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Tag: Nuclear Iran (page 2 of 3)

Missiles, Worms and Space Creatures

According to Iran’s defense minister, the Revolutionary Guard has received its first batch of brand new missiles, featuring enhanced guidance systems to hit ground targets.

Developed by Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization and successfully test-fired last month, General Ahmad Vahidi says the Defense Ministry supplied the guard with the upgraded surface-to-surface Fateh-100 missile. Previous versions of the missiles had ranges of up to 120 miles or 193 kilometers. The specifications on the new Fateh-100’s are still up for speculation.

Mahmoud AhmadinejadWhile rumors have surfaced that Ahmadinejad is considering ending the country’s uranium enrichment, a complex computer worm has affected the personal computers of the staff at that country’s first-ever nuclear power plant, just weeks before the facility is to go online.

Named Stuxnet, the computer worm can do serious damage to systems which control the inner workings of industrial plants.

Let’s Make a Deal

On a semi-related note, Moscow and Jerusalem signed a military cooperation agreement – actually the first of its kind – in early September, during a visit by Defense Minister, Ehud Barak. Israel is to sell the not-always-trusted and not-always-rational, builder of the Iranian Nuclear Power Plant, Russia, 36 UAV’s at a price of just $100 million.

Is $100 million worth Russia’s Iranian cooperation and human-rights violations in Georgia? Well how about a $300 million joint-venture to manufacture Israel drones in that country?

Hang on Ehud Barak!

Yes, the rumors are true. Russia will continue to supply Syria with advanced P800 sea-to-surface cruise missiles. These are the most advanced of their kind in the world! Will they be transferred to Hezbollah? Most signs point to yes.

The Russians, however, won’t deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile defense systems to Iran. Apparently that would be taking things one step too far.
Ahmad Vahidi said this on Iranian state-run TV:

“We think Russia should show it has an independent stance in choosing its relations with other countries as well as on international issues…”

The S-300, capable of shooting down aircraft and missiles at ranges over 144 kilometers and altitudes of 27,342 meters, would have been helpful to the Islamic Republic in combating an attack by Israel.

Meanwhile, last Tuesday, Italian authorities seized seven tons of explosives at a shipping container port in Gioia Tauro, Calabria. The shipment, sent from Iran, headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, was being transported by a Swiss-Italian shipping company to Syria.

What’s Happening at the United Nations

The UN is appointing a Malaysian Astro-physicist to head the Office of Space, to welcome extra-terrestrial visitors to the planet.

She is expected to explain that the recent discovery of hundreds of stars have made the possibility of the discovery of alien life more likely than before and that the United Nations should be ready for the chance of “initial contact.”

Takin’ It To China

While China has wavered over whether to participate in the American-led march to hang sanctions on Iran, officials of the Jewish Country have been pushing their own mum campaign to convince the Chinese that Iran should be disciplined for their renegade nuclear program.


Last February, an Israeli delegation made their way to Beijing to present evidence of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The divulged purpose of the visit was to illustrate the economic impact on China that would result from an Israeli strike on Iran. Should the international community fail to stop Iran from assembling an atomic weapon, Israel warns that an attack is inevitable.

Said one Israeli official:

“The Chinese didn’t seem too surprised by the evidence we showed them, but they really sat up in their chairs when we described what a pre-emptive attack would do to the region and on oil supplies they have come to depend on.”

Ties between Israel and China were marred when in 2000 an arms deal became bungled. The United States pressured Israel to cancel a $1 billion arms deal, many years in the making, to sell China an advanced airborne tracking system. Israel later agreed to pay a $350 million penalty. In 2005, Washington blocked another Israeli arms deal with Beijing involving a drone aircraft.

Well, Israel is also threatened by China’s growing thirst for Middle East oil from many of the Jewish State’s sworn enemies.

The Israeli ambassador to Beijing, Amos Nadai was heard saying:

“Israel is not a great supplier of the kinds of natural resources that China can find among some of our neighbors but we do have a lot to offer them, and there is a strong sense of mutual respect.”

Well, look at it in this light:

These two nations have some remarkable commonalities:

“their histories as ancient civilizations and the transformative economic growth that has defied conventional wisdom and a yearning for regional stability.”

Says Andrew Jacobs, Jerusalem correspondent for The New York Times.

In the game of tangible goods, Israel sells China: telecommunications equipment, high-tech products and irrigation systems. Trade between these two countries reached $4.5 billion last year; that’s up from $3.8 billion in 2006, although three-fourths of this is Chinese exports to Israel.

If not for the two-decade-old American-led embargo on arms sales to China which has stymied the Jewish Country’s most lucrative export, the imbalance would be less severe. Well, Israeli officials are frustrated over the ban, though they’re forced to acknowledge that their Washington relationship trumps the yearning for Chinese business.

Andrew Jacobs says that:

“Oddly enough, the close ties between Israel and the United States have become something of an Achilles’ heel for the Jewish state, during the 1990s, when Beijing was diplomatically isolated after the violent crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese sought closer relations with Israel because they thought it might bring them closer to the United States”

“This was an illusory period during which China thought the Jewish and Israeli lobbies could open doors for them in Washington”

Said research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, Yoram Evron.

A deeply held affection for Karl Marx and Albert Einstein and regard for the Jewish’s country’s military prowess are cornerstones of a Chinese fascination with Jews. Adding to the previously mentioned commonalities between the two ancient nations, recall that both are victims of genocide and Japanese hatred during the era of the Second World War.

Capability: Dealing With Iran

Deputy Prime Minister and former IDF chief of staff, Moshe Ya’alon has declared that Israel has the technological capability to make a military strike on Iran.

In an address at a conference on air power at the Fisher Institute for Air & Space Strategic Studies, Ya’alon said that Israel’s experience in carrying out air strikes, such as Iraq’s nuclear reactor Osirak in 1981 and Syria in 2007 could feasibly, even easily be applied to the distantly located Iranian regime.

“There is no doubt that the technological capabilities, which improved in recent years, have improved range and aerial refueling capabilities, and have brought about a massive improvement in the accuracy or ordnance and intelligence…This capability can be used for a war on terror in Gaza, for a war in the face of rockets from Lebanon, for war on the conventional Syrian army, and also for war on a peripheral state like Iran.”

Ya’alon posited air strikes to “decapitate or blind” an enemy by targeting its early-warning defenses or even its leadership:

“As far as I’m concerned, attack remains the best form of defense.”

Israel views herself at a de facto war with Iran as a result of its sponsorship of Hezbollah and Hamas:

“There is no doubt, looking at the overall situation, that we are already in a military confrontation with Iran…Iran is the main motivator of those attacking us.”

And The Show Down Continues…

A new week, soon a new month and a new year, and the world still anxiously speculates on whether or not Israel will attack Iran; and firstly whether Iran will finally begin to come around to the West’s demands for it to halt its uranium enrichment. The rhetoric from the Iranian camp continues in the same arrogant and belligerent vain. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, said on Monday, “The Zionist regime doesn’t dare to attack Iran because it is currently in its weakest position.”

Little Fucker Inspecting Nuclear FacilityBe that truth or lies, Iran could certainly prevent an Israeli attack by agreeing to and sticking to stipulations drafted in Vienna, earlier in October, in which Iranian negotiators and Western diplomats agreed to export 70% of its enriched uranium stockpile, to Russia. If indeed Iran ships its uranium to the Russians, to be further enriched into metal fuel rods, it would show an adherence to the UN-drafted plan – actually a step in the right direction.

Currently Iran is deciding whether to purchase fuel for its nuclear reactor and continue further enrichment, or selling its low-grade enriched Uranium, which it does not need, as sited in the new Vienna agreement. Mottaki said, “Iran’s legal peaceful nuclear activities will continue and this issue has nothing to do with supplying fuel for the Teheran reactor.”

Jerusalem officials say that it is far too early for rejoicing, because Iran has in the past talked about sending enriched uranium to Russia for processing, only to backtrack a short while later. What is there to make us think that Teheran can be trusted this time?

The amount of enriched uranium that Iran would be required to ship abroad – over 1,100 kilograms, exceeds the amount of fissile material needed to produce a bomb. On the other hand, though, the low grade of enrichment is an obstacle for Teheran’s alleged nuclear development race.

According to the size of the stockpile which Iran has actually declared, the US has estimated that Teheran could be able to produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015. Israel has independently come up with similar data.

The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, told the Daily Telegraph on Monday that:

“There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat. Israel will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us, decrease the tension and solve the problem. Hopefully we are going to stop this race to a confrontation.”

With the looming threat of an Israeli attack and strong support from allied Western nations towards the Vienna Agreement, it will be interesting to see what a squirmish Iran, actually decides to do.

US Plans to Attack Iran?

MOPSomething fishy’s going on in the Department of Defense. An ABC news report yesterday seemed to suggest that America is accelerating the production of the MOP.

This is not just any MOP. This is a very, very big MOP, and an explosive one that can bust through several meters of concrete. This MOP doesn’t clean floors. It destroys them. It is the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.
The Massive Ordnance Penetrator weighs in at 30,000 pounds. This is even heavier than the MOAB – the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or Mother of All Bombs, and it is twice the size of the Daisy Cutter.

Listen to the language used in explaining why they need this bomb, just now, at this convenient time, when it might just be that someone in the western world is going to have to blow up these enrichment labs all over Iran. Get ready for more unnecessary acronyms you’d only get out of the US army:

“The Department has an Urgent Operational Need (UON) for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high threat environments. The MOP is the weapon of choice to meet the requirements of the UON.”

It makes you wonder. Do these guys use acronyms at home with their wife and kids? “Honey, we have an urgent FDN here, and only food can solve the FDN. (Family Dinner Need, ha, I’m so creative.)

The price tag on this bomb – below $52 million. A paltry price to get rid of the Ayatollah’s nuclear madness.

US Should Down IAF Jets Over Iraq? Are you CRAZY?

Back when Barack Obama was just a junior Senator from Illinois and running for president, much of the Jewish community was up in arms about the various friends and advisers surrounding the young presidential hopeful. They included the vitriolic anti Semite Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s personal pastor, Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, who was caught plotting to bomb the Pentagon over Vietnam in the 70’s, and there was also a former cabinet member in the brzezinski zbigniewCarter Administration, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who besides having way too many consecutive consonants in both of his names, has been known to be viciously anti Israel in his past statements. Brzezinski was luckily denied a position in the Obama Administration thanks largely to efforts of the pro Israel lobby in blacklisting him and putting pressure on Obama to repudiate him as a possible adviser by hanging the Jewish vote over his head.

In any case, Obama’s fans downplayed each of these associations, saying they either weren’t important or didn’t influence his opinions, Obama is just trying to be diplomatic and friendly with the other side, etc. Maybe they are right. However, today, Brzezinski came out with a statement that may just knock their socks off. Brzezinski has actually urged Obama to make it clear that if the IAF tries to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities via Iraqi airspace, the US Air Force will shoot down the Israeli jets.

Wow. Talk about total lunatic-tinged insanity.

He continued, “We are not exactly impotent little babies,” Brzezinski told The Daily Beast in an interview published Sunday. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? … We have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not.”

The implications of such a confrontation would be entirely catastrophic in so many senses that it is impossible to count or assess. For one, and most immediately, it would ensure the safety of the Iranian nuclear program until the entire Islamic middle east is armed to the teeth with WMD. Second, it would irreversibly damage, if not destroy the friendship between Israel and the US for years, if not decades, to come. It would quite simply change the entire world in a matter of seconds.

That, however, does not seem to matter to Brzezinski. It seems that his distaste for Israel and its existential safety are of no concern when it comes to his not wanting to look like “impotent little babies,” in the eyes of the Jews with the planes.

Here’s one word of advice, Brzezinski. Allow Iran to complete its nuclear ambitions by shooting us down, and you will end up an impotent little baby in front of the Ayatollahs. And unlike Israel, they don’t take well to being shot down if they’re armed with nuclear weapons.

China, Organ Harvesting, Sweden, Iran Sanctions, and Israel

Sounds like a lot to cover in one post, but believe it or not, these topics are all related. Here’s how.

Hu JintaoChina, a huge, repressive, polluting, morally repugnant regime is known to have many an “organ harvesting prison” in its territory. They arrest political opponents, and they tell them they can go free if they simply give up a kidney and half of their liver. Oh, it won’t kill them, and yes, they get to go free, but on the other hand, if they don’t give up an organ, they stay in prison. Call it organ extortion, organ harvesting, call it repugnant, which I did already.

Let’s talk about China and Israel. Recently, China hosted the Olympic games in Beijing. Israel participated, over several calls to boycott by few, but vocal politicians. And now, a year later, Israel – not China – is being accused of organ harvesting, by Swedish newspapers. OK. There have been those who have written of a possible “divine” connection in this, articles you may find floating around the internet here and there, or call it Karma, or whatever you want. Whatever you may want to say, it is definitely poetically ironic that the nation that actually engages in organ harvesting out in the open is not the one that is actually being accused of it. But China is causing Israel some more trouble than just that.

Shall we now go over to China and Iran? Sure. China and Iran have a lot of business relations. And as luck would have it, just like Iran and Venezuela, they represent the opposite extremes of the political spectrum. Iran is on the extreme right of fascist dictatorship. Venezuela and China are on the extreme left of a sort of jumble between socialism and communism, and they’re all pretty much good friends. So it’s really no surprise at all that a day after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that handsome theocrat of an Iranian dictator, decided to rant again about how much he hates The Zionist Entity, China comes and says that, hey, they’re not really all that interested in slapping sanctions on Iran anyway. It wouldn’t be good for negotiations, they say.

I’m sure their road to hell is paved with the best intentions ever known to man. In China’s words, “At present, it [sanctions] is not conducive to diplomatic efforts.” The words of Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. How, exactly, is it not conducive to diplomatic efforts? I’ll tell you what it’s not conducive to. It’s not conducive to your trade with Iran. You get less money, and you’ll have to charge even more money for those organs you sell from your political prisoners to even out the balance. How much does a local kidney go for anyway these days in China?

And how about this: The Financial Times on Wednesday reported that Chinese state companies began supplying gasoline to Iran earlier in September. They now provide one-third of its imports. Are they in the money…or what?

Are Iran and Gilad Shalit Connected?

With Iran recently coming out with the completely ludicrous statement that they would agree to “a world without any nuclear weapons” which would ideally, in their view, leave them with the world’s only stockpile, we are most likely now approaching the limit of American patience and the end of the Iranian nuclear negotiations farce. The question is, what happens from here?
 
meridorOn this subject, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor (there are 3 deputy Prime Ministers by my count, all necessary for the country’s security because if one of them gets unhappy, the government might fall) came out yesterday to say that the clock is ticking and it’s about time that the West actually did something to prevent messianic Islamist fundamentalists from obtaining nuclear capability.
 
Along the same lines, former intelligence chief Danny Yatom said that the only way to stop Iran from becoming nuclear would be military action. How many of us, at the beginning of this nightmare back in 2005 when Ahmadinejad made his first public statement about wiping Israel off the map, thought that dialogue would actually succeed?
 
Signs that a military strike is imminent are Netanyahu’s secret trip to who knows where last week (some are saying it was Russia, but the story is pretty fuzzy) and the sudden flurry of negotiations surrounding Gilad Shalit. It could very well be that Bibi is trying his darnedest to get that affair wrapped up because if he doesn’t soon, then he’ll have to deal with Iran first, in which case getting Shalit out of his Gaza dungeon will be next to impossible.
 
It has been Israel’s strategy to insist that Iran is not only Israel’s problem, and indeed, that a nuclear Islamic dictatorship could, just possibly, be a danger to the rest of the world. And yet, that rest of the world seems content to let the Jews handle the world’s problems. Again, who is surprised? Anybody out there? If history has shown anything consistent, it is that the Jews’ problems are the world’s problems.
 
Suggested time tables are somewhere between the end of this year and the beginning of 2010 for the simultaneous opening of Iran Round I, Hezbollah Round III, and Hamas Round a Million. In the event that it happens, we’ll be here, in a shelter somewhere, posting updates.

Wake up, Obama, and Smell the Uranium-Enriched Coffee in Iran!

So reports the Wall Street Journal that Obama will either have to seriously crack down on Iran, or witness an Israeli bombardment of the Islamic dictatorship with all its consequences.

Wall Street JournalThe Journal, touted as the most important conservative newspaper in America, also said that a military conflict with Iran will be inevitable if the West doesn’t act quickly to neutralize Iran’s nuclear threat. The paper accuses the Obama Administration of investing more energy in trying to warn Israel against attacking than warning Iran to stop what it’s doing immediately.

“They can also see that the West lacks the will to do anything, as the Obama Administration continues to plead for Tehran to negotiate even as Iran holds show trials of opposition leaders and journalists for saying the recent reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was fraudulent. The irony is that the weaker the West and UN appear, the more probable an Israeli attack becomes,” said the editorial.

It looks like someone’s waking up. Hopefully it won’t be too late. As much as I want Iran’s nuclear program wiped out, I’d much prefer it be done by massive, organized, and absolutely crippling sanctions rather than Israeli planes. Though the world’s stomach and seeming unwillingness to stand up for the lives of Jews (and, in effect, their own) leads me to believe we’re on our own. The Wall Street Journal smells it, too, which is why they’ve warned Obama that the implications of such an Israeli attack wouldn’t be too great for American interests, especially in the decline the country is currently in.

The editorial understands one very simple thing that Obama might not yet comprehend. It is this: “The reality that Western leaders don’t want to admit is that preventing Iran from getting the bomb is an Israeli national imperative, not a mere policy choice. That’s a view shared across Israel’s political spectrum.”

Let’s hope they get it before we’ve got to take matters into our own hands.

Iran Ready for Nuclear Talks Without Preconditions? OK…

Austria Nuclear IranIs the Persian Empire crumbling finally? Last time it took a massive slaughter at the hands of the Spartans at Thermopylae to stop them at the most famous battle in ancient European history. Now, all it seems to have taken was a backdoor American threat to let Israel loose on them, stamping a deadline for talks on September, and rounded off with a little bit of political instability, as nearly the entire country is ticked at having been cheated in the rigged Iranian reelection of Ahmadenijad.

I figure one of two possible causes. One possibility, the Iranian regime is finally beginning to feel the grasp around its throat, especially with the latest challenge by a group of reformists against the leadership of the Ayatollah, who supposedly has sanction from Allah himself. I wonder how he got that. We could all use some good sanction from Allah for brutal, totalitarian rule over others. It is, after all, quite convenient for such purposes. To challenge that, takes some guts indeed.

The other possibility is that the Iranian regime is engaging in a little time-buying trickery, giving in to America’s demand to “resolve our differences through words,” while during that time, building and completing the nuclear project. After all, think about it. If they give the US a straight out “NO,” then that’ll probably give a green light to Israel to go and bomb Natanz, setting them back another 10 years, after which Israel would probably have to bomb again and reset the clock. Or then again, maybe not. Saddam after all couldn’t do anything after the 1981 bombing of Osirak and Iraq’s nuclear ambitions haven’t since been seriously rekindled. On the other hand, if Iran says, “Let’s talk,” then Israel will definitely not be allowed to attack so long as a chance remains that the “talk” will work.

I wonder what they’re going to talk about. They want nukes, but what would they settle for? Dollars? Those things are almost worthless these days, and America is nearly bankrupt anyway. But here’s the quote.

“Talks without preconditions is Iran’s main stance in negotiations on the nuclear issue.” This was said by Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA. The Iranian television report added that Soltanieh had made the announcement based on “mutual respect” for the West.

(Put a Kippa on that guy and he looks just like a nice welfare-peddling Shas guy.)
Well, I’m glad everyone respects each other. Now let’s juts put away the weapons of mass destruction and murder before somebody loses an eye.

Heart Warming

Acute Radiation Sickness a Thing of the Past?

Radiation CureHow’s the for potentially life-changing news: Radiation sickness may now be a thing of the past. Thanks to Jewish-American scientists working together with researchers and investors from Israel, researchers now believe they have isolated a certain intestinal protein that can be administered as an injection to protect people against acute radiation poisoning from 24 hours before exposure up until 72 hours afterward.

Andrei Gudkov, chief science officer at Cleveland Biolabs, pioneered the research and developed the medication, which has already passed trials on mice as well as primates, where controlled groups were given the medication and subjected to lethal doses of radiation. Almost all survived, and more amazingly, few showed any signs of radiation exposure at all. The amount of radiation administered was equal to the amount of the highest doses received from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. FDA approval may even happen within a year or two if the bureaucracy allows some flow.

The implications of this are no less than enormous, both politically and medically. If the medication, which testing thus far has revealed has no serious side effects, gets approved, countries with access to it will have a major advantage in protection against nuclear attack and/or dirty bombs, which is especially significant in Israel’s case in its struggle with Iran.

On the medical front, there is of course the issue of radiation therapy for cancer patients, who could be better protected against the radiation that is administered to destroy cancerous tumors.

The Israeli connection here is Elena Feinstein, a longtime cancer researcher at the Weizmann Institute, who partnered with Gudkov on the project.

The medication works by suppressing the “suicide mechanism” activated by cells exposed to radiation, while at the same time enabling them to repair themselves from the damage.

How Much for a Get-Out-of-Nuclear-Iran-Free Card?

Gush Dan, the most heavily populated section of Israel encompassing Tel Aviv, Herzeliya, Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Rehovot, Bnei Brak, Kiryat Ono, Holon, and a litany of other municipalities sectioned at the whim of some cartographer with either a very shaky pen or very creative gerrymandering aspirations, stands at an estimated 3 million people. It may suddenly occur to you that this represents half of the Jewish State’s entire Jewish population.

The thought of a first strike by a nuclear Iran there…it’s best not to contemplate. And not contemplating it is how the country functions, because you can’t get up and go to work every day with the thought of a nuclear weapon whispering in the breeze. It’s just not that great for sales. But somebody’s got to deal with the problem. That kind of thing is left up to politicians, and some interesting stuff was reported today on that front.

Apparently, a deal is starting to be worked out between Israel and Western leaders concerning international support for a first strike on Iran. This, in return for certain concessions to the Arab world. At first, this sounds pretty good. Israel gets to ensure the existence of the 3 million sitting ducks from a possible nuclear attack on Gush Dan, and everyone promises not to yell at her.

Is it just me, or does something smell funny? The question is, what does international support mean? Will the Western leaders sit at their desks, pump their arms and go “Woot Woot!” as Israeli F16i’s cut through the skies and destroy the nuclear facility at Natanz, risking their lives in the process? I’d like to ask top military strategists about their assessments of the strategic value of “Woot Woot!”.

Iraq bombedLet’s go back in time 28 years to 1981 for a second and think together here. Israel, completely on its own initiative and totally lacking the backing of the wooting West, decided that her life was more important than international support, and bombed Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor in Operation Opera. Not only was Western support lacking, but Osirak was actually sanctioned, designed, and built by Western powers in the first place, lock stock and barrel. Here’s a photo to remind us.

The young strapping lad in the mustache would be Saddam Hussein, and the guy in the glasses? Here’s a superimposed hint. It is of course the young, strapping Jacques Chirac, former president of France.

Now fast forward another 10 years to 1991 and the first Gulf War. Conveniently for the United States, Iraq was lacking nuclear weapons. If he had had them at the time, world history would have developed slightly differently. It turns out, then, that Israel wasn’t only saving itself 28 years ago. It was saving the Western powers, too.

Now back to the present. Essentially, Israel is being told that if she wants Gush Dan and its 3 million inhabitants, she’ll have to do what the West says. Now imagine if that happened in 1981 and Osirak was never destroyed. It could just be that, by making demands on Israel, Europe is endangering its own safety.

It’s hard to say what concessions to the Arab World Israel would have to make for some international cheering. But whatever they are, are they so important that Europe is willing to compromise its own security? Woot woot…

Bibi gets a C on first 100 days in office

Prime Minister Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu has just completed his first 100 days in office, and judging on who’s score card you’re looking at, Netanyahu’s second go-around as Israel’s head of government hasn’t been very exciting – so far at least. The right-of-center Likud Party chairman and “spin-master” for creating his version of shaping future events in Israel and the Middle East, has overall not been given high marks by those who have rated his performance to date – including fellow right-wingers who expected something more concrete from the man who’s election campaign rhetoric spoke of much higher ideals and agendas than what has been demonstrated so far by him. Netanyahu’s recent trip to Washington, and his meeting with US President Barack Obama, did not turn out to be what he had hoped; and Bibi’s wife Sarah Netanyahu was completely snubbed by Obama’s wife, Michelle.

Bibi meeting Obama - check out the body language..Although Bibi finally did agree to the “two states for two peoples” idea, and to follow the road map that had originally been put forward by the Americans during the Bush Administration, the idea of a Palestinian State alongside Israel did not turn out to be positive enough for the Palestinians to accept outright (the West Bank Palestinians, that is – forget about the Hamas ones in Gaza) and was too “concession minded” to be accepted by most Likud party members, as well as other right-winged Israelis.

Trying of set right the economy, with the help of Bibi’s good friend Yuval Steinitz, who the Prime Minster chose to be his finance minister, has not worked well at all; and several proposed economic reforms had to be either canceled or altered following strong protests by the general public. What finally did get drafted appears to have been less than beneficial to those sections of Israeli society who are now the worst off in the current world economic slow down. Although he did succeed in getting a 2 year budget draft passed, his ‘flip-flopping’ on a number of financial issues was in sharp contrast to promises he made during the recent campaign. A good example of economic mind changing was in regard to first imposing then canceling the VAT on fruits and vegetables. His greatest critics have been Tzipi Livni and her Kadima Party, now in opposition.

And finally, there are the two prominent issues of the Iran nuclear problem (to attack or not to attack – that is the question) and the one dealing with captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, for whose release Netanyahu had said would be the government’s top priority. This too has so far turned out to be “all show and no go” as the “separation” between Israel and Hamas is still too wide. “The Israelis dwelled too much on who would be released in the exchange and who would not; and this in the end killed the deal” said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who had tried to lend a hand in broking the latest negotiations to free Schalit. This means that Schalit’s father, Noam, will most likely give bitter remarks about Netanyahu as a leader, as he did concerning the previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

So taking all of the above into account, the Prime Minister only gets a C on his First Quarter report card.

Saudi Arabia WILL NOT let Israel Use Its Airspace – Damn!

Thanks Karin! This was published a couple of days ago:

Mossad head Meir Dagan assured Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia would allow IAF jets to fly over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Sunday Times reported.

Iran nuclear facility in BushehrThis was published now: Saudi Arabia Denies Reports Regarding Israeli Use of Its Airspace

WASHINGTON, July 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today issued the following statement in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia:

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia totally and categorically denies accounts published by a British newspaper regarding contacts with Israel or permission to use Saudi airspace for any hostile activities. The Kingdom is greatly puzzled by the publication of this false information, which directly contradicts the established, firm and clear policies of the Saudi government regarding relations with the occupying government of Israel and the Kingdom’s prohibition against the use of its territories or airspace for aggression against another nation.”

This is distributed by Qorvis Communications, LLC on behalf of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Source: Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia

CONTACT: Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office, Washington,
DC, +1-202-337-4076

So that’s it – we’re back to using Syria and Iraq…

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