Since the navy’s May 31 takeover of the Turkish-Hamas flotilla , Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his advisors have deliberated around the clock about how to contend with the US-led international stampede against Israel. But their ultimate decision to form an investigatory committee led by a retired Supreme Court justice and overseen by foreign observers indicates that they failed to recognize the nature of the international campaign facing Israel today.
Led by US President Barack Obama, the West has cast its lot with Hamas against Israel.
It is not surprising that Obama is siding with Hamas. His close associates are leading members of the pro-Hamas Free Gaza outfit. Obama’s friends, former Weatherman Underground terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and William Ayres participated in a Free Gaza trip to Egypt in January. Their aim was to force the Egyptians to allow them into Gaza with 1,300 fellow Hamas supporters. Their mission was led by Code Pink leader and Obama fundraiser Jodie Evans. Another leading member of Free Gaza is former US senator from South Dakota James Abourezk.
All of these people have open lines of communication not only to the Obama White House, but to Obama himself.
Obama has made his sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood clear several times since entering office. The Muslim Brotherhood’s progeny include Hamas, al Qaida and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, among others. Last June, Obama infuriated the Egyptian government when he insisted on inviting leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to attend his speech at Al Azhar University in Cairo. His administration’s decision to deport Hamas deserter and Israeli counter-terror operative Mosab Hassan Yousef to the Palestinian Authority where he will be killed is the latest sign of their support for radical Islam.
Given Obama’s attitude towards jihadists and the radical leftists who support them his decision to support Hamas against Israel makes sense. What is alarming however is how leaders of the free world are now all siding with Hamas. That support has become ever more apparent since the Mossad’s alleged killing of Hamas terror master Mahmoud al Mabhouh at his hotel in Dubai in January.
In the aftermath of Mabhouh’s death, both Britain and Australia joined the Dubai-initiated bandwagon in striking out against Israel. Israel considers both countries allies, or at least friendly and has close intelligence ties with both. Yet despite their close ties with Israel, Australia and Britain expelled Israeli diplomats who supposedly had either a hand in the alleged operation or who work for the Mossad.
It should be noted that neither country takes steps against outspoken terror supporters who call for Israel to be destroyed and call for the murder of individual Israelis.
For instance, in an interview last month with the Australian, Ali Kazak, the former PLO ambassador to Australia effectively solicited the murder of the Jerusalem Post’s Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh. Kazak told the newspaper, “Khaled Abu Toameh is a traitor.”
Allowing that many Palestinians have been murdered for such accusations, Kazak excused those extrajudicial murders saying, “Traitors were also murdered by the French Resistance, in Europe; this happens everywhere.”
Not only did Australia not expel Kazak or open a criminal investigation against him. As a consequence of his smear campaign against Abu Toameh, several Australians cancelled their scheduled meetings with him.
AND OF course, this week we have the actions of Germany and Poland. Germany and Poland are considered Israel’s best friends in Europe today, and yet acting on a German arrest warrant, Poland has arrested a suspected Mossad officer named Uri Brodsky for his alleged involvement in the alleged Mossad operation against master Hamas terrorist Mabhouh. Israel is now caught in a diplomatic disaster zone where its two closest allies – who again are only too happy to receive regular intelligence updates from the Mossad – are siding with Hamas against it.
And then of course we have the EU’s call for Israel to cancel its lawful blockade of the Gaza coast. That is, the official position of the EU is that Israel should allow an Iranian proxy terrorist organization to gain control over a Mediterranean port and through it, provide Iran with yet another venue from which it can launch attacks against Europe.
For their part, the Sunni Arabs are forced to go along with this. The Egyptian regime considers the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood took over Gaza a threat to its very survival and has been assiduously sealing its border with Gaza for some time. And yet, unable to be more anti-Hamas than the US, Australia and Europe, Mubarak is opening the border. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa’s unprecedented visit to Gaza this week should be seen as a last ditch attempt by Egypt to convince Hamas to unify its ranks with Fatah. Predictably, the ascendant Hamas refused his entreaties.
As for Fatah, it is hard not to feel sorry for Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas these days. In what was supposed to be a triumphant visit to the White House, Abbas was forced to smile last week as Obama announced the US will provide $450 million in aid to his sworn enemies who three years ago ran him and his Fatah henchmen out of Gaza.
So too, Abbas is forced to cheer as Obama pressures Israel to give Hamas an outlet to the sea. Such a sea outlet will render it impossible for Fatah to ever unseat Hamas either by force or at the ballot box. Hamas’s international clout demonstrates to the Palestinians that jihad pays.
THERE ARE three plausible explanations for the West’s decision to back Hamas. All of them say something deeply disturbing about the state of the world today. The first plausible explanation is that the Americans and the rest of the West are simply naïve. They believe that by backing Hamas against Israel, they are advancing the cause of Middle East peace.
If this is in fact what the likes of Obama and his European and Australian counterparts think, then apparently, no one in the West is thinking very hard these days. The fact is that by backing Hamas against Israel, they are backing Hamas against Fatah and they are backing Iran, Syria, Turkey, Hamas and Hizbullah against Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia as well as against Israel. They are backing the most radical actors in the region – and arguably in the world – against states and regimes they have a shared strategic interest in strengthening.
There is absolutely no way this behavior advances the cause of peace.
The second plausible explanation is that the West’s support for Hamas against Israel is motivated by hatred of Israel. As Helen Thomas’s recent remarks demonstrated, there is certainly a lot of that going around.
The final plausible explanation for the West’s support for Hamas against Israel is that the leaders of the West have been led to believe that by acting as they are, they will buy themselves immunity from attack by Hamas and its fellow Iranian axis members.
As former Italian President Francesco Cossiga first exposed in a letter to Corriere della Serra in August 2008, in the early 1970s then Italian prime minister Aldo Moro signed a deal with Yassir Arafat that gave the PLO and its affiliated organizations the freedom to operate terror bases in Italy. In ex
change the Palestinians agreed to limit their attacks to Jewish and Israeli targets. Italy maintained its allegiance to the deal – and the PLO against Israel – even when Italian targets were hit.
change the Palestinians agreed to limit their attacks to Jewish and Israeli targets. Italy maintained its allegiance to the deal – and the PLO against Israel – even when Italian targets were hit.
Cossiga told the newspaper that the August 1980 bombings at the Bologna train station – which Italy blamed on Italian fascists — was actually the work of George Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Eighty-five people were murdered in the attack, and still Italy maintained its agreement with the PLO to the point where it prosecuted and imprisoned the wrong people for the worst terrorist attack in Italian history.
Cossiga alleged that the deal is still in place today and that Italian forces in UNIFIL have expanded the deal to include Hamas’s fellow Iranian proxy Hizbullah. It isn’t much of a stretch to consider the possibility that Italy and the rest of the Western powers have made a similar deal with Hamas. And it is no stretch at all to believe that they will benefit from it as greatly as the Italian railroad passengers in Bologna did on August 2, 1980.
True, no one has come out an admitted that they support Hamas against Israel. So too, no one has expressed anything by love for Israel and the Jewish people. But the actions of the governments of the West tell a different tale. Without one or more of the explanations above, it is hard to understand their current policies.
Since the flotilla incident, Netanyahu and his ministers have held marathon deliberations on how to respond to US pressure to accept an international inquisition of the IDF’s lawful enforcement of Israel’s legal blockade of the Gaza coast. Their deliberations went on at the same time as Netanyahu and his envoys attempted to convince Obama to stop his mad rush to give Hamas an outlet to the sea and deny Israel even the most passive right of self defense.
It remains to be seen if their decision to form an investigative panel with international “observers” was a wise move or yet another ill-advised concession to an unappeasable administration. What is certain however is that it will not end the West’s budding romance with Hamas.
The West’s decision to side with Hamas against Israel is devastating. But whatever the reasons for it, it is a fact of life. It is Netanyahu’s duty to swallow this bitter pill and devise a strategy to protect Israel from their madness.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=178470
4th explanation.
Israel is the path of least resistence for the world community to deal with the peace with Islam problem. It’s easier to get rid of Israel than to rise up against Israel’s chief foe Islam.
Just look at all the extortion money the West is paying out to please the hordes from hell.Look at how much extortion money Israel is paying out and look how weak and appeasement driven Israel leaders have been for too long. The sharks smell blood in the water and the other fish all know which way the current is moving.
The jihadists are all over Europe and have deep pockets and threaten the West more than Israel does,and no one in the West wants a war with Iran as they have been bled out over the many years in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The West is following the lazy man approach and as in the past won’t bleed for Israel or Jews.
Israel’s failure to defeat Hamas in 2009 and Hezbollah in 2006 and it’s retreat fro South Lebanon in 2000 is now bringing catastrophic consequences.
Israel was content for too long to remain in the tight US foreign policy box because it felt safe and secure under the wings of the Vulture.
Instead of staying one step ahead and thinking outside the box Israel placed all their eggs in the US ‘peace’ agenda,never saying no to even one suicidal demand from the firendly bird.
The chickens have come home to roost and Israel’s perceived weakness is reawarded with scorn and contempt by all.
Defeating Hamas will enrage the world but Israel will have gotten out of the coffin box and sent a very needed message to all.
Does ‘Never Again’ really mean anything ?
And you really think the Stupid Jews who run Israel’s government care about Jewish public opinion – 56% which said there should be NO inquiry commission? Israel’s efforts to placate hostile foreign opinion by flagellating itself and trying to prove a negative will boomerang on the Jewish State. There is zero chance an Israeli finding other than “guilty” will be accepted by the rest of the world. And I don’t need to wait several months to know this will be the outcome of the Israeli investigation.
The only real mystery is why Israel’s leaders think the anti-Israel atmosphere now permeating the world will change in six months or whenever the commission they just set up finishes its work.
Caroline, to quote you, “THERE ARE three plausible explanations for the West’s decision to back Hamas. All of them say something deeply disturbing about the state of the world today” It would appear to actually be a combination of all three. The fact is that the world led by Obama is very naive. It is so easy to believe that if we bow and scrape there will be that pat on the head like rewarding an obedient dog. As to not being a attacked by Hamas and the Iranian axis, throw that same dog a bone, but also give a swift kick to show who is boss. Above all, and probably the main reason is that we Jews are hated for any number of reasons. Having a closet Muslim in the White House who surrounds himself with associates sharing the same sympathies it is not difficult to see that antisemitism is alive and well. Unfortunately Israel and her leaders are showing some of that naivety also. We can only depend on ourselves.
A splendid analysis, which should be circulated to all western governments.
With the wisdom of hindsight, I recall the relief I felt when when Obama replaced Bush ; it seemed to presage a new, more rational and optimistic era.
Present events give the lie to this hope.
My feeling,as a disgusted British national, is that appeasement,underpinned by an unacknowledged selfishness,drives the west’s desire to get into bed with Hamas et al.The Italian machinations described in the article are typical of what is going on in the UK.
The prejudice is gathering pace :even on my favourite radio3, there have been instances when celebrated Israeli musicians have not been introduced as such,whereas the nationalities of fellow musicians have been acknowledged and announced.
Cynically, I wonder what would happen if Israel were to announce the discovery of a viable oil deposit.
Ethnic cleansing of minority Uzbek Muslims by majority Kyrgyz Muslims with possibly thousands brutally murdered
(Again the western media are under-reporting the death count to keep Islam painted in a positive light as they serve up Israel to them
under their devious peace, final solution agenda)
and we are not hearing any outcry from the Islamic world, Hussein Obama, the E.U.or the U.N. as we heard about the ship of Turkish fools on their way to Gaza I wonder why ?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/06/15/kyrgyz.violence/index.html?hpt=T2
Netanyahu’s strategy is to gradually make concessions to the Western governments pressuring him.
You ignore the most plausible explanation: money or mammon. The world believes they can right their economies by trade with the Muslim world and are attempting to curry favor with it by siding against Israel. What will result is conflagration but fear not Israel your ally is greater than the whole world.
There are exactly three ways for the “infidels” in Islam:
1. Convert to Islam.
2. Live as rightless Dhimmis.
3. Get killed.
Even if the West throws Israel under the bus, nothing will change.
The strategy seems to be, soften and divide the Israelis with talks of peace, then kill them. This has been the strategy of every white house-Israeli-PA (PLO) agreement to date. Fatah (Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas both want Israel dead.
There hasn’t been been one American President who has not been against Israel behind the public press. Obama has just made himself public. The Clinton Administration exerted such strong pressure on the Netanyahu government (including threats) that, even though Netanyahu had been elected on an anti-Oslo platform, he had the necessary cover to betray the Israeli public that had elected him. Before this, Bush Sr.’s administration forced Israel to participate in the Oslo process, which brought the PLO into the West Bank and Gaza.
The Washington Times with the following title: “Rand study urges birth of West Bank state” (November 8, 1989; Wednesday, Final Edition; Section: Part A; WORLD; Pg. A7; Byline: James M. Dorsey). Donald Rumsfeld, who was Secretary of Defense in the Ford administration, and now once again in George Bush Jr.’s administration, was chairman of Rand.
The ‘First Intifada’ was a US-PLO strategy used to represent the Arabs in West Bank and Gaza as supposedly oppressed ‘underdogs’. Late in 1987, commercial strikes, rock-throwing riots, and other disturbances began taking place in the West Bank and Gaza. By early 1988, this was being called the ‘intifada.’ The interpretation in the mass media was that this was a ‘spontaneous uprising’ in reaction to supposed Israeli oppression. For example, on 12 January 1988, the British daily The Guardian produced the following headline:
“An uprising that took the Israelis by surprise: How Jerusalem misjudged the spontaneous unrest in the occupied territories.”
The Guardian also reported that,
“In yesterday’s leaflets the Arabic word intifada (root: shake, convulse, tremble) – and roughly but unsatisfactorily translated as ‘uprising’ – recurred again and again.”
The intifada back in those times was not spontaneous in the least nor are they today, but rather they are a continued planned strategy of the terrorists PLO/FATAH/Hamas/Iran.
Obama is now at the helm saying the same strategy of peace [in order to kill Israel] and the time for all of this to come to a head is getting short.
Israelis feel just as helpless as diaspora Jews when facing the entire world which is against them.
As an American I am very sadden by the lack of support this administration has given to Israel, but more than that I am outraged by the support the lend Hamas. Please know that many in America stand with you Israel and that our prayers are for your protection and prosperity. It is a very dark time: good is seen as evil and evil is seen as good. Stay strong Israel. God be with you.
I do not understand human reasoning. So many “plausible explanations” are given and not even one of them takes into consideration Almighty God.
Regardless of ethnicity and regardless of locality take a look around. Each and every day this world distances itself from God more and more.
As for me, I place my faith in God rather than hoping/relying that any end of times answer will be garnered from human reasoning.
If shooting starts when the next flotilla gets anywhere near Gaza who knows what will happen? Would you rather place your faith in the Almighty God or some politician(s)? Almighty God is my salvation not any politician.
With committed idol worshipers ruling Israel who only know how to please their god Israel is in grave danger !
‘The alarm raised by the Shin Bet chief reflects the extreme disquiet spreading through Israeli military and strategic circles over what they see as a prime minister and defense minister letting themselves be pushed around and guided in their decisions by an overwhelming urge to please the Americans and Europeans at the expense of concern for the fundamentals of Israel’s security and its defense forces’ capabilities.’
http://www.debka.com/article/8850/
The ties of our President to the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches do not receive any play in the media here in the United States. It is shameful the way our President has behaved towards Mr. Netanyahu, and equally shameful the way he has cozied up to, bowed before and apologized to despots, tyrants and murderers. Please understand that more than half the country did not vote for this man, and they and a good chunk of those who did, do not support his wrong-headed agenda towards Israel in particular and foreign countries in general. He seems bent upon the policy of destroying our oldest and best alliances, and forging closer ties with those whose implacable hatred for the West is apparently recognized by everyone but him. That is the best face I can put on it; the worst is tied to his associations with Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright and Rashid Khalidi, no friends to Israel nor the US either for that matter. Do not lose heart, as Elisha said when surrounded by the Syria army, fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Not sure how that utterance is annotated in your records, but it is 2 Kings 6:16 in the bible.
I give you a forth reason for the West’s backing of Hamas: The West is suicidal, it has a death wish. The West is split against itself, in self-hatred. Its civilizational crisis will only continue to grow like a cancer until the patient is killed by it.
Israel must plan on a near future without allies in the West, and definitely without Turkey. Israel will probably have to destroy Hamas in Gaza, completely and totally, no matter what the world thinks. It must keep its nuclear weapons close and ready; these weapons give the world pause. Israel can survive in a hostile world, but only if it believes in itself.
Caroline, thanks for another splended analyse.
All you talks about in this article is exactly what i can feel and see here in Norway too. We got a 3-parti coalition here and there is 1 of them who allways shout when Israel take one step one way or another. It’s leader have allways been and still are one of the persons together with her colleges who spreads the hate towards Jews and Israel. The other reason is that Norway allways will go along with US no matter where, we will go with them anyway. It looks like the US could lead Norwegian politicians right into a mine-field with theire eyes blinded without a question or protest. Our parlament and goverment definently do NOT think own thoughts. They are told what to think, and not by the people but by the US. I think that in our capitol Oslo the group of muslims are getting a really big group of woters( in elections) that they will do anything to please them. It’s getting like this all over Norway now. This and the fact that you named, if we please them we will be safe from terror or attacks is the reasons for kissing theire shoes anyway they can. So you are absolutely right that the hate is rising all over i think. We had a situation in Oslo a few months ago where parents of jewish schoolchildren reported theire worries about theire children beeing bullied by muslim children on theire way to and from school and even in school. This was taken all the way to the parlament but one of the muslims in the parlament managed to turn it into a problem that were hitting muslim children too and then they put together a committe that should look into it as a problem that was generally problem to all non-etnic Norwegian children and then they made the Jewish complains go away. The so called rasism against muslims in Norway have been in focus here for 20-30 years but the the problems for the Jewish children is new but they dont dare to touch it. This is what i call rasism. The real danger now is that the west manages to help Hamas to get Fatah neutrilized and get Hamas in the seat even in the West bank. Then they can open up for Iran to support them trough Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Our PM had a meeting today with the king of Jordan and the foreign minister of Turkey to discuss the ME situation. The rats are gathering towards Israel together with Iran,Turkey, Syria and Hamas and a lot othners in the region. The muslims is laughing at us right now, first chanse and they will stab our backs. We help them into position and then they will turn against us. As i have said before, the finale goal of islam is world dominanse.
Another plausible explanation for the West’s decision to back Hamas is because of a collapse of moral clarity. Today’s Western leaders lack the resolve of President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Both leaders were the last genuine statesmen of the Twentieth Century. The current leaders do not have the courage to confront Totalitarian Islam. Consequently, freedom suffers when timid leaders appease evil empires. The West is backing the “wrong horse,” and the stage is set for an horrific war that could’ve been prevented by leaders with uncommon bravery.
The Eurocrats could fear an oil embargo. The embargo against Denmark in 1973 scared the big economies in Europe. It could be about Oil, money and private interests at the highest level. There is high potential for extortion. The Muslims could blackmail Europe because this time it is more complex because of the crisis and with millions of Muslims and radical leftists.
You no longer can trust anyone in Europe. Even the Christian Conservatives, Liberals, and Greens are infiltrated by Muslims from different countries. (see http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1320) All the media in Europe reports with anti-Israeli undertones. This is dangerous.
Behind the facade, different ideologies are struggling for influence. Is it about Europe? Why should it? Europe´s gates are open for everyone and its demography points to decline. Is it about the Jews? Maybe. Is it about the US? Yes. Most of you do not understand but the goal is to end this system. To end Washington and to destroy Wall Street. Its the goal of Nazism but more ideological, aggressive, less public, more deadly, and with different players. Politicians of the West do not understand the wider picture. They only care about careers and more money. They are too stupid to see this demographic battle. The Skinhead is no longer the enemy its radical Islamofascism, an ideology much worse than Nazism. The radical right itself feels threatened by Islam. The European far-right can stop this madness because they hate Muslims and love their country but they get all the blame. They are not able to act or to speak out because everyone is against them. (See Wilders) This is crazy and our downfall.
Just to clarify the Australian link: our Government reacted in the way they did because we are like little brothers who follow the lead of the admired big brother. They still believe Israel has a right to exist, they still believe Hamas is terrorist and should not be in power however they are far more concerned with looking like important people from an important country in important times.
Sadly though, they are just naive little children who are enamored by their big brother and want to prove themselves to him.
Anti-Semitism is massively on the rise in Australia though and that concerns me greatly.
Dear Caroline, it does seem as we now live in the days of bad is good and wrong is right. There no longer seems to be a shred of good news and it’s even harder to become lost in “things” for a while to renew your spirit and not go crazy. The world is falling apart and the evil doers are in full control. It is either be for Obama or suffer the consequences. Does he have “power” we are not even aware of? We have so many unknown laws and Executive Orders in place I wonder why they haven’t already locked most of us up. We have been the literal frogs in the kettle while the water was heating up, now that it’s about to come to a boil we all seem cooked! BUT for God if we will seek Him and Trust Him to lead us, to Protect us, To intercede on our behalf. I hope Israel can find it’s way back to Him and His soverignity instead of “man” and that we can also. He will be our only hope in the days to come. For Israel appeasement has not and will not work. We here in the US have been so manipulated and deceived for so long that we no longer have a people who can think or care. As long as the extended hand points in their direction they are all for what is happening and yes they do blame Israel for EVERYTHING next to George Bush and those dirty Republicans and Tea Baggers of course! The bible warned us of these days and now we are witnessing them. All we experience now is lie upon lie and bullys. I personally wait for Is.17 & Ps.83 to happen, but then that will bring Ez.38 & 39, but that will bring Israel to call for their Messiah to deliver them. I personally am looking up for my Redeemer is near. Even so come Lord Jesus!
I have the feeling that current goverments are such a failure, the world is in such crisis and insecurity, that antisemitism is the one thing goverments and leaders can supply to populations as amusement, entertainment and distraction.
Also it is good to have somebody to blame. After all such a mess doesn’t come from no where and somebody must be guilty.
It’s not new, thou in the past there were no bad consequences for those using it, but nowdays the “west” will suffer by it’s own acts, but then, is there any “west” anymore?
Great Article Ms Glick!
As always I might add!
I am not trying to be pessimistic here or the “Party Pooper” and depress you good people out there but I strongly feel the need to vent out my feelings/frustrations.
It is very sad for me to concede, that I believe, that the Iranian President Mahmud “I am a nut job” is right in his assessment that: “Israel is “done” (he used a far more vile description though) as a Nation but She (Israel) and you guys don’t really know it yet…”.
This is your time to shine Mr. Netanyahu and your Cabinet and Knesset members.
Be a leader not a follower and responder to events and respond stronger to this Anti-Semite World and to the many suicidal fellow Jews… (Like the Israeli Vile left crowds such as Gideon Levi, Noam Chomski and the likes).
I Pray that GOD will protect his people. We cannot afford to lose our nation the 3rd time or lose millions of our countrymen yet again should Iran get nukes…
I feel like I am observing the end of times…
Love you Ms. Glick.
P.S.
I would also like to remind everyone of Obama’s close relations with the Palestinian Prof. Rashid Khalidi as to why he would favor and would be pro Palestinians.
This guy (Obama) is Guilty by association: Far left kooks, Marxists professors and students (according to Obama himself as he wrote in his 2 Biographies – and by the way – who writes 2 biographies with zero (()) accomplishments to show for ?).
Frank Marshal, William Ayers and his wife, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and all his crazy Czars (30+)and left loons who surrounds him and which many of them are Communist and Maoist in the open.
Before making the following statement, I want to say that I am not a Jew, so please treat my opinion as impartial. I have my own explanation.
Israel is 62 years old only, but during that time the people have managed to build a whole new civilization in a small deserted piece of land. Also, the Jews comprise 0.235% of the world population, but they have won 22% of all Nobel prizes (mostly scientific).
I believe that the major (if not the only) reason for the rest of the humankind’s behavior is nothing but THE INFERIORITY COMPLEX. Which brings a conclusion: whatever Israel does, it is always presumed to be at fault. A “peace process” is a dangerous illusion – you can’t have peace with the savages, only teach them how to behave properly. So the best way to deal with problems is simply to do what is relevant and brings progress to the country. Let the rest of the world say what they want. The only savior of Israel has always been and always be the IDF.
Sorry for being too straightforward – just my 2c.
There is another option that I have suggested over and over again…have a little faith; Israel must do what it has to do to protect itself and the let the people of the United States decide. This is a time like no other and Israel has no time to counter centuries of hatred against the Jews. Engaging in dialog with the left, socialists, communists, Nazis, and anarchists and their new found comarades in Islam is and absolutely futile gesture and waste of time…time Israel does not have. Strike where and when you must and make no apologies and proffer no explainations. To the chagrin of all the ‘citizens of the world’ most Americans, with their ‘attitudes’ that make them even more hated than Israel, will take arms if necessary to ensure the survival of Israel. Don’t be surprised if a whole bunch of Brits, Aussie’s and New Zealanders come along just because they like a good fight. FORCE THE ISSUE!! Shape the field! No apologies…and for God’s sake make no more concessions in the hope your enemies, like Obama, will respect you.
My explanation as to why western powers are following this path is that our leaders and citizens don’t know the diffence between good and evil or where to find the definition of both.
What is the evil causing the people of Gaza to suffer?
A deeper question is why is this the case?
Surprisingly, I think I am loosing my ability to feel outrage at our leaders.
Perhaps it’s simple exhaustion.
How many times can one pick up a newspaper and learn that our leaders, once again, walked into the same bear-trap?
How many times can you read that they have, once again, purchased the same used car and still find the energy for outrage?
When Kadima was running the show, I used to think there buffoonery was informed by some wrong-headed ideology.
Now, with Bibi and a so-called conservative coalition repeating virtually the same mistakes as Olmert and Livni, I can see that it is nothing more or less than incompetence.
BTW – has anyone ever provided a plausible explanation as to why Barak, who is despised equally by the Left and Right, is serving as our countries Minister of Defense?
Forget an investigation…tell em to shove it…what do you think they’re gonna find, the truth?…they’re not looking for the truth , they’re looking for a bonafide( in their eyes), reason to scold & further strip Israel of her dignity & rights. Investigate the flotilla not the IDF. Have they seen the footage, the pack pacing around onboard the flotilla slapping 3 foot long batons in their hands just waiting for an Israeli to board?? What’s going on here???
Two words:
Moshe.
Feiglin.
Until Israel has a PM with a shred of self-respect, Israel will not gain the respect of anyone else in the world.
First of all i want to say thank you Caroline for all of your articles. I do not listen to what is being reported in America about Israel,due to the fact that all of it is negative in nature,but instead turn to the Israeli newspapers. As an american i am very,very ashamed of my country and its leaders.Instead of standing with and supporting G-d’s chosen people,the leaders in our government are embracing Islam and their leaders.I want the jewish citizens to know that there are a few people in America who still support and will stand with Israel all the way.I have a deep love and respect for Israel.The G-d of Abraham,Isaac,and Jacob,the one and only true G-d had given that land to the jewish tribes to possess forever.The leaders of Israel must stand firm against all opposing threats.What the government of my country is doing is wrong!G-d will judge those nations who come against Israel! Israel,G-d promised you would never cease to be a nation.To the jewish people in Israel,America,and around the globe my heart and prayers are forever with you.
Has Netanyahu considered that the more the Israeli leaders try to appease ‘world opinion’, the more the average pro-Israeli American will lose heart in supporting Israel?
It is tough to be for someone who is unsure he believes in what he is doing. He may temporarily win the American government but lose the American people.
TO DAVID who’s lost his ability to feel outrage at his leaders.
I clicked on your name and accessed your blog. Some of it is quite funny.
Personally, when I think of Israel, I morph into a fully manic-depressive, going from one extreme, HOPE (They’ll make it, they’ll make it!) to the other extreme of deep, anguished DEPRESSION (Oh, no. Not another gesture of appeasement and surrender. It’s all over).
Regarding the reappointment of Barak, I have no idea why, but it probably makes perfect sense in the absurd and convoluted “Alice in Wonderland” world of Israeli politics. There must be a reason there, somewhere. If you try very hard to find it.
My guess is that Bibi estimated this choice would bolster his tenure as PM. (So wrong.)
Had he asked me, I would have advised him to turn sharply to the right and the majority of citizens would have firmly supported him and his policies. Obama would have never dared to make his offensive demands. And Netanyahu’s legacy would have been one to feel proud of.
Instead, we have a mess where Israel can only lose, no matter how long Netanyahu delays the inevitable.
Netanyahu made Barak Minister of Defense out of political expediency namely a means of dividing the Kadima opposition.
CAROLINE, HERE IS ONE THEORY:
Israel’s self-destructive policies are not due to lack of understanding on the part of leaders and politicians.
Some of the support those policies receive is due to self-hatred, and a lack of both a sense of self-preservation and a sense of justice. But that’s only a minority and a hopeless case.
There is another group with influence, however, that fully understands the situation, but keeps barrelling ahead towards the cliff or cheering those who do.
And they won’t be moved by any analysis, no matter how logical and clear it may be.
Those who control the economy and exert pressure on political leaders would be irate if the government were to make a bold move such as the immediate annexation of the territories. Think of the disruption to trade and profits if the world were to isolate Israel economically.
Those same groups are also against moves that might cause another Intifada. They are, after all, involved in Israel-PA and Israel-Gaza trade.
As you see, I’m at a loss. I just can’t understand how an intelligent and threatened country can do the things it does. There’s got to be a reason behind the madness.
I for one even with all that I’ve read and seen cannot construct a full chronology of the events that occurred from the time that the Israeli Navy arrived on the scene until they had control of the six ships in the Flotilla. I’m not sure that all the facts will be brought forward no matter how Israel conducts it investigation.
As for Obama and Hamas, I believe that he exerted US authority in the aftermath of the interdiction of the Flotilla by Israel in the UN Security Council to insure that its pronouncement was watered down enough to be virtually meaningless and at the same time worked hard to secure a forth set of sanctions against Iran gaining the support of both Russia and China. It is this President’s turn to take a wack at the Middle East peace pinata and do it as a liberal American democrat working with an Israeli Prime Minister who represents the conservative side of the political spectrum. There is a difference between letting more food and supplies into Gaza and calling for the suspension of the interdiction of weapons.
Watching the news about Israel is like watching the stock market.
We can only depend on ourselves.- naomir
Israel can survive in a hostile world, but only if it believes in itself.-Arius
Isn’t that how Israel got into this mess?
By trusting in one failed political party after another.
Trusting in one failed Prime Minister after another to do the right thing for Israel ?
Everyone of them handed over sovereignty of Israel to others,everyone else but the Holy One of Israel.
You still don’t get it.
Ignoring Him and trusting in yourselves is what got you into this mess.
The majority of Jews in America trusting in their own wisdom elected their destroyer Hussein Obama and you want to continue this same foolishness ?
__________________
It is better to trust in the LORD
Than to put confidence in man.
Psalm 118:8
The picture at the top looks soooo much like the Ku Klux Klan——–mmmmm lots of other racist similarities too. Could we maybe call them the Qu Qlux Quran? 🙂
As an American who saw Obama for what he was prior to the election, and certainly did not vote for him, I feel obligated none-the-less to apologize to the Israeli people for the actions of my government.
I would like to point out that I don’t believe the entire world is against Israel, though many of it’s govts are.
The citizens of the world are pairing off into two camps. One camp has control of the govts and the media, but they don’t speak for all of their citizens.
That camp calls evil good, and good, evil. They are willing to bow to evil and even advance it. They are cowards.
The other side sees through the media, the lies of the govt, and the evil that they embrace. They/we will not side with evil against Israel.
I see no alternative to ultimate conflict, Islam will force it whether we like it or not. They must to achieve their stated goals.
I believe in the One G-D and stand with Israel against the pagans of the West and the Jihadist of the East. I am willing to go to Israel to aid with my physical presence, when the time for that is needed. I am not Jewish.
Long live Israel !!!
‘As you see, I’m at a loss. I just can’t understand how an intelligent and threatened country can do the things it does. There’s got to be a reason behind the madness’.-AMY
Evil vs Good,The battle is as old as time !
Something you brainwashed university degreed folks always leave out.
The failed secular Jews of Israel who always capitulate to Israel’s enemies have only the religious Jews left to kick around with their evil and unmerciful brutality under their ungodly laws.
There is a real spiritual battle going on in Israel today.
The forces of darkness who serve the devil’s anti-Israel Globalist agenda are in control in ISRAEL and always go out of their way to show their master how much they hate anything or anyone religious in Israel.
They show more brute force against the religious of Israel than they do against evil Islam and all of Israel’s enemies.
The evil court would never rise up like this against Islam or any arab Israeli’s.See how they always give the leader of the Islamic Movement Sheikh Saleh a pass and always push for destroying Jewish homes and not Muslim ones to please their evil masters ?
They have declared war against the God of Israel.
Guess who loses.
Time is running out for secular Jews
We don’t need to be Haredim sitting around praying all day and winding up dhimmis in our own land.
We also don’t need to have Christian Zionists continually accusing us of lack of faith. I note the Jewish and Israeli right always seems to give this religeous based anti-Semitism a pass.
The resolute Prime Minister of Israel and his government has just decided that a few Gazan hospitals rebuilt under international supervision which couldn’t recognise a missile wheeled into place before their noses is worth temporarily slightly diffusing a confrontation with Turkey, Iran, and the West.
How can God know the beginning from the end? How can God be the Alpha and the Omega?
Sitting at the Father’s right hand in Heaven there is no passage of time. This moment does not pass and become the next moment.
But here below in the Bottomless Pit of the single kingdom of this world, otherwise known as Babylon, time does pass, the present moment passes the next moment occurs. So the divinely inspired Word of God was given for our instruction and for our salvation.
But what humanity cannot seem to grasp is what’s happening in current events are actually shadows of what’s transpiring in the Heavenly realm.
That said, it’s looking more and more that we, everyone currently alive with mortal life here in the Bottomless Pit are the generation in which our Lord Jesus Christ said, “will be the generation that will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt. 24:34).
Again, regardless of ethnicity and locality just look around. You’ve read Noah’s account in Scripture, and when Matt. 24:37 says, “just like the days of Noah so will the coming of Man be” how much longer can it be until God says, enough is enough and returns.
So, believing what God has given us in Matthew 24, (and every last jot and tittle of Scripture) we should obey Him and not be misled or mislead anyone. We certainly hear of wars and rumors of wars, but instead of not being alarmed we are alarmed and seek to provide human solutions to that which must take place, because it is the Word of God.
Nations rise up against nations, famines and earthquakes in various places. Humanity seeks to help as best they can, but they don’t realize that these aren’t happenstance, they are the beginning of birth pains.
They will hand you (us) over and we will be persecuted. Many are be led to sin, betrayal and hate run rampant. Deception is at an all time high, lawlessness is the law, and love for one another is a lost art.
The global situation looks bleak now and will only get bleaker. But wait, don’t despair, there is Good News. The person who endures to the end shall be saved and the Gospel of God’s Kingdom will be preached throughout the entire earth as a testimony to ALL nations, and then the end will come.
All I’m saying is that in the short time we have left we should be building our Arks of salvation just as Noah did in advance of being transported to the next life rather than advocating “we the people” solutions as did Korah in Numbers 16.
When Barack Obama took office, one of his first foreign policy pronouncements was to define the parameters of his Middle East policy. Mr. Obama did this by claiming that the Palestinian Israeli dispute had poisoned the Middle East for far too long, and was in fact the reason that American interests were being punished in the region. He made it clear that he held Israel responsible for the impasse in the Palestinian Israeli negotiations. This is the common perception in Europe, and much of the Third World, and to finally have the American President confirm this perception has given a green light to all and sundry to condemn, villify, and demonize Israel.
If you want to understand why the world seems upside down, please see
Yuri Bezmenov former KGB on Youtube on Russia’s approach to subversion of the enemy, the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN0By0xbst8
He talks about how to demoralize the enemy, and confirms what a friend told me about papers he found in an apartment after renters moved out with plans about how to polarize American society, which he turned in to the authorities. Obviously it applies to Israel as much as to the US.
There are lots of videotapes by him so I’ll have to watch them.
For a solution to unpolarizing, and recapturing tried and true American Judeo Christian values that have been lost, please watch the free 5 minute videos at Prager University, and pass it on; and to Spanish people as well as the lectures are available in Spanish. The Left has been targeting Hispanics.
I heard on Aish.com Rabbi Salomon this week that 80% of Jewish Israeli school children did not know the shema. I think that has dire implications for Israel.
If Israel’s claim to the land comes from God, if they forget God, God might evict them. Some military people are saying that the build up of arms and missiles against Israel will result in a war this summer. (This is probably not the big one.) I think Israel should begin an emergency shema campaign and as Esther had the Jews pray, Israel and Jews in the diaspora need to do the same thing. That means that Israelis would have to stop fighting with the orthodox, and that Leftist Jews and including rabbis would have to stop attacking Israel and stop siding with its enemies. Stop the PC stuff. It should be PG for Political Garbage(or as Dennis Prager says OTL standing for Offends The Left). Israel pulled out of Gaza to make the Gazans happy and for peace and they got 10,000 missiles in return.
If Israel can organize Memorial Day for the dead and the past, why can’t they organize this for the living and the future? They have the Jewish holidays and people take the holidays off. They could set a time for a national prayer. The nation could undertake doing mitzvahs.
Let Israel read Deuteronomy 28 and Deuteronomy 30:19 The Blessing and the Curse.
Caroline
Can I start by saying that as a British person I know that one of the reasons we can sleep a little sounder is the intelligence that is provided to the UK by the Israeli intelligence services. It is in the best interest of the UK that the state of Israel is strong.
I agree with most of your article however I think you underestimate how much of the problem is Obama and his agenda. It seems from here in the UK the Obama hates the west and all it stands for. We have seen it with his attitude to the Falkland Islands siding with a very anti western and anti democratic government. His pushing for Turkey to get membership of the EU and the list goes on and on. It would seem that the rest of the western governments are just trying to keep on his good side. Perhaps afraid of what he could do to make life difficult for them. As he moves into his last two years and he begins to understand that he has no chance of a second term I think it is going to get much worse. We can only hope for a change at the next election and try to keep our own governments from following his line.
Caroline
Can I start by saying that as a British person I know that one of the reasons we can sleep a little sounder is the intelligence that is provided to the UK by the Israeli intelligence services. It is in the best interest of the UK that the state of Israel is strong.
I agree with most of your article however I think you underestimate how much of the problem is Obama and his agenda. It seems from here in the UK the Obama hates the west and all it stands for. We have seen it with his attitude to the Falkland Islands siding with a very anti western and anti democratic government. His pushing for Turkey to get membership of the EU and the list goes on and on. It would seem that the rest of the western governments are just trying to keep on his good side. Perhaps afraid of what he could do to make life difficult for them. As he moves into his last two years and he begins to understand that he has no chance of a second term I think it is going to get much worse. We can only hope for a change at the next election and try to keep our own governments from following his line.
Obama will not rest easy until he succeeds in greatly harming Israel and the USA! He understands all too well how much damage he can inflict to bring Israel and the USA down to the level of a Cuba or Syria! Unfortunately, I doubt whether our 2010 elections will have an effect because I doubt whether they will be allowed.
Stay careful over there and continue your good work.
‘We don’t need to be Haredim sitting around praying all day and winding up dhimmis in our own land.’
Yes,you secular Jews are accomplishing this so well by yourselves that you don’t need any help from the religious Jews whom you abuse to please your false gods of the West.
How about tearing down some illegal Arab homes and driving them off the land.
You can only do this to fellow Jews because you are faithless cowards who refuse to stand up against evil Islam and only elect cowards who compromise and retreat.
Hamas rises in the West
Caroline said,
“THERE ARE three plausible explanations for the West’s decision to back Hamas…”
+++
Israel itself, is responsible, guilty, imo.
Israel, what paradigm [worldview] are your own choices empowering?
The Israeli government policy of appeasing moslem [‘Palestinian’] demands, and ignoring [forgiving!] ISLAMIST riots, sedition, and violence against individual Jew’s, and Jewish communities within Israel, is what could also be empowering the perception within the wider world community, that Israelis are oppressing ‘Palestinians’, Hamas, et al.
How so?
The world community looks on, and asks;
Q.
Why do Israelis tolerate ISLAMIST sedition and violence against individual Jew’s, and Jewish communities?
A.
It must be, that the continual ‘Palestinian’ [ISLAMIST] violence against the Israelis is justified?
Why so???
Because, the Israelis are NOT comprehensively punishing the apparent criminal behaviour [violence and sedition] by the ISLAMISTS [‘Palestinians’] within Israel.
i.e.
If Israel is truly righteous [innocent], why won’t the Israelis act against the criminal ISLAMIST violence and sedition, being directed against them???
It is Israel’s own refusal to act against moslem/ISLAMIST violence and sedition which is, defacto, validating and legitimising moslem claims, of Jewish oppression of ‘Palestinians’.
IMO, Israel is being assailed by a false witness [ISLAMISTS].
The Torah shows how a righteous man is justified [protected], and how a false witness is to be condemned [judged].
Deuteronomy 19:16
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
But what will Israelis do?
If Israel is righteous [innocent], why won’t Israelis act against, and judge those wicked men who assail them???
Perhaps the reason, is because the Israelis are guilty [or because they feel guilty]?
That is the paradigm which Israel has empowered.
+++
The ISLAMIC paradigm…
[In moslem eyes…]
Unbelief is a crime against Allah.
Moslems are justified [in their law, Sharia], in fighting unbelief [and unbelievers!].
[In moslem eyes…]
Eretz Israel belongs to moslems.
Moslems in Gaza, Samaria, Judea, and Israel proper, are victims of Jewish oppression [i.e. the present Jewish/Israeli ability to resist ISLAM’s authority over their lives!!].
Moslems, in their submission to ISLAM, are superior, righteous people, while Jews [as non-moslems] are ‘guilty’ people [for resisting ISLAM’s authority over their lives!!].
[That, is truly, how ISLAM/moslems justify their worldview!]
“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
Koran 9.29
“If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him;….”
Koran 3.85
The Hadith…
“Allah ‘s Apostle said, ” I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,’ ….”
hadith/bukhari #004.052.196
[In moslem eyes…]
Jews [as non-moslems] in eretz Israel, *because of* their resistance to the authority of ISLAM over their lives, are ‘oppressing’ moslems.
That ISLAMIC paradigm is being empowered, by Israelis themselves, by their ‘non-response’, by their ‘passive containment’ of local ISLAMIC aggression.
And it is a paradigm which is being successfully communicated to the world, by moslems.
“Silence is consent.”
Mohammed the pirate, the brigand.
It could equally be stated that ‘passive containment’ of ISLAMIC aggression, is being perceived as Israeli guilt.
I’m really scared. I haven’t felt this since I fought in the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Obama is effectively trying to change everything many here in the US stand for. Even living here in Arizona, I can see through all the garbage the mainstream American press has to offer. And now we are getting mitigated by all these nut jobs in Washington. I am afraid that people here in the US are complacent and agenda driven to the point of no return. But many of us do not feel that way. I am hoping we have a turn around in November and not to some more bureaucrats who are just happy to allow ignorance to continue to take place.
Regards from the Grand Canyon state.
Today I came across four very serious articles, which I recommend. I wish all of them were printed in Israeli newspapers.
The former prime minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar has come out with a statement of support for Israel. The title is “If Israel goes down, we all go down”. He talked about tactical points and values. He with a group of notables including John Bolton is starting a group of primarily European and American non Jews called Friends of Israel.
and
Lights in the Gathering Darkness
Melanie Phillips
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/6087250/lights-in-the-gathering-darkness.thtml
and
The Noose Around Israel’s Neck
By Daniel Greenfield Thursday, June 17, 2010
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24375 and
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
and
There is also an article written from a Spanish journalist on the Left who argued against Jew hatred in an article entitled
The Lunatic Left by Pilar Rahola
http://www.pilarrahola.com/3_0/XTRAS/print.cfm?ID=1420&TIPO=11&IDIOMA=3
Yes, there are many ideas as to why most of the world is turning against Israel. I would emphasize the more psychological interpretation, because it integrates left (including leftist Jews) & right, West & Islam: put it briefly as “lynch mob mentality on a grand scale, unprecedented in history” – very similar to the anti-Jewish mentality of the pre-Holocaust years in Europe. Most of the haters of Israel world-wide are just mediocre minds, conformists, who follow political fashion, without a clue as to the real situation and consequences, because they do not think, but only want to appear to think, to look good in the eyes of their equally stupid peers, etc. It is so easy to seem moral, even if you live a depraved life, with drugs, sex and rock & roll – all you have to do is be pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli. Cheap! All this orchestrated by moronic politicians, journalists, academics, etc.
All this is indeed, as another commentator here has said, part of a larger cultural revolution that makes good look bad and bad look good. E.g. homosexuals have been assigned by the left the role of angelic beings, which in other cultures was assigned to simpletons or to religious puritans. Jews are caught up in this Western movement, because the West is busy shaking off its Bible inspired legacy and it blames Jews for having brought monotheistic religion into their lives. People yearn for freedom from moral restrictions; and for that reason turn every moral principle on its head. Thus, contrary to their realistic self-interest, the West takes sides with Islam against Jews and their State Israel. They seek to free themselves from Jewish influence, irrespective of their thereby punishing themselves with Islamic ascendancy.
Of course, there are many other intertwined reasons; this is not monolithic.
The article starts out with excessively harsh wordings about the US, depicting them as a leader of an international stampede against Israel. All observers know that Obama and Biden worked hard to slow down the stampede. Later in the article the assessment becomes quite reasonable and indeed does not support the claim of US leadership of a stampede.
Reading this articule I wonder if it is true that Jews are the best chess players.
Khaverim – politics is a chess game, if you are loosing – don’t blame a chess board or the weather – if you lost it means YOU ARE A LOOSER.
And who is a bigger looser? Anyone who tries to defend undefendable position.
Whoever decided to drop Israeli soldiers into a crowd of maniacs made a stupid decision – he is guilty of making stupid decision and should be reprimand – don’t tell me Israel was not capable of stopping this ship without killing people.
Why nobody invited international journalists to watch this actions – at least we should see uncensored CNN or BBC movie, and not IDF supplied movie.
Mistake after mistake and now Israeli government is “surprised” of the world reaction.
It is sad.
Zalek