Gaza

Make no mistake, Israel has been maintaining a lawful naval blockade on Gaza. Not only that, but stopping suspect vessels in international waters is common practice. I wrote that Israel would stop that convoy and indeed they did just that.

MV Rachel Corrie (before re-naming)

What happened then will be rattling back and forth on the news cycles for months. Among the 600 plus pro-Palestinian passengers was a group of hard core terrorists, whose only purpose was to confront the Israeli commandos charged with boarding and inspecting the ships. They immediately attacked the IDF with chains, knives, metal pipes and at least one gun. The IDF opened fire with sidearms after taking several casualties, killing nine terrorists and injuring another 34 people in the melee. The ship was diverted to an Israeli port where the ‘humanitarian’ goods were trucked to Gaza. The activists were deported from Israel after interrogation.

In a further ratcheting of tensions, the Turks have threatened to send warships to protect the Rachel Corrie, an Irish vessel carrying another contingent of ‘peaceful activists’, located somewhere between Libya and Cyprus and headed towards Israel. Israel has flatly stated that no ships will pass that blockade. If Turkey is reckless enough to play this soviet-style brinkmanship with the Israelis, they may be putting a flame to a torch that may not be so easily put out. They will also find out what many others have…that Israel will use any means necessary to protect its country and its people.

With the report that Iran has enough weapons grade material to manufacture two nuclear weapons the pressure is on Israel to, in essence, become the savior of the world, because the country that should be taking action against a nuclear Iran, namely us, has an insipid, timid leader who behaves in a subservient manner in a part of the world where only the strong rule.

Barack Obama makes everything so much more dangerous than it needs to be. Israel must act. Obama doesn’t have the courage. Besides, he’s on the other side….

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

…and not an Obama in sight. Vacationing in fact. To my way of thinking as a veteran, as an American and as a patriot, perhaps it’s best he didn’t show. He would have somehow sullied our memories of the countless selfless souls who have gone before. I think that somewhere the spirits of these warriors would protest at someone who thought so little of the freedoms they willingly gave the ultimate measure of devotion to maintain.

Obama seems unable to think or behave in any sort of a strategic manner. He seems truly oblivious when it comes to anything beyond the narrow focus of his ideology. There is a North Korean General threatening “all out war.” The South Korean military is at its highest state of readiness, as are the tens of thousands of our troops there.

The Israeli Navy has met and stopped a convoy of six ships carrying some 700 pro-Palestinian activists and ‘aid’ for the blockaded Gaza strip. The IDF has repeatedly said that the ships will not be permitted to land at Gaza. With a steadily deteriorating peace the last thing Israel needs is 700 crazed activists running loose in Gaza. Their true intentions were indicated by the savage attack on the IDF boarding party.

An 'aid worker' aboard the flotilla.

In an indication of just how serious the situation in the region has become, Israel has stationed three nuclear submarines off of the coast of Iran. Barack Obama hasn’t a clue of how to deal with either North Korea or Iran. Either one has the potential to blow up in our faces.

Obama cheapens everything he touches, so perhaps it’s just as well that he wasn’t present at the memorials for our fallen.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

The MSM, reporting from Gaza City is once again showing its bias against Israel. By reporting an Israeli reaction to an act of violence at the beginning of an article, the intent is to cast the IDF and Israel in the worst possible light. The roadside bomb which killed an Israeli soldier and wounded three others, mentioned initially in the second paragraph without explanation and then in the third paragraph where you finally see for the first time that the air strike, the lead idea in the report, was in response to an attack on an Israeli patrol.

The writer of the article then attempts to place a few doubts in the reader's mind as to the true nature of the exchange. First, the reader is told that Israel threatened responses to violations of the cease fire. This is written specifically to label one party "Israel" and not label the other party so that the accountability falls on Israel. Since withdrawing its troops, Israel has threatened to retaliate hard for any violations of the truce. Notice the way that a fact {Israel withdrew her military and will try to enforce the cease fire} is mangled into a statement breeding mistrust - a play on the sneaky Jew mythology. It seems to say, "those Israelis are just looking for an excuse to attack".

The reader then moves on to ...Gazans struggle to resume normal.... The reader is supposed to think, if only the Israelis would leave alone the peace loving arabians in Gaza, they would be able to re-build their homes and cities that were shattered by Israeli bombardment. No mention is made of Israeli cities trying to recover from bombings and shellings. Renewed warfare would return a wave of rockets into Israel.

After an attempt to rehabilitate Hamas as a reputable organization that would never think of confiscating money sent by donors to relieve the non-combatant population {never mind this was going on during the conflict} a minuscule attempt to remind the reader that Hamas is a terrorist organization with a wanted leader (Ismail Haniyeh) is easily overlooked given the drama of the article itself.

The writer's bias is on display as an attempt to sub-consciously remind the reader of the slant that Israel used "dis-proportionate" force is found in the next part of the report

After Tuesday's bomb blast, heavy gunfire was heard along the border in central Gaza and Israeli helicopters hovered in the air firing machine gun bursts, Palestinian witnesses said. An Israeli jet set off a loud sonic boom over Gaza City not long afterward, possibly as a warning.

For one measly little road side bomb, an IED after all, the IDF responds with overwhelming force and executes collective punishment. Oh, those evil Jews.

Its one thing to write the normally biased report and to write badly. Its another to report half facts and to ignore facts.

In the days immediately following the cease-fire there was shelling by Israeli gunboats and some gunfire along the border — including the killing of two men Palestinian officials identified as farmers — but there were no serious clashes until Tuesday.

Somehow forgotten was Hamas rocket attacks against Israel http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480445,00.html after the cease fire. See also http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2009/01/video-hamas-rocket-launcher-between-two.html  Israel Matzav report and video.

Moving right along the reporter makes no effort to tell the reader that he is about to quote a major arabian death cultist. We are just supposed to assume he is another member of the respected and beloved religion of peace:

Although there was no claim of responsibility, Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader, said Israel was to blame for continuing to fire into Gaza. Al-Masri said his group had not agreed to a full cease-fire but only to a "lull" in fighting."The Zionists are responsible for any aggression," he said.

Masri believes the cease-fire is a hudna. Hamas just needs some time to catch its breath, reload, rearm and rest a little while the international world gleefully rests on it laurels of once again interfering with the Israeli right of self-defense.

Masri is merely labeled "a Hamas leader" in the McPaper article. In http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019182.php  a December 2007 article he is quoted as reported by JihadWatch as speaking to a Hamas rally,  

In another speech to the rally, senior Hamas official Mushir al-Masri warned Israel to expect many casualties if troops invade the coastal territory in an attempt to stop almost daily rocket firing by militants into Israel.

"Jews, go back, because we have already dug graves for you," Masri said. Israel carries out regular raids on Gaza and has killed dozens of militants in the past month.

Finally, we have the summary paragraph: 

Israel wants an end to Hamas rocket attacks and guarantees that Hamas will be prevented from smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt reopen Gaza's border crossings, which have been largely closed since Hamas took power. The crossings are Gaza's economic lifeline.

See the problem? Hamas, the terrorist organization with stated goals to kill Jews and destroy Israel has had it's border crossings legitimately shut off by Israel(not necessarily so successfully). <i>The crossings are Gaza's economic lifeline</i>. Since when has Hamas attempted to build any economic system? The first thing that happened when Israel withdrew from Gaza was the destruction of the business infrastructure that existed. Yet, this "factoid" in the article remains unquestioned. Worse, this false statement is meant to be the fulcrum's center point against Israel's demand that cities inside Israel should be free of random rocket and mortar fire. The writer is attempting to equate denial of weapons to terrorists with the use of those same weapons against civilian populations. In the mind of the antiJew, the Jews are just as guilty as their harassers - moral equivalency must reign. Both sides must come to terms.

original article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-01-27-israel-gaza-tuesday_N.htm

Via Roger Simon's Dinner in Gaza, I have a suggested pair of policy options for Israel.

Occupy better -- or leave.

M.A.D. ain't gonna work with Mad Mullahs. Probably. Who knows? I say it's an 80% of working, meaning that if Iran gets a nuke, within 5 years they, or 'someone (un-identified)', uses it on Tel Aviv. It's only a 20% (my guess -- why don't others try to quantify their own guesses?) risk! If I were King of Israel: yes, SECRETLY warn France that Paris WILL be a target if a nuke lands; and London, and Berlin, and ... even Rome???Certainly Moscow? or St. Petersburg (sub launched from Baltic?).  And of course Tehran & Cairo & Damascus & Riyad h. [But would the leaders believe the moral Jews would really do it?  I'm not sure I believe they would.][King /off]Evacuation is better.Really.  The Jews have FAILED at creating a democracy at peace with their Palestinian neighbors.  They FAILED at post '67 Occupation.If I were King (cont.)Re-occupy Gaza, about 100 000 Palestinians near the border at a time.  Use the streets and put up the big concrete barriers to reduce Palestinian movement.  Declare Martial Law in the new Israel Occupation Zone.  Draft all able-bodied Israeli Arabs into a new, Arab-Jew (not Muslim-Jew) reconcilliation force.Temporarily Evacuate that part of Gaza (~100 000 Palestinians), separating able bodied men from the rest. Israel should create a digital Palestinian passport, with foto and fingerprints, for all Palestinian 'guest refugees'.Create work camps and construction groups who build temporary structures, and do humane, productivity oriented re-education towards jobs.Daily bus tours, required, of the sex-segregated Palestinians thru Israel, explaining how Israel is successful thru loving peace, and Palestine is a failure thru accepting leaders the prefer death.Israel does NOT have time for the Palestinians to evolve their own civilized, peace-loving, neighbor accepting nation state.  Israel NEEDS to learn how to spread democracy at the point of a bayonet.There is no time to wait for a Gaza Awakening.  But there is still time to intensely do house to house searching, and find most of the bad Hamas guys among the first 100 000, and punish them.  Certainly if guns are illegal, and the houses are searched, and weapons found, those folks with fingerprints (matched against the Palestinian Passport) on the guns can be called terrorists.  Begin executing the 'terrorist spies', in accordance with the Geneva Convention.  Those Hamas folk who weren't wearing uniforms are spies.Maybe allow Hamas folk to emigrate / gain asylum, if some foreign country accepts them and they surrender any right to return, upon pain of death.Help groups of Palestinians start little companies, restaurants, merchant markets, computer repair work -- and provide real money for them to earn, with real interesting stuff to buy.  Focus primarily on the carrot, not stick, at changing behaviors -- do the desired stuff and get cash, don't do it, or object to doing it, and get no cash.In other words, Do Occupation & Re-Education Correctly.Special handling for UN folk -- challenge their support efforts thru following cash.  The cash they can't prove, thru documents, that went to aid, will be assumed to be used in support of terrorists attempting to murder Jews.  ???  Nahhhh.  If Israel doesn't so something different to change the minds of the Palestinians, then evacuation will be the last option better than MAD. (The USA should accept all Jews from Israel if Iran is within 3 month of getting a nuke.)

Out of the Box idea.Since 1967, Israel has been grossly incompetent at "Occupation".  Compare theirs with the US / Bush occupation and democratization of Iraq. Israelis, whose side I mostly support, have nevertheless been racistly uncaring about helping the Palestinians enjoy Human Rights and other Civilization benefits. Now, Israel should slice off about 10% of Gaza, near the border, and re-occupy it. Put up cement car stops and fence in a new border, and send the Palestinians into re-education work and food camps, where they are taught how to be productive capitalist workers from the carrot - no carrot approach. Do work and get paid; or don't and don't. But no free food. Enforce free speech and free religion and thorough house searches of every house in the 10% re-occupied. Promise to return that part to a Palestinian state that agrees to borders with Israel in a Peace Agreement. Claim that a Peace Agreement, not a ceasefire, is the goal. Israel should be drafting Israeli Arabs for a big part of occupation force. They should also be setting up soccer and other sports for the boys, especially, along with English language schools for both boys and girls....

Is this TheNextRight a good place for Out Of the Box speculative ideas?  Or should I use another blog?

Over the past few weeks, i have been trying to get a handle on the current conflict between Israel and Gaza.  In researching the current military escalation as well as the area's historical context, i have come across many questions.  Specifically, why do a larger number of folks on the left blame Israel compared to the right?  Also, why does most of the world not support Israel or even recognize Hamas as a terrorist threat?

Depending on where you look and who you talk to, the opinions on this matter have a very wide range.  I have personally received opinions such as, Hamas is a Terrorist group and they all should be killed to, Israel is an imperialist country committing genocide on Gaza's peaceful civilians.  I live in an area with large populations of Jews and Muslims, but personally i have no vested interest either way, i am only looking for rational opinions in trying to understand where the truth lies and whether or not we should support Israel or share the view of most of the world

Much of the anti-Israeli sentiment comes from the left, which is unique in and of itself since the overwhelming majority of Jews align themselves with democrats politically.   I even watched an interview that posed this question to Benjamin Netanyahu the former Israeli PM, and he dodged the question.  Of course, this question can only be asked to the American Media and Citizens, since nearly all of Congress gives our ally Israel its undivided support.  But, i cant help trying to understand where and why people fall either in support of or against Israel.

Here are a few reports and opinions on the matter that i found interesting.

Opinion from the left, http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/  See, "Both parties cheerlead still more loudly for Israel's war"

Opinion from the right, http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/01/02/the_necessity_of_israel

One final note, earlier today i was reading a Townhall column by David Horowitz entitled "The War Against the Jews."  http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidHorowitz/2009/01/09/the_war_against_the_jews  In it he gives some quotes from a liberal professor from Wisconsin named Jennifer Lowenstein, herself a Jew.  After reading her shocking quotes, i googled her and found this link to the Yemen times.  The opinion from the Yemen times, though a few years old, praised this professor and charged Israel with torture, maimings, and called them "cold blooded murderers who have lost all sense of humanity."

So far on this topic, it seems that the rational people fall on the right side of the spectrum.

In France, they're bombing synogogues.

Meanwhile, the threats mount in the country of Hitler.

In our own country, one of our own citizens urges Jews to 'Go Back to the Oven':

But as the protest continued and crowds grew, one woman in a hijab began to shout curses and slurs that shocked Jewish activists in the city, which has a sizable Jewish population.

"Go back to the oven," she shouted, calling for the counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.

"You need a big oven, that's what you need," she yelled.

...

The protest organizers, asked to comment on the woman's overt call for Jewish extermination, said she was "insensitive" but refused to condemn her statement.

Against this background, the always erudite Victor Davis Hanson observes:

If Israel thought the world would at least in this round distinguish the creepy and murderous Hamas from the PA, which worked hard to obtain the veneer of legitimate governance, it was somewhat mistaken. PA or Hamas, the world seems to care little — they are both purported victims of Jewish aggression and that is all ye need to know.

As a descendant of Holocaust survivors, I cannot tell you how much this scares me.  I tend to take those who preach western decline with a grain of salt.  That said, events of the past few weeks leave me flabbergasted.  When a civilized democracy confronts vile terrorists the underlying morality should be a no brainer.  Instead, our Secretary of State capitulates.

Mugatu had a point.

In France, they're bombing synogogues.

Meanwhile, the threats mount in the country of Hitler.

In our own country, one of our own citizens urges Jews to 'Go Back to the Oven':

But as the protest continued and crowds grew, one woman in a hijab began to shout curses and slurs that shocked Jewish activists in the city, which has a sizable Jewish population.

"Go back to the oven," she shouted, calling for the counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.

"You need a big oven, that's what you need," she yelled.

...

The protest organizers, asked to comment on the woman's overt call for Jewish extermination, said she was "insensitive" but refused to condemn her statement.

Against this background, the always erudite Victor Davis Hanson observes:

If Israel thought the world would at least in this round distinguish the creepy and murderous Hamas from the PA, which worked hard to obtain the veneer of legitimate governance, it was somewhat mistaken. PA or Hamas, the world seems to care little — they are both purported victims of Jewish aggression and that is all ye need to know.

As a descendant of Holocaust survivors, I cannot tell you how much this scares me.  I tend to take those who preach western decline with a grain of salt.  That said, events of the past few weeks leave me flabbergasted.  When a civilized democracy confronts vile terrorists the underlying morality should be a no brainer.  Instead, our Secretary of State capitulates.

Mugatu had a point.

In France, they're bombing synogogues.

Meanwhile, the threats mount in the country of Hitler.

In our own country, one of our own citizens urges Jews to 'Go Back to the Oven':

But as the protest continued and crowds grew, one woman in a hijab began to shout curses and slurs that shocked Jewish activists in the city, which has a sizable Jewish population.

"Go back to the oven," she shouted, calling for the counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.

"You need a big oven, that's what you need," she yelled.

...

The protest organizers, asked to comment on the woman's overt call for Jewish extermination, said she was "insensitive" but refused to condemn her statement.

Against this background, the always erudite Victor Davis Hanson observes:

If Israel thought the world would at least in this round distinguish the creepy and murderous Hamas from the PA, which worked hard to obtain the veneer of legitimate governance, it was somewhat mistaken. PA or Hamas, the world seems to care little — they are both purported victims of Jewish aggression and that is all ye need to know.

As a descendant of Holocaust survivors, I cannot tell you how much this scares me.  I tend to take those who preach western decline with a grain of salt.  That said, events of the past few weeks leave me flabbergasted.  When a civilized democracy confronts vile terrorists the underlying morality should be a no brainer.  Instead, our Secretary of State capitulates.

Mugatu had a point.

The best evidence that a very quick final status treaty may well follow an Israeli victory over Hamas is the attempt by Hamas to move against the internal opposition. Fatah, which ironically can condemn the attack (a false show of solidarity) on one hand and be a significant beneficiary on the other will be enhanced both politically and strategically in Gaza even if Hamas is not destroyed. From a pure tactical perspective, destroying Hamas is not in Israel's interest. Balancing out the facts on the ground between Hamas and Fatah is. Hamas's does not count in its goals a political victory against Israel, only one soaked in Jewish blood chas v'shalom.

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