Washington: Hizballah has got hold of chemical weapons
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 6, 2013, 6:55 AM
For the first time in many years, voices in the US administration were criticizing the Israeli defense forces for under-reacting and, in this case, also underestimating the chemical weapons threat emanating from Syria and neglecting to pursue counter-measures. This is what visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak heard when he met US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon Tuesday, March 5, as the new defense secretary’s first foreign visitor.
DEBKAfile’s military and Washington sources disclose that Barak was berated for “inadequate and cursory” military preparations which failed to take into account that a chemical attack on Israel would make it necessary for the IDF to enter Syria – most likely for an offensive operation coordinated against the common threat with the Turkish and Jordanian armies.
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Sen. Menendez speech at AIPAC
By Arsen Ostrovsky
The entire speech was brilliant. But I wanted to highlight a particular section, starting at 31.10 mins in. It is quite possibly the single most passionate, eloquent justification I have ever heard for Israel’s existence and the Jewish people’s historical and biblical connection to the land of Israel.
This quote was not in his original prepared remarks (I’ve double checked). He said it on the spot and clearly spoke from the heart. It is not just the words which are important, but also the manner in which he delivered them. I would strongly urge you all to watch.
Full quote below (but starts at 31.10 min in the video link above):
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The Road To Iran Runs Through Kurdistan – And Starts In Syria
By: Sherkoh Abbas and Robert B. Sklaroff, For The Bulletin
The major remaining obstacle to Iraq’s achieving political and military surcease is Iranian-backed Muqtada al-Sadr, and the major obstacle to Israeli-Arab peacemaking is Syrian-backed terrorism. The Iranian octopus funds unrest throughout the Middle East, and Syrian tentacles have strangled Democracy from Lebanon to Gaza to Iraq’s al-Anbar Province to the Sudan.
But Syria’s hegemony is also inward-directed, targeting its largest ethnic minority, the Kurds. Lacking representation in this Ba’athist regime, Kurdistan of Syria (its capital is Qamishlo) needs international support to replicate Iraq’s success in meshing tripartite ethnicity (Shiite, Sunni, Kurd), itself mirroring the inherent strength of America’s “melting pot” legacy.
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Maybe things aren’t so bad.
By Ted Belman
I had a conversation today with a highly placed individual in the Israel government and knows whereof he speaks.
He is close friends with Michael Oren and Ron Dermer. Although he hasn’t spoken to either of them in the last few weeks, the impression he got from them is that Obama is not coming here to break Israel’s balls. He believes that the two state solution is not a high priority for the beleaguered Obama or his State Dept.
He also warned not to follow the story lines reported by left wing media here and in the US. They are trying to generate momentum to in furtherance of their agenda.
Besides he says, so what if Obama comes here and makes demands, Bibi will just file them away with his other demands and life will go on. I am not so sanguine.
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Obama intends to impose a solution
By Ted Belman (first published Dec 7/09)
Obama has surrounded himself with a host of vehemently ant-Israel advisors including Lee Hamilton, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Samantha Power, Susan Rice and Gen Jones, many of who advocate imposing a solution on Israel.
So it was no surprise that he started his term of office by attacking Israel, America’s best and most steadfast ally, and demanding a complete settlement freeze east of the greenline including Jerusalem. He went so far as to repudiate the US commitment set out in the Bush ‘04 letter to Sharon saying there was no agreement. Elliot Abrams and others involved in the negotiations which led to the letter testified otherwise.
Will there be a military coup in Egypt?
MORSI AND THE GENERAL
Daniel Nisman, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 28, 2013
Daniel Nisman, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 28, 2013
In August 2012, it seemed as though Egypt’s once-omnipotent military generals had been all but neutered. After a devastating militant attack killed dozens of troops in the Sinai Peninsula, a newly-elected President Mohammed Morsi seized the opportunity to fire Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and a number of other generals. President Morsi was empowered by popular anger following 17 months of incompetent military rule over post-revolution Egypt. But now, six months later, the generals of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) have returned to challenge an increasingly loathed President Morsi—quite possibly laying the groundwork to bring Egypt back under military rule.
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Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
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