US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must have given Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quite a reception. Otherwise it is hard to understand what possessed him to accept the deal he accepted when he met with her last week.
Under the deal, Netanyahu agreed to retroactively extend the Jewish construction ban ended on September 26 and to carry it forward an additional 90 days.
Clinton’s demand was “Not one more brick” for Jews, meaning, no Jew will be allowed to lay even one more brick on a home he is lawfully building even as the US funds massive Palestinian construction projects. The magnitude of this discriminatory infringement on the property rights of law abiding citizens is breathtaking.
The 90-day freeze is supposed to usher in a period of intense negotiations between Israel and Fatah. But those negotiations will not get off the ground because PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas has no interest in talking, and will never accept any peace offer made by Israel.
But the Americans don’t care. They aren’t worried about the Palestinians accepting a deal.
What they want are more Israeli land surrenders.
And Clinton convinced Netanyahu to agree that the next round of negotiations will be devoted strictly to a discussion of the breadth and depth of Israeli land surrenders.
The Palestinians won’t have to recognize that Israel has a right to exist. They won’t have to dismantle terrorist organizations. They won’t have to stop teaching their children to aspire to become suicide bombers. They won’t even have to stop their negotiations towards reconciling with Hamas.
Netanyahu claims that the Americans agreed to continue respecting Jewish property rights in Jerusalem. The Obama administration has refused to confirm this claim. Yet rather than use the US demurral as a justification for walking away from a bad deal, reports indicate that Netanyahu told his lawyers to figure out fancy wording to hide the American refusal.
NETANYAHU BOASTS that he received three major payoffs from Obama in exchange for his agreement to ban Jewish construction and discuss land surrenders with a negotiating partner that refuses to peacefully coexist with the Jewish state.
First, he claims that Obama agreed not to renew his demand that Jews be denied their property rights. Second, he says the administration agreed to send Israel 20 more F-35s. Finally, he says Obama agreed to wait a year before signing onto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council.
The first payoff is nothing more than the foreign policy equivalent of buying the same dead horse twice. Obama led Netanyahu to believe he had set aside his demand that Jews be denied property rights last November, when Netanyahu announced the first construction freeze. Yet Obama repeated his demands even before the last freeze ended. Obama has no credibility on this issue. Demonstrating this, Obama is now refusing to put this pledge in writing.
The F-35 deal is simply bizarre. Israel needs the F-35 to defend against enemies like Iran.
Yet the administration claims that its agreement to send Israel the F-35s is contingent on Israel signing a peace deal with the Palestinians. In other words, the Obama administration is now giving the PLO power to veto American military assistance to Israel by continuing to say no to peace.
More than anything, the F-35 payoff exposes the degree to which Obama holds Israel in contempt.
This is a president who is fighting Congress tooth and nail to pass a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The administration argues that the arms are necessary to enable Saudi Arabia to deter Iran from attacking it.
That would be the same Saudi Arabia that despite its massive arsenal, has never had the courage or the competence to fight its own battles.
On the other hand there is Israel – the US’s most reliable, courageous and competent strategic ally in the region, and even more a target of Iranian aggression than Saudi Arabia.
Rather than arm Israel with all the means it requires to fight Iran, the Obama administration is downgrading military assistance by conditioning its transfer of the F-35s on an Israeli agreement to commit strategic suicide by surrendering its defensible borders and capital city to its sworn enemies.
Finally there is the administration’s pledge to support Israel at the UN for a year. What this pledge actually means is that a year from now, the Obama administration will present the deal as an excuse to abandon what has been the policy of every US administration since Lyndon Johnson and stop blocking anti-Israel resolutions at the UN Security Council.
ACCORDING TO sources close to Netanyahu, it is his fear of US abandonment at the Security Council that has convinced him to capitulate so profoundly to an administration so weak that it couldn’t even get South Korea to sign a free trade agreement with it. What most concerns Netanyahu these days is that the US will fail to block a Palestinian bid to have the Security Council recognize a Palestinian state in all of Judea and Samaria and in large swathes of Jerusalem even if the Palestinians refuse to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Since this is what Netanyahu fears the most, it is important to consider what is at stake. While harsh, the truth is not as bad as he thinks it is.
If the Security Council recognizes a Palestinian state in all of Judea and Samaria, in Jerusalem and Gaza, it would be a diplomatic blow to Israel. But it would only be a symbolic step. The situation on the ground would remain unchanged.
What is more problematic is what might happen in the wake of such a resolution. The worst case scenario would be for the Security Council to pass a subsequent resolution deploying forces to Judea and Samaria to fight the IDF.
Given the political maelstrom such an effective US declaration of war against Israel would cause him domestically, it is very unlikely that Obama would support such a resolution. He would have to veto it despite the fact that Samantha Power, who holds the UN portfolio on Obama’s National Security Council, called in the past for US forces to be deployed to Judea and Samaria to fight the IDF.
The other two possibilities are that Israel will become the target of economic sanctions and that Israeli citizens who live beyond the 1949 armistice lines or who have served in the IDF will risk arrest on war crimes charges if we travel abroad. The purpose of such sanctions would be to strangle Israel slowly, in a manner reminiscent of the economic and political warfare that brought down the apartheid regime in South Africa.
In both these cases as well, it is unlikely that Obama will risk the domestic outcry that administration support for such resolutions would provoke. And even if he enabled such resolutions to pass, Congress would likely block US participation in enforcing them. This is not to say that Israel should ignore the threat. But such hostile action is best deterred by working quietly with Israel’s allies in the US to point out the dangers of a runaway UN campaign against a fellow democracy.
At the same time, these threats of economic and legal warfare should sound fam
iliar, because they are already being implemented against Israel. The Palestinians do not need a new UN Security Council resolution to advance their political and economic war against Israel.
iliar, because they are already being implemented against Israel. The Palestinians do not need a new UN Security Council resolution to advance their political and economic war against Israel.
They just need the EU. And they have the EU.
The PLO has already convinced several EU member states to establish unofficial trade boycotts as well as military and academic boycotts of Israel. Israel has been required to remove goods produced beyond the 1949 armistice lines from its free trade agreements with Europe.
The legal war is also well under way. Today no senior military commander or politician is able to travel to Britain, for fear of arrest under trumped up war crimes allegations. Israeli officials have been similarly threatened in Spain and elsewhere.
The Palestinian Authority has filed war crimes complaints against Israeli leaders with the International Criminal Court at The Hague. It has done this despite the fact that the Rome Statute which governs the ICC only applies to states, and the PA is not a state. Europe’s love for international institutions, and readiness to endorse nearly any diplomatic assault on Israel, has blunted European criticism of this perversion of law just is it has convinced the Europeans to support various UN bodies’ unlawful campaigns against the Jewish state.
Clearly, a Security Council resolution is not required for the Palestinians to engage in the sort of activities that Netanyahu has just capitulated to the Obama administration to block.
What all this shows is not that Netanyahu is wrong to fear such a resolution, but that a resolution will be a symptom of an already existing problem and blocking it will not end the problem.
Pathetically, despite the fact that this campaign has been building for more than a decade, to date Netanyahu’s only strategy for dealing with it is to beg Obama for short-term protection. Obviously, this is not constructive.
AN ALTERNATIVE strategy would be based on a three-pronged approach. First, Israel must attack the source of the problem – Europe.
Israel should begin making European nations pay a price for engaging in political and economic warfare against it. For instance, Israel should suspend the issuance of diplomatic visas to British officials while it “studies” the British universal jurisdiction statute. It should also pass a law permitting the filing of universal jurisdiction claims in Israel against citizens of states that allow Israelis to be sued, and quietly encourage its supporters to file war crimes complaints for the kinds of acts claimed to be criminal when done by Israel, such as Indian support for Indian settlements in Goa and Russian support for Russian settlements in the Kuril Islands. This would not only point out the double standard applied to Israeli communities, it would compel the British to amend their obnoxious law.
The second thing Israel should do is empower its supporters abroad by actively discrediting the UN, the International Criminal Court and advocates of boycotts and divestiture from Israel. There is ample grassroots support in the US for actions against the ICC whose statute places US servicemen and political leaders in its crosshairs and against the UN whose members seek to curtail US sovereignty and power.
Finally, Israel must actively pursue deeper economic and diplomatic ties with Asian nations like India, China, Japan and South Korea.
Enhancing relations with these states should be a top Israeli priority. Such a project would diminish Europe’s capacity to harm Israel’s economy and reduce Israeli reliance on the US at the Security Council.
Netanyahu made a horrible deal with Clinton.
Leaders like Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon have acted as patriots by actively opposing it. It is true that the Obama administration could help us if it wanted to. But it doesn’t want to. Happily, Israel has the power to help itself, if it dares.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
‘First Israel must attack the source of the problem’ (?)
You start out well by pointing out what nation has enslaved Israel with it’s evil demands for ‘Not one more brick’ and how easily Governor Netanyahu surrenders to their demands.
Rather than deal with the real source you pick out the meaningless EU which Israel has the capacity to stand up against as they do with the Palestinians but don’t because Pharaoh has tied both Jewish hands with their consent.
You don’t resist your enemies by excessive,never ending displays of weakness before friend and enemy and this is all Israel has been doing to please her adopted god of waning power.
This diplomatic appeasement strategy only leads Israel into the Jaws of hell.Eventually Israel will have to end the charade and get bloody tough if ‘Never Again’ really means anything or is just a catchy political term used by spineless losers who always seem to rise to the top in Israeli politics.
The source of the problem is this despicable,dishonorable quisling Jewish leadership that is incapable of saying no to Pharaoh and his henchmen in Washington.
The denial is deep.
A once proud people can’t bring themselves to admit they have become enslaved by their own stupidity,their loyalty to such a corrupt monstrosity .
Much like Joseph,Jacob and his family before who went down to Superpower Egypt as friend and ally only to become slaves,Israel can’t face the fact that their one remaining friend has turned evil enemy on them.
The whole foundation which secular Jewish leadership has built on has crumbled and they are stubbornly hesitant to do what the humbled Jewish slaves of Egypt did to gain their deliverance.
The eternal question for every Jew is ;
Will Israel cry out to God in time or keep sending weak and faithless beggars like BarakNetanyahu to Washington to surrender what little remains for more false promises and false hopes ?
The source of the problem are Jewish idol worshipers in leadership and the false gods they serve who never deliver anything but bondage.
Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies
Pssalm 108
Why doesn’t Netanyahu ever listen to someone like Caroline Glick? If I was Netanyahu, I’d talk to Caroline Glick at least once a day. I’m despairing of the world situation. It is becoming apparent that civilization depends on Jews and Israel. As unstable as that base is, everything else is more unstable.
It is a “perfect” idea for Israel to actively pursue deeper economic and diplomatic ties with Asian nations like India, China, Japan and South Korea. May it come to pass. The future belongs to Israel, China, and South Korea.
Hi Caroline,
Sad news seems to be the norm today. However, let us all trust in the wisdom of the Lord and His ability to fight for Jerusalem to the destruction of all nations that come against Jerusalem.
Please, please, please, once again, do not confuse Obama with Americans. Hopefully the distinction between the two will be made manifest as the new folks in Congress get their act together and fulfill their obligation and responsibility to uphold, defend, and enforce the Constitution of the United States. Americans who love their own country do not like Obama and what he is doing to destroy both Israel and the United States. It is apparent by Obama’s actions and words that he does not love the United States of America as it was founded in 1776 and that he likewise has no love for Israel.
An interesting note is that the delivery of the second lot of F-35’s in 2020 will do nothing to help Israel in the coming war of 2011. My personal suspicion is that Obama does not expect Israel to be around in 2020 to accept any F-35’s.
Israel needs to divorce itself from the idea that its national security depends on any other nation. Israel’s history is an object lesson that Israel’s security depends upon the condition of its national heart toward the Lord. Obama is nothing more than a modern day Pharoah, a broken reed on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it.
Rather, Israel needs to prostrate itself before the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who dwells between the cherubim, who alone is God of all the kingdoms of the earth, the One who made heaven and earth. The taunts of the enemy are truly blasphemies against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who chooses Jerusalem for Himself. We can learn a lot by observing Hezekiah’s response to the threats of Sennacherib through the Rabshakeh.
We know from Bible prophecy that all nations will turn against Jerusalem, so we should not be surprised by the hypocritical actions and double standards of the nations. The sooner Israel realizes that it cannot change the opinion of those who supernaturally hate Israel, the sooner it can take appropriate actions in the light of that knowledge.
What matters is that Israel remembers it’s God, the Lord who gives Israel the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to Israel’s fathers and that in obedience all of Israel and all who call upon the Lord obey the voice of the Lord, your God.
God bless and protect you all.
Mike Ayala
I’ve been censored before, so I’m really, really trying to keep my comments as bland as possible.
Your suggestions for diplomatic retaliation are good only in that they would express some spirit – a sense of reality in the Israeli government. I’m sorry but your expectations are too high.
The security situation is much worse than you think. Look into the future:
– Europe is really becoming Eurabia. I read today that White Britons will become a minority in 2066. Same for the rest of Europe sooner or later.
– The USA will eventually legalize undocumented migrants. Whites will become a minority because illegals will keep on coming. The political implications of the new US demographics too are alarming for Israel. The country is imploding anyway, and losing its clout. We have to thank Obama for giving Israel a very much needed jolt. You can’t count on long-term US support. It’s over.
– The UN will continue to be a tool of oil-rich countries and other tyrants. If it’s bad now, just wait a few years. There’s nobody to stand up for high principles anymore (with the exception of the Canadian government).
The world is getting more hostile to Israel every day – and it will never get any better. Therefore Israel must stop playing games. It’s war, now, and you are all alone. So what do you do when you are attacked from all sides? To begin with, you don’t shrink your country!
1) First of all, you assert sovereignty over all the land. Annex it. Call a conference and present all the legal facts that support your ownership of the land, and annex it.
2) Go on a military buildup developing your own resources. Build your own planes, your own war technology. Don’t ever depend on anyone for your military survival. Decline any further financial of military “aid” from the US.
3) Go on a PR offensive to discredit the UN, the left, and anyone who attacks Israel. No more nice guy. If American Jews continue to ingratiate themselves with their enemies, let them. Just don’t allow them run your show.
But before you do any of the above, you need to wake up your people. Don’t wait for a leader anymore. Let the spirit of the people of Israel speak out and ask for a stop to partition and to any further humiliation and imperiling of the country.
Inaction is not an option. And you don’t have years, you don’t even have months to wake up. Your borders could be redrawn within a matter of weeks. It’s courtains after that – no matter how the government dresses its surrender. Israel is worth fighting for. Why has everyone given up already?
Add Turkey for settling tens of thousands of Anatolian farmers and peasants on Cypriot-Greek property, and the present Turkish and Government and Armed Forces Leaders for facilitating the invasion of 1974. Then there is Morocco to consider which is illegally occupying the Western Sahara as well as Spain who refuse to withdraw from Ceuta and Melilla as well as , naturally, the United Kingdom refusing to hand back the Malvinasto the Argentine – let alone Gibraltar to Spain.
With France and Great Britain now engaged in the Pax Frangleterre, as the means to better secure their interests in the African Francophone and UK’s Commonwealth countries, there is an opportunity for Israel to develop a greater engagement with Germany. Israel should also be forging ahead with the development of the LAVI fighter, including a redesign of the Harrier jump-jet, so as to have an impendent alternative to the F35.
Bibi is a wimp and always will be. The good people of Israel deserve better, but so do we here in the U.S. Everybody deserves better than Hussein Obama/Clinton/Bibi et al. However we must consider how did these people come to power?
Aha! We’ve only ourselves to blame for the sad state of affairs at home and abroad.
A society eventually ends up with the government it deserves.
“…it is unlikely that Obama will risk the domestic outcry…”
He’s got little to lose and “history” to gain reversing the nature of US/Israel relations. Plus, he disdains the very Americans who cry out for their rights, the rights of their allies and who cry out for aid to oppressed individuals trying to overthrow enemy tyrants in their own nations.
I used to bank on Netanyahu taking your advice Caroline but he’s shown no such inclination. Your tireless efforts are truly heroic in the face of so much evil.
“Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.” from The Anatomy of Compromise, Ayn Rand
I just wish you would reference the “American Administration” as opposed to using the term American in general.
WWII was GOD’s plan. In order that the people of the world would see the plight of the Jews, and to give them a new nation brought about by GOD!
America was brought up as a world power in order to secure the remnant of Israel that was left in Europe and to protect that nation until GOD’s choosing.
Nixon was put in power to rebuff Russia’s plan of invading Israel in 1973. He rebuffed Russia by standing firm when Russia threatened Israel and world by nuclear power.
In 1973, America had played her role as protector of the Jews.
America’s time of leading my covenants through out the world is over.
America’s time of leading my nations of goodness is over.
America’s time as the leader is no longer.
America’s time of preaching, teaching and evangelizing the world is over, according to my Holy plans which I have set forth.
America’s time as the leader of my nation, according to my Holy plan is over.
America’s time of leading and evangelizing the world with the many gifts I have bestowed them is over.
It is now time for spreading the word of my SON JESUS, as the only SAVIOR and refuge of mankind on Earth. It must now be given over to the 144,000 servants, whom I have chosen and pre-ordained with the message of my SON, JESUS CHRIST ARISEN.
America is no longer the protector of Israel, but me, according to my divine purpose.
America is no longer the leader and protector of Israel in man’s world.
The nations of the world will now be ruled by my SON, according to his will, to fulfill my Divine will and my prophecy.
Israel will now be used as a measuring stick to convict and discern the nations.
It is time for the nations to choose their own path.
It is time now for the nations to decide who their Master will be.
America’s time for leading the Church is over. It must now be carried on by My beloved Jewish Brethren, whom I commissioned a millennia ago.
Netanyahu, like most the people of Israel, refuses to acknowledge the need for the people of Israel to be separate, in their deed, and in their creed.
And Netanyahu is no doubt proud of himself, in making covenants, on Israel’s behalf, with un-godly nations and un-godly powers.
Read and study your covenant Israel;
“I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.”
“And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.”
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
Meant to be a holy people.
Meant to be a light unto the nations!!
But you, Israel, are in rebellion against the righteousness of your God, but you refuse to even acknowledge that fact.
“For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD;…
For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”
If the Jewish people self-identify as being Jewish, you are self-assuming the mantle, the position, of being a person in-covenant with your God.
And you piss on your covenant with God.
God’s judgement will come upon all mankind, but God’s judgement will come first to his own house, and first, to those who presume to call themselves by his name.
You cannot say; “I am a Jew.”, but also deny your obligations, being a covenant person.
And your God, will hold you to your covenant.
And the God of Israel has the power to bring you to that ‘place’, where you will acknowledge YOUR obligation, one way, OR, the other.
The God of Israel will ‘bring’ the nation of Israel to their knees, at his feet, or he will break you.
He will bring you into obedience to his righteousness, or he will break you.
Why can you [the people of Israel] not see what the God of Israel is doing [with you] in the world today?
And why not!
Because, you have lost all discernment.
“Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.”
The of God of Israel is able to bring about his purpose, with, OR, without the obedience of [the majority of] his people.
Isaiah 45:19
I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Isaiah 55:11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
“And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”
Proverbs 3:11
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Isaiah 55:6
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Shavuah Tov Caroline and thank you as always for putting facts in their proper perspective. All you say is true, but the first step is a change in the Israeli government. She needs a leader who can say no to empty words and promises. A leader who isn’t so blind who can see the obvious that Obama, Clinton and their entourage will never support Israel no matter what concessions she gives. Also agreed it is time for Israel to cultivate the friendship of India, China, Japan and South Korea. We are a nation that walks with G-d. It’s time to take back our self esteem.
Great article Caroline. Netanyahu really should speak with you daily for some solid guidance. Israel is not getting anything out of this deal except ultimatums to stop building or risk not being supported in the UN. As for the F-35’s Israel will never get them as the conditions are a joke. Israel needs to stay strong & refuse to stop building settlements. The real crimes are being committed by the current American administration who seeks to weaken our greatest ally in the middle east which we share such a deep cultural heritage.
Regarding Ms Glick’s essay, Column one: Facing our fears (November 19, 2010), our PM may have gotten more than he had (literally) bargained for.
Considered what happened last week:
(1) Shas. I may be the only one in the room thinking this, but it seems to me that, if our PM got tossed out of office the last time around because he discovered that he could not betray the Right and survive, this second chance might bring an unrepentant Netanyahu back into office, determined not so much to remain consistent with his campaign promises, but rather, determined to lock in his Right support more effectively .So imagine his satisfaction when Shas initially did not come out against him; then, imagine his concern when Shas says, well, they will vote for him but only if East J’elm building is excluded from the freeze, and only if the US puts its promises into writing; then, imagine his consternation when Shas announces that any decision they make will come exclusively from Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Perhaps I am wrong here, but this public announcement strikes me as unusual; does it signal a change in how Shas will do ‘business’? Indeed, will it impact Shas’ vote? Could it influence others’ votes?
(2) The US State Department. Apparently, our friends in the US have taken great offense at being asked for a letter spelling out what the US promised verbally: in a press conference at the State Department, the State spokesman was asked if the US is preparing such a letter. Simple question, right? Maybe not—the spokesman refused to answer the question. So reporters asked it a second time—same refusal. So the reporters wanted to know, isn’t the US going to write such a letter?—same refusal, for a third time. Then, if I remember correctly, a reporter asked if Israel could survive without such assurances. The spokesman said, ‘good question’. The reporters, it seems , were astonished by this. Our friend and ally, suggesting to us it serves here as an honest broker, makes verbal promises, and then refuses to validate when asked? Would you buy a used car from such a car dealer? Yes, the US subsequently said it was ‘working on a letter’, but doesn’t this initial staunch refusal signal something to us?
(3) Hilary Clinton. During this same week past, Hilary Clinton presents to the world the US State Department’s annual global survey on the status of freedom of religion in the nations of the world. She explains how important freedom of religion is to a nation’s freedom, and how key an indicator it is for a nation’s commitment to freedoms. In the report, for the first time, Israel is ranked alongside Iran. Iran? The US State Department compares Israel’s freedom of religion record to that of Iran? Quick, now, if you live in Israel, did you know that was true? Can you believe it? Does this comparison of Israel to a known and identified Rogue state strike one as a no-longer-subtle signal that things are different for us now?
(4) The White House. Suddenly, today, a report circulates in Israel that members of the White House do not know anything about some of the promises Netanyahu says the US has made.
I find all of these developments as intriguing as they are, I think, unexpected. Shas has had the unfortunate reputation among some to put political expediency before what is right, and some recent news stories involving Shas and the political Right seem to suggest that this topic—extending the freeze—would probably be no different. But does the announcement about Rabbi Yosef’s required involvement signal a change? Does Shas’s requirement for written assurances, coupled by the US State Department’s original refusal to do so—and Hilary Clinton’s Freedom of religion report—altogether suggest some kind of political sea-change for Israel?
What does the White House’s sudden ‘ignorance’ tell us (if this report is correct)?
Our PM does not now seem inclined to live up to his campaign promises. Could it be that Shas and Hilary Clinton will help his memory?
When Netanyahu returned from the US with this proposal, did anyone expect that, at the same time we are looking at extending the freeze, we would also be looking at Rabbi Yosef’s public involvement, the US State Department’s initial reaction to Shas ‘letter’ request, a (potential) White House denial and Hilary Clinton’s telling the world that, when it comes to the most important of freedoms, we are no better than Iran?
Maybe all of this will help what’s-his-name’s memory improve.
‘Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,
who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God The LORD of hosts is His name;
great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;
who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as at this day.
‘You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror;
and gave them this land, which You swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
‘They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made all this calamity come upon them.
‘Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it.
Jeremiah 32:17-24
Fear is good if we fear the only one to fear.
When Israel learns the fear of the Lord and rejects the fear of man this will be a day of great deliverance for the people of Israel.
Caroline, it’s bad enough to have the whole Arab world trying to destroy Israel it becomes more depressing to recognize the US administration is likewise on board with them.
This Obama administration is rooted in anti-Semitism from top to bottom. There is no other explanation for this treatment.
The PM has to take a stand and he really needs to come to the US and plead the case for Israel.
Although a majority of Americans support Israel they don’t fully understand the problems facing the Israelis and their G-d given rights to the Holy Land.
The truth needs to be told and don’t expect any help from the liberal left media.
Israel is our only true, trusted friend and ally in the ME and this administration supports her Arab neighbors, all of whom have the worlds worst human rights violations.
Time for liberal American Jews to awaken from the Obama kool-aid coma and stand up for Israel.