JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-774
Jerusalem News-774
1 Sivan 5768, 4 June 2008
Contents:
1.
LBJ's
newly released Oval Office recordings disclose his deep feelings toward Israel
2. Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands
3. Russia to head anti-western alliance
4. Olmert:
Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means
5. Former Swedish neo-Nazis visit Yad Vashem
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1.
LBJ's
newly released Oval Office recordings disclose his deep feelings toward Israel
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/28/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-LBJ-Tapes.php
International Herald Tribune, Associated Press The Associated Press
JERUSALEM: Tapes of Lyndon Johnson's Oval Office conversations, released to the
public for the first time on Wednesday, reveal that the American president had a
personal and often emotional connection to Israel.
In the first public presentation of the tapes Wednesday at Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, Professor Robert Johnson said this connection influenced his policy
decisions and helped lay the foundation for the special relationship between the
two nations.
"I sure as hell want to be careful and not run out on little Israel," Johnson
said in a March 1968 conversation with his ambassador to the United Nations,
Arthur Goldberg. The recording was released to researchers on on May 1,
according to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, in Austin, Texas.
President Johnson was known by his initials, LBJ. While he was in office from
1963 to 1969, the United States became Israel's chief diplomatic ally and
primary arms supplier. He was also the first U.S. president to invite an Israeli
premier on a state visit when he brought Prime Minster Levi Eshkol to
Washington, D.C. in 1964.
"This is really the foundation of what we think of as U.S.-Israeli strategic
partnership," said Johnson, a professor of history at Brooklyn College in New
York and this year's Fulbright chair in the humanities at Tel Aviv University.
He is not related to Lyndon Johnson.
The tapes document LBJ's growing belief in the importance of Israel throughout
his administration.
Relations solidified when the United States offered to support Israel against
its Arab neighbors in the 1967 Mideast war, as long as the Jewish state did not
act as an aggressor.
In a taped conversation from June 25, 1967, about three weeks after Israel
defeated three Arab armies, Johnson relates a conversation with Soviet Premier
Alexey Kosygin.
"He couldn't understand why we'd want to support the Jews. "3 million people?
when there are 100 million Arabs," the president said. "I told him that numbers
do not determine what was right. We tried to do what was right regardless of the
numbers."
Professor Johnson said, "It's one of the starkest expressions of a moral
obligation to Israel that came from an American President."
He said the former president, who died in 1973, had a romanticized view of
Israel that paralleled his view of his home state of Texas: a frontier nation
filled with self-made men, often misunderstood by the outside world.
Later in his administration, as he felt more and more besieged by his
adversaries, LBJ's relationship with the Jewish state become more personal.
"They're in about the same shape as I am," LBJ told Arthur Goldberg, his U.N.
ambassador in March 1968, when his renomination for the presidency seemed in
danger. "And the closer I got ..., the closer I get to them." Johnson dropped
out of the race in a surprise announcement in late March that year.
Since LBJ, there have been ups and downs, but in general, U.S.-Israel ties have
been strong.
"If you think of the US-Israeli relationship now it's certainly more complex,"
said Johnson. "But the basic strategic partnership is the same as under
(President) Johnson."
Johnson said LBJ's attitude toward Israel is similar to that of another Texan:
George W. Bush.
"It's not as if Bush has a grand strategic plan, because he doesn't," Johnson
said. "It's personal, it's emotional, it's the kind of context that you see with
(President) Johnson."
Johnson was one of six presidents to tape his Oval Office conversations with a
specially installed recording system. Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and
Eisenhower taped some of their meetings. Kennedy, Johnson and, famously, Richard
Nixon taped nearly all their conversations.
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2. Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands
The
Nakba
of Arabic Jews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxKcFo_h5Eg&feature=related
The Silent Exodus - Jews Thrown Out
from Arab Lands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlE5sa2dv4w&feature=related
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3. Russia to head anti-western
alliance
brought to our attention by a posting on the Origin of Nations Forum]
http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/105240-0/
Russia became a center of the new anti-western alliance called BRIC (Brazil,
Russia, India, and China). This was caused by the recent recognition of Kosovo's
independence by the West.
Hard times for the EU concerning Kosovo question are just going to start,
although many thought that after Pristina was recognized by the west, the rest
countries are to do the same. Nothing of the kind.
There suddenly emerged an almost forgotten union called BRIC - informal alliance
of the countries that stand for Kosovo's status to be overviewed. Moscow was
backed up especially by Beijing and Delhi. They proposed the dialogue on the
status of former Serbian region to be started again. The meeting of BRIC members
took place in Russia, which hosted foreign ministers from Brazil, China and
India.
But what's the purpose of these conversations? We can't turn back time and
Kosovo's Albanians will never voluntarily go back under Serbia's wing, the
country that was claimed to have used genocide against Kosovo residents.
Kosovo's battle for integrity was lost not on February 17, 2008, but a long time
before, in 1999, when Serbia couldn't oppose NATO's aggression. Besides,
Kosovo's independence has already been recognized by about 40 countries, among
which are such superpowers as Britain and the USA, Germany and France. They are
not going to change their choice. Moreover, it would sound ridiculous to deny
Kosovo's independence, which was the successful result of NATO campaign in 1999.
Kosovo, with its vast colored metals resources, is today, in fact, one of
America's biggest bases - it hosts about 16 thousand US soldiers.
However, the BRIC alliance is not that stupid not to understand evident things.
Alexander Rar, a famous European political analyst, says that BRIC tries to
found an alliance that would oppose Western politics. -Thus, it is possible that
Dmitry Medvedev may start his rule with a new anti-western attack. In fact, it's
a new attempt to reflect the world political situation. But it's unlikely that
in the next couple of years BRIC is to become a strong military and political
alliance like NATO. Probably it's going to be a union of countries with common
interests.
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4.
Olmert:
Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3551628,00.html
Roni Sofer
[Extract]
WASHINGTON - The Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible
means, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday night as he addressed the
American Israeli Political Activity Committee.
Iran, Olmert stated, is "the world's largest exporter of terrorism, a
fundamentalist dictatorship, motivated by utter contempt for the values
represented by the free world and an uninhibited ambition to achieve military
superiority and regional hegemony. It openly calls for the elimination of Israel
and actively seeks nuclear capabilities to enable it to translate its sinister
plans into action.
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5. Former Swedish neo-Nazis visit
Yad
Vashem
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212041463999
&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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