[See also; Turkey set to sign military pact with Egypt]
DEBKA comments on the warnings from the home front and the denials by the Defense Ministry.
[..]
debkafile’s military analysts point out that while Gen. Eisenberg’s outlook is substantially credible for the long term, the events rushing forward in Libya, Syria and Egypt and the uncertainty in Jordan are rapidly shrinking the foreseeable time scale to weeks and making his words a wake-up call, whereas Gilead’s words aim at obfuscating six pertinent facts:
1. The “stable regimes” he referred to are a myth: In Egypt the military rulers are not in control. The latest US intelligence assessments, as the defense ministry’s adviser is no doubt aware, register dismay over the discovery that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi extremist groups are assured of a two-thirds majority in elections for the presidency and parliament, for which the movement for toppling Hosni Mubarak fought so hard. The military rulers’ only hope of staying in power is to stage a second Egyptian revolution to suppress the drive for democracy. For now, they are playing ball with the Islamic extremists, a fact which Mr. Gilead has not revealed.
2. This pattern applies equally to Israel’s security backyard in Sinai, where debkafile’s intelligence and counter-terror sources report that the military rulers in Cairo have abandoned any attempt to root out terrorists despite their increasing use of this territory as a jumping-off base.
Not a single smuggling tunnel carrying arms to Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, contrary to reports appearing in the Israeli media.
For three weeks, Israel has maintained troops on high alert on its southern border with Egyptian Sinai and kept main highways closed to civilian traffic, since being forewarned of a large Palestinian Jihad Islami terrorist team from the Gaza Strip lying in wait to strike southern Israel from the Egyptian border. Egyptian security forces have not lifted a finger to interfere with their movements.
The supply of arms to the Gaza Strip has since the Egyptian revolution swelled to an unprecedented volume. It is bringing to Hamas and other terrorist groups quantities of surface missiles of greater range and power even than the Grads, which last month hit targets at a distance of 30 kilometers, such as Beersheba; F-7 anti-air and anti-tank missiles.
Nonetheless, Gilead referred to Israel’s situation as “never better” and lauded its deterrent capacity in the south.
3. He was just as smug about Israeli deterrence in “the north,” including the Lebanese border facing Hizballah.
4. In Syria, circumstances are so volatile that a war situation could ignite in hours.
5. In Jordan, the political and security ground under the throne is far from stable and while domestic unrest has scarcely broken surface, it could erupt at any time.
6. While Libya was never part of the Arab front line against Israel, its relevance to Israeli security is growing. Since NATO launched its operation to unseat Muammar Qaddafi in March, gunrunning from Libya is rife, channeling large quantities of Libyan arms by smuggling routes into the Gaza Strip and Sinai.
7. Iran is fast nearing nuclear weapon capability and missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
One of the greatest threats comes from the new regime the US, Britain, France and NATO are preparing to anoint in Tripoli. Since Qaddafi’s departure, the Libyan capital has fallen under the control of pro-Al Qaeda rebel elements and extremist Salafis. Their Western sponsors have put their trust in these extremists changing their spots and embracing moderation and democracy. This illusion they are liable to replicate in Cairo and Damascus. Israel would then be beset at all hands by avowedly hostile Islamist regimes whose ideology obliges them to wage jihad against the Jewish state.
Eisenberg tried to open Israeli eyes to the real perils around the corner, while Gilead made haste to close them.
Dweller, please don’t continue to prove you are a putz. You can have your own opinions, ridiculous as some of them may be, but you cannot have your own facts or be allowed to make up your own version of English.
I know they are not identical. They are spelled differently for example. However, they can be used interchangeably. That’s what synonyms mean.
The reason is that the Palestine Mandate is obsolete.
By definition, “tiresome” would be someone who insists that non-Jews cannot be Semites and that candid and honest mean different things.
If you distrust MY judgment, ask everybody else yourself.
What I’m displaying, AE, is my patience with you.
But it isn’t endless…
Only for those with limited appreciation for the language.
— Actually, Yamit may have had a point about not wanting to confuse you “with a complicated term.”
Honest and candid are not identical. As I showed [Sept 15, 8:11 am], their meanings overlap in some degree, yet do not entirely match.
But don’t strain yourself over it.
No reason to be honest, which they aren’t.
And no reason to be candid, which they are.
But the reason for their candor is, in any event, not scriptural (to use the word loosely).
— The reason for their candor is hubristic.
They tell you what they want to do to you, not because they see some kind of ‘righteousness’ in openness
— they tell you what they intend because they get off on the telling as much as on the doing.
It’s a flaw, a character weakness, and in some ways it makes them an easier adversary than Fatah
— which used to be like that, but now (for the most part) tends to tell you whatever it is they think you want to hear.
(Fatah will sign anything, say anything, go thru whatever motions it takes to make the sale — and then… …)
No, what makes it moot is the simple fact that it [viz., the corpus of the Jewish People’s unalienable Mandate rights] has not been asserted of late.
Therefore, it has not been ruled on of late.
No; ipso facto, it lies dormant.
“Expert” comes from the same root as “experience.”
Does that help you?
There’s only One authority on everything concerning Israel — and I’m not He; nor do I “pretend to be.”
Objection.
In the face of correction, Counsel persists in assuming facts not in evidence, thus begging the question — now, seven times in the same sentence.
But if you DON’T trust my judgment in the matter, Eagle, there’s certainly nothing to keep you from ASKING everybody else if they find you tiresome.
Dweller, you are displaying your ignorance of English again. Honest and candid are synonyms. Under Qu’ran, Chapter 3, Verses 28 and 118, Muslims have no reason to be either candid or honest with you.
It is not used as a premise by anyone in power in the Israeli government or anywhere else. Many decisions and agreements have taken place since it was written that make it moot. Ipso facto, it is obsolete.
Why would I trust a dickhead that pretends to be an expert linguist and authority on everything concerning Israel, but does not know that non-Jews can be Semites, agrees with a Hamas ally that Hamas is honest, and does not know that candid is synonymous with honest?
“Admiration” has nothing to do with it.
Hamas’ calling Jews pigs & occupiers is INDEED candid: that is, they genuinely believe that rot and they say what they think. They aren’t, however, ‘honest’ — as shown in (among other things) the fact that they allow themselves to swallow such tripe uncritically.
It’s NOT ‘lack’ of candor for him to SAY that if he believes what he says.
If he said or suggested something despite the fact that he actually DISBELIEVED it, that would constitute lack of candor.
He makes the same claim about you making such pretence to support of the Jewish state.
For what it’s worth, I happen to think the BOTH of you are mistaken as to that particular claim
— but then, that’s just one man’s opinion. Could be that you’ve BOTH got me fooled…
If it’s your opinion that my rationally argued case — which you repeatedly negate, but never once even attempt to refute — makes me a “dickhead,” then that tells us volumes more about YOURSELF than it does about YoursTruly.
The fact is, neither the Palis nor any other Arabs are ‘Semites’ — and there’s no way, logically, that they COULD be.
I showed you why.
Objection. Counsel is assuming facts not in evidence, thus begging the question.
If you wish to claim Mandate obsolescence as grounds for your argument, you will have to first establish solidly the ‘fact’ of that obsolescence.
Rotsa ruck in that dept — since, to DO that, you’ll have to refute the work of, among others, Prof. Eugene Rostow, who drafted UNSC 242, Paul Riebenfeld, and a multitude of the world’s most accomplished & respected international judicial scholars, jurists & legal theorists -— including the 20th century’s foremost authority on Jus Gentium: the Law of Nations -— Prof. Julius Stone.
A pretty tall order, that. Better get busy if you’ve a mind to pursue it; time’s a-wasting.
To everybody.
Trust me.
Do you moron’s admiration for the candor and honesty of Hamas include their calling Jews pigs and calling Israel an occupier?
How about Yamit’s lack of candor when he denies that Israel would be toast without US support and pretends to be a supporter of Israel?
What about the dickhead who denies that non-Jews can be Semites, or insists that the obsolete Palestinian mandate still applies?
Only to those dickheads who have no idea what they are talking about but think they do.
dweller says:
I accept candor but didn’t want to confuse AE, with a complicated term.
Get a life.
Thanks for your opinion.
My opinion is that only an intellectually insecure dickhead makes an ongoing practice of denigrating the intelligence of those he disagrees with.
It invariably leaves the distinct impression that he’s got something to prove — but never quite succeeds, apparently.
Since he keeps trying, again & again.
Yet he can’t stop trying.
Compulsive is the word that comes to mind.
As I said, Eagle, you’re tiresome.
What’s more, each-&-every jab & jibe of yours in that 8:17 am post was a silly, surface-value, one-liner. I’m obliged to repeat what I said previously:
“Virtually every time you post a response to something that I (or, frankly, anybody else on this site) have said, you invariably blockquote only a very small excerpt — a single sentence, or tightly-cropped phrase — of my (or other posters’) remarks to jump all over. Makes it much easier for you to play GOTCHA — which is apparently what you get off on — but it never contributes to the exchange in a constructive way. To be quite candid, it’s exhausting — and not a little boring.”
I think you mean to say that they are known for their candor, their frankness, Yamit.
In common usage, it’s certainly not unusual to use the terms honesty & candor interchangeably — though they really aren’t synonymous.
To be candid is simply to be “up-front” with one’s intentions, transparent.
Honesty usually INCORPORATES candor (among other things)– though SOMETIMES it has to be anything but candid. [e.g., “Honey, does this make my butt look fat?” — “Why, no, darlin’, of course not.” Or, more seriously: “In wartime, the truth must be protected by a bodyguard of lies.”]
Think of it this way: “honesty” comes from the same root as “honor.”
What self-serving bilge. I have NEVER ‘tried’ to change a damned thing. You’re just covering your arse, AE, and not very well.
The truth is that there AREN’T any non-Jewish ‘Semites.’ I showed you HOW there couldn’t be; and I showed you WHY there couldn’t be. The fact is ironclad @ inescapable.
Take it or leave it, it’s no skin off of my nose.
What’s more — the actual assertion [viz., that there no non-Jewish ‘Semites’] was, in context, entirely on-point. Anybody who checks the progression of posts in that thread, can see it quite readily.
No. That’s your trip, buster, not mine. I invariably end up having to restore the context to answer you, because YOU — rather routinely — excise the context. And frankly, it’s a pain in the keister — as well as a time-consuming drag (especially since I’m on the clock) — for me to have to go back, find the pertinent posts, properly excerpt them, and essentially do your homework for you.
I can’t help the way you choose to take my words, Eagle, but I do select them with care when I offer them; so my conscience is quite clear, notwithstanding your amply demonstrated fondness for contentiousness.
I was simply saying that in the world of diplomacy, “mere words” CAN have great power, depending on the manner & circumstances in which they are delivered — and further, that strength and weakness may not be what they appear. It is a fact of history that the Czech army was stronger than the German army before the War. And the French army was larger — by half. Alotta good it did them… Something was missing.
The fact that Canada has acted diplomatically on Israel’s behalf, and has often been the FIRST to do so — which can have the effect of opening the door for others who might not otherwise be so bold as to stand up — is laudable in itself.
So that’s what you meant when you posted the following???
“I’m sure Canada would join in if it came to an all out world war against Israel – we know that Britain and Australia always have, at least so far.” No reference whatsoever to “America” there — or anywhere else in your post [Sept 13, 1:18 am]. Your whole discussion there revolved around assistance — whether substantive or superficial — to Israel.
I ‘truncated’ NOTHING; I merely crystallised — for the sake of fluidity: to facilitate the exchange — what was disjointed & without transition in that last sentence of your post. There was NOTHING in your post about “support for America.” If you meant it to say that, then you should have. Re-read your post.
(Y’know, you really ARE fullovit, Eagle…)
No. The People of Israel have INDEED gladly accepted the friendship of the American People.
THAT is a phenomenon which, in point of fact, antedates the sovereignty of the Jewish State by a couple of centuries.
Israeli politicans, on the other hand, may well have been “grateful” for American dollars — but then, so are ALL politicians (especially American politicans): since money is the mother’s milk of politics.
US support has never yet been instrumental in saving Israel’s hash. But you wouldn’t know that because you rather obviously haven’t studied Israel’s history — recent or distant. Until you do, you’ll just have to remain arrogantly & buffoonishly ignorant. Your choice.
You may think of Hamas as “honest” when they call Jews pigs and accuse Jews of occupying their land, but an Israeli mole for Hamas certainly would not be telling the truth in a Jewish forum.
au contraire, tu es bête Hamas is known for their honesty and they say what they mean and mean what they say. One might compare Hamas to the most deadly strain of the anthrax virus but nobody ever accused them of being liars except you, by inference by placing me in their context . Hmmmm
Our politicians may grovel to the Americans, (Thank you massah Thank you and then bend over) but most Israeli citizens do not share their corrupt politicians opinions or lead.
There is logic and empirical evidence, as before the 73 war Israel received virtually no aid or help from the American Administrations and instead of no help they were quite anti Israel at worst and disinterested at best.
I would say that it is America that would be toast without Israel.
As a Hamas ally, everything you write here is a lie.
No, it isn’t. If you did, you wouldn’t have written, “Only 25 cents, eh?,” which is not what I wrote.
“Only 25 cents, eh?,” is what you said I wrote whereas it was not what I wrote.
Obviously it is your brain that is elliptical which allows you to truncate and distort a direct quote to completely change its meaning. That is writer’s “insensibility”.
You cannot have wisdom and understanding with a double digit IQ. You are proof of this.
No, I didn’t. You were making it sound like Canada’s mere words meant something they cannot – actual physical support when push comes to shove.
You were caught with your pants down trying to truncate my quote to change its meaning.
Not true. I said they had always been in America’s corner, not Israel’s.
When the truth doesn’t suit you, you try to change the truth. Here by truncating my quote, changing support for America to support for Israel. Previously by insisting there are no non-Jewish Semites.
Now you are sounding like Yamit. The evidence that I am correct is that Israel has gladly accepted American support and is grateful for it.
On the other hand you have no evidence that Israel would not be toast without US support.
I was with you on this post in every detail, Yamit, till you came to this [above] assertion.
Have you got a collection of documented (or otherwise confirmed) cases that I could look at?
It is QUITE true.
Of course it isn’t what you wrote; I didn’t say you did.
(Clearly YOU need to read before responding.)
If you had a writer’s sensibility, you’d have recognized my “only 25 cents” as an ELLIPTICAL followup to your remark:
In effect, I was saying, “[that and] only 25 cents [more]?”
(Apparently Yamit was right in noting, “We aint got no literati on this site…”)
For the likes of yourself, AE, it’s rather grimly evident that a quadruple IQ would avail nothing. Wisdom & Understanding are not about IQ.
— As they say, you can lead a horse to water; you can’t make him drink.
You — rather spectacularly — missed mine altogether.
A favorite refrain, and recourse, for politicians (and, it seems, certain agenda-driven bloggers) when caught with their pants down.
You had said, “we know that Britain and Australia always have [been in Israel’s corner when she was under threat], at least so far.”
I showed you a series of concrete instances when this was plainly not the case.
Perhaps you have found a way to define “always” differently from me.
I propose that you identify , SVP, the “context” that my “selective incidences” were supposedly “taken out of.”
(This should be good…)
But for all that you favor the claim, the truth is, AE, that it is none other than YOURSELF who is most notorious for taking things out of context:
Virtually every time you post a response to something that I (or, frankly, anybody else on this site) have said, you invariably blockquote only a very small excerpt — a single sentence, or tightly-cropped phrase — of my (or other posters’) remarks to jump all over. Makes it much easier for you to play GOTCHA — which is apparently what you get off on — but it never contributes to the exchange in a constructive way. To be quite candid, it’s exhausting — and not a little boring.
Until your attitude begins to change, Eagle, YOU won’t be able to recognize the truth if it gets close enough to bite you on the nose.
A fond conceit.
Having LONG and PERSISTENTLY and ASSIDUOUSLY studied the facts, I continue to await the evidence.
ROTFL
You take everything out of context, twist the truth out of all recognition. In other-words You lie.
as Israel’s only ally, America has used its influence to reduce the hostility towards Israel in certain key Arab countries.
Name those countries and supply corroborative support for your fallacious statement.
The US taxpayer has underwritten Israel’s security to the tune of $3 billion plus a year for decades now,
Actually it became part of the Camp David agreements and believe me Sinai was worth many times to us than the amt of so called aid wwe recieved till now from America and now the Chinese. In 1979 dollars the same 3 billion is worth slightly more than a half billion in 1979 purchasing power and the price of American arms today is 5X what is was in 1979. Israel gave up strategic space as a buffer with Sinai. We gave up enough gas and oil to make us self sufficient in energy . Israel spends around 2 billion dollars on gas and oil imports . that’s at least $64 billion to date. We lost a potential of $1-3 billion in tourism by giving up the Sinai and we had already built the basic infrastructure there.
Israel found an underground lake under the Sinai that was large enough to supply ten million Israelis with fresh water for at least 100 years.
The Sinai is rich in Natural resources like copper, magnesium, rare earth minerals and even uranium deposits. In the northern Sinai Israel pioneered desert agriculture and hot house agriculture all grown on natural sand. The northern Sinai could have supported several million Israelis just in the agri business and we could have been a breadbasket for North Africa and Europe.
Sinai provided land and air space for the IDF to train properly. We had to look elsewhere for training sites when we lost Sinai at an addition cost to the IDF of hundreds of millions of dollars ea year.
On par the American sponsored Camp David accords cost Israel her economic and political independence and a potential of $4-6 billion a year just from losing Sinai. Israeli vassal status to America cost us billions in military and non military sales to third parties as rightly America unlike Israel protects her own industries and workers when they can get away with it and with Israel they have found the ultimate sucker. America disdains competition and insures that Israel can’t compete especially with American military industries.
America got a great deal with Israel a one of a kind for some small pocket change they control our political system and our politicians. No other country has given up her sovereignty for so little as Israel and i think no other country has willingly given up their sovereignty at all except Israel but not for lack of trying by America with other countries.
provided military and intelligence co-operation, protected
If true why is pollard in prison?
protected its interests with UNSC vetoes, pledged to stand with it against nuclear threats, and accepted its role as the Great Satan as a consequence. The vast majority of Americans, mostly Christians, support Israel unconditionally, whereas the vast majority of American Jews do not.
Almost all vetoes were for non binding non actionable anti israel rersolutions none under chapter 7. I could submit a hypothetical that because all countries know in advance that America would veto anti Israel resolutions it freed to to be more vitriolic and more anti Israel in their public stance than might otherwise have been. Most Christians are not Israel supporters they may favor us over the Palis but to say they are pro Israel is a stretch but even if they were for some reason pro Israel so what? What’s in it for us as opposed to what’s not in it for us? Europeans can still enter America without a visa but not Israelis, Our ex COS of the IDF was refused last year a visa to America because he was born in Iran and came to Israel as a young boy. Yet as COS he spent much tome in the pentagon and even the White House. Your Christian friends for example spent and continue to spend millions brings non Jews to Israel with falsified documentation that they have at least one Jewish grandparent and that gives them rights to automatic citizenship. Most are antisemitic, some are neo Nazis and those same Christians target this group for conversion who in turn attempt to convert other Russians and Ethiopians some non Jews and some Jews. For some of us here this is serious stuff. We can do much better without the likes of you AE as a supporter of Israel (sic,) than with you supporting us. KAPISH??
In a crunch I am still confident of the support of most Jews you disdain and if history is any guide you and your Christians won’t be.
Not true. If you did you wouldn’t have written, “Only 25 cents, eh?” which is not what I wrote.
Still wouldn’t get you a cup of coffee at Tim Horton’s, leave alone help defend Israel.
Perhaps for someone as confused as you, but not for most people with triple digit IQ’s like me.
Just the opposite can be said of our docile Canadian friends. You make my points better than I do.
Explains Canada’s complacency. They have nothing at stake and they are protected by the presence of their neighborly big brother to the south.
Your selective incidences, taken out of context, twist the truth out of all recognition. Israel would be toast without the US support all these years.
More selected incidences taken out of context and perspective, resulting in an inversion of the truth.
You told me nothing. And I always read before responding.
I’d throw in a pair of my old cotton socks, to sweeten the deal — as a gesture of good will.
It’s not poppycock. “Weak” is not always that easy to define.
Little Czechoslovakia had one of the strongest armies in Europe — as well as an accomplished & thriving arms industry — in 1938.
Ever see a little housecat fight off a pack of hounds all by himself?
It’s because he was on his own turf.
There’s something about territoriality that brings out the scrapper in a defender.
Sadly, Eagle, no.
In 1956, after the Suez-Sinai crisis, Eisenhower pressured Israel out of the peninsula, promising to come to Israel’s assistance, as a guarantor of Israeli shipping, if the Straits of Tiran should ever be blocked again (as they had been in ’56).
On 22 May 1967 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, chief cheerleader & foremost instigator for war, did close the Strait of Tiran to all Israeli shipping and to all non-Israeli shipping bound for Eilat. Said Nasser, “The Strait of Tiran is part of our territorial waters. No Israeli ship will ever navigate it again. We also forbid the shipment to Israel of strategic materials.”
By blockading the Strait of Tiran chokepoint at the southern extremity of the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt intended to cut off Eilat -— Israel’s chief oil port (and her only Red Sea port), the transit point of 30 percent of Israel’s mineral exports and her gateway to sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Ocean and Asia -— this as great numbers of Egyptian and Syrian troops were massing on the borders of the Jewish state.
Throughout this clash, where the repeatedly asserted watchword was to “turn the Mediterranean red with Jew blood,” the aforecited frontline aggressors enjoyed the active assistance, financial and military, of eight other sovereign Arab powers -— including Sa’udi Arabia and Iraq, in addition to the PLO -— together with major backing, munitions and resources from the then-superpower USSR. In promising troops for the planned redoubling of the 1948 annihilation effort, the Sa’udi king, Feisal, had ominously avowed that “every Arab who does not participate in this conflict will seal his fate.”
Pres. Nasser had addressed his country’s parliament with the words, “The problem presently before the Arab countries is not whether the port of Eilat is blockaded, or how to blockade it -— but [rather] how to totally exterminate the State of Israel for all time.” “The liquidation of Israel,” he had announced two years earlier, “will be a liquidation through violence. We shall enter a Palestine not covered with sand, but soaked in blood.”
So Israel, quite naturally, came a-calling to Washington, DC, to pick up that little marker that Ike had given to Ben-Gurion eleven years earlier.
But the Israelis were told [Are you sitting down? If not, then do sit down; go ahead, I’ll wait]:
They were told, “We can’t find the document containing that promise to come to your aid if the Straits are blocked; it doesn’t seem to be in the archives.”
The truth is that “when push comes to shove,” NOBODY is “watching the back” of the Third Jewish Commonwealth except the Eternal One of Israel.
I read it when you wrote it the first time.
? ? ?
Britain abstained from the Partition/Independence resolution in 1947.
Britain aided the Egyptians in the 1948 War. (British-piloted Spitfires were shot down by Israelis over Sinai.)
The USS Liberty — spy ship that was taken out by Israeli navy in 1967 — was apparently passing on vital military intel to Britain, which in turn was giving it to Cairo. (That’s why it was taken out.)
What did I tell you about reading before responding? What I said was that “‘Walking,’ ‘announcing,’ ‘ditto,’ plus 25 cents will not even buy you a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons.”
Poppycock. Even the weakest countries have these.
I appreciated Harper’s sentiments. However, sentiments and intentions are not the same as actual fiscal, military, UN vetoes, moral, immoral and nuclear support.
By jove, is Dweller actually getting it? That’s what the US does, support Israel in defending itself when push comes to shove while watching its back. They have not needed to intervene directly which they stand ready to do, at least after Obama is booted out.
Does Dweller even know that Stephen Harper has not even publicly confronted actual anti-Semitism in his own country even though they do not have full free speech up in Canuckistan, and can charge people with hate speech and other euphimisms of political correctness?
I’m sure Canada would join in if it came to an all out world war against Israel – we know that Britain and Australia always have, at least so far.
Only 25 cents, eh?
(Such a deal!)
Actually if what you say were so, there would be no such things as Foreign Ministries, Departments of State, etc — as there would be no need for them.
Diplomatic acts have their place, and that goes well beyond the mere expression of “sentiment.”
In the end — as always — it gets down to the willingness (and readiness) to spill the enemy’s blood to make one’s point.
THAT’S what has “underwritten Israel’s security for decades.” the rest is perpheral.
This is what I said to Bill Narvey. “Walking”, “announcing”, “ditto”, plus 25 cents will not even buy you a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons. That, too, only since Harper was elected and even though Harper has never used Canada’a hate speech laws against anti-Semitism as far as I know, after pledging to oppose anti-Semitism “no matter what the cost”.
So we really don’t know what Canada would do besides “Walking”, “announcing”, “ditto”, if push came to shove.
However, the sentiments are positive and far better than Yamit’s attempts to weaken the Israeli-American alliance which has underwritten Israel’s security for decades.
Amen.
Canada was the first country to walk out of Durban I.
First country to announce that it would not be attending Durban II.
Ditto Durban III.
It takes stones to get out in front.
MORE…
Quite true — although I’d understood the (military aid) figure to be actually $2.58 B.
Has this figure gone back up in the past decade?
Can you conceive a way around that?
I mean, aside from ramping up defense manufacturing, so as to relieve/reduce the need to procure munitions from Uncle (that goes without saying).
What I’m asking is whether you see a way of transitioning from a conscript base to a professional base, or to some sort of hybrid — in order to get more bang out the defense buck?
I doubt a Hamas mole will understand but, as Israel’s only ally, America has used its influence to reduce the hostility towards Israel in certain key Arab countries. The US taxpayer has underwritten Israel’s security to the tune of $3 billion plus a year for decades now, provided military and intelligence co-operation, protected its interests with UNSC vetoes, pledged to stand with it against nuclear threats, and accepted its role as the Great Satan as a consequence. The vast majority of Americans, mostly Christians, support Israel unconditionally, whereas the vast majority of American Jews do not.
Bill, with all due respect, verbal moral support by Stephen Harper, while welcome and appreciated, is hardly the same as the US guarantee of Israel’s security and survival for several decades now.
This sounds like one of the Yamit – Hamas talking points. Fortunately, it is completely false.
Why don’t you explain what benefits Israel receives in our relationship with America? if you are going to say i am wrong then demonstrate where and how I am wrong.
I wait with baited breath your detailed reply 🙂
On second thought I won’t hold my breath. 8)
WikiLeaks revealed a plot by US State Department officials in Panama to block Israeli defense contractor Global CST from the local market. The plan worked out.
For a mere $3 billion in aid, Israel submits to American economic interests on the world’s arms market. We could gain much more by refusing American aid and selling weapons and defense services to any regime with enough cash to pay us. Our American friends are not only ours. America is also the friend of Wahhabite Saudi Arabia, totalitarian/now Islamist Egypt, the Al Jazeera state of Qatar, Bedouin Jordan, Islamist Kuwait, terrorist Iraq, and just about every other enemy of Israel. Our American friends sell immense quantities of advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia, provide $1.4 billion in annual aid to Egypt, fought for Kuwait, and spent more in Iraq in only four years than they gave to Israel in the last forty years.
The American establishment needs Israel to be in conflict with Muslim states. The states threatened by Israel appeal to the US for protection and arbitration. Such policy doesn’t require the absence of peace treaties between Israel and Muslims. America has it both ways in the case of Egypt: the peacemaker’s laurels for pressing Israel and Egypt into the peace agreement, and afterwards the position of the power broker who arms both Israel and Egypt and oversees their hostile relations. Israel in the eight-mile-wide Road Map borders will be permanently insecure! Any peace agreement with the Arabs would make Israel so narrow that she would not be able to afford war. Only the stupid Jews believe that the US Administration seeks Israels benefit in the peace process.
America and Russia between them are arming every single enemy of Israel. We don’t need American aid, which amounts to 16% of Israel’s defense budget. Rather, we expect our friends not to arm our sworn enemies, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and to refrain from instigating an arms race in our backyard. Israel cannot sustain an arms race with Muslims because dictatorships can funnel larger chunks of their budget into defense spending than a welfare democracy. So far, Israel still spends a larger part of her GDP on defense than any her enemies, but collectively they spend much more than Israel.
Much of Israel’s defense budget is wasted on conscripts, while the Saudis spend mostly on weapons. Iran and Syria buy relatively cheap Russian weapons and procure considerable stocks while spending less than Israel in dollar terms. Saudi Arabia financed the Pakistani nuclear program, and now receives nuclear technology feedback. Pakistan reportedly keeps a number of nuclear warheads in Saudi Arabia.
I would call America less than a friend and certainly no ally.
Bibi must go- It is as simple as that- he would have difficulty running a shoe shine establishment- his Likud collegues regard him with utter contempt – he has managed to make Israel an object of derision world-wide. Let him govern gaza where he belongs. Israel would be much, much better off without him.
AE is right. America is Israel’s friend and ally. That America has ensured it gets full value and sometimes more for the support it gives to Israel has at times been irksome and then some.
Yamit has only focused on the matters that strain Israel’s relationship with America. Friendship and alliances in realpolitik does not have the same nature and character as friendship on a personal level.
On balance, in spite of positions taken by America now and in past that have put American best interests in conflict with Israel’s and made many Israelis and Jews justifably angry, Israel still derives great benefit from its freindly relationship with the U.S.
AE is wrong about America being Israel’s only friend and ally for he ignores that Canada does what it can, given its relatively small population, to be friend and ally of Israel.
No one should doubt or underestimate the value of the current Canadian Harper government to Israel that speaks out publically in defence and support of Israel and has not shied away from calling Israel’s Jew hating enemies antisemitic.
Canada has been the 1st to walk out of the UNGA every time Ahmadinejad has spoken.
Harper lost a seat on the UNSCR earlier this year because he refused to back off his open support of Israel and with that, European nations voted in Portugal, hardly a state deserving of a place at the UNSC table.
Harper also refused to join his colleagues at a G 20 summit a few years back for photos because the G20 wanted him to sign a declaration condemning Israel. He did not back down. The G20 members then modified their statement to not single out Israel for condemnation or dropped that part of the statement altogether. Harper signed the new declaration that was only written because he demanded it and joined the other G20 members for photos in the afternoon.
There have been other instances where Harper stood alone amongst Western nations and took a strong pro-Israel stance. The rest of the Western leaders remained silent.
Name calling is the last refuge of the intellectually limited (slow-witted).
You are a Muslim troll, and You can’t wear me down Achmed.
There is a far better chance that an enemy of the US support for Israel – like Yamit – has an actual name like Mohammad or Ahmed than a staunch supporter of Israel like myself.
We all know that you are already on the same side as Hamas as part of the same anti-American alliance.
Small change only from the POV of a Hamas mole.
As I said above, for any more you will have to wait until Israel becomes a US state.
Every real alliance is in the realm of give and take. For anything more you will have to wait until Israel becomes a US state.
They are still UNSC vetoes that no one else will cast on behalf of Israel.
If it were up to you, you and Hamas would destroy the Israeli-American alliance. Thank God NOTHING in Israel, especially on security issues, is up to a Hamas mole like you.
Of course you would. We have already established that you and Hamas are part of the same anti-American alliance.
Of course they do. You prove that with every word you write here.
Mohamed or is his real name Ahmed, speaks.
If America is a ally I’ll take the enemy. Thanks but no thanks.
,
Small change for us today and only 5 min of Americas growing quadrillion national debt. Maybe we should really thank the Chinese who gives you the money to give to us? The Chinese work velly velly hard for that money unlike Americans. 🙂
Most is in the realm of give and take and we never charged America for our contributions to American Industry and intelligence. I would rather sell the same to the Russians, Indians and the Chinese. Ungrateful Americans. We received the same 3 billion in aid in 1979 as we receive today. When you deduct the inflationary element of the dollar today and the 10 X factor in the cost of American Arms and weapons platforms we receive today in real purchasing power the equivalent of a half billion dollars in 1979 values. Big Deal we can live without and sell what America bars us from selling because of a measly half Billion. One sale is worth to us more than America gives to us with Chinese for digital money not worth the paper it’s not printed on.
UNSC votes much over hyped. First vote against us I would leave the UN and start testing openly our nukes, like a Saudi oil field, a small one as a demo. Wall st. would collapse maybe permanently.
If it were up to me I would begin to play hardball and no little amt of brinksmanship to make and prove a point. That we are stronger and have more cards than you think and America is weaker and has less cards to play than you think.
In a real crisis I take those Jews over you Christians. Blood is thicker than bullshit.
Every nation and every people have their fools and we got our share but if you define sanity in your own self-image you might be right but as they say who are the real morons?
When Yamit says something concerning the Israeli-US alliance is “true” it tells us that it is not true.
The last time I checked the US was Israel’s only ally, and has used its influence to reduce the hostility towards Israel in certain key Arab countries. The US taxpayer has underwritten Israel’s security to the tune of $3 billion plus a year for decades now, provided military and intelligence co-operation, protected its interests with UNSC vetoes, pledged to stand with it against nuclear threats, and accepted its role as the Great Satan as a consequence. The vast majority of Americans, mostly Christians, support Israel unconditionally, whereas the vast majority of American Jews do not.
Most sane Israelis are grateful for American support as its only ally.
You ungrateful, self-centered morons cannot expect anything more unless Israel becomes our 51st. State.
Just wait for that arch terrorist Erdogan , the avid Hamas supporter of old, to deny Israels existence
Then prepare for war!
Bert Said:
Hmmm, I believe I recommended that very book on this website MONTHS ago. Face it, U.S. foreign policy, under the guidance of the right or left has NEVER been that great. We will continue to bully and weaken Israel when ever it is convenient to us, Israel’s needs be damned. Foreign intervention is destabilizing the ME and infantilizing Israel.
The State Dept bureaucracy specifically has had an on-going fantasy about the “romantic Arab persona” — going back to the Wilson Administration — and until the Augean Stables of Foggy Bottom are thoroughly cleaned out (Bolton & Gaffney could do the job), nothing’s going to change in that dept.
Administrations come & administrations go.
But bureaucracies are forever.
@ mike:
True
@ Bert:
True
@ HCQ:
True
as opposed to now where all the neighbors are downright friendly
@ HCQ:
A truly stupid comment. The U.S. has NEVER lifted a finger to oppose efforts by Israel’s enemies. Just read the book The Secret War Against the Jews by John Loftus. America has mutual defense treaties with two dozen countries but nothing with Israel. America ties Israel’s hands repeatedly when it is under attack. The refusal to even recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a constant reminder to the Arabs that the U.S. government still considers Israel’s existence to be temporary.
More interventionism on the way, funded by the U.S. taxpayer, whether we want it or not and whether you need it or not.
If the lefties weren’t doing it the neo cons would be.