Doc's Talk: A few sample news stories today ...

Monday, January 14, 2008

A few sample news stories today ...

Travelling in Saudi Arabia, Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking to strengthen ties with Riyadh. The French president has stressed that ''Saudi Arabia is an essential element for peace in this unstable region.'' France and Saudi Arabia signed four cooperation agreements in the framework of Nicolas Sarkozy's visit. A first agreement on cooperation in oil, gas and mineral resources, a second on university education in France, a third on vocational training in France and lastly on political cooperation between the foreign ministers of the two country. The IDF confirmed that it eliminated two important terrorists near the home of Ismail Haniya, the former Hamas Prime Minister, in Gaza. Nidal Amoudi, from the Al-Aqsa Brigades, had been heavily involved in firing rockets on Israel. According to Israeli security forces, Maher Nabhouh was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees. According to Palestinian sources, he belonged to the Army of Islam, one of the organizations involved in the abduction of the soldier Gilad Shalit. (Guysen.International.News)
22:39 Four NATO soldiers were killed on Saturday in Afghanistan, coming under fire from by friendly forces. Two Afghan soldiers and two were Dutch. The accident was apparently due to difficult weather conditions. (Guysen.International.News)
22:06 The Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah responded to the American president in a speech broadcast on a giant screen in front of thousands of supporters in the heart of Beirut. Reacting to comments made by George Bush in the United Arab Emirates on the transfer of Iranian funds to Hezbollah, Nasrallah said he was ''proud to be the enemy of the Great Satan.'' (Guysen.International.News)
21:18 Egypt claims that it has updated a network of engineers and officers in the Egyptian army that was preparing a large-scale attack on Israeli territory. An Israeli government source said that little credence was given to this information. (Guysen.International.News)
21:06 Israel is preparing to eliminate the leadership of Hamas. According to the Al Hayyat newspaper , the government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip had received information from a European country on an Israeli operation of ''liquidation'' of the leadership of the terrorist movement. (Guysen.International.News)
20:38 Sources close to Ehud Olmert think that Avigdor Lieberman will not leave the government. The leader of Yisrael Beitenu is duet meet the prime minister tomorrow to discuss the crucial issues of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. (Guysen.International.News)
18:57 The Canadian government will make aid payments to the Palestinians of $200 million spread over five years. This was announced by the Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, on a visit to the Middle East. On Monday he will be in Israel where he will hold talks with his counterpart Tsipi Livni. He will also visit Yad Vashem. 18:28 American presidential elections : according to the latest poll released by the American television channel CNN, if the elections were held today, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would beat the favorite candidate for the Republican nomination, John McCain. 16:15 Eight mortar shells fired from the northern Gaza Strip have just landed near Moshav Netiv Haassara, to the south of Ashkelon and near the Erez crossing point. There were no injuries but a house was damaged. (Guysen.International.News)
15:46 The renowned pianist and conductor Israeli Daniel Barenboim received Palestinian nationality, on Sunday, in Ramallah. ''It's a great honor for me and I hope that my new Israeli-Palestinian status will be a model of peace for both peoples,'' he said. (Guysen.International.News)
15:37 Air Crash in Namibia: A police delegation focused on the identification of the victims will flew on Sunday evening to the southern African country in order to identify the five Israeli diamond merchants who perished in the accident. A doctor pathologist from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir will also be added to the six members of this team. (Guysen.International.News)
15:17 Tehran has agreed to respond, within a month, to all questions regarding its nuclear program. This was announced on Sunday by Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the head of the IAEA. She added that Mohamed ElBaradei, who is currently on a visit to Iran has also received new information about ''a new generation of Iranian centrifuges", which could determine whether Tehran has tried to develop nuclear weapons. (Guysen.International.News)
14:54 ''Iran is the global sponsor of terrorism'', George Bush said in Abu Dhabi. The American president, on a visit to the United Arab Emirates said that ''Iranian actions are a threat to the security of all countries and the United States''. He called on ''all Arab countries to unite against this threat before it is too late''. (Guysen.International.News)
14:50 Saudi Arabia has denied that the French-Israeli journalist Gideon Kouts is a member of the delegation of journalists accompanying the French president Nicolas Sarkozy during his visit to that country. ''This is the first time that a Jewish journalist, French or Israeli, has been prohibited. "This is a dangerous precedent" Gideon Kouts exclaimed. ''The president of the association of the presidential press intervened. There has not been a sufficiently vigorous response. France gave in too fast to pressure from the Saudis. The Elysée has promised to do things differently next time''. Gideon Kouts has previously visited Saudi Arabia in delegations accompanying former presidents Francois Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. GIN expresses its solidarity with Gideon Kouts. (Guysen.International.News)
14:18 About 3,000 Sderot residents have left the town in the wake of the kassam missiles fired on it. The Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter called on the government to instruct the IDF to intensify its operations in Gaza in order to provoke such departures on the Palestinian side. (Guysen.International.News)
13:45 The government has approved the tax law for "clean" vehicles. The less-polluting the vehicle is, the lower the sales tax. Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On welcomed this first step ''toward the green vision of Israel''. (Guysen.International.News)
13:27 Ehud Olmert considers the continuation of illegal outposts to be "humiliating", especially as the previous two governments decided to dismantle them. The Prime Minister made these remarks at the meeting of Kadima ministers. (Guysen.International.News)
13:09 Nicolas Sarkozy wants to intensify international pressure on Iran. The French president explained that Tehran systematically continues not to abide by its commitments, and France will use its influence within the European Union and the UN Security Council to make Iran abandon its uranium enrichment. Sarkozy made these comments in an interview with the Al Hayyat newspaper on the eve of his tour to the Gulf. (Guysen.International.News)
12:36 A thousand terrorists were eliminated in 2006 and 2007 in the Gaza Strip. The head of the Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin presented these figures to the Cabinet. The Minister of Internal Security, Avi Dichter, said that as a proportion, it was only

Renault-Nissan is going to produce electric cars in Israel. This was reported in the daily Ouest-France, which announced the arrival of the CEO Carlos Ghosn of the French group in Israel on January 21, to conclude the transaction with Shai Agassi, of the Better Place company. This project provides for the establishment of electric car battery recharging points throughout the country, a revolution that will allow Israeli motorists to reduce their fuel expenses by two-thirds, if they adopt the concept.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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