November 27, 2014
November 21, 2014
November 12, 2014
Picking a Fight By: Alan M. Dershowitz
Picking a Fight
Published: November 12th, 2014
Netanyahu wants more room on the table for the military option to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz
If these reports are accurate, the following question must be asked: did the Obama administration – indeed perhaps President Barack Obama himself – authorize two senior officials to issue these highly provocative and challenging statements? The White House has now tried to distance itself from the views expressed by these individuals, but it seems unlikely that two senior administration officials would go on the record using such explosive words without White House approval.
The author of the report, Jeffrey Goldberg, tells us that this is the way American and Israeli officials now talk about each other “behind closed doors.” But these statements were not made behind closed doors. They were made to a prominent journalist, with the intention of having them published and read not only by American and Israeli officials, but also by Iranian officials.
That question becomes particularly important in light of another quotation attributed to one of the senior officials: “It’s too late for him to do anything [regarding a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities]. Two three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. It was a combination of our pressure and his own unwillingness to do anything dramatic. Now it’s too late.”
That official added: “The feeling now is that Bibi’s [Netanyahu] bluffing... he’s not Begin at Osirak.”
This disclosure of such classified administration assessments – whether true or false – will certainly be welcomed in Tehran. It strengthens the Iranian bargaining position, and weakens the power of the United States to demand more of Iran in the ongoing nuclear negotiations, and to demand more of our allies in the event these negotiations break down and additional sanctions are needed.
Goldberg acknowledges that “the Obama administration used the threat of an Israeli strike in a calculated way to convince its allies (and some of its adversaries) to line up behind what turned out to be an effective sanctions regime.” By now revealing its belief that there is no longer a real threat of an Israeli strike – again, whether their assessment is correct or incorrect – these senior officials have done considerable damage to security of the United States and to the possibility of striking an effective deal with Iran.
The bottom line result of these disclosures by two senior Obama officials is to make it more likely that Iran will develop nuclear weapons. Revealing intelligence assessments that suggest Netanyahu is bluffing can only encourage the Iranians to move forward more quickly with their nuclear weapons program.
It also encourages them to believe that the United States will no longer be able to use the threat of an Israeli military strike to shore up support among reluctant allies to increase or even maintain sanctions.
Why then were these officials sent out to talk to Jeffrey Goldberg? By whom were they sent? And why now? If they were not authorized to make these statements and took it upon themselves to do so, they should be fired. That is the only way to send a powerful message to friend and foe alike that the views they expressed do not represent those of the president. If they are not fired, then Congress should ask why two senior Obama administration officials have endangered American national security by increasing the likelihood that Iran will develop nuclear weapons. President Obama has himself acknowledged that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a “game changer” that would directly endanger our national security.
Congress has an obligation to get to the bottom of this foreign policy mess. It need not subpoena the journalist, who will surely invoke reportorial privilege. But it can subpoena the handful of senior Obama administration officials who might have made these disclosures. Once Congress establishes who the two senior officials are, they can be asked whether the disclosures were authorized, and if so by whom.
The president may well invoke executive privilege, but Congress’ need to know who is undercutting American foreign policy, and why, should trump any claim of privilege. No administration should have the right to leak damaging information to America’s enemies and then hide behind privilege to prevent Congress from learning the source of the leaks and the reasoning, if any, behind the decision to disclose such damaging information.
Beyond the damage done with regard to Iran, is the damage done to United States-Israel relations by the insulting and demeaning words used by senior Obama administration officials to describe the prime minister of a close ally. Benjamin Netanyahu fought bravely for his country in one of Israel’s most elite and dangerous military units. He has rescued hostages, defended his country against terrorists and lost a brother at Entebbe.
To call him a “chickenshit” or a “coward” is beneath contempt. Having seen the heavy cost of warfare, he has always been cautious and prudent about committing Israeli troops to battle. For this he should be praised rather than condemned.
Netanyahu may soon have to make an existential decision about whether to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons that might be used against Israeli citizens or to authorize a dangerous military attack designed to destroy and delay Iran’s capacity to develop such weapons of mass destruction. This decision would be difficult for any leader, and it is even more difficult for a leader of a tiny country surrounded by enemies and isolated by much of the international community. To trivialize and reduce this decision to name-calling words like “chickenshit” and “coward” demonstrates extraordinary bad judgment on the part of those who used the words and those who may have authorized their use.
There are legitimate and important differences between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations over issues such as building in Jerusalem and the stalled peace negotiations.
Each side has criticized the other’s position on their merits and demerits. But scatological name-calling on the record has no place in an alliance between friends.
Those responsible for these provocative and dangerous ad hominems and for the unwarranted disclosure of classified intelligence assessments must be held accountable by the American public and by all those who care about peace in the Middle East.
Israeli Far Leftists Demonstrate Solidarity with Terror
Israeli Far Leftists Demonstrate Solidarity with Terror
By: Steven Plaut
Published: November 12th, 2014
Arabs with Israeli citizenship riot in the northern Galilee Saturday.
Photo Credit: Flash 90
The intended police victims of the terrorist were not amused and were unappreciative of the symbolic value of their being stabbed to death to protest the grievances of Hamdan and his terrorist comrades. Instead, the police selfishly and immoderately shot Hamdan to death as Hamdan attempted to murder them with his knife.
Israel's Arab fifth column and its fellow travelers then took to the streets and violently protested this "murder in cold blood" of the gentle giant Hamdan. He instantly became the poster boy for those loyal Arab citizens of Israel who seek the annihilation of Israel and its Jews. The neutral and objective foreign media were also outraged at the violation of the Miranda rights of Khair al-Din Hamdan, who was killed by the police without legal representation and a trial. Khair's father expressed the outrage of the family that his son had been prevented by the police from murdering Jews. Why was his son not simply stopped with tear gas or at most a bullet in his thigh?, the father demands to know. And the heroic appeasers of the Likud government decided to order an official commission of investigation into the interruption by the cops of the murder attempt by Khair.
At the same time, some of Israel's finest leftists are also taking to the airwaves and the streets to show their solidarity with the young dead terrorist. Zehava Galon, Meretz party leader, demanded that "The attorney general needs to order an investigation not only into the policemen who shot the young man, but also into the responsibility of the public security minister, who gave license to murder when he said that a 'terrorist who hurts civilians deserves to die'."
Khair al-Din Hamdan was in fact backing away from them when he was shot. Just why his backing away could be interpreted as any reason NOT to summarily shoot and execute him on the spot with extreme prejudice has never been explained by anyone. Some of the car crash murderers in Israel in recent days have been shot on the spot AFTER crashing intentionally into people. The only thing wrong with that is that Israel's weenie government refuses to pass a law proclaiming that instant execution without trial of ALL terrorists at the scenes of their murders and attempted murders is not only legal but downright laudatory and deserving of a medal of valor.
The emerging leading Jewish leader of the Khair lobby is a Knesset Member from the anti-Israel semi-Marxist MERETZ Knesset Faction, loosely associated with the anti-democratic protest movement "Peace Now." She is Tamar Zandberg. She decided to go in person to Kafr Kanna to show her solidarity with the poor innocent victim Khair, a bit like all those demagogues in America making hajj to Fergusan, Missouri to show their solidarity with the violent thug shot there by police.
Sister Zandberg's participation in the Salute to Terrorists with Knives event at Kafr Kanna is relayed by herself in Hebrew on her Facebook page. She also posts a photo of herself without chador sitting on the protest podium with assorted Arab members of the Khair lobby.
Here is my translation of what she posts there:
"I visited today in Kafr Kanna, the town in which Khair Hamdan was shot to death. I went together with Knesset Member Issawi Freij (also from Meretz). We expressed our solidarity with the feelings of injustice that an entire community feels today, not only because of the excessively light finger on the trigger (by the police), not only because of the fact that the photographs of the event raise serious doubts about the legality of the police actions and the suspicions of an attempt to cover them up, but also because of our recognition that this is NOT an isolated disconnected incident. It is instead part of the policy of racist discrimination directed against the Arab minority in Israel, a policy directed and implemented from on high by the Prime Minister and his cabinet.
"While one minister speaks about 'a terrorist" and another speaks about 'terrorism,' while the Prime Minister himself raises the possibility of stripping citizens of their citizenship, they are not just commenting on a controversial (sic) incident but rather they are outlining their policy against the Israeli Arab public.
"This government of intimidation and incitement has now reached new heights of hatemongering. Its own obstinacy is what manufactured the confrontation whose climax was seen in the Gaza war this past summer. It has driven Israel's international reputation down to a new low. This same government now paints 20% of the country's population as the enemy. I cannot escape the feeling that this is part of a grand governmental plan of organized destruction against any hope for a better future. (The word 'destruction' she uses in Hebrew is the same as the word for 'terrorism' – SP) "
*****
Meretz is a political party whose base of support is those Israeli Jews who hate themselves and their country. As you know, the Israeli government and parliament have banned Kach, the main Kahanist group, proclaiming it a terrorist group and as a group that supposedly violates Israel's "anti-racism" law. It denies those Kahanists freedom of speech and the right to organize. While I believe that the banning of the Kahanists was anti-democratic and arbitrary, given that this is Israeli government policy the time has come to criminalize MERETZ as a pro-terror anti-Jewish anti-Israel racist group that automatically supports the enemies of Israel and justifies anti-Jewish terrorism.
The Holocaust's Foremost Unsung Hero
Moshe Kraus saved tens of thousands of Jews. Why has no one heard of him?
In 1986, a
78-year-old man named Moshe Kraus died in Jerusalem. You probably don't
recognize the name. He was never commemorated in any way. He is not
mentioned in any Holocaust encyclopedias. But Moshe Kraus is responsible
for the largest rescue operation during the Holocaust. German
industrialist Oskar Schindler, with his resourcefulness and courage,
managed to save 1,200 Jews; Kraus saved tens of thousands.
Moshe KrausPhoto credit: Beit Haedut Museum
The year is 1944. The Nazis are stepping up the pace and sending more and more Jews to their deaths in efforts to quickly complete the extermination of Hungary's Jewry. A spacious glass factory located at 29 Vadasz Street in Budapest is granted extraterritorial status under the auspices of Switzerland. Some 3,000 Jews barricade themselves inside this building, dubbed the Glass House, for three months.
More and more homes in Budapest are turned into Swiss "safe houses," barring entry to Germans and the local complicit Hungarian authorities, and housing thousands of Jews. The Swiss embassy grants 40,000 Jews certificates making them foreign Swiss nationals. Tens of thousands of additional documents are forged while the Swiss turn a blind eye. Young, brave Jews disguised as Nazi officers roam the streets handing out these documents to Jews, and all of this is orchestrated by Kraus
Read the rest:
http://www.aish.com/ho/p/The-Holocausts-Foremost-Unsung-Hero.html
ETAN - Expel The Arabs Now! Expel, Intern, Eliminate
Murder after murder in Israel, from the hands of Arabs.
They have worn out there welcome.
Eliminate the fifth column.
Re-take Gaza and expel the Jordanian squatters
Israels latest tragic losses to the hands of ARAB terrorists
http://www.aish.com/jw/id/Israel-Mourns.html
They have worn out there welcome.
Eliminate the fifth column.
Re-take Gaza and expel the Jordanian squatters
Israels latest tragic losses to the hands of ARAB terrorists
http://www.aish.com/jw/id/Israel-Mourns.html
November 3, 2014
The Battle for Jerusalem
The Battle for Jerusalem
By: Paul Gherkin
Published: November 2nd, 2014
Photo Credit: Jerusalem360
In October 2014, the acting Palestinian Authority President Abbas took umbrage at Jews moving into homes they purchased in Silwan- an area that was originally settled by Jews. Abbas called for hard labor and life imprisonment (or death) for any Arab that sold land to a Jew. There was no reaction from the world to Abbas’s racist edict.
The October comments from Abbas continued with a call to prohibit any Jew from praying on the Temple Mount. He then insisted that no Jews should be allowed to live anywhere east of the 1949 Armistice lines, including in heavily populated Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
The stated rationale for the comments to try to mask the anti-Semitism was that such moves “threaten a two state solution”. That is absurd.
A two state solution can exist very easily- it just would not have a new Palestine with everything that Abbas would like. Specifically, Jerusalem.
The Israelis have already split the “Holy Basin” proposed in the 1947 UN Partition Plan by giving the Palestinians Bethlehem. The other half of the basin, Jerusalem, would remain Israeli. Keeping Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel in no way threatens the viability of a new Palestinian State.
Here is the music video (The Who) that reviews the tired and flawed arguments Palestinian supporters used in fighting the development of E1, east of Jerusalem:
VIDEO:
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/analysis/the-battle-for-jerusalem/2014/11/02/0/?print
About the Author: Paul Gherkin is founder of the website FirstOneThrough, which is dedicated to educating people on Israel, the United States, Judaism and science in an entertaining manner so they speak up and take action. In a connected digital world, each person can be a spokesperson by disseminating news to thousands of people by forwarding articles or videos to people, or using the information to fight on behalf of a cause because In a connected digital world. YOU are FirstOneThrough.
Stone Throwers = Death Penalty?
20 Years for Stone Throwers as Cabinet Stiffens Punishments for Rock Attacks, Road Terror
By: Hana Levi Julian
Published: November 2nd, 2014
Damage to a car attacked by Arab road terrorists in the Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur, October 2, 2014.
Photo Credit: Arieh King
At its weekly cabinet meeting, the cabinet decided to add an amendment to the current penal code allowing judges to imprison a convicted terrorist for up to 20 years for throwing or casting stones or other objects at a motor vehicle.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called for the legislation in recent discussions on the disturbances in Jerusalem.
“Israel is taking vigorous action against terrorists and those who throw stones, fire bombs and fireworks,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the start of the cabinet meeting.
“We will also pass stronger legislation on the issue. All of this is in order to restore quiet and security throughout Jerusalem.
“I have ordered that massive reinforcements be brought in and that additional means be used in order to ensure law and order in Israel's capital," Netanyahu added.
Arabs Stalking MK Moshe Feiglin on Temple Mount
Arabs Stalking MK Moshe Feiglin on Temple Mount
By: Hana Levi Julian
Published: November 2nd, 2014
Arabs photographed and distributed pictures of Moshe Feiglin on the Temple Mount, Nov. 2, 2014.
Photo Credit: courtesy, Tazpit news agency
Likud Knesset member Moshe Feiglin, who heads the 'Manhigut Yehudi' (Jewish Leadership) faction of the party, is also a very familiar face around town, having long been active as an advocate for Jews to freely enter and pray on the Temple Mount.
Feiglin visited the holy site this morning (Sunday, Nov. 2), the first time in nearly a week that the Temple Mount was open to Jews.
It was discovered over the weekend that the MK is also now being stalked by Arabs with cameras.
[caption id="attachment_202560" align="alignnone" width="475"]
Arabs photograph and distribute pictures of Moshe Feiglin on the Temple Mount, Nov. 2, 2014.[/caption]Photos of Feiglin snapped by various Arabs have reached the Tazpit news agency after having emerged on Arab web and social media sites.
Arabs were seen today (Sunday, Nov. 2) photographing and distributing pictures of MK Moshe Feiglin on the Temple Mount.
Outraged Israelis and other supporters from abroad, including other Muslims, are still asking how an assassin was able to get so close to Glick -- a known Jerusalem personality advocating for co-existence on the Temple Mount, a controversial cause -- in the first place. Feiglin has been assigned a security detail following last week’s assassination attempt on Glick. He and several other MKs, including one cabinet minister, all attended the conference at the Begin Center where Glick was a guest speaker.
Feiglin himself spoke with Glick after the program and left the venue just 20 minutes before the attack. The shooter – an 11-year veteran of the Israeli prison system who worked at the Center’s restaurant – was apparently waiting nearby and simply watching for the right moment during Feiglin’s conversation with Glick.
On Friday, police arrested a second man they suspect may have been involved in the assassination attempt on Yehudah Glick on Wednesday at the Begin Center, according to Israel's Channel 2 TV news. The second suspect who was arrested worked at the Begin Center’s “Terasa” restaurant with the shooter, Ibrahim Mut'az Hijazi.
On the day the assassin fired at Glick, it wasn’t Feiglin that he wanted: it was the Temple Mount activist rabbi.
Glick's killer is dead, having made the mistake of opening fire at the Israel Police counter terror Yamam forces who tracked him down and came to arrest him late that night.
Nevertheless, now Feiglin is being followed and his photo is being snapped for positive identification – perhaps to help another assassin?
MK Moshe Feiglin: Status Quo on Temple Mt. Murderous
MK Moshe Feiglin in the Knesset October 27, ’14
Video:
http://www.jewishisrael.org/mk-moshe-feiglin-status-quo-temple-mt-murderous/?utm_source=Moshe+Feiglin+3+Days+Before+Glick+Shooting%3A+Status+Quo+on+Temple+Mt.+Murderous&utm_campaign=update&utm_medium=email
Video:
http://www.jewishisrael.org/mk-moshe-feiglin-status-quo-temple-mt-murderous/?utm_source=Moshe+Feiglin+3+Days+Before+Glick+Shooting%3A+Status+Quo+on+Temple+Mt.+Murderous&utm_campaign=update&utm_medium=email
MK Feiglin Visits Temple Mount and Planet Earth Remains Alive
MK Feiglin Visits Temple Mount and Planet Earth Remains Alive
Published: November 2nd, 2014
Moshe Feiglin on the Temple Mount.
Glick still is in critical condition in Sha'arei Tzedek Hospital, but his condition is improving slightly, giving doctors reason to believe he will recover from his wounds.
Feiglin’s visit was marked with the usual shouts of hate from Arabs, but there was no violence, mainly because police have finally taken the upper hand at the holy site and in Arab neighborhoods.
They arrested at least 17 Arab rioters since Friday, bringing to 111 the number detained in the past nine days. More arrests are expected.
The opening of the Temple Mount to Jews Sunday followed five days of closure since the shooting. Police on Thursday closed the holy site to Muslims as well as to Jews and foreign tourists, the first time in memory. It was re-opened Friday – but only for Muslims.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called on legislators to tone down the rhetoric concerning the Temple Mount, prompting MK Feiglin to state Saturday night at a rally in behalf of Glick, “Nothing incites more than that kind of talk to stop ascending the Temple Mount.”
Feiglin visited the holy site, Planet Earth did not tremble, and the Al Aqsa mosque did not collapse.
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