On the heels of reports that Donald Trump—sorry, the “United States Air Force”—will be gifted a new presidential airplane from the Qataris, American-born Edan Alexander was released from his captivity in a Hamas dungeon funded and enabled by Qatar. All of this coincides with Trump’s visit this week to the Gulf, the goal of which is “to return home with $1 trillion worth of deals and investment pledges,” according to Axios.
Doha has expanded its portfolio far beyond European soccer teams.
Pres. Trump greeted by Qatar's emir, Sheikh al-Thani (photo courtesy: The Guardian)
Qatar is expected to ink deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. investments while also buying military hardware totaling $2 billion. The Saudis are joining the party, too: In Trump’s own words, he told the Saudis: “I will go [to Riyadh] if you pay $1 trillion to American companies over four years.” And voila, off he goes.
Let’s not lose sight of the excellent news about Edan Alexander. He deserves his freedom and his parents deserve to have their son home, and his return is something to celebrate.
But Hamas did not publicly parade Alexander before jeering crowds in Gaza, as it has done with other hostages, because Qatar has asked for the privilege of hosting that humiliation instead. “Edan Alexander’s family told [Israel’s Channel 12] that the plan is for Edan to fly to Qatar and meet with Trump and the Emir of Qatar on Wednesday or Thursday,” reported Amit Segal. The family later clarified that such a trip would depend on Alexander’s condition, and that he would ultimately make the choice.
The backlash to the Qatar trip was swift. It was not directed at the family, of course, but at Trump, who reportedly wants it. That means the Qataris requested it. That way they can try to humiliate an Israeli hostage and the president of the United States in one fell swoop.
It’s important to remember here the genesis of Qatar’s financial relationship with Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy and main hostage negotiator. In 2018, Qatar essentially bailed Witkoff out of a real-estate deal that was quickly going sour. Witkoff and a partner were seeking to convert Manhattan’s Park Lane hotel into condos, but the business partner found himself in legal hot water and Witkoff needed a replacement investor or a way to offload the property. Qatar gave him $623 million to take the problem off his hands.
It’s either a real-estate deal or a bailout, depending on how you’d like to spin it. But it was reportedly part of what attracted Trump to hiring Witkoff as a senior adviser, though the two go back further.
So genuflecting to the Qataris has been good for Witkoff’s career. His son, Alex, visited a Qatari government real-estate forum on the eve of the 2024 election. Alex is CEO of the family real-estate company and was appointed by Trump to the board of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Eric Trump, the president’s son, was also recently in Qatar—this time to finalize a Trump Organization deal to build a golf course and villa complex there.
Once upon a time Trump had not-so-nice things to say about his new friends the Qataris. They have, he correctly noted in 2017, “historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.” This was during Trump’s first term as president, and he backed a plan by regional Gulf allies to impose a blockade on Qatar. “I decided, along with secretary of state Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding, they have to end that funding and its extremist ideology.”
A mere ten months later, however, the Qatari emir was in the Oval Office with the president for a friendly chat and some smiley photos. “You’ve now become a very big advocate” of stopping terrorism financing, Trump told the emir, “and we appreciate that.”
Of course, Edan Alexander’s case offers a reality check. Qatar’s support for Hamas has been crucial to the terror group’s survival. Israeli (and American) officials were under the impression that Qatari cash to Hamas would at least have the effect of keeping a lid on Hamas’s terror activity. But that was a ruse, and Hamas used its cash and clout to plan and carry out Oct. 7.
It was at that moment that Qatar had an obligation to intervene and either get the hostages home or cut Hamas loose. Instead, if floundered and dragged its feet.
Edan Alexander is free. But as the scheme to drag him to Qatar for a photo op with the emir and Trump shows, he isn’t yet free of Qatar’s malign influence. And neither, apparently, is the United States.
The Herzliya Conference is Israel's foremost global policy annual gathering, drawing together the most senior Israeli and international participants from government, business, and academia to address pressing national, regional, and global issues.
Video of Herzliya Conference Opening Day, Sunday, June 30
Program Schedule / Agenda
Video of Herzliya Conference 2nd Day, Monday, July 1
Israeli, Dr. Mordechai Kedar stuns a scoffing, liberal academic audience with his expertise in genuine peace for Arabs (and possibly even Jews). Dr. Kedar is one of the foremost Arabic-speaking Israeli experts on Palestinian and Islamic social structures, culture, and the political discourse of Arab countries.
On May 2nd, as the Florida Atlantic University community was pre-occupied with graduation ceremonies, the Florida-Israel Institute (directed by Prof. Daniel Raviv) presented "Why is the Middle East so Problematic?" - by Arabist scholar, Dr. Mordechai Kedar.
Dr. Kedar believes that as the natural organization of Muslim, Middle East societies is tribal (e.g., Iraq, Syria, Libya, Kurdistan), that peace with Jews (and other Muslim tribes) can best be guaranteed for all when autonomous governance is organized by tribes, instead of politicians'-sought, artificial "national" boundaries.
He posits that an eight-state solution much better reflects the sociology of the Middle East. He suggests the eight Palestinian city-states should be Gaza, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, Tulkarm, Kalkilya and the Arab part of Hebron, all of which possess traditional tribal leadership structures capable of transitioning to a self-governing Emirate. Geographically, each Emirate would govern its city and surrounding land. Each state could independently decide their own form of government, make their own laws, educate their own people, and print their own currency if they wish, have their own media, and develop their own industry and commerce.
"The eight-state solution is based on the sociology of the Middle East, which has the tribe as the major corner stone of society. We should follow this characteristic of Middle Eastern culture as the basis for the Israeli-Palestinian solution,” Kedar declared.
“Hamas started an emirate in Gaza, which is a full state. They have a judiciary, education ministry, army, police, industry, etc. They have everything a state needs. They are a state.”
Kedar does not believe that it is realistic for Gaza to ever be reunited with the West Bank, as the history, culture and tribes are entirely different. In fact, Kedar stresses that even the tribes that populate Hebron, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilyah and Jenin are very different from each other, even though all of these cities are located within the West Bank. A Palestinian woman from Ramallah, for example, would seldom marry a member of a rival tribe located in Nablus.
Kedar stresses that the idea of a nation-state as it exists in Europe is alien to Middle Eastern culture. He says, "This solution might prevent a new Palestinian state turning like Gaza, into an Islamic terror state, and thus, minimize its potential threats on Israel, on the region and on the world at large."
To a full lecture hall audience of faculty, students and Zionistic community, Dr. Kedar answered questions regarding his Palestinian Emirates proposal.
Dr. Kedar responded to JooTube's query, how much faith do you place in Trump's Deal of the Century?
Dr. Kedar's North American speaking tour will bring him to Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday this week, then onto the East Coast and Toronto.
What do people on here (who actually wish to see the continued existence of the Jewish people in their homeland) think about this perspective?
Netanyahu Urges American Jews to Reject Iranian Nuclear Deal Israeli Prime Minister said his opposition isn’t partisan and urged Americans to “judge the deal on its substance” by Felicia Schwartz in the Wall Street Journal Aug 4 2:37 PT
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday urged American Jews to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran, stepping up his campaign to scuttle the agreement ahead of a September congressional deadline to approve or disapprove the accord.
In a webcast speech, he condemned the agreement and called it fatally flawed. He accused the White House and other supporters of spreading incorrect information about the deal and Israel’s position on it. "This is a very dangerous deal, and it threatens all of us,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “The more people know about the deal, the more the deal’s supporters try to stifle serious debate. They do so with false claims and efforts to delegitimize criticism.” Watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's full anti-Iran deal speech Netanyahu addressing the North American Jewish community, as part of his attempt to thwart the Iran Nuclear Agreement. Courtesy i24 via iizthatiiz In a webcast speech, Netanyahu condemned the agreement and called it fatally flawed. He accused the White House and other supporters of spreading incorrect information about the deal and Israel’s position on it. In the speech organized by the Jewish Federations of North America, he said his disagreement with President Barack Obama over the deal isn’t personal and fiercely dismissed the Obama administration’s argument that blocking the deal will lead to war. “The claim that we oppose this deal because we want war is not just false, it’s outrageous,” he said.
More than 10,000 people viewed Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks, which came ahead of a meeting Tuesday between Mr. Obama and Jewish leaders.
The speech was the latest of Mr. Netanyahu’s calls to Americans to oppose an accord that will curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. He said his opposition to the agreement isn’t partisan and urged Americans to “judge the deal on its substance.”
Eugene Narrett – professor, writer,
painter, commentator and strong advocate for Israel and the Jewish
People – died tragically this past Friday evening after being struck by a
hit-and-run driver in Brattleboro, Vermont. Eugene was a pedestrian,
having just visited an art gallery a short distance away. It was three
weeks short of his 65th birthday.
Funeral services for Eugene Narrett will take place this Wednesday, December 11, at the Jewish
Memorial Chapel at 841 Allwood Road in Clifton, NJ, commencing at 11 a.m.
Professor Steven Plaut of the University of Haifa, characterized" "One of the most prolific and intelligent Zionist thinkers in the United States today, Eugene Narrett's comments on the politics of the Middle East should be required reading. His keen eye and sharp wit make him a great American and Jewish resource."
Eugene in Israel's 1st N. Capital, Shchem/Nablus
Eugene received a PhD in English Literature from Columbia
University and taught Art, Art History, History, Literature and
Philosophy. He had an extraordinary knowledge and appreciation of the
Classics, and had reached a scholarly level in the area of Jewish
studies. In his early 20's, Eugene began educating himself about the
history of ancient and modern Israel, and he became one of the foremost
authorities on the geopolitics of the Middle East, providing commentary
on numerous radio programs, including Israel National Radio (many
times) and the Barry Farber Show.
Dr. Narrett held strong
views about Israel, based on history, Jewish identity and the current
reality. He believed in Israel's Biblical, legal and historical rights
to all of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River, and
was an outspoken critic of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the
Arab-"Palestinians." He would be quick to point out the deadly
consequences of that failed political strategy. Many of Dr. Narrett's
writings and radio commentaries may be accessed through his Israel End Times blog,
Eugene, may the Almighty comfort you amongst the mourners of Zion and
Jerusalem. And, may all of your hopes and dreams for Israel come to
fruition in the very near future.
Description of Dr. Narrett's book World War III- the War on the Jews and the Rise of the World Security State (Kindle $9): Eugene Narrett's remarkable study looks to the composite roots of western civilization for perspective on these questions. His knowledge of ancient and modern history and his remarkable ability to integrate disciplines produce startling analysis and answers to the most pressing issues of our time.
Tragic political and historical realities fuel our nation's misguided Middle East policies that, startlingly, bring America into confrontation with Israel, its best friend, invaluable ally and nourishing historical root. Professor Narrett provides a detailed overview of the existential forces and dangers with which our own nation already is struggling and has been suffering for some time. The book serves as a teaching text and a troubling revelation of what we are becoming, and how we may go a better way.
Description of his book Israel and the end-times: (Kindle $4) The ethics, laws, origins and hopes of Western civilization are rooted in the history of the Jewish people and their unified way of life, Judaism.
Why then has Western civilization for so long abused the Jewish people and, since 1920, their attempts to rebuild and develop their ancient nation?
Why especially now when Israel serves as the West's bulwark against terror, do western elites facilitate the destruction of Jewish sovereignty and of Jewish life in its holy places, hills, farms, and towns?
Israel no longer certain Obama would ever use force against Iran, Likud MK indicates
(Video courtesy EuroNews Monday 30 Sept)
Tzachi Hanegbi: In his UN speech, PM was telling Iran that Israel will take action ‘even if the Americans will be prevented from acting against you’ by Raphael Ahren in The Times of Israel, October 2, 2013
Tzachi Hanegbi with PM Netanyahu (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“The prime minister essentially is telling the Iranians: ‘Do not delude yourselves. Even if the Americans will be prevented from acting against you, we will know how to defend ourselves, with our own forces.’”
Asked whether, rhetoric aside, Israel could actually strike at Iran when the US president was engaged with Tehran in a diplomatic effort to resolve the nuclear crisis, Hanegbi dismissed such a scenario. “The non-diplomatic option will only become applicable once it is clear that the diplomatic option failed,” he said. “Since the American president clarified what he expects in the diplomatic realm, it is clear that if this doesn’t work, he couldn’t come and complain to any other player.”
However, a senior official in the prime minister’s delegation to the US told The Times of Israel Wednesday that a preemptive Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities remains a viable option even while Washington is engaged in a diplomatic process with Tehran.
“The prime minister was very clear about it. He said that that option is still on the table,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is not the preferred option, as we prefer a successful solution to the crisis through diplomatic means, but it’s always on the table.”
In his comments to The Times of Israel, Hanegbi added that “the prime minister’s position represents the State of Israel, and he is very skeptical about Iran’s willingness to give up on a dream they have tried to advance for more than 15 years.”
Hanegbi, who is considered close to the prime minister, also noted that Netanyahu’s speech included a “hardening of positions” regarding Jerusalem’s demands of Iran, as for the first time he required that Iran close its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, as well as its facilities at Qom and Arak.
Any “meaningful” diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff would require four steps, Netanyahu told the UN: “First, cease all uranium enrichment… Second, remove from Iran’s territory the stockpiles of enriched uranium. Third, dismantle the infrastructure for nuclear breakout capability, including the underground facility at Qom and the advanced centrifuges in Natanz. And, four, stop all work at the heavy water reactor in Arak aimed at the production of plutonium.”
"It is now on the table: Obama prefers implementing his policy towards the Arab world to ensuring Israel's existence.
Barack Obama is sacrificing Israel on the altar of the deal he wishes to broker with Iran.
The Jewish State should unilaterally act against the Iranian nuclear program, as Prime Minister Netanyahu warned in his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, October 1, but it is currently more probable that Ayatollah Khamenei will arm himself with nuclear bombs.
(Video of PBS NewsHour's report)
Because Obama's damage to Israel's deterrence has already been immense. Under the possible deal with Washington, Teheran will preserve the 20 per cent level of uranium enrichment that will turn Iran into a "nuclear threshold state".
Obama will accept that. Obama's record against Israeli Jews is long and abundant. He is the most anti-Semitic US president ever.
(Video: CNN Int'l) The Obama Administrations fomented a war on Jerusalem and treated Israel like a banana republic. Israeli-American relations are the worst they have been in memory." Israeli Arabist Prof. Mordechai Kedar analyzes the Obama - Netanyahu - Rohani Mexican-standoff in our exclusive interview from his U.S. visit.
"Obama said in front of an Israeli parterre in Jerusalem: “See the world through the eyes of Palestinians”. And "peace must not be made through occupation". Obama not only backs the Muslims; he identifies with them and asks the Jews to commit suicide.
Obama sees the Israeli Jews as “disturbers of the peace.” He wants to see them so disheartened that in the end they will choose not to fight, but to surrender.
In the DemoCast original documentary series, "Israel Under Obama," a trip through the first term of the pro-Palestinian, soft-on-Iran Obama Administration shows how it imperils Israel, America & the world. The original documentary series was broadcast over the month leading up to the presidential election- nation-wide on Jewish Life TV (JLTV) andLegacyTV (now also known as The Walk.TV) and 3 episodes are here for you to view.
Episode 1: Despite the campaign pomp & ceremony, the reality of the Islamo-Marxism flourishing under Obama means trouble for democracy in the Middle East. Luminaries include Jon Voight, Michael Medved, John Bolton, Bob Kunst, show and tell the breakdown of Zionist safety and trust by Obama's leftist undermining of Israel's security. (28 min)
In Episode 2 of "Israel under Obama" here (in 3 sequential segments in this window) actor Ed Ames, Canadian Parliamentarian Irwin Cotler, and Investors' Business Daily's Monica Showalter evaluate Obama's handling of Israel's safety vis a vis Palestine and Iran - and its ramifications. Also, commentary from Zion Oil and Gas chairman John Brown, Chaim ben Pesach, leader of the Jewish Task Force, Rabbi Moshe Parry, and Eric Jones of Bonhoeffer's Dream defending Israel at an anti-Sharia rally at Dearborn, Michigan's City Hall. Watch the concluding Episode 3 ofIsrael under Obama, "Hearken!Modern-day prophets caution us to the perils Obama" Episode 3: Jewish & Christian activists have taken steps to alert voters to perils of empowering Obama's philo-Islamist agenda - since the 2008 presidential campaign. Most liberals have shut their eyes. Rabbi Moshe Parry endeavors to open liberal Jewish donors' (and voters') ears at the visit of Pres. Obama to a Hollywood fundraiser. A Hal Lindsey Ministries Christian minister appeals to voters Americans to protect Israel by denying Obama a second, more perilous term.
Former presidential hopeful, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, condemns the Obama Administration for breaking with Washington's historic relationship with Israel and championing Islamist revolutionaries. The late Andrew Breitbart discussed with DemoCast Obama's hidden personal history holds his pro-Palestinianist/Leftist, anti-Zionist upbringing. He praises conservative Christians for valuing Israel in their voting, more than liberal Jews- dedicated more to social issues.
Rabbi David Algaze, Jon Voight, Ed Ames, Obama's rabbi cousin in the concluding segment of "Israel under Obama." What transformed Barry Soetoro into Barack Hussein Obama? With so much undisclosed about him- except his demonstrated transforming the Middle East into Islamist-dominated societies- how can we risk he and Valerie Jarret won't continue "running interference" for Iran to nuclear weaponize - and be used to nuclear-blackmail the world? Rabbis David Algaze, Rabbi Moshe Parry, Obama's cousin Rabbi Funnye, actors Ed Ames and Jon Voight all espouse their observations about the Obama Administration's ideology and renewing its reign.
["Israel under Obama" was drawn from DemoCast's 29-hours of original, on-location (in Nashville, Florida, Washington, New York City, Dearborn, Michigan, and Los Angeles), video footage filmed since the 2008 Presidential campaign.]
Gov. Mitt Romney: "And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there's just no way. And so what you do is you say you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that it's going to remain an unsolved problem. I mean, we look at that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation, but we sort of live with it. And we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve. We don't go to war to try and resolve it."
Mitt Romney Tells the Key Truth Needed to Comprehend the Israel-Palestinian Conflict - by Barry Rubin in Rubin Reports, September 18, 2012
So much has the debate been shifted “that what thirty years ago was a common-sense given is now considered a landmark breakthrough,” — Victor Davis Hanson.
You see, here’s what you have to do. You’ve got to take the most basic logical statements — the ones absolutely necessary to understand reality — and rule them out of bounds. For example, there’s nothing wrong with the economy. To say so is, well, racist. And there’s nothing wrong with a government policy that refuses to control the country’s borders. To say so is, well, racist. In fact, you can’t criticize this U.S. government at all because to do so is, well, racist.
And you can’t point out that America’s problem in the Middle East is not due to an obscure video on YouTube but to a massive revolutionary Islamist movement determined to destroy American influence in the region, take over every country there, smash the Christians, subordinate the women, impose a dictatorship, and commit genocide against Israel. Yep, you got it! Racist again!
To augment Prime Minister Netanyahu's remarks to the U.N. General Assembly and set the record straight for those mis-informed about Israel's legitimacy and rights among nations.
Israel: Birth of a Nation is a History Channel documentary presented by acclaimed British historian, Sir Martin Gilbert. The documentary chronicles the events of the Israeli War of Independence (1948-1949) using archive film, photographs, and interviews with participants.
On May 15, one day after the creation of the State of Israel, the Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon invaded the new Jewish state. The Arab forces were significantly larger than Israel's and were better equipped. Yet, coordination and organization were lacking and the Arab armies were often at odds with each other, seeking to incorporate territory from Palestine into their own states.
Despite their small numbers, the Jews were well-organized, well-disciplined and well-trained. The war was marked by long periods of fighting and temporary cease-fires. Finally, fighting officially ended in January 1949, at which time Israel held the 5,600 square miles allotted to it by the UN partition plan plus an addition 2,500 square miles. Trans-Jordan held the eastern sector of Jerusalem and the West Bank and Egypt held the Gaza Strip. From January to July 1949, armistice agreements were signed with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria based on the frontlines as they were at the end of the fighting. These lines created the borders of the new state and as a result, Israel gained control of the areas which would have been part of the Arab state envisioned by the UN had the Arab world not gone to war with Israel.
At the time, Israel hoped that the armistice agreements would lead to official Arab-Israeli peace treaties. The Arab states, however, refused to recognize Israel's existence and negotiate peace and remained in a state of war with the Jewish state. They continued their economic, political, social and cultural boycott of the Jewish state which was instituted by the Arab League in 1945. The Arab economic boycott of Israel prohibited Arab peoples, companies and states from conducting business both with Israel and with other companies who do business with Israel. They also embarked on a campaign to isolate the Jewish state in the international community.
Some Arab leaders attempted secret negotiations with Israel. Tragically, some of them were murdered, including King Abdullah of Jordan who was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1951. The Arab states provided little help to Palestinians who became refugees after the war. Only Jordan offered Palestinian Arabs citizenship. Refugee camps were set up and maintained primarily by the United Nations and other international relief organizations.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta Shows How the Obama Administration Is Selling Out Israel…And U.S. Interestsby Barry Rubin in Pajamas Media
In a major address on U S. Middle East policy to the Brookings Institution U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave us a clear picture of the Obama Administration’s view of the region. When taken along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent speech on the same subject, we now know the following regarding Obama’s policy:
It is dangerously and absurdly wrong. This administration totally and completely, dangerously and disastrously for U.S. interests misunderstand the Middle East. They are 180 degrees off course, that is heading in the opposite direction of safety.
Despite the satisfactory state of relations on a purely military level, the Obama Administration is not a friend of Israel, even to the extent that it was arguably so in the first two years of this presidency.
A CNN/ORC International Poll released Tuesday indicates a Democrats and Republicans don't see eye to eye on foreign policy.
Americans have grown increasingly reluctant to use U.S. military force around the world, but - unlike Democrats and independents - Republicans feel that the U.S. should be ready and willing to take military action. Overall, 53% of all Americans say the U.S. should be very reluctant to use military force, up from 38% in 2002, about a year after the 9/11 attacks. But there is a big partisan divide on that question, with a majority of Democrats and independents expressing reluctance but only four in ten Republicans feeling that way.
A large number of Americans don't think the U.S. should take immediate military action to get Iran to shut down its nuclear program, and on this topic Democrats, independents, and Republicans agree. Overall, only 16% of all Americans support military action now; two-thirds want to see the U.S. use economic and diplomatic efforts against Iran rather than military action. Republicans are slightly more likely to support military action, but even among that group support rises to only 22%.
U.S. troops are in the process of completing their withdrawal from Iraq by the end-of-2011 deadline. We are now moving toward a reckoning with the consequences. The reckoning concerns the potential for a massive shift in the balance of power in the region, with Iran moving from a fairly marginal power to potentially a dominant power. As the process unfolds, the United States and Israel are making countermoves. We have discussed all of this extensively. Questions remain whether these countermoves will stabilize the region and whether or how far Iran will go in its response.
. . .
The main Iranian threat is not nuclear. It might become so, but even without nuclear weapons, Iran remains a threat. The current escalation originated in the American decision to withdraw from Iraq and was intensified by events in Syria. If Iran abandoned its nuclear program tomorrow, the situation would remain as complex. Iran has the upper hand, and the United States, Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia all are looking at how to turn the tables.
. . .
The United States has three choices. Accept the evolution and try to live with what emerges. Attempt to make a deal with Iran — a very painful and costly one. Or go to war. The first assumes Washington can live with what emerges. The second depends on whether Iran is interested in dealing with the United States. The third depends on having enough power to wage a war and to absorb Iran’s retaliatory strikes, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz. All are dubious, so toppling al Assad is critical. It changes the game and the momentum. But even that is enormously difficult and laden with risks.
We are now in the final act of Iraq, and it is even more painful than imagined. Laying this alongside the European crisis makes the idea of a systemic crisis in the global system very real.
ADL & AJC attempted to quiet Obama's
treatment of Israel as a campaign issue
National Conference for Jewish Affairs, a coalition of Jewish leaders and organizations across America, interprets the ADL & AJC's Call For Israel Pledge, and produced its own pledge:
"The two, towering pygmies of American “organized” Jewish “leadership,” the ADL’s Abe Foxman and David Harris of the AJC, issued a call on October 19th, for Jewish organizations and individuals to join them in signing what they called the “National Pledge for Unity on Israel,” the aim of which was, they said, “to rally bipartisan support for Israel while preventing the Jewish State from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season.” After receiving little support but lots of withering criticism, the twins pouted about being misunderstood and their message distorted. We at the National Conference on Jewish Affairs offer for your viewing pleasure what we think is an accurate translation of their pledge, followed by our own pledge, which we think is pretty clear.
How the U.S. worked to not save Jewish lives, but to employ and import Nazi war criminals. The Allies' Arab Nazi connection- the heirs to Hitler's plan, but after Israel's independence, Britain supported the Muslim Brotherhood against Israel.
Mr. Loftus was the keynote speaker at L.A.'s community-wide Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, 2011.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - FEBRUARY 6 2005: An Israeli
demonstrates outside the Foreign Ministry for the release
of Jonathan Pollard. Photo courtesy: Life.com
"Jonathan Pollard's unfair, unjustified and discriminatory sentence and treatment are a dismal symbol of Jewish vulnerability"- Caroline Glick
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, National Council of Young Israel's Exec VP, and personal rabbi to prisoner of Zion, Jonathan Pollard, presents a comprehensive, Judaic overview of who Jonathan Pollard is; the circumstances of his actions to protect Israel - and the new evidence which contradicts the grounds for his life-sentence; Pollard's situation as a virtual death-row prisoner; and what significance does the current groundswell of Jewish activism to get Pres. Obama to commute Pollard's sentence (and Obama's ultimate decision) have on Jewish voters' support for Obama.
Rabbi Lerner delivered these remarks (total speech video 1 hour 23 min) in Los Angeles, CA at Young Israel of Valley Village on Sunday, December 19th, 2010
In her recent essay"A Time to Shout," Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick characterizes "Pollard's unfair, unjustified and discriminatory sentence and treatment are a dismal symbol of Jewish vulnerability." Ms. Glick explains:
Caroline Glick
"The new campaign calling for the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard from prison in the US is in many ways a curious development. Pollard was arrested in 1985 and convicted on one count of transferring classified information to Israel during his service in US Naval Intelligence. He pleaded guilty to the charge in the framework of a plea bargain in which the US attorney pledged not to request a life sentence.
Despite this, Pollard was sentenced to life. So far, he has served 25 years, much of it in solitary confinement and in maximum security prisons. His health is poor. He has repeatedly expressed remorse for his crime.
Pollard's sentence and the treatment he has received are grossly disproportionate to the sentences and treatment meted out to agents of other friendly foreign governments caught stealing classified information in the US. Their average sentence is seven years in prison. They tend to serve their sentences in minimum or medium security prisons and are routinely released after four years.
Secy of Defense Caspar Weinberger (courtesy World News)
The only offenders who have received similar sentences are Soviet spies Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames. While Pollard transferred documents to Israel over a period of 18 months, both Ames and Hanssen served the Soviets - the US's primary enemy - for decades. Their espionage led to the death of multiple US agents operating behind the Iron Curtain.
Pollard was given a life sentence because then secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger wrote a classified victim impact assessment to the sentencing judge in which he insinuated that he had transferred information to the Soviet Union as well as to Israel. Weinberger reportedly attributed the deaths of US agents to Pollard's activities.
Weinberger's accusations were proven false with the subsequent arrests of Hanssen and Ames. As it turned out, the damage Weinberger ascribed to Pollard was actually caused by their espionage.
OVER THE past five years, and with increased urgency over the past several months, several former senior US officials who had in depth knowledge of Pollard's activities have called for his immediate release. Former CIA director R. James Woolsey has stated that, contrary to Weinberger's allegations, none of the documents Pollard stole were transferred to the Soviets or any other country. A few months ago, former senator Dennis DeConcini, a past chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to immediately release Pollard from prison. And in October, Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense under Weinberger, became one of the most outspoken champions for Pollard's release. Korb currently works for the Center for American Progress, which is closely allied with the Obama White House.
On the face of things, it seems that this is a particularly inauspicious time to renew the campaign to release Pollard. This is true first of all because of the nature of the current president who is the only one with the power to release him.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama in J'lem. July, 2008
Photo courtesy: San Francisco Sentinel
By now there is little question that Obama is the most hostile US leader Israel has faced. It is hard to imagine the circumstances in which he would agree to do something for Israel that his vastly more sympathetic predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton refused to do.
The fact is that Obama has no interest in freeing a suffering Israeli agent who was railroaded by Weinberger and remains in prison due to the efforts of Israelhaters who wrongly insist he did untold damage to US national security. Indeed, many of Pollard's detractors are members of Obama's political camp.
Israel can't expect a lot of help on this from American Jews, although they stand to be major secondary beneficiaries if Pollard is released. The impact of his case on the US Jewish community has been debilitating. Although the US and Israel are strategic allies which share many of the same interests and fight the same enemies, Israel's detractors in the US foreign policy community use the Pollard case as an excuse for questioning the loyalty and patriotism of American Jews who serve in the US government and support Israel. His continued incarceration casts a long shadow over American Jewry.
The odds are poor that a public campaign to win Pollard's release will succeed. (But) Israel must act. Pollard's unfair, unjustified and discriminatory sentence and treatment are a dismal symbol of Jewish vulnerability. His personal suffering is inhumane, real and unrelenting. He needs us to stand up for him.
And so we must. And so we will. The time has come, against all odds to shout that Pollard must be freed. Now."
The Pollard case has created risk for the American Jewish community. I think she is correct to believe that the Pollard case could be used to drive a wedge between US Jews and Israel, especially when most in the American Jewish establishment lean Left.
Photo courtesy: World of Judaica
Leaning Left already, with a Left-leaning President they can finally love, this influential and powerful group could see Pollard as nothing more than all the proof they need to support Obama and not Israel. After all, this group is politically sophisticated. For the first time in decades, they have a President they can support. Why should they put any barrier between themselves and the President they want so much to help? They understand the subtleties of power, which means that, so long as Pollard is imprisoned, with his shame and treachery indelibly before them every year, they are reminded constantly how ‘treachery’ and ‘Israel’ can go together. A modern, powerful Jew does not need to be slapped in the face to be told which side his bread is buttered on, especially with a President who seems to share their Left-leaning beliefs. Pollard’s imprisonment does that already.
How might American Jews react (especially the secularized Jews who make up the bulk of the American Jewish power establishment) if this message of discredited evidence is repeated, loud and clear? Does the sentence match the crime, now that we know the ‘evidence’ provided at his sentencing might be discredited? ...
If, as expected, Pres. Obama continues to say no, then a properly-run public campaign might make a major impact on American Jews. Do the Jews who champion The Innocence Project, formed to save citizens from unjust arrest and prison sentences, believe that discredited evidence can be used to give an unjust sentence in our case alone?
Jews in the American Jewish power establishment have been known to use the phrases, ‘Tikun Olam’ and ‘Social Justice’ in the same paragraph or speech. If the facts surrounding the Pollard case have in fact changed sufficiently so that one can argue that he, too, has become a legitimate focus for their Tikun Olam efforts, then an opportunity opens: convince American Jews, especially the secular Jews who champion the Innocence Project, that Pollard’s case, in at least one sense—bad evidence—is the same as the prisoners they wish to free, then, I believe, you may also convince them to question Obama’s stubbornness in this case. Once those questions begin, others can follow, until Obama is revealed for what he is, an enemy of Israel.
If Pollard’s current and continuing imprisonment could be used by others to drive a wedge between US Jews and Israel, can a campaign to free him be used to drive a wedge between these same US Jews and Obama?
I think that such a case can be made. Perhaps Mr Pollard’s horrible imprisonment can create, in the end, both something for himself—and bigger than himself."
Israeli journalist Ben Caspit demanded that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu formally request that Obama communte Pollard's sentence and release him from prison.
Since 2006, DemoCast Newsmedia has addressed the Pollard Affair and it's implications for global stability in these articles:
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed an audience of North American Jewish Federations, convening in New Orleans, declaring that Israel's peace-preparedness is being undermined by the world's tolerating of Palestinian intransigence. PM Netanyahu perceives that the Palestinian Authority is balking at direct negotiations in the confidence that the Obama Administration will dictate concession-pressures against Israel that the Palestinians would not achieve on their own.
Mr. Netanyahu reaffirms that he is willing to make mutual compromises with the Palestinian Authority, but the Palestinian refusal to negotiate directly without preconditions belies their true reticence to living peaceably alongside Jewish Israel.
Demands Jewish state retreat from territory vital for survival
PA official told WND the Obama administration instead has adopted the Palestinian position that the Jordan Valley should become part of a future Palestinian state entirely.
The official said the U.S. had proposed that international troops, along with Jordanian and Palestinian forces, would patrol the area.
The Jordan Valley encompasses a massive swath of territory. Israeli security analysts and commentators long have argued the country is indefensible without the valley.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated multiple times the Jordan Valley is so vital to Israel's security that Israel must control it in the future.
Netanyahu himself said at a Knesset faction meeting last February that Israel could never agree to withdraw from the Jordan Valley under any peace agreement signed with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu told the Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Jordan Valley's strategic importance along the eastern border of the West Bank made it impossible for Israel to withdraw.
The Jordan Valley runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It continues another 96 miles south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba along the Jordanian border. The Jordan Valley forms the border between Israel and Jordan in the north, and the eastern strip of the strategic West Bank in the south.
Phyllis Chesler in "A NYC Pro-Israel Rally" "Manhattan. A driving rain and raw weather did not stop three thousand people from turning out today to stand for Israel’s right to exist and to determine its own fate. In these times, and on such a day, that is a significant number. These people did not come together to scream in hate, they did not vow to kill anyone as so many pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian, pro-“peace” demonstrators routinely do. They came to express their love for Israel and their dismay and anger about America’s recent mistreatment of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The rally, which was called for 1pm, lasted until 4pm. Thus, people stood, shoulder to shoulder, for more than three hours in weather that kept most of us indoors. Mostly tax-paying, middle aged people, some of whom traveled a great distance to be here today; they came from as far away as Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as from the five boroughs and Long Island.
In many voices, they said: Israel is not a vassal state of the United States. Israel is America’s friend and ally. Our fate as Americans is tied to Israel’s fate and to Israel’s continued existence. (Photos courtesy Atlas Shrugs.com)
They held signs which read: “God Bless Our Ally Israel. Tea Party for Israel;” “Obama Listen Up! The American People Stand with Israel;” “You May Bow to Mitzraim (Egypt) But Keep Off Yerushalayim;” “Conference of Presidents: World Jewish Congress, American Jewish Congress, UJA. Betrayal. You Failed Us In 1939 and You’ve Failed Us Again;” “President Obama: Your Recklessness is Endangering America, Israel, and World Freedom.” I believe that the time for gathering Jews-only or Jews-mainly in support of Israel is long over. We must now have a new kind of ingathering, one in which Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists—and of course, Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents must also start standing for Israel. Doing so, is a way of standing for human rights, democracy, freedom, Enlightenment values and–against barbarism, against Apartheid which radical political Islam, not Israel, practices both globally and locally.
I hesitate to say it, I hate to say it, but I must agree with my colleague Roger Simon: There should have been 300,000 Jews and our supporters here, not only 3,000, not even if they were extraordinary people, and if only the large Jewish and Christian organizations can turn such numbers out, then that is who must do this work. That they are not doing so is to their eternal shame.
Every Jewish and Christian school and Yeshiva should send each and every student and their entire faculties. These rallies require huge outreach, many ads, all well in advance and continuously."
Israel National News' Hana Levi Julian: "'Break the Silence' Speaker: Obama's 'Alice-in-Wonderland' Gov't"
Jeff Weisenfeld Weisenfeld spent four years as chief of staff in the city administration of former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat before becoming an aide to Governor George Pataki, another Republican.
Speaking late Friday afternoon in an interview with Israel National News, Weisenfeld called the current diplomatic crisis “the biggest accidental or deliberate miscalculation in American-Israeli relations made by any American president.” He added that the Obama administration's overtures to the Muslim world, and the contrast with its hostility to the State of Israel, had transformed the U.S. executive branch into a “complete Alice-in-Wonderland government. I don't want to make light of it here,” Weisenfeld said with some sarcasm, “but it's like Purim, when Mordechai becomes Haman, and Haman becomes Mordechai.”
Weisenfeld also noted that most “mainstream” Jewish community organizations did not – and could not – officially sign on to sponsor Sunday's rally for fear of retribution from the Obama administration. “The mainstream groups are about access and response to a direct threat from the White House.
“The [Jewish] Federations and their beneficiaries and subsidiaries have been warned by Rahm Emanuel to stay away from public criticism of the president on Israel. But unless the weather is horrendous,” he added, “there will be an abundance of “establishment-affiliated” people. Maybe we can wake up this president and pull him back from the abyss.”
