When Israel Weak Enemies up the Ante
by Dr. Harold Rhode
In the Middle East, when one party to a dispute gives in to the other’s demands, the winner “ups the ante”. No one respects those who meekly submit to their opponents. Instead, people mock, shame and often attack the loser.
- Israel surrendered to demands made by Hezbollah, Lebanon and, ultimately, Iran regarding the Israel-Lebanon maritime border and the right to extract natural gas from the Karish gas field.
- Israel’s weak and fearful response to the many terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Samaria (a.k.a. the northern part of the “West Bank”).
The current Israeli government may try to rationalize its actions, but almost everyone in the Middle East knows that both these events represent huge losses for Israel.
This also damages the Abraham Accords process, because no one in the Middle East respects or wants to be friends with a loser. Bahrain and the UAE, for example, both of which see the present Iranian government as their existential enemy, view the Israeli government’s decision to accept what amounts to a surrender to Iran - and America - as a warning sign. This makes it much less likely that more Middle Eastern countries will normalize relations or make a formal peace with Israel.
In only a few weeks, Israelis will go to the polls in the latest of many recent rounds of elections. We are now detecting a major, if quiet, backlash against this Israeli government and the left in general. Increasing numbers of Israelis seem to be telling their most intimate friends that they expect to vote for Itamar Ben Gvir - a sort of Israeli Donald Trump. These are people who would never have considered voting for such an “extremist” in the past. Will they actually do so?
Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak
The main objective of psychopaths is to obtain a feeling of power and control over others. They use fear, lies, intimidation and impose isolation on their prey. Isn’t this how Israel is treated by international anti-Semitic psychopathic states?
Netanyahu's Hypocritical Election Dance
Prior to 2021 elections, Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that MK Itamar Ben-Gvir was “not fit” to serve in the cabinet. Now Netanyahu saying “He certainly can; anyone can. He will be, and whoever is elected from the Religious Zionism (party can serve as a minister). But I assume (Ben Gvir) will be elected, and it’s completely clear.” Despite Netanyahu’s comments, the opposition leader has made a point not to be photographed with Ben-Gvir. At a recent holiday event in Kfar Chabad Netanyahu refused to stand on the same stage as the Religious Zionism MK. Israel is holding its fifth election in four years (most likely inconclusive again, due to Netanyahu refusal to step down from politics) on November 1.
Investigating State Department Antisemitism
Seventy-five members of Congress addressed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking about the ongoing investigation into antisemitism in the State Department. An investigation looking into to antisemitism in the State Department was opened by Blinken in July 2021. The letter pointed out that by law the State Department must report to Congress on the status of the investigation into the incidents, including recommendations for how the agency can improve its policies regarding discrimination. (It is an old and well-known secret that the State Department has been conducting anti-Semitic policies under the banner of anti-Zionism.)
Disarming Jews in Judea and Samaria
Public Security Ministry stops the practice of allowing residents to obtain long-range weapons, and begins taking weapons away. Residents of settlements in Judea and Samaria are demanding that the IDF permit them to carry assault rifles for their own protection, such as the M-16 or M-4 models, in light of the increased number of attacks on the roads in the region.
Hamas is Coming Back to Damascus
Two senior officials from Hamas visited Syria’s capital. The visit appears to be a first step toward full reconciliation between Hamas and the Syrian government and follows a months-long mediation by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group - both key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad. When Syria tipped into civil war, Hamas broke with Assad and sided with the rebels fighting to oust him, as the rebels are largely Sunni Muslims.
Russia Removes S-300 System from Syria
Russia has drawn down forces in Syria. The transfer of the S-300 anti-aircraft system out of Syria comes amid a larger Russian drawdown in the country as it seeks to bolster its faltering offensive against Ukraine. Though it has on several occasions harshly criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Jerusalem has so far avoided providing direct military aid to Kyiv - neither offensive arms nor advanced defensive technology - in an attempt to avoid sparking a crisis with Moscow.
Quote of the Week:
“Neither customary international law nor the United Nations Charter acknowledges that every group of people claiming to be a nation has the right to a state of its own.” - Professor Rostow former Sterling Professor of Law and Public Affairs Emeritus at Yale University - Just because Arabs and others proclaimed themselves “Palestinians” in the 1960s, with the help of the Soviet Union and other international anti-Semites, it did not make them a nation - and they definitely have no legitimate claim on Jewish land!
UN Report is Written by Anti-Semites
by Tovah Lazaroff
With Israel under a constant stream of criticisms from the United Nations, a new report, which makes the case that Israel's "occupation" of land over the pre-1967 lines are illegal, was called blatantly antisemitic by Yair Lapid.
Questions have also been raised about the three-person commission, particularly after one of its members, Miloon Kothari, made a comment that social media was largely controlled by the Jewish lobby.
Israel's Mission to the UN in Geneva recalled that the COI (Commission of Inquiry on Occupied Palestinian Territory) "was formed when Israel was under attack from thousands of rockets fired from the terrorist organization Hamas. Yet in their first report to the United Nations General Assembly, the Commission chose to make no reference to the conflict in May 2021, no reference to the Hamas, and no reference to acts of terrorism.”
Most COI inquiries that investigate human rights situations are temporary with a limited time frame, this one is open-ended. ('The Ugly Nazi' is still at its anti-Semitic best!)