Arlene from Israel

Before I write about “those talks,” I want to return to the matter of the Palestinian Arab prisoner release approved by the Cabinet yesterday at the strong-arm prodding of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

This entire incident signals for me a time for activism. Those of us who care deeply about this issue must not be silent. From time to time I’ve asked my readers to participate in activism by way of sending messages to members of our government. And I’m asking it here, more extensively than I ever have before.

If you care, truly care. If you are alarmed. And angry. And saddened. Please, work with me here so that our voices can begin to be heard.

There are different groups of people within the Israeli gov’t or closely associated with it who need to hear from us now. Those who supported the release have to know:

[] That you think it should never have happened and feel great anger/disgust/disappointment (you pick the word) that it did. Add a brief sentence or two if you wish about why it shouldn’t have happened: encourages terrorism, shows Israeli weakness, subverts justice, wounds bereaved families, etc. etc.

[] That you will not be quiet about this. The nation of Israel requires more courageous or wiser leadership than what they have provided.

[] That you will watch the positions they take in the future, and if you are Israeli, let them know that this will affect how you vote.

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This message, in your own words, said politely and briefly, but strongly, should go to:

Prime Minister Netanyahu, who requires a message of grievous disappointment. See below at the bottom of this post an article about what he said regarding releasing prisoners just five years ago. :

Fax: 02-670-5369 (From the US: 011-972-2-670-5369)

E-mail: [email protected] and also [email protected] (underscore after pm) use both addresses.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon — Likud, who should be told that people were disappointed in him because he knows better:

E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-675-3256

Gideon Sa’ar, and Yuval Steinitz — both of Likud, who might have been expected to know better:

E-mail: [email protected] Fax 02-649-6578
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6579

Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Sofa Landver — both of Yisrael Beitenu:

E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6188
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6744

Yair Lapid, Yael German, Yaakov Peri, and Shai Piron — all of Yesh Atid:

E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-640-8385
E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-640-8341
E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-640-8422
E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-640-8433

Shai Piron almost voted against and you might note this and encourage him to be courageous next time.

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Those who opposed the release of prisoners must be praised and encouraged. They need to hear that many are behind them and that they are supported and appreciated. Tell them that the future of the nation of Israel depends upon courageous leadership such as they demonstrated:

Yisrael Katz and Gilad Erdan — both of Likud. Katz in particular is tough.

E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6525
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-675-3982

Naftali Bennett, Uri Ariel and Uri Orbach — all of Habayit Hayehudi. Much rests with Bennett and how he leads his party; he needs to understand that there are people looking to him for leadership. Uri Ariel is also tough.

E-mail: [email protected] Phone 02-640-8430
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-675-3738
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-640-8167

Uzi Landau and Yair Shamir — both of Yisrael Beitenu. Landau has a history of standing for what he believes is right. Shamir is the son of former premiere Yitzhak Shamir z”l, who knew how to say “no.”

E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-675-3266
E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-640-8367

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Those deputy ministers who are not in the Cabinet but fighting hard to protect Israeli rights. They need to know that they are appreciated and be encouraged to keep fighting. They represent Israel’s future leadership.

Danny Danon, Deputy Minister of Defense (Likud), Ze’ev Elkin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Likud), Tzipi Hotoveley, Deputy Minister of transportation (Likud), and Avi Worzman, Deputy Minister of Education (Habayit Hayehudi).

E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6044
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6438
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-640-8329
E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-640-8109

I would add here the name Yuli Edelstein (Likud), who as Speaker of the Knesset has considerable influence. He is a man of integrity who understands what is going on. Encourage his involvement:

E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 02-649-6193
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I am well aware that you may look at this list and consider it daunting. IT IS NOT. You can write e-mail messages that apply to several persons, click on one address at a time, paste in the message and send to that person. (Of course, a handful of people require “special” messages.)

When you have a choice of fax or e-mail, fax is better. E-mail is better than trying to reach an aide on the phone.

HOWEVER YOU DO THIS, PLEASE DO IT IMMEDIATELY. The Knesset is about to recess for the summer.

As always, please share as broadly as possible — especially with Israeli citizens.

Accept my gratitude for your efforts and cooperation.

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Now the news on the “talks” in a nutshell:

Invitations have been extended by Kerry to Netanyahu and Abbas by phone. I have this on exceedingly solid information (from an Arabic speaking Israeli Jew with PA contacts). There are news reports that the written invitations included reference to “the ’67 lines.” But there were no written invitations.

However, there was something else, called a “draft,” that reportedly was sent to the PA. And this apparently made reference to the ’67 lines. This is not something that Netanyahu has seen, I am told. A “draft” of what? It would seem a proposed outline for the talks, and it would seem that Kerry is playing to the PA here.

My source says that Kerry refused to put anything in writing to the PA promising that talks would proceed on the basis of the ’67 lines, but that he verbally promised to push this position at the table.

Remember that Indyk is going to be at the table as a US “mediator” and this is an exceedingly dangerous business.

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Everyone is gathering in Washington tonight: Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho for Israel, Saeb Erekat for the PA. The news is saying talks have begun, but this is not quite so. These are the talks about the talks: Venue, schedule for meeting and other procedural matters must be put in place, as well as, most importantly, the issues to be addressed first. These discussions will end by Wednesday.

Already I am reading about disagreements regarding what needs to be discussed first, and expectations for the substantive talks to proceed meaningfully are quite low. Keep in mind, however, that Netanyahu said the prisoners will be released in stages as talks progress, so we might expect Abbas to drag things out until they are all released.

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Please see the following articles:

Tzipi Hotovely who says the right wing will stop any attempts to give away Judea and Samaria:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170382

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Yoram Cohen, head of the Shin Bet, delivered a warning to the Cabinet about the dangers of releasing prisoners.

Israeli security will be diminished, “both in the immediate threat to the public, and because of the erosion in deterrence. The chance that the prisoners will go back to terrorism is relatively large.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170356

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Five years ago, when Netanyahu was in the opposition, he said that releasing prisoners “reflects weakness and a loss of direction… The Likud government will replace Kadima’s weakness with an aggressive and uncompromising policy toward terror.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170367

Run that by us again?

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The government misrepresented its intentions about releasing terrorists. Ofir Yunis, who spoke on behalf of Netanyahu, has written on his FB page:

“I want to apologize to the bereaved families who understood from my answer to a parliamentary query three months ago that there was no such intention [to release prisoners] I am sorry from the bottom of my heart that professional bodies who were involved in the negotiations misled me.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170362

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It’s savta time again — four young grandchildren are due tomorrow morning. I will likely not post again for a couple of days. And please understand that I cannot respond to all of your many e-mails.

By: Julia Gorin
Republican Riot

…the tribunal resorts to repackaging a Hitler-era policy against Serbs, as a Serbian policy against Hitler’s side. An astonishing paragraph appeared in The New York Times and Al Jazeera. Astonishing even from the tried and true Balkans tall-tellers who for 20 years have been doing the bidding of their Islamic and other anti-Serb masters. Indeed, this one outdoes the countless other outsize accusations against the Serb side that we’ve grown numb to by now.

That’s because the phrase is so familiar, so often recited by those whose families perished as a result of it. “Kill a third, convert a third, expel a third.” That was the stated and executed policy of Hitler’s Croatian Ustashe regime. And so if the victims’ descendants were to see the day that the dreaded phrase would be mis-attributed and even inverted, it would momentarily transport them into another dimension, one where such unimaginable gall was possible. And to a surreality where such a glaring historical perversion and subversion could actually go — as all astonishing things Balkan-related do — unnoticed by the entire third dimension. (Except for a handful of us ‘cranks’ who pay attention to the ongoing dissolution of Germany’s eternal target, the Former Yugoslavia, successor state Serbia.)

That day arrived on July 12th, the traditional day for articles commemorating the July 11th, 1995 Srebrenica “genocide.” Written by Western journalists who feel an ongoing compulsion to mourn the deaths of Allah’s soldiers.

Nebojsa Malic recently emailed me the following note:

The ultimate result of Ustasha crimes being suppressed, denied and excused is that the SERBS get blamed for them:

From Al-Jazeera:

“[Appeals judges] said there was evidence from meetings attended by Karadzic in the early 1990s ‘that it had been decided that one third Muslims would be killed, one third would be converted to the Orthodox religion and a third will leave on their own’.”

From NY Times:

“For example, the judge said, evidence presented during the trial showed that ‘in meetings with Karadzic “it had been decided that one-third of Muslims would be killed, one-third would be converted to the Orthodox religion and a third will leave on their own” and thus all Muslims would disappear from Bosnia.’”

Not only is this a lie, it is a word-for-word plagiarism of Ustasha minister Mile Budak’s assertion from 1941, that the objective of [Croatian fuehrer Ante] Pavelic’s state was “kill a third, convert a third, and expel a third” of the Serbs.

[Even] Wikipedia indicates that Budak said this at a speech on July 22, 1941 in Gospić — where Serbs were brutally murdered in 1941 as well as 1991: “The movement of the Ustashi is based on faith. For the minorities we have three million bullets. We shall kill one part of the Serbs, expel the second part, and convert to Catholicism the third part of them.”

What both present-day “Bosniaks” and Croats did in NDH [Hitler-bestowed Independent State of Croatia], and the Albanians did in occupied portions of Serbia, during the 1940s, clearly qualifies as genocide under Lemkin’s definition. So does [1990s Croatian president Franjo] Tudjman’s plan to eradicate Serbs from territories he claimed as Croatia, or the KLA’s pogroms of Serbs in occupied Kosovo, or the ethnic cleansing of Muslim- and Croat-controlled portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yet it’s the victims of these atrocities that are being accused of “genocide” — and even falsely framed using the language of their very executioners!

Just on the face of it, the blatant juxtaposition of Eastern Orthodoxy today being an aggressive, expansionist, proselytizing belief lends laughability to the projective phrase. Even someone who has never heard of the Balkans would think it a strange charge. At the same time, we do know of at least two far more aggressive religions — Islam and Catholicism. Both, coincidentally, historically anti-Orthodox. On that point, I close with the article that Malic wrote while trying to recover from glimpsing the devil’s face in the pages of Jazeera-Times:

The Big Lie (Gray Falcon, July 14)

Two months ago, I wrote about a horrifying feature of Yugoslavia II (1945-1991): the moral equivalence the regime of Josip Broz Tito imposed between the royalist Serbs and the Nazi Croats (both Catholic and Muslim).

The very real genocide (entirely fitting Lemkin’s definition) of Serbs in the “Independent State of Croatia” (NDH) was thus systematically minimized and suppressed, while the royalists (”Chetniks”) were accused of massacring Croat and Muslim civilians and open collaboration with the Nazis. The West participated in this cover-up, partly to prop Tito’s regime as a wedge in the Eastern Bloc, but also to protect the Roman Catholic Church, whose clergy backed the NDH.

Thanks to the suppression of truth about the NDH, Croat exiles were able to impose the myth of their own suffering at Communist hands…as a foundation of an independent Croatia proclaimed in 1991 (and forcibly “cleansed” of Serbs by 1995, with [the West’s] help). Part and parcel of this was a media operation in the early 1990s, by which the heirs of NDH were presented as victims, and their intended victims as executioners:

“…the Croatian and Bosnian past was marked by a real and cruel anti-semitism. Tens of thousands of Jews perished in Croatian camps. So there was every reason for intellectuals and Jewish organizations to be hostile towards the Croats and Bosnians. Our challenge was to reverse this attitude. And we succeeded masterfully.” (James Harff or Ruder Finn, 1993 interview)

This went beyond “reversing the attitude” of Jewish organizations; through the legerdemain of perception management, the very real Nazi connections of Croats, “Bosnians” (i.e. Bosnian Muslims) and later Albanians — during the 1999 attack on Serbia — transformed into the entirely fabricated “Serb fascism” in the Western public opinion…

What you see vs. what happens (source unknown)

Not only did this whitewash the Holocaust, it manufactured a cover for its continuation, this time under [Allied] sanction. The outcome of NATO’s “Deliberate Force” (1995) and “Allied Force” (1999) was arguably worse than of Hitler’s “Strafgericht” (1941): there are hardly any Serbs left in today’s Croatia, while those that survived 14 years of ethnic cleansing, pogroms, murder, rape and worse in Albanian-occupied Kosovo are now being forced to submit to KLA rule. Serbia itself has a quisling government far worse than the puppet regime of [WWII] General Nedić. Only in Bosnia did the Serbs manage to defend their rights, though the political assault on them shows no sign of abating.

Part of that assault have been the “war crimes” trials of the entire political and military leadership of the Bosnian Serbs. The ICTY, a “court” conjured by the [West] for the purpose of legitimizing its Balkans meddling, is insisting that the Bosnian Serbs committed “genocide” against the Muslims. Not in a general sense, mind you, but in seven or so municipalities, cherry-picked by the prosecutors. Both this, and classifying what happened in (or rather, outside) Srebrenica in 1995 as genocide are patently absurd.

The actually legitimate ICJ ruled in 2007 against the claim of “municipal genocide”. Last year, the ICTY “judges” dropped that particular charge against wartime Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadžić. This week, an appeals panel led by ICTY president Theodor Meron, reinstated the charge — on July 11 no less, the date Muslims mark as the anniversary of “genocide” in Srebrenica.

Political symbolism? Marlise Simons (see here) of the New York Times thinks so:

“By scheduling the hearing on what has become a sacred date for Bosnian Muslims, the presiding judge, Theodor Meron, seemed to want to send a message to the war’s survivors as he recited an usually long and gruesome list of atrocities committed against Muslim civilians and prisoners of war.” (emphasis added)

However, among the “evidence” cited by Meron is the following:

“…there was evidence from meetings attended by Karadzic in the early 1990s ‘that it had been decided that one third Muslims would be killed, one third would be converted to the Orthodox religion and a third will leave on their own’.”

Lest you think this is Al-Jazeera editorializing, Simons cites the same passage in her NYT article. So does Carol Williams of the LA Times. And here it is, in the official ICTY press release:

“For example, the Appeals Chamber observed that the Trial Chamber received evidence that in meetings with Karadžić “it had been decided that one third of Muslims would be killed, one third would be converted to the Orthodox religion and a third will leave on their own” and thus all Muslims would disappear from Bosnia.”

If this is what it considers “evidence,” the ICTY ought to disband itself immediately, disbar all its judges and prosecutors, and sentence itself to whatever is appropriate for contempt of court and obstruction of justice. Because this particular claim is a word-for-word plagiarism (with names changed) of a statement made by Mile Budak, Nazi Croatia’s minister of culture, in a 1941 speech about Croatian plans for the Serbs.

Nor can ICTY “judges” claim ignorance of this fact, because the original statement by Budak was quoted in the Karadžić “trial” not two months ago, by Nenad Kecmanović (testifying on May 31 this year, official transcript, end of p. 7133).

Take a minute for this to sink in. Not only is a political court, acting on political instructions, fabricating a political accusation for political purposes, the false evidence it cites to accuse the Serbs of genocide is based on a Croatian Nazi plan to commit a genocide of Serbs. This isn’t just blaming the victim, this is blaming the victim in order to amnesty the culprit.

And not a single Western journalist covering the “trial” has noticed this.

Still think the media have anything to do with the truth? That ICTY has anything to do with either truth or justice? Why?