WJC President Ronald Lauder

The latest American Jewish leader to address a letter of deep concern over the public US feud with Israel is Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress. He voices the concern of Jews around the world not only about the nuclear ambitions of an Iranian regime with genocidal intentions toward Israel, but the deterioration of US-Israeli relations and the Jewish state's deliberate isolation.
The WJC president asks why this administration seems to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks when it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate. Settlements were not the key issue when peace talks broke down before and they are not the key issue now.

Lauder then asks if it is true that America is no longer committed to a final status agreement that provides Israel with defensible borders. He goes on to ask if friction with Israel is part of the Administration's desire to improve relations with the Muslim world and warns that appeasement does not work.
Israel is not only America's closest ally in the Middle East, Lauder stresses. It is the one most committed to this administration's declared aim of ensuring Iran does not get nuclear weapons. This is the single biggest threat that confronts the world today.
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch condemned the Obama administration's attitude toward Israel in the strongest terms: "I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the US and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust." He goes on to say: "…our closest ally… has been demeaned and slandered, held responsible …for our problems in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East."

Ed Koch says he suspects the plan is "to so weaken the resolve of the of the Jewish state and its leaders so that it will be much easier to impose on Israel an American plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, leaving Israel's needs for security and defensible borders in the lurch."

He is most bothered by what he calls "the shameful silence and lack of action by community leaders - Jew and Christian" and asks: Where are the Jews who marched in defense of fellow American citizens in 1963 and heard Martin Luther King's memorable speech. "We have stood up for everyone else. When will we stand up for our brothers and sisters in the Jewish state of Israel?" Ed Koch asks

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‘Iran needs one year for bomb material'

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPOND
14/04/2010 22:18

Testifying in DC, officials express concern over Teheran's growing missile capabilities.
WASHINGTON - It would take Iran just one year to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb, top US military officials told Congress Wednesday.

They made the estimate based on Teheran's current stockpiles of low enriched uranium and the time it would take to convert it to a weapons-grade form, if Iran made a decision to do so.

Additionally, they said, it generally takes a country three to five years to go from Iran's level of low enrichment capability to producing the rest of the components necessary for a nuclear bomb, as well as the enriched uranium. They declined to offer a public assessment of precisely how long that part of the process would take the Islamic Republic.

The military officials, who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Iran also continued to improve its conventional capabilities.

"Beyond the steady growth in its missile and rocket inventories, Iran has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems by improving their accuracy and developing new sub-munition payloads," said Lt.-Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who also pointed to Iranian advances in the technology supporting the construction of nuclear weapons and efforts to more heavily defend and bury nuclear facilities.

Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, highlighted Iranian efforts concerning the Straits of Hormuz, which is the conduit for much of the world's energy supply.

"They are fortifying their capabilities to either reduce or deny access or constrict it," he said, though he noted that they would cut off their own trade routes as well as others'. "But to have the physical capacity to attempt to do that, they are moving in that direction."

Cartwright assessed that the US would be able to overcome those efforts, but that "it would be question of time and impact, and the implications from a global standpoint on the flow of energy, et cetera, would have ramifications probably beyond the military actions that would go on."

Committee member Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) underscored testimony from the officers describing "how weak the conventional military of Iran is," as well as the "overwhelming advantage in conventional warfare against Iran, including particularly with regard to air and naval capabilities."

Though in response to questioning, Cartwright said the US had the capability to mount an operation to occupy Iran, Lieberman stressed that any US attack - not a preferred course of action - would be of a less invasive order.

"That's not anything I've heard anybody really seriously talk about," he said. "I think what anyone's talking about is if it becomes necessary to use military force to stop the unacceptable, which is an Iranian nuclear program, is either covert action on the ground, limited, and/or strikes from the air."

Lieberman also asked Cartwright, who answered in the affirmative, whether the threat of military force strengthened the impact of economic sanctions.

"The reason that we believe the sanctions and other measures short of military activity are important because they give us more time, more decision time, more opportunities to intervene in ways" not requiring military force, he explained.

Michele Flournoy, defense undersecretary for policy, who also testified Tuesday, expressed concern at recent reports that Iran had upgraded its uranium enrichment capabilities.

"Any steps that Iran takes to go down the enrichment path are worrisome," she said, though she added, "The fact is, they have also been having some technical problems with their program as well."

Her boss, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, however, rejected the idea that Iran would join the "nuclear club" in the next month, as an Iranian official boasted this week.

Asked Tuesday if that were credible, he replied: "I don't believe it."

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The IDF's guide: a Torah scroll

Lt.-Gen. Ashkenazi: the Bible is the IDF's Guide

by Gil Ronen
"The IDF sees the Bible as a guide in the deep and practical sense of the word," IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday in a meeting with participants in the International Bible Quiz for Youth. "It is no accident that the IDF swears in its soldiers with a weapon in one hand and the Bible in the other - a custom that reflects the uniqueness of the IDF and the deep bond of the Jewish people to the Book of Books," he added.

The 46 competitors in the Bible Quiz hail from twenty different countries. They met Lt.-Gen. Ashkenazi at Beit HeChayal in Jerusalem, in the presence of the IDF's Chief Education Officer, Brig.-Gen. Eli Shermeister, Chief Military rabbi Brig.-Gen. Avichai Ronsky and members of the World Management of the Bible Quiz.

The 47th annual World Bible Quiz for Youth is being held with the aid of the Jewish Agency. Its theme this year will be "Hebrew Comes Alive," to honor the 150 yea birthday of Zionist visionary Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl and 120 years since the establishment of the Council for the Hebrew Language. The quiz will take place on Independence Day, April 20, the Ninth of Iyyar.

The contestants - all of whom won the Bible Quizzes in their respective countries - have been taking part in an 18-day preparatory camp which includes volunteer activity, hikes through Biblical sites, a visit to Yad VaShem and gun training in the Gadna Youth Corps base. Four of the 46 participants are the Israeli quiz's finalists, one of whom is the Prime Minister's son, Avner Netanyahu. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

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Offensive" ad in Britain

Barkat Bashes British Ban of Tourism Ad Showing Western Wall

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Gil Ronen
"The Kotel is the heart of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and it will forever remain the center of a united Jerusalem," Mayor Nir Barkat said in a response to a British decision to ban a tourism advertisment that features the Kotel (Western Wall) and Temple Mount..

The British move "shames the people who made it," Barkat said, "and betrays an ignorance of history. In the future, the Jerusalem Municipality and the State of Israel will continue to publicize Jerusalem's important sites in both eastern and western Jerusalem - with the Kotel at their center."

Ad 'misleading'
Britain banned an Israeli Tourism Ministry ad because it "misleads" the public to think that the Western Wall and Temple Mount are part of the country. The publicity was banned by the government advertising regulator.

Britain, like the United States and most of the international community, do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the parts of Jerusalem that were restored to Jewish sovereignty during the 1967 Six-Day War.

The "problematic" ad, with the pictures of the holy sites, tells readers that they can "travel the entire length of Israel in six hours."

The Advertising Standards Authority prohibited the advertisement after receiving a complaint that the pictures show sites that are located in the "occupied territories" and implies they are part of the country. Israeli Tourism Ministry official said the advertisement contains "accurate information."

"The status of the occupied territory of the West Bank the subject of much international dispute, and because we considered that the ad implied that the part of East Jerusalem featured in the image was part of the state of Israel, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead," the British agency said, as quoted by the London Guardian and Jewish Chronicle.

A remnant from past millennia
The Kotel is a remnant of the outer wall of the Temple Mount compound that housed the Jewish Temples for more than 1,000 years, until the year 70 CE. It is the Jewish People's holiest site.

When British occupying forces left the Land of Israel in 1948, Jordanian forces overran Jewish defenders in the Old City and took the Temple Mount, but there was never any international recognition of Jordan's sovereignty there. Jordan did not allow Jews into the area. Israel liberated the Old City, including the Temple Mount and Kotel, 19 years later.

Israel advocate Dr. Emmanuel Navon commented Wednesday that "East Jerusalem was never part of a sovereign country in modern times. Either you consider Jordan's 1949 annexation as illegal and illegitimate and then Israel did not conquer a sovereign land in 1967, or you do consider Jordan's 1949 annexation as legal and legitimate and then Israel's 1967 annexation is even more so since it was the result of a war of self-defense and not of aggression." (IsraelNationalNews.com)

Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Brit Jew-Haters Do Geography
Noah Pollak:

Naturally.

The UK's "Advertising Standards Authority" has declared that an Israeli advertisement containing a picture of the Western Wall is misleading because the Wall is not part of Israel - it is occupied territory.

Damned right it's occupied.

Occupied, protected and defended... by Jews.

In the Holy City of Yerushalayim

in the Sovereign Jewish State of Israel.

We won't even talk about how The Official Website for Tourism in "Palestine" peddles the hoax that "Palestine" is some actual Arab place in the world. The site advertises Christian, Islamic and ... wait for it ... "Archaeological" attractions.
One of those archaeological attractions is "Solomon's Pools" ~ "south of Bethlehem." As in King Solomon (c. 1011 BCE - 931 BCE) ... The Jew ... One of a long line of Jewish Kings of Israel -- according to the sacred texts of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

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Obama ‘Can't Force' Peace; Poll Results Back Netanyahu

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama surprisingly expressed pessimism on the "diplomatic process" and said he cannot force an agreement on the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Simultaneously, a new poll in Israel shows solid Israeli opposition to an imposed agreement, division of Jerusalem and relying on American guarantees that the Palestinian Authority will be unarmed.

Israeli Jews overwhelmingly oppose, by a 83-8 percent margin, an imposed peace, according to the poll, conducted by Brain Base (Maagar Mohot) for Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA).

The results also pull out the rug from any possible intentions by the Obama administration to try to topple the Netanyahu government in favor of a Kadima-Labor coalition. It shows strong support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's opposition to President Obama's demands to stop building for Jews in Jerusalem.

Seventy percent of the respondents said that Prime Minister Netanyahu should not agree to American demands to indefinitely stop building for Jews in parts of Jerusalem that the United States does not recognize as being under Israeli sovereignty.

More significantly, respondents who intend to vote for Labor and Kadima were split 40-40 on the issue of a building freeze, with the remainder on the fence. A building freeze not being backed by even a majority among supporters from the less nationalist parties gives the American government little hope for a change in Israeli policies.

Among those who would vote for the Likud and other parties that are considered relatively on the right wing, an overwhelming majority backs Prime Minister Netanyahu and rejects the demand for a freeze.

President Obama's sudden shift to low gear is uncharacteristic for the American government, which always has expressed optimism for the "diplomatic process," which officials hardly ever refer to anymore as the "peace process."

Attempts to resume talks, even on an indirect basis with the United States as mediator, have faltered due to escalating demands by the PA, rejected by the Israeli government. President Obama said Tuesday, "The PA and Israel "may say to themselves, 'We are not prepared to resolve these issues no matter how much pressure the United States brings to bear,'" adding that it is possible that peace cannot be reached "even if we are applying all of our political capital."

His comments essentially eliminated, at least for now, the chance that his administration would come up with a peace plan of its own and present a "take it or leave it" offer. However, his government previously has agreed to make more demands on Israel after having stated it would not so, and the president may be playing for time before shifting gears again.

Backing up the president's stated low expectations was General David Petraeus, who was misquoted several weeks ago for allegedly saying the failure of a PA-Israeli agreement risks the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he does not blame Israel for the failure to reach an agreement.

President Obama spoke to reporters at the end of the nuclear summit, which he has cited as a major move forward towards forcing Iran to agree to international inspection for its nuclear program. However, similar to the American-led diplomatic process aimed at a PA-Israeli accord, the summit highlighted optimistic speeches that did not reflect the deep disagreement on harsh sanctions, particularly by China.

Concerning Israel's policy of ambiguity on its nuclear potential, President Obama also was ambiguous. "As far as Israel goes, I'm not going to comment about their program," he said, but added, "Whether we are talking about Israel or any other country, we think that becoming part of the NPT [non-proliferation treaty] is important." (IsraelNationalNews.com)

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Poll: Israelis want Obama to back off

The vast majority of Israelis would strongly oppose an imposed peace plan by US President Barack Obama, according to the results of a public opinion poll conducted this week.

The poll was commissioned by Independent Media Review & Analysis (IMRA) in response to US media reports last week that Obama was mulling a comprehensive peace plan to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obama reportedly met with top current and former presidential advisors to discuss what should go into such a plan.

It is assumed that any plan imposed by Obama would include the division of Jerusalem and Israel's surrender of the Jordan Valley.

Niney-one percent of Israelis opposed any Obama plan, and 81 percent said if he tried to divide Jerusalem it would result in increased conflict between Israel and the Arab world.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Obama insisted that his administration has no intention of imposing a peace settlement on Israel and the Palestinians.

"The truth is that in some of these conflicts, the United States cannot impose solutions, unless the participants in these conflicts are willing to break out of old patterns of antagonism," Obama said.