Racial Disruptions in Israel

 

You may have, or even probably have, heard about the racial protests currently occurring in Israel. You will hear how this is exactly the same as the Ferguson, Missouri, United States, where the chant “Hands up, Don’t shoot,” slogan was born. The similarity is that an officer shot a teen and in Israel it was supposedly a ricochet as he fired into the pavement. The investigation will reveal the truth and any mistakes will have their consequences. But there are some parts of these protests which do not survive closer scrutiny. It appears that there exist two separate protests, one completely peaceful and the other violent with rioting and burning of vehicles, particularly police and other government vehicles. The peaceful protests are virtually totally populated by Ethiopian Jews while the more violent rioting has some Africans and numerous, if not a majority, white European protesters. There exists a far-left organization funded by the New Israel Fund which has been actively aiding the recent wave of protests, particularly the more violent protests. It is the joint Arab-Jewish ‘Standing Together’ organization which the NIF is funneling the necessary funds and still remain one step removed such that they can later deny their financing of the violent protests. All of this begs the question, does the Ethiopian community have valid reasons for their protests.

 

They certainly have every right to protest and demand answers after a second of their tiny community being shot by law enforcement personnel demands a closer look and explanations. The violent riots are not a valid protest and we believe that the vast majority of the Ethiopian protesters are taking part in the peaceful protests while the far-left instigators are the ones behind the violent protests. Where they might find people which could be said to represent the Ethiopians is an easy answer; they could hire any number of African migrants who are in Israel illegally. But the idea that there are racial problems in Israel is errant accusations. The reality is that the Ethiopian community is one of the most successful integrating into Israeli society and performing with exceptional efforts and accomplishments. We wish to quote this informative article relaying the following:

Turning to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics in 2011/12 and in the transition to 2012/13, we can select a few examples of the real and complex reality that portrays the Ethiopian community in Israel.
The percentage of pupils of Ethiopian origin who dropped out was slightly lower than that of the general population of pupils in Hebrew education: Approximately 1.6% of approximately 35,000 pupils of Ethiopian origin who began to study in grades 1-12 in schools under Ministry of Education supervision in the school year of 2011/12 dropped out during that year or in transition to 2012/13, compared with 1.88% among the general Hebrew education.
The percentage of women among students of Ethiopian origin who are studying for a first degree was higher than the percentage of women among the general population of students for a first degree – 66.8% versus 56.5%, respectively.
The average monthly household expenditure in households of Ethiopian origin was NIS 9,539 compared with NIS 14,272 among the general population households.
As for the I.D.F.; 90% of Ethiopian-Israeli combat soldiers complete their service, as opposed to 70% of other combat soldiers. 30% of Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers serve in combat positions, and are likely to complete their full military service

These are the statistics of an ethnic group which is integrating with effort and success out-performing the median norms for the general society. This was often one of the reasons Jews were hated wherever they were free to become thinkers as they regularly outshone the non-Jewish population. The difference is that in Israel they are out-performing other Jews and this is welcomed as it shows a desire to become a vibrant member in our society. The Ethiopians have been quite a success story but also an adventure tale of many rescues and the saving of a remote tribe of Jews. The Ethiopians came to Israel in two waves of mass immigration assisted by the Israeli government: Operation Moses (1984) rescue for six-to-eight-thousand Jews, and Operation Solomon (1991) rescuing from 1990 through 1999, of over 39,000 Ethiopian Jews were transported to Israel. Never have so many African people been taken in by a developed nation and treated as equals and given all the assistance required to bring them into the society and allowed to flourish. Almost every other importation of Africans resulted in their being sold as slaves. This was not such, this was the rescue of our brothers and sisters whom we embrace and give all the kindness we have. Israel is the least racial country one could imagine. In Israel there is virtually no form of hatred outside of a strong distaste for terrorism and other forms of violence. That is also part of why we are so assured that the violent rioting is not representative of the Ethiopians who are largely taking part in the peaceful demonstrations.

 

Tale of Two Protests both Peaceful and Violent

 

The real problem is the media, specifically the world media which loves to produce news which depicts Israel and Jews in the worst light possible. This is what much of the media are specifically covering, the violence, while their story line depicts the Ethiopian complaint represented by the peaceful protests nearby. But a peaceful protest does not reflect their preconceived notions that Israel is full of racist haters. This is best represented by the violence which is probably partially peopled with non-Israelis consisting of both African illegal migrants and European instigators. The fact that the coverage is centered on the violence which is very possibly not merely flushed out with Europeans but organized and instigated by these Europeans with few if any Ethiopians involved in the rioting. Will they also show the respectful peaceful protests, the kind of popular protest which is capable of getting results and answers from the government and an honest investigation. The peaceful protests are exactly what would be expected of the Ethiopian Jews as they were often victims to brutal treatment while in Ethiopia. They were very appreciative for the efforts Israel went to, to bring them from camps in the Sudan where they were placed in camps when they were caught attempting to walk to Israel. These were the Ethiopian Jews rescued by Operation Moses where unfortunately as news of these rescues became known, the Sudan quickly shut the operation under the insistence of their neighboring and other Arab countries. Ethiopian Jews rescued in Operation Solomon were being held in camps presumably for their protection in Ethiopia. The difficulty these Jews faced was blatant anti-Semitism as they were seen as the reason for every problem and many people wanted to kill their Jews. Israel took them from this situation and brought them directly to Israel using El Al aircraft. The Ethiopians who came from these rescues often were illiterate and required training in order to gain employ. On the plus side, they were so enthused to have been rescued and brought to Eretz Yisroel and their enthusiasm was applied to finding a means for support and fitting into their new society. This was the and has continued to be the ethical code for their society such that they desire to excel and be the best they are able. Any country would have been blessed to have such new citizens as these. The reality the mainstream media desires to hide from the world is that there exists no hatred within Israel. There is no racial hatred, no cultural hatred, no religious hatred, only an extreme discomfort with violence and hatred. That is the Israel we know and love.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Predictability of the Security Council

 

The resolution designed to nullify President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel and announcing the United States intended plans for moving their embassy to Jerusalem invigorated almost every member of the United Nations Security Council bringing them to immediate action. As you probably already know, their reaction was absolutely no different from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation conclusion reached in Turkey. The fourteen nations who attempted to nullify and void President Trump and actually believed that they have the power to force the United States to cancel their plans for moving the American embassy to Jerusalem were China, Russia, England, France, Japan, Italy, Egypt, Bolivia, Uruguay, Sweden, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Senegal. The audacity of the United Nations believing they actually have the power and right to instruct the President of the United States and the Congress and the people what they could decide and do through their elected government is astonishing. Reality is that the United States is currently planning and hopefully will be moving their embassy in the near future with or without the United Nations, OIC, European Union and almost countless nations’ blessings. Of course, United States Ambassador to the United Nation Nikki Haley vetoed using the power available to the United States just as it is to France, Britain, China and Russia currently. But what if the United States decided they wanted to do more to blunt the power of the United Nations.

 

Let us go down that road for a moment. First, were New York City inspectors to go and really give the United Nations buildings a good going over, we bet they could find sufficient serious deficiencies necessary to condemn the building and setting a date for its destruction giving the inhabitants thirty days to vacate. The real estate upon which the complex at Turtle Bay sits is prime New York property worth tens of hundreds of million or more per square foot along 1st Avenue between 42nd and 48th Streets. Somebody could build a new productive structure, a nice, private, super skyscraper, nice and new with the latest technology and interconnections for the new occupants which would be far more productive than the United Nations. The headquarters could be moved somewhere in Europe such as Paris, Geneva, Vienna or better still, Mosul, Iraq. Well, if the United Nations was located in Mosul, then we would see them make a fast and furious recognition of Kurdistan and placing Mosul within its borders probably as the capital city and they would include all the Kurds and permit the Kurdish first leaders to determine who would be permitted to reside within their borders and who would need to relocate being sent into Turkey, Iraq or even Syria depending on which area they currently reside and Kurds would be granted protective relocation inside the new national borders. The United Nations would probably warn Turkey against any belligerence or resistance to this arrangement as the United Nations would probably desire to be located in a place which was stable with democratically elected governance. They could even be sent to China or Russia, just anywhere outside the United States and hopefully to some place willing to provide them with most, or at least much, of its required financing for all functions. The reason for this is the United States could decide to just pay their minimum dues or resign from the United Nations entirely and ignore anything passed as inconsequential and inapplicable to the newly freed United States. So, what would be left of the United Nations without any American funds? Very little is the honest answer.

 

United Democracies for Freedom and Liberty

 

Of course, should the United States pull out of the United Nations and take its cash flow with them, which includes twenty-two percent of the budget, twenty-five percent of peacekeeping costs, and a relatively unknown amount for UNRWA, it would be Free of the influences of the United Nations, and the United States would free themselves of many of the pressures made through that international agency. That could include the amounts that are paid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) which is not disclosed, as there are numerous ways in which funding is sent to the PA. The only honest estimation we could make is total funding of the PA is measured in tens of billions of dollars per year if not higher. Once a goodly share of that funding stopped, the leadership would actually be required to spend a higher percentage to care for the population and less would end up in their pockets. Such might allow for a greater chance for peace. Imagine the savings if peace were to break out in the Middle East, or at least a severe calm. Free from the United Nations and the dictatorships of the world, the United States could choose a dozen or couple dozen nations, or whatever number they could find willing to operate to make the world be filled with more freedom for the people, governance which provided a plethora of liberties and assist in actually solving problems, advancing conditions throughout the world and assisting the nations which are willing to work towards a better world for all peoples, of course starting with their own but also ready, willing and capable of assisting other nations still developing and requiring the basic technologies which were available to the United States by the central era of the last century such that they might join the advanced world in the future. The United States could also work on their own infrastructure, modernizing of their aging structures.

 

What many people do not realize or even have the vision to see, our world is on a precipice walking a narrow path where the technology for near infinite possibilities is on the verge of exploding and becoming very real while at the same time some of the most threatening and destructive technologies are also becoming widely available. We were watching a story which was a slight dramatization of Albert Einstein’s life and times which included parallel events such as the Manhattan Project. When World War II came to an end, they showed the scientists who worked to develop a nuclear weapon for Germany and one of their leading physicists, Werner Heisenberg, is talking with another of the physicists who wondered what prevented them from reaching the point of making a weapon and Werner Heisenberg simply replied, let me get a piece of paper and I will draw you how to make a bomb or some similar comment. He knew and likely, any number of other Nazi scientists knew how to manufacture a simple device and simply chose not to speak up knowing the people who would be using any device they produced and very privately hoping for their defeat. We can only hope that there are such principled people but we unfortunately know otherwise, North Korea has exploded devices which, judging the data provided, are most likely designed as “Super EMP” devices. Iran is said to be close and probably able to manufacture simple nuclear weapons within the next decade. We fearfully believe that Iran not only could manufacture a thermonuclear weapon of sophisticated design already and that they probably have already produced any number of “Super EMP” devices as well as any number of thermonuclear warheads capable of placement atop their ballistic missiles and their ICBM’s and these warheads are fully capable of surviving reentry. Iran and North Korea have both launched satellites which employed the most preferred approach angles upon the United States approaching from the south which is considered the area where the United States interceptions and detection systems are partially blind.

 

That leaves the world two directions, the science fiction future we saw in things like Star Trek, Babylon V, Lost in Space and other depictions of flying around the universe, or at least the solar system, and the other side of science fiction such as On the Beach, Damnation Alley, Cyborg and other post-apocalyptic stories even including Blade Runner. The possibilities of World War III actually coming to fruition are limited but a distinct possibility while a positive future may be closer than any of us believe. The difference might be how long the United Nations spends all of its efforts joining the Europeans and parts of the Islamic world in destroying the one Jewish State of Israel while ignoring the real problems in the world. The world needs to decide what direction it desires to take whether forward towards a world of cooperation and near unbelievable discoveries and advancements which science is on the verge of discovery or back to sniping with nations against nation leading to war and ruin very possibly sending the world back thousands of years losing all that has been built within a few generations needing to start from scratch once more, if some discoveries are true.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Frightening Challenges Facing All in the World

 

Syria is a problem from which there may be no good solution as there is much confusion and has as many facets as a rare gem, each reflecting hostilities on all the others. Every side of this entanglement fights for their own glorification seeking supremacy. Bashir al-Assad is attempting to prove that he is as worthy to carry the torch of leadership as was his father and to the grand level his deceased brother was expected to bestow on the nation as its President. He is attempting to overcome having been always the lesser son whose superior brother died tragically leaving him as the nation’s second choice. His attempts at overachievement could be diagnosed as some twisted form of Napoleonic Syndrome despite his height but due to his being measured by his father as always coming up short of what a leader should be. Add to the mix there is the Islamic State whose leadership fully believe that they are serving a greater purpose and are the proper leadership of all Islam and that they are defining the religion for every Muslim in the world. Their initial military successes have come to a crashing halt and are starting to find their opposition making valid and strong challenges and taking back territories which the Islamic State had initially conquered. Then there are al-Qaeda and other terror groups fighting representing the Sunni opposition to Alawite rule as it is a form of Shia Islam which they oppose and believe are apostates. There are also the Kurdish militias which are mostly concerned with defending their people and are having the greatest challenge coming from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, who has claimed to be fighting the Islamic State and other terrorist groups but has used the majority of his troops to attack the Kurdish populations. Additionally there are the Iranian forces which mostly consist of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who Iran is backing further with Hezballah terror militias from Lebanon. From time to time these two groups attempt to draw Israel into the war by launching artillery or rockets into the Golan Heights. Israel will return fire when they have a solid set of coordinates on which to return fire and which also do not endanger civilians but, other than these, Israel refuses to be drawn into the fighting. Finally there is Russia who is most interested in retaining their two naval ports which are within the Alawite region of Syria which places them in the position of supporting Bashir al-Assad. The recent presumed bombing of targets with chemical weapons such as Sarin Gas which murdered civilians received a strong attack from the United States on the originating airfield with over fifty Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. This drew a strong rebuke by both al-Assad and Russian President Putin.

 

By comparison, the remainder of the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) is only slightly less violent and confused. Yemen is also in the midst of a civil war with the Houthis being backed by Iran while Saudi Arabia is supporting the government forces of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Egypt had supported the Saudi Arabian side providing mostly air support but lost faith in the situation and no longer supports anyone in the Yemen civil war. Libya is a complete disaster with tribal forces warring for preeminence while terrorist forces use some contested areas for training recruits readying them for fighting usually elsewhere. At one point al-Qaeda and Islamic State had cleared out territories they used for training but when they came under attack by tribal forces decided to simply leave as they had no reason to take part in the wars in Libya. The Sudan and South Sudan, which declared independence on July 9, 2011, have remained in a state of conflict with the Sudan sending militias forces raiding their southern neighbor as the Sudan has not fully recognized their independence and still believe that most of the people of South Sudan to be infidel or inferiors and see their military actions as a cleansing the territory of enemies of Islam. Somalia continues to be basically without true governance and has become a destabilizing force for its neighboring nations most notably Eretria as well as Kenya and Ethiopia. There are further threats centered on Nigeria with Boko Haram attacking Christian villages and other sites as well as Islamic villages where they kidnap “volunteers” to fight in their Islamic Army. Boko Haram had pledged their allegiance to Islamic State but whether that remains intact is questionable. All of these Islamic disruptions are largely traceable to what was often referred to as the Arab Spring which largely destabilized the entire area of MENA with the exception of places where there existed strong dictatorial governance such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States and Egypt which survived due to the military taking back the control they had lost to the Muslim Brotherhood after President Mubarak was forced from office under direct pressure from United States President Barack Hussein Obama. Iraq is still in a state of unrest with the Sunni and Shia segments of the population still facing difficulties resulting from a premature removal of United States forces by President Obama who was fulfilling a campaign promise sparking a low level of conflict. Meanwhile the Kurds are continuing to provide their own defense and act as if under semi-autonomous rule. Then there is a problem where the developed world has been inundated by refugees from these many conflicts plus increasing unrest and instability in Afghanistan leading to the new United States President, Donald Trump, to impose a temporary ban on immigration from seven nations where vetting to identify terrorist entities has proven difficult. This ban has fallen into court challenge and is still to be resolved but odds are the ban will stay in place for the ninety days while new vetting procedures are finalized.

 

Allied loosely with Syria and Iran is another problematic location, North Korea. The erratic leadership by Kim Jong Un who has ordered executions of senior officials including his uncle and also ordered the assassination of his half-brother all in the name of national security but actually to secure his position from any challenges. Kim Jong Un has also been petulant and often challenges the United States claiming that he is prepared to reply to any and every provocation by the erratic leadership of who he calls the nation’s greatest enemy. With the recent attack on the Syrian airfield both Kim Jong Un and Bashir al-Assad have denounced the United States as being imperialistic, colonial and using false excuses to try and extend the autocratic rule of the United States over more of the world through many varied and devious means. Both leaders have recently threatened to attack the United States or its forces and allies wherever and whenever possible and as necessitated by the warlike actions of the United States. The most violent of threats have come from North Korea and have been taken seriously as by many measures, Kim Jong Un is considered to be irrational and possibly not entirely rational and sane. The latest episode is currently playing out as the United States has diverted an aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and her strike group from harboring in Australia and is having them head towards the Korean Peninsula passing through the western Pacific. Kim Jong Un has raised the specter of a nuclear strike against the aggressor United States if a posture of war should continue and claims to be watching closely any aggressive behavior by the United States and its allies.

 

A World All Upside Down

 

Add to this the threats by Syria and the displeasure shown by Russian President Putin and there are quite a number of signals which could be interpreted seriously wrong and any one could have devastating consequences. Needless to say, such unrest around the world, nerves frayed and on edge and troops moving and shots being taken on two separate fronts, one in the western Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, East China Sea, Yellow Sea and possibly the Bay of Korea while the other is in the Mediterranean Sea, the world is balanced on a razor’s edge unlike anything since the end of the Cold War. We are a far cry from Cuban Missile Crisis stage but the world need take a deep breath and calm itself before somebody somewhere misreads intents and starts something which could quickly fly out of control and lead to serious sets of actions, reactions and counter reactions ending who knows where. Add in the increased amount of terrorism and rising crime rate in much of Europe and that simply adds another tinderbox to the sparks and electrical arcing from friction and frayed wires on too many fronts. You know things are tense when Israel is seemingly a singular place where the level of unrest could be considered calm, at least this far into the year. Being nervous is seemingly in fashion for world leaders currently and that is never a good sign. We need to remember that it was the assassination of a little known Austrian Archduke named Fred, well, you’re right, Ferdinand, but I bet his friends called him not Fred but Archduke Fred, which started the War to End All Wars. That War later was renamed World War I as it led kind of directly to World War II and if there ever should be a World War III and the human race survives, it will be traced in some means to World War II and thus World War I. If we were honest, we would realize that one could trace all warfare back to Cain’s Murder of Abel if we really tried, so don’t be too complacent, the world leadership sure has not been of late. We have too many people thinking they should rule the world or they already rule the world and all of them are mistaken, or at least we had best hope they all realize such. They won’t and we will all be the worse off for it.

 

Beyond the Cusp