Tomorrow eve (tonight) ushers in the holiest
day in the Jewish calendar. It is a day of personal soul searching and
repentance, which we are told seals our fates for the year ahead. If
we have repented and prayed in earnest (and made things right with our
fellow human beings, and given charity), by the time the Gates of Repentance
close, we can rejoice that we will have been forgiven.
May each of us be sealed for a
year of blessing.
Credit:
templejudeapbc
~~~~~~~~~~
Today, then, I will
post and -- barring something extraordinary -- will not do so again until after
Yom Kippur. To be whole, sometimes it is essential to turn away from
all of the politics and craziness.
~~~~~~~~~~
My posting
yesterday elicited a barrage of comments from readers. Let me be as
brief here as I can:
[] I am convinced that
it was the Assad regime and not rebels who instituted the gas attack that killed
over 1,000. Not only was information with regard to this picked up by
Israeli intelligence, the rebels do not possess the equipment to launch an
attack of that size. This is not to say that rebels may not possess some
wmd
[] I am well aware
that over 100,000 have died in Syria's civil war (not all killed by Assad's
troops, some dead at the hands of the rebels). While this itself is a
horror that might have (or should have) been responded to by the international
community, I do see use of gas in an attack as qualitatively different.
When these weapons, forbidden by humanitarian international law, are
brought into play, it is appropriate for the international community to
intervene/send a strong message about repercussions. This is particularly
important now with Iran on the brink of developing nuclear capacity. If
renegade nations imagine they can proceed with impunity, no matter what they do,
the world will be in even greater trouble than it already is.
[] I take the issue of
deterrence very seriously. From where I sit, here in Jerusalem, I understand
very very clearly that it is Israel's deterrence power that protects us: That
is, our enemies know what would be unleashed upon them if they acted against us,
or if they crossed a red line that we've set.
See this, regarding
Israel's red line:
“Our red lines
have not changed," said an Israeli official [last night]. "Assad should
understand already that he should not play around with us on this issue. Our
policy has not changed, despite what is happening in the international arena. If
something looks to us like an unusual step, it will be dealt with."
As Obama set a red line
regarding the use by Assad of gas, it was imperative for him to respond. Without
an appropriate response, the US is seen as a paper tiger, and enemies of the
Western world are empowered. I grieve for this state of
affairs.
[] I know
full well that Obama does not have our back. He would gladly throw us under
the bus for any of a variety of reasons. What is important is that our
leaders know this, and they do. We will depend on our ourselves, our own
deterrence power, and our own mighty military power, which will be released if
need be.
[] There are no good
guys in Syria. We all understand this. But a case can be made for
weakening Assad -- if not taking him down -- because of his linkage to Iran. His
weakness renders Iran less powerful and undercuts support for Hezbollah.
What is more, it allows the Iranians to ponder whether they might not be next.
Thus, another reason to hit Assad.
[] And then, lastly, as
to a weakened America. Yes, I know that this is what Obama prefers.
He made that clear from the beginning -- he's an 'internationalist' and quick to
apologize for the US. He overtly courts the bad guys and works against the
(relatively) good ones -- as he did with his support of the Brotherhood in
Egypt. Time and again I have written about this. I certainly do not delude
myself: Not long ago, I shared an enormously powerful expose of his
penchant for bringing MB people into the government. He has socialist
associations and powerful radical Muslim associations and some exceedingly
dubious family relations.
However, I also believe
that he's an incompetent who is way over his head. I do not interpret
every single thing he does as part of a sinister and well
thought-out comprehensive plot against America, or as part of a
conspiracy. He is also a coward who makes stupid decisions, or,
perhaps more accurately, prefers not to make decisions. He is not equipped to be
in the White House. I may be wrong. But as we do not know with
certainty that his every act -- however bumbling and cowardly it seems --
is really part of a deliberate plot to destroy America, I will not write as
if I know this to be the case. Whatever evidence it pleases various
readers to send me, I expect that I will continue to write as I have been.
I will add now that
Putin, who is as wily as they come, with his old KGB skills, is running rings
around Obama. What we're witnessing is not a case of Obama being "smart" in his
intentions to make the US weak. In terms of maneuvering the
situation, Putin simply has Obama considerably outclassed and it's a pathetic
sight.
I will continue to
follow this...
~~~~~~~~~~
But now on to another
situation, another concern: Our relationship with the PA and how the
"negotiations" are going.
It's not simply a
matter of the Palestinian Arabs not having good intentions with regard to truly
negotiating a "two state solution." It has become quite clear that
they -- as wily as they also are -- are attempting to use the pretense of
negotiations to squeeze Israel into a corner. Here, again, what matters is
the strength of our leadership.
It was specified within
the terms of the negotiations that only Kerry would make public
announcements about what was transpiring As was fully expected, the PA is
not playing by the rules and is using leaks for its own purposes.
Israeli officials have been badly irked by this, and have registered
protests. Whether they'll do more than protest (e.g., refuse to release
additional prisoners) remains to be seen.
Here I share what
Khaled Abu Toameh (pictured below) wrote this week in "Peace Talks: What Is
Behind the Palestinian Message?" (emphasis added):
"The officials who
have been talking...include the chief PLO negotiator, Saeb Erekat, PLO
Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo, PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu
Yusef and Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath.
"Others have also been briefing
reporters 'on condition of anonymity' -- in violation of understandings reached
with the Americans...
"...the Palestinian officials' comments about Israeli 'intransigence' and 'arrogance' are aimed at paving the way for holding Israel fully responsible for the failure of the peace talks. The message that the Palestinian officials are trying to send out to their own people and the international community is that the Israeli government, contrary to its public stance, is not interested in peace.
"By sounding the alarm bell already, the Palestinians are hoping that when the talks fail they will be able to tell the world, 'You see, we told you from the beginning that these Israelis do not want peace'...
"Asked why the Palestinians are not making good their threat to walk out of the 'unproductive' talks, a senior Palestinian official explained: 'We cannot pull out at this stage because of American and European pressure. We will continue with the talks for six to nine months in order to show the world in the end that Israel is not interested in peace.'
"For now, the Palestinian Authority's strategy is to continue talking while at the same time blaming Israel for the lack of progress.
"Palestinian officials are hoping that by the time the talks fail, the world would have absorbed their message: namely, that the Israelis are not interested in peace. The Palestinian Authority's next step would be to seek international intervention and pressure to force Israel to accept all its demands, including a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines."
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3970/palestinian-peace-talks
Credit: camera
~~~~~~~~~~
Now, I ask you to consider very carefully what is described here, for this is the routine pattern of PA officials: They do not take a stance. They take it again and again every few minutes. How many times have you read about Abbas demanding that we return to the "'67 border."? It's because he has said it perhaps ten thousand times that the world has absorbed this terminology as if it were truth.
What I suggest here, and what I hope to focus on in the weeks and months ahead, is the need for us to emphasize the facts, again and again and again. To talk about our rights until an obtuse public begins to absorb the reality of those rights. "The '67 line was only a temporary armistice line. When Jordan signed the armistice agreement with Israel in 1949, it was agreed that the line would not prejudice final negotiations on a permanent border." "The '67 line was only a temporary armistice line." "The '67 line was only..." In talks, and op-eds and radio call in shows, and talk-backs on the Internet. Time to take the offense across the board. We've been too passive, too Western, in dealing with people who readily distort truth.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the same time that the Palestinian Arabs are stepping up their propaganda war, they are also heating matters up with regard to violence.
Al-Aksa Brigades, the "military" arm of Fatah (the PA's majority party), has announced that as of this Friday they will once again be endorsing terror acts against Israelis. Why?
"The invasion of the compound by hordes of settlers, and the harm to [Muslim] worshipers, with no intervention from the international community."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171783
Something else to deal with in the weeks and months ahead. Mark my words: the Temple Mount is at the heart of the battle for this land. While Muslims have chosen to behave as if it is exclusively theirs, Jewish leaders and some rabbis have been encouraging more frequent Jewish visitation to the Mount, to make a clear declaration of the Jewish claim to this holiest of sites.
I urge every Jew, whether a resident of Israel or a visitor, to go up on the Mount, with an appropriate and knowledgeable guide.
Credit: holylandphotos
~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, with everything else, is also the twentieth anniversary of the Oslo Accords, that ill-begotten diplomatic error -- founded on dreams rather than reality -- that has brought us so much grief.
I share here an article Tourism Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu) has just written on this subject (emphasis added):
"Twenty years after this agreement was signed, we must admit that it has been a historic failure.
"The Oslo vision stated that in the New Middle East, there would be no more wars, that the conflict was not about the existence of Israel, but about territory. It claimed that if we would just give the Palestinians a state, there would be peace.
"We took Arafat the terrorist and transformed him into a partner for peace. The Palestinians are no longer our enemies who want to kill us, but our neighbors. And terrorists became 'freedom fighters' who were protesting the 'occupation,' the cause of their terror. The Israeli people were told that a peace agreement would bring security, instead of security bringing peace. And above all, if no agreement was reached, then we would be the guilty party because we did not give up enough. We were promised a day of celebration, but instead it turned out to be a day of mourning. Instead of sanctifying life, we’ve buried our dead and cared for our crippled and injured.
"In retrospect, the Oslo Accord does not reflect political wisdom or even a calculated risk. It was simply a dangerous gamble."
We're headed down a slippery slope if we continue as we've been going. Says Landau, "a Palestinian state should not be allowed to be formed under the current circumstances." What he proposes is a long-term interim agreement -- "based on facts on the ground" -- "that would allow the Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side and address any security problems and implement any necessary economic improvement."
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Oslo-and-Israels-red-lines-325883
"...the Palestinian officials' comments about Israeli 'intransigence' and 'arrogance' are aimed at paving the way for holding Israel fully responsible for the failure of the peace talks. The message that the Palestinian officials are trying to send out to their own people and the international community is that the Israeli government, contrary to its public stance, is not interested in peace.
"By sounding the alarm bell already, the Palestinians are hoping that when the talks fail they will be able to tell the world, 'You see, we told you from the beginning that these Israelis do not want peace'...
"Asked why the Palestinians are not making good their threat to walk out of the 'unproductive' talks, a senior Palestinian official explained: 'We cannot pull out at this stage because of American and European pressure. We will continue with the talks for six to nine months in order to show the world in the end that Israel is not interested in peace.'
"For now, the Palestinian Authority's strategy is to continue talking while at the same time blaming Israel for the lack of progress.
"Palestinian officials are hoping that by the time the talks fail, the world would have absorbed their message: namely, that the Israelis are not interested in peace. The Palestinian Authority's next step would be to seek international intervention and pressure to force Israel to accept all its demands, including a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines."
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3970/palestinian-peace-talks
Credit: camera
~~~~~~~~~~
Now, I ask you to consider very carefully what is described here, for this is the routine pattern of PA officials: They do not take a stance. They take it again and again every few minutes. How many times have you read about Abbas demanding that we return to the "'67 border."? It's because he has said it perhaps ten thousand times that the world has absorbed this terminology as if it were truth.
What I suggest here, and what I hope to focus on in the weeks and months ahead, is the need for us to emphasize the facts, again and again and again. To talk about our rights until an obtuse public begins to absorb the reality of those rights. "The '67 line was only a temporary armistice line. When Jordan signed the armistice agreement with Israel in 1949, it was agreed that the line would not prejudice final negotiations on a permanent border." "The '67 line was only a temporary armistice line." "The '67 line was only..." In talks, and op-eds and radio call in shows, and talk-backs on the Internet. Time to take the offense across the board. We've been too passive, too Western, in dealing with people who readily distort truth.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the same time that the Palestinian Arabs are stepping up their propaganda war, they are also heating matters up with regard to violence.
Al-Aksa Brigades, the "military" arm of Fatah (the PA's majority party), has announced that as of this Friday they will once again be endorsing terror acts against Israelis. Why?
"The invasion of the compound by hordes of settlers, and the harm to [Muslim] worshipers, with no intervention from the international community."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171783
Something else to deal with in the weeks and months ahead. Mark my words: the Temple Mount is at the heart of the battle for this land. While Muslims have chosen to behave as if it is exclusively theirs, Jewish leaders and some rabbis have been encouraging more frequent Jewish visitation to the Mount, to make a clear declaration of the Jewish claim to this holiest of sites.
I urge every Jew, whether a resident of Israel or a visitor, to go up on the Mount, with an appropriate and knowledgeable guide.
Credit: holylandphotos
~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, with everything else, is also the twentieth anniversary of the Oslo Accords, that ill-begotten diplomatic error -- founded on dreams rather than reality -- that has brought us so much grief.
I share here an article Tourism Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu) has just written on this subject (emphasis added):
"Twenty years after this agreement was signed, we must admit that it has been a historic failure.
"The Oslo vision stated that in the New Middle East, there would be no more wars, that the conflict was not about the existence of Israel, but about territory. It claimed that if we would just give the Palestinians a state, there would be peace.
"We took Arafat the terrorist and transformed him into a partner for peace. The Palestinians are no longer our enemies who want to kill us, but our neighbors. And terrorists became 'freedom fighters' who were protesting the 'occupation,' the cause of their terror. The Israeli people were told that a peace agreement would bring security, instead of security bringing peace. And above all, if no agreement was reached, then we would be the guilty party because we did not give up enough. We were promised a day of celebration, but instead it turned out to be a day of mourning. Instead of sanctifying life, we’ve buried our dead and cared for our crippled and injured.
"In retrospect, the Oslo Accord does not reflect political wisdom or even a calculated risk. It was simply a dangerous gamble."
We're headed down a slippery slope if we continue as we've been going. Says Landau, "a Palestinian state should not be allowed to be formed under the current circumstances." What he proposes is a long-term interim agreement -- "based on facts on the ground" -- "that would allow the Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side and address any security problems and implement any necessary economic improvement."
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Oslo-and-Israels-red-lines-325883
~~~~~~~~~~
I wouldn't go where he
is going. I see it as also dangerous, because the Palestinian Arabs
are encroaching daily on Area C; the land is ours and must be
safeguarded. But I give him credit for renouncing Oslo as a possibility
and seeking another alternative. That's the beginning of new thinking:
seeking other alternatives.
Landau is now the
second minister in the government, albeit not nearly as powerful as Moshe
Ya'alon, to come out within only days against the formation of a Palestinian
state, even as the government is still involved in those negotiations.
What we are seeing,
just possibly, is that certain elements within the government are beginning a
campaign of truth telling: This will not work!
~~~~~~~~~~
And so my last word
before Yom Kippur on this political subject is that it does appear we're in for
changes. In 2009, Prime Minister Netanyahu gave his "Bar Ilan speech," in
which he embraced a "two state solution."
It has now been
announced that he will be speaking at Bar Ilan University again on October 6, at
the opening of the 20th anniversary international conference of the
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
His talk: "The State of
Israel’s Challenges, 2020 Vision: Israel’s Perils and Prospects."
It would definitely
appear then that the Palestinian Arabs will not have the last word; they may
have imagined that they were operating in a vacuum, but they most decidedly are
not. "2020 Vision" implies that our prime minister is seeing matters
clearly. Let us pray that this really is the case.
Maariv has said that
the prime minister's speech "will have a significant impact on
government policy regarding the Palestinian issue in the coming
years."
I will not share here
rumors I've heard, which are very tentative, and suggest half-way
solutions. We will have to wait until October.
And now? Let us
pray that Netanyahu will be guided by Heaven, to come to a place that is good
for the people of Israel.
~~~~~~~~~~
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Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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