Please Let Us Have Our Backs Back

by Gail Winston

President Barack Obama’s biggest claim to support of Israel is: "When the chips are down, I have Israel’s back." Sorry, Mr. Obama, that’s not what America needs to "have". We don’t need you at our backs, pushing us. We are not human shields which you can hide in "back" of. We need America to stand side-by-side with Israel - and our other Western allies - to defend all Western Civilization from Nuclear Holocaust.

Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the UN says: "We remain determined not to rest until a democratic and peaceful state (sic) of Israel lives side-by-side with a viable and secure Palestinian state." All their maps show their "Palestine" with the Terror flag over, on top of, eliminating the Jewish State of Israel. Their letterheads, army uniforms, big pictures on the wall in front of where they host their guests for television photo ops... all show their map wiping Israel away.

We in Israel don’t need to live side-by-side with a terrorist organisation who unites with other terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezb’Allah. They threaten to wipe us off the map - and do so in all their public displays - supported by the terrorist states of Iran (soon-to-be-nuclear), Syria (killing her own people) and the rest of the "POISONED NECKLACE" of the Arab Crescent.

Mr. Obama has lots of nice sounding bits in his speech for AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), but, for those in the know who examine his speech for trustworthiness and veracity, there is much to pick apart. See Caroline Glick below for just such an astute dissection of Obama’s speech.

Ms. Rice spoke about the (US’s) "unshakable" relationship with Israel. Doesn’t she know that the very word for "Intifada" means to "shake off" (the Jewish State of Israel)? An Ambassador should be careful with the words she uses. They may have other meanings - especially to the hostile "other" group she wants Israel "to live together with in peace and security".

By Obama and Rice, etc "having Israel’s back", they are literally pushing Israel into defending not just herself but also America and the rest of the West. Israel is expected to take the existing (life-threatening and State-threatening) risks to get the job done. Hurray for our side! But, where is America and the rest of the West? Are they "resting" on Israel’s "back"?

So, Mr. Obama, Let us have our backs back! Get off our backs! Don’t push Israel into fronting for the United States. We are NOT your human shields!

Gifts of Arab Spring

The 100 missiles fired by the Palestinian Jihad Islami escalated Saturday and included Grad multiple rocket launchers mounted on vehicles and SA-7 anti-air rockets, the Russian version of the American Stinger, smuggled from Libya.

IDF officials say the 200 rockets fired at Israel's southern communities since Friday marks a “dramatic development in terms of the quantity and rate of the fire.” More than 50 of the rockets fired in recent days were medium-range missiles.

Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak

Since Al Jezeera became a main whole-sale supplier of the world news, at least in Australia, Israel has ceased to be a main item of attention and has almost disappeared from TV screens. It seems that public interest in news from Israel, which was often artificially invented and inflated, is a myth invented by anti-Jewish Western media.

Israel and China Signed Huge Water Deal

Business relations between Israel and China are set to grow significantly after Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz inked a deal worth over NIS 1 billion with Chinese officials. Under the deal, Israeli companies will export water technologies to China, to aid that country with water purification and agricultural projects.

Procrastination - Fake Diplomacy in Action

Iran invited UN inspectors to Parchin - after removing incriminating facilities. In the last three weeks, the monitors were twice barred from the site after travelling to Tehran for that purpose. The head of the UN agency nuclear agency Yukiya Amano spoke of “suspicious movements” around the site. There turned out to be a general clearance of incriminating equipment before the monitors arrived.

US Paid $5 Million Extortion to Egypt

Seven American rights workers left Egypt after the US paid nearly $5 million in bail costs to secure their freedom. Egyptian officials said the US paid $300,000 each for 16 Americans, nine of whom were already out of the country. The State Department said the money was paid by the nongovernmental organisations where the democracy and rights workers work. However, the NGOs receive US funding for their operations. (Where is dignity and self-respect? What happened to an official US policy of no negotiation with and payment to terrorists?)

Radical Islam Wins Big in Iran

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to be the big loser against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini. Hardliners from the Islamist camp appear to have captured at least three-quarters of the 290 seats in the Majlis, the country's parliament.

Truth is Out: Don’t Count on United States

Plain-speaking Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned that if the United States is too weak to be able to intervene to stop Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ”systematic murder of innocent civilians,” it can’t be counted on to come to Israel’s aid. "If the international community is incapable of stopping the massacres in Syria, what is the value of its promises to protect the security of Israel?"

North Korea Tested Iranian “Dirty Bomb”

German and Japanese intelligence sources confirmed what Western intelligence had known for 11 months - North Korea tested an Iranian warhead or “dirty bomb” in 2010 for $55m. The disclosure invalidates the US President Obama persistence that there is still time for diplomatic pressure and sanctions to bring Iran’s leaders to a decision to halt their nuclear momentum before military action was called for.

Spiritual Traitors - Not Leaders!

Chief Sephardic Rabbi (Rav) Rabbi Shlomo Amar has published a call to believers not to ascend to the Temple Mount. The call appears under the heading "avoid ascending to the Mount and touching its edge," which was the ruling about Mount Sinai in the Book of Exodus before the Ten Commandments. Rav Amar's declaration was co-signed by former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Rav Eliyahu Bakshi Doron; Rav Shalom Cohen, Head of Porat Yosef Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City Rabbi Rav Avigdor Neventzal, and Kotel Rabbi, Rav Shmuel Rabinovich.

Hamas has Chosen Self-preservation

Hamas will not do Iran's bidding in any war with Israel, according to senior figures within the militant Islamic group. "If there is a war between two powers, Hamas will not be part of such a war," Salah Bardawil, a member of the organisation's political bureau in Gaza City, told the Guardian. He denied the group would launch rockets into Israel at Tehran's request in response to a strike on its nuclear sites.

Obama Rejects Red Lines

US President Barack Obama held to the line that “Iran does not yet have a nuclear weapon” and cautioned against a “premature attack” on the Islamic Republic. This assessment is certainly not shared by Israel and ignored its call for red lines to warn Iran it will be attacked if it takes its nuclear weapons program beyond them. (Obama plays “Yes, Prime Minister” text-book political game - deny it, wait, investigate, do nothing until it is too late. Then say: “Nothing can be done about it now”!)

Quote of the Week:

“The Jewish state will not allow those seeking our destruction to possess the means to achieve that goal. A nuclear armed Iran must be stopped. Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran’s goal is to develop nuclear weapons. You see, Iran claims that it’s enriching uranium to develop medical research. Yeah, right. A country that builds underground nuclear facilities, develops intercontinental ballistic missiles, manufactures thousands of centrifuges, and absorbs crippling sanctions - is doing all that in order to advance… medical research?” - Bibi Netanyahu speech at AIPAC meeting

Arabs Building on JNF (Jewish) Lands

For generations Jews who dreamed of Zion collected their pennies so the Jewish National Fund could purchase land in Israel. Today illegal Arab building on JNF lands goes unchecked by Israel's leaders.

No fewer than 700 illegal housing units have been built by Arabs in the past two years on land purchased for Jews by the JNF in northern Jerusalem. 

Aryeh King, chairman of the Israel Land Fund, says his organisation is conducting a careful survey of the illegal structures using aerial photographs, but adds the problem is exacerbated by the fact that the illegal building occurs beyond Israel's security fence. Lands bought by the JNF are on both sides of the fence.

"We're discussing lands in Qalandiya," King explained. "All entry and activity has to be coordinated with the IDF and Ministry of Defence. No enforcement can be undertaken in these areas without the cooperation of the military and police. This is routinely denied on 'security grounds.'"

For example, King says, "We have an aerial photo of an old building from before 2005, but the security fence being built makes these areas out of bounds, and we have no way of documenting and making claims for enforcement."

"This inaction is politically motivated, and people don't realise what is happening. The JNF offers to purchase land at nominal prices in order to return them to the Jewish people, but that's not what is happening."

"I hope that those who donate to the JNF will think twice before giving their money to a body that does nothing to secure the assets they hold in trust for the Jewish people," King added. (Planting trees is not enough! We need to reclaim and free all Jewish land from Arab occupation.)