Last week’s failed attack from the Sinai peninsula, in which terrorists killed Egyptian soldiers, was extraordinary. Terrorists operating out of Gaza do not usually attack Egyptians. They can obtain arms and materiel by sea, but the Israeli navy stops this most of the time. That leaves the tunnels beneath the Philadelphi Corridor, the narrow strip of southern Gaza that borders Egypt. Israel left the Philadelphi Corridor in 2005 when it unilaterally evacuated Gaza. In the wider interest, as well as its own, it should retake the Philadelphi Corridor with dispatch. ISRAEL’S STRENGTH IS THAT IT EMBRACES NATIONALISM IN THE FORM OF ZIONISM. The left in Israel and throughout the world condemn Israel for its nationalism i.e., Zionism. But for the vast majority of Israelis and for the countries of the world, even in multicultural EU, nationalism matters. Ted Belman By Dr. Shlomo Zadok, ISRAEL HAYOM At the London Olympics, as with any other major sporting event, we focus on the winners and losers according to the results. But it’s possible to see in the games a different type of defeat: a political, ideological, conceptual and romantic defeat. Who was defeated? The romantic idealists, proponents of post-nationalism, which seeks to create a new world order free of nations. Four newspapers discuss various aspects of the Iranian threat: Yediot Aharonot remarks that “As of this December, Israel will find itself in a state in which it is totally dependent on an external element, America, that will supposedly remove from it what it defines as an ‘existential threat’. Every Israeli leadership throughout the generations has done everything to avoid arriving at that corner.” Ma’ariv maintains that “It is Netanyahu’s and Barak’s prerogative to bluff, but the time has come that they decide already whether to bomb in Iran. In the meantime, it seems that that both here and in the world they are no longer being taken seriously. And still, it must be clear: If Netanyahu and Barak decide that that’s it – it is their full right to do so. They will obtain a majority in the Cabinet and will commence an operation. That’s the way it is in a democracy.” By Prof Avi Bell, Times of Israel In a debate with me at Jewish Ideas Daily, my friends and colleagues Joseph Weiler and Yaffa Zilbershats vigorously oppose adopting the legal conclusions of the Levy Report, while disagreeing with the Levy Report’s legal arguments regarding the applicability of the law of belligerent occupation to the West Bank. I disagree with the authors’ legal arguments for reasons I shall explain below. But what disturbs me far more is their prediction of disaster if Israel holds to its traditional interpretation of its legal rights as per the Levy Report. The authors claim that the Report’s legal analysis will force Israel either to “undermine the Zionist ideal of Israel as the state of the Jewish people” by granting citizenship to the Arabs living in the West Bank and threatening Israel’s Jewish majority, or, alternatively, to “adopt a governing structure for the territories amounting to a form of apartheid.” They can, in the kind of Syria my little analyst group is lobbying for, namely a federated Syria. Russia has made contact with us and asked us for more details about our vision. We are working on it. We are also working on establishing a lobbyist to spread the word in Washington. Ted Belman In the land of St. Paul’s conversion, ancient Catholic and Orthodox communities are finding themselves on the wrong side of an increasingly sectarian conflict. By BILL SPINDLE and SAM DAGHER, WSJ Near the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite commemorates the 5th-century ascetic who became an ancient sensation by living atop a tall pedestal for decades to demonstrate his faith. Krak des Chevaliers, an awe-inspiring castle near Homs, was a fortress for the order of the Knights Hospitaller in their quest to defend a crusader kingdom. Seydnaya, a towering monastery in a town of the same name, was probably built in the time of Justinian. A nun there spoke about Syria’s current crisis from within a candlelit alcove this week, surrounded by thousand-year-old votive icons donated by Russian Orthodox churchgoers and silver pendants in the shape of body parts that supplicants have sought to heal—feet, heads, legs, arms, even a pair of lungs and a kidney. The point made by Ajami is fully on display in the NYT article, U.S. and Turkey to Tighten Coordination on Syriain which she is quoted “We have been closely coordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details.” Ted Belman Hillary and the Hollowness of ‘People-to-People’ Diplomacy By FOUAD AJAMI, Wall Street Journal – OPINION The sight of Hillary Clinton cutting a rug on the dance floor this week in South Africa gives away the moral obtuseness of America’s chief diplomat. That image will tell the people of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, under attack by a merciless regime, all they need to know about the heartlessness of U.S. foreign policy. True authority over foreign affairs has been vested in the White House, and for that matter, in the Obama campaign apparatus. All the great decisions on foreign policy—Iraq and Afghanistan, the struggle raging in Syria, the challenge posed by the Iranian regime—have been subjugated to the needs of the campaign. All that is left for Mrs. Clinton is the pomp and ceremony and hectic travel schedule. In the 12th Aug 2012 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
Israel should retake Philadelphi
(Read more…)Post-nationalism is swimming upstream.
(Read more…)Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press
(Read more…)Don’t fear the Levy Report
(Read more…)Can Syria’s Christians Survive?
(Read more…)Ajami: “the passivity of this secretary of state is unprecedented”
(Read more…)Good News, Israel
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
Monday, 13 August 2012
· Israeli stem cells have saved the life of another patient with bone marrow failure.
· Israeli treatment success for epilepsy that does not respond to medication.
· The Israeli government is paying Israeli companies to employ Israeli Arabs.
· Israeli broadcast communications technology is a winner at the London Olympics.
· An Israeli firm will employ hundreds to make bio fuels in Mississippi.
· Two Israeli mothers have invented a unique biodegradable packaging material.
· For the first time, a Pakistani media company is translating an Israeli news feed into Urdu.
· Last week’s JPost Israel Positive News descriptive summary
Click here for “A Fresh Look at the Jewish State”
Page Down for more details on these and other good news stories from Israel.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS (Read more…)
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