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1. Is the US Eroding Israel's Qualitative Edge?
by Avi Yellin
The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) revealed in a January report that was updated recently that the government of Israel has been concealing a change in arms policy by the United States against the Jewish state. The Institute further stated that the Likud-led government of Binyamin Netanyahu has also refrained from protesting massive American weapons sales to Arab states in the region, an initiative that has eroded Israel’s military edge over its neighbors.
The Institute reports that over the last year, the Obama administration has refused to approve any major Israeli weapons requests. Government sources asserted that the refusal represents a new White House policy to link arms sales to the Jewish state with the Netanyahu government’s willingness to submit on Washington’s demands that Israel surrender Judea, Samaria and most of Jerusalem to the American-backed Palestinian Authority.
Key weapons denied
The report revealed that the White House has so far blocked key weapons projects and upgrades for Israel, rejecting requests for AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters while approving advanced F-16 multi-role fighters for Egypt. Israel has meanwhile refrained from objecting to American plans to sell F-16s, Harpoon Block 2 anti-ship missiles, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, fast attack craft and helicopters to the Egyptians. In addition to the advanced weapons sold to Egypt, Washington has also approved more than $10 billion worth of arms sales to Arab League states, including Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“Indeed, Israel’s request for six AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters was blocked by the Obama Administration in June — the same time the Egyptian sale was approved,” the JINSA report stated.
According to the report, the failure to sponsor Israel’s qualitative edge, which violates a pledge given more than 40 years ago to maintain Israel’s military superiority over its neighbors, began not with Obama but under the previous administration of President George W. Bush. “The concept of the Qualitative Military Edge failed to keep up with the changes in U.S. arms sales and training policy over the decades.” Israel has to now stay ahead through other means.
Shift in 2004
A major U.S. policy shift came in 2004, when the Bush Administration needed Gulf Arab help for the American-led invasion of Iraq – particularly after Turkey denied Bush entrance into Iraq from the north – and wanted to bolster Washington’s influence and ability to deal with regional problems.
JINSA dismissed Israeli government claims that the White House was ready to address the erosion of Israel’s defensive capabilities. The Institute said the January 2010 visit by U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones did not concern the Washington's pledge to Israel’s qualitative military edge but was to push Israel into making further concessions to the Fatah-led PA.
According to the report, the U.S. aid to Arab states has hampered Israeli military cooperation with Washington. More than 20 years ago, the Israel Air Force stopped participating in American sponsored regional exercises in order to prevent the leakage of combat tactics.
2. Obama Dresses Down Netanyahu: No Photo Ops or Statements
by Gil Ronen
President Barack Obama appeared to carry on a policy of intentionally humiliating Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week, by ignoring custom and abstaining from any public appearance with him during Netanyahu's visit to the White House.
In a particularly unusual step, no press coverage or photographs of Netanyahu's meeting Tuesday with Obama at the White House were permitted.
Photographers had to make do with paparazzi-style shots of a somewhat grim-faced Netanyahu, accompanied by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, shot from a distance as they passed though a corridor between meetings.
An administration official who declined to be identified told the Associated Press that “photographs would have been inappropriate given the current situation.” A photographer was allowed, however, into a meeting between the Israeli leader and Vice President Joe Biden on Monday.
Barak and Netanyahu meet with Biden / White House
Although Obama and Netanyahu met twice for a total of two hours, the White House did not issue a formal statement on the content of either meeting, in yet another break with tradition. Obama left it to spokesmen to issue terse statements on the talks with Israel.
Mark Toner, the deputy State Department spokesman, said that “the US made clear it is looking for steps to increase confidence and show commitment to the process."
Construction 'destructive'
A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said the White House continues to believe that Israeli building in eastern Jerusalem is “destructive” to the Middle East peace process. He said the US was asking for "clarification" regarding the building plan for the Shepherd Hotel compound and called on Israel and the Palestinian Authority “to refrain from acts that could undermine trust.”
Netanyahu was reported to be conferring with his top diplomatic advisers Wednesday, in a sign of the tension and uncertainty that appear to characterize the current visit to Washington.
He showed no sign of straying from Israeli policy regarding Jerusalem, however, telling congressional leaders he was concerned that peace talks “could be delayed for another year” unless the Palestinian Authority lets go of its demand for a full freeze on construction for Jews in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.
"We must not be trapped by an illogical and unreasonable demand," Netanyahu said, according to his spokesman.
3. Ministers Helping Netanyahu Stand Strong
by Hillel Fendel
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will return to Israel this evening (Thursday), continuing to resist American pressure on the matters of Jerusalem and other issues.
Netanyahu is returning after a round of talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and senior White House and State Department officials. The Americans continue to press hard for additional Israeli commitments towards the Palestinian Authority, such as no further building in Jerusalem other than in the areas under Israeli control before 1967. The Americans also demand that Israel agree to begin negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on "core issues" such as refugees; meanwhile, the PA refuses to resume negotiations at all.
Netanyahu, however, continues to stand fast. Aides in his office said during Netanyahu’s short trip to Washington that “there is no restrictions on private ownership in Jerusalem. Both Jews and Arabs may freely buy and sell private homes throughout the city.” The reference is to the now-controversial plan to turn a former Arab hotel in the Shimon HaTzaddik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood into a Jewish apartment building. Known as the Shepherd Hotel, the building was purchased several years ago by Jewish buyers.
Before leaving the U.S., Netanyahu said, “I believe we have found the golden path between our desire, together with the Americans, of advancing the peace process, and maintaining traditional Israeli policy [regarding Jerusalem and other issues].” He plans to meet with his mini-Cabinet – comprised of seven senior ministers – upon his return.
Obama staffers, however, did not seem to agree that the “golden path” has been found, and continue to apply pressure. Special US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met with Netanyahu before he left, as did Dennis Ross (a top aide to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) and Middle East department head in the White House, Daniel Shapiro.
Ministers Stand Strong Against US Pressure
Many ministers continue to outspokenly resist the American heavy-handedness, among them Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who said that he is “thankful to the Creator for having the privilege to be the one to advance construction in Jerusalem at this time.” Others said that we must keep to red lines and not give in to American demands, even if it leads to a mini-crisis with the U.S.
Mitchell’s aide David Hill is scheduled to arrive in the region today to apprise PA leaders on the talks with Netanyahu.
4. Nationalists Blame Obama-Livni Collusion for Jerusalem Leaks
by Gil Ronen
Twice in the course of two weeks, Israel-US relations were strained when Israeli media published news of technical approvals granted to building projects in eastern Jerusalem – first in Ramat Shlomo, and then at the Shepherd Hotel compound. Both times, the leaks came out just as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was about to meet one of the United States' two most senior officials: Vice President Joe Biden in the first, and President Barack Obama in the second.
Some nationalist analysts think this is no coincidence and the conspiracy theories are making their rounds. One nationalist newspaper sees a collusion between Obama and Israeli opposition Leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima). Another news source blames media mogul Arnon Moses, owner of Yediot Acharonot and the Ynet news website.
Nationalist newspaper Makor Rishon's editor Amnon Lord noted in a front page article on Friday that Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic Monthly, who is close to the Obama administration, hinted rather broadly that Obama was behind the very leak – regarding construction of 1,600 housing units at Ramat Shlomo – that supposedly surprised the administration and made it so angry.
“Obama is not trying to destroy America's relations with Israel; he's trying to organize Tzipi Livni's campaign for prime minister, or at least for her inclusion in a broad-based centrist government,” Goldberg wrote. “The goal,” he explained, “is to force a rupture in the governing coalition that will make it necessary for Netanyahu to take into his government Livni's centrist Kadima Party (...) and form a broad, 68-seat majority in Knesset that does not have to rely on gangsters, messianists and medievalists for votes.”
'The Prophet Yoel'
Under the headline “The Prophet Yoel [the original Hebrew form of Joel - ed.],” Lord also noted that Reshet Bet government-run radio recorded MK Yoel Hasson, a Livni confidante, predicting mysteriously one week before Biden arrived in Israel that “in the coming weeks it will become obvious just how flimsy the relations between Netanyahu, the Europeans and Americans really are.”
When asked, after the Biden flap, how he had seemed to predict that such a crisis was coming, Hasson “smiled mysteriously.”
Lord's conclusion: the affair was engineered with Kadima's help.
'Treason'
Meanwhile, Jerusalem city councilman Elisha Peleg suggested that Israel Security Agency (aka Shin Bet) should launch an investigation to find the individuals responsible for news of the permits making headlines when it did. “I would ask the ISA to find out who are those who believe that Palestinian interests are more important than Israeli interests,” he told IDF Radio, saying that "treason" was involved.
The Jerusalem Municipality issued a statement saying that the report regarding Shepherd Hotel was “distorted” and “is meant to stir up a provocation during Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu's visit in Washington.”
“The plan was approved in July 2009 by the local committee,” the municipality noted. “Its approval was published in the media at the time. The landowners only paid the fees on March 15, 2010, and approval was granted automatically after that.”
Likud Minister for Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan also said that Tuesday’s news was "left-wing spin." He called it “idle chatter that left-wing elements are looking to use to muddy Netanyahu's name, even at the expense of ties with the US."
Was it Noni?
News1, a Hebrew-language news website owned and operated by hard-hitting independent newsman Yoav Yitzchak, had its own theory regarding the embarrassing leaks. He noted that the Shepherd Hotel leak was first published in Ynet, and cited unnamed political sources that estimated that Arnon (Noni) Moses was trying to bring down Netanyahu's government. Moses is waging a business war against a new rival, Yisrael HaYom, which threatens his newspaper's ascendancy in the Israeli market. Yisrael HaYom is owned by Sheldon Adelson, who is considered close to Netanyahu.
5. PA Faked Cancellation, Named Square After Terrorist Murderess
by Hillel Fendel
While Israel was twisting in the wind because of an ill-timed announcement on progress in Jerusalem construction, the PA was “officially” canceling a ceremony honoring a terrorist – but conducting it anyway on the sly.
It occurred on March 11. Israel was in the midst of being hauled over the coals after a Jerusalem municipal committee announced a routine passage of a stage in the approval process of a housing project in Ramat Shlomo – right after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden had arrived on a sensitive visit to Israel.
The PA apparently learned the lesson, and announced that its upcoming public square-naming ceremony in Ramallah for a woman who had murdered 37 Israelis was being “postponed for technical reasons.” Despite Israeli pressure to call off the ceremony altogether, the PA announced only its postponement.
The female terrorist in question is Dalal Mughrabi, who led the largest terrorist attack in Israeli history. Known as the Coastal Road Massacre, it involved the shooting of a nature photographer on the beach, commandeering a taxi and two buses, and firing wildly at passing cars and civilians who tried to escape. In the end, a total of 37 Israeli civilians were murdered, including 13 children, and 71 were wounded.
Despite the official postponement of the ceremony in Mughrabi's honor, however, it turned out that dozens of people showed up at the scheduled time and “dedicated” the square in Mughrabi’s memory. Among the participants were top members of the Palestinian Authority leadership such as Tawfiq Tirawi, Mustafa Abu Rabbi’a, a senior Fatah figure in Ramallah, and Jamal Hawil, a member of the Fatah faction in the Palestinian Legislative Council. A large banner/picture of Mughrabi was placed in the square.
Tirawi , a former PA General Intelligence Services director, has gone on record as stating, "We are all Dalal Mughrabi" and that "for us, she is not a terrorist.”
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) reports that the official PA media covered the event, devoting a number of programs and newspaper columns to it and emphasizing Dalal Mughrabi’s importance. For instance, the official Palestinian TV station broadcast a memorial program in her honor. Her sister Rashida, currently an officer in the Palestinian Authority security forces, appeared on the program and said, “Today is a day of pride and victory for the Palestinian people and a day of pain for the Zionists.”
ITIC posted a photograph of a large banner honoring Mughrabi in Ramallah, with Tirawi one of those holding the banner.
6. Moskowitz Prize Winners for Zionism Announced
by Hillel Fendel
The three prize-winners of the annual Moskowitz Prize for Zionism have been announced: Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, Anita Tucker, and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Aharon Davidi.
The Moskowitz Prize for Zionism, founded by Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz, was first awarded in 2008. It was established in recognition of the people who put Zionism into action in today's Israeli society -- at times risking their own personal security, placing the collective interest before personal needs, and doing what it takes to ensure a strong, secure Jewish homeland.
Anita Tucker, one of the early pioneers of the Gush Katif settlement enterprise, became one of the leading spokespersons for the residents during the long and intense struggle against the Disengagement.
In 1976, she and her husband Stuart moved southward to develop a new agricultural community named Netzer Hazani – the first in Gush Katif – with the encouragement of the Ministry of Agriculture. Though the Jews were able to make the desert bloom there, the area was originally filled with bald, empty, sand dunes with no birds, insects or even weeds. Even the amount of rain was small compared to today's rainfall measurements, old-timers say. Local Arabs, who called the area El Gerara, were later happy when the Jews returned because the land began to produce and the rain started again.”
For 29 years, the Tuckers lived in Gush Katif, building up Netzer Hazani, a vegetable-raising and packing business, and their family of five children. When they were ultimately expelled in the Disengagement, they lived for 11 months in temporary lodging in dormitories, and now live in the community’s temporary quarters in Kibbutz Ein Tzurim. She now works to help the Gush Katif communities retain their unique, pre-expulsion character of Torah and Land of Israel values, friendly communal relations, and pioneering spirit.
Mrs. Tucker spends much of her time speaking in Jewish communities around the world about the difficulties that the Gush Katif people overcame in order to remain united and receive compensation, in the form of land and housing, for what had been taken from them.
Rabbi Yoel Schwartz is the founder and driving force behind the Nahal Hareidi – the first IDF unit organized especially for hareidi-religious soldiers. The framework allows the soldiers to maintain their way of life, including scheduled time for prayers, Torah classes, kosher l’mehadrin food, and the like. Rabbi Schwartz was originally shunned and persecuted within his own hareidi public for his work in Nahal Hareidi.
Rabbi Schwartz, author of dozens of books on Jewish Law and Thought, says he started Nahal Hareidi in order to make sure that Israeli society did not develop into two separate nations, one religious and one secular. “This was a dream of unity,” he explains.
Gen. Aharon Davidi is most well-known for having founded Sar-El, an organization for IDF volunteers from abroad. He began his army career in 1944, volunteering for the Palmach and taking part in the conquest of the city Be’er Sheva. He took part, in increasingly higher-ranking capacities, in the War of Independence, the Sinai Campaign, the Six Day War, and the Yom Kippur War.
In the summer of 1982, then-reserves Gen. Davidi founded Sar-El, with the purpose of recruiting volunteers to help fill the places of reserve soldiers who were called up for the Peace for Galilee War. The organization grew larger, and today has 5,000 volunteers from some 30 countries, serving several weeks each year.
The volunteers chiefly help in logistics, guard duty, medical services, catering and the like. The goal is to free up soldiers for work that requires more training, as well as to forge ties between the volunteers and Israel and the IDF. Some 6,000 Sar-El volunteers have made Aliyah over the years.
7. Saudi Arabia Airs Turkish Anti-Israel Show
by Malkah Fleisher
A Turkish political drama series playing in Saudi Arabia is leading to real political drama in the Middle East.
The 13-episode "Separation: Palestine in Love and in War (Cry of Stones)" tells the story of a PA Arab family who leaves for a vacation to Jordan, only to return to a home destroyed by Israel.
It continues by depicting a life of oppression and suffering at the hands of Israelis. Jewish soldiers are portrayed as cold-blooded killers, intentionally shooting a newborn infant and abusing an elderly man.
Originally produced and aired in Turkey, the show was decried in Israel as blood-libelous and inflammatory. Despite a history of military and fiscal cooperation with Israel, and Israeli protests, Turkey continued to show the series. Turkey went on to produce another popular anti-Israel series called "Ambush in the Valley of the Wolves", which portrayed Israeli Mossad agents abducting Arab babies. The show was subsequently bought by Saudi Arabia's Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC).
Saudi Gazette interviewed Arab leaders and Arab media communications experts to determine what the impact of 'Separation' would be in Saudi Arabia.
Saud Al-Kateb, a Mass Communications Professor at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second largest city, praised MBC for continuing with the program. He said popular political dramas are the perfect vehicle to enthuse a populace which is not otherwise particularly interested in the story of PA Arabs.
“Why not take advantage of such interesting dramas?” Al-Kateb told the Saudi Gazette. "We have noticed that many people, and especially our youth, tend to forget about or ignore the Palestinian issue because of being exposed to too many other things like new communication methods, the global economic crisis, local political issues and conflict in their countries, so we need such serials to target those people and renew their enthusiasm for the Palestinian cause.”
Islamic Jihad leader Khaled Al-Batsh told MBC that he admires the network for their commitment to playing the show despite Israel's repeated requests, saying the network should also feature shows meant to stir sympathy for Syrian claims of the Golan Heights.
A Kuwaiti Film festival will feature a special session dedicated to the narrative of PA Arabs.
According to the MBC website, the network has over 130 million viewers.
