Egyptians storm Israeli embassy; Israeli diplomats flee Egypt

On Friday afternoon, after a rally in Tahrir Square, Egyptians began attempting to break down the wall protecting the Israeli embassy in Cairo. By midnight the mob had broken through the wall and entered the building housing the embassy on the top floors. An hour later there were reports of embassy documents falling from the windows of the top floor, evidently indicating the mob had managed to gain access to the embassy offices.

At 2 a.m. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak reported that Israel had appealed to the U.S. for help in guarding its embassy, after Netanyahu's calls to Tantawi went unanswered. At 2:30 a.m. the White House issued a statement that the U.S. is concerned over the storming of the embassy and is taking the necessary steps to prevent further violence. Soon after, the Israeli ambassador and his staff arrived at the airport in Cairo.

At 8:30 p.m. Israel time on Saturday, Netanyahu held a press conference in which he personally thanked Obama for calling Tantawi and ordering the Egyptian military to intervene and ensure the security of Israeli embassy staff. Netanyahu confirmed that it was the Egyptian commando which in the end stood between the mob and Israeli personnel--on Obama's orders.

This Shabbat, a major crisis was closely averted. 

Michele Bachmann on Israel

It's worth taking a few minutes to hear Michele Bachmann's bold and impeccable stance on Israel:

Baruch Dayan Emet, Morris Pollard

Morris Pollard z"l, Jonathan Pollard's father, a longtime professor and award-winning microbiologist at the University of Notre Dame, passed away at the age of 95 on Saturday evening. Morris spent much of the last 24 years seeking clemency for his son. Earlier this year, he said Jonathan's sentence is "such an overwhelming miscarriage of justice" that at night he keeps "waking up fighting with people" in his imagination.

Morris was particularly vocal about the role of former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger in Jonathan's sentence. Last year, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb wrote in a letter to Obama:

Based on the knowledge that I have firsthand, I can confidently say that the punishment was so severe because of lack of sympathy for Israel by the U.S. Secretary of Defense at the time, my boss, Caspar Weinberger.

The Pollard family has sent an urgent plea to Obama asking him to allow Pollard to attend his father's funeral. After authorities refused to allow Pollard a 24-hour leave to visit his sick father, MK Aryeh Eldad issued the following statement to Pollard:

The people of Israel will not forget President Obama's cruelty in ignoring all the requests to free you. A president who lacks the basic human feeling that would allow a son's visit to his dying father should not wonder that the Jewish people will make every effort to prevent his re-election.

A petition initiated by MK Nachman Shai of Kadima to allow Pollard to visit his father had been signed by 75 MK's and was to be handed to Obama's VP Biden any day now. [Achieveing justice for Pollard is a rare cause that has proven to unite Jews across the Israeli political and religious spectrum]. Please G-d the petition will be reworded to request that Pollard be entitled to attend the funeral and be submitted to Biden with no delay.

Last week Razi Barkai of Galei Tzhal radio asked a question relating American and European policy regarding daylight savings time, referring to those countries as the 'enlightened' world. May the enlightened world please stand up? (And don't expect to find sympathizers even in the 2012 Republican camp.)

אין לנו על מי להישען

כי אם על אבינו שבשמים

Pressure mounts on Obama to ditch the illusion of 1967 stability

According to The Hill, Democratic senators are likely to support a new resolution which would show broad, bipartisan consensus within Congress that the 1967 Israeli-Palestinian borders are not only "indefensible", but also contrary to U.S. national security interests.

Senators Joe Lieberman (Conn., Independent), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are behind the current resolution. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) voiced support, claiming there is “total agreement” in Congress that “the ’67 lines will not work." Other rebukes of Obama's reckless Israel policy include speeches delivered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) speech at AIPAC on Monday and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) at the AIPAC conference on Sunday and Monday. Both offered harsh criticism of Obama's hubris of determining borders of a sovereign nation on a podium rather than on the negotiation table.

On the absurdity of transferring populations and redrawing borders as a mechanism for solving problems of national security, George Berkin at NJ Voices makes the following analogy:

How’s this prescription for solving our conflict (illegal immigrants and drugs) with Mexico: Renegotiate the border, starting with where the line stood in 1844 (i.e. before we acquired a large chunk of territory in the Mexican War).

Or here’s a suggestion for resolving problems between Washington and Paris: renegotiate the western U.S. border based on geographic lines in effect in 1802, before the Louisiana Purchase.

While we’re at it, let’s return to the geography of July 1861, just after the Confederate states declared their independence but before the Civil War set things back to right.

Hey, why not? Overturning established borders to return to a previous line of demarcation sounds like a good idea, especially for those unhappy with the status quo.

...The U.S. would never agree to go back to previous borders, no matter how much other parties might promise that doing so would bring peace to the Southwest or improve relations with France or South Carolina.

But the analogy breaks down for other reasons – instructive reasons as we think about how the Palestinians are determined to destroy Israel.

First, none of the examples at the beginning of this post asks the U.S. to surrender part of Washington, D.C., the political (and emotional) seat of our government. But the “pre-1967” borders that President Obama wants Israel to return to would require the Jewish state to hand over part of Jerusalem, the political, emotional and spiritual heart of Israel.

Second, Americans would certainly feel bad about handing over part of the Southwest to Mexico. But no one can credibly claim that doing so would make it nearly impossible to defend what remained of our nation.

Not so were Israel to give up the territories it won – in a defensive war – against its assembled enemies nearly a half-century ago. Some commentators have pointed to Israel’s success in defending itself in 1967 as “proof” that Israel could repeat that military success, if worse came to worse. But having succeeded once before, under remarkable circumstances, is not a solid security strategy.

Third, none of my examples of territorial “givebacks” would be a first step to an ultimate goal of destroying the United States. Again, we would regret losing Texas and part of California, but the U.S. would remain standing. Mexico accepts the U.S.’s right to exist.

...It seems clear that demanding that negotiations start from Israel’s pre-1967 borders will not bring peace. Instead, Palestinian leaders, flush with a “pre-1967” victory, would establish a Palestinian state, and then make their next demand. They would demand a return to the area’s pre-1948 borders – that is, a return to the days before Israel became a new nation.

Jerusalem, no man's land?

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal over whether Jeruslaem-born Menchem Zivotofsky can have Israel listed as his birthplace on his passport, after State Department officials refused to recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel on his official documentation. According to the State Department's guide, consular officials are instructed: officials, "For a person born in Jerusalem, write Jerusalem as the place of birth in the passport."

The Zivotofskys' attorney Nathan Lewin told JTA on Monday that "We are gratified that the Supreme Court added the ultimate question whether the passport designation truly interferes with the President's power over foreign relations."

In 1995, Congress ruled that the U.S. should recognize a united Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and provisions were voted in allowing Americans born in Jerusalem to have Israel listed as their birthplace. Yet shortly after, George W. Bush issued a statement overruling Congress and dictating that "U.S. policy regarding Jerusalem has not changed." As a result, 9-year-old Menachem's birth certificate lists his birthplace as 'Jerusalem', in contrast to births in other countries which list the country, rather than city. 

Obama has thus far upheld the Bush administration's overruling of Congress' decision in favor of a purposefully ambiguous and non-committal policy on Jerusalem, essentially promoting Palestinian lunacy and surrealism, which does anything but set the stage for peace.

And so, while Obama effectively distorts the accuracy of 9-year old Menachem's birth certificate, he cannot even present the world with his own.

As originally seen on Israel Matzav 

Palin prays in the Kotel tunnels, reaffirms connection with Israel

From the Jerusalem Post:

Palin was told that Jews were not allowed to pray openly on the Temple Mount and about the Arab riots that accompanied Netanyahu’s decision to authorize the creation of an exit from the Western Wall tunnels in 1996. “Why are you apologizing all the time?” Palin asked her guides.

...Rabinowitz said that Palin prayed at the point closest to the Holy of Holies and left a note with a personal prayer....When Rabinowitz shared the story of Purim with Palin, she told him it was especially meaningful to be at the Kotel on Purim.

Danon said that Palin’s visit to the Western Wall Tunnels was very exciting. “She really connected to the story of the Jewish nation,” Danon said. “She knows the material but there’s nothing like standing in front of those big stones and hearing about the connection. I know that she loves Israel, and after a visit like this, she has a personal connection to the Western Wall."

...She didn’t go into diplomatic issues, but I can clearly say from the questions she asked in relation to our conflict here with the Muslims in these holy sites that she knows that we are right and that the Muslims are just claiming things for provocation and they’re not right,” Danon said. 

Meanwhile, J Street was offended after Netanyahu rejected a meeting with them, and chose Palin instead.

Obama patronizes Israel...again

From JTA:

Obama: Israelis should soul-search about seriousness on peace

President Obama reportedly urged Jewish communal leaders to speak to their friends and colleagues in Israel and to “search your souls” over Israel's seriousness about making peace.

...several participants at the meeting told JTA that the president also implied that Israel bears primary responsibility for advancing the peace process.

...“Many people felt that their worst fears about Obama were confirmed with respect to Israel,” one participant said. “They felt an enormous hostility towards Israel.”

US Backs UNSC Slam of Israel on Settlements

Any country that in the current environment in the Middle East--in which Israel faces a double threat on its Northern border from Hezbollah, its southern border with an Egyptian unrest, and now, a triple threat from Iranian warships seeking to cross Suez for the first time in 30 years--any country in which THIS environment chooses to craft a security council resolution condemning Israel for settlement building, is either deeply morally and geopolitically misguided or extremely weak in the international Arab-dominated arena.

Several days ago, this blog commented on NYT columnist Tom Friedman, who has called Israel's settlement building 'madness'. (He also called claims that justify terrorism in places like London 'outragerous', but failed to issue the same strong moral language regarding Palestinian murder). The current US administration is now buying into the world's dysfunctional moral compass, which views threats against Israel from North, South, East and West as understandable, while Israelis building bedrooms, schools, hospitals, universities and synagogues is suddenly the world's threat to world peace.

Only Hashem can help us in a state in which the world's moral compass is corrupt.





The song above was sung by a group of schoolchildren outside of the Old City on Passover 5770 (2010). The words are: And that which stood for our ancestors and for us, for not only one stood against us to destroy us, but the Holy Blessed One saves us from their hands.

Right now it seems like the only ally Israel has are the speakers (and their supporters) from the most recent CPAC conference in Washington, in which 2012 Republican candidates made remarks on the current fashlot (Israeli world for debacles) of US foreign policy, the embarrassingly misguided US response on Egypt, the shame of US' abandonment of Israel and the wisdom of Israel's foreign policy assessments, which are currently the bastion of realism in international relations.

In another rare exhibition of realism and moral integrity, Harvard professor Niall Ferguson praised last week's Herziliya Conference which took place at the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, in which world leaders and experts shared views and visions on the future of the region. Ferguson implied that while the US is blinding itself with wishful thinking, the Israelis are doing the hard work of shaping real policy.



Anyone who defends Israel's point of view in today's world is precious in Hashem's eyes like a diamond in a ghetto of moral corruption and self-hatred of humanity. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:3)

Below are the details from the US' most recent sell-out of Israel. According to Foreign Policy's Turtle Bay blog by Colum Lynch:

The U.S. informed Arab governments Tuesday that it will support a U.N. Security Council statement reaffirming that the 15-nation body "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity," a move aimed at avoiding the prospect of having to veto a stronger Palestinian resolution calling the settlements illegal. 

But the Palestinians rejected the American offer following a meeting late Wednesday of Arab representatives and said it is planning to press for a vote on its resolution on Friday, according to officials familar with the issue. The decision to reject the American offer raised the prospect that the Obama adminstration will cast its first ever veto in the U.N. Security Council. 

Still, the U.S. offer signaled a renewed willingness to seek a way out of the current impasse, even if it requires breaking with Israel and joining others in the council in sending a strong message to its key ally to stop its construction of new settlements. The Palestinian delegation, along with Lebanon, the Security Council's only Arab member state, have asked the council's president this evening to schedule a meeting for Friday. But it remained unclear whether the Palestinian move today to reject the U.S. offer is simply a negotiating tactic aimed at extracting a better deal from Washington. 

Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, outlined the new U.S. offer in a closed door meeting on Tuesday with the Arab Group, a bloc of Arab countries from North Africa and the Middle East. In exchange for scuttling the Palestinian resolution, the United States would support the council statement, consider supporting a U.N. Security Council visit to the Middle East, the first since 1979, and commit to supporting strong language criticizing Israel's settlement policies in a future statement by the Middle East Quartet.

The U.S.-backed draft statement -- which was first reported by Al Hurra -- was obtained by Turtle Bay. In it, the Security Council "expresses its strong opposition to any unilateral actions by any party, which cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community, and reaffirms, that it does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, which is a serious obstacle to the peace process." The statement also condemns "all forms of violence, including rocket fire from Gaza, and stresses the need for calm and security for both peoples."

Turkey and the Egyptian Revolt

Turkey is anticipating a greater role in the Middle East after the fall of Mubarak, eager for another Islamist-friendly regime that can stand up to the West and in need of new friends. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Addressing lawmakers in Ankara as hundreds of thousands of Egyptian oppositon activists gathered in Cairo’s Freedom Square, Mr. Erdogan called on Mr. Mubarak to heed the demands of his people and instigate change.

“For the sake of Egypt Mr. Mubarak must take the first step. He must do something to instigate change,” Mr. Erdogan said, in a speech to Parliament, which was met with frequent outbreaks of applause from lawkmakers here.

Turkey potentially has much to gain from regime change in Egypt -– but Mr. Erdogan was careful not to be seen wielding a knife, stopping short of calling for Mr. Mubarak to step down...

The antiregime protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen have drawn attention to Turkey’s relative success at wedding democratic freedoms with religion. It could emerge as the alternative model for countries that might soon have to choose between a democratic or Islamic administration.

This would deepen Turkey’s growing sway in the Middle East. The process began with the election of the Islamist-leaning AK party, led by Mr. Erdogan, in 2003, and accelerated as the party won a second election. It is poised to win a third this summer.

Ironically, Turkey's stance of standing with the Egyptian people, for democracy and against Mubarak but without asking him to step down, is a mirror image of Obama's. Do I smell collusion?

According to Professor David Passig, author of the Israeli bestseller '2048', between 2010-2020 the U.S. will begin to invest in Turkey, mostly in secret, in the interest of Turkey containing Russia in the Southeast Europe and Islamism in Iraq and Iran. Yet as Turkey gains power, it will split from the U.S. and become self-sufficient as a regional power and as a support for Arab states in the region.

Erdogan's cautious support of Egypt reflects its current subjugation to U.S. rhetoric on the one hand, and its anticipation of becoming a regional player as regimes turn away from U.S. and towards Islamism. While the WSJ sees Turkey as an 'alternative' between democracy and Islamism, there are undercurrents of Turkey siding with Islamism, in the garb of democracy.

In mid-January, Erdogan told the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera satellite television network that Hamas is not a terrorist movement. “We stand by Hamas when they are right, because the Hamas movement is a resistance movement. I do not see Hamas as 'terrorist.' They are people who defend the land, and it is a political group that entered the elections and won the elections.”

As Passig also points out, Turkey's anti-Israel rhetoric is a tool for it to gain further standing among populations of the Arab world, as exhibited through its new anti-Israel movie on the Maramara debacle.

David Makovsky from the Washington Institute also forsees an Islamist-Israeli confrontation as one of his two scenarios for the post-Mubarak Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

November 29, 1947: Deja vu?

Today, the Palestinian Authorty is pressing for a vote to take place before Jan. 19th in the UN Security Council on a resolution demanding Israel to again freeze building in Judea and Samaria, which Israel gained control over after Egypt, Jordan and Syria instigated war in 1967. (Why did they instigate war then, if those were the desired borders?) The resolution also condemns settlement activity as illegal and as a "major obstacle" to peace.

In efforts to bring about a vote, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN (is that legal?) Riyad Mansour along with a delegation of Arab envoys met with representatives of the 15-member Security Council member governments, including India, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria. India's ambassador has reported no opposition to the draft resolution.

Diplomats, according to Bloomberg, predict support from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, giving the Palestinians 14 votes, in what could be (b"H) Obama's first Security Council veto. According to a former Tony Blair aid, "“It is going to be a difficult call for the Obama administration, which is not inclined to want to veto resolutions." Middle East analyst David Gordon says that while  US ambassador Susan rice may attempt to water down the resolution to the point where the US will abstain, a US veto is more likely.

In 1970, Stephen Schwebel, who later became head of the International Criminal Court, said the following about Israel and the disputed territories:

Where the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against that prior holder, better title.

On November 29th, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted 33 to 12 in favor of the Partition Plan, which recommended the termination of British rule over present-day Israel, and the partition of the territory into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Following the vote, Arab countries declared war -- which, by the way is illegal too! -- against Israel, ensuing a conflict going on until this day.

Countries cast their votes as followed:

In favor, (33 countries, 59%):

• 30 countries (54%) initially in favour:
  • Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Belorussian SSR, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Sweden, South Africa, Ukrainian SSR, United States of America, Soviet Union, Uruguay, Venezuela.

• An additional 3 (5%) switched to in favor:
  • Haiti, Liberia, Philippines.

Against, (13 countries, 23%):

• Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.

Abstentions, (10 countries, 18%):

• Argentina, Chile, Republic of China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.

Absent, (1 country, 0%):

• Thailand

The vote was generally celebrated throughout Israel and Jewish communities around the world: In Israel, the streetnames of the neighborhood Kiryat Yovel in Jerusalem are named after countries who voted in favor of the partition plan. 

Today on the other hand: why does Israel not have one friend it can count on in today's security council?

Clinton embarks on tour to strengthen ties with Arab allies

Last week, Hillary Clinton pow-wowed with South American leaders, many of whom have recently recognized a Palestinian state, at the inauguration of Brazil's new president. This week, Clinton departs on a six-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, in an effort to strengthen ties with Arab allies. According to one state department official, agenda items include the Arab peace initiative and attitudes of the region towards the Palestinian Authority and "peace" talks.

According to Foreign Policy, there is so shortage of personal ties this week. Before departing, Clinton paid a visit to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has been in New York since November for surgery on his back. And in a trip designed to promote democracy and security in the Arab world,  Clinton will participate in celebrations in honor of the 40th anniversary the reign of Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who, according to state department official, is 'a long time friend of the United States and a valued partner who has made enormous changes on the ground in his country over the last 40 years.'" You can read about the sultan's collection of super yachts, one of which contains an orchestra and a swimming pool, here.

Obama and the Love Parade Disaster

July 24, 2010: 18 killed in mass panic at Germany's Love Parade. According to the Love Parade's Facebook page, the traditional route of the parade snaked past the Angel of Peace monument, atop the Victory Column, in the middle of the Tiergarden and down to the Brandenburg Gate, a potent symbol of German reunification.

July 24, 2008: From Wikipedia: The Victory Column served as the location for Barack Obama's speech in Berlin during his visit to Germany on July 24, 2008. The choice of site was somewhat controversial in Germany as it symbolises German war victories in the past and is still seen as a Nazi symbol. Obama talked about cooperation between the United States and Europe in the speech and ended his speech with these lines: "With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again."

In 2008, prior to his speech, Der Spiegel said Obama would make a good "President of the World."

Prior to Obama's 2008 speech, Soeren Kern from the American Thinker wrote the following:

Are there any historians among Obama's 300-plus foreign policy advisors? The Siegessäule was moved to its current location by Adolf Hitler in 1939 to make way for his planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital "Germania." Hitler saw the column as a symbol of German superiority.

Or did Obama deliberately choose the Siegessäule venue because in recent years it has served as ground zero for the Love Parade, an annual dance festival/political demonstration for love, peace and international understanding?

איש ואשה קשה זיוגם כקריעת ים סוף = 2090 = 24 יולי 2010

From the Love Parade Facebook page: "It seems that there is hope yet for peace, love and hedonism on Planet Earth!"

Do the math

Americans killed in intentionally by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups: Over 50
Americans killed intentionally by Israel: 0

Palestinian civilians intentionally killed by I Israel (since 2000): 0
Israeli civilians (of all religions) intentionally killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism (since 2000): 1,190 and over 8,000 wounded.

The number of times Palestinian "leaders" rejected peace and their own state since 1948: 15
The number of times Israel rejected peace and co-existence: 0

Amount of money offered by US to Israel with no strings attached (excluding joint military projects): 0
Amount of US Aid to the Palestinians: over $900 million.
Amount (per capita) of US aid to Haiti (after the quake): $77.47
Amount (per capita) of US aid to Palestinians: $ 579.95

from "theclash" on an SF Chronicle comments page

who's side are you on?

Here is a very powerful statement by Indiana Republican Mike Pence on Obama's Israel policy.