Israel Never Looked So Good
By David Suissa
They all warned us. The geniuses at Peace Now. The brilliant diplomats. The think tanks. Even the Arab dictators warned us. For decades now, they have been warning us that if you want “peace in the Middle East,” just fix the Palestinian problem. A recent variation on this theme has been: Just get the Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to “freeze” their construction, and then, finally, Palestinian leaders might come to the table and peace might break out.
And what would happen if peace would break out between Jews and Palestinians? Would all those furious Arabs now demonstrating on the streets of Cairo and across the Middle East feel any better? Would they feel less oppressed?
What bloody nonsense.
Has there ever been a greater abuse of the English language in international diplomacy than calling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the “Middle East peace process?” As if there were only two countries in the Middle East.
...
Arlene Kushner: “Shifting Tides”
By Arlene Kushner
It’s still not possible to call with any measure of certainty what the end result of the unrest in Egypt will be, but the picture is looking different today.
What we see is that Mubarak and his military had decided at the beginning of the major protests not to be confrontational. It is for this reason that the ruthless and much-hated police were pulled back, and that the army took their place, with a pledge to not shoot at demonstrators. The plan was to let the demonstrations play themselves out peacefully — the expectation being that at some point the people on the street would tire of yelling and go home.
Thus some 250,000 protestors (not a million) were able to come to Cairo’s central Tahir Square yesterday, unimpeded in their gathering and in their vociferous demands.
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Last night, Mubarak gave his talk on Egyptian state TV. He said he would finish his term, which ends in September, and then step down.
“My priority...
Mubarak’s rope-a-dope
By Ted belman
It appears Mubarak is winning. At first he and the army hung back letting the steam out of the riots.
Now miraculously pro-Mubarak mobs are opposing the anti-Mubarak people and turning to violence. There are some reports that these people are actually soldiers. Of course the army is intervening between the sides to keep the peace and it is urging everyone to go home.
My guess is that they will.
Jewish Funds for Justice Whitewashed MoveOn.org Antisemitism in 2006
Group that called for sanctions against Glenn Beck also used its Jewish identity to whitewash MoveOn.org’s promotion of anti-Semitic hate speech
by Bill Levinson
We wrote previously that Jewish Funds for Justice, which called for sanctions against talk show host Glenn Beck for his attacks on George Soros, had a potential conflict of interest because it had received grants from Soros’ Open Society. We also recall that Jewish Funds for Justice joined the National Jewish Democratic Council, aka National Judenrat Democratic Kapos, in using its nominally Jewish identity to whitewash MoveOn.org’s promotion of hate speech against Jews, Catholics, evangelical Christians, and others. This suggests that any opposition that Jewish Funds for Justice might have to hate speech against Jews or anybody else ends where the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party begins.
The JFJ ad says in part (the time frame is November 2006),
More than two months ago, the group removed...
Food and failed Arab states
[Spengler makes the point that the Egyptian crises is unsolvable no matter who is in charge. Egypt can't afford to feed its people. So the crises is all about gaining power and not about feeding the people.]
Even Islamists have to eat. It is unclear whether President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt will survive, or whether his nationalist regime will be replaced by an Islamist, democratic, or authoritarian state. What is certain is that it will be a failed state. Amid the speculation about the shape of Arab politics to come, a handful of observers, for example economist Nourel Roubini, have pointed to the obvious: Wheat prices have almost doubled in the past year.
Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer, beholden to foreign providers for nearly half its total food consumption. Half of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day. Food comprises almost half the country’s consumer price index, and much more than half of spending for the poorer half of the...
Egypt will not end up democratic
Being Hosni Mubarak
Bret Stephens , The Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2011
Imagine yourself as Hosni Mubarak, master of Egypt for nearly 30 years. You’re old, unwell, detested and addicted to power. You could have orchestrated a graceful exit by promising to preside over free and fair presidential elections later this year—elections in which the Mubarak name would not be on the ballot. Instead, you gambled that you could ride out the protests and hold on.
It’s a pretty good gamble.
Like everyone else, you’ve been “listening” to Egyptians marching through the streets and telling you it’s time to go. That’s an opinion they’ll likely revise after a few more neighborhoods in Cairo and Alexandria are ransacked, looted and torched by gangs of hooligans.
But you haven’t just been listening to the demonstrators. You’ve also been watching them—the way they dress, the way they shave. On Sunday, in Tahrir Square, you...
Netanyahu is paving the way for Mubarak’s defeat
By Ted Belman
Haaretz reports today Israel urges West: Make sure new Egypt regime honors peace deal
Senior Israeli officials said that Netanyahu would like the international community to make it clear to any new Egyptian leadership that will emerge that it must meet a series of conditions in return for receiving legitimacy in the eyes of the West – similar to those posed to Hamas following the Islamist movement’s victory in Palestinian elections. The Mideast Quartet had demanded, and still requires, that in return for recognition, Hamas relinquish terrorism, recognize Israel and accept as binding previous negotiated agreements between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.
For me this is troublesome. Netanyahu knows that even if the West demands this and the new government agrees, it is meaningless. When the new government ignores the peace treaty or disowns it, the West will do nothing. The West is already embracing Hamas though these conditions have...
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
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