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

[turcopolier]

alan

"Mega?" pl

[Castellio]

Give me a persuasive example of the support being in increasing jeopardy.

Perhaps my cynicism has the best of me, but it's important not to be seduced by one's desires, and we've been through this more than a few times.

Sabra and Shatila comes to mind.

[Alan]

http://lukery.blogspot.gr/2009/04/who-is-israeli-spy-mega.html

and

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2001/2833mega_spy.html

[oth]

> Obama needs to lead on this

It's sometimes funny how realists really don't live in reality:

"The U.S. Senate unanimously supported Israel’s goals in its conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a posture that distances the body from President Obama’s call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.

In a rare joint action, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the minority leader, initiated the resolution passed Tuesday evening by unanimous consent."

http://www.jta.org/2014/07/30/news-opinion/politics/senate-backs-israels-goals-in-gaza-conflict#ixzz38z0QAb85

[Fred]

Amir, the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe were different combat arms. Strafing a road jammed with both refugees and military units may be technically different but that is what I am referring to.

[Alan]

I can't find the original WaPo article yet, but here is a CNN report on it:

http://edition.cnn.com/US/9705/07/fbi.israel/

[robt willmann]

Mega was referred to I think in connection with the Jonathan Pollard Israeli spy episode or in another instance of Israeli spying. He or she was a mole or spy for Israel and was (and may still be) in a high level job in the U.S. Government or with access to the "high levels". In the article I read a long time ago Israel got the information it wanted, maybe from Pollard, and did not have to go to Mega for it, or decided not to go to Mega for whatever classified information Israel was seeking in that instance.

After reading the article I thought that Mega possibly was a U.S. Senator or someone on the National Security Council, but at the same time it seemed to me that the person would have been in a position of access for a long time and would into the future, which would eliminate members of Congress who had not been there a long time or whose future time in government might be limited. I got the impression that the Israelis did not want to use Mega a lot; only for special purposes.

I am running on memory from a long time ago, but I think the situation was something like this.

[Matthew]

DH: Thanks for your comments. Among our pundits and policy makers there is Aristotle's Platypus problem. From what premise would Aristotle have deduced the Platypus?

Here's a wonderful example from Brookings: See http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2014/07/25-around-the-halls-gaza?rssid=LatestFromBrookings&utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Around+the+Halls%3a+The+Crisis+in+Gaza+Deepens

The Michael Doran quote is priceless:

“And as for hating Israel more than Hamas, I’d add this footnote: I’m willing to bet that for some significant minority of Gazans – how big a segment I can only guess – one of the things that they hold against Israel is the fact that it, as they see it, placed Hamas in power over them. I could be wrong. I’ve never been to Gaza and maybe the people there are made of something I have never seen before.“

[A Compatriot]

My hunch is Cheney, Blair, etc. etc. are on the take.

[Matthew]

Origin: I think some of these tunnels are more than 65 feet below ground. That's not a "ditch" that's Offa's Dyke.

[Farooq]

Yet another insidious Israel hating UNRWA official, Christopher Gunness tries to defame Israel's "pughity of aaams"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFd8jVrbf0A

[Origin]

All,

We provide the shells!

"“It was a routine request for ammunition of the kind the Israelis do regularly,” he said.

Israel has also requested other types of ammunition from the United States but the official could not provide details on quantities or the value of the sale."

The U.S. continues to be complicit in the Murder. How can Obama allow this?

http://www.stripes.com/dod-releases-arms-to-israel-official-says-1.295996

All of US have blood on our hands too.

[Origin]

Of course no one want there to be waste in the military, especially not when the ancient ammo can be used up before it expires killing Palestinian children.

"[T]he United States elected to supply 120mm mortar shells and 40mm grenades from the stockpile because the arms were approaching the date they would require replacement.."

http://www.stripes.com/dod-releases-arms-to-israel-official-says-1.295996

This type of act is a serious harm to our national security. Will we ever learn?

[Origin]

Regardless of depth, the lack of a ditch or other protective work is telling. It tells us that the alleged threat to Israel is a lie and is only an a cover for ethnic cleansing of an orphaned people. The real purpose of this thing is to fulfill the manifest destiny of the Jews; the exclusive control of Eretz Yisrael Ha-Shlema -- Greater Israel, or literally, the Whole Land of Israel by the extirpation of the Palestinians from the land. All else is only smoke and mirrors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Israel

[Fred]

Origin,

" ... cost of the munitions already expended...."

According to ABC News this evening Humanitarian Nobel Laureate Barack Obama is "resupplying" Israel with munitions. (Well theyleft out the "Humanitarian Nobel Laureate Barack Obama" part but the replacement munitions for all those that hit UN schools and kill children are on the way.) Apparently the World's only super power is Israel.

[kao_hsien_chih]

I don't get it.

Mortar shells? Grenades? Don't Israelis make (and export) a lot of these things themselves? Why are we giving them such things?

[walter]

If you go to Huffington Post comments section on any Israel/Palestine article, the vast majority of comments are pro-Palestinian (actually, its pro-fairness, not so much pro-Palestinian) as are the comments here which happily surprises me..... I wonder if there is a lot more pro-Palestinian sentiment out there in America then is generally communicated via our Media and certainly by our politicians.....which, if true, begs the question, "What mechanisms are operating that protect Media and Politics from negative consequences of invalidating the will/sentiment of our citizens?"

[Matthew]

walter: It is cause and effect. If Americans were as pro-Israel as our politicians and the MSM, the "propaganda fog" would be unnecessary. Former AIPAC staffer, MJ Rosenberg, has written that lobbying, to be successful, must be done quietly and secretly like the blooming of a night flower. Night flowers wither in the light of day.

[Cee]

Origin,

EXACTLY! This is why they won't define them. Example Lebanon...wanting the Litani River. They've stolen most of the water from the Palestinians.

[Cee]

Origin,

They'll take us down with them. I'll go down fighting.

Van Creveld was quoted in David Hirst's The Gun and the Olive Branch (2003) as saying:

We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force. Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: 'Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.'... Our armed forces, however, are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under

[Cee]

Alan,

Fascinating!!!

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2009

Who is Israeli spy MEGA?
In an interview last week, Phil Giraldi told Scott Horton that he had heard that admitted Israeli spy Ben-Ami Kadish was to be finally sentenced last Friday, but, according to PACER, nothing has happened.

Let's hope that he is negotiating with the authorities to disclose the identity of Mega.

As some background, here is a snip from Giraldi's June 08 article, "The Spy Who Loves Us. Pay no mind to the Mossad agent on the line":
"The arrest revived suspicions that Israeli agents might still be operating inside the U.S., most particularly “Mega,” whose cover name was revealed in an NSA-intercepted conversation between two Israeli intelligence officers. “Mega” was clearly at the policymaker level, as Kadish and Pollard frequently sought files by name or number. Someone more senior in Washington appeared to be directing the Israeli handlers toward sensitive information. Whoever “Mega” was, he is still at large. http://lukery.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-is-israeli-spy-mega.html

[Cee]

Walter,

Someone was speaking about this Israeli situation this morning and she said "we have to be careful when discussing this"

That should end!!! If enough of us were paying attention and were willing to complain, the censors wouldn't get away with it. Recently an Egyptian reporting in Gaza was transferred but enough of us complained and now he's back. His name escapes me now.
A woman who called Israelis scum for threatening them was moved to cover the Russian stories. She hasn't been returned to Gaza. Not enough squeaky wheels turning for her?

[turcopolier]

CEE et al

As I mentioned several times, I was on the DoD damage assessment board for the Pollard affair. As you write it was clear that there were one or more people somewhere in the government who had access to the documents that Pollard purloined and delivered to his Israeli handlers. There may have been several people involved in a "ring." It seems unlikely that there was one really senior agent of Israel involved because a senior person does not have the time in the day to devote to reviewing so many documents and taking the kind of notes that were used to direct Pollard. These documents were widely distributed in DoD, CIA, State, the NSC, Treasury, the appropriate committees of Congress, etc., so there were many possible suspects. pl