Obama’s High Commissioner

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Ahead of his current trip to the Middle East, US President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell made what might have been construed as a positive step in Israel’s direction. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mitchell said that he and Obama wish to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians immediately.

 

 

The reason Mitchell’s pronouncement might have been interpreted as a move in Israel’s direction is because until he made his call for negotiations, recent pronouncements on Israel and the Palestinians by the president and his senior advisers have given the uniform impression that the US no longer favors a negotiated settlement of the Palestinian conflict with Israel.

 

 

Through their obsessive focus on Israeli building activities in Judea and Samaria, Obama and his advisers have sent regional leaders the message that they define their role here not as mediators, but as agents for the Palestinians against Israel. Consequently, far from giving the sense that they seek a peace deal that will be acceptable to Israelis and Palestinians alike, they have convinced the Israelis and the Palestinians – as well as much of the Arab world – that the US intends to coerce Israel into accepting a settlement that sacrifices Israeli security and national needs on the altar of maximalist Palestinian ambitions.

 

 

This is the view that Fatah leader and putative Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas expressed in his interview with The Washington Post last month ahead of his visit with Obama. As Abbas put it, the Americans “can use their weight with anyone around the world. Two years ago they used their weight on us. Now they should tell the Israelis, ‘You have to comply with the conditions.'”

 

 

Abbas added that he will “wait for Israel to freeze settlements,” and that until he receives this and other Israeli concessions, “we can’t talk to anyone.”

 

 

In other words, in light of the administration’s apparent hostility and uncompromising stance toward Israel, Abbas sees no reason to negotiate anything with the Israelis.

 

 

So, too, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal made clear on Tuesday that he sees the Obama administration as a potential ally for his Iranian-controlled genocidal jihadist movement. Mashaal has four good reasons for viewing things this way. First, in his speech in Cairo, Obama accepted the Arab view that Israel is an alien entity to the Middle East which owes its legitimacy to the genocide of European Jewry by Europeans in Europe, and which has the moral standing of white slaveholders in the antebellum American South.

 

 

Second, Obama has pledged $900 million in US taxpayer funds to Hamas-controlled Gaza and is pressuring Israel to support Gaza economically in spite of the fact that Hamas continues to attack southern Israel with rockets and to expand and diversify its arsenals.

 

 

Third, the Obama administration is abandoning its predecessor’s bid to isolate Hamas by pressuring Fatah and Egypt to offer Hamas full partnership in a Fatah-Hamas unity government which would work to cement Hamas’s international legitimacy.

 

 

Finally, in light of the White House’s silence after Sunday’s attempted attack on the IDF by a Hamas-affiliated terror group in Gaza, Mashaal is operating under the impression that nothing Hamas does will divert Washington from its collision course with Israel. With Obama in charge, Hamas believes it can attack Israel with impunity.

 

 

So with Israelis and Palestinians now joined in their belief that Obama is looking for a fight with Israel rather than a negotiated settlement, it was encouraging to hear that Mitchell is planning on forcing the Palestinians to the negotiating table with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government.

 

 

Unfortunately, within hours of his arrival in Israel on Tuesday, it became clear that Mitchell’s statements about negotiations were nothing more than spin. He reiterated that the US has no intention whatsoever of budging on its uncompromising positions that no Jewish construction anywhere past the 1949 armistice lines is legitimate; that Israel must begin moving toward a mass expulsion of Jews from Judea and Samaria; and that the IDF must drastically curtail its counterterror operations in Judea and Samaria. That is, Mitchell demonstrated that like the Palestinians and the Saudis, the Obama administration’s idea of a resolution of the Palestinian conflict with Israel involves a complete Israeli surrender to all Arab (and now American) demands while trusting our security to the tender mercies of Palestinian terrorists.

 

 

MORE DISTURBING than Mitchell’s positions are his marching orders from Obama. Unlike previous presidential envoys who have come to Israel every few weeks and then disappeared when reality proved stronger than their peace fantasies, Obama has ordered Mitchell to cast reality to the seven winds and set up a permanent forward command post in Jerusalem directly subordinate to the White House.

 

 

To fulfill his writ, Mitchell has appointed four deputies – all known for their open sympathy for the Palestinians and their hostility to the Netanyahu government. They are Mara Rudman, of the George Soros-financed Center for American Progress; Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, who is now building a Fatah army in Jordan which he recently acknowledged will turn its American-financed guns on Israel within a few short years if Israel refuses to establish a Jew-free Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria; Fred Hoff, one of the greatest champions of a US-Syrian rapprochement and of an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights; and David Hale, the architect of the current US policy of rebuilding the Hizbullah-infested Lebanese army. Hale will be permanently stationed in Jerusalem in a large office suite that will house Mitchell’s operation.

 

 

Aside from overseeing his deputies, Mitchell has also been charged with leading a new administration program aimed at undermining Israel’s ability to make independent military and intelligence decisions. Back in 2008, when Obama’s National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones served as then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s special adviser on Israeli-Palestinian security issues, he authored a report calling for the US to assess what Israel’s “real” security interests in Judea and Samaria are and to limit US support to Israel to filling those necessarily minimal interests. Jones’s report, which rejected all Israeli claims in Judea and Samaria and underplayed the strategic significance of Palestinian rejection of Israel’s right to exist, was viewed as deeply hostile toward Israel, and the Olmert government prevailed on the Bush administration to set it aside.

 

 

This is not the case today, however. Obama shares Jones’s view that Israel’s perception of its security needs is exaggerated. As he made clear in his speeches last week at Cairo and Buchenwald, Obama thinks that Israel suffers from a Holocaust-induced paranoia that causes it to wrongly believe that Arabs and Iranians wish to wipe it off the map. In Obama’s view, Israel’s fears can be dealt with, and a Middle East peace can be wrought through a US takeover of both Israel’s security assessments and its military and intelligence operations and policies.

 

 

To this end, and in line with Jones’s 2008 report, according to last Friday’s Yediot Aharonot, the administration is building an apparatus designed to prevent Israel from exercising independent judgments about its tactical and strategic challenges and deny it the ability to secure its interests without US involvement and consent.

 

 

The apparatus reportedly includes members of every US security, foreign policy and intelligence body. These officers will be stationed in Israel and will report to Mitchell, who in turn will report to Jones and Obama. Each officer will be assigned to coordinate with Israeli counterparts in mirror organizations, including the IDF, the Shin Beit, the Mossad, the police and every other relevant Israeli body.

 

 

Since there is no polite way for Israel to reject
this effective US bid to subvert its capacity to make independent decisions, the most urgent dilemma the Netanyahu government must solve is how to handle Mitchell’s new supreme headquarters in Jerusalem. To address this issue, the government must be clear about what it wishes to accomplish in its relations with Mitchell specifically and the Obama administration generally.

 

 

As the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel to date shows clearly, the president and his advisers have no intention of compromising their hardline positions on Israel. The administration is building its supreme headquarters in Jerusalem to enable Mitchell to act like a colonial governor and confront the unruly Jewish natives – not to cut a deal with us.

 

 

ISRAEL HAS nothing to gain, and much to lose from an open and prolonged confrontation with Washington. And so Netanyahu’s goal in contending with Mitchell must be twofold: He must seek to avoid an ugly fight with the White House, and he must do so while yielding nothing of substance to the Mitchell command post.

 

 

Netanyahu clearly hopes to achieve this goal by showing great respect for Mitchell. On Tuesday he reportedly devoted a full four hours of his schedule to talks with Mitchell and his aides.

 

 

While understandable, Netanyahu’s willingness to humor Mitchell is a recipe for disaster. Netanyahu cannot allow Mitchell to tie him or his senior ministers down for hours at a time in fruitless discussions about Obama’s peace fantasies, or about which set of suicidal Israeli “gestures” might assuage the Obama administration’s hunger for a confrontation. Bluntly stated, Israel’s prime minister has better things to do with his time. Moreover, Netanyahu cannot debase his office by subordinating his schedule to the whims of a mere presidential envoy.

 

 

And so, as former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton first suggested in January during his visit to Israel, Netanyahu must elegantly remove himself from Mitchell’s orbit.

 

 

To this end, in his policy speech at Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center on Sunday, Netanyahu should announce that in the interests of fostering cooperation with the US and advancing prospects for peace, he is appointing a special prime ministerial envoy to Obama’s special presidential envoy Mitchell. This envoy – and his purposely inflated staff – should be charged with handling all contacts with Mitchell and his staff and reporting all of their suggestions to Netanyahu for his consideration.

 

 

Netanyahu’s special envoy should be a senior persona whom he trusts implicitly. Prime candidates for the position would be Dore Gold – who served as UN ambassador during Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister – and former minister Natan Sharansky – who Netanyahu has nominated to head the Jewish Agency. Either man would be more than capable of respectfully deflecting US pressure on the Palestinian issue away from Netanyahu and so freeing the prime minister to attend to the Iranian threat.

 

 

And that’s the thing of it. At the end of the day, Netanyahu has three main challenges that he must meet if he is to successfully protect Israel in the coming years. He must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He must secure Israel’s national and strategic interests in Judea and Samaria and sole Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. And he must do what he can to avoid an open breach with Washington.

 

 

By deploying Mitchell to Jerusalem, Obama is trying to prevent Netanyahu from achieving any of these aims. Only by neutralizing Mitchell will Netanyahu free his schedule to contend with them.

 

 

Originally published in The Jerusalem Post. 

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31 Comments

  • Marcel 06/12/2009 at 12:39

    Israel had two choices for peace ,obey God and be free or obey the evil one and become enslaved.
    We can see from Caroline’s article how the chains grow heavier for Israel daily and the main concern of the slave’s is to be polite and not anger their hard taskmaster who grows more evil by the day.
    Here is what God clearly said to Israel,unlike the confusing,twisted,lying Road Map that has snared the no longer free slaves.
    Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
    “Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
    “But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak,I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries…..
    “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
    “And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.
    “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
    “Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. …
    “YOU SHALL MAKE NO COVENANT WITH THEM,NOR WITH THEIR gODS”
    “They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you
    Exodus 23
    Israel made the wrong choice and the suffering and misery will go from bad to worse .
    Slaves have no rights !
    The slaves of Israel are very careful to be polite with their hostile master who now goes about dismanteling the ISRAEL Plantation and giving what is left to the Pirates
    The big joke is that Israel is a sovereign nation.
    There is no polite way for a slave to tell his master to @#*& off.
    Israel has made the worst of all possible choices and replaced God with Slavemaster Washington and so the slaves are careful to be polite with their devils. I wonder;
    Why is Israel so impolite towards the Lord and so polite towards the devil ?

    Reply
  • Josh_in_SantaMonica 06/12/2009 at 15:55

    Hi Caroline,
    Kudos on a very coherent analysis of the diplomatic situation with the current US administration. As usual, you’ve got your eye firmly on the ball.
    I’m writing to you today to share an observation. I realize its not a revelation from on high, but I’ve noticed that this new US policy is highly congruent with the black liberation theology that Obama is so steeped in.
    As you know, this theology of victimization, based in the black communities of the large cities in the US, straddles Christianity and Islam. It is a hodgepodge of beliefs that includes things like the idea that Jesus was black (and therefore not Jewish, of course). Also that Christianity itself was forced on blacks by white slave traders, and that Islam is an indigenous black religion. This is wrong of course, Islam was forced on blacks by Arab slavers.
    There is also a constellation of ideas concerning the general oppression of blacks by ‘whitey’, basically, and there is a large drawer in that file cabinet for Jew landlords, store owners, lawyers, bankers, etc. All of this combines with biblical stories and hot-blooded preaching to cook up a huge negative image of Israel, Jews in the Holy Land, etc., and the world-wide negative effect of the existence of Israel and the putative world-wide Jewish conspiracy (now called the “Israel Lobby.”)
    When you wash out the Rev. Wright and the Farakhan types, give everybody a scrub and brush-up, and add a smooth talking front man like Obama, you get something that can be grown into an actual foreign policy. Clearly, this what they have done.
    The bottom line is that both Israel and American Jews are looking at the most serious and insidious problem that we’ve had since WWII. There will be no compromise with Israel, and American Jews that speak up will be seen as traitors. Israel had better do what it needs to do while it can and just do its best with the consequences. It will only get worse from here. To quote The Godfather;”Lets hit ’em all now while we’ve got the muscle.”
    I love you Caroline, you’re the best!

    Reply
  • Ron Grandinetti 06/12/2009 at 17:20

    Caroline the anti-Semitics Hussein (Muslim) Obama, Georgie (Arab) and Rahm Emanuel are attempting to destroy Israel like their counterpart Hamas and Hizbullah.
    Now is the time for Israel to step it up.
    First PM Netanyahu must not spend any time with George the overrated Mitchell, a double talking Israeli should be assigned to him.
    Netanyahu should employ the “don’t call me, I’ll call you”.
    He is under no obligation to meet with this lowly George.
    Just let Hussein (Muslim) Obama twist in the wind.
    Now more than ever Netanyahu must put the best PR person available to contact every Jewish organizations in the US and I mean every.
    This has to be the wakeup call for all Jews.
    They need to get off their ass and come together as one voice in opposition to Hussein (Muslim) Obama’s plans
    Caroline, I apologize but, this is all wrong and the American Jews sit idly by and don’t make a peep.
    G-d/God please wake them up, please.

    Reply
  • Aline 06/12/2009 at 20:02

    Caroline, on a previous column (Israel and the Axis of Evil) you wrote of how Lt-Gen Dayton had issued a warning – which was more like a threat – that unless Israel set up another state for the Arabs within two years, the Arabs would revolt.
    In other words, the army that the US is arming and training would start killing Jews.
    The Arab “special forces” are one tentacle of a Monster that is out to strangle the country.
    Now you write:
    “…the administration is building an apparatus designed to prevent Israel from exercising independent judgments about its tactical and strategic challenges and deny it the ability to secure its interests without US involvement and consent.”
    And that’s another tentacle aimed at strangling your institutions. It would be Phase I of the outright takeover of Israel by setting up a Shadow Government to fully control the country.
    I find this situation so alarming that I don’t see how the Netanyahu coalition can go on for one more day without calling for an emergency meeting to discuss options.
    The more he allows the Americans to entrench themselves in places of power, the harder it will be to extirpate them from the country.
    It’s like organized crime, Caroline. Once you let them settle down in an area, the situation has the potential of becoming unmanageable and extremely dangerous.
    If Netanyahu were to play along with this tentacled monster, he will become immobilized and too powerless to disentangle himself.
    It’s one thing for the US to mediate between Israel and the Arabs. It’s an entirely different one to give orders to Israel, set deadlines, make threats, and treat an ally with such utter disrespect, all at the same time as the US president bows to the king of Saudi Arabia.
    Caroline, the US onslaught must be stopped now, while you still have the chance.
    You write:
    “ISRAEL HAS nothing to gain, and much to lose from an open and prolonged confrontation with Washington.”
    And
    “Since there is no polite way for Israel to reject this effective US bid to subvert its capacity to make independent decisions…”
    Caroline, I respectfully ask you why?
    Please be more specific on a future column and analyze for us what would happen if Israel were to adopt a self-respecting stand and – in polite diplomatic language – simply tell the US how offensive it is for a democratic country with roots in such an ancient civilization to be treated this way.
    This is a subject I have not seen analyzed so far: What’s the worst that could happen if Israel stood its ground. As you have noticed, neither Iran, N. Korea, Sudan, Venezuela, nor any country seems to have any fear of the US.
    So, why Israel.
    Perhaps if we were to know what’s the worst that could happen – it would not seem half as bad as losing whatever sovereignty Israel still has.
    I ask you, Caroline, to please reconsider, and advise the government from these pages to do everything possible to draw a line in the sand.
    Thank you, and G-d bless you.

    Reply
  • Philip Safran 06/12/2009 at 20:14

    Aline, asks the key question. Can Israel say no? If it does what would it give up? If it is just US Aid tell them no today? If it is a cutoff of military supplies, can Israel build a defense complex to supply all of its own needs (as well as export).
    The question that Israel never seems to ask is what does it offer outsiders that should make them choose Jews over Arabs. Arabs have 99 plus percent of the land in the area and 99% of the population. They have the oil. That is it. It is considerable but it is not everything.
    Unfortunately, as Israel gives away territory and abandons its strategic depth it becomes more of a nation that needs things and less of a nation that offers things. Israel needs to vastly expand its domestic weapons industry. It needs a crash program for alternative (to oil) energy development. It already offers an educated, high tech productive population. Those whose major dream is to sit in cafes in Tel Aviv and pretend that Fatah is their friend offer absolutely nothing today and will offer less tomorrow.

    Reply
  • Ralph Haglund 06/12/2009 at 21:49

    Hi, Caroline,
    I do not know how many years I have read your analyses, anyway….. You have always supported Netanyahu. I did it always until he brutally and illegally kicked out Feiglin. The second chock came when he dragged in Barak against the election results. AND let that barrel of fat go on with his crusade against nationalist Jews.
    N. seemed not to get the point that the right won the elections, not he.
    I see that in the poll in Israel, 97% of the religious Jews tell N. to say NO to Obama.
    I read somewhere that al-Qaeda’s main opposition to Israel is that the leaders seem to have forgotten their religion – look at the holy Temple Place and what the Israeli leaders have let the muslims do there.
    No – I am not Jewish by the way…. If I am forced to call myself anything I say “Noahide” not to have to defend the Christian anti-Semitism.
    The big question is: does N. know what he is doing or is he power blinded like Barak?

    Reply
  • Marcel 06/13/2009 at 8:51

    The fact that Netanyahu has not yet risen up to the occasion and said no to all of this reveals that he is a supine leader at best, part of the tentacled monster at worst.
    If I know the poodle correctly ,his speech tomorrow will be more compromise,appeasment,begging for another bone, and subservience to his master in Washington ,diplomatic surender.
    It’s amazing how weak and dependant Israel has become under the process of peace to destruction. The Road Map has severely injured the once powerful Israel. Is the nation even capable of getting back up on her feet under the leadership of another toy poodle who only yaps with great reserve and diplomatic politeness.
    The crafty and stealthy U.S.agenda is as great a threat to the Jews as the Nazis were and we know how Jews who focused on being polite with their exterminators were rewarded for their gentle approach.
    The majority of Jews today are in deep denial and would never characterize the U.S as Nazi like because they are naive like their grandparents were, blind deer in the headlights who have learned nothing since they created the empty slogan’NEVER AGAIN’ which has proven meaningless.
    The stupidity of being diplomatic has failed ,can’t you see that ? The world dosn’t respect polite,groveling, weak Jews ,only fearless,defiant Jews or dead Jews.
    Those who thumb their nose at the US,UN,EU Beast get respect like Sudan,what is their punishemnt for Darfur ?
    Turkey refused to allow the US Army to cross it’s territory into Iraq and they have much more respect from the U.S.this day than Israel does.
    Iran,you don’t see the US trampling Iran’s sovereignty as they do Israel’s with impunity, North Korea with ease stands up to the paper tiger as a weak Susan Rice reveals there are no teeth in the latest U.N. resolution.
    A supine Israel get’s the ultimatium and the grave from the crafty, new and improved Hitler who kills Jews under the guise of peace and polite diplomacy is the response from the gentle Bambi’s who think it will have any positive effect.
    I know Melek David would not be so timid and fearful as faithless,toothless Israel is today.
    I pray for the Lion of Judah to arise because the kittens of Israel still haven’t figured out that their death march is well under way.

    Reply
  • Ron Grandinetti 06/13/2009 at 13:56

    Caroline I asked an Israeli gentleman and scholar who has like yourself returned to his home Israel (the Holy Land provided by G-d for the Jews); what could he offer in words that would stimulate the liberal American Jews.
    His reply:
    Ron the Jews have a Book but they don’t know it. Everything that needs to be said has been said. It’s all in the Book!
    Who can say them better than our prophets?
    Hosea excerpts:
    For the children of Israel shall remain for many days, having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor pillar, nor ephod nor teraphim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness at the end of days.
    Rashi:
    My people were silenced for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being a priest to me; seeing that you have forgotten the Torah of your God, I, too, will forget your children.
    The more they have increased, the more they have sinned against Me; I will (therefore) exchange their honor for shame.
    For I desire loving-kindness, and not sacrifices, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
    Ephraim mingles with the peoples; Ephraim was as a cake which was not turned over. ?.
    mingles: He will mingle in exile with the nations. :
    as a cake which was not turned over: Jonathan renders: as a cake which, before being turned over, was consumed. ????? is a cake which they bake on the coals.
    Israel has been swallowed; now they are among the nations as a useless utensil.
    Take words with yourselves and return to the Lord. Say, “You shall forgive all iniquity and teach us [the] good [way], and let us render [for] bulls [the offering of] our lips. ?.
    Caroline, Yamit is a regular on Israpundit and his writings are inspirational to say the least.
    I understand he lost his original residence when Israel turned the land over to the Arabs, near Gaza, a beautiful site.
    Trust me he is not keen on giving up any and I mean any territory to the Arabs or anyone else.
    So Hussein Obama, a word to the wise, don’t ask.

    Reply
  • Tomer Elias 06/13/2009 at 18:05

    I don’t Understand why you are all so hard on the amercian jews for voting for Obama. They don’t live in Israel so you can’t expect them to think about how there vote will effect a country that is very “distant” from them. They voted for what they thought would be best for them and thats a leader for the american people.
    How much can american jews deal with there current governments foreign policies when they have there own lives and an economic crisis to deal with and probably a hundred other things before Israel came to there minds when they thought of there vote.
    Maybe now that Obama is putting so much effort into “fixing” the world the american jews will see there is a problem with whats going on and that there needs to be a change in the way Israel is being treated.
    I think that the main problem is the lack of knowledge on whats going on in the area, they don’t understand Israel and what they are being showed or told doesn’t help at all for them to support us because of how highly they value Obama and believe that all he is doing is right since they don’t understand.
    The key to fixing this is educating everyone so they know the history of Israel better and really understand whats going on so they have the power to change the way the current government choses to deal with its policies towards Israel.
    I know that this might not fit with what most of you believe in but I’m referring to people who are close to my age which are around the age of 20+.

    Reply
  • Ron Grandinetti 06/13/2009 at 18:38

    Tomer Elias
    I can understand where you are coming from however, having said that if you only watch NBC, CBS, MSNBC and read the liberal media you no doubt would not know what this president and his administration is doing to Israel.
    If you fit this description then your first move is to stop reading the liberal newspapers and magazines, check in on FOX Cable Network and get some fair and balance news.
    I preach all the time if you a Jew regardless of where you reside, you are connected to Israel by heritage, tradition and by G-d.
    Next being connected or not to Israel you should know that Israel is the only true democracy, ally and true friend of the US in the Middle East.
    The Arab countries are not democracies, have terrible human rights violations, mistreat their women and cannot be trusted.
    In spite of this Hussein Obama and his administration would prefer to throw Israel under the bus to appease these same Arabs.
    This you should know, G-d led the Jews to the Holy Land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, including Judea, Samaria the Golan Heights, Gaza and the Sinai.
    The Palestinians don’t really want statehood; they refuse to recognize Israel as a sovereign Jewish State.
    Because of your age you are not doubt busy with your life and are not in touch however, your older family members are and should not the problems Israel is facing especially from supposedly from her friend the US.
    My concern is the liberal American Jews may have voted for Osama for other reasons but what they know now should outrage them to the point to stand up and say no.
    If all the Jewish organizations would speak as one voice I just know a majority of non-Jewish Americans who support Israel will back them.

    Reply
  • Ron Grandinetti 06/13/2009 at 19:12

    Because of your age you are not doubt busy with your life and are not in touch however, your older family members are and should not the problems Israel is facing especially from supposedly from her friend the US.
    Meant to say:
    Because of your age you are no doubt busy with your life and not in touch with what is going on with Israel. However, your older family members should know the problems facing Israel. Worst, from the US supposedly a true friend and ally.

    Reply
  • Ron Grandinetti 06/13/2009 at 19:23

    Because of your age you are not doubt busy with your life and are not in touch however, your older family members are and should not the problems Israel is facing especially from supposedly from her friend the US.
    Meant to say:
    Because of your age you are no doubt busy with your life and not in touch with what is going on with Israel. However, your older family members should know the problems facing Israel. Worst, from the US supposedly a true friend and ally.

    Reply
  • DaveP 06/13/2009 at 20:03

    Having made no dent on North Korea or Iran, Obama has decided that the best thing to do to bolster his tough guy image, is by beating up Israel.
    However this carries a very serious risk. Israel is not some two bit nation on the verge of starvation, such as North Korea or Kenya. It is a major player in the ME, without whose cooperation, the USA has no goodies it can give the Arab world.
    If Mitchell is settimg up office in Israel, then this is no ordinary diplomat but really a kind of Viceroy or Governor General. It will be interesting to see how he is handled. I think Sharansky will be very usefull in “unconditional negotiations” with the Obama administration.

    Reply
  • Aline 06/13/2009 at 21:21

    RE. THE ISRAELI MEDIA
    It’s sad, but many American Jews, particularly the young, are not well informed and, quite frankly, they don’t care about Israel that much.
    And the mostly left wing Israeli media do not help.
    There are ideas they just won’t discuss in a fair way, such as the danger of another Arab state, alternatives to it, and above all the legal basis for Israeli sovereignty over all of Yesha.
    And there is local news they won’t report, such as the daily violence against Jews. And when they do, it’s either a misleading report based on unidentified “sources” that place the Jews in a bad light, or incomplete, or simply downright false.
    Not wanting to name names, I will just say that when there is some kind of confrontation in Judea and Samaria during the Shabbat, which is routine by now, the unnamed websites publish reports that are mostly false about who did what to whom.
    The report is picked up by the international media and disseminated all over the world. The settlers are beating up Arabs and destroying their crops or trees or whatever, the report says.
    Then on Monday the Israeli sites will publish a “corrected” version of the report where it’s clear that it was not the settlers who started the fight or who destroyed the crops but all the way around.
    By then, it’s too late from the PR point of view because the damage is already done. It’s a deliberate tactic.
    If you’re an average American Jew – and unless you read Israel National News (INN) and a handful of columnists, particularly Caroline Glick – you will get a distorted view of what’s going on in Israel.
    So American Jews, particularly the young, don’t even know what’s at stake in Israel at the moment. They keep hearing the buzzwords “occupation” and “wall”, and they want the problem to just go away. They think that giving the Arabs another state will solve everything.
    And the same goes for many secular Israelis.
    The leftist media and leftist secular education have rendered several generations of Israelis just plain brainwashed, ignorant of their history, their roots, their very reason for being in Israel.
    This is what writers such as Caroline are up against.
    The situation she presents on this column is extremely alarming. The USA has an unfortunate history of intervening in other countries and leaving a mess behind. In the case of Israel, American intentions lead to more than a mess. They lead to an irrevocable catastrophe: the end of Israel.
    I hope every one of us finds some way to disseminate this column as much as possible. Thanks.

    Reply
  • Marcel 06/14/2009 at 7:32

    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
    Proverbs 9:10
    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
    Hosea 4:6
    For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
    Jeremiah 4:22
    Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
    Job 21:14
    Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
    Isaiah 5:3
    ‘I think that the main problem is the lack of knowledge on whats going on in the area, they don’t understand Israel and what they are being showed or told doesn’t help at all for them to support us because of how highly they value Obama and believe that all he is doing is right since they don’t understand. ‘
    It’s not a media problem but a heart problem.
    I stopped watching TV because it was full of lies and garbage,and I know what is going on in Israel because my heart is there as is God’s heart.
    The plain truth is that the sinful,doomed Jews in America do not care about anything but lies and delusion.
    And this is why Obama is so popular with them.
    Little do these ignorant fool know that they have made their bed in hell.
    I don’t live in Israel an as a goy I am more Jewish than the majority of Jews in America and Israel.
    Their hearts are elsewhere,in the sewers of Babylon and this is why they IGNORE the words of God.
    Those like myself will be a witness against the ignorance loving Jews and Christians on judgment day,because THEY HAVE NO EXCUSE !!
    The people are far away from God in their heart and this is why they do not care and embrace an evil man like Obama.
    He is evil like them and makes them feel good.

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  • Marcel 06/14/2009 at 8:13

    The degree which people hate Israel is the degree in which they hate God.
    If they really knew God they would love Israel.
    That is why the devil and his followers are so keen on destroying Israel.
    God has drawn a line in the sand and it is easy now to see who His enemies are.
    There is no middle ground,none !
    The enemies of Israel, those openly hostile and those who are supine-lethargic, passive, lazy, idle, indifferent, careless, sluggish, negligent, inert, languid, uninterested, apathetic, lymphatic, listless, indolent, heedless, torpid, slothful, spiritless like the backslid in heart Jews and Christians of America love the darkness more than the light and are in lockstep with the evil one.
    God has set this last act in motion and there is no sideline.
    His enemies ,passive and active, will all lose and go to the place which God has prepared for all who hate the truth and love darkness.

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  • Tomer Elias 06/14/2009 at 9:40

    Ron Grandinetti
    I am and Israeli jew and even just recently finished my army serves so most of what I deal with is the conflict since its part of our day to day life. But i know you are right about what you say.
    Most of my american friends consider themselves liberals so I don’t believe it will be possible to change there media sources but when ever Israel comes up in our conversations I always try to give them the big picture of whats going on in the area so they understand, they all say the support Israel but most don’t know enough to understand how bad Obama’s words are towards us and its hard to talk against Obama because of how highly they view him.
    Its a really big challenge to explain the Israeli side but I try to do so as best as I can and even use a lot of the information I get from Caroline’s articles but I know that not enough are getting a more balanced view on whats going on and if it there was a much grater exposure to articles like these among the american Jews I believe our situation would be better like you say.
    I also don’t see how being liberal connects to being pro Palestinian and anti Israeli it just doesn’t make sense aren’t liberals spouse to support freedom and human rights which is Israel and not the Palestinians?

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  • Ron Grandinetti 06/14/2009 at 11:31

    Tomer Elias
    First of all thank you for serving your country. We thank your parents likewise.
    Israel has to be proud of their young men and women who risk their lives to protect all of Israel, the Holy Land.
    If we could only get the American Jews to at least provide the moral support for Israel.
    I believe PM Netanyahu needs to put a super PR program here in the states to bring the awareness to all Americans the need to fully support Israel.
    G-d/God bless you and your family and G-d/God bless Israel

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  • Marcel 06/14/2009 at 13:12

    If we could only get the American Jews to at least provide the moral support for Israel.
    Better yet If we could get YOUR American Catholics to at least provide any kind of support for Israel

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  • Ron Grandinetti 06/14/2009 at 13:31

    Marcel
    I am trying.
    Having said that I can’t let them read your comments about us Catholics for fear you would undo any good works I put forth.
    If you would get off the anti-Catholic kick just mayb we can bridge something together.
    Thanks,

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  • Marcel 06/14/2009 at 15:31

    Anti-Catholic ?
    Since when is the truth,the real life history of this ant-Jewish,anti-Israel religious sect just relegated to becoming an anti-Catholic kick ?
    It’s past time that you come of your high horse and come clean about the evil religious system you are beholden to and honor so dearly.

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  • BigB 06/14/2009 at 16:01

    Bibi delivered.
    Everybody, from Left to right is mad at Bibi.
    It means he did something right.
    A Zionist speech par excellance.
    No capitulation to Obama-Mitchell, simply an acknowledgment of reality. Two Million Arabs residing in our heartland, who must choose between living in amicable peace, or constant attrition.
    No hint of the prevalent antisemitism, no hint of hatred, un utterly regal delivery.
    Now let the games begin
    Dr Yuval Brandstetter, lehavim

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  • Marcel 06/14/2009 at 16:39

    Big B ,you are happy with Mr Compromise?
    It’s takes a few little crumbs to please you.
    The Prime Minister of Israel ,proves to be another predictable politician.
    And I use the term politician with disgust.
    ‘During the speech, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would not build any new settlements and would refrain from expanding existing Israeli communities in the West Bank.
    Still, he said the government must be allowed to accommodate natural growth in these settlements.’
    This is compromsie that betray’s Israel from another weak leader.
    He called for the release of IDF prisoner of Hamas in Gaza,Gilad Shalit ,yes of course…. But what about the prisoner of America ?
    What about Pollard, you weak, cowardly, crawling Israeli politician without any backbone to demand even one thing,anything from your supposed ally while they demand everything non stop?
    We know the Palestinians will always import their weapons into the state Netanyahu has PROMISED them and we know that even if they gave lip service to a Jewish Israel that their words would be worthless.
    We also know that Israel has never had the guts to impose agreed to limits on the present ISLAMIC Army on Israel’s front and back door steps and so his words are just more empty holes that will never be filled with anything but more hot gas from his mouth.
    As the U.S. trains the Islamic army to kill Jews ,the P.M.does nothing now to stop it ,but he promises to rein in the settlers and stop what Israel’s God has commanded.
    ‘And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.
    Amos 9:14-15.
    Mr. Compromise just wants to please everyone as politicians are so good at pontificating.
    And so the poodle Benji has only shown how he can be pushed to roll over.
    No wonder Obama is pleased.

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  • Marc Handelsman, USA 06/14/2009 at 18:42

    Prime Minister Netanyahu neutralized Middle East envoy Mitchell by asking Arabs to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and “defang” the PLO by taking away its weapons. The PLO and the wider Arab world will not agree to Mr. Netanyahu’s terms. As a result, there will be no two-state solution because the PLO and Hamas are committed to Israel’s destruction. Since the PLO continually denies the reality of Israel, it will start another intifada to garner sympathy for its cause, and further burden Arabs unfortunate enough to live under the PLO and Hamas.

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  • Marcel 06/14/2009 at 19:26

    ‘and “defang” the PLO by taking away its weapons.’
    I would love to believe this.
    The Palestinians would keep their weapons because they know Israel is too fearful to stand up to U.S. pressure and take them away.
    Look how the great IDF could not even finish Hamas due to pressure from their friend.
    Dream on dreamers.
    This is why many are sad and Obama is happy.
    The problem is that Netanyahu has never held the Plaestinians accountable previously when they flagrantly brok the peace agreement hundreds of times.
    Israel has never held the Palestinian’s accountalbe once but has always folded under minimal U.S. pressure.
    And so the Palestinians will bark ,the U.S. will pressure Israel and the faithless leaders of Israel will cavew in as they always do.
    What’s interesting here is that Obama is happy because he squeezed the lemon just a little and got a Plaestinian state.Netanyahu fool’s the naive.
    I wish I could believe the spineless jellyfish was finally growing a spine but his words are not enough.
    His action’s to date prove my point.
    We have spineless jellyfish with a fresh squeeze of lemon.

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  • DaveP 06/14/2009 at 20:31

    This is a good gambit by the PM Netanyahu. He realises that it is not in either’s interest for Israel and the USA to become unfriendly. He has asked for two very reasonable accomodations by the Arabs
    1. Demilitarised Palestinian “state”
    2. The acknowledgement that Israel is a Jewish state.
    None of the above two can ever be granted by the Arabs. They are after the destruction of Israel bit by bit, and with violence, as that is the only way that the conquest of Israel can be legalised in the Islamic sense.
    Therefore, in the fullness of time, this offer of a “two states” solution can be withdrawn, or simply revoked, just as Obama revoked past understandings with Israel – two can play that game.
    I think any sensible person should realise by now that there will be no peace between the Arabs and Israel, short of the destruction of Israel, or the destruction of Islam. At best, an armed and vigilant peace can be maintained, which is dependent on a strong Israel.
    So this conflict will continue to provide plenty of political action for politicians to justify their existence, the UN to stage expensive conferences in nice locations such as Geneva, all on taxpayers money, as well as provide employment and junkets for journalists and writers. All of the above need to be grateful to Israel, and Israel should be mindfull of its responsibilty to the above.
    All this though depends on Israel being strong and never ever letting its guard down.

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  • Ron Kilmartin 06/15/2009 at 2:39

    I am one American who is appalled at Obama’s betrayal of Israel and appeasement of Islam, both proving his naivete in foreign affairs, history, and taqiyya. He is Neville Chamberlain II. Netanyahu should follow Carolyn’s advice to keep Mitchell and his staff at a distance and not take up his time. Why even give these Obamatrons an office in Jerusalem? Tell Mitchell to set up the American embassy in Jerusalem and to seat his staff in the embassy; otherwise send them back to the beltway. Above all do not let the Obamatrons frustrate Israeli independent military operations. The ability to decap Iranian nukes must never be surrendered.

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  • Ron Grandinetti 06/15/2009 at 6:30

    Ron I am with you.
    Don’t give Mitchell the time of the day.
    PM Netanyahu to Mitchell “Don’t call me I’ll call you”.
    Assign a double talking person to him to boggle his mind that is already full of garbage from both the Clinton area to the Obama area.
    The Clintons rewarded George for his efforts (although he was not responsible) for the Ireland peace settlement.
    His baseball commission was nothing more than a waste of time and proved nothing everyone already knew. What a joke.
    Time is now for the Israeli Military to disengage from Obama and concentrate on Iran and what must be done contrary to what Washington wants.

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  • Marcel 06/15/2009 at 7:43

    POVERTY OF THE SOUL
    What opened the eyes of a Palestinian Terrorist ?
    Something Israel continues to ignore to her peril.
    exerpt;
    I remember interviewing many years ago for my TV program, Yosef Mendelovitch, a prisoner of conscience who had just been freed from the notorious Soviet prison system.
    “Tell me,” I asked, “while you were sitting in the horrible darkness of solitary confinement, did you ever dream that you would be free again?”
    “I never gave up hope, I never stopped dreaming,” came his immediate reply.
    “Did you ever try to imagine the very first place that you would visit upon being
    granted freedom?”
    “Yes, I knew exactly where I would ask to go,” he answered without hesitation.”
    “Could you tell me?”
    “Hebron.”
    “Hebron…” I repeated. The words shot out like a bolt of lightening, pierced the walls of the studio, spanned the centuries, and took us thousands of years back to our roots, to the cradle of our existence, to our patriarchs and matriarchs. Today, we can all go to Hebron – we can all pray at the grave sites of our holy ancestors…Today we can all stand in the presence of the shechina, before the Wall in Jerusalem. Today, we can all breathe the air of our holy land, but somehow, we’ve lost it. We don’t feel the magic – We no longer have the vision. We have forgotten our royal past. As for our secular leadership, regarding them you can’t even say they forgot – they just never felt it.Time and again, through this column and my speeches, I have posed a simple question to those who are our policy makers: If we have no right to Hebron, then by what right are we in Tel Aviv? This question has become especially poignant since the ill-fated Oslo accords, but amazingly, no one wakes up…..
    Shoebat became involved in various terrorist activities including Arafat’s Fatah group. He was indoctrinated to believe that the way to get to heaven and atone for his sins was to die fighting and killing Jews, and if he did, Allah would grant him a special place in heaven with beautiful women to fulfill his most secret wishes. He had been imprisoned in Israel for his terrorist activities, following which he came to the U.S. where he continued to be a PLO activist. His change of heart occurred when he married his Christian wife who challenged him to prove his Islamic belief that Jews corrupted the Bible and were prophet killers. In response, he obtained his first copy of the Bible to demonstrate to his wife the lies and corruptions for which the Jews were responsible. It was then that he saw the light and realized that it was he who had been fed a pack of lies, and the land was the G-d given inheritance of the Jewish people.
    Shoebat expressed deep regret over his past which caused him to be branded a traitor among his own people and compelled him to go into hiding. Nevertheless, he is on a mission, determined not only to warn the Jewish people against the dangers of negotiating with Arabs, but he also feels the urgency of speaking out among his own people. “My dream is to go to the prisons where I used to be – Ramallah prison, Muskavit prison – whatever prison – to go there and say ‘hey, there is a different way you can live from the way Yassir Arafat and Ahmed Yassin are brainwashing you to believe. I want to debate them and tell them why there are not 72 virgins waiting for them in the heavens, or any of the other garbage that is being taught in their schools.”
    Shoebat urges his Jewish audiences to take back the Land. “You are G-d’s people. It belongs to you.”
    How sad it is that it is strangers who have to remind us of that – alas, poverty of the soul.
    Esther Jungreis
    Poverty of the(Jewish) Soul

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  • David Custis Kimball 06/15/2009 at 10:46

    Caroline,
    In light of Netanyahu’s speech on Sunday, historical precident for these conditions of statehood should be explored. Scotland, several hundred years ago gave up its right to a military against the overwhelmingly recognized forces of England. I am not a good student of history, enough to give a valid details, but it would be interesting to model this ‘capitulation’ after many years of battle (William Wallace in ‘Braveheart’ comes to mind).
    The unbelievable law of right of nobility to ‘wedding night’ I believe was lifted as part of the agreement. Israel has been however not at all ‘outrageous’ to the Palestianians, so ironically, they seem to not have as good a bargaining position. It may be time, in the face of the overwhelming outrageous behavior of Palestianian allies, Hamas, Iran, Hezzbolah, EU and now USA as they play both sides and others, to show the real consequences of NOT accepting the only REALISTIC peace proposal….War is Hell, and perhaps that is what they need to see upfront and personal.. no excuses .. just done righteous (to borrow from OutBack Steak house. Merciless, persistant and bowing to no one who does not COMPLETELY support in DEED the elements outlined on that great Sunday.
    I support Bibi in all of his expressions for a lasting, real peace.
    PS. We see the results of Ireland, esp. N. Ireland not submitting to the rule of England. The country is in many ways has been impoverished and neglected for many years. Some contrast with this is needed, and because they do not share a border with England, perhaps it is not as ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to have a non-military border.
    Here if Canada or Mexico behaved as Venezuela seems to be leaning, although even Venezuela and Cuba have not been so belligerent and stupid to militarize the border with a neighbor.
    Like North Korea, it cannot stand that neighboring borders should be allowed to be militarized. I am absolutely fed up that the US spends countless million$ on supplying men and arms for that border. It may be time for S. Korea to take a stand. Had they years ago, the Syrian nuclear plants would not have existed and been so bravely and expertly destroyed by Israel… again thank you. The world owes you a great debt. Remind them…. remind the press. And remind the ‘oh poor me’ liberal sympathizers who end up being used as obliging idiot enablers to terror, and nuclear disaster…. Should they not publish these facts… exclude them from access to any news…. jam their channels … smash their mikes … there are consequences for joining the enemy in promoting propaganda… it is sedition … and a threat to free and peaceful people the world over.
    Be safe, strong and brave.

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  • Jack 06/15/2009 at 11:28

    Well… since most folks in both parties (rightly) support the Israeli position, why not isolate the Obama administration within his own party. It is likely that even Hillary Clinton will leave the government if she is put in a situation of carrying out this insane policy. I cannot understand why you put so much deference to the current US government position when if they actually move that direction… it will split the democratic party and leave Obama with only the support of minority of his party supporting his “peace initiative” in the Middle East. There is no support for this Obama position and he is in serious danger of splintering his own party over Israel.

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