Speaking to Ma’ariv, Israel’s Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor Party) said over the weekend:
In the current sociopolitical situation, only a leader from the Right could pass a peace process through the nation.
[Prime Minister Menachem] Begin returned the Sinai. Could a Labor leader do that? Could a Labor leader have dared evacuate Gaza and destroy the settlements?
[Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin was killed just for Oslo [1993 accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization]. Does anyone think I could have evacuated Gaza? Only a leader from the Right could bring such a change. There is nothing we can do. That’s the reality. Take it or leave it.
In Ben-Eliezer’s mind, the relationship between Israeli right and left is almost independent from each other. The left can show no progress while the right has given all the “concessions” for the sake of the peace process. Indeed, he accused Labor of having a “self-destructive virus” and of failing to develop a new generation of leaders.
Ben-Eliezer praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the close relationship between the premier and Defense Minister Ehud Barak: Read the rest of this entry »
Polls indicate that President Obama enjoys the support of only 6 to 10 percent of the Israeli public — perhaps his lowest popularity in any country in the world.
According to media reports, the president’s advisers are searching for ways of reassuring Israel’s public of President Obama’s friendship and unqualified commitment to Israel’s security.
That friendship and commitment are real, President Obama’s poll numbers in Israel notwithstanding. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to reinforce that message during her visit to Israel. The presidential envoy George Mitchell has reportedly been asked to make similar efforts during his far more frequent visits to Jerusalem. Read the rest of this entry »
On the 14th anniversary of the murder of Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin, President Barack Obama’s video message was shown to Israelis gathered at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square.He underlined Washington’s strong ties with Israel while stressing the importance of peace between Israelis and Palestinians:
America’s bond with our Israeli allies is unbreakable and U.S. support for Israel’s defense will never be undermined.
To all who seek peace I say tonight, you will always have a partner in the United States of America and in my administration. That’s why we’ve been working aggressively for our clear goal, two states living side by side in peace and security.
Israelis will not find true security while the Palestinians are gripped by hopelessness and despair.
Then Israeli President Shimon Peres addressed the crowd:
This week, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz featured the testimony of Israeli soldiers detailing the killing of civilians and the destruction of their property during the Gaza War. The soldiers, graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College, made their statements on 13 February, and they were published in the newsletter for the course’s graduates.
Minister of Defense Ehud Barak commented, “”We have the most moral army in the world.”
Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement
Amos Harel
18 March 2009
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re privileged to re-post Andrew Higgins’ outstanding piece of journalism in today’s Wall Street Journal, which combines an impressive historical summary with contemporary analysis. He establishes how Israel assisted with the creation and growth of Hamas from the late 1970s. (I’ve known this for years from academic works; however, many people — including a number I’ve encountered on the Net in recent weeks — refuse to accept the evidence.)
More importantly, however, Higgins offers lessons which Israel’s leaders conveniently forgot for the sake of this conflict:
When it became clear in the early 1990s that Gaza’s Islamists had mutated from a religious group into a fighting force aimed at Israel — particularly after they turned to suicide bombings in 1994 — Israel cracked down with ferocious force. But each military assault only increased Hamas’s appeal to ordinary Palestinians.
Speaking to Ma’ariv, Israel’s Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor Party) said over the weekend:
Is the strained relationship between Israelis and the Obama Administration the consequence of mistakes made by the Obama Administration, 
This week, 
Entries (RSS)