Netanyahu: Peace and Security

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m

Last update - 11:43 05/05/2009 Netanyahu to AIPAC: We want peace with Arab world By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent In an unexpectedly short speech before AIPAC's policy conference delegates late Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his desire to pursue Mideast peace talks, and voiced his concern over Iran's progressing nuclear program.... "Peace will not come without security, so I want to be very clear - we shall never compromise on Israel's security. Second, for a final peace settlement to be achieved, the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. They must recognize Israel as a nation state of the Jewish people." read more http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=1083175

Obama the Untested

Dispatch May 4, 2009 by Robert D. Kaplan

A look ahead to the crises—from Russian power plays to Israeli military strikes—that could really show us what the president is made of.

The American media has just released an avalanche of reports assessing President Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office. Ignore it all. It doesn’t matter. The revealing part of his presidency hasn’t begun yet. At about this point in his presidency, George W. Bush had, with the help of his secretary of state, Colin Powell, just won the release of the crew of a U.S. spy plane from China, leading the world media elite to declare Bush a pragmatic president in foreign affairs, and Powell his most important advisor. As for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, it was said that he would be gone by summer—a short-serving and utterly forgettable secretary of defense. 9/11, of course, still lay in the future.

read more
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905u/kaplan-obama-100-days

Pakistan and Hamastan

MK Katz: Pakistan Situation Proves Dangers of 2-State Solution

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff to U.S. President Barack Obama, told a large group of AIPAC supporters on Sunday that American efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program depend on progress in Israel’s peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. So reported Channel One’s Mabat TV news report.

MK Yaakov Katz, chairman of the Ichud Leumi (National Union) party, says the veiled threat by Emanuel should be rebuffed and exposed for what it is: “He is basically telling Israel to commit suicide in exchange for American consent to consider dealing with the Iranian threat to the world.

What Emanuel is saying is that in order for the U.S. to agree to act against the nuclear program that threatens not only Israel, but entire other nations around the world, the price is that Israel should commit suicide - i.e., we must agree to a two-state solution that will see Hamas threatening us with its missiles not only from Gaza, as it is now, but from the very heart of Israel as well, in Judea and Samaria.”...

read more http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131196

Definition of Israel

Barriers to Equality: the Arabs in Israel

Hasson Shlomo and Karayanni Michael  2006

Which do you prefer? Israel is a

Jewish democratic state
Jewish democratic state with a national Arab minority
 or
Jewish democratic, multicultural state
read more

AIPAC Case Dropped

The AIPAC Case in Washington, Iraq, and Beyond

David Bromwich,  Professor of Literature at Yale, Posted May 2, 2009

The New York Times story today on the dropping of the government case against the AIPAC lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman comes in separate parts, not entirely signaled by paragraph breaks or outward format. The report by Neil A. Lewis and David Johnston sets out to answer three questions. What was this investigation about? Who is pleased and who displeased by the reversal? And why was the case dropped at just this moment? ...
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IMAM

The 12th Imam: What Is An Imam?
What is the 12th Imam? According to Islamic belief, an Imam is an anointed leader or ruler. Especially among the Shia beliefs an Imam is thought (though not required), to be a prayer leader or cleric when the word is capitalized...
The Shiite interpretation is that only Allah can appoint an Imam and no man has the power to do so. The 12th Imam is said to be a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, having divine status as did each of this succession of sons. The 12th Imam is also called the Hidden Imam and the Mahdi (guided one).

The 12th Imam: Who Is The 12th Imam?
Within the Shiite, (which is predominate in Iran), it is prophesied that there is a coming 12th Imam who is the great spiritual savior. This Imam is named Abu al-Qasim Muhammad or also called Muhammad al Mahdi. He is said to have been born the son of the 11th Imam, Hasan Al-Askari and his wife, the granddaughter of an Emperor. There are conflicting statements of her name being either Fatima or Nargis Khatoon...It said he has been ‘in hiding’ in caves ever since but will supernaturally return just before the Day of Judgment. According to the Hadith the criteria for the Hidden Imam are:

• He will be a descendant of Muhammad and the son of Fatima
• Will have a broad forehead and pointed nose
• Will return just before the end of the world
• His appearance will be preceded by a number of prophetic events during 3 years of horrendous world chaos, tyranny and oppression
• Will escape from Madina to Mekkah, thousands will pledge allegiance to him
• Will rule over the Arabs and the world for 7 years
• Will eradicate all tyranny and oppression bringing harmony and total peace
• Will lead a prayer in Mekkah which Jesus will be at his side and follow in

Remarkably, the 12th Imam theory plays heavily into the world’s current concerns with Iran. The Shiite Muslim President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, is deeply committed to the Islamic Messiah, al Mahdi. There have been many through the years claiming to be the Hidden Imam but Ahmadinejad believes he is yet to come. He claims that he is to personally prepare the world for the coming Mahdi. In order to save the world, it must be in a state of chaos and subjugation. Ahmadinejad claims he was “directed by Allah to pave the way for the glorious appearance of the Mahdi”. This apocalyptic directive includes some very scary proclamations.

The 12th Imam: Why Is This Especially Important Now?
While Christians look for Jesus’ 2nd coming, the Jews await the Messiah and Muslims await the 12th Imam. However, of the three, Allah’s designated Mahdi is the only one who demands a violent path to conquer the world. Mr. Ahmadinejad, and his cabinet, say they have a ‘signed contract’ with al Mahdi in which they pledge themselves to his work. What does this work involve? In light of concerns over Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly stated Israel should be wiped off the map...
This notion and goal, along with a violent hatred of infidels, America and Israel reminds us of Biblical prophecies of the coming anti-Christ and the pledges of millions to a deceiving False Messiah who will claim to bring peace. Could this 12th Imam Mahdi and his servant Ahmadinejad spark the last days of the coming true Savior? "http://www.allaboutpopularissues.org/12th-imam.htm">read more

What kind of 2 States?

‘two states for two peoples’ is an empty, deceptive leftist slogan
Sara Eliash is the Yesha Council’s deputy chairwoman

We must admit that when it comes to demagoguery, the sophisticated Left is able to produce simple and catchy phrases. The fact that these slogans have nothing to do with the truth does not stop leftists from using them, knowing that most people won’t examine these catch-phrases too deeply. The slogans will get the job done. If they repeat the lie as many times as possible, perhaps people will ultimately be convinced.

 

For example, the slogan “two states for two people - so simple and so catchy. Numbers that create a sense of credibility. Seemingly it doesn’t get any better than this. But let’s look a little deeper: Are the numbers credible?

 

How many states have been established in the area that used to be called Palestine-Land of Israel? ... Anyone with eyes in their head understands that this experiment, which claimed the lives of our best people, has failed.

 

Hence, when you encounter this empty slogan, keep in mind that there were other such slogans in the past: “Peace Now” and “Peace is better than Greater Israel.” read more

Imam Mahdi's Return

Iran president paves the way for Arabs' Imam return
Nov 17, 2005

His call for the destruction of Israel may have grabbed headlines abroad, but it is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's devotion to a mystical religious figure that is arousing greater interest inside Iran.
In a keynote speech on Wednesday to senior clerics, Ahmadinejad spoke of his strong belief in the second coming of Shi'ite Muslims' "hidden" 12th Imam.

According to Shi'ite Muslim teaching, Abul-Qassem Mohammad, the 12th leader whom Shi'ites consider descended from the Prophet Mohammed, disappeared in 941 but will return at the end of time to lead an era of Islamic justice.

"Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi," Ahmadinejad said ... long passages on the Mahdi which confused Western diplomats and irked those from Sunni Muslim countries who believe in a different line of succession from Mohammed.
...the Hojjatieh Society is governed by the conviction that the 12th Imam's return will be hastened by the creation of chaos on earth. .. read more

Demography and Depression

Cannot reverse the great wave of wealth destruction.

by David P. Goldman

Copyright (c) 2009 First Things (May 2009).

Three generations of economists immersed themselves in study of the Great Depression, determined to prevent a recurrence of the awful events of the 1930s. And as our current financial crisis began to unfold in 2008, policymakers did everything that those economists prescribed. Following John Maynard Keynes, President Bush and President Obama each offered a fiscal stimulus. The Federal Reserve maintained confidence in the financial system, increased the money supply, and lowered interest rates. The major industrial nations worked together, rather than at cross purposes as they had in the early 1930s.

In other words, the government tried to do everything right, but everything continues to go wrong.

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Abu Mazan has spoken

The verdict is in. The experiment in Gaza and Lebanon proves that Arab leadership has no interest in creating  peaceful societies living alongside Israel in harmony and tolerance.

Therefore, we hereby declare that the occupation and administration of the West Bank has been terminated. 

The entire West Bank without exception is declared to be an integral part of the State of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority is hereby disbanded. All quasi-governmental agencies, militia groups and organizations and entities hostile to the Jewish State of Israel are ordered to be disbanded. All weapons are to be deposited with local Israeli police and military authorities.

Residents of the West Bank who accept the authority of Israel will be candidates for permanent residency and/or citizenship. Others will be relocated to the Gaza Strip and elsewhere with appropriate financial consideration. 

Regional governance will assure the Jewish character of the State of Israel and protect the civil and religious rights of all peoples.  

Arabs who have escaped from the West Bank into pre-1967 Israel will be welcome to return to their homes on the West Bank. 

An era of prosperity, social reform and political stability will come after the removal of the current violent, corrupt leadership.  

Oslo, Camp David, Roadmap, Annapolis, and all two-state solutions have at least five irreconcilable differences: final borders, status of Jerusalem, return of “refugees”, status of 500,000+ Jews living across the Green Line, and recognition of Israel as the Jewish national home.

Is Israel a Jewish State?

How Jewish is the State of Israel?

By David P. Goldman

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Earlier this week the head of the Palestinian Authority, Muhammed Abbas, once again ruled out recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Hamas clearly wants to continue violent confrontation with Israel, but Abbas prefers a peace agreement that leads to the long-term erosion of the Jewish character of Israel—through, for example, immigration to Israel of the descendants of the Palestinian refugees of 1947.

Analysts have long assumed that demographics constitutes the greatest long-term threat to Israel—the “Arab womb” overwhelming the Jews. More recent data, however, suggests that rising Jewish fertility and falling Arab fertility are likely to keep the ratio of Jews to Arabs close to the present four-to-one-level for the foreseeable future. In 1969, Jewish births in the area west of the Jordan River formed only sixty-nine percent of the total. By 2008, the proportion had risen to seventy-five percent. Israel has by far the highest birth rate in the industrial world.

New immigration, however, is low in part because Jews outside of Israel evince weaker identification with the Jewish state, and new emigration is high, in part, because Israelis see less reason to live at risk in a country whose national purpose has become less clear to them. Is Israel simply another liberal democracy that happens to be inhabited mainly by Jews and maintains the sort of “kinship-immigration” policy that Germany also has? Or is Israel a Jewish state first and foremost?

In a secular world operating according to liberal ideology, a Jewish state seems something of an anachronism. A large body of opinion wants Israel to dissolve into a single state with the Palestinians and abandon its Jewish character outright. This is the view of New York University’s Tony Judt, for example. In an often-cited essay for the New York Review of Books in 1993, Judt denounced the fact that Israel “is an ethnic majority defined by language, or religion, or antiquity, or all three at the expense of inconvenient local minorities,” in which “Jews and the Jewish religion have exclusive privileges” that do not belong in “a world that has moved on, a world of individual rights, open frontiers, and international law.”

Israel also faces internal pressure to conform to secular liberal criteria. At the same time that Israeli voters chose a nationalist government as a response to security concerns, other parts of Israeli society reflect a paralysis of purpose that may do as much long-term damage to Israel as the external threats. Azure magazine, a quarterly published by the Shalem Center of Jerusalem, has for years drawn attention to the actions of Israel’s Supreme Court. In the Spring 2009 issue, attorneys Joel H. Golovensky and Ariel Gilboa argue that the rigorous application of liberal principles has led the Supreme Court to disrupt the core idea of the Zionist project: to settle Jews in the Land of Israel...read more

Police station protest turns ugly

Police detain eight people protesting against arrests of activists involved in promoting draft-dodging
by Daniel Edelson
A total of 23 feminist organizations were angered by the move, and an enraged letter on the matter was sent to the Interior Ministry. Police made eight arrests Thursday during a protest at a Tel Aviv police station. Demonstrators were protesting a police raid on two websites that promote draft-dodging in Israel and the simultaneous arrests of several activists involved in their activity.

About 50 protestors arrived at the Dizengoff St. Police Station...read morea

Talkback on Ynet

What does the "Coalition of Women for Peace" have to do with peace? The answer, sadly, is almost nothing.
A bunch of poorly educated, misinformed people get together and decide that draft-dodging is connected to peace.
It isn't. Too bad these people don't go for a trip to make "peace" with the other side. I doubt any of them read Arabic newspapers, or have been to Gaza in the past 3 years, nor have they talked "peace" with any Palestinian officials from the elected PA government, aka Hamas. Oh yes, in case these morons haven't read a Hebrew newspaper or news website (even Ynet) in the past few months, Hamas keeps saying they will "never" make peace with Israel, and that jihad (aka holy war) is the only way to go. And that, sadly, leaves the rest of us Israelis having to fight the jihadist enemy and at the same time put up with the shenanigans of these dupes.

Academics to Foreign Minister

Immigrant Academics to Lieberman: 'No' to a Palestinian State

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz(IsraelNN.com)

 

A group of immigrant academics has written to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, urging him to take a clear stand in opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state in Israel. The minister's office was non-committal, although a spokesman said Lieberman would be discussing the letter's contents.read more

One State

BenVenisti should visit www.onejewishstate.com and www.israeldemography.com

The binationalism vogue

_{By Meron Benvenisti}

Judging by the increasing number of symposia around the world devoted to promoting a binational state instead of two states for two peoples, a sea change is underway among academics and organizations engaged in progressive thinking.

A generation ago, the demand for establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel expressed a radical, post-Zionist stance. Now that this position has been deemed acceptable by the heart of the establishment, and even serves as the platform of centrist political parties, the circles that fought for it are distancing themselves from it. In its stead has come talk of a binational state. read

The Real Lieberman

The world according to Lieberman

Apr. 28, 2009
DAVID HOROVITZ and amir mizroch , THE JERUSALEM POST

He's only been in the job for a month, but already the foreign minister is fed up with the 'slogans' he keeps hearing from his international counterparts: occupation, settlements, land-for-peace, two-state solutions... His favored key words? Security (for Israel). A stronger economy (for the Palestinians). And stability (for all). Bringing peace to our region is more complex than sloganeering would allow, he tells The Jerusalem Post in this interview, his first with an Israeli newspaper. And it's time we all faced up to the inconvenient reality.
read more

Thank Heavens

Peace Now: Olmert government built, planned 9,000 homes on war-won land

Israeli watchdog groups call on Obama to pressure Netanyahu to halt settlement expansion. 'International community must save Israel from itself, because we are losing the two-state solution,' peace activist says
Associated Press

read more

I attended the gathering. Some very well-meaning blind people and some real Jew-haters in the crowd. Difficult to separate the two.

Poor Abu Mazen

Israel: Recognition of 'Jewish state' is crucial

Apr. 27, 2009
Haviv Rettig Gur and Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST

Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is the only way to end the conflict, the Foreign Ministry said Monday, in response to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' rejection of the Israeli demand for such recognition.

"The argument over recognizing Israel as a Jewish state is not technical or tactical," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy told The Jerusalem Post Monday.

"The Palestinians cannot negotiate for a two-state solution where one is Palestinian and the other is Palestinian-to-be,"

Earlier Monday, Abbas delivered a tough speech on peace-making, rejecting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's demand that the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Last week senior Palestinian officials also rejected Netanyahu's demand.

"The Israeli government has come up with many new issues and it does not want a two-state solution," Abbas told the Palestinian "Youth Parliament in Ramallah. "We don't accept the term 'Jewish state' and insist on achieving all our rights."
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Enlightened Societies

The Death Penalty
According to reports by Amnesty International, at least 346 people received the death ‎punishment in Iran in 2008. This makes Iran the country with the second highest number ‎of court-ruled death cases in the world. China occupies the first position with 1718 ‎capital punishment cases. But if one considers the populations of these two countries, ‎then Iran leads the world in deaths per capita, and China follows suit.

What 1967 Borders/Green Line?

PA’s fallacious premises

Palestinian Authority demands based on egregiously false assumptions
Arlene Kushner

We here in Israel have been asleep at the wheel. In a rush of concessionary zeal after Oslo, we chose to refrain from making our own case. At first this decision, made at a governmental level, was intended to demonstrate our eagerness for peace. But after a time it was almost as if we had forgotten how to speak for ourselves with vigor and forthrightness.

Mahmoud Abbas, PA president, and others speaking on behalf of the Palestinian position, regularly refer to the “June 4, 1967 border.” What Abbas et al have in mind is the line, commonly called the Green Line, behind which Israel operated before the Six Day War that began on June 5, 1967. Implied is that this line constitutes Israel’s “real” border, and that Israeli presence beyond this is automatically “illegitimate.” Thus, goes the PA argument, there can be no justice, no fairness that will lead to peace, unless Israel returns to her border.

 

Yet the simple, irrefutable, historical fact is that this line was not a border at all, but merely an armistice line. It was drawn when hostilities ceased at the end of the 1948-49 War of Independence — a war initiated, it should be noted, by the Arab League, which attacked the nascent state of Israel as soon as independ¬ence was declared.

  
Not only was it an armistice line, it was intended to be temporary. In the signed armistice agreement with Jordan (which was on the other side of that line) there was a clause stating that this line would not prejudice future negotiations on a permanent border. Thus the case cannot legitimately be made that the Green Line has any legal status in determining Israel’s “true” border. It does not. That border has yet to be determined. In negotiations. <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3703694,00.html">read more</a>

 

 

Ultra Orthodox and Memorial Day

from Ha'aretz talkback

The reason Hareidim don't stand to attention like non-Jews do on War Memorial day, is because it is not the Jewish way of mourning.

We have many days to mourn our fallen: Tisha B'Av; 17 of Tammuz; 10th of Tevet. These are Jewish days, where we fast, pray in the merit of all Jews who have been killed and who have suffered throughout history, and do things THE JEWISH WAY.

How many seculars even understand what these fasts are all about.

Imagine that it is decided that to make Memorial Day more real, everyone has to fast and restrain from sexual relationships. How many of you could manage that?

So don't criticise Hareidim; be thankful that at least they are doing something truly in the merit of the Fallen.