Morning Musings

I need to go back to blogging. I need to write......but it seems I have been doing much more reading than writing lately and cannot yet put into words the thoughts that are swirling......mostly concerning Israel and the present danger. I identify with Israel. Having been grafted in to the Commonwealth of Israel, these are my people. Yeshua's people. His people are my people. I find I have more allegiance to Israel than I do to America. If America turns her back on Israel, I'm with Israel. Hopefully the ties between the two countries will remain strong.

The voyage of the "Mariam" flotilla (named after the "Virgin Mary" and prayed for at her statue) has been given the green light by Lebanon to leave Tripoli to try to break the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza. This, even after Israel has bowed to pressures and liberalized the land blockade to allow more goods in. What will happen in coming days? Very worrisome.

Besides my fixation on Israel, I have become interested in reading Abraham Joshua Heschel. I wonder why I never heard of him until recently. I am reading God in Search of Man and so far I really enjoy his writing style and profound thoughts. Here is a sample:

When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion--its message becomes meaningless.

Yesterday I enjoyed sitting out on the lounge chair by the garden getting some sun and reading Heschel and Karsh (Palestine Betrayed). I am also very interested in learning more about the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict. It was interesting to read that there was a time when Jews and Arabs coexisted peacefully. It all could have turned out so differently. This book seeks to document where the blame lies for the current hostilities. Very compelling read. How did I get interested in history I wonder. Never liked it in school. Now I am fascinated with it. I want to visit historical museums. I hope to visit the museum in Culver that holds the history of the Academies. Wish I had an escort who shared my interests. Oh well, I like being alone most of the time. I just need to get braver about venturing out and about by myself and not fret about having no likeminded friends able to join me.

I want to hike various trails in the area. May have to do that alone as well. Others do it, why not me.

I need to get going on my day. I work for Dave today, and I need to go to Hamlet this morning. Wonder what else I will accomplish. My window of opportunity is narrower than I would like; my strength dissipates after a couple of hours of exertion usually. Very frustrating. Somehow I need to find "the cure" for this debilitating fatigue that comes and goes so mysteriously.

At least I was able to write something this morning.

Weathering the Approaching Storm

By Caroline Glick

Israel is endangered today as it has never been before. The Turkish-Hamas flotilla two weeks ago precipitated a number of dangerous developments. Rather than attend to all of them, Israel's leadership is devoting itself almost exclusively to contending with the least dangerous among them while ignoring the emerging threats with the potential to lead us to great calamities.

Since the Navy's lethal takeover of the Mavi Marmara, Israel has been stood before an international diplomatic firing squad led by the UN and Europe and supported by the Obama administration. Firmly backed by European and largely unopposed by Washington, the UN is moving swiftly towards setting up a new Goldstone-style anti-Israel kangaroo court. That canned tribunal will rule that Israel has no right to defend itself and attempt to force Israel to end its lawful naval blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Fearing this outcome, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu bowed to US President Barack Obama's demand that Israel set up an Israeli inquest of the Mavi Marmara takeover and permit foreigners to oversee its proceedings. Netanyahu also agreed to scale-back Israel's blockade significantly, and allow international bodies to have a role in its far more lax enforcement. Netanyahu has made these concessions with the full knowledge that they will strengthen Hamas in the hopes that they would weaken the international onslaught against Israel.

Unfortunately, it took no time at all to see that his hopes were misplaced. Even before Netanyahu announced these concessions, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon already announced that they make no difference to him or to his friends in Washington and Brussels. They will move ahead with their plans to appoint a new kangaroo court charged with asserting that Israel has no right to defend itself.

AS BAD as all of this is, in truth, it is unimportant relative to the other consequences of the flotilla incident. The impact of the diplomatic campaign now being waged against Israel will be felt in the medium and long term. In the immediate term, Israel is facing two threats that dwarf what it faces from the UN.

Recent statements by the leaders of Iran, Turkey, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah make clear that the members of the Iranian axis view the Mavi Marmara episode as a strategic victory in their ongoing campaign against Israel. The international stampede against Israel at the UN, the White House and throughout Europe exposed Israel's Achilles heel. The Mavi Marmara demonstrated that on the one hand the IDF cannot enforce its blockade of Gaza without the use of force. On the other hands it taught Israel's enemies that by forcing Israel to use force, Iran, Turkey and their allies incited a UN-EU-US lynch mob against Israel.

Iran, Turkey, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah are moving rapidly to exploit their new discovery. In the very near future, Israel will face off against Iranian, Lebanese, and Turkish ships complemented by ships full of Israel-hating German Jews and other Jewish and non-Jewish Hamas supporters.

The Mavi Marmara showed Iran and its allies hat they can win strategic victories against Israel by giving the IDF no option other than using force against them. This means that Israel can bank on the prospect that all the ships they are dispatching will be populated by suicide protesters. Indeed the Iranians have openly admitted this. Mohammad Ali Nouraee is one of the regime officials involved in dispatching the Iranian ships to the Gaza coast. In an interview this week with Iran's official IRNA news agency Nouraee said that the passengers aboard the ships, "are willing to become martyred in this way."

The Lebanese ships are being organized by Hizbullah-affiliated individuals and the Turkish ships are being organized by the IHH terror group that organized the Mavi Marmara. Hizbullah's penchant for dispatching suicide squads is of course well known. And the IHH showed its devotion to suicide protests on the Mavi Marmara. So it is fairly clear that the passengers aboard the ships from both countries intend to force the IDF to kill them.

The intensification of the suicide protest campaign against Israel is dangerous for two reasons. First, it is a model that can be and in all likelihood will be replicated on air and land and it can be replicated anywhere. Israel can and should expect mobs of suicide protesters marching on Gaza to force Israel to surrender control over its borders. Israel can expect mobs of suicide protesters marching on Israeli embassies and other government installations around the world in an attempt to increase its diplomatic isolations.

In the air, Israel can expect charter flights to take off from airports around the world with a few dozen kamikaze protesters who will force the IAF to shoot them down as they approach Israeli airspace.

Iran and its allies have found a weak chink in Israel's armor. They will use it any way they can. Israel needs to quickly develop tactics and strategies for contending with this.

THE SECOND and far more dangerous implication of Israel's enemies' aggressive adoption of suicide protests is that by ensuring violence will be used, they increase the chances of war. Indeed, Iran and its allies clearly believe that suicide protests are a vehicle for initiating a full-scale war against Israel on what they view as favorable footing. According to Bahrain's al Wasat press service, Hussain Amir, Iran's ambassador to Bahrain threatened this week that, "If the [Zionist] entity dares to direct any aggressive attack [against the Iranian ships] then it is certain that [Israel] will be met by a much stronger and firm blow."

Syrian President Bashar Assad told the BBC Wednesday that the region is moving towards war. And the Turkish government is continuing to escalate its assaults on Israel. On Thursday Turkey threatened to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel if Israel does not issue a formal apology for its takeover of the Mavi Marmara and pay restitution to the families of the terrorists killed on board the ship.

Obviously the most disturbing aspect of the war threats is the specter of Turkish naval vessels attacking the Israeli navy. If Turkey - a NATO member -- participates in a war against Israel, the repercussions for Israel's relations with NATO member states, including the US, as well as the EU are liable to be unprecedented.

While going to war against Israel would be a major gamble for Turkey, in recent years it has not shied away from high stakes challenges to its NATO allies. Indeed, one of Turkey's ruling AKP party's first actions upon taking power in 2003 was to deny the US military the right to invade Iraq from its territory. The deleterious impact of Turkey's refusal to come to the aid of its NATO ally at the time has been felt by US forces in Iraq ever since.

IN THE days and weeks to come, Israel's political and military leaders must move resolutely to prepare to withstand these new threats that arisen in the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara episode. To meet the expected deluge of suicide protesters on sea, land and air, Israel must immediately acquire non-lethal means to disperse these protests. This involves purchasing and producing tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and other non-lethal weaponry. These non-lethal weapons must be rapidly distributed to IDF units deployed along the frontier with Gaza and to the Navy. They must also be supplied to Israeli security teams tasked with protecting government installations worldwide. Forces must undergo intense and immediate training in crowd control and mob dispersal to be ready to meet what is clearly on the way.

Diplomatically, Israel needs to hold its new line on the Gaza blockade. Netanyahu's buckling to US-EU-UN pressure has encouraged them to redouble their assault on Israel. The new line must be held at all costs. Otherwise, Israel will have no diplomatic line of defense as the approaching threats become reality.

Strategically, our leaders need to consider what our aims will be in the coming war. For instance, as far as Turkey is concerned, Israel's aim will be to end the war as quickly as possible. Here the tools of diplomacy with NATO members and public diplomacy with the American people will be crucial to convincing Turkey to stand down. They must be aggressively and energetically utilized without delay.

From a military perspective, evasion is preferable to confrontation. This understanding must guide naval operations towards Turkish forces.

As for Iran, Israel's aim must be to prolong the war as long as necessary to secure its strategic objective of denying Iran nuclear weapons. Moreover, it is important to use both kinetic and non-kinetic means to change the relative power balance between the Iranian people and the Iranian regime. While in all likelihood today the Iranian opposition green movement is unable to overthrow the regime, if Iran initiates a war against Israel, Israel must use the opportunity the war affords to change that balance of power.

Once Israel's political and military leaders determine the strategic goals of a regional war, they must move swiftly to outfit and train the IDF to fight it. This war will certainly be different from its predecessors and Israel's strategic goals - and the clear strategic and tactical preferences of its enemies - dictate the training that the IDF must initiate immediately.

The longer term lesson of the Mavi Marmara incident, and the threats that emerged in its wake is that war is too serious a subject to leave to generals. The IDF and the Defense Ministry clearly misunderstood the nature of the threat posed by the Turkish-Hamas flotilla. Indeed, recent reports that until the Mavi Marmara Israel wasn't even collecting intelligence on Turkey despite its obvious, multiyear transformation from ally to enemy underlines the fact that the IDF is woefully incapable of assessing, understanding and preparing for the threats Israel faces.

In light of the IDF's failure to understand Turkey's transformation from ally to enemy in a timely manner, its incompetent planning for the takeover and its problematic performance in both Operation Cast Lead and the Second Lebanon War, Netanyahu must create an external body empowered to assess and dictate the means for preparing for emerging threats. This body can either be a new department in the Prime Minister's Bureau or the National Security Council can be empowered to perform this function. While this is not the most urgent matter on the national agenda, the establishment of such a body should be a central mission of the government.

The Iranian ships are already en route, and the ships from Lebanon could appear at any moment. The mass demonstrations against Israel throughout the world and the threatened violence from the Hamas-supporting Israeli Arab leadership indicate that mobs of suicide protesters could appear anywhere with no prior warning.

Time is of the essence. No, Israel does not want another Goldstone kangaroo court. But right now, kangaroo courts are not our biggest problem.

Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
Posted on June 18, 2010 at 6:41 AM

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The Third Intifada-The War of the Words

Reprinted from Maoz Israel blog......


Back in 1933, Orson Wells pulled off the greatest spoof in media history. His famous “War of the Worlds” broadcast was so realistic that people actually believed that the world as they knew it was coming to an end, and we were at war with Mars. Creating hysteria throughout the United States, Mr. Wells gloated at his success.

But what was also introduced on that day, was the world of propaganda, and how gullible the average person was…if it is reported over the airwaves, it has to be true. Now granted, up until that time, we were not exposed to the Nazi minister of propaganda, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels.

As one of German dictator Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism. He was the chief architect of the Kristallnacht attack on the German Jews, which historians consider to be the beginning of the Final Solution, leading towards the genocide of the Jews in the Holocaust.

Pretty amazing fete for one man…but he had help…the German nation hungrily looking for a scapegoat or someone to blame for their troubles. The time was ripe for Goebbels…and for the millions of innocent victims that didn’t meet the Aryan standards.

You can’t blame these victims. Deep within their souls, they thought that the very government they identified with, fought and died for, would protect them from such foolish notions that ALL of German’s problems were because of them.

But the pen is mightier than the sword and in the end, millions ended up dead in camps, shallow graves, and hidden places…some to be never found again. Families destroyed by a single bullet. And generations of families lost due to a sick regime.

But you knew all that…that is history. Well known thanks to our high school history teachers. But if history is doomed to repeat itself if we don’t pay attention, then why is it repeating itself now…today?

Israel is currently experiencing a third intifada…but it is not with guns or bombs; it is far more aggressive and deadly. It is a war of the words.

Throughout the internet…on YouTube, on blogs, and (horrors) in the news media; pro-Palestinian sympathizers are spouting its lies and hatred, disregarding facts of truth. And again, the gullible public is buying it hook, line and sinker. (And this time literally with the flotilla incident)

Now, what you don’t know is these guys are getting PAID to do this! They are being funded probably with the very same dollars that is “donated” to help the starving kids in Gaza. (we have already presented that there is NO humanitarian crises in Gaza).

Do you remember the guy to threw his shoe at President Bush during a speech? He received a 9 month jail sentence, but read his quote from 2 days ago:

“I blame the media because they said I would become rich for doing what I did, that I would become a multimillionaire,” Zaidi said. “All the promises about gifts I heard when I was in prison were just empty. The only gift I’ve got since my release is from Canadian television, who made me their man of the year and gave me a pair of golden shoes.”

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=178447

Appalling? Why, because you thought he did it for a cause he believed in? Each of the “peace activitists” had $10,000 in their possession when they were arrested from the flotilla. What, they needed money to buy eggs and bread for their fellow men????

It is time to take back our edge and be a spokesman of the truth.

It is time to stand against the growing sea of lies perpetrated against Israel and her beloved (that would be you).

It is time that each of us pray AND do what we can to not only be the truth but speak the truth to those who have already believed that we are at war with Mars.

Here is a poem that is taught to every child in elementary school here in Israel. It is in Yad Vashem, and it was written by a German Pastor in WWII:

First They Came For The Jews / Martin Niemöller

"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me."

You have heard it was said that faith without action is dead…I know that we all have the faith, but God is calling us to action. Be a spokesman of truth…before it is too late.

The battlefield is not in the field anymore.

For more information on this and other topics concerning Israel and her people, visit us at maozisrael.org

Palestine Betrayed

Palestine Betrayed, by Efraim Karsh

BOOK REVIEW
by M. D Roberts


Replete with references the Professor & Head of the Middle East and Mediterranean Studies Programme at Kings College, London has provided an excellent, detailed, objective analysis of both the origins as well as the history surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In my own opinion this authoritative, timely and well written study is destined to become a classic in relation to this contentious subject. Those who have already embraced the revisionist history of the 'new historians' will probably want to give it a miss as the detail and depth of this work tends to blow their case completely out of the water.

Citing many documents which have been declassified over the past decade, both the Arab and Jewish perspectives of this conflict are addressed from the very start. The political/diplomatic manoeuvering of many prominent individuals on both sides and in the international arena are all given due reference.

Recent declassification of millions of documents from the era surrounding the British Mandate are shown to have been ignored or distorted by the 'new historians' in order to paint a picture that the author claims 'is completely at odds with the anti Israel caricature that is so often the order of the day'.

This compelling investigation makes it clear to the reader that Israel is being robbed of its political, historic and geographic legitimacy, whilst being made to appear to rob the Palestinians of the nation it never had.

At the outset the author draws attention to the differing positions of the then Jewish and Arab leadership leading up to the 1947 UN resolution calling for the partition of 'Palestine' into two independent states - Arab and Jewish - plus the internationalisation of Jerusalem.

From the easily readable text the reader can assess how the Jewish leadership openly accepted the detailed UN plans for partition while the Arab side utterly rejected any such plan and showed that compliance with any UN resolution was of no consequence as they declared all out war with the declared intention of eradicating the reborn Jewish state. Full quotes and detailed references from both sides are provided for the reader's attention.

The book reveals in no uncertain terms that if the Palestinian Arabs and the neighbouring Arab states had accepted the UN resolution there would have been no war and no dislocation of a single Arab refugee. The simple reason being that the Zionist movement was amenable to the co-existence with the Palestinian Arabs and a 2 state solution even at that time. The Arab world choosing to instead wage a war of annihilation.

Citing how such reality was to become erased from public memory by decades of relentless pro-Arab propaganda, the writer clarifies that it is to reclaim this and other historical truths that this book has been written.

A whole plethora of issues are addressed including those of a Zionist and Pan Arab perspective covering many decades prior to, and culminating in, the above. The role of the British and the Mandate is studied in some detail revealing much of the alleged British appeasement of the Arab world and it's 'White Paper' restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine while Jews were fleeing the persecution and slaughter within Europe during the rule of Hitler. References revealing how, while Jews were severely restricted and hampering from entering their ancient homeland, no such restrictions were placed upon Arabs entering/settling in 'Palestine' from their neighbouring Arab states.

Having studied the Balfour Declaration one aspect of alleged British appeasement of the Arab world that also receives attention is the British severing of a vast percentage of 'Palestine' east of the Jordan River from the prospective Jewish homeland to create the new Arab nation of Transjordan under the newly appointed Arab leadership of Emir Abdullah ibn Hussein.

Even what remained of 'Palestine' being targeted for division with the 'Palestinian' Arabs. Quotes and references showing that pan-Arabism viewed the 'Palestinians' not as a distinct people deserving statehood but as 'an integral part of a single Arab nation' which was bound by the common ties of language and religion etc.. The Jewish homeland eventually constituting less than 11 per cent of what was originally hoped for. The study's contents reiterating that even this was too much for the Arab world which rejected 'partition' and declared war to obtain it all.

Indeed from the historic details provided the reader is left with the unassailable deduction that the Arab grievance is not with the borders of Israel but with its very existence. Referring to the 'peace process' of the present day the book claims that, despite their vastly different personalities and political modus operandi, Yasser Arafat and his successor Mahmoud Abbas are "warp and woof of the same fabric". Both being shown from the text to be PLO veterans who have never "eschewed their commitment to Israel's destruction".

While many believe that the reason for the continuous state of war between Israel and the Arabs is because Israel is allegedly 'occupying Arab land' the study shows how through endless repetition, the engraving upon people's minds of this line of political propaganda has deceived the populace from the fundamental truths behind this conflict. It clearly being shown that the Arabs were making war against Israel even when the Arabs held the land and that is how they came to lose it in the first place.

Individual readers must make up their own minds upon the many aspects of this investigation, some aspects of which may be seen as controversial by some. However, I have no hesitation to recommending this work to anyone remotely interested in the Middle East conflicts.