(IsraelNN.com) Israel will make it clear to the Obama administration that “there is no difference between building in Jerusalem and building in Tel Aviv," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at in his opening remarks to the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning. “Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as in the past 42 years.'”
His remarks are in sharp contrast to the Obama administration’s stand that does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem that was restored to the Jewish State in the 1967 Six-Day War. Congress has stated in legislation that it recognizes a “united Jerusalem."
However, the Prime Minister also said that he wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ”In the coming talks, every side can bring up issues in which there are disagreements,” meaning the “core issues” of the status of Jerusalem and the Arab world’s demand that Israel allow the immigration of millions of Arabs claiming that Israel is home by ancestry.
The Prime Minister said his letter also stated, “The solution of the basic problems are between us and the Palestinian Authority and can be solved only though direct peace negotiations.”
Israel previously has refused to discuss the core issues until agreement is reached on other issues, such as continued incitement by the PA and the ongoing terrorist attacks. Agreeing that each side can bring up any subject it wants apparently is one of the concessions from Israel that Secretary Clinton has demanded. However, the Prime Minister’s statement serves as a warning to the Obama administration that Israel will not accept a dictated agreement.
Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to Washington, told American media on Saturday that an American effort to force an agreement on the PA and Israel would be like "forcing somebody to fall in love.”
(IsraelNN.com) U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell brought with him a special message for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu when the two men met Sunday afternoon: the envoy extended an invitation for the Prime Minister to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House.
Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev told Israel National News that Netanyahu will meet with Obama on Tuesday, following his address Monday to the AIPAC annual policy convention in Washington D.C.
“The Prime Minister will be meeting with the top Congressional leaders from both parties in both houses,” Regev had told Israel National News earlier Sunday. “He will also be meeting with senior administration officials,” he said, but refused to divulge further details. Obama administration officials had told reporters that no meeting between the two leaders has been scheduled.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is leaving for the United States Sunday night.
Delegates to the AIPAC convention are expected to be extremely vocal in their support of Israel in the face of a crisis between the White House and Jerusalem that began during Vice President Joe Biden’s recent visit to the region. President Obama had planned to be in Indonesia, far from any possibility of having to meet with Israeli officials during the AIPAC convention, but was forced to scrap the idea due to difficulties passing his stumbling health reform legislation.
Biden publicly condemned the decision by the Interior Ministry – twice -- to go forward with the fourth of seven steps in a project to build 1,600 apartments in a neighborhood located in a northwestern section of the capital rejoined to it in 1967. Netanyahu apologized for the awkward timing of the approvals but noted that it was a routine municipal subject, one that he had not been personally aware of.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai also apologized, saying that Netanyahu had not been notified and that the issue had been an internal matter.
But as soon as Biden left the country, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed up with a 45-minute phone call to the Prime Minister, castigating him over the matter and delivering an ultimatum over a list of new demands she insisted Israel fulfill in order to “prove its commitment” to the peace process. White House adviser David Axelrod also added his voice to the chorus, inflaming matters further by telling reporters that the ill-timed announcement was an “insult” and an “affront” to Biden, the Obama Administration and to U.S. efforts to get the PA-Israel talks moving.
The rebukes, all carefully reported in the media, were delivered while the Palestinian Authority government simultaneously conducted a ceremony to publicly honor a brutal murderer who led the worst terrorist attack against Israel in the nation’s history. Dalal Mughrabi, for whom a public square was named in Ramallah on the last day of Biden’s visit, led a terror cells in slaughtering 37 civilians and wounding 71 others, including many children.
At the same time, Muslim worshipers and other Arabs were rioting throughout Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount. Hamas terrorists fired deadly Kassam rockets at Israeli civilians in southern Negev communities, and other PA Arabs continued their daily rock attacks on Israeli drivers traveling along roads throughout Judea and Samaria.
American officials have yet to respond to the anti-Israel incitement under the official auspices of the PA government and the Fatah faction, both led by Mahmoud Abbas, whom the U.S. has labeled a “moderate” and “peace partner” for Israel. The American Roadmap peace plan specifically calls for the PA to stop all anti-Israel incitement and violence.
The Obama administration has also not criticized the daily rock attacks by PA Arabs on Israeli drivers, often potentially deadly, as they travel along the various roads in Judea, Samaria and around Jerusalem. Nor has the White House condemned the recently-renewed Kassam rocket attacks emanating from Gaza -- including last week’s fatal attack, when a 30-year-old Thai worker was killed after a terrorist missile struck the greenhouse in which he was working in the community of Netiv Ha’Asara.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157752.htmlby Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Nisan 6, 5770 / March 21, '10 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136626
(IsraelNN.com) United Nations Secetary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited Gaza Sunday and blamed Israel for its economic woes while ignoring terrorists’ smuggling of weapons for use against Israel and the documented abundance of food and opportunities for Arab exporters.
He also did not mention the resumption of Kassam attacks on southern Israel. The Israel Air Force two days ago bombed several tunnels that Hamas had built for smuggling weapons and for use by terrorists to kidnap IDF soldiers.
The day before, IDF Military Intelligence Director Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, briefed Ban on smuggling routes used by Iran via air, land and sea, and the Iranian aid for weapons to Hamas and Hizbullah.
However, Ban focused on Israel’s partial blockade of Gaza and called on Jerusalem to open all crossings for free passage of goods and merchandise. Israel has allowed daily humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, even during the Operation Cast Lead war against Hamas terrorists last year. It has prohibited routine travel in and out of Gaza because of constant attempts by Hamas and allied terrorists to exploit the transfer of goods to smuggle in terrorists and weapons.
The Gaza economy was growing and prospering in the 1980s and 90s but suffered with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, also known as the Oslo War, prior to which Jewish communities in the region had employed thousands of Arabs in building and agriculture. Constant terrorist attacks forced Jews to rely on foreign labor, leaving the Gaza economy with higher unemployment.
The employment situation worsened after the 2005 unilateral withdrawal by Israel and the expulsion by the Sharon government of 9,000 Jews in Gush Katif and northern Gaza who had employed Gazan Arabs in agriculture and construction. The military coup staged by Hamas against Fatah three years ago exacerbated the problem, but the stores and markets in Gaza are overflowing with goods that come in through the crossings or are smuggled in the tunnels from Egypt.
Despite Egypt's clamp on its border with Gaza at the city of Rafiah, Ban placed the blame squarely on Israel’s shoulders. Making his second visit to Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead, Ban stated, “I have repeatedly made it quite clear to Israel’s leaders that the Israeli policy of closure is not sustainable and that it’s wrong. It causes unacceptable suffering.”
Ban is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu later Sunday.
Asked if Israel wanted Washington to present its own peace plan, Oren said: "No. I think peace has to be made between two people sitting across a table. America can help facilitate that interaction."
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Nisan 6, 5770 / March 21, '10 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136615
The bombs could be used in an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are buried deep underground. The Iranian Fars news agency has quoted Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that the Bushehr nuclear facility will be online by the summer.
The United States has diverted 387 bombs to an island in the Indian Ocean following the latest diplomatic clash between Israel and the United States over the proposed Ramat Shlomo hosing project in Jerusalem, according to several news sources.
President Obama's "punishment" for Israel’s continuing to plan building projects indicates he intends to go full-speed ahead with his and his advisors’ strategy that solving the decades-old Arab-Israeli struggle is the key to stability in the entire Middle East. So far, the only concessions he demands are from Israel.
According to the thinking of the American government, a new Arab state within Israel’s current borders would spark the Arab world’s recognition of Israel as well as a united American-Arab front against a nuclear Iran and Taliban-Al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
A different theory for the diversion of the bombs is that President Obama is holding on to the option that the
Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons. …
A shipping company based in Florida, Superior Maritime Services, will be paid $699,500 to carry many thousands of military items from Concord, California, to Diego Garcia.
Crucially, the cargo includes 195 smart, guided, Blu-110 bombs and 192 massive 2000lb Blu-117 bombs.
“They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran,” said Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London, co-author of a recent study on US preparations for an attack on Iran. “US bombers are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours,” he added.
I have no doubt that the US has gamed for a military strike on Iran, but 10,000 sorties in “a few hours” would compare with the “shock and awe” campaign at the beginning of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It would take a significant buildup of forces to accomplish that, especially since Iraq would probably not be terribly happy if we used our bases there as a staging area for it. That would constitute an act of war on Baghdad’s part, one they can hardly afford with Iran at the moment.
Assuming the report of the bomb movement is accurate (which is a large assumption at this point), what could it mean? One possibility is that Barack Obama has really decided to damage Iran’s nuclear capabilities, having concluded that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khameini won’t budge after all. Four hundred bunker busters would make sense if US forces have targeted a few dozen sites — not 10,000. That would also mean that the US has concluded that having Israel conduct the attack would be more inflammatory than us doing it ourselves, or perhaps even that we need to do it before an inevitable Israeli attack.
Another possibility, though, is that the White House wants Iran to know that our patience is not unlimited. It’s not a bad ploy, either, although it’s unlikely to generate any compliance on the part of Tehran. At this point, it can’t hurt to have a reminder sent that the US hasn’t taken military options off the table.
These bombs could be meant for somewhere else other than Iran, too. Al-Qaeda has holed up in Pakistan, presumably in fortified bunkers somewhere in the Afghanistan frontier. A few of these could wipe out AQ leadership. The Herald appears to forget that we are fighting an actual war in that theater; the assumption that these are meant for Iran is based on little but speculation.
Most likely, though, is that either the report is wrong or it’s just a routine movement of munitions between American bases. I’m skeptical that this administration would conduct a military operation against Iran at any point, which would be an adventure fraught with potential catastrophe under the best of circumstances anyway. Thus far, the White House hasn’t even rattled a saber yet.
Update: HA reader Andy says my skepticism is justified:
The media report is simply wrong. The BLU-110 and BLU-117 are simply the naval variants of the 1000 pound and 2000 pound series of general purpose (GP) bombs. They are not specialized penetrators in any way and so their transit to Diego Garcia should carry no special significance. The only difference between these weapons and standard GP bombs is that they have a special coating on their casing and an fire-resistant explosive – a necessity for naval operations since ships don’t have storage bunkers and you don’t want a ship-board fire detonating and destroying your own ship. Because of the fire hazard on board ships, the Navy uses different aviation fuel and different munitions from the other services. It appears the authors, or whoever “leaked” this information assumes that anything with “BLU” is a penetrating weapon. That’s simply not true.
FAS.org has the details as well, so it’s not like it’s any secret.
Knesset to Biden: For Smooth Relations, Free PollardBy J.J. Goldberg - The FORWARD [NY] - March 11, 2010With impeccable timing, a broadly representative group of Israeli Knessetmembers sent a joint letter to Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday andasked him to work to free confessed spy Jonathan Pollard from federal prisonin honor of the Passover holiday and "as an expression of the good relationsand friendship between our two peoples." It was signed by party whips orrepresentatives of eight of the nine Jewish parties in the KnessetThe letter came in the midst of a furious dispute between Israel and theUnited States, at a time when expressions of good relations and friendshipbetween the two people are in short supply. Biden arrived in Israel for ahighly publicized visit on Tuesday, and was confronted hours after landingwith an announcement by Israel's Interior Ministry that 1,600 new housingunits had been approved in East Jerusalem. The approval flew in the face ofrepeated American insistence that Israel should halt all construction inEast Jerusalem and the West Bank in order to facilitate renewed peace talkswith the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO had reluctantly agreedonly a day earlier to indirect talks, despite Israel's refusal to impose afull freeze, and announced after the housing announcement that the talkswere canceled.Pollard is a former civilian analyst in U.S. Naval Intelligence who wasarrested in 1985 and sentenced in 1987 to life in prison for passingclassified documents to Israel. He pleaded guilty in a 1986 plea agreementthat was to have guaranteed leniency in return for full cooperation andexpression of remorse, as well as other conditions. The long sentence hasbeen a topic of controversy and protest ever since.The letter to Biden was initiated by Knesset member Uri Ariel of theNational Union party, who chairs the Knesset's Free Pollard caucus. It wascosigned by eight lawmakers in the names of all but one of the Jewishparties in the Knesset: Party caucus chairs (whips) Dalia Itzik of Kadima,Ze'ev Elkin of Likud, Robert Ilutov of Yisrael Beiteinu, Avraham Michaeli ofShas, Menachem Moses of United Torah Judaism, Yaakov Katz of YisraelBeiteinu and Zvulun Orlev of Habayit Hayehudi, as well as Orit Noked in thename of the Labor caucus. Meretz caucus chair Ilan Gilon declined to sign.See a copy of the Knesset Letter to Biden here>>>--JUSTICE FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Nisan 6, 5770 / March 21, '10 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136628
(IsraelNN.com) Lee “Rosy” Rosenberg, a jazz recording industry veteran capitalist who accompanied U.S. President Barack Obama on his campaign trip to Israel two years ago, takes over on Sunday as the new president of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rosenberg also served on the president’s national campaign finance committee.
The new AIPAC president hails from Chicago, the home state of President Obama, and also is on first-name terms with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior advisor.
Steve Rosen, a former 23-year, high-ranking AIPAC official, told the Chicago Tribune, “I don't think AIPAC has made any secret of the reality that his friendship with the president played a role in Rosy's rise. He's a guy who works very hard at fundraising [and] in the political arena. It was not as if he was plucked out of nowhere. He paid his dues. But I'm sure nobody was blind to the fact that he's from Chicago.“
Rosenberg is known as an expert in bringing in big money from powerful people who generally are not outwardly committed to Israel.
AIPAC claims more than 100,000 members and is considered the most powerful Jewish lobby in Washington. It opens its annual three-day conference Sunday and will hear addresses from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Their relationship has been sorely tested the past two weeks because of American and Arab opposition to Israel’s building for Jews in long-established Jewish neighborhoods in parts of Jerusalem that were resorted to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.
“The fact that he [Rosenberg] and the president have had a relationship helps now,” Illinois Democrat Rep. Mike Quigley told the Tribune.
Rosenberg’s ventures have included real estate, a music recording company, and high-tech startups and investing in jazz documentaries.
He replaces Michigan-based David Victor, who recently signed an AIPAC letter asking Congress to “demand” that the Obama administration "enforce existing sanctions law and impose crippling new sanctions on Iran."
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