NO DEAL FOR SHALIT; NO FREEING TERRORISTS!!

Various signs indicate that the slimey top echelon here, the ones who like to kowtow Euro Judeophobes of the EU, are working to release hundreds, maybe more than a thousand terrorist murders, for poor Gilad Shalit. All along they have mishandled this situation. They don't know whether he's dead or alive. But we have the precedent of the deal for a couple of dead bodies of poor Eldad Regev and Goldwasser. Yet, a basic part of international law is that the Red Cross [ICRC] should have access to prisoners of war. Israel should have made this a basic demand long before the recent Cast Lead Gaza military operation. Israel should have told Euro hypocrites that want to or already have diplomatic relations with Hamas in Gaza, that have "recognized" Hamas rule in Gaza, that they must not do so if Hamas does not allow Red Cross access. If it does not do so, then it is in violation of international law that all the human rights hypocrites wave around as a sacred idol.

Norway has already "recognized" Hamas rule in Gaza. Israel should have told Norway that Israel is lowering the status of relations with Norway if it does not withdraw recognition and relations with a regime [Hamas] that openly and brazenly rejects human rights and international law.

Our clowns, led by olmert, urged on by our Vichyite media, have never done what should have been done. They must not make any "deal" for Shalit under these circumstances.

Not Humanitarianism, Not Honesty Nor Love for Human Rights Motivates Condemnation of Israel's Gaza Operation

I'm mad at Efraim Karsh. He has said many things about the hypocritical Western and International reaction to Israel's defensive war in Gaza and Israeli defensive actions in general that I have long believed, that I have long been convinced of. So I'm jealous that he said these things first, that he took the words out of my mouth. But let's acknowledge that Karsh deserves a lot of praise for saying them so well, better than I could I suppose, although I have a few quibbles with him, mainly over nomenclature. Given that Karsh teaches in London, in the heart of the beast as it were, he is to be commended for his courage to remain an independent thinker in hostile surroundings. He is also to be commended for staying clear-headed in those circumstances.

Only Palestinian Interaction with Israel Wins World Attention by Efraim Karsh
. . . .
In other words, the extraordinary international preoccupation with the Palestinians is a corollary of their interaction with Israel, the only Jewish state to exist since biblical times, a reflected glow of the millenarian obsession with the Jews in the Christian and the Muslim worlds. Had their dispute been with an Arab, Muslim, or any other adversary, it would have attracted a fraction of the interest that it presently does.
. . . .

Indeed, the fact that the international coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the libels against Zionism and Israel, such as the despicable comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, have invariably reflected a degree of intensity and emotional involvement well beyond the normal level to be expected of impartial observers would seem to suggest that, rather than being a response to concrete Israeli activities, it is a manifestation of longstanding prejudice that has been brought out into the open by the vicissitudes of the conflict.
. . . .

For millennia Jewish blood has been cheap, if not costless, throughout the Christian and Muslim worlds, where the Jew became the epitome of powerlessness, a perpetual punching bag and a scapegoat for whatever ills befell society. There is no reason, therefore, why Israel shouldn't follow in the footsteps of these past generations, avoid antagonizing its Arab neighbors and exercise restraint whenever attacked. But no, instead of knowing its place, the insolent Jewish state has forfeited this historic role by exacting a price for Jewish blood and beating the bullies who had hitherto been able to torment the Jews with impunity. This dramatic reversal of history cannot but be immoral and unacceptable. Hence the global community outrage and hence the world's media provision of unlimited resources to cover every minute of Israel's "disproportionate" response, but none of the devastation and dislocation caused to Israeli cities and their residents.

Put differently, the Palestinians are but the latest lightning rod unleashed against the Jews, their supposed victimization reaffirming the millenarian demonization of the Jews in general, and the medieval blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others - in particular. In the words of David Mamet, "The world was told Jews used this blood in the performance of religious ceremonies. Now, it seems, Jews do not require the blood for baking purposes, they merely delight to spill it on the ground."
--read it all here--

Professor Efraim Karsh is Head of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Studies at King's College, University of London, and a member of the Board of International Experts of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. His recent books include Islamic Imperialism: A History

Now, Karsh's article implies that the "humanitarian" and "pro-peace" and "human rights" organizations which are major instruments for demonizing Israel, along with much of the Western press, especially in Britain, are instruments of Judeophobes. The NGO Monitor website [see the blogroll at right] goes farther and shows that many of these bodies are in fact funded by governments, making their designation as "non-governmental organizations" totally ridiculous. Hence, it follows that many Western governments are Judeophobic, particularly the UK govt which seems to direct Amnesty International, which in any case has its head office conveniently located in London. Not only do AI and other such bodies smear Israel, but they omit information about the persecution or mistreatment of Jews [ie, as AI does regarding Jonathan Pollard].

Karsh points out that this Judeophobia disguised as humanitarian concern for the Arabs now called "palestinians," has roots far back in the past. For an example, look at many of the TV broadcasts purporting to deliver news about Israel and the Arabs. The news stories have a plot and are constructed on the model of the medieval passion plays. The Israelis [Jews] continually crucify innocent "palestinians" [a collective Jesus] for no discernible reason. The Israelis' alleged cruelty seems unreasonable and to flow from the Israelis' naturally evil character. This is the structure of the passion play. The "palestinians" are shown traversing an endless passion caused by those who tormented Jesus, who called for his blood. Atavistic of course but also very 21st century.

The instruments of the demonization cited by Karsh are the media and NGOs. Now, it should be borne in mind that diplomacy is not merely a matter of well-dressed, well-mannered diplomats traveling around the world and going to cocktail parties. Diplomacy is also influencing public opinion in foreign countries [and one's own country] which is done through the press, media, schools, universities, textbooks, religious preaching, and statements by self-styled "humanitarian," "pro-peace," and "human rights" bodies [NGOs]. By dressing up in the garb of lofty ideals and values, like peace, messages can be transmitted that have nothing to do with those values or may even be opposed to those values, as well as being false. As far as international law is concerned, it is often overlooked by those who claim to be devoted to it and is often misrepresented by parties to conflict [as parties to civil suits interpret law in their own interest]. Whereas Clausewitz wrote that war is an extension of diplomacy, we could also say that diplomacy is an extension or adjunct or instrument of war.

The Red Cross [ICRC] knows that int'l law requires access to prisoners of war by the ICRC. Warring parties that do not provide such access are to be denied humanitarian services by the ICRC. Yet the ICRC is now vitally concerned with the humanitarian needs of Gaza denizens, who helped Hamas take power there. By rights, since the Hamas refuses access to Gilad Shalit, the ICRC should refuse to provide humanitarian services in Gaza. Nevertheless, a high official of the ICRC, a Swiss body, was shown on TV this morning in Gaza wringing his hands over the humanitarian state of affairs there caused by Hamas' abuse of Jewish human rights, its denial of any human rights to Jews at all. NGOs in general, and Amnesty in particular, are not to be taken at face value when they chirp about human rights abuses, etc. They're no better than the media and often serve the same interests and policies.
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Coming: More on Zbig's schemes, Obama's dishonesty, the "Left's" lies, Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, archeology, propaganda analysis, peace follies, etc

Israel Must Demand Control of Philadelphi Corridor & Return of Shalit as part of any cease fire

UPDATING link added at bottom 1-6-2009
plus more on # of calories allowed to Jews
in besieged Jerusalem [1948]

Many politically knowledgeable Israelis are not surprised that the current government's conditions for a cease fire in Gaza are so inadequate. This govt not only failed to bring the 2006 war against Hizbullah to a successful conclusion --due to the lack of the right strategy, ignorance of the enemy, ignorance of how that enemy was supplied [they knew that the weapons came from Iran to Syria to the Hizbullah across the Syrian border but acted as if they did not know]-- but failed on the very important diplomatic front. Security Council Resolution 1701 did not provide for forceful supervision by international forces of the Syria-Lebanon border nor for Israeli action if international [UN] forces could not or would not stop the Hizb's import of weapons from Syria.

So we are now faced with a rearmed Hizbullah on the northern front --a Hizb more heavily armed than 2 1/2 years ago. And this present govt is to blame in large part, along with the major powers sitting on the UN Security Council. That fool Siniora, PM of Lebanon, worked at the UN to soften Res. 1701, thus working against his own interests, since the rearmed Hizb turned against him and his govt and his Lebanese Sunni community more forcefully than before.

It is not clear what Israel's govt is now calling for as proposals for a cease fire accord. I heard four points talked about on TV but cannot find that proposal on the web. They were very unsatisfactory in any event. Here is some of what olmert is calling for:

"Olmert is interested in the establishment of an international supervision and enforcement mechanism for any cease fire between Israel and Hamas." [HaArets, 1-2-2009]

Now, Israel has been betrayed time and again by "international supervision" bodies. These bodies go back to the ConsularTruce Commission set up to supervise the truce between Israel and Arab forces in the city of Jerusalem in the early summer of 1948. At the time, the three powers making up the commission, the USA, France, and Belgium, through their consuls stationed in Jerusalem --in consultation with Count Bernadotte, the UN peacemonger-- spent much of their time deciding how many calories worth of food per Jew should the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem be allowed to bring in to the city during the truce [called the First Truce in the war]. It may surprise some to learn that the US consul was the most adamant about limiting the number of calories per Jewish resident to be allowed into the Holy City to 2,800 per day. The French and Belgian consuls were inclined to be more generous to the Jews [3,400/day]. Finally, the US consul got the Frenchman and Belgian to come over to his side, while the Jewish Agency delegate to the commisison and military governor of the city --Dov Joseph (actually a civilian)-- rejected the commission's decision. The American consul justified his position by asserting that millions of Chinese were living on the verge of starvation at that time. Be that as it may, when the American public learned of this low number, a protest was aroused and the decision was changed [see reference note below*].

Truce supervisory bodies, like UNIFIL and UNTSO have often performed in a way fundamentally hostile to Israel. Likewise officials of such bodies, such as one Odd Bull, a Scandinavian. Bull and other officials of international bodies, whether the UN or UNESCO or ICRC and so on come from specific countries and are, unsurprisingly, beholden to the policies of their own governments. This is one reason why a body like the UN is inherently unjust. The votes taken in the General Assembly and Security Council represent the interests and policies of the constituent govts. So if an issue comes up involving Israel and Arabs, the Arabs can count on the votes of Arab League states and Muslim states, and many other states that want Arab or Islamic support in UN voting for their own interests and pet projects and for their side in their own conflicts. In order to get Arab voting support, they must vote for the Arab side against Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has no bloc of automatic supporters. Of course, in UN debate, Israel's enemies and their allies and collaborators speak in terms of lofty morality. The UN Human Rights Council is notorious for being run by states that are major violators of human rights. Consider Libya and Sudan, etc.

Now the last paragraph presents only part of what's wrong with international bodies but it should be enough to prove the point. Rather than depend on international truce supervisors, Israel
1) needs to keep its own forces along the Philadelphi Corridor [the Egyptian border with Gaza] and in the northern Gaza Strip, whence most of the rockets have been shot at Israel, perhaps with unarmed observers from other powers too. But the armed personnel have to be Israeli.
This does NOT mean ruling over a large Arab population since northern Gaza is not heavily populated.

2) must demand the release of Gilad Shalit as a prelude to negotiations. Shalit is an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas for 2 1/2 years [two and one-half]. He has been held illegally since the Hamas did not allow the Red Cross [ICRC] access to Shalit. We don't know if he's dead or alive.
Israel's govt should have made an international issue of this violation long ago.

3) Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza must be disarmed of all heavy weapons, katyusha rockets, armored cars, anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, etc. Teams made up of armed Israeli and international inspectors must be able to travel around the Gaza Strip and inspect wherever they want in the search for such weapons. In recent days, mosques, schools, an Islamic university and other public buildings have been sites of rocket storage and warehouses for other heavy weapons. Israeli officials have charged that Shifa hospital in Gaza has served as a headquarters for Hamas war activities. This is a violation of international law but [using such locations for military purposes] but the Western media, which mostly works for the interests of their respective Western countries, usually does not report such Israeli charges or when they do, they minimize or cast doubt on such reports.

4) It is often claimed that the Gaza Strip is the most crowded place on earth. Well, it's not. But saying so has become a conventional, politically correct lie. Metropolitan Tel Aviv is more crowded. However, if major powers think that Gaza is too crowded then they could help Gaza people find other places to live, to migrate to so that they can leave the Strip.

I doubt that the olmert-livni-barak gang of clowns will adopt my proposals, but they most be offered.
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Here's is an interesting analysis of the issues around the current Gaza war by David Hornik, formerly of the Davis Institute at the Hebrew University [here].

LINK ADDED 1-6-2009
The folly of the Shimon Peresoid leadership of Israel that cannot comprehend the reality of Hamas jihadist hatred, as commented by Andrew Bostom, introducing David Littman's insight into Hamas genocidal Judeophobia and jihadism [פה ].
* Note on the Jerusalem Consular Truce Commission: Dov Joseph, Faithful City: The Siege of Jerusalem, 1948 (London: Hogarth 1962), pp 228-230; Menahem Kaufman, America's Jerusalem Policy, 1947-1948 (Jerusalem: Institute of Contemporary Jewry 1982), pp 58-60.
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Coming: More on Zbig's schemes, Obama's dishonesty, the "Left's" lies, Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, archeology, propaganda analysis, peace follies, etc.