More Israel headlines for Chanukah, November 29-30, 2013

Israel headlines tell a story. They tell you the news. But sometimes, they reveal some underlying truths.  

In this report, you’ll see a sampling of headlines from Israel’s press—and some comments about those headlines.

Today, we look at—and comment on—more Chanukah headlines for the period, November 29 -30, 2013.

 

The war against Israel

-Rising violence in West Bank creeping toward Jerusalem

--UN chief warns of ‘dangerous situation’ between Israel, Palestinians 

-Germany and Britain block Palestinian bid to join international olive trade group

-Palestinian official says peace talks already failed

-Peace deal still possible, Palestinian negotiator

 -On ‘International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People,’ Ban Ki-Moon says he’s alarmed by escalation of violence, incitement

-Lieberman: Our lands are being robbed

 

 The Arab war against Israel is going ‘hot’.  Arab violence against Jews in Judea-Samaria increases. Rising Arab violence creeps towards Jerusalem.

We have seen this kind of violence spike before in Israel: it always appears when the West tries to force peace on Israel. Arabs watch the West pressure Israel. But instead of using that pressure to get a real peace agreement, they use it as an excuse to incite violence against Jews.

It’s a formula that never fails: when Israel bows before Western pressure, the Arabs see Israel as weak—and vulnerable. Therefore, the more Israel back-pedals in the face of Western pressure, the more anti-Jew violence we see.

Now we see this increase of violence during our week of Chanukah. In case you forgot, our Chanukah celebrates how Jews of old stood strong before those who would destroy all that is Jewish.

In case you forgot, Abbas and his Fatah Party have the same goal as our ancient enemies—the destruction of the Jewish presence in Israel. If you question that, take a look at the new Fatah Party logo. It’s a map of the new Arab ‘Palestine’ in place of Israel.

What does that tell you?

 

America and Israel

-How sloppy US diplomacy is empowering Iran

-Israeli deputy minister: Kerry legitimizes terrorism

-US freed top Iranian scientist as part of secret talks ahead of Geneva deal’

-Israeli officials denounce Obama for giving Iran right to enrich, destroying sanctions

 

The US is once again getting a black eye. First, an announcement appears in Israel that, as part of secret Iran-US negotiations (which were hidden from Israel), the US released from prison an important Iranian scientist, whose nuclear expertise helps the Iranian nuclear enterprise. That release took place in April, 2013.

The inference here seems clear: as Israel worked during 2013 to get the US to pressure Iran—and as US President Obama kept telling Israel, ‘I’ve got your back’--the US was actually  aiding the Iranian nuclear project by releasing one of their important nuclear scientists.

The announcement of that release did not sit well with an Israel that has come to believe the ‘Iran deal’ was no deal at all. The release suggests that the US does not have Israel’s interests in mind. The release seems tvalidate Israel’s sense of betrayal by the US.

The Saudis, meanwhile, are reported to characterize the US negotiation effort with Iran as ‘amateurish’ and ‘clumsy’. For example, the Times of Israel reported that in 2010, White House Spokesperson Robert Gibbs declared that the administration had no intention of allowing Iran to continue enriching uranium. But as of November 2013, under the interim deal’s terms, that’s exactly what the US has allowed--Iran can continue enrichment.

What does that tell you?

 

Iran

-Iranian FM: Tehran won’t attend nuclear talks if ‘Zionist regime’ present

-Rouhani: We’ll keep enriching uranium as needed

-Rohani: Iran will not dismantle nuclear sites

 

As if to reinforce Israeli suspicions about Iran—and the failure of US diplomacy--we saw Iran make three quick headlines during this news cycle, almost immediately after the ‘deal’ was announced: first, Iran declared that it was going to continue enriching uranium. Then, it announced that it wasn’t going to dismantle any nuclear sites.

What does that tell you about the ‘deal’?

 

These announcements seemed to prove Israel’s case against Iran. Whatever Obama was saying about this deal, Iran felt bold enough, in essence, to spit in the West’s face: we’ll do what we want, it seemed to be saying. You can’t stop us!

Then Iran made what seemed a curious announcement: it wouldn’t participate in any nuclear talks if the Zionist entity (Israel) was present. Iran, of course, has good reason to object to Israel: the Israeli’s won’t be so easy to fool or manipulate.

What is Iran telling the West here?

During this news cycle, one unnamed Israeli official was quoted as suggesting that, under the terms of this deal, he could see all sanctions against Iran collapsing within months, leaving Iran totally free to do as it pleases.

Remember, just a few days ago, the US announced that this deal will make Israel safer.

Do you believe that?

 

The Left’s war against Israel

-Livni Encourages Students to Meet Abbas in Ramallah

 

Israeli Justice Minister—and chief peace negotiator for the current round of peace talks—Tzipi Livni has stepped into a controversy that had been unfolding within an Israeli student organization. It seems that some in the organization wanted to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority. Others did not want to meet with Abbas. Livini stepped in to encourage the students to go to Ramallah, so they could, she suggested, add their voice to the push for peace.

Her reasoning was that Israel is at risk. She claimed to the press that Israelis who live over the Green Line have provoked Europe to boycott Israeli research and academicians, thereby validating a student concern. 

She has been horrified by this threat. She has been horrified by Jews living in Judea-Samaria which, by the way, is for many in Israel ancestral Jewish national homeland.

She gives the impression that, if Europe speaks crossly to Israel about our ancestral land, she must be first in line to bow to Europe’s demands. She must be first to do whatever Europe wants.

It’s all about Europe, you see. We can’t anger Europe.

The same goes for the US. We must never do anything to anger the US.

What’s wrong with this approach? It shows Israel to be needy and weak. It suggests that Israel is a country whose national integrity can only be determined by others.

No one respects that. No one respects a Jew who says he’d give up something as precious as ancestral land to please the non-Jewish bully.

Such behaviour announces, we are afraid of you. It says, please don’t hurt us.

Is that what we are?

Is that what Livni is?

This is the week of Chanukah. Chanukah is the story of Jews standing up to foreign bullies. What kind of Chanukah story is Livni writing for the Jewish people?