Listen to the Left and Ignore Reality

 

The recent horrific terror attack driving a massive truck into the crowds shopping for the holiday at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market murdered at least twelve people and at least fifty people were injured. There have been accusations that the German authorities were too lax and did not respond to terror warnings that just such an attack was potentially imminent. The critics claim that all that was necessary to protect the shoppers at the Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market was a dozen or so Jersey barriers, heavy concrete barriers with curved sloping sides designed to stop even the largest of trucks including the kind used in the attack. In defense of German authorities, one also need consider exactly how many outdoor Christmas malls such as the Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market exist in all of Germany and then figure the number of Jersey barriers would have been required. That would bring the total of Jersey barriers from around a mere dozen to a number somewhere in the tens of thousands. Were there lapses in Germany? What would be a better question would be are there lapses throughout Western nations from Germany to Britain to Italy and Poland, from Greece to Spain to Finland and Sweden, even across the pond to the United States and Canada? The answer is, of course, yes. Even in Israel where such attacks have occurred for a longer period the placement of large posts anchored into the pavement at bus stops, light train stations and other places where people might congregate is still an ongoing, though urgent, series of installations. This is understandable as first these places must be identified, as bus and light rail stops are simply the initial places requiring these instillations while taxi spots and even busy crosswalks in places in downtown Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as well as other cities take further research to identify and will hopefully eventually be discovered and protected. Of course the rule in terror attacks is whatever preventions are taken will simply change the threat making complete terror-proofing quite impossible; all one can do is alter the targeting.

 

Truck Driven into Christmas Shoppers at
Berlins Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market

 

But just to prove that even the most rudimentary of efforts of prevention will be met with scoffing and ridicule, came care of Britain where there was a credible deterrent which some left wingers were rather critical. One of them wrote: “Safety is the last message this presence is sending out. It’s sad, and an extreme over reaction to a very slim chance of a terrorist attack. More likely to be hit by a drunk driver.” Such noble words of appreciation over even a modicum of effort to protect the public make one shake their heads in amused ridicule and disbelief. Can these people ever be pleased? Imagine the screams and protestations should there have been an attack even with the efforts which drew complaints over the effort. The leftists would be demanding heads of government officials responsible for the lack of sufficient efforts to prevent such an attack. It is understandable that not all terror can be prevented though it can be mitigated to minimal effect which while minimizing the deadly results of mass attacks such as in Germany, as has occurred in Israel, stabbing attacks still have the potential to inflict fatalities and injuries no matter anything short of a complete security provided by an actual police state. Every state need to decide what level of damage would be tolerated by the general public and then assure that their security levels are sufficient to surpass the level of expectation and assure that the people will feel secure. Failing to plan sufficiently will result in your facing the same level of disaster that is being faced by Chancellor Merkel and her government. But leftist trouble with reality is on even greater display when it comes to Israel.

 

France’s leftist government is once again planning to hold a conference to address a new solution to the Arab Israeli conflict. Their plan is to have representatives from approximately seventy countries gathering on January 15, 2017 for a conference to throw the weight of the international community behind the two-state solution. Thursday’s announcement included the news that neither Israel nor the Palestinians will be present at the meeting. But France intends to invite Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Paris some time afterward to brief them on the outcome of the talks, according to the foreign ministry. Meanwhile, the new French Envoy to Israel said two weeks ago that the conference would not contain any novel ideas on how to solve the Middle East conflict, but is mainly intended to prevent the issue from disappearing amid other global crises. “What we propose is nothing new but [we are] trying to keep the subject on the agenda and not letting it down because there are other crises in the world,” Ambassador Hélène Le Gal said. “We continue to propose things and it’s always in a very good spirit toward Israel.” Keep the Arab Israeli or Israel Palestinian conflict in the new? Have they ever read any newspaper, the New York Times, Washington Post, Haaretz, Paris Guardian, Berlin Morgenpost or Pravda recently? I guarantee that not more than two or three days go by without at least two-thirds, that would be four of the six, would have at least one front page reference to the West Bank, Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Kotel, Settlement, Gaza, Palestinian or Israeli acts against Arabs almost all of which will be negative against Israel. You will likely see more front page news on the Arab Israeli conflict than on the violence in Iraq and even with if not more than Aleppo on an average week in the news, especially if you include television and radio news where time is more limited than is space on the front page of a newspaper. But the brilliant minds in Paris are afraid that the Arab Israeli conflict, particularly the plight of the poor and oppressed Palestinians, might be slipping from the public consciousness. Perhaps the reality is something different, but that can wait for now.

 

The next item is the latest concern of the Security Council which was scheduled to vote on a resolution condemning Israeli building in Judea, Samaria (West Bank) and (East) Jerusalem and considering including in the resolution banning any further Israeli construction beyond the Green Line. The presentation of the resolution was postponed after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to have spoken with President-elect Donald Trump who probably was the person who influenced Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who responded positively to discussions and pressures which desired that the proposal, at the very least, wait until after the Paris conference. Netanyahu likely is also hoping that any proposal will not be considered until after January 20, 2017 at 12:00 noon such that President elect Donald Trump will officially be sworn in as President and Nikki Haley will be representing the United States in the Security Council and a new sheriff will be in charge, this apparently was not the case. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon has stated, “The delay of the vote is an important step; however we realize that this issue is not yet resolved. We are continuing our diplomatic efforts on all fronts to ensure that this disgraceful resolution will not pass the Security Council.” All efforts came to naught except likely those from the White House from President Barack Hussein Obama who, sticking to his anti-Zionist and anti-Israel positions and vindictiveness toward Prime Minister Netanyahu and all Jews who are not 100% supporting the destruction of Eretz Yisroel and standing by President Barack Hussein Obama’s side, pressed to have this resolution voted upon immediately such that he and he alone would be recorded by history to have finally ended any Israeli compromises and granting the Arab Palestinian terror masters a blank check towards their desired goal of the destruction of Israel and the genocidal elimination of over six-million Jews residing in Israel, who had a strong arm in pushing New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela (a nation which has no toilet paper, food, prescription drugs or any other vital items) brought the motion back to the floor after Shabbat had started in Israel. The motion passed unanimously with fourteen nations supporting and the United States, in their idea under Obama of a grand gesture, abstaining as if that makes them almost righteous. More on this in a subsequent article early next week as certain particulars become clear.

 

The French are not the only people on the left who believe that the Israeli Palestinian conflict has not been addressed or given the necessary effort in order to solve it. President Obama was almost constantly complaining that this situation was not getting the amount of attention it deserves. Hillary Clinton had mentioned her intent to give this conflict the attention required to solve the problem. The French are also all-in on the situation and the new Canadian Prime Minister has supported the French efforts claiming that such an international conference is necessary because the world has not put forth the effort and solved the problem. This is despite the near constant addressing and passing of General Assembly Resolutions every year like clockwork at the opening ceremonies, the November 29th annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Durban Conferences and any other opportunity the Arab League or individual Arab leaders decide they need to renew their investment in their own standing at the cost of the Zionist entity, Israel, and present their own resolution condemning Israeli something or another as the what is irrelevant as the target of Israel is all that matters. Yet we have the French with atta-boys coming from every leftist leader on the planet backslapping them for their bravery in calling this conference and their claims that this effort will finally be the effort which brings forth a solution if only Israel can be pressed to make the needed sacrifice for peace.

 

In closing, let us discuss the concept of “bring forth a solution if only Israel can be pressed to make the needed sacrifice for peace.” Israel was required by the world through United Nations resolutions, and the wording was made specific after much debate and every word was carefully checked and rechecked, and Israel was required to “return lands” and not return all lands or any set percentage or even a majority of the lands, just return lands and this return was to be governed by providing Israel with safe and secure defendable borders. These were the requirements and not in any way shape or form demanding a return to the pre Six Day War borders of the Green Line. Repetition of the lie that Israel must retreat completely has been given validity solely through sheer repetition but has no backing in truth. Once the Israelis returned the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula when making peace with Egypt they had more than met all the demands of the United Nations resolutions. They had more than exceeded most expectations as there were many who felt that Israel would demand to retain the western half of the Sinai Peninsula making the central spine of mountains the new Israel-Egyptian border. Whether returning all of the Sinai Peninsula was a wise move will remain undetermined but will appear as a good deal as long as there is no attack from Egypt in the future. Add the granting of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, who almost immediately lost it to Hamas causing the constant terror threat of rockets, mortars and other attacks from Gaza onto and into Israel, simply added more to the lands returned by Israel. Israel would be completely within their rights to retain all of the remaining lands gained in their defensive wars of 1967 and 1973 which were the six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Despite this truth the French and much of the world believe that Israel has not given enough and would probably accept that Israel had not given enough even if they did return within the Green Line. The Arabs believe that as long as Israel exists, then Israel has not given enough. If the French would like to have a hint as to what would be acceptable to the Arab League and the Arab world, here it is in a simple concept, the end of Israel and the disposing of the Jews residing there by whatever means necessary with their annihilation being the preferred method by much of the Arab world. That will never happen and Israel will be retaining much of Judea and Samaria and if the Palestinians cannot handle that then Israel will gladly just retain all the land, period. That will make the leftists squirm as they really have a problem with assertive Jews; even the leftist Jews have a problem with assertive Jews. We know as we have witnessed such discomfort simply by walking into a Synagogue in much of the United States, and that is a shame, the real shame.

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

One Unsafe Concept and One Ineligible to Lead

 

We have two great threats from within which we have yet to discuss. These are on top of the elite group of ex-military and security leaders who are dead set on surrendering our natural and ancient homelands of Judea and Samaria without even getting a thank you from the Arabs simply in the hope that they will be viewed with great honor and be permitted to travel Europe safely. They are flawed in their proffered solution to a problem that needs not their faux-expertise and equally wrong that the Europeans will forgive their military service and now love them. To Europe they are still war criminals and they would still be tried should they disembark and walk on sacred European soil; may it give forth as they give unto Israel, bitter yields. But there are other dangers; so shall we end this tribute to last week’s disasters and move to this week’s and the other long standing.

 

The long standing is the easier and more simple but still a threat in the wings. It has long been understood by the majority of Israelis outside Tel Aviv that the Labor party, despite its allure, poses a threat Israel dare not take. The threat is their concept of what is an acceptable risk for peace. Their current leader and poseur of greatness of which we can only allow his image to exist in his mind as should he ever make good on his dreams we would all get to live his nightmare. We refer to Yitzhak “Bougie” Herzog, the current leader of the Labor Party who has shown his willingness to go to any extreme in the hope to realize his dream of being Prime Minister and making the peace that has eluded all before him. His real ambition is to live up to his pedigree with his family tree including almost innumerable greats including but not limited to President Chaim Herzog and Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi; Yaacov Herzog served in the Haganah and was a political adviser to David Ben-Gurion; and as an in-law, Abba Eban. Bougie is going to need more than his cute moniker to measure up to the towering greats who preceded him. The question as to what he might do if he should ever be Prime Minister has now been answered.

 

It had become public knowledge that before the past election that in anticipation of his being Prime Minister, Labor Party and ‘Zionist Union’ co-head, Yitzhak Herzog took it upon himself to negotiate, if that is the right word, a letter of intent, we might say surrender, with Mahmoud Abbas in which they presumably reached an accord on the principles for peace. In this agreement Israel was to surrender 96% of Judea and Samaria and surrender an area equal to the last 4% from within the Green Line, though which land was left undetermined, surrender half of Jerusalem yet somehow Israel would retain the Western Wall and plaza known as the Kotel while surrendering the Temple Mount as an international zone and remainder of the old city, while Jerusalem would remain under a single governance. How Jews were to make their way across Palestinian controlled lands to visit the Kotel was also not made evident, perhaps helicopter tours where they rappelled in or some such method, we do not know. Further there would be some undetermined number of ‘Arab refugees’ permitted to return into Israel to be reacquainted with their presumed lost family heritage and properties. This too was left in the air. The one thing probably not left in the air but simply refused was any recognition of Israel as the home of the Jewish People. That was still probably beyond what Mahmoud Abbas could grant even in this form of a make believe dream of Yitzhak’s grand dream. As we all can now rejoice, Yitzhak Herzog and the ‘Zionist Union’ did not get to form a ruling coalition and we were literally saved from these evil designs. The one other great saving grace Israel received from these revelations is we now know beyond any shadow of doubt that the Labor Party, its figment of imagination and misnomer of ‘Zionist Union’ (which is neither Zionist nor Union as Tzipi Livni’s party is now a party of one, or maybe two) can never be permitted to be even included in a unity coalition even if such would appear to be to the advantage of the state as their designs on fame and fortune would endanger the nations as even with the slightest sliver of power they would sell out Israel for the ability to claim there was now peace.

 

As in the words made famous over two centuries ago when Patrick Henry made his impassioned plea to the Virginia House of Burgess imploring them to join and sign the Declaration of Independence he entreated them, “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace.” The same now applies in Israel and we too need to make and apply as our answer our own Declaration of Independence. This declaration must include the liberation of our lands, all of our lands; especially the lands of Judea and Samaria from which the idolaters who worship death must be driven out as were the Canaanites who too worshiped death in their sacrifices to Ba’al. This is our sacred duty and we can do it now while things are not so desperate or we can make a situation which will demand of us to take the lands as rockets rain down upon Tel Aviv and the heartland of our Israel because we foolishly gave the Judean Hills overlooking the midsection of our nation allowing the enemy to press their boot upon our necks and attempt to choke the life out of our country. There is no manner of safeguard which can be applied which would save the thin neck that surrounds Tel Aviv once we allow the Arabs free will upon the highlands overlooking this densely populated area. There was a reason all our brothers and sisters who led us in our biblical fights for survival always dragged the battles into the hills of Judea and Samaria as we held those highlands and forcing them to attack from below gave us the advantage we needed. Our enemies relied on cavalry and chariots both of which lose their advantage when fighting uphill in rough terrain. Now we will give those same hills to an enemy making us the ones who now have the chariots known as tanks having to climb the hills from below allowing making them easy targets for anti-tank missiles. The very missiles which Iran will flood the Arab areas with as soon as the IDF leaves and they have their terror state. Iran will arm them with rockets, mortars with which to initiate the war at their time of choosing and also provide the anti-tank armaments and all the tools of war including mines to prevent easy approach and to set traps for men and machine alike. That is the reality if we ever give the Arabs their desired lands and we will pay the price for such foolishness. There is but one solution and the world may hate us for taking our land but at least our children will be safe and the world cannot hate us twice as much as hate is hate. They all know that all the land is our land legally which is why there has never been a case brought in the international courts. The only place where the land is not ours is in the court of foreign opinions and they do not reside here and will never face the barrage of rockets they salivate waiting to force us into the compromise which would seal our doom, but we can simply resume our proper rule over our lands and the Arabs residing there can either accept reality or leave, and if necessary, as they attack we can arrest them and declare them as foreign agents expelling them once and for all. Those who wish to remain peaceful can even be allowed citizenship after they prove their knowledge of our historical right to the lands and willingly sign a pledge of allegiance to the State of Israel and homeland of the Jewish People and should they ever break that pledge we can once again invite them to leave and never return. We will not need to force anybody from their homes, only those who are known aggressors who have already proven they refuse to recognize our legitimacy would be forced to leave. The rest would choose themselves and if they prefer being compensated for their lands and property, then so be it, it would be money well spent. Yes, we would pay them in dollars as the shekel is not worth much in Syria or the rest of the lands where they would be at home.

 

Our other threat which appears to be gaining some official recognition and even acceptance is the idea of a manmade port attached to Gaza by a causeway where ships can come and load and unload and the wares coming into Gaza be checked and cleared before being sent by truck into Gaza and where these same trucks can bring their exports for loading for transport to their destinations. How this is different other than location from the current system of using the port at Ashdod escapes our sense of reason (picture of port below). The crazed idea is to spend over a billion shekels, likely closer to five-billion shekels, to build an Island and port facilities some distance, presumably safe distance, out into the Mediterranean Sea from Gaza and connect it to Hamas held Gaza, the Hamas held part is very important, by a multi-lane two way causeway where trucks would transport goods both into and out of Gaza allowing for presumably easier, more efficient and more independent transference of goods in both directions. Since there would also presumably be an agreement that all incoming and outgoing cargo would still be checked and approved by Israeli security inspectors, it completely escapes us as to how this is any different than the current system where trucks take whatever cargo need go in either direction to Ashdod where the port there, a very capable and already functioning port, and inspections are carried out by Israeli security inspectors. But we do see one vital difference; so please follow with us below.

 

Port of Ashdod

 

This port island which would be built within Israeli territorial waters, meaning under three or at most generous five miles, would still be well within artillery range and even within guided rocket fired anti-tank missiles like the Kornet missile which was fired at a school bus from Gaza in Israel injuring the driver and murdering the lone young student still on the bus. The bus had just discharged the remaining students with the one exception remaining onboard so he could visit his grandmother further in Israel and was taking the bus there (picture of remains of the bus below). Expecting that the inspectors, in consideration of their safety, would be located on the manmade island where the trucks would be loaded and unloaded and this would be most convenient to do along the piers as the goods are unloaded and prepared for loading. There would be stationed IDF troops, probably a platoon or maybe two when suspicions were high, guarding the entry to the port island giving each truck a quick inspection before allowing it access to the port itself. Needless to point out that securing this new facility would in and of itself be an expensive endeavor as there would also likely be some naval support made readily available in case of an incident as any troops could be attacked by a joint operation of engagement by rocket fire from Gaza while a number of trucks crash any barricades and deploy terrorist troops in an attack to oust the Israeli inspectors and IDF troops taking over the facility with deadly results.

 

School Bus which was struck by a Russian made Kornet
anti-tank missile murdering one teen remaining
in the bus to reach his grandmother visit

 

After such an attack is the probability that it would be timed in order to unload contraband known to be on a ship the Iranians sent under a false flag. The unloading and making way back into Gaza with any such shipment of contraband would be completed before Israeli forces could retake the port, another expensive in cost and lost soldiers and inspectors lives as Hamas would not be taking too many prisoners of the IDF troops, just the inspectors would serve their purposes. The entire idea of such a port is a nightmare for security services and design. The port for security would need a cement wall between it and Gaza in order to prevent direct fire from striking the port facilities, personnel or ships docking there. Troops would need to be stationed in blockhouses to keep them safe from snipers and allow them to watch the coast of Gaza for any threats and have sufficient firepower to neutralize any threat. The system used on the land side of Gaza with cameras and remote fired weaponry, often fifty-cal. machine guns, have proven effective and safer for personnel but also an added expense. These blockhouses would also prove to be prime targets for Hamas and Islamic Jihad or others and repair and replacement would also prove prohibitively expensive. The possibility that tanks and heavy artillery or other heavy weapons and larger rocket motors or guidance systems could be smuggled in either well hidden within cargo or through raids, such as described above, provides another threat which would need be considered and weighed when considering such folly. No matter how one describes this venture and despite any designs or other precautions, the truth is this port would end up in the hands of Hamas and there is no humanly way of securing this facility from eventual, and likely fairly quickly, falling into Hamas’s hands and remaining under their control as it simply was realized that it was too risky and otherwise adverse to continue to retake and defend the indefensible.

 

The expense to build the facility, providing it did not get constantly attacked and workers killed by snipers making even building it next to impossible; after erecting it and attempting to defend it, we would eventually face an even more expensive reality, destroying it and re-sinking the island. The destruction would generate great amounts of additional ire and the European Union and who knows who else would call for turning the port over to Hamas as having Israeli control of the new Gaza port facility would be an aberration unacceptable to Israel’s uncountable enemies. The United Nations General Assembly would from day one be hearing announcements from Mahmoud Abbas, Turkey, Iran, Europeans and who knows how many others calling for the port to be released to Hamas and then the sea embargo would be resumed and denounced anew with greater fervor. Israel would be placed in a lose-lose situation after great expense which even if there were international backers who promised to assist in the cost, no funds would ever see their way into Israeli hands; so we would pay for the entire fiasco.

 

The end result would be Hamas having a well built and very modern and functioning port facility at which Iranian cargo ships could freely unload one after another filled in their bellies with rockets, missiles, potentially aircraft and who knows what else. We could expect Iranian warships to be docked there and patrolling what would now be Gazan and Hamas international waterways. Once Gaza has the port, there would be no way of preventing Iran from assisting in rebuilding the international airport which could be opened for air resupply from Iran and who knows where else. There would soon be squadrons of fighter jets and trained Hamas and Islamic Jihad pilots to fly them and Gaza would be sitting at the United Nations recognized now as its own nation and there would be nothing Israel could do to prevent these scenarios from playing out within a year or two of having built and provided Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest a port which would very likely provide an entry point to the Islamic State to enter and prepare attacks upon Israel. What would enter Gaza from the sea and soon thereafter from the air would facilitate their claim to be a nation and the Europeans would apologize after they supported such with their votes in the United Nations and their eagerness to allow Gaza to open embassies in their capitals so they could be amongst the first to recognize this glorious terror state. Europe has seldom if ever missed an opportunity to place Israel at further risk if they thought it would divert a single terrorist from attacking them. For the Europeans they see Israel as their shield meant solely to absorb the punishment of any Islamic anger just to keep them believing they are safer. Their folly knows no bounds and this port would only serve as yet another idea which can only end poorly. How about we skip this one, OK?

 

Beyond the Cusp