Important Op-Ed: The Return of Israel's Existential Dread (and the Obama factor)

Published today on Wall Street Journal

The Return of Israel's Existential Dread
By YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI
The postcard from the Home Front Command that recently arrived in my mailbox looks like an ad from the Ministry of Tourism. A map of Israel is divided by color into six regions, each symbolized by an upbeat drawing: a smiling camel in the Negev desert, a skier in the Golan Heights. In fact, each region signifies the amount of time residents will have to seek shelter from an impending missile attack. If you live along the Gaza border, you have 15 seconds after the siren sounds. Jerusalemites get a full three minutes. But as the regions move farther north, the time drops again, until finally, along the Lebanese and Syrian borders, the color red designates "immediate entry into a shelter." In other words, if you're not already inside a shelter don't bother looking for one.

The invisible but all-pervasive presence on that cheerful map of existential dread is Iran. If Israel were to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, Tehran's two terrorist allies on our borders—Hezbollah and Hamas—would almost certainly renew attacks against the Israeli home front. And Tel Aviv would be hit by Iranian long-range missiles.

On the other hand, if Israel refrains from attacking Iran and international efforts to stop its nuclearization fail, the results along our border would likely be even more catastrophic. Hezbollah and Hamas would be emboldened politically and psychologically. The threat of a nuclear attack on Tel Aviv would become a permanent part of Israeli reality. This would do incalculable damage to Israel's sense of security.

Given these dreadful options, one might assume that the Israeli public would respond with relief to reports that Iran is now considering the International Atomic Energy Agency's proposal to transfer 70% of its known, low-enriched uranium to Russia for treatment that would seriously reduce its potential for military application. In fact, Israelis from the right and the left have reacted with heightened anxiety. "Kosher Uranium," read the mocking headline of Israel's largest daily, Yediot Aharonot. Media commentators noted that easing world pressure on Iran will simply enable it to cheat more easily. If Iranian leaders are prepared to sign an agreement, Israelis argue, that's because they know something the rest of us don't.

In the last few years, Israelis have been asking themselves two questions with increasing urgency: Should we attack Iran if all other options fail? And can we inflict sufficient damage to justify the consequences?

As sanctions efforts faltered, most Israelis came to answer the first question affirmatively. A key moment in coalescing that resolve occurred in December 2006, when the Iranian regime sponsored an "International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust," a two day meeting of Holocaust deniers. For Israelis, that event ended the debate over whether a nuclear Iran could be deterred by the threat of counter-force. A regime that assembles the world's crackpots to deny the most documented atrocity in history—at the very moment it is trying to fend off sanctions and convince the international community of its sanity—may well be immune to rational self-interest.

Opinion here has been divided about the ability of an Israeli strike to significantly delay Iran's nuclear program. But Israelis have dealt with their doubts by resurrecting a phrase from the country's early years: Ein breira, there's no choice. Besides, as one leading Israeli security official who has been involved in the Iranian issue for many years put it to me, "Technical problems have technical solutions." Israelis tend to trust their strategic planners to find those solutions.

In the past few months, Israelis have begun asking themselves a new question: Has the Obama administration's engagement with Iran effectively ended the possibility of a military strike?

Few Israelis took seriously the recent call by former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski to shoot down Israeli planes if they take off for Iran. But American attempts to reassure the Israeli public of its commitment to Israel's security have largely backfired. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent threat to "obliterate" Iran if it launched a nuclear attack against Israel only reinforced Israeli fears that the U.S. would prefer to contain a nuclear Iran rather than pre-empt it militarily.

On the face of it, this is not May 1967. There is not the same sense of impending catastrophe that held the Israeli public in the weeks before the Six Day War. Israelis are preoccupied with the fate of Gilad Shalit (the kidnapped Israeli soldier held by Hamas), with the country's faltering relations with Turkey, with the U.N.'s denial of Israel's right to defend itself, and with an unprecedented rise in violent crime.

But the Iranian threat has seeped into daily life as a constant, if barely conscious anxiety. It emerges at unexpected moments, as black humor or an incongruous aside in casual conversation. "I think we're going to attack soon," a friend said to me over Sabbath dinner, as we talked about our children going off to the army and to India.

Now, with the possibility of a deal with Iran, Israelis realize that a military confrontation will almost certainly be deferred. Still, the threat remains.

A recent cartoon in the newspaper Ma'ariv showed a drawing of a sukkah, the booth covered with palm branches that Jews build for the autumn festival of Tabernacles. A voice from inside the booth asked, "Will these palm branches protect us from Iranian missiles?"

Israelis still believe in their ability to protect themselves—and many believe too in the divine protection that is said to hover over the fragile booths. Both are expressions of faith from a people that fear they may once again face the unthinkable alone.
—Mr. Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, and a contributing editor to the New Republic.

Jacques Chirac ordered to stand trial on corruption charges

Did I mention how much I hate this Arafat/Hamas BFF?

Jacques Chirac ordered to stand trial on corruption charges

Jacques Chirac, the former French president, has been ordered to stand trial on embezzlement charges over accusations he rewarded cronies with payments for non-existent jobs while mayor of Paris.

If the case goes ahead it will make Chirac the first holder of France's highest office to face a corruption trial.

The Paris public prosecutor has previously said the charges should be thrown out and is expected to appeal against the ruling by an investigating magistrate, Xavière Simeoni, that the evidence against Chirac warrants a trial.

Two people shot at Los Angeles synagogue

Wake up America, Jihadis and other antisemites are on the attack

Two people shot at Los Angeles synagogue

Two men were shot by a gunman Thursday at a Los Angeles synagogue in what police sources say could be a hate crime.

An unidentified police representative told The Los Angeles Times the shooting victims, both men around 30 years old, were in stable condition with gunshot wounds to the torso.

Anonymous police sources said the unidentified gunman shot the men, described as Jewish by police, as they were entering the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue Thursday morning.

The sources said robbery is not a suspected motive in the shooting, leading detectives to treat the incident as a possible hate crime.

An unidentified man was arrested in the area following the shooting, but the sources were doubtful the individual was responsible for the shooting.

The Times said police informed other Los Angeles synagogues about the morning incident as a precaution. Police patrols of Jewish religious facilities in the city were increased.

No one knows if it's a Jihadi or just regular plain'ol 'regular' antisemite. It seems this country has enough of both right now.

Gaydamak was a French agent

I suspected he was a spy for some entity, no one reaches what he did with his background, and blows it away so fast and easily.

Former French interior minister: Gaydamak was a French agent

Former French interior minister Charles Pasque claimed Thursday that Russian-Israeli businessman Arkadi Gaydamak was in the past an agent for a French intelligence agency.

Pasque and Gaydamak were among 36 people found guilty Tuesday of illegally trafficking Soviet-made weapons to Angola during a civil war in the 1990s. Pasque was fined €100,000 and given a one-year jail sentence which he intends to appeal. Gaydamak was given a six-year prison sentence in absentia.

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro Thursday, Pasque, who served as minister under former French president Jacques Chirac, alleged that Gaydamak had served as an agent for interior intelligence department DST. Pasque claimed that Chirac was well aware of this and called on the former president to "take responsibility."

If he was acting on Jack Chirac 's behest trading illegal arms to both sides of a conflict in Africa - shouldn't Chirac be tried too? Did Chirac profit too from these dealings? How deep did the arms dealing corruption go in Chirac's France? How much African blood is on Chirac's hands!?

Opinion in Lebanon: Hezbollah has taken over completely

Op-Ed copied in entirety from Ya-Libnan

Hezbollah Rules Lebanon.

By Ghassan Karam
Developments in all areas take place when either one or both of the parties benefit. No one will willingly agree to an exchange or an outcome that will be harmful to their interests, given that the actors are rational. So it always makes sense to suggest that if an agreement between the parties cannot be arrived at then the stalemate is also an outcome that benefits one of the parties to that particular transaction.

Premier designate Sa’ad Hariri has been attempting to form a cabinet in Lebanon for over four months but all his efforts have been to no avail thus far. It is rather obvious that this elongated period of a political deadlock is not helpful to his image, reputation nor is it helpful for his majority coalition, March 14, which is becoming increasingly portrayed as “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight”. Mr. Hariri and his allies were ecstatic when their alliance managed to check the ambitions of the FPM candidates who managed nonetheless to win a large number of parliamentary seats. The other two major allies in the opposition camp, Amal and Hezbollah, captured all the seats that they were expected to win. Yet the opposition as a group fell short of capturing the majority of seats in the chamber of deputies. Normally that would have been the end of the story. The winners would have been called upon to form a cabinet and to govern provided that their proposed cabinet has enough support.

But that would have been too easy for the Lebanese sectarian system. Michel Aoun , the squeaky wheel of Lebanese politics, keeps coming up with fresh demands as to assure that the efforts to form a cabinet of “national unity” are frustrated. General Aoun and his FPM party are the most direct and clear obstacle that has prevented the formation of a “national Unity” cabinet. But don’t let that fool you into believing that Mr. Aoun is a king maker. His demands might be genuinely those of his party but that would not be enough to prevent cabinet formation in the face of considerable domestic and international pressure to do so unless he had the support of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah have been the real “power behind the thrown” in Lebanese politics for almost the past four years. Hezbollah have the largest militia, albeit illegal, and the most sophisticated cache of weapons that is also illegal. But the issue of illegality is not an issue at all in a dysfunctional state where the legitimate armed forces of the state are outgunned by the foreign trained and foreign funded illegal militia. Michel Aoun and all his shenanigans would not amount to a “hill of beans” without the blessings of the real rulers of Lebanon; Hezbollah. A strong and stable central government is not a development that Hezbollah favours. Their activities and their state within a state prefer the current situation of paralysis of the central government. The FPM is nothing but a foil for the real beneficiaries of an ineffective and powerless state. Hezbollah has created a unique environment that allows it to rule without being held responsible and that has “legitimized” its outlaw status.

A rocket fired from Lebanon hits empty field in Israel's north

Obviously Lebanon has complied with cease fire terms and there aren't any rockets in south Lebanon. Obviously.

Lebanese security source confirms rocket fired at Israel

A rocket was fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel on Tuesday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.

He said the rocket was fired from the Lebanese village of Houla.

Quick UN: condemn Israel, start a human rights investigation for the rights of Arabs violated by this rocket fired by Arabs against Jews. Goldstone? Do you hear me? Echo - echo - echo ....

Gee - UNIFIL is a huge failure. What a fricken surprise.

How Loony is Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan?

In direct competition with Libya's Kadhafi, Erdogan says Israel wants to nuke Gaza and he has a great friend called Ahmedinajad.

Report: Turkey PM says Lieberman threatened to nuke Gaza

Turkey's prime minister has further inflamed simmering Israel-Turkey tensions, claiming that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to use nuclear weapons against Gaza, The Guardian reported Monday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as making the allegation in an interview published by the British newspaper. The comments came amid a crisis in ties between the two allies, which erupted earlier in the month after Turkey banned Israel from participating in a NATO air force drill.

The crisis was deepened two weeks ago, when Ankara refused to take off the air a television drama that depicts Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian children.

In the interview, Erdogan reportedly insisted that the Turkey-Israel strategic alliance remained alive, but chided Lieberman over the alleged nuclear threat regarding the Gaza Strip.

The Turkish leader also stressed that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, was a "friend" of Turkey's.

"There is no doubt he is our friend," Erdogan was quoted as saying. "As a friend so far we have very good relations and have had no difficulty at all."

He reportedly rejected on Western accusations that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying: "Iran does not accept it is building a weapon. They are working on nuclear power for the purposes of energy only."

Compare and contrast:
Libya Bans Canadians
Kadhafi says Palestinians should have nuclear weapons

Canadians not welcome in Libya

Terrorism, Iran and your world upside down

A good op-ed, points out to some of the most obvious absurdities of our times: Iranian top terror leaders died in a suicide bombing attack, hence they are 'victims of terror'.

Terrorism: Iran reaps the whirlwind
By JONATHAN SPYER - a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, IDC, Herzliya.

Sunday's bombing in the Sistan-Baluchestan province in Iran contains within it a certain unavoidable irony. The 43 people who died in the attack included six senior officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, among them the deputy commander of the IRGC ground forces, Gen. Nur-Ali Shustari. Through its Quds force, the Revolutionary Guard is the chief practitioner of Iran's widespread policy of war by proxy throughout the region. Sunday's bombing, however, indicates Iran's own vulnerability to this form of warfare. On a broader level, the bombing also shows the built-in anomalies of Shi'ite Iran's current regional alliance with various Sunni militant organizations.

The distance between rhetoric and reality in Iran is wide. The regime claims to represent a united Muslim identity. In reality, it presides over an ethnically and religiously diverse country.

Sunday's bombing was claimed by the Jundallah (Soldier of Allah) organization, also known as the Peoples' Resistance Movement in Iran. This group claims to act on behalf of Iran's Sunni minority. Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran's only Sunni majority province, is the main focus of its activity. The Sunni Baluchis, with a population of 1.2 million, are the smallest of Iran's main ethnic minority groups (the others are the Azeris, Kurds and Arabs).

The Iranian regime's usual practice when faced with acts of protest and subversion from among its own minority communities is to blame foreign interference, and the latest bombing was no exception. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani claimed that the attack was the "result of US efforts and a sign of US hostility towards Iran."

Most serious observers of modern Western diplomacy would discount the very possibility of US or Western involvement in acts of this kind. For better or worse, it is generally concluded that such acts of subversion are no longer in the "tool box" of Western states.

However, the list of non-Western and regional countries which might more plausibly be imagined to wish to respond to Iranian and IRGC hostile action is long indeed. The Iranian regime regards itself as a revolutionary project. In the manner of other such entities, it has long treated the restriction of state borders with contempt.

Iranian outreach is not restricted to support for Hizbullah and for Palestinian groups such as Islamic Jihad, Hamas and others. The IRGC's Quds Force has busied itself with offering backing to Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq and to the Taliban in Afghanistan. It engages in efforts at destabilization in the Gulf states, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. Information declassified this year also pointed to a clandestine relationship with al-Qaida.

Iranian proxy warfare is an obviously useful diplomatic tool in enabling the regime to wield influence across the region. It also fits with Iran's idea of itself as the emerging "sunrise" power in the Middle East. However, the Quds Force of the IRGC is not the only element in the Middle East with a long track record of utilizing local grievances and proxy forces as a tool of policy.

THE JUNDALLAH group operates from Pakistani Baluchestan. It is reputed to be the recipient of assistance from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence. Jundallah has been involved in cross border raids against Iranian targets since 2003. The ISI, many of whose officers are themselves of Sunni Islamist persuasion, backs a number of client groups on Pakistan's borders. It is known to support insurgents in Kashmir, as well as in Afghanistan.

Some observers have also pointed to financial support for Jundallah from the Persian Gulf states.

Pakistan has indignantly denied Iranian claims that it was responsible for the bombing this week. The precise nature of the ISI and Pakistan's relations with Jundallah (and the extent to which elements in ISI might be acting independently of their government) are hard to gauge. However, the unfamiliar sight of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as victims rather than backers of terrorism offers a number of lessons which should be borne in mind.

Firstly, in recent years, Israel has tended to identify Islamist Iran as the sole or primary backer of the radical Islamic forces currently proliferating in the region and beyond it. This picture is simplistic. In their different ways, both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan could compete for this crown with equal plausibility.

Secondly, it is a mistake to buy into Iranian propaganda and view the Islamic Republic as a monolithic, unified Islamist force. Iran is a divided society, and as such vulnerable to the exploitation of its fault lines by enemies.

Thirdly, the success of Iranian outreach, and of the Iranian project of regional hegemony crucially depends on its ability to transcend the Shi'ite-Sunni divide. Iran's closest relations are with fellow Shi'ite forces. But to achieve the regional standing it aspires to, Iran must find a way to offer itself as the natural address for Sunni radical forces too.

The country has had some success with this. Teheran's promotion of its "resistance" model of asymmetric war against Israel plays a crucial role here. Analysts note the Second Lebanon War as a watershed moment. Hizbullah's perceived success in this war led to a turning of Muslim Brotherhood associated groups across the region to support Iran.

But there is an inherent tension in Shi'ite Iran's relations with Sunni Islamist groups. This tension offers an opening to be exploited. Iran's attempt to expand its power is of deep concern to its neighbors, who have a natural motive to push back against it. And Iran is certainly not the only regional force, as the bombing in Sistan-Baluchestan shows, which is willing to exploit internal divisions in the most ruthless and direct way. Iran has by any measure sowed the wind. It may now be beginning to reap the whirlwind.

MsPaint art, Windows 7 released

Perhaps first - to the topic of this blog, here's a proper link: Break-Dancers in Gaza: Keeping It Real - Keeping it real in Gaza... Perhaps one should ponder retiring that phrase, I believe several comedians have shown how ridiculous it is and the people who use it are.

In celebration of Windows 7 release, I present you with what I call 'MsPaint Art: Sunset at lunchtime'


(my own original 3 minutes art...)

Already entry level E-Machine systems are sold with Windows 7:


I've been using Windows 7 for a while at home - through my MSDN license - and I can attest that it is so much better than Vista.

UNICEF worker helping Palestinian kids - gets rewarded by nation of terror

The story was found today in 'Israel Today' newspaper and is of the sentencing of the 4 teen Arabs who have brutally raped and robbed a 60 year old Norwegian UNICEF worker helping Palestinians around Jerusalem. Pretty sure Hamas would demand release of those nice people soon. Sometimes - it's not the UN workers who rape and abuse the natives - this time it's the other way around, sad and sick story.

Story image cutout in Hebrew:

Must Watch: Col. Richard Kemp, former UK commander in Afghanistan argues against Goldstone

Thousands have watched so far.

Not that UK, France, Russia, India, or the big ass hole himself 'Goldstone' - cared to listen.

Goldstone responds - and lies, and lies, and lies

His allegations:

1. All criticism of his report are personal and not material. Completely false. There have been plenty of critical masses regarding the reliability of sources, the mission itself, the conclusion, the assumptions, and the treatment of Hamas vs. Israel. The man is willfully lying here and ignoring the valid points raised - all to promote his own 'I'm a fucking saint' agenda.

2. He says that because 'he prosecuted human rights crimes before, he had to take a mission to investigate both Hamas and Israel'. That's a complete lie. The mission to begin with was to investigate Israel, it's tone changed slightly by Ban Kee Moon after already commissioned. Goldstone himself wrote 90% of his report against Israel. Its whole purpose, as well as its final use was to root out Israel's right of self defense. He knows it - and he's lying about it.

3. He proclaims that Israel is at fault for not collaborating, however the end result proves the opposite. His team members have judged Israel as a war criminal even before they were commissioned - how about that? Why should anyone willfully participate in an executionary kangaroo court against himself?!

4."Those who feel that our report failed to give adequate attention to specific incidents or issues should be asking the Israeli government why it failed to argue its cause." - How dare he?! He had terror victims at his disposal - and he practically ignored them! He had plurality of global evidence of 8 years of war crimes committed against Israel - he didn't need to get inside Israel to collect them - He WILLFULLY DISMISSED THEM!!! SON OF A BITCH!

5. "Israel missed a golden opportunity to actually have a fair hearing from a UN-sponsored inquiry" - go fuck yourself you 'false Jew', Kapo, antisemite who keep abuse the words 'as a Jew'. I linked before to works of others who have demonstrated the malicious way in which he wrote his report, and how he accepted at face value purely fabricated details handed to him by all sorts of Hamas 'rights groups'. The mission and its members have already decided the verdict, they were there only to collect the accusations. You think we're that dumb Goldstone?!

6. "I did so again last week. Israel could have seized the opportunity provided by the even-handed mandate of our mission and used it as a precedent for a new direction by the United Nations in the Middle East. Instead, we were shut out. " What he's saying by that statement is: 'I, the esteemed Goldstone was personally offended, so I decided to shit and piss on all the Jews who live in Sderot.'

7. "OF COURSE the children of Sderot and the children of Gaza have the same rights to protection under international law and that is why, notwithstanding the decision of the government of Israel, we took whatever steps were open to us to obtain information from victims and experts in southern Israel about the effects on their lives of sustained rocket and mortar attacks over a period of years. It was on the strength of those investigations that we held those attacks to constitute serious war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. " - Not the same!!! Children of Sderot were deliberately bombarded over 8 years, but his report tried to excuse Hamas and tried to proclaim that 'there needs to be internal Arab investigation', what a joke! During cast lead, children at Gaza were hurt - but the IDF did try to take measures to save them. Children in Gaza were not targeted, that's a lie. That's a blood libel. That's the work of an antisemite!

8. "Israel has a strong history of investigating allegations made against its own officials reaching to the highest levels of government: the inquiries into the Yom Kippur War, Sabra and Shatila, Bus 300 and the Second Lebanon War. " - and?! Israel did investigate internally many allegations of misconduct during the Gaza war. It did not investigate completely FALSE and obviously FAKE allegations! Look at Goldstone's sources! The man has no shame!

JPost:My mission - and motivation

Five weeks after the release of the Report of the Fact Finding Mission on Gaza, there has been no attempt by any of its critics to come to grips with its substance. It has been fulsomely approved by those whose interests it is thought to serve and rejected by those of the opposite view. Those who attack it do so too often by making personal attacks on its authors' motives and those who approve it rely on its authors' reputations.

Israeli government spokesmen and those who support them have attacked it in the harshest terms and, in particular my participation, in a most personal and hurtful way. The time has now come for more sober reflection on what the report means and appropriate Israeli reactions to it.

I begin with my own motivation, as a Jew who has supported Israel and its people all my life, for having agreed to head the Gaza mission. Over the past 20 years, I have investigated serious violations of international law in my own country, South Africa, in the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and the alleged fraud and theft by governments and political leaders in a number of countries in connection with the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food program. In all of these, allegations reached the highest political echelons. In every instance, I spoke out strongly in favor of full investigations and, where appropriate, criminal prosecutions. I have spoken out over the years on behalf of the International Bar Association against human rights violations in many countries, including Sri Lanka, China, Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

I would have been acting against those principles and my own convictions and conscience if I had refused a request from the United Nations to investigate serious allegations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas in the context of Operation Cast Lead.

AS A Jew, I felt a greater and not a lesser obligation to do so. It is well documented that as a condition of my participation I insisted upon and received an evenhanded mandate to investigate all sides and that is what we sought to do.

I sincerely believed that because of my own record and the terms of the mission's mandate we would receive the cooperation of the Israeli government. Its refusal to cooperate was a grave error. My plea for cooperation was repeated before and during the investigation and it sits, plain as day, in the appendices of the Gaza report for those who actually bother to read it. Our mission obviously could only consider and report on what it saw, heard and read. If the government of Israel failed to bring facts and analyses to our attention, we cannot fairly be blamed for the consequences. Those who feel that our report failed to give adequate attention to specific incidents or issues should be asking the Israeli government why it failed to argue its cause.

Israel missed a golden opportunity to actually have a fair hearing from a UN-sponsored inquiry. Of course, I was aware of and have frequently spoken out against the unfair and exceptional treatment of Israel by the UN and especially by the Human Rights Council.

I did so again last week. Israel could have seized the opportunity provided by the even-handed mandate of our mission and used it as a precedent for a new direction by the United Nations in the Middle East. Instead, we were shut out.

As I stated in response to a recent letter from the mayor of Sderot, I believed strongly that our mission should have been allowed to visit Sderot and other parts of southern Israel that have been at the receiving end of unlawful attacks by many thousands of rockets and mortars fired at civilian targets by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. We were prevented from doing so by, what I believe, was a misguided decision by the Israeli government.

In Gaza, I was surprised and shocked by the destruction and misery there. I had not expected it. I did not anticipate that the IDF would have targeted civilians and civilian objects. I did not anticipate seeing the vast destruction of the economic infrastructure of Gaza including its agricultural lands, industrial factories, water supply and sanitation works. These are not military targets. I have not heard or read any government justification for this destruction.

OF COURSE the children of Sderot and the children of Gaza have the same rights to protection under international law and that is why, notwithstanding the decision of the government of Israel, we took whatever steps were open to us to obtain information from victims and experts in southern Israel about the effects on their lives of sustained rocket and mortar attacks over a period of years. It was on the strength of those investigations that we held those attacks to constitute serious war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

The refusal of cooperation by the government of Israel did not prevent us from reacting positively to a request from Gilad Schalit's father to speak personally to our mission at its public session in Geneva. No one who heard his evidence could fail to have been moved by the unspeakable pain of a parent whose young son was being held for over three years in unlawful circumstances without any contact with the outside world and not even allowed visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The mission called for his release.

Israel and its courts have always recognized that they are bound by norms of international law that it has formally ratified or that have become binding as customary international law upon all nations. The fact that the United Nations and too many members of the international community have unfairly singled out Israel for condemnation and failed to investigate horrible human rights violations in other countries cannot make Israel immune from the very standards it has accepted as binding upon it.

Israel has a strong history of investigating allegations made against its own officials reaching to the highest levels of government: the inquiries into the Yom Kippur War, Sabra and Shatila, Bus 300 and the Second Lebanon War.

...

Bla...Bla... Bla.. lying piece of shit!

Subhuman piece of scum.

Major blow to Iranian army, US condemns - whose side is this admin on?!

Condemning blows to the worst regime in the world, silence in face of brutal oppression of Iranian protesters, on whose interests is this administration acting?

U.S. condemns attack in Iran and denies involvement

The United States condemned a suicide bombing that killed six senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders and denied it had anything to do with it.

"We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives. Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false," U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a brief statement.

The attack:
NYT: Iran Guard Commanders Are Killed in Bombings

At least five commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of others left dead and injured in two terrorist bombings in the restive region of the nation’s southeastern frontier with Pakistan, according to multiple Iranian state news agencies.

The coordinated attacks appeared to mark an escalation in hostilities between Iran’s leadership and one of the nation’s many disgruntled ethnic and religious minorities, in this case the Baluchis. The southeast region, Sistan-Baluchistan, has been the scene of terrorist attacks in the past, and in April the government put the elite Guards Corps in control of security there to try to stop the escalating violence.

Iranian officials have accused foreign enemies of supporting the terrorist insurgents and repeated that charge Sunday. By midday, official news reports from Iran said that 31 people were killed and at least 28 injured.

“There is no doubt that this violent and inhumane act was part of the strategy of foreigners and enemies of the regime and the revolution to destroy unity between Shias and Sunnis and create divisions among the unified ranks of the great Iranian people,” said a statement issued by the Revolutionary Guards through the official IRNA news service.

Gaza airport security photo

Obviously fake - but makes a strong (and funny) point...


source here.

Which countries back stabbed Israel in UN-Human Rights Council? India, Russia and more

Some things are inexcusable, my source for who voted what is in Hebrew, I'm sure an English version exists somewhere.


So which non-Muslim countries voted in favor, abstained or avoided the conference so as to not cast a vote?

In favor of Goldstone:
Russia, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, India, Jibuty, S.Africa, Brazil, Chile

Abstained:
Bosnia, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Belgium, S.Korea, Slovenia, Uruguay

Refused to participate:
France, Britain

Back stabbing all the way. Every nation which chose not to oppose has in fact allowed this injustice. Israel should cancel any collaboration on any level they had with the countries who voted in favor - and consider how to interact with those who abstained.

This vote proves how the Oslo process was nothing but a total catastrophe. Any attempt by Israel to reconcile and promote peace - by accords or unilateral withdrawal goes punished by the nations of this world.

Peace?! Who's seeking peace here? India and Russia seem to be well content with rockets on the heads of Sderot kids for 8 years, and are obsessively concerned if the Jews would consider self defense. Those who voted in favor of this decision have in fact cast their vote to allow demolishing Israel and promote the genocide Hamas and Iran are contemplating.

PS. Some are claiming that this is a diplomatic defeat for Israel and a personal defeat for Benjamin Netanyahu. I completely disagree, the nature of this 'council' and its members predetermined the consequence. This situation is not new, nor is it in any way under any Israeli control. The only thing I'm saying, and keep saying is that it underpins the tragedy of the Oslo accord and the false assumptions and hopes that created it.

Obama's true test of friendship with Israel: Veto Goldstone at UNSC

The corrupt and morally inverted UN-Human-Rights-Council has decided to pass a 5 page report to UN-Security-Council - demanding action against Israel for war crimes. We've said all there is to say about this report and this 'anti-human rights' council. The only issue at the table right now is what is Obama about to do?

Will he use this as leverage against Israel? Will he let this distortion of reality and history hold water? Or will he do the only sensible and honorable thing - veto any attempt at any resolution without extracting concessions from Israel?

I'll take it all back - all my criticism of Obama's anti-Israel, anti-Jewish positions (I already try to keep to a minimum my postings regarding Obama's internal policies). This is the true test.

In a fight between a sovereign nation defending its civilians from rocket bombardment and a terror gang hiding behind school children and throwing political opponents from roofs. A gang which blows up buses, which is devoted to commit genocide and are unabashed about their intention. In a situation where so many actions took place to avoid the bloodshed, to avoid civilian casualties - Israel and Jews are maligned and are about to suffer international criminal consequences - simply for trying to defend those poor people who happen to reside in Sderot, Ashkelon and the agriculture villages around. In this fight, where does Obamas stand? Where does Obama's USA stand?

I know where most residents of the USA stand. Even most members of Obama's party. I want to be able to say that about Obama.

JPost: UNHRC endorses Goldstone's Gaza report by large majority

Despite Israeli lobbying efforts against the Goldstone Report, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva endorsed the document on Friday, a move that will send it on to more powerful UN bodies in New York for action

The resolution passed 25-6, with mostly developing countries in favor and the United States and five European countries opposing. Eleven mostly European and African countries abstained, while Britain, France and three other members of the 47-nation body declined to vote.

The Palestinians, through Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, had submitted the resolution to the council, which called for an endorsement of the Goldstone Report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead.

The resolution also condemned Israeli human rights violations in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Although the Goldstone report also accuses Hamas of war crimes, the five-page resolution explicitly mentions only Israeli violations of international law.

Based on the recommendations in the report, the document will now move on to the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. The report asks that the Security Council forward it to the International Criminal Court, so that it could be used as a basis to prosecute Israelis for war crimes.

US diplomat Douglas M. Griffiths told the council Washington was disappointed with the outcome of the vote. The United States had wanted the report to stay in Geneva, and is likely to veto any action in the 15-member Security Council.

Prior to the vote, Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan addressed the UN session, and said that based on his knowledge and experience, during Operation Cast Lead, the IDF "did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare."

Speaking on behalf of UN Watch, an independent Geneva human rights group, Kemp added that "Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population."

He said that Hamas, like Hizballah, was expert at driving the media agenda.

"Both will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes," he said. "They are adept at staging and distorting incidents."

"It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong, that they are abusing human rights," continued Kemp. "The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties."

He also noted that during the conflict, the IDF took risks by allowing huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying that to the military tactician, delivering aid virtually into your enemy's hands is "normally quite unthinkable."

"War is chaos and full of mistakes," added the former commander who has served with NATO and the United Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia; and participated in the Gulf War. "There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes."

He stressed that the civilian casualties were a consequence of Hamas' way of fighting, saying the terror group deliberately tried to sacrifice their own civilians.

"Israel had no choice apart from defending its people, to stop Hamas from attacking them with rockets," he concluded.

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer blasted the meeting, saying, it had nothing to do with human rights.

"There's no emergency, other than Palestinian President Abbas' precarious political predicament," he said. "The Arab-sponsored draft resolution is entirely one-sided, condemning Israel while saying nothing about Hamas and its rocket attacks."

"UN Watch calls on all council members to vote against the imbalanced resolution, and to deny Hamas terrorists the political victory they desperately crave, but which the world will only grant at its peril," he stated. "We urge council members like Pakistan, China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia to end their strategy of focusing on Israel in order to hide the world's real abuses, especially their own. With this being the council's 6th special session on Israel - versus only 4 for the whole world combined - it's tragic that once again politics is trumping human rights."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian representative told the council that Israel must take responsibility for its actions.

"Justice that isn't done on time, is as if it has not been done at all," she said. "Israel is denying the Palestinians basic human rights and there should be no compromise on this issue."

The Turkish representative expressed concern over continued West Bank settlement activity, restrictions imposed on Palestinians movement and house demolitions, stating that the Goldstone report related to all of the above.

In other news, Arab plot to fire rockets at Jerusalem was foiled. UN surely will urgently convene to condemn... any minute now, oh - yea, they'll take sides - with those wishing to fire rockets at civilians at Jerusalem.

Peace will come only when the world would stop assisting and encouraging those whose only intent is war and murder.

True story, what my 9 year old girl said about Obama fundamentally transforming the country

We were eating dinner and Foxnews was playing in the background this clip:


The next conversation follows:

My girl: What does 'transform' mean?
Us: It's when something changes - like a caterpillar changing to a butterfly
My girl: But why would anyone want to make America so different? We love it just the way it is!

My post note... the way it is - the way it used to be.

Turkey TV:Jews murdering Gaza children,Erdugan:We purposely punished Israel on drill because of 'nation will'

Is this a European NATO ally - a major strategic partner of USA and Israel, or Iran-II?

Drama series in Turkey: IDF fires intentionally children

State television channel in Turkey TRT1 made drama series taking place this week in Gaza, against the "Operation Cast Lead. IDF soldiers are a bloodthirsty, fire intentionally children, placing Palestinians face a firing squad. In one scene the actor looks form an IDF soldier pushing a child to the wall and shoot her to death

Proudly presenting blood libel, anti-Jews propaganda on Turkish TV:


Also today:
Erdogan: We removed Israel from drill due to people's desire

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the decision to freeze Israel out of a joint air force drill with the United States and NATO was made "due to the nation's desire".

In an interview with al-Jazeera television, Erdogan said, "We took our people's opinion into account when we made the decision. Discussions were held with several parties and we decided that the drill would be held as planned and that Israel would not take part in it." He noted that there were "diplomatic sensitivities which must be taken into account."

A Muslim employee of 'European Organization for Nuclear Research' arrested for terror links

Physicists, Doctors obviously socio economic conditions can't be called as excuses here, would someone please find any possible connection between these terrorists, any? hmm... so odd. Could a certain religion play any role here?

Physicist held in France over 'terror links'

A man arrested in France on suspicion of links to terrorist organizations is a physicist who was working with the agency known for being home of the Large Hadron Collider -- the world's most powerful particle accelerator.

"His work did not bring him into contact with anything that could be used for terrorism," the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said in a news release.

"CERN is a particle physics research laboratory whose research addresses fundamental questions about the universe. None of our research has potential for military application, and all our results are published openly in the public domain."

The scientist "was not a CERN employee and performed his research under a contract with an outside institute," the release said.

The man was arrested Thursday in Vienne, France "under suspicion of links to terrorist organizations in Algeria," the release added.

Israelis Bring Green Power to West Bank Village

An AP story expressing astonishment that Israelis bring electric power to Palis. WTF?! Israel has always supplied them with every necessity including power-water-and sewage, only to receive violence, hate and murder in return.

Israelis Bring Green Power to West Bank Village

Residents of a West Bank village with no electricity have been helped out of the darkness by unlikely benefactors - a group of Israelis who installed solar panels and wind turbines to illuminate the Palestinians' makeshift homes.


The villagers of Susya live in tents and caves with power lines darting right above their dwellings, connecting a nearby Jewish settlement to the power grid while bypassing them entirely.

It was this lack of basic services that drew the physicists from Comet-ME, a group of pro-peace Israeli scientists and activists, to this dusty, desolate area. Now the entire village of 300 people has access to power that is reliable, free and green.

At night, rudimentary streetlights dot the otherwise pitch-black village and each home is lit by an energy-saving bulb. Villagers have no access to phone lines, but the power allows them to charge their cell phones.

"Life is easier now," said Susya villagers Widad Nawaja, standing below the solar panel that powers her home. "We have light. Children can do their homework at night if they couldn't finish it during the day."

The residents also hope the new amenities will help them make more money: an electric butter churner means they can produce butter faster than by hand, and two green-powered refrigerators can preserve their produce until it can be sold.

"The communities here are in deep poverty. The project is targeted to help them make more revenue from their own work," said Noam Dotan, an activist and physicist with Comet-ME.

Watch out people of good will - no good deed goes unpunished. Are you sure your solar panels aren't 'colonialistically occupying and disenfranchise' Arabs?

"This is an example of the coexistence between Arabs and Jews, and this is a very important thing," said Mohammad Ahmed Nasser Nawaja, wearing a traditional Arab robe and carrying the cell phone he charged thanks to the new power system.

Wait, if he had no electricity until now, how did he charge his cell phone? Also - if he's so poor - how's he paying for it?

Anyways - I brought this story to just show that there are plenty of Israelis doing their best to foster peaceful and friendly co-existence. Non such examples exist in the other direction. (to the contrary)

Video: CBS rips Obama's Afghan policy to pieces

But... but.... that's blasphemy! He's a Nobel prize winner for best smiles and most anti-Israel approach - he's a fricken genius, is he not?!


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Obama turns Bush's successful war on terror in Afghanistan to unmitigated defeat

Until the day Obama stepped into office, we heard very little about the Afghanistan front. Despite the Dems using Taliban/Afghanistan as a talking point, pretending 'the real war is there and Iraq is a diversion', and promising to follow through and increase the effort in Afghanistan.

Until Obama stepped in the situation was under control.

9 months of 'the one' involvement and all hell is breaking loose. Suddenly, American casualties increase and commanders on the ground demand immidiate reinforcement or face a defeat.

What is the white house response?
AP Source: Obama Willing to Accept Taliban in Afghanistan, Will Shift Focus to al-Qaeda.... , also - NYT: Afghan War Debate Now Leans to Focus on Al Qaeda

In what way and which bizarre world is Taliban not a threat!?

In March Obama declared a strategy for Afghanistan, as a direct result, in October Obama is about to abandon Afghanistan.

While in power Obama forced NATO and US troops to read enemy fighters Miranda rights and immediately deliver them to Afghan 'government'.

All the while, Obama is still trying hard to close Gitmo. Releasing terrorists to Yemen or Island resorts. Investigating CIA interrogators. Allow Iranian intervention in Afghanistan with limp if any US response. Banning lingo such as 'war on terror', 'jihadis'. Muslim outreach programs and groveling speeches to Arab world. Refusal to even consider striving for victory where battles are fought.

Obama's train of thought is that of the anti-Vietnam war 60-s hippies. Anti-war at all costs. Massive protests and low moral of draft recruits was the situation in the 60-s. In contrast, Since 2001 there was a huge wave of support for armed service and massive waves of voluntary recruitment. The public has and still is supporting the war. The public and their president live in different decades. Hey Obama - the 60-s are over!!! (thank heavens)

So what is Obama's strategy regarding the war? LOSING IT DELIBERATELY AND SUCCUMBING TO ANY DEMAND.

The strategy of the defeatists is to impose defeat. How can anyone be surprised? If someone's idols and friends are Marxists and those who bombed the pentagon, he might be exactly that kind of person himself.

Bush won three wars. Obama is about to lose all fronts and create new ones.

Face it. With the silent covert actions in Afghanistan, the world wide secret war in secret prisons; Bush had Al-Quada and Taliban at bay. Bush won the Iraq war and toppled Saddam. And then the 3rd war in Iraq, separate from toppling Saddam was finally won with the surge. Are these not facts?!

What low point in History are we approaching right now?

More Afghan war turning to crap by hands of Obama: (from Drudge Report)
American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains

'We're lost, that's how I feel. I'm not exactly sure why we're here'...
'There's no tangible reward for the sacrifice'...
'The whole country is going to s***'...
Tired, strained, confused and just want to get through...

Obama promoting UN Goldstone bloodlibel - no friend of Israel turns out to be as bad as enemies

The following content is from "Eye on the UN" and was featured in Jerusalem Post:


Obama's New Leverage - Against Its Ally

On September 29, Richard Goldstone presented his report on the Gaza conflict to an enraptured UN Human Rights Council. The Council, in which the Organization of the Islamic Conference holds the balance of power, commissioned his report. Goldstone promoted his 575-page smear campaign against the State of Israel by parading his Jewishness and then analogizing his work to his prior efforts to combat apartheid.

At its core, the report repeats the ancient blood libel against the Jewish people. Or as Goldstone casts this abomination for a modern audience, Israel "deliberately…terrorize[d] a civilian population;" Israeli "violence against civilians w[as] part of a deliberate policy."

The report claims to be a human rights document but never mentions the racist, genocidal intent of the enemy which Israel finally confronted after years of restraint. It invents laws of war which never mention the "right of self-defense," and it relies on testimonies from witnesses speaking under circumstances that gave rise to "a fear of reprisals" from Hamas should they have dared to tell the truth.

After the report was presented, the Council resembled an assemblage of vultures moving in on their prey. But instead of adopting a resolution intended to implement the report's recommendations, on October 1, the matter was tabled until the following Council session in March 2010.

REPORTS INDICATE that the American administration told the Palestinian Authority to back off. So the delay is not an indication that the hysterical Goldstone report went too far even for the UN. After all, this lead human rights body is populated by the likes of China and Saudi Arabia.

What is less clear, however, is what the breathing space will mean. Does President Obama plan to use the opportunity to extract concessions from Israel in exchange for putting the Goldstone report permanently to rest? Or does he appreciate that there can be no peace progress so long as Israel's alleged "peace" partners are bent on gutting its right of self-defense, and the phrase "living side-by-side in peace and security" is meant to apply to a party of one? Initial signs are worrying.

The Bush administration refused to lend the Human Rights Council any credibility. While aware of the fact that the Council had adopted more resolutions and decisions condemning Israel than all other 191 UN member states combined, the Obama administration reversed course. The United States joined the Council and took its place as a full member for the first time at this latest session.

Given the Council's preoccupation with Israel, participating and lending it legitimacy handed the Obama administration new leverage - against its ally. In the past, Canada insisted that anti-Israel resolutions be brought to a vote, rather than railroaded through by "consensus," and courageously voted against.

But when the United States came on board, Canada rotated off the Council, thus creating a dynamic in which Israel became dependent on US proclivities.

The Goldstone report, however, has forced the Obama administration to recognize that the leverage over Israel presented by Council membership is not cost-free. No Israeli administration is going to take a seat at a negotiating table that its "peace partner" has festooned with a sword of Damocles.

So the report presents the president with a dilemma: how to avoid alienating his new friends in the Arab and Muslim world while keeping the peace process percolating? Moreover, sooner or later the Goldstone "rules" of engagement could well be turned against American action in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond.

The Obama administration needs to make a policy decision on the Goldstone report quickly. There are likely to be various attempts to insert references to the report at the UN General Assembly this fall.

Goldstone himself can be expected to continue seeking the limelight. In September, he made the unprecedented move of commandeering the UN Headquarters' press room in New York to release his report, even though it had been authorized by a Geneva institution and was due to be considered shortly. Having made recommendations to continue the witch hunt, including at the Security Council, Goldstone is very likely to attempt to turn the report's "implementation" into a permanent meal ticket.

The president, therefore, should be under no illusions. Waxing eloquent about multilateral engagement will not make the report and its progeny all go away - if that was ever his game plan.

UNFORTUNATELY, IT appears that the president may have a different agenda. Speaking at the Council in the presence of Goldstone, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner said that the United States was ready "to engage in discussion of this report," and the US takes Goldstone's allegations against Israel "seriously." Posner was well aware that the report found that violence against Palestinian civilians was part of a deliberate Israeli policy, and yet could only manage to respond: "The report makes negative inferences about the intentions of Israeli officials… on the basis of a limited factual record." The only problem with referring the allegations to the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court, according to Posner, was that "then the role of the Human Rights Council would be dramatically different."

In language similar to Goldstone's trashing of the Israeli judicial system, Posner asked the Council to adopt a resolution telling "Israel to investigate and address allegations through a credible domestic process." It therefore appears that the Goldstone report will continue to fester and that administration officials may be preparing to use its threatened revival as a bargaining chip.

Now is the time for concerned Americans and members of Congress to demand that this scandalous report be buried permanently and immediately, and that it not become a weapon in behind-the-scenes struggles between Israel and the United States on vital issues. The right of every democracy to defend itself against a fanatical enemy who is prepared to put its own people in harm's way depends on it.

Police find wheelbarrows with rocks in temple mount Mosque compound

Religion of peace? Mosques are used as recruiting, inciting, and distribution center for riots. Piece of sh@@ religion. All people of faith should condemn usage of religious institution as source of violence. Those who practice violence aught to suffer the consequence. All things considered though, I urge people to do their best to avoid playing into those excrement heads goals: No religious riots. Let the police do their job faithfully.

Image source and article from JPort.
Police find wheelbarrows with rocks in Al Aqsa compound

Jerusalem police explained their decision to allow only worshipers over the age of 50 into the Temple Mount on Monday, revealing that wheelbarrows filled with rocks had been discovered throughout the Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday.

Palestinians filled the wheelbarrows with stones in preparation for riots in the Old City, police assessed. The wheelbarrows, in addition to intelligence information and the call on Palestinian to "come and defend" Al-Aqsa, led the police to restrict entrance to the Temple Mount.

Large forces of police and border police were patrolling the city on Monday, as thousands of Jewish worshipers flocked to the Western Wall Plaza for the twice-yearly Priestly Blessing, which went ahead without incident.

In the wake of recent clashes between police and Palestinian rioters in the Old City, Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco said the capital's Muslim residents are "ungrateful."

Notice that Israeli Arab MK-s took the opportunity these days to incite further violence, several Arab 'reporters' provided false reportage in attempt to stir more violent emotions.

Obviously it is yet another orchestrated violent riot. Supposedly called for from Iran/Syria/Gaza. If anything, I'd like to have all those who have provided fuel to flames and support of rioters including Israeli Arab MK-s investigated for their ties to enemy entities!

Fighting windmills at this point: 'A dirty little secret '

Nation of terrorists

A good op-ed by Moshe Dann regarding the myth of the 'Palestinian People'. However, the situation is that the notion of 'Palis' is now a world wide accepted idea, Arabs as well as almost everybody else want to accept them being some special nation called 'Palestinains'. While historically accurate, fighting how some people label them selves is like fighting windmills.

Ynet Op-Ed: A dirty little secret
By Moshe Dan, a former assistant professor of History, who is a writer and journalist living in Israel

The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Nakba (catastrophe) for Arabs, and the aggression by five well-armed Arab countries, assisting local Arab gangs and militias that had been attacking Jews for years, placed Jews in Israel and the state in mortal danger.

Fighting back, Israel eventually negotiated an armistice in 1949 that allowed a respite from open war, albeit not terrorism, and without peace. The Egyptians occupied the Gaza Strip; the Jordanians occupied Judea, Samaria and the eastern part of Jerusalem, including the Old City and Temple Mount; Syria continued to occupy the Golan Heights, from which it constantly shelled Israeli settlements; all trained and supplied terrorists who raided Israel. The UN did nothing.

Arabs who left homes and property in Israel and many from other countries who joined Arab armies and did not want to return, remained in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, most as "refugees" under the care of UNRWA.

This heterogeneous population was called "Arab refugees," not "Palestinians," because at the time there was no such group, or people.

One reason they were called "Arab refugees" was because there were many other refugees in Palestine, who were Jewish. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries streamed into Israel. UNRWA offered no aid, although Jewish refugees had lost everything and the newly established state had few resources.

It took a crafty Egyptian, Yasser Arafat, to create the PLO with his friends to promote the destruction of Israel and the return of Arab refugees. Arab countries saw them as convenient proxies in their war against Israel, to "liberate Palestine."

Except for Jordan, no Arab host country permitted the newcomers to obtain citizenship; as temporary residents, their civil and humanitarian rights were harshly restricted.

The designation "Palestinian" did not become widely accepted until after the war in 1967, in which Israel, in self-defense, captured areas that had been assigned to a Jewish State by the League of Nations and Mandate, and then occupied by Arab countries: Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem; the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, rich in Jewish history and archeology, and the Sinai Peninsula.

As the PLO launched mega-terrorist attacks around the world, "Palestinianism" became accepted, backed by the Arab League, Muslim and "non-aligned" countries, and the United Nations.

As the proportion of anti-Israel countries in the UN grew, "Palestinians" were given more and more recognition, support and legitimacy, unlike any other group.

And the fraud worked! It worked so well because the world's media accepted the Palestinians' self-definition and their cause. Even the Israeli media, politicians and jurists adopted this myth. Academics promoted "Palestinian archeology," "Palestinian society and culture." Every time someone writes or speaks of "Palestinians" it reinforces this myth.

‘Liberating Palestine’
Most major newspapers use only the term "West Bank" – a Jordanian reference from 1950 to distinguish the area from the "East Bank" – rather than its authentic names, Judea and Samaria, apparently to deny its Jewish history.

"Palestinian" came to mean Arabs who lived in Judea, Samaria and Gaza – as well as those in UNRWA-sponsored "refugee camps" in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and hundreds of thousands of "Palestinians" living throughout the world. By UNRWA's unique and controversial definition, anyone who claims to live or have lived in Palestine, and all descendents, forever, are considered "Palestinian," with full rights and privileges.

Spread among 58 "refugee camps" (in many cases entire towns) UNRWA's over half-billion dollar budget supports about 1.5 million "refugees in camps" and 5 million "registered refugees;" the total population is expected to reach 7 or 8 million next year, and growing.

As Palestinian nationalism spread among Israeli Arabs, the term became an identity magnet for Arabs on both sides of the 1949 Armistice Line – the "Green Line," as well as those living in other countries. Today, "Palestinian" can be anyone who for whatever reason identifies as such, including their children, grandchildren, etc.

This amalgam of national identity is possible because "Palestinian" is not a separate, unique linguistic, cultural, ethnic, religious or racial group. Nor does this motley group, currently led by Fatah and Hamas terrorist organizations, aspire to a country with clearly defined borders. Their goal is not statehood, but exterminating the Jews, thereby "liberating Palestine."

The success of "Palestinianism" is a tribute to what money, influence and Jew-hatred will buy and attract. That Jewish and Israeli media and NGO's support Palestinianism stems from liberal ideals of helping those who are less fortunate, the underdog, and even a genuine, although misdirected desire to live in peace, a supreme Jewish value.

Although there's probably no way to prevent the notion of "Palestiniansm" from spreading, there's no reason to ignore it, and less to accept it. Arabs of Palestine are entitled to civil and human rights in the countries in which they have resided for generations. That there needs to be a second Arab Palestinian state, in addition to Jordan, which was carved out of Palestine and whose population is two-thirds "Palestinian," and whether such a state will resolve all the attendant problems is extremely doubtful.

That the State of Israel should commit suicide to accomplish this goal is unthinkable.