PM Netanyahu Crumbles Again Under International Pressure

NUMBER OF DAYS UNTIL THE ISRAELI ELECTION: 51

ISRAELSTREET ENDORSES NAFTALI BENNETT

NUMBER OF TERRORIST MISSILES AND MORTARS SHOT AT SOUTHERN ISRAEL SINCE THE CEASEFIRE AGREED TO BY BENJAMIN NETANYAHU ON NOVEMBER 21, 2012:

UPDATES 10 am Israel time Monday:

**The attempted terrorist infiltration last night through the Gaza Border fence marks a new chapter in terrorism against Israel. It has been reported for some months now that “foreign” terrorists have been slipping into Gaza. Some of these have been members of the Al-Qaeda network; others have been Islamists who fought in Libya; and still others have been mercenaries from various Muslim countries. According to Hamas reports, the attempted infiltrator last night is Turkish.

In this case, IDF soldiers were able to detect the infiltration in progress and shot the terrorist in the lower torso; however, he managed to make it back into Gaza. Your humble servant has the ominous feeling that we will begin to see terrorists from all over the world attempting to breach Israel’s Gaza border.

**PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas returned to Ramallah yesterday and began his “victory tour” around Judea and Samaria. Freed from all necessity to be politically correct, Abbas delivered a fiery speech to an adoring crowd at the PLO compound in which he declared that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine” and that “Palestinian flags will soon be flying over Jerusalem.” There was no talk of “East” Jerusalem.

**All of Israel is abuzz this morning over the following hilarious picture of Amram Mitzna accepting Tzipi Livni’s invitation yesterday to be the number 2 person on her party list for the upcoming election:

This picture appeared on Israeli TV last night and in Israeli newspapers this morning.

Appearing under such captions such as “Two Lovers Kiss” and “Groping His Way to the Top”, the picture has sparked a number of comical photo-shopped versions of other Israeli politicians in each other’s embrace such as this one with Netanyahu and the leader of the Labor Party, Shelly Yachimovich:

TODAY’S BLOG:

For his part, PM Netanyahu used the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday to continue to respond to Abbas and the United Nations’ vote:

“I would like to clarify once again – there will be no Palestinian state without an agreement guaranteeing the security of Israel’s citizen, there will be no Palestinian state before the State of Israel is recognized as the Jewish people’s state, and there will be no Palestinian state before the Palestinians declare the end of the conflict.”

Insofar as the plans that the government announced to build 3000 more housing units in Judea and Samaria and to begin to develop the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Admum (click here to see the israelstreet E1 blog), Netanyahu proclaimed:

“We will continue to build in Jerusalem and in all the places of the State of Israel’s map of strategic interests. The PA’s unilateral move at the UN is a blatant violation of agreements, and therefore the Israeli government rejects the General Assembly resolution.”

Then Netanyahu quoted a former Israeli leader in outlining his government policy. Before telling you what he said and whom he quoted, your humble servant thought we would have a little fun this morning.

Here are four quotations about Jerusalem and/or construction in Judea and Samaria. Which quotation do you think Netanyahu used?

Quotation 1. “Arab sovereignty in Jerusalem just cannot be. This city will not be divided—not half and half, not 60-40, not 75-25, nothing.”

Quotation 2. “The attack on Zionism and the State of Israel forces us to reinforce and speed up the implementation of the settlement plans in all the areas the government has decided to settle in.”

Quotation 3. “The Jewish people have unchallengeable, eternal, historic right to the Land of Israel, the inheritance of their forefathers . . Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital.”

Quotation 4. “The settlement of the Land of Israel is the essence of Zionism. Without settlement, we will not fulfill Zionism. It’s that simple.”

If you guessed Number 2, you are correct.

Now whom do you think spoke each one? Match the quotation with the speaker: Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir, and Menahem Begin (answers are at the end of this blog*).

However, man of steel that he isn’t, PM Netanyahu was already backpedaling this morning under international pressure from President Obama and Ban Ki-Moon among others–assuring the international community that the 3000 residence units that the Cabinet approved are only for large, pre-existing, community neighborhoods such as Pisgat Ze’ev.

And what about the E1 project discussed in this blog two days ago? Now, Netanyahu says that the Cabinet only authorized the “planning stage” to go forward (as your humble servant has noted, the E1 planning stage was completed more than a decade ago). According to Netanyahu, actual E1 construction is “years away.”

PM Netanyahu’s utter and continuing collapse in the face of international pressure is sad to behold, but more importantly is fraught with tragic consequences for the state of Israel.

*The answers to the quotation quiz are: Golda Meir (Quotation 1); Yitzhak Rabin (Quotation 2); Menahem Begin (Quotation 3); and Yitzhak Shamir (Quotation 4).

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A daily feature of this blog is the recognition of those of you who support Israel by donating to this website. Each month, your humble servant places each name on this wall of support into the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Today we are highlighting Margalit of Geneva, Switzerland; Benny O. of Acapulco, Mexico; and Koila T. of Fiji:

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