The Feinstein Disappointment

As President Obama prepares to welcome Israeli Prime-minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday in an another attempt to repair strained relations with the Israeli leader, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is urging Obama to pressure Israel to stop so-called settlement activity in East Jerusalem.

Feinstein, who was not one of  the seventy six Senators who signed a letter urging President Obama to ease tensions with Israel in April, is now formulating a letter calling on the Obama Administration to ante up the pressure on the Israeli government.

It remains unclear whether Feinstein will be able to obtain co-signatories in an election year where Jewish support for the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party is at an all time low. Feinstein's letter would only add fuel to the fire.

In a letter to her constituents last month, Feinstein wrote "I have grave concerns about the expansion of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and I believe that this issue is a major stumbling block to a peace agreement. In my view, settlement activity should be halted until an agreement is reached.”

The  indisputable fact remains that the Arabs vowed to destroy the State of  Israel and the Jewish people long before the 1967 war when Israel captured Jerusalem. There were homicide bombings which killed innocent Israelis long before Israel controlled Judea and Samaria.  The Arabs were even eager to kill Jews before Israel became a state.

Feinstein is unwilling to accept the reality that even if Israel stopped all so-called settlement activity tomorrow, the Palestinian Authority will never give up on their desire to rid the Middle East of the Jewish people.

Despite the fact the Prime-Minister Netanyahu instituted  a 10 month moratorium on so-called settlement activity in the West Bank  at Obama's urging which is due to expire soon, the Palestinian Authority has been very reluctant to pursue peace and never misses an opportunity to blame the stalemate on Israel without making any concessions of their own.

While the Palestinian Authority remains indifferent to the notion of peace, it should also be duly noted that they openly glorify terrorists, brainwash  their children to kill Jews, and form alliances with Hamas and other terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza region. 

Feinstein's views on Middle East peace are clearly not logical. She is either delusional or has succumbed to her radical leftist ideology which is hostile to the Jewish state.

Indeed, it is mind boggling that Feinstein has no qualms with the Palestinian Authority naming a square after a terrorist who murdered a dozen Israelis. Yet, she has a conniption when Israel builds bathrooms in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem.

The senior Senator from California  is a big disappointment.

The Feinstein Disappointment

To Freeze or not to Freeze

Ever since the recent fallout in U.S.-Israel relations over Israel's announcement that it would build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem, Netanyahu and Obama have been going back and forth in sending mixed messages about whether there has been an agreement by the Israeli government to halt all East Jerusalem construction in order to appease both the Palestinians and Obama himself.

President Obama had insisted that Netanyahu cease all construction in East Jerusalem as a gesture to the Palestinians in order to start the Proximity Talks and as a means of repairing the much talked about rift in U.S.-Israel relations. 

In order to appease Obama and the Palestinians, the Associated Press reported towards the end of April that Netanyahu relented on his promise not to stop  building in East Jerusalem.

However, the Mayor of Jerusalem told the media during his visit to Washington a few weeks ago that building in East Jerusalem had not stopped.

Nevertheless, George Mitchell announced on Sunday that Israel agreed to a halt of all East Jerusalem Construction for a period of two years.

A day after Mitchell's euphoric announcement, Netanyahu adamantly told his Likud loyalists that there had been no agreement with the Americans to stop East Jerusalem construction and that construction in East Jerusalem would continue.

Someone is clearly dropping the ball here and playing diplomatic games.

One explanation for the  mixed messages is that Netanyahu has to cater to the opinions of the Israeli public and in particular the more hawkish wing of his coalition government which is overwhelmingly opposed to any halting of East Jerusalem Construction.  By Netanyahu making public statements in Israel which satisfies the more hawkish elements of the Israeli electorate while  privately telling Obama that he intends to stop East Jerusalem Construction, Netanyahu can stay on good terms with the Obama Administration and his own government.

On the other hand, George Mitchell and the Obama Administration have an interest in satisfying the Palestinians. It is thus also plausible that Mitchell is claiming that Netanyahu has agreed to halt East Jerusalem construction when in fact he has not.

Either way these conflicting statements about whether or not there has been a halting of East Jerusalem Construction, is counterproductive.

If Mitchell is going to make baseless statements claiming that Netanyahu has agreed to halt East Jerusalem Construction, Netanyahu will be forced to refute those claims to his own party in order to keep his government intact. There is no sensible outcome in causing an uproar in the Israeli political scene to score points with the Palestinians. Otherwise, Obama will be seen by many as the President who meddled in Israeli affairs which will have political consequences for the Obama Administration.

However, if Netanyahu is the one who is playing the diplomatic games and Mitchell has correctly stated that Netanyahu did agree to halt East Jerusalem Construction, Netanyahu will be viewed as being untrustworthy and not consistent.

Quite frankly, Netanyahu should set the record straight in both his public appearances and private conversations with the Americans that Israel will continue to build in Jerusalem regardless of any criticisms by the Obama Administration as Israel has an absolute right to build in its own capital city.

As long as these conflicting statements continue to make headlines, people are going to wonder who is telling the truth which is only bad politics for both Netanyahu and Obama.

To Freeze or not to Freeze

Quote of the day

Radio Host Rush Limbaugh

"Obama says anybody whose great-grandparents were in Arizona before it was a state has a right to walk on in there, and yet the Jews were in Israel thousands of years before any other religion, and Obama wants to deny them the right to build in Jerusalem ."

Quote of the day

Mayor of Jerusalem Denied a Meeting

The Obama snub of  the State of Israel is not expected to cease any time soon. Once again, an elected Israeli official has been given the cold treatment. Last month it was Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, it is the Mayor of Jerusalem.

Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat is in Washington meeting with members of Congress. He has been critical of the Obama Administration's demand that Israel halt all East Jerusalem construction in Jewish neighborhoods but not Arab neighborhoods.

Barkat stated "I think in Washington or anywhere in the states its illegal, it’s anti constitutional, to ask who’s the owner, if he’s Jewish or Muslim.  You’re not allowed to discriminate, by race, by color, or by religion. And I’m surprised at the demand and the request to hint to us that we must discriminate…It’s against the law.”

Incensed by Mayor Barkat's criticism, Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell refused to meet with him during his visit to Washington.

President Obama has no problem telling Arizona that they are discriminating against illegal aliens. Yet, when the Mayor of Jerusalem criticizes him for discriminating against Jewish residents in East Jerusalem; Obama cries foul. Go figure.

Mayor of Jerusalem Denied a Meeting

Obama Disagrees with Schumer

Senator Chuck Schmuer (D-NY) is the first Democrat Senator to openly and publicly take issue with President Obama's policies on Israel. Politico.com reported on Schumer's spat with the administration last week.

Senator Schumer in a radio interview on the Nachum Segal show in New York told Segal that Obama's isolation of the State of Israel, after the Netanyahu government announced the building of homes in East Jerusalem during Biden's visit to the region, "has to stop" calling it "counterproductive and a "kerfuffle."  

"Israel apologized and when Biden left, and Biden is the best friend of Israel in the administration [and] everything was fine. But then what happened is the next day Hillary Clinton called up Netanyahu and talked very tough to him, and worse they made it public through this spokesperson, a guy named Crowley. And Crowley said something I have never heard before, which is, the relationship of Israel and the United States depends on the pace of the negotiations."

As  a result of the State Department's harsh critique of the State of Israel, Schumer said "I called up Rahm Emanuel and I called up the White House and I said, 'If you don’t retract that statement you are going to hear me publicly blast you on this.'"

While the State Department has since backed down from its condemnatory remarks of Israel, Schumer claims that there is a battle currently going on within the administration. One side supports  Israel and the other side is content with pursuing the administration's current policies of isolating  Israel.

Schumer warns that if the administration does not change its policies on Israel, he will "take it to the next step."

The White House has since weighed in on Schumer's comments. Obama's Spokesman Robert Gibbs stated "I don’t think it is a stretch to say we don’t agree with what Senator Schumer said.”

I am not exactly sure who Obama is fooling.  But it is known in Washington and certainly within a significant proportion of Jewish community that President Obama is not a friend of the State of Israel's.

Obama Disagrees with Schumer

Mr. President, We Stand With Israel

To voice your displeasure with the way President Obama has treated Prime-Minister Netanyahu

Sign The Following Petition By Clicking on the Link Seen Below  

Mr. President, We Stand With Israel

Tell President Obama that he needs to show respect for allies of the United States

Share this Petition with your friends and family and help us reach our goal of 1,600 signatures which is the number of homes Israel announced it would build in East Jerusalem.

Of course, we would gladly accept more than 1,600 signatures.

Mr. President, We Stand With Israel

An Open Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

A  Letter to the Secretary of State of the United States of America

             Dear Secretary of State Clinton:

             We are writing to express our outrage and displeasure at the manner in which the Obama Administration has disrespected our friend and ally the State of  Israel.

              There has not been a crisis between Israel and the United States of this magnitude in over thirty years. Unfortunately, it is not surprising that a crisis has occurred  as the President has demonstrated repeatedly that he does not have a positive view of the Israeli government or the Israeli people. A crisis of this magnitude was an accident waiting to happen given the rising tensions between the two nations since President Obama took office.

            However, you Secretary of State Clinton, are largely responsible for exacerbating a simple disagreement  between friends into a full fledged public crisis that inflamed the Arab world unnecessarily.

            After Prime-minister Netanyahu apologized to Vice-President Biden for "embarrassing" him by announcing a decision to build 1600 apartments in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem where Arabs have never lived, you decided to take a matter that seemed to be already resolved and gave it more life support. Mrs. Clinton, there was absolutely no reason for you to state in an interview on NBC that Israel "insulted the United States" which was completely unwarranted and sent shock waves across the world.

            Unfortunately, your statement on NBC was not the only statement from the administration.  David Axelrod called Israel's decision an "affront" and "destructive" and Robert Gibbs suggested that Israel needed to make more concessions before the crisis could be resolved.

           Several Republicans and Democrats criticized the Administrations caustic rebuke of the Israeli government. Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York, stated that "Israel is a sovereign nation and an ally  not a punching bag." Indeed, he is right. Friends do not "embarrass" friends by publicly attacking them in a public arena in such a ferocious manner when there is a disagreement which is exactly what your administration did to Israel. Other political leaders, like Joe Lieberman and John McCain, have expressed concern that focusing on criticizing Israel will detract from confronting Iran.  They too are right.

            However, the Obama Administration does not seem to be getting the message. Incredulously, you recently stated that "Israel must show that it is committed to peace" and that the "onus is on Israel to restart the peace process."  How can you say in good faith that Israel must show that it is committed to peace?

             Ever since the peace process started in the early 90's with the Oslo accords, Israel has bent over backwards to accommodate the Palestinians even when they do not deserve to be accommodated. Did you forget how Israel gave the Palestinians an unprecedented offer in 2000 during your husband's administration only to have it rejected by Yasser Arafat? Since then, Israel has released scores of Palestinian prisoners who belong in prison; many whom return to killing Israelis after being released. Israel has ceded to the Palestinians significant portions of the West Bank and Israel kicked its own citizens in 2005 out of their homes in order to leave Gaza. Do you remember how horrifying it was to watch Israelis remove other Israelis from their homes often by force with the hopes that peace would finally be realized in the region?

           It is absolutely unheard of  for a nation to physically remove its citizens from their homes as part of a peace initiative. You would think the Palestinians would respond favorably to such an initiative. Well, that's not what occurred.

           The Palestinians to this day still indoctrinate their children to hate and murder Jews. The  PLO Charter to this day does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The Palestinian Authority continues to glorify terrorists. The Palestinian Authority continues to cooperate with Hamas and is still involved in promoting terrorist attacks against Israel.  Have you forgotten about  the scores of homicide bombings  that killed and maimed innocent  Israelis at the hands of the Fatah organization which is led now by Mahmoud Abbas whom you claim to be a "peace maker?"

           We would like to know, Secretary Clinton, when the Palestinians have ever showed a commitment to peace in the entire history of the peace process?  When have the Palestinians ever made concessions to the Israelis? When has this administration ever criticized the Palestinians for "insulting the United States" for promoting the murder of Jews?  We find the indoctrination of children to not be "helpful" either. And, yet Israel who has confronted years of Palestinian violence and years of  blood libels in the Palestinian media, is now labeled by your administration as a peace breaker rather than the party who is eagerly awaiting for a peace partner that is nonexistent in the Palestinian territories.

        We are also appalled that your administration would criticize Israel for building homes in their capital city of Jerusalem by calling it an "affront" but have no such criticism for the Palestinian Authority, who around the same time that Vice-President Biden visited the region, chose to name a square after a terrorist who killed 37 Israelis and an American photographer in 1978. Apparently, building homes for innocent people is an affront but glorifying a terrorist is an acceptable action.   Since when should the Palestinians have the right to determine what is an affront and what is not an affront?

         It is quite clear that your administration is opposed to Jerusalem being the undivided capital of the State of  Israel.  Otherwise, your criticism of  Israel for making a miscalculated mistake would have been temporary and private in nature. Well, we have some advice for you. Pressuring Israel to relinquish its claim to Jerusalem is not "helpful" and is a waste of your bureaucratic time as Jerusalem is not negotiable and will always remain the undivided capital of the State of  Israel until the end of time.

         Notwithstanding the unhelpfulness of attacking Israel for building homes in its capital city, what ever happened to President Obama's belief that the U.S. should not meddle in other country's affairs? Does that proposition not apply to Israel?  Israel has never told the United States how and when they can build homes in Washington DC. Just like  you do not dictate to Britain or France what should be included in their housing codes, Israel should be afforded the same diplomatic courtesy.

         Unfortunately, this crisis created largely by your administration has not been innocuous but rather it has had its deleterious effects. Riots erupted in Jerusalem in response to your administration's excessive rebuke of the Israeli government and some elements within the Palestinian Authority have even called for a third Intifada.

          Similarly as the Netanyahu Government probed the announcement of the building of homes in Jerusalem during Vice-President Biden's visit, we call on the Obama Administration to probe how it could isolate a pivotal ally of the United States and cause an unnecessary diplomatic crisis that has prevented the international community from focusing on the nuclear threat posed by Iran.

            We hope that Israel will never be smeared again by this administration as it was in the last few weeks.

                           Sincerely,

                        The American People


  

An Open Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

No Criticism of the Palestinians

A day after Israel announced the building of homes in Ramat Shlomo which is a neighborhood in East Jerusalem in the midst of a visit to the region  by Joseph Biden, the chorus of criticism are growing louder by the minute. Morocco has weighed in, England has weighed in, France has weighed in, Germany has weighed in, so has the EU, and of course America has weighed in all criticizing the East Jerusalem Construction Project.

The fact is that Israel has an absolute right to build homes within its legal borders the same way that New Yorkers have a right to build homes in Manhattan or Britons have a right to build homes in London. And, as far as timing is concerned, it would not have mattered whether Israel announced its decision to build homes in East Jerusalem five weeks after Biden's visit, the U.S. would be condemning the decision with as much of an equal furor as they are now in claiming that Israel embarrassed Biden by making this decision to coincide with his visit to the region which the Israelis emphatically deny.

Noticeably absent from Biden's visit was any criticism of the Palestinians. After Biden's botched performance in Israel (See "Biden's Poor Performance in Israel"), Biden went over to Ramallah and hardly made any critical remarks of the Palestinians if he did at all. Instead, he chose to criticize Israel once again for the East Jerusalem Construction Project.

In a joint news conference with Abbas,  Biden said:  "Yesterday the decision by the Israeli government to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem undermines that very trust, the trust that we need right now in order to begin ... profitable negotiations." According to Biden, Israel's decision to build in East Jerusalem was "undermining the Palestinians faith in new negotiations."  In turn,  Abbas urged Israel to commit to peace and claimed that the Palestinians are committed to peace  as a strategic choice.

Biden went on to say that the Palestinians deserve a "viable independent" Palestinian state with contiguous territory whatever that means.

Now, in that press conference, Biden never once criticized the Palestinians for naming a square after a Palestinian terrorist who killed dozens of Israelis. Biden never criticized the PA for using its media and school system to indoctrinate Palestinian children with vicious anti-semitic blood libels. Biden never raised the issue of  a reconciliation with Hamas and the PA. He never discussed the growing influence of Hezbollah in the region or the Iranian threat.

Unfortunately, Biden allowed Abbas to portray Israel as the peace breaker when over the years Israel has gone out on a limb to make peace with the Palestinians only to be rebuffed by two Intifadas, scores of homocide bombings and terrorist attacks, a PLO charter which still rejects Israel's right to exist, a Palestinian media that promotes violence against Israelis, and a Yasser Arafat and now a Mahmoud Abbas who claims to want peace in English but in Arabic who wants the destruction of the State of  Israel.

The fact is that there is no feasible way to have a Palestinian state and a Jewish state living side by side with each other in peace.  The Palestinians will not accept anything less than Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state, which would also include the Dead Sea and parts of the Negev plus the entry millions of "refugees" to flood the Palestinian state. This proposal is nothing short of the end of Israel as the Jewish state which is exactly what the Palestinians want.

For Biden to assert that the Palestinians deserve a viable Palestinian state with contiguous territory that will in all likelihood undermine the character of the State of Israel as a  Jewish State is unacceptable. And for Biden to be complicit in allowing the Palestinians to portray Israel in  a negative light while allowing a terrorist-supporting Palestinian entity to be portrayed as being peaceful and positive is also unacceptable.

Remember when Biden said during the 2008 campaign that the Jewish community has nothing to worry about because he was on the ticket with Obama.

Well, that assurance seems to have gone out the window.

No Criticism of the Palestinians

Palestinian Indoctrination of Children

Despite that the fact that the mainstream media refuses to cover the ongoing indoctrination of Palestinian children, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas continue to inculcate their children with vicious lies about Jews and the State of Israel  encouraging them to hate Jews and destroy the State of Israel. It is even considered a lofty aspiration for Palestinian children to desire to become "martyrs"  and to want to die for Allah while hunting down Jews on the streets of Jerusalem.

The psychopathic manipulation of children by cold-hearted propagandists imbuing in them a callous deisre to become mass murders is nothing short of child abuse. It is one of the worst longstanding crimes of humanity. In some instances by the time a Palestinian child comes out of the wound, he will already have had a gun placed in his hand and crowned a "Shahid" or a "Martyr for Palestine."  This colluding and destruction of a child's mind should outrage the U.S., the U.N., the E.U., and every other entity and humanitarian organization of the world. There should not be any call for a renewal of peace talks until the Palestinians put an end to their cycle of indoctrination. 

Unfortunately, there will not be any Goldstone reports any time soon decrying the barbarism in the Palestinian leadership systematically creating a whole generation of young killers.  Therefore, those of us who remain appalled as to how the Palestinians can get away with polluting the minds of their children without any condemnation from the U.N. or calls for the Palestinian leadership to be tried at the Hague, are left with the only other viable option which is to continue reporting the truth hoping that someone out there with a conscience will finally come to their senses and take action against these Palestinian child abusers.

For the record, this past January, the following video was seen on Al Aqsa TV.   In this video, a host asks a ten year old girl whether she was afraid during the last Gaza War in 2009. She responded that she was not afraid and wished for Shahada or Martyrdom for Allah.  The host jubilantly responded "she is not more than ten years old, and wants to die as a Shahida (martyr) for Allah. We all wish for this.”

Here is another recent  video of a Palestinian boy describing how he desires to take over Israel with "weapons and stones."

These examples are just a drop in the bucket. Over the years, there have been hundreds if not thousands of videos on PA TV and Hamas TV encouraging children to die for Allah and to kill Jews in the process.

For more information on this current ongoing topic, visit palwatch.org.

Palestinian Indoctrination of Children

I Am Israel

I Am Israel

Obama says no to Jerusalem

Last Thursday, President Obama followed in his predecessors footsteps and  informed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that he intends to delay moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. He was given the power to delay the moving of the embassy to Jerusalem by the U.S. Congress. In 1995, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed a law recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel and required that the U.S. Embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. However, in that same law which required that the U.S. Embassy be moved to Jerusalem, Congress gave the President the legal authority to delay the moving of the Embassy every 6 months on national security grounds. Since 1995, every U.S. President has decided to postpone the moving of the embassy to Jerusalem until negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are resolved.

I would like to know the answer to the following question. Why create a law which essentially prevents the moving of the Embassy  to Jerusalem? Either move it or do not move it. If the goal of the U.S. Congress is to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, giving the President the power to delay the moving of the Embassy defeats the purpose of the legislation. As it stands now, every President regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican will use the 6 month loophole to delay the moving of the Embassy indefinitely.

I call on the U.S. Congress to enact an amendment which would eliminate the 6 month loophole. It is utterly preposterous that practically every U.S. Embassy is in the capital of the host country and Israel, which is one of the U.S.'s staunchest allies, is disrespected by having the U.S. Embassy in  Tel Aviv which is not Israel's capital city.  The U.S. has no qualms about putting their Embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria or in Riyadh or in Beirut. As far as I know, the U.S. Embassies are located in every capital city in the Arab world. Why should Israel, the country which is constant contact with the U.S regarding defense matters, be given the cold shoulder by not having the U.S. Embassy in their capital city as is the case in the Arab world?

Could you imagine if Israel decided to put their Embassy in Annapolis, MD instead of Washington DC because the State of Israel didn't recognize Washington DC as the undivided capital of the U.S? There would undoubtedly be an uproar in Washington and rightfully so. Why should Israel be any less perturbed?

If you agree with me on this issue, call your Senator or Congressman and tell them that you want the U.S. Embassy to be moved to Jerusalem.  The time has come for the international community to formally recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.

Obama says no to Jerusalem