Bulgaria Shows Promise in Choosing to Expel Hamas

Bulgaria has learned a tough lesson with the results that have come to light in their investigation of the terrorist bombing of a tour bus at the Burgas Airport, on the Black Sea. They traced the origins of the attack which killed seven and wounded thirty-two people, with three in intensive care directly to Hezballah terrorists who were likely acting under the auspices of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Needless to point out, but when has that stopped us, the Iranians, Hezballah and other similarly aligned entities all denounced the findings of the Bulgarian investigators. Now it seems the same groups are up in arms over the decision of the Bulgarian government to expel a delegation sent there by the terrorists ruling over Gaza, Hamas.

 

“We condemn this act, which reflects the scale of compliance with Zionist pressures,” Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said, according to Ma’an. What a surprise having Hamas blame their being treated as the terrorist entity and thus undesirable visitors which they are on Israel, or as they are want to call it, the Zionist entity. My problem with their description using the term Zionist entity could describe anyplace in the world where someone who is a true supporter of Israel to the point of having hopes or plans on making their home in Israel. Fortunately, we all know when Hamas along with Hezballah, Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei, President Morsi, President Abbas, or any of almost countless others of the same ilk use the term Zionist entity they are referring to Israel. What these enemies of the Jewish people probably do not realize is that many Israelis take being referred to as Zionist as a compliment of a high order and only object to anybody soiling such a noble word with their blasphemous intent. We could go down a litany of condemnations aimed at Bulgaria claiming they broke every civility and diplomatic nicety on and on from various Hamas spokespeople most of which would be names few of us recognize, but we all have seen this spectacle before and will likely witness it many more times in the future. One thing that can be said for Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian entities as well as the Iranian connections from Iran through Iraq and Syria all the way to the Mediterranean Sea with Hezballah is that there no lower limit to what they might find as insulting to their make-believe honor. Proof is the number of articles which appear so regularly as to become a common piece of almost every world news wrap-up stating how some terror aligned group is expressing their protest to some perceived insult to their honor. Perhaps we should offer them bandages for their bruised egos.

 

What probably made the protest from Hamas more poignant was the fact Hamas had touted this official, according to their spokespeople which was contested by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, delegation as proof that Hamas was making headway and becoming accepted in Europe and were no longer being treated as a terrorist entity. Well, back to square one and the terrorist entity label is still attached. Europe may not decide to place Hezballah into the terrorist bracket quite yet, but Hamas has not been let out of the little terrorist house. It would be my guess that Hezballah will join Hamas on the European terror lists before Hamas is removed, which is likely to never occur. Actually, there have been some promising stirrings and the slightest of indicators that some parts of Europe are awakening to the threat posed by the more radical members of their immigrant groups. We had made mention of this as a likelihood quite a while ago and had been roundly mocked for the idea. Looking at European history one will note that Europe appears at times to be asleep at the wheel but eventually they awaken and take back control of their ships of state. We may be witnessing the beginnings of this phenomenon. The earliest signs were made by such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geert Wilders, Brigitte Gabriel and some very brave individuals who drew the Mohammad cartoons along with the newspapers and journalists and all the rest who have spoken truth and many paying a deep price for their convictions. History will hopefully place their names among former greats who were the few who stood against injustice and hatreds throughout history. May the future be a tribute to their warnings and make a world where speaking one’s mind and standing honestly for the principles that every individual has a right and the unfettered freedom to worship how they choose, speak truth freely, and nobody has the right to impose their realities on another becomes the rule of law over all of the world. A future filled with mutual respect, acceptance, tolerance and peacefulness. As I read somewhere, “And they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israeli Political Merger May Benefit More than Netanyahu and Lieberman

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman held a press conference this afternoon to announce that the Likud and Yisrael Beitenu will present a joint ticket in the upcoming Israeli elections scheduled for January. There have been numerous reactions, most have been rather predictable. Meretz Party, the Israeli communist style party, Minister of the Knesset Zehava Galon condemned the merger claiming that it was simply a unification of the forces of “fascism” within Israel. She was quoted as saying, “When each element is a separate party, there is a ‘balance of fear’ between them. Together, it gives the message that there is a bloc that will continue its incitement against the left and the Arabs. The fascism of Likud’s back benches is now taking center stage.” She labeled the possible government run by a coalition headed by the new merged parties “a Biberman government.” MK Zehava Galon concluded her statements by making a plea for all of Israel to unite and defeat the new party and permit her to lead a sane and reasoned leadership stating, “Likud has turned into a strategic threat to the democratic character of Israel and whoever wants to preserve this character must commit, right now, that he will not join the Biberman government.”

Not to be outdone, Labor Party leader, unofficial opposition leader, and Minister of the Knesset Shelly Yechimovich also had some opinions, or maybe they should be called prophesies of doom. In her interview on Channel 2 news, she declared, “I call upon all of the centrist forces on the Israeli political map to join the Labor party under my leadership, which is the only centrist party today, in order to prevent the Lieberman-Netanyahu party from ruling. I also call upon the numerous people who lost their political home today; Likud voters, moderate nationalists who see the government’s brutal economic policy; to join Labor.” MK Shelly Yechimovich concluded in her interview that she “cannot imagine” agreeing to be part of a coalition with such an “extreme right, racist” party.

The National Union Party had a far more muted reaction and simply gave a press release stating, “Likud has just delivered a divorce decree to its traditional and religious voters.” With predictions placing the new party likely to collect approximately fifty seats in the next election for the Knesset where sixty-one seats is the minimum required to form a coalition, unless the merged Likud and Yisrael Beitenu Parties manage significantly better results they will require other parties to join a coalition, and that may place them pretty much where the two parties are currently, depending on religious parties and/or special interest parties to make a coalition. Should the prediction that some of the more religiously oriented or more moderate members of Likud decide to run in another ticket, they may actually end up in a more dependent position than they currently enjoy or would have enjoyed had they simply left things as they currently sit and simply made an agreement between Netanyahu and Lieberman. It is far more likely that all of the current Ministers in the Knesset from each party will remain in the merged entity rather than risk receiving a sufficiently high placement on another party’s list. It will be a case of a bird in the hand beats two in the bush. Where the difference and any problems may arise will be in the voting as it is likely that some of the religious wing in Likud may bolt and vote for one of the religious parties. This means that the national religious parties could be the real beneficiaries of this merger. The real question that will be interesting is what does this do to the plans and all the work that has been invested in attempting to merge the national religious parties with the same idea of strengthening their possibilities through unity instead of competing for the same block of voters. Preliminary polling had shown they would garner between three and five additional seats in the Knesset. Should the national religious parties follow through with their combined list and gain the numbers predicted, it would present a possible coalition with only two parties, each one a merged union of allied former adversaries. And you thought the United States Presidential and Congressional Elections were full of intrigue, wild accusations, unpredictability, uncertainty and the possibility of a wild finish that may rival the 2000 drama between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Mind you, if the Israeli elections ended up in the Supreme Court the outcome would not necessarily reflect the voters as the Israeli Supreme Court has been full of surprises and at times has appeared to try to rule the country by overruling the Knesset, Prime Minister, and often even the will of the majority of Israelis.

Beyond the Cusp

Mr. Abbas Goes to Paris

Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly heading to Paris in order to meet with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as new elected French President Francois Hollande as well as a possibility of meeting with European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton, and the British, German and Norwegian foreign ministers. Along with a group of representatives of several Arab Countries, this virtual cornucopia of diplomatic officials will be in Paris for a “Friends of Syria” meeting in hopes of bridging differences between Arab and Western positions over the Syrian Civil War. Mahmoud Abbas will be in Paris seeking assistance in placing pressure on Israel to surrender to as many of his plethora of unilateral demands as preconditions before he will deign sit and pretend to negotiate before, as was the precedent set by Yasser Arafat, stalking briskly from the negotiations claiming loudly and vehemently he will not continue to be insulted. Of course, should he not achieve gaining the full accommodation of pressuring Israeli compliance with his every demand, then he will still demand for every single precondition his imaginations can fancy accumulating them as each second passes. Saeb Erekat has stated that Mr. Abbas will stress the importance of releasing Palestinian Authority murderer, terror master, bomb maker, and violent jihadist all of whom have the blood of innocent Israeli civilians upon their hands who serve sentences, even those serving numerous life sentences, jailed in Israeli prisons. Maybe a quick look at a short list of some of the preconditions which Mr. Abbas seeks to have the entire world assist him in shoving down Israel’s throat should be up next.

The likely best known one was the one first introduced early in President Obama’s Presidency when President Obama stated that Israel should freeze all building of any sort anywhere in Judea, Samaria or East Jerusalem in order to entice the return of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians to the negotiations. This has never been previously mentioned or even dreamed of in anybody’s wildest imaginations and once stated there was no way in which Mahmoud Abbas or any other member of the Palestinian Authority could hold a position less favorable to the cause of the Palestinians than the President of the United States had shown to be. Under increasing pressures, Prime Minister Netanyahu relented and met the demand placed upon him by President Obama and announced a complete building freeze on Judea and Samaria (aka West Bank) but not East Jerusalem maintaining that Jerusalem will remain the undivided Capital City of Israel. The building freeze was not set to be open ended as was initially implied by President Obama in his speech but was set for ten months as a preliminary time frame to observe what developed. What developed was absolutely nothing anywhere near as was claimed would result should Israel simply comply with this one small stipulation. Instead, for almost nine full months all that was heard from both Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Saeb Erekat, lead negotiator for the Palestinian authority, were a series of additional preconditions and some extremely inventive definitions of the idea of preconditions. The additional preconditions were defined as anything except a demand, simply obligations the Palestinian Authority expected from Israel, steps Israel would need to take to convince the world of their sincerity, investments in the peace process, or steps that are obviously in the interest of the Israelis if they desire peace among other even more twisted definitions depending on which news source you used.

Some of the lesser preconditions can be grouped together for your ease of reading and so your patience is not tested are; pulling all IDF units out of the West Bank leaving the Jewish residents under Palestinian authority protection, permitting the Palestinian authority to import weapons and weapon systems in order to upgrade their capabilities, the repeated demand for prisoner releases of varying numbers or sometimes particular prisoners such as Mustafa and Marwan Barghouti who are both terror masters, and always the final deal-breaker of Right of Return for as many as five and a half million Palestinian refugees. Add to this the continuing claim by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas that despite Israel removing every civilian and IDF troop from Gaza that it is still occupied territory. These are in addition to the Palestinian Authority government constant honoring terrorists and terror masters by naming streets, parks, children’s camps, soccer tournaments, public buildings, schools, and numerous other places with great fanfare and publicity. This is also despite the glorification of martyrdom in schools, on television, in film, and in public celebrations. Add to all of this the fact that the Palestinian Authority has yet to modify their Charter by removing its clause demanding the total and complete destruction of the Jewish State or lived up to the vast majority of other obligations and agreements. And the last item is the Palestinian efforts to achieve recognized statehood through whatever route which can be utilized unilaterally such as acceptance into the United Nations, incorporation into United Nations organizations such as UNESCO, thus avoiding negotiations with Israel as stipulated in the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority, like the PLO before it, and Mahmoud Abbas, like Yasser Arafat before him, have attempted to utilize any deceit, prevarication, avoidance, or any available means to avoid negotiations as there has never been and never will be an honest desire by the Palestinian to make peace as that would require, at least temporarily, recognizing Israeli existence.

What the world needs to understand is that the conflict currently going under the name of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is simply a rebranding of the original Arab-Israeli Conflict which began all the way back near the beginning of the last century. It has had many violence filled events such as the riots in Hevron and Jerusalem in 1922, 1929, 1933, 1936, and 1939. Then there was the first Arab Israeli War which is usually referred to as Israel’s War for Independence in 1948 and 1949. There was the Six Day war in 1967 followed by its second staging in 1973. There has been the terror war from the early 1920’s which continues today which too has had some special events. Other than the numerous riots mentioned earlier there was also the founding of the PLO in 1964, three full years before the War of 1967 and any presumably occupied territories, numerous kidnappings, attacks across the northern border by Hezballah, and the near countless rockets launched from Gaza and recently out of the northern Sinai Peninsula. The rebranding of the Arab Israeli Conflict into the Palestinian Israeli Conflict was implemented as the former made Israel to appear to be the weaker side of the conflict and the new moniker placed the Arab cause as the little David fighting the massive Israel Goliath. Do not believe anything has changed. This change came about when the Arab countries, realizing they likely could not defeat Israel in a straight up military versus military war decided to change tactics and try to wear Israel down and eventually either gain the necessary weapons or military strength and abilities to once again try the frontal military conflict route.

Then there is one last item which needs to be understood before any real solution can be implemented. It has never been and will never be for the foreseeable future the Arab, Muslim, Palestinian or whatever name is placed to struggle against Israel idea to settle for anything less than the complete subjugation of the Israeli Jews or the complete annihilation of every Jew in Israel (or, as Hamas has in their Charter, the world). Should by some major mishap the Palestinian find themselves in a position where they have to accept and sign a peace with Israel and establish Palestine, this will not be the end of the conflict. There have been numerous times that both Arab and Muslim leaders as well as Palestinian leaders and spokespeople have stated plainly that even should they attain a state in all of the land lost in the 1967 War, that is just the first stage towards the elimination of the Zionist State. This is almost always said in Arabic or Farsi but on a few rare occasions somebody has slipped and plainly said in English the truth that the only solution acceptable is a Final Solution. All the efforts to establish a Palestinian State are fruitless endeavors which will bear no fruit and will only change the starting point of the eventual next Middle East War when it is thought Israel has been brought low enough for her defeat. That is so very unfortunately the real truth of which everybody prefers to deny and pretend that all these efforts will truly end the drive to undo the founding of the Jewish State. It is simply appallingly amazing that in so much of the world there are calls for removing the Jews from within countries as happened in numerous Muslim countries between 1948 and 1953 yet in many of these same countries they also call for the destruction, or secretly work towards the destruction of Israel, of the only Jewish State. That begs an obvious question, if the Jews should be sent packing from countries where they are a minority and the only Jewish country should be wiped out, then where do these haters pretend that the Jews should live. And yes, that was a rhetorical question put forth simply to provoke thought. One can always hope to point out insanity so that it can be rectified and a real and truthful discussion free of pretenses may take place. Now that is something that would be so very welcome.

Beyond the Cusp