three decades, which is what Oslo was ostensibly supposed to prevent.

...Rabin and Peres went ahead and gave up plenty of land, but they most certainly did not receive any peace in return.

BY ANY measure, the Oslo experiment was the diplomatic equivalent of the Titanic, a grandiose exercise in hubris that crashed and sank, sending countless innocents to an early grave.

Nevertheless, until today Israel continues to suffer from Oslo, as various American and international leaders persist in their prattle about the necessity of a "two-state solution" and the need to create an independent Palestinian state.
They also say that gender is fluid, Earth will burn up in a few years, and - while the World needs USA as World Cop - American cities don't need cops.
...Oslo and its underlying principle of "land for peace" was an illusion founded upon the delusion that appeasing terror, rather than opposing it, was the answer.

But this is not a battle over borders, and it never has been. It is a clash of civilizations, a struggle between the Jewish people, who are reclaiming their ancestral homeland, and our numerous foes.

The fact is that there has never been a Palestinian state in all of history, and there isn’t one now.

And Israel should make clear, once and for all, that there never will be.

Thirty years on, we can say with confidence that Oslo and everything that it stood for is dead. Rather than trying to revive it, we would do well to offer it a fitting eulogy.
My proposal is to drop FAE (can't use nukes due to distances) on Gaza.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Foreign Minister Cohen heading to Turkmenistan to open embassy 15 miles from Iran

2023-04-19

[IsraelTimes] FM to become first Israeli minister in nearly 30 years to visit the closed central Asian dictatorship, an oil-rich state on Iranian border

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen will fly from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan on Wednesday night, becoming the first Israeli minister to visit the central Asian state in nearly three decades.

Then-foreign minister Shimon Peres visited the oil-rich dictatorship in 1994, three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had ruled the area.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Ex-PM Ehud Barak admits on Twitter: Israel has nuclear weapons

2023-04-05

[IsraelTimes] Former prime minister Ehud Barak

...Labour, prime minister 1999-2001...

admits on Twitter that Israel has nuclear weapons — something the Jewish state has never publicly confirmed despite the widespread assumption.

"In conversations between Israelis and Western diplomatic officials there are deep concerns raised of the possibility that if the coup in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East, which has nuclear weapons, and fanatically wishes for a confrontation with Islam centered on the Temple Mount," tweets Barak in harsh criticism of the government’s judicial overhaul plans.

I read that as an American concern rather than an Israeli admission, but Mr. Barack would be wise to give up attention-seeking on Twitter.

The Dimona nuclear research facility, officially called the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, is said to be the home of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons program. Foreign estimates have claimed that Israel maintains a nuclear weapons cache ranging from dozens of warheads to hundreds.

Israel has never acknowledged that it has a nuclear arsenal, instead maintaining a policy of "nuclear ambiguity."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

After release, Arab Israeli terrorists said rearrested, questioned for incitement

2023-01-23

[IsraelTimes] Maher Younis, freed just 2 days earlier, reportedly detained Saturday at Ben Gvir’s order alongside his cousin Karim, set free 2 weeks ago, over alleged online praise for terror.

Two Arab Israeli gunnies released in recent weeks after serving 40 years in prison for the murder of an Israel Defense Forces soldier were rearrested Saturday and questioned over online content they have since posted that allegedly contains incitement to terrorism, Hebrew media reported.

The development came just two days after Maher Younis was released, and two weeks after his cousin Karim Younis was freed.

The pair, both from the town of ’Ara in northern Israel, murdered Cpl. Avraham Bromberg in 1980. They were given life sentences that were commuted to 40 years by then-president Shimon Peres in 2012.

The police interrogation, which was reportedly ordered by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, lasted several hours and the pair were then released. Ben Gvir received updates on the matter during the weekend.

Prosecutors will have to decide whether to file a fresh indictment against Maher, Channel 12 news reported.

Ben Gvir has been vocal in his push to mute public celebration of the terrorists’ release as much as possible. After rebuking police for enabling Karim to be feted in his hometown earlier this month, police took steps to prevent revelry following Maher’s release, including enforcing a ban on displaying the Paleostinian national flag.

The cousins are members of Israel’s Arab minority.

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