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The Situation in Middle East
February 23rd, 2011 - יט אדר א' תשעא
The world is watching the situations in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other Middle East countries carefully, and rightly so. The transformation in these countries can go two ways – they can be a launching pad for a new Middle East, where freedom and democracy flourish, or they can turn relatively friendly countries into avowed enemies, in the case the Muslim Brotherhood gets any power there. One definite lesson we have learned from this situation is that the political pundits on the Left have been wrong all along – peace between Israel and the Palestinians is NOT the path to Middle East peace!
The situations in these countries has shown that the “Arab street”, particularly Arab youth, wants first and foremost to have freedom, jobs and justice. Unfortunately, the Arab youth are not politically organized and will have a challenge in matching political forces in Egypt, especially under the radical Muslim Brotherhood, lead by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Those who equate democracy with democratic elections elections are fooling themselves. Democracy is not merely the people choosing their leadership, but so much more that we take for granted in the West, and that will not likely happen in the Middle East, especially if the Muslim Brotherhood has any say about it. For those who don’t understand, democracy, beyond democratic elections includes a social contract among the people in which they agree to abide by the rule of law, an independent judiciary, respect and protection for the rights of all minorities, have a free press and freedom of expression within reason and without fear. In the past, no such social contract has ever existed in any Arab country, including Egypt. While democratic elections are a great start, with the inclusion of groups that seek to bully the minority (i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood), we’re sure to see the well-organized minority control the country.
We’re hopeful that forces of moderation prevail in Eygpt, Libya and Tunisia, but only time will tell. These are crucial times for our world. One thing we hope comes out of it is that people realize that Israel has little to do with happiness in the Middle East – the people hate their governments and are fighting back. Let’s hope they have a long memory and don’t allow more thugs to take over.
Jordan is Palestine – The Truth Unveiled
December 1st, 2010 - כג טבת תשל
Jordan is Palestine – this is something that many pro-Palestinian activists don’t want to hear, but it is the truth. While the site Jordan Is Palestine is not extensive or exhaustive by any means, it covers the basics that you need to know about the issue.
The map page shows a map of Palestine as it was known for almost two millenia – a large swath of land in the Middle East, covering what is now Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. The land was partitioned in 1923 and 76% of Palestine became Jordan, and the remaining 24%? Well, that became…”Palestine”. Yes, good readers, what pro-Palestinian activists don’t care to tell us, or perhaps don’t even know, is that historic Palestine, is, for the most part, in Jordan.
If the world wants peace, we’ll finally realize that peace can only come when Palestinians are restored to their “homeland” – and that is in Jordan.
The Flotilla Battle – What You Need to Know
June 1st, 2010 - כג טבת תשל
We were going to write a post about the Flotilla Battle, but our friends at Christians for Israel have done a great job of summarizing all the issues and sourcing all the necessary videos, so we’re just going to copy their post:
It appears as though that the Palestinians have found there next vehicle to have Israel condemned on the world stage. However, much like every other “massacre” that has been blamed on Israel (Deir Yassin, Sabra and Shatilla, Jenin, etc.) their accusations are filled with lies and half-truths. The Palestinian goal is to take advantage of media naivety and inherent biases, and constantly put Israel in a bad light. Since you’ll likely be exposed to these lies over the next few days and weeks, we put together a short primer on the indicent, so that you’ll understand the context in which the “Flotilla Battle” occurred.
Context
Israel knew about ships leaving from several European ports, carrying many European nationals, most of them Muslims. It’s believed that the coordination of these activities was done by the Turkish IHH organization. Aboard the ships were, according to media, was “peace activists” and “humanitarian organizations”. One such organization involved was the International Solidarity Movement, the party responsible for sending Rachel Corrie to her death, and who provided cover to the Mike’s Place bombing in Tel Aviv.
Now, it is possible that some people aboard the ships thought they were doing the right thing – delivering 10,000 tons of goods to Gaza. However, Israel transfers 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza every week, after checking the supplies for weapons. Israel has good reason to suspect any unchecked shipment of being used to smuggle weapons – the Hamas government in Gaza has always maintained their intention to wage war on Israel and is known to use any means to smuggle in weapons, to the detriment of ordinary Gazans.
Now who was really on board these ships? An Al-Jazeera report from May 29th shows that these “activists” are radicals looking to inflict harm on Israel – the amazing Palestinian Media Watch translates the Al-Jazeera report, which shows these activists singing in Arabic: “Intifada, intifada, intifada! Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews! The army of Mohammed will return!” which is a reference to the Muslim massacre of Jews in Khaybar in the 7th centry. After this, an Arab woman being interviewed while apparently on course to Gaza says “Right now we face one of two happy endings: either Martydom or reaching Gaza”. Clearly these “activists” from “humanitarians” were not peaceful at all – they went into this situation knowing that it was a publicity stunt that could possibly cost them their lives. Here is the video:
The Incident on Marmara:
In the early hours of Monday, May 31st, Israeli naval officers boarded the Marmara, the largest of the 6 ships sent by Turkey from Europe. Apparently 5 ships had already been boarded and detained before the Marmara before the incident. The “activists” claimed that they would resist the IDF peacfully, the IDF apparently boarded the boat believing them. However, that appears to have been quite the mistake, as this video clearly shows, since the protestors were prepared for a fight. The first video shows a view from the naval ship next to the Marmara, while the second shows the view from a helicoptor. Both videos show that the officers are beating by large rods, knives, bats and chairs, being thrown overboard and it’s alleged that some used axes and that some used guns.
This video shows the weapons found on board after the confrontation with the “activists” ended:
Analysis
Before the confrontation, Israel made an offer to accept the ships in Ashdod and then transfer the supplies through the official channels, which was rejected. One “organizer” Greta Berlin even stated “this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it’s about breaking Israel’s siege” – in other words, it was meant for propaganda, not to deliver aid to Gaza. Before boarding, the IDF personel repeated this offer, and this offer was rejected by the flotilla captain, apparently an Arabic man who retorts “Negative, negative – our destination is Gaza”.
Had these “activists” been interested in delivering aid, they would have taken up Israel on their offer – they rejected it, knowing that the result could be ugly. Their refusal created a situation where a number of “activists” were killed and a number of IDF naval officers were injured – surely a result that could have been avoided. The actions of the flotilla organizers were callous and they, not Israel, should be condemned for this situation. A finger should also be pointed directly at Turkey, who appears to have been supportive of this “operation”.
As with previous accusations by the Gazans, if we don’t get this information out to our friends, neighbors and families, Israel will continue be thought of as the aggressor in this case. Please forward this information far and wide – share it on Facebook and on Twitter – this information must get out. And please stay up to date on the newest videos by the IDF here as well as the website of the IDF here.
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