The "he" I am referring to in this
instance is John Kerry, Obama's secretary of state-designate. At confirmation hearings on Thursday, he
spoke about his hope that he will be able to get the "peace process" going
again.
He described this as "an
incredibly important issue," explaining that (are you ready?):
"So much of what we need to aspire
to achieve and what we need globally -- all of this is tied to what can and
doesn't happen with respect to Israel/Palestine (sic).
~~~~~~~~~~
They won't give it up: this
fiction that Israel's achieving a negotiated settlement with the PLO will
ameliorate problems across the Middle East, if not, as Kerry indicated,
around the world. It should only be that we had this power, and I ponder
what it is that makes Kerry, as well as his soon-to-be boss Obama and others in
the Obama stable of decision makers, so unwilling to let go of this ludicrous
myth.
Jonathan Rosenblum, in an
excellent piece -- "One nomination worse than the next" -- in
yesterday's JPost, addresses this same issue. Rosenblum
writes about Hagel, Obama's choice for secretary of defense, who
said:
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
is central, not peripheral, to US vital security interests in combating
terrorism, preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon, stability in the Middle East
and US and global energy security."
Rosenblum deals with
precisely how ludicrous this notion is. He doesn't say this explicitly,
but I will: anyone with a capacity to critically analyze the
situation in the Middle East cannot honestly arrive at the conclusion
that the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict is at the heart of it all. It
does not compute. Although various Muslim nations make
declarations about their support for the Palestinian Arabs, it is obvious as
they go about their tortured business that this issue is not what is driving
them.
What Rosenblum does say is
this:
"...[Ayatollah Khomeini] defined
the 1979 Iranian revolution from the start as an Islamic revolution. He
and his successors identified nuclear weapons as a potentially important tool in
spreading that revolution and immunizing Iran against countermeasures from the
West.
"And Israel has precious little to
do with the instability in the Middle East, as the events of the past year have
made abundantly clear. Israel has not kept Egypt from being able to grow
enough grain...
"...Israel has nothing to do with
the second-class status of women in almost every Muslim society, and the lost
potential that follows. Israel is not responsible for the high rates of
illiteracy and paucity of academic production of the Arab world...The
Sunni-Shi'ite divide that continues to roil Muslim countries pre-existed
the State of Israel by more than a millennium.
"Israel was not an issue during
the Arab Spring, or in the Libyan civil war, or in the Syrian civil
war...
"It is the perpetual backwardness
of Arab and Muslim societies that causes such resentment and hatred of the West,
of which the US is the principle representative..."
~~~~~~~~~~
Rosenblum begins this piece by
quoting Barry Rubin (I have added emphasis): "one of the Middle East's shrewdest
analysts," who said of Obama's three nominees, Kerry, Hagel and Brennan,
"they are all stupid people...stupid arrogant people with terrible
ideas."
Rosenblum ends his piece by
asking, "Could someone in the White House be sending Israel a
message?" This is, I
assume, a rhetorical question. Clearly, Obama has selected individuals who
reflect and will advance his own viewpoint.
~~~~~~~~~~
Another excellent article in
yesterday's JPost was that of Sarah Honig, a tell-it-like-it is
commentator par excellence. In "The unwitting indecency," she gives us a
painful and startling look at what Israel is up against in world opinion.
Another instance of mindlessness -- of conferring attributes upon Israel
that do not conform to reality. In this instance, however, it's not
about power that ostensibly Israel has, but how thoroughly vile Israel
is.
Writes Honig (emphasis
added):
"Our image has
exasperatingly little to do with who we are. Distortions
about us are blithely disseminated to the most susceptible and gullible
members of society. Israel's role as a scoundrel is made an axiomatic given, a
premise for decent by distant folks, who know next to nothing (least of all
Israel's size) and couldn't care less about the Mideast and its staggering
complexities. But they are convinced that we are the bad guys.
"...Europe fully lives up
to all the antagonism we have come to expect from the continent's
denizens. They were always highly adept, especially in their darkest
epochs, at dressing up their intense bigotry in holier-than-thou
sanctimony. It's no different now...
"...to deny a grotesque
double standard against Israel is either to misperceive reality or to
deliberately misrepresent it for narrow political
purposes."
Recently, Honig was in
Cahersivseen, a tiny, picturesque town in southwestern
Ireland. There, on the main street, she
encountered "three boisterous teenagers in Santa hats, carrying a
collection box and big signs reading 'Free Palestine.' They solicited my
contribution.
"I asked, 'Free Palestine from
whom?'
"The cheery trio's swift answer
was unambiguous: 'The Jews.'
"I pressed on. 'Do you know
where your money would go?'
"The boys: 'To plant olive
trees.'
"'Are you sure,' I continued, as
kindly-looking little old ladies generously opened their purses and dropped
coins and bills into the collection box, 'that this money wouldn't fund
terrorists and murders?'
"Their retort threw me for a loop:
'What do you have against Palestinians? What have they done to you? They
are only against Jews. Jews are evil.'
Honig subsequently discovered that
these kids were part of an official school project, and encountered their
teacher who explained this was part of a project to further a humanitarian
goal.
"The squawking was all about
rights, but distinctly not about the rights of Jews which are excluded from the
curriculum. The violated rights are those of Palestinian Arabs and the
violators are Israeli Jews. And all this is crudely imparted under the auspices
of a state's school system.
"And herein lies our problem--the
one too many Israelis avoid, be it out of ignorance or
political machination. We, as a people, face bias we can do nothing
about. There's power predisposition against us. It's not fueled by
our behavior, because nobody knows much how we behave and nobody cares to learn.
"The Cahersiveen youngsters will
surely grow into charming decent adults, but ingrained in their psyches
from a young age will be the vague notion of Jewish villains and Palestinian
martyrs. Indoctrination of impressionable minds -- who regard their
instructors as respected experts -- creates biased adults. Their bias,
because it was formed so early, is intangible and im impervious to all Israeli
public relations and learned discourse."
~~~~~~~~~~
Honig notes that some may say
Ireland, with its history of anti-Semitism, is atypical. But, she argues,
"Ireland isn't unique. What's bon ton there is very bon ton in other
countries, with other sordid pasts and intrinsic predilections against our
sort -- predilections that our homegrown left-wing and post-Zionist politicos
persuade naive and complacent Israelis to forget, so we may persist in our
self-flagellating ways."
~~~~~~~~~~
If we are not already into the
third intifada, we're on the edge. According to Kfir Brigade Commander
Colonel Udi Ben Muha, cited by YNet, "The trends on the ground are
changing. There is a rise in hostile and terror activity ever since
Operation Pillar of Defense and a single event can, indeed, ignite the
entire sector."
His comment followed an incident in which a protest by 200 Palestinian Arabs
in the village of Anin, west of Jenin, became violent, with rioters hurling
stones at soldiers. They were dispersed by crowd-control
measures.
Currently battalions within the
Kfir Brigade are undergoing special training in urban warfare. Included in
the training is filming proof that terror groups operating in its
areas of responsibility are using kindergartens and mosques as their bases
of operation.
~~~~~~~~~~
There is very little additional to
say at this point regarding the elections here and the negotiations for the
coalition which are now about to take place. There are too many
conflicting rumors floating to permit further analysis now.
While the impression is being
advanced that the make-up of the new Knesset -- the 19th -- will be more
left-leaning than the previous, the facts don't bear this out:
The incoming Knesset will be the
most religious in the State's history, with one out of three living a religious
lifestyle. Additionally, 12 members of the new Knesset -- 10% -- live
over the Green Line.
Counted in both of these groups is
Orit Struk, who has lived with her husband, a rabbi, in Hevron, for over 30
years, and came in on the Habayit Hayehudi list. She has served
as a spokesperson for the Jewish community of Hevron, founded
the Organization for Human Rights in Judea and Samaria, and served as
director of the Knesset's Land of Israel caucus, which has had several successes.
I believe this is the first time
that someone from Hevron will be in the Knesset and I would be hard put to think
of anyone better to serve in this position.
Credit:
Kawther
~~~~~~~~~~
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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