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| This photo of PM Netanyahu was taken by me at the First International Jewish Bloggers Conference in 2008. |
Bibi, If You Can't Take the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen!!
My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel. **Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in publications of any sort, please contact me directly. Private accredited distribution encouraged. Thank you.
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| This photo of PM Netanyahu was taken by me at the First International Jewish Bloggers Conference in 2008. |
Bibi, If You Can't Take the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen!!
Most Israelis are furious about the outrageously chutzpadik words of US Senator Chuck Schumer, his unabashed interference in internal Israeli politics, which has been given full backing by US President Biden. Prime Minister Netanyahu, among others, are ranting that "we're not a banana republic" and other complaints.
But to be perfectly honest, Bibi's constant consultations with Biden, Blinken and other American officials during this dangerous war for our very survival made us looks weak and dependent. As a long-time Israeli, I felt embarrassed, and I'm not the only one. And worse than embarrassed, I felt endangered and then not surprised, as simple as 1+1=2, when the elected head of a country keeps taking advice from another country, he doesn't look like a strong, competent, sovereign leader, so why should he expect to be treated with respect?
Considering that the USA has never fought a war on its own territory for its very survival against terrorists who rape, decapitate etc, I don't see what expertise they have. And the minute Biden started talking about his plans for establishing "Palestine" sic in Israel after the war, Bibi should have cut off all contact. But that topic is for another war musing.
The truth is that the Democrats don't like Bibi and they never have. The Clintons loved Peres, and Obama couldn't even fake a smile when Bibi was in the same room. Biden has a ready smile, but it's fake. He knows the saying:
"You can get catch more flies with honey than vinegar.."
It makes Biden more dangerous, because people don't expect a knife in the back. And now Bibi got stabbed.
Biden isn't the first American President to be involved with interfering in Israeli elections. Barack Obama's administration financially supported the "anyone but Bibi" crowd nine years ago. Follow the money... I have no doubt that American money has been supporting all of the anti- Bibi/Likud demonstrations which have plagued Israel for years. They've also been supporting the anti-Judicial Reform movement, even though the present Israeli judicial system goes against every fair proper justice principle American law demands.
The only American President who has treated Israel with proper respect was Donald Trump, who couldn't/can't understand why American Jews continue to support the Democrats who have always treated Israel so poorly.
It's time for the State of Israel to cut its dependence on the United States. Every "gift" we get has strings attached which are really a noose. We get "shop in America only" shopping coupons. Other countries get actual money to spend wherever. These shopping coupons have weakened Israeli military industries. We could be exporting weapons all over the world. Instead we're begging the USA for more bombs.
Enough is enough! Let's finally be a fully independent country. That's the only way we'll be safe and win this war. We don't need America!
In 1967 we had no allies, and we won in six days. I remember it well. That's because Gd helped. Yes, simple math...
Bibi Blinked and Then Stuffed His Ears...
| Many years ago, a fellow blogger (who's no longer on the blogging scene) photoshopped Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu's face in the center of a bagel for me. |
Report: Biden pressured Israel not to launch attack on Hezbollah
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES....
I'm not surprised at all. Sometimes I don't like being right, totally on target. I haven't trusted the United States for half a century already...
Biden's no friend of Israel He doesn't want Israel to really win.
He wants to come in and "rescue" a desperate Israel making it a weak protectorate.
I've always suspected that it had been Kissinger's dream in 1973. That's the only thing that makes sense. Way back when, in 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, I began being very suspicious of the USA and Kissinger. Later on, from two totally unrelated friends, meaning people who never knew each other, I discovered how the USA had deceived Israel. Read Bruce Brill's Deceit of an Ally. Kissinger's guilt is my theory.
There are too many strings, conditions and demands to the American "aid." Read the fine print.
We have to fight to win, to destroy Hamas and demand unconditional defeat of the Gazan Hamas terrorists. Nothing else will end this hell/war. Bibi's previous attempts to "quiet things" in recent years were disasters. It was so obvious this sort of thing would happen, though even I never expected such depravity and cruelty.
As far as I'm concerned such a thing is the demise of the independent State of Israel, Gd forbid.How Long Could Israel Survive Without America?
The importance of the United States to Israel’s national security cannot be overstated.
הכל בסדר, אמא, Imma, Hakol Beseder, Mom, Everything's Fine
| The Economist |
| http://entebbenews.com/ |
| Lindsey Graham, Reuters |
Republican senator: Israel made a mistake signing security dealI don't know how we can get out of it... sigh....
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who oversees the U.S. foreign aid budget, opined on Friday that Israel made a mistake by signing a new $38 billion security agreement with the Obama administration, The Associated Press reported.
Graham said Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could have gotten a better deal if he had waited until President Barack Obama left office.
He stated that there is ample support in Congress among Republicans and Democrats for providing Israel with more military aid. And a new U.S. president, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, would be more generous too, he said on a conference call arranged by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
| Israel Forever |
Yes, it clearly states that we, the Jewish People/State of Israel must be fully sovereign and not look to foreign nations for our security and legitimacy!
14When you come to the land the Lord, your God, is giving you, and you possess it and live therein, and you say, "I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me," ידכִּי תָבֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּה בָּהּ וְאָמַרְתָּ אָשִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ כְּכָל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתָי: 15you shall set a king over you, one whom the Lord, your God, chooses; from among your brothers, you shall set a king over yourself; you shall not appoint a foreigner over yourself, one who is not your brother. טושׂוֹם תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בּוֹ מִקֶּרֶב אַחֶיךָ תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ לֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נָכְרִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא אָחִיךָ הוּא:
| Americans Burning Israeli Flags |
Obama to Israel: Our Tax Dollars Won’t Go to Your Defense Contractors
If successful, the administration’s push to remove the clause would inflict some real pain on Israel’s growing security sector, which already exports more arms overseas than almost any other country apart from the United States. On the flip side, the change would mean a potential windfall for American defense contractors scrambling to sell their wares abroad to make up for declining sales at home. The Middle East and Asia are now driving growth for major U.S. contractors, with about a quarter of revenue coming from international sales, compared with 15 percent in 2008.Yes, he considers Israel to be a competitor not an ally. And Obama's aim is to weaken us, not to help us.
The proposed shift “could be very good news for the U.S. defense industry,” said Loren Thompson, a longtime consultant for American military contractors, because “domestic defense spending is flat as a pancake and Israel is a consumer of high-end military technology.”
| PHOTO: US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, USA, on May 20, 2011. (Michael Reynolds/EPA) |
Washington sees Netanyahu accepting aid package
According to various reports, Israel had begun the negotiations with a request to increase aid to $50 billion in 10 years, about 5$ billion annually, from the current annual $3.1 billion aid. This would have constituted a 60% rise (separate from the missile defense program aid). Gradually, Israel decreased its demand to $40 billion in ten years - that is annual aid of $4 billion.
The Obama administration currently proposes slightly less ($3.8 billion annually, according to some estimates), but subject to two conditions: 1. Merging the separate aid for Israel's missile defense program into the general aid package, forfeiting the various additions the congress used to provide for these programs annually. 2. Plus-ups Israel will have to spend all aid funds on procurement from US companies. In the current MoU, Israel was permitted to spend about 25% of the aid on procurement from Israeli companies and several hundreds of millions of dollars on aircraft fuel a significant boost accelerating defense industry growth. (Globes)
| JUST SAY NO! |
| Michael Oren and the cover of his new book, "Ally." Credit: Anne Mandlebaum and Random House. |
Obama’s money and Israel’s sovereignty
Friday, June 24th, 2016
This week, MK Michael Oren stood up to his boss in the Kulanu party, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, to the political Left, including hundreds of retired security brass, and to the IDF General Staff. The former ambassador to Washington urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to sign the multi-year security assistance deal that US President Barack Obama demands Israel accept.
The problem isn’t the money. By all accounts, Obama’s multi-year military assistance package is generous.
The problem is that in exchange for the expanded military aid, Obama is demanding that Israel surrender its diplomatic and military independence to the White House.
For more than 40 years, every US administration – including the Obama administration – that has sought to harm Israel in any way has hit up against an unmovable obstacle. Whether the White House wanted to enable the UN Security Council to pass an anti-Israel resolution, place an embargo on military exports or bureaucratically slow them down to force Israel to stand down during wartime; whether the White House wanted block expanded trade deals, crowd out Israel’s military industries, or sell game changing weapons systems to Israel’s enemies, the US Congress has always stopped it in its tracks.
Israel-haters in the US speak endlessly about the supposedly all powerful and malign “Israel lobby,” which controls US foreign affairs. But the simple truth is that it wouldn’t matter all that much if AIPAC were to shut down tomorrow. Even without AIPAC, Israel would enjoy the support of Congress.
It would continue to enjoy that support because the vast majority of Americans support Israel and expect their representatives in Congress to support Israel.
In other words, the “Israel lobby” is none other than the American people.
As Oren warned, Obama’s military assistance package would disenfranchise the American public when it comes to US policy toward Israel. The agreement bars Israel from asking that Congress augment the assistance that Obama has offered and bars Congress from acting. So if a future administration chooses to breach the agreement, or to suspend it, or if conditions change and Israel requires other assistance, Congress would be barred from stepping into the breach. Then there is the assistance agreement’s assault on Israel’s military independence.
Israel’s military industries are the primary guarantor of its independent capacity to fight and win wars.
Successive administrations have sought to restrict the activities of Israel’s military industries and have used the military assistance to achieve their goal.
Israeli critics of US assistance note that Israel’s military industries are the primary casualties of the aid.
Currently, the US allows Israel to use a mere 25 percent of its assistance at home. As a consequence, the main beneficiary of US military assistance to Israel are US defense contractors.
Critics of the US aid argue that if Israel stops receiving military assistance, far from harming the economy, the move would strengthen Israeli industry and expand economic growth. The thousands of jobs at US defense contractors that are created through US military assistance to Israel, will move to Israel, and go to Israelis.
Moreover, whereas Israel gives the US its technology for free as part of the security assistance package, if it stops accepting the assistance, it will be free to sell its technology to other partners such as India, which will eagerly partner with Israel in weapons development and production projects.
Strategically, canceling the US military aid package would massively expand Israel’s military independence of action.
On the other hand, the deal that Obama is now trying to coerce Netanyahu to sign will require Jerusalem to give up the 25 percent of the military assistance it is now allowed to spend at home. Oren noted that such a concession will cost thousands of Israelis their jobs.
But even worse, an Israeli agreement to spend all future US military assistance in the US would be tantamount to an Israeli agreement to concede its military independence to the White House for a fistful of dollars. Without the independent capacity to develop and produce defense systems, spare parts and munitions, Israel will be unable to take military action without White House approval.
Obama’s own record makes clear what Israel would be risking.... continued
The US may offer Israel the ‘largest single pledge’ of military assistance in US historyAnd besides those numbers, don't forget that POTUS wannabe Bernie Sanders has not shown support for the bill.
Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chris Coons were behind the letter, which was signed by 51 Republican and 32 Democratic senators*.
Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz was one of the signatories, while Sanders was not.
Even as Israel loudly tangles with Sweden, the UN, and the US envoy, Netanyahu is quietly trying to 'muddle through' amid signs of eroding US diplomatic cover.Shrill wind from Israel: Does it risk alienating its allies?This is one of the wackiest opinion pieces I've seen of late. It really bothers me that people who know bupkes about history are accepted as qualified to write in respected mainstream media all over. Besides Israel always going to the assistance of places in trouble, like the rescue experts going right now to Taiwan, where there was just a massive earthquake, and the crew that helped in Haiti and numerous other places. And Israel doesn't first make the decision according to how friendly the country is or how "democratic" and "humanitarian" policies are there. Israelis just run to help those in need.
The Israeli election of 2015 is a crushing defeat for Barack Obama and the appeasers of the left.Despite the dozens of Obama’s Democrat operatives who flooded Israel in the past few months, despite the unprecedented vilification Benjamin Netanyahu has suffered at the hands of the mainstream American and Israeli media (save for Sheldon Adelson’s daily Israel Hayom), despite the leftist alliance with the Joint (Arab) List whose declared goal is to dismantle the Jewish state, and despite the laundered money that Obama’s State Department funneled into the coffers of leftist Israeli political operatives, Netanyahu and Likud won a historic victory. (Seraphic Secret)I was in the states, mostly New York, during the two weeks before Israeli Elections, yes, during the time of Prime Minister Netanyahu's much heralded speech in congress, and I only heard praise for what he said and what he stands for.
Many Israelis and Americans were disgusted.I thank President Obama for helping to propel the Likud to a landslide victory over its main opponent, Labor, which adopted the name Zionist Union for this election. While the notoriously unreliable Israeli polls had Zionist Union and its head, Isaac Herzog, leading Likud by a tally of 24 to 21, in the end ZU remained stable while Likud soared to 30 mandates (Knesset seats), a difference of 43% from the forecasts!
The American president did his utmost to thwart Bibi’s election chances. Most Israelis believe that towards Bibi, Obama has been discourteous and undiplomatic numerous times since his landmark election victory in 2008. But the president outdid himself when he overreacted following Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner’s announcement in February... (Steve Kramer)
Israeli Elections 2015 |
"1....The EU calls on Hamas to immediately put an end to these acts and to renounce violence. All terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm. The EU strongly condemns calls on the civilian population of Gaza to provide themselves as human shields." EU Council conclusions on the Middle East Peace Process Summary: 22 July 2014, Brussels - Council of the European Union Foreign AffairsBefore you claim that America supports Israel financially, I'd like to remind you that you're wrong. The so-called aid is just a way for the USA to prop up its military industries and dispose of all sorts of surplus supplies. American aid isn't money. It's shop in the USA gift certificates. That is good for the ailing American economy, but it's awful for Israel. It means that instead of being more self-sufficient there are products we don't produce, which we are capable of producing. And when, which happens frequently, Israeli engineers suggest improvements on the military products, it's the United States, and not Israel that benefits from those improved items.
"The President stressed the U.S. view that, ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza."
That's right: The European Union insists that "All terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm". Period. But President "we have Israel's back" Obama see disarming of the terrorists as something that will happen "ultimately" and within the context of a "lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ."
Put in plain English: if those damn Israelis don't sit down and sign a final status agreement with the Palestinians then as far as President Obama is concerned Hamas can keep its entire armory intact.
Take note also that while the EU condemns Hamas for its role in causing Palestinian civilians deaths Mr. Obama is silent on the matter.
| Sunday, July 27, 2014 |
| Poll: 87%:7% Continue operation, 69%17% Destroy Hamas |
| Poll: 87%:7% Continue operation, 69%17% Destroy Hamas Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA 27 July 2014 Poll commissioned by Channel 10 news carried out by the Sarid Institute and reported today: Do you support continuing the operation or a complete ceasefire? Continue 87% Ceasefire 7% Don't know 6% Should the operation in the Gaza Strip conclude with bringing down the Hamas regime? Yes 69% No 17% Don't know 14% |
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| "How do you say ceasefire in Arabic?" "Reload" |
| phone case |
According to a February 18, 2014 Gallup Poll, Israel is the MVP (most favorite player) in the Middle East – 72% very/mostly favorable – leading all other Middle East countries by a dramatic margin: Egypt – 45%, Saudi Arabia – 35%, etc. Israel’s popularity is at the highest since 1991, when Gallup first polled Americans on foreign countries, compared to 2009 (63%), 2010 (67%), 2011 (68%), 2012 (71%) and 2013 (66%). Israel is more popular than most Western democracies, while the Palestinian Authority is ranked among the least favorable (19% favorability), along with North Korea (11%), Iran (12%), Syria (13%) and Iraq (16%).That fact doesn't really surprise me. When I'm in the states to visit family and shop, I'm always asked to sign up with the various stores' credit cards/membership. I always decline by explaining that "I live abroad."
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/americans-israel-is-the-mvp/2014/02/23/
And then they generally say one of two things:"Where?" The clerk usually asks.
"Israel," I answer.
"I've always wanted to visit Israel." or
"I visited Israel once. It's wonderful."
These are the responses I've gotten in Tempe, Scottsdale, AZ, Miami, FL, Atlanta, GA and also New York. The clerks/salespeople aren't Jewish, not by a long shot. It's very rare for my admission of being Israeli to be greeted with a blank stare, and bli eyin haraa, I've never encountered any hostility.How many Arab attacks will it take for Israel to do something?On three separate occasions this past week a number of rockets and mortar shells fell in Israeli territory. The attacks were part of a trend of increasing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip which, in our assessment, is being carried out by rogue terrorist networks, especially those affiliated the global jihad. Hamas continues its policy of restraint, maintained since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense. Violence continues in Judea and Samaria, a manifestation of the so-called "popular resistance." Two Palestinian youths were killed during an attack on an IDF post near Tulkarm. Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of trying to sow anarchy and cause security in Judea and Samaria to deteriorate.
According to the numbers published, the United States will provide Israel with $3.4 billion in defense aid, a record number, according to Channel 10.Please don't forget that this "aid" isn't money for Israel to develop and produce weapons and other military equipment. It isn't money that Israel can spend in the best and most economical way for our defense needs.
The budget proposal submitted to Congress also includes a request for the addition of approximately $220 million to finance the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, a request that was not included in last year's budget proposal, but was added later on.