JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is looking to hire university students to post pro-Israel messages on social media networks — without needing to identify themselves as government-linked, officials said Wednesday.
The Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement that students on Israeli university campuses would receive full or partial scholarships to combat anti-Semitism and calls to boycott Israel online. It said students' messages would parallel statements by government officials.
"This is a groundbreaking project aimed at strengthening Israeli national diplomacy and adapting it to changes in information consumption," the statement said.
An Israeli official said Wednesday that scholarship recipients would be free to decide whether or not to identify themselves as part of the program, which would begin within months.
"Everyone who believes in the cause, and wants to join, can join," he told The Associated Press. He said the office was looking to budget $778,000 for the project, and that the national Israeli student association would select participants from a pool of applicants.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as the project is still under development and he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about it.
The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz identified the official heading the project as Danny Seaman, a public diplomacy official who has written posts on his personal Facebook page which Haaretz described as being incendiary and anti-Muslim.
Haaretz posted what it said were four screen shots of his recent posts. In one of them, Seaman wrote: "Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan mean that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?" In another, he uses profanity in a comment about the chief Palestinian peace negotiator.
The Israeli official said Seaman's posts were "unacceptable and do not reflect the position of the Israeli government." He said the national communications directorate in the Prime Minister's Office had instructed Seaman to "immediately cease from making such pronouncements."
Seaman declined comment, and the posts could no longer be seen on his Facebook profile on Wednesday.
The official from the prime minister's office would not say whether Seaman would be the project's director. Seaman, a former director of the Government Press Office, had a contentious relationship with the international media and banned Palestinians from receiving government press cards during his tenure.
Israel isn't the only country to set up such a system. In China, members of the so-called "fifty cent army" sprinkle positive, pro-government messages across the web and social media.
Public image is also a paramount concern to Israeli officials. The prime minister's office oversees a national initiative for "hasbara" — a Hebrew term that officials translate as public diplomacy and critics call propaganda. This initiative is intended to combat what officials see as popular discourse that goes beyond legitimate criticism of Israeli policies and constitutes hate speech that threatens the very legitimacy of Israel's existence.
The Israeli army has set up an "Interactive Media" division of a few dozen soldiers tasked with spreading the army's message on social media sites.
When Israel's army launched an offensive on Gaza militants late last year, the Israeli government set up a "media bunker" with hundreds of young volunteers posting updates reflecting Israel's point of view. Many Israelis believe the international news media are anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.
At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the volunteer media recruits in a video conference.
"We are (operating) on four fronts: The military front, the home front, the diplomatic front and the public diplomacy front," Netanyahu said. "We must fight for the truth, for the facts, and your help is worth more than gold … refuting the industry of lies."
LETTER FROM TUFTS STUDENT:
ReplyDeleteTufts Hillel describes Lt. Col. Dr. Eran Shamir- Borer as the “IDF’s legal advisor for Operation Protective Edge.” This latest assault on Gaza killed 2,127 Palestinians by the IDF’s count and was third in what has become a nearly biannual series of massacres. To put this in human terms, children six or older in Gaza have survived three major Israeli assaults in their short lifespans. But Shamir-Borer is not here to talk in any terms as honest as murder, massacre, or assault. He is coming to address “the challenges facing Western democracies in the face of asymmetrical warfare.” Language is a powerful legitimizing weapon, and already there are five suspicious terms to unpack: Israeli Defense Forces, Operation Protective Edge, asymmetrical warfare, democracies, and of course body counts, which speak a language purposely devoid of the true cost of war.
These euphemisms of the Israeli-Palestinian “conflict” were designed to make violent domination digestible to those whose political leaders, tax dollars, and indifference uphold it. We in the U.S. are a primary audience. The U.S. donates one-quarter of its foreign aid budget to Israel, and more importantly, provides crucial military equipment and the often lone diplomatic backing for an Israeli government that finds itself increasingly isolated in the international moral landscape.
As Tufts students we are participants in the continuing violence in Gaza. From paying sales tax to allowing authorizers of mass murder to be invited to our campus, we need to think critically through the fog of rhetoric that grants Israel and the U.S. impunity for their crimes. The dominant and legitimizing narrative we are fed blames thousand year old Palestinian villages for standing in the way of Israel’s “peaceful” settler colonial project. Ostensibly, Palestinian suicide homes crash themselves into peaceful Israeli bulldozers. Ostensibly, Gazans brought their deaths upon themselves at the hands of the peace-seeking IDF. In dominant discourse, Israeli violence is disappeared.
The constant presumption of Palestinian fault and Israeli victimization is reinforced by U.S. politicians: this summer while Israeli forces relentlessly pummeled the imprisoned population of Gaza, our lawmakers produced dozens upon dozens of statements and bills speaking of Israel’s “right to self-defense,” Hamas’ “human shields,” and “unprovoked rocket attacks from the Hamas terrorist organization.” Congress authorized an additional $225 million of aid for Israel’s Iron Dome in early August, and after its passage House Speaker John Boehner reiterated the apparently still unchallenged logic that “Israel is our friend and Israel’s enemies are our enemies.” U.S. politics, too, work to disappear Israeli violence.
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DeleteTo unveil this violence, it is necessary to unpack Shamir-Borer and Tufts Hillel’s euphemisms. The entire conception of the Israeli military is designed to distort the inherent offensive nature of a settler-colonial state, because after all it’s the Israeli “Defense” Forces. The cry of “self-defense” emanates regularly from the U.S Congress and the Israeli Knesset, despite that from 2000 to 2013 the cycle of killing was reignited by Israeli force 79 percent of the time, in contrast to the 8 percent of cases in which Palestinians killed Israelis first, according to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem’s count.
Operation Protective Edge bears the same deceptive “defensive” branding. The notion of “asymmetrical warfare,” to use Shamir-Borer’s speech description, are inverted to justify offensive violence. As Max Blumenthal concluded as part of his investigative report on the “disinformation campaign” waged by authorities, “the Israeli government, intelligence services and army engaged in a cover-up to provide themselves with the political space they required for a military campaign.” IDF propaganda this past summer whipped up a frenzy over the fear that “Hamas rockets threaten the majority of Israel’s population.” The propaganda conveniently omitted that “compared to what the Israelis are using, the Palestinians are firing bottle rockets,” in the words of “a counter-intelligence veteran of the U.S. CIA who spent his career monitoring Israeli and Palestinian military capabilities.” And yet, in July Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the threat of “these projectiles of death” as comparable only to “Britain during World War II.” This is not to defend Hamas’ condemnable rocket fire, but to contextualize it within a larger power dynamic. State terror has radicalized some among a strategically impoverished and constantly besieged population. Locked away within the open air prison that is Gaza, Hamas’ violence does more harm to its fellow prisoners than its jailers.
Shamir-Borer and his allies also attempt to claim the military moral high ground by labeling Israel and the U.S. as threatened “democracies.” But Israel’s claim to democracy status is weak, and the country’s democratic failings are tied to the oppression that breeds Hamas’ radicalism. For a state that claims to be both Jewish and democratic, the former adjective has eclipsed the latter, systemically privileging Jews over Arabs and White (Ashkenazi) Jews over others. The illegal 47 year military occupation of the West Bank and the 7 year military blockade of Gaza are the cornerstones of unequal power. But structural discrimination functions in a myriad of other ways including over 50 discriminatory laws, separate and unequal legal standards, a segregated road system, housing segregation, and most recently, bus segregation. As Israeli political geographer Oren Yiftachel argues, Israel can better be understood as an “ethnocracy,” meaning a regime promoting “the expansion of the dominant group in contested territory … while maintaining a democratic façade.”
It is crucial to interrogate one final framing of the violence: the language of body counts. The Israeli state’s settler-colonial project victimizes people at many levels. 495 Palestinian children fell victim to Israeli bombs. 6 Israeli civilians fell victim to Hamas rockets. Several hundred Hamas militants died fighting, an act they probably saw as the only viable Palestinian resistance. 66 Israeli soldiers died fighting, mostly young men conscripted into a settler colonial fighting force. But numbers do not begin to capture the agony of destroyed homes, of children returning to gutted schools, of families who disappeared in a heartbeat, of relatives’ hearts sinking from unanswered phone calls, of the agony of a people who were slated for liquidation long ago and whose every living moments are acts of resistance. Suheir Hammad described the pain of her fellow Palestinians as “grief upon grief astronomical.”
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My own experiences do not allow me to comprehend this agony, but I can insist that our community take seriously our complicity in the violence that remains legible. We must be vigilant of euphemisms around Palestine, and every other political issue, because their confounding power veils most of the violence we uphold. The euphemisms of American political discourse were designed to assimilate increasing inequality into our supposed modern meritocracy. The euphemisms of Tufts were designed to mask violence close to home. On our campus, rape and sexual assault are neatly packaged as “sexual misconduct,” racist remarks become “bias incidents,” and sometimes less than thoughtful community engagement is congratulated as “active citizenship.” Rejecting euphemisms means holding ourselves accountable to all the violence hiding behind everyday discourse.
Shamir-Borer does not deserve a platform. He deserves a trial. One way you can reverse your complicity is by challenging his presence. Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine is calling on Tufts President Anthony Monaco to cancel Shamir- Borer’s speaking engagement so that apologists for Israeli war crimes are not honored on our campus. To stand with our values of refusing euphemisms and unmasking violence, please sign on to our letter to President Monaco.
- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11/tuftssjp#sthash.HL7QxiFL.dpuf
Republicans are on board and in the U.S. Conga Line are getting their Aipac talking points emailed to them on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteAmerican lawmakers are being urged by Netanyahu, who said the failure to reach a deal “gives an opportunity to continue the economic pressures that have proven to be the only thing that brought Iran to the table, to continue them, to toughen them.”
Republicans are a little wary that sentiments are changing despite Israeli propaganda.
“If there’s a sense of overreach on the part of the Congress, there could very well be a backlash.”
“Congress must have the opportunity to weigh in before implementation of any final agreement and begin preparing alternatives, including tougher sanctions, should negotiations fail,” said Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who’s in line to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Iran has agreed with six world powers -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. -- to extend talks on its nuclear program, which had been due to end at midnight, with plans to craft a political framework by March 1 and fill in the technical details by July.
AIPAC Press Release
ReplyDeleteAIPAC Statement on Iran Talks Extension
After a year of negotiations, Iran received another seven-month extension of the current talks without showing any willingness to abandon its quest to build nuclear weapons. It is particularly troubling that this new extension will yield Tehran even more economic relief without increased pressure on the Islamic Republic. Iran has now received direct sanctions relief valued at approximately ten billion dollars since the negotiations began, and there is no sign those benefits have produced favorable results.
Moreover, there is evidence that Iran has not fully complied with the Joint Plan of Action with respect both to its research and development of advanced centrifuges. Iran has repeatedly failed to live up to its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency -- stonewalling the IAEA’s investigation of past Iranian weaponization activities.
AIPAC continues to believe that tough pressure brought Iran to the negotiations and that the threat of additional pressure will strengthen America’s bargaining position. We share the goal of an effective, sustainable agreement that ensures Iran will not have a path to the bomb, and we believe that increased pressure is the best way to achieve that objective. Conversely, gestures of accommodation to Iran have failed to yield a suitable Iranian response.
Congress delayed enacting additional sanctions over the past year to give negotiations a chance. It is now essential that Congress take up new bipartisan sanctions legislation to let Tehran know that it will face much more severe pressure if it does not clearly abandon its nuclear weapons program. We urge Congress to play its traditional and critical role to ensure that a final agreement truly eliminates any path for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.
Administration officials have appropriately and repeatedly indicated that no deal is better than a bad deal. However, endlessly continuing talks with a recalcitrant Iran without additional pressure will undoubtedly fail to reach a good deal that we all seek to achieve.
Congress must now act to send a clear message that U.S. patience is not limitless and that Iran must not be allowed to achieve a nuclear weapons capability.
Aipac , American Israeli Political Action Committee, should start telling the truth by refining its name to what it really is:
ReplyDeleteIpac, Israeli Propaganda Action Committee
It is a foreign agency given full access to meddle in US foreign policy. Claiming it is anything other is simply propaganda.
ReplyDeleteYou are ignorant of AIPAC.
DeleteIt's embarrassing to watch you make an ass out of yourself...
Really.
.
DeleteAnyone who takes the time to read a little knows what AIPAC is.
.
You are delusional.
ReplyDeleteReally..
As for US foreign policy?
Much more is influenced by the Arab oil producers...
Sorry if the ISSUES about Israel resonate with Americans, as they do...
But Israel is an easy sell...
All Americans have to do is look into the eyes of an Israeli? They see themselves.
Look into the eyes of a firebomb throwing Palestinian? They see a Ferguson Rioter....
Reality sucks for you Deuce..
Propaganda, you say? Oh, my! I will not sleep knowing that governments use citizens for propaganda, like the Peace Corps.
ReplyDeleteIsrael want a war, fought by the US, against Iran for the perceived benefit of Israel, an evolving apartheid state in Palestine. Own it.
ReplyDeleteWhat I will own?
Deleteis that there is no apartheid state in Palestine.
However in MY nation, America? We have Compton, Watts, Ferguson and 10,000 other places that are quickly becoming your worst nightmares.
Why would they me my nightmare and not a nightmare for an Israeli firster?
DeleteBecause the black inner city thugs are the new palestinians of America...
DeleteCongrats...
They will be coming after you and where you live 1st..
City of Brotherly love my ass..
It's not a nightmare for me, a REAL American, but an Iranian/Palestinian firster like you?
DeleteWatch your back, you are still a WHITE guy...
You may have gone native but not all of the 'hood may get the message..
The firebombing Palestinian is fighting the Israeli oppressor that uses far more lethal weapons against civilians. The US called its own firebombing throwing patriots, Minutemen.
ReplyDeleteThe firebombing palestinian is a terrorist.
DeleteTargeting civilians is it's plan...
As for Israeli oppressor? Hardly.
The arabs of israel and the disputed lands are free to leave at any time and join the other 899/900th of the arab conquered lands.
You seem to forget that the arab - israeli conflict is much wider than some fake nationalistic gang bangers who call themselves "palestinians"
The war, and it is a war, was lost repeatedly by the larger, more vicious side, the arabs..
The last gasp?
Is a brutal death cult that praises and promotes suicide bombers against pizza eaters...
ISIS? Same as Hamas, Same as Fatah...
The LAND is the issue.
The arab world, the greedy oppressive pricks that they are, have 21 nations (and one still birth called Palestine), control 899/900th of all the land, 1/2 of the world's oil and yet?
you focus on 1/900th of the middle east and call it "oppressor" and yet? the 1.2 MILLION arabs that are citizens of Israel? Are the freest in the Arab world, that's why they don't leave..
You contest Israel's right to Jerusalem. You praise terrorists that firebomb civilians, you have no problem praising when American Rabbis are shot and hacked to death in a synagogue in WEST Jerusalem while praying...
What was their crime?
They were JEWS...
SO they deserved to die...
No Deuce you are on the wrong side of history.
The Palestinians COULD have had peace NUMEROUS times in the past, all they have to do? Is stop MURDERING Jews...
I know that is a big request, cause murdering Jews is so much fun for your friends.....
The Zionists that are occupying Palestine are the original terrorists.
DeleteThere is no question about that.
Zionists murder civilians, Jewish refugees in a False Flag operation
On Nov. 25, 1940, a boat carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe,
exploded and sank off the coast of Palestine killing 252 people.
The Zionist “Haganah” claimed the passengers committed suicide to protest British refusal to let them land.
Years later, it admitted that rather than let the passengers go to Mauritius, it blew up the vessel for its propaganda value.
“Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the few in order to save the many,”
Moshe Sharett, a former Israeli Prime Minister said at memorial service in 1958.
The Zionist “Haganah” claimed the passengers committed suicide to protest British refusal to let them land.
DeleteYears later, it admitted that rather than let the passengers go to Mauritius, it blew up the vessel for its propaganda value.
... it blew up the vessel for its propaganda value.
MURDERING Jews for propaganda purposes, Zionists
And YET? You are still alive…
DeleteWe saw how Israel resonated with Americans when the Israeli first cheerleaders, including those here wanted a US air war against Assad. Americans, in the majority, said no.
ReplyDeleteAmerica and Israel share a disgust about Assad.
DeleteObama has done a great job in instilling fear into America that America cannot win wars...
But not to fear. The true mask of Assad will come clear to the world.
I guess 280,000 murdered is not enough...
When the Iranians fuck America over, again, I am sure the reaction will be clear.
You are selective in your facts and perceptions..
The Obama Redline? The fake Chemical weapons bullshit? All theater all the time.
but keep on focusing on Israel...
DeleteDon't let assay's barrel bombs distract you...
LOL
Israel prefers Daesh (al-Qeada) in Syria, over the Alawites, Christians and their Kurdish allies
DeleteIsrael’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told the Jerusalem Post that Israel so wanted Assad out and his Iranian backers weakened, that Israel would accept al-Qaeda operatives taking power in Syria.
“We always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.”
“We understand that they are pretty bad guys,” Oren said in the interview.
http://www.jpost.com/Syria-Crisis/Oren-Jerusalem-has-wanted-Assad-ousted-since-the-outbreak-of-the-Syrian-civil-war-326328
Ah, the liar in chief is awake!
DeleteIran is the natural ally for the US in the ME. With normalized relations with Iran, the US could opt out of being played by the Israelis and Saudis. It would be great day for Americans.
ReplyDeleteIranian PEOPLE are pro-America and pro-Israeli.
DeleteThe Mullahs however are not.
And the TRUTH?
The MULLAH control Iran and it's people.
I guess you never heard of the GREEN revolution?
It was interesting to watch those Hezbollah fighters on motorcycles raping and murdering the Iranian people, helping the Revolutionary Guards put down the peaceful citizens of Iran.
Yep, you side with the Mullahs and Hezbollah.
Sick
“It is time to honestly admit that Israeli society is ill – and it is our duty to treat this disease,”
Delete“I’m not asking if they’ve forgotten how to be Jews, but if they’ve forgotten how to be decent human beings.
Have they forgotten how to converse?”
- Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/10/25/israel-is-a-sick-society/
I would be pleased to see the mullahs removed from power in Iran and Israel by the Iranians and the Israelis.
DeleteSorry Deuce, Israel aint being destroyed no matter how wet your dream.
DeleteHenry Kissinger: ''In 10 years Israel will cease to exist''
DeleteLess than 8 years to go ...
http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2012/10/30/16913.shtml
Keep on dreaming….
DeleteI will keep thinking you have about 8 more years til you are locked up for your war crimes or shot by one of your drug dealers you do business with… Or AIDS..
You are drifting ever further down that delusional river of dreams, "O"rdure.
DeleteA learned Jew describes the death spiral that Israel finds itself in, and all you do, go swim in denial.
Or as my Spanish sealing friends would say ... denegación
Or as my Spanish speaking friends would say ... denegación
DeleteSo Jack is giving permission to Israel to nuke Iran and any other enemies…
DeleteThanks Jack..
"Killing to survive is an inevitable part of the price paid to being here"
ReplyDeleteNot for the vegetarians. If we were all vegetarians there wouldn't be any Chicago slaughter houses.
I knew you were above Big Macs. I just threw that in.
By the way, you don't know what you are missing.
Moshe Yatom, a prominent Israeli psychiatrist committed suicide a few days ago leaving a note saying that Netanyahu,
ReplyDelete“sucked the life right out of me.”
“I can’t take it anymore. Robbery is redemption, apartheid is freedom, peace activists are terrorists, murder is self-defense, piracy is legality, Palestinians are Jordanians, annexation is liberation, there’s no end to his contradictions. ...”.
You call 4 YEARS ago a "few days ago"?
DeleteLOL
Try again rat.
ISIS militants suffer heavy losses in Syria’s Kobani
ReplyDelete(AFP) / 30 November 2014
At least 50 militants were killed in the embattled border town in suicide bombings, clashes with Kobani’s Kurdish defenders and the air strikes.
ISIS group militants battling for control of the Syrian town of Kobani have suffered some of their heaviest losses yet in 24 hours of clashes and US-led air strikes.
At least 50 militants were killed in the embattled border town in suicide bombings, clashes with Kobani’s Kurdish defenders and the air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.
The Britain-based monitor also reported that the US-led coalition battling the ISIS group hit at least 30 targets in and around Raqa, the militants’ de facto capital.
The coalition began carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group on September 23, and stepped up raids in Kobani in a bid to prevent it falling to ISIS.
DeleteOn Thursday, the coordinator of the coalition said at least 600 ISIS fighters had been killed in air strikes and that the group had made easy targets of its fighters by pouring them into Kobani.
“ISIS has in so many ways impaled itself on Kobani,” said retired US general John Allen.
What comes 'after America'?
ReplyDeleteD.C. insiders drop hints of erasing borders, unifying with Mexico
http://mobile.wnd.com/2014/07/what-comes-after-america/#Z85G9HW8QSM21dMq.99
Confessions Obtained by Torture Endemic in Mexico; One Survivor’s Story
DeleteIt's 'Anonymous rat'.
ReplyDelete
Delete{;-)
.
ReplyDeleteReported on TV (so it must be true), since the start of bombing in Iraq/Syria, the coalition has run about 1100 air attacks with the US running about 85% of the total.
If true, it's clearly a pathetic effort.
.
Deuce ☂Sun Nov 30, 09:59:00 AM EST
ReplyDeleteIran is the natural ally for the US in the ME. With normalized relations with Iran, the US could opt out of being played by the Israelis and Saudis. It would be great day for Americans.
......................
" With normalized relations with Iran"
Hop on a plane and get on over there and normalize them then......
You might find yourself talking to a prison wall though..........
And normalize relations with Luis Farrakhan while you are at it -
DeleteNovember 30, 2014
Farrakhan: 'we'll tear this goddamn country apart' over Ferguson
By Thomas Lifson
Speaking at publicly supported Morgan State University in Baltimore, a predominantly black institution of higher learning, Nation of Islam leader Luis Farrakhan issued threats over the shooting of Michael Brown and the no true bill verdict of the grand jury investigating it. The Daily Caller reports:
Farrakhan stated in his speech — given at Morgan State University, a black college located in Baltimore, Md. — that violence was justified in response to the decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson and peaceful protests are only in the interest of “white folks.”
We going to die anyway. Let’s die for something,” the radical figure told the crowd to roaring applause.
He even said the parents of teenagers should teach their kids how to throw Molotov cocktails. “Teach your baby how to throw the bottle if they can. Fight,” the minister advised, and then imitated throwing the explosive device.
Farrakhan argued that violence was justified by the “law of retaliation” HE claims is in both the Bible and the Koran.
“In this book, there’s a law for retaliation,” he said, while holding up what appeared to be the NOI version of the Koran, and repeated, “A law for retaliation.”
I am no lawyer, but this sounds like incitement to violence to me. You can watch him below, if you have the stomach.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/farrakhan_well_tear_this_goddamn_country_apart_over_ferguson.html
His proper home is a prison.
.
ReplyDeleteThe Palestinians COULD have had peace NUMEROUS times in the past, all they have to do? Is stop MURDERING Jews...
Nonsense, all they had to do was to accept the terms offered by the Israeli government. The peace would have involved a nation that was not a nation.
This is not a statement in support of the Palestinians but merely a call out of the bull you guys post here. All you give us is merely one-sided propaganda, just as Deuce gives us only one-sided propaganda in favor of the Palestinians.
A typical example is your constant citing of the Hamas Charter while ignoring the Likud Party Charter.
While your statement above, may have been a 'possibility' at certain points, that possibility was wiped out by other circumstances, for instance, Israeli elections in one instance and Israeli assassinations in another.
However, given current trends in Israel there is little hope for any settlement with the Palestinians.
Too much political discussion in the United States about Israel/Palestine proceeds from the premise that Palestinians have no other interest than to destroy Israel and drive the Jews into the sea. Therefore, it is said, well-intentioned Israel has no viable negotiating partner for peace. The political reality on the ground does not conform to such a simple-minded tale of good vs. evil. Israeli hardliners in power have repeatedly rejected any basis for a viable Palestinian state. Indeed, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s qualified statement in support of a two-state solution in 2009 – which his American apologists repeatedly invoke to demonstrate his “moderate” bona fides – was characterized by a member of his own cabinet as “the spin of our lives.” In fact. Likud leaders have said unequivocally that no two-state deal is possible...
http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/charter-destruction-palestinian.html
.
There is not going to be peace between the west bankers and the Hamasites, and Israel.
DeleteThe reason is simple.
The west bankers and the Hamasites are Moslems, and their book commands them to kill Jews.
If the west bank and Gaza were filled with KUNG!, Canadians, Swiss, Swedes, Hindus or some other sane group there would be peace.
I put up a long article the other day saying basically the same thing -
DeleteBob OreilleSat Nov 29, 04:26:00 PM EST
Here is a realistic article -
>>>Of course, the masters of duplicity are the Arabs, who still want all of Israel destroyed.
I have no illusions that the Arabs seek the genocidal destruction of Israel, which is why I limit my complaints about Israel to her pretenses, not her actions. But even those who acknowledge the Arab duplicity have to recognize that neither party has ever had any intention of recognizing the other as an independent state.<<<
November 29, 2014
Why Did It Take So Long?
By Mike Konrad
Recently Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this statement:
There cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan[.]
Personally, I have no problems with that honest statement. I wish the Israelis had been upfront about this years ago; and it would have saved everyone a lot of heartache.
An honest refusal to give the Arabs in Judea and Samaria open and free borders – while militarily wise – would also have let the world know that Israel had no real intention of the giving the Palestinians a state. It would have been suicidal. The Arabs would have been put on notice that no Palestine would ever exist. A people who do not control their borders are not free. There would have been no pretense, and over $100 billion in handouts – from America, Canada, and Europe – to a murderously corrupt Palestinian Authority could have been saved.
That has been Netanyahu's position all along, even as his administration publicly claimed to be working towards a two-state solution, as was captured by this video, secretly filmed in 2001. Netanyahu bragged about sabotaging Oslo by twisting legal interpretations to prevent the Arabs from ever getting an open border with Jordan. Netanyahu would define the whole Jordan Valley as a military zone. To be fair, even Barak's "generous" offer at Camp David refused to give the Palestinians border control.
Again, all of this was wise, but why doesn't Israel officially admit that it has no intention of giving the Palestinians a state? Why did Netanyahu, and others, say one thing to the press and another to the Likud base?
Of course, the masters of duplicity are the Arabs, who still want all of Israel destroyed.
I have no illusions that the Arabs seek the genocidal destruction of Israel, which is why I limit my complaints about Israel to her pretenses, not her actions. But even those who acknowledge the Arab duplicity have to recognize that neither party has ever had any intention of recognizing the other as an independent state............
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/11/why_did_it_take_so_long.html
I doubt the Jordanian government wants an open border with the PA/Hamas.
DeleteWould you?
.
DeleteThe west bankers and the Hamasites are Moslems, and their book commands them to kill Jews.
If the west bank and Gaza were filled with KUNG!, Canadians, Swiss, Swedes, Hindus or some other sane group there would be peace.
You are clueless.
.
The Palestinians COULD have had peace NUMEROUS times in the past, all they have to do? Is stop MURDERING Jews...
DeleteNonsense, all they had to do was to accept the terms offered by the Israeli government. The peace would have involved a nation that was not a nation.
This is not a statement in support of the Palestinians but merely a call out of the bull you guys post here. All you give us is merely one-sided propaganda, just as Deuce gives us only one-sided propaganda in favor of the Palestinians.
The Palestinians COULD have had a state in 1948.
They TURNED it down.
They could have had a state from 1948-1967 if they choose to, but there was NO movement to become one, and Israel was not in the west bank, gaza or Jerusalem.
They COULD have had a state after the that but the arab league and the palestinians famous 3 no's were said.
back at you sparkie..
.
DeleteWhat Israel was offered in 1922 was a lot different than what they took in 1948.
What the Palestinians were offered in 1922 was that a good portion of the land they occupied would be turned over to the Jews in 1948. They rejected that idea right up to 1948. After 1948, they were given little choice. From 1948 to 1967, the West Bank was occupied by Jordan and Gaza was occupied by Egypt. After 1967, Israel occupied both territories.
The only thing the Jews or the Palestinians have ever agreed upon was to negotiate and most of the time all they agreed upon was to negotiate about negotiating.
The first so-called negotiation occurred in 1967 and resulted in the UN passing resolution 242, the ‘land for peace’ resolution, couched in imprecise ‘diplomese’ that people still argue about. It was written under Chapter IV of the UN charter making it a recommendation rather than an order.
After that, there were some pro forma kabuki but nothing of note until 1978 and Camp David. Two agreements came out of Camp David. The first was called A Framework for Peace in the Middle East . It expanded 242, set out what it hoped was a way of resolving what it called the “Palestinian problem”, agreed that there should be a treaty between Egypt and Israel and called for other treaties between Israel and its neighbors. Of course, the big problem was that the Palestinians weren’t party to the agreement.
The second accord was the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. This was a very important agreement in that it set up Egypt and Israel to start receiving billions in baksheesh from the US annually in perpetuity. Again, the Palestinians weren’t there.
The next biggy was the Madrid Conference of 1991. However, this had very little to do with the Palestinians. It was more tied to trying to get treaties between Israel and various other surrounding countries, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. It did end up leading to a treaty between Israel and Jordan.
Then, in 1993 came the biggest boondoggle, Oslo. Once Netanyahu became PM in 1996, Oslo was dead.
There have been other conferences, informal agreements, road maps, etc. Since then but they have gone nowhere.
As I said above, to get an agreement all the Palestinians had to do was to accept the terms offered by the Israeli government. The peace would have involved a nation that was not a nation, at least not a state we could recognize as one.
Back to you sparkle.
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The rat Doctrine is doomed to fail -
ReplyDeleteThe Tri-State Solution is the way to go -
Analysis & Opinion | The Great Debate
Sunni vs. Shi’ite: Why the U.S. plan to save Iraq is doomed to fail
By Peter Van Buren
November 25, 2014
Iraqi security forces march on the outskirts of Najaf, south of Baghdad
If the United States was looking for the surest way to lose Iraq War 3.0, it might start by retraining the failed Iraqi Army to send north — alongside ruthless Shi’ite militias — into Sunni-majority territory and hope that the Sunnis will welcome them with open arms, throwing out the evil Islamic State.
Maybe it’s time for a better plan.
And the way to find one is by understanding how we lost Iraq War 2.0. We need a plan to create a stable, tri-state solution to the Sunni-Shi’ite-Kurd divide, or the current war will fail as surely as the previous one.
A critical first step is, of course, to remove Islamic State from the equation, but not how the Obama administration envisions. The way to drive Islamic State out of Iraq is to remove the reason Islamic State has been able to remain in Iraq: as a protector of the Sunnis. In Iraq War 2.0, the Iraqi Sunnis never melded politically with al Qaeda; they allied out of expediency, against the Shi’ite militias and the Shi’ite central government. The same situation applies to Islamic State, the new al Qaeda in Iraq.
The United States is acting nearly 180 degrees counter to this strategy, enabling Shi’ite militia and Iranian forces’ entry into Anbar and other Sunni-majority areas to fight Islamic State. The more Shi’ite influence, the more Sunnis feel they need Islamic State muscle. More Iranian fighters also solidify Iran’s grip on the Shi’ite government in Baghdad, and weakens America’s. The presence of additional Sunni players, like the Gulf States, will simply grow the violence indecisively, with the various local factions manipulated as armed proxies.
Iraq in 2007 was, on the surface, a struggle between insurgents and the United States. However, the real fight was happening in parallel, as the minority Sunnis sought a place in the new Shi’ite-dominated Iraq. The solution was supposedly the Anbar Awakening. Indigenous Iraqi Sunnis would be pried lose from al Qaeda under American protection (that word again), along with the brokered promise that the Shi’ites would grant them a substantive role in governance. The Shi’ites balked almost from day one, and the deal fell apart even before America’s 2011 withdrawal — I was in Iraq with the Department of State and saw it myself. The myth that “we won” only to have the victory thrown away by the Iraqis — a favorite among 2.0 apologists — is very dangerous. It suggests repeating the strategy will result in something other than repeating the results. The Sunnis won’t be so easily fooled again.
Progress otherwise in Iraq? The new prime minister has accomplished little toward unity, selecting a Badr militia politician to head the Interior Ministry, for example. The Badr group has been a key player in sectarian violence.
DeleteIslamic State still controls 80 percent of Anbar Province, the key city of Mosul and is attacking in Ramadi. U.S. air strikes cannot seize ground. The Iraqi Army will never rise to the fullness of the challenge. One can only imagine the thoughts of the American trainers, retraining some of the same Iraqi troops from War 2.0.
Military vehicles of the Kurdish security forces are seen during an intensive security deployment in Diyala province north of BaghdadElsewhere, the Kurds are already a de facto separate state. Their ownership of Arbil, the new agreement to allow the overt export of some of their own oil, and the spread of the peshmerga to link up with Kurdish forces in Syria, are genies that won’t go back into the bottle. America need only restrain Kurdish ambitions to ensure stability.
Present Iraq strategy delays, at great cost — in every definition of that word — the necessary long-term tristate solution. It is time to hasten it. The United States must use its influence with the Shi’ites to have their forces, along with the Iranians, withdraw to Baghdad. America would create a buffer zone, encompassing the strategically critical international airport as a “peacekeeping base.” Using air power, America would seal the Iraq-Syria border in western Anbar, at least against any medium-to-large scale Islamic State resupply effort. Arm the Sunni tribes if they will push Islamic State out of their towns. Support goes to those tribes who hold territory, a measurable, ground-truth based policy, not an ideological one. Implementing the plan in northwest Iraq can also succeed, but will be complicated by Kurd ambitions, greater ethnic diversity among the Iraqis and a stronger Islamic State tactical hold on cities like Mosul. There’ll be another tough challenge, the sharing of oil revenues between the new Sunni and Shi’ite states, so this plan is by no means a slam-dunk.
The broad outline is not new; in 2006 then-Senator Joe Biden proposed a federal partition of Iraq along the Bosnian model. Bush-era zeal kept the idea from getting a full review. But much has transpired since 2006.
If the tristate plan works, it will deny Islamic State sanctuary where it is now most powerful, and a strategy for northwest Iraq may emerge. America will realize its long-sought enduring bases in Iraq as a check on Iranian ambitions and an assurance of security for the embassy. The president can decouple Syrian policy from Iraq. An indefinite American presence in Iraq will not be fully welcomed, though one hastens to add it basically is evolving anyway.
For advocates of disengagement, this is bitter medicine. But we are where we are in Iraq, and wishful thinking, on their part or the White House’s, is no longer practical. A divided Iraq, maintained by an American presence, is the only hope for long-term stability. Otherwise, stay tuned for Iraq War 4.0.
TOP PHOTO: Iraqi security forces march on the outskirts of Najaf, south of Baghdad Nov. 19, 2014. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
INSET PHOTO: A tank belonging to the Kurdish security forces is seen being transported during an intensive security deployment in Diyala province north of Baghdad Nov. 19, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/11/25/sunni-vs-shiite-why-the-u-s-plan-to-save-iraq-is-doomed-to-fail/
The "Rat Doctrine" Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, would work in either a unitary Iraq or an Iraq seperated into ethnc national enclaves.
DeleteIn either case it would still be US providing 'close air support' to the 'Local Foreces' in the quest for political stability.
Again "Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, you display your geopolitical ignorance.
The "Rat Doctrine" is a tactical platform.
The decision whether or not to support a dismembered Iraq, Strategic
The "Rat Doctrine" the best way forward, tactically, which ever strategic route the President chooses..
The Rat Shit Doctrine.
DeleteA sure loser.
You should apply for Sec Def under O'bozo.
But don't you KNOW bob, the "rat doctrine" is right always, no matter what happens...
Delete
ReplyDeleteIsrael's media is almost unanimously predicting a government collapse with elections in a few months.
Many observers believe Netanyahu's championing of the "Jewish state" law is an effort to establish terms in debate that would bring out his nationalist base.
"The things that Lapid said about Netanyahu on Saturday proved without a doubt: The current government has come to its end. It's only a matter of time," wrote Shimon Schiffer, a senior political commentator at Yediot Ahronot.
A new opinion poll published Sunday in the Haaretz daily provided little incentive for anyone to head to elections, though.
Asked which politician is most suited to be prime minister, 35 percent of respondents said they favored Netanyahu, down from 42 percent in August, after a war against militants in the Gaza Strip. It said 38 percent were satisfied with his performance, down from 77 percent in early August. Forty-seven percent said Netanyahu should step down before the next elections to allow someone else to hold the top job.
Yet the same poll showed shrinking support for Lapid, Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni and the opposition Labor Party. And the fact that the more liberal side of the map is split into three main parties also creates awkwardness for the opposition and may be preventing momentum for change.
http://www.startribune.com/world/284247591.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue
They're all dicks.
DeleteI was being Quirkish.
DeleteI like Bibi.
I may be the only one here who does.
I like Bibi, just wish he'd grow a pair and kick the shit out of the terrorists and stop playing.
DeleteIslamic State Suffers Heavy Losses In Kobani, Raqqa
DeleteA monitoring group says dozens of Islamic State (IS) fighters have been killed in the besieged Syrian city of Kobani amid air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on November 30 that at least 50 militants had been killed in suicide bombings, clashes with Kurdish fighters, and air strikes in Kobani.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the observatory, added that some 30 other coalition strikes had targeted "mainly targeted Islamic State bases" on the northern outskirts of Raqqa Province and caused additional casualties to IS fighters.
Islamic State fighters seized control of Raqqa last year and declared it their capital.
At 19:50 in the video it starts to describe how the "Rat Doctrine" worked in Apacheria, back in General Crook's day.
DeleteThe Real Wild West - Episode 5: Geronimo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZzSC06CdE
You mean, you mean the world famous rat Doctrine is not original with you?
DeleteHow can this be?
I had thought no one had ever, ever in the whole history of modern warfare, ever thought of using airplanes to support troops on the ground. Only you, the military 'expert'.
I think you just stole your 'Doctrine' from General Crook. He's called General Crook cause he stole it from somebody else.
You are an idiot, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
DeleteWhenever you claim to think you are, invariably, wrong.
A typical example is your constant citing of the Hamas Charter while ignoring the Likud Party Charter.
ReplyDeleteHamas is in charge of Gaza.
It's charter is the basis for it's nation.
I have NEVER heard of the LIKUD charter...
let me google what it says...
"The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting."[27]
Similarly, they claim the Jordan River as the permanent eastern border to Israel and it also claims Jerusalem as belonging to Israel.
The 'Peace & Security' chapter of the 1999 Likud Party platform rejects a Palestinian state.
"The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel’s existence, security and national needs."[27]
Let's see, the Hamas Charter DOES call for the killing of all Jews.
The Likid Charter calls for a Jewish Settlement of Historic Jewish Lands...
No calls for murder...
Try again quirkie
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DeleteHamas is in charge of Gaza.
Actually, the PA would have been in charge of Gaza at this time in the absence of Bibi’s intervention. In September, the PA and Hamas signed a unity agreement. In it, Hamas bowed to PA control. Hamas was broke, their popularity continuing to drop. They had no choice. Under the agreement, PA officials would have taken over the Gazan bureaucracy, Hamas agreed to abide with the terms of the agreements the PA had signed with Israel. The reduced conflict Israel had enjoyed for over a year would have continued. Obviously, Bibi couldn’t allow that. He would have no one to blame for the failed peace process.
It’s charter is the basis for it’s nation.
Nonsense, that’s like saying the Likud Charter supersedes Israel’s Basic Law. The UN and most countries (including Israel) consider the PA the sole representative of the Palestinian people. Hamas is merely a political faction, one that has been designated a terrorist organization.
Let’s see, the Hamas Charter DOES call for the killing of all Jews.
It’s funny how ‘our’ militants are freedom fighters and ‘their’ militants are terrorists.
As noted above, Hamas is not the official representative of the Palestinian people.
It’s interesting to note that the three main goals of Lehi were,
. To bring together all those interested in liberation (that is, those willing to join in active fighting against the British).
. To appear before the world as the only active Jewish military organization.
. To take over Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) by armed force.[25]
And the 18 Principles of Rebirth sound eerily familiar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lehi_%28group%29
Likewise,
“The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting.”[27]
Hmmm. Kinda sounds like Likud is willing to fight to hold on to the land. All the land.
Maybe they just plan to ‘wing’ anyone who stands in their way.
The Likid Charter calls for a Jewish Settlement of Historic Jewish Lands...
Historic lands. Where have I heard that before? Sounds eerily like this from the Hamas Charter...
As for the real ownership of the land and the land itself, it should be consecrated for Moslem generations till Judgement Day. Those who are on the land, are there only to benefit from its fruit. This Waqf remains as long as earth and heaven remain. Any procedure in contradiction to Islamic Sharia, where Palestine is concerned, is null and void
Face it. Everyone involved is batshit crazy.
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The bill, which would enshrine Israel’s character as a Jewish state in Israel’s de facto constitution, has come under harsh criticism from Livni and Lapid, as well as opposition lawmakers, President Reuven Rivlin and his predecessor Shimon Peres.
ReplyDelete...
Another poll published last week by Israeli financial daily Globes said Likud has been losing popularity in recent months, and the paper advised the party to “go for an early election, and quickly.”
Asked by pollster Rafi Smith which party they would vote for if an election were held now, the answers predicted that Likud would win 23 seats in the 120-member Knesset, slightly lower than the 24 it scored in an October survey but dramatically down from 31 in a July Globes poll.
As many as 13,000 people in Britain are being held in conditions of slavery, four times the number previously thought, it has been revealed.
ReplyDeleteIn what is said to be the first scientific estimate of the scale of modern slavery in the UK, the Home Office has said the number of victims last year was between 10,000 and 13,000.
They include women forced into prostitution, domestic staff and workers in fields, factories and fishing boats.
Data from the National Crime Agency’s Human Trafficking Centre had previously put the number of slavery victims in 2013 at 2,744.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said the scale of abuse was “shocking”.
Launching the Government’s modern slavery strategy, she said: “The first step to eradicating the scourge of modern slavery is acknowledging and confronting its existence. The estimated scale of the problem in modern Britain is shocking and these new figures starkly reinforce the case for urgent action.”
The Modern Slavery Bill, currently going through Parliament, aims provide courts in England and Wales with new powers to protect people who are trafficked into the countries and held against their will. Scotland and Northern Ireland are planning similar measures.
National Post
ReplyDeleteIsrael’s government on verge of collapse as coalition partners turn on Benjamin Netanyahu
National Post -
Israel's government was on the verge of collapse Sunday night as a split over a controversial new law designating the country as a Jewish state deepened into an all-out assault by cabinet rivals on Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister. Mr. Netanyahu ..
This says something about Israel, a parliamentary democracy.
DeleteThe Prime Minister had best be on his toes, and watch what he/she says or she/he may soon be out of a job.
Meanwhile the PA and Hamas have declared over and over that no Jewish people will ever be allowed in their territory.
Nearly all the Christians have been cleansed from Bethlehem.
DeleteBut the Christians are doing fine in Israel.
The prime minister has come under fire from his core constituency of Israeli hard-liners and security hawks, many of whom were frustrated with the outcome of the Gaza conflict and escalating violence in Jerusalem.
ReplyDelete“Netanyahu has problem because Israelis don’t feel safe,’’ said Mitchell Barak, an Israeli-American pollster. “ And he’s spent his life doing security.”
Lawmakers and political analysts say they believe Mr. Netanyahu may call parliamentary elections in 2015, about two years ahead of schedule, betting that the lack of a strong rival will ensure re-election.
QuirkSun Nov 30, 01:55:00 PM EST
ReplyDelete.
Anyone who takes the time to read a little knows what AIPAC is.
I do not have to read someone else's opinion of AIPAC, knowing employees.
Re: Nihilism
Deletenoun
the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.
Nihilism is the province of Westerners who sympathize with Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, etc.
Re: AIPAC
I know Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Daniel has more clout than all the AIPAC weenies combined. This is so because he has allied himself with and is often the spokesman for powerful Christian organizations which pump large sums of money into pro-Israel projects and point millions of their congregants onto the pro-Israel path. As long as this remains true, Israel will not lack for friends in high places.
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DeleteI know Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Daniel has more clout than all the AIPAC weenies combined.
:o)
You obviously know less about AIPAC than you think. The process you describe was patented by AIPAC decades ago. It's how they skirt the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
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There is more evidence that religions are antithetic to morality than progenitors of it. The Middle East is lousy with religions all claiming moral superiority and demonstrably bereft of any semblance of it. The entire Middle East is the vortex of hate, vengeance, murder, moral superiority and Ignorance energized by Christian, Jew and Muslim fanatics. It is three legged stool and I’ll stand by the multiple meaning of “stool”.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteYou are again equating Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
This is nonsense.
Christians and Jews have a good deal of similarity, Muslims are 'out there' all by their lonesome.
The Muslims recognize this, calling them The People of the Book......
DeleteThe People of the Book recognize the thou shalt not kill command, originally intended for a particular group, now extended to everyone. The Muslims on the contrary are commanded to kill/subjugate everyone but themselves....
Delete