Netanyahu to be next prime minister of Israel.

I have been following Israeli elections with an interest this year because of the increased pressure that Obama will put on that little country. Obama’s 7 person delegation to Durban II is already an extremely distressing sign that he might rescind his commitment to Israel – not like that should be a huge surprise to anyone. Bibi gets the nod.

Despite Bibi’s perceived radicalism and refusal to negotiate with almost anyone, like I said before this is a wonderful development and largely boosted by the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu (Avigdor Lieberman) who finally broke silence and stood behind Netanyahu. Israel needs a fiscally conservative strong minded leader, now more than ever. While I always think a country needs to be run by fiscal conservatives, in times of need and global hardship these types of leaders are paramount. I just wish Americans understood that before election Mr. Hope and Change, lets just hope Bibi does not piss off our new fragile leader or there goes that 30 billion dollar promise.

Like always with Israeli politics, the process of forming a government is tricky and can take shape in a variety of ways. Largely depending on where Bibi decides to take it – my guess is that he will probably lean to center, a failure to do so will alienate a large portion of Israel’s representation.

Jews voted for Obama – mandatory reading!

Courtesy of Clyde @ PatriotRoom I learned that Obama is considering attending Durban II. In case you are not familiar with Durban I, you should discover what Durban, South Africa means and it’s impact on Israel and Jews worldwide.

In a nutshell, this is a UN sponsored conference designed to battle worldwide racism. Unfortunately a conference sponsored and lead by the likes of Iran and Libya will typically only have one agenda. Demonize and vilify Israel and Jews. Canada and America wanted none of it and left this pathetic gathering in 2001, but with a new administration and liberalism aplenty change has come to town.

A brief introduction: Durban I video.
Learn more about Durban at Durban Watch.

Mandatory Reading: Obama’s policy on the upcoming Durban II.
Spectator: America slides into the sewer.

Israel elections Likud and Kadima duke it out.

I am not an expert on Israeli elections, but suffice it to say that the process is far more complicated than it is here. Israel has numerous parties many of whom have seats in the Knesset. Israelis go to the voting booths and select a party, not any particular individual politician like we do here. Because no party can ever win a majority, they form coalitions and then pick their PM. As you may have heard Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu was a very likely PM choice just a short two weeks ago. As it is with politics things have changed dramatically and now it seems like the centrist party had edged Bibi out.

I won’t lie to you, I am all for Bibi and I think Israel needs him. He is a strong conservative, he will not negotiate with terrorists and will respect and use the IDF correctly. More importantly however he is a fiscal conservative. As finance minister he has reportedly done wonders in the banking sector and dramatically improved the GDP of Israel. I cannot stress the paramount important of economic freedom as I believe that economic freedom is the ultimate path to individual liberties. Once you unleash the freedom of human ingenuity the rest tends to follow.

If you are interested in learning more about the Israeli elections, I got two great resources for you, since I plead ignorance on the subject.

Yid with Lid. Who knows more about Israeli elections than a yid? Especially one with a lid?
Clyde from Patriot Room. Clyde has been following the Israeli elections and operation Cast Lead since day 1.

That should give you everything you need!

Israel humor

With all the stress being created by the “stimulus” bill, here is a little something to bring a smile to your face.

An Israeli arrives in London Airport .
The official helps him to fill the arrivals customs card:

- Your name?
- Moshe.
- Family name?
- Mizrakhi.
- Citizenship?
- Israeli.
- Occupation?
- No, NO!!! Not occupation!! Just visiting!!!”

Is the United States creating another Middle East conflict?

An ongoing story with the Iranian ship suspected of carrying weapons for Hamas has taken an interesting twist. Last week US released the ship after determining that the cargo was not intended for Hamas, despite the fact that Iran is in clear violation of a UN resolution preventing Iran from selling weaponry.

The ship is now in the custody of Cyprus and according to the latest story from DEBKAfile and surprisingly from AsiaNews, Cyprus finds itself in a pickle. US who just let go of the ship is pressuring Cyprus to search the ship and take action. One might wonder why the United States is pressuring Cyprus to do a task, that could have been just as easily done last week. Consequently, Iran is threatening Cyprus with economic and possibly military retribution if the ship is not released immediately. Cyprus fears that if the ship is released, then Israel will be forced to intervene and handle this mess in ways Israel sees fit. This could have the potential of escalating already very tense relations between Iran and Israel.

There are several questions that Americans should be asking here though.

1. The ship was siezed while Bush was still in power, why was it not properly searched? After all, they already determined that the cargo load contained 60 tons of weapons which were undeclared.
2. Why did Obama release the ship?
3. Why is this story blacked out in US media? There appears to be orders from the top to make no mention of this in any major news media.
4. In light of Obama’s al-Arabiya interview, is he possibly pawning off the difficult task of searching the ship on Cyprus in an effort to preserve relations?
5. What could be the consequences of US backing down and Israel taking the brunt of Iran’s retribution if the situations escalates.

I for one find the story to be of paramount importance for one sole reason. If the world is truly interested in pursuing a peaceful resolution between Israel and the Palestinian people then Iran’s continuing arming of Hamas is a direct affront to this desire. The first order of business should be the complete and total termination of all weapons flowing into Gaza. Obama can claim that he wishes to pursue a two state solution yet at the same time chooses to disregard the primary source of the problem. Lastly, the order to block this story from American eyes is frustrating and disappointing.

Arab propaganda at it’s finest.

A good buddy of mine gave me an interesting read, from what looks like a Pakistani blog. The article discusses several quotes from an Israeli professor, reviled Dutch-Israeli Military Historian Martin van Creveld, that include some very aggressive and fiery rhetoric. It makes him sound like a madman and unfortunately this same post can be found on the whose who of hate sites including notorious hate mongers such as Stormfront.org (neo-Nazis). The very first quote listed (ironically the last one in the actual interview) is the following:

“We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force.”

Sounds captivating does it not? The article is then cleverly appended with prophecies that call for the destruction of mankind from the one and only anti-Christ. Gotta hand it to the Arabs, they sure do have a penchant for the melodramatic.

The link to the story can be found here.

I was able to track down the actual interview, which was conducted in 2003 by a Dutch paper.
The translation and full interview can be found here.

When read in context, the picture is completely different. What the professor is explaining, in actuality coincides with the opinion of an earlier piece I wrote. He is critical of the incursions into Palestinian territories and feels they are a waste of time. Instead he suggests that some Israeli leaders are considering a deportation of all Palestinian people. The interviewer then asks if the world will support such ethnic cleansing and the professor surmises they might not, however Israel is armed with nuclear weapons – and therefore the world might just have to.

His ultimate point and something that everyone should think about is this; Does the current arrangement make sense? Israel can never win against terrorists that are within the population. Israel will only continue killing more and more civilians. A much better solution is to provide a peaceful process for the people of Gaza and West Bank to exit the areas and live in any of the 57 Muslim countries available to them. In the short run, this will seem barbaric. In the long run, this will provide long lasting peace. This is what the professor was trying to explain. Instead the Arabs honed in on the man, isolated him, took his words out of context and spread it all over the Internet to raise anti-Israeli sentiment. Disgusting.

Israel calls cease-fire, Hamas vows to keep fighting

As you have may have heard this Saturday, Israel politicians approved a cease-fire stating that accomplishments have been made.

I wrote previously in what was the point of the fighting if eventually Israel would simply bow to international pressures and bow they did. You see, it is estimated that there are roughly 20,000 Hamas militants in Gaza and the latest death tolls suggest that roughly 500-600 have been killed. I am not a math whiz, but that still leaves a lot of Islamic fundamentalist Jihadists roaming around.

What did Israel do in the past three weeks?

• Took out leadership and high command
• Bombed some tunnels and halted shipments
• Destroyed rocket launchers and crippled infrastructure.

That would to be expected of course, its not reasonable to expect the IDF to kill thousands of Hamas militants – but it begs the question as to what is next!?

As of now, Israel makes no plan to withdraw, which of course is the ultimate irony because Hamas justified rocket fire due to occupation/control of the Gaza borders. So not only is the Gaza still blockaded, but there is now a military presence immediately within Gaza.

Why can’t Israel just pull out?

Pretty simple answer; the war would be a waste. How long do you suppose it will take Hamas to restore leadership? How about to dig and rebuild tunnels? Let me give you a hint; not very long!

So Israel decided to hang around to stifle at least the shipment. While Hamas may have learned how to manufacture their own Qassam rockets, they heavily rely on ammunition and guns supplied by their Arab friends in Iran and Syria. In fact, war should be waged on the governments of all countries aiding Hamas; namely Syria an Lebanon by extension and Iran.

Still, the ultimate point of this is very questionable at best. Palestinians will still be outraged that illegal Zionist occupiers are taking control of their “country”. At least our loony liberal friends will take a chill pill now that the civilian deaths will stop.

Back to the oven?

An angry muslim woman in Florida, shouted at a group of Israel supporters to “go back to the oven” – fully outfitted with standard muslim regalia. She was not the only anti-Israeli protestor to call for extermination of Jews and even though the organizer for the event denounced the woman’s words he quickly added that Israelis are “barbaric” and “racist”.

What troubles me the most is when the Israeli conflict broke out, I wrote about the first reaction that I anticipated coming down the pipe would indeed be more anti-semitism. According to the article anti-Jewish protests have been on the rise all over America.

I find it ironic that Israelis have been accused of being Nazis, racists, murderers and then virtually in the same breath wishing a reincarnation of the Nazi crimes? Beyond not making much sense, it is an illustration that the protestors are swelling with hate and hate does not usually coincide with rational thought.

Where were those people when thousands of rockets were flying into Israel years ago? Where were the protestors when hundreds of civilians died and thousands injured? Where was the protest when certain Israeli civililans lived with rocket fire virtually on a daily basis, in utter fear? Where was the international community to condemn the actions of Hamas and the Palestinians who silently supported them? NOWHERE.

Because the world is divided. There is the European contigency and their Arab interests and then there is Israel and the United States. Unfortunately the numbers are very much against the Israelis and Americans.

This is just yet another disturbing development in an all too predictable global breakdown.

CNN continues to disrespect journalism.

CNN’s lead story:

Doctor: Gaza patients dying before treatment
Gaza’s main hospital, already full of Palestinians wounded in the week-long Israeli air assault, reached critical mass on Sunday, according to a Norwegian doctor volunteering at Shifa Hospital. full story

And showing the following picture (Notice that the people in the background are actually Israelis!?):

Secondary story:
Aid stuck at Egyptian border

Third Story:
Israeli troops push forward, splitting Gaza

I probably should not be at all amused at this point, but it is just rather dissapointing to know that a good number of Americans are being fed a constant diet of civilian death stories. After a while any sensible individual would conclude that the only thing Israel can do is cause death among innocent civilians. Bravo CNN, bravo.

Media spin of the Israeli Gaza conflict

This is the picture on the main page of CNN.com and the caption reads

“A Palestinian brings his wounded daughters to a hospital in Gaza City today. (AFP/Getty Images)”

Meanwhile FoxNews.com is showing a story about the son of one of Hamas’s founders and how he turned against not only his family and Hamas, but also Islam.

Which story do you think is more important? What is more relevant to the education and overall information of Americans? Everyone knows that there are dead civilians, war is such an ugly thing – especially considering that Hamas is using civilians as human shields (won’t hear that from CNN). CNN is just flooding us with emotional images to turn the minds and opinions of Americans against Israel. I find this to be rather off-putting.