America's Benefit from Israel -- We Should Continue Support for the Hebraic Peoples

America's three permanent strategic interests in the Middle East are as follows:

 

1 - Ensuring the smooth flow of affordable petroleum products from the region to global consumers through the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.

 

2 - Preventing the most radical regimes, sub-state and non-state actors from acquiring the means to cause catastrophic harm.

 

3 - Maintaining the US's capacity to project its power to the region.

 

A strong Israel is the best guarantor of all of these interests. Indeed, the stronger Israel is, the more secure these vital American interests are. Three permanent and unique aspects to Israel's regional position dictate this state of affairs.

1 - As the first target of the most radical regimes and radical sub-state actors in the region, Israel has a permanent, existential interest in preventing these regimes and sub-state actors from acquiring the means to cause catastrophic harm.

 

Israel's 1981 airstrike that destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor prevented Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons. Despite US condemnation at the time, the US later acknowledged that the strike was a necessary precondition to the success of Operation Desert Storm ten years later. Richard Cheney - who served as secretary of defense during Operation Desert Storm - has stated that if Iraq had been a nuclear power in 1991, the US would have been hard pressed to eject Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army from Kuwait and so block his regime from asserting control over oil supplies in the Persian Gulf.

 

2 - Israel is a non-expansionist state and its neighbors know it. In its 62 year history, Israel has only controlled territory vital for its national security and territory that was legally allotted to it in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate which has never been abrogated or superseded.

 

Israel's strength, which it has used only in self-defense, is inherently non-threatening. Far from destabilizing the region, a strong Israel stabilizes the Middle East by deterring the most radical actors from attacking.

 

In 1970, Israel blocked Syria's bid to use the PLO to overthrow the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Israel's threat to attack Syria not only saved the Hashemites then, it has deterred Syria from attempting to overthrow the Jordanian regime ever since.

 

Similarly, Israel's neighbors understand that its purported nuclear arsenal is a weapon of national survival and hence they view it as non-threatening. This is the reason Israel's alleged nuclear arsenal has never spurred a regional nuclear arms race.

 

In stark contrast, if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, a regional nuclear arms race will ensue immediately.

 

Although they will never admit it, Israel's non-radical neighbors feel more secure when Israel is strong. On the other hand, the region's most radical regimes and non-state actors will always seek to emasculate Israel.

 

3-- Since as the Jewish state Israel is the regional bogeyman, no Arab state will agree to form a permanent alliance with it. Hence, Israel will never be in a position to join forces with another nation against a third nation.

 

In contrast, the Egyptian-Syrian United Arab Republic of the 1960s was formed to attack Israel. Today, the Syrian-Iranian alliance is an inherently aggressive alliance against Israel and the non-radical Arab states in the region. Recognizing the stabilizing force of a strong Israel, the moderate states of the region prefer for Israel to remain strong.

 

From the US's perspective, far from impairing its alliance-making capabilities in the region, by providing military assistance to Israel, America isn't just strengthening the most stabilizing force in the region. It is showing all states and non-state actors in the greater Middle East it is trustworthy.

 

On the other hand, every time the US seeks to attenuate its ties with Israel, it is viewed as an untrustworthy ally by the nations of the Middle East. US hostility towards Israel causes Israel's neighbors to hedge their bets by distancing themselves from the US lest America abandon them to their neighboring adversaries.

 

A strong Israel empowers the relatively moderate actors in the region to stand up to the radical actors in the region because they trust Israel to keep the radicals in check. Today's regional balance of power in which the moderates have the upper hand over the radicals is predicated on a strong Israel.

 

On the other hand, when Israel is weakened the radical forces are emboldened to threaten the status quo. Regional stability is thrown asunder. Wars become more likely. Attacks on oil resources increase. The most radical sub-state actors and regimes are emboldened.

 

To the extent that the two-state solution assumes that Israel must contract itself to within the indefensible 1949 ceasefire lines, and allow a hostile Palestinian state allied with terrorist organizations to take power in the areas it vacates, the two-state solution is predicated on making Israel weak and empowering radicals. In light of this, the two-state solution as presently constituted is antithetical to America's most vital strategic interests in the Middle East.

 

When we bear in mind the foundations for the US's alliance with Israel, it is obvious that US support for Israel over the years has been the most cost-effective national security investment in post-World War II US history.

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Russia and Israel - Eschatology Watch

MOSCOW, (PIC) -- The Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday warned of implementing the Israeli military order 1650 that went into effect on Tuesday and that allows the expulsion of thousands of Palestinian citizens from the West Bank.

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said that the decision would escalate tensions in the region and might lead to instability in the Palestinian l More..and.

Following is the statement of Nesterenko on the Israeli decision:

"Israel’s possible implementation of these decisions is cause for the most serious concern. It may entail a further sharp aggravation of tension in Palestinian-Israeli relations and in the region as a whole and destabilize the situation in the Palestinian territories.

The planned actions look especially provocative amid efforts by the world community, primarily through the Quartet, to facilitate resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiation process with the ultimate goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

We have repeatedly in recent weeks underscored the urgent need to refrain from actions that prejudge the outcome of negotiations, and in general can dangerously “heat up” the situation. We reaffirm this Russian position and urge the Israeli side to reconsider its decisions and moves in the West Bank."

"Obama is an Amateur.... a Disaster who doesn't Learn" ~ Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger

A Caller, Muhammad, Confronts Truth and History About Palestine and Israel via Michael Medved and Robert Spencer

Medved & Spencer Set Caller Straight on History from Papa Giorgio on Vimeo.

The Truth About Rachel Corrie -- Conspiracies Debunked

From video info:

Rachel Corrie was part of ISM [a radical leftist International Solidarity Movement], which constantly assists the terrorist groups! [The parents are moobats as well.] The driver could not see her as she was behind a ditch. When she was run over by the tractor, she was trying to protect a tunnel entrance that was being used in the past to bring weapons in. Many false claims were made leading up to her deat More..h, and in this video they get de-bunked. Doctored pics, false allegations and phony witnesses.....all part of the PAlli propaganda production that they use to demonize Israel to the world with. The sad thing is that too many people believe their [B.S.].

"Because he's a black man" Is Why Israeli's Don't Like Him!? -- Dumb Lib-Tards

Are Israeli Jews much more bigoted than their American co-religionists? An astounding 77% of American Jews voted for Barack Obama.  But according to Ethan Bronner [with a little "help" from Chris Matthews], anti-black "racism" and anti-Arab "prejudice" are significant factors accounting for PBO's unpopularity in Israel.

"There Are No Moderate Muslims" ~ Mosab Hassan Yousef, The Son Of Hamas Founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef

"The biggest terrorist is Allah of the Quran, the god of the Quran, the god of Islam" ~ Mosab Hassan Yousef

I originally pointed to the conversion of Mosab Hassan Yousef in January of 2009, to wit the video comes from:

A reader tracked down a recent interview that sheds some light onto Mosab's outlook of Islam:

NEW YORK - The son of a Hamas leader who helped Israel's security forces kill and arrest members of the Islamic terrorist group says he's not afraid to die.

Mosab Hassan Yousef tells The Associated Press he's willing to speak out about Hamas' brutalities and the evils of Islam even if it gets him killed.

Yousef's memoir-- Son of Hamas -- was published this week. In it, he describes his more than ten-year relationship with Israeli security service Shin Bet.

Yousef says the Israeli security service has an important job. "They are facing a dirty, difficult war," he remarks. "I don't agree with everything that they do and I'm against it. I was very honest when I was inside the organization and they know my position, and today they are not surprised with me [or] what I'm saying in public."

During the AP interview, Yousef -- a convert to Christianity -- hurled his most inflammatory comments at Islam. Acknowledging that the comment would likely offend many people -- but that his goal is not to offend -- he said: "The biggest terrorist is Allah of the Quran, the god of the Quran, the god of Islam."

Since leaving Islam, Yousef has come to believe that the more closely Muslims follow Allah and Muhammad, the more they become "inhuman" terrorists. The fight against terrorism, he says, is actually a war between two gods. "The god of the Quran from one side, and the God of the Bible from the other side," he explains. "People are doing the will of their gods. It's the evil in the Islamic system that forces them to become inhuman."

Yousef's father, senior Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, publicly disowned his son on Monday. But the younger Yousef says he now worships a God who will never disown him. "A god who teaches you how to hate and he says about himself that 'I am the deceit [sic]' is different than a God who tells you 'I love you -- no matter what you do, you're my son."

And becoming a Christian, he adds, wasn't a matter of leaving Islam for another religions. "I am not a religious person today. I am a Jesus Christ follower," he shares. "It's a matter of a relationship."

Mosab Hassan Yousef, The Son Of Hamas Co-Founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef -- Codenamed the Green Prince -- Spied for Israel (Good News)

Son of Hamas founder spied for Israel for more than a decade

The son of one of Hamas’s founding members was a spy in the service of Israel for more than a decade, helping prevent dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from finding their targets, it emerged today. 

Codenamed the Green Prince by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, supplied key intelligence on an almost daily basis from 1996 onwards and tracked down suicide bombers and their handlers from his father’s organization, the daily Haaretz said. 

Information he supplied led to the arrests of some of the most wanted men by Israeli forces, including Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader often tipped as a potential president who was convicted of masterminding terrorist attacks, and one of Hamas’ top bomb-makers Abdullah Barghouti, who is no relation of the jailed Fatah chief. 

Mr Yousef, a 32-year-old convert to Christianity who now lives in California, has revealed the intrigues of his years as a spy in a new book called Son of Hamas, much to the concern of Shin Bet, whose operations will be revealed in detail. While the revelations may give a boost to Israel’s intelligence service, whose external counterpart Mossad is still grappling with the diplomatic fall-out of last month’s Hamas assassination in Dubai, there will be concern that the account may give too many insights into the murky world of espionage....

 ...(read more)...

 

Escape From Hamas FOX News Documentary from Vos Iz Neias on Vimeo.

New Documentary - Bringing the War To Campus, Anti-Zionism

Biblical Deer Returned to Israel

Jews Celebrate the Liberation of the Old City on Yom Yerushalayim at the Kotel

On Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) thousands of Jews at the Western Wall celebrating the liberation and reunification of the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, 42 years ago. Filmed by Tovia Singer on May 21, 2009

Thousands Receive Blessings at Birchat Kohanim this Sukkot -- Western Wall

The Blessing of the Priests in front of the Western Wall on Sukkot, 5770 (October 5, 2009). Police estimated that there were nearly 100,000 people who came to Judaism's holy site to receive blessings ok Sukkot. 

Good News Out of the Obama Administration (Debka email update)

Obama Enlists Both Clintons to stop a Palestinian state
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

14 Nov. Mahmoud Abbas has been warned by the Obama administration to give up his plan for a unilateral declaration of the Islamic Republic of Palestinian within 1967 or 1949 borders with Jerusalem is capital. 

Due in Ramallah Sunday, Nov. 15, is a covey of US presidential emissaries led by former president Bill Clinton whose mission is to deter Abbas, who is flatly refusing to restart peace negotiations with Israel and talking about the Kosovo 2008 precedent.

Abbas has his work cut out to work his way through insurmountable thickets on his home ground: Under the Palestinian constitution, his presidency, government and parliament are illegitimate. He first tried scheduling an election to Palestinian institutions for Jan. 24, 2010, to rectify this lacuna and validate his government, only to discover that the legal difficulties besetting the Palestinian Authority and its rule of the West Bank (the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas) were fraught with complications. Above all, unlike that Balkan enclave, the Palestinians are split between two illegal entities, the Fatah-ruled West Bank and the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule.

Ayn Rand on Islamo-Nazis

(Libertarian Republican h/t)

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs has just discovered this video clip from a late 1970s appearance by Ayn Rand on the Phil Donahue show, in which she makes some rather politically incorrect remarks about Muslim Middle-Easterners.

"But if you mean whose side should one be on Israel or the Arabs? I would certainly say Israel!"

Israel is up against "a group of almost totally primitive savages, who have not changed for years, and are racist, and resent Israel because it is bringing industry, intelligence, modern technology..."

"They're terrorists... they're monsters..."

Mark Perry Questioned at Harvard -- Cannot Answer Simple Questions

(imported from Solomonia)

The latest apologist-for-Islam guest to be honored by Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies is one Mark Perry, author, self-described "security consultant" and above all, raconteur (read "name dropper"): "When I was waiting outside Yasir Arafat's office..."

His topic at Cambridge's Baghdad-on-the-Charles was ostensibly the skinny on Hamas and Hezbollah. These days, the operative buzz-phrase among the academic cognoscenti is "multiple elective identities" (popularized by the Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen).

You see, we're supposed to look at Hamas, Hezbollah, Ahmedinejad and the Taliban as complex, nuanced actors with whom we can dialogue, and, ultimately, strike a deal with. There are no more monoliths, according to the university pooh-bahs. Except for one, of course. It's the tiny country in the Middle East that begins with I and ends with l.

There's no point in talking with Netanyahu or the settlers -- they have only one identity -- Zionists -- and we don't have to be told how evil that movement is. Hamas, on the other hand, according to Perry, is pro-democracy and anti-Shariah Law, hence it is possessed of multiple identities. Our academic betters are telling us to pay no attention to the mountains of corpses, flogged women or disappearing minorities in the Islamic world -- these folks are at heart just like us -- Progressives!

All of this academia-speak is intended to mitigate and to apologize for a growing Islamic hegemony and barbarism. One of the more absurd assertions Perry made was to claim that Hamas is practicing democracy in Gaza and has nixed Shariah Law. His audience, mostly morons straight from a Quaker Meeting House hugging session reacted with nodding heads.

Not content with his initial howler, Perry added that Hezbollah should not alarm us because it had been "marginalized" in Lebanon. A Lebanese woman sitting next to me simply couldn't contain her shock and laughter at his absurd assertion. She whispered to me that Hezbollah controls all of Lebanon, for all intents and purposes.

On a really surprising note, Sara Roy, the ringmaster of Harvard's bash Israel circus, became visibly squirmy at Perry because he obviously wasn't anti-Israel enough! At various points, he seemed to almost justify the Gaza incursion and rarely indulged himself in the standard Israel demonizations that mark Harvard's Middle East program. Ms. Roy and her mentor, Herb Kelman (one of those wonderful folks who brought us the debacle of Oslo) have traditionally brought in a surfeit of speakers whose constant theme is Israel as an "Apartheid State, brutal, Nazi occupier" etc... you know the drill.

On a positive note, two Middle Eastern audience members expressed deep skepticism over Perry's ludicrous statements, no doubt, also to the chagrin of Harvard's elite.

The Palestinian Genocide That Wasn't

U.K. Commander Tells UN Council: "IDF Took More Precautions Than Any Military in History of Warfare" (UN Watch Import)

(UN Watch h/t-Import)

GENEVA, October 16, 2009 — The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan just finished addressing the U.N. special session on the Goldstone Report, speaking on behalf of UN Watch, an independent Geneva human rights group. See speech as delivered below. To interview Col. Richard Kemp in Geneva, call number listed above.

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer issued the following comment on today's extraordinary meeting of the UN Human Rights Council:

• "Today's meeting has nothing to do with human rights, and there's no emergency, other than Palestinian President Abbas' precarious political predicament. The Arab-sponsored draft resolution is entirely one-sided, condemning Israel while saying nothing about Hamas and its rocket attacks. UN Watch calls on all council members to vote against the imbalanced resolution, and to deny Hamas terrorists the political victory they desperately crave, but which the world will only grant at its peril. We urge council members like Pakistan, China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia to end their strategy of focusing on Israel in order to hide the world's real abuses, especially their own. With this being the council's 6th special session on Israel -- versus only 4 for the whole world combined -- it's tragic that once again politics is trumping human rights."

[...]

UK Commander Challenges Goldstone Report

GENEVA, October 16, 2009 -- Today's emergency UN Human Rights Council debate on the Goldstone Report predictably saw a line-up of the world's worst abusers condemn democratic Israel for human rights violations. In a heated lynch mob atmosphere, Kuwait slammed Israel for “intentional killing, intentional destruction of civilian objects, intentional scorched-earth policy,” saying Israel “embodied the Agatha Christie novel, 'Escaped with Murder'.” Pakistan said the “horrors of Israeli occupation continue to haunt the international community’s conscience.” The Arab League said, “We must condemn Israel and force Israel to accept international legitimacy." Ahmadinejad’s Iran said “the atrocities committed against Palestinians during the aggressions on Gaza should be taken seriously” and followed up by the international community “to put an end to absolute impunity and defiance of the law.”

What the world's assembled representatives did not expect, however, was the speech that followed (see video and text below), organized by UN Watch. We invited as our speaker a man who repeatedly put his life on the line to defend the democratic world from the Murderous Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda, and the Taleban. The moment he began his first sentence, the room fell silent. Judge Goldstone, author of the distorted report that prompted today's one-sided condemnation of Israel but not Hamas, had refused to hear Col. Kemp's testimony during his "fact-finding" hearings. But UN Watch made sure today that this hero's voice would be heard -- at the U.N., and around the world

Netanyahu's U.N. Speech (In Full)

(Abu Wabu h/t)

The New Leader Of The Free World
"Have you no shame? Have you no decency?"

Mark Levin on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to the U.N.

Iran... What Will Obama Do?

Israel's inner cabinet focuses on Iran

DEBKAfile Special Report

September 14, 2009

The second Israeli cabinet-level discussion in the last few days on the Iranian threat - nuclear and regional - took place Monday, Sept. 7, in the inner cabinet, on the heels of a recent security cabinet meeting which surveyed Israel military and homeland security preparations for a missile attack from four sources, Iran, Syria, the Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza.

The Monday meeting was held behind closed doors but DEBKAfile's military sources report that speakers underscored the rapid tempo of the developing Iranian threat. Monday, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was willing to discuss "global challenges" with US president Barack Obama but repeated his government's standing refusal to negotiate his country's "inalienable nuclear rights." This put the lid on the US president's policy of dialogue with Tehran on its nuclear program and rendered the European engagement initiative pointless.

Monday, too, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said talks with the Islamic republic were at a "stalemate. He delivered a bleak account of Iran's nuclear compliance to a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Yet tougher UN sanctions are a diminishing prospect in the light of Russian and Chinese objections.

Saturday, Sept. 5, DEBKAfile reported the growing concern in security circles over the failure of the US, Israel and other international parties to put the brakes on Iran's fast-paced advance toward a nuclear weapon although Obama had been in office for nine months and Netanyahu sat down in the prime minister's office all of six months ago. Tehran seized this inaction for the biggest leap forward since its hidden nuclear program was launched.