The Music Winding Down in Bashir Assad’s Reign

Rastam Ruzhilla, Head of Syrian Intelligence Service, has reportedly defected and wisely disappeared to places unknown. Rastam Ruzhilla had been one of the closest of President Bashir Assad’s inner circle and is the latest in a growing string of defections. These earlier defections have included several command rank officers including a number of generals with some officers bringing their entire units with them joining the rebels. Some of those officers included those selected from among his fellow Alawite Tribesmen. Perhaps the world is finally reaching the end of this brutal and senseless slaughter which has been allowed to continue far longer than a civilized world should have allowed. Once the music halts and Bashir Assad is either put on trial for his brutality and dehumanizing treatment of his countrymen or finds refuge in whatever country would shame itself by accepting this monster allowing him to escape justice, we can only hope that the people of Syria manage to wisely choose new governance. Unfortunately, if the rest of the results which have been birthed by the Arab Winter, we refuse to refer to these disasters as a spring, is any indication of what to expect, the final stage of the Syrian Civil War will simply result in a new form of oppressive government. Perhaps that is the nature and simply the next step in the evolution for governance in the story of the Muslim Middle East.

The question now is how much longer will the violence and murderous use of heavy weapons on civilian residential areas continue to be perpetrated by loyal Assad forces willing to follow orders blindly. With the death toll close to surpassing 15,000 one can only wonder at the final cost of the seemingly endless carnage. Despite the world having reputed his claims, Bashir Assad continues to blame terrorists for almost all of the violence and uses this same absurd claim to absolve himself and troops from any responsibility for the continuing assaults against the Syrian people. The truth be told, the only fighters even remotely resembling terrorists are the Quds Force from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and mercenary forces known as the Shabiha which are known for their reputed cruelty. In addition, the reports of torture and summary executions without even the semblance of a trial have continued with the descriptions only growing more horrific as new details are learned. The only remaining question is what is it going to take to end the carnage ongoing in Syria. Will any country or world organization intervene or will it continue until either Syria runs out of citizens for the government forces to murder or Assad is hunted down and dealt with in similar manner as he has treated his country’s people. Whichever it turns out to take, it cannot come too quickly for the Syrian people or those throughout the world who feel for their torment but possess not the ability to bring peace to this battle torn nation.

Beyond the Cusp

Latest Libel Against Israel Refuted

There have been a number of articles, especially by liberal bloggers, which have accused Israel of racism due to their repatriation of illegal immigrants with their home country. Since the majority of these illegal immigrants are of African origin, the claim is Israel is a Caucasian dominated country degrading the Africans within their border, inviting the inference that Israel is striving for racial purity. But let’s look a little closer at the historical records and find the reality that exists there. The initial item is that these are people who entered the country illegally who have no official standing. Many of these people willingly admit that they are financial refugees who came to Israel in order to live in a place with more jobs and other opportunities. Where such is a laudable reason for immigrating into a country and makes it worth the effort to pursue the legalities required to relocate to such a destination, it does not excuse anyone doing so illegally by not following the legal means for immigrating. It also must be taken into consideration that Israel allowed tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of refugees from the Sudan to remain in Israel with some having been there for over a decade. These people were treated legally under international law and provided sanctuary as they faced torture, discrimination or even death had they been returned to the Sudan which was a virtual war zone with certain groups being victims of horrific violence. Since then the southern areas of the Sudan has gained their independence as a new country, South Sudan, and it is now reasonable and safe to return these refugees to their homelands. The same is true for those who came from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast. All of those refugees from these countries have been declared safe for repatriation through legal means in the courts. Israel has even offered to give the returning refugees who willingly volunteer by a certain date some financial assistance to facilitate and ease their return to their homes.

 

There are others who have simply decided they prefer to take their chances ignoring the law and remaining in Israel. Almost all, if not every one, of these refugees passed through Egypt among other nations such as Sudan, Algeria, Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Nigeria, and likely others, on their way to reaching Israel. This begs a question, Why did these people refuse to choose any of these other places to flee as they were obviously closer to their start point and took less effort than crossing their entirety in order to reach Israel? I can answer why they refused to stop or even loiter in Egypt, they would have been shot on sight. Despite this truth, nobody is condemning these countries for their inhospitable treatment of these refugees, only Israel is the mean, evil country. You don’t believe me about the shooting them on sight? Well, search news stories for “shoot refugees Israel” and one of the first page articles you will find is titled >a href=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1946861,00.html target=blank>Dangers Await Africans Seeking Asylum in Israel.</a> Reading the article will exemplify the difference between the two countries, Egypt and Israel. One cares for the refugees and the other eliminates the refugees. Yet, Israel is condemned for repatriation of refugees once the situation in their homelands have changed and become safe for their return while Egyptian border military shoot the refugees dead on sight. Which, if you were a refugee, would you prefer, death at the hands of an Egyptian Guard or being returned home when the international community and the courts deem the situation is safe? I know my preference is life.

 

While we are speaking on refugees being returned to their place of origin, are these illegal African refugees the sole immigrants Israel has ever sent back? Oddly enough, the answer is no. When Israel was accepting hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union it was necessary to send some of the refugees back to the Soviet Union. Despite the liberal terms and definition of who was legitimately a Jew, there were a fair number of refugees sent by the Soviets who were not Jewish by any calculations. Many of these refugees even admitted that the Soviets had sent them to Israel simply to be rid of them. This resulted in the eventual return of some of the Soviet refugees and nobody in the world made a peep about those repatriations. Why the big outpouring and crying now and the silence back then? And what about the other side of the coin? Israel has accepted African Jews from South Africa and has and currently is engaged in a large operation bringing thousands of Ethiopian Jews home to Israel as well as hundreds of near destitute Jews from southern India home to Israel. I guess bringing people of color to Israel is not mentioned as it does not fit the story line of mean white European Israel. This poses the question of whether these people condemning Israel on this narrowly defined story while ignoring tons of other real stories also ignore that nearly half of the Jewish population in Israel are not Ashkenazi Jews but are Sephardic Jews with Spanish, North African, and Middle East heritage. But I guess that has to be discounted as it does not fit the story of Israel the mean European Jewish State. Perhaps the reasoning is that those who are being brought into Israel at great government expense from Ethiopia and India and anywhere Jews are found do not count as they are Jews.

 

It does get ever so tiring hearing all these half truths and outright lies all made in order to claim one thing, Israel bad, Jews bad. Somebody will say that defaming Israel is completely different from hating Jews and that they know many good Jews. The problem with this denial is simply this; have you taken any other country to task similarly or is it only Israel (or the United States) with which you find fault. Is it only the Jewish State which transgresses the norms you hold dear and the rest of the world live exemplary lives.  When your sole target is Israel you do not have a political or social problem with Israel or Israeli actions, you have a problem with the Jewish State and only because Israel is the international representative of the Jews which raises your ire. Ignoring the fact that most of the countries bordering Israel and who reside in the neighborhood have radically more oppressive policies and treat foreigners with violence and contempt while Israel is the modern nation which operates under the rule of law and makes honest efforts to do that which is honorable and correct makes no difference, it is still Israel that cannot meet your standards. It boggles the mind to think about what would happen if for one week Israel actually acted in a manner as that which she has constantly been accused of acting and more like her neighboring countries would act against any Israeli in their midst. Exactly what would the world say then? Well, what would they say once they picked their jaws off the floor where they dropped in total surprise and amazement? Don’t worry yourself, Israel and her people after five thousand years of being the civilized people on the block and are not about to go carnal on their enemies now, though sometimes one wonders.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israel Threatened by Illegal Immigrant Hordes

It began as a trickle, a few each month starting a few years back. Most Israelis were sympathetic to the immigrant refugees fleeing southern Sudan and the literal apartheid killing that was taking place. Then there came a new wave including refugees from Eritrea and Somalia. Again these refugees were received with little complaint. The trickle slowly increased to a flow coming across the relatively unguarded and fence free Egyptian border. About the time the flow had become a torrent the problems began to rear the ugly side of these illegal immigrants. The crime wave struck initially in the southernmost city of Eilat where many of the refugees drifted in search of water. Crossing Egypt and the Sinai makes one very thirsty. Soon the torrent had grown into waves after waves and the flood of illegal immigrants now had overflowed from Eilat and began to gather in other cities with a particularly large number taking refuge in southern Tel Aviv. Wherever these illegal immigrants gathered crime increased along with numerous other problems associated with having numerous homeless people living in the streets. With most of the refugees not able to find work, they could be found on street corners, lounging in the bus terminal and often making trouble either out of boredom or due to panhandling for money and even robbing and stealing property from people on the beaches or from stores and stalls in shopping areas. But the illegal immigrants were not the entire problem; there were those whose sympathies were with the illegal immigrants.

Those who lived in the lower middle class and poorer neighborhoods in Tel Aviv and the other cities where the illegal immigrants gathered began to complain and demand for police and the government to do something to alleviate their plight. They simply wanted the laws of the land enforced. That is where the real problem began. While the working class and elderly Israelis who resided in the neighborhoods were being overrun by refugees and a degree of lawlessness that grew in proportion to the numbers of illegals, they petitioned the Knesset and the police to take actions. This was when those who have infinite sympathy for the illegals but no sympathy for their fellow countrymen took up the plight of the illegal refugees supplying them with legal assistance and took steps to delay or prevent their deportation claiming that they would be in danger if returned to their homelands. With the formation of the new country South Sudan, this was no longer the case for those early refugees who had fled the murderous events that plagued their half of the Sudan. This was not particularly true of those who came from Eritrea and was no more valid an argument for those from Somalia than it might be for anybody from that troubled country. Still, these facts meant nothing to the liberal elite who now had a cause and some downtrodden people to save from the ravages of those who were persecuting them.

The depth of the North Tel Aviv elites compassion was given full display last summer when a number of Ministers of the Knesset fighting for the rights of the Israeli citizens to regain their neighborhoods which had the misfortune of being located in the not so elite South Tel Aviv took over one hundred of the illegal refugees and their children to go swimming at an exclusive members only pool in North Tel Aviv. The MKs had purchased visitor passes for every refugee which silenced the initial complaint implemented to try and deny them entrance. Then they were to be denied entry since they did not have proper swimming gear. Not so fast, the MKs had brought sufficient bathing suits for all. Out of excuses, they allowed the immigrants into the pool for an afternoon of water fun and rubbing elbows with the Tel Aviv elite. Well, they would have rubbed elbows with the Tel Aviv elite if almost all of them had not fled the area as soon as it became obvious these people were going to be allowed to enter. So much for their acceptance. Guess the north Tel Aviv liberal elite only love the illegal immigrants as long as they are in somebody else’s neighborhood. You can read all about this blessed, and wonderfully inspired event with these two articles; MK Ben Ari Brings Sudanese to Posh Pool and Operation ‘Welcome Sudanese’ Begins in TA.

Unfortunately, this problem continues to grow as the numbers of illegals continues to rise. The problem has reached epidemic levels and even the leftists have reached the point where they can no longer ignore reality in order to chase a cause simply for feeling their better than the rest of us. Prime Minister Netanyahu has visited a number of African countries to arrange the return of their citizens with little to show for his efforts. Thus far whatever government there is in Somalia has refused to accept any responsibility or even to recognize that any refugees are even from Somalia and flatly refuse to cooperate. Eritrea has not been measurably more cooperative though it is rumored they were at least slightly more polite in their refusal. The nascent country of South Sudan has taken an official position that as a newly established country which is still having border difficulties with its neighbor, Sudan, have officially requested Israel assist by accepting their refugees as a gift from and for South Sudan. They claim they really would be hard pressed to receive any of their refugee citizens back into the population at this time and it would be really swell if Israel would just keep them a while longer. You can read and watch a video of the South Sudanese Agriculture Minister Betty Ogwar presenting the case stating, “When Israel talks about Sudanese, it is talking about all of them – from Sudan and South Sudan. Israel should support all of the Sudanese. They came because they were afraid and came for a better life.” It is all in an article titled  South Sudan Asks Israel to Keep Infiltrators.

This problem is not going to be easily settled and it does pain many Israelis that repatriating these illegal refugees back to their countries of origin has become necessary. Initially, Israel had been willing to accept some refugees, especially from the south of Sudan while the massacres were still a daily occurrence. But peace has been reached and they now have their own country and their lives are not threatened should they return. Just because the South Sudan would rather not take them back and wishes to have Israel care for their people is no reason to actually keep them in Israel. Israel plans on having a fence system in place by late summer and I can already hear the cries of a new Apartheid Fence on the Egyptian border that is victimizing poor Africans. Needless to say, the world while complaining about the Israeli fence will be ignoring how the Egyptians deal with these refugees. The Egyptians and their Sinai tribes simply murder them when they catch them or sometimes retain the women for reasons I would rather not talk about. But it will be the Israeli fence that is evil. Some days you come to realize that you’re simply not going to get a break.

Israel is taking the initial first step towards solving this difficult situation as the State Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that it would be asking for the courts to remove their temporary order disallowing incarceration and repatriation of the illegal immigrants who originated in the parts of the Sudan which now make up the new country of South Sudan. Once the legal hurdle is cleared I actually do hope that a humane method which allows for respect and proper care to be given the refugees while preparing them for repatriation. Let us assure their last memories of Israel are of a compassionate and fair people and not of a spiteful place where they were treated harshly as they cooperated with authorities. If any of the illegal immigrants do resist or attempt to avoid legal deportation, then a firm hand may be necessitated, but not necessarily a cruel hand. We can demand respect for Israel while showing respect for these people, while enforcing our laws.

Beyond the Cusp