The Conflict in Israel and The Middle East

February 1, 2017February 1, 2017

AMONA DESTRUCTION: Israel’s Left Won’t Simply Fade Away, the Swamp Must Be Drained

Amona is destroyed. Its residents removed, houses bulldozed, and farmlands uprooted. For 20 years these pioneers worked the land and settled the abandoned hill, making it flourish and come to life. Multiple governments, from Sharon’s to Olmert’s to Netanyahu’s aided and encouraged the Jews who came to the strategic hill. They were provided with electricity, water, and even mortgages. Now that same government under overwhelming pressure from the Supreme Court has wiped an entire community off the map. Why? Because a European funded left-wing organization found a long lost Arab family member of the original land owners who had left and abandoned the property over 50 years ago.

In a normal civilized country this would be solved as a monetary settlement with the government paying the Arab more than the price of the property, yet in Israel Jews get their houses bulldozed. What makes Amona more frustrating is that a bill (now nearly passed) was introduced to prevent future occurrences of a similar type. Originally this bill was meant to retroactively include Amona and two other communities pending destruction, but the bill eventually dropped those three communities paving the way for today’s action.

We are told that although Amona is destroyed, the law is sufficient to protect Judea and Samaria in the future. We are told that the government had to change the law to allow the Supreme Court to ok it. Finally, we are told that today is actually a win for Zionism and Judea and Samaria.

The assumption that the Supreme Court is set to play ball now that they have been fed their quota of Judea and Samaria destruction is absurd. We who live in Judea and Samaria must understand that the left who set up the internal organs of the state might not be in overt control, but they are embedded in the bureaucracy and judicial system to such a point that they will not simply fade away. Three generations ago they succeeded in becoming the founding members of the State of Israel. They succeeded although Begin was far more popular with the Jewish street. Those 29 years between 1948 and 1977 which marked the rise of Menachem Begin and the Likud gave the Left ample time to set the system up in a way that would allow them to continue to control the State of Israel without overt ruler-ship.

The Left will not go away. Their control is too important for them. The government dropped the ball on Amona, because they insisted on fighting the Left with kid gloves and as long as they are not willing to take the fight to the organs of power still controlled by the Left, then the government which is backed by a majority of Israelis will never be able to implement or enforce its will. If Bibi wants to be remembered as a great leader long after he is Prime Minister he must wake up and clean house entirely. He must fight Israel’s internal enemies from a point of faith and clear direction towards a true Jewish State. The first focus must be the Judicial system. It is this tool the Left uses to rule over Israelis and it is this system that must be completely overhauled and rectified. If the Prime Minister is not up for the task, it is time to find a leader that is.

January 31, 2017

Is Israel Preparing for War?

According to reports, Israel’s Home Front Command is preparing for thousands of rockets to hit Israel during the next war. Hezbollah is said to have a stockpile of 120,000 rockets. Many of these rockets can hit anywhere in Israel. In preparation, the Home Front Command is revamping its entire warning system. It currently divides the country into 264 polygon alert zones in which a siren is activated once the flight path and expected landing area of a missile or rocket is calculated.

According to the Jerusalem Post “Israel’s already state-of-the-art alert system is being upgraded, as the number of polygon alert zones is set to increase to a few thousand by April 2018. The increase in zones means that, as opposed to a siren sounding for an entire city, individual neighborhoods or streets will be alerted to take shelter.”

How Close Is War?

With the new detente between the Trump Administration and Putin actively changing the dynamics in Syria, Hezbollah and Iran sense an abrupt change in their relationship to Russia. The divergent interests of Iran and Russia are beginning to come to the surface as Putin looks to not only force a peace on Syria, but forge a long lasting alliance with the USA. Iran wants none of this. Its entry into the civil war had the goal of safeguarding its supply route to Hezbollah as well as creating a defacto Iranian presence on Israel’s northern border.

With Putin looking to quiet down the conflict most reports from the region claim that his next move is to force Iran out of Syria altogether. In an article published in December of 2015 we predicted this very situation:

Putin has never ascribed to Iran’s goal of establishing a Persian controlled Middle East. Russia would like to be in control of the region in as far as the oil and its military bases are concerned. A strong Iran provides Putin with a serious challenge down the road. The problem is that Putin needs Iranian troops and ground support in Syria so he does not repeat the Russian mistakes of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Right now because he has placed very little Russian soldiers into the fray, he is receiving huge support from the Russian citizenry.

While Russia needs Iranian troops, it does not need Iran exploiting the partnership in hopes it gets an edge up on Israel. Putin knows a cornered Israel could create a far bigger problem. Russia is also receiving advanced intelligence from Israel on ISIS positions.

While Iran is a formidable power, with Putin and Trump working together the Mullahs understand their ability to affect Syria maybe becoming to an end. An Iran with nothing to lose is a very dangerous Iran. Expect the Ayatollahs and their henchman Hezbollah to throw the Levant off course.

Iran’s Ballistic Missile Test Is The First Push Back

Iran fired its first ballistic missile test since Donald Trump was sworn in as president. The missile flew 500 kilometers before crashing. Bibi Netanyahu reacted immediately to the test by stating “it must not go unanswered.” The White House is still looking into the matter and will decide upon its response. More importantly, the ballistic missile test is a message the changing alliances that are catching Tehran off guard: We will not go quietly.

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January 30, 2017January 30, 2017

Salon’s Attack on Trump’s Plan to Move US Embassy to Jerusalem is FAKE NEWS

This past Sunday, Salon ran a piece titled: “Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is a bad idea for everyone — except Israeli hard-liners and their American friends,” in which the author focused on three main points in an attempt to craft an argument for not moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

The author does this by way of creating a hypothetical meeting between two Arab leaders. The King of Saudi Arabia and the King of the UAE.

“When the two most influential leaders in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, get together to discuss how Washington can demonstrate its renewed commitment to regional allies, it is a safe bet that moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is not on their list.”

The author uses the above “pretend meeting” to set up a false narrative where a move of the US embassy to Jerusalem reignites the “Israeli-Palestinian” conflict as well as tearing apart the “normally quiet” Middle East.

The move he insists, is being pushed by Trump to soothe his “radical base” as well as supported by Israel’s “hardliners.”

The above could not be further from the truth.

Let’s set the record straight: President Donald Trump does not view the Two State Solution or the splitting of Jerusalem as necessities in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The fact is, most Israelis support an Israel with a united Jerusalem as its capital. Given these facts, why does it matter if the Palestinians are erked? Why are their grievences necessarily assumed to be equal to Israel’s?

Furthermore, the author wants to make the case that the Middle East will fall into chaos if the US moves its embassy to Jerusalem. Perhaps the author has forgotten about the chaos that flows from Iraq to Syria to Yemen. Let’s face it, the Middle East is about as chaotic as it can get.

As for his assertion that Saudi Arabia or the UAE would care? So what. They are not going to do anything about it. They both need the USA and Israel to hold off Iran. The most they will do is throw a public fit in order to appease their wound up street, which deep down inside doesn’t care anyway.

Here are some facts:

Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since the 1880s
Jews are the nationality to have a continuous presence in Jerusalem for 3000 years
Jews are the only people to have an established capital in Jerusalem 3 times

In light of these, why wouldn’t the US move its embassy to Jerusalem? In fact, if one truly wants to make a point of ending the conflict once and for all, taking Jerusalem off the table will bring the “Palestinians” to their knees and yes bring peace faster than leaving the conflict simmering the way it is now.

President Trump and the majority of supporters of Israel as well as the US Congress are completely justified and correct in wanting to move the US embassy to the historical and political capital of the only Jewish State.

The author ends his article with this:

“Rather than demonstrating American resolve and commitment, moving the embassy to Jerusalem actually has the potential to strengthen Iran, weaken Israel’s ties to the Arab world, and sow violence between Palestinians and Israelis. This should all be abundantly clear, but when it comes to U.S. policy in the Middle East, illogical arguments often reign.”

This final statement is the hubris which Middle East policy has been driven through for the last 5 decades. It is the author who has made a series of illogical arguments. These arguments and mentality are about to be bulldozed into the dustbin of moral relativism and Arabist apologetics by the 45th President.

January 29, 2017

[watch] Netanyahu: “Jerusalem is The Capital of Israel, US Embassy Should Be Here”

In an attempt to deflect criticism that it is Israel delaying the US Embassy move Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said the following:

“I’d like to mention again that our core alliance is with the United States”, Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly government meeting, “there is no substitute for this alliance. Our relations are strong and getting stronger.

“At this opportunity I’d like to state unambiguously that our opinion has forever been and is today as well, that the US Embassy should be located here in Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and it is proper that not only the US embassy move here, but that also all embassies should move here. I believe that as time goes by, most will come here to Jerusalem.”

In the same statement, the Prime Minister addressed the Regulations law that retroactively legalizes many of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

“Tomorrow we will present the Regulation Law to the Knesset. This law is meant to normalize, once and for all, settlement in Judea and Samaria and prevent repeated attempts to hurt Jewish settlements.”

January 27, 2017January 27, 2017

Is the Tipping Point Upon Us? Jews Nearly Finished Renovating Home Near Lions Gate Jerusalem

A few months ago I had the opportunity to follow Rabbi Ben Packer of the Heritage House into an area of the Old City even the most adventurous activists would think twice before entering. That did not deter Rabbi Packer and I from making the left at Lions Gate and up stairs and walkway into an all Arab neighborhood. The neighborhood is known to Jew and Arab alike as a vipers nest, but this area, void of Jews since the 1930’s contains an old Jewish property. When I walked there a few months ago, this Jewish property had only recently been handed back to Jews. The Arabs were violent and threatening.

The property was broken down. To make matters more uncomfortable the property shared a courtyard with a divorced Arab woman and her children and some grandchildren.

Today I returned and found a transformed place. As we make a left down the small street, a kid, once antagonistic now gives us a high five. The shop owner says hello warmly. In my experience where Jews move and stay, the Arab population eventually learns to live with it.

As we enter the courtyward we see the old Arab woman. She shows us some rocks the neighbors had thrown down on her due to her stubborn refusal to harm the Jews sharing the courtyard with her. After greeting us she disappears into her home.

The rocks that had been thrown at the woman

“Other than the rocks, her life has gotten a lot better since we moved in here,” Rabbi Packer says as we enter into a room under renovation. “This is real peace.”

A hit piece was recently written in the Electronic Intifada about Rabbi Ben Packer, claiming he has ties to white supremacists. His concern for the older Arab neighbor and his protection extended to her dispels that myth.

The work has progressed a lot since the last time I had been there. One room is completely re-tiled, waiting for yeshiva students to move in. The adjacent room will become an apartment for a young family.

Before leaving I look up at the recently tiled apartment. Etched into the stone above the doorway are two Hebrew letters, still visible from over 8o years ago. In an undying proof of the Jewish people’s claim to their homeland, the letters stand as a marker that we will never disappear and just like the return to this apartment, the Jewish people will return to every house that was stolen from us.

Our return is part of a larger movement. We are coming home and yes proudly pushing Israel towards the Tipping Point, when the idea of the two state solution will no longer be an option.