Avigdor Lieberman, the Deal Breaker

 

Introduction of Issues
As leader of the Yisrael Beitenu Party, Avigdor Lieberman has decided to use the leadership position to mount attacks upon the Haredi and religious Israelis. His complaint revolves around a set of complaints including that public transport be allowed to operate on the Sabbath; the recruitment law which requires every citizen, including all Haredi, serve in the IDF; and for all Yeshivot students and other Torah and religious oriented education students be required to attend regular general state education system which allows for their Torah and religious specific education on their own time. One can only but imagine what his next demand might be at some future critical points such as, well, cutting all public subsidizing of religious oriented schools which are not licensed as having certified general education systems and then Synagogues and on and on. Perhaps he would call for expanding on the court order demanding co-ed seating at a religious concert where the vast majority preferred separate seating and most others might feel some disappointment but worthwhile to hear the concert in Synagogues, the Western Wall and everywhere else where this practice of separation is currently enforced.

 

Avigdor Lieberman

 

 

Dear Avigdor Lieberman

 

Avigdor Lieberman, you have been moving inexorably leftward to such an extent that these claims of being conservative is starting to ring hollow. We understand that you support the IDF and this is commendable. But your rubbing elbows with the Blue White Party, a group which has stated their support for the Two State Solution paradigm with surrendering lands to provide the Palestinian Arabs their own state up to the, as Gantz stated very early in the campaign, Separation Barrier. You entered into vote sharing with the Blue White Party which completes cementing your leftward drift reaching a point well past center. Your claims, just as those of the four generals and Yair Lapid, that you support the right-wing and the Israelis living in the Shomron appear as valid as the claims of the average apparatchik spreading disinformation. Your demands of Netanyahu for your support in the April elections was not made with any degree of honesty. You knew that those demands would force the Haredi Parties out of the coalition leaving Bibi with about the same situation we are facing once more, the only government available would be a unity government with Blue White which would break-up the Likud Party with many of the religious and honest conservatives fleeing to the other right wing parties which stand stronger on these issues. Your antics will eventually lead to Jewish Home, National Union–Tkuma and New Right gaining in strength where they will be able to control the discussions and sooner or later take over some future, sooner rather than later, coalition. These are your positions and the items upon which you have decided to take your stand. One of your main complaints is that the secular population and non-Jews not be forced to lead a religious life by the state. Allow us to discuss this point even if it is but the smallest part of your crusade.

 

Your demands go far beyond freeing those who would rather not be put out by religious laws and be free to desecrate the Sabbath with the blessings of the law and the State. Instead, you would instead force by the law to reside in a secular state which would force their allowing vehicle traffic on their streets on Shabbat and that Torah education be pushed into the region of an elective such as after school clubs except with a heavy study load. You have left no room, by your own admission, and refused to allow for any compromise or middle ground. Maybe there can be some middle ground such as allowing each city, township, community and neighborhood be permitted to decide such laws concerning Shabbat and whether they preferred to observe the Sabbath. Also, perhaps a certain amount of secular education could be considered to be met by any Yeshivot and other Torah or religious oriented education, in order to receiver accreditation or certification which could make them more attractive to those who desire a balanced education. The schools which fail to meet the standards would not be shuttered and those which choose to remain with their current education system be permitted to do so. People could decide for themselves which educational opportunity they wish for their children. All that is needed is for more free choice and as broad a selection be allowed to be presented to the public. There has to be some happy medium by which both communities, religious and secular, be allowed to choose for themselves. As far as the draft issue, a real sticking-point for the past few governments, could be set allowing for a percentage of the Yeshivot and other Torah or religious oriented education systems be permitted deferments. The enlistment from the Haredi and religious communities has been rising over the past decade and is predicted to continue as their communities have been slowly moving towards what you would call normalization. Your stance that it is unfair that the secular public is forced to obey religious laws and your solution is for the religious community to live under secular laws, which often makes their lives impossible as they would prefer to live them. You are simply demanding that everything be done under your preference and who cares about those who have different views and desires.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

My America Where Have You Gone

 

America, with two synagogues the targets of anti-Semitic shootings within six-months, it is difficult to recognize you. Yes, we have witnessed anti-Semitism more often than most, but we expected this when more often than not being the only Jew residing for miles around. Sure, we have heard all the anti-Semitic banter which goes on in certain neighborhoods where they perceive it is safe because all the Jews live over in that fancy and expensive neighborhood and none live here where some make minimum wage. They were, of course, wrong as they were eventually informed. Whenever moving into one of these neighborhoods, the idea was to get a lay of the land, figure out who was who and identify the true anti-Semite from the one who basically was unknowingly going along to get along and probably never knowingly met anyone who was Jewish. Yes, there are numerous neighborhoods across America which meet these criteria. Those whose laughing and hardly ever repeating the anti-Semitic jokes and stories were the ones who became very curious and asked a gazillion questions when they realized there was a Jew amongst the neighborhood. Then there were those others who, at worst, were arming themselves with eggs and toilet paper and the house took the better parts of a day to clean up. Amazingly, many others would pitch in and help clean up the mayhem from the night before. These events almost always came at the same time as crucial holidays such as Easter, Christmas and, of course, Halloween. But they did not enter synagogues with weapons and murder people. The worst of the Jew haters largely resorted to name-calling, look which could kill and other passive aggressive acts. That was then, this is the new world where anti-Semitism comes with violent assaults upon Jewish places of worship and now the newspaper which claims to “print all the news that is fit to print,” has published in its international edition an anti-Semitic cartoon worthy of Joseph Goebbels (see below).

 

New York Times anti-Semitism on Full Display for the World

 

The America I knew would be up in arms and enraged at these open displays of hatred and disharmony, discordance, acrimony, mind-bending hate and open-ended accusations by all sides against any who dare disagree with their particular politics. That is the current state of social media which is anything but social. We retain some who serve up dishes of bile just to keep ourselves grounded and to assist us in attempting to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Then again, we remember when exclusive meant that if you had to ask the price of an entrée offered on the menu, not to worry, you could not afford it and likely could not even afford just desert. That is no longer the definition of that word, today it means that should you deviate one iota from a narrowly defined ritual which fell within specific beliefs, then you were not only not welcome but also to be the target of scorn, contempt, derision and even the most ego destroying fate possible, being unfriended. But in some parts the hate is hot and so overt that lives are the cost of falling outside of acceptable, and it goes beyond anti-Semitism; sometimes it was purely political, sometimes it was purely hate and other times it was a bit of both such as the shooting at Republican Congressional baseball practice on June 14, 2017, in Alexandria, Virginia. Another item which is frightening is that these perpetrators of such violence have no regrets beyond the fact they were unable to murder more of their intended target group. What is worse is that in some places, politicians will defend these actions blaming the victims inevitably claiming that they brought this upon themselves. If only they would have acted more proper, defined as holding the political and social desires and positions that the speaker holds and any deviation is considered ample provocation for violence.

 

Then there are the great cover-ups by much of the Western European media. One of our favorite editorialists, Giulio Meotti has written three very engaging articles of late, “Killed a Jew? In France that makes you unfit for trial,” “Write it correctly: Islamic massacre of Christians” and France, the aspiring Judenrein Islamic Republic showcasing some of the problems in Europe. When we speak with politically active friends from the United States, they tell a tale of woe, sorrow and regrets over the state of civility, or should we say the lack thereof, and how the disruptive level of hatred is coming from so many directions that it makes it almost impossible to meet the expectations of most people. They tell of how at work, as conservatives, they keep a low profile never discussing anything about politics and never ever expressing any comments about morality and their regrets on the current state of civility and society. They try to explain how the way we acted speaking proudly of our beliefs and positions would prevent being promoted, could get us fired and would definitely have us treated as pariahs. Things in one of our old stomping grounds have changed and we cannot say for the better unfortunately. Our dear friend from even out in the western regions of the United States, not California, Oregon or Washington, but we are talking Colorado and to a far lesser degree Wyoming. They tell the story of those others who are moving from California and other leftist strongholds to their former haven and immediately forming committees and boards making demands for changes and literally begin to transform their new home to resemble exactly their former home which they left as it had become unbearable. Sometimes we wonder if people even know how to think anymore. These people are doing exactly the same thing which failed before expecting a different result. There is a name for that and Albert Einstein defined that for us, he called it insanity.

 

We would like to say that we have no idea where the signs we are seeing will lead but that would be a small white lie. The reason for small is because we do not know exactly, white because we wanted to have at least one trigger word, and lie because we do have a general idea where things are headed. If you learned a fair amount of history either in regimented study or on your own, then you can likely see the writing on the wall. For those who are unable to see the writing, it stated the following; War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength and concluded with 2+2=5. There is just a whiff of the stench of Big Brother when the government collects every electronic signal in the world and stores it all on the set of buildings pictured below somewhere in Nevada. Of course, nobody is listening to your every word, but say the wrong word and a computer raises a little flag and then a real person has to decide if you are a threat or the word bomb got into your text because you said, “Wasn’t last night just the bomb?” There is an entire list of such words and other conditions programmed into this data center of all data centers. But you would have to work at it to get on their lists, or would you. Gain ballot access as a third-party candidate and be flagged as not a kook and you become a “person of interest” which gets you monitored. But that was then and this is now.

 

National Security Agency NSA Utah Data Center

 

Civility has lost all meaning and has been replaced with a strict set of guidelines which leaves one walking a virtual tightrope so as not to disturb the easily disturbed. There are trigger words, and just in case you are becoming more sly about your word transgressions, there are a larger set of things which come under the definition of microaggressions. College courses come with trigger word warnings which probably will come into use in the course. These warnings are there so that college students, our future leaders, can avoid the unbelievable stress of hearing a word such as “shooting,” “rape” or any of a variety of phrases, many of which would be expected in any course say on the history of warfare. Colleges have safe spaces where students can flee after being triggered by a microaggression and find counseling, coloring books, puppies, kittens and soothing music. Basic training in the military now have stress cards which basic training troops can flag their Drill Sargent all but forcing them to be granted some time out as they collect their strength, thinking, body, mind, attitude or whatever they feel is needful of some alone time. Is nothing sacred anymore? When in basic training, we were referred to as maggots amongst some other far more colorful names. No time out cards, just a boot in your, you figure it out. Just avoiding any of those horrible trigger words or causing a microaggression. What is rather amazing is how the political tables have changed when referencing both Republican and Democrat positions and how civility has found a new home after being squandered where its former place had been. Civility and acceptance with those on the political left where the main theme was everybody is much the same and all should and could be friends. Differences were more accepted by the liberals of those days. Now those on the left demand that everyone sticks to a rigid definition of what is acceptable and what is beyond the pale. Some of the most glaringly obvious examples has been shown by those of the LGBTQ community and the Women’s Movement. In both cases, any reference which is perceived as supporting Israel is forbidden. This was made an exclusionary criterion of the Chicago Dyke March where a Jewish LGBTQ groups were denied the right to join the march as their flag displayed a Star of David which was far too Jewish and implied a pro-Israel probable position (see image below). Teresa Shook, one of the original co-founders of the Women’s Movement, has declared her ire at the anti-Semitic leanings of the new leadership and demanded on Facebook that they step down as they have been completely ineffective in preventing hate from seeping into the movement. These are just a small sampling and the one item all too many of these episodic exclusions have in common is their anti-Semitic nature. This has even spread of late into the House of Representatives where recently elected trio of Representatives Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib have made news with their anti-Israel and potentially anti-Semitic tirades. Israel is rapidly becoming a partisan issue with the far-left desiring breaking all ties between the United States and the Jewish State.

 

Multi-Colored Flags with a Star of David

 

It used to be that virtually all anti-Semitism came from the fringe of the far-right, sometimes referred to as the Paleo-conservatives, where it was rare and merely a very minor group. With the more recent anti-Semitism forming at the opposite end of the political spectrum, anti-Semitism has seeped into the politics of both ends of the political spectrum. The far right appears to have grown as some have found cover from the left anti-Semitism which has brought many out of the woodwork. This may have had some play in these recent Synagogue shootings. What is more troubling has been the excusing of anti-Semitism, especially in Europe where it is often covered up. Add in the influx of Islamic immigrants bringing their Jew hatred with them from the Middle East and North Africa, and you have a growing group which will not stay at the margins of either Europe or America. Their anti-Semitism, often in the form of anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism, has already begun to infect the societal bodies of the Western World. Thinking about where this will lead and some of the inevitabilities makes one’s brain hurt and does not leave one comforted about the future. Imagine a world where the only places where anti-Semitism is not prevalent are regions of Asia and Africa with the Americas and Europe mired with anti-Semitism. This will be a world where Jews almost exclusively reside in Israel and have no place left in the Western World. This is the future which is beginning to become the obvious outcome if the Western World does not awaken to where they are being taken. The thing to remember is the quote of the wise words from Martin Niemöller who awakened to the inevitable result of where the Third Reich was heading and wrote this statement about the horror he saw coming, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” Is this the end coming for what has been the most free and advanced society the planet has known? The possibility is sickeningly possible as one need remember that Germany was considered the great Weimar Republic with unmatched freedoms, many of the greatest minds on the planet such as Hertha Sponer, Albert Einstein, Hugo Grotrian, Ingrid Franck, Wilhelm Westphal, James Franck, Otto von Bayer, Lise Meitner, Werner Heisenberg, Peter Pringsheim, Fritz Haber, Wernher von Braun, Gustav Hertz, and Otto Hahn to name just a few. Germany was at the forefront of physics, mathematics, chemistry and virtually every field of cultured society before the rise of the Nazis. Is this the path the world is going to trudge down once again? If that is so, then we need to pray for a divine intervention.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

How to Recognize Arab-Israeli Acceptable Peace Plan

 

There exist certain exacting criteria which have become the watchwords demanded of any peace plan if its presenters expect general support. Without these particulars incorporated into your plan, then you are doomed to fail finding yourself left out in the cold space of rejection. The Arabs will laugh in your face, then when you pivot, you will receive a full and proper scolding, all as openers for putting their stamp of approval upon your plan, but not until they are permitted to amend your plan bringing it in line with their experts. Who, you might ask, are the experts and how did they become such experts? Well, that is not as difficult an answer as you may think. An expert is anyone who has published works which insist on a solution where the lands gained (liberated from illegal Jordanian rule) in the Six Day War are returned to their rightful owners, the Palestinians. As an expert, you are completely convinced and aware that the invented convention that the Palestinians have this country called Palestine and the Jews made an amphibious assault taking the beaches in May of 1948 and from that established beachfront, the Jews expanded threatening to conquer the entirety of the Arab World. Fortunately, the Arab armies managed to stop the Jews at what is called the Green Line, thus at least this should be the border. Jerusalem must also be split in half as that was the way it was supposed to be. As long as your scholarly opinion is in agreement with the Arab and European talking points, then praises will be heaped upon you, you will receive invitations to address scholarly conventions with others who believe as do you. Your plan is safe as long as it meets with “the requirements” which everyone who is anyone should be familiar with the points. Vary from the well-worn path which all previous failed plans traveled before yours, then you must be a racist, a radical, you are an instigator who is not serious about reaching a solution. These are the rules for all proposed plans for settling the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Oh, and one last word to the wise, we who decide all do not use the dated terminology of Arab-Israeli Conflict, the newly discovered term which we insist has always been how the problem has been framed, it is now called the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Get with the program if you ever expect to address the Human Rights Council or even the big time and address the General Assembly.

 

This is the atmosphere into which President Trump will be placing his “Deal of the Century” aiming to settle the problem upon which, according to those experts we referenced earlier, any solution must meet with their approval. Further, according to these experts, there must be another nation for the Arabs, oh, sorry, we stand corrected, the Palestinians must receive their rightful state no matter how much the Jews whine about their needs for a secure and defensible set of borders. We experts realize that is just code wording for establishing a “Greater Israel” over half of the Middle East. All of we experts are aware of the deep hidden desire the Jews have to rule over the world and control all the governments. That is why it will be so important that those who have been gifted with recognizable enlightened knowledge be permitted to dictate a proper solution to this conflict respecting the dignity and historical perspectives. We have the credentials given us by our governments who rely upon us to set the height of the bar and the parameters any plan must meet if anything is expected to result from its presentation. We are aware that this set of parameters has been tried repeatedly with the same results, no peace and further increases of terrorism. But trust us, this time it will work if only Israel would allow additional lands to be turned over to the needed Arab entity.

 

Let us look at the Israeli demands which are largely directly attributable to her security and ability to defend her people. The main pieces to any settlement have changed since the Oslo Accords, both I and II, are dead and buried. Mahmoud Abbas has declared this repeatedly, and for a change he is correct. Israel insists on retaining the Golan Heights and the Jordan River Valley (it more resembles a steep sided gorge) and the western cliffs overlooking the river. These are the strategically necessary positions in order to both stop a land assault from the east as well as serving to prevent any Arab entity from importing heavy weaponry. The reasons for the strategic land positions become very evident on the map below which shows the Golan Heights and the Jordan River Valley in topographic relief. Another reason for retaining the overlooking cliffs is for eastward facing radar for early warning of any approaching aircraft. There was a period immediately after the Oslo Accords when Israel offered over ninety percent of the former West Bank (the Shomron or Judea and Samaria) and proffered land swaps in exchange for the main settlement blocks and was also offering the return of eastern Jerusalem. These offers were put forward by both of the left-wing governments, one headed by Ehud Barak and the other by Ehud Olmert. These offers were co-authored by President Clinton assisting Ehud Barak and by George W. Bush with Ehud Olmert. President Clinton had even twisted Barak’s arm until he agreed to every demand by Yasser Arafat. Arafat then refused his own terms and returned via Jordan and finished implementing his plans for the Second Intifada. Even the most minimal demands, actually more like requests, by Israel are unacceptable to the Arab side.

 

Topographic Map of Golan Heights and Jordan River Valley

 

So, what exactly is the Arab side of the argument. What exactly will they accept in order to make peace? Unfortunately, their demands are spoken of only in Arabic, but thanks to MEMRI, Palestinian Media Watch, Honest Reporting, CAMERA, Stand With Us as well as blogs such as ourselves and Chaim Report, Elder of Ziyon and many other worthy efforts, these speeches have been translated and, except for the United States State Department, anyone can go to these locations and find what Abbas and the rest of the terrorist entities both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria have been saying to their own people. The first realization one reaches is that what they say in Arabic contradicts almost everything said in English. Odd as this concept may seem, but this form of lying to the infidel in order to advance the conquests, interests, positions or simply to obscure the truth of Islam is a religious obligation known as Taqiyya. There is a saying that the way to know when an Arab leader is using Taqiyya is very simple, if it is in English, it is Taqiyya and if it is in Arabic, then the odds drop to around fifty percent depending largely if the speaker will gain from what they are communicating. But when they are using English and placing it for Western consumption, when stating such things as Islam is the religion of peace, terrorism is against Islamic principles and other such statements, it is most definitely Taqiyya so you would be closer to reality by negating everything presented which one finds pleasing to hear. These are stories told to lull the West, the enemy, into a false sense of calm and security all the while undermining everything they are able, and infiltrating the rest. There are exceptions such as when emotions get the better of them and the truth tumbles out. The most obvious recent example has been Mahmoud Abbas consistently stating that President Trump and his Deal of the Century are going to be refused because President Trump has proven by moving the American Embassy to the Capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, that he is biased and serves only Israel. This was simply telling the truth that any peace deal, it does not matter whose it is, as they refused President Obama’s overtures, is dead on arrival if anywhere within the peace plan the Jews are permitted self-rule. There is one point which the Arab Palestinians insist upon in any peace agreement, that they rule all the lands from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and that the Jews are removed completely from these Islamic Waqf or they will remove them in their fashion. Abbas has repeatedly stated, nay, insisted that every millimeter of lands under Palestinian Arab rule must be free of Jews. He has stated that he does not care where they go, just that they go. So, if Abbas and his Hamas, Islamic Jihad and whatever other terror groups currently are nested in Gaza or Judea and Samaria are ever granted their state of Palestine from the river to the sea (Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea), there will be no room for the Jews and Israel will have been destroyed. These are the demands of the Arabs, that the Jews be returned to their proper place of a people without a country chased from one nation to the next cursed by Allah. Anything short of a complete victory and the utter decimation of Israel leaving the Jews at the tender mercies of the world is unacceptable to the Arabs and they will simply walk away from any negotiations which grant them less and claim Israel is not serious about making peace.

 

The one item which is in Israel’s favor is that according to international law derived from the San Remo Conference, the League of Nations unanimous decision for the establishing of the Jewish State and the Mandate System set up for that expressed purpose, all of which is further backed by the United Nations Charter Article 80 which placed the full enforcement of the United Nations towards realizing the results spelled out in the Mandate System, mean that unless Israel signs a treaty forgoing her ownership of any of the lands west of the Jordan River, the lands are legally all belonging to Israel. Currently, Gaza is a semi-autonomous region ruled by Hamas and parts of Judea and Samaria are a semi-autonomous region ruled by the Palestinian Authority. Neither of these governing entities has held elections for over a decade and Mahmoud Abbas is in his fourteenth year of a four-year term. Whenever it appears that there will be an agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, some technicality or misunderstanding always prevents their union and the holding of elections. Every time elections have been scheduled by the Palestinian Authority, some problem or emergency has caused Abbas to cancel the elections. These are the real reasons that the Palestinian Arabs have not voted for a long time and it has nothing to do with Israel. At least Hamas has declared themselves to be a dictatorial ruling power, Abbas claims to be a democracy where elections just never materialize. Mahmoud Abbas knows he would lose any election and that Hamas would be the victor and unless he escapes in time, he would be tried and hanged. But the media refuses to report the reality as they have taken a position critical of the Jewish State and forgiving of all sins towards the Arab entities. The Europeans have worked with great diligence in their attempts to rid the world of the Jewish State starting even before Israel had declared her independence.

 

This is where the Arab refusal to accept Israel ruled by the Jews in any size or configuration has saved Israel almost despite herself. When the United Nations on November 29, 1947, in the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 which would have divided the lands west of the Jordan into equal sized states, one Arab and one Jewish; the Jews accepted this terrible idea and were saved because the Arabs refused to permit any Jewish state and had already planned to invade Israel immediately after she declared her independence. This was the war which began on May 15, 1948, and is misnamed the Israeli War of Independence, but we like to give it its real name as described by Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League at that time who stated, “It will be a war of annihilation. It will be a momentous massacre in history that will be talked about like the massacres of the Mongols or the Crusades.” That is what the Arabs expected, a war of annihilation where every Jew and probably others even including some of the Muslims who did not hate the Jews with sufficient fervor. Six Arab armies invaded Israel as described on the map below and somehow, without an actual organized military, Israel survived. Israel lost Gaza to Egypt and parts of Judea and Samaria to Jordan. When the PLO was founded in 1964, three years before the Six Day War, their claim was to destroy the Jewish State and turn the lands where Israel had existed over to Jordan and Egypt. They expressly laid no claim to Gaza or the parts of Judea and Samaria under Jordanian control as they were in Islamic hands and did not require cleansing. After the Six Day War, their claims immediately changed to specify the regions lost by Egypt and Jordan claiming in English that this was all they desired.

 

Initial Invasion Routes by Arab Armies on May 15, 1948

 

Still, they have turned down numerous offers which would have given them almost exactly what they claimed to demand and they refused every time. There have been times that a near majority if not a definitive majority of Israelis feared the offer being made to the Palestinian Arabs as they foresaw what would follow. Each time their fears were allayed as Yasser Arafat and then Mahmoud Abbas after him refused every offer. The world knows their only acceptable peace is one where the Jews are destroyed, preferably the world over, but it is easier to blame Israel than officially recognize the truth and work from there. When will the Arab Israeli conflict end? There are two answers. One is after Israel delivers such a blow to the Arab world that they fear for their existence. The other is upon the coming of the Messiah. Until then, every president will try and fail because until a President offers to destroy Israel for the Arab Palestinians so they can have a larger failed state, there will be no solution.

 

Beyond the Cusp