The Shadow Presidency

The Shadow Presidency

 

Presidents are elected to lead not hide in the shadows only to appear when the World is on the brink. Tensions amongst the nations are bordering on reintroduction of the Cold War, which came to a quiet end during the Reagan years. In recent days two events have occurred which could ignite into regional conflicts if their flames are not contained. Israel launched an aggressive raid on the Gaza Strip in response to persistent missile attacks from this location. Hamas’ aggression has been relentless placing Israeli cities under a dome of hysteria without reprieve. International outrage, as usual, is being levied against the Jewish State though they did not initiate the aggression. President Obama briefly displayed his concern by publically denouncing the high level of causalities in Palestinian territories, yet paying lip service to Israel’s right of self-defense. Displaying minimal leadership in this unfolding catastrophe his press release stated categorically that Israel should return to the 2012 peace plan. Mr. President, Israel was following this purported plan, Hamas wasn’t. As the elected head of our nation the President showed the World for the nth time he is a feckless leader detached from reality.

 

On a secondary front the downing of a passenger jet over the Ukraine killing 298 people shocked the conscience of many nations, except for one headed by a shadow. In the most shallow terms President Obama promised retribution to those who perpetrated this tragedy, unfortunately leaving out the means to achieve this end. Surprisingly Samantha Power, our United Nations Ambassador, had the effervescence to do what her boss would not take the game to the Russians. In biting tones her words accused pro-Russian forces of this atrocity and laid out potential sanctions the United States could bring to bear. Leading from behind has been the present Administration’s method of managing World crises. With maximum rhetoric and minimal substance Obama’s speeches have conveyed little to resolve the newest wars amongst nations.

 

Perhaps ghost President would be a better appellation for Obama. Allowing secondary officials to perform primary Executive functions is not a power delegated in the Constitution. House committees are still requesting where the President was during the night of the Benghazi raid. In the IRS scandal the President’s minions claim Obama was first notified of the problem through media sources. We now know the veracity of that notation is untrue. Four year election cycles are done for a reason, to bring competence and confidence to the nation’s highest office. During the last 2 cycles the electorate received much less than they expected.  Harsh times are ahead in the event leadership does not emerged from the corridors of power in the Capital. One thing for certain the paralysis in the White House will not be cured until the end of the present four year cycle.

 

Mark Davis MD, President of Davis Writing Services. For media content, author support and book critiques contact us. www.daviswritingservices.com

Dr. Davis latest book is, Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster.

To contact Dr. Davis for interviews, questions or comments: platomd@gmail.com

Jerusalem!!

46 years ago today the City of David, Jerusalem was reunited after being cut into 2 by the Jordanians and the United Nation.  For 19 years no Jew, no Christian was allowed to worship at their holy places.  In fact, the tombstones on the Mount of Olives Cemetery (One of the oldest Jewish Cemeteries in the world.) were used by the Jordanians as paving stones, building stones, even to make latrines.  And the world said nothing.  Not a peep.

On an almost daily basis, snipers on the walls of the Old City would open fire on Israeli civilians.  And the world said nothing.  Not a peep.

To solve this issue and stop the gunfire, orders were given to liberate the Old City.  And the IDF came through with skill.  The City of David was unified.  All people were free to worship at their holy places.


Click here if the video doesn't load.

Today as Israel and Jews around the world celebrate 46 years of a unified Jerusalem, President Barack Hussein Obama is demanding that the city be split into 2 again.  And the world is cheering him on.

Forget about what happened the last time the city was divided to appease the Arabs.  Forget that for 46 years the city has been whole, united.  Forget that under the Arabs only Muslims could pray at in the city, Jews and Christians were forbidden.  That means nothing to those who have been appeasing the Arabs in the hope that they finish the job Hitler started.

But you can help:

Keep Jerusalem United - Sign the Declaration!


Click here if the video doesn't load.

Sign the Declaration!

I declare that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish People and strongly support all efforts to maintain and strengthen a united Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.

Just click here.

 Land for peace with Palestinians doesn't work.  They have taught Israel that.  In 2005 Israel gave up Gaza in the hope of peace.  And was subjected to over 10,000 rockets.  And the horror that became the city of Sderot.

For 46 years Jerusalem has been united.  Let us work to keep it that way!


Click here if the video doesn't load.

Jerusalem United Forever!

Why Children Should Not Play In Traffic!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

This story has traveled around the world a few times already.  At first it seems to be another let's make Israelis look worse than Jack the Ripper.  But when the video hit, the story is different.

Two Arab children from the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem were injured after they were hit by a car driven by Elad director David Be’eri. Be’eri, head of a group that advocates for Jewish families to live in the predominantly Arab neighborhood, claimed that the youths were throwing rocks at his car and he hit them accidentally in an attempt to flee from the area.

“His car was surrounded with tens of people with rocks,” Elad spokesman Udi Ragones told the Jerusalem Post. “When they started throwing them, and he hit them when he tried to flee from the area. It seems that they were lying in wait and the ambush was planned with rocks, it may have even been a lynch situation. He felt his life was in danger.”

Elad director David Be'eri, claiming he was ambushed by Arabs, injures two kids with car; "He felt his life was in danger,” Elad spokesman says.

Two Arab children from the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem were injured after they were hit by a car driven by Elad director David Be’eri. Be’eri, head of a group that advocates for Jewish families to live in the predominantly Arab neighborhood, claimed that the youths were throwing rocks at his car and he hit them accidentally in an attempt to flee from the area.

“His car was surrounded with tens of people with rocks,” Elad spokesman Udi Ragones told the Jerusalem Post. “When they started throwing them, and he hit them when he tried to flee from the area. It seems that they were lying in wait and the ambush was planned with rocks, it may have even been a lynch situation. He felt his life was in danger.”

An Al-Jazeera video clip and AFP photos from the incident show just four youths with rocks surrounding Be’eri’s car, and then two youths getting hit. One was lightly injured, and one was in moderate condition. Both were evacuated to Moqassed Hospital in the area.

Be’eri lives in the area and was on his way home with his son at the time of the incident, Ragones said. Be’eri was taken by the police for an investigation, and later released on bail. An investigation is ongoing, lead by an examiner with the police’s traffic division. Police are using photos from the incident in their investigation.

Ragones said the incident took place less than 100 meters from where a private Israeli guard for the Jewish residents shot and killed Samr Sirkhan, an Arab resident who was throwing stones, about three weeks ago. The shooting prompted widespread riots in east Jerusalem, which injured ten people. Over 50 Arab residents arrested in the week that followed for violent incidents.

Elad, a Hebrew acronym which means ‘To the City of David,’ is a right-wing group that has operated in Silwan since 1991. They support 62 Jewish families living in the area, and are not connected to the controversial Beit Yontaton building, home to an additional eight Jewish families. Elad also runs the City of David archeological park, which hosts more than 400,000 visitors per year.

Be’eri, 57, established the City of David foundation in 1986 to explore ruins from the Second Temple period. Since then, the archeological dig has angered Silwan’s Arab residents, who accuse the organization of making a land grab.

The Arab Press claims that the boys were just playing with their rocks when they were hit by the Israeli Car Lunatic Israeli Settler on purpose.  Guess which version of the truth the MSM and State Department is going with.  Even after viewing this video:



Palestinian parents send their children out to throw stones at cars, at Israeli soldiers, at Israeli civilians.  When they do the so-called media are there with their cameras ready to "document" the atrocity that the Israelis are performing upon the "innocent" Palestinian children.  Thus if all you saw was the photo on the top  of this post, you would believe the worst.  Yet by viewing this video we see that the children were being directed instructed by an adult on the etiquette of rock throwing.

We also see the child running towards the car, throw a rock then get hit by the car.  One can then deduce that the whole purpose of this child's action was to throw a rock at the car regardless of the consequences of his action.  He is very lucky.  For if that car had been going faster he would have ended up with either major injuries or death (In accordance with Muslim beliefs he is unlucky.  For if he had been killed he would have been declared a Shahid and received his 72 virgins.).  As it is, this child didn't even want to go to the hospital.  In fact was trying to do everything not to get into the car (As seen in the video).  Plus if he had been very badly hurt, he would have been bleeding very heavily and an ambulance would have been called.

So for the MSM it was just another incident to blame Israel, Israels and Jews for Nazi-like behavior.  To those of us who have viewed the video and saw the truth for ourselves it just reaffirms the truth:

Children Should Not Throw Stones OR Play In the Street!!

The Unilateral Creation of a Palestinian State by the UN?

The Unilateral Creation of a Palestinian State by the UN?

Does the Obama Regime Support UN Creation of Palestinian State?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*********************

Palestinian Authority officials say if Israel and the Palestinians fail to reach an agreement to create a Palestinian state, the Obama administration will support a resolution at the United Nations that would unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state (SOURCE).

In a report at World Net Daily, the following is reported: “Last year, Ahmed Qurei, former PA prime minister and member of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee, told WND in an interview that the PA "reached an understanding with important elements within the administration" to possibly bring to the U.N. Security Council a resolution to unilaterally create a Palestinian state. Asked to which "elements" he was referring, Qurei would only say they were from the Obama administration. (SOURCE).

All of this just confirms our worst fears about Obama and his Regime. He is, quite likely, the least prepared President to ever hold office.

You know, I used to wonder if Obama or, at the very least, someone within his regime had actually read the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Now I add to that list of critically important documents nothing less than the Holy Bible. Obama is meddling in a situation that predates the United States of America by thousands of years. Much of the history, which leads up to the problems with Israel and their less than neighborly neighbors, is recorded in the pages of the Bible.

When one does a tiny bit of research, one finds that Israel has a claim to the Holy Land that dates back as far 3,700 years ago. They created a civilization on that terrain and developed a national language, which they have managed to maintain for at least 3,700 years.

Yes, they claim that land and they have a right to it. First, God promised the land to Abraham, then, the Jewish people moved onto to it and began to develop it and they made it their home. The world community saw it -- and recognized Israel as the home of the Jewish people and granted Israel recognition as a sovereign country ON THAT LAND.

So, how did Israel grow to the size it is today? As a result of wars that were perpetrated upon Israel by her mischievous neighbors. Israeli military forces captured the land Israel grew into as they attempted, successfully, to defend their homeland. Now, that land, too, is a part of the nation of Israel.

So what about the name Palestine? In the second century A.D., after crushing the last Jewish revolt, the Romans first applied the name “Palaestina” to Judea. Judea was the southern portion of what we now call the West Bank. It was an attempt, by the Romans, to isolate Jewish identification from the land of Israel.

There was never an independent Arab or Palestinian state in Palestine. It never existed, in all of history. In fact, when the Arab-American historian, Princeton University Prof. Philip Hitti, testified against partition before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said: "There is no such thing as 'Palestine' in history, absolutely not." In fact, Palestine is never explicitly mentioned in the Koran, rather it is called "the holy land.”

Going back to 1937 we learn that “a local Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission, which ultimately suggested the partition of Palestine: "There is no such country [as Palestine]! 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria." (SOURCE)

Until, roughly, 1967 the Arabs referred to that piece of ground as “southern Syria. “The representative of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations submitted a statement to the General Assembly in May 1947 that said, "Palestine was part of the Province of Syria" and that, "politically, the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity." A few years later, Ahmed Shuqeiri, later the chairman of the PLO, told the Security Council: "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria." (SOURCE)

One must consider God’s promise to Abraham, the creation of a Jewish homeland with Jewish settlements upon the land as far back as 3,700 years ago -- up to today. Then, one must consider so much more including the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the League of Nations Mandate, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration; the United Nations partition resolution of 1947; and Israel's admission to the UN in 1949. And, finally, add to all of the above the recognition of Israel as a sovereign nation by most of the country’s of the world. I suspect the Israeli Jews would ask that an observer also note their thriving society.

Now, when you consider all of the above, you must ask yourself why anyone would want the people of Israel to give up their ancestral homeland, the land God gave them, to the people of a country that never, in all of history, EVER existed.

Remember, too, that these people, of a fantasy country, want nothing more than to push the Jews off their land and into the sea -- wiping them out of existence.

THAT is where Obama’s policy toward Israel and the so-called Palestinian people will lead.

When all of this is considered -- aren’t we justified in asking if Obama’s ties to the Muslim world are so strong that he has adopted their cause as his -- and pushing the Jews of Israel into the Mediterranean Sea is the desired result for both the so-called Palestinians – and -- for the Obama Regime?

J. D. Longstreet

The Truth About Gaza

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Is fancy restaurants and Olympic-size pools!

Yes that is the truth. Some Concentration Camp!  That is what the Main Stream Media and the pro-Palestinian anti-Semites in the Free Gaza Movement call Gaza: The World's Largest Concentration Camp!

What they (The Main Stream Media) won’t tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write.

Here, courtesy of the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, is a report on Gaza’s new Olympic-sized swimming pool . (Most Israeli towns don’t have Olympic-size swimming pools. One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?)

If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu”.

The restaurant’s website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza. And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don’t tell their readers about them).

And here is a promotional video of the club restaurant . In case anyone doubts the authenticity of this video, I just called the club in Gaza City and had a nice chat with the manager who proudly confirmed business is booming and many Palestinians and international guests are dining there.

In a piece for The Wall Street Journal last year, I documented the “after effects” of a previous “emergency Gaza boat flotilla,” when the arrivals were seen afterwards purchasing souvenirs in well-stocked shops. (You can also scroll down here for more pictures of Gaza’s “impoverished” shops.)

But the mainstream liberal international media won’t report on any of this. Playing the manipulative game of the BBC is easy: if we had their vast taxpayer funded resources, we too could produce reports about parts of London, Manchester and Glasgow and make it look as though there is a humanitarian catastrophe throughout the UK. We could produce the same effect by selectively filming seedy parts of Paris and Rome and New York and Los Angeles too.

Of course there is poverty in Gaza. There is poverty in parts of Israel too. (When was the last time a foreign journalist based in Israel left the pampered lounge bars and restaurants of the King David and American Colony hotels in Jerusalem and went to check out the slum-like areas of southern Tel Aviv? Or the hard-hit Negev towns of Netivot or Rahat?)

But the way that many prominent Western news media are deliberately misleading global audiences and systematically creating the false impression that people are somehow starving in Gaza, and that it is all Israel’s fault, can only serve to increase hatred for the Jewish state – which one suspects was the goal of many of the editors and reporters involved in the first place.

Read it all here.

Olympic-sized swimming pools and fancy gourmet restaurants just like the type that Auschwitz and Dachau had.  And what about those starving children?

These children look starved, malnourished, and depressed!

Depression really has taken hold on these children of Gaza.

Compare those pictures to these of actual starving children.

These children starved to death. There have been no reports of massive starvation or malnutrition coming out of Gaza. If anyone can show me reputable source (None Palestinian or Free Gaza loonies.  WHO, or International Red Cross is acceptable.) I will post a retraction.  But they don't
acknowledge any incidents.

Before one condemns, one should learn all the facts.

America’s Anti-Israel President

America’s Anti-Israel President
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

*********************

This past March, AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) released a statement in which they took the Obama Administration to task for what they described as "escalated rhetoric" from the Obama Administration. In their statement, AIPAC said the following:

"The Obama Administration's recent statements regarding the U.S. relationship with Israel are a matter of serious concern. AIPAC calls on the Administration to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish State." AIPAC went on to say: "The Administration should make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines directed at Israel, with whom the United States shares basic, fundamental, and strategic interests."

I agree with AIPAC. In fact, a growing number of Americans agree with AIPAC. There can be no question that Obama is anti-Israel. For anyone who has paid attention to Obama’s attitude toward Israel, it is clear that the American President is making a deliberate effort to destroy the US/Israeli relationship. With every back-handed slap at Israel and their Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, it is ever more evident that Obama wishes to break all ties the US has with our only ally in the Middle East.

The naiveté of Obama is going to cost America and the world a terrible price. For war is coming in the Middle East. The coming war will render the two current conflicts involving the US, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the status of Sunday School picnics.

Historically, whenever Israel’s enemies sense a lessening of the strong bonds between Israel and the US, they attack. Now that those bonds have been publicly loosened, if not completely broken, there is no doubt Israel will soon be under attack from both the north and the south and possibly even from Iran, directly, with ballistic missiles.

Obama may be afraid to use nuclear weapons in defense of this country, but rest assured that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is certainly not afraid to protect his country’s very existence with Israeli nuclear weapons. Israel has made it clear that in a life or death struggle, they WILL turn to their nuclear arsenal -- and they have a substantial number of nukes, more than enough to wipe out a few prime targets located in their enemies country.

On the immediate horizon, however, is the impeding air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. With the bonds broken between Israel and America, the Israeli government will feel no compulsion to “request” permission to strike Iran when THEY make the decision to do so. And that could be any day.

Of course, there is the strong rumor about that Obama will order US aircraft to shoot down Israeli bombers. Understand, there is strong hostility towards Israel from the left wing in the Obama Administration as well as from the Congress. Zbigniew Brzezinski, you may remember him as the former National Security Advisor from the limp leftist administration of Jimmy Carter, has suggested that it may become necessary for US aircraft to shoot down Israeli bombers as they pass through Iraqi airspace enroute to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. (SOURCE). Iran’s Bushehr reactor is expected to go online sometime this summer. Time is growing short for an attack to neutralize that threat to Israel. And Israel knows it -- and they have not been sitting idly by.

We can only speculate as to why Obama feels so hostile toward Israel as he so obviously does. Some have suggested that it is a result of the time he spent with Rashid Khalidi (reported to be an associate of Yassir Arafat at the time) while at the University of Chicago.

Whatever the reason, it has become evident that Obama intends to cut the ties between the US and Israel. Of all the blunders, and grievous errors in judgment Obama has made, so far, this is the worse, by far. It could easily blow up in his face. It could spark another world war.

Blundering narcissistic fools who perceive themselves as Caesar-like emperors have a way of triggering events that lead to the deaths of multitudes of their fellow human beings. I fear we are about to witness one of those events. One might even say we are on the threshold of Armageddon.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned the legend tells us. Obama just makes endless speeches filled with the words “I.” “Me,” “my,” “mine,” and droning on about his accomplishments and his plans for his government.

Just over the horizon we can see the glow of the flames of an approaching conflagration.

J. D. Longstreet

Prayers For Peace, Rockets, And A New Daycare Center.

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

This month has been busy for the residents of Sderot (pronounced:  STAY'rot).  Let us start with this bit of optimism.

Sderot, Israel (31.12.09): Hours before the new year, as hundreds of pro-Palestinian and Arab demonstrators gathered at the Erez Crossing chanting "Katyushas on Ma'alot, Qassams on Sderot," while Israeli demonstrators at another Gaza viewpoint a few meters away gathered together to communicate a very different message.

A group of Israelis singing songs of peace versus a group of Arabs calling for the bombing of these people.  And the idiots on the left (especially the ones in the White House, Speaker's Office and the Senate Majority Leader) all have concluded that Israelis don't want peace, only Arabs do.

And black is white, good is bad, up is down.  Nothing to see here folks...just move along.

That was the optimism.  Now for the news:

Worst Rocket Escalation to Strike Israel Since Operation Cast Lead

by Anav Silverman

Since Operation Cast Lead, over 306 rockets have been fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. On Sunday, January 10, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that he regarded the recent escalation of rocket attacks very seriously.

Rocket attack in Sderot. (Photo: Hamutal Ben Shitrit/Sderot Media Center)

"Last week 20 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The Government's policy is clear: Any firing at our territory will be responded to strongly and immediately."

Both Netivot and Ashkelon were hit by Grad rockets in the recent rocket escalation. On New Years' eve, two Russian-made Grad artillery rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and struck Israel, with one hitting the southern town of Netivot, a city of about 26,000.

The Color Red system did not go off at the time of attack, and Netivot residents had no warning of the incoming rocket attack. No damages were reported but one woman suffered shock.

The last Grad rocket to strike Netivot had exploded near a synagogue nine months ago, causing heavy damage to the building.

A week later, on Thursday, January 7, a Grad-type Katyusha rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a field south of Ashkelon, causing no damage or injuries. Air sirens, however, did sound, sending Ashkelon residents into panic.

Ashkelon, a coastal city with over 100,000 residents, has been a target of Palestinian-fired Katyusha rockets for nearly four years.

Since the start of 2010, tens of Iranian-supplied mortar rockets have also hit southern Israel. Terrorists also fired an anti-tank missile at IDF troops on the Gaza border.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the recent firing of the rockets.

Hamas boasted on Friday Jan. 8, that it had managed to smuggle new types of weapons into the Gaza Strip. Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published photographs on its website of the new weapons. The weapons include missiles with a double warhead, 107-mm caliber missiles that are designed to penetrate fortified structures and a new type of armor piercing RPG missile.

Abu Ubeida, the Hamas spokesman stated that the group "has thousands of fighters and good weapons capable of harming Israel."

Former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov Samia predicted on Sunday that another war with Hamas was inevitable.

"We are before another round in Gaza," Samia told Army Radio in an interview.

"I am very skeptical about the possibility that Hamas will suddenly surrender or change its ways without being hit much more seriously than it was during Cast Lead."

Will someone please explain the meaning of the word CEASE-FIRE to Hamas!  In a cease-fire both side stop shooting at each other.  If one side starts shooting again, then the cease-fire is over, battle begins anew.

Now for a little good news:

A new rocket-proof daycare center was inaugurated in the southern city of Sderot on December 27. The money for the furniture, equipment, and toys was donated by 13 year-old Thomas Cole of Toronto on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah.

United Israel Appeal of Canada’s website reported that the dedication ceremony was attended by 35 members of Cole’s family, including his parents and grandparents, as well as by Sderot Mayor David Buskila, who unveiled a plaque of recognition and affixed the mezuzah together with Thomas.

The daycare center was built to withstand rocket attacks and contains three classrooms. It will serve approximately 45 infants ranging in age from three months to four years. The center will specifically serve the Reut community, a group of 150 young families who have made Sderot their home over the last decade.

Eran Shmueli-David, director of UIAC’s Israel Emergency Campaign, said that “this gift was implemented thanks to the tireless efforts of Eddy Azran, UIAC’s local coordinator in Sderot. It was his persistence and determination that pressed the municipality to open the new building as soon as construction was completed.”

Thomas Cole personally chose to dedicate the money to the Sderot Daycare Centre out of several options given to him by the B’nei Tzedek program of UJA Federation.

Read the full story here.

Young Thomas Cole of Toronto not only is on his way in life to becoming a man of good character, but has shown to the world the true meaning of becoming a man.  The unselfish giving unto others.  In Master Cole's case, his generosity will help many children to have a better life.

His parents MUST be busting at the seams with pride.

You can HELP too.  It isn't hard.  Just a few dollars can and does go a long way.  Just click here and follow the instructions.  Your donation to the Sderot Media Center will help the people of Sderot and the Western Negev.  People who have been under rocket attack for the last 9 years.

The Children of Sderot sent out messages of peace and hope.
The Children of Gaza send out rockets to destroy them.

Yet Hamas screams bloody murder whenever the Israelis strike back at them.

Not this time.

The time is coming when the people of Israel will have had enough.  When they will attack in retaliation, and not stop until Hamas is fully destroyed.  This next time nothing will be able to stop the IDF from achieving their directive.  Not the UN, not the EU, and definitely not Barack Hussein Obama.  Let Hamas and their anti-Semitic allies on the left cry all they want.  They will cry, scream, and throw a temper tantrum like they did last year.  But things are different now.  Europe is fed up with their antics.  The US isn't buying their lies.  And there will be elections this year.  Now Hamas will have to contend with that.

And the Children of Sderot truly might have a peaceful childhood.

Oh Jerusalem!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee,
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth;
if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Psalm 137: 5-6

Jersalem, City of Gold, City of David, City of G-d, Capital of both Ancient and Modern Israel is suppose to be handed over, both sides, Old and New City, the Palestinians Arabs before any further talks will be permitted.

The sixth Fatah General Assembly decreed on Saturday that the return of both east and west Jerusalem to Palestinian control was a "red line" which was non-negotiable, and would need to be fulfilled before any peace talks with Israel could renew, Israel Radio reported.

According to the report, a document adopted by the Fatah delegates of the assembly declared that Palestinians would "continue to be sacrificed until residents of Jerusalem are free of settlements and settlers." The document went on to state that all of Jerusalem, including the surrounding villages, belonged to the Palestinians, and lands conquered following the Six Day War shared the same status as those located within the Green Line.

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz blasted the statement Saturday, saying that the declaration was a clear message to all those who maintained the "illusion that the Palestinians were prepared for compromise," Israel Radio reported.

Israel should take legal steps in response to the decree, Israel Radio quoted the minister as saying. According to the report, he urged the government to expand the municipal authority of Jerusalem to include Ma'aleh Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, Gush Etzion, and Beitar. In addition, Katz encouraged further construction in surrounding neighborhoods so as to increase Jewish presence in the city.

This is totally unacceptable to all of Israel. Even the most left-wing, person in Israel will not accept this.

But it seems Barack Hussein Obama has already accepted it and will try to impose it on Israel.

Take the example of the US Consulate in Jerusalem. It has already declaired Jerusalem, Old and New City, as the Capital of the nation of Palestine. It is written in English and Arabic, there is no news from the elected Mayor of the city, Nir Barkat, and children of US citizens born in Jerusalem, Israel are listed as Jerusalem, Jerusalem (soon to be changed to Palestine).

I guess this is the change that was talked about and we are suppose to accept. Only this change is not acceptable.

Perhaps the Israelis should do their own bit of change. Like changing one thing in the City of Jerusalem:

Now that's CHANGE I can believe in!

I am willing to meet any Arab leader, even in Riyadh

by Findalis


In an unprecedented speech at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke those words.

In the same speech he uttered the words: Palestinian State. The first Prime Minister of Israel to do so. But he also laid down quite a few conditions for there to be peace between the 2 peoples:

“I turn to you, our Palestinian neighbors," he said, let us start negotiations for peace immediately. I say to you – we want to live with you in peace and good neighborly relations. I want our children will dream of a better future and realize it. That we will put our energy into plowshares and pruning scissors, not swords... I do not want war. No one in Israel wants war. Let us join hands and work at peace. There is no end to the flourishing we can bring to our two nations."

"The simple truth," he added however, "is that the root of the conflict is the refusal to accept the Jewish people’s right to exist in its historic homeland. Whoever thinks that the enmity to Israel is the result of our occupying Judea and Samaria is confusing cause and effect." He then enumerated instances of Arab belligerence against the Jews in the Land of Israel before 1967.

The closer we come to a peace the more the Palestinians move away, he said. "Every retreat by us was met with thousands of suicide terror bombings and rockets."

"We vacated the Gaza Strip to the last centimeter and received a rain of missiles on our communities and our children. Hamas and Hizbullah keep saying that their aim is to free Akko, Beersheva and Haifa. Even the moderate Palestinians, even now, are unwilling to say the simplest thing: Israel is the state of the Jewish People and it will stay that way.”

He added: "In order to achieve peace one needs courage and honesty on both sides – not just the Israeli side. The Palestinian leadership must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people."

“The demand to settle Palestinian refugees inside Israel is incompatible with the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state," he said. "It is possible to solve this problem outside the borders of Israel. There is wide national agreement about this among us.”

"Judea and Samaria are not a foreign country for us. This is the land of our forefathers. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The right of the Jewish people over our country does not come from the suffering we have been through. Some say if it weren’t for the Holocaust there would be no State if Israel. But I say that if Israel had been established n time there would not have been a Holocaust," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel's long standing desire for peace. A desire held by all Israelis since the founding of the nation in 1948.

"Peace has always been our objective," Netanyahu began. "Our prophets always envisioned peace; we bless each other with Shalom; our prayers end in peace."

The prime minister said that he was willing to meet any Arab leader anywhere.

"I turn to Arab leaders: Let's make peace, I am ready," Netahyahu said. "I am willing to go to Damascus; Riyadh, to meet anytime and anywhere."

Netanyahu also warned of the threat emanating from Iran, saying, "The biggest threat to Israel, and the middle east and all of humanity is the meeting between radical Ismalism and nuclear weaponry."

Netanyahu called on the Palestinians to "begin peace talks immediately, and with no preconditions."

The prime minister continued to speak of the heavy toll the ongoing conflict has taken, mentioning his being a bereaved brother.

"I don't want war. Nobody in Israel wants war," he said to applause.

"If the advantages of peace are so clear, we must ask - why is peace still far? What is perpetuating the conflict for over 60 years? We must reach the root of the struggle," Netanyahu ascertained.

"Let me use the most simple words - the root of the struggle is the refusal to recognize the Israel as the Jewish state. The initial Arab refusal was to a Jewish state in any location, before Israeli presence in the West Bank," continued Netanyahu.

"The closer we get to an agreement with the Palestinians, the further it is rejected. We tried a withdraw with an agreement, without one, a partial withdraw and offered a near-complete withdraw. We uprooted Jewish settlers from their homes, and got a barrage of missiles in return," he said of the Gaza pullout.

"Sadly, even the Palestinian moderates won't say the most simple statement - Israel is the Jewish national state, and will remain such.

"To achieve peace, courage and honesty are needed from both sides. The Palestinians must say - 'enough with this conflict. We recognize Israel's right to exist, and want to live by their side.'

"A public Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation-state is a precondition for regional peace," Netanyahu said.

Now for the $64,000 question:

Did Netanyahu sell out? NO! He did not call for an freeze on Settlements, Jerusalem was to remain in Israeli hands, nor did he call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Judea and Samaria (The West Bank).

What he did call for is very simple:

1. Recognize Israel as a Jewish Nation.
2. No militarized Palestinian Nation.
3. No Law of Return for Palestinians.
4. Jerusalem, the city of David would be always be part of Israel.

The next round goes to the Palestinians, who if history is any indication of their intentions, will reject this out right.

Now what will Obama do?

Obama ~vs~ Christian Zionists

Obama, Christian Zionists, Israel, Palestinians, Iran.

Decades of War in the Middle East
By: J. D. Longstreet

**************************

OK, so what IS Christian Zionism, anyway? I was surprised to learn, over the weekend, that I had never heard the term before – or if I had, it had completely flown right by me without mussing even a single hair on my rather thick head!Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Christian Zionism:

Christian Zionism is a belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy. It overlaps with, but is distinct from, the nineteenth century movement for the Restoration of the Jews o the Holy Land, which had both religiously and politically motivated supporters.

Some Christian Zionists believe that the "ingathering" of Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus. This belief is primarily, though not exclusively, associated with Christian Dispensationalism. The idea that Christians should actively support a Jewish return to the Land of Israel, along with the parallel idea that the Jews ought to be encouraged to become Christian, as a means fulfilling a Biblical prophecy has been common in Protestant circles since the Reformation. The term Christian Zionism was popularized in the mid-twentieth century. Prior to that time the common term was Restorationism.

Many Christian Zionists believe that the people of Israel remain part of the Chosen People of God, along with the in-grafted (based on Romans 11:17-24, Holy Bible) Gentile Christians. This has the added effect of turning Christian Zionists into supporters of Jewish Zionism.

Now let us turn to an article in June 2009 edition of “The Lutheran” magazine, a publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, (ELCA) a denomination, which has my name engraved on its rolls ONLY because it would embarrass my wife to near death if I resigned my membership and ANYONE found out! But, in the interest of full disclosure, allow me to explain that I no longer attend services, and haven’t, since the church, in my humble opinion, was taken over by hardcore leftists and, somehow, lost it’s way in it’s mission to spread the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus) and appears dangerously close to having replaced a scriptural doctrine with a secular doctrine. (This is another of those instances when I sincerely hope I am wrong for I have a deep and abiding love for the Lutheran Church.) For, you see, I believe in “sola scriptura” (from the Latin meaning: “by scripture alone.”) and for me, as a protestant that means that I maintain that the Scripture alone is the authority for the people of God. For my Roman Catholic friends, however, I respect your different interpretation. I reserve the right to disagree, but I do respect your position.

The article I mentioned above can be found HERE. (If you have the current hard copy issue you will find the article begins on page eighteen.) Once you read the article you will quickly see why I separated myself from active membership in the denomination.

On page 23 under the caption “Key Terms” Christian Zionism is defined this way: “Political action, informed by specifically Christian commitments, to promote or preserve Jewish control over the geographic area now comprising the State of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Not all Christian Zionists are motivated by end-times speculation.”

MY definition goes something like this: I am a Christian Zionist because one: I am a Christian - and two: because the land in question belongs to Israel traditionally, historically, and in every other way that counts. Add to that the fact that there has never been a land of Palestine or a Palestinian people. (Who was the last Palestinian king? Where is the capital city of Palestine?) Those refugees who lay claim to the name of Palestinians and also lay claim to the land of Israel have bogus claims.

I have never read a single one of the “Left Behind” books. Not interested. In my humble opinion they are based on a flawed premise, therefore they can be dangerous to those who read them without a solid base in real history, not the revisionist stuff passed off by today’s academia as the real thing. Plus, for those with only a passing knowledge of the scriptures that kind of literature can be extremely dangerous.

I just happen to believe that Israel has the only legitimate claim to the land of Israel and I support their claim. By some definitions, as noted above, that makes me a Christian Zionist. I also believe the Jews remain God’s Chosen People as Saint Paul said, (“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin….” From the eleventh chapter of the book of Romans) and, I believe, as a Christian, I am expected to love them and/or “bless” them. You see, I recognize God's biblical commands for Christians to support the Jewish people. Some biblical scholars tell me that belief puts me, and all like me, in a special group of Christians - and I am hated for it.

As I delved deeper into what Christian Zionists are today, I found that Christian Zionists are "Biblical advocates" for the Jewish people and the state of Israel. Furthermore, they stand in firm, diametrical, opposition to land concessions of any sort which involve the forfeiture of the holy land of Israel as it is a sacred manifestation of the promises of God to the people He calls the "apple of His eye". (Learn more HERE.) That pretty much sums up my own stance on “land concessions.” and the Two State Policy the Obama Administration is attempting to foist onto the people of Israel this very day.

Now, I want to tread softly here. What I am about to say will be difficult for some of you to hear and some of you will never accept it’s validity.

Here’s the way I see it: I cannot support a Two-State Policy (a State of Israel and a State of Palestine) when that policy involves giving away land, which was given to Israel by God (If one believes the scripture.). It is my considered opinion that no man has a right to interfere with such a divine endowment. For any nation, even the United States of America, to force Israel to go against the dictates of God, can only bring destruction upon that nation. And so, with those few words I shall forever be known as a “Christian Zionist.”

So, why, then, am I writing what some will see as a “religious” piece here on what is normally a political site? Because this is one of those instances in which religion and politics manage to crash, smack-dab, into each other. For whether one wishes to believe it, or not, the vast majority of Americans, both left and right, are people of religion. From the earliest explorers of this land, who came ashore bearing a sword (politics) and a cross (religion) right up to the modern era, religion and politics have never been completely divorced from each other. Now, especially now, that we are neck deep in the birthplace of the world’s three major religions it would be a fool’s folly to think, for one minute, that we can navigate the political minefield before us without major clashes over religion and politics. It is an equal folly to believe the Obama Administration can tiptoe through that minefield with impunity. It is not going to happen.

So, as one of those hated “Christian Zionists,” I offer this warning: Strap in! We are in for a very bumpy ride ahead in our dealings with Israel and the so-called Palestinians, and Israel and the Iranians. Either we, the US, get out of the way and allow Israel to be Israel, and deal with those problems as she sees fit, or we can interfere and get hammered. Judging from the performance of the Obama Administration to date, it is not difficult to predict which course his government will take. It is the wrong course and it will cost the US dearly, and in the end, America will still be fighting wars in the Middle East many decades from now.

J. D. Longstreet

*****************
Obama+Israel+Palestinians+Iran+Christians

Jordan, West Bank Should Become a Palestinian State

By Findalis



From Memri

Lebanese Writer Farid Salman: Jordan, West Bank Should Become a Palestinian State, Which Will Absorb the Refugees

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese writer Farid Salman, which aired on OTV on May 6, 2009.

View the clip here.

"Jordan is An Invention... I Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry When I Hear a Jordanian Say That He is Jordanian... He Has Forgotten That He's Palestinian"

Farid Salman: "Jordan is an invention. Transjordan, which was an emirate, and later became the Hashemite Kingdom, is part of Palestine. Britain created it in order to crown one of the sons of Hussein, from the Arabian Peninsula, over part of Greater Syria - over Palestine. This continues to be the perpetual reason... Without removing it, the Palestinian issue will not be resolved. It's impossible."

Interviewer: "Some people in Israel talk about the Jordanian option..."

Farid Salman: "They are right."

Interviewer: "In the days of Abba Eban..."

Farid Salman: "We missed an opportunity with Abba Eban."

Interviewer: "This is why the Black September battles of 1969 and 1970 took place, and the crisis was shifted here, to Lebanon. But King Hussein stabilized his throne..."

Farid Salman: "It wasn't him. The English stabilized the throne. Glubb Pasha did it for his grandfather, and the English continue to do so to this day. The Israelis also [stabilized the Jordanian rule]. The Zionist regime in Israel is against peace. It doesn't want peace.

"Abba Eban was one of the most important people in Israel, but we did not know how to benefit from him, and eventually the Zionists got rid of him. They sent him to teach in America, thus removing him from the scene. He could see the truth.

"Today, I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear a Jordanian say that he is a Jordanian, and that there are Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. He has forgotten that he is a Palestinian. What do you mean 'Jordanian?' The East Bank is just like the West Bank. The Jordanian king was behind the war in Lebanon. He sent the Palestinians to Lebanon. We must not forget the role that Jordan played in Lebanon." [...]

The Anti-Zionist "Jewdanians... Have Now Gained Power, Along With Obama"

"With regard to Israel, I am very optimistic. For 40 years, I have been writing about this issue - about Zionism and about the people I call 'the Jewdanians' - that group of Jews around the world who are against the Zionist philosophy and state. They have now gained power, along with Obama. They began..."

Interviewer: "With the plan of the first Bush..."

Farid Salman: "In Madrid..."

Interviewer: "Yes."

Farid Salman: "They are the ones who brought Obama to power. They supported him financially. A few weeks ago, they announced that they were establishing a lobby. Until now, they operated behind the scenes, but now it is out in the open. An existential Israeli crisis has emerged among the Jews themselves - between the Zionists and the non-Zionists. The Zionists in power today - Lieberman and Netanyahu - no peace plan can possibly emerge from them. They will bring about a Jewish crisis in Israel and worldwide, and I believe they will be the losers. If they do not lose, that will be the end of the Zionist regime in Israel."

"When A Palestinian State Is Established, And Jordan Becomes The Palestinian State, Along With The West Bank... It Will Invite The Palestinians"

Interviewer: "That is the solution, in your view?"

Farid Salman: "Of course. When this happens, we won't need Israeli approval for the resettlement

Interviewer: "Can the Jewdanians, who support Obama, realize what the solution is, and grant the Palestinians the Right of Return?"

Farid Salman: "We have turned the Right of Return into a casus belli... Let me tell you something - when a Palestinian state is established, and Jordan becomes the Palestinian state, along with the West Bank..."

Interviewer: "That is the solution, in your view?"

Farid Salman: "Of course. When this happens, we won't need Israeli approval for the resettlement... Once there is a Palestinian state, it will invite the Palestinians. Jordan can receive 30 million [Palestinians]. In New York alone, there are 20 million people."

Interviewer: "Do you think that we are at the beginning of a process of the collapse of regimes in the region?"

Farid Salman: "Of course."

Interviewer: "Like dominoes, one will lead to the toppling of the other?"

"There is a Plan to Increase the Number of Sunnis by Resettling the Palestinians in Lebanon"

Farid Salman: "Undoubtedly. There is no other solution for the Middle East. Who invented the story of refugee resettlement in Lebanon? Let's be clear - the Sunnis. Al-Hariri did, and his sister continues in his path. The Palestinian ambassador in Lebanon is their accomplice."

Interviewer: "Abbas Zaki?"

Salman: "Him, along with Fuad Siniora. There is a plan to increase the number of Sunnis by resettling the Palestinians in Lebanon. They are the ones talking about resettlement. The day the Palestinian issue is resolved, and they have a state - in Jordan, the West Bank, wherever it may be..."

Interviewer: "Arafat used to say: 'Give me a state even on the back of a donkey.'"

Farid Salman: "Wherever it may be... Half a million Palestinian in Lebanon will go to their state. End of story. We won't be needing the approval of Israel or the world. It will be their state, and they will be invited there. End of story."

For those of you who don't know your history or who some of the people mentioned are, I'll explain:

Jordan as a nation never truly existed in ancient history. There is mention of a Kingdom of Petra, the region that is now Jordan has been conquered by the the Persian Empire, the Seleucids, the Romans , and Muslim Arabs. So in ancient times no nation called Jordan ever existed. Nor did it exist until April 11, 1921 when Great Britain decided to reward their "good friend" Emir Abdullah with 78% of the Palestinian Mandate (that was reserved by the League of Nations for a homeland for Jews). Thus Jordan, or as it was called then, Trans-Jordan was born.

It was after the 6-Day War, when Israel finally regained control of the West Bank that Trans-Jordan became simply Jordan.

Thus in fact, Jordan is the true Palestinian nation.

Black September was an attempt by the PLO (headed by Yassir Arafat) to overthrow the government of Jordan and replace it with the PLO. The Jordanian military thwarted the attempted overthrow and assassination of King Hussein, and the Jordanian government kicked out removed the PLO and their supporters from Jordan. They fled to the only nation which would give them sanctuary: Lebanon.

Abba Eban was an Israeli statesman. Born in Cape Town, South Africa on February 2, 1915. a graduate of Queens College, Cambridge, he was Israel's first ambassador to the United Nations and was elected Vice President of the UN General Assembly in 1952. He is considered one of the fathers of modern Israel, and a giant in diplomatic circles. He set the tone for Israel's diplomatic efforts for the last 63 years. He died on November 17, 2002.

A bit of history. But the reality is that the 2 State Solution that is being touted by the EU, UN and the US is looking like a pipe(bomb) dream each and every day. The Palestinians do not want it, they want all the land from the river to the sea as the Hamas and PLO charters both specify. And now it is not just the far right who are opposing the 2 State Solution, it is the mainstream Israelis who oppose it too:

Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon believes that the time has come for Israel to “free itself from the failed paradigm” of the “two-state solution.” Yaalon spoke Tuesday at a meeting of MKs dedicated to finding an alternative to the creation of a Palestinian Authority-led Arab state.

While the creation of a PA-led state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is perceived as a necessity both in Israel and worldwide, such a state would not solve the Israel-PA conflict, said Yaalon. In fact, he said, it is doubtful that the possibility of creating such a state exists, due to Arab and Muslim reluctance to take any step that would imply recognition of Israel or compromise on Arab claims to the entire Land of Israel.

Israel's mistake lies in accepting a-symmetrical talks with the PA, Yaalon said. From the beginning of talks, he explained, Israel has accepted the idea of a Palestinian national movement with the PA as its representative, while the PA has resolutely refused to accept the Jewish national movement of Zionism or the idea of a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel.

Furthermore, while the PA demands that Arabs and Muslims be allowed to live in Israel, Israel accepts that a PA state would not have Jewish citizens, he said. And while Israel gives in on crucial issues such as the status of Jerusalem or the borders of a PA state, the PA refuses to bend in the slightest.

Read the full story here.

No proposal that Netanyahu would bring to the negotiating table will ever satisfy the Palestinians, and no proposal that they bring would be allowed by any Israeli Knesset. Thus the region is at a stalemate, and this time President Obama will not be able to charm Netanyahu or the Israelis into making a deal that would effectively destroy their nation.

The time has come to recognize and remember the true history of the region, and sent the PA, Hamas and the rest of the Palestinians back to the two-thirds of the Palestinian Mandate, back to Jordan, the real state of Palestine!

Do the Palestinians Really Want a State?

By Findalis



I am positive that the average Palestinian man or woman would take any decent agreement giving them their own nation and working in peaceful cooperation with their Israeli neighbors, create a Paradise on Earth. Most Palestinians work or have worked in Israel, many would be friendly with Israelis if they could (the extremists in Gaza and the West Bank kill such people, calling them traitors and collaborators.). There is a deep desire for peace among them.

The Palestinian Authority on the other hand may have no desire for a settlement to the stalemate that has boxed both sides into positions they cannot retreat from.

This is the premise that Robert D. Kaplan puts forward in this month's Atlantic Monthly.

The statelessness of Palestinian Arabs has been a principal feature of world politics for more than half a century. It is the signature issue of our time. The inability of Israelis and Palestinians to reach an accord of mutual recognition and land-for-peace has helped infect the globe with violence and radicalism—and has long been a bane of American foreign policy. While the problems of the Middle East cannot be substantially blamed on the injustice done to Palestinians, that injustice has nonetheless played a role in weakening America’s position in the region.

Obviously, part of the problem has been Israeli intransigence. Despite seeming to submit to territorial concessions, one Israeli government after another has quietly continued to bolster illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

With Fatah and Hamas facing off against each other, the Palestinians are simply too divided to plausibly meet Israel across the table. And because the Palestinians are unable to cut a deal, a majority of Israelis, as shown by the recent election results, have apparently given up any hope for peace.

But there is a deeper structural and philosophical reason why the Palestinians remain stateless—a reason more profound than the political narrative would indicate. It is best explained by associate Johns Hopkins professor Jakub Grygiel, in his brilliant essay, “The Power of Statelessness: the Withering Appeal of Governing” (Policy Review April/May 2009). In it, Grygiel does not discuss the Palestinians in particular, but rather the attitude of stateless people in general.

Statehood is no longer a goal, he writes. Many stateless groups “do not aspire to have a state,” for they are more capable of achieving their objectives without one. Instead of actively seeking statehood to address their weakness, as Zionist Jews did in an earlier phase of history, groups like the Palestinians now embrace their statelessness as a source of power.

New communication technologies allow people to achieve virtual unity without a state, even as new military technologies give stateless groups a lethal capacity that in former decades could be attained only by states. Grygiel explains that it is now “highly desirable” not to have a state—for a state is a target that can be destroyed or damaged, and hence pressured politically. It was the very quasi-statehood achieved by Hamas in the Gaza Strip that made it easier for Israel to bomb it. A state entails responsibilities that limit a people’s freedom of action. A group like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the author notes, could probably take over the Lebanese state today, but why would it want to? Why would it want responsibility for providing safety and services to all Lebanese? Why would it want to provide the Israelis with so many tempting targets of reprisal? Statelessness offers a level of “impunity” from retaliation.

But the most tempting aspect of statelessness is that it permits a people to savor the pleasures of religious zeal, extremist ideologies, and moral absolutes, without having to make the kinds of messy, mundane compromises that accompany the work of looking after a geographical space.

The closest that Israelis and Palestinians ever came to peace was at the end of the Clinton Administration in 2000, when then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of the center-left Labor Party offered a slew of concessions to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat—only to have Arafat reject them. Arafat’s epitaph was that he remained loyal to the cause of his people, that he never compromised, and that he was steadfast to the bitter end. He may have seen that as a more morally and emotionally satisfying conclusion to a life of statelessness than that of making the unenchanting concessions associated with achieving statehood.

Read the full article here.

If this report is right, then President Obama's effort to ram an agreement down the Israelis throats is doomed to failure. For it will always be in the best interest of the Palestinian leaders to reject any offer to them that doesn't include all the land from the river to the sea. In other words, unless they get it all and Israel is eliminated, then they will not take any deal.

It is in the best interest of the Palestinian leadership to remain stateless and cry victim every time Israel tries to stop the terror that the Palestinian leadership uses to achieve their ends.
For once a nation has been formed, attacks such as the rockets falling into Israel from Gaza, suicide bombers, or the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers would and is considered an Act of War under International Law. Without the 'protection' of being stateless, the Palestinians would have to face Israel's wrath without International support.

Another consequence of the creation of a Palestinian state would be the removal of their special refugee status. Although the Saudi Peace Plan insists on a Law of Return, there is no Israeli government (on the left or the right) that will ever agree to such a demand. But for the sake of this article, let us say that the Palestinians do agree to drop this demand (Yassir Arafat refused a Palestinian nation in 2000 by doing this). Finally the Palestinians living in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank would now be living in cities of their new nation, and the remaining refugees living in camps through out the Arab world could be relocated to the new nation, having gained the status of citizen of Palestine and losing the status of refugee.

For the average Palestinian this would be a boon. But for the leadership, this would be a nightmare. No longer would the world support through massive donations of food and monies the Palestinian people. Any agreement reached by both sides would have to include a date for ending refugee status. And thus funds. Such funds which are often diverted into Swiss bank accounts for the private use of the leadership and not the benefit of the people. This international gravy train would dry up, and the leadership would either have to beg more money from within the Muslim community and the US or EU. Eventually these funds would dry up too.

As things stand now, the PA has no reason to agree to anything except the full release to them of the land that is now Israel. Other than that, there will never be a peaceful solution to this problem. And just like Bill Clinton before him, Barack Obama just might come to realize that the PA and Hamas will never agree to anything that will end their free ride.

Bibi's Condition!

By Findalis


Israel's new Prime Minister is one sneaky fellow. Instead of ranting and raving against the US's insistence on forcing Israel to accept the Saudi Peace Plan Saudi Plan for Israel's Suicide, he just
made one little concession for the Palestinians to make in order for Israel to accept a 2-State Solution:

Full Recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation. And agreeing to Israel's right to exist as a nation.

Just one little concession.

I wonder if the Palestinians will conceed this at the earliest date possible (today) or will wait for better conditions.

Either way. Bibi has shown that unlike Olmert, he has a set of balls. And they are made of brass.

European Union and Weapons

by Findalis


From the Sderot Media Center

Weapons smuggling continues into the Gaza Strip

By Sderot Media Center

Over 70 tons of bombmaking supplies have entered Gaza according to Shin Bet head

Hamas is continuing to rearm itself two-and-a-half months after Operation Cast Lead, said Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). More than 22 tons of explosives, hundreds of mortar shells, dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles and 45 tons of raw material to manufacture arms, have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

Diskin added that Egypt is doing its part prevent the smuggling, but that the smuggling under the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and the Gaza Strip continued unabated.

Hamas is concerned about an escalation in its confrontation with Israel, especially in light of the freeze in talks for a prisoner exchange and the failure so far of its reconciliation talks with Fatah, Diskin said.

An additional round of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks was expected to be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Cairo, but nothing was expected to come of it, he said.

"The difference between the two sides is great," Diskin said.

Diskin, in his last briefing to the current government, said there had been a marked decrease in the number of rocket attacks on the western Negev.

"Hamas's military wing is constantly on watch for fear of an escalation, especially in light of the deadlock reached around the prisoner exchange deal and Hamas-Fatah relations."

"There is indeed a drop in rockets, only one rocket from a small organization was fired in recent days. There are two reasons for this: Hamas is not interested in an escalation or another confrontation with Israel, and as a result, Hamas is carrying out arrests before attacks,” said Diskin.

Diskin also stated that Hamas was taking measures to stop small organizations from firing rockets and had signed an agreement with Islamic Jihad to prevent rocket fire for the short term.

Nevertheless, Diskin warned that the small terrorist organizations were plotting to kidnap soldiers, and were also planning attacks inside Israel - either via Sinai, or with the aid of terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria.

Read the full story here.

Red Color



View at YouTube

No child should have to live in fear on a daily basis. Every child should have a chance to grow up in a happy, healthy environment.

But the world is all to ready to allow the Jews of Israel, especially those living in Sderot, to suffer these attacks on a daily basis.

Letter to European Union on behalf of Sderot Residents

Dear EU Ambassador,

The EU is to be commended for the mandate that it has undertaken to help civilians whose lives have been affected by the recent Gaza war. EU member states remain well aware of the suffering and economic challenges that exist on the Palestinian side of the Gaza conflict.

The EU remains the most significant financial donor to the Palestinian civilians affected by the war.

In 2008 alone, the EU provided almost 500 million Euros for the health and welfare services to the Palestinian population in Gaza.Yet on the other side of the Gaza war, EU humanitarian aid workers may not be aware of the devastating toll that the Gaza war has taken on the lives of thousands of Israeli civilians who have endured eight years of daily rocket explosions and siren warnings.

Writing from the perspective of an NGO in Sderot where I have worked and lived for the past 2 years, I have witnessed and written about countless homes destroyed, children maimed, and families torn apart by the impact of these lethal attacks.

This is a reality where bomb shelters, which dot the entire city, are used almost daily. Life in Sderot is measured by 15 seconds--the time one has to race to bomb shelter when the siren goes off to warn of impending rockets. A recent study found that more than 80% of Sderot children suffer from PTSD symptoms-post traumatic stress disorder. The long term psychological damage inflicted by the constant rocket fire on both adults and children alike has not yet been fully comprehended or addressed.

Given the mandate of the EU to help civilians in the Gaza war zone rebuild their lives, the time has come for the EU to help fund agencies in Sderot that seek to strengthen the mental heath and social functionality of ordinary Sderot civilians who need psychological aid in order to continue life under rocket terror. Two appropriate services come to mind:

1) THE SDEROT MENTAL HEALTH CENTER

Although Sderot has no medical center (residents who are wounded by rockets must be transferred to the Barzeli hospital in Ashkelon located 20 min. away) a Sderot Mental Health Center, under the auspices of Barzeli hospital does exist, and is run by Dr. Adrianna Katz. The Mental Health Center has become a vital service for the Sderot community, providing psychological treatment to those suffering from PTSD and those who enter shock after experiencing a rocket explosion. The center has only four full time workers to help provide mental health services to almost 5,000 people in Sderot who have been diagnosed with severe mental health stress that has resulted from the anxiety of life under rocket attacks.

The Sderot Mental Health Center needs immediate financial aid to ad staff and to service such a large community of patients.

2) THE SDEROT COMMUNITY THEATER THERAPY PROGRAM

Providing psychological therapy for Sderot high school students by the avenue of the arts and theater, Sderot Community Theater Therapy reaches out to young people in Sderot to help them express their fears and anxieties of life under rocket fire. The high school students creatively produce dramatic presentations, under the guidance of a theater director and psychologist.

With the understanding that the EU will address the humanitarian needs of all sides of a war zone, it would be a welcome gesture if the EU would help provide funds to the mental health services of Sderot and the Western Negev. Such financial assistance is vital to the restoration of normal life for future generations of southern Israelis.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Anav Silverman, Sderot Information Correspondent

I fear that Anav Silverman's words will be falling on deaf ears. For many of us in the US have witnessed these last few years is Europe's embracing of the Palestinian cause and ignoring the suffering that the Palestians are doing to innocent Israeli children.

You don't have to be silent though. You can help.

Remember Sderot and the people of Southern Israel in your prayers.
Sign up for Code Red alerts here.
Contact your congressman and Senators, reminding them of the United State's commitment to Israel.
And if you are able to, donate a few dollars to the Sderot Media Center. Just click on the logo at the top or bottom of this post.

Every child deserves a happy and safe childhood!