About the Criminal Netanyahu

 

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is under investigations that, for all practical arguments, ranges from taking kickbacks to chewing gum in line, from bribery to passing notes in class, from fraud to not bringing enough candy for everyone, and from breach of trust to talking during a test. The first thing which needs explaining is the makeup of the legal officers in Israel and a quick overview of their political bend. The Attorney General is not chosen by the Prime Minister nor approved by the Knesset but is chosen by a set of judges and lawyers who can outvote the political members of the committee which means the people have next to no say in this choice. Judges and much of the legal system other than the Justice Minister are chosen by a liberal elite of the legal profession with a heavy influence by the Supreme Court. Additionally, the Supreme Court has a virtual veto over the choosing of every new Justice to the court leading to a court stuck in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s and not progressing politically along with the population. After Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak ruled that all things are judicable, the Supreme Court has greatly expanded their purview and fields of power reaching from deciding demolitions of contested regions more often calling for the destruction of Jewish communities while going the extra mile to protect all Palestinian Arab villages to countermanding commander’s and general’s orders to their IDF forces to granting predominantly European funded NGO’s requests which tend to be strictly far left demands.

 

Chief Justice Aharon Barak

 

The last Israeli government had instigated some absolutely necessary restrictions, guidelines and strictly defined powers with rigidly implanted divisions between judicable and that which is the responsibility of the courts and justices and that which is outside judicable range. There is much redefining necessary and with any luck a complete revamping of the means by which justices are selected, particularly to the Supreme Court which had become an inner sanctum echoing a long past era refusing to join the present nor would it realize changes which made the landscape defined very differently than the Judges pretend. Allowing, if not encouraging, the roping of the Supreme Court Justices and bringing them closer to having to answer to the desires of the people through taking some decisions from the Supreme Court to altering the means of how new justices are chosen taking from the Supreme Court a veto power against any selection. Finally, there was the means for the Knesset to respond to the court’s overreach by permitting the parliament to override a Supreme Court veto of legislation. This pawned the legal branch of the government to feel threatened and to bite back. They blamed these events on all of the right-wing parties and especially the Prime Minister. The legal difficulties of Prime Minister Netanyahu are part of this reaction by the courts and Attorney General. The Attorney General tasked itself with finding anything by which they could damage or possibly remove the Prime Minister. Some of the charges still remaining unresolved have been placed in a dormant state from previous elections only to be brought to the fore as new elections came into focus. There were two of these charges that came out, the main one being financial misbehavior in the form of kickbacks from a submarine purchase. The finality of this investigation which was initially claimed to involve the Prime Minister only produced charges against lawyers who had lesser roles and vindicated the Prime Minister. The remaining charges are far lesser including one which borders on comical which we have talked of before. They circle around “expensive” gifts received by the Prime Minister and his wife given them by multi-billionaires who when visiting the Prime Minister’s residence for an official dinner. They gave presents such as higher priced champagne and some fine cigars. Apparently, the courts believe that such guests should bring far less expensive gifts such as pictured below. Our friends back in the United States poked much fun about these charges finding them to be more amusing than serious. The media treated this as if they were the proof of bribery despite not being able to find a single quid-pro-quo. Most of this circus will simply be folded up and placed in storage for the next election should Bibi Netanyahu remain as the likely candidate for Prime Minister. The courts and their left-leaning allied parties are frustrated, furious, frantic and willing to do whatever it would take to regain their control which they had for the first thirty plus years of Israeli history. The left believed that they would be the sole power in Israel forever and are surprised, shocked and in a state of unresolved, incensed furor demanding they be returned their rightful place of total control. We can expect this and other contrived problems to resurface repeatedly until the elections are complete and then they will slowly subside.

 

Ronco Veg-O-Matic and Pocket Fisherman

 

Leading up to this last election which just failed to reach a defining coalition, there was a perfect example of this overreach by the Supreme Court. The Knesset election committee had resolved that one Arab Party be disallowed which had numerous former terrorists and recently included a Minister who had joined the Mavi Marmara which attempted to run the military blockade of Hamas in Gaza when numerous IDF sailors were injured with one attempted to be abducted by the crew of the terror ship. The end result was the use of live-fire in which nine of the terrorists were killed and relations with Turkey became tested. Reparations were agreed upon which many on the right found distasteful. The committee also disallowed one candidate from one of the other parties, a Jewish college professor who actively supports the BDS movement detests any Zionist activities within Israel. The Supreme Court ruled that this candidate was just fine and the Arab party completely acceptable but also ruled that one right-wing candidate who is a lawyer and former Knesset Minister be disallowed. It begs the question of how could a former Knesset Minister not be acceptable as a candidate for the Knesset. The answer is simple, he supports restructuring the courts and how jurists are chosen and the Attorney General is appointed. He supports balancing the legislative and administrative branches of government and the Judicial branch. The claim is that by dismantling the forming dictatorial judicial rule of the black robes; the legal branch, especially the Supreme Court and the Attorney General, fear losing their ability to choose their own replacements as this would open the door for justices more in line with the current rightward swing of the population in Israel. This was a fight the legal branch was guaranteed to lose, it was only going to take time as the future of Israel will be more Zionist, more conservative and more religious. Another item is that much of the current judiciary is ardently secular and far more internationalist, border-free, atheistic and intersectional than the population. In all honestly, much of the legal branch is filled with people who are representative of the Israeli population from before 1977 when the first truly Zionist, nationalist, religious right-wing Prime Minister was elected, Prime Minister Menachem Begin. They do not make politicians nor leaders like they used to and Menachem Begin is a prime example.

 

So, is Bibi Netanyahu guilty of any of these charges? This is like asking if President Trump conspired with the Russians or one of the Democrat candidates when looking at much of the Israel media and Bibi with his troubles. He is obviously guilty of receiving some fairly nice cigars and exclusive champagne, but he did not make any moves to repay these gifts, they were gifts and not bribes. Their most presented claim was that the Knesset considered legislation deferential to one of the presenters. That is where the problem with their accusations become obvious as Bibi and his Likud Party assisted in defeating this legislation including Bibi Netanyahu who voted against this legislation. Another claims he traded favorable government actions in order to have a left-leaning media outlet provide him with more favorable coverage. This favorable coverage never materialized and, if anything, this outlet’s coverage became even more critical. If Bibi Netanyahu is actually guilty of these charges, then he is the worst politician at gaining favors or repaying such. These antics are purposed to make the right appear dirty and pave the way for a return to the left-leaning political governance and placing the same people back in power who presented us with the Oslo Accords, Gaza withdrawal (with the assistance of former Likud Prime Minister Arik Sharon) and have completing the two-state solution if only to prove it possible to surrender more of our lands. The September elections and their lead-up is going to be one unbelievable ride through absurdity which is the mainstay of Israeli politics.

 

Whether Bibi Netanyahu is guilty of any of the charges or whether or not the charges actually rise to the level which would remove him from power, the Courts and Attorney General know that any right-leaning government will continue the redefining of the separation of powers in an attempt to rebalance things and put the judicial djinn back into its rightful bottle. The central figure in this dispute is Bibi Netanyahu as the representative of all that is right of center while the Attorney General is fighting for the legal establishment and their left-leaning bend. The weapon is the accusation of criminal activity by the Prime Minister and, as the party lists are made known, attempting to disqualify right-wing candidates while dismissing any disqualifying charges against left-leaning politicians on the left-wing and Arab lists. The legal system is attempting through judicial fiat to enact the two-state solution by any means required. Bibi Netanyahu has been quasi supportive of the most Zionist political parties while often acting towards annexation of the lands west of the Jordan River and beyond the Green Line, the armistice lines from the 1948 Arab war to destroy Israel at her birth. There has already been evidence that at the base of these charges is a political attempt to change the resulting vote of the election. We saw more frequent coverage of the charges against Bibi as the past election neared with the reporting becoming more fantastic and even fanatical. Now that those elections have ended, the coverage and level of excitement around these charges have been reduced to a simmer. With new elections coming in mid-September, we can expect the temperature on these charges to be increased from a mere simmer to a roiling boil over the month of August and into September as Election Day approaches. After the elections, the charges will largely be placed back into storage for the next elections when they will be investigated almost anew and perhaps some new charges of equal veracity will be leveled. This has been the past and is promised to be the future of politics for as long as the judicial branch is politically opposed to the remainder of the Israeli governance.

 

Whether or not Bibi Netanyahu is a criminal, a dirty politician, needs removal or is as pure as the driven snow is something we are not in a place to determine. We doubt he is as pure as the driven snow but also doubt he is as guilty as the media have painted him. In all honesty, we are not Bibi’s greatest of fans and would be extremely happy to have another become Prime Minister, whether a different member from Likud or the leader of another party. We would prefer that the right-leaning parties continue to hold the majority and form the next government. We have noted that Avigdor Lieberman has made his position as left-leaning or possibly solidly leftist which is the reason so many claim they desire forming a government which does not include Yisrael Beiteinu Party. This became evident when Avigdor Lieberman strongly suggested that the next government include the Blue-White Party, Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud along with other parties in a unity government. The problem with his claim is such would not be a unity government but a left-leaning government where the Likud would find themselves very uncomfortable but possibly unable to force new elections, trapping them in a government which refutes their own preferences and interests. But Bibi is more likely a politician under investigation by the opposing side than anywhere near a deadly criminal that the political cartoons paint him to be. But, like President Trump, Bibi should not expect the hyperventilating and total exasperation centered reporting to change that much going into the elections.

 

The voting public is also not taken in largely by these accusations, though some have fallen victim. The problem comes when a new party defines themselves tailored to the public’s slant while their true positions are far different than the image portrayed. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak may prove their undoing as they have requested that Yair Lapid keep from commenting about his concerns and opposition to the Haredi parties. The Blue-White Party is a combination of Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party and centrist leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party. The Israel Resilience Party hosts four former generals including some who were Chiefs of Staff. Their claim to fame is that as Generals they know far more about security and how to reach peace agreements with the Palestinian Authority. From what we have read and gathered; their plan is another version of the ill-fated two-state solution. One of their leaders, before being corralled by handlers, spoke freely very early in the lead-up to the last elections. The proposal he made was frightening to those of us here at BTC and which we discussed here. To put it as simply as we are able, for those who refuse to read prior articles, the plan would present the Palestinian Authority with a done deal. They would pull all Israelis within the region defined by the security fence while gifting the Palestinian Authority the lands east of the security fence. This would not demand anything from the Palestinian Authority as just by gifting them these lands, they claim all terrorism and violence will cease. The difference between the defensive security fence and the Green Line is marginal at best (as displayed on the map at the above link). These generals are still fully supporting the land for peace concept of the Oslo Accords and the two-state solution. We can guarantee that Mahmoud Abbas would refuse to accept this offer and would immediately set out for Europe complaining that Israel still refused to give him the 22% of the Mandate he has demanded. For information, the 22% Abbas refers to is all of the British Mandate which was not part of the 78% granted to Jordan, or simply, everything west of the Jordan River, all of Israel. Abbas would also initiate a new intifada with the intent of forcing Israel to send the IDF into the region just gifted to the Palestinian Authority to end the offensive which would be murdering Israelis. Abbas has effectively and completely destroyed, devastated and made null the two-state solution, the Oslo Accords and possibly any opportunity for peace between the Palestinian Arab entity and Israel. Their current attempts to appear as more right-wing than they truly are revealing their claims to be disingenuous should Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak talk to the media and decide he desires joining his fellow generals in the Blue-White Party revealing their leftward tilt.

 

This is also why Mahmoud Abbas will not be in Bahrain for President Trump’s economic conference as he denounced the entirety of President Trump and his peace plan before anything was released. Mahmoud Abbas and his fellow Palestinian Authority leaders have made their desires extremely evident and it has nothing to do with the two-state solution. They have the exact same desires as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, just a slightly different means of attaining an end to Israel and any nation ruled by Jews, their way to having Islamic world domination. They do not wish for self-rule or even their own country, they simply want to destroy our country. This is why there can be no peace agreement which would be worth the paper it is written upon. Abbas has stated that should any peace ever be reached with Israel; it would only bring a temporary respite from terrorism which would restart and continue demanding more territory followed by another respite followed be restart of terror until they could easily defeat Israel or the Jews simply leave, deserting their country. This is the only result Abbas and his colleagues will find acceptable. Perhaps President Trump is more aware than the media paints him and he is planning on forming a peace which leaves Abbas and the Palestinian Authority out in the cold. Things may be about to get very interesting, the Trump peace plan, the Israeli elections and the leftist media in conniptions.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israeli Absurdity of the Rule of Law

 

There will very probably be any number of reports about how the Israeli government is working to destroy the democracy. These screams and wails of lament will be coming from some justices from the Supreme Court, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit but most prominently from those on the political left. The further into the progressive and even communist left one travels, the ever louder the banshee screams will be heard. There is a very simply reason behind this, and it has to do with the last stand of the rascals. For quite some time the Israeli population, and thus the Knesset, have been moving inexorably towards the nationalist and Zionist end of the spectrum, in Israel that is called the right wing. Another trend has been for the percentage of the population which is religious orthodox, but not Haredi, has been increasing and keeping pace with the Haredi if not surpassing them. Meanwhile, the liberal-progressive-left has watched their percentage slide slowly in an ever-decreasing spiral with their holding out largely in the Tel Aviv leftist echo-chamber. This has been cause for their lament as they watch their path of last recourse to halt their slippage from power slowly being brought back into proper proportion. Ever since the former Supreme Court Chief Justice (President) Aharon Barak ruled that “all things are adjudicable,” the Supreme Court has taken the position that they know what was best for Israel and if the Knesset could not agree, then they would take matters, and the law, into their own hands. This meant that should the Knesset pass legislation with which the liberal left disagreed; they would employ the Supreme Court to overturn the law. This also allowed for the leftist Supreme Court Justices to implore the court to overturn any legislation without the need for any petition from outside the court. Then they decided that perhaps they could and should write the needful laws as they viewed Israel. They went as far as countermanding orders given by IDF commanders even during times of conflict if they believed that the IDF might cause suffering upon those they were fighting. These justices did not understand the principle that you win conflicts by making your opponents pained or worse. The Supreme Court went to such extremes that even the most casual observers were taking note and starting to complain that the Supreme Court was superseding the will of the people and their duly elected government, and this was indeed troubling to many.

 

Then there is the case of the Attorney General, almost every Attorney General. Every election cycle, whether the previous government went full-term, a great rarity, or whether early elections were called after dissolving the Knesset, invariably the candidate who was atop the ticket for the leading right leaning party which was predicted to be tapped, if they took sufficient Ministerial Mandates for the upcoming Knesset, would have announcements that they could or were coming under indictment for bribery, kickbacks and other unethical behavior. These charges were often frivolous and seldom ever came to trial. As for Bibi Netanyahu, he has had the same cases used for the past decade. Originally, there were around eight separate investigations kept simmering on the back burners never quite coming to a close. With the upcoming elections it has been announced that, surprise, surprise, Bibi Netanyahu might be arraigned on any of three separate charges after he has been interrogated and a deposition taken which, of course, will be scheduled for some time after the election. One would not be out of line to ask, after which elections, this election, the next election or forever until Bibi does not run and then they would be dropped? He stands accused of bribing a news source for positive coverage after which they continued to tear him apart at every opportunity. Then there is the most ridiculous charge of them all. He accepted expensive cigars, expensive champagne and other than cheap costume jewelry as presents from a billionaire friend who had dined at the Prime Minister’s house. Really, that is the crime? What do they expect a billionaire to give as presents; cheap it’s a boy cigars, a box of Franzia wine and a Dick Tracy decoder ring for Mrs. Netanyahu? This was a billionaire, not just some paltry odd millionaire. But when one is grasping at straws, you get what you expect, total ridiculousness wrapped up all pretty so it looks authentic and real. There are some demanding that the dropped cases be reopened though they have already been played out and were seen for what they were, but it is Bibi and another elections, he must be stopped. The desperation is far too evident and all despite the polls already indicating that the Blue-White Party with former Chief of Staff General Gantz atop the ticket sharing it with ex-newscaster Yair Lapid presumably leading in the majority of the polls. But why leave anything to chance when you can potentially remove Bibi from office after the election by charging him and then having the Supreme Court order him to resign. Why stop there, order new elections and continue to do so until the Supreme Court and Attorney General get a Knesset they prefer. The Supreme Court has already moved to decide who is permitted to be on the ticket by removing a candidate who they see as too far right despite his having served on the Knesset previously and insisted that every party and candidate which believes that Israel is wrong and the Arab Palestinians are right must be permitted to be in the ballot. Why stop there when the Supreme Court could just as easily formulate a list of candidates approximately, well, exactly, one-hundred-twenty names all of which they agree with politically and then allow the people to vote to decide who will be the one-hundred-twenty Minister of the Knesset, that would remove any doubt that the Knesset would act as the Supreme Court demands. But then the Attorney General would not have any political arraignments left on his books and would be bored without having to seek out crimes where none exist.

 

Billionaire on a Budget Gift Set for the Prime Minister and Wife

 

The problem is very simple to understand. Somewhere back at the beginning of the State of Israel, those who crafted the governance in their infinite wisdom, set up a system by which the Supreme Court, Attorney General and a small group of select individuals including representatives of the lawyers guild would determine who was chosen to be a judge, any judge, including Supreme Court judges and also choose the Attorney General. This system resulted in the Supreme Court choosing identically like-minded judges in every judgeship as well as who would replace any retiring or other vacancy on the Supreme Court as well as choosing the Attorney General. Israel was a socialist and extremely leftist nation with an agrarian economy, so maybe this made sense. Israel has changed. Not only is Israel a burgeoning capitalistic economy which is partially high-tech agriculture, but also heavily into medicine, electronics, software, apps, and many, many various highly educated endeavors. The courts are still back in the glory days of the socialist utopia and refusing to be dragged along with the nation. That causes friction and resentment every time the courts attempt to undo the modernization of governance and making things progress. So we have what is called a progressive court which is against progress which has taken the nation further from being a socialist haven. The courts and their selection processes are going to change, if not now, then soon or when the people are so fed up that they demand that the entirety of the judgeships be removed, a new system put in place and then a whole new justice system enacted, selected, approved and ready to move with the people and not ruling against what the nations as a whole desires. The courts have become so reactionary that some on the left are even seeing the problem; they just are not quite ready to lose their place of final recourse. Changes have already started and will continue apace unless the elections prove to have returns which we here are not expecting. Our view of the results of the coming April 9, 2019, elections is that the Likud will once again be tasked with forming a coalition, probably first shot, but even if the Blue-White Party gets first shot, it is thought that they could only muster fifty-five of the necessary sixty-one mandates and thus have to allow another party to try. That other party would be the Likud as things currently appear. Now should the Supreme Court order Bibi to step down as the head of the Likud Party now, with less than three weeks, possibly two by the time this is published, and it would throw a wrench into the entire elections and then the Blue-White Party would be all but assured of forming a coalition and thus save the courts from the will of the people. Contrary to what is often reported, the Blue-White Party stands squarely behind the two-state-solution despite their protestations to the contrary. Now we (I) could be wrong, but my political sense is not often that far from reality, much to some people’s consternation. Given my druthers, we would very much like to see Rafi Peretz from Jewish Home and leader of the Union of Right-Wing Parties be the one tapped to form a coalition, that could only happen were Bibi removed by the Supreme Court, something few desire. The man, Rafi Peretz, is a former Chief Rabbi of the IDF, head of the Otzem Pre-Military Academy in Yated, a combat helicopter pilot, and to match the Blue-White Party claims to fame, is a retired IDF Brigadier General and from reactions to his naming, a well respected gentleman as told by IDF veterans who knew him. We could call this the pipe dream for the coming elections.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Bibi Conundrum

 

Right, the big day has finally come and Prime Minister Netanyahu will, presumably, finally get his comeuppance. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday evening that he was to bring charges against Bibi Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in the cases 1000, 2000 and 4000, cases we will explain further but to most Israelis, these are understood terms. To many they are the obvious witch-hunt by the left which has been a traveling circus for years only for threats, or finally charges this time, where the Prime Minister was about to meet the end of his career, so slam-dunk obvious was his guilt. First, let us have a little background to give us some added flavoring. These investigations have been ongoing for almost as long as Bibi has been Prime Minister and every election they would make headlines and how the impending charges were about to be filed and trials to be held, always after the elections, obviously. Originally, there had been eight investigations involving the Prime Minister. As time passed, there were actual indictments handed down to people who worked with or for the Prime Minister, but somehow charges never quite reached his office. One of the main charges was for taking kickbacks from a German source as part of an Israeli submarine purchase. This situation actually appeared to be serious and likely to include the Prime Minister, especially reading Haaretz who had him all but convicted and serving a prison term. The end result was that one of the lawyers who worked in putting the deal together and some even lesser figures were found to have been guilty of misdeeds and nothing even intimated the Prime Minister. This brought out a furious bout of crying from those poised to take over as Prime Minister and more so on the left as they were ready to pounce and paint the entirety of the right with being complacent with these criminal activities. Much to their chagrin, it became on big nothing burger.

 

So, what exactly are these cases and why should we care. Case 1000 revolves around claims Netanyahu received expensive gifts from a businessman in exchange for favorable treatment and regulatory loopholes through which the businessman could financially benefit. This is probably the most laughable of the charges as we pointed out here. The businessman presumably plied the Prime Minister and his wife by giving him expensive cigars and champagne and his wife non-costume jewelry (expensive jewelry) so the Prime Minister would push legislation which would be favorable to his business interest, and also favorable to the Israeli economy, but since when is the Prime Minister supposed to work to advance the nation’s economy. These gifts were delivered covertly at dinners at the Prime Minister’s residence. So, are we to assume, as we stated in our other article, that a multi-billionaire should present the Prime Minister and his wife a Ronco Veg-O-Matic and Pocket Fisherman when invited to dine at the official residence of the head of state? It is customary for people to present gifts commensurate with their ability, and people in the economic stratosphere bring expensive champagne and cigars and sweet jewelry as the appropriate gifts, which is why it is good to be the king, to quote Mel Brooks. Can you imagine if an Attorney General of the United States brought charges against the President right before he was to run for a second term claiming that he received champagne and cigars as a bribe to push legislation which benefited the national economy and he never actually had to push for its passage? The entire episode would be laughed right out of town. On a second thought, it may be we have all become so partisan in our politics that it would all depend on whether the President was of your particular party or not. Still, some things are so ludicrous as to be more silly than serious. Relatively, or even excessively, expensive gifts given when visiting the Prime Minister’s residence for dinner, well, we thought such is what is expected, not out of the ordinary or in any way improper. But, on the other hand, it is known that the Israeli Attorney General and the Prime Minister are not exactly golfing partners, miniature or otherwise, and it is doubtful they exchange Happy Purim cards.

 

 

Moving on to the next scandal, Case 2000. Netanyahu has been accused of advancing a law to ban the Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot newspaper’s chief competitor, Israel Hayom, from being distributed freely in exchange for favorable coverage. Many people will laugh this one away as Bibi Netanyahu did not receive preferential or even complimentary or fair coverage and readers likely could not point to where the coverage and criticisms of the Prime Minister altered in any way or form. The legislation which they are referring to never passed and was so slanted and biased against conservative or nationalist news, Israel Hayom in particular and so specifically that the legislation was laughable, that it was obvious that this was crafted by left leaning sources. Why would Bibi turn to block coverage of a newspaper distributed free of charge across Israel in which he received generous coverage as the force behind this newspaper was Sheldon Adelson, arguably having been one of the Prime Minister’s staunchest supporters. The idea that such a deal would even be of any preference or advantage for Bibi was and still is preposterous. But when you are throwing everything against the wall and hoping something will stick, you throw everything you have left, and that is pretty much what has happened and why these two cases have been brought forward. This sort of reminds us of other instances when politicians and their functionaries were grabbing at straws and throwing them against the wall waiting for one, any one, to stick. They were not rewarded for these efforts and in the end came out looking like fools. Clarification, these were past instances and have absolutely nothing to do with the Mueller ongoing investigations into the present American administration and the President.

 

Now we get to move on to the final claim against Bibi Netanyahu, the really serious case according to most sources. This is Case 4000 where Prime Minister Netanyahu stands accused of accepting bribes to push regulatory changes which would benefit the Bezeq telecommunications company, owned by Shaul Elovitch, in exchange for favorable coverage from a news site Walla! News, owned by Elovitch. There may or may not have been favorable coverage, but that is not the actual question which needs to be answered. The question is whether the coverage was altered at any specific point, preferably an obvious change and a specific point, and not was the coverage nice to the Prime Minister. Let’s use an obvious but hypothetical example from the United States. Presume that President Trump pushed to have regulations from the FCC altered allowing for the owner of Fox News altered, which also benefited owners of all the other news services, days after spending most of a day golfing and having a long and friendly lunch with Rupert Murdoch. These changes also would result in benefits to the American people, the economy and permit for a broader selection in where one could receive their news. Would this result in an open and shut case of bribery and breach of the public trust? We know, against Trump, there would be another Special Prosecutor appointed by the afternoon while they were on the back nine. This is close to what is going on with these cases in Israel. The left has been demanding, as have rivals on the right, that Bibi be prosecuted for obvious briberies, gifts, kickbacks, ruinous deals and a plethora of other altercations and evil machinations. The Attorney General would never have been invited to another Shabbos brunch in Tel Aviv if he had not at least attempted to bring down Bibi Netanyahu before this coming election. These, and the other four investigations which have returned one conviction for the first four before they were otherwise dropped against the Prime Minister, have been under investigation for over five years in some cases and all for over three years.

 

Why now, all of a sudden, these three cases are being brought against Netanyahu? Simple, elections have been called. The aim from all of this hullabaloo is to have an interested party, in the name of all that’s fair and decent, file a complaint with the Israeli Supreme Court to strip Bibi from leading any Knesset list so as to become Prime Minister should Likud be chosen to form the next government. This is the means by which Bibi is to be denied the office and the Israelis of the Likud Party from having their strongest candidate head their ticket. The other aim is to so shake up the electorate and spread confusion and doubt so as to potentially cost Likud three, four, five or as many as, pick a number less than thirty, mandates and allow for the left leaning party, specifically the Blue-White Party of Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, to receive the nod to form a coalition and with the potentially added mandates, become the next government with Lapid and Gantz taking turns in the Prime Minister’s residence. That bring us to the final question, the main point of all of this, what if the left does succeed in taking down Bibi, damaging Likud, having a plethora of Israelis in the right simply not bother to vote when election day arrives, and the left under Lapid-Gantz take charge.

 

That future depends on whether Yair Lapid and General Benny Gantz (ret) are going to stick to the policies they have expounded over the years. What is interesting is that their prepared speeches vary on critical positions depending on the location where it is given. For our argument’s sake, we will stick to the most repeated of their positions which have sold well in much of the Tel Aviv region. They have a plan to end the terrorism and settle the Palestinian Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all. This entails something so simple and basic that it boggles the mind that it has not been attempted before. The retired general, Benny Gantz, has been very clear on what are his intentions which match fairly well with the consistent position of Yair Lapid over the years. We covered Benny with appropriate link here along with link to a reference map explaining the contour and how it differs from previous plans using the Green Line. The basic idea is to simply remove any and all Israelis from beyond the separation barrier, also called the anti-terror barrier, as well as the Old City of Jerusalem, possibly excepting the Temple Mount, and simply declaring these lands as the Arab Palestinian state they have demanded. This is the application of the Gaza Disengagement except this time the lands hold the higher grounds overlooking the entirety of the Tel Aviv metropolitan region including Ben Gurion International Airport and several military airfields. Additionally, so this does not become another simple disengagement, their plan is to leave IDF forces and their bases in the region to combat terrorism and other problems which might result as well as to assure that Mahmoud Abbas does not get replaced by Hamas, Hezballah, or other not so savory terrorist group. This sounds scarily close to the idea used in Southern Lebanon which resulted in a disorderly retreat followed by Hezballah taking control of the regions south of the Litani River in Lebanon. So, their grand plan is the Gaza Disengagement combined with the security plan for Southern Lebanon all wrapped up as a single package, and people want to know why we are not all that enthused about the Blue-White Party winning the election and forming the next government. The difficulties from their policies will be described in greater detail below and will clarify with the map below which depicts only the least capable rockets, the Katyusha. Clarification, this does not mean we are overjoyed with the idea of five more years of Bibi Netanyahu, but the few Party leaders we would prefer to see form a government have only the slightest better chance to be chosen than we do, and we are not even on any ticket.

 

Katyusha Rocket Range by Mark Langfan
Depicting the Near Complete Coverage
of the Heart of Israel by Even the Smallest
Home-made Rockets Both Hamas and Fatah
Are Capable of Producing in Bulk

 

There are some longer term predictions which can be made should such a plan actually be enacted. First, once the withdrawal has been completed and the lands officially ceded to the Palestinian Authority, the very first thing that Mahmoud Abbas will do is go to the United Nations General Assembly and start the process for recognition and entry as a full member of that illustrious and contemptuous organization. The Security Council will actually have no objection which is actually completely legal and even should the United States veto such recognition, Abbas could turn to the International Courts at the Hague who would very likely rule in his favor and thus Israel will have lost claims to these lands just as they did Gaza. Then will start the attacks on the IDF troops and the calls for the occupation army to be removed as it is a foreign invasion force which is unwelcomed in their new nation. There will be calls within Israel for this as well as the casualties mount and Israel will be facing another speedy and unplanned pullback of the IDF being executed as quickly as possible to avoid undue casualties. Then the next set of demands for the Negev to be ceded to the Bedouins as they are the “indigenous” peoples. Israel is the sole country in which Bedouins actually establish towns and settle down thus not moving from grazing area to grazing area as this is not necessary as there are ample fields in Israel which are maintained for grazing purposes. The Bedouins in Israel have an irrigated desert which is suspiciously unavailable in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the remainder of the region, imagine that. The separation barrier will be breached on a regular basis and rockets will be launched from the hills onto Tel Aviv as pictured below. This will have an immediate reaction, and hopefully before any of the buildings in central Tel Aviv are struck potentially fatally causing their collapse. It has been stated that a conservative is simply a liberal who has been mugged. In this case, Tel Aviv is the liberal as it is the center of the Israeli progressive society with the majority of the rainbow coalition, numerous leftist NGO’s and the coffee bistros in which they can talk, exchange ideas and set up their next protest. In Israel, you can be mugged by surviving a terrorist attack or worse, knowing one who suffered a terror attack, and by being at ground zero of a rocket attack or within a block or two of such an attack. These are a form of wake-up call which brings all the arguments from the Zionist and nationalist right home and does so violently fast. So, what follows a few of these attacks and what will ensue?

 

Tel Aviv Now Before Green Line Peace
and
Tel Aviv the Day After Green Line Peace

 

There will be a cry for a new government immediately and for elections. Even Haaretz might be in favor of retaking the Shomron and forcing the Arabs residing there to find new homes across the Jordan River. If history is any recommendation of the future events, when such an occurrence comes to pass, expect that Jordanians to place these Arabs in camps and leave them there under UNRWA demanding that they be taken back by Israel and given new homes and full citizenship. After they rocket central Tel Aviv, the Arabs will find that this boat has sailed never to return. Such an attack would be their great strategic blunder as it would turn their main Israeli allies into sworn enemies. They will find a different Israel sitting across the Jordan and within twenty years the region will have become unrecognizable. We have a video starting partially through where the development by Israel of much of the land has made it unrecognizable as evidenced. The entirety of the video deals with many of the realities of how these Palestinian Arabs came to be in camps for generations and how their own forces were the main driving force to cause this disaster, not the Israelis. We recommend the entirety of the video be viewed when you have the time. Here is a little taste of why the solution as explained to be so simple is not so simple.

 

 

Should the Palestinians be gifted a state, this will not end anything as the Arab side has only one acceptable resolution which does not include Israel nor does it include a single Jew remaining once they have destroyed Israel. This is a truth which the left has refused to accept or believe claiming all along that if they would just be granted the lands conquered, actually liberated, in the Six Day War, then there would be peace. Abbas states very clearly that he demands the 22% of the British Mandate. Jordan sits on 78% of the British Mandate and Israel was to have the remaining 22% which consists of the region west of the Jordan River. This was the “fair” two state solution the world set up with Jordan for the Arabs, Jordan is three-quarters Arab Palestinian, and the remaining 22% was to be for the Jewish State. This was accepted by King Faisal in the name of the Arab league back in the early 1920’s. Since then the position of the Arab world changed and they decided to demand all the land be returned to their rule. They refuse the fact that the Ottoman Empire allied with Germany and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and were the losing side of World War I. Just as they claim that they won every war against Israel, they claim they won World War I. They probably claim their allying with the Nazis resulted in their winning World War II. According to their interpretation of the Quran, it is impossible for any Islamic force to lose a war, thus they have always won because the Quran is inviolable. This is partly why Israel has no right to exist, the Quran states that the Jews are accursed and incapable of ruling themselves and need Islamic protection. We know what their protection consists of and prefer to avoid any reoccurrences of such treatment. We have a series of three approximately ten-minute long videos which describe Jewish life under Arab and Islamic rule which are well worth watching at this link. This information may surprise those who have thought that the life of Jews was only a series of persecution in Europe and Russia; the Jews faced similar treatment and often worse treatment across the Middle East and North Africa. That is another reason why Israel knows that she must always be prepared to fight for their lives as they do depend on her continued existence. Half of Israeli population came from places other than the Western World of Europe, Russia and the Americas; they came also from the entirety of the Arab world, Ethiopia, India and across the entirety of the globe. We will close with this final thought, these apparently soon to be leveled indictments of Prime Minister Netanyahu are more political than anything else and even if they are brought to a trial, we expect Bibi will be found not guilty, but these are being brought so as to allow an attempt to force Prime Minister Netanyahu from being returned as head of a coalition and they hope to elect a left wing government to solve the world’s problems. Should they succeed, there will be possibly a final Arab Israeli war and it will not be pretty should Iran jump in with Hezballah and forces stationed by Iran in Iraq and Syria.

 

Beyond the Cusp