WarSclerotic

Message to hypocritical world – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Israel will be left tiny and defenseless if it continues to try to appease international community

Shoula Romano

Recent anti-Israeli UN resolutions and condemnations remind us again that the world has not changed and still prefers the Jews to be persecuted, victimized, helpless and defenseless. The Israeli people must send a clear message back to the world that they prefer their survival as a strong and powerful Jewish state over any morally bankrupt approval or sympathy.

The Israelis must reject any world pressure to resume negotiations with the allegedly “moderate” Abbas for the establishment of another Hamastan in the West Bank in order to be embraced at last by the anti- Semitic international community.

We all remember how Sharon, Olmert, Livni and Barak used the same wishful thinking to convince the Israelis to unilaterally pull out of Gaza in 2005. They claimed that by withdrawing from Gaza, Israel would improve its international standing by ending the so-called occupation and gain international legitimacy to defend itself.

But in late 2008, when Israel finally tried to defend itself and put a stop to thousands of rocket attacks from Gaza with a limited ground invasion, during Operation Cast Lead, it was met with broad unprecedented international condemnation, including the UN’s Goldstone Report accusing Israel of possible “war crimes against humanity,” which was used to orchestrate a campaign to de-legitimize Israel.

In 2012, even though Hamas continually fired rockets into Israel, the world was silent. When Israel responded with its “Pillar of Defense” operation in November 2012, the Europeans and the UN rushed to broker a ceasefire and to repeatedly stress that a ground invasion would lose Israel a lot of international sympathy.

However, only one week after Israel agreed to a ceasefire and the world having just witnessed the Palestinians response to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza – in which 11,000 missiles have been fired at Israel since 2005 – the UN voted for the establishment of a terrorist Palestinian entity in the West Bank, east Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza. The UN General Assembly voted 138 to nine with 41 abstentions for the establishment of a “non- member” state of Palestine. The only countries who voted with Israel were the US, Canada, Czech Republic, Panama and several obscure Pacific island nations.

Not one righteous nation was found in Western Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America to sympathize with Israel. Many of those law abiding democracies, which supported the unilateral step taken by the Palestinians at the UN, in violation of the Oslo Accords and other interim agreements that they were parties to, chose to condemn Israel’s plan to build 3000 new homes in the West Bank in response to the vote. France, Britain, Spain, Sweden and Denmark not only condemned the plan as “contrary to peace making and dialogue” but summoned the Israeli ambassadors to be scolded. The French president dared even to threaten “we don’t want to shift into sanctions mode.”

Sadly, the Opposition parties in Israel joined the world’s condemnations and were not outraged by their hypocrisy. Tzipi Livni, stated “the decision to build isolates Israel and invites international pressure” and “a leader must bring the world closer to us but Netanyahu is distancing the world.” Knesset Member Ben-Eliezer stated: “The world is losing its patience with Netanyahu’s irresponsible policy.”

On December 3, the UN General Assembly approved by a vote 174 to six, with six abstentions, a resolution calling on Israel to open its nuclear facilities for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those voting with Israel included the US, Canada and Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Western European countries voted with Iran and Syria to single out the only true democracy in the Middle East on the same day it was discovered that Syria had loaded nerve gas into aerial bombs which are intended to be dropped on their own people.

Israel cannot try anymore to appease the world. If we do, Israel will be left tiny and defenseless and on the edge of historical extinction. Accommodating the world by agreeing to the establishment of another Iranian base east of Tel Aviv is not in the best interests of Israel.

Shoula Romano Horing is an attorney. Her blog: http://www.shoularomanohoring.com

US denies holding backchannel talks with Hamas | The Times of Israel.

( So busy dealing with Western weasels, I hope that Israel has the enemies that are currently directly threatening us in our sites. –  JW )

State Department urges Israel to reconsider withholding PA tax revenues; Ashton reportedly ‘shocked’ by Liberman statement comparing Europe’s stance on Mashaal speech to Holocaust era inaction

US State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland (photo credit: State Department photo/Public Domain)

US State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland denied on Wednesday that the US is secretly holding talks with Hamas.

“There have been some bizarre claims out there that Hamas has a back channel to the US Government or that the US Government is dealing with ex-officials to have some kind of a back channel to Hamas. I want to say here that these assertions are completely untrue. There is no such back channel. And our position on Hamas has not changed,” said Nuland in a press briefing.

Nuland added that “recent remarks by Hamas leaders during Khaled Mashaal’s visit to Gaza reinforce the fact that Hamas is not a partner for peace. And unless Hamas unambiguously accepts the Quartet principles for peace, it cannot be a partner in any negotiations.”

Nuland was referring to a speech Mashaal, Hamas’s political leader, gave in Gaza Saturday, at a ceremony marking the terror organization’s 25th anniversary. “We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way,” said Mashaal during his first visit to the Gaza Strip after years in exile.

Israeli leaders have made the speech calling for Israel’s destruction and the world’s lack of condemnation of it a major talking point in recent days, as Israel faces a wave of international censure over announcements it will advance construction plans in the West Bank and particularly in a controversial strip of land known as E1, connecting Jerusalem with the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.

Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman blasted the international community for its “deafening silence” in the wake of Mashaal’s speech, with Liberman comparing the mild response in recent days to European countries’ failure to act to save Jews from extermination by Nazis during the Holocaust.

“As far as they’re concerned, the destruction of Israel is a matter of course,” said Liberman in a response to a statement by EU foreign Ministers that condemned Israel for its settlement construction plans but did not heavily rebuke Mashaal for avowedly seeking Israel’s destruction.

According to an Israel Radio report Wednesday, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Ireland opposed an official condemnation of Mashaal’s incitement-filled speech at a meeting of the body’s foreign council Monday.

In the end, the statement included a brief rebuke of Hamas’s call for Israel’s destruction, after an 11th-hour intervention by Germany and the Czech Republic, Israel Radio reported.

Liberman’s words drew sharp criticism. “The comparison Liberman made is infuriating and hurtful to all Europeans,” said Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Kocijancic said Ashton was “shocked” when she heard what he had said. “Europe’s commitment to Israel’s security cannot be doubted.”

Meretz Chairwoman Zahava Gal-on reportedly sent a missive to Ashton, expressing dismay at Liberman’s statement. Gal-on condemned his comparison and accused him of ruining Israel’s ties with Europe to serve his political interests head of January’s elections.

Nuland also addressed Israel’s decision to withhold tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, a decision it announced in the wake of the Palestinians’ successful bid to gain nonmember observer status at the UN, last month.

“We are making clear to the Government of Israel that we think funding of the Palestinian Authority is necessary, and that it should work with the PA to address the issues that they have, and that all sides need to take steps to reduce tensions, to build trust, to produce the kind of climate that’s going to get us back to direct talks,” said Nuland.

Earlier Wednesday Liberman said Israel would withhold some NIS 450 million at least until March. The money will be used toward paying off a NIS 700 million debt the PA owes the Israel Electric Corporation.

“Israel is not prepared to accept unilateral steps by the Palestinian side, and anyone who thinks they will achieve concessions and gains this way is wrong,” Liberman said, according to Reuters. “The Palestinians can forget about getting even one cent in the coming four months; in four months’ time we will decide how to proceed.”

Nuland said the State Department is also working with the US Congress to release foreign aid to the PA.

“We’re continuing to work with Congress, we’re continuing to make our views known about this, that we think this money is important. We think it supports important work by the Palestinian Authority and to support the needs of the Palestinian people and it should move,” said Nuland.

EU: Lieberman’s Holocaust reference is inappropriate and offensive to Europeans – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

( Your feelings are hurt?  Truth hurts.  As does thousands of rockets being fired into your cities. – JW )

Ashton says ‘dismayed’ by FM’s comparison of EU’s policy toward Israel and the behavior of Europe during the Holocaust.

By Barak Ravid | Dec.12, 2012 | 10:05 PM | 6

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, left, shakes hands with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman prior to their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, October 24, 2012. Photo by AP

By Barak Ravid | Dec.12,2012 | 10:05 PM | 67

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the comments made by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in which he compared the EU’s policy toward Israel to the behavior of Europe toward the Jews during the period of the Holocaust.

“Mr. Liberman’s reference to Europe in the 1940s in this context is inappropriate and offensive to Europeans,” Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, told Haaretz.

Kocijancic said Ashton was dismayed after she heard Lieberman’s comments.

“Europe’s commitment to Israel’s security cannot be questioned,” she said. “This was reiterated in the Council conclusions on Monday, as was our condemnation of inflammatory statements by Hamas leaders that deny Israel’s right to exist.”

In an interview to Israel Radio on Tuesday, Lieberman was asked to react to the EU foreign ministers’ decision on Monday to condemn Israel for advancing the plan to build in E-1.

In reply, the foreign minister launched into a fierce, and perhaps, unprecedented attack on the EU. “I can tell you what I am not satisfied with,” said Lieberman. “I am not satisfied with the position of Europe, which once again in history is ignoring calls to destroy the state of Israel … Europe is keeping silent. The call yesterday [Monday], what we saw, is not a condemnation of Hamas’ statements but rather a call to the heads of Hamas to refrain from incitement. We have already been through this with Europe at the end of the 1930s and in the 1940s.”

The radio interviewer asked Lieberman whether he is accusing the EU of anti-Semitism. “It isn’t an anti-Semitic motive but rather it’s a narrow motive of interests,” replied Lieberman. “They [the EU] are sacrificing all values in favor of interests. Then too, back in the 1940s. They already knew by the start of the 1940s exactly what was happening in the concentration camps, what was happening with the Jews and didn’t exactly act. Today they admit that even in the 1930s they prevented Jews for coming to the land of Israel.”

Later on Tuesday, during a Hanukkah candle-lighting event for his party Yisrael Beiteinu, Lieberman repeated his criticism of the European Union saying that the European foreign ministers’ decision against construction in the settlements was “unbalanced and unjustified.”

“From the point of view of some of the European foreign ministers,” he said, “the destruction of Israel is apparently something that is taken for granted.” Lieberman added also that “the European Union’s decision shows how much we can rely on those same countries that say that they guarantee Israel’s security interests.”

Hatnuah Chairwoman Tzipi Livni condemned Lieberman’s comments. “Comparing Israel’s situation today to the Holocaust is contempt for the Holocaust,” Livni said during a conference organized by the Jerusalem Post in Herzliya. “It’s an incorrect comparison, and incomprehensible. There is absolutely no similarity between the situation of Israeli citizens today to that of European Jews then. Not everybody is against us, and not everyone is anti-Semitic.”

Labor Chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich added her own criticism of Lieberman, as well as of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of diverting public discourse on the eve of elections from economic and social issues.

As IAEA arrives in Iran, new satellite imagery purports to show construction at Parchin – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

U.S.think tank says imagery shows ‘steady pace’ of what appears to be reconstruction at the site, linked to suspected nuclear activity, which the UN nuclear inspector’s team is trying to gain access too.

By The Associated Press and Haaretz | Dec.13, 2012 | 11:10 AM | 2

Satellite imagery of Iran’s Parchin military complex, taken on December 9, 2012. Photo by DigitalGlobe – ISIS

A U.S. think tank published satellite imagery on Wednesday which it said shows ongoing construction at Iran’s Parchin military complex, a site linked to suspected nuclear activity. The publication came just ahead of the arrival of a UN nuclear inspector’s team in Tehran on Thursday.

The Institute for Science and International Security said that an image taken on December 9 shows “a steady pace of what appears to be the ‘reconstruction’ phase” of a site that had underfone considerable alterations between April and July 2012,  including demolition of buildings and movement of earth.

“A new site layout is taking shape and the presence of dirt piles and a considerable number of earth moving vehicles and cars suggest that construction is continuing at a steady pace,” the think tank said.

The December 9 image shows “what appears to be a new, almost completed security perimeter around the site,” as well as two major buildings “covered with white or gray roofing,” according to the think tank.

The International Atomic Energy Agency team’s one-day visit to Tehran on Thursday is an effort to engage Iran on the nuclear issue and secure access to Parchin.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency said Thursday that the seven-member team, headed by Herman Nackaerts, a deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, would meet with Iranian nuclear officials.

The report says the two sides will try to reach a framework for restarting talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

The IAEA has demanded for over a year to visit Parchin military site, which the agency says could have been used for experiments related to nuclear weapons. Iran insists the site is only a conventional military facility.

The West suspects Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies the charge.

Russia: Assad ‘losing control’; 16 killed in car bomb near Damascus – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Russia’s deputy FM says Syrian rebels may win; Qatana car bomb, reported by Lebanese media, follows three bombs at Interior Ministry that killed five on Wednesday.

By Reuters and The Associated Press | Dec.13, 2012 | 12:36 PM | 1

In this photo released by Syrian official news agency SANA, People stand near a damaged car after explosions hit the Syrian Interior Ministry building in Damascus, December 12, 2012. Photo by AP

In the first acknowledgement by Assad’s main ally that he faces a likely defeat, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday that President Bashar Assad is losing control over Syria and that his opponents may win, as Lebanese media reported that 16 people were killed and more than 25 wounded in a car bomb near Damascus.

While Mikhail Bogdanov didn’t issue any immediate signal that Russia could change its stance and come to support international sanctions against Assad’s regime, his remarks carried by Russian news agencies appear to indicate that Moscow has begun positioning itself for a regime change in Syria.

“We must look at the facts: there is a trend for the government to progressively lose control over an increasing part of the territory,” Bogdanov said during hearings at the Kremlin advisory body, the Public Chamber. “The opposition victory can’t be excluded.”

At the same time, he repeated Russia’s call for a compromise, saying it would take the opposition a long time to defeat the regime and the country would suffer heavy casualties.

“The fighting will become even more intense, and you will lose tens of thousands and, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of people,” he said. “If such a price for the ouster of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of course, consider it absolutely unacceptable.”

Sixteen people were killed and more than 25 wounded, including women and children, in a car bomb in Qatana, a town 15 miles southwest of Damascus, Lebanon’s al-Manar television channel reported on Thursday.

Qatana is part of a string of outlying suburbs and towns where President Bashar Assad’s forces have been trying to push back rebels. The attack follows three bombs which exploded at the Interior Ministry on Wednesday evening, killing five.

On Wednesday, U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said Syria’s chemical weapons could be used at “a moment’s notice” and the international community should not accept any assurances from Syrian officials that they will not be used.

U.S. and other Western officials recently issued sharp warnings to Syrian President Bashar Assad not to deploy chemical weapons. Syria called those warnings a “pretext for intervention” in the civil war.

Russia has joined with China at the United Nations Security Council to veto three draft resolutions that would impose sanctions on Assad’s regime over its bloody crackdown on the uprising that began in March 2011. Moscow also has continued to provide the Syrian government with weapons despite strong international protests.

UN nuclear inspectors arrive in … JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

Photo: REUTERS

Assad fires Scuds to stop Al Qaeda arm seizing chemical arms at Al Safira.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 13, 2012, 10:50 AM (GMT+02:00)

Syrian Scud missile

By the blacklisting Tuesday, Dec. 11, of the Jabhat al-Nusra group fighting in Syrian rebel ranks as “a foreign terrorist organization” and affiliate of al Qaeda in Iraq, Washington faces four quandaries:

–
1. The 10,000 fighters of this al Qaeda affiliate are the best-trained and most professional component of the Syrian rebel front;.

2. Jabhat al-Nusra fields 3,000 fighters out of the mostly Free Syrian Army’s 14,000 rebels fighting in and around Aleppo. They also constitute the assault force’s spearhead.

3. The Islamists are at the sharp front edge of the rebel force battling for control of the Syrian army’s biggest chemical weapons store at Al Safira, near Aleppo. Thursday morning, Dec. 12, they were just a kilometer from the base’s northwestern perimeter fence and advancing fast. By week’s end, Jabhat al-Nusra jihadis may have smashed into the base and seized control of the chemical stocks and Scud D planes standing there armed with chemical warheads.
The imminence of this peril forced Bashar Assad’s hand into sending Scud jets against rebel-held areas in an effort to stop their advance on the base.

–
4.  This al Qaeda affiliate is also better armed and equipped than any other Syrian rebel force, thanks to the generous financial and logistical aid laid on by Persian Gulf sources, especially in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
The difficulty here is that those three Gulf Arab stats are also American allies in the war against Assad and the most important contributors to the US-sponsored Friends of Syria, a forum which met in Marrakesh Wednesday and formally recognized the umbrella Syrian opposition coalition of exiled groups as the legitimate government of Syria.
Reporters inside Syria reported that when the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters heard this news, they declared 700 of their number had died… laughing.
But as the vicious civil war of nearly two years and more than 40,000 dead approached another dangerous peak, no one was laughing in Damascus or Washington.

–
debkafile’s military sources point to the next crisis looming ahead: If Assad fails to stop the al Qaeda fighters from reaching Al-Safira and its poison gas stores – and an al Qaeda affiliate succeeds for the first time in arming itself with chemical weapons – the United States will have to mount an air assault – not on Assad’s army but on the Syrian rebel forces fighting him, because if they do manage to seize control of the base, rebel fighters may decide to send the chemicals-tipped missiles against Assad regime centers in Damascus.

The fall of al Safira would then transform the Syrian civil conflict into a chemical missile war.

Congress seeks to double US funding of anti-missile cooperation with Israel | The Times of Israel.

In wake of Pillar of Defense success, Iron Dome spending may balloon from $210 million to $680 million

A volley of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system near the city of Beersheba, November 15 (photo credit: Uri Lenzl/Flash90)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Congress wants to at least double the Obama administration’s funding request for anti-missile cooperation with Israel.

Obama asked Congress for $99.9 million in 2013 for “Israel co-operative programs,” which include programs like the long-range Arrow anti-missile system and the short-range David’s Sling.

The US House of Representatives version of the National Defense Authorization Act, passed earlier this year, recommended adding $168 million to that request, and the Senate recommended adding $100 million in its own National Defense Authorization Act, passed last week.

A letter sent Wednesday by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) to the top senators on the Armed Services Committee urges them to agree to the higher House increase in the bicameral conference talks that finalize the act.

“As witnessed by the recent attacks on Israel from Gaza, the continued joint efforts of the United States and Israel in missile defense systems is critical to protecting this close US ally and American interests in that region,” the letter said. “The technology yields results that both of our militaries will utilize in our respective defense systems. US funding is fully matched by that of Israel.”

The bill separately authorizes new funding for Iron Dome, the short-range anti-missile system Israel used to deflect most rockets targeting populated areas that were launched from the Gaza Strip during its recent conflict with Hamas.

The Senate recommends $420 million for Iron Dome, double the $210 million the Obama administration is expected to request, and the House recommended $680 million. Those amounts also will be reconciled in conference committee.

Funding for cooperation on missile programs like Arrow and David’s Sling is not considered assistance because it benefits US as well as Israeli defense development. Iron Dome, however, is proprietary to Israel.

All these monies would be in addition to the $3.1 billion Israel receives annually in defense assistance.

Abbas condemns Hamas leader’s call for the destruction of Israel | The Times of Israel.

Mashaal had confirmed his organization’s willingness to reach a two-state solution and recognize Israel, PA leader says

Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Mashaal meet in Cairo, February 2012 (photo credit: Mohammed al-Hums/Flash 90)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has openly denounced anti-Israel statements made by Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal last week, pointing out that Hamas had agreed in principle to the two-state solution and thus to Israel’s right to exist.

The Turkish news agency Hürriyet on Thursday reported that at the end of a visit in Ankara, Abbas said he did not accept the idea that the State of Israel would never be recognized.

“I don’t agree with Khaled Mashaal’s statement on the non-recognition of Israel because we, in fact, recognized it in 1993,” Abbas reportedly told reporters as he wrapped up his two-day visit. “A four-article agreement between [Fatah and Hamas] stipulates a two-state vision. And Mashaal approved of this agreement.”

On Saturday, during his first-ever visit to the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, Mashaal said: ”We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way.”

“We cannot recognize Israel’s legitimacy,” the Hamas leader added. ”From the sea to the river, from north to south, we will not give up any part of Palestine — it is our country, our right and our homeland.”

The address was harshly condemned by Israeli leaders.

After Mashaal’s speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Abbas for expressing willingness to reconcile with Hamas, with which abbas’s group Fatah had fallen out years ago. Hamas, Netanyahu said, had once again revealed its “true face.”

On Wednesday, Israel Radio reported that four European Union member states had opposed an official condemnation of Mashaal’s incitement-filled speech last weekend, leading to harsh responses from Israeli leaders that Europe was being one-sided.

Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Ireland reportedly pressured European foreign ministers to condemn Israel solely for its E1 settlement construction plan at a meeting of the body’s foreign council Monday.

In the end, the statement included a brief rebuke of Hamas’s call for Israel’s destruction, after an 11th-hour intervention by Germany and the Czech Republic, the report said.

Israeli leaders decried the EU statement, with Netanyahu saying that Europe’s lack of a strong condemnation of Hamas was a “deafening silence.”

U.S. confirms Syria has used scuds against rebels.

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Two Iraqi Scud missiles in a truck trailer in 2003. The unguided, short-range ballistic Scud missiles, depending on the type employed, have a range of 200 kilometers or more. (Reuters)

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