By Ted Belman Secretary Clinton delivered a speech at the Brookings Institute in December 2010 in which she said, “We do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity.” In her recent interview with Christine Amanpour, she said, “I think it is absolutely clear to say, number one, that it’s been American policy for many years that settlements were illegitimate”. So America’s position has progressed from considering “continued settlement activity” as illegitimate to considering the settlements themselves as illegitimate. Is this a change in US policy? Time will tell. One must ask whether there is a distinction to be made between settlements and settlement activity and between illegal and illegitimate. The Roadmap provides, “GOI immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since... Militant “Muslims” cannot control bestial urges, gang-rape journalist I seen your wife’s tits, Clayton. I means to lay my hands on them teats, make no bones but I will. Be warned. When Obadiah’s up, he’s up like an animal! Pete Postlethwaite as Obadiah Hakeswill in Sharpe’s Company The difference between the typical militant “Muslim” and Bernard Cornwell’s villain Obadiah Hakeswill–a liar, thief, rapist, and murderer who also uses his authority to get innocent soldiers flogged–consists solely of the fact that Hakeswill is a fictional character. Hakeswill, upon seeing the beautiful blonde Sally Clayton nursing her baby, gets “up like an animal” and threatens to have her husband punished if she won’t do what he wants. He later rapes her and then kills her, carries another woman off to rape, and shoots Sharpe’s wife because she fought back when he tried to rape her. A... Huckabee at home abroad in Israel A parade of Republican presidential hopefuls is making its way to Israel, signaling the candidates’ seriousness about foreign policy and national security and their hawkish approach to terrorism. As POLITICO recently reported, “A stop in the Jewish state is becoming as critical as an early trip to Iowa or New Hampshire.” But while Mitt Romney and Haley Barbour check the Israel box and move on, Mike Huckabee lingers. This month, the former Arkansas governor spent two weeks in Israel on his 15th trip to the Jewish state, during which his suggestion that the Palestinians go find their own state in some Arab country prompted a settler leader, Dani Dayan, to announce that he is praying Huckabee will be elected president. While Bibi is profusely thanking Obama for his veto, he obscures the real issue which Romney in this article nails. Even if William Crystal wrote it, Romney signed it. By Mitt Romney, National Review Online The Obama administration has been seeking a way to avoid vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel. It has floated the idea of meeting Israel’s critics halfway with a U.N. “presidential statement” calling Israeli settlements “illegitimate.” Whether or not such a statement is actually issued,the very idea is a mistake. Indeed, we have here in this single idea a display of multiple foreign-policy failures of this presidency. Let us count the ways the administration’s proposed action has already injured Israel and the United States. For one thing, the U.N. condemnation put forward by the president puts Israel, our closest ally in the region, in an untenable position. In exchange for peace, previous Israeli governments offered radical border... It was in the nineteenth century …that the West began to take a more serious interest in the countries of the Far East, and reports began to filter in from several Western explorers describing their astonishment at encountering tribes all over the north-west of India who were clearly of Jewish descent. The missionary doctor Joseph Wolff, for example, reported: All the Jews of Turkistan assert that the Turkomauns are the descendents of Togarmah, one of the sons of Gomar, mentioned in Genesis 10:3…..but in the reign of Gheghis Khan they lost all their written accounts….. Some Affghauns claim a descent from Israel. According to them, Affghaun was the nephew of Asaph, the son of Berachia, who built the temple of Solomon. The descendents of Afhhaunn, being Jews, were carried into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, from whence they were removed to the mountain of Ghoree in Affghanistan, but in the time of Mohammed turned Mohammedans. G. T. Vigne, a French travelling scholar... IDF Central Command officers – whose jurisdiction includes Judea and Samaria – say that in the coming months, Arabs will step up their efforts to take over lands in the region. Similarly, they predict, land disputes will occur more frequently – and all this, the Arabs hope, will help them grab more land for the state they would like to unilaterally establish later this year. Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that army officers describe the situation as a “competition” between Jews and Arabs as to who can grab more land. The PA is reportedly making efforts in many directions to prepare for the establishment of a state – including fighting terrorism, building their infrastructures and institutions, and cracking down on law and order. A Knesset ministerial committee is discussing on Sunday a new bill to give Jews in Judea and Samaria the same rights that other citizens enjoy. It would in effect remove the authority of Defense Minister Ehud Barak to impose a de facto building freeze on construction for Jews. The proposed legislation is sponsored by National Union party chairman Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz along with more than two dozen other MKs. A similar bill in the previous government was backed by 12 legislators who now are Cabinet ministers or deputies and not allowed to sponsor a ministerial committee bill. Also backing the former attempt was Binyamin Netanyahu, who now is Prime Minister. MK Katz said that he expects the Likud officials to support the new legislation, just as they did previously. The former backers include Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz of Likud, Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov of the National Union, and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, a veteran Likud member. While Ettinger makes an excellent case, the US government, is not yet ready to write off the Arab world and support Israel. It mistakenly believes that by forcing a bad peace deal on Israel. it will benefit. It will lose for two reasons. A weaker Israel will weaken America and by not standing by Israel, America will be weakened in the Arab world. Ted Belman In erratic Middle East, Israel remains America’s most credible, capable ally The seismic developments in Egypt and throughout the Arab Middle East highlight Israel’s unique contribution to vital US interests. The significance of Israel’s strategic added-value is underlined by uncertain and shifty Arab ideologies, policies, alliances and allegiances, by the increasing vulnerability of pro-US Arab regimes, the intensifying unruly nature of Arab societies, the exacerbation of Islamic terrorism, the Iranian nuclear threat, the deepening penetration of the Arab Middle East by Russia and China, the... Missing Republican opposition will help Obama look presidential, win another election Shoula Romano Horing, YNET Making Barack Obama a one term president should be the main goal of the Republicans. At the corresponding time in this election cycle, four years ago, the Democrats relentlessly criticized President George W. Bush’s foreign policy concerning the war in Iraq. But it seems that after winning the midterm elections so overwhelmingly, the Republicans have concentrated only on the economy and abortion, leaving the stage of US foreign policy to Obama’s naive agenda. But much worse, the Republican leadership was even supportive of Obama as the US turned against a longtime ally like Egypt’s Mubarak, even though it carried the risk of weakening American influence and national interests in the Middle East for a long time to come. Aluf Benn reports Egypt is no longer committed to an alliance with Israel against Iran After pointing out the reversal of allowing the Iranian ships to pass through the Suez Canel whereas previously it allowed Israel to go through, he discusses the ptential repercussions of the veto. Bolstered with Congressional support, Netanyahu forced U.S. President Barack Obama into the veto – which he had avoided using to date. The Americans argued that internationalization of the conflict cannot replace direct negotiations, and that forced decisions will only result in parties taking up more extreme positions.
The settlements are neither, “illegitimate’ nor “illegal”
The Oslo Accords was silent on the settlements other than to say they were a final status issue. No mention was made of “settlement activity”.When Jihad Johnny’s Up, He’s Up Like an Animal
by Bill LevinsonHuchabee embraces Israel
By: Ben Smith
February 18, 2011 10:52 AM EST
Huckabee isn’t getting any votes in Israel. Republican Jewish activists marvel that he doesn’t even raise any money from American friends of Israel on his trips. Instead,...Obama Turns His Back on Israel
Are the Afghans one of the lost tribes of Israel?
The Land-Grab Competition in Judea/Samaria
Jews Fight Back, Despite Odds
The land-grab competition cards are stacked against the Jews, for Arabs build wherever they want with barely any fear that their construction will be considered illegal, and...New Bid to Remove De Facto Freeze
...It is in US interest to strongly support Israel in the “peace process”
Yoram Ettinger, YNETGOP should oppose Obama on ME
The Republicans must be aware that under Obama, the US is losing the Middle East to Iran and Islamic radicals and endangering its main strategic...Did Bibi have to pay for the veto?
It is not yet clear what Obama will try to get from Netanyahu in return: a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the territories, or acceptance of an American peace plan. The U.S. president will argue that Washington needs to bolster its credibility in the Arab world and that Israel must contribute its lot to ensure that the new regimes in the area...
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
Monday 21 February 2011
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