The M.E. Tradeoff
Aluf Benn writing in the Washington Post under the title, A Changed Netanyahu gives his take on the give and take.
What caused Netanyahu to rethink his long-held ideology? To be sure, he did not go through a midlife left-wing epiphany any more than Nixon did. Rather, he succumbed to American pressure, and this, too, speaks in his favor. Statecraft requires reading power relationships correctly and acting accordingly.
Past right-wing Israeli leaders went through similar about-faces. Menachem Begin gave the entire Sinai back to Egypt only weeks after he pledged to spend his retirement in an Israeli settlement there. Ariel Sharon demolished the settlements in Gaza shortly after declaring them as important as Tel Aviv. Yitzhak Shamir, the toughest of the breed, put aside his beliefs to attend the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. All these leaders were said to have “reckoned with reality” — which, in Israeli political parlance, is a euphemism for “dependence on...
Liberals Can’t Stop Smearing Israel
Laura: Once again the lefty blogs and media deceive their readers regarding Israel. They are now screaming what a racist country Israel is, based on the conviction of an Arab man on charges of “rape by deception”. But it appears an actual rape was perpetrated by an arab against a Jewish woman in Israel and was plea-bargained down to the charge of “rape by deceit”. So he actually got away with raping a Jewish woman. But anti-Semitic vermin such as andrew sullivan and his leftist ilk do not care about the truth, only in slandering Israel. I guarantee they will not make corrections to the story but either drop the story or continue to mislead their readers about the conviction.
Will MSM Followup on New ‘Rape By Deception’ Info?
Backspin
After a judge convicted an Arab man of “rape by deception” in July, liberal commentators jumped all over Israel.
Andrew Sullivan, in particular, said the ruling was “about racism, religion and...
Abbas: No ‘historic compromise’ on Jerusalem, borders”
[If Abbas won't compromise on borders, Jerusalem and Jewish Israel, why is Netanyuahu still in negotiations. Abbas is sounding more and more like Hamas every day. This lends credence to Washington's Limited Goal.]
In ‘Al-Quds’ interview, PA president says Palestinians won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state, accuses Netanyahu of trying to “strip” Israeli-Arabs’ rights.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s talk about an “historic compromise” and said there would be no compromises on core issues such as Jerusalem and borders.
Abbas also reiterated his rejection of Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “We’re not talking about a Jewish state and we won’t talk about one,” Abbas said in an interview with the semi-official Al-Quds newspaper. “For us, there is the state of Israel and we...
Blair is part way there
The WSJ published Tony Blair Takes on the World in which Blair gave his world outlook.
In short, we have become too apologetic, too feeble, too inhibited, too imbued with doubt and too lacking in mission. Our way of life, our values, the things that made us great, remain not simply as a testament to us as nations but as harbingers of human progress. They are not relics of a once powerful politics; they are the living spirit of the optimistic view of human history. All we need to do is to understand that they have to be reapplied to changing circumstances, not relinquished as redundant.
Then he moves on to Israel and Islam. He still doesn’t get it.
The extremism we fear is a strain within Islam. It is wholly contrary to the proper teaching of Islam, but it can’t be denied that its practitioners act with reference to their religion. I feel we too often shy away from this assertion, as if it stigmatizes all Muslims.
And then goes on.
But if it is...
Hawking: God was not needed to create the universe
Excerpt of self-described atheist’s new book causes stir; Israeli scientists blast off at British physicist’s views about the “Big Bang.”
A few days before traditional Jews celebrate the 5,771st anniversary of God’s creation of the world on Rosh Hashana, eminent British theoretical physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking has created a stir by declaring that the “Big Bang” that is believed to have kicked off the creation of the universe “did not need” a divine being to happen.
A self-described atheist, the 68-year-old scientist has been paralyzed for decades by amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) and can communicate with the world only by batting his eyelids toward a sensor that turns the movements into electronic letters. An extract of his new book, The Grand Design, was released on Thursday in The Times of London and presented his views on the Big Bang. Read More
Who says Palin isn’t presidential
May Independance Speech
Iran on brink of nuclear weapon, warns watchdog
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, The Telegraph UK
A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iranian nuclear scientists had made at least 22 kilograms of enriched uranium at least 20 per cent purity, a technical hurdle that is the hardest to overcome on the way to weapons-grade uranium.
Experts estimate that 20 kgs of uranium is the minimum required to arm a warhead. The uranium would still need to have its purity raised to 90 per cent, but that is a relatively easy process.
The agency’s report comes in spite of the recent imposition at the United Nations of a fresh round of sanctions against Iran and will heighten fears of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear plants. The prospect of an attack had receded only recently with American assurances that Tehran was more than a year away from...
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
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