Israel/Afghanistan diary - 30 July 2014

   

“Under those circumstances, Israel would potentially have to contend with tens of thousands of casualties, the paralysis of all its systems and the need to create defensive measures for individual neighborhoods and even for streets. And all of that is based on the assumption that West Bank Arabs and some the Israeli Arabs will not join the campaign. Counter-attacks by the air force won’t help when everyone is dug in deep underground, laughing all the way to Jerusalem.”

This horrific scenario that he so ardently etched in the consciousness of the Israeli masses justifies the killing of civilians in Gaza and the deaths of Israeli soldiers in battle. It ends with an apocalyptic prediction: “In the best-case scenario, international forces would be brought in to demilitarize the state,” the popular status update says, continuing, “Israel’s nuclear weapons and the whole dream of a Jewish state would disintegrate for another thousand years.” According to this article, the kidnapping and murder of the three teens paved the way for a military operation that resulted in the discovery of a “brilliant plan” to destroy Israel."  Akiva Eldar

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Hysteria and skillful use of IO has brought about this image in Israeli minds and the same bilge is being sold to American audiences by Zionist spokesmen like Steve Schmitt who mouthed this line on Morning Joe" yesterday.

In fact, what we are talking about in the actual, as opposed to the fantasy, combat situation is posession by Hamas of a mass of homemade artillery rockets that are wildly innacurate and that are easily defeated by the American funded "Iron Dome."  In addition, Hamas has some tunnels which penetrate as much as a mile into the Israeli desert and which can be used for raiding in Israel.

This is an existential threat?  Does the IDF not station troops in the desert near Gaza?  Do the Israelis in all their genius not posses Ground Penetrating Radar? No?  Well, the Americans can always give them the equipment and/or training or can provide them with the imagery. 

Natanyahu is smarter than to believe this silliness.  His real purpose is to destroy Hamas so that he can dominate the PA.  pl

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/israel-protective-edge-right-left-support-avri-gilad.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+%5BEnglish%5D&utm_campaign=6f08e48c7b-July_29_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-6f08e48c7b-93066749#ixzz38sKpM42d

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"Vice President Cheney knew all along Saddam had zero nukes. His main interest was to establish a democracy in Iraq which he believed would have a rippled effect among Israel’s neighbors and provide the Jewish state with 25 years of peace and security. Given the bloody failures of Afghanistan and Iraq, President Obama is understandably gun-shy, reluctant to get more deeply involved in a geopolitical game he clearly does not understand.

John Kerry, his Secretary of State, while well-equipped intellectually for the job, showed yawning gaps of Middle Eastern knowledge, when he made 12 roundtrips to the Middle East in almost as many weeks — in the mistaken belief that Israel and Hamas in Gaza were ready for a Middle Eastern settlement."  De Borchgrave

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What is it with Cheney and Israel?  Rumors have circulated in Washington for years that he has some undisclosed family or other personal connection with the Zionist cause.  Is that what all this has been about?  Alternatively, does he harbor resentment against the "Aghabs" for slights received during his business years.  God knows it is easy to be offended by the behavior of a lot of Arabs in the business world. 

Kerry is an "Innocent Abroad."  He has been a striver with beautiful hair for a long time.  His vanity is apparent.  For such people it is easy to imagine that the irresistable charm of your manner gives you leverage in interpersonal relations that, unfortunately, does not exist.

The thought of John Kerry trying to cozy up to a hyper-nationalist fascist like Natanyahu is sadly amusing.  pl

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com  http://www.newsmax.com/ArnauddeBorchgrave/Afghanistan-Iraq-Iraq-in-Crisis/2014/07/29/id/585556#ixzz38xUGS9NH  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-penetrating_radar 

 

Comments

[MRW]

"According to this article, the kidnapping and murder of the three teens paved the way for a military operation that resulted in the discovery of a “brilliant plan” to destroy Israel." Akiva Eldar"

More selective hooey. It was this murder by Israeli soldiers on May 15, 2014 of two Palestinian kids that set off whoever kidnapped the three Israeli kids. CNN caught it on camera by accident. Israel later claimed the soldier was shooting blanks, but extra footage apparently caught the soldier loading red-painted magazines, which Israelis acknowledge as live ammunition.

"Palestinian Youths Shot Dead On Camera"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy4WXsp34IU

[old man]

The Palestinians urgently need to change the language of their narrative. The should always refer to Gaza as "The Gaza Concentration Camp". Hamas fighters should be called "Freedom Fighters" or" Palestinian Macabees". The assault by Israel on Gaza should be called a "pogrom". Every time children are killed a media attempt in the USA should be made to equate this to the Newtown school shootings. Israeli troops should be referred to as Storm Troopers, land grabs by Israel should be termed an Israeli as a quest for Lebensraum.

Every Palestinian spokesman should end his/her presentation with the words "We will not be part of Israels Final Solution for us".

[turcopolier]

MRW

I think that Eldar would agree with you. he simply didn't start his narrative back far enough. pl

[oofda]

For about the third day in a row, the IDF hit a UN school/hospital with shelling, killing 15 this time. The UN previously gave the Izzies the coordinates of their facilities in an attempt to avoid this very thing. Somehow the IDF must have confused the list of targets to avoid hitting with those to hit. With this many shellings of UN facilities, there has to be a credible war crimes charge. Perhaps if Kerry hinted to Natanyahu that the US would not exercise its veto in the UN for Israel, this might stop. Then, perhaps not.

[Aka]

"President Obama is understandably gun-shy, reluctant to get more deeply involved in a geopolitical game he clearly does not understand."

For a guy who supposed to be gun-shy and reluctant to get in to situations which he does not understand, Mr.Obama seems to have done/doing the exact opposite in Libya, Syria and now in Ukraine.

Did anyone checked whether he's Nuke-shy or cold-war-Shy?

BTW do you think that Putin will be fooled in to a new arms races which could weaken Russia's economy? or would he just stick to the current plans?

Also it seems Libya's new found (with NATO help) "democrazy" seems to growing with leaps and bounds. So much that democrazy that the french and the british have decided that all that democrazy is little too much for them.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/libya-france-evacuates-french-and-british-nationals-in-libya-as-fighting-intensifies-9637950.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/29/uk-libya-security-idUKKBN0FY1E420140729

[TomG]

A picture of Goebbels, how fitting on many levels. The Israelis learned the wrong lessons from the Holocaust. I can only hope that if there is a Palestinian people left after the Israelis civilize or are forced to be civil towards their neighbors and the natives, that the Palestinians get a different lesson out of the inhumane horrors that have been forced upon them.

[Matthew]

old man: Take it from someone married to a Palestinian, they are lousy at propaganda. If I were a spokesman for secular Palestinians, I would focus on (1) their right to self-defense; (2) articulating their grievances in the American vernacular ("just as you fought an unjust king, we fight an unjust foreign army that quarters soldiers in our homes, kills our children, and arbitrarily destroys our property"); and (3) tying their message into the American emphasis on a constructive future ("A free Palestine could be an American asset

Instead, they complain vaguely about injustice. Sorry to say, but most people are arbitrary, selfish, and awful, so that's an ineffective strategy.

[Fred]

old man,

you wish to equate the 100,000,000+ US citizens who lawfully own firearms with both the mentally ill man who killed children in Newton and the unjust conduct of the IDF? That's a good way to insult those who do not support either the GOI's conduct or that of the mad-man in Newton.

[Fred]

oofda,

Wasn't the deliberate targeting of refugees a tactic of the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War and the Luftwaffee during its attacks on Belgium, Holland and France in 1940?

[Andrew]

oofda says, "the IDF hit a UN school/hospital with shelling, killing 15 this time..." Actually, today with the full support of the American media and politicans: 19 dead in this the 6th time a UNWRA school has been hit.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a statement: “Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN-designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/30/gaza-another-un-school-hit-in-further-night-of-fierce-bombardment

Over 90% of the monsters are lovin' it...
http://www.timesofisrael.com/over-90-of-jewish-israelis-say-gaza-op-justified/

...some truths to ponder.
http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/israel-right-or-wrong/

[Origin]

It is telling that we see no excavations in Israel on their side of the Gaza boundary seeking to cut off the tunnels. There is no deep ditch or wall with deep foundations surrounding Gaza.

The cost of a hundred meter deep ditch would be insignificant compared to the cost of the munitions already expended. Together, a ditch, a wall, and the Iron dome would completely insulate Israel from the fake fears they project to the world. The problem is that the true effectiveness of a wall and ditch would deprive Israel of their excused to intimidate the Gazans.

But, as we know, they have different goals apart from "defending themselves."

The meme that used to support Israel is changing, even inside of Israel. http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/reservists-israeli-army-refuse-serve http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

Soon, if Israel keeps up its suicidal actions, there may be enough support to cut off the money and military assistance and to impose an outside solution. Obama needs to lead on this, to Go-To-China, so to speak.

Certainly, many on this blog could help him write the speech.

[Cee]

Pat,

They weren't just out to have 25 years of peace and security. Too many of those crackpots were holding on the old dreams and plans for a Greater Israel.

First Gaza and the West Bank

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10939

And beyond

A Place Under the Sun, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote that the Jewish right to a state expands beyond the land of historic Palestine, which he referred to as Israel. Netanyahu emphasised his belief that greater Israel incorporates many Arab countries and said, "Jordan, for example, is part of the lands that constitute greater Israel".

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/11219-is-israel-finished-with-its-greater-project

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/11/netanyahu-expands-separation.html

I wrote to CNN the other day and asked when Israel would finally kill another journalist. Well, they just reported that they did that today!

If they are so bad at aiming at their targets I think we should get a refund!!!

[Origin]

Here in the U.S. we have CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and other streaming outlets that give us very little flavor as to what is going on inside of Israel. One thing Israel does have is a fairly free press and some commitment to free speech. As a result, it is evident from Israeli bloggers and media outlets that a vigorous discussion over the morality of the Gaza atrocity is going on within Israel itself. After listening to one's fill of the American talking heads and their tripe, an hour or so of watching http://www.i24news.tv/en/ can be quite informative and refreshing. Though there is a strong pro-Israel general perspective, i24news has some quite interesting guests and discussions.

This present situation is a troubling dilemma to the Israelis too.

[Farooq]

Ever so charming Mark Regev seen speaking his mind again, this time on bombing of a UN school in Beit Hanoun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqBTtXKKT_8#t=57

[turcopolier]

Cee

I was quoting de Borchgrave. pl

[robt willmann]

Although much, or most, of what Freud said about psychology was created out of thin air, the Freudian slip continues as valid. Today, Mika Brzezinski on the MSNBC Morning Joe program when doing the introduction for what will follow a commercial break ended with, "Keep it right here on Morning Jew ... Joe"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA1F8ZhZIxY

Apparently she had been interviewing the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/30/mika-morning-jew-joe_n_5633478.html

[Andrew]

Origin says, "This present situation is a troubling dilemma to the Israelis too."

Is that what you call over 90% support for slaughterhouse Gaza.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/over-90-of-jewish-israelis-say-gaza-op-justified/

I am reposting the link to TA university poll in case you have not seen it.

Fresh massacre of civilians in Gaza...
Airstrike on Gaza shopping area kills at least 16, wounds dozens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U629rhzH7lA

[Origin]

Perhaps most of us have been viewing the Israel/Palestine question from the wrong perspective.

Most seem to be focused on the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Rather than focusing on the boundaries of Palestine, maybe the focus should be on fixing the borders of Israel. No progress can be made as long as the goal of the Israelis is to establish Lebensraum in Eretz Yisrael from the Nile to the Euphrates and from Trans Jordan to the Mediterranean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eretz_Yisrael

http://www.icahd.org/sites/default/files/jordan_f.pdf

Supporting the acquisition of Lebensraum for Israel is dangerous, futile, and immoral.

Israel needs defined borders.

[David Habakkuk]

Matthew,

This is a very odd situation. In November 2010, an Israeli organisation called the 'Reut Institute' produced a study entitled 'Building a Political Firewall against the Assault on Israel's Legitimacy: London as a Case Study.'

One can immediately see how different the U.K. is from the U.S. – nobody would take New York or Washington DC as a 'case study' of a supposed 'assault on Israel's legitimacy.'

(See http://www.reut-institute.org/data/uploads/PDFver/20101219%20London%20Case%20Study.pdf .)

The Reut Institute study is premised on the belief in some kind of co-ordinated assault on Israel's 'right to exist'. As its authors put it:

'This assault is executed by two forces acting in parallel and with cooperation. The first is the Resistance Network, led by Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah, that rejects Israel's right to exist based on Arab and Islamist nationalist-religious ideology. The second is the Delegitimization Network, which is primarily concentrated in a few major cities such as London, Brussels, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and denies Israel's right of existence based on political, philosophical, or historical arguments.'

Very visibly, the fear is that, as it were, the rot might spread – that if it cannot be contained in London, it might eventually, in the United States, spread beyond the 'San Francisco Bay Area', and eventually contaminate all kinds of other places – perhaps, who knows, Washington DC.

The study then goes on to devote a great deal of attention to an organisation called the 'Palestine Solidarity Campaign.'

This is completely delusional. Left to itself, the PSC might do a slightly better job of 'delegitimising' Israel than Hamas could do of fighting the IDF in a pitched battle – but not much better.

In any case, the whole intellectual framework implied in the term 'delegitimisation' is jerry-built.

People in London do not, in general, go on around worrying about metaphysical questions such as that of whether Israel has a 'right to exist'.

What is actually the case is that a very marked rise in anti-Muslim feeling has developed together with a growing revulsion from the Israelis.

Part of this is a moral revulsion. But also involved are 1. a realisation that the whole notion that they were seriously interested in a two-state solution was a simply wrong -- they were playing us for suckers, 2. the blunt fact that Israel's fellow-travellers in the United States have involved us in catastrophic wars, and intend to go on trying to repeat the performance, given half the chance and 3. its having dawned on people that, in the end, the Israeli Zionists regard all 'goyim' as essentially identical, and think that gentiles in Britain, like those in Germany, harbour a deep underlying compulsion to murder Jews.

[Frank]

RE:

"What is it with Cheney and Israel? Rumors have circulated in Washington for years that he has some undisclosed family or other personal connection with the Zionist cause. Is that what all this has been about?"

I have long suspected that the Israelis have something on him. In other words, blackmail.

[Amir]

As for Wehrmacht's tactics in Belgium: the ONLY instances that Germans knowingly caused civilian casualties in 1940, was when they bombed the railway junctions (For example in Melle). Overall, the population of the occupied Belgium (at least in Flanders) was well treated in the initial phases of WWII. My statement is based on personal accounts of survivers of the German AND allied bombing and assault on some of those junctions.
Please do not compare Israeli behavior with German army's conduct at the onset of the war, when they were disciplined and victorious.

[Thomas]

Origin, the reincarnated cyber-soul of WP.

You have done an excellent job writing on this subject.

Please submit your draft of the Speech to the Committee and Community here.

Maybe the man who can make a difference will see it, have a change of heart, and use it.

[Origin]

To the extent this poll is accurate, it would confirm that the Israelis are engaged in a mass nationalist hysteria of suicidal proportions. One can easily surmise what the views of the Arab Israelis and those in the West Bank are. As this continues, the chances of a full Third Intifada and Lebanon conflict increase.

In any case, for the long-term survival of Israel, it is the world-wide opinion that will really count. Israel cannot survive without the support of the U.S. and Europe. That support appears to be in increasing jeopardy.

[Anna-Marina]

Is not this a charming co-joining of names? -
"Israel okays Cheney-Murdoch firm to drill in occupied Golan Heights:"
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/21/israel-okays-cheney-murdoch-firm-to-drill-in-occupied-golan/

[Alan]

""What is it with Cheney and Israel?"

I always thought he was "Mega".