America demands Israeli concessions for peace, Israel stubbornly refuses to relent under the pressure. The President tells Israel to withdraw from the lands it occupied in the war; the Prime Minister doggedly attempts to deflect the pressure and hold onto as much as possible. The Israeli public backs the PM; coalition members and opposition parties castigate American interference and lopsided behavior against Israel.
The American administration threatens economic punishment should Israel not fall into line. The administration faces significant criticism for this not only from Jewish groups like the Bnai Brith, but scathing attacks for its conduct by congress.
The President, of course, is Dwight Eisenhower, and the year is 1956. The war was the 1956 Suez-Sinai War between Israel and Egypt, and the concessions referred to are the Sinai and Gaza Strip, to be vacated with no preconditions. The Israeli PM is David Ben-Gurion.
The similarities to today’s Israeli-American feud are striking. Obama demands; Netanyahu, bolstered by his hawkish government, refuses to give in to all his demands. No doubt the circumstances of the 1956-1957 crisis, as well as the 1975 diplomatic scuffle over the Sinai between Kissinger and Yitzhak Rabin both weigh heavily in the heart and mind of Bibi Netanyahu. Direct confrontation with an American president is the last thing he wants.
But a lot has changed since 1956 and 1975. Israel today is far larger, more developed, and less dependent on America. Bibi’s anxiety is misplaced. Israel in 1956 had just under 2 million citizens, in 1975 less than 3.5 million, but today well over 7 million. While American aid made up nearly 20% of the Israeli government’s budget in as late as the 1980’s, today it makes up only about 4-5%.
While Israel used to be heavily debt-ridden, today its net debt (about $30 billion) is smaller than what is owed to it (about $60 billion), and most of the money owed to Israel is from the US federal government. US loan guarantees, which were used as a means to coerce Israel not only in 1956 and 1975 but also during the Bush-Shamir spat in the late 80s/early 90s, now are essentially meaningless. Israel has a massive surplus of foreign currency and already owns nearly $60 billion of America’s debt.
In 1956 David Ben-Gurion refused to capitulate to Eisenhower’s demands for half a year, until a compromise was reached in which Israel ceded the Sinai and Gaza in exchange for UN forces in both areas and explicit US promises regarding Israeli access to the Gulf of Aqaba. Though the decision was certainly a far cry from Ben-Gurion’s November 1956 speech pledging to retain both the Sinai and Gaza, it marked the first time that an Israeli Premier would stand toe-to-toe with an antagonistic American administration and not be the first to blink.
Eisenhower’s administration led the UN in condemning Israel and threatened to orchestrate international economic sanctions against Israel. Israel, it was estimated, could survive for 12 months in such a scenario, before collapsing in the face of sanctions. Ben-Gurion was certainly aware of the intense pressure Eisenhower faced from congress, which refused to support his legislation as long as the specter of sanctions loomed over Israel.
If Ben-Gurion could stand up against Eisenhower for at least a compromise, Netanyahu is in a far better position to stand up and give Obama nothing. With his coalition partners Lieberman and Eli Yishai giving him full support and Likud MKs demanding no concessions, the only question is, will Netanyahu have the prescience to not only remember 1956, but see the advantages Israel now has.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Baron and the Serf
If extraterrestrials were to ever visit our planet, they would have a devil of a time understanding it. Most befuddling would be this strange little misshapen political entity known as “Israel”.
Carved out of the heart of the Middle East through blood and sweat by hundreds of thousands of Jews seeking to end the millennia-old oppression they suffered at the hands of gentiles, the state was meant to once and for all terminate the insidious baron-serf relationship through which Jews were always dominated by gentiles in every country both Muslim and Christian; politically, economically, and socially.
This movement to make a state, known contemporarily as Zionism, came about largely as a reaction to the failure of the gentile-initiated Emancipation in Europe, which freed Jews as individuals but not as a collective from age-old oppression.
What then would an outsider, uninitiated in the finer points of contemporary politics, make of this state, Israel groveling to Biden and Hillary Clinton in a pitiful attempt to apologize over the construction of homes in its capital???
Sadly, this is nothing new. From the get-go the Jewish establishment in Israel related to the US as the new Baron for the Jewish collective. The Zionist movement, originally meant to terminate the master-slave relationship now merely sought to replace the old European and Arab masters with a new American one.
American demands on Israel are always the same: give up land to your sworn enemies who seek your destruction. The territories demanded change with time, but only because Israel’s borders miraculously expand faster than American efforts to reduce them. From 1948 onward the demand was that Israel surrender the Negev (about half of the state of Israel). After 1967 the demand shifted to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan, and Sinai.
One of the most pernicious actions of the US, however, has been its refusal since 1948, to recognize Israeli control over WEST Jerusalem as well as its status as the capital of Israel from 1950 on. The issue of relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem did not begin after the 1967 War, it began in 1953 when the Israeli Foreign Ministry relocated to Jerusalem, following the earlier relocation of the Knesset. The US State Dept. to this day will not recognize any part of Jerusalem as Israeli territory, and all passports listing Jerusalem as place of birth have “Israel” removed.
The message is clear and astounding: it is not the “unsettled borders” of east Jerusalem that prevent American recognition of Israeli control, but Israeli control per se of any part of Jerusalem, east or west, that is not recognized. America, the alleged ally of Israel, doesn’t even recognize its control of its capital!
How then could one explain to the uninformed observer the Prime Minister of the allegedly free state of Israel groveling to an ally which doesn’t recognize the most basic right of a free state – the building of homes in its territory?
Carved out of the heart of the Middle East through blood and sweat by hundreds of thousands of Jews seeking to end the millennia-old oppression they suffered at the hands of gentiles, the state was meant to once and for all terminate the insidious baron-serf relationship through which Jews were always dominated by gentiles in every country both Muslim and Christian; politically, economically, and socially.
This movement to make a state, known contemporarily as Zionism, came about largely as a reaction to the failure of the gentile-initiated Emancipation in Europe, which freed Jews as individuals but not as a collective from age-old oppression.
What then would an outsider, uninitiated in the finer points of contemporary politics, make of this state, Israel groveling to Biden and Hillary Clinton in a pitiful attempt to apologize over the construction of homes in its capital???
Sadly, this is nothing new. From the get-go the Jewish establishment in Israel related to the US as the new Baron for the Jewish collective. The Zionist movement, originally meant to terminate the master-slave relationship now merely sought to replace the old European and Arab masters with a new American one.
American demands on Israel are always the same: give up land to your sworn enemies who seek your destruction. The territories demanded change with time, but only because Israel’s borders miraculously expand faster than American efforts to reduce them. From 1948 onward the demand was that Israel surrender the Negev (about half of the state of Israel). After 1967 the demand shifted to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan, and Sinai.
One of the most pernicious actions of the US, however, has been its refusal since 1948, to recognize Israeli control over WEST Jerusalem as well as its status as the capital of Israel from 1950 on. The issue of relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem did not begin after the 1967 War, it began in 1953 when the Israeli Foreign Ministry relocated to Jerusalem, following the earlier relocation of the Knesset. The US State Dept. to this day will not recognize any part of Jerusalem as Israeli territory, and all passports listing Jerusalem as place of birth have “Israel” removed.
The message is clear and astounding: it is not the “unsettled borders” of east Jerusalem that prevent American recognition of Israeli control, but Israeli control per se of any part of Jerusalem, east or west, that is not recognized. America, the alleged ally of Israel, doesn’t even recognize its control of its capital!
How then could one explain to the uninformed observer the Prime Minister of the allegedly free state of Israel groveling to an ally which doesn’t recognize the most basic right of a free state – the building of homes in its territory?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Israeli Leftists: The New Terrorism
As tiny Israel confronts ongoing and growing hatred by Arabs both within and outside of the state, another enemy rises up to challenge the Jewish state. This foe has openly allied itself with anti-Semitic Arab rioters and terrorists, and has even at times explicitly promoted terrorism and murder of Jews.
Sadly, this new anti-Semitic threat is from Jews themselves. A small but noisy group of far-left Israelis of Jewish origin has taken the state of Israel – and the Jewish people – into its sights.
Represented by organizations hiding behind pluralistic-sounding slogans and titles such as “Peace Now” and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, these inciters to violence are little more than fascistic hooligans aping the Brown Shirts of the Nazi party in Germany before Hitler came to power.
Denied the right to expel Jews from their legally owned property in east Jerusalem by even the generally leftist Israeli court system, these vandals and thugs of the fascist-left now use harassment, riots, and violence to try and ethnically cleanse the Shimon HaTzaddik/Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jews.
Recently a mixed group of Arabs and leftists assaulted one Jewish home in the area, even going so far as to fire bullets at the house. When the perpetrator of the crime was arrested, the leftists of Peace Now and the ACRI actually protested the arrest.
Now, this Saturday night these same leftists have formed a mass rally outside of the Jewish homes with thousands of Arabs, in a demonstration of at least 3,000 people.
Such events do not occur in a vacuum however, and incitement from prominent figures like Zev Sternhell has thrown gas on the fire of leftwing fascism. Sternhell, a researcher of the roots of fascism is himself a practitioner of fascistic anti-Semitism and a bona fide Judeo-Nazi. He has openly praised the murder of Jews living outside of the Green Line and encouraged Arab terrorism there against Jews.
Given this background, it’s hard to condemn the 2008 attack on Mr. Sternhell with a pipe bomb which left the professor lightly injured.
Israel has, since its inception, struggled against Arab hatred. Perhaps it’s time to address the growing hatred on the part of Judeo-Nazis and leftwing fascists like Sternhell, the ACRI, and Peace Now.
Sadly, this new anti-Semitic threat is from Jews themselves. A small but noisy group of far-left Israelis of Jewish origin has taken the state of Israel – and the Jewish people – into its sights.
Represented by organizations hiding behind pluralistic-sounding slogans and titles such as “Peace Now” and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, these inciters to violence are little more than fascistic hooligans aping the Brown Shirts of the Nazi party in Germany before Hitler came to power.
Denied the right to expel Jews from their legally owned property in east Jerusalem by even the generally leftist Israeli court system, these vandals and thugs of the fascist-left now use harassment, riots, and violence to try and ethnically cleanse the Shimon HaTzaddik/Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jews.
Recently a mixed group of Arabs and leftists assaulted one Jewish home in the area, even going so far as to fire bullets at the house. When the perpetrator of the crime was arrested, the leftists of Peace Now and the ACRI actually protested the arrest.
Now, this Saturday night these same leftists have formed a mass rally outside of the Jewish homes with thousands of Arabs, in a demonstration of at least 3,000 people.
Such events do not occur in a vacuum however, and incitement from prominent figures like Zev Sternhell has thrown gas on the fire of leftwing fascism. Sternhell, a researcher of the roots of fascism is himself a practitioner of fascistic anti-Semitism and a bona fide Judeo-Nazi. He has openly praised the murder of Jews living outside of the Green Line and encouraged Arab terrorism there against Jews.
Given this background, it’s hard to condemn the 2008 attack on Mr. Sternhell with a pipe bomb which left the professor lightly injured.
Israel has, since its inception, struggled against Arab hatred. Perhaps it’s time to address the growing hatred on the part of Judeo-Nazis and leftwing fascists like Sternhell, the ACRI, and Peace Now.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Israel is Not the 51st State
It almost defies comprehension. Recently Israel announced its “Heritage Plan” to preserve sites central to Judaism and Jewish history and to ensure that young Israelis learn about their importance to the Jewish people. Amazingly, insultingly, President Obama’s freak-on-a-lease Hillary Clinton actually attacked this, a rather outrageous step even for this decidedly anti-Israel administration.
Why does America think that it owns Israel? More to the point, why does it think that it owns Jews and Judaism, that it can dictate terms on everything small and large regarding Israel and the Jewish people.
The plan approved by the Israeli government provides funding to maintain historical Jewish sites and to integrate them in the education of young Israeli Jews. This clearly has nothing to do with “deepening the Israeli hold over the West Bank”, as some of the plan’s opponents claim (though there wouldn’t be a thing wrong if it did).
The criticism from the West, including from Hillary, is really targeted at Judaism and Jewish history with the aim at severing it from its origins. Orthodoxy, Jewish history, and Jewish nationalism are all negations of the interests of the Neo-Marxist bunch in DC.
True cultural uniqueness, whether it be Jewish or from some other ethnic or religious group, per se cannot be tolerated by people who want to portray all peoples as agreeing with their “progressive” post-modernist values.
That is the true nature of Hillary’s objection to the Heritage Plan: Jewish heritage per se bothers Hillary, all the more so heritage which defies her efforts to force a two-state solution on Israel.
Why does America think that it owns Israel? More to the point, why does it think that it owns Jews and Judaism, that it can dictate terms on everything small and large regarding Israel and the Jewish people.
The plan approved by the Israeli government provides funding to maintain historical Jewish sites and to integrate them in the education of young Israeli Jews. This clearly has nothing to do with “deepening the Israeli hold over the West Bank”, as some of the plan’s opponents claim (though there wouldn’t be a thing wrong if it did).
The criticism from the West, including from Hillary, is really targeted at Judaism and Jewish history with the aim at severing it from its origins. Orthodoxy, Jewish history, and Jewish nationalism are all negations of the interests of the Neo-Marxist bunch in DC.
True cultural uniqueness, whether it be Jewish or from some other ethnic or religious group, per se cannot be tolerated by people who want to portray all peoples as agreeing with their “progressive” post-modernist values.
That is the true nature of Hillary’s objection to the Heritage Plan: Jewish heritage per se bothers Hillary, all the more so heritage which defies her efforts to force a two-state solution on Israel.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Obama and His One Sided Freeze: The New Arab West Bank Settlement
While US president Barak Obama and his Secretary of State Clinton lean heavily on Israel to ensure that not even a single new building be permitted for Jews lest facts be created on the ground, the Palestinian authority has begun work on an entire new Arab settlement.
Called Rawabi, the town is planned to house tens of thousands in its initial stages and hundreds of thousands when completed. The new Arab settlement will be built in close proximity to the Jewish town of Ateret, and will require a new Arab-only highway to be constructed.
Part of this highway will be built illegally on Israeli controlled land – referred to as Area C – and may result in the removal of the current roads which service the already existing Jewish towns in the area.
So can anyone actually be surprised that Obama has a single digit approval rating among Israeli Jews? Obama is openly biased in favor of the Arabs, a fact made abundantly clear by his disgusting anti-Semitic speech in Cairo where he actually compared Israel to South Africa and the segregation-era American South. Though Americans, especially Jewish ones, let these slanderous comparisons slide, Israelis were listening.
We knew exactly what Obama was in 2008; that feeling was confirmed in 2009, and in 2010 we are already feeling the weight of this anti-Israel goon’s dictatorial demands.
Called Rawabi, the town is planned to house tens of thousands in its initial stages and hundreds of thousands when completed. The new Arab settlement will be built in close proximity to the Jewish town of Ateret, and will require a new Arab-only highway to be constructed.
Part of this highway will be built illegally on Israeli controlled land – referred to as Area C – and may result in the removal of the current roads which service the already existing Jewish towns in the area.
So can anyone actually be surprised that Obama has a single digit approval rating among Israeli Jews? Obama is openly biased in favor of the Arabs, a fact made abundantly clear by his disgusting anti-Semitic speech in Cairo where he actually compared Israel to South Africa and the segregation-era American South. Though Americans, especially Jewish ones, let these slanderous comparisons slide, Israelis were listening.
We knew exactly what Obama was in 2008; that feeling was confirmed in 2009, and in 2010 we are already feeling the weight of this anti-Israel goon’s dictatorial demands.
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