Category: Israel

And in a Race to the Right

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Both Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu are promising to take down the Hamas government in Gaza.

It’s an attempt by Livni to position herself to the right of Natanyahu for the election it is stupid, since it serves to reinforce support for Hamas.

In terms of government entities in the disputed territories, Israel faces Morton’s Fork, with Hamas actually able and willing to perform the role of governance while being unwilling to acknowledge Israel as a country, and the PA (and Fatah in particular) being unable to do any of that, because their focus continues to be corruption and self dealing while paying lip service (when not speaking in Arabic) to Israel’s existence.

I don’t know of a solution here.

IDF Develops New Counter-Battery Radar

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The IDF has started deploying a new radar geared toward counter-battery fire.

The Elta’s EL/M-2084 Multi-Mission Radar (MMR) phased array radar can pick up artillery and rocket rounds at launch, and determing both the launch point and impact point.

It will be integrated with Israeli rocket interception systems, though I wonder if it might also be incorporated into counter-battery fire control too, as it appears that this would allow the IDF Artillery Corps to have rounds on a target firing at them in less than something less than 2 minutes.

Netanyahu Picks Up Allies in Run for PM

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Now we have Dan Meridor Ze’ev Benyamin Begin and Moshe Ya’alon joining forces with Benyamin Netanyahu, though based on their history, they hate each other.

The story talks about his moderating some of his talk, but anyone who has an even passing acquaintance with Bibi Natanyahu knows that this is just talk.

It’s happening because he’s going to win, with current polls showing him outpolling Kadima 32 seats to 26, and labor possibly dropping to single digits, perhaps even 4th place.

As to the fall of Labor, while security is always the 800 pound gorilla in the room, Labor used to have a role on social and economic issues, and over the past 30 years, Labor (big L) has abandoned labor (little L) for Thatchernomics.

While the Israeli economy has grown, there are increasing disparities between rich and poor, and severe poverty is on the rise, and the 3 mainstream parties have all abandoned the issue.

Then Don’t Send Loose Cannons on Diplomatic Missions

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is objecting to Israel’s expulsion of Richard Falk, saying that, “”it is the responsibility of states to cooperate with the independent UN experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.”

He’s correct, of course, just as, for example members of the UN have an obligation not to appoint people who are batsh%$ insane to be their Ambassadors, so there is an obligation to criticize Bush and His Evil Minions™ for appointing John “The Mustache of Doom” Bolton to the UN.

Unfortunately, Richard Falk has no more control of his tongue than did the ‘Stache.

The man is an agent of a diplomatic organization on a fact finding mission, but he has made public statements which show that he should not be trusted with anything managing a Popsicle stand (or an academic department):

  • Support for the 911 conspiracy theorists.
  • Saying that, “”the depiction of [Khomeini] as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false … To suppose that Ayatollah Khomeini is dissembling seems almost beyond belief. … Having created a new model of popular revolution based, for the most part, on nonviolent tactics, Iran may yet provide us with a desperately-needed model of humane governance for a third-world country.”
  • Describing Israeli actions in the disputed territories as a Holocaust.
  • Asking to investigate Palestinian abuses, but only to “insulate” the HRC from accusation of bias, which constitutes an explicit admission of bias on his own part.

(And that’s just from a quick glance at his wiki)

Speaking as someone who was, and is, profoundly embarrassed by the fact that John Bolton is still given time in news shows and not relegated to circus acts, and horrified that snake oil salesman Benyamin Netanyahu was, and might be again, PM of Israel, the answer to the question is not to appoint equal and opposite nutjobs.

There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of people who could bring a dedication to the job, what’s more, I’ve searched the net, and found no evidence that he either speaks Arabic or Hebrew, and at the very least, the investigator should be conversationally fluent in Arabic.

If an investigator cannot speak the language, it is very difficult for them to investigate. To rely on representatives of one government or the other to supply translators is to place a filter on on communications by the party supplying the translator.

Israel Tests Black Hawk Gunship

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It looks like Israel is looking at an armed variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk demonstrator.

From the photo, it appears that they would be carrying an chain gun and a targeting turret, along with a fair number of ATGWs, something on the order of 16 Hellfire class missles, though, given that this is an Israeli developed project, Rafael’s Spike, or some variant thereof, would likely be the actual weapon deployed.

It’s kind of a return to the old UH-1 gunships developed in Vietnam.

Looks Like Netanyaho Will Be the Next Israeli PM

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He’s leading strongly in polls, here and here, and the Labor Party has triangulated itself into irrelevancy, with Kadima not being meaningfully to the right on either economics or security, and more progressive parties parties, particularly Meretz (also here) picking up the folks who oppose Thatcherite domestic policies.

Labor simply does not stand for anything any more, and the fact that it is basically tied with Meretz is an indication that it has no ideological base.

Israel Conditions Number of JSFs Purchased on Ability to Add Domestic Content

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Once again, one of the issues with the F-35 JSF is that, to a greater degree than any other fighter aircraft history, the country operating the aircraft will be unable to modify its systems to meet their needs.

It now appears that the Israeli Air Force will purchase the F-35, the number that it purchases will be highly dependent on the ability it will have to install indigenous systems, as the JSF is a remarkably closed system.

In the long run, I think that follow-on orders for the aircraft may be hindered by this, as operators, and nations becoming operators, find out the degree to which they have to jump through hoops to integrate upgrades and new systems that were routine in prior aircraft.

Livni Wins Kadima Leadership Election

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I really don’t think that her victory in a tight race to replace Olmert as head of the Kadima party will amount to much.

Kadima was very much the party of Ariel Sharon, who is gone, and I would not surprised to see them in 3rd place next election. I peg Benyamin, “The Craziest Motherf%$#er in the Middle East,” Netanyahu winning it.

Then again, my knowledge of Israeli politics is neither broad nor deep, that way madness lies.

Georgian Fallout on Israel-Russian Relations

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Well, it looks like Israel-Russia relations are a little bit cool now, because of Israel’s arms sales to Georgia, though, as I mentioned earlier, the Israelis shut that down when they thought war was likely.

On the bright side, it appears that they will be holding talks on the middle east, which implies a continued relationship.

On the not so bright side, we have rumors of increased Russian arms sales to Syria, including the advanced long range S-300 system, though Syria has denied this.

We also have a report (Ynetnews, not sure of the quality of the source) that the US is pressuring Turkey to shut down the Israel Syria talks that it is hosting, because Syria took Russia’s side in the Russo-Georgian war.

It’s petty and stupid if true, and considering that we still have Condi Rice running state, I am therefore inclined to believe it.

Lebanon-Syria to Negotiate on Border

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It should be noted that they will not negotiate on Shebaa Farms until Israel leaves the region.

This is tantamount to a Syrian declaration that they believe it to be theirs, because if they did cede it to Lebanon, Israel would be out the next day, as there is no other reason to hold the land except as a bargaining chip in a land for peace deal with Syria.

Still, the negotiations are a promising development in the disaster that is Lebanon.