Archive for the ‘Israel’ Category
Israel, A True Friend
December 18th, 2009
Thank you Israel.
The people of Israel of course strongly identify with the United States in its confrontation with the forces of Islamic extremism. President Obama to the contrary notwithstanding, the feeling is largely reciprocated among the people of the United States. A new 9/11 memorial built in Israel, designed by an Israeli, funded by Americans, concretely makes the point.
Last month U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham and Defense and Air Attache Colonel Richard Burgess took part in the dedication ceremony for a 9/11 monument and Living Memorial sponsored by the Jewish National Fund at the entrance to Jerusalem (in the surrounding forest). The dedication ceremony took place on November 12, 2009, drawing a crowd of 150-200 participants including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The ceremony was moving and the memorial is beautiful, though neither received any attention in the mainstream media.
Why would the media ignore this act of kindness and support shown by one of our staunchest allies?
The answer is simple. The object of their fascination was not in attendance.
The Impatient Man
September 23rd, 2009
Hurry up Israel and Palestine.
There is no time for all your rhetoric as Obama wants you to settle your differences immediately:
“It’s enough talking about talking, and it’s time to get started as soon as possible,” he said.
This from a man who has made more television appearances and delivered more speeches in his short time in Washington than any other President.
King of Mecca Wants Obama to “Impose” Arab-Israeli Solution on Israel
June 8th, 2009
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has urged U.S. President Barack Obama to impose a solution on the festering Arab-Israeli conflict if necessary, a Saudi newspaper said on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states want Obama to get tough with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has balked at Palestinian statehood and defied U.S. calls to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements.
King Abdullah told Obama during his visit to Riyadh last week that Arab patience was wearing thin and that a solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict would be the “magic key” to all issues in the region, al-Hayat said, quoting what it called informed sources.
“We want from you a serious participation to solve the Palestinian issue and impose the solution if necessary,” the Saudi monarch told Obama, according to the paper, which is owned by a nephew of the monarch. It did not elaborate.
Apparently the nomad from Saudi Arabia thinks Obama is as great as Obama thinks he is. He wants him to “impose” a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict because the Arabs are getting “impatient”.
It is not land the Arabs want. If that were the case they would have been satisfied with all the land Israel got (with the blood of its soldiers in wars they didn’t start) being returned to them.
What they want is the complete destruction of Israel and they want Israel to go along with them on that. Nothing else will satisfy their demands.
They, and now it seems, Obama, want Israel to abide by all the peace treaties tried (they have) and not hold the Palestinians to the same treaties. There is not much left for Israel to give to them in the way of land and they certainly will not be stupid enough to give up the defense of their nation.
Well, maybe not. I say maybe not because some day soon, I think, there will be a false peace treaty of seven years which will be broken after 3 1/2 years. So, at some point they will be fooled into peace with the devil himself.
But there is a God Who is sovereign and will never let Israel be totally destroyed. He will show the world He is God and Israel is His Holy Land and the people are His chosen people.
Obama, eat your lambchops in Paris, fly your wife and children over there for a shopping trip at our expense when the country is broke, and let the masses in the press praise you, but leave Israel alone. Not one grain of sand should be given to anyone by Israel. Not. One. Grain. Of. Sand.
You may have seized the power to nationalize everything in the United States but you will never be more powerful than the God of Israel, Whom we also worship.
Maybe God will bless our country one more time and take the wool off the eyes of those who are so enamored of this most dangerous president in the history of the republic. He is dismantling the republic faster than the founders could put it together. May God bless America as He also blesses Israel.
Netanyahu and Nixon..According To Obama
June 5th, 2009
Of the peace process, the president said “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu will recognize the strategic need to deal with this issue. And that in some ways he may have an opportunity that a labor or more left leader might not have.”
Continued the president: “There’s the famous example of Richard Nixon going to China. A Democrat couldn’t have gone to China. A liberal couldn’t have gone to China. But a big, anti-communist like Richard Nixon could open that door. Now, it’s conceivable that Prime Minister Netanyahu can play that same role.”
[all emphasis-mine]
What is the point of these two statements?
Is Obma saying the Left is weak when it comes to protection of a nation?
How about the Richard Nixon=anti-communist comment? Is he implying those on the left were pro-communist?
Oh well, take away the teleprompter and confusion reigns.
Posted in Barack Obama, China, Foreign Policy, Former President Nixon, Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu | 
Comments Closed
Touro in the Shadow of Cairo
June 4th, 2009
Obama will be speaking to the Islamic world from Cairo, Egypt. The Washington Times reported on some of the spin and the criticism surrounding this speech in Obama’s speech in Egypt to reach out to Muslims. Elliott Abrams’ concerns regarding the struggle of some Egyptians for freedom are important to note. Ayman Nour has refused to attend the speech.
On May 9th, I read this post by Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs in which other concerns are presented; concerns that should never be lost or forgotten in the vortex of spin: Obama, Make One Stop Before the Muslim Capital. In it she linked to a column written by Andrew Bostom for The American Thinker on February 8th:
At the time of Mr. Bostom’s column, Cairo had already been discussed as a possible venue for this speech.
In the article he discusses and documents the hatred of Jews taught and fomented in Egypt. He closes by presenting a contrasting visit–that of George Washington to the Touro Synagogue and the subsequent correspondence. He then writes:
Contemporary American Jewry has expressed with even greater intensity the “fervent wishes” for President Obama’s “felicity,” as their forebears did in praise of President George Washington. Will President Obama exhibit George Washington’s moral clarity and reassure contemporary Jews he is committed to their liberty and security, which is now gravely threatened by global jihadism?
Mr. Obama, before your planned speech in a Muslim capital, I urge you to address the world’s Jewish community, and condemn the jihad-inspired antisemitic violence fomented by esteemed Islamic religious institutions, including notably, Cairo’s Al Azhar University. And I can suggest the ideal venue-redolent with American history-where you should make this statement: Touro, America’s first Jewish synagogue, located in Newport, in my beloved home state of Rhode Island.
We know now that Obama will not be speaking first at Touro. Ironically, although the speech will be given at Cairo University, Al Azhar University is a co-host.
Mr. Bostom also includes this information:
(i.e., recent Pew Data indicating the number of US Muslims are half, or less, the number of US Jews)
Related to this post, Power Line has a preview by Ronald and Allis Radosh of their new book released on May 12th:
A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and The Founding of Israel.
* * * * *
If you are not familiar with the history of Touro Synagogue, please read these links from Andrew Bostom:
George Washington’s lasting gift to generations of Jews
Address to the President from the Hebrew Congregation
GW’s Reply to the Hebrew Congregation
__________
H/T: The Washington Times, The Spectator, Atlas Shrugs, The American Thinker, The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Power Line, The Papers of George Washington.
Crossposted to RedState Member Diaries and previously in a modified format to Be John Galt.
Note To Israel..Give, Give, Give Or We Will Take, Take, Take
May 30th, 2009
In today’s political climate in Washington when you are presented with a request, you are simply expected to comply.
Benjamin Netanyahu did not.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet that Israel will not build new West Bank settlements, but it will continue construction in existing communities to accommodate “natural growth.” The announcement follows a White House summit last week, during which U.S. President Barack Obama urged Mr. Netanyahu to halt settlement activity.
Why on earth would the United States government make demands of Israel, one of our strongest and most reliable allies, while disregarding the actions of the terrorists who have worked tirelessly to destroy a sovereign nation?
It’s not enough to talk down America at any turn, and at tremendous cost, now the new administration is making an attempt to weaken Israel’s defense?
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has blocked Israel’s request for advanced U.S.-origin attack helicopters.
HT:Ace
Congress better think twice about this one.
If Barack Obama challenges Prime Minister Netanyahu in regard to the governance of Israel and more importantly the well being of her people, he will lose. He darn right well should.
Is Your State Capitol Next?
February 6th, 2009
But..but Hamas is a peaceful organization which can be reasoned with, right?
How did Minnesota get to the point where its state capitol can become an outpost of a terrorist organization from the Middle East? Until a few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it possible.
emphasis-mine
Yesterday Minnesota, tomorrow…well, who knows.
The Predictions Were Right
January 3rd, 2009
For over a year now I have been reading in publications I subscribe to online that if Obama won the election Israel would launch an attack on Hamas or Hezbolla by or before January, and if the republican candidate won the launch would be after January.
It seems those predictions are right and Israel is concerned the United States under President Obama will desert them.
Here’s a blurb from the NY Post that tells a bit about how Israel is trying to consider the civilians in this war:
Despite the frankly anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish reporting of this conflict in the global media, Israel’s military performance not only has been technically superb, but has been as humane as possible under such difficult circumstances.
From earlier briefings in Israel, I know the IDF takes an almost absurd degree of care in its targeting. The questioning doesn’t stop with “Is that the right building?” it then asks, “What should be our angle of attack to ensure any rubble falls into the street, not atop the primary school next door?” (Hamas consistently embeds terror facilities among innocent civilians.)
Hitting a terrorist hideout in an apartment building, for example, an F-16 would be armed with the smallest warhead that could do the job. If the terrorists are tucked into rooms on the fourth floor, targeting officers evaluate which window the guided missile should go through to kill the terrorists, while minimizing harm to civilians living below.
Any military veteran can tell that the Israelis are taking enormous care to spare civilians. Given the number of airstrikes thus far and the hundreds of tons of bombs dropped, it remains remarkable that so few innocents have been injured in such a dense urban environment.
While Obama has expressed support for Israel, we are not really sure where his loyalties lie, and without the help of the United States Israel will be doomed.
There are many Jewish Senators and Congressmen in our new Congress, including Herb Kohl and the powerful Chuck Schumer from New York.
With Republican sympathizers I would imagine and hope they could get the two-thirds vote needed to over-ride a possible Obama veto of help for Israel if that is needed. The next president’s chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, is a big supporter of Israel.
Our incoming Secretary of State, though, was seen kissing Arafat’s wife in a public forum, so who knows what the official State Department position will be.
It’s time now for our new president to make decisions that he has somehow managed to avoid the majority of his political career, which is about 14 years old, including the two years he spent on the campaign trail.
I pray our country never deserts Israel in a time of need, since that is the one source of any blessing our country retains from God.
We’ve already pushed God out of our lives, but Israel is the apple of His eye and if we desert Israel we can count on failing as a nation in a very short time.
Just my opinion.
I Mourn for the Children
January 1st, 2009
Yesterday I went through a lot of photos of scenes from the current fight between Israel and Gaza.
Though I am pro-Israel, and I suspect these photos were presented to cause sympathy for Hamas, I got physically sick to my stomach when I saw the dead and injured bodies of children younger than my youngest grandchild.
These children are taught to hate Israel from birth, but are still so innocent. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The fact Hamas has built its military installations in residential areas makes it impossible for Israel to get rid of these installations without causing death to civilians. One of their military installations is located under their hospital.
Hamas needs to think of their people, and perhaps Israel could drop leaflets in Arabic telling the people of an imminent attack so they can get their children to safety.
I also saw photos of Israeli construction workers killed by the Hamas rockets.
This insanity is never going to stop until Israel’s neighbors recognize it as a legitimate state and stop trying to destroy it. Unfortunately, that day will never come.
This war was started by the constant barrage of rockets deep into Israel and Hamas was warned to stop or face the consequences.
Underground tunnels to transport more firepower are dug from Gaza to Egypt and Israel is targeting these areas to cut off Hamas’ supplies of war.
Israel has had to fight its neighbors since its modern day inception, and before that had to fight the Philistines (Palestinians), Babylonians, Romans and anyone else who came along to harm them.
They were a nation separated for almost 2,000 years, and after World War II and the Holocaust they determined to go back to their ancient homeland so no one could ever again do what Hitler did to them.
It is a nation of many languages since people have returned to their ancient homeland from many different countries, but never have they let their traditions and religion die.
I have had letters asking for help to feed poor Israeli children and I didn’t realize there were any until then.
Children touch my heart because they are innocent.
The only thing I can think of for comfort is these small children are actually in heaven now and won’t go through all the hate indoctrination so common in their world.
Rest in peace, all who have died innocently in this war. At the same time I pray Israel defeats Hamas and Hamas will act like men and stop hiding behind women and children for protection. This is the greatest form of cowardice I can imagine.
Israel Against the World….Again
December 30th, 2008
Once again Israel finds itself in the midst of a war it didn’t start and no one in the world is defending her.
The United States is giving lip service, but in the end it is up to Israelis to save their own country from being “wiped off the map”.
A so-called cease-fire was in effect for the past six months, during which Hamas built up weaponry and started lobbing missiles deeper into Israel than ever before.
Hamas has all their military targets and government targets in the midst of residential areas. This is done so they can use the protection of civilians and cry about the deaths of said civilians when Israel attacks these military targets.
For over sixty years now Israel has never had a day of real peace.
Some people claim Israel was given land not theirs. Archaeology has shown the Jewish people lived in that part of the world thousands of years ago. The Bible says God gave the deed to Israel to the Israelites and scattered them in 70 A.D.
It also says Israel would be reunited and it was after World War II when the Jews figured out living in other countries was not in their best interests. Being killed for being a Jew has been in style in the world for quite some time.
The Bible also tells us Jerusalem will be a contentious place for the rest of time as we know it.
When the land was carved up after the second world war, Jordan and other countries were also created. Jordan was also the ancestral home of the Palestinians but we don’t see them making war to get that land back.
Israel offered every Palestinian living in the new Israel the opportunity to stay where they were, keep their belongings and become a part of the new country—even to the point of being able to participate in the new government, which some Palestinian Arabs do.
Most found the thought of co-existing with the Jews so repulsive they decided to be the nomads they really always were.
Israel developed land Palestinians had neglected and allowed to be piles of dirt and rock. Pretty soon there was agriculture in this so-called barren land.
Israelis built homes in this barren land and thrived and the Palestinians and Arabs could not stand that Israel had done so well on land they thought was theirs, when in fact, they were the interlopers.
Every president since Carter has tried to get peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but every time the Palestinians have never lost an opportunity to lose an opportunity.
Ehud Barack lost an election because he offered Arafat 90% of what he wanted during the waning days of the Clinton administration, but Arafat didn’t even want that. What he wanted was the complete annihilation of the Jews in Israel so they could turn it into a pile of dirt and rocks again.
What he forgot is after the Holocaust the Jews vowed “never again” and they meant it.
This tiny nation is fighting all of the Arab world and Iran, which is Persian, in order to survive on that small strip of land given to them by God Himself ages ago.
I pray our new president will be friendly to Israel during his term in office, as that is about the only place we still get a blessing from God.
We have, as a nation, mostly turned away from God ourselves, but still He has granted us grace. He will bless those who bless Israel. You can figure out what He’ll do to those who do not. The Palestinians are finding that out at the moment…again.
What Is Obama’s Position on Israel?
October 14th, 2008
Jesse Jackson has some ideas:
God said He will bless those who bless Israel, and I truly believe that’s why we as a nation have been blessed, but why we are also now losing that blessing. We are forcing Israel into giving away land to the Palestinians that was given to Israel by God Himself with the Palestinians having to comply with nothing they agree to. Israel, on the other hand, has to give everything it promised and then some and still gets vilified by the nations of the world.
So Obama has a friend that was with the PLO. His list of friends is beginning to look liks a Who’s Who of terrorism and Marxist/Communism, and yet he is taking in so many by saying we are against him due to his race. All the while it is his campaign playing the race deck and not just the card, and they’re dealing from the bottom.
I feel like Bob Dole in the 1996 election against Bill Clinton: “Where’s the outrage?” Why have we become a nation of extremists on both sides and everyone thinks it’s wonderful? Americans fighting Americans in neighborhoods and nursing homes.
Jesus foretold all of this. He said someone would come along who would be so charasmatic he would deceive the very elect if allowed to. I don’t believe Obama is the anti-Christ, but I do believe he is leading us toward the day we will accept anything said as long as a person can be charasmatic about it. He is almost worshipped by those who aimlessly follow him, with hollowed-out eyes, just going along and not knowing why except he’s black or he talks pretty. To hell with what he’ll do to the country. He’s black, he’s pretty, he talks nice and even if he’s an empty suit they’re going to vote for him and if you disagree you will be banished once he gets in.
I don’t care if he’s purple with pink polka dots. I would love to see a black man as president. Just not this black man. A man like Michael Steele, for instance. Someone with good sense and substance.
Oh, how I fear for my country as I know it if this man gets in.
I still fly my flag on a twenty-foot flag pole in my garden in the front yard. I still get choked up hearing the Star-spangled Banner. I still stand straight and still with my hand over my heart as I pledge allegiance to my country.
I’m not against Obama because he’s a democrat or a black man. I am against him because he is a Marxist/Socialist proven by the friends he keeps and now tries to hide for expediency, and because he is an empty suit with no discernable qualifications to be President of the United States in a time of turmoil like we have now.
We voted for change in 2006, remember? Now we have Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid and a Congress that has accomplished nothing, nothing! in the last two years. Give them a majority and a president from their party and watch us sink like the Titanic. We will have only ourselves to blame.
Reverend Jackson’s Thoughts On An Obama Presidency
October 14th, 2008
We haven not heard much from Reverend Jackson in this election cycle but in today’s New York Post he makes a few statements which should raise a few eyebrows:
He promised “fundamental changes” in US foreign policy – saying America must “heal wounds” it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the “arrogance of the Bush administration.”
The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where “decades of putting Israel’s interests first” would end.
Jackson believes that, although “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” remain strong, they’ll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.
“Obama is about change,” Jackson told me in a wide-ranging conversation. “And the change that Obama promises is not limited to what we do in America itself. It is a change of the way America looks at the world and its place in it.”
Jackson warns that he isn’t an Obama confidant or adviser, “just a supporter.” But he adds that Obama has been “a neighbor or, better still, a member of the family.” Jackson’s son has been a close friend of Obama for years, and Jackson’s daughter went to school with Obama’s wife Michelle.
“We helped him start his career,” says Jackson. “And then we were always there to help him move ahead. He is the continuation of our struggle for justice not only for the black people but also for all those who have been wronged.”
[emphasis-mine]
Read the rest for the Jesse Jackson vision of an Obama presidency. I wonder where “America First” fits into the equation?
Israel/Gaza-Hamas Ceasefire In Effect
June 19th, 2008
Whenever I hear of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas I’m always skeptical. Here’s the main reason:
A long-sought truce between Israel and Gaza militants went into effect early Thursday, with the aim of halting militant attacks and a bruising Israeli blockade that have made life unbearable for people living on both sides of the border.
A day of intense Palestinian rocket and mortar fire and Israeli air reprisals on Wednesday underscored just how fragile the Egyptian-brokered agreement would be. Hamas security reported that the Israeli navy fired four shells into the waters off Gaza City after the truce began; the military had no immediate comment. Hamas has run the territory since seizing control a year ago.
It seems to me if someone is going to have a truce and announce it days ahead of such truce, the parties involved would stop killing each other when they’ve announced they are going to have a truce. It’s a goodwill gesture.
But Hamas isn’t as interested in a truce as it is in having the time to get stronger so they can attack with impunity once they have restocked their supplies and opened their supply lines again.
Israel is an island unto itself in that region; surrounded by enemies on all sides with the exceptions of Jordan and Egypt, and in my opinion, if push came to shove Jordan and Egypt would go against Israel once again.
The other day I received an “urgent” mailing requesting money of course. $144 to be exact. I don’t know the person who sent the letter, although I have heard of some of the people on the board of prayer warriors.
What made me throw it into the trash was a sentence that went something like “We must not let these people stop God’s prophecy regarding Jerusalem.” Pretty strong statement, but if it’s God’s prophecy that Jerusalem will not be divided again (and it is) how is any man or any amount of money going to stop it?
We have prophecies in Ezekiel telling of a big war in Israel; so bad that God does intervene so Israel isn’t destroyed.
I pray for peace in Jerusalem every day, as instructed by the Lord, but I also know certain things will come to pass over which no single human being has any control. I don’t consider the anti-Christ to be human, nor his false prophet.
I’m considering a trip to Israel in March, but I’m carefully considering it since my husband has bad legs and doesn’t want to take a chance of blood clots on such a long journey.
If I don’t make it this time I will probably never get to see it in this lifetime, but I know I will dwell in the New Jerusalem after that.
Always be a friend to Israel and you will always be blessed for it, but don’t do it just for the blessing; do it because it’s the right thing to do. Shalom!
If the Shoe Fits, Complain About It
May 16th, 2008
While speaking to the Israeli Knesset yesterday President Bush made this remark:
“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.
“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’
“We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by historyâ€
Remember, he was speaking to the Israelis who are the survivors and descendants of the survivors of the worst appeasement policy in history; that of Chamberlain with Hitler.
Instead of democrats agreeing this is actual history (and no democrat names were mentioned) Obama, Clinton, Biden, Pelosi and who knows who else felt compelled to condemn the speech as a political slap in the face at them. Unless their names are Chamberlain or Hitler they were not mentioned.
I actually think the president was thinking more in the lines of Jimmy Carter, who has had his hands in every crisis since he created the one with Iran.
The argument is that the president shouldn’t go overseas and talk bad about the Congress. It’s an unwritten rule. I guess it just took effect because if that’s the case it stands to reason no politician should go overseas and criticize the President of the United States.
Let’s see, Pelosi, former President Clinton and former President Carter come to mind immediately as breaking that unwritten rule and very recently and often.
Why do you suppose they all got so touchy about the comment the President made? Do you suppose the shoe fit them and it was too close for comfort?
Israel a Prime Target of Saddam Hussein
March 24th, 2008
It is no secret that there have been countless documents, tapes etc. recovered since Saddam Hussein was deposed, some of which are now being released for public consumption.
Judge for yourself after reading this article if the world is not a better place without this tyrant in a position of power:
The Americans captured more than 600,000 intelligence items, including thousands of hours of video and sound recordings, all of which have been scanned and summarized, but only 15 percent was fully translated into English.
A document from 2002, from the chief of staff of the Al-Quds Army, sent to the Karbala Division, orders each brigade to build a model of an Israeli town and practice taking it by force.
Hamas representatives, including Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated by the Israel Defense Forces in 2004, contacted Iraqi intelligence and asked to coordinate attacks against American and Israeli targets to delay the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The documents also show that Iraqi agents also followed the activities of Israel in Jordan, Qatar and the Philippines.
A video recording of a meeting between Saddam and Yasser Arafat on April 19, 1990, showed Saddam threatening to assassinate then president George Bush. “We may not be able to reach Washington, but we could send someone with an explosives belt to Washington,” Saddam told Arafat, three months before the invasion of Kuwait.
“We can send people to Washington. A man with an explosives belt could throw himself on Bush’s car.”
Saddam also told his Palestinian guest that he intended to launch surface-to-surface ballistic missiles against Tel Aviv and that he possessed chemical weapons that “have been successfully employed” against Iran – and he would not hesitate to also use them against Israel.
The file listing potential targets in Israel covers 223 pages and was classified as Top Secret by Iraqi intelligence. It was found on April 13, 2003, in the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad by a unit of U.S. Marines. [Emphasis, mine]
Much more at the link above including a list of potential targets in Israel which Saddam had designs on destroying.
HT: Clarice Feldman
Syrians Try to Cover Up Evidence of Nuclear Site
October 26th, 2007
The above photos show what is believed to be a Syrian nuclear weapons facility before Israel took it out (left side) and now (right side)
New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site believed to have been attacked by Israel last month no longer bears any obvious traces of what some analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor.
Two photos, taken Wednesday from space by rival companies, show the site near the Euphrates River to have been wiped clean since August, when imagery showed a tall square building there measuring about 150 feet on a side.
The Syrians reported an attack by Israel in early September; the Israelis have not confirmed that. Senior Syrian officials continue to deny that a nuclear reactor was under construction, insisting that Israel hit a largely empty military warehouse.
But the images, federal and private analysts say, suggest that the Syrian authorities rushed to dismantle the facility after the strike, calling it a tacit admission of guilt.
“It’s a magic act — here today, gone tomorrow,” a senior intelligence official said. “It doesn’t lower suspicions; it raises them. This was not a long-term decommissioning of a building, which can take a year. It was speedy. It’s incredible that they could have gone to that effort to make something go away.”
Good job, Israel! Good job!
Syria Mistakenly Owns Up To Israeli Attack on Sept 6
October 18th, 2007
I don’t speak diplomatese, but the following is a statement from the Syrian representative to the UN’s annual conference on disarmament.
He appears to have verified Israel did hit a nuclear facility in Syria, although my muddled brain doesn’t see that. He does appear to the Sept. 6 attack on Syria, but called it July 6 when he made his speech.
Also speaking in the right of reply, the representative of Syria said that the delegation of Israel had spoken out of context yesterday. Israel had used lies and accusations, which was not useful since the entire world was aware of the objectives and practices of that “colonial†entity, which encouraged State terrorism and had never respected the resolutions adopted against it by the United Nations. There had been politically motivated acts by Israel against Syria, and, at the same time, Israel had tried to distract attention from its actions, in particular, its interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon.
Concerning the Lebanese border, he said that the Lebanese Minister of Defence had denied that anything had crossed the border, and those controlling the border had confirmed that. Syria had informed the Secretary-General of that in writing. Contacts between Lebanese and Syrian authorities had been ongoing to protect the border, and the countries had regularly reported to the Security Council on their meetings. Syria had also recently increased the number of guards on its border, preventing any transfer of weapons from Iraq or any other countries. In a letter dated 4 May, Syria had reported on that. It had also asked Europe for help in securing its border, but had not received any such assistance.
The accusations by Israel, therefore, were totally unjustified. Israel was an “enemy entity†occupying Syrian territory. Israel regularly filmed trucks carrying fruits and vegetables into the country, and had recently bombed one of them. Israel was building eight reactors in a small territory and preparing itself “in nuclear terms†for a possible war, with 20 nuclear warheads, using thousands of cluster bombs, and not providing maps to show where they were dropped or where the nuclear waste was being disposed of. It was an entity that claimed that Gaza was trying to occupy areas, when it was itself occupying territory.
Moreover, the entity that was the fourth largest exporter of lethal weapons in the world, that which violated the airspace of sovereign States and carried out military aggression against them, as had happened on 6 September against Syria, such an entity, with all those characteristics and more, had no right to go on lying without shame.
People who do speak diplomatese claim this is verification Israel hit a nuclear facility in Syria.
Diplomats familiar with the document cannot explain why July 6 was invoked, instead of Sept. 6, the date both countries say an incident occurred. A State Department source tells FOX News the best explanation is that Darwish misspoke.
The document, released by the General Assembly’s Department of Public Information, recounted Tuesday’s proceedings at the annual gathering of the U.N.’s Disarmament and International Security Committee.
What is clear is that this is the first time Syria has acknowledged its nuclear efforts.
One U.S. delegate told colleagues he could not believe his ears when the Syrian diplomat made his statement and that the resulting document was close to verbatim, and another source told FOX News the document reinforces what people heard [the Syrian representative] say in the actual debate.
Syria already has disowned the remarks, adding “such facilities do not exist in Syria.”
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, quoting an unnamed Foreign Ministry source, said the U.N. press release misquoted the diplomat and that Syria had made it clear that there are no such facilities in Syria.
Based on the last paragraph in the second quote, it would seem even Syria believes the Syrian delegate spilled the beans.
Maybe he’d better seek political asylum someplace.
Support for Israel appears strong from the Republican Presidential Candidates
October 16th, 2007
Some of the GOP presidential candidates visited with the Republican Jewish Coalition. The following are just a few of the quotes pulled from that forum:
First, former Mayor Giuliani:
“We would like to have peace,” Giuliani said. “We don’t want to have a peace in which Americans and Israelis are getting killed. And we certainly don’t want to create another terrorist-supporting state. We have too many of them already.”
From Mitt Romney:
Noting that Gaza became a launching ground for attacks after Israel withdrew in 2005, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said, “A thousand-plus rockets being launched from the Gaza strip shows the best intentions can result in something far less.”
Fred Thompson:
Thompson said, “The enemy that we face is a common one with Israel.”
Included in the article are also a few humorous quips delivered by the candidates in answer to questions posed at the meeeting.
The support for Israel expressed to the Coalition is one which I would hope will continue should any of these men be elected POTUS.
So Israel Attacked Nuke Site in Syria
October 15th, 2007
When you are a tiny country surrounded by enemies that would destroy you, what do you do when you find out one of your closest neighbors is building a nuclear weapon?
Do you wait for them to use it on you or do you go after it before it’s completed in order to save your country and citizens?
I’d opt to go after them in a preemtive strike.
Israel’s air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports.
The description of the target addresses one of the central mysteries surrounding the Sept. 6 attack, and suggests that Israel carried out the raid to demonstrate its determination to snuff out even a nascent nuclear project in a neighboring state. The Bush administration was divided at the time about the wisdom of Israel’s strike, American officials said, and some senior policy makers still regard the attack as premature.
Regardless of how the New York Times tries to make the nuclear site look like a small affair by saying nuclear material can be used for weapons or for peaceful purposes, and regardless of their expert saying it would take three to six years to develop the bomb from the technology, the Israelis did the right thing.
Israeli Opposition Not Happy With Plan to Divide Jerusalem
October 9th, 2007
Yesterday I spoke of disturbing news to me that Israel was considering giving up half of Jerusalem to the Palestinians to use as their capitol.
It seems the Israeli people are not that happy with this bone-headed idea either.
Israeli opposition leaders are stepping up their criticism in the face of the first real negotiations with the Palestinians in nearly seven years and government steps to prepare the public for “difficult decisions” ahead.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has assailed the ruling coalition — particularly Prime Minister Ehud Olmert”s conservative partners — for proposing to hand back most of the West Bank to the Palestinians. He predicts that the territory will eventually fall under the control of Islamic extremists from Hamas.
At the same time, a close Olmert associate, Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon, was subjected to a political lashing after he said in an interview that Israel has no choice but to share control of Jerusalem with the Palestinians.
Mr. Olmert himself told Israel’s parliament yesterday that “difficult decisions lie ahead of us” in peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which got under way yesterday.
“Do you really agree that Hamas will control neighborhoods in Jerusalem?” asked Mr. Netanyahu. “Do you really agree that they will sit on hilltops overlooking Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, and Tel Aviv?”
Here’s hoping and praying the political opposition is successful in stopping this outrage.
A Looming War Between Syria and Israel?
September 23rd, 2007
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.Isaiah 17:1 KJV
We’re beginning to hear a little more about what happened in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007.
We are reading today that Israeli forces, probably dressed in Syrian uniforms, infiltrated what is a nuclear facility in Syria. This was done to gather samples of material in the secret military facility to determine if they were nuclear weapons or not.
It was discovered it was nuclear material originating from North Korea and confirmed to the White House before Washington would give its blessing on the attack.
Israeli sources admitted that special forces had been accruing intelligence in Syria for several months, the report said, adding that evidence of North Korean activity at the installation was presented to President George Bush during the summer.
According to the Times, North Korea and China believed that North Koreans were among the dead in the subsequent alleged IAF air strike.
On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Israel and the United States had collaborated on intelligence ahead of the alleged IAF raid.
According to the Post report, Israel informed the US over the summer that North Korean personnel were in Syria in order to assist the country’s nuclear weapons program. The intelligence in question reportedly included satellite imagery.
Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted Binyamin Netanyahu adviser Uzi Arad in reference to the Syria operation. “I do know what happened, and when it comes out it will stun everyone,” he said.
Needless to say, Israeli sources are not too happy with Netanyahu for confirming this secret raid.
So, why have I begun the post with a quote from the prophet Isaiah? Because Damascus is the only city that has never not been a city since its inception. It has never been destroyed as Jerusalem or any other city in the history of man.
In other words, it is unfulfilled prophecy, and if we believe the Bible is the inerrent Word of God then we know at some point it must be fulfilled.
Just when that time is we don’t know so anything I say here is purely conjecture except for the fact I know Damascus will be destroyed one day. I just don’t know when.
Obadiah gives us a little more of a hint about what will happen:
And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it. Obadiah 1:8 KJV
Jacob and Esau were twin brothers. Jacob received his father Isaac’s blessing by tricking him into thinking he was Esau, and it was Jacob who became Israel and fathered the original twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was one of Jacob’s or Israel’s twelve sons.
Esau, on the other hand, married a woman who worshipped a false god and became one of them.
In this passage Jacob is Israel and Esau is the Arabs or Muslims since Iran is not Arabian.
What is the best educated guess as to how Damascus will be destroyed? We see that in Zechariah:
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. Zechariah 14:12 KJV
Using the vocabulary he had in the fifth century B.C. Zechariah seems to have been describing nuclear annihilation. Not just to Syria but to all people who have fought against Jerusalem, or Israel.
Although the Israelis do not admit it, it is a well-known secret they have nuclear capability.
Surely they have thought about a scenario where they would have to annihilate Syria (Damascus) without killing themselves. How about if they have a neutron bomb that will kill people but leave buildings intact and allow other people to go there safely afterwards?
Except Isaiah says Damascus will be a heap.
I don’t have all the answers and am not a biblical scholar, but I can read and I can ponder. I just can’t figure out how it will all come about. But I know it’s going to happen and if Damascus keeps trying to wage a destructive war against Israel I also know Israel will destroy Syria even if it means its own destruction.
They have no choice.
Israeli Vice Premier Wants To Cede Partial Control of Jerusalem to Palestinians
September 21st, 2007
I was distressed to read that Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon wants to cede part of control of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority.
“The government does not have a majority (to support) Haim Ramon’s opinions on anything to do with Jerusalem,” Pensioners Party Chairman Rafi Eitan said Tuesday following the exposure of the vice premier’s letter calling for the division of Jerusalem and the establishment of joint sovereignty over the city’s holy sites.
I totally agree with that statement.
Where does this man get off thinking he can give away one grain of sand of the land given to the Jews by God Almighty Himself? He holds the deed to that property and Jesus even instructed us to pray for peace in Jerusalem, the city He loves so much.
There will never be real peace in that city until Jesus sets foot on it again, but praying for the peace in Jerusalem is something I do daily.
Israelis shed their blood and lost their sons and daughters in battles brought against them when they recaptured the land that had been taken from them for 2000 years.
Since the election of Olmert we are seeing a policy which is disturbing in that he seems willing to bend over backwards to do the bidding of the Palestinians, all in the name of a peace that will never come.
The Palestinians and all Muslims are sworn to destroy Israel. Not just destroy it, but push the people into the sea.
Now it seems members of the government are doing their level best to see to it the Palestinians get their way.
I’m not an Israeli citizen so I have no say in their internal affairs, but I can say I hope someone who is stronger against the threats to Israel will get elected and soon.
I have read reports Olmert is even considering granting the right of return to Palestinians who left Israel of their own accord when the state of Israel was re-created.
These people or their ancestors were given the opportunity in 1948 to remain in their homes on their property and become a part of Israel.
They can be elected to the Knesset and enjoy full citizenship. That’s for those who decided to stay. The others left and gave up any claim to the land when they did.
If they were to get the right of return to Israel it wouldn’t be long before they would take over the government and run the Jews into the sea.
I don’t see God allowing that to happen.
Rockets fall again in Sderot
September 4th, 2007
The citizens of Israel are among some of the bravest in the world. They live daily with the threat of suicide bombers, rocket attacks and are surrounded by countries hostile to their very existence.
They field an exceptional army and have intelligence services which some consider in the top tier, but even they are little consolation when an attack like the one yesterday occurs. Who but a murderous thug with no regard for human life would fire these rockets at all let alone into populated areas? One rocket fired on Monday exploded near a day care center. Viewing this video brought home the reality these people live with every day.
Thankfully no one was injured in this attack as is noted in this article.
A Palestinian rocket landed in a courtyard next to a crowded day care center on Monday, sending panicked mothers scrambling to take their screaming toddlers to safety and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders.
None of the 15 children at the center was hurt. But frantic parents in Sderot—already furious over the government’s failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire—pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year. It was unclear when studies would resume.
Imagine for a moment watching your child step on a school bus every morning and knowing that there is a constant threat of violence targeted at the very area in which their school is located.
One wonders how long it would take before we would all be home schooling our children. This is no doubt a universal feeling and it seems the parents in Sderot have also reached their limit.
The Education Ministry said studies would continue normally. But Batya Katar, head of the Sderot Parents Association, said parents were pulling all 2,500 of the town’s students out of school.
“The school year is over. We can’t hold on any more,” Katar told The Associated Press by telephone, the voices of panicked parents audible in the background.
At one Sderot school, Nahum Bitton arrived to take his children home.
“Of course I’ll take them out. Should I leave them in the hands of Hamas?” Bitton told AP Television News.
As a parent and grandparent let me answer your question Mr. Bitton. No, you should not.
Collateral Damage.
August 24th, 2007
I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about this so I’m going to let the story speak for itself.
Mariya Aman is looking forward to her sixth birthday party next week. Her face lights up when her father, Hamdi, promises her a clown and lots of balloons at the party, and she whizzes up and down the hospital corridor in her electric wheelchair. As he smiles and waves to her, Hamdi Aman’s sad eyes never leave his only daughter. Apart from the birthday party, he says quietly, he has no idea what the future holds for Mariya.
Confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed from the neck down, the Palestinian girl is at the center of a legal fight over whether Israel should continue to take care of her treatment. Back in May 2006, an Israeli missile attack on an Islamic Jihad activist’s car in war-torn Gaza left the Aman family, traveling close behind, in ruins. Mariya’s mother, brother, grandmother and uncle were killed, and Mariya, thrown out of the car into a ditch, sustained serious injuries. Today Mariya is kept alive by an artificial respirator at the Alyn Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Jerusalem.Although it has never formally accepted responsibility, the Israeli government has largely sponsored her complicated medical rehabilitation for the past 15 months. But now her father has been told by the Israeli Ministry of Defense that his daughter must leave Israel and return to the territory of the Palestinian Authority. “Sending her away from this hospital, out of Israel, is like sending her to hell,” says Aman, 30.
A court decision in favor of Mariya Aman could set a precedent and trigger other court appeals from Palestinians injured by similar acts of the Israeli military. Sarit Michaeli of the human-rights organization B’Tselem says there are hundreds of other families who may seek compensation from Israel in the future, something that clearly Israel is not interested in confronting.
Israel to Block New Refugees From Darfur.
August 20th, 2007
This story definitely speaks for itself.
– Israel closed the door Sunday on a surge of asylum-seekers from Sudan’s Darfur region and from other African countries, the largest influx of non-Jewish refugees in the modern history of the Jewish state.
Authorities announced that they had expelled 48 of more than 2,000 African refugees who have entered illegally from Egypt in recent weeks. Officials said they would allow 500 Darfurians among them to remain, but would deport everyone else back to Egypt and accept no more illegal migrants from Darfur or other places.
Netanyahu Wins Likud Leadership Race
August 15th, 2007
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won his race to be the Likud party’s leader, thereby giving him another chance to run for Prime Minister of Israel.
While Netanyahu’s victory had been all but assured, a strong showing by challenger Moshe Feiglin could have shored up Israel’s extreme right and hurt Netanyahu’s efforts to rehabilitate Likud after it was trounced in national elections last year. Recent polls have crowned Netanyahu, Likud’s leader since late 2005, as the front-runner for Israel’s top job.
With more than 80 percent of the primary votes tallied, Netanyahu was out way ahead with 73 percent to Feiglin’s 22 percent, party executive director Gad Arieli said. World Likud Party Chairman Danny Danon trailed with 4 percent. Final results were expected early Wednesday.
In his victory speech, Netanyahu made it clear that the race was a dress rehearsal for a much bigger contest.
“Tonight the internal contest ended, and as of tomorrow, we will focus our efforts on bringing a new leadership to Israel,” Netanyahu told dozens of cheering supporters in Tel Aviv.
If memory serves me, Netanyahu had been involved in some sort of political scandal right before or right after he left office.
I have been disappointed in the government of Ohlmert because he seems to be giving away everything the enemies of Israel want and getting nothing in return.
I had high hopes for him when he was elected and I saw a photo of him standing at the old Temple, praying.
He allowed his military to take a big hit last year from Hezbollah and the Palestinians at the same time. Cities in Israel were ravaged and frightened by missiles hitting them. Some of the citizens were forced to live underground in shelters for weeks at a time.
There was even an effort to collect money to send these families to the southern part of Israel for a week to get away from the stress. I know, because we contributed and got a very nice thank you note from the organization.
Young people in Israel are now trying to dodge their version of the draft, and that has been unheard of since Israel’s modern incarnation.
It’s time for a tougher Prime Minister, in my opinion, but I’m not Jewish or Israeli so I have no say in the matter.
Beware The Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing
August 2nd, 2007
I know this story sounds hopeful for peace in the Mid-East, but I just don’t buy it.
Until the Saudis and all Muslim countries recognize Israel’s right to exist there will be no peace in the Mid-East.
SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt — Saudi Arabia expressed interest yesterday in attending a Middle East peace conference proposed by President Bush, a move that would put its delegates at the same table with their Israeli counterparts for the first time since the founding of the Jewish state.
“We are interested in a peace conference that deals with the substantive matters of peace,” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said at a press conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who are making a rare joint visit to the region to seek help stabilizing Iraq.
“If [the planned conference] does so, it becomes of great interest for Saudi Arabia and, should we then get an invitation from the secretary to attend that conference, we will look very closely and very hard at attending the conference,” he said.
I’ve read too much Bible prophecy to believe anything good will come of this on a lasting basis, so yes, I’m a skeptic.
My only question is what is Saudi Arabia’s hidden motive? Maybe now it is to be in the peace process, but they will never recognize Israel’s right to exist and unless they can do that there can be no peace.
Keep Your Eyes on Israel
July 29th, 2007
This Omega Letter report I got yesterday seems to tie in well with the headline I read this morning:
Hezbollah: We Are Ready to Strike Israel Again
First, the first four paragraphs from the AP story today:
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah’s leader said Saturday that the militant Islamic group’s war last summer with Israel has left the U.S. vision of a “new Middle East” in shambles and claimed the guerrilla group was ready to strike Israel again at any time.
During the 34-day war in southern Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a new era of democracy and peace in the region, “a new Middle East.”
But Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, said the U.S. vision aimed at reinforcing Israel.
“There is no new Middle East,” Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told a mass rally in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, one of the towns hardest hit by the war. “It’s gone with the wind.”
Keep your eyes on Israel.
Special Report: Iran’s War Plan Emerging
This past week, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a state visit to Syria to meet with Bashar al Assad, president of Syria, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, and with the senior Hamas leadership headquartered in Damascus.
During their meeting, the Syrian president promised his Iranian counterpart to refrain from opening peace negotiations with Israel in exchange for massive Iranian military aid and Tehran’s support of Syrian interests in Lebanon.
This was reported Saturday by the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, which is published in London.
Following their lengthy meeting in Damascus, President Bashar Assad said, “I am calm today, more than ever.” After their meeting, the Iranian president also met privately with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political bureau director Khaled Mashaal.
According to the report, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agreed to help Syria with nuclear research and chemical weapons and to equip its navy with surface-to-sea missiles of the type that Hezbollah used to attack the Israel Navy Hanit warship in the course of the Second Lebanon War.
It also promised to build in Syria a factory for the manufacture of medium-range missiles and to allot $1 billion to the purchase of advanced tanks and combat planes from Russia. Read the rest of this entry »
Bush urges Mid-East peace talks.
July 16th, 2007
Very good move Mr. President.
President George W Bush has called for an international meeting to discuss efforts to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The proposed meeting would take place later this year and involve the US, Israel and some of its Arab neighbours.Speaking at the White House, Mr Bush also announced a $190m (£95m) aid package for President Mahmoud Abbas’s emergency Palestinian government.
Earlier, Israel said it would release 250 Palestinian prisoners.
The goodwill gesture by Israel is part of efforts to bolster Mr Abbas since the Islamic militant group Hamas defeated his forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip last month.
Mr Bush said the Middle East Quartet – which consists of the US, Russia, the EU and the UN – would help strengthen the government of Mr Abbas to promote peace.
“We can help them prove to the world, the region and Israel that a Palestinian state would be a partner, not a danger.
Israeli Cabinet OKs release of prisoners.
July 8th, 2007
Most Native Americans know what it’s like to be prisoners in there own land. Those days are pretty much over for us. The Israelis have been going through it nonstop to this day.
Before you comment on how I’m comparing the holocaust to the demise of Native Americans. STOP. I’m not.
I sincerely hope that this latest effort of good faith works.
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, officials said, in the government’s latest gesture of support for moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
However, the officials said Israel had still not finalized the list of prisoners to be freed or the timing of the release. Palestinian officials said they were disappointed Israel wasn’t coordinating the release with them.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to the prisoner release at a June 25 summit with Abbas as part of Israel’s strategy of bolstering the Palestinian leader in his standoff against Hamas militants.
Israel also has transferred more than $100 million in frozen tax funds to Abbas, and pledged to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.
“We want to use every means that can strengthen the moderates within the Palestinian Authority, to encourage them to take the path that we believe can create conditions for the start of meaningful discussions,” Olmert said in a televised statement at the opening of the meeting.
Israel is holding some 10,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The prisoner release would be the first since February 2005, when Israel freed 500 in a similar move aimed at bolstering Abbas, who had just won election as Palestinian president.
Olmert said none of the prisoners “have blood on their hands” – Israeli terminology for people involved in deadly attacks. He said the release had been cleared with Cabinet ministers and security officials.
