Mike's Place

Remove the Platform

2010-09-25T08:10:00.003+02:00

By

Mike Packer

This week in New York, specifically at the United Nations building, there was a gathering of heads of state of the member nations of that "august" body. Speaking at this meeting of the General Council was "Mad" Mahmoud from Iran who was trying to foist the blame for the events of 9/11 on anyone except the followers of Islam.

This speech of "Mad" Mahmoud's was covered by an article in the Wall Street Journal and commented on in a blog site that I subscribe to called FresnoZionism.org you can read it here.

For the sake of this blog I would like to quote from FresnoZionism and expand on it a little. In effect Fresno was just commenting and one of his reactions to "Mad" Mahmoud was:

"How should we react? He could have been dragged from the stage and beaten viciously, then thrown into a filthy cell and held hostage until they surrender their uranium (and incidentally release the two young hostages they are holding)."

I couldn't agree more! The statement shouldn't have been just wishful thinking but a reality.

Imagine, if you will Dear Reader, the standing ovation UN security officials would have received if they had done just that and handed MM to US federal Authorities to be incarcerated at the nearby facility of Rykers Island.

Imagine how that would be received in Teheran when they realize that the public platform that they have come to rely on has just been pulled out from under their feet. Imagine what kind of message that will transmit to all the rest of those Camel jockies out there who think they have the world by the proverbial short and curlies.

Islamists have been rubbing our noses in our own laws! They don't respect our statutes because they don't consider them Divine laws but they will use them against us and the UN is the tool that they use laughing up their sleeves all the way to the podium. We, of course, encourage them by printing their every word in our MSM as if they have the right of free speech in our countries. In my humble opinion they don't have that right it has to be earned by first letting others enjoy it.

The time is long past when the Islamist Terrorists be cut off from any news media outlet to the western world, let them air their invective on their own news media transmitted into their own countries where they can do us no harm. The radical Imams implanted in western countries should have their pulpits monitored and pay the price for their sedition which should not be protected under Freedom of Religion statutes. Sedition is not a religion, yet.
Arab visitors to our western nations should be accompanied by our security agencies wherever they go just as our countrymen are escorted when they visit Arab nations. This might just curtail the transfer of "black" money to all of the radical imams in our lands and cut off their funding.

It is time to learn from their tactics and bring them to bear in our countries just as they try to do in theirs. The time for being politically correct is gone. It went out with the rubble from 9/11.

You better believe that racial profiling is the only way to go....learn to live with it!

Appeasement is Defeat

2010-08-27T22:30:00.003+03:00

By Mike Packer

New talks between Israel and the Arabs are going to start in September...or maybe not.

It all revolves around the PA's willingness to sit around the table with the Israeli Government without preconditions. This has never happened before as Israel is constantly being pressured into making concessions and receiving nothing in return if you call nothing terrorism, boycotts and phony excuses from the Arab side such as building freezes etc.

When the US Administration finally understands that appeasement is in fact defeat then maybe, just maybe, we will be able to discuss "peace".

The latest offer from the US comes in the form of two large caliber ambassadors. The first is International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano who says that on his watch things will be different. He explains that he will not be as lenient as his predecessor and promised his inspectors would henceforth clamp down hard on Iran's nuclear activities including the Bushehr reactor. This from a UN agency that has shown that it is totally emasculated and also a part of an organization that has proved itself to be totally useless.

The second is Daniel Shapiro, Middle East Director of the National Security Council who comes with possible offers of security gifts if Israel does not attack Iran. Iran, as you all must have heard by now, has brought their first nuclear reactor online. This sounds irrelevant but has dire consequences for the land of Israel. Rusia, the supplier, insists that all the spent fuel rods will be returned to the supplier...yeh right.

Intelligence sources say that Iran has enough fissionable material to make 1-2 nuclear weapons already stockpiled. So much for the US reports that Iran is still a year or two away from producing nuclear weapons. This has all come about because of appeasement. Iran and their mad ayatollahs has finally reached the point of no return and Israel is in the proverbial cesspool!

To get back to Daniel Shapiro who has spent three days talking about the offers with Benjamin Netanyahu. Advance notice of the US offers were leaked to former CIA officer Bruce Riedel, who is very close to President Obama, for an article he published in the influential The National Interest on Aug. 25 under the caption "If Israel Attacks." He urges the US Administration to do everything in its power to stop Israel from attacking the Bhusher reactor as he considers it would be a "catastrophe". A catastrophe for who? Israel, Iran, The US, who?
I really don't give a damn if the fallout from a bombed nuclear reactor creates a no-live zone in central Persia...they still have a few thousand square miles of desert to live in as compared to a nuclear strike on tiny Israel which will leave US nothing.

Riedel proposed four steps to strengthen Israel and give it a second strike capability:

1. The US must spread a nuclear umbrella over Israel that would entail the installation of American nuclear depots in Israel to show Tehran that a nuclear attack on the Jewish state would meet with a US nuclear response.

2. American nuclear submarines would be supplied to the Israeli Navy as the backbone of its nuclear counter-strike capability. There are two categories - ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines.

3. The Israeli Air Force would receive US F-22 Raptor stealth jets, the most sophisticated warplane in the skies today. They would be equipped with all the systems and ordnance needed to strike the Iranian nuclear program.

4. The US would arrange for Israel's full membership of NATO, so rendering an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel subject not just to US retaliation but a declaration of war by the 26-member alliance.

For this Isreal would have to avoid attacking Iran and accept the fact that nuclear weapons will shortly be in the hands of any jihadist who wants them.

Lets take each of these items one at a time and try to understand what it all means for this little country that we Jews consider home.

Item 1: a US nuclear umbrella for Israel means that American nuclear stores will be kept in Israel to warn Iran that any nuclear attack on Israel means an attack on the US. All very well but the nukes will be falling on us and not on the US 6,000 miles away.

item 2: Nuclear submarines are great. I don't know how many crew members there are in one of those leviathans but they will be the only surviving jews after the first nuclear strike on Israel. This tiny country can't absorb a nuclear strike and survive so the second strike capability means diddley squat to me and my family. It may mean something to America and certain Arab nations in and around the Persian Gulf but I don't feel like being the sacrificial lamb for them.

item 3: Nice toys but after the first Iranian strike will they be able to get off the ground?

Item 4: Joining NATO will do what exactly? Basically it means that an attack on a member nation is as if it was an attack on all 26 members of the alliance and it leaves me to wonder where Turkey will fit in or any of the other Eurabia countries who hate us anyway.

So what now? In my humble opinion a preemptive strike is our ONLY choice and let the cards fall where they may. It seems to me that the world will soon be rid of us miserable Jews just as it has always wanted to.

There will be no tears for us except for maybe a few American Yids who have not forsaken us for the Golden Cow of assimilation and appeasement.

Reassessment?

2010-06-12T13:46:00.005+03:00

By Mike Packer

Firstly I would like to thank Robert J.Avrech of Seraphic Secret for imbuing in me a little motivation. He and his family are an inspiration to us all and I am honored to have come across his blog.

Secondly I won't write about Helen Thomas as others have lowered their standards enough to give her a platform.

And now we come to the meat of the subject, I read a newsletter today from Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors a blogsite that I came across due to the untimely death of my friend Tsafrir Ronen z"l. I am always happy to get their newsletter although the content does not always allow much happiness through no fault of the writers.

. Yesterdays newsletter by M.K. Dr. Arieh Eldad was about reassessing American/Israeli (A/I) relations. He starts his piece about how Rabin and Kissinger bashed heads in 1975 but then goes on to say that the current A/I crisis has to be re-evaluated, but lets get back to this a little further down.

Here I would like to evaluate Americas current administrations behavior in recent weeks. Lets start in chronological order with the building of a steel wall on the border between Egypt and Gaza:

I presume that you, informed reader, know that Egypt has imposed its own blockade of Gaza because it is scared of the Hamas mafia ruling that cursed strip of land on the Mediterranean coast. Well America, in its magnanimous generosity, offered to assist Egypt to the tune of half a billion dollars and the Army Corps of Engineers. Due to Hamas interference and assistance from Iran and Hizbollah this American assistance has now been removed and the Corps recalled bringing Egypt's blockade to its demise, that incident is covered by Debkafile here, this brings the blockade down to Israeli enforcement and causes B.H.Obama to call that blockade "unsustainable".

Hmmmm, things are starting to smell fishy.

Washington is now pressuring Israel to include International observers in an investigating committee over the "peace flotilla" incident. According to Debkafile this is offering Bibi Netanyahu a loaded gun so he can commit domestic political suicide. Now if that constitutes gross meddling in the affairs of another sovereign country and a loyal ally at that what does? I would urge Bibi not to accept because we were well within our rights to apply that blockade and the investigation committee should be an internal one so that we can bring our Minister of Defense to justice.

Hmmm, things are starting to positively stink.

Now how about these sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN? who is going to confirm that these sanctions are being obeyed by all UN member countries? What methods will be used to enforce these sanctions?

Well, how about a maritime blockade? ooops! sorry, that's illegal isn't it, I mean no one is at war with Iran, yet, right? So you big windbags in the UN, US, EU with your holier-than-thou attitudes what's your answer? will you go the way of Israel, G-d forbid, will you shake your index finger at the ayatollahs and say "don't be bad boys,now". Nah, you won't do a thing because you don't have the manhood for it, you will never put your mouth where your money is you will leave it to the Jews to fight your battles for you as they have been for the last 40 years!!! and then condemn them for doing so.

So Mr. Obama, you got your sanctions now what are you going to do with them, I hope that you don't come looking to us for help because you might get your sorry ass kicked all the way home!

So to get back to reassessment in the light of what I have written above. Why should Israel trust the American administration anymore? They have reneged on their promises to curtail smuggling across the Sinai border by implementing Egypt's blockade and then abrogating their responsibilities . They have stabbed Israel in the back with their so-called support in the UN on the "peace flotilla".

Which brings me all back to the following:

Koran 3:28 :
Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing with Allah , except when taking precaution against them in prudence. And Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the [final] destination.

This is loosely translated to mean that you should not befriend non-believers and is one of the bedrock surahs of Islam.
Well, now what have we to say about the US adminstration not living up to its written or verbal agreements with Israel since Barak Hussein Obama was elected into office.

Sorry America you just aren't a reliable friend anymore

Insult, Shminsult!

2010-04-05T10:49:00.002+03:00

By

Mike Packer

Just a few weeks ago US Vice President Joe Biden visited my lovely country as is customary between "friendly" nations. It wasn't long before things turned nasty and dear old Joe was all afluster by some perceived insult.

He took umbrage at a statement by the planning department of the Municipality of Jerusalem that declared its intentions to build 1600 housing units in one of our capital city's northern suburbs. This declaration is just a continuance of a project that has been in the planning stage for a number of years and will be in the planning stage for several more before actual building commences.

.So, lets take a look at this "insult" that so tilted Joey's nose that even Hilary got on the band wagon. The illustrious US Secretary of State said:

“it was not only an insult to Biden, but an insult to the United States.”

well, la di dah.

I would like to remind Hilary Clinton that just two and a half short years ago she wrote:

"believes that Israel’s right to exist in safety as a Jewish state, with defensible borders and an undivided Jerusalem as its capital, secure from violence and terrorism, must never be questioned.”

Yeh, right, so who is insulting whom?

Joe Biden, another two-faced political whore has not once, not twice but three times endorsed the City of Jerusalem as the undivided Capital of the State of Israel:

in 1990 as a senator he co-sponsored Senate Concurrent Resolution 106:

Whereas ambiguous statements by the Government of the United States concerning the right of Jews to live in all parts of Jerusalem raise concerns in Israel that Jerusalem might one day be re-divided and access to religious sites in Jerusalem denied to Israeli citizens; and

Whereas such concerns inhibit and complicate the search for a lasting peace in the region: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That the Congress–

(1) acknowledges that Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of the State of Israel;

(2) strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic religious group are protected; and

(3) calls upon all parties involved in the search for peace to maintain their strong efforts to bring about negotiations between Israel and Palestinian representatives.

In 1992 he co-sponsored Senate Consecutive Resolution 113:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That the Congress–

(1) congratulates the residents of Jerusalem and the people of Israel on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reunification of that historic city;

(2) strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected as they have been by Israel during the past twenty-five years; and

(3) calls upon the President and the Secretary of State to issue an unequivocal statement in support of these principle

To add insult to injury Joe Biden even co-sponsored the Jerusalem Embassy Act which states:

(a) STATEMENT OF THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES-

(1) Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected;

(2) Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel;

So, Mr. Vice President, what's got your knickers in a knot? You are, or were, a supporter of Jerusalem as an undivided city and Capital of the State of Israel and now you are "insulted".

Who is insulting whom?

It is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the US Administration has gone over, completely, to the Arab camp and has thrown its only friend in the Middle East to the dogs.

The United States has been degraded to a State that can no longer be relied upon to stand by its commitments and promises and has become, under the current Administration, a dishonest entity.

If I was an American citizen I would be up in arms against the foreign policy of the Obama Administration that has started apologizing for the fact that it helped rescue (with great honor) Europe and the Far East from destruction just over 60 years ago, up in arms against the Administrations policy of alienating its friends for so called "allies" in the Arab world.

It is time Americans woke up before it becomes too late.

Fair weather Friends?

2010-04-02T19:25:00.003+03:00

By
Mike Packer

I haven't posted anything for a while because whatever I wanted to say was being covered by so many other people a whole lot better at it than me so I left it up to them.

Saying that, there is something that's riling me at the moment and that's the attempts by the Arabs to delegitimize and erase any trace of the religion of my people! The first monotheistic religion that has been around for five thousand years and gave birth to two others.

.Those two others are Christianity and Islam. Christianity evolved from the teachings of a Jew from Galilee into the faith that bears His name today. The second religion was, basically, stolen from us 3400 years after we were firmly established in our faith. My accusation of theft is based on the fact that the founder of this religion (he who must not be named) in his travels around the Middle East in his younger days was exposed to both of the monotheistic religions in the region at the time. Being on the border of insanity as he was he decided to form his own religion but came to the conclusion that to call himself G-d would bring ridicule upon himself he decided to call himself a prophet. He chose the Jewish faith as the basis for his dogma and usurped all out prophets and teachers and rewrote the bible to his own liking.

Over the eons Christianity has evolved into the religion of "Peace", "Love your neighbour as yourself", "blessed are the meek", etc. whereas Islam has still a long way to go to educate its followers in what a tolerant religion and a "religion of Peace" actually is. It has to learn that in this day and age that marauding gangs of religious fanatics that try and coerce people into converting to their religion is not accepted anymore. The dark ages have long gone the way of the Dodo and they should try and get on to the same page as the rest of us.

In Muslim countries other religions are barely tolerated if not illegal. Saudi Arabia for all its airs and graces trying to hobnob with Old World royalty or cultured scions of high finance should be made to remember that 80 years ago they were dirt poor goat farmers living in tents and no amount of money will take the smell out of their clothes. But, lo, along comes oil and the western world is brown nosing for all it's worth.

Has all this money bought any tolerance? No, on the contrary, it has allowed the goat herders to buy modern weapons and pursue their intentions with gusto and the EU, Russia and the US are applauding them from the wings! One would have thought that with western money a touch of culture would transfuse into the "Religion of Peace". But, no, as any Christian who dares to bring a bible into Saudi Arabia will soon find out or any Bhuddist in Afghanistan, or Hindu in Pakistan, or Jew in the land of their forefathers.

Smoothstone blog wrote the following:

The Obama administration criticized Israel Wednesday for designating two Jewish holy sites supposedly on Palestinian territory as Israel national heritage sites but the dumb bastards in the Obama administration seem to forget that Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs are indigenous to the Jewish people and were there thousands of years before the fabricated “Palestinians” fraudulently claimed the territory to be theirs. “Hebron” is Jewish. It’s a Biblical town. It is Israel’s most ancient city, resting place of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, site of the anointment of King David and the tombs of Jesse, his father, and Ruth, and until 1929, when Arabs slaughtered 67 innocent Jews while praying in their synagogue, had a significant Jewish population. Those 67 Jews were slaughtered for no other reason other than that they were Jews and mind you, that was 38 years before the “occupation”. For Muslims and their apologists in the White House, history starts anew each day especially when it favors the fabricated “poorpalestinianpeepull”. Sad, isn’t it, that the Arabs, who control more land than any other ethnic group on the planet besides the Russians, are simply unwilling to share even the tiniest sliver of the Middle East with the Jews. Equally sad, is the United States telling Israel, a sovereign and legitimate nation, what it can or cannot do within its own borders.

The names mentioned above Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Jesse, Ruth, are all Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs who died thousands of years before the birth of He Who Must Not Be Named and have no connection with Islam whatsoever except for the fact that they were stolen from our bible. Another religious crime is the fact that the Arabs posing as a non-existant people called "palestinians" have been trying to erase all evidence of Jewish presence on the Temple Mount where the first and second Jewish temples were built and destroyed thousands of years before the birth of Islam and the Arabs.

The Arab claim to Jerusalem is false. It was never an Arab city nor the capital of an Arab state nor is it really a true holy city to Islam. The Jewish religion considers Jerusalem the central point of its faith, it is towards Jerusalem we pray five times a day. At all Jewish weddings the words "if I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning" and at this time of year at the end of our Passover meal we recite the words "next year in Jerusalem the rebuilt". Jerusalem is the Capital of the State of Israel and the recent, ugly, insulting pressure being applied on us to relinquish our beloved city into the hands of Arabs who are intent on finishing the Third Reich's work is intolerable.

To add insult to injury todays newsletter from Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) has the following:

A senior PA official claims that the Obama administration backs pro-PA rallies in Jerusalem. The claim was reported by investigative journalist Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily. According to the official, United States diplomats have encouraged Arabs to protest in parts of Israel's capital in order to pressure Israel to evacuate neighborhoods. The US administration does not recognize Israel's claim to key parts of the capital, including much of eastern and northern Jerusalem as well as the Old City and City of David.

So, I ask you, is this the act of a friend? What right does the current US Administration have in trying to alter the status of our Capital city?

I would like to remind you, dear reader, that between the years 1948-1967 the eastern part of Jerusalem was occupied, illegally by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan during a war of aggression against the fledgling State of Israel. During that occupation the most Holy sites for two of the three monotheistic religions were restricted areas in violation of the UN Mandate for Palestine. In 1967 during the Six Day War Israel reclaimed the city and opened the religious sites for all religions to worship freely including Islam.

If only that freedom was reciprocal. The Jewish worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron under the authority of the PA is constantly being harassed and after the Israeli Government declared the Tomb a Jewish Heritage site Moslems started rioting as they did when the rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem (destroyed by the Jordanians during their occupation) or as they do every Friday when Jews attempt to pray on the Temple Mount which the Muslims deem verboten to Jews.

So why is it that our "friends" in Europe and the United States find it necessary to delegitimize our desire to practice our faith in our homeland? Is it because deep down inside they are jealous that after five thousand years our faith is still going strong? Do they find that the ghetto Jew shouldn't be protecting himself like he didn't in WWII?

Well, my friends, I have one thing to say; we are here and here we'll stay. We have endured worse hardships than what you are throwing at us now and have survived.

Jordan's purge

2009-08-28T14:46:00.004+03:00

by

Mike Packer

Debkafile has a new post today (here) about King Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He has decided to purge his army and government of "Palestinians". This is surely a sign that he is very afraid of the "Palestinian" element in his country where they constitute over 50% of the total population.

In my opinion this is just another form of pressure on Israel to create a second "Palestinian" state in the Middle East, the first being the Kingdom of Jordan itself. It is apparent that the Arab strategy is to force the International Community to believe that the "Palestinians" have nowhere to go which is very far from the truth as most "Palestinians" are originally from the states in the area neighboring Israel such as Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and as far away as Morocco and Algeria. Abdullah's attempt to keep the "Palestinians" as perpetual "refugees" is just a continuation of the status quo that started in the 1930's and continues to this day. Not only has he decided to purge the army and government but he has decided to rescind the Jordanian citizenship that was granted to the "Palestinians" that moved to Jordan since 1948.

Israel must reconsider its "peace" treaty with Jordan and take steps in deporting all Jordanian citizens from land under Israeli jurisdiction. Maybe this threat will change Abdullah's mind, although I doubt it, and put the pressure on this upstart king into accepting the fact that his country was created for the specific purpose of ensuring a state for the population that was there at the time of the formation of the Hashemite Kingdom and not only for the population of Beduins that the Hashemites imported to bolster their kingdom.

Its about time that Abdullah realized that his Kingdom is still in existence only because Israel has always been there to protect it as it did with his father and the formation of a "Palestinian" state in the "West Bank" is his worst nightmare.

J'Accuse

2009-08-13T19:39:00.010+03:00

By

Mike Packer

I was perusing the JP online edition the other day when an article caught my attention.My blood pressure probably rose by about 20 points necessitating the swallowing of a pill to rectify the situation. This brought on a great desire to write this essay.

I am a British citizen by birthright and have experienced British ineptitude in a number of countries spanning two continents. This instance was the last straw.

The British have a lot of damn gall to meddle in other peoples affairs and I accuse their governments for the ills that curse Africa, the Middle East, The Indian sub-continent and everywhere else that they have had their dirty little fingers. Take my former country of abode, Zimbabwe, as an example.

The white population of that former British colony took matters into their own hands when Britain tried to force black majority rule. They declared unilateral independence and tried to stave off what eventually occurred. Britain forced International economic sanctions on the government of Rhodesia and supported the terrorist organization run by the Marxist extremist Robert Mugabe. Mugabe eventually became the President of what became Zimbabwe and proceeded to destroy the country economically. Today with the highest inflation of any country in the world the worst health of any country in Africa, Zimbabwe is the legacy of British stupidity and is in dire straits unless it is rescued and preferably not by Britain.

Now take my present country of abode, Israel:

In the early 1920's the League of Nations, in good faith, awarded the British government (HMG) the Mandate for Palestine “Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”. The British accepted that mandate and proceeded to violate its purpose almost from the outset.

Article 6 of the Mandate reads:

"The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes."

The British proceeded to apply a quota on Jewish immigration in violation of the Mandate but, surprisingly, Arab immigration grew in leaps and bounds. From 1922 to 1944 the Jewish population grew from 83,000 to 553,000 while the Arab population increased from 670,000 to 1.2 million. The British government explained the Arab increase to "natural" causes.....talk about rabbits! I defy any nation to increase its population 100% by "natural" means in 20 years!

In further obscene violation of the Mandate Britain gave 75% of Palestine to the Hashemite family with total disregard of Article 5:

"The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of the Government of any foreign Power."

This was, perhaps, a boon to the fledgling Jewish State as the majority of the population of what became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was, in fact, "Palestinian" thus making the claim for a "two state solution" to the Arab/Israeli conflict just another excuse to torment Israel and Israelis.

During the period 1922-1947 hardly a word was heard from the League of Nations or its inheritor the United Nations over Britain's blatant violations.

I accuse HMG as an accessory before and after the fact of the Holocaust and a direct contributor in the deaths of millions of our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters who perished in the Nazi camps because HMG refused to allow them to immigrate into the Jewish homeland as mandated by the International community of 1922. HMG proved to be as virulently antisemitic as the Nazi government of the 1930's and 40's and was aided and abetted by the Arab world and particularly by the forefathers of the "Palestinian" people led by the British appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el Husseini.

When the time came for HMG to abandon the Mandate and run with their tails between their legs they added insult to injury by handing over many strategic positions in the country to the Arabs. During the war of Independence in 1948 the immigrants that finally arrived in the Jewish homeland were being conscripted into the army the minute they stepped foot on Israeli soil. They went willingly and not a few to their deaths within 24 hours of arrival. All this in the shadow of the Holocaust and after living in "displaced persons" camps in the aftermath of the second world war.

So, I say to HMG; get your dirty little noses out of our business, we will build houses for Jews anywhere we want in the area that was returned to us after 2000 years of abandonment. None of your nefarious machinations will prevent it and your flagrant interferance in our internal affairs is an insult to the memory of all those millions that you, so willingly, aided in their demise.

.

Oppressed Majority

2009-07-05T19:07:00.001+03:00

By
Mike Packer

My post this week is a change from my usual efforts in explaining and trying to find a meaning to the Arab/Israel conflict. Today I wish to address a civil problem that is plaguing certain areas of my country.

It is the problem of agricultural theft perpetrated, in most cases, by the Arab citizens of Israel. I would like to start by narrating to you, dear reader, two anecdotes as a background.

. The first one is personal and occurred when I was the security coordinator on the kibbutz that I live on. The security coordinator on our kibbutzim is, in comparison to small towns in rural America, the local sheriff and in accordance with the job is a member of the Border Police which is a branch of the regular Police force. The job is not full time as the incidence of crime perpetrated by kibbutz members on kibbutzim is virtually nil (zero cases in the seven years that I served) so my duties were limited to nightly patrols in the immediate area in a Police jeep accompanied by uniformed volunteers.

The area I live in is called the Jezreel Valley and is considered to be the bread basket of Israel. Apart from the usual field crops we have a large area of aquaculture where the kibbutzim in the area raise fish in intensive ponds for market.

On one particular night around 1 a.m we were surprised to see a van leaving through a gate surrounding one of the ponds in the area, finding this suspicious we gave chase in our jeep with lights flashing and sirens wailing. It took about ten minutes for the vehicle we were chasing to eventually come to a halt and in the course of the chase we could see equipment being thrown out of the windows of the van. On stopping we approached the vehicle in a calm fashion and asked the driver to open the rear of the van. He refused but we insisted that it was our right to inspect his vehicle and it would be worth his while to accommodate us. He eventually relented and walked around to the back of the vehicle, opened the door and removed a wheel wrench from a cargo pocket on the side and turned to attack me with it. A punch to the nose persuaded him to desist and he was duly arrested with his companions.

As an aside I would like to mention that the price of fish on the market in Israel (depending on the fish) for St. Peters fish, which is a local delicacy and one of the cheaper fish, is about NIS20 per kilo (about 5 bucks). The ponds can hold at harvest time about three to five tons of fish depending on the size of the pond. So the average heist in one nights work for a crew of 3 to 4 perpetrators could be in the region of a ton of fish. Not a bad nights work with a profit of 10-15000 shekels.

After arresting the suspects we walked back along the road and picked up the equipment that was strewn along the road shoulders. This was an assortment of catch nets and rubber boots which we loaded back into the truck and proceeded to accompany our suspects to the local Police station for booking.

Entering the Police station I (as arresting officer) approached the desk sergeant to make my report when the leader of the suspects started shouting at me that my life was now worthless and proceeded to threaten my death. He was immediately locked into one of the cells and the desk sergeant added the threat to the report.

The next day I was called to the regional commanders office and informed that my suspects had been released by the courts with the excuse that there was a "lack of public interest" in the case. I was surprised and asked about the threat to my life, a felony crime in Israel as I was a Policeman. He told me the judge threw it out of court because of "Police brutality" after I had struck the suspect with the wheel wrench in self defense. Needless to say I resigned from the force.

The perpetrators went on to a long life of arrests and releases. They were Arabs who lived in the area.

The second anecdote happened in one of our neighboring settlements that raises goats for milk and meat. This settlement has an Arab village neighboring it with which they have cordial relations accept for one small thing, theft of goats. The Arabs were partial to goats and over the years the losses to the Jewish community mounted up. Complaints to the Police were to no avail nobody was ever caught.

One night two members of the Jewish community were out late for one reason or another and on their way back to their homes they caught two Arab youths red handed with a couple of goats each. The two perpetrators were apprehended and knowing that Police intervention would again be to no avail the Jewish settlement members took the law into their own hands, stripped the youths naked, sprayed them with red paint and sent them home.

The families of the Arab youths complained to the Police and the courts handed down an 18 month sentence to the two Jewish goat owners.

Now, Dear Reader, you ask WTF has all this got to do with a political blog?

Well, its like this; On June 18 edition of the Hebrew weekly B'sheva published an article in which was the following:

"It is hard to imagine a lynching in Israel’s pastoral, sun drenched south - the Negev - but sheep grower Oz Davidian is alive only because he was able to break away for a few seconds from the Bedouin marauders who attacked him on his own property in broad daylight. He managed to dial the emergency hot line, causing his attackers to flee, not before they told him: “You will leave this place dead or alive. We will destroy your livelihood until you run away”. Davidian needed stitches and surgical care. The Bedouins who tried to murder him are out of jail until the case comes to court.

Two weeks ago, Davidian woke up to discover that all his sheep had disappeared. Israel’s Border Police used scouts to find where the thieves, local Bedouins, had hidden them. The 30-40 complaints he has filed in the Ofakim police station over the last two years have had no deterring effect as the police simply interrogated and then released the offenders."

The sad thing is that because of catastrophic losses and understaffed law enforcement offices a few of the Jewish farmers have given up on their land and let the Arabs take over.

Fortunately there are a few Zionists left out there who care about their country and are willing to do something about it. My grandfather who came to Palestine in 1906 and settled in the lower Galilee joined a group called "HaShomer" (The Guardian) that patrolled the area they lived in on horseback and defended their flocks from Arab marauders. Two years ago a young Israeli combat officer resurrected The Guardian unit and is doing the same thing. IsraelNationalNews.com in their daily newsletter of July 1st published an article called "Defending Zionist Farmers: The 'Jewish Guards' Rise Again" by Chagit Rotenberg in which they wrote;

Yoel Silberman, a combat officer, took an extended leave from the IDF to found the “New Guardians” group. He realized that his family, third generation farmers from Tzippori in the Galilee, were going to lose their livelihood if he didn’t take action to guard their property. During the three-year period prior to Yoel’s initiative, his father filed over 250 complaints against Arabs who cut his fences, caused tens of thousands of shekels worth of damage and threatened his life. Most of the police files were closed as being of “insufficient interest to the public.”

“One day we took our flocks out to graze on our land north of the (Jewish) Galilee town of Hoshaya”, he recalls, “and found that Arab flocks had broken in. We got them out, but four Israeli Arabs from the nearby village arrived and began punching us and throwing rocks. They called my father to tell him that they intend to kill me. Border Police were there, but they and their vehicle were attacked as well. The next time they cut our fence, my father went to the police while we held up their flocks. Arabs followed him into Hoshaya, beat him and stole his car right in front of the town’s offices. They were freed after several days in jail."

All these incidents would have had different consequences if our judicial system was not so one-sided. We have become a nation of "goody two-shoes" because we have been brain washed into considering the Arabs as an oppressed" minority in Israel. Unfortunately the opposite is true we have an oppressed majority. The judicial system in Israel has been abducted by Amnesty International and by the ethics of retired Supreme Court President Aharon Barak. I won't go into the details but recommend, Dear Reader, that you read Caroline Glick's article "Israel's Democratic Challenge" found on her blog site at http://www.carolineglick.com/e/.

The Arab population in Israel has, in recent years, become totally unafraid of the Law of the Land. The Police are reluctant to enter Arab villages in fear of reprisals from the local population leaving the Jewish citizens of Israel to either give up or take the law into their own hands. Hence the resurrection of the "HaShomer" group. It is because of the years of left wing governments that have tried to appease the Arabs that has brought the Arab population to believe that they are above the law.

The same goes for our foreign policy vis-a-vis the "Palestinians".

But, hopefully, all is not lost, and with the courage of the likes of Yoel Silberman and his religious zionists volunteers we might be able to reclaim our country. The right thing to do will be to reorganize the Supreme Court and make it a court for the people of the Jewish State..

Shame on you

2009-06-26T19:56:00.009+03:00

By

Mike Packer

There is an interesting ticker tape headline running at the top of DebkaFile's website today, June 26, 2009 ;

"G8 FM's and the ME Quartet want Israel to stop settlement construction, Palestinians (sic) to desist from terror".

Nice try G8 but you try to convince the "Palestinians" to desist, we've been trying for years to no avail. We've tried talking to them, threatening them, imposing sanctions on them and finally brute force....nothing helps.
.

So when will you airheads realize that there is only one thing that will appease them and that is the annihilation of all Jews and the destruction of the State of Israel and you are aiding and abetting them.

I also came across an article that saddens me and puts down in writing what I wish to say but a lot more eloquently. It is written by Jack Engelhard, a renowned author and is called "Obama's 'Jewish experts'"...you can read it here.

I have always cringed when someone brings up the spectre of antisemitism and the holocaust. I have always considered the fact that we as Jews use it ad nauseum and the rest of the world is sick of hearing about it. After reading this article I apologize from the bottom of my heart to all the survivors that I have patronized unintentionally over the years. NEVER AGAIN!!

Never again should we have to go through another holocaust and when we hear the likes of George Mitchell discussing the fact that the settlement controversy is centered around "the number of Jewish births" our hackles should be rising. This is antisemitism at its worst and Mitchell, Clinton et al should be considered persona non grata vis-a-vis any negotiation on the grounds that they are not impartial.

The unprecedented US pressure on Israel concerning the settlements in Judea and Samaria is not conducive to the Middle East conflict especially as it is totally one-sided. US pressure is not being applied to the PA to fulfill their obligations under all the agreements signed since the Oslo accords nor is the current administration honoring agreements made with previous administrations.

So is it surprising that the percentage of Israelis who consider the US as a friend is at an all-time low of 6%. Or is it surprising that the percentage of the US population supporting Israel has dropped almost 10% since the current administration has taken office. Prez O's policy, it seems, is to alienate Israel from the rest of the world and, unfortunately, he seems to be succeeding.

Aaron Klein, Middle East correspondent and author summerizes it very nicely in his highly recommended book "The Late Great State of Israel";

"......I agree with the general premise that since public, overt Jew-hatred went out of fashion in the West following the Holocaust, age-old anti-semitism has been replaced en bloc by anti-Zionism, by attempting to de-legitimize and defeat the Jewish state instead of aiming directly at Jews as individuals. Radiating from the Muslim world, and backed up by both oil billions and jihadists, anti-Semitism is at the core of the growing Western embrace of Israel's enemies, from Hamas to Fatah to Hezbollah - the drive to force Israel to accept extreme concessions and forfeit strategic territory on its way to complete termination."

NEVER AGAIN, I say, Jews will not let this form of ant-Semitism rear its ugly head without going down screaming and kicking. Never again will we be led like lambs nor will we allow murderers to inflate the population of our enemies within our borders. This Jewish State was built on the memories of our Grandfathers and Mothers, Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts and Uncles that perished in the Holocaust and we owe them a great debt not to let it happen again. We won't allow the world community to renege on their promises starting with the Balfour Declaration through the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine that allowed our return to our ancestral homeland. We will throw it into their faces at every chance until they shout "gevalt" or until they hang their heads in shame.

And shame it is that the EU having lived through WW2 that is still in the memories of a large percentage of the European population should support this travesty. And shame it is that the current US administration should support the very people who are seeking the destruction of the State of Israel. And the greatest shame it is that the US who's claim to fame is honesty and integrity is aiding and abetting known terrorists at the price of the existance of the only State in the region that is its ally.

The Arabs rejected PM Netanyahu's speech at Bar Ilan University where he offered preconditions to a Palestinian (sic) State. In light of this rejection (another one...I've lost count how many already) I would like to endorse a solution from Bill Levinson that was posted on Israpundit on June 25;

U.S. Supreme Court Precedent: Israel Free to Seize Palestinian Land

Israel should invoke eminent domain to take over Gaza and the West Bank
by Bill Levinson

Now that the Palestinians have rejected an independent state (under the reasonable condition that they recognize Israel’s right to exist), there is nothing further to discuss with them. Israel should seize all Palestinian homes and land in Gaza and the West Bank (individual exceptions should be made for Palestinians who have demonstrated a willingness to live in peace with their neighbors), sell the homes and land to settlers, and give the displaced Palestinians the proceeds of the sales.

We encourage Israel to cite “Kelo v. City of New London,” in which the U.S. Supreme Court (Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, and Breyer) said it was legal for a municipality to seize private property not for public use as allowed in the U.S. Constitution, but for the enrichment of private developers. Other municipalities have seized homes and businesses to turn over the real estate to “preferred” owners. It is therefore eminently reasonable for Israel to take land from the Palestinians and transfer it to those who will put it to far better economic use–the same reasoning behind the Kelo decision–as long as the Palestinians receive fair market value for the land so taken.

The Bird

2009-05-30T19:21:00.009+03:00

by

Mike Packer

The "Palestinians" have finally come out into the open with their demands from the Israeli Government. They did it when Bibi Netanyahu became Prime Minister and Barak Obama became President of the USA.

This was not coincidence. Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala), the chief Arab negotiator, advertised their demands a few days before President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) went to discuss the negotiations with President Obama.

The "Palestinians" have a lot of gall to "demand" anything from Israel in the light of past negotiations. Every agreement from the infamous Oslo Accords to Annapolis and everything in between has, time and again, been broken by the Arab side and that failure has been blamed on Israel. "Illegal settlements" have been blamed for the lack of "peace" in the Middle East along with the existence of the State of Israel. This is only an excuse for the continual instances of terrorist activities which is one of the few sources of employment in Gaza and the "West Bank". The billions of dollars of foreign assistance paid to the "Palestinian" authorities has not been used for legitimate purposes such as education, health, welfare and municipal services but for the purchase of arms and terror training and to line the pockets of the so-called "political leaders".
Yet this doesn't stop the flow of monies to the PA. The inheritors of Adolf Hitlers "final solution" are now being paid by the same people that brought down the Nazi regime thus keeping it alive and well.

Akiva Eldar an Israeli correspondent for the Ha'aretz newspaper published an interview with Abu Ala on May 26 entitled "PA: Settlers can become Palestinian citizens" in which he asked Abu Ala some interesting questions:

Q: Do you insist on rejecting Netanyahu’s demand that you recognize Israel as a Jewish state?

Qureia: “Livni raised that as well and we said it was not our business. Call your state whatever you wish - democratic or non-democratic, Jewish or non-Jewish. It’s not fair to demand that we recognize you as the state of the Jewish people because that means an evacuation of the Arabs from Israel and a predetermination of refugees’ future, before the negotiations are over. Our refusal is adamant.”

Q: Five years ago Arafat said, in an interview with Haaretz, that he understands Israel is a Jewish state.

Qureia: “But he did not provide it [in writing].”

That answer is typical of Arab false promises and even if Arafat had put it down in writing it would have been worthless.

The interview goes on with:

Q: In 1988 the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized United Nations Resolution 181 [the partition plan] and that contains the term “Jewish state.”

Qureia: “Please, let us discuss Resolution 181. Livni asked me the same question and I told her ‘Please, let’s discuss implementing the entire partition plan’.”

UN resolution 181 called for the partition of what was left of the British Mandate for Palestine after the British had created the Kingdom of Jordan which they were not empowered to do under the League of Nations mandate. Resolution 181 was a recommendation by the UN and would have become a reality except for one small criteria. Both parties had to agree to the resolution and history shows that the Jewish people agreed but the Arabs didn't. This makes 181 null and void so Qureia's demand for negotiating the entire partition is 50 years too late.

Q: Do you insist on Palestinian sovereignty over Haram al-Sharif?

Qureia: “Of course. It’s the second most important place for the Muslim world.”

Haram al-Sharif is what the Arabs call the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and Abu Ala's reply is astonishing to say the least...since when does the Haram al-Sharif take precedence over the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia which has always been the second most important site for Muslims. Jerusalem was for centuries a backwater town of almost no consequence and was never mentioned in the Koran and only made it to the forefront of Arab awareness in the middle of the 20th century.

So these were a few pearls from a "Palestinian" leader, nu? so what! The question is why are they suddenly so up front with what they have been denying for so long? One guess at the answer......Barak Hussein Obama. He is transmitting to the Muslim world that it is open season on Israel bashing. He is such a weak President that even Iran is giving him the bird and behind them is North Korea and behind North Korea is Pakistan and then comes Syria, Turkey and if he is not careful he might even have to deal with Vanuatu.

Obama's speech in Cairo was an insult to me and my country. When a President of the United States of America has the nerve to say:

"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."

then he is trying to delegitimize my country. Well, Mr. President, you can accept the bird from me too, both hands, in harmony and stereo!

For your information, Mr. President, the homeland of the Jews was a Divine gift but, unfortunately, we were banished by a conquering foe. We were returned by a unanimous act of The League of Nations in 1922 and not because of the Holocaust which you implied in your Cairo speech, that happened 20 years later. That League of Nations decision was mandated to the British Government who, illegally, partitioned it for their own interests. So Mr. P, get your facts together before you make a fool of yourself and I really don't give a hoot whether you consider the settlements legitimate or not. When we find a partner who wishes to make peace with us then we will negotiate in good faith, that partner will not be the one chosen by you or your administration but by us.

It is time, Mr. President, for you to stop flagrantly meddling in the internal affairs of my country and to start treating us like the friend and ally that we have always been.

6 Million?

2009-04-10T11:51:00.007+03:00

By

Mike Packer

6 Million is this a magic number, or what, why is it that when a Jewish population reaches this number the world goes into a feeding frenzy?

The Nazis did it and when the Allies were implored to put an end to it by bombing death factories they refused. Now Islamic Jihad is using this number to advance their intentions of destroying Israel with its population of (approximately) 6 Million Jews, aided and abetted by our closest "ally" the United States of America.

A few days before Passover a 13 year old boy was brutally axed to death and his 7 year old friend badly injured by a rabid animal in the guise of a "Palestinian". These are the people that Obama wants us to make "peace" with and have live in our midst. Thanks, but no thanks. You take them, Mr. President. You like them so much let them live in your neighborhood, a few more murderers in Washington D.C. wont hurt you too much and you certainly have plenty of room for them.

I ask myself how such an ignorant person can become President of the greatest democracy in the world. Ignorant, I mean, of world politics and especially of the Middle East. Obama's comments in Turkey on Monday shows just how much he doesn't know:

“In the Middle East, we share the goal of a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors. Let me be clear: the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.”

“That is a goal shared by Palestinians, Israelis, and people of good will around the world. That is a goal that the parties agreed to in the road map and at Annapolis. And that is a goal that I will actively pursue as president.”

“That is a goal shared by Palestinians, Israelis......" Who are you trying to kid, Mr.P?, recent polls show that 51% of Israelis are not interested and two thirds of the "Palestinians" are not interested so how do you come up with a statement like that? Pardon me, Mr. President, but your ignorance is showing. I also like the bit about "....we share the goal....", well, Sir, share it yourself, don't talk for me because you don't have the right, I am not an American citizen but an Israeli one and I made my decision in the last Israeli elections whether you like it or not.

I picked a right wing government with the help of over half the population of Israel because we no longer want anything to do with the PA, Hamas, Hizbollah except at the end of a gun! Diplomacy does not work with these people. The American Presidents words were uttered to apply pressure on our new government to create a two-state solution to bring "peace"to the world. His ignorance of Middle East politics will bring the exact opposite of what he wants. He just doesn't realize that Arab words are written on ice and will disappear when things warm up this summer. Maybe he will come to realize that the camel jockeys of this world have intermarried so often that their gene pool is corrupt and murder is their only God.

"Its G-d’s responsibility to forgive the terrorist organizations
It’s our responsibility to arrange the meeting between them and G-d.”
(sorry don't know who that quote is from but my sentiments exactly).

We as Israelis have lived under the threat of Islam since the day we declared independance and have tried to stem the flow of their hatred from reaching our bretheren in Europe and the US to no avail. What thanks do we get for that? 6 Million is the magic number. We have reached the magic number and now our "friends" have decided to throw us to the dogs just so that they won't have to take action themselves to protect their own way of life and their Judeo-Christian values. Instead they elect Barak Hussein Obama who thinks of nothing better than to bow before a self styled "King" of Saudi Arabia. The very "King" that is bankrolling the organizations that perpetrated the 9/11 disaster where more than 3000 innocent people were killed trying to support their families. Well, good luck, America.

BHO insulted America by making obeisence to a foreign "King".

Good luck, I say, because with friends like you I don't need any more enemies. Iran is on the verge of attaining WMD's and it is us who are looking down the end of the barrel and not America, yet it is America who is trying to cover her ass by promoting appeasement with the Mullahs. Covering her ass by throwing Israel to the dogs, thanks, but no thanks. It is time to switch sides and maybe we will find friends in different places. There are enough countries out there that will be only too willing to spend money with us and buy some good technology that they don't have. A few of them come to mind, India, Russia, China to name but a few. India, which has been receiving its own unfair share of terrorism, has become increasingly frustrated with American policy in the sub-continent and is looking to spend defense money to protect itself. Russia will also spend just as an "in your face" action against the United States.

Good luck, I say, because you elected a President who wants "change" and change you will get, just don't do it at my expense. And you American Jews who voted for BHO don't come crying to me for help when things start going Sharia in the US. You dropped Israel like a hot potatoe because you are all left wing liberal (expletive deleted) and left us to the dogs. Your rhetoric about how we are "war criminals" and that we should free the "Palestinians" smacks a little of the "peace in our time" ghetto mentality of the 1930's.

What will you say when the mushroom clouds hang over the Middle East?

Will "Next year in Jerusalem" have any meaning for you?

The Next Scape Goat?

2009-03-14T14:49:00.004+02:00

By

Mike Packer

I received an email from an old school friend the other day and I couldn't believe the content. I would like to take this opportunity to apply this media to answer my friend and at the same time bring this problem to the foreground before it becomes too late, again.

My friend, Peter, is an intelligent, educated (more so than me) person and it seems that he had doubts about the content and had to lay his fears to rest by forwarding it to me for my comments. The email was obviously a propaganda ploy by a person or persons unknown but most definitely antisemitic and of the more virulent variety. The email contained photographs comparing Israel and the "Palestinians" on the one hand and the Nazi regime of the 30's and 40's and Jews on the other. Israel being accused of Nazi tactics, needless to say the comparison was obscene to say the least.

Peter, antisemitism has been around for millennium ever since G-d declared the Jews were his chosen people. Believe that as you may but it is the crux of the matter and ever since then non-Jews have found one excuse after another to persecute,ridicule or blame the Jews or all the woes of mankind.

Antisemitism throughout history has been, eventually, very bloody to the detriment of my people. Whether by the Abyssinians, Romans, Greeks, Mamelukes, Arabs and many others in more recent times. Jews in the Diaspora would assimilate themselves, wherever possible, into the general population and set up their lives. On the whole they were successful and prospered bringing the wrath of the indigenous people on their heads. The Jews were always accused of stealing from the common man and making every ones life miserable, a poor excuse for killing and maiming but an excuse.

In recent times antisemitism became the realm of right wing fascism as we saw in the Nazi regime of Germany in the 1930's and 40's. They brought the "solution" to the Jewish problem to epic proportions and almost succeeded in destroying Jews for all time. Thanks to Allied intervention the "solution" did not reach its conclusion and the perpetrators received their just rewards.

Today antisemitism is no longer a right wing fascist phenomenon it has become a left wing liberal one. The only big difference is that it is not aimed at the Jews specifically but at their Nation, Israel.

The Jews in Israel are no longer the ghetto Jews of Europe, we have our own Nation where we can live our lives without fear of oppression or persecution. Or can we? Since the declaration of the State of Israel we have been in a constant battle for our existence. Within the borders of our own country we have to be on the alert ceaselessly from our neighbors even the ones who signed peace treaties with us. Our greatest friend, America, has succumbed to the hate propaganda emanating from the Arab world.

Israel has been accused of tactics reminiscent of 1940 Germany and left wingers are quick to bring pictures from dubious sources and accuse the Israel Defense Forces of gross misconduct and "war crimes" against the "Palestinians". Needless to say all these accusations are proved groundless but their damage is irreversible and friends like Peter are left wondering if its all true or not. This suspicion will always be at the back of my friend Peter's mind no matter whether I convinced him otherwise or not. There lies the problem!

Iran is on the threshold of obtaining a Nuclear weapon and will not hesitate to use it. The question is what happens after we are nuked? Will it stop there? Will radical Islam be satisfied? They will not, take my word for it. Europe is already in its death throes from the strangle hold that Islam has on it and America will be next for "change" is on its way.

So aside from the reason of being the "chosen people" for antisemitism there is also the fact that non-Jews are simply jealous. As one of the smallest peoples on Earth we have a proportionately higher contribution to mankind than any other. We created monotheism which was eventually stolen from us by both the Christian and Moslem religions which plays a large role in the problems of the world. In every generation we have produced doctors, astronomers, physicists, explorers, inventors and the list goes on and on. How many of my people have won the Nobel Prize for one thing or another?

Never fear, Peter, eventually the world will find a way to rid itself of the Jews and then what will you do? Who will invent the next generation of cell phones, computer chips, electric cars, communications equipment and avionics?

Then who will G-d choose to be the next scape goat?

The Seeds of Liberalism

2009-02-28T19:22:00.004+02:00

I am posting this article that was not written by me because I think it holds a very powerful message and a warning to all of us. The original article was posted on the FrontPage Magazine web site. I have added highlights to some of the passages that are particularly worrying for me. [Mike Packer]

by Jesse Petrilla

I just returned to America from Europe where I lead an incredible delegation to meet with European leaders in an effort to see a glimpse into a possible future for America by viewing the end results of years of failed liberal policies on European nations. Let these experiences and facts serve as the warning to what will be the result if we blindly continue on a path of destruction sewn by politicians who believe socialism, appeasement, and other leftist policies will benefit America in any way.

The trip started in Paris, the beautiful vacation land of good food, fine wine, arts, and European culture, or so I thought. Our tour guide in this city was the brilliant scholar Nidra Poller, whose insights and knowledge on French society shed light on everything we saw. She explained the social climate, the attitude of the government, and the current tensions and growing antisemitism that exists in the city. On the first day of our trip, local news reported that another synagogue was firebombed, a 4th that week, and a man had just been stabbed for wearing a Star of David by the notorious “disenfranchised youths” as the media calls them. Two days prior, there was a “peace” rally which resulted in the burning of dozens of cars, again by those pesky “youths” who for some reason yell “Allah Akbar” while rioting. We did an in studio interview on French radio where I bluntly explained to them that their problems were brought on by their leftist politicians who feel the need to push socialist and other leftist policies which have enabled all this to occur. Unfortunately these policies of open borders, refugee resettlement, welfare, and others, are exactly the same policies that the liberals in congress and the state assembly are constantly pushing here in America.

We met with an underground group of conservatives in Paris. It saddened me to see that the conservative movement was truly underground there, for fear of reprisals from employers or angry leftists. We met in a secure and private location with a half dozen or so various activists, in the hopes to encourage them to begin a grassroots movement, virtually non-existent in Europe. It was truly inspiring to meet with a young man who is the founder of a group called French Friends of the Republican Party, who sees what is going on around him and is willing to make a stand. We also met with the few conservative city leaders around Paris including Philippe Karsenty, the Deputy Mayor of the suburb of Neuilly. Philippe told us of a lawsuit he has been engaged in regarding the propagation of misinformation on both French and mid-east media. The most troubling item we learned when speaking with local leaders and law enforcement is the existence of no-go zones around Paris and around other European cities. They are Islamic neighborhoods where police absolutely refuse to enter, and where if you are not a Muslim and you are caught driving through it you will have bricks thrown at your car and may not make it out alive. One of the conservative activists we met up with by the name of David described a time when there was a new Chief of Police who decided he wanted to crack down on the no-go zones and send his police in, against the wishes of many other authorities. When the police entered one of the large 15 story commie-block style apartment buildings, someone pushed a refrigerator off the roof onto one of the squad cars. They don’t go in there any more. These Islamic ghettos were brought on and paid for by social welfare programs, and the immigrants were welcomed with open arms in the name of diversity and multiculturalism. Yet unlike the immigrants of the past, assimilation has been lacking to say the least. An unnamed source gave us an example of the local police climate; although the police want to fight, they are greatly restricted. He explained that during a recent protest, someone began shooting at the police with a handgun, the officer in charge gave the order to his men not to return fire, and was given an award by the government for his restraint. That is the climate of liberalism.

Tom Trento, of the Florida Security Council, and I went to a Hamas and Hezbollah rally near the Musée du Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa, to film and report. The sheer numbers were astounding, at a conservative estimate there were 15,000 screaming jihadis waving Hezbollah and Hamas flags. The crowd grew and grew, and when they hit the opera plaza the police blocked them from continuing to the Israeli Consulate. The infuriated crowd began to torch Israeli and American flags, and as the tensions grew and we saw police begin to lock and load their tear gas, we knew it was time to leave. That evening we found out that a McDonalds was attacked that we had ate at only a half hour before the rally, and all the windows broken. However, from press reports you would never know any of this occurred. Our Paris contact Nidra Poller told us a few days later that there was barely a peep in the French news about it, if anything at all. The only information we could find on the event was a flat out lie in an AP news wire saying that the crowds were estimated at 2,600. This manipulation of the facts, and the control of the mainstream media is incredible, but is exactly what the liberals are attempting to do, and have largely succeeded in bringing to the media in the United States.
While I had expected dope smoking hippies and bums everywhere in Amsterdam, there really was not even a 10th as many as one would find in San Francisco. Instead, as opposed to Paris which was a dreary town where everyone wears black, I found there were bright colors, lively people riding bicycles everywhere, and a growing climate of people who are fed up with what is going on around them. Aside from the conservative politicians we met with, when stopping people on the street to discuss the issues we found that a sizable and growing minority of people are beginning to realize that the leftist governmental policies that got them into this mess are killing them and their way of life. When you set foot in that city it becomes painfully clear that the younger generation is not Dutch, but is a majority Islamic. The prostitutes in windows in the red light district, and marijuana shops throughout the city are evidence of the self indulging liberal climate that brought about such a situation. Oddly enough cigarettes are illegal to smoke in or near any building, and in the red light district one overhears Arabic more often than you would think. Speaking with the Dutch politicians and local residents, many expressed wishes to shut down the houses of prostitution, however organized crime has gained such a hold over it that no one wants to stand up against them. It is quite tragic because on a trip to Kosovo, a place notorious as a human trafficking route, I learned from experts on the region that many of the European prostitutes are kidnapped from throughout the world, and brought to Europe through those routes to work in these bordellos. Many do not speak the language, are regularly beaten, and are fearful that if they left they would be out on the streets. It is human slavery existing today right in the heart of the West. The liberal social climate for years has created so many problems like these, and has dug the society in so deep, that today they are at a loss as to how to deal with the mess.

What I can explain in words about the European situation sounds terrible, but be assured that whatever you believe to be the current state of European affairs, it is 100 times as bad as you think. “100 times as bad”, those were the words told to us by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. This hero of a man was just one of the leaders we met with on our journey. Mr. Wilders was just brought up on charges the day after we met with him on grounds of inciting hate speech for his producing of the factual film called Fitna, which discussed the ideologies behind our Islamic extremist enemies. This attack on free speech is all too common in this region. Yet there is an extreme double standard if one is talking about speech against Jews, Christians, or against conservative ideals. For Europe, it seems perfectly acceptable to tolerate the intolerant.

During our Dutch Parliament visit we saw several school groups on a field trip taking a tour. When a group passed by, one of the MPs we were with told us that this was a typical Dutch school, where out of approximately forty children we could count the number of Dutch on one hand, and saw that 30% of the girls were wearing hijab Islamic head coverings, and the rest were obviously from an Islamic background as well. This is a product of the refugee resettlement programs and open borders, and now the Dutch have found themselves in a situation where more than half the youth of the metropolitan areas are from Islamic backgrounds, two Christian churches are closing each week, and the Saudis are building mosques at an unprecedented rate. Already, Muslim politicians in Amsterdam such as Ahmed Marcouch have called for Muslim only districts to be officially recognized and assisted by the government. These districts already have formed according to some conservative politicians we met with. Dutch MP Martin Bosma told me that in some neighborhoods Sharia Law is already being enacted and there have even been cases of corporal punishment taking place. Local crimes are not brought up to the Dutch authorities, but are instead brought up to the local religious leaders for judgments, and punishments are being carried out, completely bypassing Dutch law. Police are so afraid to enter these neighborhoods, and they are considered no-go zones much like the ones found outside Paris. MP Sietse Fritsma, an immigration expert in the Party for Freedom, told us that the welfare in the state gives an estimated 250,000 Euros ($325,000) total per family over the course of their life in The Netherlands. This establishes a climate of ghettos where there is virtually no economic movement, and the recipients simply survive off the welfare and feel no obligation to contribute to the society that feeds them. He also told us that these communities have a horrific crime rate, and that several Muslim politicians are now calling for Sharia Law in these areas.

While in the Netherlands we met with Professor Hans Jansen, an expert and author on Islamic studies, particularly knowledgeable about the European situation. He explained how the Islamists are becoming very successful in bringing Sharia and unrest to parts of Europe, and are influencing the school systems and government at an amazing rate. Lars Hedegaard from Denmark met with us as well, a journalist and president of The Free Press Society. These two powerhouses gave us an understanding of just how dire the situation really is. Through acts of intimidation from rioting, threats, and murders such as that of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, the Islamists are able to gain a profound influence on Dutch society, and now have the numbers to elect their own into Dutch government. We traveled in The Hague with our friend Gerard Batten, member of the European Union Parliament representing the UK, who flew down to meet with us for the briefings in the Dutch Parliament. He is in the EU party UKIP, the United Kingdom Independence Party, who sees the writing on the wall and believes the UK should pull out of the EU. Gerard clearly pointed out how the EU nations have nearly completely lost their sovereignty, the borders have dissolved, and the member nations have turned into states run by a growing liberal bureaucracy. Together we met with Dutch MPs from the Party For Freedom, the party founded and lead by Geert Wilders whom we would meet with the following day. All these inspiring conservative leaders we met with are fighting back, and are taking a courageous stand against the liberal establishment that has such a strong grip over Europe.

While I believe that the majority of liberal Democrats in our government truly think that they are doing what they believe to be best for our nation, many of them are so misguided and uninformed as to what the end results from such policies will be, that I fear if we continue down the same track we will reach the same catastrophic situation that Europe is in today, and America as we know it will be destroyed. The no-go zones, the economic struggles, the civil insurgencies, all this will come to our door step if we don’t get our act together. So any time someone says I am too conservative, I will remind them of what has happened in Europe due to liberalism. Prior to leaving The Hague, we went to The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to witness some of the proceedings in the ongoing trials from the civil war in the Balkans. That served as a reminder of what can happen in Europe, or in America if we don’t prevent it. Our final day in the Netherlands MP Wilders gave us a message to take back to America, “Stand up, stand up before it is too late.”

Jesse Petrilla is the founder of The United American Committee

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Hamas and the Election Dilemma

2009-02-14T19:42:00.002+02:00

By

Mike Packer

Well Ehud Barak’s half baked war against Hamas has just jumped up and bit him, again.

DebkaFile reports that the Hamas negotiations for a cease fire were a red herring. Hamas spread rumors that an agreement was imminent for an 18 month cease fire and the release of Gilad Shalit. Israel agreed to allow Hamas leader Mahmud A-Zahar to travel to Cairo and points east to try and override hardliner Khaled Meshaal and sign an extended truce deal.
Instead of signing Hamas has used the time to reorganize and rearm after their wrist slap from Ehud Barak. What motivated that man to cease attacking Hamas when he had the upper hand? I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt and say the reason was not political but I have serious reservations. If it was political reasoning then that blew up in his face too because he lost the elections big time.

This organization called Hamas is purported to be a religious, social organization that was elected under the banner of social reform and total hatred of Israel. The hatred part I can live with, the social part leaves everything to be desired. The millions of for aid but for destruction. The money was used to purchase arms and ammunition for the fight against Israel and the population of Gaza be damned. Humanitarian aid in the form of blankets and food for the “poor oppressed, starving Arabs” is constantly being stolen by Hamas strongmen from UNRWA warehouses or straight off the backs of the trucks that bring it in. The situation has become so dire that the UNRWA representatives in the Gaza Strip have ceased to bring in more supplies thus creating a “Humanitarian situation” with, of course, not a word of protest from all our neighborhood, bleeding heart liberals because this time it wasn’t Israel’s fault (although the blame will be put on Israel….have no fear).

So now is brass tack time, Hamas can no longer be considered, even remotely, as a negotiating partner. The next smallest provocation which, without the slightest doubt, will occur within the next 2 to 3 days must be answered forcefully and taken to the end. Hamas must be struck so hard that no remnant remains and that includes their political and military leaders.

Now the question that needs to be asked is “who is going to be the next Minister of Defense in Israel?”

If (G-d forbid) Tsipora Livni forms the next government (chances for that look pretty slim) then we are stuck with limp wrested Ehud again. This means a total capitulation in Gaza and the formation of an Iranian state in the Strip. Tsipora is committed to a two-state solution and we can expect a rise in Arab demands for more and more concessions which will be met with smiles and a positive reaction from the government and a huge pat on the back from President Obama.

On the other hand if Bibi gets to form a government we have a number of scenarios;

A. He entices Tsipora Livni and Ehud Barak to from a broad based coalition government and bring in a few of the right wing religious splinter parties,
Or;

B. He forms a government consisting of the Lieberman Gang and the right wing National Camp.

If he chooses A we are stuck with Ehud again and Bibi will have reneged on his campaign promises again. The Labor/Likud/Kadima coalition will be a left wing coalition that will not allow Netanyahu to pursue his campaign promises or allow him to resist American/EU pressure to allow more concessions to the Arabs. Political Pundits are saying that Israel needs a left wing government to legitimize its dealings with the EU and prevent any tension between them if things come to a head with Hamas and Iran. But history shows that no matter what government is in power in Israel we can be sure that EU and American rhetoric will be against us no matter what we do.

So we come to plan B. Here Netanyahu will have the full support of his coalition vis-à-vis Likud’s treatment of the PA and Arab nations in the area. He will have full support for an action against Iran if it is needed and his coalition partners won’t allow a cease fire like the last one to happen. The question arises as to whom the Department of Defense will fall to. Moshe Yaalon seems to be the front runner for this job and as a former Chief of Staff he certainly has the credentials.

The main thought that must go through Bibi’s mind as he tries to arrange a coalition is the fact that the Israeli population has made a majority decision in the last elections that it no longer wishes a left wing government. He has an obligation to his voters to accede to their wishes, so plan B is the only legitimate option he has if he wants to survive on the Israeli political field.
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Aid? What Aid?

2009-02-06T21:15:00.003+02:00

By
Mike Packer

“The poor oppressed “Palestinians”” are a bunch of whining crooks and Hamas is the Mafia of the Middle East.

Tons of humanitarian aid has been stolen from UNRWA by the Hamas police and the International Community has yet to voice its displeasure and censure Hamas.

In fact the eternal scapegoat, Israel, is being blamed for the lack of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Chief John Holmes has, I must add here, rebuked Hamas in one incident of “cynical" use of civilian facilities during recent hostilities in the Gaza Strip as reported in the Haaretz newspaper of January 29, 2009. Holmes goes on say that Hamas must not interfere with the movement of humanitarian supplies and urged Israel to reopen the border crossings to allow large quantities of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. "Israel has a particular responsibility as the occupying power in this context, because of its control of Gaza's borders with Israel, to respect the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law," he said.
The question to be asked here is ‘why on earth should we provide aid that will be stolen and sold by Hamas to fill their coffers so they can buy more weapons?” We are not an occupying power in the Gaza Strip and haven’t been for a number of years. We are under no obligation to conduct any commercial business with the Hamas regime. Even Egypt has had enough of them and has decided to close her border at Rafah and the International Community has yet to censure Cairo.

Tsipora Livni our Foreign Minister, who so gleefully signed a Memorandum with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, should be hiding her head in shame. That MoI was intended to try and curb the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip, too bad it wasn’t printed on absorbent paper so President Obama could use it in the Oval Office john. The very first incident of attempted smuggling was a fiasco. A Cyprus flagged merchant ship sailing out of Bandar Abbas in Iran was apprehended by the US Navy and searched. It was found to be carrying arms destined for the Gaza Strip and the ship was then promptly escorted to, eventually, Cyprus where the arms have been unloaded and are awaiting a decision of the UN Security Council as to their final destination. The Israeli Navy was prevented from confiscating the arms by the US Navy for fear that the incident might anger the Iranians.

Where is the International Community (IC) that rushed to condemn Israel for not providing humanitarian aid? Where are the American promises covered by the MoI?

The time has come for Israel to elect a right wing government. No matter what we do we come under fire from all sides so it is time to think about ourselves and not about what the IC will say because it doesn’t matter one iota. The IC has fallen to islamofacism and is no longer a worthwhile partner in any political arena. The US of A is going the same way when the agreements they sign aren’t worth the paper that they are written on and are broken before the ink even dries. The two-state solution is a pipe-dream invented by some cockamamie State Department jerk off and pushed on Israel whose left wing government of the time accepted.

Enough is enough, JUDEA and Samaria belong to Israel, by International Law, and if the Arabs who live there don’t like it then they can leave. I am sure there are many Arab nations in the Middle East who would be more than willing to accept a few hundred thousand poor, oppressed, brother Arabs from the Holy Land. No? Then how about Eurabia there is plenty of room in Holland and Britain and they believe in Sharia law.
No? How about Venezuela they like the Arabs there.

I, personally, refuse to have them in MY country if they refuse to swear allegiance.
I, personally, refuse to have them in MY country as long as they adhere to the idea of Jewish Genocide.
I, personally, refuse to host ANY of my enemies in MY country.

Now before some Human Rights committee starts ragging me about being racist I would like to bring their attention to the hundreds of thousands of Jewish citizens of Arab nations that were forced to leave their countries of origin in 1948 and nobody raised a finger to assist them except their own brethren. No one even raised a voice in their aid and it wasn’t until 2008 that the UN even cared to discuss them.

So let Saudi Arabia and their ill gained petro dollars do something about “Humanitarian Aid”, I am sure the so-called “Palestinians” would make good destruction workers, explosives experts and tunnel diggers as they have had years of experience and would be an asset to any Muslim country.

Campaign Promises and Shoals

2009-01-31T11:35:00.002+02:00

By

Mike Packer

Some interesting items were gleaned from the media this week.

The first snippet is that Ehud Olmert, in secret negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, is willing to give up certain East Jerusalem neighborhoods and “The Holy Basin”.

“The Holy Basin” is a term coined during Clinton’s administration and pertains to that part of Jerusalem that contains the Holy Sites of the three major religions. In Olmert’s agreement these sites would come under the jurisdiction of some International body. Either Olmert is a fool (my second choice) or a total moron (by far my first choice) but, I guess, he doesn’t remember the days of “Jerusalem, the International City” invented by the UN. In those days the City of David was so international that Jews were denied access to pray at their most Holy site and foreign Christians were restricted in the observance of their religion.

It was reported by the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Acharonot on its Thursday morning front page that Olmert had closed on the deal during his meeting with Obama’s special envoy Mitchell on Wednesday. The interesting thing is that the report disappeared for 24 hours after it was first published. No-one was talking, apart from an AFP article in the Philippines there was nothing, zip, nada, not even on the internet. I ask myself why would the Olmert administration put a gag order on something like this unless it’s because Ehud has committed an horrendous crime against the Jewish people and should have his name expunged from entering Paradise.

Tsipora Livni has denied knowledge (of course) and this whole debacle is starting to look like some episode of “Mission Impossible”. The good thing is that this agreement has to be signed and Olmert doesn’t have the authority to do it (I hope).

The next snippet was how Hamas has started dictating the terms of the oxymoronic “cease fire”. You have to say something for the leaders of Hamas they do have chutzpah after getting their rear ends kicked they have learned something from the movie “Taxi driver” (you talking to me? Who you talking to?”). We should quote Eli Wallach “If you’re going to shoot, shoot, don’t talk”. You will have to excuse me but I find Israeli Politicians comical at the best of times and the other Ehud (Barak) tops the list. All the effort that the IDF put into Operation Cast Lead has brought us nothing but Hamas demands for open borders and more weapons.

George Mitchell an ex-senator and now Special Middle East Envoy for Barak Hussein Obama came up with the Quote of the Week: "To be successful in preventing the illicit traffic of arms into Gaza, there must be a mechanism to allow the flow of legal goods. And that should be with the participation of the Fatah-control Palestinian Authority."
Open borders to prevent smuggling, yeh, right. Who did he say should be involved? The PA? Isn’t that like asking the cat to guard the milk?

The next snippet comes from my reading Caroline Glick’s article of January 30 which I reccomend. She discusses Obama’s first week and a half in office and how he’s keeping his campaign promises. I might go a little further than Ms.Glick and say that he is revealing his true self. He is an Arabist and a capitulator. The Arabist part is no real surprise because of his family background but the capitulation is another story. Downgrading President Bush’s war on terrorism is worse than capitulation it is a surrender to Islam. It is also an insult to all those people who have lost loved ones in terrorist attacks and an insult to the memory of all those who have lost their lives protecting American freedoms and values. Shame on you Mr.President, do the lives of American servicemen come as cheap as that?

His attempt to appease Iran’s Ahmadinejad was an insight in Diplomacy viv-a-vis the world of Islam. You would think that a person of Obama’s background would know how to deal with Dar-El-Islaam but, I guess, he learned nothing at his father”s knee. He is offering Iran the chance to discuss peacefully their differences and, true to form, Ahmadinejad came back with an insult over America’s show of weakness. Obama’s campaign promises about engaging Teheran in dialogue has worked only not the way Obama really wanted. This just goes to show that this administration like those before it ahs absolutely no clue on how to deal with Islamic mentality. It chooses advisers that are in Saudi pockets and are being given bad advise. If this is being done without Obama’s realization then he is not the man for the job and if it is with his knowledge than that is probably an impeachable offense.

Instead of facing the enemy Barak Hussein Obama has taken the liberal multicultural way out and has pointed the Ship of State onto the shoals of disaster for America and, by proxy, for Israel.

Israel has now become one of the very few States in the world today that has to carry the brunt of Islamic Jihad. As the Jews have been the perpetual scapegoats we have now been upgraded to guardians of democracy. It is up to us not to fail ourselves for I really don’t care a fig for America’s situation. We will have a tough time over the next four years trying to neutralize Barak Hussein Obama’s mistakes and we are going to have to find someone worthy of the task.

Good luck, America, you’re going to need it.
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Election Time

2009-01-29T20:57:00.002+02:00

By

Mike Packer

So the rockets are flying, again, so Israel is biding her time, again, and the gains we made in operation Cast Lead just flew out of the window, again.

What is it with the Israeli political elite that causes this mental block every time the solution jumps up and kicks them in the fanny? We are reaping the crop of total incompetence on the side of Ehud Barak, our illustrious Minister of Defence who promised the population of Israel to retaliate with excessive force any and all acts of aggression on the side of Hamas. Nuu? What do we get for the death of an IDF soldier by a roadside bomb, why, heavens to Betsy, the actual destruction of a motorbike ! Give me a break, Ehud, surely you can come up with something better than that. The guy who was riding the motorbike, one Machmad Uda Chamdan Samiri a known terror operative of the Global Jihad in Gaza, was critically injured….well, big deal. Ehud, to put it bluntly either defecate or get out of the toilet because you are in someone else’s place. With all your squirming away from a fight and wanting to give up parts of Eretz Israel you can be certain you won’t get my vote in these elections.

As for Tsipora Livni, she is again pushing for land for peace. At the sixth annual Jerusalem Conference on Wednesday night she said that Israel must give up parts of Judea and Samaria in order to preserve Israel as a Jewish state. Thanks, Tsipora, but this is MY country and I have no intention of giving any of it away to a bunch of camel jockeys who intend to destroy us, so you can be certain that you won’t get my vote these elections either. Eitan Livni, Tsipora’s father, a member of ETZEL during the war of Independence, was active in the Herut movement and a Member of Knesset in the Likud party, must be turning over in his grave over his daughters utterances and willingness to give up Eretz Israel. Tsipora also said that years of refusal to make concessions have resulted in international demands that have forced political leaders "to run for compromise." Where have you been since Oslo, Tsipora, Israel has been making concessions to our Arab enemies for years….we do not have to compromise anymore! The time for compromise went down the tubes when all our concessions were refused and sent back to us in the form of suicide bombers, kassam missiles, Grad missiles, Katyusha rockets and all the other goodies that the International Community has financed over the last few decades. But she did throw us a bone: "I know to say ahead of time what are the compromises," pointing out her opposition to Palestinian Authority demands for the right of immigration to Israel of foreign Arabs who are descendants of families who left Israel during previous wars. Well ‘good on yer’, Tsipora, I guess we have to be thankful for small mercies.

The next one in line is……….no, not Ehud Olmert, the third of the Stooges, he’s on his way out, bless him. The next one is Avigdor Lieberman, yes good old Yvette, as much as I liked him for his “in your face” attitude to Israeli Arabs (not that it makes much difference whether they are Israeli or not to Lieberman) he is turning out to be two-faced. I suppose that being two-faced is expected from a politician but when it comes to surrendering my country I draw the line. It seems that Lieberman had secret meetings with one of Yasser Arafat's key advisers about territorial concessions to the Palestinian Authority. This has been revealed by Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel, in his new book entitled "Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy,". Now that is a political bombshell, way to go, Yvette. There goes my vote again.

So now that we have eliminated three of the biggest political parties in Israel; Labor, Kadima and Israel Beitenu, what do we have left?

Likud? I don’t know, Bibi has been heard to say that he would surrender parts of Jerusalem, he was a supporter of the Gush Katif fiasco….so he’s out.

I won’t even consider any of the left wing liberal jerk offs as they would probably try to transfer me to Uganda or someplace.

I will consider any party that will have the courage to say no to the United States of America over the double standards that they are employing in their dealings with my country. To resist the pressure that is imposed on us whenever we defend ourselves against our adversaries and to insist that justice is served in the International Court of Justice when it comes to International Law pertaining to Israel.

I will consider any party that will begin proceedings for Israel’s resignation from the United Nations and the expulsion of all UN employees and organizations from Israel.

I will consider any party that considers Eretz Israel the homeland of the Jewish people (I will exclude Transjordan) as resolved by the League of Nations and their heirs.

OK, so I am dreaming, so what, but I am sure there are a lot of you out there who agree with me.

The Three Stooges

2009-01-24T12:34:00.001+02:00

By

Mike Packer

The IDF’s latest operation was magnificent. So what? What good did it do us when our political leaders wasted it away because of their yellow streak?

Our political leaders Ehud Olmert, Tsipora Livni and Ehud Barak or “The Three Stooges” as Emanuel A. Winston, a Mid East analyst & commentator so eloquently called them blew our military success into the wind. They were too wimpy to follow it to its logical end and blast Hamas back into the middle ages.
. The pictures of Ismail Haniyeh during the latest Gaza operation transmitted from his bolt hole were a sight for sore eyes. Bags under his eyes, pale and looking very tired as compared to the pictures of him on the day that the Three Stooges declared a unilateral cease fire where he looked like he had just received a new lease on life. We could see that the operation was affecting him psychologically and had we continued we would have defeated him and his cohorts completely. But NO, Ehud Barak went back to his usual self running from the enemy. How this man became the most decorated soldier in the IDF is beyond me.

My hypothesis is that the man thinks only of himself and his grandiose political dreams. He has yet to realize that he has a snowballs chance in hell of ever becoming the Prime Minister of Israel again.

I used to be a Labor Party supporter but that changed when Ehud Barak was voted as the leader of that party. I have become a right wing supporter and never have I realized just how correct my decision was until now.

The unilateral cease fire was a political decision so that the Three Stooges would look good in the eyes of the International Community and payment of lip service to the new American administration and there is no way you can convince me otherwise. The good of our nation has become a second line priority to the aspirations of at least two of the Three Stooges as Ehud Olmert disappears into oblivion.

Never has there been a better time to push for Israel to become a Constitutional Democracy. We must start voting for individuals who will answer to We The People and not to some cockamamie political party whose members think only of the leather chairs that they will sit in when elected to the Knesset. It is time to bring the Government of our nation under the control of the people.

The Gaza operation was the most popular IDF operation in recent history and had the support of the majority of the population of Israel yet it never came close to its intended goals, the release of Gilad Shalit and the destruction of the Hamas power base in the Gaza Strip all because of the impending elections in Israel and the inauguration of Barak Hussein Obama.

Well, at least the Three Stooges will be put away on the back burner (for good, I hope) in the upcoming elections and maybe, maybe we will get a Government that will stand against International Community and American pressure……and I pray that it won’t be just a pipe dream.
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A call for unconditional surrender

2009-01-17T15:10:00.003+02:00

Mike Packer

The IDF has restored our faith in the professionalism of its soldiers and officers.

The way Operation Cast Lead has been managed is a reflection of the lessons learned by the military from the disasterous 2nd Lebanese fiasco and the proper implimentation of these lessons by the current CoS Gabi Ashkenazi.

IDF has pursued Hamas over the last three weeks and have not hesitated to (finally) fire on mosques, schools or UN establishments that were being used as a fire base by terrorists. The IDF has finally taken off the kid gloves and thrown International condemnation to the winds, and so it should be. We are the ONLY ones who can defend our country and have the right to do soas we see fit, International hypocrasy be damned.

But of what use is our military if the political faction of our nation throws a wrench in the cogs?

The IDF has suffered losses and wounded soldiers and expanded a lot of energy to achieve an advantage over Hamas. This vantage point was attained to allow our politicians the best possible hand to win the game. Nu? They have been trumped again.

Our "best friends", the Americans, have tried to screw us, again, by passing a UNSC resolution telling us to cease and desist forthwith. Fortunately our PM wasn't totally incompetant this time and (if the stories are true) managed to avert a disaster at the last minute and "our friend" Condi, who always has our interests at heart, was forced to abstain.

Israel finally saw the light and chose to ignore the resolution, halleluyah! It was about time that we finally realized that the UN is a neutered body that can kiss our rear orifice. An International body that has the gall to appoint a pariah nation like Iran to the chairmanship of the UNDP cannot be taken seriously. Ban Ki Moon even had the audacity to force our PM to apologize for attacking UNRWA schools and storage depots that were being used by Hamas as fire bases. I haven't heard Hamas apologize yet but then I don't expect the UN to make such a demand.

So, back to our "illustrious" politicians who, after being handed a victory are intending to squander it away for naught. Instead of demanding from Hamas a total, unconditional surrender as befits a victor over a vanquished enemy our politicians are kowtowing to American pressure.

It's interesting to note that in the beginning of this operation the Bush Administration was giving Israel tentative support until they realized that we were getting the upper hand and started pressuring for a UNSC resolution to end the hostilities. The Americans were taken by surprise when the IDF started chalking up successes against Hamas. The State Department was expecting a replay of the Lebanon fiasco and in a fit of rage started calling for a cease fire.

A "Memorandum of Understanding" (MoU) was signed by Tzipora Livni and "our good friend" Condi in which the US has pledged to assist Israel in preventing the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip, in providing humanitarian aid to the "poor oppressed arabs" and in ensuring that peace reigns over our little corner of the planet......yeh, right.

Tzipora Livni has again accomplished in creating the worst possible scenario for Israel in the Gaza Strip. It follows her brilliant UN coup after the 2nd Lebanon war where she was able to influence the passage of resolution 1701:

SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR END TO HOSTILITIES BETWEEN HIZBOLLAH, ISRAEL,

UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1701 (2006)

Permanent Ceasefire to Be Based on Creation

Of Buffer Zone Free of Armed Personnel Other than UN, Lebanese Force .

This resolution was a joke and Hizbollah has managed to rearm and reinforce its defenses in southern Lebanon under the noses of the UN and Lebanese army.

Tsipora Livni was so successful with 1701 that she has again done it, this time with the US instead of the UN. I have serious doubts about Condi Rice's good intentions, she has been so hostile to Israeli interests in the region that no good can come of this and I foresee Hamas rearming itself as did Hizbollah.

Israel must take the initiative here and put an end to Hamas once and for all and demand unconditional surrender. The Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has refused to allow a cease fire so maybe we should agree with him this time.

IM MEMORIUM

2008-12-28T18:07:00.003+02:00

Tsafrir Ronen

1955-2008

A true patriot and lover of Eretz Israel has passed on.

I met Tsafrir in the early 1970’s when he was in 11^th grade on the kibbutz that he was born on. He was a jack-in-the-box as a kid and stayed that way as a mature adult. A true embodiment of the quintessential Israeli sabra, always acting the bold, macho image but deep down a soft man.

I lost touch with him when I left Israel and renewed our acquaintance when I returned as a member of his kibbutz. We were not bosom buddies at the time because of our age difference but always friendly. After graduating High school Tsafrir left to start a new kibbutz in the Jordan Valley called Gilgal and to serve in the IDF so our paths crossed infrequently until he returned in the ‘80’s with his wife, Judy. We worked together in the agriculture branch of the kibbutz for a while and our paths parted again when he left the kibbutz.

We used to see each other in the dining hall on Friday evenings when he visited his family but by then he was into his own political thing that was light years away from my ideology. We never got to sit and chat like we used to until I changed my ideology and Tsafrir was there like a shot to guide me along the “true path”.

He made a point that I learn the true meaning of Zionism and the love of Eretz Israel and drilled into me to never forget who this country belongs to. His enthusiasm for Eretz Israel was contagious and his health suffered because of it. But this enthusiasm permeated into everything he did whether it was his lovely family or planning and building his house or his tirades against the kibbutz and government.

Tsafrir will be missed mostly, of course, by his wife and daughters about whom he would talk at every chance with great pride and love. I will miss him greatly because he was my teacher and mentor in the new path that I have recently chosen.

There is now no-one in my circle of friends that can argue so vehemently and with so much conviction, passion and with as much insight as Tsafrir Ronen.

Too early, my friend, you left the party too early.

A Little House in Hebron

2008-12-06T18:51:00.003+02:00

By

Mike Packer

I used to be a left wing liberal. I said it before and I'm saying it again with the emphasis on "used to be".

The Labor party that I used to be proud to be a member of (unfortunately, I still am but that is another story) has at last hit rock bottom. Although I am talking in generalities here by including everyone in the Labor party in the same rotten barrel as its chairperson. I have never felt as embarrassed by the fact that I had dealings with this party as I did the other evening when the "Peace House" was evacuated on the orders of the Defense Minister.

The prime mission of the Ministry of Defense is the defense of the population and the integrity of our state borders. It has been derelict in the first count, the defense of the population. Unless you mean the Arab population that basks in the protection of the Law in all its forms. The Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, has declared war on the Jewish population that identifies with the National Camp and with its supporters. According to certain polls in Israel about 53% of the Jewish population identifies with the National Camp or other affiliated religious parties and I have a feeling that this will show in the elections in February. I sincerely hope that Ehud Barak's actions over the last few days will be the final nail in the Labor party\left wing coffin. His chances of becoming Prime Minister have just taken a nose dive and he is taking the party with him.

The House in Hebron was bought by a Jew from an Arab for $700,000 cash. The transaction was documented and signed but the Arab seller has recently reneged on the deal after his life was threatened for selling Arab land to a Jew. I can understand his concern but, hey, take the money and run, find someplace else to live. The original owner appealed to higher authorities and said that the transaction wasn't finalised. The Ministry of Defense which is in charge of security in Judea and Samaria slapped an eviction order on the Jewish residents of the house. The residents appealed for a stay of eviction until the legality of the transaction was confirmed by a local court. The High Court of justice upheld the eviction notice but left it to the discretion of the MoD whether to act or not.

The Minister decided that it was time to show the settlers just how brave he and his Police cohorts were and in a surprise raid evicted men, women and children using unnecessary force on a docile group. Barak has alienated a huge group of rabid patriots for a few popularity points with the Palestinian Authority and the American administration. These patriots are becoming the backbone of the elite units in the IDF just as the kibbutz youth of 20 years ago they are considered by many in Israel as salt of the earth. A few of these youths were reenforcing the group that was living in the house in Hebron and some were blamed by the Jerusalem Post of throwing rocks at Arabs. The JP on Thursday on page 5 printed a picture of "Beit Hashalom" with the subtitle "Settlers throw stones at Palestinians following the evacuation of the disputed house".Nadia Matar, Co-chair, Women in Green and member of the Committee for the Struggle for Bet Hashalom, wrote a letter of protest to the Editor of JP:

To the Editor of the Jerusalem Post
letters@jpost.com

One does not have to look far to see how biased your newspaper is.

Page five of your Friday edition shows a picture of Bet Hashalom with the subtitle: "Settlers throw stones at Palestinians following the evacuation of the disputed house "
As someone who lived in Bet HaShalom for the entire week, I looked at the picture, recognized some of the people, and
immediately understood what the picture really was about: Four Jewish youth are playing dodge ball in front of Bet Hashalom minutes before the expulsion forces arrived with their tear gas, stun grenades, clubs, and other equipment to brutally and forcefully expel the Jews from Bet Hashalom.
Obviously using such force against youth playing ball does not look good. So why not change reality completely and write that those youth were 'throwing stones at Arabs'.

I will do all I can to find the names of all those appearing in that picture and convince them to sue the Jerusalem Post for libel and slander.Shame on you.

Nadia Matar
Co-chair, Women in Green and member of the Committee for the Struggle for Bet Hashalom .

Well, what can one expect from journalists.

The Ministry of Defense is in dereliction of its duty. Day after day it rains rockets in Sderot and the area surrounding the Gaza strip but the Government won't come to the residents assistance. Recently there were riots in Acre and there were more Jews arrested than Arab instigators. The Police and Ministry of Defense have found that it is easier to beat up and arrest Jews than it is Arabs because the Jews don't go on the rampage afterwards like the Arabs do.

Now this dereliction of duty has again raised its ugly head. Enough is enough. It is time to bury the Labor party once and for all and then the chairman will fade away into the infamy that he so richly deserves.

Mumbai memories

2008-12-06T13:13:00.007+02:00

by

Mike Packer

Well, so here we have another Islamic Jihadist attack on innocent people in a country that was established on the basis of peaceful demonstration.

Mahatma Ghandi must be turning over in his grave over the use of terrorism in Mumbai.

But thanks to the advent of multiculturalism the perpetrators are vindicated as "poor oppressed muslims". It is this multiculturalism that has bred the terrorists of the 21st Century and until the west realizes what is happening it will, undoubtedly, be too late.

The western concept of the 21st Century is still nesting in the middle 20th Century. Today's terrorist is not a lackey of some war lord in Mydumbistan but a modern, western educated, middle class MUSLIM (and I shout that out so that the UN can accuse me of illegal speech!). These terrorists are religious/ideologically motivated individuals who know exactly what they are doing and enjoy it. They target Jewish institutions and unarmed clergy and throw in a few other western victims for the media hype. The problem is they are getting better at it.

They have also become sadistic. What earthly reason is there for torturing bound prisoners in such a way that even the medical staff who did the autopsies were affected by the sight. Multiculturalists will tell us that is because of the humiliations of Al Ghraib or Gitmo, but they were humiliations causing loss of prestige not physical abuse causing loss of blood. Torturing prisoners is a crime not only in war but in peace time too. These terrorists have no rights to a fair trial but should be summarily executed for they have forfeited the right to be considered human.

The time has come for the west to remove the kid gloves, ignore left wing multiculturalists, and get down to work. Pakistan must be brought to task for the aid it is rendering to the mujahadeen and stop turning a blind eye to what is happening in their back country. What will we say when Pakistan decides to arm some terrorist organization with nuclear weapons? against whom will we retaliate? if it isn't already too late.

How long will we kowtow to all the Ahmedinejad's of the oriental world before we decide that our way of life is OURS and not theirs. Live and let live. If they are jealous of our lifestyle then they are free to join us on our terms! we do not have to worry about their lifestyles they have enough petrodollars to improve themselves without our help.

Caroline Glick's post of Dec.4 ended with the following:

"SOME COMMENTATORS dismiss the danger emanating from the global jihad by noting that its global designs are not matched by global capabilities. They argue that when the West finally decides to defeat the jihadists, they will be utterly vanquished.

Unfortunately, this view ignores two things. It ignores the fact that the jihadists are devoting all of their energies to improving and expanding their capacity to fight their war. And it ignores the fact that the multiculturalists' influence is growing steadily and has repeatedly stymied Western attempts to confront the jihadist threat head-on. Unless something changes soon, the consequences of the jihadist-multicultural alliance will be suffered by millions and millions of people."

A Waste of Time

2008-09-28T13:45:00.009+03:00

by

Mike Packer.

Olmert has failed to convince the PA to accept Israel's latest concessions.

Nu, so what's new? Every proposal since 1948 has been rejected. What makes this one any different, or the next one, or the one after that. I just can't figure it out, either I am a total genius (which I sincerely doubt) because I have come to the conclusion that there is no-one to talk to on the "palestinian" side, or all our governments since independance have been total morons (which is more likely the case).

How many times must the hammer fall on your head before you put on a hard hat. Well, it is hard hat time!

The PA rejection was over the status of Jerusalem and the "right of return" of the 1948 Arab refugees and their descendents. Well, here's some news for the PA...tough shit, guys, it ain't gonna happen. It is time for the PA to start making concessions like recognizing the rightful existence of Israel in the traditional homeland of the Jewish people and with Jerusalem as its eternal capital. Enough of the hogwash about Jerusalem being an Arab city, it never was and with our help never will be.

The PA has been pushing the claim that Jerusalem was not the centre of Judaism and nor was the Temple Mount the site of our temple. The "palestinians" have never had a claim over Jerusalem until the last decade or so both spiritually or archeologically. Their claim that Mohammed rose to heaven from Mt. Moriah after racing from Mecca overnight on Al-Buraq is merely legend. The Holy city is not mentioned even once in the Qur'an and they pray with their backs to the Holy City (OK, depends where in the world you are).

Islam, in fact, when it mentions Jerusalem does so with Jewish connotations. For example, the religious code of ethics and behaviour known as Hadith believed by moslems to have been passed down through Mohammed, Jerusalem is mentioned as "Bayit al-Makdis" which is the Arab translation of the Hebrew "Beit HaMigdash" meaning the temple.

Since 2005, when the Moslem Waqf (religious council) started constructing a mosque in the Solomon's stable area of the temple mount, up until August 2008 numerous artifacts have been uncovered by Israeli archeologists at a dump for the construction waste. Some of these artifacts date back as much as 2500 years to the era when Babylonians destroyed the first temple. All these artifacts have Jewish names or motifs and, needless to say, Mohammed or the Moslems were not mentioned.

So, where does this all bring us? Well, our new candidate for PM, Tzippy Livni, is willing to give up almost 50% of the Land of Israel and parts of Jerusalem, just like her buddy Olmert. The people of Israel's tax money is again to be wasted on futile attempts to appease the International Community by creating a "palestinian" state who's only claim to fame will be the attempt to destroy Israel and undoubtedly perish in that attempt.

The other thing Livni won't do is deal with Iran. She doesn't know how and the people around her are as equally ignorant. We need someone who will attack Iran, hammer its nuclear capabilities into dust and then say "Hamas and Hizbullah! you're next". Unfortunately, I can't see anyone in the near political future with the fortitude to do it.....unless Bibi......

Time is short

2008-09-27T11:31:00.003+03:00

by
Mike Packer

We are running out of time. Our politicians consider that it is in Israel's best interests to have "political stability" rather than security stability. In that light we have Kadima/Labor/Shas all discussing who should sit where, how much money their kids should get and whether it is appropriate to have a "unity coalition" or not.

Livni considers herself to be the next PM after she was elected to head the Kadima party by a "majority" of about 20,000 Kadima voters. I wonder if the "majority" of the population feels the same way. I think not. The latest election for PM is a travesty of democracy and comes at a time when Israel needs it the least. Livni has shown that she is not as "clean" as her previous image. The underhanded Kadima election is fraught with accusations of election fraud and the results are being contested in the courts. Shaul Mofaz is still having a temper tantrum and is lying in a corner somewhere kicking and screaming. Barak is trying to make deals like Eli Yishai of Shas.....and Israel is going to hell in a hand basket.

Ahmadinejad has raised the spectres of the "Elders of Zion" and has brought the Jewish people back to the 1930's. Our politicians (and in the forefront is our Defense Minister) are too busy lining their nests to worry about the existential threat from Iran which is racing ahead with it's nuclear enrichment program. The US administration is useless at the moment apart from the fact that Bush won't support destroying Iran's nuclear facilities.

Ahmadinejad's UN speech left no doubt that Iran will destroy Israel at the first opportunity and received a nice round of applause from the leaders of the International Community at the UN. He will, undoubtedly, receive a permanent seat on the UN Security Council as a prize for his intentions.

Gavriela Shalev, Israel's new UN ambassador, in an interview on Army Radio had the hutzpah to say that the world leaders were just being "diplomatic". She went on to defend the UN and believed her duty was not only to defend Israel against the UN but to defend the UN against Israel. How did this woman become a UN ambassador for Israel? The UN has become the world centre for Israel bashing and our "ambassador" feels that she has the duty to defend the UN, is this the instruction she got from the foreign ministry under Tsippy Livni who is to become our next PM?

We do not need "political stability" right now. We need a government that will place Israel's security at the forefront of its plans. Therefore, we need elections now. Elections will bring down Tsippy Livni's attempts to run our country without a mandate, it will (hopefully) get rid of Ehud Barak from the government and put the choice of the country's leadership back into the hands of those who SHOULD decide....the people.

New elections will not be forgiving to the likes of Ehud Barak who has done nothing to revitalize Israel's capabilities of deterrence and nothing to punish the Hamas regime for the rockets that are still landing in Israel despite the "cease fire".

New elections will bring in, almost certainly, Bibi Netanyahu who has on numerous occasions declared that he is against a two state solution and returning the Golan Heights. It is time that the Israeli left should come to the conclusion that peace with the PA is like flogging a dead horse, they are simply not interested in the existence of Israel.

Nor is Iran interested in a two state solution, their nuclear plans will make certain that both the Jews and the "Palestinians" will cease to be a problem..

The Kadima Fiasco

2008-09-20T12:52:00.004+03:00

by
Mike Packer

Well, so it comes to this. The Kadima party has taken the country hostage. Democracy in Israel has become a farce! Instead of resigning Olmert, an indicted felon, has decided to stay in office until Livni has had time to build a unity government (if that isn't an oxymoron, what is?). Who gave Livni the right to become Prime Minister without "We the People's" approval?

Livni is not the person capable to run this country! She has come across as a dishonest person over the last few months and, as chief negotiator between the PA and Israel, has the affront to support the partition of Jerusalem.

Mofaz is just as bad, a sore loser, and is pouting over the fact that he has lost. As a person of some responsibility, Minister of Transport, ex-Chief-of-Staff, he has shown infantile behaviour over the last few days by stating that he is quitting politics for a while. He has resigned from the government without notice, this childish tantrum just goes to show that he is not reliable enough to hold public office.

Olmert has revealed that he does not have the country's best interests at heart and has become sympathetic to the Arab cause which, in itself, is a betrayal of the Israeli population as he doesn't have their well-being on his agenda.
Just because Olmert threatened to resign as PM and relinquish his chairmanship of Kadima that doesn't mean that the next chairperson should have the right to be PM without new elections. After being reminded that he had offered 98% of Judea and Samaria to some foreign Arabs (I won't call them "Palestinians" as I consider that an insult to myself because I was born there), Olmert said, “we have to ask ourselves if losing a hill here or there is worth forfeiting the chance to achieve something.” Since 1947 we have been offering half of Israel to foreign Arabs and have got nothing back but terrorism. I say to Olmert that our efforts over the last 60 years have achieved Jack Schitt, enough is enough.

So the main problem with Israeli politics is the fact that we vote for a political party and not for individuals which, in my view, is a gross miscarriage of the Democratic process. It is time for change. We need to revamp our electoral process and put our votes behind an individual that "We the People" find appropriate to lead OUR country. Israel belongs to the Jewish people and not to some elitist group of political mafiosi that do with us what they please without having to answer for their mistakes.

Israel needs a constitution! We need to bring the power back in to "We the People's" hands. We also have to renew the criteria for citizenship. A friend of mine, Tsafrir Ronen, has put together a plan where citizenship in Israel will be based on the fact that everyone who wishes to become a citizen must pass a test and swear allegiance to the State, Jews and resident Arabs alike. Everyone's citizenship must be made renewable by an oath of allegiance once every ten years or so, like renewing a licence. Citizenship should be a privilege and not a right and should be accompanied by service in the armed forces or National Service of a similar type for those of us who's conscience prevents them from bearing arms.

So, there we have it. A bunch of sore losers, and an idiot PM who reneged on his promise to resign if he was indicted .

False promises and Empty threats

2008-09-06T14:56:00.007+03:00

By
Mike Packer

Again the impotent Israeli Government (IG) has pulled another coup.

A small flotilla of ships sailed from Cyprus to Gaza under the guise of a "peace movement", they managed to break the through the Israeli blockade and reached shore where they were greeted by representatives of the Hamas regime. Again Israel has egg on her face due to the inaction of the IG and the Minister of Defense. How much longer must we abide with this mockery of a government and a criminal PM? How much longer must we abide this Defense Minister whose only claim to recent fame is his toothless bark?

The IG policy of doing nothing and not replying to attacks from Gaza and the debacle of Lebanon II has eroded our standing in the International community. European countries are now wooing Arab states, Egypt is signing a treaty with Hamas, The United States has sent the SoS to the Middle East countless times in futile attempts to bring "peace" to an area that is not interested in American interferance. All this because of false promises and empty threats. Promises of "peace in our time" and threats of removing Hamas from power, all given by a government that has no intention of following through.

The Europeans have given up on us there is nothing for them here to waste their time over and oil is more important to them. They have come to the realization that the last bastion between them and radical Isalm is becoming a paper tiger and they are deserting like rats from a sinking ship. Egypt is wooing Hamas because they have come to the realization that Israel no longer has the desire to protect Egypts northern border.

The amount of arms and ammunition being smuggled in through the Sinai border in violation of all the agreements between Isarel and Egypt is finally toppling the balance of power. The same goes for our northern border in violation of UN resolution 1701 and with the deafening silence of the International community. All this because of empty threats and a useless IG.

Our latest offer to the PA has been rejected and Olmert has the nerve to offer more even though he is on his way out. So why even bother with them, enough is enough, Oslo is dead! It is time for more assertive action if we are to survive and the current IG is not up to the job and never will be. The Kadima party with whoever is at its head at the end of this month should be relegated to the back benches of the opposition and laid to rest.

The days of left wing liberalism and pseudo "peace movements" are over...it is time for a different tack.

UAV Fiasco

2008-09-06T14:17:00.005+03:00

by
Mike Packer

My friend David M. at the moment residing in sunny Florida, sent me an email in which he noted his concern over a DEBKAfile post of Sept.5 which reported of a raid by Russian Special Forces on two Georgian airfields which were, supposedly, being used by Israeli forces. Tibilisi has allowed Israel to use the airfields as bases for a potential strike against Iran and US intelligence sources have also reported that the Russians had captured some Israeli equipment and carried it home.

The bases were purported to have been used by Israel to fly UAV's over Russia and into Iran. If the equipment that the Russians captured included sensitive Israeli UAV technology then we can bet our bottom dollar that it will soon be in the hands of the Arab nations. This will cause irreparable security damage to Israel and the question that needs to be asked is "who issued permission for these UAV's to be based in such a high risk area?"

According to all the reports that came out of Georgia in the recent flareup the Israeli personnel in the area were from private security companies. This being the case then it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that those crews had their own well-being in the forefront of their thoughts and didn't care a fig for the sensitive equipment that they abandoned.

Of course, this is all speculation but I feel there is a grain of truth in it. I can also imagine who these Israeli "mercenaries" are. Like all mercenaries their only thought is for the money and to hell with the consequences, it reminds me of the then Belgian Congo in the sixties when mercenaries from all over the world gathered like vultures to pillage and plunder what was left during the civil war there. They were, on the whole, the dregs of humanity who had no love for human life and came out of darkest Africa with a fortune in their pockets and mayhem in their wake.

I sincerely hope that the personnel from Israeli security companies that operated in Georgia were of a different mettle, but I have my doubts. To get back to who was responsible they should be brought before a civil court in Israel and be prosecuted for leaking sensitive information to an enemy and as they were there with tacit permission of the Israeli Ministry of Defense then Ehud Barak should also answer for this fiasco.

Leadership is all about Responsibility

2008-08-30T15:54:00.007+03:00

By
Mike Packer

Israel’s Leadership, Olmert, Livni and Barak should be all indicted for dereliction of duty!

Eli Hertz ( http://www.mythsandfacts.com) in a newsletter of August 26, 2008, brings to task Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni over her handling of Resolution 1701:

“She insists that the outcome of the resolution is in Israel's favor, but anyone who reads the fine print can clearly see its futility.

Is it ignorance, or blatant lies?”

.

Her insistence has backfired on Israel in a way that threatens our existence. Hezbbollah has been rearming in total violation of 1701 and the UNIFIL commander Major General Caudio Graziano has refused to agree with the facts on the ground.

The Resolution was adopted under Chapter 6 of the UN charter and ‘lacks the legal authority or enforcement power whatsoever” according to Hertz which means that Livni, who is a lawyer, must have known that this was the case and should not have pressured for its adoption.

Hertz goes on to mention that:

Hesham Youssef, chief of the cabinet of the Arab League Secretary-General speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly simply stated: "The resolution is issued under Chapter 6 rather than Chapter 7 of the UN Charter ... [This] is a diplomatic achievement" of the Arab League. In other words, the Arab League welcomes the weakness of the resolution which lacks enforcement power to "ensure implementation" of Resolution 1701.

So, again, the lame duck government of Israel has played into the Arab hands. Livni’s claim that the cease fire was a success was just a way of throwing sand into the eyes of the Israeli population. This so-called “success” caused the death of 33 soldiers, many more wounded and did nothing to protect the citizens of the country, the prime objective of any government.

According to Hertz, Livni is quoted as saying:

"We wanted to ensure that this embargo would be enforceable and substantive, preventing the transfer of arms ... to Hizbollah. ... Now the embargo is part of the UN resolution and the terms and formulation of this article are acceptable to Israel and express our opinion - a proper embargo."

He then goes on to postulate that:

Resolution 1701 never even mentions the word embargo and does not set-forth an enforcement mechanism or any enforcement power. It seems as though the Minister did not read the resolution.

Livni said:

Israel "Will be getting UNIFIL with a completely different mandate, which includes the right, the option and the authority to use force when required."

But the facts are:

UNIFIL - a Paper Tiger - is not authorized to use armed force or to impose in any forceful manner the implementation of the recommendations of UN Resolution 1701. UNIFIL's right to use force is strictly limited to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Major-General Alain Pelligrini [France] then the Force Commander of UNIFIL made it clear: "The disarmament of Hezbollah is not the business of UNIFIL."

So, is this the action of a person who is in the position of responsibility? I think not and call for her indictment for gross negligence and dereliction of duty.

As for Barak and Olmert I would like to quote from DebkaFile (http://www.debka.com/):

DEBKAfile Special Report
August 27, 2008, 12:47 PM (GMT+02:00)
[……]The geography of the accident Tuesday, Aug. 26, belied the reiterated claims of Israeli ministers and UN officials that Hizballah’s rockets had been pushed back from the Lebanese-Israeli border, under the terms of the Resolution 1701 ceasefire which ended the 2006 Lebanon War.
Jamal Amin Salah, 51, a Hizballah operations executive, stood on the rooftop of a building at the Lebanese Yaroun village, less than half a kilometer from the Israeli border. He was discussing with his men how far inside Israeli territory the rockets installed at the launch pads in the village could reach, when he fell to his death.
DEBKAfile’s military sources confirm that, not only has Hizballah returned to its old positions on the Israeli border - contradicting statements by prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak - but the Iran-backed Shiite terrorists are working feverishly on the construction of a new line of fortified military positions, including rocket-launching pads, right on top of the Israeli border fence.
Neither Israeli Defense Forces nor UN peacekeepers have interfered with this barefaced violation of international agreements.
That is the reason that Olmert and Barak should go the way of Livni. Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility.
.

The Whores of Islam

2008-08-23T20:47:00.003+03:00

By
Mike Packer

David Bedein and Sam Harari published on August 15 in Philadelphia’s The Bulletin quotes from an interview given by Major General Claudio Graziano, commander of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the situation in Lebanon.

In true UN tradition the General blames Israel with regards to the implementation of UN resolution 1701. He is quoted as saying “Hezbollah is one of the parties that agree with 1701 and support 1701”. He, also denied allegations that Hezbollah has rearmed. The situation on the ground says the exact opposite. Israel intelligence has photographic proof that “The Party of God” has dug tunnels and underground storage facilities for the tons of arms and ammunition that they have smuggled through Syria into the area in flagrant violation of 1701.
.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzippi Livni, supported the UN resolution with the hope and trust that the UN would implement 1701. Guess what, no such luck! The UN has again proved itself to be as useless as teats on a boar hog and far more malodorous.

Another question posed to the General was what could UNIFIL do if it discovered evidence of rearming in S.Lebanon, Graziano replied, “UNIFIL has no commitment to the disarmament of Hezbollah. We are a peacekeeping force, not peace enforcement.”
Therein lies the crux of the matter.

It is time the UN disbanded itself as did the League of Nations after WWII because it could not “keep the peace”. The UN is not only not keeping the peace but is playing double standards vis-à-vis the Middle East conflict. This is, of course, not surprising as the Arab members of the UN have everybody by the short and curlies because of their oil glut.

And then there is the problem of the Italian contingent and at its head Major General Claudio Graziano. Since the fall of the Roman Empire the Italians have not been the best soldiers on the planet and were the butt of innumerable jokes.

To shed a little more light on the subject Nissan Ratzlav-Katz writing for IsraelNN.com quotes from Corriere della Sera that former Italian President Francesco Cossiga revealed that the government of Italy agreed to allow Arab terrorist groups freedom of movement in the country in exchange for immunity from attacks in Italy.

"The terms of the agreement were that the Palestinian organizations could even maintain armed bases of operation in the country, and they had freedom of entry and exit without being subject to normal police controls, because they were 'handled' by the secret services," Cossiga explained.

So, since WWII, the Italians have been the whores of Islam and they continue that tradition in Lebanon.
.

The Bill of [Blog] Rights

2008-08-23T10:18:00.003+03:00

by
Mike Packer

The pre-preamble to the Bill of [Blog] Rights:

This Bill is written in Americanese. Apologies to my family and friends in the United Kingdom and Europe. I have come to the conclusion that the UK and Europe is a lost cause, they no longer have the motivation to fight their own demise. I know that they fought a world war not so long ago and are tired of turmoil, so I forgive them. To my family and friends; you are all sweet people, I love you dearly but I question your choice of countries to live in.

The preamble:

I created this blog because I am mad. I am mad at the members of my generation that are sending this world to hell in a hand basket. We, of the baby boom, were left a world devastated by two world wars within a span of 30 years and improved it technologically.

All well and good, but not enough. We ignored the third world and improved only our own global neighborhoods although we did improve in the latter half of the last century, but, apparently, not enough. Payback time is here!

Here I wish to insert the first amendment:

1. Freedom of Speech.

The freedom to be able to say or write what I want on my blog site and to invite whoever I wish to post here without restraint.

I invite all my friends who have something to get off their chests about the Middle East crisis and the spread of Islamofacism to submit their posts by email for consideration and if they are clean enough I will post them on the blog site.

2. Freedom of Expression

The freedom to say what you feel without feeling guilty about whether you are treading on someones feelings. Political correctness is out!

Political correctness was invented by left wing liberals and was the worst invention of the 20th Century. I want to be able to say what is on my mind in the same plain language that I use with my friends without having to answer to any "Human Rights Commission".

So lets all wake up and start getting the word out. We do not want to be Muslims, dhimmis, or any other ferkakter (sic) Islamic label. This is our world, we improved our part of it let them with our hard earned petro-dollars improve their part. I don't want some sheet-head arriving in my country and telling me what to do, I say to them the same as the Australians (bless 'em) "if you don't like the way I live get the hell out!"
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2008-08-18T21:56:00.002+03:00

From The Times
August 12, 2008
A festival of grovelling to terrorists
If works of art are withdrawn because of fear of reprisal, we lose the chance for open debate
Mick Hume

[bold script in square parenthesis are my comments - MP]

Have you heard about the first novel by a young American woman that has become the “new Satanic Verses”, sparking terrorist attacks on the publishers and riots by Islamic militants that make the protests against Salman Rushdie's book look like an English tea party?
No, you probably won't have, since there is no book for anybody to riot about. The US publishers Random House pulled The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones, due out today, on the ground that it “might be offensive to some in the Muslim community” and “could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment”. An executive told the author that they had stopped her racy historical novel about Aisha, young wife of the Prophet Muhammad, out of “fear of a possible terrorist threat from extremist Muslims” and concern for “the safety and security of the Random House building and employees”.

[I'm sorry but I am starting to get pissed off! The true enemy out there is not only Islam but our own liberal thinking. This constant apologizing for imagined wrongs is just too wimpy for me. I will write what I want, when I want to, about whoever riles me and I will use any and all epithets in my arsenal, human rights commissions be damned!]

There had been no acts of violence or terrorism, nor even threats or protests. All that happened was that one non-Muslim associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas, who was sent a proof copy, apparently cautioned that the book would be seen as “a declaration of war... explosive stuff... a national security issue” and more offensive than The Satanic Verses. There swiftly followed a riot of retreating publishers, and the book was blown out before anybody had the chance to set light to it for the cameras.

It looks like another example of a quiet wave of self-censorship and cultural cowardice sweeping Western art circles. Two years ago, when the Deutsche opera in Berlin scrapped a production of Mozart's Idomeneo for fear that it might offend some Muslims, I described it as “pre-emptive grovelling”. This now appears to be the modus operandi of the transatlantic arts elites.
It has just been reported that the BBC has dropped a big-budget docu-drama, The London Bombers. A team of journalists had spent months researching it in Beeston, Leeds, home of some of the 7/7 terrorists, and a top writer was preparing the final draft, when it was scrapped. The journalists were reportedly told by BBC executives that it was Islamophobic and offensive.
Last year, the New Culture Forum published a survey of similar cases, from the BBC hospital soap Casualty changing Muslim terrorists into animal rights activists, to the Barbican cutting out scenes from Tamburlaine the Great and the “cutting-edge” Royal Court Theatre cancelling an adaptation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata, both for fear that they might offend some Muslims.
The threat to freedom here does not come from a few Islamic radicals, but from the invertebrate liberals of the cultural establishment who have so lost faith in themselves that they will surrender their freedoms before anybody starts a fight. The mere suggestion of causing offence to some mob of imagined stereotypes is enough to have them scurrying for a bomb shelter, their creative imaginations blowing up small protests into the threat of a big culture war. Of course, such pre-emptive grovelling only encourages any zealot with a blog to demand even more censorship.

[Europa, what ails thee? Where are the macho europeans that destroyed Nazi Germany? why are you kowtowing to a bunch of towel-headed, sheep shagging, camel jockeys? Where are your cojones? why isn't the average European Joe out in the streets waving some banners with a few good insults on them and claim back his country? Come on, people, Israel can't do it all by itself for you, we have our own problems]

Who needs book burners if “offensive” books are not allowed to be published in the first place? Why bother to protest against provocative plays if the theatres will turn the lights off for you beforehand? There is no need even for a polite exchange on Points of View if the controversial programmes never get made.

The quality or lack of it in the self-censored works is not the issue here. That associate professor from Texas condemned the novel about Muhammad's wife as “soft porn”. But so what if it was? Free expression should mean freedom for what others see as filth, too. If there are artists childishly causing offence for its own sake, feel free to ignore them, but not to gag them.
Pre-emptive grovelling, encouraged from the top down by our illiberal authorities, is bad for the arts and for society. The arts can only flourish in a climate of cultural anarchy rather than compulsion and conformity. The attempt to limit what can be said must have a chilling effect, encouraging other writers and artists to pull in their horns.

Such self-censorship is also dangerous for those who don't much care about high culture. There is indeed a lesson from the Satanic Verses controversy, but not the one often cited. The dominant response to that clash of cultures was to try to bury it beneath worthy multicultural claptrap about celebrating difference. After more than 15 years of such attempts to suppress honest debate, the tensions festering beneath the surface exploded on the London transport system. As one female Muslim writer critical of the decision not to publish The Jewel of Medina says: “The series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world.”

As an old libertarian of the Left, who has long upheld the Right to Be Offensive, what makes me most angry today is to see fearful self-censorship and pre-emptive grovelling in the name of liberal values. That really is something worth intellectually rioting about.
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2008-08-13T17:27:00.002+03:00

Olmert to PA: We'll quit West Bank when you retake Gaza

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

[comments in square parenthesis are mine - MP]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has presented Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with a proposal for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank to take place after Abbas' forces have retaken Gaza as part of an agreement in principle on borders, refugees and security arrangements between Israel and a future Palestinian state.

Olmert, who met with Abbas this week, feels there is time to reach an agreement during his remaining time in office. He is now awaiting a decision from the Palestinians.

[ surely he is jesting, how can a Prime Minister who is weeks from terminating his office make any lasting agreements when he doesn't have the backing of the Knesset or even everyone in his own party]

The centerpiece of Olmert's detailed proposal is the suggested permanent border, which would be based on an Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank. In return for the land retained by Israel in the West Bank, the Palestinians would receive alternative land in the Negev, adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians would also enjoy free passage between Gaza and the West Bank without any security checks, the proposal says. A senior Israeli official said the Palestinians were given preliminary maps of the proposed borders.

[Ehud Barak was forced out of office for doing almost the same thing. If there are going to be early elections in Israel Barak has a chance of winning and we would be back where we were at Camp David. We need to find someone who is willing to announce that we are not interested in a two-state solution]

. Under Olmert's offer, Israel would keep 7 percent of the West Bank, while the Palestinians would receive territory equivalent to 5.5 percent of West Bank. Israel views the passage between Gaza and the West Bank as compensating for this difference: Though it would officially remain in Israeli hands, it would connect the two halves of the Palestinian state - a connection the Palestinians did not enjoy before 1967, when the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian control and the West Bank was part of Jordan.

The land to be annexed to Israel would include the large settlement blocs, and the border would be similar to the present route of the separation fence. Israel would keep Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, the settlements surrounding Jerusalem and some land in the northern West Bank adjacent to Israel.

Since Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently approved more construction in both Efrat and Ariel, two settlements relatively far from the 1949 armistice lines, it is reasonable to assume that Olmert wants to include these settlements in the territory annexed to Israel as well.

Olmert's proposal states that once a border is agreed upon, Israel would be able to build freely in the settlement blocs to be annexed.

The settlements outside the new border would be evacuated in two stages. First, after the agreement in principle is signed, the cabinet would initiate legislation to compensate settlers who voluntarily relocate within Israel or to settlement blocs slated to be annexed. Over the past few months, Olmert has approved construction of thousands of housing units in these settlement blocs, mostly around Jerusalem, and some are intended for the voluntary evacuees.

In the second stage, once the Palestinians complete a series of internal reforms and are capable of carrying out the entire agreement, Israel would remove any settlers remaining east of the new border.

Olmert will to try to sell the deal to the Israeli public based on a staged program of implementation. The present negotiations, which started with the Annapolis Summit in November 2007, are intended to reach a "shelf agreement" that would lay the foundations of a Palestinian state. However, implementation of the shelf agreement would be postponed until the Palestinian Authority is capable of carrying out its part of the deal.

Olmert's proposal for a land swap introduces a new stage in the arrangement: Israel would immediately receive the settlement blocs, but the land to be transferred to the Palestinians and the free passage between Gaza and the West Bank would only be delivered after the PA retakes control of the Gaza Strip. In this way, Olmert could tell the Israeli public that Israel is receiving 7 percent of the West Bank and an agreed-upon border, while the Israeli concessions will be postponed until Hamas rule in Gaza has ended.

Abbas, for his part, could tell his people that he has succeeded in obtaining 98 percent of the West Bank from Israel, along with a promise to remove all settlers over the border.

The Palestinians' proposal had talked about a much smaller land swap, of about 2 percent of the West Bank.

Compared to previous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Olmert proposal falls between the one then prime minister Barak presented to Yasser Arafat at Camp David in July 2000 and the one he offered at Taba in January 2001. The Palestinian proposal is similar to the ones offered during the Arafat years, which would have allowed Israel to annex only a few settlements, along with their access roads - a proposal nicknamed "balloons and strings." All these Palestinian proposals ruled out allowing Israel to retain the settlement blocs.

Since then, however, the separation fence has been built in the West Bank, and a new physical reality has been created in the areas where the fence has been completed.

Israel also presented the Palestinians with a detailed model of new security arrangements under the proposed agreement. The security proposal was drawn up by a team headed by Maj. Gen. Ido Nehoshtan, now commander of the Israel Air Force, but previously head of the army's Plans and Policy Directorate. The proposal has also been passed on to the Americans, in an effort to obtain their support for Israel's position during the negotiations.

The security proposal includes a demand that the Palestinian state be demilitarized and without an army. The Palestinians, in contrast, are demanding that their security forces be capable of defending against "outside threats," an Israeli official said.

On the refugee issue, Olmert's proposal rejects a Palestinian "right of return" and states that the refugees may only return to the Palestinian state, other than exceptional cases in which refugees would be allowed into Israel for family reunification. Nevertheless, the proposal includes a detailed and complex formula for solving the refugee problem.

Olmert has agreed with Abbas that the negotiations over Jerusalem will be postponed. In doing so, he gave in to the Shas Party's threats that it would leave the coalition if Jerusalem were put on the negotiating table.

[Here I agree with Shas....Jerusalem is taboo, no negotiation, period.]

Olmert views reaching an agreement with the Palestinians as extremely important. Such an agreement would entrench the two-state solution in the international community's consciousness, along with a detailed framework for achieving this solution. In Olmert's opinion, this is the only way Israel can rebuff challenges to its legitimacy and avoid calls for a "one-state solution." Such an agreement would show that Israel is not interested in controlling the territories, or the Palestinians, over the long run, but only until conditions arise that enable the establishment of a Palestinian state. This position has received strong support from the present U.S. administration.

Next week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region to continue her efforts to advance the negotiations. However, Olmert opposes her proposal to publish a joint U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli announcement detailing progress in the negotiations since Annapolis. Olmert objects to publishing partial positions; he only wants to announce a complete agreement - if one can be reached.

[Here is Olmerts big chance if he wants to redeem himself in Israeli eyes, tell SecState to butt out! We have had enough of American meddling in our internal affairs, the price is just too steep. Let Condi leave with Bush and let Israel open a new page vi-a-vis our relationship with the new American administration, be it what it may.].

2008-08-11T18:38:00.002+03:00

Magazine publisher Levant wins Danish cartoon dispute

Joseph Brean, National Post
Published: Wednesday, August 06, 2008

After a year-long investigation, the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission has rejected a complaint by the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant over his republication of the Danish Muhammad cartoons.

The allegation that the February 14, 2006, issue of the now defunct magazine was likely to expose Muslims to hatred helped to spark a national debate about human rights law and free speech, and its rejection comes after similar complaints of Islamophobia against Maclean's magazine also failed.

. In a report on his investigation, which recommended the complaint not be referred for a panel hearing, AHRCC Southern Director Pardeep S. Gundara wrote that the cartoons are "stereotypical, negative and offensive," and they "do reinforce stereotypes," but they were "related to relevant and timely news" and were "not simply gratuitously included."

Yasmeen Nizam, a civil litigation lawyer in Edmonton and an ECMC director, said the Council is "certainly disappointed with the decision."

"Our whole idea was to educate people," she said. "We thought the cartoons did [expose Muslims to hatred], regardless of the context, because if you look at the broader context in a post-9/11 world, Muslims are at a higher risk of being discriminated against."

She said the Council decided to bring a human rights complaint because, unlike criminal hate speech prosecutions, the publisher's intent does not matter.

"We weren't shopping around for any laws. We thought this was a good way to bring our concerns to the attention of the public," she said. "Obviously we didn't want this to continue, so [another goal was] perhaps to discourage people from further maligning our prophet and our religion... We wanted this to have a deterrent effect."

She said she is unsure whether it actually has. What is certain is that this complaint, and others like it, have roused a broad contingent of free speech advocates to whom the bombastic Mr. Levant is a champion.

"I basically told them to f-off without using the swear word," Mr. Levant said of his response to the complaint, given during an interview with an AHRCC officer that he taped and broadcast on YouTube.

He said the complaint failed because he is "too big a fish for them to reel in."

"I was let go because I'm in the media every day. I've been down to [the U.S.] Congress to testify, I've been on CNN even. That's why I was let go, because if I caused them this much pain just in an investigation, imagine what the trial would be like," he said.

He does not consider this a victory, though.

"This censor approved what I wrote," he said. "His decision is not that I have freedom of speech. His decision is that I have his approval. I'm not interested in his approval. The only test of free speech is if I can write what he disapproves of with impunity. That's what freedom of speech is, to piss off some second-rate bureaucrat like Pardeep Gundara and know that you have the right to do so, because you're in Canada, not Saudi Arabia."

This complaint originally involved two other parties. A respondent, the Jewish Free Press, was dropped after the editor agreed in mediation to print a rebuttal. And an original complainant, Syed Soharwardy, national president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, dropped out after he had a change of heart.

Now that it is resolved, Mr. Soharwardy thinks the AHRCC made the right decision, even though Mr. Levant "twisted this whole thing" to turn himself into a victim.

"I never wanted someone's freedom of speech curtailed. I always wanted to sit down, with some third party, for mediation, and have a discussion," he said. "I withdrew my complaint because I was adding fire to the debate."

He also came to regard the entire human rights complaints process with suspicion.

"It was a very amateur operation," he said, run by untrained people, which resulted in a "complete misunderstanding" of his goals.

"When I went through this whole process and I saw it very closely, I realized there was some serious loopholes in the processes," he said.

National Post

jbrean@nationalpost.com

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We Have To Change Tactics

2008-08-10T22:21:00.001+03:00

by
Mike Packer

I used to be a left wing liberal, but no more!

I arrived in Israel on aliyah in historical times, 2 months before Anwar Sadat made his speech from the Knesset podium. At the time I was of a mind that here, at last, was our big chance for “peace”, first Egypt then the rest of the arab world.

Needless to say the arab world certainly didn’t kill themselves in the rush to follow Sadat, they killed Sadat.

This didn’t deter me from my liberal ideology although I did have a “right wing twinge” when the US forced us to let Yasser Arafat leave Beirut. I would have gladly cheered if the ship had been torpedoed on the high seas.
. I also had high hopes for the Madrid conference and was angry at PM Shamir’s attitude.

I was all gung ho over the Oslo accords albeit a little disappointed when the “palestinians” repeatedly reneged on agreements that they signed, agreements that the Israeli authorities deemed necessary for a lasting “peace”.

I was pleased with the decision of the Israeli government to disengage unilaterally from Gaza…. that is until the first Kassam rocket landed on Israeli soil.

I have now seen the light!

I say now, NO MORE!

Enough is enough, I no longer wish to search for “peace”. Let the arabs search for peace

Today I sit in my living room watching the TV coverage of the prisoner swap between us and Hezbollah and I am thinking to myself that the time has come for us to change our tactics vis a vis the arab world. We are in a direct war with two entities maybe three, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority through their Fatah Al Aqsa faction. Let us not fool ourselves, these three entities are embroiled in a struggle to relieve the world of its Jewish presence and we are involved whether we like it or not.

Israel has always played by the rules no matter what left wingers say to the contrary. We extended our hand in peace to all our neighbors on the birth of our nation and we are still seeking someone to shake it with. We have adopted the Geneva Convention accords, yet our enemies haven’t, we abide by international law apart from when it applies to us and our enemies twist it to suit themselves, we have fought all our wars according to the international rules of warfare, yet our enemies didn’t.

I say again, NO MORE!

Israel should demand reciprocity, visitation rights for visitation rights, information for information, live prisoners for live prisoners, dead for dead.…I would have liked nothing better than to send Samir Kuntar back in the same condition we got our soldiers.

The same goes for the rules of war the essence of which was mutuality. A state can’t violate them and expect its enemy to follow them. So much more so when the non-state is not a signatory to them, they are afforded no protection by them. Israel is MY COUNTRY I have the right and the duty to defend it with all the power at my disposal and I will do it without my gloves on, not according to the rules of warfare, the Marquis of Queensbury’s rules or any other obstacle that the international community wishes to put in my way….enough is enough.

When I came to Israel there was always the optimistic attitude of “my son/daughter will not have to serve in the army because the wars will be over”, well, this hasn’t come true and now I am saying the same thing about my grandchildren. This time I don’t want it to be an empty promise. I want the Israeli government to pluck up the courage to say that international pressure will no longer work that we have to do the job properly and if that means “collateral damage” then so be it!

That damage at the moment is, more or less, one-sided as I don’t see a much belated IDF response to the physical insults rained upon us by Hamas. Hezbollah or the Al-Aqsa brigade.

Israel is MY country and must act as it deems fit and not how the international community deems. I don’t advise any country in Europe how to run their business nor do I pressure the US to return Texas to Mexico. So who are they to tell us what to do? According to the decision of the League of Nations as pertaining to “Palestine” and which was passed unanimously by the 51 member states and which was later adopted, verbatim, by the United Nations, Israel IS the homeland of the Jewish people. The Jewish people will decide what is good or not for themselves by themselves.

I would like to conclude with a quote from the Congressional Record of the US House of Representatives which on June 30 1922 endorsed a joint resolution of both Houses of Congress:
“Favoring the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people…..”
from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea.
President Warren G.Harding signed the resolution of approval on September 21, 1922.
Amongst the speakers on this resolution was Representative Walter M.Chandler of New York who set out three rules for the establishment of the National Homeland and they are:
(1) That the Arabs shall be permitted to remain in Palestine under Jewish government and domination, and with their civil and religious rights guaranteed to them through the British mandate and under terms of the Balfour declaration.
(2) That if they will not consent to Jewish government and domination, they shall be required to sell their lands at a just valuation and retire into the Arab territory which has been assigned to them by the League of Nations in the general reconstruction of the countries of the east.
(3) That if they will not consent to Jewish government and domination, under conditions of right and justice, or to sell their lands at a just valuation and to retire into their own countries, they shall be driven from Palestine by force.
I, personally, totally agree with him and as this proposal was later ratified by three more presidents, it seems that they did too.
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'Popular Palestinian Conference' Peddles Propaganda

2008-08-10T19:02:00.000+03:00

by Cinnamon Stillwell
FrontPageMagazine.com
August 8, 2008
http://www.meforum.org/article/1969

This weekend, the "Popular Palestinian Conference 2008" will be held in Chicago, and if past is prologue, a slew of anti-Israel propaganda will be part of the repertoire. The organizers make no effort to conceal their nefarious intentions, titling one of the workshops [emphasis added], "Inserting Palestine into High School Curricula in the US & Empowering Students to Challenge Dominant Narratives" and subtitling the conference, "Palestinians in the US: Reclaiming Our Voice, Asserting Our Narrative." Unfortunately, this "narrative" is a false one in which Israel is the oppressor, the Palestinians its perpetual victims, and the United States an accomplice in crime.
Various Middle East studies academics will be on hand to help propagate this fictitious narrative. UC Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian, a skilled propagandist for Palestinian victimhood in the classroom and a radical activist outside it (he called for an "Intifada in this country!" at a 2004 anti-war rally in San Francisco), will be speaking on a panel titled, "Palestinian Political Prisoners in the US: The Attack on Palestinian Activists and Scholars." Bazian has long perpetuated the idea that off-campus criticism of Middle East studies is a form of persecution. To state the obvious: there are no "Palestinian political prisoners" in the U.S., only criminals convicted through the justice system of aiding and abetting terrorist organizations.
One of them, former University of South Florida computer science professor Sami Al-Arian, who pled guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide goods and services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and who awaits an August 13 trial for criminal contempt, will be represented on the panel by his daughter, Laila Al-Arian. Al-Arian has enjoyed unstinting support from the Middle East studies establishment, particularly founding director of Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, John Esposito. Unmoved by the murder of innocent civilians by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Esposito penned a letter last month to the presiding judge urging that Al-Arian be granted bond and describing him as "a man of conscience with a strong commitment to peace and social justice." Al-Arian's radicalism is nothing new: at a 1991 commemoration of the Palestinian Intifada featuring Islamic Jihad spiritual leader Abdel-Aziz Odeh, he called Jews "apes and pigs."
Wayne State University anthropologist Thomas Abowd will moderate the "political prisoners" panel. This is fitting, for Abowd fashions himself the victim of what his supporters call "right-wing Zionist elements on campus." But Abowd is hardly impartial. He is affiliated with the radical group Anti-Racist Action (ARA-WSU), whose members have accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and pro-Israel groups at Wayne State of practicing "white supremacist politics," along with defending the use of a swastika to equate Israel with Nazi Germany at one of their rallies.
Abowd spoke at "Palestine Awareness Week," an anti-Israel event at the University of Michigan in February 2008. Several students who attended Abowd's lecture described in a Michigan Daily op-ed his hostile and dismissive attitude towards a student who dared ask a challenging question. Abowd, as they put it, "smirked and glared" and "used scare tactics to intimidate and to alienate the student and to negate the importance of his question."
The conference ends with the panel, "One-State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict." The so-called one state solution is really just a fig-leaf for the destruction of Israel. There's no evidence that the Palestinian political leadership has any inclination towards the sort of multi-religious, multi-ethnic democratic nation envisioned by "one-state solution" proponents. The pathological hatred towards Jews, persecution of Christians, advocacy of Sharia law, indoctrination of children, and violence among rival Palestinian clans and terrorist groups all demonstrate the danger to Israel that lies down this path.
Yet some scholars advocate the "one-state solution" in spite of these glaring obstacles. Jennifer Loewenstein, associate director of the Middle East studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be one of the conference panelists doing just that. In a March 2008 article for the rabidly anti-Israel, far-left publication Counterpunch with the ridiculous title, "Gazan Holocaust," Loewenstein asserts that "Israel and its U.S. Master have long since resided in the lowest circle of Hell for betraying the name of humanity." No word from Loewenstein on the betrayals of humanity by the Palestinians, both towards Israelis and each other.
Another panelist, Tomis Kapitan, chair and professor in the Department of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University, displays a similar blind spot. In a 2004 paper on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Kapitan waxes philosophically about the "reciprocal" nature of Arab terrorism, calls the suggestion that "cultural or religious beliefs" motivate suicide bombings "incredible," and concludes that "the maximalists in charge of Israeli policy and their supporters in the United States and elsewhere, are chiefly to blame for the ongoing cycle of violence."
Panelist Seif Da'Na, professor of sociology and international studies at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, takes a Marxist, populist approach. In a 2001 Media Monitors Network article, Da'Na calls for a "Palestinian liberation strategy" and urges activists to view the "Palestinian struggle against Israel…in the larger context of the struggle to bring human dignity and social justice to the world." Surely "human dignity" and "social justice" would first need to be established within before serving as some sort of shining beacon to the world, but Da'Na overlooks this minor matter.
So too do conference organizers, who, as part of pushing their "narrative," bemoan the 60th anniversary of "al Nakba," the Arabic word for "catastrophe" used to describe the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948. But the "60 Years of Catastrophe" trumpeted at the conference website would more appropriately be placed upon the heads of Palestinian and regional Arab leadership. They have perpetuated a constant state of victimhood and refugee status while fomenting chaos and violence. Palestinians are the second largest per capita recipients of foreign aid in the world, yet precious few resources have been dedicated to the building of a functioning civil society. In fact, rising levels of violence can be directly correlated to rising levels of aid. The current civil war between Fatah and Hamas and the resultant human rights abuses are just the latest examples.
If the Palestinians in the U.S. that conference organizers profess to represent, and Middle East studies academics sympathetic to their cause, truly wanted to effect a just resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, they would start looking within for answers. Instead, such conferences simply peddle propaganda intended to demonize Israel. Those seeking the truth would do well to steer clear.

Cinnamon Stillwell is the Northern California Representative for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. She can be reached at stillwell@meforum.org.

A Shared Experience

2008-08-09T20:13:00.004+03:00

I want to share with you an experience I had the other day:

I was invited to a lecture in the Jerusalem area on a settlement called Tekoa which is near the Ezion Block south of Jerusalem.

The lecture was by a very interesting man called Eli Herz who's credentials include being a member of the executive council of AIPAC; Chairman of the Board of Directors of CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America; a Trustee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the recipient of ZOA's Justice Louis D.Brandeis Award for 2005.

Apart from this he is somewhat of an expert on International Law as regards to the Mandate for Palestine and it was on this subject that he lectured the other evening. It was a lecture that kept me glued to my seat (no mean feat for a student like myself) and certainly gained me knowledge that I was missing.

It also caused me to ask the question 'how come this isn't plain knowledge to all Jews, Zionists and lovers of Israel? Why has this not been used by our 'propaganda' people and milked for all its worth?'.

Eli, Ted Belman (editor of http://www.israpundit.com/ ) and I spent 2 hours over dinner after the lecture and I found both these men down to earth, charming, humorous and totally committed to the preservation of 'Palestine as a homeland for the Jews'.

It was not by chance that the settlement of Tekoa was chosen as this is one of those settlements that everyone deems 'illegal', it is in the hills of Judea surrounded by arab villages and is an 'in your face' settlement. Its a beautiful place and when I arrived the ring of happy childrens laughter wafted through the air and as I got out of my car and elderly couple walking by smiled and welcomed me profusely....I felt right at home.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, adding below a joint declaration from both houses of Congress from 1922 as a preamble to a link that I am also attaching to a website where you can download a booklet by Eli Herz called 'This land is my land' and is the topic of the lecture he gave us. I implore you all to read it and to pass it on to all your friends (influential or otherwise) so that it will receive the widest possible audience.

If everyone knew this I am sure that things would have been different.

the link to download the pamphlet or to read it online is: http://www.mythsandfacts.com/conflict.asp look through the site until you find 'This Land Is My Land - the Mandate for Palestine' you can then download by clicking on one of the 'commentary' links....you can choose from a number of formats pdf, html or powerpoint.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
1922 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE
JUNE 30, 1922
HOUSE RESOLUTION 360
(Rept. NO. 1172)

Here is how members of congress expressed their support for the creation of a National Home for the Jewish people in Palestine - Eretz-Israel (Selective text read from the floor of the U.S. Congress by the Congressman from New York on June 30, 1922). From Myths and Facts:
On June 30, 1922, a joint resolution of both Houses of Congress of the United States unanimously endorsed the 'Mandate for Palestine,' confirming the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine—anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea:

'Favoring the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.

'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which should prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the holy places and religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected.' [italics in the original]
On September 21, 1922, the then President Warren G. Harding signed the joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish National Home in Palestine.

Representative Walter M. Chandler from New York - I want to make at this time, Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House, my attitude and views upon the Arab question in Palestine very clear and emphatic. I am in favor of carrying out one of the three following policies, to be preferred in the order in which they are named:

(1) That the Arabs shall be permitted to remain in Palestine under Jewish government and domination, and with their civil and religious rights guaranteed to them through the British mandate and under terms of the Balfour declaration.

(2) That if they will not consent to Jewish government and domination, they shall be required to sell their lands at a just valuation and retire into the Arab territory which has been assigned to them by the League of Nations in the general reconstruction of the countries of the east.

(3) That if they will not consent to Jewish government and domination, under conditions of right and justice, or to sell their lands at a just valuation and to retire into their own countries, they shall be driven from Palestine by force.

'Mr. Speaker, I wish to discuss briefly each of these alternatives in order. And first let me read the now celebrated Balfour declaration of date of November 2, 1917, during the progress of the Great War, and afterwards incorporated in the preamble of the British mandate authorized by the League of Nations. The Balfour declaration was in the following language:
His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by the Jews in any other country.
'If this is not a condensed and at the same time a complete bill of rights both for the Arabs of Palestine and for the Jews who intend to remain in their present homelands outside of Palestine, I have never read or seen one. It is conceded by the Arabs themselves that the present government of the country under the British mandate and through the Zionist organization as an administrative agency is infinitely better than the government of the Turks who were chased out of the country by Allenby, the British general. It is probably better than any that the Arabs could create and maintain for themselves.
'I respectfully submit that the Arabs in Palestine should be and would be happy and content under the present government of that country if it were not for Turkish and Arab agitators, who travel around over the land stirring up trouble by making false representations concerning the true character of the Zionist movement, and by preaching a kind of holy war against the immigrant Jews who arrive from day to day. The Arabs are well represented in the personnel of the present Palestine administration, which has recognized their language as one of the official languages of the country, and has given official standing to the Moslem religion.
'In the second place, if the Arabs do not wish to remain in Palestine under Jewish government and domination there is plenty of room outside in purely Arab surroundings. The British Government and her allies made overtures and gave pledges to the Arab people to furnish them lands and protect their freedom in consideration of Arab alliance with the Allies during the World War. That pledge has been kept. The Hedjaz kingdom was established in ancient Arabia, and Hussein, Grand Sheriff of Mecca, was made king and freed from all Turkish influence. The son of King Hussein, Prince Feisal, is now the head of the kingdom of Mesopotamia [Iraq], and Arab predominance in that country has been assured by the Allies to the Arab people.
'Mesopotamia is alone capable of absorbing 30,000,000 people, according to a report submitted to the British Government by the Great English engineer, Sir William Wilcocks. Arab rights are also fully recognized and protected by the French mandate over Syria. There are also several flourishing Arabic cultural and political colonies in Egypt. In short, the Arab-speaking populations of Asia and Africa number about 38,000,000 souls and occupy approximately 2,375,000 square miles, many times larger than the territory of Great Britain. In other words under the reconstruction of the map of the east, the Arabs have been given practical control of Greater Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and parts of Egypt, which gives them an average of 38 acres per person. If the Arabs are compelled to leave Palestine and turn it over entirely to the Jews, it is admitted that the Arab race would still be one of the wealthiest landowning races on the earth. Therefore, I contend that if they will not consent to live peaceably with the Jews, they should be made to sell their lands and retire to places reserved for them somewhere in Arabia [Saudi], Syria, Mesopotamia, or Egypt, that suit them best, and where they can worship Allah, Mahomet [Muhammad], and the Koran to their heart's content. After all is said, the fact remains that the Arabs have more lands than they need, and the Jews have none. I am in favor of a readjustment under the Balfour declaration, without too great regard to nice distinctions in the matter of the question of self-determination. This thought brings me to my third proposal heretofore mentioned, that the Arabs should be driven out of Palestine by the British and Jews, or by somebody else, if they will not listen to the voice of reason and of justice.
'I shall probably be told that, regardless of the question of land and property rights, the Arabs have an interest in the holy places around Jerusalem. Admitting that their claims in this regard are just, there should be no trouble along this line. There is no reason to believe that Jews and Christians would deny them access to the holy places in the pilgrimages that they might desire to make from their Arab countries. But if the rights of the Jews to their ancient homeland are to be made dependent, as a final question, upon Moslem interests in the holy places around Jerusalem, I am willing and prepared to repudiate these rights entirely and to shut the Arabs out altogether.'

What Has Changed?

2008-08-09T19:47:00.002+03:00

July 24 is an auspicious date for us Jews.

On July 24, 1922 the League of Nations published the "Mandate for Palestine" which declared:

"Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."

The League of Nations published a number of Mandates after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. France was awarded the mandates for Syria and Lebanon and Britain for Palestine, Iraq and Trans-Jordan.

Now, picture in your minds eye, a group of French and British dim-witted bureaucrats poring over maps of the Middle East with their sleeve garters, high winged collars and handfuls of red pencils arbitrarily drawing demarcation lines with total disregard for demography, geography or foresight.

Their idiotic flourishes of pencil strokes caused catastrophic consequences.

I won't go into the Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, Kurdish or Armenian problems in this essay, they all speak for themselves.

The termination of the League of Nations occurred in April, 1946 after the League "failed to secure the peace" and the United Nations came into force on October 24, 1945 and article 80 of the UN Charter implicitly recognizes the "Mandate for Palestine" of the League of Nations.

In 1947 the UN tabled a general Council resolution #181 recommending the Partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish the other Arab. The Jews in their desire for a state of any kind accepted the recommendation but the Arabs rejected it, resolution 181, therefore, lost its validity and the partition plan lost its relevance. In saying this it is to be understood that the State of Israel extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea as legitimized by the League of Nations and adopted by the United Nations and thus accorded legitimacy in the International Court of Justice.

Prior to the declaration of the State of Israel the British government as trustee of the Mandate made some calculated errors over the jurisdiction of certain areas in Palestine to the detriment of the Jewish Yishuv in complete disregard of their mandate. This left the fledgling state in poor strategic position on the eve of independence. When Independence was declared the neighboring Arab states declared war and invaded Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in violation of article 2 of the UN charter of which they were signatories. Jordan captured the west bank of the Jordan River, Egypt captured Gaza.

We survived.

Jordan went on to illegally annex the "West Bank" with total impunity and which never received international recognition.

In 1967 Israel, in a defensive war, recaptured the west bank and Gaza but never followed-on with annexation preferring, I believe, the misconception of holding on to these territories as an "ace in the hole" for future negotiations.

Since that day the UN and the international community have been pressuring Israel to relinquish its hold on these territories and to help create a "Palestinian" state that was totally rejected by the Arabs back in '47. This pressure is unjust and the UN and the international community should be resisted with all the power under our control.

Since the 1967 war up until the formation of the Palestinian Authority the plight of the Arabs in the territories recaptured by Israel improved. As Prof. Efraim Karsh of King's College, University of London, wrote in a devastating 2002 essay for Commentary Magazine:
"At the inception of the [Israeli] occupation [of Gaza and West Bank], conditions in the territories were quite dire. Life expectancy was low; malnutrition, infectious diseases, and child mortality were rife; and the level of education was very poor. Prior to the 1967 war, fewer than 60 percent of all male adults had been employed, with unemployment among refugees running as high as 83 percent. Within a brief period after the war, Israeli occupation had led to dramatic improvements in general well-being, placing the population of the territories ahead of most of their Arab neighbours ... During the 1970's, the West Bank and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world -- ahead of such "wonders" as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea, and substantially ahead of Israel itself. Although GNP per capita grew some what more slowly, the rate was still high by inter national standards, with per-capita GNP expanding tenfold between 1968 and 1991 from $ 165 to $1,715 (compared with Jordan's $1,050, Egypt's $600, Turkey's $1,630, and Tunisia's $1,440). By 1999, Palestinian per-capita income was nearly double Syria's, more than four times Yemen's, and 10 percent higher than Jordan's (one of the better off Arab states). Only the oil-rich Gulf states and Lebanon were more affluent. Under Israeli rule, the Palestinians also made vast progress in social welfare. Perhaps most significantly, mortality rates in the West Bank and Gaza fell by more than two-thirds between 1970 and 1990, while life expectancy rose from 48 years in 1967 to 72 in 2000 (compared with an average of 68 years for all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa). Israeli medical programs reduced the infant-mortality rate of 60 per 1,000 live births in 1968 to 15 per 1,000 in 2000 (in Iraq the rate is 64, in Egypt 40, in Jordan 23, in Syria 22) … Even more dramatic was the progress in higher education. At the time of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, not a single university existed in these territories. By the early 1990's, there were seven such institutions, boasting some 16,500 students. Illiteracy rates dropped to 14 percent of adults over age 15, compared with 69 per cent in Morocco, 61 percent in Egypt, 45 percent in Tunisia, and 44 percent in Syria."

This is a positive testimonial to Israel’s treatment of the Arab population of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza strip in contrary to the claims of many Human Rights associations that claim Israel has oppressed the indigenous population.

With the advent of the Palestinian Authority the situation has backslid into abject poverty and suffering of the population due directly to inept government and the insistence of the PA to pursue a policy of violence and to strive for the destruction of Israel. The International community has taken Israel to task for the situation and has placed the blame totally on Israel’s shoulders. This is completely immoral and totally unjust and must be rejected out of hand.

We, as Jews must pursue a line of education primarily amongst ourselves as I find that there are too many of our people who are not familiar with all that I have written here so far and are siding with those of our adversaries who seek to put the onus on us.

The International Court of Justice, the primary judicial organ of the United Nations, has recognized Israel’s claim to the west bank as pertaining to the “Mandate of Palestine” and considers settlements in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza strip as being legal.

We must, therefore, ask the question posed by Eli Hertz in a recent newsletter:

In 1922 Jewish settlements were perfectly legal - What has changed?

What has changed, indeed? The only change is that the “Palestinians” have waged a propaganda war against us over the last 2 decades and are winning! We must fight back! There is a group of people who are trying to get together a TV network to do just that. I wish them the best of luck and offer my help in anyway I can and appeal to all of us to do the same.