1. Akiva said:

Set him up as a contributor, it will liven up the conversation certainly.

2. Peretz Rickett said:

I think there is a large minority in the US that are true friends of Israel, say 25-35%. There is an equally large minority that range from the extreme of being outright enemies of Israel (and the US, too - they go hand in hand) to admirer's of Sharon's "boldness" and lovers of the "peace process". The more significant minority is just uninformed, ignorant, and usually just doesn't care. So I'd say that such generalizations still hold true - not globally true, but mostly true.

3. daniel said:

Iv'e rarely read a column that has dealt with the deeb ruted problems that are plauging American Jewry as elequently as Felix. Keep up the good work.

4. Bill Narvey said:

Being for something does not necessarily mean you are against something else, unless that support is stated to be so or that in being for something necessarily means one must be against something else.

That distinction is lost on Felix Quigley in his analysis and citing of facts that he offers to support his view that there exists a vast conspiracy of nations, including America that is conspiring to commit genocide against Israel.

There are no doubt many Arab nations, including the Palestinians that still hold to the dream of a world without Israel, who have shared their views amongst themselves and have even worked to make that happen.

One must be very wary of Iran in particular for not only has it openly threatened Israel’s existence, it brazenly boasts it is pursuing its nuclear agenda which doubtless includes possessing WMD’s and that it is working to prepare for the day Islam will strike Israel.
No Arab nations have spoken out against Iran, at least not in any sincere way, since Iran’s boasted goal of destroying Israel is what those nations have advocated for over 50 years.

As regards the Arab and Muslim nations of the Middle East and North Africa, one could fairly conclude that there is a conspiracy to destroy Jews and Israel, of which Felix speaks.

There are other nations however that for anti-Semitic reasons, that see the solution to the world’s problems bound up in Israel ceasing to exist, other reasons of perceived national interest or a combination thereof that give effective their supporting or at least giving a green light to those Arab nations earlier mentioned.

Felix includes what he describes as an America ruling elite that is part of this vast conspiracy. Such thinking is akin to the dark murky conspiracy theory of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that there is a secret elite group of Jews out to dominate and rule the world.

The evidence of American complicity in such conspiracy is thin at best, if not altogether wanting.

America has maintained a core foreign policy that seeks to balance solid support for Israel’s welfare and existence on the one hand and regard for Arab interests on the other.

In implementing that policy or devising sub-policies in that regard as America seeks to respond to changing circumstances or initiate its own circumstances to advance its perceived national interest, America has at times tilted to greater support of Israel or tilted more in favour of Arabs and Palestinians, which latter case seems to occur far more frequently. America’s core balanced policy however has nonetheless remained intact.

As regards America’s tilt pattern in favour of Palestinians which is to pressure Israel to increasingly concede position and land and overlook Palestinian failures to abide by their word, one can feel for good reason that American pressure has put Israel into a position of extreme prejudice and if that continues, it could have disastrous consequences, if those consequences have not already been put in motion.

As much as one can fault America for the way it is pushing its Road Map to Peace, like prior American Israel-Palestinian peace initiatives and pushing Israel in that regard, that is not in itself evidence that America is ruled by a conspiratorial anti-Semitic elite that has joined with the world’s other nations to bring about Israel’s destruction.

It is evidence however that America in pursuit of the goals it has for Israel and Palestinians, it has lost its own balance and perspective by departing too far from its core balanced policy and is getting dangerously close to negating its policy of supporting the welfare and existence of Israel.

Efforts to get America to stop, step back and re-examine its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestinians should be aggressively made.

The Bush administration will not however be receptive at all to such efforts if they are bound up in attacking America as being ruled by an elite cabal of anti-Semites that are part of a greater conspiracy to destroy Israel. To do so rightly undermines the credibility of those advocates who would seek to influence the Bush administration to re-examine its policies in the cold light of hindsight.

Felix goes further to suggest that Israel is wittingly or unwittingly complicit in this vast conspiracy. It is simply inconceivable that Israel wittingly has been so engaged or that it is so bereft of intelligence to have the wool pooled over their eyes by the conspirators that Felix sees.

In making that charge, Felix makes a quantum leap into the world of fantasy and thereby further undermines his own arguments that there is such a vast conspiracy to commit genocide upon Israel and Jews.

I agree with Felix that Jews and Israel are increasingly at risk in a world that includes many nations that are generally hostile to Israel and Jews and other nations that do not care one way or another.

I do not however agree that Jews and Israel are at risk from some kind of world wide conspiracy that seeks to have Israel and Jews wiped from the earth.

Regardless, the bottom line is that Jews and Israel are at immediate risk in the world and more effective strategies to reduce that risk must be addressed by all those persons and organizations concerned with Israel’s welfare and existence, including Israel itself and be acted upon immediately.

5. Ed D said:

I truely do not believe that there is a worldwide conspiracy conducted by maybe millions of people; however, I do believe that there is a small group of cabalists, who would give almost anything to destroy Israel. This group, in many countries, are called the "oil industry." Today, an announcement was made that the Chinese bought a significant amount of the Venezuela oil production and I believe that the oil tycoons in the US and the EU, are afraid that they will lose the production of oil in other countries that want Israel eliminated. Follow the money.

6. Shelley said:

There are perhaps other reasons that might explain the puzzling policies of the Bush administration. Just a few thoughts:

1. The US, with or without Sharon's knowledge or approval, might be setting up the PA and Hamas to fail, which they are and will. This would prove to the West but not the Arab nations that the Palestinians cannot govern themselves and would allow Israel to "occupy" Gaza again.

2. The US is setting up Israel to be wiped off the map to appease all of the Arab nations and at the same time all of the Islamofascists that are such a serious threat to the West.

3. The US is setting up all the players for a major conflict between the US and her allies and the Arab nations. Assuming that Israel (the pawn) is attacked sometime in the future by any one or more Arab nations, the US will respond to this attack by bombing the Arab nations into submission once and for all and occupying them to secure the oil fields.

On the other hand, maybe the Bush administration is just incompetent (Iraq for example).

7. Ted Belman said:

There is nothing puzzling about the Bush policies. He is selling out Israel to gain favour with Saudi Arabia. Plain and simple.

He may not intend the destruction of Israel, although I am am sure that many in State would favour such an outcome, but he is certainly diminishing Israel with insufficient regard for its security.

8. Felix Quigley said:

Thanks for considering my views! Specially Ted for including links etc.

How to understand my position on this! It is obvious that I am arguing from a class analysis view of society and I am arguing from a Left perspective.

But the Left as we know it today is now Islamofascist. At least we will agree on that because the evidence is so clear. The Left in opposing the Iraq war is siding with the Islamofascists and even with the fascism of Saddam. And at all times it is anti-Israel and in following Martin Luther King's opinion I believe anti-Semitic.

I think this has to be kept in mind because I see the future of Israel tied up with support from my own people, the Irish, and follow that down the line from the ordinary folk in every country, and especially the great and wonderful people of the United States, of which Debbie is clearly one.

So we have a Left which Joseph has called the neoleft and which clearly plays (I think) the major role in preventing this Paradise for the Jews arriving.

And I note from my own experiences how hard this neo-left has to work to effect this anti-Semitism. I see in my own country the endless campaigns of the Palestine Solidarity Group which acts as a kind of ginger group for anti-Israelism. I also see the sullen Israeli hatred of the Republican movement. Yet I also sense that many Irish people are growing restless with this kind of material.

There is lots that Bill says that makes sense to me. But he minimises this class division. It is a different way of looking at the world.

Anyhow it is of great importance to me how this Left has become so traitorous to its own ideals. I trace it back very far, to the division between Hess and Marx.

I want to following from that initial disagreement pay very close attention to the Bund organisation in Russia. Lenin had the Bund persecuted and kicked out of the Bolshevik Party. The division was really over nationalism. The Bund representesd the Jewish nation. Lenin would have none of that and therein lies the roots of the degeneration which led on towards the personality of Stalin, who became a true monster.

For some strange reason Russia supported the birth of Israel in 1948 but they certainly made up for it later when under the Breznev era they churned out the most awful anti-Semitic filth which equalled that of the Nazi era.

The point of all this is that this modern neoleft has a history which can be understood, and understanding it we can then do something about it.

All I will say at this stage is that we have proved that the US governing class has created the PLO, and this followed on from the British governing class who despite Balfour began it all by creating Hajj Amin el Husseini. Jew hatred was the prime motive of the British. Oil too of course. But anti-Semitism has a life of its own in these circles and is sometimes illogical and sometimes also it is mixed in with logical self-interest. It is sometimes a puzzle, but anyway really who wants to go there. I just look at what they do. Let Baker explain for himself his F...the Jews comment, they don't vote republican he said as if that excused his remark. To get into his psychology is a minefield, any more than to get into the thinking of the Nazis.

So back to this man Ward.

About 6 months ago I said here in a comment that this guy and his actions should be tracked by Jews in Israel. I did mean it. But to do that requires a state of mind.

My understanding of what he was up to was this. He was sent out by Bush to do everything possible to make sure that Sharon did not backtrack and that Israel would pull out of Gaza.

Obviously he was meeting Israelis. Every single word that that man uttered should have been grabbed by the Israilis and placed at the forefront of their people. Every meeting he had with those who planned Jewish genocide as well should have been grabbed by special hidden microfones and published.

Moreover every single word should have been grabbed by the American Jewish organisations and placed in front of the American people.

I have pointed out above that his attack on Israel was most conscous. His statement above that I quoted showed that he knew the grave dangers coming to Israel from giving Gaza to Fatah and Hamas.

Here is where this terrific American person Debbie comes in. There is so much she did not know because how could she - it has all been kept hidden.

Not that ZOA et al are in a conspiracy to end Israel. It is just that they have a mindset towards people like Ward.

With the passing of years and years they have a brain encrusted mindset of trusting Ward. They are afraid. If not Ward who else they muse to themselves. They are scared for Israel so they cling to the US elite which governs, whether Clinton or Bush (A little aside...The parties in America are meaningless. All this liberal stuff is pure baloney)

They leave out Debbie. Basically I know this from my own Irish experience. I KNOW that my people, the wonderful Celtic Irish, will become the great friends of the Jews. The Irish leadership, part of which is the anti-Semitic neoleft, are in the road. That is the case with all peoples in this world and it is especially the case with this wonderful American people who after all have been formed by the same principles which stirred in the French Revolution.

I would say this issue of Jewish rights is really only just beginning!

9. Bill Narvey said:

To Ted:

Your comment #7 seems to have been dashed off in haste.

I think you must have realized your first sentence was too extreme. Without changing it you backtracked in your second sentence to say the destruction of Israel may not be intended.

In saying in your second sentence that many in the U.S. State Department would like to see Israel's destruction come to pass, you have expressed what can at best be characterized as your surmise as if it were a certainty.

I agree that America has been tilted for a considerable time to favor Palestinians. That tilt has been most apparent in how since the first Oslo accord America has taken the lead in pushing peace on the Palestinians and Israel, though its various peace initiatives. America is heavily invested in that process. If it were to succeed, it would do much for American prestige, presence and power in the world and would also assure whichever President managed to get the job done, their favorable place in history.

America in its zeal to bring about peace has pushed Israel more than the Palestinians, because it realizes it can do so. Afterall, the peace envisioned broadly speaking is to give Palestinians that which they do not have and that is tangible control over land. All the Palestinians can give really is to bring about a cessation of hostilities, get rid of their Jew hatred and want peace as much as the West wants peace for Palestinians.

It has become more and more apparent that the Palestinian notion of peace is not what the West has conceived of. It is also apparent that Palestinians, even under Abbas are incapable or unwilling to deliver on their promises.

America is so consumed with bringing about peace, America seems to no longer demand of Palestinians that which they refuse to or can't deliver on but still press Israel to give more, wishfully thinking that at some point Israel will have given enough that Palestinians will finally be satisfied and make good on all their broken promises.

Things are not nearly as simple as you say Ted.

America like other nations has in past made deals with one devil to further U.S. efforts to deal with another. Two examples are that the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein in its war against Iran and supported Osama Bin Laden in his war against the Soviets in Iran. Such deals usually come back to haunt the U.S. The word blowback has been used to describe unintended consequences being visited on the U.S. for the deals with a devil that it has made.

Bush's war against Islamic radicalism is bigger than Israel. Saudi Arabia is a very influential Arab nation both globally and in the Middle East. The Bush administration in seeking to gain allies in its war against Islamic radicalism has therefor sought an alliance with the devil Saudi Arabia to bolster its efforts against radical Islam.

What is strange about this deal is that apart from 17 of 19 of the 9/11 terrorists being Saudis, the Saudis continue to fuel the radical Islamic scourge by spreading the radical fundamentalist Wahabbi version of Islam within the Middle East and throughout the world and that includes radicalizing Muslim communities in the U.S. and other Western nations.

There are those such as myself and many others who post opinions to this forum, who see the Israel-Palestinian war as being, not separate from the West's war with Islamic radicalism, but a part of it. With Hamas gaining so much support amongst Palestinians and the potential being there that Hamas may win over Fatah in the coming Palestinian elections has thrown the U.S. into a state of confusion.

If Hamas does win the election or just make a substantial showing and become part of a new Palestinian government, that will rub America's nose in the fact that the Palestinians are and always have been part of the radical Islamic movement, at least in terms of their Jew hatred and goal of defeating the West and all that symbolize Western dominance, such as Israel.

On the other hand, the Bush administration has promoted democracy within the Middle East and within Palestinian society itself. If you stand for democracy, you must accept the will of the people, even if it brings about a result you do not like. For the Bush administration to say Hamas cannot run in the election, would quickly be seen as American hypocracy.

The Israelis too are on the horns of a dillemna. As has been often noted, Israel has invested itself in dealings with Palestinians through Abbas, even though Abbas and his Fatah party have demonstrated they too are no partner for peace, being either incapable or unwilling to deliver on any promise made.

If Israel is going to maintain their peace initiatives that count on dealing with Abbas, Abbas would theoretically be strengthened by a win in the January 25th, 2006 election. Abbas has threatened to cancel those elections if Israel does not allow voting in East Jerusalem. Olmert has already backed off refusing Palestinians a vote in East Jerusalem, because Palestinians going through with their election is seen as being in Israel's interests.

If however, Hamas wins or makes a substantial showing and plays a role in the next Palestinian government, Israel will be well positioned to refuse to negotiate further without incurring much if any condemnation or pressure to carry on with negotiations.

Even the EU has recognized this conundrum and have threatened to cut off funding for Palestinians if Hamas wins.

As for the Bush administration, it is tip toeing through a minefield of situations on the ground, be it in Iraq, elsewhere in the Middle East, with Russian efforts to re-establish itself in the Middle East and arming Iran and its relationship with the EU, each situation being capable of exploding and losing Bush and the Republican party even more support.

Things are very complicated and hardly simple.

To Felix:

I do not understand the import of your class division theory.

I do not agree that the evidence is controvertible that the Left Wing are Islamofacists.

The evidence is however incontrovertible that the Left is anti-Semitic. It is also in the nature of left wingers to root for the underdog and they accept the Palestinians as the underdog, because of the left wing blinders that do not allow them to be confused by facts. Those blinders are keep the left from seeing that radical Islam has them in their sites too. Since American left wingers have been singing the same anti-American song for so many years, it is a natural for them to also join the chorus of radical Islam including the Palestinians to sing anti-Israel songs, given America's close association with Israel.

I do not agree that the Left Wingers and their ideology have worked their way into the halls of American power and have turned American policy to their view. That is not to say that left wing ideologues have not made some inroads into the psyche of America. That has been especially so as increasing numbers of Americans who are not left wingers, are joining "the Iraq war was a mistake and America must get out of Iraq now" camp. American sentiment is also now turning to re-defining what is in American interests and seeking to limit American involvment and policies to those matters that are more directly in American interests and that which more directly poses a threat to America.

This new wave is reminiscent of the American move towards isolationsim that was turned around by America being forced to engage in WWII.

Bush is feeling the heat of that anger in the polls.

I still do not see a left wing type anti-semitic conspiracy taking over American foreign policy by the ruling elite.

There are a great many factors at work here that unfortunately impact on Israel.

To Ted and Felix:

Too much attention is given by pro-Israel advocates, be they opinion contributors to various blogs or pro-Israel advocacy organizations to bemoaning Israel's fate and analyzing why. More attention needs to be paid to figuring out what to do about it, developing better strategies and redoubling efforts to more effectively turn things around.

10. Ted Belman said:

My remarks (#7) are not the springboard for your arguments which follow. The second sentance does not contradict the first only adds to it. I said he was "selling Israel out" . I did not mean this to be that he is destroying Israel, just weakening it. So in the second sentance I stressed that in fact there are people in the State Department who do want to destroy Israel.

Asd for your remarks, I have a few thoughts. You explained your position in many words suggesting I was too simplistic in my views. Notwithstanding all your twisting and turning I stand by my simplistic "he is certainly diminishing Israel with insufficient regard for its security."

Your argument that "America is so consumed with making peace..." does not in any way diminish my statement. In fact it supports it. It is certainly not consumed with Israel's security. You cannot serve two masters.

It is extremely important that friends of Israel or the West, know how bad things are. That's our first job.

11. Ptah said:

Bah, what about the Illuminati and THEIR world conspiracy that they recorded and deliberately mislabelled as the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" so as to throw the blame on the Jews if it was intercepted?
/kidding

more seriously, it seems to me that Bush is pursuing a "let 'em crash and burn" philosophy in North Korea, the Middle East, and Iran/Europe, deliberately taking a multilateral approach for which nobody is giving him credit. In each case, the incompetence of the non-US players is being played out for all to see, and thus laying the foundation for a more, ahem, PROACTIVE US role... Bush cutting the Arafatian knot by cutting out Arafat changed the dynamics and prompted a very weakish response from the naysayers because the historical context was clearly on Bush's side. This is probably what gave Sharon the idea that cutting out pieces of Israel and abandoning Gaza and the West Bank would have the same effect. Gaza had to be first, because it is more easily re-invadable. The paleos are behaving as predicted, and the excuses are worthy of the Communists arguing that socialism/communism cannot thrive unless ALL traces of capitalism are removed from the world.

Certainly, mistakes have been made in Iraq, but I thought that was a result of not HAVING a plan, much less a clue, as to how to get a democracy running in an Arab country. We're being asked, just to support a putative conspiracy, that all this incompetence, the lack of body and vehicle armor, the rejection of former baathists when the Sunnis CONTINUE to fight for their dominance, is just SEEMING. That instead it is all clever misdirection and reveals a genius of machavellian proportions.

I do not blame ZOA for taking a position of supporting Sharon: after all, Israel is a democracy that choose its leaders, and was going to have another electoral show-down as a form of referendum on Sharon's policies.

A significant drawback to Felix' declaration of the state of the American citizenry vs that of the politicians they elect is the fact that it excludes a very powerful minority: the liberal civil service. A simple reflection on how LIBERALS treat gun ownership, citizen self-protection, illegal immigration, welfare recipients, criminals, and law and order, reveals that the liberal civil service and many liberals in the media and politics, are merely doing to Israel what they are already doing to the American Citizen. They view self-defense of the stronger party as fundamentally illegitimate, and demand, out of principle, that the stroner party give all the concessions while they side with the weaker party and make all the demands. The howls that came with welfare reforms that demanded that welfare recipients either get off the dole or give something back are NOT ANY DIFFERENT than the howls you hear when the Paleos are asked to keep their side of any agreement. As for illegal immigration, you'll be hearing the SAME PROPAGANDA against a southern border wall that you heard with regard to the Israeli security fence. Hell, soon they'll be calling people who build security fences and install locks and thick doors on their homes as racist. IT'S ALL OF A PIECE, ALL CONSISTENT. Its not a conspiracy, as much as the synergistic manifestation of a shared philosophy that is essentially parasitic within a classically liberal democracy that has a certain set of presumptions that they exploit.

I hold with the position that a people who willingly encourage and encite genocidal bombing of civilians by supporting terrorists have forfeited the right to a homeland, and thus, in this case, may be expelled to their original home nations of Jordan and Egypt from the lands that they forfeited. To me, this is the best solution for Israel and Israelis. However, this is currently politically unacceptable, with Israelis preferring to expel their own people rather than the truly violent and uncorrigible.

Honestly, other than praying, I am at a total loss to know what to do to support the long-term peace of Jerusalem and Israel. As far as american politics is concerned, I have one firm red-line: I will NOT knowingly vote for a non-pro-life candidate. That is something reasonably knowable, despite the potential for smoke-screens. I am not sure how Felix expects me to winnow out, among American politicians, those secretly wanting the destruction of Israel, but verbally support Israel, and those who sincerely want to help Israel, and whose voice is consistent with their beliefs. The problem, of course, is that the latter will act out their support of Israel by supporting the Israeli Government, to which Felix strongly objects.

I assure him, and everyone else here, that the destruction of Israel, either literally or as an explicitly pro-Jewish state, is unacceptable. I can do something about the former threat, but the latter is strictly up to y'all to work out.

12. Ptah said:

I see that Felix jumped in with a comment while I was writing mine. I disagree with the very concept of class analysis because treating people as groups instead of individuals sharing common ideas, beliefs, and behaviors, is demeaning and diverting. It diverts attention away from the ideas, beliefs, and culture onto the people, making it look as if the people were a problem, not the shared ideas, beliefs, and culture. Think Bill Whittle's pink and grey.

Like felix, I trust the instincts of "We the People", but only if given a voice and fully informed. I just don't think that someone on the right or center sounding like conspiracy fanatics on the Left is a formula for successful communication.

13. A Time To Speak said:

The anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias in U.S. policymaking cliques goes back a long way. It is still going on, and led by the same kinds of people.

Two recent issues of "A Time To Speak -- Messages About Israel" take up the history of the American attitudes toward Jews and Israel. "Israel and America: Affinity" and "Israel and America: Against the Grain". The latter deals with the record of anti-Israel policymakers in various presidential administrations -- especially John Foster Dulles, James E. Baker III, and Condoleezza Rice.

14. Ted Belman said:

Ptah

I am with you all the way. A coalition of forces does not a conspiracy make.

15. Bill Narvey said:

Ted,

My you are prickly this morning.

Nothing I said here or in my previous posts is in disagreement with your statement that the Bush administration,is "diminishing Israel with insufficient regard for its security."

I disagree with your statement "I am am sure that many in State would favour such an outcome" ie Israel's destruction.

One can make a fair guess that there may be some in the state department that might wish for Israel's destruction. To say however that there are many, which necessarily assumes that those many are also the influential voices in the state department, cannot possibly be anything but a surmise on your part, unless you have knowledge not yet imparted on that score, that confirms the accuracy of your statement.

I disagree with your statement that Bush "is selling out Israel to gain favour with Saudi Arabia. Plain and simple."

That America is seeking favour with the Saudis is a given. That America is selling out Israel only because of the Saudis is not. It is not at all that plain and simple.

As for your characterizing my comments as "twisting and turning", I am both comfortable and confident in my take on the situation.

Stand by your words if you must, but I stand by mine.

16. Felix Quigley said:

To my mind the analysis by Peretz is most important. He believes that 25 to 35 % of the American population are true friends of Israel. I think this is a remarkable figure. He also estimates that there is a large minority, perhaps in my reading of his views about 40% who are uninformed, ignorant or don't care. This last section is very interesting in its own right, because that figure is in the absence of knowing what the truth of the situation facing Jews is and how that might impinge on their own liberty. That last number must be a very fluid figure and many could be won to support for Israel and the Jews. This is all very remarkable because in the most vital country in the world, America, its people (according to the considered opiniopn of Peretz a big majority)can be won into a strong alliance with the Jews of Israel and in the Diaspora.

My point is that this may be possible in every country in the world. This has to be done simply on a human and moral level because it is the ONLY way to end anti-Semitism.

I think we all agree that hatred of Israel is the new anti-Semitism. And we are joined in thjis assessment by none other than Martin Luther King, the great Civil Rights Leader.

This will take some time and effort. But that is what I call the strategy.

The issue of anti-Semitism cannot be ended by the Jews, it has to be done by the gentiles, for the obvious reason that the Jews did not create anti-Semitism.

When that unity is realised the Jews will be safe. But not before.

That means we enter a period when the Jews of the world are very UNSAFE relative to the post war decades. I think that period is upon us. The danger of a new genocide must be considered.

What is different about this situation we face.

We have seen the greatest power in the world forcing Israel to give up its strategic defence.

We see a leadership among the Jews of Israel which is not able to meet the realities of the situation. The Gaza withdrawal has been a disaster. The concept of 2 states which the Israeli leadership supports threatens disaster as well. The analysis by Michael Wise that a new Palestinian state will be swamped by millions of diaspora Palestinian Arabs seems certain to be the Arab strategy. That poses disaster. Finally the leadership of the Jews in the Diaspora is also not up to the job because it tries to hang onto the coat-tails of the US and EU.

In the face of these threats Israel has to fight tactically. Or rather its leaders forced to do so.

The first task must be to stop Iran getting the nuclear bomb. The whole of the Jewish organisations must be directed to forcing the US to act. This is the responsibility of the EU and of the US which went along with talking to the Mullahs, the late Robin Cook with Tony Blair proposing this as a solution 2 to 3 years ago.

Israel may have to act alone but to do so will pose great dangers and is to remove the responsibility from those who talkled peace with Iran.

Those issues need to be brought out into the open and discussed widely. That is: Firstly that a new Palestinian state will lead to the influx of millions of Arabs into that area, all financed by the world bodies, especially the UN. It will lead Israel into an impossible situation. Secondly that Iran must be stopped from gaining a nuclear bomb and this is not the responsibility of a tiny country like Israel.

We must now track every single move that the US government, and the EU especially Britain, make in relation to Israel. Everything they do must be analysed very carefully and then a way found to spread this word in the great American public.

Traditionally history shows that these governmental elites, not the ordinary people, have been enemies of the Jews and of Israel. If that happens now once again then the balance of forces in the world are such that Israel will be wiped out, necessitating of course a genocide. No matter what way you weigh all this up that emerges as a real possibility.

To sum up Israel must fight tactically. This means a new leadership.Time must be gained and the future salvation can only come from the ordinary folk who will see in the Jewish future their own future as well. That is people in the world who cannot countenance another Holocaust of the Jews. It will not be easy, new leaders will have to emerge, but I am sure it is possible.

17. scott said:

The ONLY way the Roadmap makes sense is as a way to give the Arab terrorists enough rope to hang themselves. I pray to God that Israel will understand this and take decisive and final action when the time is right.

18. george said:

in the long standing war against Israel,the reality has beem masked by layers upon layers of actions by proxy and hidden agendas by all external parties.
The hidden agendas of the arab states are easy to decipher, because the proxy war has nothing to do with the palestinians but to do with wahhabist Islam which now dominates and cannot tolerate a non islamic government in what is considered dar al islam.
The state of Israel is a blasphemy and must be destroyed and the Palestinians are merely tools in the war by proxy. it does not matter how many Pals die in achieving these ends . They will all become martytrs.
Evrything else is just padding to confuse or appease the infidel. if israel was reduced to the size of a tennis court , it would still have to be destroyed.
Of course this war of domination has now spilled over into the west but it is unlikely that the west will ever admit it.
On the western Side, the hidden agendas are far far more complicated. The Onion has many more layers and is wide open to a host of conspiracy theories.
A leftist student who drives me meshuga asked me "why did Bush then attack Iraq , when any idiot can see that Saudi Arabia is the real enemy and there are a host of totalitarian regimes worse even than Saddam Hussein's Iraq?"
conspiracies theories such as:- Is the US war on Iraq, ALSO a war by proxy on behalf of Saudi Arabia? Is the objective to weaken Iraq so it can no longer pose a threat to Saudi Arabia? Is a game being played in which Israel is playing ball with Condi's not so covert attacks ,because of promises made to Bush's Saudi backers .
In the meantime , Franciscos' theories may NOT be so conspirational after all.
They are all plausible but are they the truth?

19. Yehoshua Kehati said:

May we get back to basics, from a Torah point of view:
1- Eisav hates Yaakov;
2 - Ishmael has great power, as blessed from G-d;
3 - G-d created the universe, has run it for over 5,000 years, and has His eye on it always;
4 - The Jewish nation is the "apple of His eye";
5 - Hashem (G-d) gets angry (so to speak) when our Jewish behavior gets very far out of line.
6 - He always keeps His promises, for punishment or for reward.
With all this in mind, survey the scene:
Sharon expels Jews - mostly Torah observant - from their homes, without providing true alternative housing, schooling, livelihood.etc.;
Hashem sends him severe illness, forcing him into the hospital and out of his own home, burdens him with less-than-topnotch medical care and interference by political toadies;
Sharon's one-man-band - Kadima - is joined by despicable, indictable opportunists, and then the band collapses (not yet completely, but ultimately it will) as Sharon collapses;
the destruction of Torah life in Eretz Israel - the fundamental goal of Sharon/Kadima - is stymied for now because Sharon is stymied;
the growth of Torah education and a love of Torah is burgeoning in Eretz Israel the more the "government" tries to Hellenize Israel;
international games of musical chairs are played at the {hidden) direction of Hashem;
Torah Jews everywhere increase their learning and their material support of their fellow Jews;
Hashem continues to rescue us as promised many times over in the Torah, whether or not we see it (did you forget Chanukah already?; if so...here comes Purim!).

20. felix quigley said:

I was not really having a dig at Israpundit and I think it is a great resource for knowledge about the Jewish situation. (The title may have been a bit misleading but no problem)The real problem is that there are signs that the Jews in Israel may be in increasing danger. The advent of nuclear and of terrorists equipped with nuclear, along with hatred in the West, along with Jewish leaders who seem to be all at sea... That spells danger and we all feel it here.

I was a little surprised when I looked up ZOA. In leadership terms it is about the best of them, but I noticed along with the natural kindness to Sharon as he battled for life it also gave undue support to Olmert. And almost as soon as they wrote that, Olmert was taking a decision to allow Arabs who live in Jerusalem, part of Israel, to vote in a Palestinian state election. Talk about disarming in the face of danger...

The words of Peretz on the American ordinary people and how many support Israel or can be won to clear support for Israel is what struck home to me in this thread. I now think a focus must be made in America. In many ways Israel is in a holding situation. The split of opinions seems to be on where we get help from, I say it is from the ordinary American and in opposition to the US Government. I think that is where the debate is centred. Many of us following Yugoslavia are very very distrustful of the US and all these EU Governments.