How Not to Deter Hamas (and Iran)

November 28, 2012

AMERICAN THINKER

By Jonathan F. Keiler

According to Israel's Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, the first purpose of in launching Pillar of Defense, the country's most recent Gaza campaign, was "to strengthen our deterrence." Now that the operation has concluded, there appears to be little confidence in Israel, at least outside of the Netanyahu government troika that negotiated a cease-fire agreement with Hamas, that Pillar of Defense will deter Hamas from much of anything. And looking on is Iran. If Israel can't deter a thuggish terror outfit like Hamas, how is it going deter its larger and infinitely more dangerous sponsor, Iran? One thing is certain, Israel will never, and has never deterred its enemies by launching operations in which the stated goal is deterrence.

It is not that Israel's enemies cannot be deterred. Despite the unending enmity and hatred of the three major Muslim Arab states that directly border it (Egypt, Jordan, and Syria) Israel has, since 1948, emerged as a relatively secure and powerful regional state, increased its population ten-fold, and given its population a standard of living that rivals the most prosperous Western states, and absolutely shames those Arab states in practically every meaningful category of economic success, military power, freedom, and just, effective governance. Egypt, its most powerful enemy, concluded a formal peace agreement three decades ago. Jordan followed suit twenty years ago. Syria, which remains implacable, has nonetheless maintained a truce for nearly 40 years.

But these successes were not won by Israel's pursuit of deterrence. Rather they were the result of four bloody full-scale wars waged between 1948 and 1973. In those conflicts, Israel did not fight to deter its enemies but to defend its borders, seize territory from which the Arabs launched attacks, and destroy Arab armies.

Arab nations were not deterred from war by any deliberate Israeli policy of deterrence but by traditional wars, waged with traditional objectives. Deterrence was just a salutary side effect of actual repeated military success.

Beginning in the late 1970s, facing nontraditional, nonstate enemies, Israel began waging wars of deterrence with much less success. In 1978 and again in 1982 Israel went into Lebanon with the stated purposes of driving back PLO terrorists (and Syrian anti-aircraft batteries), deterring further attacks, and securing Israel's northern border, rather than defeating or annihilating its enemies. The result was that even when the Israelis secured military successes (as at the outset of the 1982 campaign) they were unable to translate them into tangible long-term deterrence. Because neither the IDF nor the Israeli public had been prepared for a war of annihilation against the PLO, the Israeli leadership hesitated at critical junctures, allowing the PLO to escape, and turning early military successes into perceived failures.

Israel persisted in this inconclusive policy against Hezbollah, which replaced the PLO on Israel's northern border. In 1993 (Operation Accountability) and 1995 (Operation Grapes of Wrath) Israel launched standoff air and artillery attacks against Hezbollah without success, but engendering international disapproval when civilian human shields were killed. In 2000, Israel gave up against Hezbollah and pulled out of Lebanon.

This led to the 2006 War against Hezbollah, which though widely perceived as an Israeli defeat, nonetheless has produced a quiet northern border for the past six years. The Israelis made many mistakes during the 2006 campaign, first among them, approaching it from the outset as an operation to retaliate for a Hezbollah attack and compel the Lebanese government to rein in and control the organization. But a few days into the campaign, when it appeared that Hezbollah was not being deterred and that the Lebanese government was unable or unwilling to act, Israel appeared to change its rhetorical tune, with Israeli officers and ministers speaking of destroying Hezbollah -- a traditional military objective.

The true objectives of Israel's 2006 operation are unclear and subject to debate even to this day. It's not certain that Israel's leaders ever had a firm idea of what they wanted to do. However, once Israel reoriented the mission, or mission rhetoric, to destroying Hezbollah, or at least its organization in Southern Lebanon (in fact the new operation was dubbed "Change of Direction"), it seems to have had long-term deterrent effect (although this was not necessarily apparent at the time or shortly thereafter). Like Hamas, Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel until the end of the war, but they have not fired any rockets since.

Israel failed to destroy Hezbollah or even most of its infrastructure in South Lebanon, which allowed Hezbollah to declare "victory" in the war. Despite this, Hezbollah was apparently been deterred. Had Israel escalated more, attacked Syrian supply routes, and pressed the attack further, the results would have likely been better. Still, the Lebanese border has remained quiet for six years now, a nearly unprecedented period in Israel's entire history. Hezbollah's loquacious leader Hassan Nasrallah is judged the ultimate intensity of the Israeli response and has since gone to ground, rarely emerging. The war was a defeat for Nasrallah too.

Still, the IDF's overall performance in the 2006 War was disturbing enough that Israel established the Winograd Commission to investigate the reasons for the campaign's shortcomings, and recommend reforms. One of the commission's findings was that "standoff fires," like the air and artillery strikes that solely comprised Pillar of Defense, were an ineffective tactic for stopping or deterring rocket fire.

When Israel launched Operation Cast Lead four years ago, it combined standoff fires and a ground attack with great success. Indeed, Israel might have easily destroyed Hamas had it pressed its attack for a few more days. Its failure to do so convinced Hamas that Israel lacked the will to destroy it, and Hamas quickly returned to its policy of intermittent rocket fire which finally provoked Pillar of Defense. There is no reason to assume that such a standoff operation, which was castigated by the Winograd Commission, will work to deter Hamas today. Indeed, the reason Hamas launched a dozen missiles right after the "cease-fire" went into effect, was to make just that point.

The only way to deter a radical Islamist organization like Hamas or Hezbollah is to destroy it -- or at least try. Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran will not be deterred by military operations whose stated purpose is to deter. They are not deterred by conventional considerations like casualties, damage, or civilian loss. To win, all they must do is launch one more attack.

A nuclear armed Iran (which seems likely) must be deterred from launching its own attack. Iran will certainly not be deterred if it believes that Israel will hesitate to launch an annihilating attack in return. For Israel, the stakes of letting Hamas fight on another day are greater than whether that organization will be able to launch missiles in the future. It is the message Israeli restraint sends to its most potent enemies.

Since 2006 Hezbollah has rearmed, and in the interim, the deterrent effect of the 2006 campaign will have eroded. Hezbollah and its patron Iran have certainly closely watched Israel's operation in Gaza, and to the extent they perceive a lack of resolve, will test Israel again. Which is all the more reason why Israel's early termination of Pillar of Defense may well come back to haunt it.

Jonathan Keiler's novel of the Holocaust, Upfall, is available for sale at Amazon.com and other online outlets.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/how_not_to_deter_hamas_and_iran.html#ixzz2Db98CxJT

The Noose Around Israel's Neck - by Daniel Greenfield

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Noose Around Israel's Neck

Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 32 Comments

Israel is being hanged on a public gallows erected on the grounds of the United Nations with yards of rope gleefully supplied by the Muslim world. But the hangmen are mostly Westerners who still think that the Muslim lynch mob at their doorstep can be pacified with the death of a single victim.

There are three things you can do when you are about to be hanged. You can walk proudly, recite a glorious line or two to embed your martyrdom in historical memory, and then allow yourself to be hanged. Jews have an extensive body of experience with that brand of martyrdom.

Alternatively you can plead your case all the way to the gallows, arguing that a mistake has been made, that your case has been improperly reviewed, begging for someone to listen and do something. This way also ends in a hanging. But it's the hanging of a slave without even a shred of dignity attached to it. A man that dies pleading with his murderers, and puts his fate in the honesty of the liars and hypocrites whose own crimes makes the worst of his look like virtues, is a craven fool.

Because there is really only one thing you can do when the noose is being placed around your neck. Resist. A noose works by tightening around your neck and cutting off your air or breaking your neck. If you resist the tightening of the noose, you may actually survive. On the other hand if you follow through all the procedures, if you allow your hands to be tied behind your back, and the noose to be fastened around your neck while trusting in the system to do right by you-- your death is inevitable.

For seventeen years Israel has been walking toward the gallows. Its leaders have led it there by the nose ring of international assurances. Its people have been led there by refusing to see what is waiting ahead for them, even while the blood was being cleaned off the streets. Every attempt to reach a peaceful solution, every concession and show of good faith, has only tightened the bonds around its hands and the noose around its neck.

That is because every concession Israel has made, has further restricted not only its ability to defend itself, but even its ability to do basic things such as build residential housing in the capital of its own nation. Every gesture and agreement Israel has signed has bound it to ever more restrictive terms. And none of them have brought any peace. All they have ever done is set the bar higher for the next round of concessions demanded by the enemy and its aiders and abettors in the next phase of negotiations.

This is not a peace process, and it has never been one. It is a public lynching. It is the lynching of a country whose only real crime is that its existence offends the religious fanaticism and prejudices of a billion Muslims, who control much of the world's oil, and whose followers are willing to riot and kill in the streets of nearly every major city in the world at the slightest offense.

The lynching began as a trial where the murderer wore a fine suit and his victim sat in an orange jumpsuit in the dock. Every day during the trial, the murderer would be allowed to leave the courtroom to kill again. And every afternoon he would return to the courtroom with bloody hands that the judge and jurors would pretend not to see. And if the victim dared to call attention to those bloody hands, he would be silenced and told that those murders too were his fault. Hadn't he after all provoked the murderer into committing them?

Now the trial is coming to a close. The farce that the proceedings ever had anything to do with peace is unraveling. And we can thank Hamas and Obamafor that. The endgame is all too clear. The undoing of that "mistake" which allowed the oldest and most persecuted minority in the Middle East to briefly reclaim their homeland from the tyranny of Muslim Caliphs and Sultans. To serve as a homeland for their persecuted brethren from the east and the west. From the south and the north. That mistake.

Every time Israel tries to be accommodating, it instead takes a step closer to the gallows. It allows the noose to be tightened around its neck. And every time that happens, it has to fight harder for air. Eventually if things keep going this way, there will be no air at all. Only a sad forlorn figure swinging in the hot eastern wind from the desert. And cries of Ibtach al Yahood among the rubble of cities and gardens of Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Ariel.

Israel cannot survive by accommodating a lynch mob. Only by having the courage to defy it. When the international community at the behest of the Muslim lynch mob dictates the parameters of Israel's survival, it must expand those parameters by pushing through them to the other side. If they want to recognize terrorists, then kill those terrorists. If they want to unilaterally create a Palestinian state, then annex those territories. Accommodation is a noose. Defiance is the air of freedom. Every time Israel retreats, it is condemned for it. When it advances, it is condemned for it also, but its freedom of action expands.

The world will always condemn Israel regardless of its intentions. But like any form of name-calling, those condemnations only gain power when Israel allows its actions to be dictated by them. Israel is not condemned because of what Israel does. It is condemned because of a diseased pattern of Islamic bigotry, left wing radicalism and international dhimmism converging in one place. This is a pattern of hate that cannot be undone. It can only be ignored.

When you listen to the threats and taunts of those who hate you, you give them power over yourself. If you try to accommodate your behavior to gain their favor, their outpouring of hate for you will only grow. For it is not your behavior they hate, it is you. By showing weakness, you invite attack. By giving your enemies power over you, all that you accomplish is to drive them into a feeding frenzy at your vulnerability. If you go on this way, you will either be a slave or a corpse. A slave if they have any use for you alive. A corpse if they don't. Either way you have put your head into the noose they made for you.

Israel cannot go on this way. No country could for long. Yet it does, marching on toward the gallows, protesting that there has been a terrible mistake here. But there is no mistake here. None at all. The executioners nod sympathetically and promise to look into it, as they bind his hands behind his back. It's a farce and everyone except the dumbest among the lynch mob, and the condemned knows it.

But like the condemned man refusing a blindfold in the anecdote who's scheduled to be executed, Israel keeps being warned not to make trouble. Go quietly. Breathe deeply. Soon it will all be over. What will the world say, if Israel resists? Exactly what the world says now.  The troublemakers that are the cause of all the troubles of the otherwise peaceful nations of the Middle East. The worm in the lovely healthy apple otherwise covered with Muslim tyrannies.

Every threat that has been made has come about when Israel made concessions, not because it refused to. Every time Israel has chosen the high road, its enemies have ambushed it from the low road. It's past time to wake up and start learning some lessons. The noose is drawn. And the nation is gasping for air. That breath of air was Jerusalem. The next one will be the Galilee. And then what? How many more breaths are left after that?

Before Oslo, Israel was threatened with terror if it did not comply. It complied and the terror increased manifold. And if did not negotiate further, it was threatened with international isolation. It negotiated. It gave. And it was isolated anyway. It was threatened with boycotts, and it gave, and the boycotts came anyway. Now they threaten the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Followed by a One State Solution. Followed by international intervention. Noose, gallows and all. And does anyone think that all these will not come about anyway if Israel gives Abbas and his terrorist cronies their own official state with a capital in Jerusalem?

No compromise has worked until now. Which means no compromise will work. A process in which one side repeatedly compromises and the other side repeatedly threatens and takes, is not a process, but a holdup. If a man threatens you with a gun, then you might think that you can buy him off. Until he returns again and again. And then it is no longer a threat, it is a process. Israel is in that process, or rather it is being processed. At the end of the process is death. If you pay attention only to the gun, and not the pattern of threats, you may keep giving in, until you have given up your home, your wife and your children, and you have nothing left but your life. And then you will lose that as well. That is the nature of the process. To survive, you must not see the gun alone, but the process it is part of.

When Israel withdrew fromGaza, allowed Hamas to control it, and did nothing but prevent Hamas from having outside access, the world howled as if Israel had filled the country with graves from end to end, as Sudan or Iran or some of the other members and former members of the UN Human Rights Commissionhave. That is not justice. That is a lynch mob. And what does Netanyahu do in response? Like nearly every Israeli government before him, he backs off. Because given that tidbit the lynch mob will be appeased. It will, won't it. Won't it?

We are no longer talking about negotiations. Or any serious discussion of a state. We are talking about the world rising up in one voice to defend the rights of a genocidal organization whose charter includes the words; "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." The pretense is over and done with. This is not about anything resembling peace. This is about death. This is a lynch mob. Some come willingly. Others think that they have no choice. That a single murder will buy them the tolerance of the Dar Al Islam.

This is what a noose looks like. These are the gallows. As its hands are bound, Israel loses the ability to defend itself. As the noose tightens, Israel dies. Only by resisting the noose, can it survive. Only by fighting to free its hands, can it resist. The way of surrender is the way of death. And after Israel dies, its own hangmen will be next. Because the lynch mob has only begun. Its appetite is whetted by death. Its hunger will only be sharpened by blood, not sated by it. And it will cover the world in blood, if it is not stopped. But now the noose draws tight. Only a little more air is left. What will Israel do with that air? Appeal for justice, or fight with all its strength to rip the noose away. For now the choice is still hers. When the noose has done it work, it no longer will be.

SULTAN KNISH BLOG - DANIEL GREENFIELD

The Ramifications of a Palestinian State

Bee's Note:  The following article was first posted on August 28, 2008.  Professor Beres analysis of a "Palestinian" statehood is relevant this evening - the night before the Palestinian Authority (PLO) Chairman Abbas "seeks recognition by the UN General Assembly to pass a resolution to admit the PLO as a non-member state".  
Please take a moment to read the following:

UN Set to Violate Its Own Rules on ‘State’

Officials: PA Will 'Regret' Latest Statehood Ploy

Canadian PM Personally Intervened to Stop PA Statehood Bid at UN

Abbas Rejects Last Minute U.S. Pressure on UN Bid
Palestinians ‘Peoplehood’ Based on a Big Lie - by Eli E. Hertz

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo by Reuters The Ramifications of a Palestinian State

August 28, 2008  |  Professor Louis Rene’ Beres

With many issues now surfacing in the US presidential campaign, few are more important than the next president's position on "Palestine." To date, neither candidate has been open on this issue. Would one or the other (or both) feel the current president's commitment to a Palestinian state? Significantly, any such continuance would enlarge the terror threat to Western democracies in general, especially to Israel and the United States.

Even before George W. Bush, the formal US mantra had called for a "two-state solution." Yet the official maps of the Palestinian Authority (an authority with no proper electoral basis and no clearly fixed territory) still include Israel only as a part of Palestine.

 This inclusion refers to all of Israel proper - not merely to Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The so-called road map still favored by President Bush offers a devious and ironic cartography. Everything about this plan presumes Israel's disappearance. Not even the irreconcilable and bloody divisions between warring Palestinian factions has diminished the overriding commitment of all of them to Israel's demolition. It is notably ironic, therefore, that the current government of Israel is on record in favor of a Palestinian state. What can Olmert be thinking? From the Oslo agreements onward, prime ministers from Rabin to Olmert have failed to understand that the true struggle with Arab enemies is less about territory than about God.

TODAY, EACH Palestinian faction remains utterly loyal to a strategy for the "liberation of all Palestinian territory." This "phased plan" was first adopted by the Palestinian National Council in Cairo in June 1974. Under it, any Palestinian state would welcome assorted jihadist terror groups, including al-Qaida. Such cooperation is already on full display in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Israel, of course, would be the primary target. Additionally, a Palestinian state would aim to undermine the essential security interests of the US. Most perilous would be the inevitable competition for control of such a fragile and anarchic state by the various Sunni Arab regimes now being armed by Washington, and by Shi'ite Iran, being armed by Russia. Candidates McCain and Obama should be made aware of certain ominous linkages between a Palestinian state and regional war. Here, together with Israel's prime minister, they should also consider plausible connections with nuclear war.

A PALESTINIAN state would have no proper authority under international law. Whatever its mode of self-declaration, any such presumption of Palestinian sovereignty could not satisfy the authoritative expectations of statehood. Candidates John McCain and Barack Obama should understand and acknowledge that every state must satisfy four specific requirements of the 1934 Montevideo Treaty: (1) a permanent population; (2) a defined territory; (3) a government; and (4) the capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Although the PA could satisfy none of these criteria, it will argue otherwise. Almost certainly, this will involve incorrect legal references to "fundamental rights of self-determination and national liberation." The right of statehood under international law is never contingent upon goodness. For better or worse, there are no moral or ethical considerations that must be taken into account in the granting of sovereignty.

This means that the openly declared and indisputable Palestinian goal of Israel's forcible destruction and America's incremental destabilization will have no legal bearing on whether or not a Palestinian state is created. Nor will unending and widespread Palestinian acceptance of violence. International law does not insist on any standard of decency for aspiring states, not even the most rudimentary acceptance of peaceful coexistence. While it is true that such acceptance is required for membership in the UN, the logically prior expectations of statehood are less stringent.

In law, all that matters in establishing statehood are certain identifiable demographic, geographic and political facts. It is these particular facts on the ground, defined at Montevideo - not the codified and far-reaching Palestinian indifference to comity and civility - that would make any Palestinian declaration of statehood illegitimate.

A Palestinian state remains contrary to America's strategic interests, and to the binding claims of both national and international law. Naturally, and notwithstanding the incomprehensible government stance in Jerusalem, such a state would be especially dangerous to Israel. It should, therefore, be rejected by both presidential candidates, and by Israel's next prime minister.

=====

The writer is professor of international law at Purdue, and was chairman of Project Daniel, which presented its final report on Iran to former prime minister Ariel Sharon. He is also the academic advisor to the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies.

This article can also be read at:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1219572133629&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

SOURCE: MYTHS AND FACTS

Symbolism In The Arab/Muslim World

Symbolism In The Arab/Muslim World & Its Intersection With The Islamist-in-Chief’s Mockery Of The Christian Cross…

Commentary By Adina Kutnicki

Immersing in the Arab/Muslim muck is not only otherworldly, it is downright depressing. Filthy too. Needless to say, when serious diggers wade in, some feel the necessity to repair to an immediate shower cleansing. At least this blogger does! The flip side is that she is always scrubbed clean. And if one is lucky enough the stench will lift, albeit temporarily.

In other words, what does the above have to do with the Islamist-in-Chief’s rhetorical finger to the Christian Cross (out of too many other vile/in-your-face gestures), during his recent White House turkey-fest? Everything.

Those in the know understand that symbolism holds a top-tier rung within the Arab/Muslim world. It rules. ‘Honor’/shame too. And this was precisely why Barack HUSSEIN (emphasis on his middle name) did what he did, as he signaled to his two main comrades – radical leftists & Islamists; Christianity’s centrality in America  is (almost) over. Understood?

Therefore, it was also no accident that the Islamist-in-Chief (wifey & kiddies in tow) dressed in black and red, during his inauguration in 2008. Can’t wait to see their dressage this go around. Allah would be proud, as black and red, alongside green and gold, are 2 of the main colors of Black Liberation followers (Rev Wright’s Trinity Church should give us more than a clue), adherents of Nation of Islam too. Muslim nations also adorn them as their symbols. Whoa. Heady stuff.

And this color-based rendition comes full circle, as it leads right to the Commander-in-Chief’s fealty to Sunni Islam; via his Cairo apology tour to the Muslim Brotherhood Mafia with Mubarak nowhere to be found; and his dastardly bow to the Saudi King. Again, symbolism. 

And many of the proofs are contained herein: 

So, connecting the Brotherhood dots starts with his Cairo apology tour - adinakutnicki.com/2012/07/08/connecting-the-brotherhood-dots-courtesy-of-the-us-commander-in-chief-his-islamic-outreach-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki-34-2/.

And in short order the Arab ‘Spring’/Winter/Nightmare began…and ended with a Muslim Brotherhood Mafia operative as Egypt’s Prez! - adinakutnicki.com/2012/08/13/coming-full-circle-the-planned-empowerment-of-the-muslim-mafia-aka-brotherhood-via-egypt-most-populous-arab-country-under-the-guidance-of-barack-hussein-obama-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/ - and if this is accidental…then there are many bridges for sale. Dirt cheap.

Which brings us to the POTUS’s Saudi bow - adinakutnicki.com/2012/09/25/the-ties-that-bind-the-islamist-in-chief-to-sunni-islam-making-sense-out-of-a-potus-bowing-to-a-saudi-monarch-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/ - a complete no-no in US Presidential history. Again, NOT an accident.

Leftist radicals abhor religion like the plaque, except when it comes to their Islamic cohorts; for they too want the Sunday people (as much as the Saturday people) diminished or gone. Hence, they ideologically align – the RED/GREEN alliance.

 Which brings us squarely back to his rhetorical finger.

‘Barack Obama’s open mockery of the Sign of the Cross’

Canada Free Press – Judi McLeod, Editor

It was an open mockery of the Christian prayer that is accompanied by the immortal words used by peasants and kings over the centuries: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.

Obama, who is left-handed,  made the sign of the cross with his left hand, which out of respect for the centuries-long Christian practice, no one ever does.

Obama’s left-handed sign of the crosswas made over a gobbling turkey during the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation Ceremony, that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving, having been resurrected by George H.W. Bush in 1989.

Obama departed from the usual “presidential pardon” granting the turkey a “special dispensation” in words as he twice made his left-handed Sign of the Cross.

There were lots of giggles from the two Obama daughters and lots of gobbling from the turkey recorded during the ceremony now on YouTube.

Clearly using his left hand for all to see, Obama made the Sign of the Cross backwards.

Pagan and fairytale like in concept, beginning in 2005 presidential “pardoned” birds were sent to Disneyland to live, and served as the “honorary grand marshal” of that year’s Thanksgiving Day parade, following concerns raised by animals rights objections that the birds had not survived for long.

“For the previous 15 years they had been sent to Frying Pan Park near Herndon, Virginia. (Wikipedia).  “Names were generally chosen in online votes taken at the White House website.”

“In 2010 and 2011, the turkeys were sent to live at Mount Vernon, the estate and home of George Washington.

“The origins of the tradition of pardoning the White House turkey are unclear.  Many credit President Harry Truman with starting the informal and lighthearted tradition in 1947.  However, the Truman Library says that no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs or other contemporary records are known to exist that specify that he ever “pardoned” a turkey.  The Eisenhower Presidential Library saysdocuments in their collection reveal that President Dwight Eisenhower ate the birds presented to him during his two terms.  President John F. Kennedy spontaneously spared a turkey on Nov. 18, 1963, just four days before his assassination, but did not grant a ‘pardon’.

“Presidential pardoned turkeys are to be are raised in the same fashion as turkeys designated for slaughter,  but are selected “at birth” for pardoning and are trained to handle loud noises, flash photography and large crowds.  Because most Thanksgiving turkeys are bred and raised for size at the expense of longer life, they are prone to health problems associated with obesity such as heart disease, respiratory failure and joint damage.  As a result of these factors, most of the pardoned turkeys have very short lives.  After their pardoning, frequently dying within a year of being pardoned.”

Why Obama would choose the Thanksgiving Turkey Ceremony to mock the Sign of the Cross two weeks after his reelection is anybody’s guess.

But many will be asking is making a left-handed Sign of the Cross amid giggles and gobbles a mockery only a Muslim would make?”

www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/51246

This American-Israeli, Jewish blogger is perfectly aware of America’s Judeo-Christian underpinnings. She knows her history (American, Middle Eastern & western civilization’s) well. Thus, she is fully cognizant that America has always been a primarily Christian majority/based nation, up until a few decades ago.

And it is this awareness which renders her frightened for its future. For once a wayward Commander-in-Chief – Islamist/Radical to boot – dares to dislodge Christianity from America’s roots (ever since he disgraced the People’s House, from 2008 onward), the nation of the Founding Father’s will, sooner than most realize, be a dead letter. Chilling.

This should send shivers down every American’s (other westerners too) spine, or so it would seem.    

Adina Kutnicki

Johnny Cash - Thanksgiving / I Thank You

Israel vs, Gaza: The Last Seven Days .. (videos included)

November 15, 2012

PM Netanyahu's Statement on Israel's "Pillar of Defense" (Pillar of the Cloud)

and, just seven days later, we read from USA Stands with Israel's:

News Up Date to you all from Israel:

Ceasefire:

Mofaz: Deterrence not restored.

Government's decision to end Operation Pillar of Defense draws harsh criticism from MKs. Lapid says goals not achieved, National Union's Ariel calls truce 'embarrassing capitulation'.

Labor Party chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich, who backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout Operation Pillar of Defense, also expressed her support for the ceasefire with Hamas, which went into effect at 9 pm Wednesday.

"Let's hope that the justified goals that were set before the operation have actually been achieved," she said.

However, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid and several other politicians leveled harsh criticism at the government's decision to agree to a ceasefire. "The truce comes at the worst possible time and before the goals set by the government itself had been achieved," he said.

"After it was promised that Hamas would be eliminated and that we would not negotiate with it, the State of Israel negotiated with Hamas and failed to eliminate it," said Lapid. "The government displayed weakness and hesitance in the implementation of its goals after promising complete calm to the residents of Israel."

Haim Ramon, who served as vice prime minister during Operation Cast Lead some four years ago, also criticized the ceasefire. "Unfortunately, it is obvious that this operation did not achieve its goals – when the main goal was to end the suffering of a million and a half citizens," he told Ynet.

Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz blasted the decision to announce a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that "the operation's goals haven't been met. It's only a matter of time before the next round occurs. This is not how you end a battle against terrorism."

Mofaz claimed that "the operation shouldn't have been stopped at this point. Hamas is empowered and deterrence hasn't been restored. Hamas has the upper hand."

National Union Chairman Uri Ariel said that the Israeli ceasefire announcement was "a lame display that unsuccessfully attempted to excuse the embarrassing capitulation of the Netanyahu-Lieberman government."

The Knesset member said that "the residents of Israel feel betrayed, and they know that they will have to experience the government's hesitance on their own flesh."

#  #   #

BEE'S NOTE:
THE INK ISN'T DRY FROM WHATEVER "AGREEMENT" WAS MADE BETWEEN THE  PARTIES AT THE MEDIATION TABLE IN CAIRO, AND ALREADY, THE TRUCE HAS BEEN BROKEN BY HAMAS! SURPRISE, SURPRISE!  AMAZING THAT THE WEST KNOWS BETTER THAN TO MAKE AGREEMENTS WITH TERRORISTS, AND YET WE HAVE FORCED/DEMANDED OF ISRAEL WHAT THE WORLD WOULD NOT DO IF IN THE SAME SITUATION.

Stunner… Hamas Fires Twelve Missiles Into Israel an Hour After Ceasefire …Update: 20 Missiles Fired - Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 5:07 PM  on THE GATEWAY PUNDIT

All we are saying, is give peace a chance…Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire today.It took Hamas about an hour before they started shooting off missiles into Israel.

DRAMATIC PHOTO OF IRON DOME INTERCEPTING ROCKET FIRED ON ASHDOD AFTER CEASEFIRE TONIGHT 13 ROCKETS EXPLODE AFTER 9:00

More… 12 ROCKETS EXPLODE IN ISRAEL FROM GAZA HOUR AFTER CEASEFIRE
UPDATE: Make that 20 missiles fired by Hamas since the so-called ceasefire.
An 11 year-old was injured in one attack. 

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What is the story behind the conflict between Hamas/Gaza and Israel?  See video (below):

AND, What is Hamas and who are the people called "Palestinians"?  Who are these terrorists?! Again, let us watch the following video:

And, so it goes in the Middle East, among the Press/Media, and world leaders who now enjoy taking credit for bringing "peace in the Middle East" ... "credit" and a "peace" that will not last as long as the pen and ink are dry on whatever agreements were made in Cairo. Protecting terrorists and making deals with terrorists cannot be expected to last - a terrorist organization, Hamas, lives to kill Jews and destroy the nation Israel. Read their Charter to understand their goal is not peace with Israel - they, like their proxy Iran, reject the right for the Jews and Israel to exist. Iran built this mess, and Iran has many unknown "backers" that honor evil, while rejecting the nation Israel. How's that going to work out for this old world .... stay tuned, We will know soon enough!

Bee Sting

Thanksgiving Day: Thank you, Israel

Music plays in my home, throughout the day, no matter what I am busy doing; this particular video's music is very light, brings cheerfulness to the soul and what a great way to bring a heart to a point of "Thanksgiving". I think that through tears, our hearts count our blessings and that has been this year, for me, often. It's been a rough year, a year of disappointments and then, suddenly, like the blooms on the flowers you see here, life became so beautiful, refreshing, and new! I thank you, dear friends, for your kindness and many E-mails that were so encouraging; I thank the Lord for my family; for the roof over my head and the warmth inside; and this year, in particular, I want to thank our dear friends living in Israel. What a blessing to see the people and my personal friends in Israel, under fire from rocket attacks and bombings, never give up. What an amazing attitude and strength you demonstrate to the world and, to those who love you! I wish each and everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, and even to those who do not celebrate this holiday, because every day is thanksgiving in their hears and souls.  Bee Sting

No Ceasefire, My Son, Finish the Job!

THE JEWISH PRESS

This past year, the government of Syria has slaughtered 50,000 truly innocent civilians. Does the world give a damn? No.

By: Tzvi Fishman

Published: November 19th, 2012

Israeli soldiers along the border are preparing their tanks for a possible ground operation inside the Gaza Strip.
Photo Credit: Gili Yaari/ Flash90 

Dear Son,

It was good speaking with you and hearing that you are in excellent spirits. Please call home from time to time when you can. And try to fill your free time with Torah learning. We are told that Joshua was reprimanded by the angel in charge of the armies of Israel for neglecting to study Torah during breaks in the battle. We are the Nation of the “Safra and Sefer,’ the Sword and the Book. When we engage in battle, we give 100% to the fight. But whenever we have free time, the obligation to meditate on the Torah day and night returns in full measure. I know, it isn’t easy in your present situation, not knowing when the order to enter Gaza will come, but Torah study is as important as cleaning your rifle and making sure that your machsaniot are all loaded with bullets.

For the meantime, I will try to send you a Torah thought each day. I noticed an abridged “easy reader” copy of ‘Robinson Caruso” in your room, and remembered you saying that you wanted to improve your skills in English, so I’ll write these letters in English, and that way you can learn Torah and improve your English at the same time.

If you have access to a radio, I’m sure you are hearing a lot of talk about the supreme effort of the Israeli Air Force not to injure “innocent civilians.” You already know what I think about that. We are not engaged in a match of badminton. This is war. The Hamas isn’t merely a handful of terrorists. Gaza is a terrorist state. The people living there identify with Hamas and with its constantly vocalized oath to destroy Israel. They “voted” Hamas into power. Hamas and all of the citizens of Gaza seek our annihilation. This is a war of state against state.

But let me remind you of another interesting point. This past year, the government of Syria has slaughtered 50,000 truly innocent civilians. Does the world give a damn? No. Has anyone seriously ordered Assad to stop? No. The world, even the Arab world itself, really doesn’t care that tens of thousands of innocent Arab civilians are being slaughtered in Syria. But when Israel kills a few “innocent” Palestinians bystanders in Gaza who were watching terrorists fire a missile toward your grandparents in Ashkelon, then all of the world in cries out unison, from the U.S. State Department, to the United Nations, and the leaders of Russia, England, and France.

Suddenly filled with compassion for the innocent Arab victims, they all immediately hold emergency press conferences, and warn Israel not to escalate the conflict by daring send in ground troops in Gaza to uproot the terror, lest there be more civilian casualties. What hypocrisy! Are the Arabs in Gaza any different from the Arabs in Syria? Why is the world silent when Assad kills 50,000 innocent civilians, and suddenly aghast in a hysterical uproar when Israel kills a handful of “innocents” who just happened to be hanging around a rocket launcher?

Their double standard is so opaque! So now, my boy, I want to let you in on a secret that I want you to pass on to all the guys in your platoon. What’s the real reason that the Egyptians, and the British, and President Barak Hussein Obama don’t want our troops to go into Gaza and finish the job of erasing this evil incarnate from the world? It isn’t because they suddenly love innocent Arabs, believe me.

The answer lies in the Torah portion we read on Shabbat. Already in Rivka’s womb, Esav was trying to kill Yaacov. As Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai has ruled, the halachah is that Esav hates Yaacov. To further its own interests, America is willing to back us, up to a point. But to let us go all out and destroy Hamas completely, once and for all – “No no no no no!” they shout. Stop! Suddenly they, and everyone else, are worried about “innocent civilians.”

Yes, my precious, son, you are fighting to stop the missile fire on our country and to protect fellow Jews. But, as I have previously written, you are fighting for something much more. You are a soldier in the army of Hashem, fighting against the darkness and evil in the world which seeks to snuff out God’s light. The nations of Esav and Ishmael know who we are. They know that Israel is God’s Chosen Nation, endowed with the Divine task of bringing the truth of God’s Kingship to the world.

They know that the Nation of Israel, in its return to Eretz Yisrael, is not just another country in the Middle East, but the reborn Nation of the Bible which has come to herald a new era of justice and morality in the world. In order to stop this from coming to pass, just like the armies of Pharaoh, Amalek, Greece, and Rome, did in our past, the forces of darkness today, rise up against us in all kinds of alliances and guises, Ishmael and Esav together, some outwardly barbaric like Hamas and its bloodthirsty partners whose only goal for the world is to destroy the Jews; and others who dress in civilized Western garb and speak pompous slogans and empty speeches, mentioning God on their lips but forgetting him in their hearts.

Make no mistake. The Arab world and the Western world are the same Ishmael and Esav of old. The daggers of Ishmael we know only too well. But sometimes the gentlemanly smiles and handshakes of Esav fool us into thinking that he has forgotten his murderous gripe of the past, how we, Yaacov, were awarded the birthright, not him, and how Israel was eternally chosen to be His children, not to conquer the world, but to uplift it by bringing humanity to recognize the one and only true Divine Ideal. But today, we saw it clearly that Esav’s hatred for us still festers in his heart, as one country after another, America, Britain, France, Germany, Russia… all loudly insisted that you and your saintly brothers, soldiers in the army of Hashem, not step one foot in Gaza.

When Israel rises up to eliminate evil from the world, the United Nations of Darkness jump up and scream out no! Stop! Let Hamas live! Not because of their love for innocent civilians as they self-righteously declare. The ongoing slaughter in Syria has exposed that pathetic charade. The reason they want you to stop is because they don’t want the great light of Israel to shine in the world. They don’t want God in the world. They want to continue on with their world domination, with their global exploitation, with their greediness, adultery, and lip service to God. Santa Claus, yes. Christmas songs and sleigh bells, yes. Allah, yes. But the true Kingdom of God which Israel represents, and which we are gradually bringing back to the world with our miraculous rebirth as a proud Jewish Nation in Israel, in glorious fulfillment of Prophecies of old – no longer the disgraced and outcast Jew of the past, but the mighty lion of Judah – in their inner hearts, they rightly sense that this incredible Redemption of the Jewish People in Israel is a sign of their demise, the end of their false religions, immoral cultures, and self-serving creeds.

They know that this is the end, this is the end, this is the end. And this they cannot allow. So they rise up in unison, Ishmael and Esav together, and urgently send envoys and special United Nations delegations to Israel to force us to stop before you and your brave and holy comrades enter Gaza and crush out the terrible cancer and festering evil that is hiding cowardly in mosques, schools, hospitals, family houses, and a labyrinth of underground tunnels that is the closest thing in this world to Hell.

But the God of Israel will not lie. He has decreed that His Kingdom will be established over all of the Earth, and He chosen the State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces to do it, to establish true goodness and true justice in the world for all peoples, by wiping out the darkness which seeks with all of its strength to prevent God’s light from shining.

Be strong my son. Keep the faith. Let Shema Yisrael be your battle cry. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One!”

We love you.

Abba

About the Author: Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Creativity and Jewish Culture for his novel "Tevye in the Promised Land." For the past several years, he has written a popular and controversial blog at Arutz 7. A wide selection of his books are available at Amazon. The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of The Jewish Press