Ben Smith at the politico tries to desperately get the Democrat house in order by pilling on..

Jewish voters may be wary of Palin

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Barack Obama has struggled for 18 months to lock down the support of a traditionally Democratic group, Jewish voters. In the past week, John McCain may have helped Obama with his Jewish problem by choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

McCain and Obama are battling over a portion of the Jewish community: older, conservative Democrats, largely in South Florida, some of whom backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. McCain’s secular, hawkish credentials appeal to many in that group, who are skeptical of Obama’s relatively short record and have been deluged with rumors about his pro-Palestinian leanings.

But Democrats hope Palin’s social conservatism, her paper-thin record on Israel, and - perhaps most importantly - her cultural roots in evangelical Christianity may be a major turnoff to Jewish voters, just as Republicans have tried to reach women disappointed that Obama didn’t choose Hillary Clinton,

Democrats have already begun to to capitalize on the choice of Palin - over Jewish Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman - in South Florida and elsewhere. A prominent Obama backer, Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, has attacked Palin for appearing at a 1999 event with Pat Buchanan - who has attacked the influence of the Israeli lobby in America. And the same factors that are rallying the evangelical base to Palin may push away the Jews.
[...]

What is astounding is that the Democrats think they have a winning issue here. One would have to be a moron to overlook the fact that Obama blows with whichever direction the wind is in, any statement he makes or has made on Israel, the Middle East, The Arab World, Iran is likely to change depending on the mood around him, he’s fickle and he’s weak. His advisers want to dramatically engage in the Palestinian process according to his chief foreign affairs surrogate Susan Rice, that can only mean one thing: Massive pressure for unwarranted concessions and an American FORCED fake peace that will bring all new heights of violence, and result in the slaughter of untold innocent Israelis to terrorists.

Obama & Biden are both weak on Iran, weak on Islamic Fundamentalism, Biden himself still holds to the concept that Shia & Sunni rivalries trump Israeli and Jewish hatreds in the Muslim Arab world, a uniquely unqualified view which in effect despite his so called experience is in direct contradiction to fact regarding Hezbollah, Hamas, Syrian & Iranian ties all around Israel and now Iraq as well. These two politicians prefer to appease Iran..

The Preacher in the Attic

Obama and his family spent the last 20 years in a Church with a rabble rousing Palestinian loving anti-semite as its lead preacher. A man who’s hatreds are not limited to Israel, but include America and White People with Jews elevated to a very secial platform of hate. Black Power as it is often called invariably involves scapegoating American Jews, I find it hard to believe that this kind of record enamors American Jews more than a hard working Governor mother from Alaska?

If this is the only issue for these voters, and it surely is not. Given the choice between Evangelical Church goers who are traditionally the strongest group for advocacy on Israel in America, versus a black nationalist anti-semitic preacher with a 20 year record of Jew hatred, the only person with a problem is Mr. Obama. Ben Smith can bandy the talking points about all he likes, it won’t change the facts.

Comedy Central

As for capitalizing on the choice of Palin over Lieberman, who quested to dump Lieberman the Orthodox Jew from his seat, who threw Lieberman out of the party and laced his previous campaign with anti-jewish hatreds? Why that was the Democrats. Who has stated for months that on Jewish issues concerning Israel the choice is clearly McCain over Obama, why that was Lieberman himself.. Who spoke last night at the GOP convention, it was not a Jews for Jesus preacher, it was not the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, it was not even the until now never heard of Rep. from Florida Mr. Wexler.. But Joe Lieberman.

If this is a battle of character, a battle for Jewish voters, those Democrats and their tuchus licking press sure have a funny view of capitalizing because their candidate is pulling the lowest amount of those voters in recent history, I wonder why that is?

LINK UPDATE: Gateway Pundit / Founding Bloggers destroy the question entirely with a list of painful highlights for the Obama camp, along with some good advice.. Don’t go there.

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Welcome to the Big Leagues Barack

They don’t pay me the big bucks (total earned from 2+ years blogging? $0) for nothing, that’s why I like to continue earning my keep by trying to stay a step ahead of the MSM in my favorite category here at the Hashmonean, analysis.

Let’s analyze the fact that with great pomp & fanfare the 1st African American has now been nominated to his party’s candidate for President, nice one! Seriously, it’s wonderful for Black Americans and race relations and I wish them all well. With that congratulatory bit out of the way let’s move on to stage 2 of today’s analysis where we rip said candidate up a bit..

Baseline - Foreign Policy Fool
(more…)

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Have the Lebanese Totally Lost Their Minds? I Only Ask Because We Ourselves Have That ‘Crazy’ Look in Our Eyes..

After the 2006 Lebanon War, I was fairly convinced that the Olmert / Livni / Peretz duo was the ultimate culmination of weakness as we truly hit all new pinnacles of useless in that endeavour, dropping humanitarian inspired fliers on Lebanon for weeks at a time, warning people we would be coming like a bat out of hell only to never show up.. Invading a few metres here or there, dropping ‘big bombs’ left right & center like a fat guy with a fresh bowl of chili and nowhere to go..

This was truly something else, many Israelis still haven’t absorbed it all - We put the hurt on Hezbollah that’s for certain, they were yelling ‘cease fire!!’ even a few days in. But the UN Resolution before actually coming to any resolution, the US / French led diplomacy, the near total collapse of our PR & Foreign Ministry effort, the UNIFIL slap job, the faux massacres and Arab narrative which dominated the TV screens, and oy.. The 2 year long wait for two boxes containing the mutilated remains of our 2 soldiers in exchange for Samir Kuntar. It boggles the mind.

Not Even King For A Day..

 I would have expected a true adversary to drive home the advantage, squeeze us when we were down on the mat. If Siniora was even half a man with half a brain he would have come out of that like a rock star - Bigger than Obama! Imagine how he could have shafted Hezbollah & Israel at the same time if he had even done the bare minimum. A Speech at the UN demanding peace, demanding Hezbollah disarm, demanding Israel pay for all that ‘aggression’ he accused us of by insisting on neutering us through diplomacy.. The world would have gone bonkos, they would have thrown flowers at his feet! Like magic Rice the sucker would have moved mountains, the French would have folded in like the Vichy Government itself, Syria battered at the time would have walked away like a wounded dog. In Israel he would have galvanized the left and strapped the entire center with them, our media would be running features on his boundless vision! What a leader, if only we had leaders like that they would have said.. Hezbollah itself wouldn’t have stood a chance in the face of the world leader Siniora, nothing gets the Euro trash giddier than forcing Peace with the terrorists, they eat that stuff up.

What would it have cost him? Two boxes with the mutilated remains of our soldiers in it, and he would have been King! He could have seized the rug right out from under Hezbollah who were far from popular despite what CNN might say, he could have raised literally 50 BILLION dollars for Lebanon overnight, enough to buy his vision if needed and it wouldn’t be. The Americans would have airlifted heavy weaponry in to Lebanon that’s how hot Rice and the State Dept. were for Siniora. But Sun Tzu he ain’t. One look at how things have rolled is evidence enough of that, because not only is he not King, he’s not even the court Jester - More like the Hezbollah Page.

In our weakest moment, who would have thought the Lebanese come bearing gifts!?

Truth is Siniora is a wimp, he’s like one of those unnaturally bred chiwawas, more mouse than dog. The March 14th Cedar Revolutionaries? Nothing more than a bunch of Arabs with a fancy Wikipedia entry, push comes to shove they fold like a wet napkin. Talk about failure and they know it, which is why you don’t hear so much as peep from them. When even their ‘great victories’ are failures, I wonder if the Lebanese have truly lost their minds?

 The reason being they gave us a great gift. We ourselves needed a wake up call. Thank Gd it came BEFORE we take on the Hamas, before we take on Iran, and before we finally go back & kick the living daylights out the Lebanese. We’ve done it before, we chased the PLO all the way to Tunis.. That’s another CONTINENT and thanks to Siniora & CO. you can damn well bet we’re going to do it again, this time Hezbollah is going to take it right between the eyes.. Just like Mugniyeh has, just like Suleiman did last week, oh yes they are dropping like flies the Hezbollah playmakers. We’re killing them off, and Nassrallah knows that silly headpiece he wears doesn’t make for very effective camouflage, He’s a Shiite walking death row and his pal Kuntar is not far behind.

Confidence Building Measures

It’s not as if we told the Hezbollah we’d be killing them like this, ok.. So maybe we did, you got me there. It’s not as if we told them not to smuggle any more missiles, and all of a sudden Hezbollah convoys are exploding in Tehran, ok so maybe they are. But, it’s not as if Syria is trying to retake Lebanon and we shot the Chief Syrian Hezbollah Liaison in the head in broad daylight, at the ‘Russian’ port of Tartus yet - Nice touch.

It’s ‘all good’, we’re in ‘dialog’ with the Syrians.. This is how we negotiate peace. We blow up reactors, invade airspace & snap pictures, take out convoys, knock off leaders and obstacles - In the Middle East this is what we call ‘confidence building measures’..

They’re just not the confidence building measures Rice & the PLO like to talk about in roadmaps, more like building up confidence to fly across the middle east and take out Iran’s nuclear program. Now that Hezbollah is a full member of the Lebanese parliament with veto powers yet, now that their government has affirmed Hezbollah’s right for violent resistance, now that the Lebanese have voted not to disarm Hezbollah but to encourage them, this time it’s not a terrorist organization, it’s a full blown terror supporting state - So I’m feeling pretty confident myself..

‘Dear Lebanon, You Are Cruising For A Serious IDF Brusing’.

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UPDATE Wed 13 Aug: Welcome Stumblers!
If you are here for your 1st visit, thanks for reading. Please consider a bookmark or grabbing the RSS feed link. Cheers, Saus..
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Europeans & Americans Simply Underestimate Israeli Public Resolve - A Critical Error.

It is the one issue where there is very little dissension, across the public spectrum, across the military spectrum, across the intelligence spectrum, and of course the political spectrum there is almost no dissension, no wavering, at every level complete willingness to pay the price because there is NO alternative. An Iranian nuclear weapon is totally unacceptable in Israel.

In the US & in the EU there are dreamers who like to bandy about notions like ‘living with the Iranian bomb’, they come up with concepts like deterrent & MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), they talk about diplomacy as if it itself is the ends not the means. Endless time, what fools these people are because they are clearly totally removed from the realities of the situation.

Mistaking a last resort for no resort

Somehow, because Israel is open to pursuing diplomacy as an option in the interim, people interpret this as an unwillingness to strike. They speak of bluffs, they postulate about green lights, they convince themselves that Israel cannot totally eliminate the Iranian program, make absurd claims like ‘a strike would only delay Iran 2 months’, they project their own hopes & dreams onto Israel with frankly very limited understanding of the realities here.

These are the facts:

• At a certain point, regardless of progress on any front, regardless who, what where, regardless of the White House, the Press, if Israel ascertains that Iran has progressed to a specific level, Israel WILL strike. Period.
   
• Israel is more than capable of striking, procured the weapons for strikes long ago and has been preparing for this last resort measure for YEARS.
   
• Israel has plans for strikes, has the intelligence for strikes, has trained for strikes, prepared the public for strikes, and even shared these realities publicly with the entire world.

Living in Denial

One wonders at what point exactly do all these facts collectively absorb in the rest of the planet’s consciousness. Every single politician in Israel is on record multiple times stating matter of factly these are the realities. The Pentagon has stated it believes this to be the reality, Sec. Rice has stated she believes this to be the reality, President Bush has stated he believes this to be the reality, Sarkozy has stated the same, McCain concurs, Merkel in Germany agrees, even the dove Senator Obama has stated this is his ‘feeling’.. Ask yourself, who is correct here? Mother Jones or all these world leaders?

Not only is it reality, it is now the driving force in Israel’s upcoming political season

Olmert is prepared to strike Iran’s programs, so are all his replacements. Livni, Mofaz, Sheetrit, as is the entire opposition, Likud, Israel Our Home, as is the left wing Labor party under Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister. There is not a single dissention, the IDF is training and preparing for all fronts likely to erupt should this last resort materialize. To bring home the gravity of this reality, drive home the total unflinching resolve.. One needs only examine the surrounding issues pertainig to a strike.

If diplomacy does not ratchet up spectacularly soon, Israel is preparing to go to war with Hamas, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria & Iran SIMULTANEOUSLY if necessary. Not theoretical preparations, missile tests, brigade & battalion sized training operations, large scale aerial training, tanks and ground warfare exercizes. One can choose to bury one’s head in the sand, but that will not alter the reality above ground.

Diplomacy

Faith is declining in Israel, few now believe the sanctions will ever be serious enough. The EU exports to Iran grow, Russia arms Syria & Iran and obsfucates against the west, the few remaining months of 2008 are all that is left for the diplomatic option. Afterwords, only one thing is certain. No matter what borders need to be violated, no matter who’s airspace, irrespective of territorial waters.. The regional superpower will be striking. I have even worse news for the naysayers, the USA will be notified, as will gulf allies, and all will quietly watch as these strikes play out, some of these powers themselves will even get their licks in too.

Links: The Iran Focus Roundup.
WSJ: Tehran program gains influence in Israel’s election
Reuters: EU exports to Iran rising despite sanctions
Iran Focus: Iran gearing up for confrontation
CNN: Officials: Iran offers ‘non-answer’ to incentives
YNET: Rice: US won’t tell Israel yes or no
JPOST: ‘2 US aircraft carriers headed for Gulf’
Haaretz: Israel warns Hezbollah: We won’t tolerate arms smuggling

Coming up here at the Hashmonean, Arms Race IV:
Defending against the massive missile barrage that would result from a strike on Iran’s nuclear programs.

Sept Update:
US Dept. of Defense approves advanced bunker buster sale for Israel..
GBU-39 SDB Buster is a game changer versus Iran (Video)

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Livni’s Big Makeover

Livni comically tried to have herself sold as the ‘Heir of Sharon’ in Israeli media this past week, an assertion that is laughable.

She insinuated a few months ago through leaks that she was a ’super spy for the Mossad’ in her youth, and has hired the biggest media sharks & manipulators in Israel to helm her campaigns for her - We start to see that on top of her short record of failure in government, The Left’s Golden Girl is relying almost totally on superficial nonsense (being a woman), bought and paid for media which carries her mudslinging, and trumped up bogus credentials in order to appear competent enough to lead Israel.

Good luck with that I say.

Super Spy was an apartment squatter;  left Mossad before completing even her initial training.

It seems Livni does indeed have commitment problems, leading me to question her commitment to leading the State of Israel. Close friends a few months ago leaked ‘hush hush’ rumors of her having been a ‘big time’ spy in the Mossad when she was young. This was done to give some oompf to her non-existent security credentials. Unfortunately, Israel’s public broadcaster Channel 1 investigated and found that Livni was far from a super spy. In actuality she was sent for a few months to Paris to watch over and pay the bills for a vacant apartment held by the Mossad, one of dozens held as a contingency in far off places that need occasional care takers. In reality Channel 1 revealed, Livni did not do much at all, could not even be bothered to finish her field agent course / training before leaving the Mossad. So much for Jane Bond.

Sharon’s personal heir

Her media handlers most recent assertion is even more enjoyable. They claimed she was ‘privy’ to General Sharon’s plans, his hand picked heir. Conveniently our most beloved war figure and recent Prime Minister (the only man to win back to back elections in Israeli history) is sadly in a coma, unable to tell us his views. Too bad for Livni though that history is not so convenient. If anything, Mofaz - Former Defense Minister hand picked by Sharon, former IDF Chief of Staff hand picked by Sharon, and now Kadima member himself, the only former Likud party member actually asked publicly, and hand chosen by Sharon again to join his new Kadima party at the time, is Livni’s rival for party leadership.

One might find it comical that Livni thinks she can dump history on its very head and sell us this schlock, if these matters were not so important to the state and did not involve our possible next Prime Minister that is! If anyone was privy to Sharon’s plans, it was his hand picked right hand man Mofaz. If anyone was envisioned to defend the State of Israel as Sharon himself was infamous for, it would be Shaul Mofaz. The only time Olmert was even somewhat tolerable was during his care taker role before being elected, it was a much harder line.. Guess who was the Defense Minister? I’ll give out a hint - It wasn’t Livni.

Swing.. and a miss

The left keeps trying to paint Mofaz as stupid, Lisa Goldman wrote this weekend he was ‘humorless and compassionless’ whatever that means.. & lacking experience! We aren’t choosing Jay Leno’s successor here, we are in the midst of preparing for possible wars on 3 separate fronts, Gaza, Lebanon, & Iran, maybe even Syria too. Goldman assures me in her piece that Livni is full of integrity. But judging by the smears on Mofaz around the media, a guy who rose to the pinnacle of defense in Israel, despite being Iranian and rampant racism, not once as IDF Chief of Staff, but twice as a Defense Minister too, despite ‘failing the officers exam’ as Goldman put it.. Makes Livni seem far from clean. It makes her stink of B.O.

Mofaz literally crushed the 2nd intifada and wrote the modern book on defeating terrorism now employed the world over. He is the chief liaison for Washington on security matters, his ‘lacking experience’ is sought the world over by every single country grappling with terror & asymmetric warfare. They beat down our doors to speak to our useful idiots it seems.

A quick look at Livni’s two years as FM show a record of complete incompetence

• Livni seems wholly responsible for failing to represent Israel’s interests effectively in the recent Lebanon war, where she literally disappeared from the world scene for nearly a month to sulk because she’s a lefty and is opposed to conflict. When you are the Foreign Minister, your duty is to present Israel’s case, regardless how you feel. Not run and hide.
   
• Failing to retrieve our missing soldiers where internationally no pressure existed, or exists whatsoever. We got two back in pieces after making the worst deal in Israeli history, while Shalit is still in Gaza - I guess Livni is working out options.. I look forward to finally hearing them 2+ years later.
   
• Failure to get a favorable UN Resolution passed as a ceasefire in Lebanon, despite personally handling the negotiations with her buddy Sec. Rice, despite us fighting against recognized terrorists! Terrorists who have now fully rearmed and made Livni look like a buffoon, Dr. Rice included. The number one clause of that resolution? The UNCONDITIONAL return of Israel’s snatched soldiers. That worked out well, nice job Tzipi. Not a single clause of resolution 1701 has been implemented incidentally. Israel, Livni included is in fact in massive alarm at her own failure, closed government sessions were held all week examining the rise of Hezbollah, now fully in control of Lebanon.. More sessions are tabled - All behind firmly closed doors because the details of the failure are so grave, and the concerns so very very real..
   
• Failure to rally the world in any meaningful way whatsoever regarding an existential threat to Israel from Iran, with nearly everyone now conceding we are on our own to deal with this world threat. That’s effective foreign ministry work right there if I’ve ever seen it. Livni has not succeeded in elevating this core Israeli interest to any government anywhere, despite this being the official Foreign Ministry strategy for a number of years??
   
• Dare I mention the Hamas, and their little terror state, the lack of world sympathy despite THOUSANDS of rockets pounding our populace in the south? The seeming inability to explain Israel’s position, the endless lies regarding trumped up humanitarian crises? Who’s job is it to sell Israel’s message!? Give Israel some breathing room..

These are the domain of the Foreign Minister, that minister’s bread & butter but Livni’s plate is empty. These massive failures with nary a single success in sight, including now the chief negotiator with the Palestinians producing diddly squat, only secret concessions.. Make me wonder honestly what people think they are selling us here? Compare this to recently retired superstar Dan Gillerman at the UN and it is like comparing a Rolls to a Lada.

Facing a freight train

Forget Mofaz, how on earth is this lightweight Livni supposed to take on Bibi himself? The most shrewd, effective, eloquent, political operator in the history of Israel BAR NONE! He makes Livni look like a chicken wing, a light snack.

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Day of Reckoning - Billions of Shekels worth of legislation rammed through Knesset in free for all; Olmert leaves seat of Government Knesset chamber mid session, powerless as coalition discipline evaporates; Declares upcoming resignation on Televised Address.

Beset by corruption charges, helming a coalition that has become a sad joke and which is composed of self serving jackals, the day of reckoning has arrived. Our Prime Minister has reclused himself from upcoming primaries in his party this september, and declared his resignation as soon as a new party leader is chosen through that primary system.

Now, in the running for Kadima Foreign Minister Livni, and former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Each will try to seize the leadership of the Kadima party and then the unenviable task of trying to construct a coalition for governing. The likelihood of Livni accomplishing this appears to me slim should she be elected leader of Kadima, as she will be forced to rely on the existing coalition partners and as exhibited today, that partnership is a farce in name only. Insane amounts of social legislation, benefits packages & assorted goodies & gimmes totalling billions were put to votes today in the Knesset despite official coalition positions not in support, what resulted was wide passing of these proposals (some in only initial first reads) and the dissolution of the coalition members from official position, in effect the largest non-confidence vote imaginable.

War & Peace 

Olmert himself declared that these measures / packages were directly threatening Israel’s ability to counter & prepare for national security threats, and chided the coalition for government & fiscal irresponsibility. Livni’s ability to build on this cesspool of a coalition will likely be limited, her ability to lure a new national unity government to counter security threats is also questionable, rival Mofaz whom also seeks to keep Kadima in the helm of government without proceeding to national elections by swinging out of the current coalition which is left center, and instead looking towards the right & religious parties to build a new consensus, stands a slightly better chance in my opinion, but it is frankly hard to imagine how either he Livni or Kadima can avoid going to the polls, its Prime Minister resigning, its coalition in tatters, and the government paralyzed by wildly swinging motions of preparing for war, while conceding for peace, with the impossible cloud of every politician looking out for his own interests and securing his own ass / seat hovering overhead.

Where they stand

Livni & Mofaz are in a near tie for Kadima’s leadership in internal party polling, Mofaz having roared back 20% in the last round of polls. Should either grab the Kadima mantle as explained above, that does not assure them victory. They must then also secure a viable coalition under their new leadership or face national elections. On the national scene the left, and Kadima are in perilous position. Kadima looks set to secure perhaps around 10-14 seats, down from near 30. Ehud Barak, Israel’s current defense minister & Labor party leader looks currently in polling able to secure also around 10 or 12 seats, a disastrous position for Israel’s traditional ruling party. Israel’s main right party the Likud under Bibi Netanyahu, which suffered a terrible defeat in the last election looks primed to regain vast swaths of support, vaulting from around the same area of 10-12 seats to the leading poll position of perhaps 30 or more seats if elections were held today. Combined with a stable showing in polls for the Israel Our Home party led by Avigdor Lieberman, the right appears poised to reclaim to seat of power in Israel, if a viable governing coalition cannot be formed. Should elections be staved off, it appears inevitable that the right will be coalition members in a national emergency government, either way the opposition will be in play going forward in my opinion.

Whatever the case may be, there is a need to come to decisions - Coalition, elections, what have you. Israel needs an effective government and it needs one soon, for a year now the government has been in name only, incapable of making decisions, vacillating and without authority to pursue peace, or defense.

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I’m struck by some of the naysayers & experts questioning if Imad was targeted by the Mossad. Some truly fanciful suggestions have arisen including the absurd notions that Iran or Syria killed Mugniyeh because he ‘outlived his usefulness’.

Wow, that’s some concise expertise when one considers the fact that Imad was the linchpin of terror - The key figure tying together Iranian sponsored Islamic Jihad across the world. The go between for Iran, Syria, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, & associated Palestinian terror groups.

Pffft..

Even more amusing the notion that Syria killed him in order to show how ready they are to cooperate with America - Sure that’s exactly what happened, let’s just disregard reality in Lebanon entirely for a moment in order to further the infamous Iraq Study Group point of view, you know the one where Syria & Iran are not the enemy and where milk & cookies will make everything be all right! After all, it’s not as if those countries are sanctioned, or blowing up pro democracy leaders in Lebanon nearly weekly now..

Back to reality -  the factors at play

• After the stalled second Lebanon war, here in Israel we pretty much openly vowed to kill Hezbollah’s leaders one by one at the time of our choosing. This is not the 1st time we have hunted after declared targets incidentally, we liquidated anyone associated with the Munich Olympics massacre one by one around the world. We’ve targeted Palestinian terrorists for decades dropping out of choppers, sailing up in dingies, strolling around in wigs, planting tiny bombs in cell phones, what else do we have to do to earn a little respect!? Sheesh lol
   
• Israel recently declared in not so many words that the gloves are off towards Iran, in light of the American NIE and the clarity forming regarding the fact that the world is not going to properly contain the Iranian weapons drive. Sending scary messages like knocking off the world’s most coveted international Hezbollah terrorist is exactly what a covert war looks like. You start a bombing war as a last resort one hopes, before then you play dirty by planting little bombs in big SUVs.
   
• Israel is flush with its brand new most advanced spy satellite in the sky which is performing spectacularly this month. This won’t be the last Mitsubishi we watch tooling around the Middle East thank you very much.
   
• In the last few short months we’ve kidnapped one of Gilad Shalit’s abductors, knocked off a nuclear program in Syria, and then one is surprised we took out Mugniyeh!? Buckle up - because Hezbollah & Iran declared their intentions to destroy us & are developing the weapons to do so. We’re just getting started.
   
• Someone has to pay for the indiscriminate rocketing of our populace in 2006 and they will pay in blood as we don’t take the American Express card. Nasrallah may be hiding in a bunker underneath the Iranian embassy in Beirut, but he’s a dead man and everyone knows it. I look forward to pundits telling everyone he had outlived his usefulness too..
   
• The Hamas leadership is in hiding right now as we speak, they must also live in perpetual fear that Syria will kill them. Don’t worry for them, we will protect them when we invade Gazastan..
   
• About one quarter of the Palestinian world population is on the take from us, and people are surprised when our investments pay off. These kind of things amaze me as if Iran or Syria, or Lebanon is off limits for us.. Comical when one considers that our army was allied with the Lebanese Christians, and we occupied Beirut long enough to chase the entire PLO to Tunis. Someone out there thinks we can’t pull off getting our hands into Damascus & putting a bomb in an import?!
   
• Before resorting to the in itself amazing operation to blow up the Osirak reactor in Iraq, we first killed a chunk or Iraq’s nuclear scientists & experts to try & avoid a full blown military strike, they were also ‘untouchable’.

The Mossad is perhaps the most daring, and capable foreign intelligence agency in the world. It’s not because we are special, it’s because we have no choice. Don’t be surprised when more mysterious things happen going forward as we are truly facing an existential threat, and Iran & the rest of the Global Jihad have been put on notice - No one is safe.

Update Note:

Khaled Mashal the leader of Hamas in absentia hiding out in Syria, I wonder how he’s sleeping this week? Not too soundly I’d imagine, one of the mossad’s rare failures was the 1st attempt on liquidating him.. The fallout for that failure included the release from Israeli prison of Sheik Yassin to appease the King of Jordan where Mashaal was located, Yassin being the ’spiritual’ leader of Hamas.

Of course, when the terror intifada comprising suicide bombers broke out the other long arm of Israel, the IDF wasted little time sending a hellfire missile directly at Yassin’s head swiftly dispatching him to the ‘big virgin pen’ in the sky.

Pundits began chirping immediately how reckless Israel was targeting the leader of Hamas in this manner yada yada, we responded three weeks later by blowing up Mr. Rantissi, the lucky devil who had assumed Yassin’s position. The intifada soon after collapsed. Lesson learned, when it comes to killing terrorists shoot first - worry about pundits later.

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State Department probably prefers they stayed at home because if we’ve come, it means war.

The recent NIE heard round the world contains terms like high confidence, but the reaction from the USA’s closest allies can be more easily summed up with the term low confidence. Israel, the UK, France, Germany all have expressed confusion and a fair dose of shock at the wild summaries and loaded manner of the publicly presented portions of the NIE. Experts around the world have grunted in agreement, and even the American public has cast a disbelieving eye, with only 18% of Americans polled actually putting much credence in their latest spy report. It’s not so much the intel itself, but the analysis and loaded manner in which it is presented which has a frankly glaring political tilt.

Game Theory

Theories as to how this has come about have ranged from tying Bush’s hands with rope supplied by what has been an extremely partisan & hostile CIA, one which appears to have been conducting a fair bit of operations against its own administration these past few years through leaks & assorted treachery. Other theories involve an American intel apparatus paralyzed by indecision and doubt over its high profile failures in Iraq and 9/11 previously, and now gun shy to make the tough calls. And the final theory involves an America that has lost its gusto and is looking to deal at our expense.

Some of the reasoning behind all this is the fact that the intel hasn’t changed all that much from the previous NIE in 2005, yet pieces of new intel have swung assessments in a full 180 degree arc. The resulting summaries and framing are shockingly political, with important nuggets buried in footnotes explaining terms used liberally in the document which seem custom made to lead & confuse the casual reader to the golden ticket that Iran is Mr. Clean, while the document clearly states that is not the case by any stretch of the imagination.

Media Games 

Of course all of this is compounded by the even more politically charged media, orgasmic over the chance to grill their own President yet again. The NIE seems custom written for them, allowing them to pick and choose a path through the intel & present even further removed from the data summations declaring Iran Mother Theresa. I’m reminded of hearing David Gregory’s NBC voice sneering in his usual liberal manner about Bush leading America to WWIII and practically accusing the President of lying behind his intel at recent press briefings, to say nothing of the moron Olberman and his made for moonbat TV ‘exposes’ where he basically elevates treason to a camera cutting art of ridiculousness, complete with fabricated rage and infused with calling his President a liar repeatedly per segment on national TV.

What the hell is going on in America!?

Here in Israel we know that when ESPN sportscasters start feeling comfortable faux determining national policy based on their acting skills in desperate made for TV ratings grabs, while Iran builds missiles and spins centrifuges marked ‘for Tel-aviv’ on them it’s time to act. Last week there was blurb about it in Haaretz, and now YNET has some details as well. But the general gist is that our intel & boys have flown to the great USA to present the Mossad’s reading of events in Iran. It would appear we are making one last effort to wake the USA up before we ditch the current form of our own government & implement either elections or a walking talking national security platform emergency government - In order to prepare for war in 2009.

Our own National Security Assessment is that the US has abandoned Israel to tackle Iran alone. (YNET)

The aforementioned pessimism concerns Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The American National Intelligence Estimate “dropped quite a bomb” on Israel’s struggle against Iran’s nuclear program, said officials within Israel’s defense establishment. The US report only diminishes the likelihood that the international community will impose harsh, effective sanctions on Iran and also that the US itself will strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

“It is clear to us now that no one will do the work for us,” one of the report’s authors told Ynet, Israel can now rely solely on its own military capabilities, if and when the Iranian nuclear program achieves its aims. [...]

That pretty much sums it up. The levers of power may have been pulled in America to prevent military conflict with Iran, but the reverse effect has resulted. Now instead of an international concerted effort to prevent it, thanks to partisan games that has unraveled totally & now America will be going to war whether it likes it or not.

Once we initiate and we will having been forced into the corner, take that to the bank - America will have little choice because the only thing the Jihad likes as much as Jewish blood, is American blood. I pray for safety in the US that Barack Obama is not your next President, because if he is, his weakness and total inexperience will make the errors in Iraq look like training exercises imho. Sarkozy warned about it this week, Iran is no longer the wild card.. We in Israel are.

It is about to get played.

Link Update: Olmert knows it too, it’s freaking him out and he’s still in denial, desperate to salvage failed policies.

FNC Update - Fox News mentioned the split in Israel, with Olmert chastising our Security Minister Avi Dichter over his comments about military conflict, but frankly at a certain point this all becomes redundant. Olmert hanging on won’t change the reality that most security & military officials, and now many cabinet members have all resigned themselves to the reality that Israel needs to get in gear & pronto.

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UPDATE: WHAT A BLAST!!

My profound thanks to Heidi of EuphoricReality fame for such a great show & handling the reigns for Kit whom I hope feels better pronto. Great callers (impressively informed I must say). A most interesting discussion from my perspective that was very enjoyable, WELL worth a few hours slumber & then some! Archives, if you’d like to tune in will be up I imagine shortly at the links.

Be sure to tune in to The Frontline Wed & Fri at 10PM Eastern with Kit at BlogTalkRadio & thanks again for having me for round 2!

I’ll be joining my favorite red headed infidel Kit on her BlogTalkRadio show “The Frontline“ tonight to discuss Iran.

Should be a good time as I had fun last time she had me on. Of course, I’ll be on my best behaviour seeing as it will be late AM here in Israel. Catch it live if you’d like streaming at 10 PM Eastern

On Deck:
Everyone knows I’m a big fan of the Iranian regime, I’m hoping to look at some of the often unspoken tough questions with Kit. Laying out the terrain regarding US or Israeli military strikes, while keeping an eye on the multilateral paralysis vis a vis the diplomatic course.

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