Hamas/Gaza War Musings #47: Bibi, The Worst of Menachem Begin

This is related to War Musings #46, so if you haven't read it, I recommend that you do so. Both of these posts show how we're suffering from the mistakes made and never corrected decades ago. Here I concentrate more on one of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin made. No, I don't get into Begin's Sinai withdrawal and destruction of numerous Israeli communities in the Sinai, aka the Camp David Accords.

What concerns me the most is how Begin's, and more recently, Bibi's avoiding cleaning the bureaucracy of those who obviously want to sabotage their government policies. In Begin's time, the Foreign Ministry, stocked with Leftist Labor supporters, didn't advise him according to his supporters' and voters' policies. People didn't vote him in to withdraw from the Sinai and destroy Jewish communities. It's very probable that Begin's depression towards the end of his rule, wasn't just because of the death of his beloved wife, but because his policies had alienated his closest friends and supporters.

When Begin's party got the most seats in the 1977 elections, it was a surprise for all. As I remember, none of the polls predicted such a political upheaval. Begin didn't have an "army" of followers to take over the bureaucracy. I don't think he had a real plan for an eventual win. For nineteen years, Herut and Liberals felt that they'd be permanent Opposition.

Upon establishing his government, instead of doing what was technically legal, replace government workers involved with policy. Instead he tried to make "friends" with them, called it being "noble," by not firing the Labor followers and Histadrut members. So political appointees became permanent policy makers, and they made sure the "right" people succeeded them, "a friend brings a friend." That's how the Judicial, the IDF, Foreign Ministry and the Shabak etc still follow Leftist Labor policies, even though the Labor party hasn't had a Prime Minister for decades. The only real ideological success/change was that Begin's Liberal-- meaning non-socialist--political partners did what they were elected to do by breaking the power and monopoly of the Histadrut in economics.

Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu continued the path Menachem Begin. That's why Judicial Reform never got done, nor did he put his own people in important security positions, so on October 7, 2023, he wasn't informed about the signs of Hamas Gazan preparation for war against us. Shabak head Ronen Bar has made it clear that he considers himself over the government and refused to recognize that he had been fired. My big question is why did it take so long for Bibi to even try to fire him...

Here we are a year and a half after that murderous invasion, no closer to #TotalVictory #ניצחוןמוחלט than we were on October 8th. Despite Bibi's brave bombastic speeches, his policies are weak and failing. Our soldiers are being killed, maimed, wounded and are exhausted. We don't act like victors. We haven't returned to Gush Katif. Bibi thinks we can just be policemen aka targets. Bibi doesn't have a vision for a greater future. I predicted this when I heard him speak in 2008.

Israel is at war for its very survival. We must achieve victory. Victory must be combined with Israeli SOVEREIGNTY over all the land we administer, otherwise we'll be at war again and again until we collapse, Gd forbid. Along with sovereignty, we must allow settlement all over. Illegal Arab building must be destroyed. Minimally, don't allow Arabs to build where the Oslo Accords forbade them. More about the Oslo Accords... another time. That's another story.

Pray for strong leadership which is needed for VICTORY, the only way we'll ever see peace and the return of the remaining hostages.

Nothing's New! אין חדש תחת השמש These Old Buttons Say It Best

Who should be edited in over Yitzchak Rabin*? 

I suggest one of the "NOW" leaders. Basically whoever (among Israelis) is pushing a "deal" with the Hamas/Gazans instead of defeating them, until they beg us to stop. 

We must stop begging!!!!!

Israel's demand re: the hostages, most who have been imprisoned by Hamas/Gaza must be LET MY PEOPLE GO, not LET'S MAKE A DEAL. Negotiation, making a deal just makes danger, bad business and, as we saw with the Gilad Shalit fiasco, more kidnapped Israelis. 

*The Oslo disaster is one of the causes of today's Hamas/Gaza war against Israel.

Letter to Jerusalem Post -Close, but no Cigar- "Five Words for When the War Ends"

In last week's Jerusalem Post, there was an article, Five words for when the war ends, that almost hit the nail on the head, but the writer wanted the head to also hit the nail. That's why the writer, Sherwin Pomerantz doesn't get "the cigar."

On one hand he admits that he and his fellow "dreamers" should admit that they made mistakes in supporting dangerous policies, like Disengagement, trusting the PA to govern properly and the Oslo Accords. Yes, Pomerantz admits that they should say those "five words:" 

"I'm sorry, you were right."

Unfortunately, after that he wants us to say those words, too, for... honestly, I can't figure out what we did wrong. The latest government coalition finally began to act against the judicial dictatorship proposing judicial reform. Pomerantz blames us for causing the demonstrations against the reform, even though he admits in his article that the judicial needed to be reined in:

"On this same subject, the leadership of Israel’s Supreme Court in the years prior to 2022 also needs to say to all of us, “I’m sorry, you were right!” Their arrogating power to themselves to regularly override the prerogative of the elected representatives of the people to make laws was, in itself, a festering wound that culminated in the push by the Right last year to “take the country” back at they liked to say."

Pomerantz claims that the pro Judicial Reform demonstrations made Israel look weak and vulnerable which caused the Hamas terrorists to attack on October 7. He totally ignores that his friends, the "dreamers," had been calling for reservists, pilots and ordinary soldiers to refuse their army duty. That gave the terrorists the confidence to attack. He and his "dreamer" friends caused us to experience a nightmare that isn't over yet after over 100 days!

Why did the Jerusalem Post publish such a piece?

Here's the letter I wrote to the Jerusalem Post. So far it hasn't been published, and I don't know if it will be. I probably should have saved and edited it the next day to make it clearer and reread the article another few times:

Sherwin Pomerantz almost gets it, OK let's say partially gets it. I have a decade more than him here in Israel, which I'm mentioning, since he made a point saying that he's here forty years in the blurb identifying who he is and why he considers himself qualified to voice these opinions. 

Pomerantz starts off very well admitting that he and his fellow travelers erred in supporting Disengagement, trusted the PA to develop a Singapore in Gaza and thought the Oslo Accords something wonderful should say to those of us who disagreed:

"I'm sorry, you were right."

But then he shows that he still doesn't get it. He can't get a handle the importance of Judicial Reform on the unjust justice system here where, as we just saw in the recent high court action, eight unelected "justices" claim the right to overrule/veto the votes of millions of Israelis, because of politics-- OK they used a euphemism "reasonableness," meaning they just don't agree with the ideology. He's blaming brave Yariv Levin and other coalition MKs who were sent by Prime Minister Netanyahu to Reform the Judicial System, without the backup of Bibi's legendary oratory skills and hasbara. (My guess is that they had been sent to fail, but that would be the topic of a longer letter or an op-ed or whatever.)

It's unreasonable and unrealistic to think that those who control our Department of Justice will voluntarily agree to follow the law, the rule of the Knesset.

The anti-reform demonstrations were funded and led by the same --follow the money-- as those who funded the "crime minister" anti-Bibi demonstrations a few years before. It was the anti-reform and anti-religious demonstrators that were tearing the country apart, like they ripped the prayer books on Yom Kippur. This was not the fault of the government.

And I hate to break it to Pomerantz, but our President Herzog's job is not to be the "national leader." It's more like an American Vice President for formal things and meeting ambassadors. When Biden gave great honors to Herzog during his visit, while pointedly refusing to invite Bibi, it was a diplomatic insult to our PM, actually interfering with internal Israeli affairs. 

Just to clarify, I'm not a Bibiist and didn't vote Likud. I think that his time to retire has long passed. There are many talented potential national leaders in the coalition.

 

 

Unpublished Letters to The Jerusalem Post Re: David Bar-Illan Z"L, Yaakov Katz and David Hazony

Sometimes it seems that everything I write gets into the paper, and then... there are times like this. Last week I wrote two letters to the editor, and neither got published. If you're wondering why I don't try for op-eds, the answer is simple. Way back when, I did try, but I was told that I wouldn't get paid, and I couldn't use the articles in any other format, like my blog. Also, it could take a couple of weeks until they'd decide. Once years before that it took them a couple of months until I discovered my op-ed published. Of course, by the time I'd realize that it was buried, it would be irrelevant, out-of-date. That's when I decided that I'm better of just blogging my thoughts and opinions.

I don't think these two are "irrelevant, out-of-date," so here goes...  What do you think? Please say in the comments and share if you like them, thanks.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-759989

What a thrill it was for me to open up the Jerusalem Post Magazine and be greeted by the legendary David Bar-Illan and the familiar and long lamented EYE ON THE MEDIA, although by Gil Hoffman.

I'll never forget hysterically barging into David Bar-Illan's office in the week before Purim, 1996, a time when horrific Arab terror attacks -mostly suicidal bus explosions- were frequently daily, shouting:

"The police are lying!! It wasn't an accident! It was a terror attack!! Either send a reporter to interview me, or give me a computer, and I'll write it up myself."

David quickly ended his phone call, led me to the couch in his office and asked for the story. 

I had been waiting at the bus stop across from Givat Hamivtar, which is now under the lightrail train tracks, to get home to Shiloh, when an Arab terrorist made a sharp right onto the sidewalk, turning left on my foot knocking me down and then mowed down a number of other innocent civilians, murdering one and seriously injuring others. Soldiers suddenly appeared and ordered all who could to run far away, since they suspected that the terrorist's car would be exploding any second.

My foot wasn't yet seriously swollen, so I ran with a neighbor across the street and around the corner to Eshkol Blvd, where I caught a bus towards the Central Bus Station and Terem First Aid. On the bus I heard the radio report in which the police claimed that there had been an "accident" at our bus stop. After being x-rayed at Terem and told that nothing was broken, a friend picked me up and took me to the Jerusalem Post building, where I noticed that David Bar-Illan's office was right by the entrance.

Bar-Illan first made sure I was comfortable with my injured foot properly propped up and then sent a reporter to get my story, which appeared on the next day's front page. Within the next couple of days, I was asked to write it up myself as an op-ed, and he (according to the information Gil Hoffman gives in his article) wrote a full length editorial using the information I had given.

Before ending this reminiscence of David Bar-Illan, I must add that he had another profession and didn't need the stress and aggravation of top Israeli journalism. He was an accomplished concert pianist. That's how I had originally met him, at a salon performance in London.

Batya Medad, Shiloh

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-760063

Yaakov Katz

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-760000

David Hazony

I hope my mixing of two articles from different parts of the Friday newspaper isn't like mixing meat and milk in a kosher kitchen, but there are similarities in both Yaakov Katz's and David Hazony's articles. They both start out very well, bringing up good points, but then unfortunately both come to the wrong conclusions. 

I'll start with Katz who reminds or informs those who may be ignorant of the fact that even Menachem Begin during his three decades as head of the opposition never lambasted the Government of Israel when abroad, no matter how much he protested their policies while in Israel and no matter how badly he was treated, including during the pre-state period. Begin was well-known for his dignified and patriotic behavior. This was even after Begin's supporters had been attacked by the Palmach when the Altalena was approaching port with arms to be used for the defense of the nascent State of Israel. Begin reacted in tears; he didn't call for a reprisal attack. Such a total difference between Menachem Begin and Israel's opposition, which is calling for rebellion, for blood --I trust you've heard what Ehud Barak and others have been saying. There is no excuse for the outrageous anti-Israel/Netanyahu protests and media campaign even abroad. They are playing into the hands of our most dangerous enemies. I don't understand how Katz doesn't totally condemn them.

Now for David Hazony... He really starts off well, very well in describing his participation in anti-Oslo protests. Hazony mentions something which really caught my attention. 

I was active in opposing Oslo. I attended the infamous Zion Square rally in 1995 in which posters I never saw apparently depicted Rabin in an SS uniform. This became a big scandal after the fact, one that didn’t diminish when the posters were retroactively downgraded to leaflets. Nor was the rally a platform of incitement, the way it has been depicted in the official history. Did anyone call Rabin a “traitor”? Yes; a small group of hyperventilating youths shouted it out – and were then immediately told off by the speakers on the balcony, including Netanyahu. But if one should judge a protest by the stupidest words of its fringe, today’s movement is no better.

The notorious "Rabin poster" was neither central to the demonstrations nor noticeable. Just to remind people that Avishai Raviv, the Shabak agent who had been involved with Right wing youth during that time, may very well had been involved.

I relate to and agree with Hazony's article until he starts "If today’s protest movement turns tragic –"

For some inexplicable reason, he coats today's  anti-government protests with Teflon when they have crossed every single red line in a true democracy. The anti-government protests aren't simply anti-Judicial Reform. Don't be naive. Read the slogans. Listen to their leaders. It's not the young powerless "fringe"  calling for blood. It's the adult leaders, those you'd expect to be responsible for reigning in the extremists.

They want to undo/override the legal elections and veto democracy. Democracy is about numbers. If you can't pull together a coalition of more than half, minimally 61 Knesset Members, then you've lost the election. 

The leaders of this protest movement have lots of money to fund their protests, but they don't have the votes. Democracy is about votes. So the truth is that they are anti-democracy, contrary to their slogans. They've attempted to redefine democracy to make it a synonym of "progressive" political ideology.

Yaakov, David, you both disappoint me. Spit out the Kool Aid and look at the facts.

Batya Medad, Shiloh בתי'ה

23 Years After Rabin, and The Left Still Uses Him to Incite vs Right

It's a full generation, twenty-three 23 years since Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated, and the Left continues spewing hatred, blame and distrust against what they call "the Right."

Their definition of  "the Right" is anyone and everyone who didn't agree with Rabin's policies. We, yes, me too, are considered as guilty of, complicit in the murder. Honestly, I am innocent; I had nothing to do with the murder. You can go through all of my articles of the time. You won't find a hint of violence against people I disagree with.

I knew of nobody promoting violence. We were too busy trying protect ourselves against Arab terrorism and threats from the Israeli Left to banish us from our homes. We saw the Oslo Accords, which had been forced on Rabin by the Left, as a danger to Israeli security. We couldn't understand the logic in giving Arabs weapons. And our assessment was correct.

The Israeli Left continues to use the murder of Yitzchak Rabin as a weapon against their political opponents. The dangerous hate comes from their end of the political spectrum, not ours.

We're too busy building and developing our communities and Our country, the State of Israel. That's all we ever wanted to do.

Their refusal to respect our right to disagree is antidemocratic, as is their refusal to allow us to speak. Promoting hatred can only backfire. It is bad for any society, especially a country like Israel, which has deal with so much antisemitism from the world. The Israeli Left is only playing into the hand of our international enemies.

Gd willing, may they soon rid the hatred from their souls.

Excellent Behind The Scenes About "Oslo Accords" by Liat Collins

Over the years I've written a lot about the "Oslo Accords," even rather recently,  Oslo Accords Never Could have brought Peace. On Shabbat I read  MY WORD: THOUGHTS ON OSLO AND PEACE PROCESSES by Liat Collins, and it explains a lot of things most people don't know.

As a reporter on the scene for the Jerusalem Post, Collins has information that explains a lot about "Oslo Accords." I highly recommend reading her article.

Oslo Accords Never Could have brought Peace

Why is the Left, still beating a dead horse? It's decades after the Oslo Accords was revealed, and it was a rogue action. The Israelis who "negotiated" it hadn't been sent by the Israeli Government. They should have been jailed for treason.

Rabin was suspicious of Oslo Accords, but he allowed Peres to bulldoze him into supporting it.

Why have there been so many articles about it recently?

IDIOM: BEAT A DEAD HORSE

That Time of The Year, Yitzchak Rabin, Memories of Hate

In the United States, even after over half a century, there are still many questions and mysteries surrounding the assassination of  President "JFK" Kennedy. So, the fact that there are still too many rumours and versions no doubt masking the truth about Yitzchak Rabin's assassination shouldn't really surprise us.

I doubt if the truth has or will ever be revealed or confirmed about either national trauma.

If JFK's assassination was to heat up the "cold war" and galvanize hatred of the pro-communist/socialist, it didn't work. But the Israeli Left has been milking Rabin's assassination very effectively to demonize people like myself, who live in Judea and Samaria and consider the contribution of the Revisionists, Etzel and Lechi to our War of Independence terribly under-rated.

Yitzchak Rabin had the gall to state that he was only the prime minister of his supporters, not those of us who opposed the Oslo Accords. He also inflated the percentage of Israelis who supported that notorious rogue agreement.

I'm not an expert in the various JFK "conspiracy theories," but I do know a lot about what had been happening in Israel in the decade or more before Rabin was killed. The Shabak's agent, Avishai Raviv, worked hard radicalizing the youth on Israel's Right, high school students and later in Bar Ilan University. He was also on the scene when Rabin was shot and there are witnesses who say he announced it before it actually happened. He was even in police stations when students were interrogated about their alleged involvement in the assassination.

Honestly, I don't mourn Rabin. At best he was a dupe of the Left. His supporters continue to blame the Israeli Right for the murder. The official memorials just play on divisions in Israeli society. Anyone who knows Israeli prestate and early State of Israel history knows that all of the violence and discrimination was from the Left against the Right.

We have a long way to go to heal these rifts in Israeli society, and manufacturing new tragedies isn't the way.

Read Caroline Glick's Latest Op-Ed About Bibi and Trump

Netanyahu’s empathy for Trump
by Caroline Glick

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attacked by the media for not jumping on the bandwagon and condemning US President Donald Trump for his response to the far-right and far-left rioters in Charlottesville earlier this month. It may be that he held his tongue because he saw nothing to gain from attacking a friendly president. But it is also reasonable to assume that Netanyahu held his tongue because he empathizes with Trump. More than any leader in the world, Netanyahu understands what Trump is going through. He’s been there himself – and in many ways, is still there. Netanyahu has never enjoyed a day in office when Israel’s unelected elites weren’t at war with him.

From a comparative perspective, Netanyahu’s experiences in his first term in office, from 1996 until 1999, are most similar to Trump’s current position. His 1996 victory over incumbent prime minister Shimon Peres shocked the political class no less than the American political class was stunned by Trump’s victory. And this makes sense. The historical context of Israel’s 1996 election and the US elections last year were strikingly similar.

In 1992, Israel’s elites, the doves who controlled all aspects of the governing apparatuses, including the security services, universities, government bureaucracies, state prosecution, Supreme Court, media and entertainment industry, were seized with collective euphoria when the Labor Party under the leadership of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres won Israel’s Left its first clear-cut political victory since 1974. Rabin and Peres proceeded to form the most dovish governing coalition in Israel’s history.

Then in 1993, after secret negotiations in Oslo, they shocked the public with the announcement that they had decided to cut a deal with Israel’s arch enemy, the PLO, a terrorist organization pledged to Israel’s destruction.

The elites, who fancied themselves the guardians of Israel’s democracy, had no problem with the fact that the most radical policy ever adopted by any government, one fraught with dangers for the nation and the state, was embarked upon with no public debate or deliberation. For more of Glick's article, click here.

Only The Likud Can... Every Few Years an "Amona"

A few Knesset Elections ago, the Likud had a very catchy but "ambiguous" election slogan:

http://cafe.themarker.com

רק הליכוד יכול

Rak Halikud Yachol

Only The Likud Can...

It was brilliant in that no matter what your ideology you could project and credit the Likud with it. Over the years, Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu shortened it to:

http://rotter.net

רק הליכוד 

Rak Halikud 

Only The Likud...

Considering that it was davka the Likud under its founder Menachem Begin that crossed the red-line and destroyed Jewish towns and communities, something the Labor Party never dared to do, especially because they knew that Begin would rally the country against them, the slogan has been used in a sarcastic manner. Yes, ever since the surprise/unthinkable Mahapach-Upset when the Likud took power in 1977, it has ruled most of the time and destroyed countless Jewish towns, communities and homes.

Each of my children, and now my grandchildren have childhood traumas, the result of one of the "Only The Likud Can..." policies, Camp David's Sinai/Yamit destruction, Disengagement's Gush Katif destruction,  Amona #1 and now Amona #2. And this time my grandchildren are caught up in the tension, fear and demonstrations, since Amona is a short walk from their home. They have friends there.

And that's besides the fact that when we moved to Shiloh in 1981, most of the Israeli public and the "world" were convinced that within a short time, we'd be sent back to Jerusalem or wherever. Our children grew up with frequent visits from journalists, even television crews, since we were considered a newsworthy family. Everyone wanted to know how we dealt with being daring pioneers and hated by the world. When I began planning my son's 1994 Bar Mitzvah, the Oslo Accords* made it look like we wouldn't be able to celebrate at home in Shiloh.

Amona #2 is so deja vu for me. All the rallies and camping out. My children did it decades ago. We've been to so many demonstrations I couldn't even count if I tried. Ever since we moved to Shiloh, I've felt that my entire life, every time I leave the house I'm demonstrating. That's my norm. And you shouldn't think that only people who live in yishuvim, communities beyond the so-called "Green Line" think and feel the way I do. We have support from all over, even Tel Aviv.

If you know Hebrew,  you will enjoy listening to this man:


Translation by a friend, who does not want to be credited:

OK. As most of you know, I'm a Tel Avivian. I live in "bitzat Shenkin", but in my heart I am a big supporter of the wonderful settlers of Yehuda and Shomron, primarily the settlers of Amona. A month ago I went there to embrace and strengthen them, and believe me, things one sees from there, one really doesn't see from here**. Sometimes you really have to be on site in order to understand what is actually going on.So this is how it is. It's a bald, rocky mountain among dozens of bald, rocky mountains. The land there hasn't been cultivated since the days of King David, if ever. So don't let them tell you all sorts of tall tales about robbed Palestinian agriculturalists. And anyway, Arabs have never built there villages on the tops of mountains. On the contrary, they always built in the shade of the mountain in order to protect themselves from the wind and so that their fields would receive run-off rainwater.However the facts simply do not interest our purist, left-wing, and horrifyingly sanctimonious Supreme Court. They decided that even if "Mohamed" is an absentee landlord, that is to say he isn't around now, and only two percent of Amona's land is registered in his name, the entire settlement must be destroyed.So let me reveal a little secret to you about the ownership of these lands that were conquered by the Jordanian government. The King of Jordan wanted to levy taxes, therefore he distributed lands to mukhtars (heads of Arab town or village) who continued the racket and distributed them [the lands] to the residents of their villages, without their knowledge even. Why were they not informed? Because these lands are not arable. They're called muwat [death in Arabic] lands, lands of death. In short, if our Supreme Court only wanted to, it could quietly rule as compensation to "Mohamed", who as I already said isn't around, a tract of land on a nearby bald, rocky mountain or alternatively a sum of money, exactly as is done when land is expropriated from someone to widen a road. But when a sense of too much power, malevolence, and an anti-settlement agenda come together, what can one expect?Ah. And do yourselves one more little favor, a last one. Don't fall into the trap of the government which is telling you that this Arrangement Law is an unprecedented achievement. It's not a achievement or anything like one. They are trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes because they know, exactly as I know, that the settler-hating Supreme Court will toss the law around and out. And then all of the settlements on areas liberated in '67 will be endangered. And again a right-wing government will be the signatory on the destruction of the homes of Jews and their expulsion from their land. Tell me more about a right-wing government like this.

Gd willing, we will soon have an Israeli government with true Jewish values and cares more about Jewish lives and homes than what the anti-semites and Leftists say!

*The technically illegal, since they were a private not government initiative, Oslo Accords were ratified under Rabin's Labor coalition, but galvanized the voting public to bring the Likud back to power.

**A well-known phrase used by politicians in power for their Leftist turn from the Right.

Worrying Antidemocratic Phenomenon

Yitzhak Rabin (photo credit: Flash90)

Over twenty years ago, when Yitzchak Rabin was Prime Minister of Israel and complaining against the growing popular protests against his approval/acceptance of the rogue Oslo Accords, he was recorded as saying* that he's "the Prime Minister of 98%**  of the people."

This statement of Rabin spooked me out then, and that unpleasant, worried feeling hasn't lightened one iota ever since I first heard it.

We all know that politicians in office do feel more kindly to their supporters than those who didn't vote for them, but they are supposed to their best to at least give the impression that they will serve all the people of the country or district they represent.

Awkward handshake as Trump and Obama meet face to face
for the first time. Photo: AAP

No doubt it wasn't easy for American President-Elect Donald Trump to meet POTUS Barack Hussein Obama the first time after all of the nasty hate-mongering things Obama had said about him. But they both did and said the proper things, literally gritting their teeth, (maybe holding in the bile,) as they posed before the cameras praising each other and promising a smooth transition for the good of the United States of America.

In Israel, Right, Left or Center, we're pretty used to the reality of finding ourselves with a Prime Minister we abhor, but we accept it as a fact of life and don't riot in protest.

I find the anti-Trump "not my president" riots, protests etc., which is even supported by schools and universities, not just the media, worse than disturbing. It's the protests and lack of acceptance that portends dangerous undermining of the Constitution and democracy in the USA.

The United States proudly claims itself to be one of the oldest democracies in the world, but it isn't behaving as one. This has me worried. I hope that Hillary and Obama will quickly and very publicly send everyone home for a good night's sleep and request that they do the proper thing and recognize rule of law that Donald Trump will be their next President.

**thanks to a friend who found this reference, indirect quote
"...Rabin, the man who proclaimed as prime minister that his opponents could continue to "spin like propellers" as far as he was concerned, and said openly that he was Prime Minister of 98% of the nation, not the 2% who so strongly opposed him.  (Another version of his remarks has it that he said his job was to provide security to 98% of Israel's population.) Either way, one could see why he was not loved by lovers of the Land of Israel."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2390#.WC3ypJAvDrc
*I couldn't find any reference in English, but a friend found all of these including the English above. The percentage Rabin gave was 98%. He considered the opposition to be very marginal in Israeli society, although many more than 2% opposed Oslo. Here are links and quotations in Hebrew:

בהתנחלויות הייתה אווירה קשה והרגשה שהממשלה מזניחה אותם (בעקבות התבטאויות של רבין כמו "לי אכפת מ-98% מאזרחי המדינה", "פרופלורים" ו"הם לא מזיזים לי").
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%AA_%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C_%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%95%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%A9

('אני ראש הממשלה של 98% אחוז מהיהודים.' 
http://www.inn.co.il/Forum/Forum.aspx/t8447


"אני ראש ממשלה של 98% ולא של שני אחוז" ( אחרי פיצוץ אוטובוס בתל אביב. 2% - המתנחלים . שימוש ברצח כמכשיר הסתה נגד היהודים החושבים אחרת.( הציטטה הוזכרה בהצעת אי האמון בכנסת 27 פב. 95 - דברי הכנסת )
http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=2837454&forum_id=5824

אדוני היושב-ראש, חברי הכנסת, לראש ממשלה יש קצת יותר אחריות משיש לכל אדם אחר בשאלות של ביטחון. לכן אסור לראש ממשלה שהוא גם שר הביטחון, להפריד ביטחונית בין ‎98% מהישראלים לבין ‎2% מהם. גם אם הוא אינו מסוגל לתת ‎100% ביטחון, אסור לה להפריד בין דם לדם. חובתו לדאוג לכל העם. אסור שישתמע שלא כל כך אכפת לו מהיפגעות של ‎2% מהעם. גם האמירה, שירידה מ-‎98% מהגולן לא נחשבת לירידה מהגולן, איננה נכונה. להישאר רק על המורדות פירושו לרדת.
http://knesset.gov.il/.../19950227@19950227002@002.html

The Divisive Legacy of Yitzchak Rabin

There's so much more behind the story of Yitzchak Rabin's assassination that the authorities and mainstream media are hiding. From the minute it was announced, innocent people like myself, who live in Shiloh and other communities in YESHA have been implicated.

Just this past week, the Jerusalem Post had a long feature article in its magazine Trying to understand Yigal Amir 21 years on by NATAN ODENHEIMER, which can only be accessed by people who pay for it.

I went over that article twice, once on Shabbat and just now to check out something very crucial in the story. All sorts of people are blamed with "inspiring" Yigal Amir to his extremism, but the one most important name of the most suspicious of them all was left out, Shabak agent provocateur Avishai Raviv, who had been assigned to work with youth, high school and university for about ten years. Yes, I know for a fact that he had been working with high school youth trying to activate them years before his job in Bar Ilan University. All during that time he used the same cover. He claimed that his army injuries gave him free university tuition plus living expenses and he was "volunteering" for idealistic reasons.

Please try to read it. If someone has a link to the actual article, I'd appreciate it in the comments, thanks.

Is Raviv mentioned? Nope!

If you do a check on what happened that night. Avishai Raviv was there and played a role, and it's no secret that he was also involved in all sorts of activist/anti-Oslo Accord groups, even directing a fake one for Israeli Television.

For the past twenty-one 21 years, the Left, the pro-Oslo and Shimon Peres worshipers have  been using the assignation, which is clothed in questions, as a tool to defame the Right and split the country. NRP Education Minister Naftali Bennett is correct in his complaints here:

Bennett: Stop using Rabin murder to silence the right

Something stinks for sure. This whole anti-Right atmosphere smells too much like the Left's response to the Arlosoroff murder decades ago. What? Aren't you familiar with the story? Most Israelis today aren't, which is why the Left needed a new cause/scandal they could pin on the Right. Food for thought...

Relieved That Shimon Peres in No Longer With The Living

photo I took of Shimon Peres

OK, for all those who kept telling me to wait until after the burial, or after Rosh Hashanah or after Yom Kippur for writing how I really feel about the death of Shimon Peres, here it is:

Yes, I'm relieved that Shimon Peres was taken by Gd before the beginning of the new Jewish Year 5777. Peres's death, stroke etc. is the sort that is totally a decision of Gd Almighty. The doctors did their best to give him a chance to live longer, and Gd gave him time to repent, if that was his desire. And even with a delayed goyishe-style funeral and placing the coffin in public display for the day before, it still left time for Peres to be buried before the end of 5776 and Rosh Hashanah 5777.

photo I took of Shimon Peres

For decades, Shimon Peres had been the world's most popular Israeli. When Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated, he got the accolades, but the Israeli whom the "world" really listened to was Peres. Peres was a master at "old world" charm, while Rabin was too much the Israeli sabra for that. Menachem Begin also had the "charm," but too many people feared his his politics. Remember that the international media, like the Israeli one, is extremely Leftist and elitist, so Shimon Peres talked their talk and walked their walk, while Menachem Begin unabashedly spoke of Jewish Rights and the wrongs done to the Jewish People.

I met both of them, and Begin's "old world" mannerisms, kissing women's hands and warm smile included caring eyes, while Peres's smile, voice and posture were very cold and calculating. I never felt that Peres cared, while I had no doubt that Menachem Begin sincerely felt for people. And just to make it clear, if you don't know, I stopped politically supporting Menachem Begin once he began his Camp David decision to give Egypt the Sinai and destroy the Jewish communities that had been built there.

Let's go back a generation to delve into Shimon Peres's international popularity. The key was his success in convincing then Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin to accept the Oslo Agreement, even though it was an illegal, immoral rogue operation without the support of the Israeli Government. Yes, instead of jailing the perpetrators led by Yossi Beilin who had secretly by their own initiative negotiated the dangerous deal, Shimon Peres got Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin to approve it.

It was via the Oslo Accords that Yasser Arafat was rescued from his exile, set up as Palestinian sic leader, and weapons were given to his so-called police. Basically, the terrorist Arafat was given a "state in the making," which has become the world's largest magnet for money and subsequent corruption, besides officially supporting terror against Israelis.

Ever since Shimon Peres's success in bamboozling Yitzchak Rabin, the world has treated Peres as Israel's most important and powerful politician, regardless of his official titles or lack of any. And when Peres held the officially non-policy position of President of Israel, he took advantage of it and spoke and acted as if he had political and policy powers.

Many of us here in Israel were extremely relieved when his term in office had officially ended. But his influence over the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the media, here and abroad, didn't end when he left office. Nothing stopped Peres from meeting diplomats, press and talking policy. And even now that he's buried, his fans use his name to try to convince Israel of what they want us to do. That's what American President Barack Hussein Obama did when he spoke at Peres's funeral. It doesn't bother any of them that in Israel's democratic process, Peres never succeeded in leading a political party to victory. There is no direct election of Prime Minister here; it was tried once, and when Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu was easily elected, the Leftists got the law repealed.

I hope I'm not overly optimistic when I say that I don't see Peres's popularity here in Israel growing after his death. Peres was popular with the Left, but he left the rest of us cold. Now it's time for him to try to negotiate with Gd about his true legacy. And we in the Land of the Living must do what is best for the Jewish People and not care about what the world thinks. That is the only way to keep our Eternal Light burning, Gd willing. 

Rabin Conspiracy Theories, Realistic?

photo credit:
MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

From the very first news reports of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, many knowledgeable people felt that something was "off" in the reported story. Too many people to be ignored consider that the fact that Shabak agent Avishai Raviv's leadership in the Bar Ilan University student group of which Yigal Amir was a member strongly tainted the official story. I am among those who feel that there was some sort of Shabak led conspiracy during the Oslo period, which is being ignored by the mainstream media and public figures.

Avishai Raviv, credit

Avishai Raviv was an attractive, charismatic and well-financed figure who worked with Jewish high school youth, yishuvim and university students over a period of about ten years, from the mid-1980's to the Rabin assassination in 1995. Only after he left the field did the Bar Ilan students in the group realize that all their expenses had been completely covered and supported by Raviv.

It's a known fact that Rabin had been pushed or duped into accepting the Oslo Accords, an agreement of sorts, which had been negotiated by private individuals who had no legal right to commit as representatives of the State of Israel.

The process began in January 1993 in a meeting with two Israelis, Dr. Yair Hirschfeld and Dr. Ron Pundak, and Palestinian representatives headed by Ahmed Qurei, aka Abu Alaa. The contact between the groups was made through Norwegian mediators, who contacted Dr. MK Yossi Beilin. A short time later, Beilin was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he officially acknowledged these talks, while depicting them as unofficial. Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres was updated by Beilin after the first meeting took place in January, and Peres informed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in early February. (Knesset site)

If anything, those who initiated contact and committed Israel to these conditions should have had been charged with treason. But inexplicably, they were fully backed by Israel's Leftist leadership most prominently by Shimon Peres. By all reports Rabin hadn't a clue as to what had been taking place.

Yitzchak Rabin was a team player and didn't get to high office by shaking the boat. And talking about boats, it's a fact that he followed Ben-Gurion's orders to attack the Altalena soon after the Declaration of Independence.

Those who know the truth about the Rabin assassination have kept their silence. There are many questions that need answers, and I wonder if we will ever get them.

One of the worst results of the assassination, is that it has been used as justification to condemn, blame Israel's Right, the pro-Jewish Life in all of the Land of Israel. The hateful and untrue statements made annually and more frequently against the most patriotic of Israeli citizens is how Yitzchak Rabin's followers wish to promote his legacy. This lack of unity is the greatest tragedy of all for the State of Israel and the Jewish People.

Kahlon, The Thorn-Kingmaker

Moshe Kahlon. photo credit:
MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST

Newly elected, or reelected after a period out of Knesset, Moshe Kahlon is setting himself up to be the "kingmaker." This does not surprise me at all.

Looking at the people who joined Kahalon for his run to the Knesset power in Israel I sensed Leftists, not Centrists and certainly not Rightists.

So, I'm not at all surprised that he's now playing very hard to get, cancelling a crucial meeting with Bibi's team, even after first telling President Ruby Rivlin that he recommends Netanyahu. His words at that time were that the thirty 30 MKs of Likud made it clear that the people want Likud. At no time did he actually say that he personally preferred to see Binyamin Netanyahu in another term as Prime Minister.

Kahlon's campaign focus and promises also had more in common with Lapid, Herzog-Livni and Meretz, not the Likud and not Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home.) Could there be a secret deal by those Leftists a la Oslo?

Simply put:

I don't trust him!

And as I've written before, I sure don't envy Binyamin Netanyahu!!

Treason? Could Be, Couldn't It?

IMHO Ruthie Blum, in Israel Hayom, hit on the nail when she wrote:

"Personally, I would have called it treason. But that's just me."

Reuters

Blum was referring to Tsippi Livni's "private initiative" aka unapproved trip to London to meet up with Abbas.

As soon as it became apparent that Abbas was no longer willing to continue being courted by Israel and the United States, Kerry threw his arms up in despair, blamed Israel for the impasse and took a time-out from his incessant shuttle diplomacy.That left Livni all dressed up with nowhere to go.Rather than directing her outrage at Abbas for this turn of events, she made a secret pilgrimage to see him in London last week. It was a move that spurred an angry Netanyahu and other coalition members to announce that this had been Livni's private initiative, devoid of any official backing.

source

No doubt Livni is just emulating Shimon Peres. Davka, Sarah Honig devoted her Friday article about the underhanded illegal, unapproved negotiations by Peres and other extreme Leftists.

The hubris to flout the authority of any government – no matter who heads it – exclusively emboldens leftwing players. They range from relatively unknown individuals (though they’re always well-connected to the real clout-bearers) all the way to top-ranking ministers who, fired up by their own chutzpah, set out to hijack history-making prerogatives.
Soon-to-retire President Shimon Peres still does it in his ostensibly ceremonial role of president. But he already behaved badly as foreign minister to both prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin.
The latest to dabble in unauthorized diplomacy is Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. She recently conferred with Ramallah figurehead Mahmoud Abbas in London, despite the government’s decision (which she supported) to freeze contact with him for his kiss-and-make-up with Jihadist Hamas.

This is very dangerous for the State of Israel. Policy is supposed to be made by the Prime Minister, and nobody without specific authority may negotiate for the Government of the State of Israel. Bibi has some cabinet-cleaning to do.

How Can We Effectively Muzzle Shimon Peres?

Let's start with the positive...

Peres: Netanyahu nixed agreement with Palestinians that reached final stages three years ago

President tells Channel 2 that his meetings with Abbas were put on ice by PM at point when an agreement was near; sources in the PM's Office deny claim.

As opposed to the infamous Oslo Accords, this time the Israeli Government and Prime Minister were aware of the "negotiations,' although it is far from the legal authority of an Israeli President to be involved in anything so political or partisan.

The dangerous Oslo Accords which committed Israel to were held "unofficially" and illegally to be perfectly clear. They were masterminded by the extreme Leftist and unreliable Shimon Peres who pushed the hapless Yitzchak Rabin into having the Israeli Government accept them as de jure.

...Yitzhak Rabin, who branded Peres “an unrelenting underminer,” dubbed this “the stinking maneuver.”
Ironically, when Rabin later won the premiership, recidivist Peres sidetracked him too, as he had Shamir. The difference was that Shamir fired Peres, whereas Rabin fell for the Osloite chimera.
Almost 2,000 Israelis were murdered, and thousands maimed for life. Stretches of historical homeland were relinquished and strategic assets surrendered to genocidal enemies, whom Peres imported here by the tens of thousands from Tunis as per the Oslo Accords.
Some 150,000 hostile Arabs were added onto Israel’s population to further “family reunions” under Oslo. Those who made egregious concessions to still-implacable foes dramatically exacerbated Israel’s demographic distress, the very one which purportedly served as their pretext for the Osloite machination in the first place.
Peres’s “New Middle East,” Oslo subterfuge and derivative Nobel Peace Prize earned him prodigious accolades from chic international cheerleaders. Yet here, in the sands of the reprobate Mideast, Oslo caused Arab aspirations to replace Israel and the delegitimization of Israel’s very existence to be tolerated as never previously in the valued venues of Peres’s social conquests.
Peres conferred respectability upon Fatah and ushered in Hamas rampages... (Sarah Honig)

Peres, who is unfortunately for the security of the State of Israel, is still going strong and up to his old tricks uses his position as President to continue undermining the Prime Minister.

As you, those who are regular readers of my blog, know, I'm no great fan of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. I wish that he would get out of his Center and be a much stronger Right for the rights of Jews in the entire Land of Israel. But it seems that in this case, Bibi was on target and quickly quashed Peres; although he did not impeach him, have or effectively rein him in.

"Abbas never agreed to anything. Back then as well he just wanted to receive without giving anything in return,” the PMO told Channel 2 News. “This is his method - to be ambiguous until he is pushed to make a decision, and then run away.”
“Anyone who hugs the terrorist Khaled Mashaal on Memorial Day does not want an agreement,” added the PMO, referring to Abbas’s meeting this week with the leader of Hamas regarding a unity pact signed between the sides.
In the interview with Channel 2, Peres revealed that he and Abbas had reached an agreement on all issues of contention, but Netanyahu ultimately backed down from the deal, thinking there was a better brought forth by Quartet envoy Tony Blair.
According to Peres, Abbas agreed during the talks with him to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
"He has to agree to a Jewish state and we have to agree to have a Palestinian state," said Peres. "In fact, we both agreed on this.” (Arutz7)

The State of Israel is endangered more by our native Left, such as Shimon Peres and his backers, than by anyone else.

In most democracies an official that makes such accusations against his country's leader, such as Peres accusing the Prime Minister of refusing/vetoing a "peace" agreement would be tried and convicted of sedition...

Say: NO To Negotiations and Two State "Solution"

An unofficial hint for when you want to access an article, especially an opinion piece, from the New York Times and don't have a paid subscription.  Since they limit the amount of articles you can access for free each month, the best thing is to do a simple google search for the title and author. There's a good chance that you can find the complete text on a free site or even one of their partner newspapers. And if you can't find it, then enter through the google list, because you can view more articles via google than directly.

Enough of the Oslo Accords.  It tied a noose around the neck, the safety and sovereignty of the State of Israel.  I agree with what MK Danny Danon wrote in his New York Times op-ed about annulling the Oslo Accords, though I don't think it's possible. 

Despite attempts to rewrite recent history by fringe elements, the failure of the Oslo framework cannot be attributed to a lack of will and persistence by Israel. What didn’t we try? We attempted direct negotiations, third-party mediators, public conferences and back-channel talks. We staged withdrawals and unilateral disengagements, established joint Israeli-Palestinian military patrols in Gaza and deployed American-trained security forces in the West Bank. None of this worked.
The P.L.O., and later the Palestinian Authority, never truly accepted that Israel, as the national state and homeland of the Jewish people, was here to stay. No amount of impressive ceremonies, cosmetic changes to the P.L.O. charter and Palestinian doublespeak to Western media outlets about their commitment to peace was able to change this grim fact.
To understand the mind-boggling scope of Oslo’s failure, it is best to look at the statistics. According to the organization B’Tselem, during the first Palestinian intifada in 1987, six years before Mr. Rabin’s attempt to recast the archterrorist Yasir Arafat as a peacemaker, 160 Israelis were murdered in Palestinian terror attacks. In the mid- to late-1990s, as successive Israeli governments negotiated with the Palestinians, and Mr. Arafat and his cronies repeatedly swore they were doing their utmost to end terrorism, 240 Israelis were brutally killed as suicide bombs and other heinous terrorist acts targeting unarmed civilians were unleashed in every corner of our nation.

Oslo truth

There must be ways of going around it, which would have the same effect.  That's "poetic justice" for sure, considering that the Israelis who "negotiated for us" were not acting in an official capacity. They were doing it privately and I'd say illegally.  They claimed to be representing Israel, but the truth is that they were just promoting their extreme Left agenda, and Yitzchak Rabin was too weak to prosecute them.

Peace or Terror

Bli eyin haraa, warding off the "evil eye" as the saying goes, Arab terror attacks have gone down of late.  The multiple causalities of the suicide bus bombers are out of fashion, thank G-d, of late.  Maybe it's because Israeli public transportation is very multi-cultural aka integrated with both Jews and Arabs.  That's further proof that there is no anti-Arab apartheid in Israel.  (The only apartheid is anti-Jewish.)  One of the things I've noticed in my interactions with Arabs at Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin is that the Arab families are smaller than in previous generations, and the parents care about and try to spoil their children.  No doubt the more extreme anti-Israeli/Jewish Arabs don't shop in Jewish Israeli Yafiz. 

The pragmatic versus the ideological day to day life is changing here. This is not at all due to "peace negotiations."  It's a slow process that can't be negotiated and can't be legislated.  We must let it develop; be patient.  Don't force the issue.  I wouldn't call it "peace," but quiet can come to this area only if Israel is in charge.

Israeli security forces were able to solve the Arab terrorist murder of  Sgt. Tomer Hazan, because there is no Palestinian sic State, hat tip IMRA.  Any change in the status quo that empowers the Arabs will only cause terrorism and death to both Jews and Arabs who have been working with/for Jews.

As I've said many times before, I'm a realist, a pragmatist.  I believe in looking at the facts at history.  I agree with former MK Dr. Arieh Eldad when he says that it's interesting that Israeli scientists and mathematicians are on the Right of the political spectrum, while those involved with unprovable theories are on the Left.

Twenty Years of Oslo, Nightmare Not Dream

I wasn't planning on posting about the Oslo Accords which had been illegally and immorally forced on the State of Israel by extreme Left Israelis who didn't have the authority to negotiate in the name of the government but did.  I thought I'd post something nice about Succot, the holiday that commemorates the Biblical trek to the HolyLand.  But when I listened to the "discussion" on the Israel Hayom site between Ruthie Blum and Steve Ganot, I grrrumbled and knew that I just had to write about it.



I don't know Ganot but I do know Ruthie Blum and agree with her.  She didn't get her fair share of the time.  Ganot didn't make sense.  One of the earlier things he claimed was that the Arab violence was  against the Oslo Accords.  That's totally inaccurate.  The Arab violence was terrorism against Jews in the Land of Israel and the existence of the State of Israel.

Ganot also kept talking as if he was speaking for all Israelis, which isn't the case.  It's obvious that he's a Leftist no matter what he may call himself.  His aim is "peace" and not a viable, secure Jewish State called Israel.  Ruthie Blum hit on target when she said that  a war shouldn't have peace as its goal, only victory. 

Ganot also kept harping on the Israeli "dream" of peace.  Dreams aren't always realistic.  And the fact that the Israeli media has promoted a "dream" that has no chance of being reality in the near future is a big problem.  It's dangerous, just like those anorexics who want to be "thin like models" even when it's not suitable for their body type.  Anorexia can kill, and those who claim that Israel can survive after giving our Land to the Arabs are 100% wrong.  An anorexic state can't sustain itself when not only is it surrounded by enemies, but there are enemies inside whose goal is to destroy us.

Stop dreaming. Get real, or life will become a real nightmare!