Divining the News (DTN)

What’s in a title?

I wrote just now that many on the left believe that Israel destroyed the idea of the Jewish state with Gaza. This is the intellectual news of Gaza. As the center tries to hold on to what is left of the two-state solution (and certainly I will support the center if it comes up with some fair solution on those lines), Gaza has revealed a very dark side of Israel to the progressive coalition of which I am a part. Several important writers are saying, directly, or in effect: Israel is committing suicide.

Daniel Levy shocked me when he used that expression in a phone call organized by Brit Tzedek 2 weeks ago. Deeply upset by Gaza, with a tremulous voice, Levy said that the mainstream American Jewish lobby was “driving Israel toward national suicide.” It was an electrifying quote, and I am still seeking the transcript to understand exactly what Levy meant. (I was taking notes by hand). –more–

Iran gets louder, fills the void …

Hezbollah geared up for Israeli ‘surprise’
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:20:14 GMT

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem

The Lebanese Hezbollah has warned that it is prepared to counter any Israeli action, saying Tel Aviv remains a threat to the Middle East.

“Hezbollah is prepared and ready for any surprise. We have experts and trainers. As long as Israel exists in the region, it poses a threat to Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the entire region,” said Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem in an interview with Orange TV late Wednesday. more

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‘Arabs switched sides to Gaza too late’
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:03:49 GMT

Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah (L, front) at the Arab summit, Kuwait City, Jan. 20

An Iranian official slams Arab leaders for changing sides and supporting Gaza only after losing hope in Israel’s ability to achieve its goals.

“Certain Arab states changed their tune in the last days [of the war] when they lost their hope in witnessing Israeli attacks end the way they desired. It was only then that they held a meeting, where they tried to show that they were supporting Hamas,” Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in a Wednesday afternoon speech in Tehran. More

Olmert is saying Israel’s neighbors are unpredictable.

Speaking four days after the end of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Olmert said “I hope the quiet will continue for a long time… [but] we live in a severely uncertain region, we have neighbors whose responses can’t be anticipated.” Source

What is Olmert talking about?

There is Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt on the frontline.

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Israelis are crying out they can conduct their own war crimes investigations.

Gaddafi is calling for a one state solution.

They’re the headlines I remember from today’s israeli press before my phone credit vanished.

And the blockade continues. As does the bewilderment of the continuing Gazan tunnels.

Change is beckoning. The leaders are accustomed to guiding their people primarily through the media. And the people trust their rulers, they have till now felt the rulers knew best. They grew up knowing their country was born from the ashes of the holocaust. It is a highly structured disciplined society, everyone has been through the military. Everyone sacrifices for the state.

There’s a minority who look at kadima Labour and Likud with despair. The majority not. Bush has gone and there seems to have been a last push to satisfy the Neocons.

It is all pretty dire. This post is a shaggy dog story, just like the inertia Israel finds itself in. No way through, no goal in sight. Totally governed by a need for security. All decisions are based on security considerations, all necessary because of an unjust philosophy.

A child never forgets its parents. A subject never forgets his or her country. But looking at Israeli policies you could be forgiven for thinking they feel it is fragile.

What about the logistics? 1/ Tunnels, 2/ One or Two states, 3/Hegemony,

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Non jews are not going to try jews - screenshot from: http://aurionmission.blogspot.com/2009/01/hague-tribunal-starts-for-idf-israel_20.html

The screenshot above is not from Haaretz

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Last update - 01:36 22/01/2009   Haaretz Editorial

Investigate now

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The questions are plentiful and troubling: the mass killing of civilians, among them 300 children and 100 women; the shooting at medical crews; the use of illegal munitions against a civilian population, including white phosphorus shells; the prevention of the evacuation of wounded; bombing and shelling of schools, hospitals, supply convoys and a UN facility. These questions cannot remain unanswered. The suspicion that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza is liable to cause it great damage.

This is precisely the moment at which Israel needs to preempt the others and investigate itself. It is impossible to ignore what has already been reported, and one must not leave the task of investigating solely to foreign bodies, some of whom are hostile. Israel also needs to ask itself what was done in its name in Gaza. Were deeds that are never to be done, even in a time of war, perpetrated? Has the IDF crossed the line according to international law? –more–

This authour is a legend for a liberal view point. He writes for Haaretz, the Israeli Newspaper, and maybe many visitors to the website only go to see what he has written. He seems to write articles 2 or 3 times a week.

He was also critical of the war, in the middle of it.

Obviously he is not the average israeli.

Last update – 04:19 22/01/2009 By Gideon Levy

On the morrow of the return of the last Israeli soldier from Gaza, we can determine with certainty that they had all gone out there in vain. This war ended in utter failure for Israel.

This goes beyond the profound moral failure, which is a grave matter in itself, but pertains to its inability to reach its stated goals. In other words, the grief is not complemented by failure. We have gained nothing in this war save hundreds of graves, some of them very small, thousands of maimed people, much destruction and the besmirching of Israel’s image.

What seemed like a predestined loss to only a handful of people at the onset of the war will gradually emerge as such to many others, once the victorious trumpeting subsides.

The initial objective of the war was to put an end to the firing of Qassam rockets. This did not cease until the war’s last day. It was only achieved after a cease-fire had already been arranged. Defense officials estimate that Hamas still has 1,000 rockets.

The war’s second objective, the prevention of smuggling, was not met either. The head of the Shin Bet security service has estimated that smuggling will be renewed within two months.

Most of the smuggling that is going on is meant to provide food for a population under siege, and not to obtain weapons. But even if we accept the scare campaign concerning the smuggling with its exaggerations, this war has served to prove that only poor quality, rudimentary weapons passed through the smuggling tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

Israel’s ability to achieve its third objective is also dubious. Deterrence, my foot. The deterrence we supposedly achieved in the Second Lebanon War has not had the slightest effect on Hamas, and the one supposedly achieved now isn’t working any better: The sporadic firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip has continued over the past few days.

The fourth objective, which remained undeclared, was not met either. The IDF has not restored its capability. It couldn’t have, not in a quasi-war against a miserable and poorly-equipped organization relying on makeshift weapons, whose combatants barely put up a fight.

The heroic descriptions and victory poems written abut the “military triumph” will not serve to change reality. The pilots were flying on training missions and the ground forces were engaged in exercises that involved joining up and firing weapons.

The describing of the operation as a “military achievement” by the various generals and analysts who offered their take on the operation is plain ridiculous.

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Cause they were doing something right! If they were doing something wrong it wouldn’t have lasted eight minutes!

Now it’s all wrong.

If the Gaza experience is the indicator of Israel’s powerbase, then we can expect an attack on Iran or Syria.

No lessons were learned from Lebanon or Georgia. And nothing in Israel changed after them, just a couple of faces.

Faced with a reluctant west, the possible loss of Jordan, Israeli rulers – all the same people from the past, will go it alone again.

Nixon went to China, Sadat came to israel, now its time for Assad, Nasrallah, Masaal and Ahmadinejad. Let the settlers live under them.

The alternative is going it alone. America actually hasn’t been there anyway. Remember Hizbollah took over beirut in 6 hours. Another no backup scenario. That’s the product of the current logic. And it shows no sign of changing.

Livni, Barak and Bibi – speechless

A nation led by plans – what plans!

Is money just a means to power. Can’t we have power without money. The money factor is erasing any meritocracy. The money factor is simply favoritism.

Like meets like whether there is money involved or not. Now the policies pursued are financed by speculators. Maybe not the right mix.

Jews also care about sentimentality and the family. Noble causes. There is such a drive for a unified jewish culture it is truly effective. Couldn’t we go the way of Ron Paul? Get some outside help. Or has it got to be NWO stuff, with all the consequent tension and oppression.

Countries and cultures have revolutions. Peaceful ones. Shedding dogmas is often required. How many more bailouts till bust?

And the Palestinian issue won’t go away. First requirement is an acknowledgment that the last eight years have been a fiasco. No doubt the roots of it started before. But we need to denounce the past policies. After that there is great hope.

These are threatening times. The best way forward is to face the threats, patchworking the old ain’t going to work.

Gorbachev was also slick. Whether world jewry keeps its influence or not is not the most important thing.

The crisis feels close. Fear comes beckoning. We’ve always known our superiors lead us safely. So a voice from the wilderness is not welcome.

Yet we are all locked together. When a voice is right it is just saying a product of the many.

What is going to arise from the ashes? More of the same has a limited life span. We can transform. All of us humans, all of us jews.

Being constructive is the need of the hour.

For the jews that can disassociate from Israel, they will. They will say America first. But many of us are under Israel’s thumb.

And the Israelis haven’t wanted any Uri Avnerys. The power base has its alliances. And the motto is: keep your head down. Alas the world is unhappy. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Where are the jewish brains for productivity? For the environment? For nature?

The military is slipping, the will and consent is, and there are some phyrric lucrative gains, but they are short term.

Heard an interview on the radio with a Rothschild who went into organic farming. mmmmm