JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-839
Jerusalem News-839
4 Shevat 5769, 29 January 2009
Contents:
1.
Ya'alon:
No More Retreats; Arabs Never Accepted Our Existence
2. Steven Shamrak:
Turkish Jew-Hatred and Hamas
Murder of Arabs
3. Journalist Pilar
Rahola
of Spain Defends Israel Well
4. Patriotism survey: 88% proud to be Israeli
5. Israel Versus Ishmael
1.
Ya'alon:
No More Retreats; Arabs Never Accepted Our Existence
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe "Bogey" Ya'alon, who is eighth on Likud's
Knesset list, opened the first session of the three-day Jerusalem Conference
with a Zionist speech of the old-fashioned, hard-hitting kind, that outlined a
new strategy for Israel: no more retreats.
"We suffer from inertia in our way of thought," Ya'alon said. "We pretend that
there is a Palestinian entity which has recognized Israel. But from the dawn of
Zionism there has not been an Arab movement that was willing to recognize Israel
as the sovereign state of the Jewish nation. Mahmoud Abbas said it well before
Annapolis: "Why should Judaism, this religion, have a state?" But we didn't want
to listen. We blur this in the political and public debate."
Ya'alon pointed to a disconnection from reality in Israel's strategic thinking.
"We pretend that the problem began in the Six Day War," he told a packed hall at
Jerusalem's Regency Hotel. "But did the Arabs recognize us before the Six Day
War? We wanted peace in exchange for territories, but we received terror for
territories. And when we exited Gaza unilaterally, we received rockets for
territory... After the Disengagement we went to Annapolis anyways. We didn't
change the concept. Isn't this confusion?"
'Let's try something else'
The former Chief of Staff pooh-poohed the claim that the retreats were forced
upon Israel by United States: "The United States did not pressure Israel to go
to Oslo, or to carry out the Disengagement, or to do what it did last year with
the Syrian President. There is a blurring here also. I think that after
September 2000 we should have stopped and said, 'we've tried two states
for two peoples, let's try something else.'"
"We pretend that the conflict is the Middle East is a territorial one but it is
a clash of civilizations," Ya'alon said. "We retreat from Lebanon and we think
that this will cancel the Hizbullah's reason for existing but the exact opposite
happens."
Confusing the Arabs
Ya'alon outlined his prescription for the next government's policy: "We must
stop talking about territories for peace, about the division of Jerusalem, and
let the Arabs in Judea and Samaria have autonomy. Just by talking about retreats
we give jihadist Islam a boost."
"Some of our politicians have a hidden agenda of a binational state," he
accused. "This confuses the Arabs. When Israeli politicians turn into our
enemies' advisors and we remain silent we confuse them," he said, in an apparent
reference to Ra'am-Ta'al's Ahmed Tibi, who was Yasser Arafat's advisor before
running for Knesset.
He also took jabs at statements made by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, without mentioning their names: "We need
leadership that doesn't say 'we are tired of fighting wars.' The nation is not
tired and the army is not tired. If the leadership is tired it should be
changed. As for another statement, that the state of Israel is finished if we do
not return to the 1967 borders: time works in favor of whoever makes good use of
it," Ya'alon stated.
2. Steven
Shamrak:
Turkish Jew-Hatred and Hamas
Murder of Arabs
From: Steven Shamrak <stevenshamrak.e@gmail.com>
Myth of Moderate Muslims.
Extracts:
Here is just an example of the behaviour and attitude of two major 'moderate'
Muslim countries. Fundamentally, there is no difference between them and Iran,
Syria or Saudi Arabia.
"Israel should be barred from the United Nations while it ignores the
organization's calls to stop fighting in Gaza", Turkey' s Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said. "How is such a country, which totally ignores and does not
implement resolutions of the UN Security Council, allowed to enter through the
gates of the UN?" (No such outrage or calls against current terror-sponsor
states like Iran , Syria, Lebanon , Sudan or Libya in the past. Turkey's prime
minister says he is not an Islamist, but many doubt him even in his own country.
Turkey is illegally occupies northern Cyprus or attacks on Kurds - No outrage?)
Jewish students in Turkey were forced to participate in demonstrations against
Israel during Operation Cast Lead and had to wear a symbol on their clothing
against Israel and say the sentence, "Allah will punish Israel. A rabbi from the
area said the student has been severely traumatized.
Internal, Ruthless Hate Amongst Fake Palestinians. Even during the most intense
Israeli offensives Hamas continued to hunt down, torture and kill members of its
rival for political control A Fatah spokesman announced that the movement had
evidence of 16 murders of Fatah members, over 80 crippling shootings and
hundreds of home imprisonments carried out by Hamas. (I am sure that they will
be added to the list of the 'humanitarian casualties' !)
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet a week ago that Hamas would resume
smuggling arms into Gaza within a few months, despite Israel 's recent
destruction of many tunnels used for this purpose.
3. Journalist
Pilar
Rahola
of Spain Defends Israel Well
forwarded by Jane Botha
http://portalofideas.blogspot.com/2009/01/pilar-rahola.html
Extracts:
Pilar Rahola is a Spanish politician, journalist and activist. She
is a passionate defender of the United States and Israel and an indefatigable
fighter against anti-Semitism. All these despite being ideologically from the
left. Her articles are published in Spain and throughout some of the most
important newspapers in Latin America. She is the recipient of major awards by
Jewish organizations.
I came across this speech and felt that it was worthwhile placing it in my blog.
Why don't we see demonstrations against Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris,
Barcelona? Or demonstrations against the Burmese dictatorship? Why aren't there
demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any
legal protection? Why aren't there demonstrations against the use of children as
human bombs where there is conflict with Islam? Why has there been no leadership
in support of the victims of Islamic dictatorship in Sudan? Why is there never
any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel? Why is there
no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism? Why don't they defend
Israel's right to exist? Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the
defense of Palestinian terrorism? And finally, the million dollar question: Why
is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid
democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships
on the planet? The two most solid democracies, who have suffered the bloodiest
attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn't care.
4. Patriotism survey: 88% proud to be
Israeli
Survey conducted just days after IDF offensive in Gaza concluded
indicates
rise in patriotism among Jews to level close to that which was recorded
prior to 2006 Lebanon war; figures among Arab public indicates growing chasm
Ynet Published: 01.29.09, 01:02 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3663582,00.html
National Pride: Some 88% of Israel's Jews are proud to be Israeli, and 95%
of them are willing to fight for their country, according to the patriotism
survey, which was conducted just a few days after the IDF's three-week
offensive in Gaza concluded.
The figures among the country's Arab population were significantly lower and
indicated a growing chasm between the two sectors.
According to the poll, which is conducted annually, the sense of patriotism
among Israel's Jews has clearly increased compared with 2008 and has almost
reached the level recorded prior to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
The number of Israelis who consider themselves patriotic has grown from 61%
to 71%; 88% of the country's Jews said they were "proud" or "very proud" to
be Israeli, as opposed to only 81% who felt the same way last year. Circa
72% of the Jewish respondents said they believe Israel is "better than most
other countries," compared with 61% in 2008.
A similar trend was noted regarding two of the country's national symbols -
waving the Israeli flag on Independence Day and observing the moment of
silence for fallen IDF soldiers on Remembrance Day. The importance of
raising the flag has risen from 82% to 88%, while the importance of the
moment of silence climbed to 95%.
The data further showed that 79% of Israel's Jews attach importance to
purchasing products that were made in Israel, and 81% said they would
encourage their children to live in Israel. Both of these figures were
similar to those recorded in 2008.
An examination of the "sacrifice" category showed a significant rise in
Jews' willingness to fight for their country - from 84% last year to 95%.
Asked how the recent war in Gaza affected their view of Israeli society's
resilience, 71% said it had strengthened the resilience level, while only
two percent said the conflict had a negative effect on the public's
toughness.
The patriotism survey was conducted by Prof. Ephraim Yaar of Tel Aviv
University and Mano Geva, CEO of Midgam Research and Consulting. The data
will be presented in the upcoming Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya's
Institute for Policy and Strategy conference. The survey examined the "state
of Israeli patriotism" according to four benchmarks: national pride,
symbolism, innateness and sacrifice. The vast differences noted between the
responses of Jewish and Arab interviewees has prompted Yaar and Geva to
present their results separately.
The survey showed that the level of patriotism among Israel's Arabs has
decreased, while their identification with their Arab and Palestinians roots
has increased.
The number of Arab respondents who are proud to be Israeli dropped from 53%
last year to 45%; only 25% of Israel's Arabs attach importance to
Remembrance Day, compared with 45% last year, and the eagerness among the
Arab public to fight for the country has dropped to 20%.
However, a sharp increase was recorded in the number of Arabs who said they
would encourage their children to live in Israel (from 56 to 81%).
5. Israel Versus Ishmael
Clash of Civilizations: Is Israel at War with Islam?
by Hana Levi Julian
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/
Extracts:
(IsraelNN.com) Nobel laureate Professor Yisrael Aumann of the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem went head to head with colleague Professor Shlomo
Avineri on Wednesday over whether Islam is at war with Israel.
"I want peace," proclaimed Aumann, "but the truth is, we are the
terrorists. We have brought the terrorism upon ourselves." Aumann blamed the
past three years of rocket fire from Hamas terrorists on the 2005 Disengagement
from Gaza.
"We expelled thousands of Jews from their homes in response to the last intifada,"
said Aumann. "We destroyed synagogues. We destroyed homes, families.
"We left Gaza, and that brought Hamas to Gaza, and increased the rocket fire to
the south," he stated flatly. "It hurts me terribly over our sons that died, and
it hurts me terribly over the Arab residents that died. We are to blame," he
continued, "because we told them, keep pressuring, keep up the fight, we
will fold. And they understood. They got it right."
Aumann, whose main focus was the issue of how to achieve a lasting peace in
Israel, underscored the view that one must be ready for war in order to avoid
it.
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