FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

The Winograd report, the inquiry into the disaster of the second Lebanon war, will be released on Monday. Naturally, its contents are already leaking out:

A report broadcast by Israel’s Channel 10 news claimed on Saturday evening that the committee found Prime Minister Ehud Olmert failed to put into action emergency plans drawn up long before the war. Fearing it would result in heavy casualties Olmert resisted a ground incursion into Lebanon but presented no cohesive alternative in its stead due to a lack of structured planning. According to the committee the war was grossly mismanaged and decisions were hastily made in the ensuing chaos…

The committee accused [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz of failing to make up for his lack of military experience and failing to utilize the defense-oriented resources at his disposal. Peretz, according to the committee, preferred to convene a private forum which bypassed the ministry of defense so that in the end [Peretz] was running the war with Olmert with a complete lack of the necessary knowledge. (my emphasis) — YNet

The report also severely criticized former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. Halutz resigned earlier this year and was replaced by Gabi Ashkenazi.

YNet claims that left-wing Knesset member Yossi Beilin met with right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu ‘secretly’ on Friday, and both agreed that Olmert “must not continue as PM”. There is probably no other issue that these two could agree about. This reminds me of a joke:

Israeli 1: Did you hear that Olmert’s popularity was at 3%?

Israeli 2: I had no idea he had so many relatives!

In addition to his failure as a decision-maker, Olmert’s Prime Ministership is suffering from his unpopularity, the perception that he will not be PM much longer, and several investigations for corruption. Only someone displaying enormous arrogance, someone disconnected from reality, could continue to insist upon remaining in his position as Olmert has. Like Dan Halutz, he should take responsibility and resign.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Olmert, Peretz, Winograd

Saudi Arabia has broken up a huge plot to attack their oil industry:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – Police arrested 172 Islamic militants, some of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, the Interior Ministry said Friday. A spokesman said all that remained in the plot “was to set the zero hour.”

The ministry issued a statement saying the detainees were planning to carry out suicide atttacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries … and military zones” — some of which were outside the kingdom…

The kingdom…devotes significant resources to defend its oil industry against [such] threats. The government planned to spend $2 billion of its $12 billion defense budget last year to protect the country’s oil sector…

Previous reports have said the country keeps round-the-clock helicopter and F-15 fighter patrols over its export terminals, with as many as 30,000 troops protecting the oil infrastructure.

Although one’s first impulse is to say “they deserve it”, a successful attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure would be a tremendous blow to the West. Such an event could cause the price of oil to double or more overnight. Even though the US gets only about 7 or 8 percent of the oil it consumes from Saudi Arabia, the impact of the price increase would be enormous. The US economy, already imperiled by high levels of public and private debt and a large current account deficit, could be seriously destabilized. We could see a sharp increase in inflation and interest rates, and a stock market plunge as starters.

One major beneficiary would be Iran. Iran’s oil industry is much less efficient than that of Saudi Arabia, and indeed current Saudi attempts to keep oil prices stable are in part aimed at the hostile Iranian regime. A sudden flow of cash would reinforce Ahmadinijad’s regime and allow it to spend even more on its nuclear program.

In fact, even though the terrorists that have been arrested appear to be al-Qaeda Sunni types, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that Iran had provided support for them in money, weapons, training, or other forms.

Technorati Tags: Saudi Arabia, terrorism, oil, al-Qaeda, Iran

A random choice from comments posted on the BBC website concerning journalist Alan Johnston, still held by the gangsters of Gaza (since March 12):

What cause can be justified by kidnapping innocent people? It is a cowardly act. What has Alan done that made you want to kidnap him? He is a journalist based in Gaza in support of the Palestinian people and their fight for freedom. I have been watching his reporting for years and he is a very good man. Release him immediately and stop causing so much pain for him and his family and friends.

There are at least 2835 similar remarks, of varying degrees of English literacy and insight, from all over the world. No, I didn’t read them all. I read as many as I could stand to read.

I would have expected to find at least one saying something like, “yes, while you’re at it, release Gilad Shalit too”. After all, Shalit is only 21 years old (he observed his birthday in captivity), he’s been held now for 10 months, and he too was just doing his job, trying to help his people in their struggle — not for ‘freedom’, but to keep from being murdered.

But I didn’t find anything like that. Lots of empathy for Mr. Johnston, lots of hard-headed comments of the form “don’t they understand that they’re hurting their cause?”, lots of appeals to God and Allah to bring him home, but I guess there’s just no comparison between a heroic journalist and a 21-year old draftee.

Technorati Tags: Johnston, BBC, Gaza, Shalit

That was quick:

GAZA (Reuters) Thu Apr 26, 4:33 AM ET– Palestinian armed factions renewed their commitment to a Gaza Strip truce on Thursday but said rocket salvoes from the territory could resume if Israel did not halt military operations in the occupied West Bank.

JERUSALEM (AP) Thu Apr 26, 7:45 PM ET– Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets toward Israel on Thursday, the army said, and Israeli officials warned they were losing patience as rising tensions threatened a five-month cease-fire. [my emphasis]

What’s to threaten? Counting today’s two, a total of 225 Qassam rockets have been fired into Israel since the ‘cease-fire’ was declared in November.

Every day there’s at least one article about the cease-fire. Is it holding up, will it continue, did Israel strain it, will it be extended, did Don Imus insult it, etc. I have a picture in my mind of a Palestinian spokesperson surrounded by a crowd of reporters, each frantically trying to get his own angle on the fortunes of the really, really important cease-fire.

Please, write about something else, like how the Palestinians are so dumb that they kidnap friendly journalists, blow up their own restaurants and Internet cafes, and beat up unveiled women.

Technorati Tags: Gaza, Qassam, Israel, cease-fire

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