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1. US Lawmakers Stand Up Against Obama for Israel
by Hana Levi Julian
U.S. Congressional lawmakers have flooded the White House and the media with letters and news releases complaining about the Obama administration’s unprecedented scolding of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. This, following an Israeli announcement last week that a routine housing project was proceeding apace in eastern Jerusalem.
Politicians from across the political spectrum called on President Barack Obama and his aides to tone down their attacks on Israel and start using a more even-handed approach when dealing with the Palestinian Authority.
Many pointed out the lopsided double standard used by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joseph Biden in harshly condemning Israel’s routine announcement of a zoning approval for new housing in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in northwestern (mistakenly called east by most of the media) Jerusalem – a three-year-old project.
Their criticism was delivered as the PA government dedicated a public square to the memory of a brutal murderer who in 1979 led the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history, slaughtering 37 innocent civilians, including children.
Neither Biden nor Clinton came out with any public statement condemning the PA’s decision to go ahead with the ceremony naming a public square in the terrorist’s honor, nor the PA decision to follow up with a public study day in her memory two days later.
In a letter dated Wednesday, March 17, ten members of Congress told the president, “While your Administration clamors over the announcement of a proposed residential development years away from completion, Iran continues to develop its nuclear weapons capability and Hamas and Hizbullah rearm and reenergize. Remarks made by your Cabinet and advisors embolden Israel’s enemies – who are wholly committed to destroying the Jewish State – and undermine the critical relationship we have with our strongest ally for democracy and peace in the Middle East.”
Senator: Move US Embassy to Jerusalem
“It’s hard to see how spending a weekend condemning Israel for a zoning decision in its capital city amounts to a positive step towards peace,” U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) said dryly in a separate statement. “Rather than launching verbal attacks on our staunch ally and friend, it would be far more worthwhile for this Administration to expend the effort planning for the transfer of our embassy to Jerusalem and tackling the growing Iranian nuclear threat.”
U.S. Representative John Boozman (R-AR) went further, saying, “The Administration has lost focus on what has been the cornerstone of our foreign policy in the Middle East. We have an unbreakable bond with Israel, but the Administration is systematically eroding that relationship. The lack of clear objective and strategy by the Administration challenges and poses a security threat both in the Middle East as well as to our national security.”
In Obama's own party, U.S. Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) sent out a particularly scathing statement about the Administration’s “irresponsible overreaction” to Israel’s Interior Ministry’s awkward timing of its zoning announcement, which Obama advisor David Axelrod termed an “insult” and an “affront.” Berkley noted, “No doubt the administration’s overwrought rhetoric is designed to try to appease Palestinian politicians and convince them the U.S. is an honest partner in the peace process by seizing every available opportunity to criticize the actions of our ally Israel."
“That strategy also includes ignoring the myriad provocations by Palestinian leaders that make pursuing peace such a long and arduous process,” Berkley pointed out. “Where, I ask, was the Administration’s outrage over the arrest and month-long incarceration by Hamas of a British journalist who was investigating arms-smuggling into Gaza? Where was the outrage when the Palestinian Authority this week named a town square after a woman who helped carry out a massive terror attack against Israel? It has been the PA who has refused to participate in talks for over a year, not the government of Israel. Yet once again, no concern was lodged by the Administration. And, all the while, Hamas restocks its terror arsenal and fires rockets into Israel.”
Shelley added that the U.S. should be pursuing a process of fairness, “not a policy of constant appeasement and reinforcement of the Palestinians’ failings as legitimate partners in the peace process.”
2. Thai Worker Killed by Gaza-Fired Rocket
by Hillel Fendel
Hamas terrorists in Gaza have fired five Kassam rockets into Israel over the past two days, and the last one killed a worker from Thailand.
The employee was working in the greenhouses of Netiv HaAsarah, just north of Gaza, when the Kassam hit. A doctor was rushed to the scene, but was left with no choice but to pronounce him dead.
On Tuesday night, two Kassams were fired from Gaza landing in open areas near Sha'ar HaNegev. Hamas terrorists fired two more the next night, one landing near Sderot, and one in the Sha'ar HaNegev municipal area. No one was hurt in these attacks.
Eshton "Condemns" Violence
In a manner not unsimilar to that in which an announcement on a housing project in northeastern Jerusalem “caught” visiting U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden in Israel, the fatal Kassam attack “caught” European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton as she was touring Gaza. She criticized neither the leaders of Hamas or Fatah, however, saying only that she “condemns all types of violence.”
Earlier this week, Lady Ashton criticized Israel’s plan to build 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem, as well as the “blockade of Gaza.” She is the first senior European diplomat to secure Israeli permission to visit the Gaza Strip in over a year.
Hamas terrorists have fired several thousand rockets into Israel, killing more than a dozen Israelis, but the front has been mainly quiet ever since Israel's Operation Cast Lead 15 months ago.
3. Lie in Report on Petraeus: a Case Study of Anti-Israeli Agenda
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Incorrect reports in Israel’s largest newspaper and the well known Foreign Policy publication in the United States this week illustrate how the Arab world manipulates the United States to gain concessions and place the world’s ills on Israel’s shoulders. This time their target was also American public opinion.
Foreign Policy’s correspondent Mark Perry, a former advisor to Yasser Arafat, added his own spin to statements by U.S.CENTOM Commander General David Petraeus', in an article called: The Petraeus Briefing; Biden's Embarrassment is not the Whole Story, so that the General's statements seemed to blame Israel for casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the general never said that.
Perry began by quoting Israel’s decidedly leftist Yediot Acharonot, which wrote that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden “reportedly” told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week, “What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan." But White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said that Vice President Biden never told or hinted to Israeli leaders that Jewish development in Judea and Samaria endangers the lives of U.S. soldiers.
Perry, who has a long record of anti-Israeli bias and has written a book promoting “engagement “ with terrorists,” wrote that General Petraeus’ briefed Chief of Staff General Mullen and sent a report to the White House in which he claimed that “there was a growing perception among Arab leaders that the U.S. was incapable of standing up to Israel, that CENTCOM's mostly Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises [and] that Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region” and putting U.S. soldiers in danger.
Petraeus did tell the Senate Armed Services Committee that "clearly the tensions in these [Israeli-Arab] issues have an enormous effect on the strategic context in which we operate in Central Command area of responsibility” but he made no mention or hint that Israel’s activities could endanger American soldiers.
Perry wrote that Petraeus’ briefing “hit the White House like a bombshell.” The report not only never reached the White House, it also was equally disbelieved by others, including Israel National News.com (INN) and Commentary’s Max Boot.
INN noted that it is unlikely that General Petraeus connected Israeli actions to U.S casualties as that makes no sense. This is a war in which Islamist terrorists fueled by virulent hatred of the U.S., its democracy and civilization are killing American soldiers. Israel is not the issue. Fear of these terrorists taking over their governments is what made the Arab despots in CENTCOM's constituency join forces with it, but they don't admit that and instead exploit the fact that the U.S. wants a broad alliance to pressure America on Israel. Their unspoken fear that the U.S. won't attack Iran in time is what is making them lose faith in its promises.
Perry’s report was “incorrect,” wrote Boot, who quoted a military officer familiar with the briefing in question and with Petraeus’ thinking.
“All that happened.” the officer told Boot, “is that there was a staff-officer briefing … on the situation in the West Bank, because that situation is a concern that CENTCOM hears in the Arab world all the time. Nothing more than that.”
Perry also wrote that Petraeus asked the White House to include Judea, Samaria and Gaza as part of his command because, in Perry’s words, “with U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military (has) to be perceived by Arab leaders as engaged in the region's most troublesome conflict". The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think-tank focusing on issues of United States and Israeli national security, whom INN contacted, called that request “perfectly reasonable."
“[However], to blame Israel for Arab anxieties over the American withdrawal from the fight against the nuclear weaponization of Iran is a lie promulgated by people in the administration who have a fundamental agenda that includes breaking the longstanding U.S.-Israel relationship and/or don't want to acknowledge their impotence against Iran.”
Perry’s report was enough to set off scares across the web as Americans read that Israel is the source of America’s military casualties.
Those alleged statements were a classic follow-up to the Arab world’s efforts for the last 60 years to place the blame on Israel for all the world’s ills, most recently for the 9/11 attacks and the Iranian nuclear threat.
Judging by the stunned reaction of Americans on the web, Perry’s and Yediot’s reports were successfully damaging – that is, until it became clear that the reports were not accurate. Regarding his alleged report to the White House, Gen. Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, “I have discussed, and you know, asking for the Palestinian territories or something like that to be added ... [but] I have never made that a formal recommendation for the Unified Command Plan, and that was not in what I submitted this year. Nor have I sent a memo to the White House on any of this."
Perry’s report of Petraeus’ alleged remarks to Chief of Staff Mullen is "simply wrong, according to a senior Middle East advisor quoted by Shoshana Bryen, senior director of JINSA. She told Israel National News, “We spoke with two American military officers who have spoken more than once with both Petraeus and Mullen and they both said Petraeus has given numerous lectures and papers - and Israel is never mentioned. The primary concern of both Mullen and Petraeus is Pakistan and the shaky civilian leadership there… I would have been shocked to think that with two wars ongoing, they would have time to worry about a sliver of terrorist supporting territory.”
Perry claimed that the fact that American military’s did not deny his story is proof that it is correct, but Bryen explained, “There won't be any American military people who will talk about this for the record. Since it appears that the article was incorrect no one will want to characterize either Petraeus or Mullen or their thoughts.”
“In our experience, there are three half-truths and an enormous, vicious lie in the post by Perry. What the Arab countries of CENTCOM often call ‘the Israel problem’ is a foil for their unwillingness to risk their internal stability by being seen as an overt U.S. ally or by confronting Iran. True also is the notion that, according to the Arab states, ‘America (is) not only viewed as weak, but its military posture in the region (is) eroding.’ The ‘half’ in the truths is what they leave out: Israel is not the object of their concern [about military posture and weakness]; Iran is.”
4. Yesha Council to Clinton: Jerusalem is Ours
by Hillel Fendel
In a letter to US. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Jewish leaders in Judea and Samaria explain the unshakeable historic and religious bonds between the Jewish People and Jerusalem.
The letter was written in response to President Obama’s and Clinton’s criticism of Israel’s intentions to build in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo. The neighborhood is a part of Jerusalem-proper, and is surrounded nearly completely by Jewish-populated areas. Though it is part of area liberated by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, it was not recaptured from Jordan, but was rather considered no-man’s land between 1949 and 1967.
“We wish to share with you the sentiment and consensus among the Israeli public” regarding Jerusalem, the leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha Council) wrote to Ms. Clinton, who sharply berated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week over the issue.
The letter continues:
“We Israelis believe in the integrity of a strong, unified and undivided capital for our nation – Jerusalem, the Holy City. We Jews are the descendants of King David, and of a hundred generations of Jews who built and glorified Jerusalem as our capital, beginning over 3,000 years ago.
"From time immemorial, the Jews have worshipped towards Jerusalem and the Holy Temple – and prayed for Jerusalem since the dawn of our civilization.
"Neither Romans nor Greek, Crusaders nor Arabs, Ottomans nor British ever succeeded in shaking our bonds with Jerusalem. Thus, when you demand that we not build housing in our capital, or that we divide our capital and surrender parts of it to others, you must realize that this is unacceptable to Jews everywhere and to us Israelis.
"We will not negotiate on the issue of Jerusalem. We will never divide Jerusalem.
"The Jewish People worldwide support Prime Minister Netanyahu’s action, and stand firmly behind him on this important issue of Israel’s right to defend itself as a sovereign nation.
"We deeply appreciate America’s friendship, but it must be clearly understood: We are a free and sovereign people, and we have the right to determine our destiny."
5. Knesset Study Shows a Second Expulsion Would Cost $100 Billion
by Gil Ronen
If the government were to expel the Jews living in Judea and Samaria from their homes as it did in 2005 to the Jews of Gaza, the cost of the undertaking would exceed $100 billion. This figure was extrapolated by National Union Knesset members from a study carried out by the Knesset's Research and Information Department at their request.
NU chairman MK Yaakov 'Ketzaleh' Katz commissioned the study, which has shown that the total cost of the 2005 Expulsion (Disengagement) from Gush Katif will reach 10.8 billion shekels ($2.9 billion). “Just for the sake of comparison and as an example,” said NU MK Uri Ariel, “the annual budget of the Ministry of Housing is currently 6 billion shekels. Despite the high cost, we should note that most of the sum – or about 5.9 billion shekels – was spent on the Expulsion's 'envelope': the eviction forces, the SELA Administration [that dealt with the expellees] and government expenses,” Ariel clarified.
Total cost: more than Israel's entire budget
Based on these numbers, it turns out that for every person expelled, the state spent about 1,362,500 shekels. “If one multiplies this sum by the number of residents who live beyond the Green Line – about 300,000, not including eastern Jerusalem – one gets the frightening amount of 408,750.000,000 shekels ($110 billion) that will be required for evicting them, more than the State of Israel's total annual budget,” MK Ariel said.
The figures do not take into acount that the average value of individual homes and businesses in Judea and Samaria is greater than the average value of homes and businesses in the Gaza and northern Samaria communities whose residents were expelled in 2005, because the areas of Judea and Samaria that are closer to Jerusalem are more developed. This means that compensation costs would be even higher than Ariel's estimate.
Sharon contradicted
The Knesset research found that the 2005 expulsion has cost Israel abour 9.5 billion shekels to date, and that the Finance Ministry estimates that another 1.35 billion shekels will be needed to finalize the process of rehabilitating the expelled citizens. This sum is in complete contradiction to the sum of “two to three billion shekels” cited by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the projected cost of the plan.
MK Ariel said that five years after the expulsion from Gaza, the cost is four times greater than what was promised by Sharon. “Most of the expellees still live in temporary housing, leaky "caravillas" and in communities lacking proper infrastructure. There is no doubt that these numbers are a blow to anyone who thinks of expelling 300,000 residents of Judea and Samaria and prove that it is forbidden to evict Jews from their homes by any parameter, whether humanitarian, moral or financial,” he said.
6. Krakow Ghetto Monument Defaced by Neo-Nazi Vandals
by Hana Levi Julian
Polish workers spent hours this week removing graffiti spray-painted in red on a monument commemorating the Jewish victims of the Krakow ghetto during World War II. The desecration of the monument, located at the former Plaszow concentration camp near Krakow, Poland, was discovered by officials on Saturday.
The Plaszow camp was the site used in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film “Schindler’s List,” which told the story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who worked to save Jews by employing them in his factory in Krakow. Spielberg’s film won seven Oscars, plus another 65 awards and 21 nominations in other competitions around the world.
“Jude Raus” (“Jews Out”) was found painted in German, and “Hitler Good!” was scrawled in English on the large stone memorial. A smaller memorial plaque was also defaced with the words “Jude Raus” and a painted Nazi swastika.
The vandalism was found the day before a March of Remembrance set for Sunday to mark the 67th anniversary of the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. On March 13-14, 1943, the Nazis emptied the ghetto and sent some 16,000 Jews to the Plaszow concentration camp and to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, “Those who did this did deserve the highest condemnation. This is something that harms Poland [and] I am personally ashamed.” Police are investigating, he added, noting that although the vandals had not yet been caught, when they are, the “offenders most likely will be charged with destruction of the monument and insulting religious feelings.”
Anti-Semitic Incidents Up
Anti-Semitic vandalism and other incidents are on the rise worldwide, and especially in Europe, according to a report by the Jewish Agency’s Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism. The report, released just before this year’s United Nations-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day, said the UN-sponsored Goldstone Report on Israel’s 2009 counter-terrorist Operation Cast Lead in Gaza was at least partly to blame for the attacks.
In January 2010, the only Jewish house of worship in the Greek island of Crete - a 600-year-old edifice that had been recently restored - was torched. The same month, some 30 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in France were also vandalized. “Juden Raus” was written on one of the tombstones, and swastikas were painted on at least 18 others, with 13 more knocked over in the Strasbourg cemetery. A report released last month indicated a sharp rise in anti-Semitism, particularly in France where a 75 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents was documented in 2009 over the year before.
7. Obama: No Crisis with Israel, It’s Eli Yishai’s Fault
by Hillel Fendel
U.S. President Obama did not mention Eli Yishai by name, but said that the Shas party leader, Israel’s Interior Minister, was “not helpful” in advancing the “peace process.”
Speaking on Wednesday with Fox News, Obama said outright there is no “crisis” with Israel. Relations between the U.S. Administration and the Netanyahu government have been edgy in the wake of several consecutive harsh public American rebukes to Israel for announcing progress in a complex housing approval process in a Jerusalem neighborhood during Vice President Biden’s visit to Israel.
Asked if there is a crisis between the two countries, Obama said flatly, “No. Israel’s one of our closest allies and we and the Israeli people have a special bond that’s not going to go away. But friends are going to disagree sometimes. There is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward [and] the actions that were taken by the Interior Minister in Israel weren’t helpful to that process, Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged as much and apologized for it.”
Trying to show that the Americans were being impartially tough to both sides, Obama said, “When there were riots [on Tuesday] by the Palestinians against a synagogue that had been reopened [the ancient Hurva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem], we condemned them in the same way…”
In fact, however, the U.S. condemnations of the rioting were not nearly as strident, rapid-fire or issued by as many different officials as were those of Israel. Nor did they condemn the PA stridently for honoring the Coastal Road terrorist last week on the anniversary of the 1979 massacre of tens of Israelis.
Regarding Iran and the increasingly likely possibility that Iran will succeed in going nuclear, Obama once again did not put his foot down hard.
Iran Nukes Would be "Tremendously Damaging to Our Interests"
“It is one of our highest priorities to make sure that Iran doesn’t possess a nuclear weapon,” he said. “That is why I’ve worked so hard to mobilize the international community, successfully, to isolate Iran… The Iranian government has been more concerned about preventing their people from exercising their democratic and human rights than trying to solve this problem diplomatically. That’s why we’re going to go after aggressive sanctions… If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, you could potentially see a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East, and that would be tremendously damaging to our national security interests.”
