Key Word: “Business” as usual

Vulnerable PM Olmert is getting moral support from an unlikely place..

(JPOST) With only a day left before the publication of the final Winograd report on the Second Lebanon War, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and assured him that Shas would back him. Rabbi Yosef, however, reiterated that Shas would not remain in the government if the unity of Jerusalem became an issue in peace talks with the Palestinians.

“Fear not, and do not be dismayed, for I am with you,” Rabbi Yosef told the prime minister, in an allusion to Deuteronomy that may have also been a wry hint at Shas’s red lines. In the beginning of the verse, Moses tells the Israelites: “Behold, the Lord thy God has set the land before you; go up, take possession.” [...]

Shas, the in theory right wing religious party has apparently opted to go for the full benefits package, Chief Rabbi included. This little game everyone is playing about how Jerusalem is the final core issue that is not being discussed or on the table in negotiations is richer than whipped cream. I certainly hope Shas isn’t planning on spinning this as a ‘we saved Jerusalem’ moment, seeing as their bowing to Olmert in return for the religious ministry’s fresh new revival under Shas’ authority is no victory for a unified Jerusalem by any stretch.

If anything, the inability of Shas to align with the greater right in general at halting the Kadima mandate, at the critical time of the Winograd Report yet.. Is a stunning example of many peoples unfortunate distrust of the religious parties in Israel. It seems cold hard cash or some political power as collateral is often more than enough to buy the priesthood and access to the altar in Jerusalem, just like troubled days of old..

Left wing proponents have reacted with nearly incoherent glee..

Peace Now Director-General Yariv Oppenheimer expressed strong disapproval of voices calling for the dismantlement of the coalition and voiced hope that Olmert would remain in power and further the peace process.

“Israel’s security is of no less importance than personal responsibility, the diplomatic process is no less important than personal responsibility and the rehabilitation of the military is no small thing,” Oppenheimer was quoted by Army Radio as saying. “Must we do away with the entire package and send Israel into an election frenzy?“

Huh? In any case who needs a democracy anyhow. Funny how those on the left are always seemingly willing to sacrifice almost anything when it furthers another goal, why on earth would we concern ourselves with the hassle of hearing the Israeli electorate’s clearly unhappy will when we can just salvage this disaster government and keep my Peace Now bank accounts plump & full and the peace train running at full steam ahead? A real man of the people!

LINK UPDATE: More flattering Peace Now talk at SoccerDad’s

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‘Special Status Areas’ you might ask?

FROZEN.

Whatever the Kadima coalition throws around, underplaying Jerusalem & Final Status issue talks in order to placate Shas in the Israeli Parliament, it’s hard to disregard the facts. In direct contravention to Olmert’s bold statements when President Bush visited - The Prime Minister has totally frozen all settlement areas under his direct order.

Olmert seems intent on just ramming right through, in an all Annapolis type rage disregarding the upcoming Winograd report, on the heels of tiny matters such as the disastrous Gaza policy. Which in the last 24 hours has blown up directly in Kadima’s face in the worst way, and has left the Labor Coalition head, our Defense Minister Barak looking like a fool.

PM completely freezes new construction in W. Bank settlements (Haaretz)

[...] Olmert has categorically denied approval for all new construction tenders, including in the so-called consensus settlement blocs, which Israel intends to keep in any future peace accord with the Palestinians. The freeze also applies to the construction of public institutions, including schools and kindergartens. Olmert recently sent an official letter to relevant cabinet ministers instructing them to refrain from authorizing any construction in the West Bank without his and Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s prior approval.

Several days ago, the prime minister met with Ma’aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, who asked Olmert to approve several construction plans -including in the controversial E1 corridor linking Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem. Olmert refused, saying the issue was sensitive in terms of relations with the United States and the Palestinian Authority.

[...] 

Mayors and council chairmen in other consensussettlements have also reported a total freeze on construction in recent weeks, including Efrat in the Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem, as well as Ariel in the northern West Bank. Olmert has in the past defined those settlements as part of the consensus blocs, but is currently refusing to approve the construction of new housing units - including within the settlements’ current urban boundaries. The prime minister has denied authorizations for the construction of schools and kindergartens in these settlements as well.

According to information made public several days ago, Barak had ordered settlement construction frozen beyond the parameters set forward by Olmert. Among other things, the defense minister said his approval is even needed for the private purchase of a home that has already been built. [...]

Instead of battling Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, & the terror groups.. Our PM, FM, & Defense Minister are all gearing up to do battle with Israeli citizens! Olmert’s bold statements didn’t hold two weeks. Barak’s bold moves cutting off fuel to Hamas in Gaza didn’t hold two days, 48hrs!

Seems they are much tougher when slapping around Israel’s populace with these tremendous concessions to all an altogether unpopular peace process, now devolving into total chaos in the recently conceded Gaza Strip.

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The Haveil Havalim is up at Soccer Dad’s, a milestone edition as Jack at the Shack will be stewarding the big carnival for a bit so Mazal Tov to both of them for their great efforts.

Speaking of fun times, I have a busy week ahead with a job search here in Israel picking up steam so I’ll be a bit slower on my own blog trigger.. Today would be an excellent day to read a little carnival until I can blog some tonight

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Annapolis be damned. Defend the State!

The city of Sderot is being strangled by terrorists, less than 28% of the population remaining is attending school from fear. That’s of what’s left, because mass amounts of the city have simply picked up & moved. This is a travesty, these are not occupied territories for the intl. community to salivate over, there are no excuses - This is an assault on the land of Israel across its borders. How many more red lines will be crossed by the Kadima coalition?

Hamas is upgrading.. Again. (Haaretz)

• Capable of long term storage of missiles
• Ashkelon in rocket sights
• Launching rockets remotely from underground!?

Pull the coalition down now

This is out of control, we cannot have a terrorist state on Israel’s borders acting with impunity like this, it is contrary to every policy, every sacrifice made by the country since its inception 60 years ago. This government is the biggest failure in Israeli history. Defend the State of Israel or resign. That goes for Barack too, that military swagger does not excuse from the task of defending this country, stop vacillating and give the order to assault Gaza or go home.

We don’t need another Peretz Defense Minister, I can’t speak for anyone else but I’m getting tired of these Labor Party Defense Ministers, since their arrival we are indeed always on Defense.. and losing. When Shaul Mofaz was Defense Minister under the Likud the terrorists hid underground, now they build bunkers to fire & hide their rockets underground. That is the Kadima legacy so far, our enemies getting exponentially stronger thriving on our weakness.

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Iranians Hail Shipment; Nuclear drive full steam ahead.

While we pretend everything is on track regarding the Iranian nuclear threat, the surreal just keeps on trucking. Russia is openly supplying fuel now to power the Bushehr reactor in Iran, a move actively supported by the USA & the EU. In theory this was the big carrot portion of the whole dialog, ‘negotiate carrot & stick policy’.. The big favorable deal was the world would supply Iran with supervised nuclear fuel, that way they would not have to produce their own which is the remaining major component of the fuel cycle remaining, allowing Iran to have all the pieces needed to weaponize a nuke.

Of course, the world has caved to Iran. Now they got their carrot but they have not stopped enriching uranium by any stretch of the imagination. They are laughing all the way home & congratulating themselves on having not only gotten their carrots, but having broken the big stick too! Israeli FM Livni was in Russia yesterday to gravely protest the delivery of fuel to Iran, she was livid. It is hard to explain the waves of shock going through our government right now as the realization dawns that we are going to have to deal with this threat alone, despite the strong statements of President Bush who sadly shares Israel’s deep concerns but is the Lone Ranger these days.

3rd fuel shipment reaches Bushehr plant (JPost)

Iran received a third shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia on Friday for a power plant being constructed in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr, state radio reported. The 11-ton consignment arrived at the Bushehr power plant on Friday morning, and the remainder of the remainder of the fuel will arrive in five separate shipments over the next months, the radio report said. [...]

Teheran heralded the first shipment as a victory, saying it proved its nuclear program was peaceful, not a cover for weapons development as claimed by the US and some of its allies. The US initially opposed Russian participation in building the Bushehr reactor and supplying it with fuel, but reversed its position about a year ago to obtain Moscow’s support for the first set of UN sanctions against Iran.

The United States and Russia have said the supply of nuclear fuel meant Iran had no need to continue its uranium enrichment program - a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb. Iran has agreed with Russia to return the spent fuel to ensure it doesn’t extract plutonium to build a bomb. Iran insisted it would continue enriching uranium because it needed to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it was building in the southwestern town of Darkhovin.

Iranian officials have said they plan to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear energy in the next two decades. Russia’s decision to begin shipping nuclear fuel to Iran followed a US intelligence report released earlier this month that concluded Tehran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and had not resumed it since. Iran says it never had a weapons program.

Multilateral failure

For all the big talk about the global world, the UN, the IAEA, inspections, negotiations, sanctions, dialog - Years of talk talk talk, all of it ’multilateral’ in nature, the big buzzword is total failure. Bushehr is coming online projected in summer 2008 fuelled by Russia with an American nod, while enrichment in Iran will not cease.

Does the current government in Israel have the steel will to defend this country, or do we dump them right now for elections and put an emergency war coalition in place instead? Further, how much longer will we wait to deal with Gaza, will we wait until we have to inconceivably face all three fronts at the same time? Gaza, Hezbollah, & Iran!?

Stop playing footsie - TAKE HAMAS OUT now. The alternative will be tying Israel’s hands when it will need to act versus Iran and that time is coming soon..

Link Update: Merkel trying to rally the team for ‘unity’ (IranFocus)

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Israel’s big Punch

I spend a lot of time writing about the Iranians & their huge ballistic missile arsenal, but two can play at that game. Israel conducted a successful ballistic missile launch test yesterday from the Palmachim Airbase, believed to be another stage to the Jericho II rocket. The Jerichos are our ‘unconventional capable’ ballistic missiles capable of delivering multiple atomic wallops. To counter the ever growing range threat of our ‘friends’ in the area, Israel has decided to push the Jericho up in range adding more propulsion for an effectively juicy new Jericho III.

IDF successfully launches test of long-range missile (Haaretz)

The Israel Defense Forces carried out a missile test over Jerusalem on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said, raising speculation the launch was part of a program to develop longer-range weapons or improve an anti-missile defense system. Israel Radio said the missile tested was capable of carrying an “unconventional payload” [...]

“A successful missile launch was carried out within the framework of examining rocket propulsion,” the Defense Ministry said in a brief statement.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Israel would consider “all options” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to have atomic arms and foreign analysts have said for many years that its Jericho I and Jericho II missiles can carry nuclear warheads, but Jerusalem has never confirmed these claims. Israel believes Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010. However, the oil-rich country denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it is enriching uranium only for use in generating electricity.

Our Jerichos are capable of reaching Earth orbit, and the Jericho III is believed capable of ranges of over 6500 km & perhaps more..  Effectively tripling the range of our enemies so we can hit them, fly back.. and hit ‘em again in theory on one launch

Numerous Jericho IIs have put up Ofek defense & other satellites directly into space from Israel, on modified extended versions of the missile known as the Shavit. So any time the Iranians feel they want to mess with us we can effectively ’Shavit’ up their a** real quick.

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It’s been cold in Israel this week, everyone from the homeless to farmers have been hit hard

Unseasonably cold temperatures are hopefully about to pass us by, here in Tel Aviv the daytime temperatures for about a week were hovering at around 13 celsius, dropping to lows of 4 or 5 at night. That’s pretty chill for the coastal plain where temps are normally around 17 or 18 when it’s cool out and drop to say 10 or 12 at night.

The cold days & nights have taken their toll. About 5 or 6 people have lost their lives mostly homeless people out of shelter who’ve suffered from hypothermia, economically the cold has been tough on the less advantaged in Israel as well where larger families have difficulty heating as much in the home as perhaps they would like. (YNET)

Economic toll (Haaretz)

Our giant sized blessed from above produce is also taking a big hit, with local prices at fresh markets expected to jump substantially as farmers have suffered large crop losses in the North & South of our little country. Fresh veggie crops, potatoes, avocados & other assorted goodies have been decimated by the cold sadly. The only salvation is to juice up a space heater or try and catch some of the rays of sun during the days..

My Cat Jerry

Hasn’t moved much from that spot, a few inches from the big space heater. Some of his whiskers are singed already..
Yeah, he’s not the sharpest crayon in the box.

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48 hour grace: Avidgor Lieberman pulls out leaving the Kadima coalition wobbling with a mere 7 seat majority.

Olmert will try to tag United Torah Judaism, but whom are we kidding? He’s going to run left as fast as he can and claim a ‘mandate’ by stuffing the ultra left wing Meretz party in his Kadima pocket. If Shas plays their own pullout card soon, and they likely will with the party’s head Rabbi giving his blessing to safeguard Jerusalem, that already leaves Kadima in a lurch and poised to fall. If Ehud Barak’s big statements this past summer to the effect that he will pull Labor out of the coalition after the Lebanon War Winograd report is released hold true, unlikely as that will be since he desires power.. Then no matter how much dealing Olmert does his coalition is toasted.

Meanwhile, Olmert even with a coalition is standing on a precarious spot. He’s got no public support, little coalition support, near zero Arabic support in their efforts in the West Bank, a snapping US Secretary of State with grandiose ideas, Hezbollah vying to takeover Lebanon supported by Iran & Syria while building up a missile army to the North, Gaza overrun with Jihadist Hamasniks to the west, and a now unbridled Iranian nuclear program to deal with on the East with nary an international ally uttering much of a peep by his side. Combine all that with the territory-less Al Qaeda offshoots popping up just about everywhere in the region in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Gaza, not too mention a qassam rocket war blitzing Israel’s southern cities, and three missing soldiers to cap it all off..

Something somewhere’s got to give.

Israel Beiteinu quits Olmert’s coalition (JPOST)

Lieberman blasts Israeli Arabs, pulls party out of government (Haaretz)

Yisrael Beiteinu leaves government (YNET)

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Alon Pinkas, former Consul General in Washington is the latest to come to Obama’s defense, seems there’s a rush to defend Obama lately against the obvious tide of ‘not so good for Israel’ that has been washing in. I won’t get into the Pinkas diplospeak which he spreads thick.

Read it at Jpost if you like.

He’s an artful diplomat all the credit to him, even when speaking in defense of policies he didn’t support, his effort & skill were commendable. He liberally makes use of the golden tongue here in the soft sell, but I’m just not buying. Instead, I’ll just put up some controversial stuff to stir the pot and present..

Why might Obama be considered by strong Israel supporters or Israelis, as a less than favorable candidate?

(The title header across the campaign website, I spent a lot of time at the issues / foreign policy area)

• His Muslim ancestry, for one is a pretty glaring reason. People with the middle name Hussein are generally speaking not big defenders of Israel in our region. Call me superficial, it’s ok I’ll survive - But I’m instantly wary & suspicious. He was jus a boy born to a Muslim father, but you know what the stuff that happened to me when I was ‘just a boy’ played a formative role in my life..
   
• His race, shocker but Obama happens to be black - Something you are not allowed to say much any more in PC America. SOooo, let me chase that with some very un-pc Israel by stating that sometimes prominent African Americans and prominent civil rights activists of late seem to have lost the Pro-Israel feel of Martin Luther King himself, and more often than not have absorbed a sense of militancy and all the baggage that usually comes along with that. They blame a lot of crap on Jews, period.
   
  There was a much uglier side to the civil rights movement that looked to violence & extremism in many forms, and there was & is still a thick hearty vein of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment in there. Obama is just a black man which is fine by all means, but I’m less comfortable with his deep ties & the efforts to pump up the civil rights aspect of his whole candidacy as opposed to the ‘this is why I’m qualified’ aspect. I’m not so big on the trend until now which has been ‘this is why he should be anointed’ because I suffer little guilt that there hasn’t been a black President yet, nor do I feel the need to roll that way just because the guy’s black either. I guess I’m looking beyond the color of the guy’s skin to a movement he’s being closely associated with that has some troubling aspects to it in race relations with Jews.
   
• Church of the Obama - His clergyman & church leader, an important part of Obama’s life from my own understanding.. Is flat out not a friend of ours by any stretch. Further, Jews are rather testy on the subjects of Messiahs and false prophets. Here in Israel I’m sure I’m not the 1st to be disturbed by the ‘cult of Obama’, where a man with a short record, little exposure, and almost no detail in regards to policy is suddenly ‘annointed’ savior & declares ‘he’s going to change the world’ like some sort of divine calling. In history that sort of crazy turmoil meant Jews would shortly be losing all their wealth, land, and often thereafter lives. Obama’s official campaign website along the top in big letters says: “I’m Asking You to Believe” with a picture of him next to it, I find that whole message & imagery in a political race disturbing on many levels.
   
• Liberal Extreme - Obama is the most Liberal politician with an actual shot that we’ve seen yet in recent memory for the White House. Liberal when it swings so far left often involves moral equivalency, cultural relativism, nihilism and all the other buzzwords you care to use to describe deep anti-Israel sentiment. That very weird place where killing a terrorist, is equal on all levels to a terrorist who kills, or where singing Kumbaya makes all the bad people in this world armed with RPGs & syntex simply disappear.
   
• Rash policies - The little we do know about him is rash. He wants to syphon out all American troops from Iraq irrespective of what his commanders on the ground, or the delicate situation dictates. That’s rash in the harshest sense of the word. Will he equally decide to disregard conventional wisdom or long held policies & instead cater to his own whim, or another populist idea in the future regarding some other unknown issue? Israel due to its inherently unstable position in the turbulent Middle East likes stability & tradition whenever it can be found - There’s already too much chaos occurring here naturally, we don’t need artificial sweeteners.
   
• Troubling Foreign Policy - The extreme left has allied themselves with the Jihadists in some weird unholy-alliance, and they rally to the notion you can just talk it out with the bad guys in this world, downplay the Jihadist extremist aspects of the war we are in, advocate allowing Iran to pursue nuclear technologies, it goes on & on. Obama of course doesn’t share these wacky sentiments, but his calls for unconditioned dialog & Presidential negotiations with countries like Syria & Iran strike as at best naive, and at worst frankly idiotic. The Jihadists won’t be swayed as easily as Liberal sheep when you grab their hand & you ask them to ‘believe’.. They’re more likely pull the cord & explode.

I could go on, but suffice to say that when W was put into office he also seemed to share a deep religious conviction - Ideals, values, religion & faith, it was clear he would be a strong American friend to us here in Israel. Obama is also riding a wave of what looks like a ‘religious conviction’, its got all the zealotry that’s for sure. But it’s not his ideals being worshipped or his core traditional values, more like Obama himself and I find that most troubling of all..

Will teen girls faint in his presence like the Beatles?

Chris Mathews weeping on the air after hearing Obama speak, the entire media caught up in a fluffed up frenzy.. Give me a break & grow up already pathetic lefty boomers. It would be one thing if there was some meat here, but when it comes to Obama until now - It’s all sizzle. Where’s the Beef? Worse, if we haven’t seen it that means it doesn’t really exist & they’re going to make it up as they go..

I’m envisioning a Hollywood depth of intelligency Presidency, marketed with ever appealing Hollywood type skill. In other words precisely the type of thing that usually does not end well for Israel.

Obama supports Israel, it’s the Global Jihad and his frankly dreamy & weak responses to it that would worry me.

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