Egypt lets Israel use its airspace

By Gil Ronen, INN

Arab news sources reported at week’s end that an unidentified jet believed to be Israeli destroyed warehouses in southern Libya that held weapons bought by Iran for Hamas.

According to the reports in Al Watan and other news outlets, the warehouses were completely destroyed. The weapons that were inside them had allegedly been purchased by Iran, by means of weapons dealers in Sudan and Chad, and were supposed to be smuggled to Hamas through Egypt, by means of the smuggling tunnels between Sinai ands Gaza.

The destruction of the weapons stores in southern Libya was carried out in coordination with the Egyptian security and intelligence apparatuses, the reports claimed.

Al Watan added that Egypt allowed the Israeli jet to pass through its airspace en route to southern Libya.

Declared differences over what was agreed in Lausanne relate to issues such as when sanctions will be lifted and how long enrichment restrictions will apply

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF

Two days after the US-led powers and Iran hailed a historic framework understanding designed to ensure Iran’s nuclear program not enable it to build nuclear weapons, a leading Israeli analyst on Saturday highlighted six gaping areas of discrepancy between American and Iranian accounts of what the agreement actually entails.

Ehud Ya’ari, Middle East analyst for Israel’s Channel 2 News and an international fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, said the six discrepancies represent “very serious gaps” at the heart of the framework accord. They relate to issues as basic as when sanctions will be lifted, and how long restrictions on uranium enrichment will remain in place.
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By Cathy Burke, NEWSMAX

A longstanding alliance between Jewish voters and the Democratic Party no longer appears very durable.

The rift — aggravated by a nuclear deal with Iran and sour relations between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — will likely have political implications in the 2016 elections, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“At this moment in time, many American Jews who have consistently voted Democratic are beginning to waver in that support, because they’ve felt the bedrock relationship between Israel and this administration has been severely shaken,” Rabbi Howard Buechler, of the Dix Hills Jewish Center in New York, told the Journal.
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By Caroline Glick, JPOST

The world powers assembled at Lausanne, Switzerland, with the representatives of the Islamic Republic may or may not reach a framework deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program. But succeed or fail, the disaster that their negotiations have unleashed is already unfolding. The damage they have caused is irreversible.

US President Barack Obama, his advisers and media cheerleaders have long presented his nuclear diplomacy with the Iran as the only way to avoid war. Obama and his supporters have castigated as warmongers those who oppose his policy of nuclear appeasement with the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism.

But the opposite is the case. Had their view carried the day, war could have been averted.
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By Martin Sherman, JPOST

None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see.

– Matthew Henry (1662–1714)

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

– An aphorism of uncertain origins, sometimes attributed to Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

One might expect that any support for a single state among Israeli Jews would come from the far Left… Recently, proposals to grant Israeli citizenship to Palestinians in the West Bank, including the right to vote for the Knesset, have emerged from a surprising direction: right-wing stalwarts… We should watch how this debate develops and engage and encourage it carefully.

– Ali Abunimah, “Israeli Right embracing one-state?” Al Jazeera, August 29, 2010

One of the most astonishing and alarming developments that has emerged from the tumultuous events that have taken place in the Israeli political system in recent years is the dramatic convergence of its two allegedly antipodal extremes.
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David Goldman, PJ MEDIA

Liberals believe that social engineering can bring about universal success; conservatives want to foster individual responsibility and initiative. For liberals, the failure of an individual is a failure of society; for conservatives, individuals should be allowed to succeed or fail on their own merits. There are degrees, of course; most conservatives eschew Social Darwinism or Ayn Rand’s egotism, and most liberals do not believe in the strict application of the Communist maxim, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” But that is the bright line that divides us conservatives from the liberals.
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By Isi Leibler, ISRAEL HAYOM

It is ironic that as we prepare to celebrate Passover, the festival of freedom, we are facing vicious efforts by the vindictive leader of the United States, our greatest ally, who is abandoning us — the only democratic state in a region suffused with barbarism.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is obliged to respond diplomatically to the outrageous provocations directed against him by U.S. President Barack Obama. But we, Israel’s citizens, must rise above political correctness and come to terms with an unpleasant reality.

The president of the United States, the leader of the free world and of Western civilization, is not merely venting his personal frustration against Netanyahu or throwing temper tantrums over the Israeli public’s decision to re-elect him. Obama himself stresses that he is motivated by ideological reasons that can be traced back to the Cairo speech he delivered after his first election victory.
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Head of the IDF Planning Directorate Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer tells Israel Hayom that “Israel will do whatever is best for Israel” if it feels Iran threatens its existence, even if it means defying the U.S. • “Any true partner would accept that,” he says.

Yoav Limor, ISRAEL HAYOM

Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer | Photo credit: Ziv Koren

When asked whether he could feasibly envision a situation in which Israel’s air force bombs an Iranian nuclear facility contrary to U.S. directives, Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer told Israel Hayom that “since it has happened in the past, I have no reason to believe it won’t happen again.”

Sheffer, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Planning Directorate, warned of the perils of the nuclear deal currently being negotiated between Iran and key world powers. “The agreement, the way it is coming together at this time, will not be good for Israel. If ultimately an agreement is in fact signed, we will have to ask ourselves, ‘Okay, what are we going to do with this?’ If someone builds a bomb and at the same time declares that Israel has no right to exist, we have to think about how to respond.”
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Talk is cheap, but meaningless in the Middle East. Look at what they do, not at what they say.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, INN

Analysis of the events that occurred over the last few years in the Middle East, shows that the most powerful, central and influential component of these events is not a verbal one – not speeches, promises, documents and agreements. What counts are actions on the ground and the accompanying threats of violence.

There is no dearth of examples that prove this rule:

Egypt is the most obvious. In June 2012, Mohamed Morsi was elected to the presidency, in the first ever democratic elections held in Egypt. A little over a year later, in July 2013, Defense Minister Abd el Fatah al-Sisi arose and deposed Morsi. The world erupted, Obama reached the boiling point, and the USA froze its military aid to Egypt. Everyone demanded that Sisi put Morsi back in office, but he refused. Then Sisi held democratic elections and won. This week – twenty months after Morsi was deposed – Obama finally realized that his dream of bringing about Muslim Brotherhood hegemony over the entire Middle East has to be put on hold. He phoned Sisi and told him that the US will renew military aid to Egypt. Sisi’s stubbornness paid off in a big way, and the Egyptian general succeeded in forcing his agenda on the President of the United States.
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T. Belman. This article doesn’t make mention of the fact that Israel of necessity, must spend a much higher percent of its budget on defense that European countries spend.

Israel shells out almost a fifth of national budget on defense, figures show
State spending is more than six times what industrialized nations and Arab countries drop, on average; in 2011, defense cost the Israeli economy about NIS 66.8 billion – more than 50% on salaries.

Bank of Israel says GDP per capita 14% lower than OECD average; BoI chief says Israel need NIS 2B rise in tax revenue.

Gad Lior, YNET

When it comes to poverty, social gaps, education and long work hours, Israel, in relation to many Western countries, has a lot of catching up to do, according to the Bank of Israel’s Annual Report for 2014.

The report also notes that GDP per capita and per work hour in Israel is 14 percent lower than the OECD average, and that the gap in labor productivity has not narrowed since the 1970s.
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T. Belman. I agree with Caroline. Managing the conflict is a defensive action and results in Israel’s deligitimation and defamation. We must go on offense and extend Israeli law to either Area C or all of J&S. I remain opposed to giving citizenship to qualified Arabs. That’s why I favour just extending Israeli law to Area C. We should negotiate autonomy over A and B while at the same time induce voluntary emigration. We can always extend it to Area A and B later.

Journalist and writer Caroline Glick says Israel should respond to America’s new policy by applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.

By Yoni Kempinski and Elad Benari, INN

Journalist and writer Caroline Glick, author of the book “The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East”, says Israel should annex Judea and Samaria now, in response to President Barack Obama’s statements that the United States will “re-evaluate” its support for Israel at the United Nations.
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Campaign promise acted on immediately in new bill to have Arab terrorists executed; ‘it is clear to all this law must pass.’

By Ido Ben-Porat, Ari Yashar, INN

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu lost absolutely no time in fulfilling its campaign pledge of a death penalty for Arab terrorists, with the party’s MK Sharon Gal submitting a bill on the subject even as the 20th Knesset was sworn in on Tuesday.

While Israel already has a death penalty on the law books, it has only been implemented once in the case of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, who was put to death back in 1962.

The new bill would alter the law, requiring that those found guilty of murder for terrorist reasons be executed.
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By RON PROSOR, NYT, MARCH 31, 2015

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It was intended to be a temple of peace, but this once great global body has been overrun by the repressive regimes that violate human rights and undermine international security.

In 1949, when the United Nations admitted Israel as a member state, it had 58 member countries and about half had a democratic orientation. Today, the landscape of the organization has changed drastically. From 51 member states at its founding in 1945, the institution has grown to 193 members — fewer than half of which are democracies.
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By Jacky Hugi, al Monitor

Some Israeli politicians express deep satisfaction. Others seem elated about the Saudi attack on Yemen. Should hostility be our natural automatic reflex as Israelis to the Ansar Allah militia, even though we know nothing about it? Ansar Allah is a Shiite faction, which makes it rather obvious that it is yet another franchise of Iran. And if Iran is an enemy of Israel, we can safely assume that any group under its aegis is our enemy, too. We always side with the good guys, and in this case, the good guys are the Saudis.

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by CONRAD BLACK, NRO April 1, 2015

It bears no resemblance to the Nixon–Kissinger opening to China. This is written as the Iran nuclear talks come right up to their March 31 deadline. The vacuum created and quickly enlarged by the American effort to placate Iran at the expense of Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to influence the Israeli election, is being filled more quickly and effectively than could have been foreseen by the agility of the Saudis and the acumen of Benjamin Netanyahu. It is no secret that Obama and his advisers think their overture to Iran is an updated equivalent of the dramatic Nixon–Kissinger opening to China in 1971–72. They even believe they are on a roll of diplomatic breakthroughs, having commenced this stately diplomatic progress by scrapping the official isolation of Castroite Cuba a few months ago.
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Top colonel in missile defense system says Iran upgrading warheads to give Hezbollah pinpoint accuracy in striking Israel.

By Ari Ashar, INN

Smuggled Iranian missiles (illustration)

Prime Minister Netanyahu made a statement today about the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks in Lausanne.

Netanyahu began his statement, quoting an Iranian general who yesterday called for Israel’s destruction, saying, “Israel’s destruction is non-negotiable.”
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Ramallah denies it agreed to postpone legal action in return for Israel’s recent release of tax revenues. But it has no urgent need to act, since The Hague is already examining ‘the situation in Palestine’

BY RAPHAEL AHREN, JPOSTY March 31, 2015,

On Wednesday, April 1, the “State of Palestine” officially becomes a member of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. While some may hail this as a historic event, it changes almost nothing in the contentious relationship between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

The headlines that this purely technical step is sure to produce might trigger a round of Israeli-Palestinian tit-for-tat, which could, in a worst-case scenario, even devolve into a new wave of violence. Yet neither side is currently keen on an escalation. Rather, we can expect to see recriminations and threats, and perhaps even temporary and reversible steps such as Israel re-freezing Palestinian tax revenues and the Palestinians threatening to cancel security coordination.
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By Elad Benari, INN

Support for a “two-state solution” to solve the Israel-Arab conflict is less popular in the United States than it has been in at least two decades, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Tuesday finds.

While the idea still received 39 percent in support and 36 percent in opposition, it is a far cry from past Gallup polling in which a majority of Americans supported the idea (as many as 58 percent in 2003).
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