UPDATES 7 pm Israel time Tuesday:
**Remember June 7th? That is the date that PLO Chairman and self-decreed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas set as a deadline for negotiations to begin with Israel. Abbas has declared that if negotiations do not start by that date, the Palestinians will begin to pursue other “remedies” such as taking Israel to the International Criminal Court to stop the construction of Jewish homes, schools, and health clinics in Judea and Samaria.
Yet Abbas himself refuses to negotiate. And what is the response of the Kerry-Obama-Livni-Netanyahu team? This sorry cast of characters is now reduced to beggary, pleading with Abbas this morning to grant them further time to get “peace talks” underway.
Are you following this? The more the corrupt, autocratic Abbas refuses to negotiate, the more the U.S. and Israel ludicrously beg him to do so.
By the way, John Kerry is coming back to Israel next week to make a personal plea to Abbas. Hundreds more were killed in Syria this morning; Lebanon is becoming slowly enveloped in the Syrian war with Hezbollah forces now fighting against Syrian rebels on Lebanese soil; riots broke out in Jordan today following the killings of two “civilians” by Jordanian forces; more rioting is taking place in Turkey where America’s darling Erdogan is being labled a fascist–and John Kerry remains wholly consumed with the Palestinians.
**Israel’s so-called “Justice” Minister, the ever-unctuous Tzipi Livni is back in Washington today schmoozing with the same Kerry.
But prior to the Kerry love fest, Livni met with American Jewish leaders and uttered this pearl of wisdom: “It would be a historic mistake by anyone who calls himself a Zionist to delay the decision to partition Israel.”
So now Tzipi Livni is telling people how to be a Zionist? And the way you affirm your Zionism is by “partitioning Israel”? Of course, this is the road that Livni wants Israel to travel–the abandonment of the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, the elimination of the Jewish neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem, and a complete partitioning of the Old City with the Jewish Quarter back in Arab hands.
**Speaking of partition, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (who is proving as spineless as his protege IDF Chief Benny Gantz) has announced that he has been “ordered to promote” a new Palestinian settlement in the Jordan Valley north of Jericho in Area C. The settlement will be called Rashiida and will be in an area under total Israel control.
The critical Jordan Valley, circled and in green on the map.
This settlement by the way is the idiotic brainchild of Major General Eitan Dangut who is the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria (COGAT). Your humble servant would find it interesting to learn why the Netanyahu government has signed off on a new Palestinian settlement-city in the very Jordan Valley which Netanyahu has proclaimed to be of immense strategic importance.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The Israeli reserves have always been the backbone of the IDF.
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Speaking of the spineless Benny Gantz, the IDF’s Chief of Staff announced a few more devastating cuts in the IDF because of the Israel’s new austerity budget:
1. All operational training exercises for the Israeli reserves have been cancelled for the rest of the year–including the training for 4 regiments which were scheduled to report in the coming weeks.
2. Operational training exercises for an additional 70 (non-reserve) battalions are being eliminated.
3. Additionally, all training for (non reserve) soldiers in the Home Front Command as well as those in engineering and artillery units will be curtailed severely–effective immediately.
Virtually all training for Israeli armor units has been eliminated.
Despite this elimination of virtually all training from the IDF, Gantz assured Israelis not to worry saying that he does not think Israel will be attacked any time soon by any of its neighbors. Given Gantz’s track record in being totally unable to predict anything happening on any of Israel’s borders, this statement is worthless.
The oddity is that a blind person can see what the IDF should do to trim expenses. Here are three suggestions from your humble servant:
1. Eliminate the COGAT unit. In doing so, the ridiculous building of Palestinian settlements will be halted and the export seminars that IDF officers hold for farmers in Hamas Gaza will be ended. Hundreds of other sub-departments within COGAT which have done nothing to improve Israel’s security situation would be terminated.
2. Stop wasting IDF resources in destroying Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Everyday, the IDF goes out and destroys another few homes. Why is the IDF doing this in the first place? Soldiers, equipment, fuel–think of the savings that could be attained overnight.
3. Severely trim the bloated IDF General Staff. Too many generals with nothing to do–instead of focusing on reducing expenses for the troops, cut out the do-nothing generals.
Start by replacing Benny Gantz.
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.