Will Netanyahu's apology bring reconciliation with Turkey?

Having good relations with Turkey has been for years recognised as being of the highest importance. Indeed when relations with Turkey began to sour some time before the Mavi Marmara episode Israel's then defence minister Barak groaned that he hoped it wasn't true as Israel had invested very heavily in its relationship with Turkey, had not a few of its secrets in the hands of Turks. The truth of the deterioration in the relationship came with the appointing of an islamist to head Turkey's intelligence services.

PM Netanyahu of Israel today apologised for Israeli forces having killed 9 terrorists on board the Mavi Marmara ship trying to break Israel's legal blockade of Gaza (according to the UN Palmer commission). It should be remembered that of 5 ships the only violence broke out on the Mavi Marmara with jihadist turks of the IHH 'charity' on board. The IHH had previously donated its 'charitable services' to Chechniya in the form of funds and fighters.

It is to Turkey's leadership that we should look when we consider whether this apology to Turkey by Israel will actually help the relationship with that country. We have to keep in mind just who Erdogan and his AKP party are, outright islamist parties that have decimated their own military in the successful attempt to reform secular islamic Turkey into a country ruled by the tenets of islam. Erdogan has done this slowly whilst professing to keep the secular character of Turkey. Turkey has however been changed from within, the educational, social and other organs of state being slowly infiltrated by the islamists.  And none more so than the armed forces. Hundreds of generals and half of Turkey's admirals are now languishing in prison. Over a hundred journalists are imprisoned along with thousands of students.

It must be remembered that the flotilla was organized by the IHH, the islamist activist group on behalf of Erdogan's AKP. The flotilla could have been stopped at any time by Turkey and the violence that the IHH activists unleashed need never have happened. The violence was however intended in order to make the break with Israel. The flotilla was a provocation designed to break the relationship between Israel and Turkey. So if Obama thinks that forcing Netanyahu to make this ludicrous apology will lead to any positive results then he is badly mistaken. But then Obama is not about improving Israel's situation. American presidents normally think in terms of how their own country's situation is affected (e.g. remember how Israel was forced by Nixon to feed two egyptian armies it had surrounded and were at Israel's mercy in 1973). And Obama is a man who has negative feelings for Israel no matter the orchestrated circus while he was in Israel. There is just too much history to the man, including his recent remarks about Israel being destroyed if it didn't improve its behaviour, to think that he has Israel's interests at heart.

We must also ask ourselves whether this apology will help improve the relationship with Erdogan. People think the souring of the relationship started at Davos with the 'Israel likes killing' remarks, but Erdogan began  his anti-semitic career very early on. When he was head of the NSP islamist youth party he wrote a play called MasKomYa about the supposed evils of jews:

In 1974, Erdogan, while serving as president of the Istanbul Youth Group of his mentor, former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan’s National Salvation Party, wrote, directed, and played the leading role in a theatrical play entitled Maskomya, staged throughout Turkey during the 1970s. Mas-Kom-Ya was a compound acronym for “Masons-Communists-Yahudi” — the latter meaning “Jews.” The play focused on the evil, conspiratorial nature of these three entities whose common denominator was Judaism.

 Netanyahu must know who he is dealing with but nevertheless was unable to resist Obama's latest arm twisting of Israel.

When thinking of Netanyahu's apology we must keep in mind the effect on its enemies of Israel yet again showing weakness, when the american president was there. Israel is seen to be no more than the US lapdog, a country that receives its orders from America.

Netanyahu has once again shown that he can not stand up to this president who has got it in for Israel. Let's hope that on the one decision that really matters, to take away Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities, Netanyahu will find the will to ignore Israel's enemy in the White House.

Shabbat shalom.

Obama finally reveals his attitude towards Israel, and indicates the rocky road ahead

Obama bows before the king of Saudi Arabia where slavery and abuse of women and children is official policy

Obama informed a journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that Israel is “a small state, already a pariah, and one that may not even survive unless it changes its behaviour.”
Now that Obama feels untouchable in his second term he has at long last come out with some of his true feelings towards Israel. I don't believe he will ever reveal more about the true depth of his hatred of Israel but we must be thankful that Obama has not managed to restrain himself before the Israeli elections in a week's time.

Until now Obama has been clever whilst undermining Israel. He has always expressed his support for Israel whilst having the 'jewish' anti-Israel organisation J Street established to undermine Israel's strong support amongst the american people.  Obama always used his minions to attack Israel, and took every opportunity to snub Netanyahu when he came to the USA. Indeed the attacks in the last administration came at times on an almost daily basis. Obama has undermined Israel's security like never before whilst throwing it a bone of extra aid for the 'Iron Dome' and 'security cooperation' (a two way street - Israel only recently used back channels to warn Syria off an attack on Jordan, and Israel's intelligence has been proved to be far superior to that of the USA with regards to Iran. The Israelis were incredulous when the National Intelligence Estimate 2007 stated that Iran had given up its nuclear weapons ambitions. The US which relies on electronic intelligence and the odd turned scientist was very badly misled, as evidenced by recent IAEA reports).

Obama takes the credit for the Iron Dome because it was part funded by the US. Iron Dome a magnificent israeli technological achievment was developed just in time to prevent hundreds or even thousands of israeli deaths when over a thousand islamist Hamas missiles hit Israel in November 2012 (Israel would have needed to develop it in any case without the aid).

But when the effect of Obama's policies are taken into account, of deposing Ghadaffi and thus destabilising the whole of North Africa right up to Sinai (Ghadaffi's anti-tank missiles and heavy guns have appeared in Gaza), handing Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood sworn to Israel's destruction (just this week we found out about Morsy's "apes and pigs" comments, added to his calls for Jihad before he was elected president).

And now the US is sending 200 more Abrams tanks and 20 more F16 planes to add to the 200 hundred Egypt already possesses. Hezbollah controlled Lebanon is receiving more arms Of course there was that $20 billions arms deal signed only last year with Saudi Arabia, and the intention to supply islamist Turkey at least 100 F35's  stealth fighters. Israel might be able to order 20 of them.

Obama makes a show of giving Israel some weapons, but knows that the tiny state of Israel is being in effect swamped by the massive arms transfers to arab states, and by the extreme insecurity now being created as a result of Obama's policies. This includes the hotting up of the Sinai border in the south with lethal attacks on the border road (now closed for a year at least because of the increasing risks to civilians) and missiles fired at Eilat, to the never ending attacks coming from arabs of Gaza and the 'palestinian' territories. The 70,000 missiles pointed at Israel from Lebanon and the ever present menace of Hezbollah, the instability on the border with Syria and the possibility that Jordan will also fall to the islamists in the coming year or two. Added to this is added to the threat from a soon to be nuclear armed Iran with the stated intention of destroying a country the size of Wales, smaller than the state of New Jersey.

Obama's remarks and policies from the very beginning of his first presidency have served to undermine Israel's standing in the middle east (Whilst missing out Israel on his visit to the middle east, Obama stopped off in Cairo to explain how Israel was founded because of the Holocaust. i.e. Jews have no history or right there, that europe just dumped its jews on the arabs, a propaganda point that arabs do not cease making, however incorrect.). Of course one's standing and security in the region is also determined by who your friends are.
Were Israel to lose its best friend and ally, arabs would feel that Israel's destruction as being brought that much closer, with reason. And Obama has worked hard to bring that point home to Israel.
It is possible to go on all day about how Obama has worked to undermine Israel's security. Clever he has been, expressing his full support for Israel's security whilst undermining it.




Indeed contrary to all evidence Obama assures Israel it will be secure if it withdraws from its ancient homelands in Judea and Samaria. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the experience of the withdrawal from Gaza, Lebanon and most of Judea and Samaria showed. Israelis live on just 4% of Judea and Samaria, but they live on the hilltops overlooking Tel-Aviv, Herzliya and Haifa. Arabs never valued the hills which are unproductive, but to destroy Israel it is essential to take the hills from Israel. Obama understands this as well as the arabs. And that is why he has re-interpreted UN resolution 242 to make Israel withdraw from even from the rump of its ancient lands.


Congress shows the american people's love for america's greatest ally Israel with repeated standing ovations for PM Netanyahu

Obama can take some painful actions against Israel, not least at the UN. But Netanyahu must stand firm about now building up Judea and Samaria in the face of continued violence against jews and the near daily genocidal comments and praise for terrorists with much jewish blood on their hands. Abbas the so-called 'moderate' has lately also come out with praise for those who killed. No surprise but he has also dropped the mask.

Netanyahu who although a great speaker and communicator has shown himself weak, has fully supported his defence minister Barak a convinced appeaser who set himself against the return of jewish life to Judea and Samaria and acted tirelessly to destroy outposts and even settlements.

The good news is that the Israeli public has had enough. Israelis want no more of empty promises of peace, and now realise that in the middle east peace comes through the barrel of a gun, not through giving away territory and begging for peace. The coming elections will reinforce the nationalists and send a message to the world that Israel will not commit suicide by handing any more essential strategic territory to enemies whose appetite is never sated.

So we should thank Obama for finally informing us of his feelings towards 'pariah' Israel. Some of us realised what this man was about when he chose Cairo to attack Israel from, if not sooner. Israel will now take Obama's exhortations to heart and indeed change its behaviour, although maybe not in the way the author of the remarks intended.

Israel's future is looking more assured now its people is becoming more united. Europe is a dying continent that has lost its will to survive. The people of the USA are different. Americans have an inherent understanding of their place in history and they identify with Israel as being part of that history. American feelings for Israel are reflected in Congress' lengthy standing ovations to Netanyahu even whilst Obama was lambasting it and trying to impose a new concept of 1967 'borders' (i.e. the 1949 armistice lines) on Israel. Obama lost that battle (thank you Canada) as he lost the battle to throttle the continued building jewish life in a tiny part of Judea and Samaria (arabs control the overwhelming mass of the area contrary to the propaganda).

A united political front in Israel will after the election resist Obama and other enemies of the Jewish People. With so many other problems in the world, an Obama chastened by previous encounters with Netanyahu will most likely not be able to cause too much damage to Israel.

Lieberman will stiffen Netanyahu's backbone

It is hard to criticise Netanyahu has been unfortunate enouth to have had to work with the most anti-Israeli of US presidents ever, a president who has spent the last four years undermining Israel's security whether indirectly through 'regime change' of stable arab powers for extremist ones of the Muslim Brotherhood or through extreme pressure brought to bear on Israel over jews living in its ancient homelands.
It is hard to know just how difficult things have been for Netanyahu, or what brought him to recognise 'rights' of arabs who call themselves Palestinians not in order to build themselves a state of their own, but in order to destroy Israel. Obama has however undoubtedly been up there with Iran on Netanyahu's list of worries these last four years. 
But Netanyahu was no spring chicken. He is serving a second term of office and he has sacrificed the jewish inhabitants of Judea and Samaria for no gain. Obama never let up for a minute in the years he has been in the White House, whether a manufactured crisis over housing permits in Jerusalem or pushing Israel to make ever greater concessions to arabs whose successes are guaged not by their increase in per capita income, but in how many jews they have killed.

Elyakim Haetzni should however not just encourage people not to vote for likud. An alternative should be offered as power loves a vacuum. The worst possible outcome would be if people in Yesha just decide not to cast their ballot, handing their enemies a victory. Jews in Israel's ancient homelands of Judea and Samaria ('West Bank') must use their vote to elect those friendly to jewish settlement throughout the country. 
After all, with Lieberman having united with Netanyahu things are hopefully now set to improve.


Op-ed: Hundreds of thousands of settlers now second-class citizens due to Netanyahu's policies

Elyakim Haetzni  Published:     11.02.12, 13:03 / Israel Opinion

The local news outlets are focusing on the "moderate" voters who will flee Likud due to the "Lieberman threat," but they are forgetting the party's rightist bloc, which has an old score to settle with Netanyahu.

Here is a partial list: "Two states for two people," the essence of the Left's doctrine; the freezing of settlement construction for 10 months and a willingness to extend the freeze in exchange for Palestinian recognition of a "Jewish state" and to permanently halt construction following negotiations; a partial construction freeze in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria's Jewish communities, which is still in effect; a willingness to launch negotiations on the Golan Heights; a cold and distant attitude towards settlers who have not been "legalized" by the Left – meaning those who live outside the "settlement blocs"; and, worst of all, the handing over of the settlement enterprise - with its 370,000 people and 250 communities - to Defense Minister Barak, who is using the Civil Administration to abuse the settlers and violate their property rights.
West Bank

Therefore, the prime minister is responsible for the fact that hundreds of thousands of his subjects have become second-class citizens. Netanyahu knew what Barak's approach vis-à-vis the settlers was, so by handing them over to the defense minister's absolute rule, he essentially threw them under the bus.

Construction in many West Bank communities is restricted because Barak is refusing to approve city construction plans, and some communities have become "illegal" only because of this refusal. "Beit HaShalom" in Hebron was purchased for a million dollars, but 16 families were evicted from the premises for no reason at all – as a court ruling issued years later determined.

The purchase of Beit HaMachpela was found to be legal, but its dwellers were still evicted because Barak refused to certify the purchase. And there is also Migron, Ulpana and Beit-El, the university in Ariel and the brutal evacuations of women and children, which are accompanied by the sadistic razing of homes and property.

Lieberman bears some of the responsibility for these injustices, and he also approved the "two states" formula. Therefore, merging Likud with his Yisrael Beiteinu party does not erase Netanyahu's negative track record.

Rightist voters will also consider Netanyahu's attitude towards the Levy Report, drafted by three prominent judges seeking to end the legal injustices against Jews in their own land. The prime minister continues to ignore the report, which determined that Israel is not an occupying force in Judea and Samaria.

Likud's refusal to accept this historic decree will not be forgiven and it will not be forgotten - not to mention the party's complete disregard for the report's practical recommendations, which call for the annulment of some of the draconian measures that limit Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Levy Report alone may cost Likud-Beiteinu a few Knesset seats.

Netanyahu and defence minister Barak continue to erode Israel's ability to deter its enemies

Having fired around 80 missiles into Israel in the last day and critically wounded an Israeli officer along with 3 foreign workers, Hamas is letting it be known that it is prepared to allow itself be persuaded by Egyptian intermediaries to calm down and maybe stop firing.

This will be undoubtedly touted as a success by the 'moderate' Egyptian President Morsy who only the other day responded 'amen' to a call by the imam of the mosque he was praying in to 'destroy the jews'.

Others more cynical like myself might just see this as the usual arab ploy to attack Israel, and let Israel be lambasted internationally for undermining the peace when it responds, if it responds. Fearful of the international respons it usually won't.

Is there any other country in the world which allows thousands of rockets, nay tens of rockets, or even one rocket to come over the border without responding? Turkey pasted Syrian forces for a whole week recently when a Syrian mortar shell went astray. But Israel has to put up with thousands of rockets over the years fired indiscriminately with the purpose of killing Israelis. Over 12,000 have been fired at Israel since 2002.

Israel's response, is to threaten as it has been doing every time Hamas and its allied terror groups have fired large salvos of rockets into Israel. For months we've been hearing about what Israel will do, but it does nothing. Netanyahu has taken on the demeanour of his lacklustre and defense minister Ehud Barak in threatening and then doing little if anything. The same has been the case with Iran. Israel talks hard, and does little but encourage the Iranians to race for the bomb.

Netanyahu and those responsible for Israel's security are touting the 'success' of Israel's 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system having shot down 8 of the incoming missiles.  Those lethal Hamas missiles cost a few hundred dollars to make, and half a million dollars to shoot down. And even then, when Hamas fires its missiles in salvos Israel still has no answer. Hamas can still get through by firing many missiles at once.

Israel's answer to this problem is to announce the building of more defensive bunkers and shields for schools and important institutions as well as deploying even more hideously expensive anti-missile systems. A fully effective anti-missile system can not be built. A moderately effective one will bankrupt the state.

Israel has got it all wrong! It should not be investing so heavily in such systems but in deterrence. Israel's politicians should ask themselves why when Egypt and Syria both had missiles that could reach Israel's population centers from the 1950's onwards, they never used them? Because Israel had deterrence. Those countries knew that Israel would reply in kind, and then some.

Yet now Hamas can devastate Israel's towns in the south with impunity, with Netanyahu's refrain being that if this present wave of attacks doesn't stop Israel will have to act. Fool! Of course Hamas will stop, for a while before it starts up again. Now it has fired getting on for a hundred missiles, totally disrupted the lives of a million Israelis, forced those people to sleep in shelters and stopped the kids from going to school it has achieved its aim. A state of terror has been achieved at almost no cost, other than a few teenage terrorists who are not even the smallest loss to Hamas. These expendable jihadists are trained and deployed in their thousands.

Rather than deter by such statements, Netanyahu is actually encouraging future attacks. Hamas knows that to achieve maximum effect at no cost to itself all it needs to do is attack intensively for periods of no longer than a day or two. By the time Israel gets into gear Hamas 'allows' itself to be 'persuaded' to call a ceasefire. The UN and world governments then demand 'maximum restraint from both sides' and Israel has lost any justification to respond other than hit a tunnel or two, maybe.

When similarly faced by terror Ariel Sharon knew that the only effective response must be to enter the centers of terror, reach those responsible and make them pay dearly. Jordan was happy for arab terrorists to cross nightly over to Israel to kill and maim its civilians, to throw grenades into the bedrooms of sleeping infants. Sharon's Unit 101however made Jordan and the terrorists pay the price until eventually Jordan called a stop to the terror.

The British also knew well how to stop terror. When in 1936 arab terrorists killed British women and children and shot up the roads in Mandatory Palestine the villages from where the terrorists came from were blown up. Anyone found carrying a gun was summarily executed by british troops. Cruel it was, but village elders then thought very carefully before allowing terrorist bands to operate from their lands.Within three years arab terror in Mandatory Palestine had been totally crushed. Britain wasn't seen as being 'cruel' but as playing according to the rules well understood to this day in the bloodthirsty middle east. If jews want to live in the region they have to begin to understand who they are dealing with and the applicable customs. When you are attacked acting 'proportionately' means you have little chance of bringing peace to your people. And the US and Nato wonder why their campaigns in Iraq  and Afghanistan failed so miserably, why their forces had to withdraw from the former and will soon be gone from the latter. Nation building was a ridiculous concept unsuited to islamic countries. The only result was that money poured into corrupt leaders' pockets who never once have thanked their benefactors. Even that piffling potentate the so-called 'president' of Afghanistan Karzai will always condemn the allies at the drop of a hat.  He will soon be gone from Afghanistan into a well financed exile in  europe.

If Israel is to regain its deterrence it must stop threatening and act decisively, mercilessly those who attack it. It is outrageous that Israeli governments see Israel's border communities as expendable, that Netivot and Sderot can be shelled mercilessly without end, that their populations must suffer trauma from never knowing when the next attack must come.

It has got so far that Hamas and other jihadists islamists work according to the timetables of Israelis. When children are walking to or from  school they are attacked with missiles.  The sabbath morning will begin early with a rocket attack. This year as the children sat down to their first lesson on the first day of school the sirens in Sderot went off warning of a rocket attack. The children had 15 seconds to find shelter. This is intolerable. No society that cares for its fellow citizens can allow this.

All Israelis are valuable, not just those in Tel-Aviv and Herzliya. The time to act is when one rocket is fired, not whole salvos, not to wait ten years and still be discussing what to do. The enemy should know what will happen if only one rocket is fired. A new red line must be established, that any attacks over Israel's border will be met determinedly, at high cost to the aggressors, and without further deliberation.

In the middle east the price must be paid in blood not with bombed tunnels and empty security installations. Such 'reprisals' are ridiculous, only serving to encourage Israel's enemies. If Hamas is to decide to stop its attacks Israel must shed enemy blood each and every time it is attacked. Those who pay with their lives must not be only the cannon fodder, the islamists firing the missiles at Israel, but more importantly those who send them, those who train them. Anyone who serves Gazan security in any way must become a legitimate target.

That Israel does not do this sends a message that Israel is afraid, thus guaranteeing more and stronger attacks. Assassinations of terror leaders and leaders of their political branches must be brought back along with the bombing of terrorist training camps whilst in operation. The terrorists must not be allowed to train quietly but never know when they, just as the residents of Sderot will have a missile fly through the window. Why should Gazan terrorists be able to sleep soundly at night when children in Sderot can not? When gazan terrorists march along they should also be scanning the sky for a missile coming their way. Israel should no longer tolerate the training of islamist terrorists in Gaza.

Moreover, Israel should  retake Gaza bit by bit as and when needed. Each time there is an attack the Gazan enemy population must be moved that bit further away from Sderot and Netivot in a defensive measure designed to bring distance between those communities only a kilometer from the border. If this works then the border can remain as it was after the last Gazan attack. If not, then to improve Israel's security the fence must be moved ever further towards Rafah in the south. An artillery barrage should help clear the area of enemy terror apparatus once the civilian population has been informed. Israel unlike its enemy always wishes to spare the lives of civilians.

I have little belief that the above will happen any time soon. Unlike in the time of Ben-Gurion and Dayan, Israel's political echelons see the border towns as expendable. The islamist terrorists have seen that as a result of their efforts Israelis with the means have left those areas nearest Gaza. When the borders are not populated they become harder to defend thus handing a victory to the terrorists who will then move on to further targets. Islamists are patient. They see Israel as a rotten state that has no backbone, no courage to defend its interests. They take encouragement from Israel's weak response and will not stop until another Sharon or Rabin comes along.

Israel's death wish continued........giving away the Golan

Of course this revelation that Netanyahu would have given Assad the Golan is politically timed to damage Netanyahu's chances of re-election. But it nevertheless worrying.

Now that we see just how much a peace treaty is worth to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, we must be pretty sure that Netanyahu would not give away strategic land again in exchange for a piece of paper which as in Morsy's words will be subject to re-negotiation. For Muhammad Morsy of Egypt the only value to the peace treaty with Israel is that terrorists will be able to fire at Israel from the Sinai at no cost to himself. As long as egyptian soldiers are not harmed by Hamas (Gazan MB) then he will be happy for terrorists to attack Israel. All this whilst egyptian forces remain inviolate,under the terms of the peace treaty. 

Of  course Morsy will plead that he needs more troops and tanks to re-arm the Sinai so as to clear out the place of terrorists. Israelis aren't anymore so stupid as to believe this. The only use for egyptian tanks in Sinai is to build up an offensive capacity there against Israel.



      
 









 We must not forget that Morsy only a month before his election screamed at his adoring crowd that Jihad is the only way. A deputy leader of the MB then said that Jerusalem would be liberated in the coming year. 



And today we have Mohammed Badie the "Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood" espousing that:

“the Zionists only understand force,” and that Arabs cannot hope to achieve justice from the Jews “through the corridors of the United Nations or through negotiations.”

The Muslim Brotherhood and associated islamist have a long list of grievances that can never, ever be satisfied. Even if they destroyed Israel the grievances would move onto neighbouring countries and the the West. And that's because the caliphate is at the core of their beliefs. Their language, in arabic only is violent. In English they recite their demands in terms of human rights, of racism against muslims, of islamophobia etc.

‘Zionists only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress,’ Badie continued. ‘This will only happen through holy Jihad, high sacrifices and all forms of resistance’

“The time has come for the Islamic nation to unite around one man for the sake of Jerusalem and Palestine,” Badie said. “The Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places, including their own.”

Barak will never change. Even when a Brotherhood tanks has its barrel aimed at his own house he'll still be in denial, will understand the palestinian arab suicide bomber, will understand arab 'grievances', will be only too willing to give away Israel's territory until its enemies can just coast down the road to victory.

I still try and believe that Netanyahu will protect Israel and will be prepared to draw Iran's nuclear teeth before it's too late. There does not seem to be any alternative than Netanyahu as there is no one of the calibre of a Jabotinsky, Begin or Ben Gurion around. Netanyahu unlike Barak has his heart in the right place, knows that our enemies do not want peace in exchange for land, but rather the defeat of Israel and its utter destruction. 
Were they to succeed there would be nothing left of Israel, it would go back to the desert, just as the farmlands and farm industries developed by the jews of Gush Katif before they were forced out of Gaza.

Israel must never again give away any land. Peace comes through strength, now giving away land, in making an already tiny land smaller. Giving away land invites attack. When Israel finally learns this, it will have peace, not before.

Report: Netanyahu agreed to full Golan Heights withdrawal

Yedioth Ahronoth reports that in late 2010 PM, Barak conducted secret indirect talks with Assad; US documents reveal Israel agreed to return to June 4, 1967 lines in exchange for peace deal; negotiations were interrupted by uprising against Syrian president

The onset of the rebellion against Bashar Assad in January 2011 interrupted intense negotiations between the Syrian president and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which the latter agreed to a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

In the spring of 2010, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak launched secret indirect negotiations with Assad through American mediator Frederick Hoff, a former commander in the Marines and an expert on border demarcation in disputed areas.

Earlier this week Hoff resigned from his post as special US envoy to the Middle East. According to the Yedioth Ahronoth report, documents written by Hoff suggest that the negotiations were based on Netanyahu's willingness to return to the June 4, 1967 lines, giving Damascus full control of the entire Golan Heights area. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.

American businessman and Netanyahu associate Ronald Lauder reportedly negotiated a similar deal in 1998, during Netanyahu's first term as premier. At the time, Netanyahu denied that claim.

Netanyahu's successor, Ehud Barak, also offered a Golan withdrawal for peace, but the talks failed.

According to American sources, Netanyahu and Barak agreed to withdraw to the 1967 lines in exchange for a comprehensive peace deal that would include an Israeli "expectation" for the severing of ties between Syria and Iran. However, the sources said, the burgeoning deal did not include an explicit commitment by Assad to severe ties with the Islamic Republic.

The report said the sides did not agree on a timeline for the Israeli withdrawal: Syria wanted the agreement to be implemented within one and a half to two years, while Israel asked for more time before pulling out of the region.

Yedioth quoted a senior American official as saying that the negotiations were serious and far-reaching and would have likely ended with an agreement had they not been interrupted by the uprising against Assad. The official estimated that Netanyahu resumed the talks with Assad to justify the stalemate in the negotiations with the Palestinians and because he viewed Syria as the weak link in the so called "axis of evil," which also includes Iran, Lebanon and Hezbollah.

According to the documents written by Hoff, the discussions were held at the prime minister's official residence in Jerusalem. Netanyahu and Barak kept the talks a secret, but in early 2011 a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that special US envoy Dennis Ross met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and said that Damascus was willing to resume talks with Israel and that the Jewish state was willing to return the Golan Heights. The Prime Minister's Office denied the report.

The parable of the snake........ how Israel has lost its will to protect itself

I sometimes despair when I read the Israeli press. I have just read a Jerusalem Post article about the sanctity of Israel's snakes, how they mustn't be harmed, how imported glue traps are cruel ( I won't link to the JP as deep linking doesn't work.  The article is reproduced below).

Nowhere in the article is there anything about the dangers of poisonous snakes to humans, or even that the glue traps aren't left willy nilly in the wild but inside people's houses where people should be able to feel safe.

There is not even a mention of whether snakes that get into houses are at all threatened. I believe that if snakes are getting into houses, then the population in the wild has increased leading to the need to expand even into built up areas they would not normally inhabit.  If this is so, why should venomous snakes have priority over the lives of families?

Surely an Israeli has the right to protect himself, his wife and his children from snakes within the confines of his own house? There is no mention in the article of the dangers to the Israeli child, of his right not to be hurt,  his life put in danger.

I'm beginning to understand how Israeli governments have allowed 12,000 Hamas rockets to blast away at the south of the country for so many years. There seems to be mindset in Israel that life, any life is sacrosanct, especially that of your enemy or an animal that might very well hurt you or your child. If you have power then you are beholden to think umpteen times, have manifold checks and balances placed upon you before you use that power. All well and good, but there comes a point when limiting the possibility of abuse of power means crippling your ability to act in a timely or effective fashion.

I am also beginning to understand how when arabs attack jewish settlements guards are afraid to draw their weapons. Jews frequently have their weapons taken off them for firing at their attackers in self defence when they clearly felt their lives threatened. The mind of the Israeli establishment is hard to fathom.

And this is of course why Iran has been allowed to get so far along its program to develop weapons. Heaven forbid Israel should bomb Iran's nuclear industry, even when Iranian spokesmen make it ever clearer what they intend to do with their weapons when they get them.

I hope Netanyahu knows what he is doing by continuing to talk and to wait, as he has been waiting for 15 years. Will he show he has not only the bluster but the mettle of Mr Beigin who in an Israel that was much weaker than it is now dared to go against the US and bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor before weapons could be developed?

Netanyahu must not only draw diagrams and make noise, but inform the world that when the balance is between Jewish and Iranian lives, Iranians will have to take the consequences. This rule applies in all other conflicts, and the stakes are now too high.

From Rafsanjani to Ahmadinejad the message has been clear, Israel will soon cease to exist.

Israel must act when it feels the time is right, and when it does act, inform Iran that any mass firing of indiscriminate weapons against Israel will be met with an 'overwhelming' response.

If Iran can not be stopped after 15 years of talks and sanctions, then any method Israel has at its disposal must be used to take Iran back to that medieval state of development, the same place where its country's genocidal rulers' mindset is.

Israel has the wherewithal to set Iran back not for one or two years but for fifty. Israel must be prepared to use its might to protect its people.

Human rights of one's enemies and the rights of animals are all well and good, but when the chips are down, every nation has a right to defend itself against those that are intent on harm.

Israel's obligation is first and foremost to its people, to the Jewish People, to make sure that never again will a country be able to threaten another Holocaust. Netanyahu is beginning to lose his credibility, that he will prevent the Holocaust that Iran intends for Israel.


The JP article:

Parks Authority demands end to illegal snake traps

By SHARON UDASIN

09/23/2012 22:47

Snakes are defined in Israel as a protected animal by law; the traps have been illegal in Israel since 1955.

Photo: BRC Pest Control Compnay Ltd.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) is working against the sale of illegal snake glue traps.
Thousands of them have already been sold across the country and pose a serious danger to the animals.

Snakes are defined in Israel as a protected animal by law, and therefore the INPA has demanded that the importer of the traps immediately remove the products from the market and collect them from store shelves around the country.

Such traps have been illegal in Israel since 1955 because they can cause serious harm to the animals, according to the authority. In addition to recalling their products, authority staff members have been speaking with snake trappers and discouraging them from using the already purchased instruments.
Eldad Peled, INPA director of inspection and enforcement, stressed that all harm to protected wildlife such as snakes is prohibited by law.
 
“Catching snakes requires great skill, both in the method of the capture – so that no damage occurs to the snake – and in the treatment of the animal after the capture,” Peled said.
“An authorized snake trapper knows that he must transfer the snake to the authority and that our inspectors release the snake into nature. The glue traps sold recently in Israel harm the snake during the time of the capture, and therefore we are acting aggressively against their sale,” he said.
In response, the importer has agreed to stop sales and said that it would work vigorously to collect all traps still on the shelves, according to the INPA.