The PA's $285 Million Dollar Electric Bill; Reconciliation with Hamas

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

 

                                                Arafat, former head of PLO-Now Fatah

The Palestinian Authority wants to create a state out of Judea and Samaria, ancient lands of the Jewish Israel, but they haven't bothered to pay their electric bill to Israel.  They don't have their own electric company.  Their bill is in arrears in the amount equivalent of $285 million dollars.
               

                               Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah or Palestinian Authority

John Kerry has said that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state if they don't talk to terrorists.  He's been pushing Israel who finally resisted back.  Fatah, the new PLO term for a terrorist group who said they were trying to be peaceful, hasn't been.  Their tactics are just different and not overt, but very subtle and harmful. They incite violence.  They teach the children in school to hate Jews and that they own Israel.  They even leave Israel off their maps.   Hamas continued to bombard southern Israel with missiles, mortars and rockets.
The state of Israel is the ideal example of a state that has no apartheid practices.  Though it's only 8,000 sq miles big with 6 million Jews and 1.7 million Arabs, religion is free for all.  Nobody is telling Arabs that they have to take down mosques and that they can't be higher than a synagogue like what happened to Jews in Arab countries.  Arabs are serving in the Knesset and any beautiful girl that meets the expectations can become Miss Israel.   Israel will make sure nothing like that happens.  Kerry was out of line to even say such a thing.  Senator Ted Cruz  was so upset by this unnecessary threat that he's asking Kerry to resign as Secretary of State.                                                                        

                                                                   Hamas terrorist
The USA government has sanctions on 4 terrorist countries and different Terrorist groups.
1. Syria-since December 29, 1979
2. Cuba-since March 1, 1982
3. Iran-since January 19, 1984
4. Sudan-since August 12, 1993

5. Hezbollah from Lebanon-1985
6. Al Qaeda-since 1988
7. Hamas-since October 8, 1997

Hamas and Fatah just announced another reconciliation!  That did it.  Israel is not going to listen to any more talks.  Since Hamas is on the terrorist list and Fatah has connected to them off and on and again right now, Kerry should not be expecting Israel to deal with them when they themselves will not. " Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended.   FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business."  Yet Kerry  agreed with most all the PA's ideas and plans and would not listen to Israel's position  At the same time they have shown how inept they are in running a state by letting such a thing as an electric bill go unpaid to the very people they intend to live next door to in peace?  

What Israel is going to do about the electric bill  is collect the money by using tax money collected on behalf of the PA (yes, they had to do the collecting, too) to offset debts owed by the PA at the end of this month.  Israel will have to take more sanctions against the PA.  They may not give out any more passes allowing officials to travel freely through Israel, Judea and Samaria and Gaza.  

Netanyahu said he will look for other methods towards peace with the Palestinians but will not negotiate with a Hamas backed government.  It is  Iran that backs Hamas and they intend to rub out Israel.  Netanyahu doesn't want to settle for a stalemate, either.  He wants 2 states for 2 peoples solution and will seek it in some other way.  Israel is good at thinking outside  the box, so he may have something in mind already.  

These Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been going on for 9 months and were set to expire Tuesday but never made the deadline.  They were suspended last Thursday after Hamas and Fatah agreed last Wednesday (4/23/14)  to form a unity government within 5 weeks and to hold elections.  Abbas, starting his Presidency on  January 15,  2005  was to be in for 4 years but has never stepped down.  

Resource:  http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-pushes-ahead-with-palestinian-sanctions/
http://www.state.gov/j/ct/list/c14151.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda

Peace Talks Amounted to Blackmail and Bribery: March 31st Deadline Missed

Nadene Goldfoot                                                           

                                                     Mahmoud Abbas
Abbas, head of the PA Arabs, has to be bribed to sit and talk with Netanyahu and his contingent about peace.  The Arabs have insisted that they will not sit unless 104 Arab criminals, most serving life sentences for murder,  were released from Israeli prisons.  The Israelis have complied, because peace is their goal, by already releasing 78,  but this has brought on much hand-wringing as the criminals were killers, responsible for many horrible crimes.  To release them was almost like a future death  knoll for other Israelis to be facing.  That was asking a lot.  Left to be released of this Arab-preferred group are 26 more.  Most all have served 20 years already.

Alan Dershowitz, an American lawyer, had occasion to advise Obama to at least throw in Pollard's release for the Israelis in order to get Israel to go ahead and finish by freeing the 26 left. " One of the 26 had murdered a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel after his family died in the Nazi death camps.

Pollard is an American Jew who is in prison for being a spy for Israel, though Israel didn't hire him.  It was something he had in his own sites to do for Israel, who presumably was a friend of the USA anyway.

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, was just in Israel and spoke with Netanyahu without talking to Abbas.  He's now in Brussels but may speak with him on his way back.

Pollard is eligible to be  released in November 2015 after serving 30 years of a life sentence.  Is is really a balanced trade to use Pollard as a bargaining chip versus 26 killers?  To wave Pollard's freedom in front of Netanyahu to extend the talks ,  that are going nowhere is not worth the act of freeing terrorists.  It only is causing  the Israeli public to be horrified since there is no assurance that once the criminals are freed that the PA will continue to sit since they seem to need a carrot dangling constantly.  Already there is talk of an unofficial building freeze in Judea and Samaria in exchange for Pollard.  We don't know who is talking about it, the PA, Kerry or Israel.  It may be the next carrot to dangle in front of the Arabs to sit still and listen and talk in a conversation about peace, at least.

Senior PA leader Nabil Shaath was heard to say that "due to the prisoners we haven't stopped negotiations. We blackmailed  Israel to release the prisoners." One of the prisoners is Abu-Musa Salam Ali Atia, a Gaza resident and member of Fatah who was convicted of murdering Holocaust survivor Isaac Rotenburg as part of an initiation into a Palestinian terror group.  Rotenburg was working in 1994 when he was attacked by 2 Palestinians laborers with axes.

They are saying that they threatened to have Israel prosecuted at the International Criminal Court.  What they want them prosecuted about doesn't matter.  The UN holds Israel up to much higher standards than any other country in the world.  All they do is berate Israel in their meetings in the Human Rights Council, so they can make up any story and others will buy into it.  The PA already has the membership in the UN they were seeking so have the power to do so.  Nabil Shaath has said now that they are just waiting for the prisoners to be released before they stop the negotiations.  This tells us that the current round of peace talks might have just been a game-a charade with them.

Now in many countries, such murderers that Israel has in their prisons would have been shot in about 3 days after being picked up.  However, Israel doesn't have the death sentence.  So now they have become a bargaining chip.  So much for being moralistic and doing away with a death sentence.  Right now haggling over the release of this last 4th batch is going on since they all missed the Saturday, March 31st deadline set by Kerry.  "Netanyahu said that Israel would not make a deal to free the prisoners "without a clear benefit for Israel in return."  Evidently that's why Kerry is using Pollard as bait.  

"An Israeli official said that the Palestinians also did not live up to their commitments under the framework, including to engage in serious and good faith negotiations."  As I have said before, I do not not believe that the PA has peace as a goal.  They're just going along with the charter that Hamas has, but attacks in their won way against Israel with the same goal to destroy Israel.  They don't want to start from scratch to create a state they can't administer anyway.  It's much easier to take over Israel and use it until it falls apart, such as the land was when Jews returned to it.  

To make matters even more convoluted, the PA is now demanding the release of 14 Israeli Arabs. .  "The Israeli government has so far refused to consider freeing Israeli citizens convicted of terrorist acts."  There is confusing information from a radio report that Israel would free 400 prisoners if they were to remain in Judea-Samaria, but Netanyahu's office is nixing that idea.  Rumors.  Innuendos.  Not facts.  

Israeli citizens that are victims of terror have demonstrated already and are blaming the USA. 

They feel that Kerry has an agenda that is promoting peace in the Middle East and in order to carry it out has somehow pressured or even blackmailed the PM of Israel into releasing terrorists,  said Yossi Zur, spokesperson for the victims as he talked to the Washington Free Beacon.  The US officials have emphasized over and over that they want negotiations without preconditions, but they finally gave in and surrendered to this precondition of releasing terrorists.  One wonders what it would take to release the Boston terrorist who attacked the Boston marathon?  Multiply him by 104 and under what conditions would the USA free them all?  Would there be a solid guarantee that it was worth it attached?  

Update is that Pollard was to be freed if Israel freed 400 more prisoners;  one for 400.  Johanathan was a mentch in that he himself  is not going for it.  He waived his parole hearing to oppose the deal.  "The proposed deal was also sharply criticized by Judea and Samaria's Yesha Council as being a "disgraceful" case of "Arab blackmail and American bribery." 

Resource:  http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/scoreboard-12-hours-2-meetings-for-bibi-kerry-0-for-abbas/2014/04/01/
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/obamas-bribery-and-emotional-blackmail-to-sell-pollard-and-buy-time/2014/04/01/
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=820
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11142
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Netanyahu-No-deal-to-release-prisoners-without-clear-benefit-for-Israel-346906
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/world/middleeast/netanyahu-agrees-to-free-104-palestinians.html?_r=0
http://freebeacon.com/issues/palestinian-murderers-terrorists-released-ahead-of-peace-talks/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard
Update: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179154#.Uzr_i6hdU8o

Netanyahu's Fantastic Offer to Arabs Will Be Squashed and Why

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

   
The New York Times reporters, Mark Landler and Jodi Rudoren reported on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the American Israel Public Affairs committee.( AIPAC) yesterday.

Netanyahu  gave a pitch for peace with the Palestinians by saying that it would enable Israel to tighten ties with its Arab neighbors and "catapult the region forward" on issues like health, energy and education.  "We could better the lives of hundred of millions,"  he said.  "We all have so much to gain from peace."

We know that Netanyahu and Israel want peace with their neighbors.  They've wanted it before Israel became a state in 1948.  They worked and planned to create Israel but at the same time to have peace with their neighbors.

 He said that after his big meeting with Obama, where they discussed some very tough issues for Israel in this peace process.  Evidently he's trying to convince the Arabs what they would gain instead of the perpetual war, blood and guts and their stand to never ever accept Israel as a Jewish state. However, the Palestinian Arabs  follow the Muslim Brotherhood Creed on this which is to never have peace with Israel.
                                                                             

Netanyahu is also locking horns with Obama,  Kerry and the Arabs over Jews living in Judea and Samaria, which is land originally set aside as being part of the Jewish Homeland by the League of Nations in the 1920's.  The big world powers call them "Jewish settlements," and probably call Tel Aviv a settlement as well.  1967  was when Israel won back Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem after being attacked by all the surrounding Arabs and then some more beyond the perimeter.  It has been 47 years, and Jews that moved there are still being hit with the "settlement" word.  They settled  long ago already in 1968, after the war was won with the latest established in 1984 except for one which was established in 1998-16 years ago.  In all, there are 321,179 Jews living in Judea-Samaria. Israel had stopped building for one whole year and the Palestinians didn't come around.  It was a waste of time.
                                                                             

  Netanyahu praised Kerry as the man who never sleeps.  Kerry had warned Israel that they could be ostracized if they failed to make peace with the Palestinians but as far as we know has said absolutely nothing like that to the Arabs.  Kerry didn't make himself popular with that comment with Israel.  Besides that issue, he has shown that he sides with the Palestinians by making all sorts of incredible demands on Israel and nothing for the Arabs.

Obama wants the Palestinians and Israelis to sign a framework accord which Kerry is drafting and expects it to be signed by the end of April.  This is  evidently written out in general terms only about Israel's security and the borders of a future Palestinian state which is already a done deal in the UN as far as accepting a Palestine as an observer state.  It is to allow the 8 month old negotiations that have been going on with Kerry to be extended.  An unofficial statement from an official said that the agreement would have enough in it that was good for Israel.  That is the official's opinion, not Netanyahu's.  Like we say, "Is it good for the Jews"?  The answer for the past 8 months has been, "NO."  

Obama is now taking over in the talks from Kerry.  He's meeting on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, with Abbas to urge him to sign.

Netanyahu told Obama that they were pressing up against very tough issues for Israel.

Netanyahu also brought up the growing boycott movement that hits on Israel.  He said that "this links it to the darkest chapters of anti-Semitism in history. "   The Arabs and their siders took his comment as showing how well the boycott is working.  He's just disgusted by being singled out when so many other nations are doing so many destructive things in this world, such as Assad in Syria or the Ayatollah in Iran and the nuclear bombs they are creating.  Being singled out for something others find an excuse to fault Israel for is anti-Semitism, pure and simple.

 We've had over 2,000 years of it and can spot it easily.  Israel has every legal right in the world to allow people to move into Judea and Samaria, but being Jews-are being given a bad time about it.  Legal, shmegal, the powers to be don't give a hoot evidently about legalities.  Jews, who believe in Judaism which has been faulted by other religions as being too full of laws that people don't need to follow, has international law on their side about living on the land, and THAT is now the worst evil of the century.  How about that for logic today?    So the Arabs are using boycotting as another form of their rockets, mortars and missiles that Hamas uses almost every day against the civilians of southern Israel, a teeny land of only 8,000 sq. miles.  Hit southern Israel and the wind from it hits the rest of Israel. So does the pain and anguish making its citizens more determined than ever not to be driven out of their country.  .
                                                                       

                                     Hezbolla terrorists fighting in Syria

Sorry, Syrians.  Abbas can kill as many of his 22,505,000 Syrian citizens as he wants.  ISRAEL is continuing to live and love and worship G-d in their own land and that's what's arousing the world to pounce on Israel instead of Assad.  What's good and what's bad today has taken a new direction.  What Netanyahu has  pitched to the Arabs is too logical.  That's not what their Palestinian charters  of the PA or Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood stand for.  It's not what they want at all!  When someone convinces them to change their goals, then you can talk about peace.  The war ain't over till the fat lady sings and the fat lady ain't sung yet.

Resource:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/world/middleeast/netanyahu-promotes-efforts-toward-a-peace-deal.html?_r=0
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/wbsettle.html
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/03/05/report-state-department-sources-say-obama-sabotaged-peace-Update: 3/5/14 talks-with-goldberg-interview-conducted-behind-kerrys-back/  Read this one!  

Wait a Minute: Abbas Has No Legitimate Power

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

                   Mahmoud Abbas, Elected by Fatah and Not Leaving 10 years Ago
                                                                             

                Hamas's Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, elected February 16, 2006

Netanyahu and Kerry have been dealing with the PA official head who has no actual power to speak for all the Arabs calling themselves the "Palestinian Arabs."  Actually, they are not from one tribe or country but a conglomeration of all the neighboring states of Israel who came in seeking work in the late 1800's with the Jewish settlers who had previously arrived from Russia.  Like the Jews who had never left, there were Arabs who had been living on the land as well and some had even bought property.  Most of them had sold their land to the Jews and had taken off for better ports such as Beirut, Damascus or Paris.

Fatah was the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation originally led by Arafat .  Mahmoud Abbas was elected as their PA (Palestinian Authority) president 10 years ago.  He had been elected to serve one term of 4 years.  He never left and there has been no other elections.   His official term has expired a long time ago.  Therefore, he does not have the electoral legitimacy in his own party.  Fatah was grounded in Gaza, but when Hamas, a party of true terrorists won their election there putting Ismail Haniyeh, voted in on February 16, 2006,  as their Prime Minister,  Fatah was kicked out to live in Judea-Samaria.  By rights, he should be finished this February as well, having served 2 full after being voted on only once for a 4 year  term.  Hamas refuses to sign any peace deal with Israel.  They have a charter that calls for Israel's destruction.  One can only imagine the threats they were able to conjure up to receive the vote of their people, voting being very new to them.

1.7 million Arabs live in Gaza. 2,100,000 Arabs live in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem.  500,000 Jews live there as well.  1.7 million Arabs live in Israel and have Israeli citizenship.   Having Abbas speak for all the Arabs of Fatah and Hamas violates the Palestinian Basic Law according to Abu Toameh, Palestinian Arab Israeli citizen who is a reporter for "The Jerusalem Post."  .  This allows for "constitutional and legislative anarchy in the Palestinian territories, for he has remained in power past his allowed term.  He cannot sign a peace agreement with Israel in the name of the "Palestinians" being they are a divided group.

Hamas is so violent a group that at a recent gathering of young Arabs in Gaza, he preached that educating the future generation to love death for the sake of Allah as much as our enemies love life should be their motto.  It was Golda Meier who had said that peace will come to Israel when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.  To love death is not the way to bring about peace.  To buy into such a philosophy is a sad comment on their culture.  We all know we must die eventually, but it is not a normal act to seek death out and prefer death over life, especially when you are just reaching your adult years.  This must be why Jews seek out the profession of medicine, to assist long life for all.  "May you live till your 120th year" is our wish at birthday events, for Moses lived till he was 120.  Palestinians have talked young people, sad people, depressed people and underachievers to become suicide bombers and to seek glory in death.

The question is, if the Arabs of Fatah and Hamas were given another chance at voting, would they vote as they had been previously or would they want to choose life and peace?  Abu Toameh thinks they should be given this chance and has called for John Kerry to continue to negotiate with Abbas even though his term expired long ago.  He would like to see such an election.

Since 1948, the Arabs outside of Israel calling themselves the Palestinian Arabs have been brainwashed into destroying Israel.  If 20- 25 years accounts for a generation, they have had almost 3 generations brought up to think this way.  Gazans have been under the most violent philosophy so I would think that some may want peace by now, but that the majority would vote as they did in 2006.  This way of thinking has become their religion, and they do not love their children enough to stop hating Jews.  It is the Arabs of Israel who have acclimated to living with Jews and finding out it's not like living with lions or tigers but that the law includes them as well, so they have rights and freedom that neither Fatah or Hamas have in life.

Resource:  http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/24/in-10th-year-of-4-year-term-critics-say-abbas-has-no-mandate-to-sign-peace-deal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Abu_Toameh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Abbas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Haniyeh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank

US-Israel About to be Unfriended

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Today's Sunday Oregonian issue has an article in it on page A13 where I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.  "U.S., Israel can't agree on diplomacy" makes me scream out, "What's the matter with you, John Kerry!  Why haven't you learned anything about Israel and its problems that they need to defend in order to exist in this world?"  There is evidence from this article that he doesn't get it at all, and here he is, in charge of Israel's dealings with the world, and he's anti-Israel.

I'm not the only one up in arms about today's dealings.  Diplomatic correspondent, Chemi Shalev of Haaretz newspaper in Israel wrote on their website that if you compare weather with Israel and the USA right now, this is a "superstorm" of relations.  We're talking about an issue that has been critical to Israel for a long long time concerning their very existence.
                                                                     

              Map showing the range of Katusha rockets that can rain down on Israel. Note red area of Gaza along seacoast continues to rain down rockets, mortars and missiles despite cease-fire.

Kerry was said to question in a broadcasted interview Israel's seriousness about peace with the Palestinians.  How dare he even think that - is my gut reaction.  Kerry has no idea of what is going on with the goals of the neighbors of Israel and what Israel is up against in dealings.  It's a poker game of the extreme, played by master chessmen who plot and scheme from beginning of the game to checkmate, and Kerry is simply a checker player.

The thing Netanyahu and the rest of Israel want most in this world is peace, but they have already lost 80% of what was originally promised to them in the Balfour Doctrine through dealings with Britain where they were really cheated out of land including far more than just Judea and Samaria-that and the whole state of what is today, Jordan.  That had originally been promised and planned by the nations of the world to be the Jewish Homeland.  Hoodwinked by the act of taking it outright, Israel lost it to Abdullah who created Transjordan, then later named it Jordan.  There went 80%.  Now Israel had gained back Judea and Samaria after being at war-attacked first by all the neighboring states - and winning.  Yes, winning the land back after much bloodshed.  So now we have John Kerry who insists we have no rights and are to give it back, meaning that all our people have to move out in order for it to be Judenrein like in the Nazi era?  We've already moved out of Gaza for the sake of peace, lock, stock and barrel in the name of peace, and did this lead to peace?  Did any country carry or give a ...about it or help Israel in her hour of need?  No.  We've been under attack since 2001.  It hasn't let up.

Threats have been coming from Iran to  completely destroy Israel.  The steps Islamic countries usually take is to warn first, then attack.  Israel has been warned and now she's watching the progress of the death machine they plot to use.  They are heading for atomic energy where they will have the capability to make atomic weapons.  Saudi Arabia even feels threatened and that's because they are Sunnis and not Shi'a.  The USA is taking this lightly, as if it is a joke.

Israel happens to be the only Jewish state in the world, a state as big as New Jersey which is one of the smallest in the USA.  It's like being Washington DC and the 50 states are all out to destroy their capital.

This article brings out the uncomfortable relationship between Obama and Netanyahu that both had tried to keep in abeyance.  The world knows that Netanyahu has vowed to do anything, including a military strike, to prevent Iran from reaching the point of being able to produce atomic weapons, for they know such a thing would be used on Israel.

I remember well the lecture Netanyahu gave to seemingly simple-minded Obama on TV after Obama was all for Israel to go back to the 67 lines, and Netanyahu was so shocked that he blurted out all the reasons why that was impossible for Israel's security.  Really, it showed up Obama's ignorance of the land and previous wars that Israel has had to fight.  How about the time Netanyahu was at the White House for a meeting with his staff and they were ushered in through the back door, and were not invited for dinner but kept in  a room to keep coming up with ideas.  That burned me up!  How many statesmen have been treated like that?  Obama was showing his feelings, not his diplomacy that time, and he was being crude and rude..

Josef Federman says it correctly in this AP piece that there is a lack of chemistry coming from vastly different world views. That's the problem.  Why aren't the people working with Israel studying their world?   I'm not really sure what Obama stands for, but Netanyahu believes that Israel can't trust any promises from other countries, having been burned so many times already, and must protect itself.  He's been under the delusion that he could trust Obama like Israel has of other past presidents.  He thought that they were on the same page, but dealings have showed they are not.

Why can't the USA understand what has been happening?  Israel gives in and gives in; land for peace after being attacked, and their enemies are never asked to give a thing.  This is happening right now.  Israel won a bloody battle in 1967 and again in 1973 and again in 1982 and again and again and yet they are the ones to give in?  Give land up that is so small?  Follow this rule and Israel will be a mile square island in a sea of sharks and will then be gobbled up.

Even in the Middle East in a shuk, there is give and take until an agreement is made.  You don't cave in immediately. That's what Kerry is doing.  Let's get this over with and the Palestinians are such good people, that Israel has to go along with whatever outlandish demands they make?  Israel has already let out monstrous criminals that they have demanded and that only has whet their appetite to make more demands.  The Palestinians have stuck their big toe into the water and found it was warm.  Now they're jumping into the pool.  There is no barrier to their demands on Israel, and Iran has received the same treatment.  They have been given the green light as well.  My, Kerry is really a hard negotiator.  He's really earning his money.  Just say yes to everything to the enemies of Israel, and then blame Israel.

Ever since Harry S. Truman  backed Israel's right to exist and to come into this world, the USA has been of the same mind.  Up till now, Israel has been the USA's friend in the Middle East when others haven't, and vice versa.  Our very leadership today is not made of the same mettle.  Federman wrote that Obama is a proponent of diplomacy and consensus.  Well, he hasn't been very diplomatic with Israel unless the cameras are on him.  As to consensus, he's made a lot of decisions without our Senators' approval.  Either he makes decisions on his own or waits too long and then all is swept under the rug, like Syria or Benghazi.

 Barack Obama's approval rate from Jan 20, 2000 to now has sunk to 49%.  His high was 69% from Jan uary 22-24, 2009 and low was 38%. October 15-17, 2011.  With ObamaCare's results right now it should reflect an even lower score.  This change, something he brought into his office, is bombing. He warned and ran on change, and he certainly has changed all our ways and means including our bank accounts.   Where Israel was a friend, Kerry  just unfriended her.    No, Israel should not go along with these one-sided demands.  There's nothing in it to protect Israel from another battle breaking out.

Resource: Oregonian newspaper11/10/13, Front page, Obama's magnetism now less of a draw by Jennifer Agiesta and on A15, AP
Oregonian newspaper 11/10/13, page A13, US, Israel can't agree on diplomacy, by Josef Federman, AP

Israel Wants Peace-Will Free 104 Prisoners As Proof

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

It's a scary thought to be forced into freeing terrorist murderers who have blood on their hands, but Israel decided that when you have a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, to take the least offensive offer.  The Israeli cabinet has agreed to free 104 terrorists that they have in order to restart talks. This is painful for the whole nation, but Israel truly wants peace.  What are the Palestinians doing?  They are just agreeing to come to the table.  Israel has been waiting for 65 years for a peace pact.

These prisoners are people who have served for at least 20 years already.  Some are Palestinian militants who threw fire bombs.  One case was of throwing firebombs at a school bus full of children.  Other prisoners had stabbed and shot civilians, even women, elderly Jews and other Arabs thought to be collaborators for Israel.  Some of the prisoners are in prison for ambushing and killing border guards, police, security agents and soldiers.  Many were there with a life sentence.

104 prisoners will be freed in 4 stages  over the next 9 months.  The first group will take place soon after the initial peace talks occur in Washington this week.  More will be freed as negotiations continue.  Every Palestinian provocation will result in stopping the prisoner-release process.  

Netanyahu has rejected the Palestinian demand that he put a freeze on new construction in Judea, Samaria's towns and cities and in East Jerusalem.  As many as 1,000 new units (apartments or homes) may be approved for construction .  The Palestinians had a 3rd demand that Netanyahu hasn't been able to answer now.  The Palestinians expect Israel to go back to the 1967 armistice lines  which would exclude all of Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem.  To me, this is an outlandish expectation.

Qaddura Fares is president of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society and stated that freeing prisoners was "the right decision for negotiations."  He also said, "It shows that the state of Israel really does want peace."

Palestinians see these terrorists as "freedom fighters struggling to reclaim their homeland and oust the occupiers."  The whole statement is a fallacy since Israel is not the homeland of the Palestinians.  Their homeland is Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and other Middle East countries.  Only a few people were ever from Palestine, which was not a country but the name given by the Romans to  Israel and Judea which they took by force from the Jews.  The sad truth of the matter is that the Palestinian Arabs have been fed a crock of lies and the world as gone along with it.

 Occupiers?  It was Jordan who was the occupier of Judea and Samaria in 1948 to 1967.  What the Palestinians are fighting over is land that was finally given back to Jews through the League of Nations as the Jewish Homeland; all very legal that all the countries of the world signed on in agreement.  Way back then Palestine for the Arabs was planned on, but the Arabs said NO and have been saying that ever since, preferring to fight against the Jews and drive them out.

 We all know that Israel has done everything possible to show they are willing to have a peaceful state of Palestine next door, but that what has happened with Gaza has been just the opposite.  Gaza's Hamas and Fatah are always at odds with each other fighting for domination.  The only thing they have agreed to is to destroy Israel.  Need I keep commenting that they have rained down thousands of  rockets, mortars and missiles on southern Israel since 2000?  Israel gave up Gaza for peace that was promised.  Israel has been attacked before it's birth in 47-48-49, then in 56, 67, 73, and has had battles in between such as 82.  Life has been one big battle for Israelis in order to exist.  They have not been swayed to leave but to remain strong and dig in.  They have returned home and home it was, it is and will be.

Resource: Oregonian newspaper, 7/29/13 page A3, Israeli Cabinet frees prisoners to restart talks by William Booth from the Washington Post- Excellent article

How Democracy Is Not Created Easily in Middle East-Or From Pharaoh to President in One Easy Step

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?  Hardly.  You can only make a pigskin purse. Perhaps democratic principals come to people slowly.   Democracy came to the USA out of rare circumstances that have only been replicated by Israel in the Middle East, and is very hard to come by in Iraq or Egypt.  Egypt had been ruled by pharaohs for thousands of years.  A pharaoh is a permanent title of the king of Egypt in ancient times.  It meant "Great House." and originally referred to the royal palace, somewhat like we Americans refer to the "White House."

It took at least a 1,000 years for Englishmen to want something better than English law.  A group of religious zealots went to Holland out of their frustration with the Episcopalian state religion in England but became frustrated there as they watched their children speak Dutch instead of their language, English, which they wanted to perpetuate.  They didn't want their religious goals to be lost by their children, so braved the idea of sailing to a new world, much as we would think of taking a spaceship destined for some just found planet with oxygen.  Luckily, further ships brought to America's shores some very intelligent men who were able to write up a "Mayflower Compact", named for their first ship, that set the standards for their budding democracy.  Look at all the steps we've gone through to arrive where we are today in our politics of ruling over a vast territory made up of 50 states which has 3.79 million square miles with about 315 million people. Out of the population are about 6 million Jews or 3% of the population.  We went from 1620 to 1776 with our constitution which continues to be embellished.

Suddenly,  our marvelous country, which is the 3rd largest in the world,  made up of all the ethnic people of this planet expects Egypt to suddenly follow suit and have a democratic way of ruling in their first encounter with democracy with Mohammed  Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood.  He didn't have the heart for it.

The USA is the first country on earth to give Jews a chance of survival.  After living here since the beginnings of the budding USA, Jews have been able to meld  USA democracy with the Torah's expectations of Democracy for Israel.  Israel is a miniature USA made up of Jews from all over the world as well as including other religions in its fold with equal rights while still being a Jewish country.  The USA is a Christian country established by Christians.  It follows customs of Sunday being a day of rest and all the national Christian holidays meaning they are days of vacation for students and federal workers.  Egyptians tried it for a year and that was enough with the man they had elected.  They were losing their rights with him.

 Egyptians are facing about 6,000 years at least of a strong type of a one-dictator  leadership, from Pharaohs to Shah rulers of the Ottoman Empire to being under British rule.  President Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) was their last most reasonable ruler as President from 1970 to 1981, but even he saw that he was under the thumb of the Arab League when Egypt was banned from its membership because of his November 1977 trip to Jerusalem and made peace with Israel. This was even followed up with the Camp David Accords which shattered the fragile unity of the Arabs.

 However, Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 before he was assassinated by Muslim Brotherhood, a group of Islamic fundamentalists, in the midst of the October War celebration  in 1981 while reviewing a military parade in Cairo.  Vice-President Husni Mubarak, who took over, kept the peace, even though he was a tough dictator with his people.  In due time he himself had been elected as President of Egypt.  He punished Sadat's murderers, the Muslim Brotherhood after a noisy public trial and released Sadat's political prisoners and invited them to the presidential palace for discussions.  He continued Sadat's Open Door policy and stressed the need for greater productions.  He continued relations with Israel and presided over Egypt's repossession of the last section of the Sinai.

Mubarak wasn't enlightened like Sadat was, but  tried to cultivate the friendship of the Soviet Union and the Arab states.  Egypt got back into the Arab fold when the Israel-Lebanon war occurred in 1982 which Egypt had protested about and recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv.   Getting back into the Arab world, evidently  wasn't good enough to solve Egypt's problems more  than Sadat or Nasser had done.  Whereas Sadat had outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi was the head of, suddenly we find him "democratically voted in" and in power, and with this power turned the tables and had Mubarak up for charges and jailed.

Islamists feel that Sadat should never have signed a separate peace treaty with Israel.  From their viewpoint, Sadat was a practicing Muslim and should have known the close connection of Islam with Arabism and the emotional attachment of all Muslims to "Jerusalem", if not to Palestine.  This is how the Arab world sees it today.  This is where Morsi was in his thinking.  Only the money coming in from the USA probably kept him from attacking Israel with promised American jet fighters on the way to become a part of Egypt's arsenal.
                                                                           

                                              Muslim Brotherhood Party Fighters
After a year of the Muslim Brotherhood's main man, Morsi, Egypt has had it and the Military took over on July 3rd, a little better than a week ago.   Our White House and Turkey are pushing for the "democratic steps" of waiting and voting in another and not taking over with a coup or even a soft coup, as the military calls it.  The USA cannot legally give money to a country that has had a coup.

 It's like a school who has a first year teacher hired on a trial basis.  If he or she receives a lot of bad reports from the principal, she is not re-hired.  However, Egypt and other countries have the ruling of a country that is stuck with a lemon for 4 years and then they can have another to rule the country.  Egypt found the Muslim Brotherhood to be intolerable and decided they couldn't wait for 4 years.  They had made a mistake and are bound to do the job over again.  Which makes me wonder about the validity of the democratic election in the first place.  How was it that they did not know of the dangers of a Muslim Brotherhood rule?  They had gone from a very secular state to Sharia Law with the Brotherhood.  It was too much.

Former UN ambassador John Bolton just wrote an article in which he lamented the downfall  of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who he said "understood his country better than the Western know-it-alls."  To have pushed for democracy in Egypt during this Arab Spring was stretching a country who was peaceful with its neighbor, Israel.  Uncorking the Muslim Brotherhood out of  the genie bottle was their error.  To make matters worse,  by backing  this group, whose charter calls for the destruction of Jews and Israel and the taking over of the United States is absolutely shocking.

Morsi (b: August 8, 1951) was the chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party which was founded in 2011 during Egypt's Revolution by the Muslim Brotherhood.  On the 24th of June 2012, he became Egypt's first "democratically elected" but 5th president of Egypt.  Supposedly he had 51.7% of the votes against Shafik's 48.3% in the election.  Shafik was the prime minister  of the Mubarak government.  It was "after Morsi temporarily granted himself unlimited powers to "protect" the nation in late November 2012' people began to immediately protest.  The whole idea of a democracy is to get away from a one-man rule and clever Morsi just brought it on to himself.

Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has lost face by being ousted, their followers are taking it out on the Christians who live in Egypt. " The attacks have hit across the country, in the northern Sinai Peninsula, in a resort town on the Mediterranean coast, in Port Said along the Suez Canal and in isolated villages in upper Egypt.  A new wave of violence has been unleashed.  The Brotherhood blames them for having supported the calls to overthrow Morsi.  Brotherhood members have shot dead a priest in the street and have painted black X's on Christian shops to mark them for arson.  Angry mobs have attacked churches and seized Christians in their homes.  4 Christians were slaughtered with knives and machetes in one village last week after the Military coup.

The 2011 revolution alarmed many Christians that overthrew Mubarak.  Coptic Christians are a small minority of the country and did not foresee what could happen to them. Egypt is made up of about 80,000,000 people of which 90% are Sunni Muslims.  Islam is a state religion.   Most all Jews have moved next door to Israel.

The scuttlebutt now is that Morsi escaped from prison during the 2011 revolution with help from Hamas.  I wouldn't be surprised being they both share the same charter in dealing about Israel and Jews.  Egypt's prosecutors are now investigating these allegations.  Chief prosecutor Hesham Barakat has testimonies from a court in Ismailia who are looking into the jailbreak by Mohammed Morsi and 30 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders.  If this proves to be true, legally it can lead to showing proof of foreign intervention on Egyptian soil that leads to treason charges.  Morsi is now kept  in an unknown place, and no charges have been filed as yet.  Hamas is denying the allegation of January 29, 2011 jailbreak at the Wadi-el-Natrun prison NW of Cairo.

What our USA is finding fault with now is of the Egyptian military and interim government's arrests of Morsi's supporters.  The continued detentions are inconsistent with pledges of inclusivity made by authorities and may affect  future monies from the USA.  Ongoing arrests of the Muslim Brotherhood members are troubling to democracies.  The neighbor most affected and seriously watching is Israel.

Resource: http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-hamas-anyway-hamas-charter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Morsi
Oregonian newspaper, 7/12/13, Egypt or elsewhere, "neocon" label pasted willy-nilly by Washington Post, and on same page, Morsi-Hamas allegations get official probe.
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Textbook: Middle East, past & Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks, 2nd Edition by Prentice-Hall, Inc. of N.J. 

Judea-Samaria Areas A, B, C: Who Lives There and Future

                                                           
Nadene Goldfoot
The Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 and the Judea-Samaria region was divided into areas A, B, and C.  Israel has full control of Area C where most of over 340,000 Jewish residents live.

Area A was assigned to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Assad became Chairman who took over from Yassar Arafat of the PLO terrorists.  Most of the Arabs live in this area.  Area B is under joint control and has large tracts of barren land.  

A conference scheduled for today, the third annual one,  is discussing whether area C should have Israel sovereignty and annex it.  Others feel the whole area should be annexed.  The sub title of the conference  is "From the Edmond Levy Sovereignty" organized by Women for Israel's Tomorrow, known as the "Women in Green."

The Arab population is not known exactly, but a close estimate is 1.5 million.  It's been hard getting accurate statistics because of the habit of Arab demographics in the past being artificially inflated by both  the British and the Palestinians.

Judah was the Jewish state formed out of the division of Israel after the death of King Solomon.  Rehoboam, Solomon's son by  his Ammonite wife Naamah,  was the first king (933-917 BCE). The state had 20 kings with the last being Zedekiah (597-586).

 Israel, the nation created by King David, has been later called Samaria since  Samaria was the capital of Israel, consisting of 25 acres, founded in 880 BCE by King Omri (887-876 BCE) , the 6th King after King Jeroboam (933-912 BCE) on a hill bought from Shemer.    Samaria withstood the siege of the Syrians but fell in 721 BCE to Sargon II of Assyria who carried off 10 of the 12 Israelite Tribes and then  resettled it with Cutheans (idolaters) who intermingled with the rest of the population but were refused marriage with Israelites.    They became the ancestors of the Samaritans.  The name, Samaria, also is applied to the entire northern region, formerly Israel of the central highlands.

 Jordan had illegally grabbed and occupied Judea-Samaria and east Jerusalem in 1948 when Israel was born again. According to the Balfour Doctrine, it was meant to be a part of the Jewish Homeland.  As it was, the 1948 Israel consisted of only 20% of the original promised Jewish Homeland.   It took till the 1967 attack on Israel by 8 Arab nations with Israel the winner that the formerly Jordanian-occupied neighborhoods of Jerusalem, including the Old City were officially incorporated as parts of Israel along with the Golan heights.  Judea and Samaria were never officially annexed by Israel, but the IDF Civil Administration has jurisdiction over the districts.

Abbas is threatening that if Netanyahu doesn't meet his demands, which are completely unreasonable and impossible,  he will not even sit down and talk about peace and is about to quit, putting the "West Bank" (Judea-Samaria) in Netanyahu's hands.  Netanyahu is still all for a 2 state solution.

Resource: Arutz Sheva, news@israelnationalnews.com Conference on Israel's Annexing of Judea-Samaria
http://israelstreet.org/?p=6220 map with A, B, C areas
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11823 annexing
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.schechter.edu/AskTheRabbi.aspx?ID=477
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_the_Oslo_Accords

Abbas-Stumbling Block to Peace Talks

Nadene Goldfoot
Arafat, the leader of Fatah terrorists, died and Mahmoud Abbas took over as Chairman of the Palestinian Authority..  Born ion March 26, 1935, he must be getting tired,as this PA leader's office expired in early 2009.  He will not hold new elections, saying that PA residents should vote for a new leader only after Hamas-led Gaza reunites with the Fatah leadership in Judea and Samaria.  That will be sooner than he thinks as Hamas is plotting a takeover and wants to oust Abbas once again, as they did when they ran him out of Gaza.

Abbas demands the impossible, while refusing  to discuss any peace plans with Netanyahu.  Instead he runs to confer with Hamas and countries supplying Gaza with arms. He demands conditions agreed to first before he sits down to talk.
1.  He demands a construction freeze including a ban on natural growth in Israeli towns previously assumed to be Israeli under a diplomatic agreement.  
2. He also requires that Israel free PA resident terrorists
3. Allow the PA to arm the police force more heavily
4. Agree in principle to his major territorial demands.  (He has wanted Israel to go back to 1967 lines.)
5. Abbas demands a complete building freeze east of the 1949 armistice line.

                    At the Same Time

1. Continue refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state
2 Belief in terrorism against Israel.
3.  He supports the "right of return" for millions of people descended from Arabs and more to Israel.

You don't have to be the wise King Solomon to see that these demands and unchangeable positions spell death for Israel, and that parties need to sit down and work out a peaceable solution.  Netanyahu has pleaded with Abbas, even at the UN in front of all the participants and TV cameras, but Abbas was unmovable.  Abbas has threatened to quit if negotiations do not resume with pre-conditions met first.  Now Lieberman said he anxiously awaits the official announcement from the Muqata regarding his retirement.  "There are many alternatives among the Palestinians with whom Israel can hold a diplomatic dialog."  Lieberman feels that it's Abbas remaining as the leader that will ultimately bring Hamas and other radicals to Judea and Samaria.

Avigdor Lieberman, ex foreign Minister of Israel said that Israel can't wait for Abbas to quit. Tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants and security forces rely on the Palestinian Authority for their livelihood, and the Palestinian Authority is the keystone of a series of partial peace accords with Israel that benefit the Palestinian economy and influence other aspects of life. Abbas has threatened to disband the PA and place the area in Israel's hands.  Many believe this is just a threat.  

Hamas and Fatah have major differences, but have been holding rallies in each other's domains recently.  Still, it could only be Abbas's dream that they will get close to their political differences.  

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Abbas
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/abbas-israel-reduced-security-cooperation-18081253#.UN3qP-RLXqE
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/12/2012122813822228539.html
http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2012/12/17/hamas_and_fatah_no_closer_settling_their_differences_0

Egypt's New Republic of Sharia Law and Attitude

Nadene Goldfoot
Egypt's history with their neighbor, Israel, has been running hot and cold. They've been in wars before 1967, and then in 1972. Sadat came to visit and speak to Israelis in 1977, and became a well loved personage.   After being in the Camp David Accords, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel on March 26, 1979.   Finally, after the several wars in which Egypt attacked Israel and lost, they finally had a peace made by Sadat and carried on with Mubarak.  Now that Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood has imprisoned Mubarak, we see many changes for the worst for Israel.

Morsi spouts that he is bringing Democracy to Egypt, but has not a clue as to its meaning.  He uses this word to hide behind while he institutes Sharia Law that not everyone is willing to be ruled by in Egypt.

His opponents say that the constitution allows a dictatorship of the majority--which Islamists have won with repeated election victories in the past 2 years.  We know that they have not been fair elections, and people most likely have been advised, threatened and forced to vote for him and for good measure the voting boxes were most likely illegally stuffed with Morsi's name by his party.

The charter's provisions for greater implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah, will allow only Islamists who hold the presidency like Morsi, and not other viewpoints.  In other words, it's an Islamist takeover from a secular society. In Sadat and Mubakak's day the Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and such people as Qaradawi were banned from Egypt. Qaradawi moved to Qatar where he is a great friend of the Emir.    They will now overwhelmingly dominate the temporary legislature to restrict civil rights and limit the freedoms of minorities and women.

The opponents, with the main one being the National Salvation Front,  say that the turnout was low in the referendum, so low that only 33% turned out.  This undermines the document's legitimacy.  They are going to study Morsi's speech and decide if his dialogue between himself and other Islamists was serious or just  "theater."

The changeover to a Muslim Brotherhood rule is detrimental for Israel and could affect their peace treaty.  The Muslim Brotherhood now is ruling the Arab world's largest and most important nation; Egypt.  Their moral guide, Mohammed Badie,  says that "The Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places.  Zionists only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress.  This will happen only through holy Jihad."

Al Nabi Mansour prayed at a nationally televised service at el-Tenaim Mosque which was  attended by Egyptian President Morsi.  Futouh Abd al-Nabi Mansour, Egyptian cleric who heads the religious endowment for the Matrouh Governate said, "Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters--Oh Allah, disperse them and rend them asunder, Oh Allah, demonstrate your might and greatness upon them."  Morsi was shown on TV fervently answering "Amin" (Amen).  October 19, 2012 from MEMRI

Resource: Oregonian newspaper, 12/27/12, page A9,  Egypt's president declares beginning of "new republic" by Sarah El Deeb AP
http://www.wiesenthal.com/2012 slurs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_Peace_Treaty

A Christian Egyptian Dissident in Jerusalem Speaks Out

Nadene Goldfoot
Maikel Nahil was born in 1985, the year I left Israel to return to Portland, Oregon.  Who knew that such a baby would become such a political activist and blogger.  On the 4th of February, 2010 he was arrested by Egypt's military police and tortured, but luckily released 27 hours later.  It happened again on Mary 28, 2011 in his home in Cairo and he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment on charges of "insulting the military" in his blog!   By December 14 of the same year his sentence was reduced by a year to serve 2 years.  He was finally pardoned on January 23, 2012.

Today he is known as one of Egypt's most famous human rights dissidents and democracy bloggers.  He's different in that he is Egypt's most outspoken supporter of peace with Israel.  Irwin Cotler was Mr. Nabil's international legal counsel, a Canadian MP, law professor and human rights advocate and  board member of UN Watch.

"After years of calling for peace,"  said Mr. Nabil, I have realized that practicing peace is more important than talking.  My visit is a message from the Egyptian peace community that we have had enough violence and confrontation and we want this to end."  Maikel was born into a Coptic Christian family but now is an atheist.  They make up 10% of Egypt's Muslim population.  He has finished his education for becoming a veterinarian but has also of late been studying law.  He could have taken his final tests but was in prison.

He has arrived in Jerusalem on a peace-building mission where he will speak at universities and meet with leading public figures and peace activists and visit the Palestinian territories.  He visited Yitzhak Rabin's grave on the 21st of December and has total respect for this Israeli Prime Minister who gave his life for Egyptians and Israelis to live in peace with his involvement in the Oslo Accords and even before.   He's an admirer of Israel and its accomplishments in such a short time.  One thing that had impressed him was when Sadat came to Jerusalem and was so warmly welcomed.  He wondered at the time if this could happen in Egypt.

This has been organized by UN Watch, a non-governmental organization that is Geneva based, works at the UN to promote universal human rights and Arab-Israeli peace.  It was founded in 1993 and is headed by Alfred H. Moses, attorney under Bill Clinton as ambassador to Romania and worked on the Cyprus Conflict.

This is all well and good, but 27 year old Nabil is not speaking for the majority party, the Muslim Brotherhood, who have a charter showing their goal is to destroy Israel.  The Christians of Egypt are in danger themselves.   Morsi's constitution disregards religious freedom.  The Copts are in deep trouble.  Maikel will be amazed to see how the 3 major religions are treated in Israel; the Jews, Muslims and Christians as well as others like the Baha'is located in Haifa.  Druze are active in the army but live in their own neighborhoods which is their choice.

Reference:  http://maikel-nabil-in-jail.blogspot.co.il/2011/11/why-am-i-pro-israel-old-article.html
http://www.unwatch.org/cms.asp?id=3674274&campaign_id=63111
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maikel_Nabil_Sanad
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0329/Atheist-and-pro-Israel-Maikel-Nabil-tests-free-speech-in-Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Egypt
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/21/future-looks-bleak-for-egypts-coptic-christians/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin
http://www.bahai.org/dir/bwc

Mitt Romney's Stand on Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
A President Romney will deal with Israel as its closest ally in the Middle East and a beacon of democracy and freedom in the region which it is.  He recognizes Israel's security problems and that this is a dangerous moment for the Jewish state.

He would work closely with Israel to maintain its strategic military edge.  He's not a stranger to Netanyahu.  Romney would work on Turkey and Egypt to shore up their relationships with Israel.  He would resist the anti-Israel policies there and make it clear that their interests are not served by isolating Israel.

In dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his policy will be a sharp difference from Obama.  He's for direct negotiations between the two and will make it clear to the Palestinians that it's unacceptable to expect decisions on issues that are to be decided by the Oslo Accords.  The USA will reduce assistance if they continue UN recognition of their state or form a unity government including Hamas, which is designed to destroy Israel.

He is not a fair weather friend of Israel  The USA under Romney will resist the  worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel.  He also sees that this is a campaign of anti-Semitic poison.  To Romney, Israel's existence as a Jewish state is not up for debate.

Romney feels that Obama has misunderstood the dynamics of the region and has not fostered stability and security but have diminished USA's authority and has put both the USA and Israel in a corner.  He sees that the Israeli-Palestinian problem  is not a center of problems.  The Arab Spring shows it's an internal problem of the Arab countries.  Because Obama has distanced himself from Israel to placate the Arabs, he thought it would earn credits for the USA and bring peace closer.  It has proved to be the opposite.

Obama also created new preconditions to get the Arabs to the peace table.  This has resulted in the holding out and waiting by the Arabs, wanting more concessions.  Romney sees that there was no reason for the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel when the White House continued to pressure Israel without getting the Palestinians to promise anything in return.

Reference: http://www.mittromney.com/issues/israel

US in the Hole $16 Trillion and are Planning Aid Package for Egypt

Nadene Goldfoot
My  Webster's dictionary can't even define what a trillion is.  It says it's "a very large number." Another dictionary said, " It's written as: 1,000,000,000,000.  It is a million million."    Yet we are now in the deficit by  $16 trillion plus dollars.  It's growing every day.  We had the first debate last night between Romney and Obama.  Romney is already planning on doing away with PBS (television station) and its Big Bird from Sesame Street, a favorite on that station, because they are existing with federal funds and he is ready to give up things he likes such as this and anything else that we pay for by borrowing money from China.  They could look for private funding in a pinch.  

So how are we paying for the $450 million aid to Egypt and should we?   Obama is planning this emergency cash transfer which is part of a $1 billion ($1,000,000,000) aid package pledged in May.  The plan was to give $190 million quickly but because Egypt is in so much financial trouble (as if we're not) our present administration decided to double the amount.  $260 million will be delivered when Egypt gets a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Our government is working with Egypt so that they will get $375 in financing and loan guarantees for people who invest in Egypt plus a $60 million investment fund for Egyptian business.  This is besides the $1.3 billion of military aid that the USA gives to Egypt every year.

Now, the question is, Is Egypt worthy of our debt?  What are they doing to deserve this?  Why are we doing it?

I can think for starters of baksheesh, which is tipping.    In a sense they are being paid to keep the peace with Israel, which is very important to me.  The problem is that Egypt is now being run by the Muslim Brotherhood which swears to destroy Israel.  This enigma means that the peace treaty might unravel anyway.  Hamas is a part of the Brotherhood and is backed by Morsi, being he was one of the leaders of the Brotherhood.  They're the ones shelling southern Israel and have been since 2001.

Where are the qualifications Egypt should sign to get this loan, if indeed they should?  Where are the promises that if defaulted, would prompt immediate repayment with interest?  We have asked for no guarantees.  Such a hurry we are in to give away money we don't have.

Reference:  http://www.radicalislam.org/print/analysis/six-things-450-million-aid-egypt-will-pay
http://ezinearticles.com/?Baksheesh-in-Egypt---Understanding-the-System-and-Playing-the-Game&id=3445007
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/trillion
http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+billion&qpvt=billion%2c++definition&FORM=DTPDIA

How Paul Ryan Looks at Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Congressman Paul Ryan, 42 years old,  has just been picked as the running mate for  Mitt Romney, 65 year old Republican candidate for President of the USA.   His position on Israel is very important.  Being the chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee from Wisconsin has not called on him to be in on working on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he has written his opinion about it and I see he shares my opinions.   Paul has been a 7 term congressman, so has had lots of experience.

He would not jeopardize Israel's safety or do anything to legitimize terrorism.  He realizes that Hamas is a terrorist group who call for Israel's destruction.  He knows the Palestinian Arabs  refuse to recognize Israel's existence and even call Osama Bin Laden a "martyr."  He may not even realize, though, that every fallen Palestinian is a "martyr" in Gaza and Judea-Samaria and many have holidays to celebrate their actions.

He reports that America shouldn't force Israel to come to a peace compact that will not result in peace and security for them.  First, the "Palestinians Arabs" must recognize Israel's right to exist.  If they want a state, they must accept that Israel is there as a state as well.  This is Israel's position as well.

Paul co-sponsored legislation H. Res. 268 that passed the House on July 7, 2011 by 407-13, introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in May that reaffirms the US commitment to negotiate a settlement through direct negotiations.  I note that so far Abbas, the Palestinian leader, refuses to come to the table as he wants things settled his way before he even opens his mouth.  

He was also the co-sponsor of the HR 4133, United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, also introduced by Cantor, passing in the House in May 2012 stating that it is the US policy to reaffirm commitment to Israel's security as a state, provide Israel with military capabilities to defend itself, expand military and civilian co-operation, assist in a negotiated settlement of the conflict, and encourage Israel's neighbors to recognize its right to exist.  It passed, 411-2.

Paul has been a very active congressman.  He had also been the author of a House-backed budget plan that curbed overall entitlement spending and changes in Medicaid into a voucher-like system to save costs.  He's a man with a "vision for the country, according to Romney.

Paul attended the funeral for victims of the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin.  Romney's son, Tagg joined him there.

Congressman Paul Ryan  has been picked for his successes and goals in the economy and budgets, not on his outlook on Israel, but I'm sure that didn't hurt.  Together, they make a great team that also should be good for Israel.

PS:  The Sunday paper has an article telling that Oregon Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, (Jewish) authored a 2,300 word piece in March explaining a plan he and Ryan developed which is quite different from the Ryan-authored Medicare proposal adopted by the republican led House.  This Wyden-Ryan plan will allow seniors to continue receiving Medicare coverage while revamping and expanding private options.  It's different from the "end Medicare as we know it" approach that caused Democrats to fire away at Ryan.  Wyden will now have a new prominence in the race since Medicare is a huge issue.  Being a senior and on Medicare through our social security, I find this reassuring.

PPSS: The Oregonian newpaper 8/14/12 page A4  this morning has another article saying that the Wyden-Ryan package was followed by Ryan's later who "advocated a formal budget-slashing proposal that passed the House which Wyden voted against when it came to the Senate".  Wyden denies that he co-lead a piece of legislation with Ryan now. He said this after Romney suggested Wyden ws embracing his running mate's ideas.   More than being angry with Ryan, Wyden is attacking Romney throughout the piece.

Resource: http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Wisconsin/Paul_Ryan/Views/Israel/
Oregonian newspaper, Frontpage: Ryan is reportedly Romney's VP choice by Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst
Fox News TV channel 118-morning announcment
http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-elections-2012/romney-campaign-confirms-paul-ryan-as-running-mate-1.457478
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443404004577582112521141598.html Mitt Romney/Ryan
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=280850
1:45pm Sunday:  Oregonian newspaper 8/12/12 Wyden has a history with GOP pick by Jeff Mapes p: A6.
Oregonian newspaper 8/14/12 page A4   

Why President Morsi of Egypt Can Be Dangerous for Israel

Nadene Goldfoot

The motto of the Muslim Brotherhood is:

Allah is our objective

The Prophet is our leader

The Qur'an (Koran) is our law

Jihad is our way

Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope

This is the party that just got Morsi elected President in Egypt.  Egypt is probably going to change, and not for the better, despite the nice promises he has made to be so moderate.  A lot depends on how much he will keep promises, and as a politician, that is a slippery slope.  It's more important to look into his belief system and his past deeds.    Already he has announced that he is reconsidering Egypt's former peace deal with Israel.  He intends to build ties with Iran to create a strategic balance in the Middle East.

"According to the Anti-Defamation League, several former Brotherhood officials from the organization's 15-member Guidance Council assumed key roles within the new party, and used their positions in the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) of which the now President Morsi was head of  to reiterate the Brotherhood's long-standing hostility toward Zionism and support for other organizations that oppose Zionism"


The Muslim Brotherhood is dangerous for Israel because the terrorist organization, Hamas, is an offshoot of it and is carrying out the doctrine of both.  Hamas means:
 the Islamic Resistance Movement.  It was started in 1987 in the First Intifada.  Their goals are:

To raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.
They will not recognize Israel
They believe that all of Israel belongs to the Palestinian people.
They call for the destruction of Israel.
There will be no peaceful negotiations
Jihad means to attack others to get what they want, and they won't mind dying to in order to get what they want, in fact they get extra credit it if they do.   If so, they'll be rewarded in heaven with their 72 virgins.   A jihad is a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty; a crusade for a principle or belief. 
They are the ones who are constantly shelling southern Israel with mortars, missiles and rockets which go on to this very day. 

"The Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi spoke at the announcement rally May 1, 2012  for the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Morsi and expressed his hope and belief that Morsi would liberate Gaza, restore the Caliphate of the "United States of the Arabs" with Jerusalem as its capital, and that "our cry shall be: 'Millions of martyrs march towards Jerusalem."


The Brotherhood was much noticed after President Obama made his famous Cairo speech at al-Azhar University in Cairo in 2009 where he was not being particularly nice about Israel.  In his speech he goes along with the prevailing Washington idea of the two state solution where Israel could not continue to  build anything, and praises the  Muslims for their  outstanding accomplishments.   He was showing a huge outreach to the Muslim world in this speech.  Egypt has a population of more than 79,089,650 people of which 90% are Sunni Muslims with Coptic Christians in the wee minority.  Islam is a state religion.  They have a large militry power of active troops numbering about 450,000.  It's the 5th largest majority Muslim population in the world  with Obama's Indonesia  with 228,582,000 population being first.

After this Cairo speech,  by  February 2011 the Brotherhood dominated the Egyptian parliamentary elections.  In April  Secretary of State Clinton ordered the transfer of $1.5 billion in a lump sum with no strings attached in a grant to Egypt.  It's labeled for peace and security.  Egypt has been accepting money from the USA each year.  In 2006 they got $1.8 billion.

Peres in Israel feels that Egypt must remember their economic situation and will have to consider their economy in order to exist.    

Reference: http://www.gruntig.net/2012/06/rally-for-egypts-newly-elected.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxCy2gCPMXc Peres is interviewed about Egypt today
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood
http://blog.standforisrael.org/issues/terrorism/hamas
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/25/muslim-brotherhoods-bait-and-switch/ by Frank Gaffney
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html?pagewanted=all Obama Cairo Speech
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2141940009976831016#editor/target=post;postID=3265076590958184276 Stand for Israel
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brianwingfield/2011/01/29/making-sense-of-u-s-foreign-aid-to-egypt-and-elsewhere/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brianwingfield/2011/01/29/making-sense-of-u-s-foreign-aid-to-egypt-and-elsewhere/ on peace with Israel, reconsidering
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/26/muslim-brotherhood-draws-up-plans-to-islamize-egypt/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=c5efdde5fc-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/25/when-egypt-fell-on-the-glazov-gang/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=b6bf3654f3-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag Noni Darwish