NUMBER OF DAYS UNTIL THE ISRAELI ELECTION: 49
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:
34
UPDATE 10 am Israel time Wednesday:
Do you ever wonder why your humble servant always puts "rocks" in quotation marks?
Judea and Samaria continue to be the scene of Palestinian terror attacks with a multitude of “rock” and Molotov cocktail throwing incidents in the last 24 hours. In fact, there were so many attacks on IDF troops yesterday that an IDF commander has demanded a new governmental policy to deal with the onslaught.
The neighborhood continued to degrade yesterday with the possibility of the Syrians using chemical weapons coming to the fore, and Egyptian President Morsi having to escape a riot near his Presidential “Palace” last night. This morning Morsi is beginning to round up “dissidents”–especially those who opposed his presidency in the elections earlier this year.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The striking way in which Jewish-American Leftists misread Israelis and Israeli domestic politics has never been more apparent than in the past few days. In the United States, Rahm Emanuel, the Mayor of Chicago, and Jeremy Ben-Ami, the head of J Street, have epitomized misguided efforts to influence the upcoming January election here in Israel.
Apparently it was Rahm Emanuel's total misreading of Israeli politics that partially led to Obama's attempt to isolate Netanyahu and Israel.
By most accounts, it was Emmanuel in his former role as President Obama’s Chief of Staff who was the architect of Obama’s disastrous declaration at the beginning of his Presidency that Israel must agree to a total “settlement” freeze as a precondition to the Palestinians’ returning to the so-called “negotiating” (they never actually “negotiate”) table.
At that time, Emanuel’s thinking (as later revealed in a Washington Post interview with PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) was that by pursuing this policy, the Obama Administration could bring about new elections in Israel resulting in Tzipi Livni replacing Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister. Then, Tzipi Livni could give away the Israeli store to the Palestinians.
As we all know now, Emanuel’s strategy failed abysmally. Netanyahu froze all construction outside of Jerusalem for 10 months; the Palestinians refused to “negotiate”; Obama’s popularity in Israel plummeted; and Netanyahu’s popularity soared. Netanyahu subsequently came to the White House after Obama had given another Emanuel-inspired speech about the 1967 lines and gave the President a history lesson on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
For which Emanuel has never forgiven Netanyahu. At the Saban Forum in Washington, D.C. last week, Emanuel was still seething about that White House meeting (as if it happened yesterday): “This is unforgettable. That is no way to behave.” Then in an amusingly overt attempt to yet again get involved in Israeli politics on the side of Tzipi Livni, Emanuel climbed up on his high horse to condemn Israel for the decision to build 3000 residential units in Judea and Samaria.
As for Ben-Ami, he appeared yesterday in a thinly disguised propaganda piece articulating the positions of the Israeli Left (do you smell Tzipi Livni again?) in an op-ed in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. Bizarrely arguing that Israeli should just turn over all negotiations with the Palestinians to President Obama, Ben-Ami stated that among other things:
*”Israel has become more isolated in the region and it has less room to operate due to its diminishing legitimacy in the world.”
Its diminishing legitimacy in the world? The average Israeli sees this sentence and thinks that Ben-Ami himself doubts the legitimacy of Israel–a legitimacy that we in Israel don’t even think about. Our legitimacy is not in question nor up for discussion. We are a strong and proud country that has always had to fight those who will never agree to the legitimacy of a Jewish state. As more countries succumb to the pressures of their ever increasing Muslim populations, there will be more countries which will say we have no right to exist. But we have that right–and we will not give it up even if the Jeremy Ben-Amis of the world seem to think that we might.
* . . . we must seek an agreement with the moderate Palestinian leadership in Ramallah . . .
Moderate Palestinian leadership in Ramallah? The average Israeli sees this statement and thinks that Ben-Ami is deluded. What is moderate about never accepting Israel as a Jewish state? What is moderate about demanding all of Jerusalem as the capital of a country of “Palestine”? What is moderate about returning 5,000,000 so-called “Palestinian refugees” to Israel?
*”Such an agreement would strengthen Israel, boost its security and weaken Hamas.” The average Israeli see this and wonders if Mr. Ben-Ami is capable of hearing and reading. Where has he been during the last two months as Mahmoud Abbas has made overture after overture of reconciliation to Hamas? Where was he when the PLO was helping Hamas fire rockets into Israel ten days ago?
*It would immediately affect the order of the regional players and provide a tailwind for the Arab peace initiative, which will lead to the normalization of ties between Israel and the region’s countries.”
The cleverly marketed Arab "Peace Initiative" is, in fact, a recipe for Israel's elimination as a Jewish state.
The Arab peace initiative? The average Israeli sees this and thinks that Mr. Ben Ami has lost his mind because we remember what Prince Abdullah said at the time of the initiative’s adoption: “I propose that the Arab summit put forward a clear and unanimous initiative addressed to the United Nations security council based on two basic issues: normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital, and the return of refugees.” All Israelis (except those on the Left) know that to accept the Arab initiative is to accept the end of Israel as a Jewish nation.
*Without a serious effort on the part of the president to bring about an immediate two-state solution, we may witness an end to our dream of the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish nation.
Witness an end to our dream of the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish nation? The average Israeli sees this and wonders what left-wing Jews in the United States are smoking. Where have they been for the last 64 years? The State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people is no dream; it is a fact. If and when an accommodation is ever reached with the Palestinians, and if no accommodation is ever reached with the Palestinians, nothing will ever change that fact.
What is the bottom line? Each time that Leftists such as Emanuel and Ben-Ami try to influence Israeli elections, they achieve exactly the opposite result that they are seeking. Israelis by necessity have a “circle the wagons” mentality and will fight to defend themselves from those in the international community who would undermine this country. To paraphrase a Jerusalem Post opinion piece yesterday: Every time people like Emanuel and Ben-Ami shout, Netanyahu will win a few more votes.
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A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.