Abbas Making Threats and Promises

 

Mahmoud Abbas is doing what he does best, threatening Israel and promising imminent elections. These are nothing new to those who spend even the slightest bit of attention to the ongoing war between the Arab Palestinians and Israel. We have lost count on the number of times that elections for the Palestinian Authority (PA) legislative parliament followed by elections for President. We do know how many elections have been held under the authority of the PA since 2005, none. That 2005 PA election was won predominantly by Hamas, just as Mahmoud Abbas, PA representatives and Israel had warned the American administration. It was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush who insisted that the election be open for Hamas candidates claiming that such a terrorist entity as Hamas would never receive any number of votes from the Arab Palestinians as they desire peace with Israel, not the destruction of Israel. Well, apparently the Arab Palestinians supported Hamas in far greater numbers than the American experts predicted. There was to be a Presidential election after the parliamentary elections which was cancelled by Mahmoud Abbas as he understood he would lose the election and very possibly his life under a Hamas government. These were the same American officials who pushed the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in order to allow the Arab Palestinians to prove their ability for self-rule. This led directly to Hamas taking over Gaza in a bloody coup after which the same American administrators warned Israel against retaking Gaza, which is odd as retaking Gaza was their solution to all Israeli protestations against the policy moves being pressed by George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice. There have been previous declarations of intent for elections made by Mahmoud Abbas with every one hitting what are often called obstructions and thus never come to fruition.

 

Abbas made another threat while addressing the United Nations where he warned that the PA will withdraw from all the agreements made with Israel. We can advise that this threat be ignored as it is impossible to break agreements which Abbas and the PA never observed in the first place. The promise to remove the destruction of Israel from the PA Charter is simply another lie reported by the New York Times as that clause remains. As is the usual response to Israeli actions which are well within international law, the Oslo Accords and the rules of conflict, the PA and Mahmoud Abbas immediately threaten Israel and demand the world jump onto their bandwagon against Israel and the Jews. We fully expect most of Europe and the European Union to back Abbas completely as usual. Much of Europe are marching in lockstep with the attempts to destroy the Jewish State. The closest that the PA came to altering and amending their charter was they voted once while President Clinton had observers monitoring their actions so they agreed to appoint a committee at their next meeting in order to rewrite the charter and bring it into compliance with the Oslo Accords. The committee was never formed nor was there ever any real intent to do so. They did enact changes to the charter making it even more difficult to make any changes in the future just in case a moment of weakness mixed with honesty ever took a grip on their leaders. There is one thing that Mahmoud Abbas and the PA can count upon, the New York Times will carry their water for them and report whatever they are told by the PA leadership and refute anything resembling reality which favors Israel.

 

Mahmoud Abbas to President Trump, “May your house be destroyed”

 

There are a couple of things we can count upon in the upcoming future. First, there will be no elections for President and unlikely to be any for their parliament either. What will be the reason this time is anybody’s guess. Second, there will be no change in the animosity and terrorist attacks resulting from their “Pay to Slay” policy enacted by Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has made crystal clear that if necessary, he would use every cent of funding to pay the terrorists even at the cost of not paying the government employees. That is just one of the items which too many governments, politicians and media elites ignore and refuse to report to the people instead laying all the blame for the problems in the Middle East on Israel. Further, the leaders in the world, both political and in the media, refuse to take the time to translate the speeches made by the PA leadership into English, French, German or any other language they understand. They act as if Arabic is some coded language beyond the ability to be comprehended. This is despite the many various NGO’s which translate much if not all the publications, speeches by PA officials and various news reports and videos. These include but are not limited to Palestinian Media Watch, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America and Middle East Media Research Institute. These and the other NGOs which translate much of the news reporting and political speeches from the entirety of the Middle East and stretching to Northern Africa and provide those who actually wish to know reality the actual truth of where and why the Middle East is as it is. But far too many western politicians and leaders, specifically those on the extreme right and left and a growing number of the left-wing are taking stances opposed to Israel. These are the same individuals who will be turning against the Christians and others who believe in a moral code and specifically who believe in our Creator, Hashem.

 

Many are perplexed by these leftists and their stand against religion and the belief in a Creator. The reason is simple, they desire the world returning to a less civil time with idolatry, abortion, and a two-tiered society with them at the top and the majority all but enslaved as were the serfs in Europe. They want to be rid of the narrow morality of the Bible, both Jewish and Christian, and want to replace the Bible with their ecocentrism and belief that the world would be a perfect place if only there were far fewer humans infecting the planet. Because of their desire to be free of the morality which spawned from Judaism and was the basis for Christianity, they will and have embraced everything which wishes to destroy the Judeo-Christian world. This is the basis for the left and Islam allying and why so many Islamists are being accepted as the new leaders of the left political spectrum. Their first hope is the elimination of Israel replacing it with another Islamist Arab state run by the terror masters of the PA, Hamas or Islamic Jihad. But, for now, let it be stated that they will never desire to know the truth, as the truth would not comport with their desires.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Reading the News is Risky

 

That goes particularly should you be Jewish or feel for the Jews in this world going insane. Everyday in virtually every major world news publication there will be at least one article where Jews have been attacked for being Jews. Be the attack be a Synagogue in Germany, a Jew walking in their own neighborhoods in the New York City metropolitan area, wearing the Jewish Yarmulke (Kippah), walking in London or just about anywhere on the globe. To be honest, we feel safer as Jews in Israel than anywhere else in the world. Sure, we have continued rioting along the Gaza border despite assurances by Hamas that this would end after the last agreement, the terror threats emanating from the Palestinian Arab areas in the Shomron (West Bank) resulting from the Palestinian Authority (PA) policy of “Pay to Slay” where Arab families are paid for every Israeli they are able to murder by their government, and there is always the threat of Iran using Hezballah for attacks along the northern border; but here in Israel we know the government acts proactively to prevent as much terrorist violence as possible. Throughout the rest of the world, when Jews are attacked the governing bodies go through motions for a few days, perhaps a week, and then they go back to ignoring the problem. The attacks in the New York neighborhoods have become almost daily occurrences with there being at least three or four every week. But the New York mayor and other state and city officials are pretending that these attacks never happen as they do not serve their agenda where they can blame President Trump. These attacks in New York are being perpetrated by minorities who are far more favored than are those Jews being attacked. As mentioned in our article, “Has the World Gone Crazy Again?,” Israel truly is one, if not the only, place where Jews can expect to be kept safe by their government and its institutions. What makes Israel even more special is that they provide the same protections for all her citizens, Jewish or not.

 

The question which needs to be addressed would require an honest and completely unbiased assessment intending to find the reasons behind such attacks and what can and should be done to educate away from hate and towards bringing societies together. What is unfortunate is that such an assessment is currently impossible as there are numerous politicians, political parties and other such interests who are the ones stoking the flames of hatred and often initiating these Judeophobic attacks. The media and most politicians along with analysts and other pontificators all have a dog in this fight and that growling beast needs a target for setting blame, spite and hate and, as has been the case throughout history, the Jews are their favorite targets. The current bend in the stream of American society is being centered on President Trump and the efforts to Impeach him or make very sure he fails to be reelected in the 2020 elections. In Europe, the realities are much the same with the majority of the political establishment and media being bent either to the far right or, as is largely the case, to the far left. Of course, they never present the facts realistically, thus all the various views claim that their view is the centrist view and everyone else is on the lunatic fringe. This has led to the polarization of much of Western society.

 

The other reality which we must recognize is that the majority of news reporting on television, in print and on the Internet is slanted well to the left. This has led to a view of reality which has become skewed and slanted and nowhere near to reality. This is evidenced particularly in the United States to every mass shooter initially being reported as a Trump supporter and the only far right individuals making attacks on Jews because President Trump is reportedly an anti-Semite and is secretly sending messages coordinating these racist attacks. Allow us to let you in on a little secret, well, not really much of a secret but requires mentioning; when some crazed Judeophobic moron has attacked what they perceived to be a Jew and it was initially reported that they were a white supremacist who received their marching orders from the bigot in the White House and then nothing further is in the news for the following week, you can bet that it turned out the attacker was most likely a far left person who hates the President almost as much as they do Jews. Attacks on Jews, be they from white supremacists or neo-Nazis, fits the media presentation of Trump the racist monster while attacks by leftists are covered up and excused as sacrifices required to reach their socialist and often tyrannical destinations. When the blame cannot be placed with the President, the next culprit driving these attacks is, of course, Israel. Should Israel defend herself from terrorist attacks, rocket barrages and other forms of violent disruptions including the Gaza rioting and launching of incendiary aerial attacks using kites, balloons and drones; for weeks afterwards all Judeophobic violence is simply the obvious reaction of any normal person to the Israeli acts of violence against Palestinian Arabs which were unprovoked. This requires our mentioning violence between the Arabs and Israel, by definitions of the media, is always initiated by Israel launching the first attack as any and all attacks on Israel previous to the Israeli response are never reported painting Israel as the aggressor. Another truism is that minority perpetrated attacks on Jews are seldom reported more than once, and that once is often painted as an unknown assailant who acted in a criminal assault such as attempted robbery and there was no Judeophobic purpose driving the attack. This allows for the Judeophobia committed by those favored by leftist politicians and media to be cast aside as just an instance of mindless violence having merely criminal traits and the fact that it was a Jew who was attacked and further had their ears insulted with Judeophobic taunts was irrelevant.

 

Many are asking why, all of a sudden, we are seeing Judeophobic driven attacks. The answer is probably not something most normal people care to admit, but it is the truth just the same. These Judeophobic driven attacks, formerly referred to as anti-Semitic assaults, are the result of two main factors, a general increase in politically and racially motivated attacks and the media and political assaults upon Israel which give the appearance that Jews are fair game once more. Trust us when we tell you that these Judeophobic incidents are merely an increase as these attacks upon Jews for being Jews never truly ended. The concept that after the Holocaust the world had learned that there was a monster within which needed to be eradicated and that anti-Semitism was defeated and would never again be a problem was and is being proven to be an absolute falsehood. The Judeophobia did not begin with the Nazis and did not end with their defeat. Yes, for a while it was not acceptable to give evidence of Judeophobic thoughts, and acts, was considered unacceptable in modern society. Unacceptable does not equate with defeated and permanently erased. Hating Jews never actually disappeared and was grossly unreported as often such attacks were addressed in the Jewish neighborhood by forming security patrols which cities loved as it meant that area would not require as heavy a police presence as their job was being done by neighborhood volunteers. This was of little help to those Jews residing in areas where there were no identifiable Jewish neighborhoods or they resided outside those areas. Growing up in the presumed idyllic 1950’s and 60’s, this commentator can assure you that anti-Semitism was alive and well in my predominantly Christian neighborhood. Simply remember all the accusations and taunts you have ever heard which reek of Judeophobic hatred and they were most likely hurled while attempting to catch the fastest Jew in the neighborhood. Judeophobia never disappeared, not even immediately after World War II as many Jews who attempted to return to their former neighborhoods found their former homes occupied, their former stores under new ownership and if they protested, they would, more often than we would like to admit, be killed by their former neighbors. Sometimes they would murder entire groups of returning Jews simply to avoid the embarrassment of having to tell them that all of their possessions had been divvied-up on a first come-first served basis starting right after the Nazis took them. Even today these events are largely covered up, sometimes through legal restrictions on speech.

 

How did this renewed Judeophobia arise is a question often asked but rarely answered honestly? Partially the rise is related to the apparent passive permission granted such acts as they are often explained away either as due to mental conditions to political motivations, but only if they can be tied to right-wing origins. But the largest contributing factor has been the acceptable left-wing driven Judeophobia which target the Jewish State of Israel blaming her for many of the worldly problems. On further inspection, one can find many of the identical Judeophobic accusations which were formerly used blaming Jews have been adapted to now blame the only Jewish homelands of Israel. Israel is often blamed for the wars in the Middle East, or the entire globe, despite the majority of these wars in the Middle East being Arab on Arab wars along with Sunni-Shiite wars such as the civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and beyond. Even had Israel never been born, these internal Arab and Islamic wars would have occurred and likely been ignored by the Western media as they were for centuries during the Caliphate through Ottoman rulers of the MENA* region. But there is far more to the coming tsunami of Judeophobia throughout much if not all of our world than what drove traditional anti-Semitism. The first truth which need be understood is that despite the far greater attention to historic anti-Semitism which took place in Europe and their colonial efforts, ignored the identical anti-Semitism which occurred in the Islamic world. Western historians would read histories told by Islamic and Arab sources which hardly if ever even mentioned their treatment of Dhimmis: Jews, Zoroastrians Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, Animists and other non-Islamic religions or even Muslims following a different sect of Islam than those in power; and simply took their idealistic renditions of reality as fact instead of the fiction it actually was based upon. Almost no Western historian of the Arab and Islamic worlds ever actually lived as part of the general population in order to find the reality instead taking the lazy-man’s approach of simply taking hearsay as their facts for their history of these societies. But this is currently being partially true and especially true when it comes to Israel.

 

This brings us to the inbred instinct of much of the world to exhibit, believe or think in a manner which is tainted by Judeophobia. As an example, we will use the BDS** movement. This was not and is not a movement which had its origins in leftist human rights policies. The origins of BDS was the Arab and Islamic refusal to trade, recognize or even communicate with Israel, as they call her, the Zionist Entity. Efforts are traceable back to Yasser Arafat and the Khartoum Resolution of September 1, 1967. The efforts to take what was largely a regional trade and official isolation of the Jewish State into an international movement resulted from huge investments in anti-Israel propaganda propelled by Arab oil monies under organizational control of the Muslim Brotherhood, numerous Arab governments and Islamic organizations worldwide. The largest effort was amongst college and university campuses where Israel was cast as an Apartheid nation oppressing the poor Palestinian Arabs. One was required to ignore the facts which include that the Palestinian Arabs are ruled by either Hamas (Gaza), the PA (Shomron) or other Arab governing entities in refugee camps and not by Israel; the graft, embezzlement and mismanagement by their own leadership and governments; and completely ignoring that Israel is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, free democratic government where equal rights is one of the central ideals of the country. But the comparison of Israel to Apartheid South Africa became a mainstay of the anti-Israel propaganda. One of the main beliefs the BDS movement is centered upon is that no supporter should ever visit Israel unless they are guided by a fellow believer showing them exactly what they expect. The BDS movement demands that they be permitted to be the sole input as to what exactly Israeli society acts and how they treat their citizens. They imply heavily that Israel rules all the Arab Palestinians even if they are in a refugee camp in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and beyond even with some within Gaza under Hamas rule or the Arab regions of the Shomron under PA leadership. The truth is that the Palestinian Arabs are not Israeli citizens and are not ruled by Israel and the sole Israeli provided act is their defense should they come under attack from the outside as the lands they reside upon are legally part of Israel and thus hers to defend.

 

The propaganda casting Israel as the greatest evil known in all of history is based on hatred and is completely fictional. Simply visit Israel for a few weeks on your own, spend the first two taking in all the history which has swept these lands for over four thousand years, and spend the last week realizing that you are in a nation which has total freedom and near total equality where all have the same opportunities for work, education, residence, healthcare and everyday life. There is the little truth that there are numerous checkpoints, similar to those throughout the world in airports. This complaint is about a real truth as the Arab Palestinians to the most religious Jews all are required to pass through checkpoints in order to enter movie theaters, malls, some restaurants, government buildings and anywhere else that crowds of people are likely to be found. We read all about how the Palestinian Arabs need to pass through checkpoints to enter Israel and laugh as they are literally entering a different country under its own separate governance and thus are required to have the proper identification in order to be permitted entrance. Israeli Arabs who are those who remained in their homes ignoring the Mufti’s call for all Arabs to leave Israel before the 1948 Arab initiated war to annihilate Israel and her Jews was launched on May 15, 1948. These Arab Israelis are the above mentioned and their progeny and all have Israeli citizenship and are completely equal. Then there is the restriction for Israelis, specifically Jews and other non-Muslims, which they see and need to comply with should they attempt to enter the Arab Palestinian ruled regions which is pictured below. The sign is written in Hebrew, Arabic and English assuring all are likely able to read the sign which states, “This road leads to Area A under the Palestinian Authority. The entrance for Israeli citizens is forbidden, dangerous to your lives and against the Israeli Law.” The reality for Jews who have entered Area A as defined by the Oslo Accords is very different than the reality for Arabs leaving Area A and entering Israel.

 

Sign Warning Israelis it is Illegal to Enter Arab Region for Safety Reasons

 

If you were to visit Israel and for a moment forgot that you had left anywhere else, you could easily believe that you were in any other of the world’s metropolitan or rural areas depending on where you are standing. The Galilee has farms for as far as one can see, there are rural parks and wildlife reserves and it is framed by hills and the heights. On the other hand, if you are in one of the cities such as Tel Aviv, you would believe you were in Los Angeles or London depending on the weather. The media will never admit to such, but we invite all to make such decision for themselves. If only we could arrange trips, unsupervised trips so the truth can be found, and bring all who have open minds to see reality and thus, just maybe, be inspired to refute the virtually uncountable lies told by the propogandists such as those of the BDS movement. Is Israel perfect? No, but where is any place which could be said to be perfect as should it exist, we might wish to move there. Honestly, it would take more than we can imagine to have us leave Israel. With the news reporting attacks on Jews, mostly in the developed world, almost daily currently, there are serious doubts as to the safety of anywhere other than here in Israel. The fact that Synagogues require armed security whenever they have services (especially during the recent High Holidays when larger than usual attendance is expected) and Jewish daycares and schools also requiring armed security as well as Jewish agencies, we will remain here where security is provided for all the citizens and no violent act is tolerated no matter the ethnicity, race, religion or other form of designation of the victim or the perpetrator. Yes, Israel has many of the same difficulties faced by any democratic governance and society leaving room for improvement, but Israel largely is one of the best places to live and especially to raise a family. Israel has been experiencing a building boom over the past few years partially in anticipation of increasing influx of Jews from Europe and the Americas and also due to the positive population growth numbers. The increasing violence due to Judeophobia is very likely to increase and within the next decade this will become an accepted part of many countries as their Jews flee. The Jews fleeing Europe (mostly western Europe) divide into two main camps, those making Aliyah coming home to Israel and those leaving for North America (mostly Canada and the United States). Those heading for anywhere other than Israel, our advice is not to unpack any more than absolutely necessary as you may be moving again sooner rather than later. Many of us in Israel are aware that the time is coming when all Jews will live in Israel only leaving briefly when business or other needs require. Yes, Israel as a nation will continue to be amongst the first to arrive and the last to leave wherever disasters occur. The returning of the Jews to their ancestral lands, revivifying a long dead language (Hebrew) and building a modern marvel for those who are willing to know truth over propaganda. In all honesty, there are moments where it is easiest to simply look around, listen to the people conversing and be amazed at what this little country that could has grown and become. Israel is a just over seventy-years-old, is about the size of New Jersey and despite all the supposed horrors, is ranked as the thirteenth happiest country. We were surprised with this ranking as we believed it to be rating Israel far too low but then we realized by looking at the top six nations that this was a heavily weighted Eurocentric report.

 

World Happiness Chart 2016-2018

Source and Entire Chart

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

* MENA = Middle East and North Africa

 

** BDS = Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (against only Israel and Israeli owned companies)

 

Israeli Position Becoming More Precarious

 

One would be inclined to believe that the Israeli position in her Middle Eastern neighborhood could become even more at risk, but it just might real soon. First, allow us to make a risk assessment of her current troubles. To her north, in Lebanon, Israel faces the largest terrorist army in the world in Hezballah. Hassan Nasrallah leads a sizeable military which has been provided for quite adequately by Iran who has armed them with over one-hundred-fifty-thousand missiles and rockets. A fair proportion of these rockets and missiles are capable of reaching anywhere within Israel and beyond even with the capability of striking into Saudi Arabia or even Cairo in Egypt. Iran attempted to provide new targeting capabilities turning rockets into guided missiles but were not as successful as Iran had hoped. Israeli timely air strikes destroyed many of these guidance packages before they reached their destination. Still, many hundreds, if not thousands, of the most dangerous and destructive rockets were transformed into guided missiles capable of striking targets with an accuracy of under ten feet. These are the projectiles carrying the largest warheads and capable of greater distance making all of the central Tel Aviv greater metropolitan region well within the range of these more accurate weapons. The Dimona complex and reactor are also targeted as very likely is Jerusalem, Beersheva, Eilat or anywhere else within Israel they wish to target. These weapons are just the start of Hezballah and their threat posed and would be the initiating strike, should they be instructed to attack Israel.

 

Hezballah Rocket & Missile Threat

 

Should Hezballah be instructed to distract international attention from any undue attention to Iranian activities, Israel will be attacked from Lebanon and even possibly Syria awaiting the Israeli response. One such was the recent call by European nations who were signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, to review very probable infractions by Iran by continuing their nuclear program. Germany, France and Britain warned Iran of their intention to withdraw from the agreement should Iran continue to transgress into areas which the JCPOA forbids. As their actions have yet to pose a real threat to Iran, all is quiet. Should this or any other difficulty begin to make the world close in on Iran, you can expect they will try to get out of the limelight by starting a war with Israel using Hezballah as their weapons of choice. Israel would need to react almost instantly should such a conflict break out as Hezballah is capable of firing thousands of rockets and missiles into Israel every day until they are stopped. This could be taken care of by the Israeli Air Force within thirty-six hours. This still means that all of Israel would be vulnerable to these attacks for a day and a half, something which really would try the Israeli people’s nerves. In our region the attacks would largely be the smaller rockets in greater numbers but unguided, something which is less than encouraging as the numbers would translate into some major damage to the most northern Israeli cities. The real threat comes from the largest payloads and longer ranged articles in the Hezballah arsenal as many of these have been modified with the most advanced targeting packages. These could be used to target vital infrastructure as well as the heart of Tel Aviv and the numerous skyscrapers within that area. Were one of these struck and caused to collapse in the initial strikes, this would result in many thousands of deaths.

 

These very same missiles could also target Jerusalem and the Dimona complex. The Dimona research reactor being struck would spread radioactive contamination over a large region of the Negev potentially reaching the populated regions around Beersheva. In Jerusalem there is always the danger of numerous holy sites being struck, whether intentionally or through random chance with unguided rockets. Hezballah could also strike at Israeli airfields, both military and civilian, which could delay getting all strike aircraft into the air before being required to repair runways. Hezballah would also most certainly strike at communications and command and control centers in their effort to decapitate the military by isolating each unit from command and leaving aircraft without any ground control making takeoffs and landings more treacherous. Finally, Hezballah has set up tank traps and extensive tunnels and bunkers throughout the region south of the Litany River. Hezballah groups are able to move throughout this region without being required to break above the surface as their tunnel system is that extensive. These tunnels and fortified positions are often placed under residential areas with launch and ambush positions often placed within private homes. When fighting, Hezballah forces the residents to remain in their homes while they use them to launch rockets, missiles and mortars into Israel and when ambushing Israel Defense Force troops should Israel be required to enter Lebanon to end the attacks. There is a second alternative where Israel simply unleashes the hounds of war and completely blankets southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in an effort to destroying the Hezballah war machine. Should Hezballah insist that the Lebanese military come to their aid against Israel and any, or many, of their units join in attacking or fighting Israeli forces, then it can be expected that the targeting within Lebanon would be broadened to address the new threats. The Lebanese military had modern equipment provided by the United States, including Abrams Main Battle Tanks, and Russia, including attack helicopters. Such a conflict could easily spread across with attacks coming from within Syria as the IRGC would take such an opportunity to also attack Israel.

 

The IRGC is best described as the Iranian alternative military with close, if not greater, arrays of weapons compared to their formal military. The IRGC is the only military force to be recognized as a terrorist entity and is utilized by Iran to spread terrorist efforts to anywhere on the globe as well as fighting the foreign wars for Iran but providing a small amount of deniability of their actions by the Iranian government. IRGC forces can have uniforms but more often fight dressed as civilians, well-armed civilians. This permits simply taking the weapons of any killed fighter and then inviting the media to come witness the barbarity of Israel by murdering innocent “civilians,” the same “civilians” who were an ambush team which was overrun a short time previous before their identity change from active fighters to deceased civilians. This same tactic is utilized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. This time we hope that Israel minimizes the need for IDF ground troops entering into Lebanon where they would face ambush, potentially at every turn, and numerous casualties would start mounting. It would be preferable for Israel to use almost solely air power and ground-to-ground missiles to decimate all that belongs to Hezballah. A nice finishing touch might be to use a deep penetrator warhead to strike and destroy Hassan Nasrallah and the bunker in which he hides. IRGC units have also been the target of Israeli strikes at their provisions, particularly their missiles and heavy weapons, and also striking any position used to launch attacks on Israel including drone control facilities. Both IRGC and Hezballah forces are engaged in the Syrian civil war and in the coup still fighting in Yemen, the two silent wars as they do not include Israel, thus they are not newsworthy as Israel has been careful in choosing and unbelievably accurate in their strikes on these two terror armies attempting to limit their most dangerous capabilities. Thus far, the IRGC has been restricted to using only their ground troops. This could change at any point with their air force being brought into the fight placing them as far as eastern Iraq presumably to protect them from any Israeli attacks. Such an eventuality if used against Israel would broaden any such war to include Iraq and Iran as viable potential targets.

 

That was just the threats originating in Lebanon and Syria. To the south, Israel faces another dual threat under Iranian control and influence. These are Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the latter simply another Iranian controlled terrorist group and Hamas simply heavily influenced by Iranian desires. Here too the main threats are rockets. Hamas has a rocket they call the Jerusalem rocket simply because the M-75 Ballistic Missile can reach that distance (pictured below). As Israel enforces a blockade of Gaza for the inspection of goods to assure that no weaponry or other implements of war reaching Gaza and Hamas and Islamic Jihad, this has obviously prevented the retrofitting of their rockets with guidance systems making them guided missiles as such systems would be found and prevented from reaching the terrorists. This could potentially have dire results as Jerusalem is about the far edge of the capability of their M-75 rocket, their M-75 unguided rocket. This presents the ultimate irony, the M-75 when fired at Jerusalem is simply pointed in that direction and launched for maximum distance simply to assure reaching Jerusalem, could result in destroying the Dome of the Rock, the al-Aqsa Mosque or both. Needless to point out that Israel would be initially blamed and the media would run with that story for a week or so before printing a retraction and correction somewhere around page C-33 and nowhere near the front page as were the headlines which blamed Israel. Unfortunately, it takes time to gather the intelligence and place the blame on the true culprits. This is another capability which the Iron Dome can and does provide, the computed trajectory of rockets, missiles, mortars and artillery. Once the real data will have been gathered, the article covering the reality where Israel is not the guilty party but rather the Islamic forces which fired the rocket which destroyed precious Islamic sites in Jerusalem will be right next to their retraction and correction. Hamas and Islamic Jihad cooperate to such an extent that they can be treated as a single entity with Hamas the primary force as they are the Gazan government. Should Gaza initiate attacks on Israel in any large number, the IDF will respond in kind and going no further. The retaliatory strikes by Israel often target empty buildings around two or three o’clock in the predawn hours of the morning. Once more, there is no violence or any attacks which are newsworthy until Israel retaliates, a retaliation which the media will transform into the initiating attack only mentioning the earlier terror attacks on Israel in the next to the last paragraph. It should be noted that Hezballah has promised to join any war between Israel and Gaza and Islamic Jihad has responded with their intention to join any war where Hezballah in Lebanon are fighting Israel. They worded their statements implying that Israel was the aggressor despite knowing that such is not the case.

 

Monument for the M-75 Ballistic Missile Named the Jerusalem Rocket

 

Fortunately, the main problem for Israel being caused by the Palestinian Authority (PA) is their paying terrorists or their surviving family with cash payments for life which are greatly more significant than even the PA government, and security personnel are paid a lesser salary than these terrorists. This offer of cash for murdering Israelis, they call it murdering Zionists or Jews, has become a career choice as should you murder one Israeli and then be arrested, you will serve your sentence in a country club atmosphere with more benefits than many Israelis receive from the government. These attacks are largely stabbings and vehicular rammings of pedestrian traffic. The PA, under both Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, has rejected every peace proposal by which any land is placed under Jewish rule allowing Israel to survive as is. Their entire effort is performed with the intent of completely destroying Israel. Their main effort is on the international political front where they seek recognition of the PA as a national government and accepting the PA definition of their borders. The PA views their borders as being the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, or more simply, all of Israel. The main reason that there is any semblance of quiet on this front is due to the presence of IDF throughout much of the region and good intelligence work by the Shin Bet and others and because to their east, Jordan has a cold peace with Israel which they prefer not to endanger for reasons which will become clear. The turmoil emanating from the PA will start upon the death of Abbas as he has not been able to groom an acceptable replacement as Arafat had prepared him. But even this is but a minor threat as the PA does not have sufficient strength to wield in any such fight. The rest of the southern border is with Egypt and except for illegal entrants and occasional criminal violence, this border is quiet and problems actually are addressed by Egypt rarely requiring any assistance from Israel.

 

 

The eastern border along the Jordan River and its natural barrier called the Jordan River Valley has been the best-behaved border. Yes, occasional terrorists are out of Jordan and were given their target by the PA and not anyone in Jordan. Jordan is the remaining Hashemite kingdom which was set up by the British after World War I with the other having been Iraq where the monarch was removed in a coup. The Jordanian King, Abdullah II, has sufficient control currently using his military and Bedouin Tribes to rule over the approaching eighty-percent of the population being Arab Palestinians. Jordan is the Arab Palestinians country which was made by cutting 78% of the lands east of the Jordan River to the border with Iraq from the intended Jewish State in order to gift it to one of the Hashemite sons of King Faisal (the remaining 22% was left to form Israel). Under King Abdullah II, there has been peace, or at least tranquility, since the treaty was signed in 1994. But there are some serious rumblings out of Jordan as their economy is suffering poor management as the country attempts to care for many millions of Syrian refugees who fled the country escaping the civil war. The economic drain is being felt throughout the kingdom and this has made many of the residents less than enamored at this situation. Many complain and blame their problems on economic mismanagement and an over-reliance on international aid which has led to the current situation. Rioting in the major cities is almost constant, but the King has bigger problems at the moment. Jordanian Bedouin tribes constitute the backbone of the regime and this is starting to faulter. Bani Hassan tribe has taken an adversarial role with the king releasing an official statement listing their concerns demanding they be addressed immediately. The Bani Abbad and Bani Hamida tribes are supportive of these efforts making matters even more serious.

 

So, what would be the result if King Abdullah II abdicated his throne leaving Jordan without any head for the government? Jordan does have a parliament which would continue to operate after the King leaves, but the question then is for how long. Not all of the problems are the fault of the King as he has given much of his power to the legislature, but he retained the final veto power should he desire its use. The problem would begin with an election where either the Muslim Brotherhood or Iran using largely IRGC units would take control turning the country into another terror base from which to launch attacks on Israelis. One can bet that the Iranians will gain a large influence even if they are not the rulers, Iran will gain influence amongst the populace and deal with Israel sending terrorists into Israel along her eastern border. Such an eventuality would not bode well for Israel. Israel already has factories within Jordan providing good jobs. These enterprise zones run by Israeli companies are a good start but cannot become the main provider of jobs in Jordan. Should the Kingdom collapse, these Israeli firms would probably exit bolting back to Israel. The terror situation would, at some point, bring about a crisis which would threaten the peace potentially ending the blissful relationship previously shared. There is another threat which might come to pass which would worsen the tensions in the Middle East, far beyond just Israel. Iran would woo the Jordanians, particularly their leadership. They would offer arms and rocket and missile systems. The buildup in Jordan would easily outpace that which happened with Hezballah in Lebanon. Iran would really love to have Jordan in their pocket as they border nearly the length of the northern border of Saudi Arabia as well as the eastern border of Israel. Iran recently claimed they have attained the ability to wipe Israel from the map. This is almost a tacit statement announcing their having developed a deliverable thermo-nuclear warhead with which they could wipe out much of the Israelis residing in the greater Tel Aviv region. There is also vital infrastructure which supports most of Israel. Iran would have Israel all but surrounded should they gain control in Jordan. There would be further dangers such as an actual threat of declared war breaking out either with Israel or Saudi Arabia. The initial difficulty for Israel should the Jordanian monarch be dethroned will be increased terrorism with the terrorist using everything in the armory including nuclear weapons should they have the need.

 

Beyond the Cusp