WarSclerotic

Obama’s Betrayal of Israel Will Not Be Forgotten
by Joel B. Pollak 28 Jul 2014

(Many of us here in the USA want to see Obama fail. His political party is taking a beating and they know it. Panic is spreading amongst their candidates in the upcoming elections and virtually all are distancing themselves from Obama. However, support for Israel in this country is still strong no matter what Obama says or does. Congress is behind you. Obama’s term is near the end. I would say for you to be patient, but I know your patience has already run out, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, the timing of all this is horrible, but necessary for us and for our friends in Israel. The times are beginning to change. Who would have thought Obama’s ‘Hope and Change” was not what he had hoped for.-LS)

Israelis have no doubt about why President Barack Obama is imposing a premature ceasefire on Operation Protective Edge: they were winning.

Unlike previous conflicts, where a operational mistakes by Israeli forces targeting terrorists caused civilian casualties and raised international protests, in this case Israel had made no major blunders.

Israel’s offense, this time, was its success–which exposed the idiocy of Obama’s foreign policy.

Despite high-minded statements about Israel’s “right to defend itself,” the Obama administration had done all it could to prevent Israel from exercising that right. After Hamas tried to use its tunnels to mount a terror attack that targeted Israeli civilians directly, it became clear that Israel’s self-defense required not only taking out the Hamas rocket launchers but also destroying a tunnel system far more extensive than was previously known.

It was then (“dafka,” as the Israelis say) that Obama sent Secretary of State John Kerry–that supposed friend of Israel, seething with rank contempt for the Israeli war effort–to crash the diplomatic process. Even the Palestinian Authority objected, accusing Kerry of “appeasing” Turkey and Qatar. Egypt, which was hosting the ongoing talks, even showed its contempt for Kerry’s intrusive efforts by subjecting him to a security search.

Kerry’s mission was a bizarre move by an administration that came to power in 2008 promising not to be the stereotypical “ugly Americans.” Yet Obama was determined to represent Turkey–whose Islamist leader, now launching a second flotilla to Gaza under naval escort, is Obama’s best friend in the Middle East–as well as Qatar, which hosts Taliban leaders and ex-prisoners on Obama’s behalf as he seeks an exit from Afghanistan.

Obama also saw the conflict in Gaza as an opportunity to regain leverage over Israel.

It was clear that Israel was emboldened to counterattack Hamas because of the Iron Dome system, which Obama helped fund. Obama set about threatening that defense–first with the FAA canceling flights despite an Iron Dome battery at Ben Gurion Airport, then by having the Senate risk future Iron Dome aid by tying it to disputed funding for illegal aliens.

The fact that Israel resisted these pressures came as a surprise to Obama, who underestimated the unity of the Israeli public behind the war effort.

Mere hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet rejected Kerry’s ceasefire proposal–which would have rewarded Hamas for its terror by opening Gaza’s border–unanimously, the Obama administration actually expected that it would pass. It was an historic humiliation.

Kerry returned home–stopping in Paris to meet with Turkey and Qatar, confirming both Israeli and Palestinian suspicions–as Obama’s critics enjoyed a good laugh at his expense.

“Remember: nothing riles the White House more than the appearance that Israel is supplying ammo to Obama’s political enemies, as it did on Sunday,” wrote Chemi Shalev of Ha’aretz, explaining Obama’s motive to impose by fiat what Kerry could not negotiate.

The result of Obama’s political vanity–or, less charitably, his attempt to integrate Islamist extremists into the mainstream of Middle Eastern politics, whether the Iranian regime or the Muslim Brotherhood–is that the U.S. is effectively acting as the patron of Hamas.

Obama is isolating Israel, even using the morally twisted UN to do so–yet in so doing, Obama is isolating himself even more and doing lasting damage to relations with Israel.

Israelis–with a longer memory than Obama’s political career–look back at the past ten years and see Gaza as a creation of hapless American foreign policy by both Republican and Democratic administrations.

It was George W. Bush who applauded the Gaza disengagement in 2005, then insisted in 2006 that Hamas participate in Palestinian elections, and sent Condoleeza Rice on a hopeless mission to bring peace in in 2007 and 2008.

It was Obama’s imminent inauguration that brought Operation Cast Lead to a halt in 2009, the last time Israel threatened Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip. Obama’s pressure on Israel in 2010, his support for the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011-12, and his weakness in Syria in 2013 emboldened Israel’s enemies.

Obama’s latest step is part of that pattern–and yet worse, because it is so obviously malevolent. It is a betrayal Israelis will not forget.

Nor will Iran. There is far more at stake here than even Hamas rockets and terror tunnels. During Operation Protective Edge, the U.S. and other western powers granted Iran a four-month extension on nuclear talks (that Netanyahu had described, at the outset, as an “historic mistake”). It is clear that Obama will do anything to keep Iran at the table–and now it is equally clear that he will do anything to deny Israel a military deterrent.

Israel now knows, with near-100% certainty, that Obama will not support it if it feels it must launch a pre-emptive strike against the Iranian nuclear program. The regime in Tehran is watching carefully, too, talking openly about the need to arm the West Bank with the weapons Hamas has used in Gaza and Hezbollah has stockpiled in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, pro-Israel Democrats cower in silence. Israel has never been more alone.

Susan Rice: Gaza death toll ‘alarming’
By JONATHAN TOPAZ | 7/28/14 1:46 PM EDT

​ (I could have included a photo of Ms. Rice but felt this to be more appropriate.-LS)

National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Monday said the civilian death toll in Gaza is “alarming.”

Appearing on MSNBC, the top White House adviser first said that the Obama administration “fully supports” Israel’s right to defend itself against threats like those from Hamas.

“It’s the U.S. view, as well, that the death toll and the civilian toll in Gaza is rising in an alarming pace,” Rice continued. “It’s a concern that is grave and deepening on the part of the United States, the American people and the entire international community.”

Rice proceeded to call for “an immediate, unconditional humanitarian cease-fire,” echoing what President Barack Obama and his top officials have said in recent days.

Her comments come amid reports of increased tensions between the administration and the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama spoke with Netanyahu on the phone Sunday to push for a cease-fire, but the prime minister has not signaled an immediate embrace of the idea, saying on the Sunday talk shows that Hamas has not been a willing partner in previous cease-fires and will only abide by them when it is in its strategic advantage. The Financial Times reported that the Israeli government was particularly upset with Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to set up a peace deal.

Rice insisted on Monday that the White House and Netanyahu were on the same page in calling for a cease-fire. “That is what Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly told the president he seeks. So we are together in trying to achieve that objective,” she told host Andrea Mitchell.

The lopsided death toll in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has come under increased scrutiny as the conflict has worn on. The Associated Press reported Saturday night that 1,047 Palestinians had died since the conflict began, with more than 6,000 wounded, compared with fewer than 50 Israelis. The United Nations estimated last week that 75 percent of those Palestinians who had been killed were civilians.

Four Israelis killed in Eshkol by Hamas mortar. Hamas Fajr-5 blows up prematurely outside Shifa hospital
DEBKAfile Special Report July 28, 2014, 6:36 PM (IDT)

Palestinian mortar fire Monday evening, July 28, killed 4 Israels in the Eshkol District and injured six others, four seriously.

In Gaza City, there are first reports of a huge explosion at Hamas’ command and control headquarters which is located in a bunker near the Shifa hospital. The entire block at the heart of the city is wreathed in black smoke. Sources in Gaza report 10 fatalities and 50 people injured. The IDF does not confirm an attack on the hospital compound. debkafile’s military sources report the suspicion that Hamas attempted to launch one of its Iranian Fajr-5 missiles at Tel Aviv. It went off prematurely in a playground in the hospital compound and may have also triggered an explosion in an ammunition store.

Confirmation of a Hamas attempt to shoot a Fajr-5 missile at Tel Aviv would be the death blow to all the efforts of the last 48 hours for a pause in the hostilities in Gaza. The latest truce supposed to go into effect Monday for 24 hours was in any case blatantly violated by Hamas with more than a dozen rockets fired at Israel thus far.

150 Palestinians surrender to IDF in Gaza
By Adiv Sterman July 24, 2014, 11:44 am

​ (‘Feel Good’ story of the day.-LS)

Dozens of operatives from southern Strip, mostly Hamas members, transferred to Israeli facilities for interrogation.
Dozens of Palestinian terror operatives, most of whom were said to be members of Hamas, surrendered Wednesday to IDF soldiers during raids in the southern Gaza Strip cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.

The operatives, who came out of hiding spots with their hands raised above their heads, were taken into Israeli custody for further questioning.

In total, 150 Palestinians were arrested, but only 70 of them who were suspected of carrying out terror attacks were transferred under tight security to IDF Intelligence and Shin Bet facilities for interrogation, an IDF spokeswoman told The Times of Israel, adding to 28 operatives already captured. The remaining detainees were later released, Army Radio reported.

A picture of the Gazans posted on Facebook by Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz showed two rows of captives wearing only underwear and shoes, on their knees in the sand. They were stripped of their clothes in order to ensure they were not carrying weapons.

The IDF said no soldiers were injured during overnight operations in the Gaza Strip, but several were lightly hurt Thursday morning in the northern part of the Strip.

More than 100 targets were struck by the IDF Wednesday throughout the entire Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said. Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge on July 8, the IDF hit more than 3,330 targets, including tunnels, rocket launchers, and several Hamas military headquarters.

On Wednesday morning, three Israeli paratroopers were killed in Khan Yunis, bringing the army’s death toll to 32 since the IDF began operating on the ground in Gaza last week, the army said. Two soldiers were seriously wounded and 10 more were moderately injured.

Additionally, the army on Wednesday bombed Al-Wafa hospital in Gaza City, calling it “a Hamas military compound.” The IDF said there was a command-and-control center in the hospital, a lookout post used to monitor IDF forces, and several access shafts to a tunnel network beneath the hospital.

On Tuesday ​the hospital was evacuated from patients and staff, the army said, but was still in use by Hamas gunmen, who continued to fire at the IDF forces. On Wednesday, prior to the airstrike, the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration confirmed that the hospital was empty of patients and staff.

The strike set off massive secondary explosions, supporting the army’s contention that there was an arms cache, perhaps of rockets, beneath the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Shin Bet announced that it had succeeded, along with the army, in either killing or incapacitate four mid-to high-level Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders, all in the Khan Yunis area.

According to the Shin Bet, the officials included the group’s Khan Yunis commander Akram Shaar, who was behind a series of attacks against Israeli soldiers and was in charge of rocket fire from the area; Mahmoud Ziada, a resident of Jabalya, who had served as a battalion commander in the northern sector; Sha’aban Dahduh, of Gaza City, also a battalion commander, whom the Shin Bet referred to as “outstanding”; and Saeed Ma’amar, also a battalion commander, in the Rafah brigade.

According to the IDF, more than 210 terrorists were killed since the ground incursion began last Thursday night, among them several high-ranking Hamas officers, including the commander of the group’s surveillance unit.

A senior Israeli security source asserted Wednesday that Hamas’s rocket manufacturing capacity had taken a strong hit during the IDF’s operation in the Palestinian enclave.

Report: Hamas Used Child Labor to Build Terror Tunnels; Hundreds Killed
by Joel B. Pollak 27 Jul 2014

Hamas killed hundreds of children in the construction of its extensive tunnel network, built partly to carry out attacks on children across the Gaza border in Israel. That report–confirmed by Hamas itself–emerged in 2012, not from the Israeli government, but the sympathetic Journal of Palestine Studies, in an article that otherwise celebrated the secret tunnel system as a symbol of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli “siege” of the Gaza Strip.

The article, “Gaza’s Tunnel Phenomenon: The Unintended Dynamics of Israel’s Siege,” was published in the Summer 2012 edition of the Journal by Nicholas Pelham, who writes for the Economist and the New York Review of Books, according to his bio. It is receiving new attention thanks to Myer Freimann of Tablet, an online journal of Jewish affairs, whose post about Hamas’s use of child labor has gone viral in social media.

Pelham wrote that despite the economic success of the tunnels underneath the Egyptian border, which enriched Hamas through a thriving black market as well as arming it with new weapons, there were a few drawbacks. One of these was a “cavalier approach to child labor and tunnel fatalities,” he noted. “During a police patrol that the author was permitted to accompany in December 2011, nothing was done to impede the use of children in the tunnels, where, much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies. At least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels, according to Hamas officials” (emphasis added).

Though some children likely worked voluntarily, the fact that there were public complaints about child deaths, to which Hamas felt compelled to respond at least superficially, is evidence of some amount of coercion. The number of deaths since 2012 has yet to be reported, but almost certainly exceeds the number Pelham reported.

To sum up: Hamas is not only using child labor, but likely child slavery, in building its terror tunnel network. While the world worries obsessively over the child casualties of Israeli attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza, it has ignored Hamas’s deliberate killing of hundreds of Palestinian children, over the objections of the local populace.

The knowledge that Hamas used children to dig tunnels for smuggling and terror up to 25 meters below ground changes the moral calculation of the war significantly. Not only does Hamas show extreme indifference to the lives of Palestinian children by using them as human shields, placing rockets in UN schools and the like, but it actively destroys those lives by sending Palestinian children to die underground in 19th century conditions.

Those defending the Palestinian resistance to Israel–and, equally, those demanding a ceasefire that would leave the Hamas tunnel network in place–are effectively defending a slaveholding regime more odious in moral terms than any the world has seen since the child soldiers of Joseph Kony’s brutal Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, or the forced labor camps of the Nazis in the Second World War, who set children to work for the war effort.

It is rather ironic that President Barack Obama, who touted his own election in 2008 as an answer to the moral stain of slavery in America, would insist today on shoring up a Hamas administration that demonstrably uses child slavery. The Israeli government was reportedly shocked at how closely Obama’s ceasefire terms reflect the Hamas position. The American public ought to be shocked at how cynically Obama has cast morality aside.

Photo: Adel Hana/AP

‘Freedom Flotilla II’ set to sail for Gaza from Turkey
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON, HERB KEINON
LAST UPDATED: 07/28/2014 03:20

Amid Israel’s Operation Protective Edge to stop Hamas attacks from Gaza, a “Freedom Flotilla” is being organized in Turkey to bring humanitarian aid to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian coastal enclave with the protection of the Turkish military, according to an unconfirmed media report.

The flotilla, called “Freedom Flotilla II,” is being organized by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), the same organization that was behind the Mavi Marmara flotilla that sought to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010.

Israel Navy commandos boarded the ship, were attacked, and killed nine of the attackers.

IHH chairman Bulent Yildrim was quoted by The Middle East Monitor as telling Gulf Online last week that the activists would set sail as soon as they receive the necessary permit from the authorities in Ankara and that the Turkish military would provide protection to the ship.

Diplomatic officials said Jerusalem was following the reports carefully, but stressed that it was not clear whether the flotilla would ultimately set sail.

So far there has only been a declaration of intent, with no firm date set, one official said.

Harold Rhode, a senior fellow at the New-York-based Gatestone Institute and a former adviser at the in the office of the American defense secretary on Islamic affairs, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Sunday that the real issue in the ongoing conflict is that Turkey and Qatar are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in their goals.

“[Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has been associated with the Muslim Brotherhood long before he was prime minister,” Rhode said.

It should now be clear to all that Erdogan “is now out of the bag,” Rhode said, adding that US President Barack Obama does not speak to the Turkish leader anymore despite previously describing him as one of his closest friends among the world’s leaders.

“Erdogan is doing whatever he can to help Hamas,” he said, asserting that it will only hurt the Palestinian people in the end.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

Hezbollah leader vows to support Gazans
By ZEINA KARAM
July 25, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group vowed on Friday to support Palestinian militants battling Israeli troops in Gaza, even as his own fighters are bogged down in the war in neighboring Syria.

In his first remarks on the latest Israeli-Palestinian fighting that erupted on July 8, Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that it would be “suicide” to continue waging war in the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah, a Shiite group, has long been one of the closest allies of Hamas, the main Palestinian Sunni faction which controls Gaza. Both militant groups are backed by Iran.

But relations between Hamas and Hezbollah soured following the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule in Syria, which erupted in March 2011, became an insurgency waged by overwhelmingly Sunni rebels, and later descended into full-blown civil war.

Hamas’ leader Khaled Mashaal shuttered Hamas’ Damascus offices and now spends most of his time in Qatar, the tiny Gulf Arab country that has strongly backed the rebels battling to overthrow Assad.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, is heavily engaged in fighting alongside Assad’s forces in Syria.

On Friday, Nasrallah called for putting all disputes aside in support of Gaza.

He said Hezbollah is closely following the Israel-Hamas fighting and that his followers will do all they can to help the Palestinians. He did not elaborate.

“From here I say to our brothers in Gaza: We are with you and beside you and confident of your steadfastness and your victory and we will do everything we can to support you,” he said.

Nasrallah spoke during a rare public appearance before thousands of supporters in southern Beirut, marking “Al-Quds Day” — a day of solidarity with Palestinians that Arabs traditionally observe on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Al-Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.

He said Gazans have already emerged victorious because “Israel has failed to touch the command and control structures of the Palestinian resistance,” or achieve any of its goals in Gaza so far.

Addressing Israelis, Nasrallah said: “You are in Gaza now in a state of failure, don’t go further to the level of suicide and collapse.”

Gaza Would Have Been Occupied without Iran’s Support, Cleric Says

July 25, 2014 – 17:49

​ (Yep, occupied and a lot better off when you consider what Iran has to offer. Isn’t it amazing the tough stand Iran always takes when someone else is doing the fighting?-LS)

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A top Iranian cleric said that had it not been for Iran’s support for Gaza, the entire coastal enclave would have been occupied by the Zionist regime of Israel.

“The Islamic Iran is proud of its all-out support for Palestine,” Tehran’s Provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said Friday, adding “If it had not been for Iran’s proper supports, the Zionist regime would have (been able to) occupy the entire Gaza (Strip) today”.

He noted that according to the Zionist regime’s interior minister, the order had been issued for the Israeli forces to occupy Gaza “but you can see now that they have become grounded (there)… and the Zionist regime is desperately seeking a ceasefire”.

Ayatollah Khatami underlined that the Palestinian Resistance Movement would not agree to a ceasefire until its demands, including the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to the Gaza blockade, are met.

Earlier and in a Wednesday speech Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khamenei also highlighted Tel Aviv’s desperation for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Imam Khamenei referred to Israel’s efforts to broker a truce with Palestinian fighters, saying the regime “which commits crimes beyond human imagination has become desperate” after facing strong resistance from Palestinians.

Ayatollah Khatami, elsewhere in his Friday prayers sermon, referred to the issue of Palestine and support for the oppressed Palestinian nation as a pivot of the Iranian nation’s unity.

He added that all Iranian groups, factions and political figures with various political inclinations got united and participated in Friday’s rallies marking the International Quds Day.

Iranians of different social strata held massive rallies all over the country on Friday morning to mark the International Quds Day in a show of support for the oppressed nation of Palestine.

The huge demonstrations saw Iranians venting their anger on the Tel Aviv regime and its allies and calling for an end to the Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Carrying placards and chanting slogans against Israel and the US, marchers voiced their support for the people of Gaza, and reiterated their opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Zionists.

Each year, the International Quds Day is celebrated on the last Friday of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

This year’s rallies came against the backdrop of a massive Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.

As the 18-day Israeli offensive on Gaza rages on, above 800 Palestinians have been killed, and over 5,200 other injured in the besieged enclave.

Hip Hop Artists Create Song About Gaza-Israel War

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Published: July 25th, 2014

​ (“A twist of war into a peaceful moment.”-LS)

Two musician lovers of Israel chose to express their views about the current “matzav” in their own language: Hip Hop music.

Kosha Dillz (born Rami Matan Even-Esh) and his musical colleague Diwon have strong ties to Israel. Dillz is the child of Israeli immigrants, and Diwon was born in Israel. Both now in Los Angeles.

The conflict was a topic of conversation and the one thing they and almost everyone else could agree on, is that there should be “No More War.”

Diwon was shown a video of an Israeli soldier in the reserves, Dror Gomel, who loves music and who turned his APC into a musical instrument for a performance he called “No More War.”

When Diwon showed Dillz Gomel’s video, they decided to create a song around the beat, called, not surprisingly, “No More War. (Drums of Peace.)”

The result is a song and video they released Thursday, July 24.

The two will be performing their song in Los Angeles, where both live, just a few hours after this article is published, at a fundraiser for Israel held by StandWithUs and Amit Children.

The lyrics are not what really drives the song, it’s the beat and the refrain that moves it forward. Howerver, there is one stanza almost entirely in Hebrew, which starts with “Shalom chaverim, this is my rechov, kol ha yeladim.” And then a few lines later it says, “ve ba boker atah rotseh shalom, kol ha kulam – peace no balagon.”

“When you see the video, maybe you can enjoy a twist of war into a peaceful moment. It shows you the heart of a soldier who just wants to play some drums. Music has brought me friends from all different races including Muslims. The world would be better if there was ‘No More War,’” Dillz told The Jewish Press when asked what he wants people to think when they hear the song and watch the video.

So watch the video and see how Israeli-American west coast Hip Hop artists are responding to what’s happening right now in Israel and Gaza.

SPOILER: Although the musicians wish there was no need for war, they are clear about who they think is at fault.