Category: Israel

Norman Finkelstein Refused Entry Into Israel

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Finkelstein, author of, The Holocaust Industry, which argues that the Jewish establishment has exploited the Holocaust for political gain, has been refused entry into Israel:

The Shin Bet said Finkelstein “is not permitted to enter Israel because of suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon,” and because he “did not give a full accounting to interrogators with regard to these suspicions.”

He did have contacts with Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon a few months ago , he published articles about that, so it’s inevitable that he would be questioned on entry.

As to whether he was forthcoming, we are in a he said/she said situation.

Repulsive, But This Time I’m Not Surprised

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Yep, speaking in Israel, George W. Bush made Nazi references with regard to Barack Obama’s suggestion that we might want to talk to potential adversaries:

“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said in remarks to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

This is repulsive. You have this sort of accusation made in a public forum by the President of the United States. What’s more, this misuse of WWII and the Holocaust was made before the Knesset in Israel.

This is unbelievably, and unspeakably low, and speaks to the mind of a man who has no moral compass whatsoever.

What surprises me the most is that I’m not stunned by this. This is exactly what I have been expecting from him, and so I’m not surprised.

That being said, had he been drowned at birth, the world would be a far better place.

IDF Ramps Up Ground Forces Training

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This increase in focus in training ground forces, which accompanies an increase in the status of ground forces is not surprising.

The conclusion of the Winograd report*, which reviewed the 2006 Lebanon campaign was quite clear:

The military has abandoned the doctrine that stressed precision stand-off firepower over maneuver warfare, arguably the biggest mistake Israel made in the conflict.

It should be noted that the doctrine that they are abandoning is the central doctrine of the US military, particularly the USAF, and it is why you are seeing changes as a result of the experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In fact, when one looks at the failures of the US military, at their core have been a consistent over-reliance on air power, whether USAF fast jets or slower helicopters.

*Warning, the format is some sort of mutant flash called NTXbook.

No

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I believe that the Ken Silverstein’s analysis in Harpers Magazine, that “

The only way to reach a political settlement in the Middle East is for an American president to pressure Israel to make concessions.

” is deeply wrong.

Negotiations are an artifact of power, both current and future, and frequently neither side is completely sure of their power, particularly in the future.

By providing the realistic possibility of a deus ex machina, the intervention of the US, EU, and Russia actually make realistic negotiation less likely, because at their core, negotiations are an artifact of power, and by adding an external pressures, you distort the positions held by the principals.

One need only look at the “mediation” performed by Thabo Mbeki in Zimbabwe to see the downside of this.

Because the Palestinians and Israelis expect an external intervention, any, “last best offer” is likely to demand far more than they would otherwise, because both sides expect that a “road map” will favor the Palestinians, so an Israeli keep concessions in their back pocket, because they expect that they will be pushed beyond their final offer, and the Palestinians keep concessions in their back pocket for the same reason.

Certainly, the US (and EU, and Russia) can in some manner or another take upon themselves to act as guarantors of a final status agreement (a peacekeeping/border force, economic aid for an eventual Palestinian state, etc.), but when you have two negotiating that have an expectation of significant external intervention, it interferes with the basic function of negotiations.

I would also note that Carter’s trip comes exactly the wrong time. With 9 months left in the Bush regime, and the rest of the world considering Bush and His Evil Minions™ both disastrously incompetent and bellicose, nothing is going to move, because both sides in this dispute cannot see his successor as being any worse.

Wack Job Religious Fundamentalist Nutjobs Should Not Be Given Secular Power Over People: Israel Edition

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The story is in the New York Times.

Basically, a Jew, from a long line of Jews, wanted to get married, and the Rabbinic courts there made her jump through a series of hoops to prove she was Jewish.

I’d say that the officials on the Chief Rabbinate’s office can to go to hell, but that would be superfluous. They are already well on their way toward Gehenna.

Brad Delong Gets it On Walt and Mearsheimer

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Brad Delong points to a series of very interesting critiques Walt and Mearsheimer’s book, The Israel Lobby. Specifically, he cites a quote from their original paper, “The mere existence of the Lobby suggests that unconditional support for Israel is not in the American national interest. If it was, one would not need an organized special interest to bring it about.”

This would of course apply to NOW, NARAL, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Humane Society, etc.

They must necessarily be acting against the interests of the US, because otherwise they would not need an organized special interest to bring it about.

It is utilitarianism taken to absurd extremes.

It is the idea that the national best interest is immediately apparent to any policy maker, and so the only time one needs a lobbyist is when one wishes to make the government operate in a member contrary to government interest.

This is tremendously naive at best.

Fatah Refuses Egyptian Offer of Talks with Hamas

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Notwithstanding the Israeli disengagement there, I think that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recognizes how inconsequential and how screwed up Gaza is, and so he is snubbing the Egyptian offer of mediating talks with Hamas because he does not want the region.

That makes three governmental entities that have said they don’t want anything to do with it now.

Ignoring Israeli-Palestinian issues, Gaza has nothing going for it as a geographical entity.

Let’s see what you have by way of pluses and minuses with Gaza:

Minuses:

  • Overpopulated.
  • No economy to speak of.
    • This is independent of the blockade. There is simply thing there in the way of meaningful economic development.
  • Not enough drinkable water, the water in Gaza is increasingly saline, and now well beyond UN health standards, as a result of over subscription of the aquifer, and subsequent infiltration from the Med.
    • BTW, this has their only industry, agriculture, living on borrowed time.
  • Medieval social structure, even by the standards of Arab society, with clan loyalties trumping everything else.

Pluses:

  • Ummmm…..Maybe a decent soccer team?

Israel Moving Toward Full Disengagement From Gaza

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“Total disengagement” means no electricity, no fuel, no nothing, no kidding.

In response to the southern wall (or is it a fence…whatever) between Egypt and Gaza, Israel is no longer in control of all of Gaza’s access point, and so there are elements in the Israeli government arguing that:

Matan Vilnai, deputy minister of Defence, speaking on an army radio station said that: “We have to understand that when Gaza is open on the other side it is no longer our responsibility, consequently we want to separate ourselves from it”. Vilnai added that, following the withdrawal of Hebrew colonists in 2005, “we want to continue our disengagement from Gaza and stop delivering electricity, water and medicines so that they can be supplied by someone else: we will act responsibly until an alternative comes up”

(See here, here, here, here, and here)

In response to these suggestions, Egypt is moving to regain control of the boarder.

It would appear that no one wants responsibility for Gaza. I think that this concept is less appetizing than Plutonium toothpaste.

Reports of Iranian Political Pressure DelayingIsraeli Satellite Launch

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The Jerusalem Post is reportingIranian “sabotage” delayed the launch of the TecSar Satellite.

Sabotage is the JPost’s term, not mine.

It appears that Iran was using its contacts with India’s Marxist and Muslim parties to apply pressure against the government launching Israel’s satellite.

Israel has its own organic launch capabilities, but they have to do a retrograde launch over the Med to avoid Diplomatic issues.

Israel Coalition Government Falters

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Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu’s has pulled out the government, and subtracting its 11 lawmakers from the government leaves a narrow majority of 67 in the 120-seat Knesset.

They objected to talks with the Palestinians.

This also means that the Ultra-Orthodox Shas party, with 12 members, is all that prevents a new round of elections, that Olmert would almost certainly lose, and Shas has said that it would leave the government if any compromise is made over Jerusalem.

You’ve gotta love Israeli politics.

BTW, this sort of crap is why proportional representation sucks wet farts from dead pigeons.