The most anti-Israel president ever

Shamelessly stolen from Meryl Yourish at Hot Air’s Green Room.

Here’s the intro:

President Barack Obama didn’t just apologize for the Bush years in his speech to the UN yesterday. He delivered what is probably the most anti-Israel speech ever given by a sitting president.

Once again, he used the argument that there is some kind of moral equivalency between Israeli settlements and Palestinian incitement. If you dig just a little, you find that “incitement” includes the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to have a single map of Israel in its textbooks, its constant Jew-hatred in its official media, statements, and even sermons, its referrals to “Palestine from the river to the sea” (that would be where Israel is currently), and the utter refusal by the Obama administration to note that the PA reinforced its anti-Israel charter and also added more anti-Israel conspiracy theories, such as the one that Israel poisoned Yasser Arafat.

And an additional excerpt on which I MUST comment.

The time has come — the time has come to re-launch negotiations without preconditions that address the permanent status issues: security for Israelis and Palestinians, borders, refugees, and Jerusalem. And the goal is clear: Two states living side by side in peace and security — a Jewish state of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people. (Applause.)

Comment: Hey Ob-Asshole, learn a little history.  Here’s the property description of the territory for the Jewish National Home that the entire League of Nations approved (after, of course, the creation of Arab Palestine – you know, that state for those stateless Palestinians that supposedly does not exist):

Briefly stated, the boundaries are as follows:
North. – From Ras en Naqura on the Mediterranean eastwards to a point west of Qadas, thence in a northerly direction to Metulla, thence east to a point west of Banias.
East. – From Banias in a southerly direction east of Lake Hula to Jisr Banat Ya’pub, thence along a line east of the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias and on to El Hamme station on the Samakh-Deraa railway line, thence along the centre of the river Yarmuq to its confluence with the Jordan, thence along the centres of the Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Wadi Araba to a point on the Gulf of Aqaba two miles west of the town of Aqaba, thence along the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba to Ras Jaba.
South. – From Ras Jaba in a generally north-westerly direction to the junction of the Neki-Aqaba and Gaza Aqaba Roads, thence to a point west-north-west of Ain Maghara and thence to a point on the Mediterranean coast north-west of Rafa.
West. – The Mediterranean Sea.

Which means: it’s ALL ISRAEL…GAZE, JUDEA, SAMARIA, ALL OF IT…THEREFORE THERE IS NO OCCUPATION. 

Jackass

I’ll leave it to you to read the rest at Hot Air.

Not a Chance

Of success, that is. 

An Israeli NGO that I had never heard of prior to today is threatening legal action in (or against?) the Obama administration for failure to live up to the treaties that established the borders of Israel (or rather, the borders of Jewish Palestine from the Mandate period).  Israel National News has the story.

(IsraelNN.com) Members of the non-governmental group (NGO) “Justice Now!” claim that U.S. President Barack Obama’s policy against Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria violates internationally recognized treaties, and they are threatening to take legal action.

Justice Now! reported it has gathered the evidence necessary to file a case in the United States against the U.S. government’s “continued violations of the treaties that recognize Israel’s rights to its internationally recognized legal borders, the prohibition against ceding any land belonging to the Jewish National Home, and supporting the right of Jewish settlement within those internationally recognized borders.”

Justice Now! aims to “educate the world” regarding the legal borders of the Jewish national home, which it says comprises all Israel, including all of Judea, Samaria, the Gaza Strip, the entire city of Jerusalem, and more.

These borders were recognized by the United States in a 1924 treaty with Great Britain, the group explains, and they are still guaranteed by that treaty. Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution calls a treaty the “Supreme Law of the Land” and the Courts have the power to force the federal executive branch (President, Secretary of State, etc.) to honor treaties. Justice Now! says it may seek a court ruling to compel the U.S. government to recognize Israel’s sovereignty through all of the borders expressed within the Balfour, San Remo, and Mandate documents.

Letter to Obama
Justice Now! says it intends to send a letter to the Obama administration urging it to respect Israel’s rights under international law to settle and build within all of the lands of the Jewish homeland.

Given what we’ve seen from this administration regarding Israel, I predict there is NO WAY IN HELL the group’s efforts will bear any fruit, even though they are right.

Justice Now! homepage here, if you’re interested.

Strangeness

What in the world is going on with the U.S. Senate?  Are some of its members actually coming to their senses (full text of letter at the link)?

(IsraelNN.com) No fewer than 71 US Senators – including only six of the 13 Jewish ones – sent a letter to US President Barack Obama on Monday, asking him to press Arab states to recognize and normalize relations with Israel.

[…]

The 71 signatories included the Senate leaders and whips of both parties, namely, Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

The letter states that Israel’s efforts toward peace are not being met with equal efforts by Arab states. A similar letter was sent by 226 House members of both parties last week to Saudi Arabia, calling on its leaders to deepen their commitment to peace with Israel.

[..]

Notably, only six of the Senate’s 13 Jewish members signed the letter: Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Too weird.

Let Freedom Segregation Ring

It was only a mere 13 months ago when then-Senator Obama made some strong comments and promises to Jews and Israel at an AIPAC conference.  Some highlights:

 … I want you to know that today I’ll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel. And I know that when I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends. Good friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever.

… the bond between Israel and the United States is rooted in more than our shared national interests — it’s rooted in the shared values and shared stories of our people. And as president, I will work with you to ensure that this bond is strengthened.

… and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security.

… And I will bring to the White House an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.

…And I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the world.

…any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.

What has happened in the ensuing year?

Well…way too much to enumerate right now.  What I want to highlight is the last statement above, characterized thusly at israelinsider.com.

“Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” Obama thundered Wednesday, earning an ovation from the 7,000-plus attendees at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference.

Of course, the VERY NEXT DAY, the backpedaling began from the Obama campaign:

“Jerusalem remains Israel’s capital and it’s not going to be divided by barbed wire and checkpoints as it was in 1948-1967.”

OK, no checkpoints and barbed wire, but not necessarily UNDIVIDED.  Hence the administration’s latest move:

Israel Told to Halt East Jerusalem Housing Project

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, threatening to further complicate an unusually tense standoff with its strongest ally over settlement construction.

Israeli officials said the country’s ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told that a project made up of 20 apartments developed by an American millionaire should not go ahead.

Wait, what?  Why not?  Isn’t Jerusalem the capital of Israel…isn’t that what Obama said?

 Jeff Jacoby continues the story

LATE LAST WEEK, the Obama administration demanded that the Israeli government pull the plug on a planned housing development near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. The project, a 20-unit apartment complex, is indisputably legal. The property to be developed – a defunct hotel – was purchased in 1985, and the developer has obtained all the necessary municipal permits.

Why, then, does the administration want the development killed? Because Sheikh Jarrah is in a largely Arab section of Jerusalem, and the developers of the planned apartments are Jews.

Ah, there’s the rub.  Sheikh Jarrah is a “largely Arab” neighborhood…and apparently Obama thinks it should be an Arab-ONLY neighborhood.  Judenrein anyone?

Jacoby notes:

Think about that for a moment. Six months after Barack Obama became the first black man to move into the previously all-white residential facility at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, he is fighting to prevent integration in Jerusalem.

It is impossible to imagine the opposite scenario: The administration would never demand that Israel prevent Arabs from moving into a Jewish neighborhood. And the Obama Justice Department would unleash seven kinds of hell on anyone who tried to impose racial, ethnic, or religious redlining in an American city. In the 21st century, segregation is unthinkable – except, it seems, when it comes to housing Jews in Jerusalem.

So I am willing to go out on a limb here, and claim that Obama’s literary inspiration was wrong, and that “them Jooz”…er, ZIONISTS!, aren’t controlling the President at all.  Who knew?  And our post-partisan, post-racial President?  A Jew-Hater…thunderous applause from AIPAC, and “shared bonds” and “true friends” notwithstanding.

I hope the nearly 80% of American Jews who voted for whomever was sporting the “D” are happy with themselves.

 

 

 

A Bit of Truth

I’ve been trying to convince people of this for years, mostly without success.

Perhaps folks are more likely to believe someone who’s “been there”?

(IsraelNN.com) Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas says the Arabs of the Galilee city of Tzfat left in 1948 not because they were driven out, but on their own volition.

Many biographies of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas imply that his family became “refugees” because of the War of Independence in 1948. For instance, a BBC profile on Abbas when he succeeded Yasser Arafat as PLO chairman in 2005 writes, “In the light of his origins in Safed in Galilee – in what is now northern Israel – he is said to hold strong views about the right of return of Palestinian refugees.” Answers.com states, “As a result of the Arab-Israel War of 1948, he became a refugee.” Wikipedia articles on the topic say the same – all giving the impression that the Abbas family was driven out and became homeless.

However, Abbas himself – co-founder of Fatah with Arafat, and known as Abu Mazen – now tells a different story. Speaking with Al-Palestinia TV on Monday, Abbas admitted that his family was not expelled or driven out, but rather left for fear that the Jews might take revenge for the slaughter of 20 Jews in the city during the Arab pogroms of 19 years earlier.

[…]

The memory of the slaughter, Abbas said, “brought [our families] to understand that the military balance had changed, and that [we] no longer had military forces in their real meaning. There were only young people who fought, and there was an initial action. They felt that the balance of power had collapsed and they therefore decided to leave. The entire city was abandoned based on this thought – the thought of their property and saving themselves.”

BE AFRAID

Devastating critique of Obama’s disastrous foreign policy failures, at Front Page.

An excerpt:

Consider.

There is an actual genocide taking place in Darfur, but the President is apparently more concerned by the presumed atrocity of “natural growth” in  Israeli settlements that were acknowledged and vetted by the previous American administration and whose legitimacy can be historically validated. This is apparently a much bigger deal than the 500,000 dead (according to National Geographic News for September 14, 2006!) and millions displaced in the Sudanese ethnic cleansing campaign.

North Korea with its now, almost routine, nuclear tests, its proliferation of nuclear and ballistic technology to the world’s rogue regimes and its defiance of the “international community” surely merits a more studied and effective response than expressions of disappointment by the President, a verbal spanking administered by a pitiable Hilary Clinton, and the threat of revocable sanctions. It clearly requires appreciably more attention than does a scattering of huts and outposts in Judea and Samaria that are, in any case, being dismantled by the Israeli government.

But there is one issue that eclipses them all. Iran is racing to the nuclear finish line, determined to become what Middle East Terrorism expert Walid Phares has called a “Jihadist USSR.” It is developing solid fuel missiles capable not only of reaching American military bases in the region but of targeting major European cities. It is perfecting an EMP platform that constitutes a devastating menace to the United States. Disregarding the United Nations Charter, it has promised to annihilate a sovereign nation, with which it is not officially at war, by atomic holocaust. The potential for a planetary cataclysm is enormous and dwarfs by several orders of magnitude any other geopolitical concern in the world today. Yet Obama is intent on preventing Israel from constructing apartment units in East Jerusaelm while doing nothing to prevent Iran from constructing centrifuges in Natanz.

The whole thing is more than worth your time.

Who’s Racist?

A simple question, brought to us by Ya’akov Kirschen , courtesy of Ethel Fenig of AT.

Ethel points out, as I have on several occasions:

Yes folks, most Arab nations ban Jews from living in their countries; from “moderate” Jordan to “radical” Saudi Arabia, while others place severe personal and religious restrictions on the few remaining Jews.

In contrast, over 20% of Israel’s population is Arab, who are free to practice various forms of Islam or Christianity. But not a peep of protest about the former comes from the mouths or internet sites of the human “rights” crew while shouts of apartheid instantly roar from the anti Israel crowd when Israel takes preventive measures if Israeli Arabs commit terrorism.

Who is racist then?

A Little History

Some not-common knowledge is being disseminated today at American Thinker.

Hopefully it will be become more common.

In 1920, Great Britain was given the responsibility by the League of Nations to oversee the Mandate over the geographical territory known as Palestine with the express intention of reconstituting within its territory a Jewish National Home.

The territory in question stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the eastern boundary of Mandatory Palestine, which was a border that would separate it from what was to become the future state of Iraq [Hey, did you know that Iraq was “created by the UN” just like Israel supposedly was?  Does that make Iraq’s existence illegitimate too?  Just wondering.].

The League of Nations created a number of articles, which were in line with the original intent of the Balfour Declaration of November 29th, 1917. At the last minute, however, a new article was introduced by the British Colonial Office: article number 25.

At first the sudden addition of this article was not a cause for alarm but gradually it became apparent that its inclusion directly enabled Great Britain in 1921 to tear away all the territory of geographical Palestine, east of the River Jordan, and give it to the Arab Hashemite family; the territory to become Trans-Jordan and led by the emir Abdullah. [Here’s another one!  Jordan was also “created by the UN” – ANOTHER illegitimate state?]

Britain presented this gift to Abdullah, the son of the Sherif of Mecca, as a consolation prize for its awarding of the Hedjaz territory and Arabia, which included Mecca, to the rival Saud family: That vast territory is now Saudi Arabia. [Wait, another?]

This was the first partition of Palestine and created a brand new entity 87 years ago covering some 35,000 square miles or nearly four-fifths of the geographical territory of Palestine [If one looks at old maps of the area, one can see the disparity between Arab Palestine (Jordan) and Jewish Palestine]. Immediately Jewish residence in the territory [Arab Palestine] was forbidden and it became in effect judenrein – the German term for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from a territory [Note that there still were – and ARE – Arabs legally living AS CITIZENS in Jewish Palestine…that is, Israel].  

As I’ve mentioned before, THE TWO STATE SOLUTION HAS ALREADY BEEN TRIED.  It was, and will always be, a failure.

Humor

Shamelessly stolen from Omri:

The Israeli representative to the United Nations rose to speak: “Before beginning my talk I want to tell you a fable about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath!’ Removing his clothes, he put them aside and entered the water. When he got out and looked around, he realized that his clothes had vanished. A Palestinian had stolen them.”The Palestinian representative jumped up from his seat and shouted back furiously: “What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren’t even around back then!”

The Israeli representative smiled and said “OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way…”

A Dose of Truth

Published at Smooth Stone.

So many nations and anti-Israel organizations thrive on the intentional use of false data in order to sway world opinion against Israel. For example, their rhetoric is littered with concepts, mostly mythical, intertwined with words like “East Jerusalem”, “”Palestinians”, “West Bank”, etc.

For example, the concept of “Palestinians” is one that did not exist until about 1948, when the Arab inhabitants, of what until then was Palestine, wished to differentiate themselves from the Jews. Until then, the Jews were the Palestinians. There was the Palestinian Brigade of Jewish volunteers in the British World War II Army (at a time when the Palestinian Arabs were in Berlin hatching plans with Adolf Hitler for world conquest and how to kill all the Jews); there was the Palestinian Symphony Orchestra (all Jews, of course); there was The Palestine Post; and so much more.

The Arabs who now call themselves “Palestinians” do so in order to persuade a misinformed world that they are a distinct nationality and that “Palestine” is their ancestral homeland. But they are no distinct nationality at all. They are the same – in language, custom, and tribal and family ties – as the Arabs of Syria, Jordan, and beyond. There is no more difference between the “Palestinians” and the other Arabs of those countries than there is between, say, the citizens of Minnesota and those of Wisconsin.

What’s more, many of the “Palestinians”, or their immediate ancestors, came to the area attracted by the prosperity created by the Jews, in what previously had been pretty much of a wasteland.

The nationhood of the “Palestinians” is a myth.

There’s more…please visit Smooth Stone.

More on the Theme

It’s been my experience that few people outside of the blogosphere – and disappointingly few within it as well – are aware of what happened with Jews in Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Syria and other places within Dar-al-Islam as what was then the Turkish territory of Palestine was being purchased and developed by early Zionist Jews.

In short, pogroms and other abuse prefaced their eviction from their communities, many of which had been Jewish for thousands of years.  Most left with literally nothing by command of law, and their belongings were confiscated.  One can learn more about the approximately 800,000 Jews evicted from Arab/Muslim lands here.

Why do I bring this up?  Well, aside from this facts importance in the current fighting between Israel and Hamas, it’s happening again.

Jews in Muslim Lands Feeling the Heat

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) Jews living in majority-Muslim countries are in a precarious situation as Israel fights the Islamist Hamas regime in Gaza. While pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic rallies and sporadic attacks are continuing worldwide, Jews in Muslim lands face an additional danger as a vulnerable minority.

Synagogue Shut by Force
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim state, that nation’s only synagogue was forcibly shut down and sealed.

[…]

In Turkey, synagogues in Izmir were also shut down, but this time out of serious security concerns, after someone scrawled “We will kill you” on the door of one of the biggest synagogues in the city…In Istanbul, a shop owned by a local Jewish family was targeted, as well. A huge poster saying, “Do not buy from here, since this shop is owned by a Jew,” was plastered on the shop and other posters on the wall said, “Jews and Armenians are not allowed, but dogs are.”

[…]

This year, a coalition of Egyptian political opposition parties came together to prevent the pilgrimage of Israelis to the rabbi’s tomb.

Elsewhere in North Africa, the Al-Qaeda offshoot known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (North Africa) has issued explicit calls for Muslims to attack Jews “wherever they are found.”

See more evidence of the gut-wrenching hatred here…and here, and here.  Disturbing is putting it mildly.

1948 Again?

In May of 1948, the nation of Israel reemerged from the darkness of history when David Ben Gurion declared independence.  The nascent nation was then attacked by the neighboring Arab countries, as well as by the Arabs then resident in the new state.

Are they gearing up for a repeat?

“Palestinians” – Check (obviously).  Remember, Hamas’ founding document states “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).”

Lebanon – Check (and thus by proxy, Iran).  Hizballah’s charter says “Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.

Syria – Check

Jordan – Check

Egypt is – somewhat surprisingly – playing the part of mediator this time around.  I imagine it’s because Mubarak detests Hamas as much as anyone else…although he’s not doing much to stop the smuggling of arms and other miscellaneous contraband into Gaza.

While it’s not the armies of these countries making attacks this time, the sentiment is certainly the same.

Ted Belman says “There is no diplomatic solution, there is only a military solution.”  If the IDF “solves” the problem of Hamas and the rockets – and the incessant vitriolic Jew-Hatred Hamas engenders – I wonder what Israel’s neighbors will do then?