Mediaite: What American Export Can Be Less Helpful To The Middle East’ Than Beck?

Rachel Maddow discussed the sensitive issues on the ongoing Middle East peace process.

She concluded “everyone can agree that this particular moment in the Middle East is even more delicate than usual.”

Earlier today Beck announced his plans to hold a rally in Israel.

Maddow will certainly not be attending the rally and thought the whole idea was ludicrous:

What could be worse than Fox News exporting its end of the world conspiracy theorist who sees Communists and George Soros as a Jewish puppet-master in everything? What American export can be less helpful to the Middle East than that?

Rightardia couldn't agree more. Maddow is spot on and Beck "spot off."

Israel had some great opportunities in the last round of discussions with the US and Palestine, but Bibi Natenyahu wanted to maintain the status quo and now the situation for Israel is far more grave than it was a year ago. Those opportunities are gone.

Rightardia thinks that peace in the middle east will not be possible until Natenyahu resigns or is removed from office in the next election cycle.

AIPAC has been a negative force in the peace progress and is dominated by Zionist  neo-conservatives. Obama would be smart to play hardball with these numb nutz and work with the progressives in J-Street.

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/UFPYA    

Netcraft rank: 5598 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
 
Rightardia by Rightard Whitey of Rightardia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at rightardia@gmail.com.

Haaretz: Egypt to pemanently open Gaza border crossing

The Egyptian Foreign minister  tells Al-Jazeera that preparations are already underway to permanently open Rafah border crossing. This which would allow goods and people in and out of Gaza with no Israeli supervision.
The Isralei prime minister has also stated that he il not hold talks with Palestine that include Hamas, who won the elections in Palestine. Israel claims Hamas is a terrorist organization. 
From Rightardia's perspective, Israel has a bigger Middle Eastern terrorist apparatus than Hamas. We have continually advocated that the Obama government should not waste time trying to bring Bibi Netanyahu to the negotiating table because he has no interest in peace. 
The US government should try to undermine his Likud government so more moderate leaders can take the helm in Israel. 

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/UFPYA  

Netcraft rank: 5841 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
Rightardia by Rightard Whitey of Rightardia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at rightardia@gmail.com.

China Daily: Israel's three ring circus

Round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows...

 Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/UFPYA 

Netcraft rank: 7853 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Haaretz: Netanyahu "doesn't believe in peace."

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri criticized on Friday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's will to continue negotiations with the Palestinians, saying that he "doesn't believe in peace."

In an interview with the Washington Post, Hariri said that in order to achieve a peace deal in the Arab-Israeli conflict, there must be strong leadership, something that Israel lacks.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri

"There is no leadership in Israel," he said. "At one point you had [Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin who wanted peace. He's the one who believed in the peace in the region, but Netanyahu doesn't believe in peace."

Hariri accused Netanyahu of destroying the Oslo Accords and said that he (Netanyahu) is "somebody who is not willing to talk about real peace in the region."

Moreover, he stressed that Israel can only have security if there was comprehensive peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and between Israel and the Arab world – which includes Syria and Lebanon.

"[Netanyahu] takes the issue of security as the basis of his whole political platform but you will only have security if you have peace," he said.

On Monday, Hariri met with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyep Erdogan, who declared that Israel is endangering world peace by using exaggerated force against the Palestinians, breaching Lebanon's air space and waters and for not revealing the details of its nuclear program.

Rightardia agrees with the Lebanese PM. Netanyahu is a Zionist who thinks the  Palestians and most Arabs are terrorists. There can be no peace while he is the PM of Israel , try as President Obama may.

source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hariri-netanyahu-doesn-t-believe-in-peace-1.326975

Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 8515
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

El Jazeera editorial: Eric Cantor pledges his allegaince to Israel

"I'm with you, not my president," Eric Cantor told Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Soon-to-be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is desperately trying to explain away the promise he made to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last Wednesday.

Cantor huddled with Netanyahu just prior to the Prime Minister's meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton was expected to reaffirm the American commitment to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and opposition to Israeli settlement expansion.

Cantor wanted Netanyahu to know that he had his back.

Cantor's office itself put out a statement bragging about his pledge to Netanyahu: "Eric stressed that the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the Administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington," the readout said.

"He made clear that the Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and that the security of each nation is reliant upon the other."
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 8515
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

For now, forget Cantor's ridiculous assertion that the security of Israel and the United States are "reliant upon the other."

No, the United States provides Israel with the security assistance to survive - it is not the other way around.

But lay that aside. It is Cantor's statement of loyalty to Netanyahu that is the shocker. Specifically, it is his promise that he would ensure that Republicans in the US House of Representatives "will serve as a check" on US Middle East policy.

Almost immediately, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's bureau chief in Washington, Ron Kampeas, declared that Cantor's statement was "extraordinary".

He wrote that he could not "remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the President."

Kampeas was clearly shocked, but he was understating the enormity of Cantor's offense.

Cantor's pledge of allegiance to a foreign leader would be remarkable, and deeply offensive, even if the foreign country in question were Canada or the United Kingdom, our two closest allies with whom we have few policy differences.

The United States has major policy differences with Israel, and has had them for decades, most notably over settlements, the occupied West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, etc.

Israel is also the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the world, which means that the President of the United States has every right to express those differences firmly and clearly.

On the other hand, no American official - by any stretch of the imagination - has the right to tell the government of Israel, or any foreign government, that he stands with the foreign leader against his own president.

It is one thing to oppose particular US policies; it is quite another to tell a foreign leader, "I'm with you, not my president." Of course, Cantor was just being honest.

Haaretz: Israel is the opposite of fascist

Bad things have been happening in Israel of late. Take a look at recent legislative initiatives, recent political proclamations and recent attempts to harm non-Jews. There are all kinds of names for it, but fascism it is not.

"Fascism" is not simply a word of condemnation, nor is it a literary genre subject to interpretation. Fascism is a political regime based on one party, in which all other parties are banned. Fascism is a regime in which there are no free elections; it is headed by one person ("The Leader" as he is referred to in various languages ) who makes all the decisions.

Fascism is a regime in which there is no freedom of the press and the regime controls the media. Fascism is a regime in which there is no multiplicity of opinions and every book, newspaper and play is subject to censorship. Fascism is a regime in which there are no independent courts.

Fascism is a regime in which concentration camps can exist. Fascism is a regime in which anyone who doesn't agree with the government is thrown into prison - without a trial - or is murdered or disappeared.

Fascism is a regime in which someone who refuses to serve in the army can be executed. Fascism is a regime in which there is one educational system that dictates the reigning ideology.

Fascism is a regime in which the secret police keep citizens under surveillance. Fascism is a regime in which there are restrictions on travel abroad. Fascism is a regime in which anyone who is interviewed by a foreign correspondent may find himself in prison.

Fascism is a regime in which Haaretz would have long since been closed and its editors and writers thrown in jail.

And here? Exactly the reverse. Not one party but many; not one "leader" but a disturbing lack of leadership. Here in Israel, someone who received stolen classified documents isn't sitting behind bars; rather, law enforcement authorities negotiate with him.

And here in Israel, an MK who fled the country after being accused of espionage continues to receive his pension. Fascism? Don't make me laugh.

Does that mean there are no chauvinistic, anti-democratic forces out there who support discrimination and racism? There are, and in recent years, they've intensified. Does that mean there are no groups in Israel - with representatives in the Knesset and the government - whose inclinations are anti-democratic? Unfortunately, there are.

It is incumbent on us to wage a public battle against these forces, and we are. That's why most of the problematic legislation recently initiated has not passed into law and is not likely to. Even if it does, we can count on the High Court of Justice to overturn it.

While leftist Israelis chant, “Fascism will not pass!” at demonstrations in East Jerusalem, former Knesset member and commentator Yossi Sarid entitled a recent column, “Fascism is already here.”

Things are happening today in Italy that undoubtedly have the potential to undermine democracy there; but even a dyed-in-the-wool leftist like Carlo Ginsberg warns against drawing comparisons with Mussolini's Fascism.

David Avidan and I were students at the Shalva high school in Tel Aviv when communist North Korea invaded pro-American South Korea in 1950. Avidan, then at the start of his career as a poet and member of the Communist Youth Alliance, explained to me that I was a fascist because I didn't accept the Soviet version of events, according to which South Korea was the aggressor that invaded the peace-loving North. He also promised that when the revolution finally came, my fellow fascists and I would be hanged.

Over the years, Avidan changed his tune. Neither of us hanged the other, and we remain good friends. But it is sad to me that the sort of aggressive language he used is once again dominating the public discourse. While debate is the heart and soul of democracy, there are limits to how far one can go in describing those who don't agree with him. After all, words can also kill.


The opposite of fascism is actually communism. Both communist and fascist counties can have dictators with single party systems. Zionism on the other hand, has many similarities with fascism. Zionism is, according to Wikipedia:


Zionism is primarily a nationalist or national liberation Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewishstateand address threats to its continued existence and security.

It is obvious that Zionism in intensely nationalistic. There is a disdain for the human rights of non-Jews and their property has been confiscated and the legal rights of Arabs have been under attacks by the present Israeli government. 


Clearly the Palestinians and Arabs have been identified as enemies and used as scapegoats by many in the  Israeli governments. 


The Israeli military is supreme and government of Bibi Nentayahu is seeking more high tech arms purchases from the US. Israel is definitely obsessed with national security. Religion and government are intertwined to an unprecedented level.

Does Israel have many features of a fascist state. Yes, it does, particularly while the right wing Likud is in power. But the US has even more of the warning signs of fascism.

People who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones; Now, Should they?

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 8693 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Haaretz Daily: Israel tells US state department it's 'serious' on peace talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he was "serious" about talks with the Palestinians as he met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton amid an impasse which threatens to scuttle the U.S.-backed peace negotiations.

"We'll be talking about how to resume and continue this process to get a historic agreement with peace and security between us and the Palestinians," Netanyahu said as he began a meeting with Clinton in New York.

"We also hope to broaden it to many other Arab countries ... we are quite serious about doing it and we want to get on with it."

Thursday's meeting follows Israel's decision to proceed with a new housing project in part of the West Bank that it annexed to Jerusalem 43 years ago, underscoring Palestinian fears that Netanyahu's government will push ahead with settlements regardless of the impact on the peace process.

Clinton, who on Wednesday said the Israeli decision on settlement building was counterproductive, said she still believed that both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were serious about the talks.

"The prime minister and President Abbas are both very committed to a two-state solution. And we are going to find a way forward," she said.

Israeli officials say Netanyahu intends to discuss with Clinton the need for forging broad U.S.-Israeli understandings on Israel's security needs in any eventual peace agreement in light of enormous security challenges expected in the coming decade.

"The chances of reaching a peace agreement will be improved significantly by achieving comprehensive security understandings between Israel and the United States," Netanyahu said.

Israel wants a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley along the eastern border of a future Palestinian state as well as financial help to pay for security arrangements that would be necessary if a peace deal is achieved.

The New York meeting comes as the United States works to revive talks that began in Washington on September 2 but were suspended by the Palestinians three weeks later when Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month limited building freeze in West Bank settlements.

The US state Department needs to use the stick.  It should advise Netanyahu that they will unilaterally support the creation of an independent Palestinian state and also help the opposition Kadima and Labor parties defeat the Likud in the upcoming elections if no peace progress is made. Netanyahu is running out of time.

Al Jazeera: Israel wants the US to attack Iran

The US has rejected comments by Israel's prime minister calling for a military threat against Iran to ensure it does not obtain nuclear weapons.

Robert Gates, US defence secretary, stated:

We know that they are concerned about the impact of the sanctions. The sanctions are biting more deeply than they anticipated and we are working very hard at this.

So I would disagree that only a credible military threat can get Iran to take the actions it needs to end its nuclear weapons programme.

We are prepared to do what is necessary but at this point we continue to believe that the political-economic approach that we taking is in fact having an impact in Iran.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, told US Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday that only a "credible" military threat can deter Iran from building a nuclear weapon, Israeli political sources said.

Netanyahu, beginning a five-day US visit, argued that economic sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its nuclear programme.

Peaceful resolution

However, Biden said after the talks that the sanctions "have a bite" and were having a "measurable impact", though he expressed frustration that Tehran had brushed aside overtures by President Barack Obama's administration.

"The only way to ensure that Iran will not go nuclear is to create a credible threat of military action against it if it doesn't cease its race for a nuclear weapon," one of the sources quoted Netanyahu as telling Biden.

In remarks to the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in New Orleans, Biden said:

We continue to seek a peaceful resolution and hope Iranian leaders will reconsider their current destructive and debilitating course.

But let me be very clear about this: We are also absolutely committed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The West believes that Iran aims to use its uranium enrichment programme to build atomic weapons, and both Israel and the United States have said all options are on the table in dealing with its nuclear ambitions.

But Netanyahu, who has in the past called for "crippling sanctions" against Iran, had made clear that Israel wanted to see if tough economic sanctions could eliminate what it described as a threat against its existence.

Tehran has repeatedly denied it is seeking to build atomic weapons and maintains that it has a right to produce its own fuel for several nuclear power plants it's building for civilian use.

Biden's discussions with Netanyahu comes on the heels of US mid-term elections that left Obama in a weakened position with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and the Democrats clinging to a slender majority in the Senate.

US politicking

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham set a tough tone on Saturday at a security conference in Ottawa when he said conservatives want "bold" action on Iran.

If Obama "decides to be tough with Iran beyond sanctions, I think he is going to feel a lot of Republican support for the idea that we cannot let Iran develop a nuclear weapon," Graham told the Halifax International Security Forum.

"Sanctions are important. They are increasing pressure on Iran. But so far there has not been any change in the behavior of Iran and upgrading of international pressure is necessary," Mark Regev, Netanyahu's spokesman, quoted him as telling Biden.

The impasse over Iran's nuclear activities has already led to fresh UN and EU sanctions against Tehran, which were followed by several other unilateral punitive measures by the United States and the European Union.

Sanctions notably ban investments in oil, gas and petrochemicals while also targeting banks, insurance, financial transactions and shipping - which Tehran has brushed off as having no impact.

But Iran has said it is prepared to resume talks from November 10 and proposed that they be held in Turkey rather than Vienna, the site proposed by Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief.

Rightardia comment: US war planners have looked at Iran since the the 1980s and know that an attack or invasion would be difficult due to the rugged terrain.

A bigger issue is how does Iran threaten the US? We've been down this road before with Iraq. The timing of Netanyahu announcement immediately after the midterms is not a coincidence, but the House is far less involved with foreign affairs than the Senate that Democrats control.

Had John McCain won the election in 2010, the US would probably be preparing for another $ one trillion dollar war with Iran.

Israel wants the US to attack Iran, but has steadfastly refused to negotiate with with the Palestinians. Israel doesn’t want peace, it wants to control the middle east with the US as its proxy. 

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/05/AR2010110507092.html?hpid=topnews

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Haaretz: Israel risks diplomatic rift with France over settlement freeze

Bibi Netanyahu, the politician of 'no'

Relations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have become considerably tense following a telephone conversation between the two leaders 10 days ago.

During that conversation, the French leader apparently asked Netanyahu to extend the settlement freeze in the West Bank so that peace talks could be resumed.

Two European diplomats familiar with the contents of the exchange said Sarkozy was furious with Netanyahu for canceling his participation in a summit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris at the last moment.


Other participants at the event, hosted by Sarkozy, included Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

About a month ago, Sarkozy proposed to Netanyahu and Abbas that they both take part in a summit aimed at overcoming the crisis stemming from the construction freeze.


According to the European diplomats, Sarkozy had scheduled the Paris summit for October 21, representing a first step toward restarting the peace talks.

This would have been followed with a summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, scheduled for November in Barcelona, which both Netanyahu and Abbas are also expected to attend.

Netanyahu decided not to attend the Paris event once he realized that the U.S. administration viewed it as a positive development. 

"Netanyahu realized that he would come under enormous pressure on the issue of the settlements and decided to cancel his participation to avoid that pressure," some diplomats said.

During the telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Sarkozy 10 days ago, the Israeli prime minister informed the French president that he would not attend the summit because the timing was wrong.


Sarkozy replied by telling Netanyahu that he did not accept his explanations and did not understand the reasoning for his cancellation.

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 8550 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Newsy.com: Vatican says Israel cannot use the Bible to justify its settlements in Palestine

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

 
Israel is denying that the legal basis is not biblical based because they aren't really "the Chosen people."

Here is the legal basis for the  state of Israel according to Palestine Facts.org:

But there is a legal background to the State of Israel. The Declaration of Israel's Independence, issued at Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, recites the legal history that led to the founding of Israel as an internationally recognised sovereign state:

• The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world.
  
• In the year 1897 the First Zionist Congress, inspired by Theodor Herzl's vision of the Jewish State, proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national revival in their own country.
  
• This right was acknowledged by the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, and re-affirmed by the Mandate of the League of Nations, which gave explicit international recognition to the historic connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and their right to reconstitute their National Home.
  
• On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Resolution for the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine, and called upon the inhabitants of the country to take such steps as may be necessary on their part to put the plan into effect. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their independent State may not be revoked. It is, moreover, the self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations, in its own sovereign State.
  
• ACCORDINGLY, WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assembly today, the day of the termination of the British mandate for Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish and of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, HEREBY PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL. 

The first item is, in fact, religion based. No one really knows where the
tribe of Israel origanlly came from. One theory is from Iraq. The second and third bullets are irrelevant because the Zionist congress and the Balfour Declaration in the UK were unilateral declarations.

The UN resolution, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181
November 29, 1947 did not establish of an independent Jewish State in Palestine. The UN agreed to study the issue in the resolution. 


Israel exists because it was able to defeat Arab armies in the middle east. It is as simple as that. There is no clear legal basis for the existence of Israle. 


This is one time that we agree with the Vatican. there is no biblical basis for the existence of Israel. Even if there were such basis, the history of the region does not always dovetail well with the Bible. 


source: http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_israel_legal.php


Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 8362 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Haaretz: A Special Place in Hell for Leftists who love Israel

By Bradley Burston

I'd like to talk about this problem I have. You can't talk about it to just anyone. Friends of mine have it too. But you'll never see this one on Dr. Phil.

I don't care how big the self-help section is in your Borders or Waterstones, you're not going to find it there either.

It kicks in when you least expect it. And kicks is the word. Let's try to give it a name. Leftists who love Israel. And who feel – or are made to feel - like leftists who love Israel too much.

By leftists, I am including people who may describe themselves, or, without coming out to others, may know themselves to be, doves, peace activists, social democrats, Democrats, disenchanted former Meretz voters, disenchanted former Labor voters, disenchanted longtime non-voters, human rights activists, vegans, activist moderates, the ostracized Orthodox Jew, the ostracized Protestant, the broad-view Catholic, the proactive pro-social justice moderate, the anti-neocon, the girl or guy you just passed on the street in Israel. Me. You.

There was a time when this grouping represented little more than an intensely interested but effectively disenfranchised buffer between the pro-occupation right whipping Israel along the road that leads straight off a cliff, and the detest-Israel's-guts-as-a-philosophy-of-life extreme left, which sought to see the Jewish state, pretty much any Jewish state, go out of existence in any event.

No more. The success of the former, aided and abetted by the excess of the latter, has made the abyss all too tangible up ahead. These days, whether they believe it or not, leftists who love Israel are one of the nation's only hopes for survival.

If there's a rescue squad out there, these people are it.

Not coincidentally, this is the group most likely to become the target of the contempt and thus the very public venom of extremists on the far-right and the far-left, working in unacknowledged but full concert, keen to neutralize people they see as spineless, bloodless sell-outs.

They're warming up even as we speak – you're about to meet them at the bottom of this page, and every other. You'll know them by the foam at the mouth, and by their characteristic incontinence of reason.

Haaretz opinion: Fire Avignor Lieberman

Haaretz Daily Newspaper  Published 01:21 01.10.1 Latest update 01:21 01.10.10

If Netanyahu intends to continue peace negotiations, and believes, as he says, that if we don't try, we won't succeed, then Lieberman must go now. 

   

  

The official response from the prime minister's bureau, following Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, was surprising. "The content of the foreign minister's speech was not coordinated with the prime minister," the statement said, adding "Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one handling the negotiations on Israel's behalf."

The lack of coordination between Netanyahu and a cabinet minister is the least of the problems raised by the speech. Israel's foreign minister presented the UN General Assembly with a detailed and specific plan, which is the core of Yisrael Beiteinu's platform, based on "exchanges of populated areas" - that is, the transfer of Arab citizens from Israel to Palestinian rule.

Lieberman's statements to the international community directly contradict Israel's declared policy and the Netanyahu government's own policy as presented in negotiations.

It seems that Lieberman, who usually does not bother to represent Israel in the free world, and who declared ahead of time that he would not participate in the talks with the Palestinians, had meticulously planned his appearance at the UN.

His address was directed not only at the General Assembly, but was unleashed like a sharp arrow straight at Netanyahu, and was intended to undermine the prime minister's credibility and his ability to conduct negotiations with the Palestinians.

Lieberman's declaration that the Iranian problem, rather than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, should be solved first, devoids the talks of meaning. And the talks are already in crisis because of the battle over construction in the settlements.

Without getting into the thick of Lieberman's political doctrine, which relies almost completely on baseless "ethnocratic" ideas and aggressiveness toward other countries, the fact that a foreign minister makes statements to the UN General Assembly that are in complete opposition to the official stance of the government in which he serves, is a reason for his dismissal.

But Netanyahu's lukewarm response to the statements raises the concern that the prime minister is not all that opposed to his foreign minister's ideas.

Rightardia agrees. Avignor Liberman is a loose canon and it is not the first time he done something like this.


French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for his dismissal in Octber 2001.  Netanyahu have confirmed Israeli media reports that the French leader had told the Israeli during talks in Paris on June 24 to "get rid of" Lieberman as foreign minister.




Israel's Channel Two television and several newspapers said that Sarkozy had compared Lieberman, whose party has introduced legislation to curb the rights of Arab citizens, with French notorious far-rightist Jean Marie Le Pen.


French President Nicolas Sarkozy also urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "rid himself" of Lieberman . . .



Rightardia would guess that Lieberman views are not that different from Bibi's. Bibi is just a better diplomat.We doubt if Bibi has any serious interest in middle eastern peace. The Likud simply wants to maintain the status quo.


source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/lieberman-sarkozy-s-remark-was-a-regrettable-verbal-slip-1.279452

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 8363

http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Al Jazeera: Netanyahu humiliates Obama again

The Obama administration's attempts at seducing Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, are getting embarrassing. Netanyahu has made it very clear he is not interested.

According to Ha'aretz, the latest in the saga came this week when Dennis Ross, the president's top adviser on Israel-Palestinian issues, convinced Obama that Israel would only agree to an extension of the settlements freeze if Obama would "come off as friendlier" to Bibi.

So Ross and his aides (working with the Israelis) drafted a letter to Netanyahu in which the US would give Israel everything it could possibly want in exchange for a two-month freeze.

The details of the letter were revealed by researcher David Makovsky on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

According to the report, the letter included incentives crucial to Israel's security that Netanyahu has been demanding for years. For example, the US pledged to support Israel's position on stationing Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley after the establishment of a Palestinian state, in order to prevent weapons smuggling.


The US also would not ask Israel to further extend the building moratorium and would pledge that the issue of settlements would be dealt with only as part of final-status talks with the Palestinians, the letter reportedly said.

The US also reportedly would veto any UN Security Council resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year, would upgrade Israel's defence capabilities after the peace agreement, and would increase security assistance.

This reportedly would include providing Israel with advanced fighter jets and early warning systems, including satellites. The US also would start talks with Arab countries toward a regional agreement vis-a-vis Iran.

Netanyahu's one-way street

It is hard to imagine anything Ross left out. For Bibi, the Ross offer was a dream come true. All that for a 60-day freeze.

But Bibi said "no".

And why? "Netanyahu said he appreciated the letter but could not accept the American proposal because it included a two-month extension of the construction moratorium, which he said would damage his public credibility."

But the "moratorium" was the whole point of the offer. Bibi seems not to believe that his dealings with the US have to be two-way streets. He will only consider deals where the US gives and he gets. (But then, that is the way it always is.)

They even went up to Capitol Hill to discuss the situation with Bibi's pals up there. No dice.

But that will not work. The word from Israel is that Netanyahu is counting on a huge GOP landslide to save him from Obama. And then in 2012, there will be a Republican president who is more likely than Obama to let him bomb Iran.

Netanyahu has done this before. During the Lewinsky affair, he came to Washington, ignored President Clinton, and went up to the Hill to smoke cigars with Speaker Newt Gingrich and exchange Monica jokes. To understand Bibi, you need to realise that as much as he is Likud, he is a right-wing Republican.

Here is what Obama should do. Tell Netanyahu that either he agrees to the freeze or the US slows down the delivery of aid. After all, Israel is the #1 recipient of US aid in the world. Surely, there are ways the Pentagon can indicate displeasure.

Or maybe we can refuse to veto one of those Security Council resolutions that rightly condemn Israel's actions in occupied areas. We do not always have to be the one country in the world that stands alone at Israel's side when the UN attempts to pass a resolution we know is right.

This is the United States, Israel's only real ally on the planet. We do not have to take this kind of dissing lying down.

And Dennis Ross, who came to the White House from the AIPAC-created Washington Institute for Near East Peace, should devote his attention to some other region of the world, one in which his penchant for wishful thinking would be relevant.

MJ Rosenberg is a senior foreign policy fellow at Media Matters Action Network. The above article first appeared in Foreign Policy Matters, a part of the Media Matters Action Network.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Rightardia has suggested in several articles that it is a waste of time to negotiate with Zionist Binyamin Netanyahu. We expected this peace initiative to fall apart. 

Obama needs to wake up and spend his diplomatic capital elsewhere. The PLO does not even represent the elected government in Palestine. 

We could also say 'we told you so."

Source: Al Jazeera

Haaretz: Libya makes diplomatic breakthrough with Israel

The son of Libya's leader says part of a deal to free a jailed Israeli photographer involved the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, left, and Rafael Haddad at a press conference at Ben-Gurion Inte

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi told reporters Thursday that the Israeli-Tunisian dual national was not a spy. He also corroborated the man's story that he was in the country to photograph heritage sites connected with Libya's vanished Jewish community.

Gadhafi would not say how many Palestinians were released as part of the deal for Rafael Haddad, who was freed Sunday after five months in jail.

Lieberman thanked Libya, saying that it "behaved responsibly" on the matter and called Libya's demands in exchange for Haddad's release "reasonable" and "logical."

In exchange for Haddad's release, Israel allowed the cargo of a Libyan-sponsored aid ship to enter the Gaza Strip in July and for Libya to construct 20 buildings for Gaza residents.
Lieberman said that the secret negotiations for Haddad's release were "not simple."

Haddad, who holds dual Israeli and Tunisian passports, arrived in Vienna late Sunday after spending five months in a Libyan prison. He was arrested by local Libyan police in March while photographing a building that once belonged to the Jewish community in Libya.

Rightardia applauds Israel for using diplomacy instead of a military solution. 

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 10672  

http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Powered by ScribeFire.

Huffington Post: Palin says Obama Selling Out Israel

NORFOLK, Va. — Sarah Palin on Sunday painted President Barack Obama's administration as a cowering giant intent on surrendering the nation's mantle as a superpower and willing to sell out its allies.

The former John McCain running mate addressed a paying audience of several hundred people in Norfolk and accused Obama of selling out ally Israel in over its naval blockade of Gaza and treating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shabbily.

On May 31, Israeli naval commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in clashes aboard a Turkish ship headed for Gaza, setting off a world outcry and forcing Israel to ease its three-year-old blockade.

She also said Obama lacked the resolve to stand up to Russia and China.

"Do they think, really, that we're getting anything in return for all this bowing and kowtowing and apologizing? No, we don't get anything positive in return for this," Palin said at the event spearheaded by a Norfolk talk radio station.

"So while President Obama is getting pushed around by the likes of Russia and China, our allies are left to wonder about the value of an alliance with our country any more. They're asking what is it worth," she said.

Palin said that Obama and an allied Democratic Congress had cut military spending while showing no such restraint on other expenditures, running up trillions in new deficits.

Rightardia comment: This is the kind of right wing disinformation Rightardia sees all the time. First of all, the defense budget wasn't cut, it was expanded by 4 per cent. The plan would increase spending by 4% over fiscal 2009.

Judging from the reaction of congressional hawks, one would think the Pentagon were being gutted. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) commented in a blog post from Afghanistan that "President Obama is disarming America" and betraying our troops abroad. The fear-mongering won't end there.

As Rep. Alan Grayson has pointed out, the US spends nearly as much on defense than the rest of the world combined.

Turkey is a far bigger country than Israel and is also a NATO ally. Turkey has the biggest standing army and navy in the middle east. Turkey is an Islamic country and Saudi Arabia, an Arab country, is also an important US ally.

Israel snubbed Vice President Joe Biden when he visited Israel when it announced Israel announced 1,600 new homes will be built in disputed east Jerusalem during his visit to the region.

Biden showed up 90 minutes late to an Israeli  state dinner and Obama essentially dismissed Natenyahu in DC when the Israli PM refused to agree with the US on some middle eastern issues. The US is no longer kowtowing to Israel like the Bush administration did.

China is a very important US ally that could undermine the US economy if we took a belligerent stance with it. Russia President Medvedev is getting along famously with Obama and the Russians have allowed US overflights to Afghanistan.

Obama has commented that the Russians have lived up to all of the promises they have made so far. US foregn policy and diplomacy are finally working again.

Israel is not an important ally and has become an international pariah because it has bullied its Arab neighbors. The Gaza has become its Warsaw ghetto. Do we need enemies when we have friends like Israel?

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. From 1976-2004, Israel was the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, having been supplanted by Iraq.

Since 1985, the United States has provided nearly $3 billion in grants annually to Israel. What he the US gotten in return? 

It's time to cut our losses from Israel and move on. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1256936/Joe-Biden-snubs-Israeli-PM-surprise-announcement-build-homes-war-won-land-U-S-vice-presidents-visit.html#ixzz0s9gYKCSu and http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 13506 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

source: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/07/opinion/ed-defense7

Al Jazeera: Red Cross says Gaza blockade illegal

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has described Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as a violation of the Geneva Conventions and called on the Israeli government to lift it.

In a statement released on Monday, the organization called the blockade "collective punishment", a crime under international law. It described Gaza as a territory plagued by frequent power cuts, a ruined economy, and a collapsed health care system.

"The closure imposed on the Gaza Strip is about to enter its fourth year, choking off any real possibility of economic development," the ICRC said.

"Gazans continue to suffer from unemployment, poverty and warfare, while the quality of Gaza's health care system has reached an all-time low."

Crippling shortages

Israeli officials insist that they provide enough "humanitarian aid" to cover Gaza's basic needs.

But the ICRC said the meager list of goods allowed into Gaza doesn't meet the needs of the territory's 1.5 million inhabitants.

see the complete article at http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/201061452646659588.html

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu 

Netcraft rank: 13506 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Iranian nuclear disarmament depends on Israel

Frank Gaffney is a hard right ideologue that holds views similar to the former UN ambassodor John Bolton and Vice President Dick Cheney. Grover Norqueist said this in a letter about Gaffney accusing Gaffney of:

"racial prejudice, religious bigotry [and] ethnic hatred," calling Gaffney a "sick, little bigot.... His whole life screams of bigotry, and what he said is just part of a pattern.... Frank Gaffney and Osama bin Laden share the same view on the relationship between the United States and Islam. I agree with the president in rejecting Osama bin Laden's and Frank Gaffney's worldview." 

Norquest was right. Here are some other Gaffney quotes: 


“There is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself.”

The evidence? “Mr. Obama referred four times in his speech to ‘the Holy Koran,’” he “established his firsthand knowledge of Islam,” and he uttered the phrase “peace be upon them” when referring to Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed.

According to Gaffney, “no believing Christian” would ever make such a statement because “for Christians, Jesus is the living and immortal Son of God.”

Here is another Gaffney quote on the iraq War: 

My position is [that] it is regrettable that any Americans died. It is regrettable that they had to die, but I believe they did have to die. The threat we did know about was the chemical capability that Saddam Hussein had used against his own people. 

The potential for biological agents were real there was evidence that there was an ongoing nuclear program... The danger was inaction could have resulted in the death[s] of a great many more Americans than 4,000 and that's the reason I'm still delighted that we did what we did."

The US has little ability to stop Iraq from developing nuclear weapons without another $ trillion war to invade Iran. Iran is developing a nuclear capability to counter the 200 tactical nuclear weapons Israel has in it arsenal. 

Without negotiations with Israel on nuclear disarmament, it is unlikely the US will make progress with Iraq.  Of course, Israel dropped out of the 47-nation conference on non-proliferation in DC on April 12 at the last minute.

An Iranian-hosted international disarmament conference concluded Sunday with a demand that Israel join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to assure a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 7963 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Haaretz: U.S. will 'consider abstaining' if UN votes on East Jerusalem

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

The United States would "seriously consider abstaining" should the United Nations Security Council pass a resolution condemning Israel's housing construction in East Jerusalem, the BBC reported on Sunday.

That message was passed during a meeting between a senior U.S. official and Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jasim Al Thani, a diplomatic source told the BBC.

Sheikh Hamad reportedly asked a senior official from the Obama administration whether the U.S. would promise not to veto a Security Council resolution condemning Israel's settlement activity in East Jerusalem.

The U.S. official reportedly told Hamad in response that the current U.S. position was that it would "seriously consider abstention", according to the BBC.

Tensions between Israel and the U.S. flared earlier this month when Jerusalem announced its approval of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region.

The U.S. termed the timing of the announcement an "insult," and both sides have declared that the incident would not harm the close relations. Obama also snubbed Benjamin Netayahu when he walked out of a meeting with israli diplomats after Bibi refused to sign a 13 point memorandum.

Prime Minister Netanyahu last year declared a temporary 10-month settlement halt in the West Bank, but would not include East Jerusalem in that freeze. Netanyahu and members of his coalition have repeatedly declared that construction in Jerusalem would continue.

Rightardia applauds the US position to consider abstaining from voting. It is time to use the stick with Israel. Economic and military aid should be cut if the Likud intransigence continues. 

The US should also assist progressive elements in Israel to force the Likud out of power. Rightardia do not believe there is any chance for peace as long as Netanyahu is the prime minister. 

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 7465 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Al Jazeera: Israeli settlers attack West Bank mosque

The graffiti on the mosque bodes badly for settlers accepting a return to 1967 borders (AFP)

 

Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian West Bank have vandalised a mosque, torching its library and spraying hate messages in Hebrew on the building.

The attack blamed on hardline Jews on Friday may be linked to plans that seek to curb their illegal settlement activity on land taken from Palestinians.

Clashes erupted as villagers hurled stones at Israeli troops sent to investigate the incident at the mosque in the northern West Bank's Yasuf village. The security forces responded with teargas.

One of the Hebrew language slogans sprayed on a wall read: "Get ready to pay the price." Another read: "We will burn you all."

Village councillors and Palestinian security officials blamed Israelis from a nearby settlement for the attack.

Settler anger
 
The area is home to some of the most hardline settlers who advocate a "price tag" policy under which they target Palestinians in retaliation for any Israeli government measure they see as threatening Jewish settlements.

The Israeli military said "it appears that the suspects wrote hate-filled messages in Hebrew in addition to burning bookshelves and a carpet."

It assured the Palestinian Authority that it "views the incident gravely" and that security forces are working to locate the perpetrators, the statement said.
Last week, a house and three vehicles were set on fire in another village, also near the West Bank city of Nablus. The owner of the house told police he saw three Jewish settlers start the fires.

Settlers have expressed outrage over the government's decision to impose a 10-month moratorium on new building permits for Israeli homes in the occupied West Bank, outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

Many settlers consider they have a God-given right to live in the biblical Land of Israel, which includes the West Bank.

Source:

Agencies

Rightradia comment: This is the sort of things that the Nazis did to the Jews during Krystalnacht when the German synagogues were vandalized and the windows broken. The Israeli settlers are behaving  disgracefully.


Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 4543 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Haaretz: Why do Israelis dislike Barack Obama?

By Bradley Burston

There are many people, gifted with rare intelligence and tolerance for humankind, who, when addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, run off the rails.

This week, it was the turn of former American Jewish Congress national director Henry Siegman. Noting opinion polls showing that a bare six to eight percent of the Israeli public supports Barack Obama, Siegman concludes that the dislike for Obama is a reflection not of the president's policies, but of something essential - and fundamentally defective - in the Israeli people itself:

"The Israeli reaction to serious peacemaking efforts is nothing less than pathological," Siegman writes, calling it "the consequence of an inability to adjust to the Jewish people's reentry into history with a state of their own following 2,000 years of powerlessness and victimhood."

He concedes that polls show that a clear majority of Israelis favor a two-state solution, and thus, Palestinian statehood. But he argues that, while they insist that they much prefer peace, if put to the test, Israelis will prove to be liars, and opt for occupation. "Israel's public never tires of proclaiming to pollsters its aspiration for peace and its support of a two-state solution." Nonetheless, "the reason for this unprecedented Israeli hostility toward an American president is a fear that President Obama is serious about ending Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza."

Siegman's thesis makes no room for the possibility that the administration may have made more major mistakes in handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, than it has made in any other primary policy sphere.

There is no allowance for the sense that when Barack Obama made an early priority of his presidency a high profile visit to Cairo, its centerpiece an extended address to the Muslim world, a subsequent personal appeal to Israelis might have helped him advance his peacemaking goals.

There is no consideration of the possibility that the administration failed in doing requisite preparation with Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak prior to dropping on Israel the bomb of a blanket settlement freeze demand - which might have been well-received by the Israeli public, had it been accompanied by gestures on the Palestinian or wider Arab side. As it was, rumors of normalization moves were humiliatingly waved away by Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, who wrote that a settlement freeze, even if agreed to by Israel, fell far, far short of his key nation's minimum preconditions for any steps toward relations with Israel.

Demanding not a freeze but total removal of all existing settlements as a mere initial precondition, the prince states that any gestures will have to wait until the return to Arab hands of the West Bank, the Golan, and Shabaa Farms in Lebanon. "For Saudis to take steps toward diplomatic normalization before this land is returned to its rightful owners would undermine international law and turn a blind eye to immorality."

But what should any of that matter to Henry Siegman? From the tone of his arguments, he belongs to the school of thought which suggests that hating Israelis is a form of working for peace.

So willing is Siegman to disavow any legitimate feelings on the part of Israelis, that he suggests that that their worst fears - of Iran, of rocket attacks, of world isolation and abandonment - not only are baseless, but are also a source of consolation:

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's message that the whole world is against Israel and that Israelis are at risk of another Holocaust - a fear he invoked repeatedly during his address in September at the United Nations General Assembly in order to discredit Judge Richard Goldstone's Gaza fact-finding report is unfortunately still a more comforting message for too many Israelis."

Siegman doesn't merely think that Israelis are mistaken. He loathes them. In his reading, they are venal, deceitful, the source of the conflict and the obstruction to its solution. In Siegman's reading "the conflict continues because U.S. presidents ... have accommodated a pathology that can only be cured by its defiance."

It may be argued that Israel has much more to fear from people who think like Henry Siegman, than from Richard Goldstone. A close reading of the Goldstone report, and an open hearing of his views, as in this interview with Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun, shows that Justice Goldstone cares a great deal about Israelis and the direction in which their country is headed.

Meanwhile, given Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's opaque, work-in-progress assessment of current Israeli policy as an unprecedented restriction on settlement, but far short of what the administration would like, it should surprise no one in Washington if the White House has now managed simultaneously to alienate Israel's left, right, and center.

For Israel's sake, for the Palestinians' sake, and for the good of his presidency, the administration must radically reassess its approach to the Mideast conflict.

The fears of Israelis are real. The grievances of the Palestinians are just. If both peoples have one trait in common, it is that they cannot be bludgeoned, bribed, or sweet-talked into supporting a policy which favors only side.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are nothing if not good students. It is time to go back and hit the books. If they can broker a package deal which addresses the most critical needs of the Palestinians (including fostering Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, furthering PA security and solcial welfare responsibilities, easing the Gaza siege, and curbing settlement) as well as providing something Israelis can reasonably view as an advance over their current situation (such as making good on hopes for Muslim-world normalization measures), they have a chance of success.

Rightardia comment: Our writers beleive that Obama is not popular in Israel because he is more of an honest broker who has no innate prejudices against Muslims like other US presidents have had since he had lived in an Islamic country.

Of interest, two of three Jewish Americans supported his presidency so theire is a split beween American Jews and Israel. Many of the intellectuals in the Democratic party are Jewish. It is hard to ignore the contributions of David Axlerod and Rahm Emanuel to the Obama administration.


source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125324.html

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 5288 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

Powered by ScribeFire.