07/28/14

How It Is

Arlene from Israel

A true story told last week by Col. Richard Kemp: He was given the opportunity to meet with several of our soldiers, and in one special instance met with a pilot in our air force. This pilot had had 17 missions aborted because civilians were spotted.  “You must be very frustrated,” said Col. Kemp, “going out on missions and being called back so many times.”

“Oh, no, sir” replied the pilot.  “I was glad.  I wouldn’t want it on my conscience that I had killed innocent people.”

Col. Kemp calls our army the most moral in the world.

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It seems as if we stand alone among the nations of the world.  Yes! there are individual people – very good people – with us. Some of them write to me.  Yet we face situations that are not just severely unacceptable, but unbelievable.

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The president of the United States is doing incredible damage. The only positive thing to be said for how he’s behaving is that he is so blatant that he is uniting diverse factions in Israel against him.  I’ve been writing about concrete, and how it is used in Gaza.  Well, I think it an apt analogy to say that Obama comes at us like a cement truck.  No subtlety for him.  He serves as a diplomatic weapon for Hamas.

U.S. President Barack Obama (Reuters)

Credit: Reuters

Yesterday the president called Prime Minister Netanyahu and, after defending Kerry, whom he said Israel misunderstood, he demanded an “immediate, unconditional humanitarian cease-fire,” which he called a “strategic necessity.”

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I have no information on what Netanyahu said to the president, but I have only the greatest empathy for him regarding the difficulty of remaining even semi-courteous in the face of this outrage.  (I would imagine that, since he was dealing with Obama as head of the Jewish state, and not as a private individual, he would – in spite of what inclinations he might have had to the contrary – have attempted to retain a reasonable tone.)

You can see some objections to Obama’s demands as voiced by government officials, ministers and MKs, in this Israel Hayom piece, “Rage in Jerusalem: ‘Reject Obama’s cease-fire demands.’”:

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=19079

One official is quoted as saying, “Obama is stopping Israel just when we have Hamas against the wall.” (Emphasis added) That, my friends, is the name of Obama’s game.

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The official White House version of the message delivered by Obama to Netanyahu says:

“The President stressed the U.S. view that, ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza.”

That is, US readiness to push for disarmament of terrorist groups is keyed to that “two state solution.”  If Israel wants disarmament, we’d better get to work on resuming negotiations.  This is not about disarming Hamas now because Hamas is dangerous, period.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/07/27/readout-president-s-call-prime-minister-netanyahu-israel

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Aaron Lerner compares Obama’s statement to a recent EU statement that called “on Hamas to immediately put an end to these acts and to renounce violence. All terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm.”  There were no political provisos attached to this demand.

http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=64495

If the EU comes out better than Obama here, you can understand what we’re dealing with.

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Then yesterday there was a non-binding resolution by the Security Council in which it called for:

”an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire, allowing for the delivery of urgently needed assistance.”  It urged all parties to accept and fully
implement the humanitarian ceasefire into the Eid period (which marks the end of Ramadan and is taking place now) and beyond.

It further urged “the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace.”

http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=64499

No mention of the human rights of Israelis, who have had rockets launched at them, or of the need for terrorist groups to surrender their weapons. The only concern voiced is for the civilians of Gaza. And, once again, the implication is that the current situation could be resolved via a “two state solution.”  Unspoken here, but starring us in the face, is the obscene notion that if it weren’t for the “injustices” visited upon the Palestinian Arabs by the “occupier,” Israel, Hamas would not be violent.

Rest assured, I will come back to this theme, and to what we can expect down the road with regard to pressure to negotiate.

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So where are we?  Israel accepted a sort of “de facto” ceasefire, unofficially, in which we would only return fire.  Over the night, Hamas was quiet, which has been taken as a sign that its strength is faltering.  (And which is likely why the US is now coming to its rescue.)  There was one rocket launched in the morning, and shortly after noon, four more.  And then more still.  Each time, Israel has responded and as I write we are striking targets in Gaza.

What this means, at a minimum, is that there will be no more one-sided ceasefires, in which Israel remains quiet when Hamas does not (which was the intolerable situation a couple of times in recent days).  In fact, Netanyahu called Ban Ki Moon this afternoon and rejected UN calls for an immediate cease fire.

Right on!

Netanyahu said that the UN resolution did not mention that Hamas is attacking Israel (a small “oversight”) or that Hamas uses UN (i.e., UNRWA) facilities in doing so. He said that the world must ensure that Gaza is demilitarized and that international donations do not go towards terrorist infrastructure.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/day-21-obama-calls-netanyahu-urges-immediate-unconditional-ceasefire-in-hamas-conflict/

It is glaringly evident that the world is in no rush to demilitarize Gaza.  But I see it as enormously important that Netanyahu should keep demanding this – and the need to avoid having “rehabilitation funds” go for terrorists infrastructure, as they have in the past.  We are staking out our position.

And Netanyahu is responding with strength:

the president of the UN Security Council addresses the needs of a murderous terrorist organization attacking Israeli civilians, and does not address the needs of Israel’s security…”  (Emphasis added)

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183436#.U9ZdEZvlrIU

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on Thursday, July 24, 2014. (photo credit: Flash 90)
Credit: Flash90

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One thing Israel will continue to do – and Netanyahu made this clear in his phone call to Ban – is to dismantle tunnels. We have started using explosives on them again and this will continue whether Hamas is quiet or not.

This video from the IDF is great: a tunnel that lead to Israel demolished: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-hH2026OnU&feature=youtu.be .

Our prime minister referred to this process as the first step in demilitarizing Hamas.

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I picked up one article today that said according to an IDF source, all of the tunnels that lead into Israel had been taken care of.  I mention this in case some of my readers might see it.  I believe it is overly optimistic.  Perhaps we have demolished all of the tunnels leading into Israel that we knew about – but that is something different.  As it seems clear that we have not identified every singe tunnel, we cannot possibly know that we have demolished all those that cross over the border.

I believe that there remains an imperative for setting up monitoring and other systems on our side of the Gaza border. No chances should be taken.

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As to the rockets – how much more of Hamas’s rocket cache we will take out depends in part, I would imagine, on how Hamas behaves in coming days.  Right now, we have moved back to a full war footing, taking out operatives and infrastructure as well as rockets.  We will do more damage, but it is not likely that we are not going to eliminate Hamas’s arsenal.  Especially is this the case as rockets are stored in tunnels.

The Hamas leadership is eager to rebuild its stores of weapons – which is precisely what it has done in the past. I have already written about a deal with North Korea that would would provide more rockets to Hamas in Gaza.  But beyond this is a readiness by Iran to retrofit Hamas rockets with new guidance systems that would make them more accurate.

Thus – and I cannot emphasize this enough! – it is imperative that calls by Hamas for a loosening of the blockade on Gaza (they claim for “humanitarian” purposes) not be permitted.  We are in a good position right now because Egypt has blocked the tunnels from the Sinai, which Hamas had utilized previously. We must make sure that Hamas can not bring in additional rockets or enhancements to them.

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“Amos Yadlin, a former IDF Military Intelligence chief, says Israel must stop treading water and dramatically expand its ground offensive in Gaza. Actions that take the IDF ‘deeper into Gaza’ are necessary, he tells Channel 2, to the areas where much of the Hamas military wing is concentrated.

“’I’m not one of those who think we should reconquer Gaza,’ Yadlin says. But the Hamas military wing is ‘pretty satisfied now’ and must not be allowed to emerge from this conflict relatively intact.’”

(Times of Israel, above)

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Late this afternoon, four soldiers near the Gaza border were killed and several wounded in a mortar attack launched by Hamas. (In the first reports it was not clear that those dead were soldiers.)   A fifth soldier died in battle inside of Gaza, bringing the total of military dead to 48.

Tonight, our prime minister addressed the nation because of this:

“We knew we would have difficult days,” he said.  “This is a hard and painful day.  Patience and determination are required in order to fight a terror organization that seeks to destroy us,”

“There must be an end to this, It is unacceptable that the citizens of Israel will live under threat of death. Killing from above and killing from below.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183446#.U9aql5vlrIU

Netanyahu said we should be prepared for an extended operation.   Defense Minister Ya’alon, who spoke after Netanyahu, said we would not hesitate to expand our operation.

http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Netanyahu-Were-prepared-for-an-extended-operation-in-Gaza-369193

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Sometimes I size up the situation and find myself breathless.  In a “normal” world, where decent values pertained, the administration of the US would be working hard to protect its ally Israel, and seeking to weaken a jihadist terror organization by all means possible.  The American administration would fully grasp the fact that the same terrorists who are after Israel intend ill for all of the West.

Americans need to look very hard at how they have gotten to where they are now and what their president is doing.

07/28/14

Trevor Loudon LIVE Tonight 8pm ET Interview by Denise Simon re. The Enemies Within, on Sovereignty Unbound

Gulag Bound

Trevor Loudon will be interviewed tonight (Monday, 8pm ET) by Denise and Bobbi of PRN Radio Tuesday evening’s Denise and Bobbi. Denise Simon is a contributor to Gulag Bound and Stand Up America.

We will explore the latest advances of the enemy: Barack Obama and his neo-Marxist, New World Order globalist comrades. 8pm ET (5pm PT) tonight.

Trevor Loudon is an acclaimed political researcher and activist who has written the best-selling “Enemies Within” series of books, published by Pacific Freedom Foundation. His latest project is with IndieGoGo, seeking support and contributions for a world-class documentary exposing “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress.” You can donate here.

The Enemies Within zooms in on the best kept secret of modern politics. Almost no one is aware of the fact that fewer than 20,000 U.S. communists, socialists and extreme progressives are able to influence the politicians, and even write the laws that control the lives of over 300 million Americans.

The Team needs a minimum of $100,000 to get started and will receive some matching funds. Our full budget is $400,000. This production will take about 1 year from start to completion. It will take thousands of man hours for research, filming, and distribution.

Trevor Loudon is a grassroots investigator and activist. The establishment and news outlets do not want to report what Trevor is going to expose. The establishment does not like to fund films that do not fit their narrative. It will be difficult raising the funds to make this film, but it will not be hard to get the film out to the people.

LIVE: Listen via the Web, via Skype, your phone, or the player of your choice:

Sovereignty Unbound

Sovereignty-Unbound-Netcast

Chat during the program at Patriot Radio Network or at the BlogTalkRadio side.

07/28/14

Forum: What Should Israel Do About Gaza?

The Watcher’s Council

Every week on Monday morning, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum with short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture or daily living. This week’s question: What Should Israel Do About Gaza?

The Independent Sentinel: Israel should finish the job now while Hamas has few supporters in the Arab world. They need to obliterate the tunnels and the missiles. Then they should go back home but monitor any shipments going into Gaza.

It’s a blessing that Morsi is gone.

Simply Jews: What happens the day after Hamas is destroyed?

Unfortunately, we may not see that day anytime soon. Our government is not up to sacrifice lives of hundreds of soldiers required to smoke out the terrorists from under the center of the Gaza City, which will be the price once the fighting in the confines of the city really starts.

Or should Hamas be destroyed or just disarmed, if that’s possible?

In the ideal world Hamas should be destroyed, in a less ideal – disarmed. In our world, neither will happen, due to (see above). It will be helpful as well to read this;

http://www.timesofisrael.com/a-supportive-british-colonel-and-a-bleak-vision-of-endless-costly-military-operations/

I am sorry to say that it is all true.

What should Israel’s strategy towards Hamas/Fatah be?

Trying to bolster the latter in every situation that will harm the former. For example, if freeing prisoners: leave the Hamas ones in prison. Any relief of restrictions goes to the latter – leaving the former in the mud. But all of this – publicly, with lots of coverage. Encourage good behavior so that all can see it.

What strategy should America support?

The one agreed in the privacy between the two sides and not the one blurted via “accidentally” operating mikes to the media, totally not agreed by the other side. As it more and more frequently happens lately.

What is most likely to occur there?

Nothing essentially new. Same old. Another year or two of relative calm, followed by a new round of strife.

Sorry for being so pessimistic.

JoshuaPundit: There are two things you hear said a lot about this situation, usually by genuinely stupid politicians or equally stupid think tank inhabitants. The first is the trophe that ‘there is no military solution.’  The second is to say there is a major  difference between Hamas and Fatah.

Actually, a military solution would be the only one that would work. And the dime’s worth of difference between  Hamas and Fatah,the difference between ‘acceptable’ terrorists and ‘unacceptable’ terrorists has faded to nothingness because of the unity agreement between the two and their coordinated strategy in the Third Intifada.

It should be apparent by now that anything Israel does to defend itself is now going to be subject to  criticism by the usual suspects, which now unfortunately includes the Obama regime. That should be apparent to anyone following the news of President Obama’s trying to rescue Hamas by demanding Israel abide by an unconditional ceasefire…while he and Qatar and the EU fund them.

Israel is in the same position with Obama as they were with France’s DeGaulle on the eve of the Six Day War.Since anything they do short of committing suicide is going to get the same reaction, they have little to lose.

There is a solution to Gaza. It involves Israel  (1) destroying Hamas utterly by whatever means necessary (2) Annexing Gaza (3) removing most of the Arab population either to Area A, the reichlet of Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas or to UNRWA refugee camps outside Israeli territory and (4) Gradually repopulating Gaza with Jews and watching it become Singapore or Hong Kong instead of an Islamo-fascist swamp.

Every poll indicates that Israel’s population overwhelmingly supports defeating Hamas once and for all.There really is no choice.

At the same time, the behavior of Abbas and Fatah have shown that  a similar solution has to be coordinated with them. Israel needs to delineate its borders unilateral and enforce them. Annex Area C and the Jordan Valley where the populations are overwhelmingly Jewish as well as whatever strategic areas of Areas A and B Israel determines it wishes to control. Cede the rest of Area A to Abbas as his little reichlet, and move all Jews outside the new borders  to Israeli territory and all Arab non-Israeli citizens to ‘Palestine’. Endgame, and as the divorce becomes final,  a  warning:  let Abbas and Fatah know that any aggressive action, including lawfare will involve severe consequences. And follow through on it.

Peace comes from victory. And after all of the ‘sacrifices for peace’ written in Jewish blood forced on Israel since the Oslo debacle, I think the Israeli people would support this over these constant wars of attrition that grow more costly each time. Enough of the balagan gadol.

The Razor: Unfortunately Israelis don’t have the stomach for permanently fixing the problem in Gaza and the West Bank: Ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from both areas and forcing them into refugee camps in Jordan or Egypt or wherever else the locals will put up with them. It’s not that Israel couldn’t survive the heat from the outside world; I believe the average Israeli doesn’t have the conscience to do it. Contrary to what the Europeans and many on the Left here in the US believe, the Jews are a moral people. It would be difficult for them to accept the morality of a campaign of trucking the Palestinians out of their homes in Gaza and the West Bank to the border crossings in Egypt and Jordan. But morality and political stability are two mutually exclusive domains.

Barring such a moral turn, the only viable solution I’ve seen is the “Shock the Casbah” strategy described here: http://www.the-american-interest.com/garfinkle/2014/07/24/why-is-this-gaza-war-different-from-all-other-gaza-wars/. In a nutshell, it means negotiating a final settlement with the PA, but it’s a longshot as Garfinkle notes, “because it requires a boldness of vision and leadership in Israel, among the Palestinians, and in the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia that is simply not available.” I believe Netanyahu is bold, but he has no counterpart on the PA side, and definitely lacks a bold leader here in the United States. So I doubt that will happen.

At this point I don’t see an end to the violence in Gaza, just a lot more muddling through. If Hamas can be destroyed the Israelis should do it. It’s on the ropes with an unfriendly Egypt behind it and it’s Iranian patron too busy in Syria and Iraq to give them much notice. Of course there can always be worse in Gaza. Look at Isis in Northern Iraq…

 Ask Marion: There really is no Palestinian State.  They have continually failed to lay the groundwork for a viable homeland and the continual jockeying over the two state solution exists to placate International opinion.

It would be nice to say, just disarm Hamas and everything will be fine, but in reality the only way to peace is for Israel to destroy them.  Even after years for war in the Middle East, Americans are generally clueless about what is going on there, where the borders are or even where most of the countries in the Middle East are and they certainly have no clue as to the minutia.

Operation Protective Edge continues to move toward its goals while the Hamas system of complex and advanced military infrastructure tunnels is being realized beneath them. Israel can and I believe has the ability to reach their immediate goal of destroying this tunnel system that has been constructed, subduing rocket fire and leave Gaza… establishing a couple of years of calm and normalcy. But if Hamas is not destroyed, this is a temporary solution… until the next round. As Netanyahu has pointed out, Hamas breaks all cease fires and agreements.

Video: Netanyahu: Hamas Has Broken All Cease Fires We Have Agreed To

But why wait for a next time? Israel should eliminate the Hamas threat completely right now during Operation Protective Edge, including reoccupying Gaza and destroying every rocket, gun, bullet, armament, as well as their factories. Israel has already mobilized into Gaza and Hamas has been weakened by these first few weeks of fighting. Plus, maybe the most important difference is the Sinai factor which has not presented itself before and could disappear again in the future. There has been a military rapprochement with the Egyptians since al-Sisi overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood. Currently, Egypt is completely in Israel’s court. Having their backs up against the wall Hamas leaders and fighters will not be able to escape into the Sinai, the only place they could go in the past in a final Israeli assault scenario. The Egyptians will cut them down if they try to enter their territory. They will be forced to shoot it out with the IDF. So now is the time. Israel certainly is not going to get any help from the U.S. while Obama is our president and who knows what the future will bring?!? Funny how that border word seems to vary from situation to situation in President Obama’s mind… and actions!!

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere and you won’t want to miss it.

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07/28/14

Victim: The Senior Citizen

By: Allan Wall
Victims of Illegal Immigration – A Collection of Essays
Hat Tip: Dick Manasseri

We’re constantly lectured in the Main-stream Media that illegal aliens are just doing the jobs Americans won’t do and that our economy would collapse without them. News stories nearly always present illegals as sympathetic victims of American intolerance. The reality is much more complicated, however.

Local news stories, seldom publicized nationally, reveal a slew of horrible crimes committed by illegal aliens. This story in Maryland, for example, is of a pair of illegal alien lawn workers who were treated kindly by an elderly lady who employed them. In gratitude, they killed her, in a horrific manner.

It all started with Ramon Alvarado and his cousin Jose Alvarado, both from El Salvador, who had been allegedly living in the United States for a decade. Not to worry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement [sic] had issued detainers on the cousins and Jose’s wife, meaning there was a possibility of them being deported eventually. It didn’t happen soon enough, though, to prevent this murder. (It doesn’t help that Maryland has “sanctuary cities” and grants driver’s licenses to illegals.)

The two men already had criminal records in Maryland – Jose for check fraud and Ramon for driving without a license or registration. These sorts of crimes didn’t lead to deportation.

Lila Meizell, an 83-year-old resident of Wheaton, Maryland, hired the cousins to do yard work for her for two years. Ms. Meizell was pleased with the yard work, according to her daughter. Besides paying them, she gave them food, soft drinks, and tips.

So why did they kill their kindly employer? After being paid, the cousins decided to milk some more money out of her. Jose took the check for $75 and added two zeros to the number. That way they were able to cash it for $7500. Then Jose and Ramon decided to kill Lila to cover up the fraud. The cousins broke into Lila’s home, where Ramon grabbed her and smashed her head. While still alive, Lila was doused with gasoline and her body set ablaze. When emergency personnel arrived it was too late. (Two police officers and a firefighter were also injured while responding to the fire.)

The cousins were arrested, tried, and sentenced. Since Ramon did more of the dirty work, he got two consecutive life terms. The judge said to Ramon, “The inhumane manner you chose to exterminate a lady well into the autumn years of her life strongly suggests that you are sadistic.” Strongly suggests? There is no doubt about it. Jose got a life sentence without parole.

Those murderers never should have been in our country in the first place, or after having entered, they should have been deported long ago.

Allan Wall, a columnist for Mexidata and VDARE, resided many years in Mexico and has recently returned to the United States.