Doc's Talk: "The Mask Has Dropped"

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

"The Mask Has Dropped"

Arlene Kushner

J Street's mask, that is: According to today's Post, J Street has a "university arm," and has decided to drop the "pro-Israel" half of its "pro-Israel, pro-peace" slogan, when working with students, so as to not alienate them. Are you gagging yet?

This decision was conveyed to 250 young student activists who attended a special weekend program right before the J Street convention. At the session, the activists mapped out strategies for bringing J Street to campuses and getting students -- seen as a key part of the J Street constituency -- to "join in the effort."

Here I need to stop and ask a question. WHAT effort do they want these students, who are apparently offended by the mere mention of Israel, to join? What precisely will J Street be promoting?

Says American University junior Lauren Barr, who is secretary of the J Street student board, "We don't want to isolate people because they don't feel quite comfortable with 'pro-Israel,' so we say 'pro-peace.' But behind that is 'pro-Israel.'"

Give me a break!

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Barr explains further: "people feel alienated when the conversation revolves around a connection to Israel only, because people feel connected to Palestine (where's "Palestine"?), people feel connected to social justice, people feel connected to the Middle East."

Heaven help us! What does it mean to "feel connected to the Middle East"? And where, outside of Israel, is there ANY social justice in the ME? Perversions of truth are being promoted successfully enough so that it is deemed inappropriate to mention Israel to people who are in favor of social justice!! Maybe US students need to talk to some of the thousands of African refugees who have decided that Israel is the place they want to flee to, because it's the only place in the region where they can secure humane treatment.

Now here's the clincher: Barr says that individual chapters can change the slogan: they can add "pro-Israel," "pro-Israel, pro-Palestine," or other wording.

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I am not obtuse here. I abhor the J Street approach, but I know there is another problem: The alienation of Jewish students with regard to Israel. But it's not J Street that will solve the problem; they will only exacerbate it.

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Please allow me, in my outrage, to share one other piece about J Street today. This is part of an important posting on the Z Street blog, regarding the J Street conference:

"This new alliance of progressive Jewish Americans are here to tell you that they are the anointed ones who will bring peace to the Holy Land if only the world will shut up and let them work their magic. Never mind that the magic is never defined beyond 'two states for two people,' and that the goal is to 'remold Israel into a state of social justice, a state where people do right' and where everyone will 'model core Jewish values' of 'peace and outstretched arms to our neighbors.'

"Hmmm. Well, those are core humanist values, perhaps core progressive values, and values that many Jews hold dear, but those are not the core Jewish values. And that’s the biggest problem with this whole J Street charade of representing the 'New Jewish' response to the conflict in the Middle East... There is nothing inherently and solely Jewish about the J Street approach. A perfect example of this was offered by Daniel Sokatch who is, not coincidentally, the new president of the New Israel Fund...

"Perhaps the best known biblical quotation, at least amongst non-observant Jews, and the one focused on by Sokatch, is 'Justice, Justice Shalt Thou Pursue.' Deut. 16:20. This is the very core of Judaism, he explained to those gathered in the Washington D.C. Grand Hyatt at the kick-off of the J Street conference. But, perhaps unknown to Sokatch (maybe because all the lithographs and needlepoints only include these words), the phrase continues 'so that you shall inherit the land.' Yes, that really is a core value of Judaism, and the land is Israel.

The ultimate inability to differentiate between what these New Jews want to call Jewish values and what are actually the core values of Judaism, is offensive. To say the least."

This would be extremely funny, if it weren't so serious.

http://ziostreet.wordpress.com:80/2009/08/02/what-where-why-and-what-next/

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You might like to see Barry Rubin's latest column, "The big American freeze."

Rubin says that there is a major stumbling block to Obama's plans for promoting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians: Mahmoud Abbas, who is holding tight to his demands and will not back down because he "is more afraid of his own colleagues, Hamas's baiting him as a 'moderate' (a compliment perhaps from the West but a deadly insult in Palestinian politics) and his own people than of Obama."

Carrying this further, Rubin comments, "Indeed, nobody is afraid of Obama, which is one of the main problems with his foreign policy."

What Rubin predicts is "a deadlock, month after month into 2010. Is there some clever way out? I don't see one and I bet the administration doesn't either.

"Abbas...has what for him is an attractive alternative: strike a militant pose, blame America, seek rapprochement with Hamas. In addition, what both the US and Europe fail to see is that the Palestinians don't need or want rapid progress on negotiations or even a state except on what would be completely their own terms."

And so matters are going very badly for Obama. He didn't observe "one of the most basic rules of foreign policy, that you don't put the chief executive's prestige on the line unless you know for darn sure beforehand that what he says will happen."

All that the American administration "has left is what might be called the cat strategy. Have you ever seen a cat miss a leap or have an embarrassing fall? It merely licks itself and looks around with an expression saying: I meant to do that. Everything is going according to plan.

"But it isn't."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256150048671&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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Obama's envoy to the ME, George Mitchell, is apparently deep into the cat strategy. For he has declared that he intends to continue trying to get Israel and the PA to the negotiating table, in spite of Israel's concern about the announced PA elections. But it's not just "Israel's" concern: The situation in the PA is severely unstable.

No matter, says Mitchell, the US will continue "pushing the rock," until the rock actually moves. How devoted. How noble. How stupid.

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Abbas is being defiant and determined as he persists in his plan to hold elections in spite of warnings from several Palestinian quarters that he not do so. It's not just that Hamas will not allow elections in Gaza, it's also that they will not participate in those elections, anywhere. Says Khaled Abu Toameh, only Abbas loyalists and members of Fatah factions would run. An electoral victory in such a situation would be meaningless. This would bring "an even greater blow" to Fatah credibility, at a time when Hamas is already rising in public opinion polls.

In addition, the election is likely to harden Fatah's stance even further, as it competes with Hamas positions in attracting the electorate. This makes it precisely not the time to even try to bring Fatah to the negotiating table. But go tell that to Mitchell.

To top it all off, by the end of the week Hillary Clinton will arrive here to advance peace talks.

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Israeli Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi delivered a talk at a Holocaust memorial in Germany yesterday. Israel, he declared, will not entrust its security to the hands of "strangers" and will do "everything needed" to protect its citizens if war is forced upon it. The reference, of course, is to Iran:

"Today, 64 years after the last train led Jews from this platform to deathcamps, and 61 years after the Jewish homeland was founded, anti-Semitism refuses to disappear from the world. It changes its face, language, path and justifications, but its aim remains the same. Today, state leaders openly declare their desire to destroy the State of Israel, and deny the right of the Jewish people to national sovereignty.

"The Jewish nation renewed itself in its land, and is committed to its independence and security. The IDF, the protector of the Jewish nation, is not a warmongering military, but a defensive military. We do not relish combat, but if war is forced upon us, we will do all that is necessary so that Israeli citizens can sit safely in their homes. No one should test our power."

Amen v'Amen!

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Iran has declared that it accepts "the general framework" of the plan for shipping its uranium to Russia for processing but is seeking "important changes" in that plan. It is unclear what all the changes would be, but one demand that has surfaced involves sending the uranium out of the country "in stages," rather than at once, which was rather the point of the proposal. The nations who are dealing with Iran may yet find these "changes" unacceptable; already frustration is being expressed -- in particular by France.

In any event, there is good reason to think that this is all no more than an Iranian gambit to stall for time, and that there has never been intention to agree to the proposal. Just today Ahmadinejad declared that his country would persist with its nuclear program.

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Times a-wasting with regard to Iran, and when serious commentary on the subject is considered, it is enough to make the blood run cold.

An article worth considering is "Armageddon Time" by Peter Robinson: "When it comes to Iran, the U.S. may be facing a cataclysm."

"A big nation attempting to humiliate a small nation in a way the small nation simply cannot accept. Unseriousness among great powers. A gathering sense of impending catastrophe. Once again, it may be Armageddon time."

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/22/iran-nuclear-weapons-middle-east-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html

What gets me, really gets me, is the "unseriousness among great powers," most especially the US. May this piece have it wrong!

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Congress has passed a non-binding, sense of the Congress, resolution calling on the President and Secretary of State to block any further endorsement of the Goldwater Report. It was sponsored by Congresswoman Ileana Ross-Lehtinen (R-FL 18th), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and co-sponsored by Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA 28th ), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY 5th), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, and Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN 5th), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

Ileana is one of the finest friends we have in the Congress, and deserves to hear of our appreciation for this move. The other gentlemen, who are not at all times as solidly where we might like to see them, should definitely be contacted as well. It is both wise and appropriate to offer praise them when it is deserved.

In many cases today, e-mail addresses are for a Congressperson's constituents only.

A short thank you for the resolution seeking to block endorsement of the Goldwater Report would be fine.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:

Phones: 202-225-3931 or 305-668-2285
Fax Numbers: 202-225-5620 or 305-668-5970

Howard Berman:

Phones: (202) 225-4695 or (818) 994-7200
Fax Numbers: (202) 225-3196 or (818) 994-1050

Gary Ackerman:

Phone: (202) 225-2601 or (718) 423-2154

Fax Number: (718) 423-5053

Dan Burton:

Phones: (202) 225-2276 or (317) 848-0201

Fax Numbers: (202) 225-0016 or (317) 846-7306

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see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info

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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.

Doc's Talk