Hobby or Necessity?

Mr. Thomas Friedman wrote an article for the New York Times last month saying, for Israel, pursuing peace was more of a "hobby" than necessity.

(Thomas Friedman is a well known pundit in the USA and is often thought of as 'middle of the road' and a voice of reason on a variety of subjects and issues. I happen to agree, but not on Israel. No one with a pair of eyes and ears could agree with this assessment)

-Ask the 9,000 Jewish folks who were kicked out of their homes in Gaza in 2005 to make way for Arabs how much of a hobby peace has been for them. (Most of them have not been resettled into permanent residences)

-Ask the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon, bombarded by rockets with even more intensity starting in 2005 after Israel disengaged for peace. A grand total of over 5,700 rockets and 4,000 mortars have been fired at these desert communities. Ask their maimed children, dead spouses, or the hordes of little children forced to live in (or at all times be within 8 seconds of) bomb shelters about Israel's peace 'hobby.'

-Ask the Jews around the world who have felt a surge of Judeophobic violence since Operation Cast Lead in 2009. (Cast Lead was an operation by the IDF which was executed to stop the rocket fire from Gaza, the same Gaza Israel unilaterally withdrew from in 2005)

-Ask Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel in 2000 and current defense minister, who with President Bill Clinton, offered the Palestinians 92% of the West Bank, all of Gaza,  a capital in East Jerusalem, as well as an internationally funded (including Israel) aid package for the Palestinians to build their state. Arafat turned down this generous offer WITH NO COUNTEROFFER!!

-Ask Mahmoud Abbas, The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Abbas told the Washington Post (Abbas's Waiting Game, by Jackson Diehl) that former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, offered him an even more generous offer than Arafat got in 2000, with a whopping 97% of the West Bank offered to the Palestinians. Abbas turned it down, he didnt like the borders.

In an effort to be Politically Correct, and using some kind of backwards moral equivalency, Mr Friedman doesnt see that it is plainly the Palestinians (or their leaders, more specifically) who treat peace as a hobby, if that.

SIDE NOTE:

The difference between the Palestinians and Israel: The Palestinians are not DESPERATE ENOUGH for their own state. The desperate post-Holocaust Jews even accepted a non-contiguous state in Palestine in 1948. Arabs chose war. This plays out over and over and over and again through history, with the Jews going to the table, and making sacrifices, with Arabs not even making the slightest of sacrifices, like ending the practice of naming Palestinian Streets after terrorists who committed attacks with civillian death tolls as high as 37.

If the Palestinians were desperate for independence like the Jews were, there would have been a state in 1948. Or 2000. Or in Gaza in 2005. Or with Olmert in 2009. Or after 1967, Or 73. The list goes on and on.

Salman Rushdie and Christopher Hitchens making Mos Def look idiotic about Iran

 Mos Def- you are a brilliant rapper, but anything that comes out of your mouth resembles the substance i have to pick up after my dog every morning

Obama strikes new tone on terrorism, bans Islam, jihad from security terminology-

"You take a country where the overwhelming majority are not going to become terrorists, and you go in and say, 'We're building you a hospital so you don't become terrorists.' That doesn't make much sense," said National Security Council staffer Pradeep Ramamurthy.

If you build Israel a hospital, you are a hero to Israelis, no matter what disingenuous intentions lie within the philanthropic act itself (case in point; the donations to Israel from Christians who actively convert Jews in America). If you build a hospital for a Muslim country, its a spit in the face. What is with the hostility of the Muslim world? What is notable is that Obama employs a similair type of hostility when dealing with Israel.

The Obama Administration makes no attempts to pull punches aimed at Israel, yet at every turn Obama feels that the way we should treat the Muslim world is the way bad parents treat a spoiled kid, so careful not to anger them, never asking for even the smallest of concessions, quick to allay any percieved discomfort, no matter how trivial, while at the same time using a much harsher set of standards when dealing with others. The Obama administration refuses to name Radical Islam by name, although Radical Islamists kill our troops and civillians, but has no problem perpetuating the hideous myth that building in Jerusalem puts our troops in danger.

Obama met with Afghanistan's President Karzai after Karzai welcomed dubiously elected Iranian President Ahamadinejad in his country and gave him a platform to spew his Anti-American drivel. Despite this slap in the face to America, Obama flew to Afghanistan to have a public, camera-filled dinner with the corrupt Karzai, in stark contrast to the private, 'no cameras allowed' meeting Obama had with Netanyahu. Obama also kept Netanyahu waiting an hour and a half after meeting with him for 30 minutes to have dinner, a dinner Netanyahu was not invited to. Obamas treatment of Israel makes me want to puke, and the sad thing is, he is giving ammunition to all the voices who said he would be against Israel because of the Anti-Semetic vitrol he sat through for 20 years listening to Revered Wright. I consider myself extremely liberal on nearly all fronts, my vote in the primaries went to Hillary. The only thing that held me back from giving Obama my vote was the fear that Obama would give the Iranian wolves the keys to the Jewish henhouse, together with the fear that Obama would push Israel into more unilateral concessions in return for terror, even more so than his predecessors because of his Muslim heritage.

(SIDE POINT: Obama is a Muslim. This might be the un-PC thing to say, but he is a Muslim as much as my father is a Jew. In Islam, the father determines the religion, in Judaism, the mother. If my grandmother gave birth to my father, and afterwards promptly converted to Catholicism and raised my father as a Catholic, my father would still be considered a Jew by even the most stringent Jewish authorities. As I said, even if Obama doesn't consider himself a Muslim, the Muslim world does, and he is well aware of this.)

To take a page from the Reverend, Obama's chickens will 'come home to roost' if he doesnt stop this ill treatment of Israel. The American people are behind Israel, Congress is overwhelmingly behind Israel (Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner got together for some snapshots with Netanyahu during his visit here). Israel is an integral part of the USA's national security strategy, and together with Obama's percieved appeasement of Radical Islam, will create a picture for Obama's political foes that he is soft on terror. Perhaps they are right.

With all of George W's shortcomings, and the fiasco of Iraq, he had one thing right; we shoudlnt wait to be attacked. Obama is fine with fighting in Afghanistan, because 3,000 Americans were butchered by the Taliban's designs. 

Shall we wait to be murdered in our sleep/leisure time for the next time we fight back?

Frightening Distinctions of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Frightening Distinctions of the Islamic Republic of Iran

by Josh White

March 12, 2010

Ancient Persia (Iran) was home to the first human rights charter penned by Cyrus the Great. The current ruling mullahs (clerics) of Iran could not have fallen farther from the tree. Modern day Iran is a place where women can be raped, and if reported to authorities, in all likelihood will end up as a ruling of “fornication” against the rape VICTIM, a crime usually punishable by death.

Besides this, Iran has earned many frightening distinctions as a country where human rights are routinely suppressed and people are routinely beaten, raped, murdered, and controlled, simply for practicing things like freedom of speech, freedoms that Westerners generally take for granted.

The illegal government of Iran also uses rape as a weapon against its own people in a very horrifyingly unique way. When virgin girls, often political protesters, are given death sentences, they cannot technically be carried out because a virgin will go straight to heaven according to Islam. Accordingly, the soon-to-be executioner is required to rape this virgin on death row to prevent her passage to heaven. The families of fallen Iranian girls have to face the two-fold misery of losing their daughter and knowing her last moments involved being subjected to a frightening rape. 

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/17/former-iranian-basij-mili_n_395943.html)

Israel, in stark contrast, has no death penalty, and certainly never sanctions rape against suspected terrorist women it imprisons for security purposes. Some of the worst female allegations against the Israeli justice system I’ve read include Arab women being forced to be strip searched by female officers. Many of these strip searches have uncovered suicide bombs that have saved not only Israeli lives, but even the suicide bomber's life as well at times. Being strip searched is not a fun experience for an innocent person, but in Israel it is necessary, but nothing even close to judicially sanctioned rape and execution.

Iran has earned the distinction of leading the world in executing children according to Human Rights Watch. Even the notorious capital punishment practices of China forbids against the death penalty being used on convicts under 18 (http://www.cecc.gov/pages/newLaws/criminalLawENG.php). Even with China's well known frequent use of the death penalty, Iran still executes more prisoners than China on a per-capita level.

Another disgusting practice of Iran brings to mind the controversial comparison between modern day Iran and Nazi Germany, besides the dehumanization of Israel/Jews. The illegal government of the Islamic Republic has practiced mass murder against homosexuals practically since its inception in 1979. 

Many will argue that many Arab/Muslim nations in the Middle East have the death penalty as a punishment for homosexuals. However, the BBC (“Iran ‘must stop youth executions’") clearly states “Homosexuality is illegal in almost all Muslim countries, and punishable by death in many of them. But gay and human rights groups say Iran's record is particularly shocking, having executed possibly thousands of gay men since the Islamic revolution.”

Israel, in stark contrast to Iran, has the most developed Lesbian. Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender rights in the Middle East. Even controversial Gay Pride marches are not uncommon occurrences in the holy land. Rule of law rules Israel, not religion.

Furthermore, religious Jews in Israel (and abroad) do not execute homosexuals. Once again, the death penalty is strictly forbidden in Israel (except in the Palestinian territories where Palestinian ‘collaborators’ with Israel are executed routinely on little to no evidence, many times to settle personal scores.)

On January 6, 2010, the Media Line announced that Iran currently earned the distinction of being the worlds biggest journalist prison. Until now, Iran was ‘merely’ the biggest prison for the press in the Middle East (not known for being a beacon of journalism rights already), as reported by Reporters Without Borders in 2007.

In 2007, Eritrea and North Korea still held more journalists in prison than Iran, leaving Iran ranked as number 166 out of 169 countries for Reporters Without Borders in 2007. No longer. As said, Iran has passed the former threshold, now with a total of 42 journalists imprisoned, a higher number than anywhere else in the entire world.

Over 60 years since Israel's inception, and not only does the country still fight for legitimacy, it finds itself thrown against the Islamic Republic of Iran; a repressive, hate-filled enemy that denies the Holocaust while energetically in a race to make nuclear weapons to create another Holocaust. The people of Iran aren't bad, many are friendly to Jews and Israel. However, they are held hostage by leaders who hate Israel for no tangible reasoning. Israel has never attacked the Islamic Republic, and has only acted to defend itself in wars provoked by Arab aggression, be it 8,000 rockets or the closing of the Suez, or whatever else the terrorists/tyrants are up to again.

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of violent, despotic regimes in the world today. However, there are a certain few that stand out because of the extreme brutality, repression, and inhumane methods used by the government to suppress their people. Outside of regions currently engaged in Genocide, like Darfur, it could be safely said the Islamic Republic of Iran is the biggest threat to world peace. Allowing a belligerent, dangerous country like the Islamic Republic, the perfecter of the suicide belt, to acquire nuclear weapons will go down as one of the biggest catastrophes in human history. 

 

I think Alan Dershowitz agrees with me..

Double Standard Watch: For bigots, Israel can do no right. 

Alan M Dershowtiz 

Sunday Jan 24th, 2010

  "Even The New York Times, in an otherwise thoughtful analysis of the controversiality of the aid among some Israelis, failed to note the difference between Israel sending its limited resources to faraway Haiti and to nearby Gaza.  

 Haiti is not at war with Israel. Haiti has not pledged itself to Israel's destruction. Haiti has not fired 8,000 rockets at Israeli civilians. Gaza, on the other hand, has a popularly elected government that has done and continues to do all of the above. Moreover, there is no comparison between the tens of thousands of Haitians who have died from a natural disaster, and the people of Gaza who suffer far less from what is, essentially, a self-inflicted wound."

The fact that so many Israelis are advocating medical and other assistance to Gaza, certainly supports this latter theory. Has any other country in the history of the world ever provided medical and other assistance to a people with whom it is at war - to people who continue to support rocket attacks and other forms of terrorism against its own civilians? Again, a double standard. 

article from JPost

Encountering Peace: Israel - a leader among the community of nations

Jan. 18, 2010
Gershon Baskin , THE JERUSALEM POST

Humanitarian disasters around the world bring out the best in Israel and in Israelis. The horrific devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti and the scenes of unbearable human suffering brought about an immediate enlistment of both civilian and public efforts to come to the aid of the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

The sight of the El Al jet laden with medical aid and almost 200 IDF and civilian personnel brought pride to each and every Israeli and to Jews all over the world. Israel is on the ground in the heart of the disaster and we are making a difference. Our experience and capabilities in providing the world's best humanitarian aid in times of real crisis is something that we can certainly be proud of.

Unfortunately our skills and expertise were gained in having to rescue the casualties of terrorism in our own streets and homes. But from that need and from the darkness of those experiences, we spread our goodwill to thousands of innocent victims of nature's mysteries in lands far away where we have no military, strategic or economic interest.

This is truly tikkun olam in its purest form. We are there because we are Jews, we are there because we are human beings and we are there because we are a responsible member of the community of nations.

----------------------------

This is the essence of Israel.

You can find the rest of this article at Jpost.com..  I don't really like what the author of this article goes on to say, comparing Gazans to the people who suffered from this horrific earthquake in Haiti. The people of Haiti were terrorized by a brutal dictatorship for decades, and are the victims of terrible disasters such as the recent one that we've all heard about.

The only disasters the people of Gaza are victims of are self-imposed. The people of Gaza have certain things the suffering people of Haiti never did: choices and chances. Each time when offered a chance or a choice, the Palestinians have consistently chosen misery over prosperity, war over peace, time after time. 

The people of Gaza have not been terrorized by a bloody dictatorship either. They have been at the hands of many changing governments (normal protocol for a democracy) and each have reached out a number of different hands to the Palestinians in the territories, with the Palestinians patented 'clenched fist' given in return.

 In the 2000 Camp David Accords, Arafat failed the Palestinians by rejecting a most generous offer of Israel (East Jerusalem, 92% of the West bank, all of Gaza, international aid) curiously, without even giving a counter-offer. After this the second Intifada started.

The Palestinians have also failed themselves. The Palestinians used their chance of democracy in 2006 to elect the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas. We held the German people accountable for electing Adolph Hitler (see Dresden), why should Gaza be any different?  The organization of Hamas, so bent on murder & power, even violently ousted the marginally different terrorist organization of Fatah, to keep its grip on power and to control Gaza's borders. Would the Palmach violently oust the Haganah, with methods including throwing them off buildings, leaving them so fearful that many dressed in womens clothing to escape alive? This is what Hamas did to Fatah in Gaza. 

Since then, Egypt has enacted a complete blockade with its border of Gaza, while Israel has enacted only a partial blockade of Gaza. Gaza recieves food, medicine, water, gasoline and other types of energy from Israel. The only thing Israel blocks from Gaza are materials that are commonly used to fashion rockets to maim, kill and terrorize the Israeli civillian population.

The US and the UK firebombed a full city of its enemy civillians in Dresden, Israel supplies its enemy in Gaza, what other country in the world would ever do that? Would Russia supply the civilians of Georgia, or Chechnya? 

 (The answer is no, but that doesnt stop Russia from holding chairs on both the Security Council and the Human Rights Commission of the UN, a weapon of delegitimization of Israel through disproportionate amounts of dubious 'human rights resolutions' while conveniently ignoring Chinas repression against its own people and Tibet, and Russia's repressive regime and its bloody wars against Chechnya with civilian casualties astronomically higher than any Palestinian deaths caused by Israel, but thats a different post!) 

There are many people suffering on the planet, but the people Haiti and Darfur do not have choices, and are not living in a condition that is self-imposed. The 'suffering' people of Gaza are.

There is NO comparison!!

G-d bless Israel

G-d bless Haiti