Kerry Sides With Palestinians-A Mistake to Ask for Jewish Recognition

Nadene Goldfoot                                                              

  
Yasser Arafat (1929 in Cairo, Egypt- 2004)  started Fatah and then became the chairman of the PLO.  He fought against Israel all his life as well as having fought against Jordanians and Lebanese forces at other times.

Arafat married Suha in 1990.  She was able to receive from him $100,000 monthly.  $1.27  million from Switzerland went  to Paris for her.  Arafat had diverted $900 million to a special account for himself.  He had estimated his personal wealth at $300 million.  This must be why Fatah has no money and must get gifts from the other Arab states.  Even so, they have not been able to pay their utility bills to Israel who supplies them even while Hamas is raining down missiles, mortars and rockets on Israel and Fatah remains belligerent with the occasional deadly attacks on Israelis. What they manage to do is continue their education on their population of hatred for the Jews, TV programs teaching hate to the children, and geography lessons showing only Palestine and not Israel.

By 1994 was the Oslo accords.  Israel, for the sake of peace, recognized the PLO and made this terrorist group legitimate.  Unfortunately they did this right away instead of testing to see that "its deeds were consistent."   In return, Arafat recognized Israel, but not as a Jewish state.  He renounced terrorism, but it still continues in the hands of Hamas, which is a branch that broke off from Fatah.  Arafat made a promise to revoke the provisions of its covenant that calls for the destruction of Israel which Hamas still has and is following to the letter.
                                                                         

Last Thursday, March 13th, John Kerry told Congress that he thought it was unnecessary for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a "Jewish" state and even said that this was a mistake for the Israelis to ask this of them.  He then said that Arafat had agreed that Israel would be a Jewish state and did this in 1988 and 2004.  This is not the case.

Even the US administration then felt that Arafat didn't satisfy their goal of his recognizing Israel's right to exist.  In 1988 what he said doesn't even come close to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.  Toward the end of 1988, they tried to start a diplomatic dialogue between the PLO and USA.  Secretary of State Henry Kissinger then required the PLO to recognize Israel, accept UN 242 and renounce terrorism needed for any talking between the parties.

Arafat never issued a clear declaration recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.  He just summarized #181 and the US government said that Arafat's speech didn't meet the demand of recognizing the State of Israel.  So there was no meeting between the USA and the PLO then.

It was Tzipi Livni of Israel who insisted that "declared references must be made to Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State" in her official response to the 30 April 2003 Roadmap.

Kerry's remarks are copied from the Palestinian side and not the remarks of a mediator.  If Ambassador Alan Baker, Israel's ambassador to Canada, can explain the USA attitude taken at the time of the Oslo Accords, why couldn't Kerry's group of researchers?  Anyone that has followed or understands Israel's position would know the history involved and that the Palestinians have never recognized the state of Israel to be Jewish.  This is the crux of the matter between the two people. That's why Israel was asking for it.   If they were not a Jewish state they could then flood the country with Muslim Arabs and get away with it legally.  Israel would be dead.  It would then be renamed as Palestine.  Remember, without this recognition, there will not be an end to hostilities from the Palestinians.

Resource:  http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=63463  Amb. Alan Baker
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs [mailto:briefmail@list-jcpa.org]
Subject: Arafat and the Jewish State: Setting the Record Straight - Alan Baker Vol.14 No.6
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arafat.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2014/0317/Israel-s-Jewish-state-demand-Why-Netanyahu-and-Abbas-can-t-agree-video

Two Strikes: Kerry's Siding with PA Arabs Plus Lifting Sanctions on Iran

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Our friends, the USA, are acting might unfriendly.  Israel has been hit with seeing John Kerry, negotiator, whose job it is to be fair with both sides,   to side with the PA Arabs against Israel.
                                                                               

This was shown by Kerry's visit to Israel this past month as the facilitator which turned out to be  a diplomatic disaster.  He wound up threatening Israel with a 3rd intifada which in reality gives the Arabs the green light to go ahead and act upon it.  Not only that, but he pledged over $75 million in financial support to the Palestinian Arabs. This was Friday, November 8, 2013 when he spent all of 2 hours and 15 minutes talking with Netnayahu.   The USA are not the only ones to have done this throughout the past 65 years, of course, and the Arabs are still in the red without a state as it is.
                                                                       

The main worry for Netanyahu is Iran and the possible A bomb intended for his tiny country.  This is not paranoia but real reasons for worry, since Iran is the loudest and filthiest in verbal threats on this Jewish state. Israel and Jews have been called everything from viruses to pigs and apes verbally and threatened over and over to be destroyed by them.  Iran has been working day and night to create the uranium capabilities despite the UN interference of trying to see what's going on.  They would be the 3rd country to try to develop nuclear capabilities aimed to destroy Israel, so there's more than enough reason to worry about it.  .
Obama has been working to lift sanctions for the past 5 months on Iran which has been damaging their economics meant to talk them into allowing inspectors in and to not manufacture the needed uranium for bombs.  Iran thinks they can get away with saying it's all for medical things, but the world is a little smarter than that.  We know their intentions, and have heard them all loud and clear.  Obama's people have not made a deal  with Iran to stifle their ongoing deadly progress and neither has Obama had Congressional approval to lift these sanctions that were set in place but Kerry has gone ahead and has done it.  .

Now Barack Obama refuses to answer the phone calls from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu even though Netanyahu has called him many times.  This source is from Kuwaiti News Al-Jarida.   This nuclear Iran is not something Israel can  live with, and neither can  some  Muslim Middle East countries either, as this is a power play that threatens all of them.  This Israel-USA difference threatens the already sensitive alliance they thought they shared.

Obama  warned Congress against further sanctions on Iran  just last Thursday and said that a deal in the works could prevent the "unintended consequences" of war. That must be the 5 month stall to see if Kerry's team can come up with something.   Obama added that they are pursuing diplomacy so they don't want to add new sanctions on top of sanctions that are already effective that brought Iran to the table in the first place. Actually, according to new reports, key conditions for Iran's relief from sanctions had already started 5 months ago.  Kerry has added his jibe with his direction to Republican senators " to ignore anything the Israelis say about the issue."   Really?  Just ignore their fears and why?

Netanyahu, however, is speaking out and urging world leaders to avoid this deal for the sake of Israel and international safety from a nuclear Iran.  Though Israel agrees with a diplomatic fix over any other options, they want a real diplomatic solution that will dismantle Iran's military nuclear capabilities.

Netanyahu feels that the proposal on the table is a bad deal.  It leaves Iran with nuclear capabilities for military use and provides it with a lot of easing of sanctions.  The other danger is that it gives Iran legitimacy to be a nuclear threshold state.  That goes against the whole international community.

This was said at the Bloomberg Fuel Choices Summit. At least  Russia's President Vladimir Putin will be visiting Netanyahu to talk about Iran and preceding him will be France's President, Francois Hollande.

The American congress is not in agreement with Kerry.  They are for preparing more sanctions against Iran to bring about the dismantling, and Kerry, of course, feels that more sanctions would break apart nuclear talks with Tehran.  I ask, what good are talks if they're not ready to come around to giving up their desire to have an A bomb?  Is this what our gasoline money has been paying for?   I would be all for buying gas from Saudi Arabia or another country not involved with the A bomb creation.

Naftali  Bennett and Jewish Home members rallied US support for the Israeli viewpoint while US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, has tried to win over Israeli public support to the USA side.  A poll shows that most Israelis believe Netanyahu's viewpoint and would back a strike on Iran even if they have to go it alone.  The fear of Iran with nuclear power is greater than anything.  It would mean their immediate destruction with one bomb dropped.  That's all it would take.  One cannot live with such a constant threat.  We've reached the ultimate point.

Iran did halt their uranium enrichment process from August to November but that was only for maintenance purposes.  They are now able to do the needed conversion faster.  "Iran says it is refining uranium to produce energy. But its refusal so far to scale back its nuclear program and open it up to unfettered IAEA inspections has drawn tough sanctions that have severely damaged its oil-dependent economy."

Whatever did Obama mean when he said that he had Israel's back?  This American saying has always meant that 2 friends will protect each other.  Has this been misinterpreted by Israel?  I think the trust that Israel had in the USA has been shaken.  What gets to me is how can Obama feel safe with such a threat in the world?  It wouldn't take much to pass that power onto countries closer to the USA and threaten it as well.  Anything is possible today with enough money being the bait.  Ethics and morality is something almost forgotten.

Now, one thing more.  It is not known whether Israel has atomic facilities or an A bomb, but it has been in existence since May 14, 1948 and has never threatened any country with one or has never used an A bomb though it has been in many wars during it's creation and since then.  It has had to take the bull by the horns and wipe out a nuclear reactor Osirak  outside of Baghdad, Iraq on June 7, 1981 in Operation Opera.  They were criticized for it, but again, that was a regime that was threatening Israel's existence.  They hit the  reactor, not the people.  Then again on September 6, 2007, Israel's Operation Orchard hit another nuclear facility with a military purpose in Dier Ez Zor area in Syria. This time, 10 North Korean workers there were killed who were workers on this project.    It is enough to have the allusion of having atomic capabilities to ward off its enemies.  I wouldn't put this fact to the test, if I were them.  It's liable to be true.  That's about what Iran is doing.

"The US and its allies narrowed their differences with Tehran after three days of intense diplomatic efforts in Geneva but failed to produce a breakthrough in the decade-long dispute."  Iran knows how to stall and to get its own way.  

Resource: Arutz Shava news@israelnationalnews.com Obama Refuses to Speak to Netanyahu by Tova Dvorin
http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Behind-the-IAEA-report-Iran-halted-uranium-enrichment-for-maintenance-purposes-331879
http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-visit-israel-friday-discuss-iran-deal-netanyahu-092816801.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/kerry-new-sanctions-would-scupper-iran-deal-20131113201258666645.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Orchard
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/08/very-bad-deal-israeli-pm-netanyahu-lashes-out-over-wests-possible-nuke-deal-with-iran/

Israel's Nudging the USA Couldn't Hurt

Nadene Goldfoot
From the city of Ashkelon, Israel comes the news via New York Times News Service that Netanyahu hasn't stopped the pressure he has put on the USA that Israel might have to go it alone in stopping Iran's ability to manufacture atomic weapons to be used on Israel and the USA.  Panetta, the USA Defense Secretary, visited Israel Wednesday, meeting in Netanyahu's Knesset office in Jerusalem,  and said that he remains hopeful that Israel won't attack soon and may let the USA take the lead in any future military strike.

Negotiations between the two have intensified over the past month since Netanyahu had mentioned that sanctions against Iran were useless.  "Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program," he commented.  "This must change and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out."   Israel has spoken of the window of opportunity and if that passes, it would be useless to try to stop it.

Congress just passed a new round of Iran sanctions legislation which is reported to be the strongest measure yet.  It aims to now punish banks, shippers, insurers and others who help Iran sell its oil.  This was under negotiations nearly up until the vote.  The House had passed 410-11, the Iran Threat Reduction Act last December.  A version of that passed the Senate in May.  Before the summer started, the two houses got together for the single updated version which passed yesterday unanimously in the Senate and passed in the House 421-6.  Perhaps this is why Panetta is saying to give sanctions a chance and why Netanyahu has felt that up till now the sanctions were doing nothing to stop Iran.  They hadn't been strong enough to do a whit.

Is it any wonder that  Mitt Romney decided to visit Israel in his aim to gather votes?  Thomas Friedman thought it useless today in his long essay, and thought he should have just gone to Vegas instead.  To Friedman, they could have put up a plastic Wailing Wall in the dining room and Romney wouldn't know the difference, I suppose.  Friedman is so frustrated that he is still presenting old old ideas in his extremely long essay like beating Israel to death with the 2 state solution with no alternatives other than to "test, test  and have the US keep testing creative ideas for a two-state solution."  Mr. Friedman, that's been going on since 1948. He even calls the Jewish people of Judea and Samaria "settlers" and still is thinking of "occupation", whereas Israel has already stated that their communities are legal according to international law.   He's so behind his reading of others' opinions that he has the audacity to praise Jimmy Carter "who is one of several who have done the most to make Israel more secure and accepted in the region and told blunt truths to every Israeli or Arab leader."  I would say Jimmy has done just the opposite with his own book on the subject.  Sorry, Friedman, but your vocabulary belies your stodgy beliefs of supporting Israel.

Resource:  Oregonian Newspaper, 8/2/12 page A5, Nuclear Threat-US, Israel intensify talks on Iran, page B5-why not in Vegas?  Better to skip the trip to Israel by Thomas Friedman, commentary page.
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/where-passion-against-israel-comes-from.html