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Monthly Archives: June 2009

Bravery: Voight Stands Up to Call Out Obama, Defend Israel (Video)

Jon Voight, calls Obama’s policies ‘disastrous’. Asks if we are supposed to just wait while a new Holocaust develops, hammers the President on his arrogance for presuming to know & dictate to Israel what is best.. He is clearly concerned for both America, and Israel’s well being.

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What can you say other than thank you Mr Voight?

I praise his bravery, because he says what many Americans no doubt think but have no venue or opportunity to express today with such wall to wall media adulation for Obama, and his cult like atmosphere. The Chicago community organizer turned President of the United States based on his ability to read a teleprompter! It is truly historic, and for more reasons than just having a man with African lineage elected to the White House.  As for me here in Israel, what can I say? We knew the guy was a socialist, had ties to black liberation theology which is deeply tied to the American ‘Nation of Islam’ and the Farrakhans of the world, non of it is surprising or shocking sadly.

We saw over & over how for political expediency Obama was willing to toss everyone & anyone under the bus. We knew he was a Palestinian sympathizer, we knew he wanted to ‘engage with’ and pander to the worst rogue regimes.. One could go on listing a litany of facts that we all knew. We saw him pledge not to divide Jerusalem at AIPAC only to do a full 180 the VERY NEXT DAY. In that same speech we saw him promise to NEVER pressure Israel for concessions which might harm her security, yet one of the 1st things he did in office was.. Pressure Israel for dangerous concessions, and it has only now just begun.

Here in Israel we will do our best no doubt to ride it out, but I for one am grateful for our true friends in the USA, and if I haven’t been clear enough until now – Obama is certainly not one of them. Both Jon Voight & Obama visited Sderot to witness the Hamas terrorism first hand, both had strong words of support for our struggle with these terrorists, ironically it appears as if one of them was ‘acting’, it wasn’t Jon Voight.

Cost of Living: Israel Leads the World in Per Capita Defense Spending

Pound for Pound – US Aid constitutes less than 1/4 of Israeli Military expenditures..

Much is often made of the US military aid Israel receives, chiefly from Arabists and leftists who oppose all aid to Israel regardless if it is military, or economic as was previously the case. Israel and the US began phasing out all economic based aid starting in the last Netanyahu administration, quite a few years ago. Today, the USA sends Israel approx 3 billion dollars per annum in military aid, of that number 80% of the dollars must be spent with US companies which in effect provides stimulus for both Israel and the US, with the bulk of those billions going back to US military contractors and US based jobs.

As a function of Israel’s GDP, this aid constitutes a small percentage (I think the figure is 2 0r 3%) of Israel’s economic output, and as evidenced by the Economist, Israel does plenty of much needed spending all by itself as well..

Israel was the top defense spender relative to its population in 2008, with the government shelling out more than $2,300 per person, over $300 more than the US, which boasts the second largest ratio, the Economist reported on Monday. According to the report, Israel’s total defense expenditure was $16.2 billion for the year.

The US is by far the largest overall defense spender, with expenses running to some $607 billion, 41.5 percent of the $1.46 trillion spent on defense needs worldwide in 2008.

China emerged as a growing military spender, increasing its expenditure by 10% in 2008 to $85 billion to overtake other countries and become the second-largest global spender behind the US.  Saudi Arabia and the oil rich states of the Gulf also increased their outlay, with the Saudis spending $38.2 billion, which is sixth in terms of population and ninth overall

The bulk of Israel’s expenditures come out of Israel’s economy, and not US Aid as is commonly envisioned by detractors. Despite the world leading per capita figures in Israel, the Saudis outspent us by 2 to 1..  So peace is clearly just around the bend, which must be why the Saudis are calling for the USA to terminate military aid to Israel entirely in order to help out their Palestinian ‘friends’.

Haveil Havalim # 220

Esser Agaroth takes us to the beach with a jam packed HH, including all the round ups regarding settlements, and the initial Cairo speech reactions.. Check it out, and thanks for the link this week in the carnival!

Dhimmi in Chief: President Speaks ‘Troof to Power’ at Cairo University (Updated, Video)

The big billing Obama is selling with his ‘new relationships’ is truth. Yesterday he set it up with a softball interview courtesy of Thomas Friedman. The theme was ‘truth’..

But, in his major address which is platformed on truths to address the rift in Muslim & Western ties - There weren’t many. The whole conflict is predicated on a Jihad, a violent holy war which seeks to have a primitive world view based on radical Islam dominate the west. This world view is characterized by terrorism, religious hatred, intolerance, anti semitism, violence, lack of human rights, a lack of value for human life, a lack freedom & education. It is an entirely Islamic owned enterprise, it feeds and breeds in the Arab world which on the whole generally shares many of the same characteristics; Terrorism, lack of freedoms, religious intolerance, subjugation of women, no human rights, poor education.

Missing Link

President Obama fails to see these basic truths, and as a result he placates the Arab & Muslim world to ignore them as well. He sugar coats the ugly realities, terrorism is a concept totally removed from his speech. Democracy, human rights, freedoms, the ideals of American thought and values are totally lacking in the Arab / Muslim world, yet the President never chastises or truly implores for them. He tries to sell the notion that a new relationship can be forged while simply turning a blind eye to the ugliness and basic existence of the very root causes of the original rift itself, an unwillingness to come to terms with truth, apparently by either party. This is the strategy of a coward, an appeaser.

On Israel – Surrounded by troof

 

Rahm Emanuel pretty much summarizes the Israel Palestinian components of the speech, which are also sold yet again as a ‘bill of truth’, ‘a moment of truth’. Sadly, every time another scheme is hatched up to cover up the ‘truths’, Israel is the one that suffers most while peace, the one truth we seek remains elusive. Instead of facing up to the real truths that the Palestinians have time & again simply rejected peace, statehood, and have instead embraced the unspoken virtues of Jihad against Israel, which finds common cause equally with the Arab World, & radical Islam as above - We play the game.

Every land concession has been met by violence & extremism, by rejection. Non of this was in Obama’s speech, instead he frames the Palestinians as innocent victims. They are not innocent, like Condi Rice before him Obama seemingly seeks to project his own racial experience on the Palestinians. These are not black slaves oppressed by a colonial master, they are willing participants in their lot. This is not truth Mr. President. They have rejected peace, rejected a state, rejected the UNs overtures time and again, they do not reject billions of dollars in aid however or Arab world intransigence, a basic truth to their and the causes continued existence in perpetuity..

Inconvenient Truth

The Gaza handover was also a ‘moment of truth’, it was billed & sold as precisely that. Yes, it was indeed a moment of truth for the Palestinians and the Arab world, look what the real truths wrought. It should have also been a moment of truth for Europe and the American left, to take a good long hard look at reality. Even when every demand they had was filled, when every aspiration acknowledged, when every appeasement was granted – Look at the truth, and what the Palestinians they themselves chose, Hamas. Violent struggle, Jihad.

In both cases, whether it be globally or specifically regarding the Palestinians in his speech Obama fails to force the Arab & Muslim world to look in the mirror and seek the real truths. In both cases, the root causes which co-exist in radical Islam & the Arab World, terrorism, violence, religious hatred & intolerance, ignorance, lack of human rights, abuse of women, homosexuals, minorities.. These are glossed over or simply ignored.

President ‘Poser’

Instead the President sacrifices American ideals & values (by the mere act of this omission) and perpetuates Arab truths, or the infamous Arab / Muslim myths which also share co-existence in the Arab World & Jihad. That is, it is always someone else’s fault. The Christians, The Jews, The Americans, The Israelis, The Saudi’s, what have you. The burnt in effigy figure changes routinely depending on the circumstance or the bit players, but the fundamental truths do not. No conflict between the West & radical Islam, between Israelis and Arabs, or between Americans & the world, or anywhere else can ever truly be solved without facing basic truths..

For Obama to sell something different while calling it ‘troof’ is emblematic of his Presidency, policies, and beliefs so far. His main problem is like his Arab audience which he addresses – He’s full of crap, and everybody from the Christians, to the Muslims, to the Jews right down to the Atheists knows it.

Link Updates:
Hugh Hewitt hammers the speech on honesty too
Malkin also finds it odd the word Jihad is not mentioned..
Ed at HotAir is sleeping through the whole thing, metaphorically & physically ; )

Allahpundit however hits the mark squarely imho, both in terms of what is missing and the cotton candy delivery of those things that are actually said. A delicious bonus also courtesy of HotAir? Liz Cheney video on the speech, most excellent..

Letter to Nowhere: State Department Struggles to Cover Obama’s Waffle on Israel (Video)

Here in Israel everyone, including our government is pretty surprised that ‘Natural Growth’ has been chosen as such a conflict subject for the Obama administration. It is hard to understand why there is such obstinacy and these harsh demands, this natural growth policy has been in effect for decades in our major settlement blocks?

View a glimspe of Drudge this Morning. Is Obama turning his back on Israel?

View a glimpse of Drudge this Morning. Is Obama turning his back on Israel?

We intend to keep those blocks no matter what, Jerusalem is our capital no matter what. All irrespective of administrations, new peace initiatives, or even new fangled ‘appeasement efforts’. We have elected, now and previously governments with the implicit expectation that this reality persist as this is our national policy. Even the pliant Olmert / Livni peace process love fest was on record as fully opposed to such a freeze. Even the more dovish Labor leader Defense Minister Ehud Barak is in full agreement – THE MAN from TABA! The guy who Clinton got to nearly sell the whole farm while down in Washington, what more can Obama possibly want from us? Israeli policy has not changed, American policy has. Or seemingly, a desire to create an artificial conflict where non should exist has been put forth publicly by the Obama administration.

Letter from Bush

Before the Gaza withdrawals, we sought direct assurances regarding our major settlement blocks, Ariel Sharon got those assurances from President Bush in the form of letters. Further, earlier in the 2002 Bush White House speech 1st calling for a Palestinian State the President acknowledged realities and changes / facts on the ground. He acknowledged these settlement blocks and these realities yet Obama cannot? So far, Israel’s concerns in the matter seem to be ignored, and the Obama administration has made its pressure on Israel very public indeed. At the same time, few seem willing to comment directly on the US commitments to Israel regarding natural growth.

Does the White House support commitments made by Presidents on behalf of the United States of America or not?

 

James Rosen (in the audio) from Fox News follows up strongly – Twice!.. He seems to want an answer as well.

Duck & Cover: Sirens Blare Again in Tel Aviv During Unannounced Drill

Civil Defense

No matter how many times you’ve heard the air raid sirens there’s still something unnerving about the blaring horns foretelling doom that can be heard for miles. Yesterday at 11 am nationwide the horns went off in a scheduled test. Today again, in the late afternoon around 5 pm air raid sirens in South Tel Aviv were active, this time the test was not widely publicized..

In my building I could hear two young families scrambling inside as mothers shushed their kids to be quiet while hurrying to protected spaces. I think other aspects of emergency preparedness were tested as well. About an hour before the sirens my cell rang twice. Before I could answer it stopped, checking the number it was not listed. Not unrecognized but unlisted as in no number.

I know that the government has this week been testing a new system to use the cell network as notification in emergencies here. Using local cell towers, only phones within range would be notified of an impending missile attack to their immediate area, prompting people to take appropriate action. These are the 1st tests of such a system which is fairly cutting edge. It may just be coincidence, but there’s a possibility tests of this new alert system for phones were perhaps involved in this unannounced drill.

Here’s a CNN take on the live national drill yesterday, and some MSNBC raw video.


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