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. Related: Witkoff 05/29/2025 Iranian sources: Tehran may pause enrichment for US nod on nuclear rights, release of frozen funds Witkoff 05/27/2025 Israel rejects Gaza truce proposed by Trump ally Bishara Bahbah Witkoff 05/27/2025 US envoy Witkoff denies Hamas accepted Gaza ceasefire deal |
Link |
Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
About clearing Gaza: Half of All Palestinians Are Expats |
2025-02-23 |
Answering the unasked but important question. Especially given that in surveys in the years before the invasion something like three quarters of Gazan young people wanted to leave the Strip, but were not allowed to by Hamas. President Trumo’s proposal is answering a deeply felt need over there. [RichardPollock] About half of all Paleostinians — six million - voluntarily live outside of 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 oppressionand disproportionate response... and the West Bank. This inconvenient fact is ignored when we discuss where Paleostinians call home. Some choose to live in the Paleostinian territories, but at least half have shunned these lands - and for a very long time. Up to 300,000 Paleostinians currently reside in Europe. A half million live in Chile and hundreds of thousands more live throughout South America. More than 200,000 are in the U.S. and influenced the 2004 election of 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... In the Middle East, more than 2 million live in Israel as full fledged citizens who can vote and have representation in the Israeli Knesset, the country’s parliament. Others have found successful livelihoods in Saudi Arabia ![]() , Bahrain, the UAE, and Leb ...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.... and Jordan. Having established themselves for half a century or more in their adopted homes, few consider going back to the West Bank or Gaza. So living outside of the Gaza Strip isn’t unthinkable. In fact, it has been thinkable for quite some time. And there is another special kind of Paleostinian expat that has been a well-kept secret. This group consists of fabulously wealthy Paleostinians who are derisively called by the Paleostinian man-on-the-street as the "exiled bourgeoise of Paleostine." Pamela Ann Smith, writing for the progressive Middle East Research and Information Project in 1986 first described this group of wealthy Paleostinians as the exile Bourgeoisie of Paleostine. Smith wrote then that the rise of the Paleostinian’s Black September terror organization and the radicalization of its population "led to the emigration of substantial numbers of the Paleostinian middle class, to Cyprus, Amman, Gay Paree and London. As the (Lebanese) war dragged on, many began to build more permanent ties in their new places of refuge. Today Paleostinian firms play a leading role within the Arab community in London and, to a lesser extent, in Gay Paree as well." As the Washington producer for ABC’s "Good Morning America," I once personally met hundreds of these well-heeled Paleostinians at a 1993 grand soiree in Washington, DC. I’ll never quite forget the experience. They screamed of unspeakable wealth and contrary to Moslem law, enthusiastically crowded the hotel’s well-kept bar. These Paleostinian expats didn’t reside in the dusty West Bank or in Gaza or in other parts of the Middle East. These exiles called home in places like London, Gay Paree, Geneva, Milan, or Florence. The largest expat community outside of the Middle East was there too, from Santiago, Chile. Far from the media’s gaze, these are wealthy and highly successful Paleostinians. They are largely invisible, and many have little interest in living in Gaza or in the West Bank. One wealthy Paleostinian who did attract some media attention about his unseemly riches was the Paleostinian Liberation Organization leader, Yassar Arafat. Just before his death, CBS "60 Minutes" estimated his personal wealth to be between $1 and $3 billion. CBS reported that a large portion of Arafat’s wealth came from corruption and from secret sweetheart deals that were hidden from the Paleostinian people. They reported, "part of the Paleostinian leader's wealth was in a secret portfolio worth close to $1 billion -- with investments in companies like a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, a Tunisian cell phone company and venture capital funds in the U.S. and the Cayman Islands." His wife, Zuha Arafat, a Paleostinian Christian, married the PLO leader when he was 61 and she was 27. She was already living in Gay Paree, where Arafat eventually died. The average Paleostinian apparently despised Zuha. The Times of Melbourne reported in 2004," On the streets, Suha is more often condemned as a scheming minx who bewitched the leader and ripped off vast sums of public money to finance a lavish lifestyle in Gay Paree." Their only child was daughter Zahwa who was born in 1995 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, La Belle France.Neuilly-sur-Seine is one of the most affluent areas of La Belle France and it’s the wealthiest and the most expensive suburb of Gay Paree. Zahwa is estimated by Israeli sources to be worth as much as $8 billion. Although highly secretive, she reportedly lives in luxury with prime real estate in London, Gay Paree and Malta. Despite this, she is still considered a "refugee" and is eligible for UNRWA funds — welfare payments from the highly corrupt United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Relief and Works Agency. In 2024, President Biden, along with a dozen other countries, halted payments to UNRWA after it was discovered that members of the relief organization enthusiastically took part in the October 7, 2023 Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -led slaughter, killing 1,200 and seizing 250 hostages. Many years earlier, in 1993, I had the opportunity to meet and socialize with many of the Suha Arafat’s affluent contemporaries. In September of that year, Arafat traveled to DC to sign a peace accord with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. They did so on the South Lawn of the White House. A beaming Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... stood beside them. To celebrate the event, thousands of the wealthy Paleostinians filled a deluxe DC hotel then called the "ANA Hotel," named after the Japanese airline. The ANA was an exclusive, four diamond-rated hotel. When you entered, you faced a three tier Italianate fountain. The ninth floor was a secure floor, isolated from the rest of the hotel for security. There, Arafat and his PLO staff resided. The Presidential Suite, where Arafat likely stayed featured portraits of George and Martha Washington. The hallways were decorated with portraits of previous First Ladies. I was asked by my "Good Morning America" bosses in New York to try to book Arafat or one of his top advisors on our morning show. So, I showed up at the hotel in DC’s affluent Foggy Bottom. The hotel was bustling with the Paleostinian elite’s "beautiful people." They mobbed the hotel’s lobby, bar and restaurant. They were elegant. The women wore sexy haute couture dresses that hugged them. The men wore custom tailored suits. I knew Hanan Ashwari, the PLO’s central spokeswoman who resided in one of the PLO’s ninth floor suites. She was more modestly dressed than those socializing in the hotel. And she was on her game with American news hounds: friendly, articulate and energetic. As a news hound and producer, I wanted to understand: who are these well-dressed people swarming throughout the hotel? I spent several afternoons and evenings to meet as many Paleostinian as possible. At first, I naively asked them where they lived in the Paleostinian territories. One well-dressed young Paleostinian at the bar sneered at me when I mentioned, "The West Bank." He retorted, "I haven’t been to the West Bank in ages." His parents were originally from Ramallah, the West Bank’s capital. Home as it turned out was in London. He was born there. From then on, I didn’t ask where in the Paleostinian territories they called home. I simply asked where they lived. As it turns out, they were living in Gay Paree, Florence, Milan, Stockholm, New York, Geneva and Santiago, Chile. Santiago has the largest diaspora community with today more than a half million Paleostinians living there. And while most Paleostinians are regarded as leftists, in Chile the Paleostinians were opposed to the socialist government of Salvadore Allende and welcomed the military coup that installed Gen. Augusto Pinochet, according to Paleostine studies.org. The idea of population transfers to other countries isn’t new. In fact, it’s what the United States has been built on. Many have added value to other countries and to their families, translating a near-disasters into success stories. The movement of populations isn’t unique. In fact, it’s the story of our modern time. As Sadanand Dhume, a Wall Street Journal columnist recently wrote, "Many population transfers have taken place over the past century. In the 1920s, Greece and ...a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... member, but not the most reliable... agreed to a forced population swap: Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey moved to Greece, while Moslems in Greece moved to Turkey. After World War II, millions of Indians and Paks were forced to find new homes, as were ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, Uganda expelled Indians. Only in the Paleostinian case has the refugee question festered endlessly. So, I salute the exiled bourgeoise Paleostinians. They are a roaring success to their expat communities and proud members of their adopted countries. |
Link |
Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
Spies among us: Why more Israelis are working for Iran |
2024-12-25 |
[Jpost] Here are two names that will go down in ignominy in Israel: Nahum Manbar and Gonen Segev. Why? Because they worked for the Iranians against their own people. In the 1990s, Manbar – a kibbutznik with a checkered past – set up shop in Europe and started selling arms to Iran, including the ingredients, equipment, and expertise to make chemical weapons. In 1998, he was sentenced to 16 years for collaboration and providing information to an enemy. He served 14.5 years of his sentence. Segev, a former minister in Yitzhak Rabin’s cabinet turned drug smuggler (he was arrested for trying to smuggle thousands of ecstasy tablets into Israel from Amsterdam), was recruited abroad by Iranian intelligence in 2012. In 2019, Segev – whose vote was critical in the passage of the 1995 Oslo II accords in the Knesset – pleaded guilty to charges of espionage and supplying the enemy with information and was sentenced to an 11-year prison term, which he is currently serving. Both these cases made huge headlines in Israel: Israeli Jews working for the enemy. The Wikipedia entry on Manbar includes this telling sentence: “Manbar’s activities, some of which were conducted in Britain, drew the attention of MI6, which could not believe that an Israeli could be working so closely with Iran and concluded that Manbar was a Mossad agent trying to penetrate Iran’s defense establishment.” In other words, Britain’s vaunted intelligence service believed it so far-fetched that an Israeli would be working so closely with the Iranians that they thought it must be a ruse; that Manbar must be a double-agent. These cases were once startling exceptions that dominated the headlines, painting espionage as an aberration. No more. The last year has seen the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) arrest dozens of Israelis working for – and getting paid by – Iran or Hezbollah with the express purpose of spying on or sowing discord in Israel. SPYING FOR THE ENEMY The instances of spying for the enemy that come to light are now so frequent that Sunday’s announcement that the Shin Bet arrested two east Jerusalem Arabs for passing information to Hezbollah barely cracked the chock-full news cycle. True, the two arrested were not Jews – but Arabs – but this, too, would have garnered much more attention in years past. Now, cases of Israelis – Jews or Arabs – indicted for espionage or assisting the enemy during war are so common that they barely elicit outrage. Why? What has changed? Why are there currently so many more cases of Israelis spying for the enemy? The Shin Bet has uncovered about a dozen separate espionage cases involving dozens of Israelis over the last year. The large number of these cases indicates Iran is increasing its intelligence efforts and shifting its methods and targets. Consider the following: On December 17, it was revealed that Erdler Amoyal, a 23-year-old Jewish Jerusalemite, was arrested on suspicion of espionage on Iran’s behalf and allegedly proposed setting fire to a police station and causing a power outage on Jerusalem’s light rail. On December 9, the Shin Bet announces that Artyom Zolotarev, a 33-year-old from Nof HaGalil, was arrested after being recruited by Iran to carry out a number of disruptive actions inside Israel aimed at fostering internal divisions, including spraying anti-government graffiti and burning vehicles. In October alone, some 20 people were arrested for everything from surveillance of military installations to attempted assassinations, and they included a Bnei Brak resident, recent immigrants from Azerbaijan, and east Jerusalem Arabs. ISRAELIS WORKING FOR IRAN Several reasons have been given for this upsurge in Israelis working for Iran. The first has to do with Iran significantly ramping up its espionage and disruptive efforts inside Israel. This stems from operational considerations – remember, Iran attacked Israel directly on two occasions this year, and photographs of military installations reportedly assisted them in aiming for their targets – and also an increased motivation to penetrate Israel following the July assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a secure location in Tehran. The escalation of the conflict and readiness of Iran to hit Israel directly has led to an increase in Iran’s efforts to gather intelligence. Second, the Islamic Republic has spread a wide net, targeting individuals across the Israeli spectrum. While the popular perception might be that Israeli Arabs are the most likely to spy for Iran due to an ideological affinity with the regime’s goals, this is not the case. Rather, they are targeting haredim, new immigrants, people with a criminal background, and ordinary citizens, often going after those with financial difficulties motivated by the prospect of making some quick money. Iran has been offering significant amounts of money for tasks such as painting graffiti or taking pictures. The targeting of new immigrants – a number of those arrested have been from the former Soviet Union – also may have an unfortunate ripple effect beyond a threat to Israeli security: fostering suspicion and stigmatizing specific demographics among the public. Furthermore, Iran has been able to cast a wider net largely thanks to social media, which they leverage to recruit people. The digital approach to recruitment allows Iran to reach segments of the population that they would not have been able to access before the advent of platforms like Telegram. As Iran spreads a wider net, more actively trying to recruit spies and reaching out to broader demographics, the likelihood of detection by the Shin Bet also increases. The more you engage in this type of activity, the greater is the risk of being found out. Indeed, Iran’s increased activity has triggered an escalation in Israeli counterintelligence efforts. The Shin Bet has invested heavily in technology and surveillance tools to detect espionage networks, leading to a higher rate of arrests and dismantling of operations but also straining the organization’s resources. And as Iran’s efforts multiply, the challenges of detection will become more complex. The upsurge in these cases is a product of the clash between Iran’s intensifying ambitions and Israel’s determination to protect itself. The cases of Manbar and Segev were once shocking outliers; today, they are part of a larger pattern. |
Link |
-Great Cultural Revolution |
Bill Clinton interview: Young Americans shocked to learn Arafat turned down Palestinian state |
2024-12-15 |
Excerpted from a 48 minute interview. Full video at the link. [IsraelTimes] If ‘you walk away from once in a lifetime peace opportunities, you can’t complain 25 years later when the doors aren’t all still open,’ says former US presidentFormer US president Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... on Wednesday said young people in America today "can’t believe" that late Paleostinian leader Yasser Arafat walked away from a Paleostinian state during peace negotiations with Israel under his mediation as president. Clinton added, in reference to the failed Camp David talks of 2000, that having turned down a "once in a lifetime" peace opportunity, "you can’t complain 25 years later when the doors weren’t all still open, and all the possibilities weren’t still there." "I think what’s happened there in the last twenty-five years is one of the great tragedies of the twenty-first century," Clinton told New York Times ![]() ...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, in an interview for the newspaper’s DealBook Summit, promoting his new book, "Citizen: My Life After The White House." The Times posted a video of the interview to its New York Times Events+ YouTube channel; the video was removed on Thursday, but re-uploaded shortly thereafter. "All [young people in America] know that a lot more Paleostinians have been killed than Israelis. And I tell them what Arafat walked away from, and they, like, can’t believe it," said the former commander-in-chief. Arafat "walked away from a Paleostinian state, with a capital in East Jerusalem, 96% of the West Bank, 4% of Israel to make up for the 4% [of the West Bank to be annexed for Israeli settlements]," Clinton elaborated, repeating an account of the Oslo peace negotiations, to which the ex-president has returned repeatedly in recent interviews and remarks. The talks, which aimed to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Paleostinians through a negotiated two-state solution, fell apart just six weeks before Clinton’s second term ended. "I go through all the stuff that was in the deal, and they, like — it’s not on their radar screen, they can’t even imagine that happened," Clinton went on, describing his conversations with young Americans upset over the corpse count 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 oppressionand disproportionate response... in the latest war. The former US president also noted the sacrifice made by Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a Jewish krazed killer in Israel over his support for the grinding of the peace processor. "I tell them, you know, the first and most famous victim of an attempt to get the Paleostinians a state was prime minister Rabin, whom I think I loved as much as I ever loved another man," Clinton said, repeating a phrase he has often used to describe his relationship with the late Israeli leader. "You walk away from these once in a lifetime peace opportunities, and you can’t complain twenty-five years later when the doors weren’t all still open, and all the possibilities weren’t still there. You can’t do it," Clinton said. In addition to his remarks about the grinding of the peace processor, Clinton also commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, noting that he had remained in office "farther than I thought he would." Clinton said that the Hamas ![]() terror group’s October 7, 2023 attack — in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 people taken hostage, starting the ongoing war — worked to Netanyahu’s political benefit, focusing attention away from domestic controversies. Related: Bill Clinton 11/16/2024 CNN's shocking low ratings revealed as staff brace for mass layoffs Bill Clinton 11/10/2024 Hezbollah’s tentacles in Africa Bill Clinton 11/10/2024 Obama's biographer reveals ex-president fears for his legacy after 'tone-deaf preaching' harmed... Related: Yasser Arafat 12/04/2024 Fatah, Hamas agree to form committee to run postwar Gaza Yasser Arafat 11/28/2024 Abbas declares Rawhi Fattouh will be interim PA head if presidency becomes vacant Yasser Arafat 11/11/2024 Trump in-law Boulos setting up contacts with PA’s Abbas, official confirms |
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
Taboo of Arabs in the IDF is slowly crumbling, says first Muslim non-Bedouin officer |
2024-09-15 |
[IsraelTimes] Hisham Abu Raya was the first from his community to climb the IDF ranks. Today, he runs a program promoting military service among young Muslims as a key to advancing in society Lt. Col. (res.) Hisham Abu Raya is a trailblazer. In 2008, at age 24, he became the first non-Bedouin Moslem officer in the Israeli army. Today, at age 40, he aims to be a role model for youths in his community and prove that service of the country is the key to success in Israeli society. While military service in Israel is compulsory for Jewish young men and women, and for young men from the Druze and Circassian minorities, it is optional for all other communities. Hundreds of Bedouin enlist voluntarily each year, but other Arab Israelis — Moslem and Christian — have historically shunned the army, primarily out of solidarity with Paleostinians in the West Bank and 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 oppressionand disproportionate response... Moslem recruits in the IDF on the fingers of one hand," Abu Raya said in a recent phone interview with The Times of Israel from his hometown of Sakhnin, in northern Israel. But today, he claims his personal story, while still exceptional, is no longer unique. Abu Raya was discharged from the army with the rank of major in 2018, and was promoted to reserve lieutenant colonel in 2022. Today, he works as a liaison between the Home Front Command and the northern Bedouin municipality of Tuba al-Zangariya. Immediately after his discharge in 2018, he founded "Ma’an" (meaning "together" in Arabic), a project to strengthen ties between the State of Israel and young Arab citizens and reinforce their sense of belonging. Within that framework, he launched a project that now runs in 20 schools in Moslem areas on behalf of the Defense Ministry to improve the students’ knowledge of Israeli history and civics and promote recruitment into the IDF. "Some young Arabs I meet don’t even know who [assassinated prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin was," he said. "Even if I don’t manage to convince them to enlist, at least at the end of the program they know more about Israeli society." The program also runs in Arab Christian schools, where organizers encounter "more openness," Abu Raya said. And while not all schools in Moslem areas decide to participate in the course, things are beginning to change in his community too, he claims. Some pupils he meets show up to the course after having watched countless hours of combat videos on the IDF website and YouTube, and know exactly where they want to serve, he said. According to the reserve officer, many aim to join combat units, including the legendary Golani Brigade. Many are also interested in joining the Border Police or the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, once a Bedouin-only unit that today accommodates other minorities. In June 2022, Abu Raya was involved in the organization of the first Gadna, a one-week preparatory program for incoming recruits, for Moslem youth. Abu Raya estimated today that there are "a few hundred" soldiers from the community enlisted in the IDF, adding that the ranks are growing. The IDF could not provide The Times of Israel with exact figures. "If you want to advance in Israeli society and feel equal, army service is your entry ticket. That’s how it was for me. The army embraced me," Abu Raya said. "All the Arabs I know who went to the army — today own a house and have a steady job. They have gone ahead in life." Financial stability, however, is not the only reason Arab young men should serve their country, in Abu Raya’s opinion. "We have a huge problem with gang crime in Arab society. Conscription in the IDF, or service in any other way, whether in the police, Magen David Adom, or national service, can help our young people become good citizens." Crime in the Arab community has skyrocketed in recent years, with more Arabs killed in homicides in 2023 than in any previous year, amid an unprecedented proliferation of illegal firearms. Abu Raya claims that interest in enlistment among his target community has been on the rise for years, but has spiked after the October 7 massacre by Hamas ![]() , in which invading snuffies killed 1,200 people amid acts of brutality and took 251 hostages to Gaza. "On October 7, the penny dropped among Arab Israelis. They saw that Hamas opened fire on everyone, and did not distinguish between Jewish and Moslem citizens," Abu Raya said. "And there are still Moslem hostages in the hands of Hamas. It was the same during the 2006 Second 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... War — nearly half of the civilian victims in Israel were Arabs. Rockets don’t distinguish between Moshe and Ali." In the 2006 war, 18 out of the 43 civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets were Arabs. Abu Raya related anecdotal evidence that led him to the conclusion that October 7 generated a seismic change. "A father from Kafr Qara called me after October 7 saying he was appalled by what he saw happening near Gaza, and said he wanted his three sons to be conscripted. He vowed he would soon take them to an induction center in a Bedouin area." Speaking about their intentions openly in their communities, however, remains taboo. Opposition to the IDF remains entrenched in Arab society, especially among Moslems, and those who show up in their towns in a uniform are often marked as traitors, Abu Raya said. But he is adamant that below the surface, change is palpable. The reserve officer himself had to suffer the painful consequences of his career choice on his personal life. Aby Raya’s decision to enlist came at age 23, while he was pursuing a bachelors degree in Hebrew at Ben-Gurion University in the southern city of Beersheba. On the occasion of Israel’s Independence Day in 2006, the IDF organized an enlistment fair in the nearby Bedouin town of Rahat. Abu Raya attended the event with some Jewish friends from university, who had finished their compulsory military service and were familiar with the contents of the exhibit. He felt left out for having missed on what he saw as a formative experience and decided to bridge the gap with his peers. The decision, however, was a fraught one. In the weeks leading up to his enlistment, Abu Raya said his stomach was churning with anxiety, as he expected a strong backlash from his religious, conservative family and his community back home in Sakhnin, an area that he describes as fiercely supportive of Paleostinian nationalism. On the day of his conscription, he was a bundle of nerves as he walked into the induction center. He went in and out six or seven times in hesitation, catching the eye of a security officer, who called the police on him. Eventually, after he explained his circumstances, army officers decided that his profile made him suitable to join the Education and Youth Corps. After his basic training, he was put in charge of a group of Bedouin recruits. His commander took note of his skills, and a few months later encouraged him to take an officer’s course. He became the first-ever Moslem non-Bedouin in the IDF to take the step. During the course, he was put in charge of Bental, a military company made up exclusively of religious Jews. On his first day, his self-introduction as "Hisham from Sakhnin" caused a commotion among his recruits, followed by a myriad of questions. But over time, a bond was created among comrades. "I soon find myself inside a new family that I never imagined I would have," he recalled. Meanwhile, ...back at the game, the Babe headed for second base. He almost made it. Then Sheila slapped him.... Abu Raya’s real family in the north was still in the dark about the new phase in his life, and believed he was still a student at Ben-Gurion University. He would return at home on weekends in civilian clothes, leaving his uniform with a Jewish comrade who would take it to his mother for washing and ironing. At the end of the officers’ course, a ceremony was held to honor the new officers, and Abu Raya proudly took on his new rank. During the event, he was approached by someone holding a camera asking for a short interview. He agreed, believing he was shooting a commemorative video for his unit. Little did he know that the cameraman was filming a live report for Channel 10, and as coincidence would have it, his family was sitting at home watching the news and saw him on screen, in an army uniform. The following weekend, Abu Raya returned home as usual, holding his university textbooks under his arm. But his family did not greet him with its usual warm welcome. His father received him with a grave face "that I will never forget," called him a traitor, and chastised him for bringing dishonor upon the family. His parents and siblings severed all contact with him for nearly three years. It was a time filled with sorrow, but not regret. "It’s hard to lose your family, to not be able to say good morning to your mother every day, hug your father, sit with your brothers," Abu Raya recalled. "I knew how my father felt, but on the other hand, I kept asking myself, what did I do wrong? I had nothing to be ashamed of. I did not steal, rob or rape. I did not fail at anything. I became an officer, which should be a source of honor for the family," he continued. Thanks to the intercession of a sister who also lived in Beersheba, Abu Raya eventually managed to mend ties with his parents and persuade them that he was pursuing a career like any other. When he was promoted to major, his father even came to the ceremony. "I finally felt that I made him proud," Abu Raya said. Sadly, his father died a week after the promotion, and his mother shortly after. Conflicts with his community, meanwhile, were far from over. In 2010, Abu Raya was again interviewed for a TV report and went on air to encourage young Arab Israelis to join the Israeli security forces and contribute to their country. The report was picked up by an Arabic-language news outlet, and within hours, Abu Raya received dozens of threats. "I was repeatedly insulted on the street and more. Unfortunately, some of the threats materialized. I got stones thrown at my property, and for a while could only move around with a police escort. It’s not a nice feeling," he said. "Someone once threw a glass bottle inside my car and hit my oldest son on the head, because I had an Israeli flag on my rearview mirror," Abu Raya recounted. "But the perpetrators were arrested and sentenced, and justice was done." The verbal and physical violence did not deter him. He still lives in Sakhnin. He worked in the Education Corps and later in the Home Front Command. "I had a choice to move to Karmiel" — a nearby Jewish town — "or stay in my village, go against the stream, fight and serve as an example for all the young people here," he said. "And I chose the latter. I know the IDF is on my side. It has never abandoned me." |
Link |
Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
Channel 14 report asserts being left-wing increased likelihood of being killed on Oct. 7 |
2024-05-31 |
[IsraelTimes] Outrage as pro-Netanyahu network asks if right-wing towns’ security teams were more effective at saving residents while examining ‘research’ on ‘Does political stance save lives?’ Channel 14 provoked outrage on Wednesday when it aired a segment that examined the alleged relationship between political outlook and victims of the devastating October 7 attack, including a chart that indicated left-wingers were ten times more likely to be killed or kidnapped. Hosts Shimon Riklin and Erel Segal presented the segment on the right-wing, pro-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu channel, under the caption: "Does political stance save lives?" They interviewed researcher Liad Levi about his examination of the devastating onslaught led by Hamas ![]() , in which some 1,200 people were killed and 252 seized as hostages, in relation to how the victims voted. Levi said he examined the voting patterns of 40 communities situated within 10 kilometers of 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 oppressionand disproportionate response... and found a ratio of two left-leaning communities (defined by 70% or more of the votes going to left-wing parties) for every right-wing one. He didn’t specify which parties were categorized as left wing. Based on those figures, Levi drew up a chart of the number of killed or kidnapped on October 7, concluding that one in 35 residents of communities that voted "left" were killed or kidnapped, compared to only one in 335 residents of communities that voted "right." The figures, he said, showed there were ten times as many left-wing victims as right-wing ones. "The question of the research was, Did one’s political outlook in the Envelope [i.e., the Gaza border towns] save you, or cause you damage, or give you an advantage in the October 7 attack," said Riklin. "The mass of those killed... sits in what seems to be communities that voted left," responded Levi. The distance of the various communities from the Gaza border had no effect on this, he claimed. Levi also said that in right-leaning communities where only a few people were killed, those deaths came while fighting the terrorists, asserting that "the numbers also pointed to the ’quality of the death,’ how terrible the deaths were." Later in the same segment, those in the studio discussed if political leanings may have affected the effectiveness of the security squads in the communities that were attacked, or influenced the "understanding of the enemy" in the communities. The Hostages and Families forum said in a response it was "expressing shock at the report tonight on Channel 14. This is a manipulative, divisive ...politicians call things divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive,they're principled... , false, and blood-letting report." "The attempt to present the citizens of Israel who were massacred, murdered, and kidnapped in the October disaster as based on political affiliation is a wrongful act that harms the foundation of our national resilience, the families of the murdered and the fallen, and national solidarity vis-à-vis the hostages," the forum said in a statement. Reporter Nadav Eyal noted on X that "geography, the Hamas plan, the IDF’s response, and a thousand other parameters are critical" factors in the outcome of the terror attack. He said it should be obvious that the research is "poor, cheap, bad." Following the criticism, Segal defended the item, writing on X "it is not a poll or research by Channel 14. We interviewed Dr. Liad Levi, a physicist, who did research and found clear statistical data that demands review in order to learn for next time. The future." "Anyone who watched or will watch the item will see... that it was taken out of context," he wrote. On the morning of October 7, Hamas led some 3,000 forces of Evil who burst through the border with Gaza and rampaged through southern Israel. They overran communities in the border area as local security teams made up of residents fought back despite being massively outnumbered. Many security squad members were killed in the fighting. Channel 14’s fervent backing for Netanyahu and his government has led some to term the station’s content "propaganda." The conservative network, owned by Israeli-Russian billionaire Yitzhak Mirilashvili and sometimes likened to the US’s Fox News, has been embroiled in previous controversies. In August 2023, an anchor drew fire for showing sympathy toward Yigal Amir, the jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! assassin of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. A month earlier, a panelist on the network called for Amir’s release from prison. Channel 14 was founded as Channel 20 in 2014, winning a government tender to establish a "Jewish Heritage Channel." It was barred from airing any news broadcasts and was fined multiple times for repeatedly breaking that rule. In 2016 it was granted the right to air 90 minutes a day of news but continued to violate its bylaws by regularly exceeding the limit. |
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
The Pivot: Thousands rally in Tel Aviv for hostages; Netanyahu critics renew Jerusalem protests |
2023-11-06 |
These people are disgusting. They were embarrassed to show anything but solidarity for three whole weeks before the same old anti-Bibi protest pivoted themselves from anti-judicial overhaul to a new excuse for screaming their frustration that they’re not in charge. [IsraelTimes] Rockets fired at center of country shortly after demonstration at renamed ’Captives Square’; three arrested in Jerusalem as hundreds call for PM to accept responsibility, step downThousands of people gathered at the recently renamed Captives Square in central Tel Aviv Saturday night to show support for the families of the hundreds of people held hostage by the Hamas ![]() 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 oppressionand disproportionate response... Shortly after the rally, remaining participants, including families of some of the hostages, were forced to scramble for cover as rockets were launched from Gaza at the central city and surrounding areas, a reminder of the war still raging in the south as Israel seeks to topple Hamas while also seeking the captives’ release. A war that is still far from over, and it would be very, very helpful if they were not actively undermining the effort. There were no reports of injuries or damage in the barrage, which has become a regular occurrence since war erupted a month ago.And in Jerusalem and elsewhere, hundreds renewed protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the premier of mishandling the war and hostage negotiations and calling for his resignation. Outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, participants held up posters with pictures of those kidnapped by Hamas forces of Evil on October 7, calling for them to be brought home even as they expressed a variety of views on how to best achieve that goal. Ramos Aloni, whose daughters Danielle and Sharon are being held captive with their small children and Sharon’s husband, said Israel should only accede to demands for humanitarian aid ![]() "If the prime minister is saying, ’Together we will win,’ together means with the captives," Aloni told the crowd. "No ceasefire without releasing all the captives." Bibi has already promised that. At least 246 people were kidnapped by Hamas forces of Evil who rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, the vast majority civilians, including young children and the elderly. Four people have been released and a soldier was freed by troops who have entered Gaza to eliminate Hamas. There are also two Israelis who have been held in Gaza since 2014.That includes the 60 captives Hamas just claimed died in Israel’s bombing, whose bodies could be returned, one assumes. Netanyahu has come under pressure from some families to consider an offer dangled by Hamas to release all captives in exchange for all of its prisoners being held by Israel. Netanyahu’s administration has dismissed the offer as an insincere ploy, and has also resisted calls for a humanitarian pause in the fighting without receiving hostages in exchange.Opening the rally, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai referenced the anniversary of the liquidation of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin exactly 28 years earlier. Rabin "knew how to make difficult decisions," Huldai said. Netanyahu must now do so and bring back all the captives, said Huldai. "We understand how big this hour is," he said. In between the speakers, the crowd bursts into chants of "Bring them home — now!" There’s the pivot. Gabi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council on the Gaza border, addressed Gazooks directly in a speech, noting that many had once found employment in the kibbutzim and other agricultural communities attacked on October 7, in an assault that left some 1,400 people dead, the vast majority civilians."You were our neighbors, we gave you work, we wanted you to have good lives," said Yarkoni. "But this period is over, no more good neighbors without giving us back our people." I’d go with no good neighbours ever, but it’s not my country. Merav Leshem Ronen, whose 23-year-old daughter, Romi, was taken captive from the Nova music rave, offered her own threat to Hamas."To the leaders of Hamas we say, if you took our beloved ones, you will be in danger wherever you are, all over the world," she said. Turning to her daughter, who will mark 30 days in Hamas captivity on Sunday, she added "we won’t forget anyone in there, we are here for one another." Haim Jellin, a former head of the Eshkol council and a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the worst-hit communities, said the war could only be completed with the end of Hamas and the return of all hostages. He described the recovery of the once vibrant region, which has suffered years of Gazook rocket attacks and a seemingly endless procession of wars, noting the people of Israel lining up with flags, "as we rebury our dead in our communities and our factories and fields, and build new houses and replant the Negev green," said Jellin. "Mr. Prime Minister, bring back our captives and our security," he added. "We were the human shield on that border," said Shir Segal, whose parents Aviva and Keith were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. "This state didn’t protect its citizens and it’s a huge failure." Following the rally, many families remained in the square, where they planned on sleeping in tents for a second night as part of their protest. In Jerusalem, members of the movement formed 10 months ago to protest Netanyahu over his government’s efforts to overhaul the judiciary gathered outside a home being used by the prime minister, accusing the premier of being responsible for failures in the lead-up and response to the October 7 massacres, which largely caught Israel off-guard. Protesters also called for Netanyahu to approve a swap deal for the captives, the Ynet news site reported. After a period in which criticism of his government gave way to an overwhelming sense of unity in the wake of the attacks, Netanyahu has come under increasing attacks by critics in recent days, much of it over his refusal to take responsibility for all that went wrong. It isn’t all his responsibility. The military, the protesters, Israeli intelligence, the CIA, Iran, Hezbollah, and of course Hamas all share in the responsibility. And even if Bibi were indeed the only one to screw up, IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EXISTENTIAL WAR is not the right time for blame-casting. So shut up, sit down, and get on with supporting the war effort, ya hosers. Police clashed with protesters and arrested three people. They accused protesters of attempting to breach security outside the home where Netanyahu is staying, alleging that "parties" had attempted to "take advantage of the families’ protest to cause disorder," seemingly referring to relatives of hostages and bereaved.Typical Black Bloc behaviour. In a statement, police also expressed dismay at what they said were chants among the crowd asking "Where were you" on October 7, referring to the time it took security forces to respond to the onslaught in many places."Police lost 58 of their officers that morning, along with dozens who were maimed defending residents of the Gaza border region," the statement said. During the rally, a protester identified as Ofir Baram, a resident of Kfar Aza who lost his son, aimed fire at Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman for the police attempts to contain the protest. "Turgeman and his people don’t understand that their job is to protect us. We’re what should be protected," he said. "Don’t attack us, not with horses and not with water cannons." Smaller rallies calling for Netanyahu’s resignation were also held at other places around the country, including Pardes Hanna-Karkur and Beersheba. In Caesarea, where Netanyahu has a private residence, police said they had to separate demonstrators from a small group of counter-protesters, including a woman who accused them of "being Hamas’s representatives." Indeed. |
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
Europe - Palestine - Israel: worst-case scenario | |
2023-10-15 | |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Elena Karaeva [RIA] In Brussels, whose grandees of the executive (European Commission head von der Leyen) and legislative (Speaker of the European Parliament Metsola) authorities went to Israel the day before, are constantly trying, as they say there, to choose “the right side of history.” Attempts almost always fail because the “right side of history” is constantly changing. Depending on the European elite’s own business interests and relations, and on how the position of the European Union is viewed from the other side of the Atlantic. The modern Western European political bloc was conceived by the founding fathers in order to eliminate the possibility of military conflicts both on the continent itself and on a global scale, and to avoid the temptation to become one of the parties to the conflict. The role of a lightning rod, a scarecrow - and part-time "bad guy" - was played by the USSR . They bought resources from the “bad Russians”, but fought with us ideologically. As soon as the “Red Project” ceased to exist, the EU was at a loss - the enemy was defeated, there was no other of the same scale, but, having looked around the continent and decided that now it was necessary to fight with the “remaining Soviet influence,” the Brussels began to rock the Balkans . They rocked up to the civil war in Yugoslavia and the disappearance of a country called the SFRY. And they became quiet for a while. The source of tension - with the help of Russia , among other things - in the Balkans was at least defused. At the same time, responsible Israeli politicians concluded an agreement with the Palestinians, which went down in history as the Oslo Accords. The main idea of the document was the principle of peace in exchange for territory, as well as a declaration of commitment to the UN two-state resolution. A Middle East that is at least superficially pacified is a death sentence for the business interests of those who make money from chaos. It was necessary to bring the situation to a bloody absolute, and it was necessary urgently. Two years after the signing of the agreements with Palestine, one of the architects of the peace process, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated. And even earlier, knowing that peace negotiations through Norwegian mediators had begun, those who did not agree with Rabin began to flirt with the other side, also representing the Palestinians, but, unlike Arafat, fanatically religious. Then this movement received the name Hamas. European politicians, who then still retained at least a semblance of independence in foreign policy, actively supported Palestine, the one represented by Arafat and his Fatah movement, financially. Out of a sense of self-preservation, first of all, since both the votes of the Muslim population in the elections and the supply of oil and gas mattered. By skillfully maneuvering, the grandmasters of the Old World managed to maintain a balance of likes and dislikes. Although accusations of “European anti-Semitism” were heard from time to time, in discussions – open and closed – it was possible to find a compromise. But those sitting in front of the black and white checkered board and moving the pieces on it had no idea that their Atlantic partners preferred crowbar blows to all “Sicilian defenses”. So that your own costs are minimal, and the blood of others is shed to the maximum. Because it's easier to do business this way. The main thing is to choose the right moment. And accurately calculate the blow. In fact, the entire foreign policy of the EU’s American partners boiled down to endless violence— Washington has no other way. The current round of the crisis in the Middle East has forced the European bloc to retreat - so far in words - even from attempts at peacemaking, which requires maintaining relations with Palestine. Brussels turned a blind eye to the fact that the US allied obligations towards Israel were not fulfilled. Although where, if not in this decision-making center, is it well known that the American NSA is listening to the entire planet, and even for them, who are thoroughly loyal to Washington, it is difficult to exclude that for some reason the US National Security Agency did not listen to those whom it considered military and Hamas political leaders. And she did not report the wiretapping data to the Israeli authorities. In the same way, it is difficult to imagine that Washington does not understand that the European Union, with its fairly large Jewish and Muslim communities,
In the event of an even greater aggravation of the situation and even greater casualties and blood, America can very easily make a scapegoat from the EU . We have seen how this happens: Washington has accumulated sufficient experience. Yes, so far this looks like a frightening hypothesis. But the assumption that Hamas would kill more than a thousand Israelis and take hundreds hostage seemed just as incredible just a week ago. Therefore, Europe, which once knew how to show miracles of diplomatic resourcefulness, apparently should prepare for the development of events within the bloc itself according to the worst - if not the worst - of scenarios. | |
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
The Palestinian Authority admits there's no ‘Israeli occupation' |
2023-10-02 |
[Jpost] The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Arabs ended 30 years ago. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask the Palestinian Authority. The PA recently submitted a request to UNESCO to recognize the city of Jericho as a “Palestinian heritage site.” In its description of the history of the region, the PA’s request refers to “the time of Israeli Occupation (1967-1994).” Thus, the PA has acknowledged, in writing, that Israel’s occupation there ended in 1994. The same phrase appears in another PA-UN document. In 2008, the PA asked the United Nations to help improve its tax-collecting policies. After a two-year study, the PA’s Finance Ministry and the United Nations Development Program published a report titled “Diagnostic Study of Property Tax in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The report surveyed the history of tax collection in the area, so it was forced to acknowledge the changes between the years that Israel occupied Palestinian Arab cities and the years after the occupation ended. Thus, on page 49, we find Section 6.1, which is titled “Taxes in the occupied Palestinian territory – Israeli Occupation (1967-1994).” Why does this matter? Because there is an entire cottage industry of pundits, politicians, and advocacy groups whose agenda depends upon claiming that there is an “Israeli occupation.” They need to be able to point an accusing finger at Israel, in order to justify their demand for Palestinian statehood. They need to be able to portray Israel as an oppressor in order to excuse Palestinian Arab violence. They need to pretend Israel still occupies the Palestinians, in order to make it seem as if Israel is to blame for their lack of elections and civil rights. Of course, anybody who visits any city in the PA-governed territories, can see with their own eyes that there are no Israeli soldiers. No Israeli military governor. No Israeli military administration. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin withdrew them all, three decades ago. RABIN AND THE WEST BANK WHEN RABIN was elected in 1992, he faced a serious dilemma. On the one hand, he recognized that allowing the Palestinian Arabs to establish a sovereign state in Judea-Samaria-Gaza would pose a grave threat to Israel’s existence. Israel would be just nine miles wide in its middle, next door to a state run by terrorists and dictators. A Palestinian terrorist armed with a shoulder-fired missile, standing inside the sovereign borders of “Palestine,” would be able to shoot down a plane taking off from Ben-Gurion Airport. No sane country would accept such a nightmarish existence. On the other hand, Rabin was uncomfortable having Israel continue to rule over the Palestinian Arabs in those territories. So, he devised the Oslo Accords, which ended Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians and gave them something close to statehood, but without endangering Israel’s existence. In 1994, Rabin withdrew from the city of Jericho and almost all of Gaza. Then, in 1995, Rabin withdrew from all the other cities in Judea-Samaria where 98% of the Palestinians reside; and Ariel Sharon later withdrew from the rest of Gaza. Thanks to Rabin’s solution, it is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel, that occupies 98% of the Palestinian Arabs. The streets of their cities are policed by the Palestinian security forces. Palestinian principals and teachers run the schools. The courts have Palestinian judges. When elections are held (although it has been a while), the candidates and the voters are all Palestinians. Pretty much the only thing the Palestinian Authority can’t do is import tanks, planes, Iranian “volunteers,” or North Korean missiles. Thanks to Rabin’s solution, today’s status quo ensures Israel’s Jewish majority, retains Israel’s defensible borders, and guarantees all faiths free access to their religious sites. At the same time, it allows nearly all of the Palestinian Arabs to live under their own government. They live in an entity that is close to statehood in every respect except those few aspects that would endanger Israel’s existence. Of course, this situation is far from ideal. But it’s better than being nine miles wide. |
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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.![]() 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 | ||
At pro-government protest, Smotrich warns High Court not to strike down overhaul law | ||
2023-09-09 | ||
[IsraelTimes] 10,000 rally outside court in Jerusalem ahead of crucial hearings; organizer says there’ll be ’chaos’ if judges nullify legislation; Smotrich: Don’t you dare invalidate Basic Laws Thousands of government supporters rallied Thursday evening outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, encouraging the coalition to continue its push to weaken the judiciary ahead of crucial High Court of Justice hearings on the divisive ...politicians call things divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive,they're principled... judicial overhaul. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other ministers at the protest warned the High Court against striking down part of the coalition’s legislative package after the hearings, with Smotrich telling Chief Justice Esther Hayut that she had better not "dare" to overturn the law. There were no official turnout figures, but some 10,000 people were estimated to attend the protest, lower than at previous pro-government demonstrations and far lower than the mass anti-overhaul rallies held in Tel Aviv every week. Exposing the extreme nature of some the demonstrators, groups of them were seen donning stickers that expressed support for Jewish bully boyz such as Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Paleostinians in Hebron in 1994; Amiram Ben Uliel, who is in prison for the 2015 deadly Molotov cocktailing of a Paleostinian family in the West Bank village of Duma; bad boy rabbi Meir Kahane; and former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir.
Related: Judicial overhaul: 2023-08-27 Top Dutch court confirms Gantz can’t be sued for civilian deaths in 2014 Gaza strike Judicial overhaul: 2023-08-20 ‘We will not be trampled on’: Protesters rally nationwide for 33rd straight week Judicial overhaul: 2023-08-17 US sanctions Lebanese group aiding Hezbollah ‘under guise of environmental activism’ | ||
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International-UN-NGOs |
Israel plans to build undersea electricity cable linking to grids in Europe and Gulf |
2023-07-05 |
So long as Israel controls the on/off switch, and not countries that have historically been her enemies. [IsraelTimes] The proposed 150km subsea electricity cable will run along Israel’s Mediterranean coast from Ashkelon in the south to Haifa in the northIsrael is advancing plans for the construction of an underwater electricity cable project to meet growing energy needs in the center and north of the country and to link the country’s electricity network to power grids in Europa ![]() and countries in the Gulf region. The national planning and building council on Tuesday decided to commence with the planning and construction of the proposed 150-kilometer (93-mile) subsea electricity cable that will run along Israel’s Mediterranean coast from Ashkelon in the south to Haifa in the north, the Energy Ministry said in a statement. The underwater power cable will transmit electricity mainly generated from renewable solar energy fields in Israel’s south to areas of demand in cities in the center and the north. According to the subsea cable project plan, the possibility of connecting Israel’s electricity network to power grids in Europe via Cyprus and Greece will be advanced, as well as the option of connecting to Gulf countries through Jordan and Egypt, the ministry said. Connecting the underwater cable to regional countries such as Egypt would open the possibility to have a backup for the local grid in case of power shortages and allow for exports of green electricity produced in Israel, the ministry said. The project is part of a broader vision by Energy and Infrastructure Minister Israel Katz to turn Israel into an energy power and an energy bridge connecting East and West while strengthening its international status. "I welcome the first step on the way to establishing an undersea electricity cable along Israel’s coast — a groundbreaking cross-border project that will move the Israeli electricity grid forward and help Israel become an energy power," Katz said. "The cable is a significant part of the national plan for energy and infrastructure that I will present in the coming weeks, to improve the reliability of the electricity system, accelerate the deployment of renewable energies, and link Israel’s electricity grid to Europe, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states — a step that will contribute to regional stability." Recent heatwaves leading to power outages in the country as the country’s electricity grid struggles to meet sweltering demand have made energy security and independence even more pressing. At the beginning of June, heatwave-related power cuts affected some 260,000 Israelis as temperatures rose above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), while high winds whipped up hundreds of fires across the country, closing roads and forcing some evacuations. Earlier in June, the planning and building council approved a proposal to allocate 40,000 more dunams (10,000 acres) of land in open areas for solar power facilities. The decision fell short of the 69,000 dunams the Energy Ministry, which submitted the request, had sought. That’s as Israel has set itself a target to generate 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Most of that will be solar energy. But by the end of last year, the state was barely scraping 10%, a goal it should have reached by 2020. The plan for the underwater electricity cable comes after Katz in June paid a visit to La Belle France where he toured the IFA-2 subsea electrical interconnector running beneath the English Channel between La Belle France and the United Kingdom. Separately, state-owned energy group EAPC (Europe Asia Pipeline Co.) announced last month that it has reached an agreement with the Israeli government to build a 254-kilometer (158-mile) fiber optic cable between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea as part of a national project to turn Israel into a communications hub and corridor for data transmission in the Middle East, connecting Europe to the Gulf states and Asia. The fiber optic infrastructure will be built along EAPC’s oil pipeline between the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon and the Red Sea port of Eilat. As part of the project, EAPC will build at its facilities in Ashkelon and Eilat, two landing stations to connect to incoming subsea cables from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. EAPC will also install a connection for communication providers in Jordan, at the Wadi Araba border crossing, known as the Yitzhak Rabin terminal on the Israeli side. |
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