>J Street's sin vs the jews today-Call to Internationalize Jerusalem

J Street's sin vs the jews today-Call to Internationalize Jerusalem
." J Street advocates turning the western Wall over to the UN. Their ad ." Then he can push both sides to divide the city into two capitals - to give Jewish areas to the Jews and Arab areas to the Arabs - and assign the Holy Basin to an agreed on international authority.” The same international authority that has 60+ Muslim nations, that focuses 90% of its hostile resolutions on the one democracy in the Middle east etc? An alien observing the United Nations' debates, reading its resolutions, and walking its halls could well conclude that a principal purpose of the world body is to censure a tiny country called Israel.Beginning in the late 1960's, the full weight of the UN was gradually but deliberately turned against the country it had conceived by General Assembly resolution a mere two decades earlier. The campaign to demonize and delegitimize Israel in every UN and international forum was initiated by the Arab states together with the Soviet Union, and supported by what has become known as an "automatic majority" of Third World member states. and J Street wants an international control over Jerusalem.

Israel Lends Agricultural Expertise to Africa
Israel is currently training farmers in the West African nation of Senegal, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. "Israel is the only country in the world that has been able to conquer the desert," said Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon. "This is our strength—this we would like to bring here." Senegal's volatile harvests create tremendous food needs for the country's 11 million citizens. Over 80 percent of their food is imported from abroad. "Senegal's traditional agriculture is one crop a year. We know how to do three and four crops a year. We can teach that." Israel was among the first countries to recognize Senegal's independence and the two nations have had diplomatic relations for nearly 50 years.

Refusal of the Muslim World to Recognize Israel's Jewish Character

Refusal of the Muslim World to Recognize Israel's Jewish Character Still the Greatest Obstacle to Peace - Ron Prosor (Guardian-UK)
History demonstrated that Jews could not survive, let alone flourish, at the whims of majority cultures. This is not merely an academic argument but a lesson lived, learned and branded into Israel's DNA.
Israel's raison d'etre is to be the "state for the Jews." Yet the historical rationale of our quest for self-determination is often misunderstood as a religious aspiration. In 1896 the Austrian Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State). Herzl, an assimilated secular Jew, concluded that Jews could only achieve freedom, dignity and human rights with a state of their own.
Jewish individuals had enjoyed success before 1948. But through the State of Israel, for the first time in 2,000 years Jewishness was not an obstacle to be overcome, or a glass ceiling to be smashed, but a basic fact of life. Jewish identity is the essence of our national character. It is also a central issue to be resolved with the Arab and Muslim worlds that surround us. The greatest obstacle to peace remains our neighbors' refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish people to a state in our historic homeland.
Jews have been indigenous to Israel for 3,000 years. Before 1948 the only independent sovereign state there had been the ancient Jewish kingdoms. It is fitting that as the colonial era drew to a close, Israel's original inhabitants restored their independence.
Western leaders are constantly urged to press Israel to make concessions. Suggestions of how the Arab world could advance the cause of peace are thinner. As a start, Arab leaderships must be persuaded to recognize not only the existence of Israel but the realities of who we are. Israel is not a temporary inconvenience to be demonized, destroyed or wished away, but the independent, legitimate and permanent nation-state of the Jewish people.
The writer is the Israeli ambassador in London.

50 US Generals-Israel is a security asset

Israel as a Security Asset for the United States: Statement by 50 retired
U.S. Flag & General Officers

In response to the recent ridiculous treatment Israel has gotten from the
Obama administration, a group of about 50 retired United States generals and
admirals put together the following letter urging him as well as Congress
and the general American public to recognize how truly intertwined Israel's
success is with America's. Here, is the unedited letter, directly from the
officers:



Israel as a Security Asset for the United States



We, the undersigned, have traveled to Israel over the years with The Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). We brought with us our
decades of military experience and, following unrestricted access to
Israel's civilian and military leaders, came away with the unswerving belief
that the security of the State of Israel is a matter of great importance to
the United States and its policy in the Middle East and Eastern
Mediterranean. A strong, secure Israel is an asset upon which American
military planners and political leaders can rely. Israel is a democracy - a
rare and precious commodity in the region - and Israel shares our commitment
to freedom, personal liberty and rule of law.

Throughout our travels and our talks, the determination of Israelis to
protect their country and to pursue a fair and workable peace with their
neighbors was clearly articulated. Thus we view the current tension between
the United States and Israel with dismay and grave concern that political
differences may be allowed to outweigh our larger mutual interests.

As American defense professionals, we view events in the Middle East through
the prism of American security interests.

The United States and Israel established security cooperation during the
Cold War, and today the two countries face the common threat of terrorism by
those who fear freedom and liberty. Historically close cooperation between
the United States. and Israel at all levels including the IDF, military
research and development, shared intelligence and bilateral military
training exercises enhances the security of both countries. American police
and law enforcement officials have reaped the benefit of close cooperation
with Israeli professionals in the areas of domestic counter-terrorism
practices and first response to terrorist attacks.

Israel and the United States are drawn together by shared values and shared
threats to our well-being.

The proliferation of weapons and nuclear technology across the Middle East
and Asia, and the ballistic missile technology to deliver systems across
wide areas require cooperation in intelligence, technology and security
policy. Terrorism, as well as the origins of financing, training and
executing terrorist acts, need to be addressed multilaterally when possible.
The dissemination of hatred and support of terrorism by violent extremists
in the name of Islam, whether state or non-state actors, must be addressed
as a threat to global peace.

In the Middle East, a volatile region so vital to U.S. interests, it would
be foolish to disengage - or denigrate - an ally such as Israel.

__________________________________________________________



Lieutenant General Mark Anderson, USAF (ret.)

Rear Admiral Charles Beers, USN (ret.)

General William Begert, USAF (ret.)

Rear Admiral Stanley W. Bryant, USN (ret.)

Lieutenant General Anthony Burshnick, USAF (ret.)

Lieutenant General Paul Cerjan, USA (ret.)

Admiral Leon Edney, USN (ret.)

Brigadier General William F. Engel, USA (ret.)

Major General Bobby Floyd, USAF (ret.)

General John Foss, USA (ret.)

Major General Paul Fratarangelo, USMC (ret.)

Major General David Grange, USA (ret.)

Lieutenant General Tom Griffin, USA (ret.)

Lieutenant General Earl Hailston, USMC (ret.)

Lieutenant General John Hall, USAF (ret.)

General Alfred Hansen, USAF (ret.)

Rear Admiral James Hinkle, USN (ret.)

General Hal Hornburg, USAF (ret.)

Major General James T. Jackson, USA (ret.)

Admiral Jerome Johnson, USN (ret.)

Rear Admiral Herb Kaler, USN (ret.)

Vice Admiral Bernard Kauderer, USN (ret.)

General William F. Kernan, USA (ret.)

Major General Homer Long, USA (ret.)

Major General Jarvis Lynch, USMC (ret.)

General Robert Magnus, USMC (ret.)

Lieutenant General Charles May, Jr., USAF (ret.)

Vice Admiral Martin Mayer, USN (ret.)

Major General James McCombs, USA (ret.)

Lieutenant General Fred McCorkle, USMC (ret.)

Rear Admiral W. F. Merlin, USCG (ret.)

Rear Admiral Mark Milliken, USN (ret.)

Rear Admiral Riley Mixson, USN (ret.)

Major General William Moore, USA (ret.)

Lieutenant General Carol Mutter, USMC (ret.)

Major General Larry T. Northington, USAF (ret.)

Lieutenant General Tad Oelstrom, USAF (ret.)

Major General James D. Parker, USA (ret.)

Vice Admiral J. T. Parker, USN (ret.)

Major General Robert Patterson, USAF (ret.)

Vice Admiral James Perkins, USN (ret.)

Rear Admiral Brian Peterman, USCG (ret.)

Lieutenant General Alan V. Rogers, USAF (ret.)

Rear Admiral Richard Rybacki, USCG (ret.)

General Crosbie Saint, USA (ret.)

Rear Admiral Norm Saunders, USCG (ret.)

General Lawrence Skantze, USAF (ret.)

Major General Sid Shachnow, USA (ret.)

Rear Admiral Jeremy Taylor, USN (ret.)

Major General Larry Taylor, USMCR (ret.)

Lieutenant General Lanny Trapp, USAF (ret.)

Vice Admiral Jerry O. Tuttle, USN (ret.)

General Louis Wagner, USA (ret.)

Rear Admiral Thomas Wilson, USN (ret.)

Lieutenant General Robert Winglass, USMC (ret.)

Rear Admiral Guy Zeller, USN (ret.)www.jinsa.org





- signatures as of April 7, 2010

Source: JINSA

If you want to boycott Israel

I am israel

It is ok

I am a Jew



Written by an Israeli named Dan Sporn



אני יהודי

נכתב ע"י ישראלי בשם דן ספורן



Our condition, in Israel , has never been better than it is now! Only

the television and the media make people think that the end of the

world is near. Only 65 years ago, Jews were brought to death like

sheep to slaughter. NO country, NO army. Only 60 years ago,

seven Arab countries declared war on little Israel , the Jewish State,

just a few hours after it was established.


המצב שלנו, בישראל, מעולם לא היה טוב יותר מאשר עכשיו!

רק הטלוויזיה והתקשורת גורמים לאנשים לחשוב שסוף העולם קרב.

רק לפני 65 שנים, יהודים הובאו למוות כצאן לטבח. ללא מדינה, ללא צבא.

רק לפני 60 שנים, 7 מדינות ערב הכריזו מלחמה על ישראל הקטנה, מדינת היהודים, רק כמה שעות לאחר היווסדה.

We were 650,000 Jews against the rest of the Arab world.

No IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) or Air Force. We were only a

small group of stubborn people with nowhere to go.

היינו 650,000 יהודים כנגד שאר העולם הערבי.

ללא צה"ל (צבא הגנה לישראל) או חיל אוויר. היינו רק קבוצה קטנה של אנשים עקשנים עם שום מקום לאן ללכת.


Remember: Lebanon , Syria , Iraq , Jordan , Egypt , Libya , and

Saudi Arabia? They all attacked at once. The state that the

United Nations "gave" us was 65% desert. We started it from

zero.

זכרו: לבנון, סוריה, עירק, ירדן, מצרים, לוב וערב הסעודית, כולם תקפו בעת ובעונה אחת.

המדינה שהאומות המאוחדות "נתנו" לנו הייתה 65% מדבר.

התחלנו את זה מאפס.

Only 43 years ago, we fought three of the strongest countries

in the Middle East , and we crushed them in the Six Day War.


רק לפני 41 שנים, נלחמנו נגד שלוש המדינות החזקות ביותר במזרח התיכון, וריסקנו אותם במלחמת ששת הימים.

Over the years we fought different coalitions of 20Arab countries

with modern armies and with huge amounts of Russian-Soviet

ammunition, and we still won.


במהלך השנים נלחמנו בקואליציות שונות של 20 מדינות ערב עם צבאות חדשניים וכמות עצומה של תחמושת רוסית – סובייטית, ועדיין ניצחנו.

Today we have a beautiful country, a powerful Army, a strong

Air Force, an adequate Navy and a thriving high tech industry.

Intel, Microsoft, and IBM have all developed their businesses

here.

היום יש לנו מדינה יפיפייה, צבא רב עוצמה, חיל אוויר חזק, חיל ים הולם ותעשיית הי-טק משגשגת.

אינטל, מיקרוסופט, ו- I.B.M פיתחו כולם את עסקיהם כאן.

Our doctors have won important prizes in the medical

development field.


הרופאים שלנו זכו בפרסים חשובים בתחום הפיתוח הרפואי.

We turned the desert into a prosperous land.

הפכנו את המדבר לאדמה פורחת ומשגשגת.

We sell oranges, flowers, and vegetables around the world.


אנחנו מוכרים תפוזים, פרחים וירקות בכל רחבי העולם.

We launched our own satellite! Three satellites at once! We

are in good company: together with the USA (280 million

residents), Russia (220 million residents), China (1.3

billion residents) and Europe ( France , England and Germany

35 million residents), we are one of the few countries in the

world that have launched something into space!

שיגרנו את הלווין שלנו! שלושה לווינים בעת ובעונה אחת! אנחנו בחברה טובה: יחד עם ארה"ב (280 מיליון תושבים), רוסיה (220 מיליון תושבים), סין (1.2 ביליון תושבים) ואירופה (צרפת, אנגליה וגרמניה 35 מיליון תושבים), אנחנו אחת מהמדינות הבודדות בעולם ששיגרו משהו לחלל!

Israel today is among the few powerful countries that have

nuclear technology & capabilities.

(We will never admit it, but everyone knows).


ישראל היום היא בין המדינות הבודדות החזקות, שהיא בעלת טכנולוגיה ויכולות גרעיניות. (אנחנו לעולם לא נודה בזה, אבל כולם יודעים).

To think that only 65 years ago we were disgraced and hopeless.


לחשוב שרק לפני 65 שנים היינו מבוישים וחסרי תקווה.

We crawled out from the burning crematoriums of Europe .

We won in all our wars. With a little bit of nothing we built an empire.

Who are Khaled Mashal (leader of Hamas) or Hassan Nasrallah

(leader of Hezbollah) trying to frighten us? They are amusing us.


זחלנו החוצה מהמשרפות הבוערות של אירופה.

ניצחנו בכל המלחמות שלנו. עם מעט מכלום בנינו אימפריה.

מי אלו חלאד משעל (מנהיג החמאס) או חסאן נסראללה (מנהיג החיזבאללה) המנסים להפחיד אותנו? הם משעשעים אותנו.

As we celebrate Independence Day, let's not forget what this

holiday is all about; we overcame everything.


בזמן שאנחנו חוגגים את יום העצמאות, בואו לא נשכח מהי המהות של היום הקדוש הזה: התגברנו על הכל.

We overcame the Greeks,

התגברנו על היוונים,

We overcame the Romans,


התגברנו על הרומאים,

We overcame the Spanish Inquisition,


התגברנו על האינקוויזיציה הספרדית,

We overcame the Russians pogrom,

התגברנו על הפוגרום הרוסי,

We overcame Hitler , we overcame Germany and overcame the Holocaust,

התגברנו על היטלר, התגברנו על גרמניה והתגברנו על השואה,

We overcame the armies of seven countries..

התגברנו על הצבאות של 7 מדינות

Relax chevray (friends), we will overcome our current enemies.

הירגעו חבר'ה, אנחנו נתגבר גם על האויבים הנוכחים

Never mind where you look in human history. Think about it,

Jewish nation, our condition has never been better than now.

So let's lift our heads up and remember:


לא משנה לאן שנביט בהיסטוריה האנושית. תחשבו על זה, העם היהודי, מצבנו מעולם לא היה טוב יותר מאשר עכשיו.

אז בואו נישא ראשנו מעלה וזכרו:

Never mind which country or culture tries to harm us or erase us

From the world. We will still exist and persevere. Egypt ? Anyone

know where the Egyptian empire disappeared to? The Greeks?

Alexander the Great? The Romans? Is anyone speaking Latin

today? The Third Reich? Did anyone hear news from them lately?

לא משנה איזו מדינה או תרבות מנסה לפגוע בנו או למחוק אותנו מהעולם. אנחנו עדיין קיימים ושמורים.

מצריים? מישהו יודע לאן האימפריה המצרית נעלמה? היוונים? אלכסנדר מוקדון? הרומאים? האם מישהו מדבר לטינית היום? הרייך השלישי? האם מישהו שמע חדשות מהם לאחרונה?

And look at us, the Bible nation – from slavery in Egypt , we are

Still here, still speaking the same language.

Exactly here, exactly now.


והסתכלו עלינו, העם התנ"כי – מעבדות במצרים, אנחנו עדיין כאן, עדיין מדברים את אותה השפה.

בדיוק כאן, בדיוק עכשיו.

Maybe The Arabs don't know it yet, but we are an eternal nation.

All the time that we will keep our identity, we will stay eternal.


אולי הערבים עדיין לא יודעים את זה, אבל אנחנו עם נצחי.

כל זמן שנשמור על זהותנו, נשאר נצחיים.

So, sorry that we are not worrying, complaining, crying, or fearing…


אז סליחה שאנחנו לא דואגים, מתלוננים, בוכים או פוחדים.....

Business here is beseder (fine). It can definitely be much better,

But it is still fine. Don't pay attention to the nonsense in the media,

they will not tell you about our festivals here in Israel or about the

people that continue living, going out, meeting friends.

העסקים כאן בסדר. זה בהחלט יכול להיות טוב יותר, אבל זה עדיין בסדר. אל תשימו לב לשטויות בתקשורת, הם לא יספרו לכם על החגיגות שלנו כאן בישראל או על האנשים שממשיכים לחיות, לצאת ולפגוש חברים.

Yes, sometimes morale is down, so what? This is only because we

are mourning the dead while they are celebrating spilled blood. And

this is the reason we will win after all.

why no Arab leader can make peace

See if you can spot the pattern: King Abdallah of Jordan made a deal with Israel and was assassinated. President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt made a deal with Israel and was assassinated. President Bashar Gemayel of Lebanon made a deal with Israel and was assassinated. Ah, "President" Mahmoud Abbas, please just sign right here and terrorism will just disappear. Nothing to worry about!:

Obama endangers US National security by undermining Israe

Obama endangers US National security by undermining Israel
Caroline Glick


http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Israel's status as the US's most vital ally in the Middle East has been so widely recognized for so long that over the years, Israeli and American leaders alike have felt it unnecessary to explain what it is about the alliance that makes it so important for the US.

Today, as the Obama administration is openly distancing the US from Israel while giving the impression that Israel is a strategic impediment to the administration's attempts to strengthen its relations with the Arab world, recalling why Israel is the US's most important ally in the Middle East has become a matter of some urgency.

Much is made of the fact that Israel is a democracy. But we seldom consider why the fact that Israel is a representative democracy matters. The fact that Israel is a democracy means that its alliance with America reflects the will of the Israeli people. As such, it remains constant regardless of who is power in Jerusalem.

All of the US's other alliances in the Middle East are with authoritarian regimes whose people do not share the pro-American views of their leaders. The death of leaders or other political developments are liable to bring about rapid and dramatic changes in their relations with the US.

For instance, until 1979, Iran was one of the US's closest strategic allies in the region. Owing to the gap between the Iranian people and their leadership, the Islamic revolution put an end to the US-Iran alliance.

Egypt flipped from a bitter foe to an ally of the US when Gamal Abdel Nasser died in 1969. Octogenarian President Hosni Mubarak's encroaching death is liable to cause a similar shift in the opposite direction.

Instability in the Hashemite kingdom in Jordan and the Saudi regime could transform those countries from allies to adversaries.

Only Israel, where the government reflects the will of the people is a reliable, permanent US ally.



America reaps the benefits of its alliance with Israel every day. As the US suffers from chronic intelligence gaps, Israel remains the US's most reliable source for accurate intelligence on the US's enemies in the region.

Israel is the US's only ally in the Middle East that always fights its own battles. Indeed, Israel has never asked the US for direct military assistance in time of war. Since the US and Israel share the same regional foes, when Israel is called upon to fight its enemies, its successes redound to the US's benefit.

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Here it bears recalling Israel's June 1982 destruction of Syria's Soviet-made anti-aircraft batteries and the Syrian air force. Those stunning Israeli achievements were the first clear demonstration of the absolute superiority of US military technology over Soviet military technology. Many have argued that it was this Israeli demonstration of Soviet technological inferiority that convinced the Reagan administration it was possible to win the Cold War.

In both military and non-military spheres, Israeli technological achievements - often developed with US support - are shared with America. The benefits the US has gained from Israeli technological advances in everything from medical equipment to microchips to pilotless aircraft are without peer worldwide.

Beyond the daily benefits the US enjoys from its close ties with Israel, the US has three fundamental, permanent, vital national security interests in the Middle East. A strong Israel is a prerequisite for securing all of these interests.

America's three permanent strategic interests in the Middle East are as follows:

1 - Ensuring the smooth flow of affordable petroleum products from the region to global consumers through the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.

2 - Preventing the most radical regimes, sub-state and non-state actors from acquiring the means to cause catastrophic harm.

3 - Maintaining the US's capacity to project its power to the region.

A strong Israel is the best guarantor of all of these interests. Indeed, the stronger Israel is, the more secure these vital American interests are. Three permanent and unique aspects to Israel's regional position dictate this state of affairs.

1 - As the first target of the most radical regimes and radical sub-state actors in the region, Israel has a permanent, existential interest in preventing these regimes and sub-state actors from acquiring the means to cause catastrophic harm.


Israel's 1981 airstrike that destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor prevented Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons. Despite US condemnation at the time, the US later acknowledged that the strike was a necessary precondition to the success of Operation Desert Storm ten years later. Richard Cheney - who served as secretary of defense during Operation Desert Storm - has stated that if Iraq had been a nuclear power in 1991, the US would have been hard pressed to eject Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army from Kuwait and so block his regime from asserting control over oil supplies in the Persian Gulf.

2 - Israel is a non-expansionist state and its neighbors know it. In its 62 year history, Israel has only controlled territory vital for its national security and territory that was legally allotted to it in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate which has never been abrogated or superseded.

Israel's strength, which it has used only in self-defense, is inherently non-threatening. Far from destabilizing the region, a strong Israel stabilizes the Middle East by deterring the most radical actors from attacking.

In 1970, Israel blocked Syria's bid to use the PLO to overthrow the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Israel's threat to attack Syria not only saved the Hashemites then, it has deterred Syria from attempting to overthrow the Jordanian regime ever since.

Similarly, Israel's neighbors understand that its purported nuclear arsenal is a weapon of national survival and hence they view it as non-threatening. This is the reason Israel's alleged nuclear arsenal has never spurred a regional nuclear arms race.

In stark contrast, if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, a regional nuclear arms race will ensue immediately.

Although they will never admit it, Israel's non-radical neighbors feel more secure when Israel is strong. On the other hand, the region's most radical regimes and non-state actors will always seek to emasculate Israel.

3-- Since as the Jewish state Israel is the regional bogeyman, no Arab state will agree to form a permanent alliance with it. Hence, Israel will never be in a position to join forces with another nation against a third nation.

In contrast, the Egyptian-Syrian United Arab Republic of the 1960s was formed to attack Israel. Today, the Syrian-Iranian alliance is an inherently aggressive alliance against Israel and the non-radical Arab states in the region. Recognizing the stabilizing force of a strong Israel, the moderate states of the region prefer for Israel to remain strong.

From the US's perspective, far from impairing its alliance-making capabilities in the region, by providing military assistance to Israel, America isn't just strengthening the most stabilizing force in the region. It is showing all states and non-state actors in the greater Middle East it is trustworthy.

On the other hand, every time the US seeks to attenuate its ties with Israel, it is viewed as an untrustworthy ally by the nations of the Middle East. US hostility towards Israel causes Israel's neighbors to hedge their bets by distancing themselves from the US lest America abandon them to their neighboring adversaries.

A strong Israel empowers the relatively moderate actors in the region to stand up to the radical actors in the region because they trust Israel to keep the radicals in check. Today's regional balance of power in which the moderates have the upper hand over the radicals is predicated on a strong Israel.

On the other hand, when Israel is weakened the radical forces are emboldened to threaten the status quo. Regional stability is thrown asunder. Wars become more likely. Attacks on oil resources increase. The most radical sub-state actors and regimes are emboldened.

To the extent that the two-state solution assumes that Israel must contract itself to within the indefensible 1949 ceasefire lines, and allow a hostile Palestinian state allied with terrorist organizations to take power in the areas it vacates, the two-state solution is predicated on making Israel weak and empowering radicals. In light of this, the two-state solution as presently constituted is antithetical to America's most vital strategic interests in the Middle East.

When we bear in mind the foundations for the US's alliance with Israel, it is obvious that US support for Israel over the years has been the most cost-effective national security investment in post-World War II US history.


who votes with the US who votes against?


How Does Israel Vote?
1999 Israel voted WITH America 90% of the time!
2000 Israel voted WITH America 96.2% of the time!
2001 Israel voted WITH America 100% of the time!
2002 Israel voted WITH America 92.6% of the time!
2003 Israel voted WITH America 89% of the time!
Israel is America's Most Loyal Ally!




How do other "friends of America vote?
Great Britain voted with America 60% of the time.
Australia voted with America 56% of the time.
France voted with America 54% of the time.
Canada voted with America 49% of the time.
Japan voted with America 42% of the time.


Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records:

Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time

Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time

Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time

United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time.

Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.

Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time.

Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time.

Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.

Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.

Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time.

Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.

Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time.

Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.

Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.

Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.

India votes against the United States 81% of the time.

Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.

Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.

U S Foreign Aid to those that hate us:

Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.

Jordan votes 71% against the United States

And receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

Pakistan votes 75% against the United States

Receives $6,721,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

India votes 81% against the United States

Receives $143,699,000 annually.

Israel today

Israel at 62: A statistical glimpse

7 Apr 2010

Geography

Israel stands at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Geographically, it belongs to the Asian continent. Its western border is the Mediterranean Sea. To the north it is bound by Lebanon and Syria, to the east by Jordan and to the south by the Red Sea and Egypt. Long and narrow in shape, Israel is about 290 miles (470 km.) long and 85 miles (135 km.) across at its widest point. Its total area is 22,072 sq km, of which 21,643 sq km is land area (Sea of Galilee: 164 sq km; Dead Sea: 265 sq km). Israel's total land border measures 857 km, its Mediterranean coastline 194 km, and 12 km on the Red Sea.

The only river in Israel: The Jordan River, approximately 250 km.
Main streams: Alexander, Besor, Hadera, Yarqon, Sa'ar, Qishon, and Soreq.

Geographical Regions

Arid zones 45%
Plains and valleys 25%
Mountains 16%
Rift valley 9%
Coastal strip 5%

Selected elevations:

Mt. Hermon, Golan - highest point in Israel 7,300 ft. 2,224 m.
Mt. Meron, Upper Galilee 3,964 ft. 1,208 m.
Mt. Ramon, Negev 3,396 ft. 1,035 m.

Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem 2,739 ft. 835 m.
Mt. Tabor, Lower Galilee 1,930 ft. 588 m.
Mt. Carmel, Haifa 1,792 ft. 546 m.
Dead Sea - lowest point on earth - 1,368 ft. - 417 m.



Natural resources

Raw materials for construction of buildings and roads: gravel and stone, sand, kurkar, clay, limestone, gypsum, and tuff.
Raw materials for manufacturing: potash, bromine, magnesium, salt, phosphates, sand, clay, and limestone.
Energy sources: natural gas, oil shale.



Climate

Israel is on a "climatic crossroad", which is a transitional area between a temperate and arid climate. The southern and eastern areas of Israel are characterized by an arid climate, while the other areas are characterized by a Mediterranean climate. Due to this climatic formation, there is high variability in the amount of precipitation from year to year, and in the different areas of the country.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Israel was 54°C (Tirat Zvi on 21 June 1942)
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Israel was -13.7°C (Bet Netofa Valley on 7 February 1950)




People

1980 1990 2008
Population 3,921,700 4,821,700 7,374,000
Civilian labor force 1,318,100 1,649,900 2,893,800
Jews in Israel, as a percentage of world Jewry 25 30 42
Life expectancy
Females
Males
75.7
72.1
78.4
75.7
83.0
79.1
Infant mortality
(per 1000 live births) 15.6 9.9 3.9
Percentage of the population (15+) with 13 years or more of formal schooling 19.2 25.3 43.0





Population by Religion
Jews 75.5%
Muslims 16.8%
Christians 2.1%
Druze 1.7%
Not classified by religion 3.9%

Population Distribution
Urban localities 91.7%
Rural localities 8.3%
Of which:
Moshavim
Kibbutzim
3.5%
1.7%





Largest cities by population

Jerusalem 755,600
Tel Aviv-Yafo 391,300
Haifa 264,900
Rishon Lezion 225,200
Ashdod 208,100




Immigrants by Continent
1948-2008
Europe 1,827,359
Africa 503,126
Asia 432,076
America & Oceania 249,958
Unknown 31,590


Immigrants by Year of Immigration
1948-1951 688,000
1952-1959 272,000
1960-1969 374,000
1970-1979 346,000
1980-1989 154,000
1990-1999 956,400
2000-2008 253,800



Today, 70.7 percent of Israel's Jewish population were born in Israel.


Economy

1980 1990 2008
Gross Domestic Product (NIS million) 116 111,804 725,142
Net exports of goods (US$ billions) 5,291.9 11,603.1 51,320.7
thereof:
Industrial products (excl. diamonds)
Agricultural products
3,340.4
555.7
7,696.8
657.2
40,396.4
1,225.8
Net imports of goods (US$ billions) 7,845.7 15,107.1 64,531.4
Tourists arriving 1,065,800 1,131,700 2,572,300
Air passengers 2,847,000 3,720,000 11,134,000
Freight shipped by air (in tons) 105,800 194,160 320,900
Production of electricity (millions of kilwatt/hours) 12,400 20,900 54,504
Private cars 410,000 803,000 1,875,765



Education

University Students by Field of Study
(Total 120,800 students in 7 universities)

Humanities 22.0%
Social Sciences 23.7%
Science and mathematics 16.1%
Engineering 14.1%
Medicine 10.5%
Business & Administration 7.4%
Law 4.8%
Agriculture 1.3%



* Figures based on the Statistical Abstract of Israel 2009


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Bibi’s Secret Letter to Obama

Bibi’s Secret Letter to Obama

Netanyahu tries (well, should try) to straighten out Obama regarding the miseducation he received from Rashid Khalidi.
April 21, 2010 - by Leon de Winter

Dear President Obama,

It saddens me that I have to be frank with you, frank and impolite, but our last meeting didn’t end peacefully. It’s hard to accept the contrast: you bow for an obscene tyrant, you joke around with corrupt Latin-American caudillos, then you insult me — the prime minister of America’s best friend, Israel.

May I conclude that your friend Rashid Khalidi has not been talking to you in vain during all those dinners and parties you hosted for each other?

Some geopolitical problems are complicated on the surface, but deeper there is often a simple truth which highly educated left-wing academics like you fail to recognize. The truth of our conflict with the Arabs isn’t longer than two dozen words:

Muslims don’t accept non-Muslims ruling a piece of land that the Muslims consider sacred Islamic land until the end of times.

Rashid Khalidi has never been this clear with you. He explained to you that the Jews of Israel were hated because of their treatment of Palestinian Muslims. He never exposed to you how the Arab Palestinians are treated in Lebanon, or how other Muslims are being treated by fellow Muslims. Look at the mass slaughter the Muslims of Iraq commit upon each other, or the Muslims in Yemen.

Or maybe Khalidi did talk about it — and he explained to you that the Muslims decapitate each other and blow up women and children because they are so terribly humiliated by the Israeli Jews.

On the cruel list of the most violent conflicts in terms of body count since World War II, the Israeli-Arab conflict stands at number 49. This accounts for 0.06% of all conflict victims since then.

We can’t be proud of this — it is awful to be on that list. Our conflict with the Arabs, since 1948, has cost the precious lives of over 50,000 people, including soldiers of both sides.

The civil war in Algeria has cost the lives of over 200,000 people — as precious as the lives in our wars and confrontations with the Muslims. These lives are hardly mentioned by American media, and they are not part of the Rashid Khalidi narrative, which exists as such:

The Arabs are upset about the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli Jews, who are backed by you, and when the Palestinian Arabs have their own country on the West Bank and Gaza, the Arabs will be a bunch of happy campers and start loving America and Osama bin Laden will spend the rest of his life as a barber trimming the colored beards of his Taliban friends in Kandahar.

You were deeply and truly impressed by Khalidi. You spoke at his farewell party in Chicago after Khalidi was appointed Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University.

Videos were made of your attendance, but the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy, still refuses to make the video public.

We happen to have obtained a copy of that video as well — we have some contacts here and there. It’s not a happy sight, you speaking at that event. I understand that you don’t want your Israeli friends to watch it, and the editors at the Los Angeles Times are comfortable hiding it from Americans. Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. But it is clear that I can’t call you a friend of Israel.

Mr. President: let us imagine that next year a Palestinian state is founded. Or two, whatever. A Hamas state and a West Bank state. No Israeli military presence anymore between Tel Aviv and the Jordan River. Eastern Jerusalem is the capital of the West Bank state, without walls, open to the western part. Gaza is the capital of the western Palestinian state. A highway connecting these two states? Why not; throw it in the basket. I am requesting that you imagine this happening, and I am requesting you take full responsibility for it.

Because I can’t.

I am interested in one thing and one thing only: security. We Jews have a thing with security. Some nasty things happened recently in our history and in the preceding two thousand years. As a result, we are a bit allergic to danger and we take threats seriously. Hamas states in its founding charter that it wants to destroy the Jews, since the Jews are the eternal enemies of Islam. They are backed by their friends in Lebanon and Tehran, which recently hosted a so-called Holocaust conference regarding whether the Holocaust really happened.

Your friend Rashid Khalidi convinced you that everything will change in the Islamic world when the Palestinians have their own midget state west of the Jordan River and east of Tel Aviv (within three miles of our biggest city). And you bought it.

You really believe that Muslims will be confident and satisfied members of their societies the moment you open an embassy in East Jerusalem, don’t you? You really believe that potential suicide bombers will start studying a Scandinavian language, instead of destroying whole families? You really believe that Palestinians will immediately stop firing rockets at Israel the moment the Palestinian flag is atop the Temple Mount? No more improvised explosive devices killing your military heroes in Afghanistan, no Taliban “students” throwing acid in the faces of schoolgirls. Everything changes the moment Palestine is born … you really, truly believe it, don’t you?

You really believe that Muslims will love you the moment you bring the Israeli Jews to their knees.

You want me to take the risk that you are wrong. I will not do that.

I cannot accept your experiment. Because I am absolutely convinced that violence will continue, will increase. Your men will be targeted in Iraq and Afghanistan by the same enemies. It is not about us, this misnamed Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is about the core values of the Islamic world.

Our problems with Muslims are not due to our treatment of the Palestinians. The injustices in our country — yes, we have them and we try to combat them — and the territories we control militarily are less grievous than the injustices within the Muslim world. And, surprise, less cruel.

Our conflict is about the big scandal that a little nothing country like Israel can patent more inventions and scientific breakthroughs, year after year, than all Islamic countries combined. We have more Nobel Prize winners than the whole Islamic world. A higher standard of living, more liberties, an independent judiciary. Peaceful transitions of elected politicians.

And you really believe that these great Israeli achievements have come at the price of the Arabs?

We stole their liberties, their independent judiciary, their creativity, their Nobels?

We built our land on dry, barren sand without oil money. The Saudi princes chose to build a medieval state of perverts and hypocrites with their great oil wealth.

This is not about us. It is about the soul of Islam. It is about their lack of curiosity, the lack of critical discussions. The lack of liberal arts, free speech, free scientific research, a revolution of free spirits, women’s rights, urban cosmopolitanism — the lack of respect for everything that deviates from the early medieval concepts of Islam.

It is delusional to think that you can solve our problems or create an environment for the Palestinians in which they can transform their society into a modern, open state with a division of powers.

In Gaza, the Palestinians elected an Islamic-fascist party into office. If there were to be elections in the West Bank, they would do the same. The tribal families of the Palestinian territories hate each other as much as they hate us.

You have no clue. You have no idea what the Middle East and the Arab world is about. It is not what Khalidi told you — a conflict with some Jews about a strip of land half the size of Bill Gates’ backyard. This is about the decline of an old civilization, Islam, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This is about big things, big historical events with big consequences.

Perhaps our founding fathers made a mistake — it would have been safer to create a new Jewish homeland in Florida. But we have a history here, going back about three millennia, and that weighed quite heavily on the decision. Don’t you agree?

You are staring at a map of our tiny country and its bordering areas, and you think that you can find the solution there, and you are mistaken. This is about culture. Tribal traditions. Stories about a prophet who went to visit heaven on a horse, and used Jerusalem as a launch area. The Arabs and Muslims are so obsessed by their medieval aggrandizing worldly claims — legitimized by their religious myths — that they can’t live in the present and are afraid of the future. That’s why they don’t have Nobel Prize winners, no exciting patents, no cutting-edge industries.

It’s not about us, sir. It’s about them. Please think about it the next time you bow for a Saudi pervert or have me waiting for you in a side room while you have dinner.

Your friend,

Bibi

Leon de Winter is a novelist and columnist for Elsevier Magazine in the Netherlands. His last novel, The Right of Return is a thriller set in Tel Aviv in 2024. He presently lives in Los Angeles.

Obama can only screw up peace and security by meddling

Aaron David Miller
America stay out of it
America's capacity to fix the Arab-Israeli issue has always been overrated. It's certainly no coincidence that every breakthrough from the Egypt-Israel treaty to the Oslo accords to the Israel-Jordan peace agreement came initially as a consequence of secret meetings about which the U.S. was the last to know. The writer, an advisor on the Middle East to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, is a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. (Foreign Policy)U.S. Middle East Policy Mistakes - David Pryce-Jones\
AND

President Obama is reported as saying that American policy towards Israel is "costing us significantly in blood and treasure." First mistake. It's the other way round, Israel is holding the front line against Iran whose power is spreading through the region via Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. If Israel was not holding the line, then the U.S. would face a most uncomfortable choice: either to tackle Iran head-on or concede that Pax Americana didn't work and it is time to withdraw from the Middle East with as little ignominy as possible.
Obama goes on to conclude that Israeli-Palestinian peace holds the key to Middle East stability. Second mistake. If there was genuine peace tomorrow and a state of Palestine, it would make no difference to the Sunni-Shia divide, to the ambitions of Osama bin Laden or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the civil war in Yemen, to the sectarian conflict in Lebanon, to the hard-wired despots in Egypt and Syria, and so on and on.
Obama also thinks that this projected state of Palestine is a practical proposition. Third mistake. The Palestinians are irremediably divided between Fatah and Hamas, and a state would trigger civil war to determine which faction would own it.
Obama finally is weighing using his presidency to impose some solution on Israel. Fourth mistake. No such solution exists. Any attempt at imposition would oblige Israel to see its existence now an urgent issue of self-defense and survival. (National Review)

Haaretz-Labor may pull out of govt.

The diplomatic freeze and crisis with the Americans fueled a heated meeting of Labor Party ministers on Sunday. Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Isaac Herzog and Avishay Braverman told Defense Minister and party chairman Ehud Barak that unless there was some movement on the diplomatic front within weeks, the Labor Party should consider leaving the government or working to bring in Kadima.

Senior Labor officials, who declined to be named, said this was the first time the diplomatic freeze was being discussed between Labor ministers. "They main message coming from this discussion is that things can't go on like this," one senior Labor official told Haaretz. "The Labor ministers told Barak that we will be approaching a moment of political decision within weeks."

Barak tried to calm the ministers, saying he was concerned by the state of Israeli-American relations and will travel to Washington next week for talks on the peace process. Barak appears to be set to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, special U.S. envoy George Mitchell and national security advisor General Jim Jones.

Loving Israel is in the details

Loving Israel is in the details

By Joel Chasnoff


In honor of Israel’s 62nd birthday, I’ll forgo the expected Op-Ed about Israeli government corruption, the Bibi-Obama drama, or the Israeli Rabbinate’s stranglehold on marriage and divorce.

Instead, I offer this love letter to Israel: “Top 10 tiny details about Israel that make it the most wonderful country on earth.”

10. Egged Bus #394: The midnight ride from Tel Aviv to Eilat. The trip begins in the gray-stucco slums of south Tel Aviv. Two hours later, you’re rolling through the desert beneath a blanket of stars. You crack open the window. The desert smells dry and ancient, like an attic. At dawn, you pull into Eilat as the city comes to life.

9. The way Israelis refuse to cross the street on a red light. Drivers blare their horns the instant the light turns green. Yet pedestrians refuse to cross the street until the sign turns green. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon at 3:00 a.m., the streets bare and not a car in sight.

8. The Jewish soul of even the most secular Israelis. I served in the Israeli Army with kibbutz kids who were so anti-religious that they never even had a bar-mitzvah. But on Friday nights, as the brigade sung the Sabbath Kiddush en masse, I could see my secular comrades mouthing the words.

7. Flush handles on Israeli toilets. Almost all Israeli toilets, both public and in homes, have two flush handles—one for “light” loads, and one for heavy ones. This saves Israel’s most precious natural resource: water. And it’s genius.

6. Drop-dead gorgeous Israeli soldiers. The men are hunky, the women beautiful. Try not to drool as you watch them strut down Ben Yehudah Street in their olive-green uniforms, M-16s slung across their backs. It’s not so much their physical beauty that charms us as what they embody: Jewish power.

5. Shuk Ha-Carmel on Friday afternoons. So many things about Israel drive me mad. The bureaucracy is crippling. Government offices operate when they want, for as long (or short) as they want, usually something like 8 a.m. until noon Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Thursday. Each week, another group goes on strike—schoolteachers, garbage men, postal workers, phone operators, cable guys, bus drivers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, airport baggage guys, and the old men in blue jumpsuits who walk the streets of Tel Aviv stabbing pieces of trash with meter-long spears have all struck in the past year—so the country never runs at full power.

The Knesset, Israel’s 15-party parliament, is trapped in a state of perpetual gridlock. And yet, when I step into the Carmel Market and hear the shopkeepers barking their wares, smell the mixture of frying lamb, goat cheese, and human sweat, and watch the people line up to buy flowers for Shabbat, I remember why I love Israel so much. It’s the excitement of the place, but also the Middle Easterness of it—the barking, the bargaining, the haggling that’s at once friendly and brutal. At pushcarts and stalls, middle-aged men with gold chains and raspy cigarette voices sell mangoes, lemons, whole and quarter chickens, cow lungs, cow tongues, cow testicles, sheep brains, 50-plus varieties of fish, calculators, knockoff Nikes, carnations, sponges, girdles, batteries, and men’s and ladies’ underwear.

Friday afternoons, with only a couple of hours until sundown, the peddlers shout their last-minute pre-Sabbath bargains: “Tangerines, 1 shekel, 1 shekel!” “Pita, hummus, chickpeas—yallah! Shabbat, Shabbat!” Whenever I walk through the souk, I think about all those American diplomats who call Israel the America of the Middle East. If those diplomats really want to understand Israel, they should leave their fancy Jerusalem hotels and take a stroll through the Carmel Market.

4. Chocolate milk in a sack. Half a liter of Kibbutz Yotvateh chocolate milk sealed in a palm-sized plastic bag that you rip open with your teeth and then squeeze, causing the milk to shoot into your mouth in a way that makes you feel like you’re drinking straight from the udder of a chocolate cow. Need I say more?

3. The incredible bond between Israelis. Maybe it’s a remnant of shtetl life in Europe, or perhaps it has something to do with living so close to your enemy. Whatever the reason, Israelis act as if everyone is everyone else’s next-door neighbor. The first time I experienced this unique bond was the week I arrived in Israel to begin my army service. I was driving to Tel Aviv in a rental car when a guy pulled up next to me at a stoplight and beeped his horn. “Hey, achi!” he called. “My girlfriend’s thirsty. You got water?” Beside me, on the passenger seat, was a bottle of water. But it was half empty.

I held up the bottle. “It’s already open,” I said.

“No problem,” he replied, and stuck out his hand.

A week later, I was at my girlfriend, Dorit’s, family’s apartment with her parents. It was dinnertime and we had ordered pizza. Finally, after two hours, the pizza guy showed up on his motor scooter. He was disheveled and sopped with sweat. “I got lost,” he whimpered.

“So come inside! Sit!” said Dorit’s mother, Tzionah. “Coffee or tea?”

“Coffee,” said the pizza guy. “Milk and two sugars.”

While Tzionah made the coffee, Dorit’s father, Menashe, opened the pizza box. “Please take.” He offered a slice. The pizza guy waved him off. “Nu! You’re offending me!” said Menashe. “What’s your name?”

“Oren,” said the delivery guy.

“Oren. I insist. Eat.”

And I’ll be damned if Oren the pizza guy didn’t sit down at the kitchen table and eat the pizza he’d just delivered. As we ate, I thought about all those porno movies where the lonely housewife invites the pizza boy inside and seduces him on the kitchen table. In the Israeli version of the story, the pizza boy doesn’t make love to the housewife. Instead, he sits down with the family and eats pizza.

2. Dropping off a passenger at Ben-Gurion Airport. You pull up to the Departure door, hug your loved ones goodbye, and watch them walk into the terminal. Then you inhale a breath of sweet Israeli air, look up at the cloudless Tel Aviv sky, and think, “They have to leave…but I get to stay in Israel.”

Jews there longest

Misconception #1 - Jews are an imperialistic foreign nation with no connection to the Land

Many people believe that the situation in Israel is one of a foreign nation imposing its will on the local, native population. The Jews, having no connection to the land itself, arrived in the last 100 years, and quickly began to violently take land from the native Arabs who had been there forever. Clearly though, when one looks at history, this conception is proven false. Jews have had an intensely strong connection to the Land of Israel for an even longer time period than the Arabs themselves.

When discussing the Land of Israel, Arabs often begin the history in the year 638. This is the year that Omar, a follower of Muhammad, conquered Jerusalem. Muhammad himself never came to Israel, dying in 632, but his followers soon arrived and took over the land. The Palestinian side describes this time in history as the beginning of the importance of this land. In truth it is - to the Muslim world. But to the wider world around them - specifically the Jewish as well as Christian world, the importance of the land of Israel dates back much further. This view ignores the over 1800 years of history before the arrival of Muslims, which contained a continual Jewish presence.

Jews first came to the land of Israel as a nation, in the year 1272 BCE. This dates back 1800-1900 years before Islam even began! For the next 13 centuries, Jewish Kings and prophets changed the world spiritually and culturally. Finally, the Jews were exiled by the Romans (their second exile) from being an autonomous ruling kingdom in Israel in the year 70 CE. This means that 600 years before Islam was even created - Jews were already yearning to come back to their land! Thus, it is impossible to begin looking in the year 638 CE to understand what's happening in the Middle East, since there is a rich Jewish history much before.

Spiritual Connections
There are many other ties that Jews/Judaism have to the land. In the Jewish Bible, Jerusalem, Zion and Moriah are mentioned over 700 times. It is an integral part of the Jewish religion. (Interestingly enough - Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran.) This intense focus shows how crucial this land is to the Jewish people. But one shouldn't think that a Jew's connection to Israel is an ancient relic with no connection in later centuries up until the present. The everyday actions of Jews since then show the connection remains up until today. Every time a Jew prays he faces Jerusalem (as opposed to Muslims who face Mecca). In the prayers themselves, which are recited 3 times a day, the rebuilding of Jerusalem is mentioned. At a Jewish wedding under the chupah ? does anyone know why the bridegroom breaks a glass? It's as a remembrance of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. Even in the greatest moment of joy, a Jew commits himself to remembering his longing to return to his land. Has anyone been in a Jewish home which has a small part of a wall opposite the entrance that is not finished? Why is this done? Again, to remember that something is missing in the life of a Jew - their homeland. It is clear that for centuries upon centuries, the Jewish people have made it an integral part of their lives to remember Israel and Jerusalem. An essential part of being a Jew is the wanting to come back to this land.

Physical Presence
Not only are Jews spiritually tied to Israel, but they are also physically connected to it. A big misconception is that in the year 70 CE Jews were exiled from Israel, and then 2,000 years later in 1948, 600,000 Jews came flooding back. In truth though, Jews have had a continuous presence in their land since their exile by the Romans. In the year 70 CE, after living in Israel for over 1000 years, the vast majority of Jews were exiled, but not all of them. Going through the 2000 years since the exile, ample evidence shows Jewish communities continuously present. There are two famous Jewish works, the Mishna and the Jerusalem Talmud, which were both written in the land of Israel. The Mishna in the 200's and the Talmud a little later, which show that there were Jews still there. Later on by the 9th century there were major Jewish populations in Jerusalem and Tiberius. When the crusaders came in the 11th century the Jews were nearly the majority in Jerusalem. At that time they didn't live in the Jewish quarter of today, but instead by the Damascus gate, which is presently the Moslem quarter. The first crusade came, rounded up all the Jews, gathering them into a building and burned them all alive. This destroyed almost the entire Jewish population in Jerusalem. If this catastrophe wouldn't have happened, one could assume that the Jews would have become the majority of the population. Even after the crusades, Jews returned to their homeland. The famous Rabbi Nachmanadies, the Ramban, brought a delegation here about a century after the Crusades. By the 1500's there was a famous community in Safed, from which a foundational book of Jewish law called the Shulchan Aruch was written. Jewish presence in Israel continued to grow until by the 1850s, Jews were again the majority in Jerusalem. Thus, not only are there spiritual ties that connected Jews in exile all over the world to their homeland, but Jews were actually living there the whole time.

Thus, it is a misconception to say that Jews were foreigners without connection to the land, who took it over from its native population. History shows that Jews have lived here longer than the so-called "natives" themselves. History also shows that there has been a continual Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, and that Jews all over the world have anxiously awaited the time to return.

Elie Wisel joins ADL, WJC, Orthodox in challenging Obama on Israel

Elie Wiesel, who takes out full page ads in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to object to the assault on what he calls “the heart of our heart, the soul of our soul.”

He doesn’t mention Obama by name but his point could not be clearer: forget it, Mr. President. He writes, in part:

For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scripture — and not a single time in the Koran. Its presence in Jewish history is overwhelming. There is no more moving prayer in Jewish history than the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem. To many theologians, is IS Jewish history, to many poets, a source of inspiration. It belongs to the Jewish people and is much more than a city, it is what binds one Jew to another in a way that remains hard to explain. When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming. The first song I heard was my mother’s lullaby about and for Jerusalem. Its sadness and joy are part of our collective memory.

He continues with a historical review of the city dating back to King David. And then he brings us up to date:

Today , for the first time in history, Jews, Christians and Muslims all may freely worship at their shrines. And contrary to certain media reports, Jews, Christians and Muslims ARE allowed to build their homes anywhere in the city. The anguish over Jerusalem is not about real estate but about memory.

What is the solution? Pressure will not produce a solution. Is there a solution? There must be, there will be. Why tackle the most complex and sensitive problem prematurely? Why not first take steps which allow the Israeli and Palestinian communities to find ways to live together in an atomosphere of security. Why not leave the most difficult, the most sensitive issue, for such a time?

It is significant that it is Wiesel – a Jewish figure without peer and the embodiment of Holocaust memory – who writes this. It is as powerful a rebuke to an American president as any he can receive. It is not simply a geopolitical critique; it is an indictment of Obama’s ignorance of and lack of sympathy with the Jewish people. It cannot be ignored.

Obama scolds Netanyah with finger to chest but bows to waist for Saudi

picture tells a thousand wordsBy Barry Rubin*

April 18, 2010

http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/04/two-photos-express

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Let's begin with what's most important. This may be the most important single point about the world's most important issue and, consequently, the most important thing I write during this decade. In fact, it's so important that I'm going to put it in bold. Read this even if you don't read the rest of the article:

Consider the Obama Administration's concept of how it will cope with a nuclear Iran.

The plan is to contain Iran by scaring it. The rulers of Iran must think the American president is a man of immense power and daring who will smash them if they try any funny business. At the same time, the relatively moderate Arabs must feel secure, like Lois Lane standing behind Superman as the bullets bounce off him.

So clear must this be that someone like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who thinks the deity is on his side and is not easily intimidated, can be deterred from firing missiles, attacking neighbors, sponsoring massive terrorism, transferring nuclear weapons, or subverting other countries because he fears American strength and believes with near-certainty that the United States is ready to go to war and crush his regime if necessary.

Clear so far?

But wait a minute! How can the current U.S. government do that when its whole theme has been proving itself a nice easy-going fellow, eager to get along with enemies, reluctant to use force, and obsessed with popularity?

What does it signal when a president acts ashamed of past American willingness to impose its will? How does this match up with the necessary posture of a fearless giant ready to face down the most ideologically intoxicated, risk-taking, prone-to-miscalculating, ruthless regime America has confronted since Berlin fell in 1945? (Sure, the USSR was far more powerful than is Islamist Iran, but it was also far more reliably rational and cynical as well.)

You cannot have it both ways. The U.S. government will not be able to have it both ways. Is that clear? Your enemies either tremble with fear, at your scary power, or with laughter, at your diffident desire not to offend anyone.

How you can bow down, disclaim your leadership role, and let everyone push you around one day, but then face down a nuclear Iran the next day? Answer: You can't.

What does that mean? Iran acts aggressively and then either you don't deter it--which means strategic disaster--or you surprise it by doing what you've threatened after the failure of a low-credibility deterrence effort--which means war.

Now for the background to demonstrate why the above is true.

On one level, the two pictures above tell the story of the Obama Administration Middle East policy; on the other hand, they are very misleading.The most obvious interpretation is that the president's position is one of antagonism toward Israel and servility toward Saudi Arabia. But let's look more deeply and see why that's not completely right.

The photo on the right was taken at the King David Hotel before either Obama or Netanyahu were elected to their current offices. It was snapped during Senator Obama's only trip to Israel, before he was running for president.

What precisely led to this apparent confrontation isn't clear. Obama looks aggressive and angry, putting his finger into Mr. Netanyahu's chest in a configuration that makes it appear something like a revolver. This is neither good manners nor the usual posture of statesmen discussing international affairs. Behind Netanyahu stands Zalman Shuval, former Israeli ambassador to the United States [you can't see him in the photo very well], and Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Understandably, Shuval appears astonished at the kind of behavior he isn't used to seeing from a U.S. senator toward Israel.

Some would comfort themselves by saying that it is Netanyahu's chest and not that of Ehud Barak or Shimon Peres. But, then, Barak is defense minister and a partner in this Israeli government and Peres--while technically not part of this government since he's president--is a full supporter of its policies. (At this point I'm torn between using the John Donne reference--ask not whose chest is being jabbed--and the Martin Niemoller one--they came for Netanyahu's chest....) The problem is not one of Israel having a "right-wing" government (which it isn't, it's a national unity government) but of basic Israeli national interests.

What serious analyst can doubt that this is the least friendly administration to Israel in a half-century? Can one imagine Obama doing to any other foreign dignatary what he's doing to Netanyahu in this photo? Would the man who hugged Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a real anti-American demagogue, possibly act this way anywhere else? He knows that Israel cannot or will not retaliate. It is a safe target that won't bite him.

Nevertheless, one must always remember that the frictions in U.S.-Israel relations so far amount to a big zero in practical terms. The new president hasn't taken any material steps to punish or pressure Israel. I predict that this will continue. There are reasons for this constraint, including Congress, public opinion, and part of the administration's officialdom.

But this real passivity also fits a wider pattern. The Obama Administration has basically eschewed toughness against anyone. Aside from some harsh words toward Israel and, grudgingly, against Iran, the government has not criticized any foreign country at all. (Actually, the State Department briefer made fun of Libya once, for declaring jihad on Switzerland, but he apologized so that doesn't count.)

The rejection of toughness is conscious, based on a distaste for force (despite Afghanistan) and an allergy toward taking international leadership in a real way, along with an apologetic rejection of past U.S. "bullying" and "unilateralism."Meanwhile, it is starting to be conceivable that Obama will get through his entire first term without exerting real pressure anywhere in the world. Doubtless, that would please many Americans though they may end up paying for it later.

A man who is nice to enemies and nasty to friends is likely to find himself with steadily more of the former and increasingly fewer of the latter. (See below my anecdote about what a veteran U.S. policymaker told me regarding Arab attitudes toward Obama.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration has fallen prey to all the old myths about the region, as if these hadn't been disproved over and over again already. Among these myths have been: it is easy to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict; the lack of a resolution is Israel's fault; past U.S. commitments (and even the ones this administration makes) to Israel need not be kept; the fate of the region-even in such unlikely locales as Afghanistan and Iraq-are closely linked to Israel and the conflict; and that by resolving the conflict the region can be stabilized and anti-Americanism (including terrorism) made to vanish. Then there's the belief that radicals can be moderated by kind treatment.

Now contrast this with the administration courting and flattering Arab and Muslim opinion. What was Obama doing in the photo with the king of Saudi Arabia, the picture on the left? Presumably, he thought that a bow was proper courtesy for a commoner meeting a monarch. In Arab and Muslim culture, though, it symbolizes servility, the weaker bowing before the stronger.

The one who bows does not do so to show he is a good person but because he has to do so yield before greater power.If so, the king should be very happy about seeing so vividly enacted an Arab or Muslim fantasy of victory over America. Yet neither the king nor Arabs generally-those friendly or unfriendly toward the United States-is rejoicing at such behavior nor is it changing their behavior. Why?

Before answering that question, note that it was reliably reported that Obama's gave a bow but got no gift-wrapped present in return. The Saudi king apparently went into a long diatribe and refused to cooperate with Obama's then-initiative (remember that one?) that if Israel froze construction on settlements the Arab states would make some big step to show their eagerness for peace. In other words, bowing doesn't work.

But back to the related question of how Arabs relate to Obama's behavior, Their first reaction is bewilderment. An easy way to look at it is that those wacky Americans are just too inscrutable to comprehend. After all, that is a traditional U.S. view of other cultures, and they reverse it more often than Americans know.

How can an American leader act this way? Such behavior is outside all of their norms. To quote an old Ottoman proverb, politics in these societies often consists of kicking the one below you and licking the boots of the one above you. In their view, nobody gives up power; no one acts weak when they are strong; nobody apologizes.

It is just too weird.

So how can they explain it? For America's enemies, a common conclusion is to consider it as a trick. For them, Obama is just another imperialist, Zionist enemy but he's smarter in pretending to be something different. This makes them angry-lest America "fool" Arabs and Muslims. Yet such cynicism is the best conclusion from the standpoint of U.S. interests since it makes them still a bit scared. If Obama is just faking and is no different from George W. Bush, maybe he'll suddenly throw off the mask and bash them.

An alternative, more dangerous, conclusion for the radicals has been that America really is as decadent as they've been saying. It's the old "we love death and you love life" trope. Caught up in materialism, alcohol, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, the United States is going to collapse and is begging for mercy to draw out its life a bit longer. The radicals take this as a signal to step up terrorism and revolutionary activity because the paper tiger, trembling Americans are no threat any more.

What gives joy to the radicals terrifies the moderates. If their protector has gone soft they better appease the new bully in town.

One veteran, Arabic-speaking American Middle East expert had a fascinating way of putting it. The Arabs, he said, view the United States and Israel as close allies sharing a common (non-Muslim) civilization and set of interests. So, he continued, the moderate Arabs he speaks with say, "If they treat Israel, virtually a member of their own family, like that, what are they going to do to us!"

In other words, they don't exclaim: "Hooray! Finally the United States is moving away from Israel and will be our friend," which is what Obama and his colleagues expect. They say: Oh no! The United States is moving away from being a superpower and from being our reliable protector! The winners aren't us--the Egyptians and Saudis--but them--the Iranians and Syrians.

Thus, for the governments of Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and a number of other Arabic-speaking countries, Obama is the scariest president ever. On one hand, they don't understand him and don't know what he's going to do next. On the other hand, he is friendlier to their enemies than he is to them. A weak protector is no asset.

They are themselves--and have to cope with--ruthless men who don't flinch at torture, murder, deceit, bribery, and massive repression. An anecdote: during the 1980s, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had a video widely distributed in the Gulf Arab states showing him picking out men as traitors who were then tortured and shot. He wanted his neighbors to see these videos and tremble.And so, if you're going to have a superpower protector, the relatively moderate Arab rulers prefer Arnold Schwarzenegger to Arnold Stang (an actor specializing in playing wimps, who made Woody Allen look husky by comparison). They want John Wayne, not Wayne Newton; Humphrey Bogart, not Humpty Dumpty; Indiana Jones, not Joan Rivers. OK, you get the point.

Or, as one Gulf Arab put it eloquently: We don't want an American president who is an imitation Arab. We want one who acts like an American. I think the image he had in mind was of a cowboy, not of a man easily cowed. And unless they get a man like Gary Cooper in "High Noon" they are going to suffer from High Anxiety.

What is Obama thinking? One can only speculate but the alternatives are limited and, given everything else the president has said and done, figuring this out is not so difficult. For him, the bow to the Saudi king (and others) symbolizes Obama's commitment to show that America is "just one of the guys" among countries, emphasizing respect for others with an eagerness not to be number-one anymore.He also has a strong desire to win over Arabs and Muslims as a way of defusing conflict. After all, once he shows he can hang out with the Third World, Obama seems to reason, why would anyone hate America any more?

Thus, while Obama is tough on Israel by not being tough on the radicals he is also tough on Saudi Arabia and the other relatively moderate Arab regimes. Indeed, his weakness is more likely to bring down the Saudi kingdom, which is on the frontline with Iran and dependent on U.S. protection, than it is the Jewish state, which can take care of itself. The Saudis know this very well.

Thus, Obama has achieved something that no one would have thought possible: He is simultaneously, in real terms but without any understanding of what he's doing, both anti-Israel and anti-Saudi! [If this seems strange to you, recall President George W. Bush--let's leave aside your dislike of him for a moment--and President Bill Clinton managed to be both pro-Israel and pro-Saudi.]

To succeed, Obama should instead be poking his finger at Ahmadinejad, showing strong leadership and a readiness to defend both Israel and Saudi Arabia.

After all, by the time this is all over, perhaps decades hence, one side is going to be bowing to the other for keeps.

*Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go to http://www.gloria-center.org.

Israel is amazing

Israel is the 100th smallest country, and has about 1/1000th of the world's population. It is only 62 years old,
Only 62 years old, 7 million people strong (less than Virginia), and smaller in size than New Jersey, surrounded by enemies, under constant threat and possessing almost no natural resources, and yet…
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. It has absorbed 350% of its population in 60 years.1
Israel is the only country in history to have revived an unspoken language.
Since the founding of the state, Israel has more Nobel Prices per capita than any other country. It has more laureates in real numbers than China, Mexico and Spain.2
Israel has the 8th longest life expectancy (80.7 years), longer than the UK, US, and Germany3
Israeli films were nominated three years in a row for the Academy Award's Best Foreign Film4
Environment
Israel is the only country that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, even more remarkable -- in an area that's mainly desert.5
Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest percentage in the world.6, 7
Israel will be the first country to host a national electric car network.8
Israel is ranked in the top five Cleantech countries of the world, and operates the world’s largest desalinization plant.9
Israeli companies are producing the largest solar energy production facility in the world.
Science & Technology
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, 63% more than the U.S. It also has the most physicians and engineers per capita.10
Israel's scientific research institutions are ranked 3rd in the world.11
Israel is ranked 2nd in space sciences.12
Israel produces the 3rd most scientific papers per capita, and the most in stem cell science.13
More Israeli patents are registered in the United States than from Russia, India and China combined (combined population 2.5 billion). It leads the world in patents for medical equipment.11, 14, 15
Israeli companies invented the drip irrigation system, discovered the world’s most used drug for multiple sclerosis, designed the Pentium NMX Chip technology and the Pentium 4 and Centrium microprocessors, created Instant Messenger (ICQ), and Israeli cows produce more milk per cow than any other in the world!
Business
Israel has the 3rd highest rate of entrepreneurship among women in the world.16
Israel has attracted the most venture capital investment per capita in the world, 30 times more than Europe17
Israel has more NASDAQ-listed companies than any country besides the US -- more than all of Europe, India, China and Japan combined.18
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute numbers, Israel has more startups than any country other than the U.S.19
Defying the Odds
Israel is the only country whose indigenous population returned to its native land after 2,000 years of forced exile.
There are 26 official Muslim states in the world, and 18 official Christian states, but there is only one Jewish state.

7 reasons why Israel must remain a Jewish state

7 reasons to support Israel as Jewish state
1. Archeological evidence proves it has been Jewish 4000 years
2. Historical evidence proves it has been Jewish 4000 years-no Palestinan people other than Jews, it was desolate until Jews rebuilt from Turks
3. Practical value of Israelis being there-makes a desert an orchid
4. Humanitarian concerns-6 million Jews slaughtered because Jews had no place to go
5. Strategic ally of US-deterrent to enemies of Democracy-we can depend on them. 911 the “other Middle East allies were cheering. Saves US lives
6. Road block to terrorism. Have shown world how to fight.
7. God said so. Read the Bible. Genesis 13:14-17 the whole Bible is a Zionist document

add up the evidence re Obama and tell me what you think

Why are people concerned about Presdent Obama's recent tirade vs Israel?
1. Background: Muslim father therefore a Muslim. Middle name Hussein. Educated in Indonesian Madras. In US joins most anti-American Church possible-Rev Wright and sits there for 26 years. Has not joined a Church yet as president in Washington.
2. As president lets in a University of Oxford professor once barred from entering the U.S. by the Bush administration for funding Hamas is back in New York, the Associated Press reports, but deny’s Israeli scientists. A report in one of Israel's leading newspapers, Maariv, that the Obama administration is denying visas to Israeli nuclear scientists working at the nuclear research center in Dimona. In the past, scientists and researchers from Dimona have routinely come to the United States to study chemistry, physics, and nuclear engineering at American universities and to attend professional seminars. According to the report, the Obama administration has stopped issuing visas to Dimona scientists solely because of their affiliation with the Israeli nuclear center.
3. As Ed Koch wrote recently “I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being orchestrated by President Obama.”
He seems to care more about Jews building housing for Jews in the Jewish capital, then about an Iranian nuclear bomb.
4. As president as Yisrael Ne'eman wrote: This past Thursday, April 8, Israel's Channel 10 reported that US Administration sources confirmed that as far as Israel is concerned, American policy towards Iran will be linked to advancements made on the Palestinian-Israeli peace front. Such a laconic statement betrays a major shift in American foreign policy, driving home the new foreign policy message of the Obama Administration. Should such a linkage now exist where it never existed before, Israel may very well be facing an existential threat not only in the short term from Iran, but in the overall long run of American foreign policy thinking.
5. Ends Day Christian prayer, Muslim day of prayer is added. In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer." In 1988 President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer. This year President Obama, canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House "not wanting to offend anyone"www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/obama.prayer/index.html?eref=rss_politics
On September 25, 2009 from 4 am until 7 pm, a National Day of Prayer for the Muslim religion was held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims that day in DC. (http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/ )
6. Allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons, despite clear intention of bombing Israel, and despite all other Arab neighbors upset about it.
7. Maariv: Dimona Reactor employees reportedly have also complained that the Obama administration has stopped selling them reactor components that the U.S. routinely sold to them in the past.
8. US Democratic support for Israel has dropped dramatically under Obama, only 52% now favor Israel in polls.

A Dangerous Silence
April 12, 2010 | Ed Koch
I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these
verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being
orchestrated by President Obama.
For me, the situation today recalls what occurred in 70 AD when the Roman
emperor Vespasian launched a military campaign against the Jewish nation an=
d
its ancient capital of Jerusalem. Ultimately, Masada, a rock plateau in the
Judean desert became the last refuge of the Jewish people against the Roman
onslaught. I have been to Jerusalem and Masada.
balance of article see on side page Obama and Israel

Is America selling Israel down the river?

Obama's Seam Line Policy and Israel's Conditional Existence

By Yisrael Ne'eman


This past Thursday, April 8, Israel's Channel 10 reported that US Administration sources confirmed that as far as Israel is concerned, American policy towards Iran will be linked to advancements made on the Palestinian-Israeli peace front. Such a laconic statement betrays a major shift in American foreign policy, driving home the new foreign policy message of the Obama Administration. Should such a linkage now exist where it never existed before, Israel may very well be facing an existential threat not only in the short term from Iran, but in the overall long run of American foreign policy thinking. The strategic alliance with the United States will now be coming to an end and Jewish national sovereignty under certain circumstances will be considered expendable by the Americans. Previously Israel's existence was an unshakeable "given" as made clear by the previous two administrations. Certainly since 1969 and the beginning of the alliance under Nixon and despite Bush Sr. and even Pres. Carter, it was understood that the existence of the Israeli state was not negotiable. Now it may be.
see rest of article on side page http://israelgreatest.blogspot.com/p/obama-and-israel.html

ideas on what to do

By Steven M. Goldberg - American Thinker - March 31, 2010
Rahm Emanuel famously proclaimed, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Ironically, although the President's Chief of Staff has proven to be a false friend of Israel, the leadership of the Jewish State would do well to heed his advice.
That Israel is in peril is obvious. Israel's enemies sense the opportunity to destroy it through a perfect storm, a confluence of events that seem to leave Israel reeling and vulnerable. First and foremost is the unmistakable betrayal by the President of the United States, who has loudly broadcast his eagerness to sacrifice the security of the Jewish State to appease the Muslim world. Israel is under enormous duress to surrender vital territory to allow for the creation of a Palestinian state within its borders. That such a development would be catastrophic for Israel is apparent to anyone who knows history. As former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stated, "The Palestinian state can only emerge on the ruins of Israel."
In addition, Iran is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons, and it is clear that the international community will do nothing to stop it. President Obama appears to be pressuring Israel to refrain from military action to stop the Iranian threat. Hezb'allah and Hamas have restocked their arsenals of rockets and missiles, which now threaten to reach the center of Israel, including Tel Aviv. The European Union is championing the Fayed Plan, pursuant to which the Palestinian Authority would unilaterally announce the establishment of the Palestinian state, which would shortly thereafter be recognized by the United Nations Security Council. In view of President Obama's indifference and even antipathy to Israel, the United States cannot be counted on to exercise its veto.
Ominous as all this seems, Israel has the opportunity to seize the moment and secure its future. The actions required are not for the faint of heart.
With regard to Iran, Israel can let the United States know in no uncertain terms that it will take military action against Iran, with or without American assistance. If the Obama administration balks, and perhaps even threatens to withhold military hardware to Israel that might be necessary for a successful conventional strike, Israel can advise the United States, discreetly yet firmly, that it has non-conventional options, i.e., tactical nuclear weapons.
Such an admonition is not unprecedented. It has been reported that in 1973, during the first desperate hours of the Yom Kippur War, Prime Minister Golda Meir warned the Nixon Administration that Israel would have no choice but to resort to the nuclear option if conventional military resupplies were not forthcoming. Shortly after this communication by the Israeli Prime Minister, the Americans provided the assistance the Israelis needed to turn the tide in the war.
The situation is equally dire now. The possibility that Israel will resort to tactical nuclear weapons against Iran should be sufficient to convince the Obama administration to support Israel's attack with conventional weapons. If not, however, Israel must be prepared to carry out its threat. Failure against Iran is not an option.
With regard to the Palestinians, Israel need not sit idly by as the Palestinians carry out their threat to have the United Nations impose the creation of a Palestinian state, which would run afoul of the Oslo Accords and the Roadmap, which require a negotiated agreement by the parties, not an imposed solution.
A cardinal legal principle is that the violation of a contract by one party entitles the other party to rescind the contract. The Palestinians have repeatedly flouted both the Oslo Accords and the Roadmap. Israel can and should declare that those agreements have been abrogated. In their place, Israel can announce its annexation of Judea and Samaria. The Arabs residing in Palestinian cities will receive full civil and religious rights, but not political rights, which would be consistent with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 as well as the Mandate for Palestine that was adopted by the League of Nations in 1922 and ratified by the United States in 1924.
As for a Palestinian state, Israel would declare that issue to be dead as a doornail. Any such entity, if it is to be created, will be carved out of neighboring Arab lands, not out of the tiny piece of land afforded the Jewish State.
The international condemnation that will follow will be great, but history teaches it will be short-lived. The world will be a different place after an attack on Iran, and much of the international community will be silently grateful to Israel for ridding the Middle East of the Iranian menace. Anti-Semitism will never be eradicated, and thus Israel will always have enemies, but those enemies can be kept at bay if, and only if, they are convinced that Israel has demonstrated the will to do whatever is necessary to prevail.
Converting Israel's crisis into an opportunity will require extraordinary leadership. Israel's leaders will need strategic vision, decisiveness, steady nerves, unflinching determination, and absolute confidence in the justice of the cause. American Jewry will also have a critical role to play. We will need to dig deep, find our inner strength, coalesce and defend the Jewish nation. There is, however, no choice. It is a matter of life or death.

Steven M. Goldberg is a trial lawyer in Los Angeles who is involved in a number of Jewish organizations, including Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.

Sanctions for ancient Egypt, Sanctions for Modern Iran

obama and palestinians froze peace talks

Who Froze the Mideast Peace Process? - Abraham H. Foxman
It is the Palestinians, not Israel, who have refused to return to negotiations. Unfortunately, the Obama administration gave the Palestinians an excuse not to come to the table by making settlements the central issue. In fact, over the years there have been negotiations despite the settlement issue. Had the Palestinians accepted Israel's generous offers under two prime ministers for a Palestinian state, the issue of settlements would have been resolved.
The Obama administration has gone off track not only in its excessive focus on settlements and its overreaction to Israel's faux pas in announcing new construction while the vice president was in Israel, but also by suggesting that Israel is harming American interests in the region. This is a misguided and counterproductive view. Ultimately, America's interests in the region will rise or fall on its willingness to support its true friends there and its ability to distinguish between moderates who want peace and rejectionists who want to undermine it. There is no doubt that Israel is a true ally and peacemaker. The writer is National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. (New York Times)

Iranians know sanction talk is nonsense

Iran Sees Sanctions Talk as Empty Threat
Iran said Thursday that talk of sanctions by world powers against the Islamic republic over its nuclear program is just an empty threat. President Obama said Tuesday that the new measures could be levied within weeks. However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast responded, "The talk of sanctions is a threat that has been ineffective over the past 30 years." (AFP)

as haaertz wrote
(Hudson Institute New York)
•International Push for Iran Sanctions Is Too Little, Too Late - Editorial
The new sanctions to be discussed by the UN Security Council do not include the kind of tools that could affect a change in Iranian policy. Iranian shipping companies will not be blacklisted nor the international assets of Iran frozen, and oil or gas shipments from the Islamic Republic will not be cut, after these proposals were all rejected by Russia or China. Iran has been under sanctions for three decades and still managed to develop a formidable technological infrastructure for nuclear power. It's doubtful another round of sanctions will persuade Iran to stop its project. (Ha'aretz)