FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

AITA ESH SHAAB, Lebanon (AFP) - Shiite militants of Hezbollah erected a large photograph of two Israeli soldiers it is holding on Lebanon’s border with the Jewish state Thursday…

The photograph was a montage of old pictures already circulated in Israel of the two men in civilian clothes before their capture [on July 12, 2006]…

In the last few months, Hezbollah has raised flags, banners and pictures of its “martyrs” in an apparent show of defiance along the border with Israel.

Israel has still not received any confirmation that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are alive. This in itself means little, because the terrorists consider any information a valuable commodity, and provide it only in return for something.

Israel should sue Hezbollah in the International Court of Justice, demanding the return of the hostages held illegally, as well as payment of compensation for the incident. It’s hard to see how the court could find a way to make Israel the guilty party, insofar as Hezbollah terrorists crossed the border under cover of rocket fire, kidnapped the two and killed eight others. Seems open and shut to me.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Goldwasser, Regev, ICJ

Iranian PM Ahmadinijad:

“If [the Holocaust] has actually taken place, where did it happen? Why should the Palestinian people become homeless (because of this)? Why should Palestinian children, women and mothers be killed on streets every day for 60 years?”

The president said that these innocent people losing their lives had no role in World War II.

“All of them had been killed in Europe and Palestinian people were not involved in it,” he added. — MEMRI

The assumption is that Israel draws its legitimacy from the Holocaust. But nothing could be farther from the truth. By 1948, the Zionist enterprise in Palestine had been underway for about 60 years. All of the institutions of a state were in place. The League of Nations mandate of 1922 recognized the historic connection of the Jews to the land and the need to create a ‘Jewish National Home’ in Palestine (not in all of Palestine). The Jewish Yishuv in Palestine had built an economy which provided for many more Jews and Arabs than could have lived there if it had not been for Zionism. The Jewish leadership was totally focussed on creating a state, and — as in other areas administered by the colonial powers — it would have happened, Holocaust or no.

The Arab leadership, especially the antisemitic Nazi Haj Amin al-Husseini, refused to agree to any Jewish state anywhere in Palestine, even in the area where there was a clear Jewish majority. This leadership denied the Jews their right to self-determination, denied the legitimacy of the League of Nations mandate, and consistently violated the human rights of the Jews by inciting riots and pogroms, such as the one in Hebron in 1928 in which 67 Jews were murdered and the city ethnically cleansed of its 800 Jews.

In 1937, the British Peel Commission proposed a partition of Palestine into a (small) Jewish and an Arab state. The Zionists accepted it, but the Arabs did not. All subsequent attempts to provide for both Jewish and Arab self-determination, from 1948 through the Clinton/Barak plan of 2000, were rejected by the Arab nations and the Palestinian leadership, as were all attempts to heal the wounds of 1948 by resettling Arab refugees (the Jews resettled their own refugees). In recent years, Yasser Arafat and his cronies stole literally billions of dollars that were intended to help build the infrastructure of a Palestinian state.

So my response to Ahmadinijad is the following: why should the Jewish people continue to suffer from aggressive wars and terrorism because of something that they were not responsible for — the failure of the Arab leadership? The Jews did not refuse any of the partition agreements, the Jews did not prevent a solution to the refugee problem, and the Jews did not impoverish the Palestinian people.

The Arabs and their friends like to turn history upside down, but they can’t change reality.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Arabs, Zionism, Ahmadinijad, Holocaust

From YNet:

The army was aware from the onset of last summer’s war in Lebanon that a military operation against Hizbullah would not secure the release of two soldiers kidnapped in a cross-border attack, a senior general said Wednesday, contradicting past claims by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, who was the head of the Operations Directorate during the war, said that the army presented the government with a plan to weaken Hizbullah and never suggested that the soldiers could be freed…

Eizenkot also revealed that the army’s plan outlined a 6-day operation aimed at destroying Hizbullah’s posts in south Lebanon and partially damaging Lebanon’s infrastructure to pressure the Lebanese government to deploy the army in the south.

Such a limited operation would not have been capable of rescuing the hostages, who were likely out of southern Lebanon within a few hours of their kidnapping.

The plan to weaken Hizbullah by pressuring Lebanon was particularly ill-conceived. Although I am obviously speaking from hindsight, it seems to me that the relative weakness of the Lebanese government in relation to Hizbullah and Syria should have been understood, as well as the significant amount of sympathy for Hizbullah in the Lebanese army (some 30% of which is Shiite). I also think that the disastrous consequences for Israel’s public relations from attacking Lebanese infrastructure should have been foreseen.

The alternatives would have been to do little or nothing after the initial pursuit, or to have gone full-bore after Hizbullah, with intent to damage the organization as severely as possible. This would have been a much larger operation than the one that took place, and would have risked confrontation with Syria. And of course there is never a guarantee that hostages can be freed safely.

However (and now I am really speaking from hindsight), this is exactly what should have been done. By failing to act more aggressively, Israel allowed herself to go from the frying pan into the fire. In my estimation Syria and Hizbullah are preparing to attack Israel in the near future. # Hizbullah has fully resupplied. But in contrast to the situation last summer their position has improved:

• They may have the advantage of a suprise attack.

• Syria’s missile and other forces have been considerably beefed up in the period since the war.

• Hamas will be able to open a much more significant southern front than before.

• The increased UN presence in and around Lebanon will make it harder for Israel to respond.

• The outcome of the last war has given Israel’s enemies a psychological advantage.

Of course, the IDF has learned a few things as well. For its part, the political leadership needs to build up home front defenses, make sure that the army is fully supplied for the serious and extensive conflict that is expected, and understand that restraint is not always a virtue.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hizbullah, IDF, Syria

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The IDF plans to ask Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday for permission to carry out “pinpoint” operations against Gaza-based Hamas terrorist chiefs and infrastructure, in response to an attempt by the Islamist group to kidnap soldiers near the Gaza Strip…

Olmert is scheduled to meet with security chiefs Wednesday morning to discuss the escalation in Gaza and expectations were that the IDF would be given the green light for “pinpoint” operations against Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the Strip.

Not that this doesn’t sound like a good idea, but why is this information given to the press and the entire world? Just do it (or don’t). Nothing is gained by including you and me in this discussion.

The article also notes:

The security situation was apparently discussed in a telephone call on Tuesday between Olmert and US President George W. Bush.

The implication, I suppose, is that the green light comes from Washington, if it comes. Just how ‘micro’ is the management here?

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, IDF

YNet reports:

IDF officials have affirmed that Hamas had planned Tuesday morning to kidnap a soldier while the Qassam rockets and mortar shells were being launched from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel.

Army intelligence and ground forces in the area were able to prevent the attack, they said.

It’s not enough to just stop such attempts. They have to be made unproductive, which can be done by adhering to three principles:

• No prisoner exchanges

• A death penalty for terrorist murders

• Disproportionate retaliation

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, IDF

It’s a certainty that Saddam had chemical weapons, and a possibility that he had biological weapons and nuclear material. What happened to it?

Melanie Phillips, no crank or conspiracy theorist, describes how it went to Syria and why the story is not widely known:

The Republicans won’t touch this because it would reveal the incompetence of the Bush administration in failing to neutralise the danger of Iraqi WMD. The Democrats won’t touch it because it would show President Bush was right to invade Iraq in the first place. It is an axis of embarrassment.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, WMD

Sunday, I suggested that the supposed “ceasefire” by Palestinian terrorists didn’t exist. Today HonestReporting points out that, despite media reports that suggest that Israel is “straining the ceasefire”, it’s the Palestinians that haven’t ceased firing. Here are some links showing terrorist activity in the month of April alone:

• Islamic Jihad terrorist captured near Tel Aviv after his bomb belt fails to detonate
• Palestinian bride arrested on suspicion of planning to carry out suicide bombing
• 3 Israelis injured in shooting attack near Modi’in
• Hamas calls for further kidnappings of Israeli soldiers
• Israeli cars shot at in West Bank
• Israeli civilian wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
• Arrests prevent huge Hamas-planned car bomb in Tel Aviv
• Egypt arrests would-be Hamas suicide bomber near Israeli border
• Palestinian rockets hit Sderot home; several Israelis treated for shock

Technorati Tags: Israel, terrorism

In his Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) address, Israeli PM Olmert said:

We will weigh with great seriousness every diplomatic initiative, we will take advantage of every chance, we will be prepared for far-reaching compromises, and even for very painful concessions, as long as our vital and existential interests are safeguarded, in order to fulfill our burning ambition for peace. — Ha’aretz

To whom is he speaking? Not to a majority of Israelis, who understand that concessions, compromises, withdrawals, and prisoner releases just lead to more of the same. And not to Palestinians or the Arab nations, who know that no matter what compromises Israel makes, they will not be satisfied and there will not be peace.

Here is what the PM of Israel should say:

Insofar as Israel is the legitimate expression of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, a fully sovereign nation which does not bear the responsibility for the failures of the Arab nations with respect to themselves and the Palestinians and refuses to pay the price for them, I assert the following:

We will not accept phony initiatives or imposed plans. We will strike disproportionally at terrorists and preemptively at any nation that plans to attack us. We passionately desire peace, but we will make no concessions for future promises of peace, only in return for realized peace.

In particular, we demand the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas and Hezbollah. If they are not released within 12 hours, we will begin taking escalating military action against Hamas and Hezbollah personnel and infrastructure. There will be no prisoner exchanges.

Would this cause a diplomatic and journalistic stir? Of course. And worse, if Israel’s enemies find it necessary to test her resolve. But the forces in the world that want to see Israel gone will be the same before and after. Only now — if Israel were to consistently follow this policy — they would have to adjust their world-view to one in which Israel is a permanent fact. And then maybe from that point we could begin a constructive dialogue for peace.

How would Israelis react to this? I think the reaction of the people to Hezbollah’s attack last summer shows that they are prepared for sacrifice and struggle. What they are not tolerant of is having their sovereignty, their peace, and their self-respect chipped away a little at a time, unrequited concession by unrequited concession.

I waive my copyright; any Israeli PM may use this speech free of charge.

Technorati Tags: Israel

Trolls are nasty creatures that live under bridges. They’re also people who post deliberately insulting or false messages in online forums, hoping to get angry responses. This turns them on. Or something. Here’s one explanation of trolls and trolling.

Recently a friend of mine posted a message on some kind of list about recent antisemitic incidents in France. Here is what he got in return:

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Last week I quoted a Syrian statement that more or less threatened war if the Golan Heights were not returned. And I’ve mentioned the fact of the Syrian military buildup, particularly in the areas of short and medium range missiles.

It’s important to understand the significance of this. The obvious interpretation is that the Syrians believe that in light of Israel’s poor performance in last summer’s war and their own military strength, Israel can be threatened into giving up the Golan.

Another possibility is that Syria wants to make it impossible for Israel to take credit for a Golan peace initiative. Any such initiative could now be presented as another Israeli surrender in the face of military pressure, like the withdrawals from South Lebanon and Gaza.

Finally, there is one other possibility, much more worrisome. Assad may have decided, like Nasser in 1967, that a regional war will be to his advantage, and he is beginning to set the stage to justify such a conflict on the basis of Israel’s ‘intransigence’. The take-it-or leave-it presentation of the Arab Initiative in a form which Israel simply cannot accept is also evidence that the Arabs have decided to choose the military option over negotiations with Israel.

This does not represent a change in attitude in the Arab world, which has stayed more or less the same since 1948. The only thing that has changed very recently is the new Arab perception that Israel can be defeated militarily.

Therefore, because of the strategic importance of the Golan in the event of war it is extremely important that Israel does not bow to pressure and return control of it to Syria. Rather than reducing the chance of war, this would increase it.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Syria, Golan

Here’s a cartoon about Sderot: The residents are saying “Hello! They’re shooting at us!”, while the army answers “Call back when somebody gets killed”.

It looks like the IDF has decided to change their approach. In response to today’s rocket attack, the IDF struck directly at the terrorist cell reponsible.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Sderot, Gaza, Qassam, IDF

This is a picture of a home in Sderot, hit by a Qassam rocket today.

Let’s stop talking about a ‘ceasefire’ between Hamas and Israel.

First of all, the rockets keep falling.

Second, they are coming from Hamas, regardless of what faction takes ‘credit’ for them.

And finally, Hamas is calling for all factions to redouble their efforts to kill Israelis.

So there isn’t, and hasn’t been a ceasefire.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, Sderot