Thursday, November 12, 2009

Straws in the wind?

1. Dore Gold's strong defense of Israel at the debate in Brandeis University with Judge Richard Goldstone, may have turned the corner on the Goldstone Report. Anyone who saw it must have been impressed by the evidence mustered by Gold and the poor, almost sheepish, presentation of Goldstone. After the debate Godstone apparently said to Gold, "I wish I had known all of that before I wrote the Report," to which Gold replied, "you did, I sent it all to you in advance." But it was never used.
The three main points made by Gold: 1. The Report states unequivocally that the IDF deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians, this is a despicable lie, for which there is no concrete evidence. 2. That Israel carried out the attack on Gaza as a "punitive" raid to punish the Palestinians for supporting Hamas, while in fact the clear reason for the attack was obviously the 16,000 rockets fired at Israel by Hamas over a period of 8 years, with the number doubling each year from 2005 (the year Israel withdrew from Gaza) to 2008 and the range increasing. Israel had the right to defend its citizens. 3. That Israel used "disproportionate force" against Hamas. This is a matter of interpretation, since Israel used targeted strikes in order to remove the threat of rockets into Israel. Mosques and schools were targeted only when they were actually being used to fire at IDF positions.
It is hoped that when this Report reaches the UN Security Council it will disappear from the world's agenda, because it is one-sided, biased and dangerous to all those engaged in the war against terrorism, including many members of the Security Council. It should be deep-sixed!

2. On Wednesday, Israel opened the main border crossing at Jalama between Jenin and Israel. This has been closed for several years due to infiltration of terrorists. However, the situation is deemed to have improved sufficently that Israel will now allow traffic to flow between the two. The opening was attended by representatives of Israel, including Deputy PM Silvan Shalom, the Governor of Jenin, Musa Kedura, and the representative of the Quartet, Tony Blair. In his speech Blair said that this was a specific step that Israel was taking that would help improve the PA economy.

3. The strange and unpleasant way in which Obama met with PM Netanyahu during his visit to Washington, meeting him at night, without media present and in an almost clandestine way, left a bad taste in the mouth of every Israeli. Does Obama fear that his "engagement" with the Muslims, will be damaged by meeting with the Israeli PM. Perhaps he is upset that he was not able to "persuade" Netanyahu to accept a total freeze on building in the West Bank prior to negotiations re-starting. But, why should Israel make such a concession before any talks, and why should Abbas make this a precondition to talks, which he has never done before? Maybe Obama does not want to admit that his policy has failed. Nevertheless, why should Israel make concessions to a bankrupt and failing Palestinian politician and why should Israel's other concessions, such as the opening of checkpoints, be ignored? In his speech at the United Jewish Communities conference Netanyahu repeated his call for negotiations with the PA to re-start immediately without pre-conditions. He repeated this call in Paris after his meeting with Pres. Sarkozy and included Syria in his announcement.

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