Opuscula Does IDF general Really lack Politician’s skills?

I’M NOT TAKING SIDES, but I have to take exception to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contention that an IDF general lacks “political experience.”

A GENERAL — in anyone’s army — does not get to be a general unless the general is a politician. It helps to have friends in high places, but political skill is the first requirement.

The U.S. has had more than 13 generals as president, starting with Geo. Washington (http://tinyurl.com/yxuyofya). The most recent general to reach the White House was Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower, a 5-star and once the allies’ “Supreme Commander” in the European Theater.

In Israel, to “get ahead” in ANY profession, a person must have served in the IDF. Beyond the rank of captain (seren — סרן ) politics must be combined with “Vitamin P” (protection — pro’tek’zia), who an officer with visions of promotions knows.

Interested in IDF ranks? Refer to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces_ranks
for list and rank insignia.

I have not been following the political claims and attacks among Israel’s politicians. The political system is one reason I left Israel.

But comments that Benjamin "Benny" Gantz, former IDF Chief of Staff, lacks political experience are laughable.

No one seems to be accusing any other candidate — on the left or the right — of lack of experience. Perhaps this is an “old boy” or “school tie” thing; if a candidate is already a politician, then he, or she, is “in the club.” Not so the outsider (Ganz, in this case).

I don’t know if Ganz would be better for Israel than Netanyahu; the latter has a decade’s experience as prime minister, and the record on which to stand (of fall).

As in the U.S., Israeli politics is plagued by fake news and dirty dealings.

President Donald Trump seems to be working tirelessly to get Netanyahu re-elected. So much for U.S. interference in foreign elections, but then Trump simply is following in the footsteps of his immediate predecessor in the White House.

Israeli politicians experimented one time to elect a prime minister independent of the politician’s political affiliation. Now, returning to its old ways, the party with the most votes usually is invited to form a (coalition) government with the party head as prime minister.

According to polls from Israel, right wing parties, and there are several, should retain control of the Knesset (parliament) as a coalition. (Israel never has been governed by a single party.) One far-right party was banned from the election by the Israeli Supreme Court; the same court permitted anti-Israel parties (e.g., Balad) on the ballot. Editorial opinion: Go figure.

As with ALL polls, they are not to be trusted. Polls easily are manipulated to provide the answer the poll sponsor wants to see.

As for Gen. Ganz, to claim he lacks “political experience” is, frankly, stupid and anyone who accepts that is politically blind to reality.

Would Ganz make a good prime minister?

Probably no better or worse than Netanyahu.

Standing between Ganz and Netanyahu are a number of parties on the left, on the right, and two whose goal is to drive the Jews from “Palestine.”

Israeli elections are as acrimonious as U.S. elections; there are just more options for Israeli voters.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Of cease fires And other lies

HAMAS, while denying it had anything to do with the several missiles recently fired toward Tel Aviv, was quick to run to Egypt and beg the Egyptians to arrange a cease fire with Israel.

Once again, the current Israeli Prime Minister caved and a cease fire was ordered.

 

Above: Drybones cartoon

 
IT IS INTERESTING how Hamas cons the current Prime Minister into a cease fire after it (Hamas) tries to slaughter Israelis indiscriminately.

The last time Hamas pulled the wool over the PM’s already shut eyes it even admitted the cease fire was only for a short time — until it could restock its Iranian missile arsenal.

The “blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other” PM agreed to the convenient-for-Hamas cease fire.

And Israelis were shelled again.

Hamas, according to most in the know, has absolute control of Gaza. The PLO in Ramallah has no say even though it transfers funds to Hamas.

MEANWHILE, Hamas intends to send civilians to the border with Israel to launch balloon and kite bombs.

 

I FIND IT “FUNNY,” albeit not “ha-ha funny,” that Hamas does not send people to the border with Egypt. I believe Egypt cleared the area near its fence with Hamas so balloon and kite bombs would fall harmlessly on vacated land. (The wind also plays a role in the bombs’ flights.)

While both Egypt and Israel close their borders to Hamas, the media ignores the former and blames Israel for Hamas’ aggressive behavior.

It must be admitted that Hamas does allow a few of is resident prisoners to visit Israel for medical treatment; another things the media is loathe to report.

The problems for the Israelis are two:
1. There are people in Gaza who would like to see Hamas deposed; these people are not (necessarily) Israel-haters.
2. Gaza is ungovernable; if Hamas is eliminated, there will be an administrative vacuum that the PLO will try to fill. Israel will not make the mistake of occupying Gaza again.

In the first instance, more or less “innocent” Gazans would die if Israel decided to “carpet bomb” the strip, a concept easily within Israel’s capability. Israel, no matter how “right wing” the government, would not even contemplate such an action.

The bottom lines are:
a. Israel must find a Muslim state (Egypt, Jordan as examples) willing to assume control of Gaza, then
b. Israel needs to eliminate Hamas and associated terror groups; to cut out the cancer that plagues Gaza.

Begin, in his negotiations with Sadat, tried to give Gaza (back) to Egypt. Sadat was smart enough to refuse Begin’s “offer.”

 

MEANWHILE, sundry “news media” claim that Egypt’s President Al-Sisi has told the tyrants of Gaza that if Israel decides to remove them, Egypt will not interfere in any way.

“Not interfere,” but not assume control of the strip, either. Like Anwar Sadat before him, Al-Sisi is nobody’s fool when it comes to governing Gaza. I doubt his hesitancy is fear of the PLO, but perhaps in consideration of Jordan’s king, whose control of Jordan already is on shaky ground with his own PLO fifth column.

It is amusing that a peace agreement between two old terrorists — Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin (below) — should be so solid and beneficial to both countries.

 

Two old terrorists: Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin

 

By contrast, the agreement between Jordan’s then-Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali and then Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin seems less solid. Rabin is infamous for shooting at Jews on the ship Altalena (under Ben Gurion’s orders — . see http://tinyurl.com/y25ys3gq )

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Hillel and European Mentality

Amid this week being Palestinian Rights Awareness Week at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, pro-Israel campus students and Hillel professionals disagree on the appropriate approach toward countering the latest installation of anti-Israel bias. While some campus activists want to fight the initiative head-on, Hillel professionals have been counseling the students to "lay low." (Israel HaYom, http://tinyurl.com/yyq6axpd )

SOME PEOPLE (Hillel “leadership”) never learn.

When the nazis seized power in Germany, most German Jews said it was just a passing thing and that Germany would soon rid itself of the nazis.

When the nazis promulgated anti-Jewish laws, the Jews refused to see the “writing on the wall.” They were “good Germans” and a few even served in the German army in WW 1.

Besides, these good German Jews were in all appearances Germans, not shtetle Jews with caftans and peyot; Jews who spoke German better than yiddish or Hebrew.

When they had the chance to either organize resistance or get out, they did neither, at least not effectively.

There were exceptions to the rule; unfortunately more than six million Jews were NOT in that number.

Jews, especially Jewish “leadership” MUST know that burying their heads in the sand will NOT protect us.

 

FORTUNATELY, according to the Israel HaYom article (ibid.), there are some Jews who understand “Never Again.” Jews who won’t cower and bury their heads in the sand.

The week-long initiative, promoted by Kristina Gupta, an assistant professor at the school's Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, "is dedicated to raising awareness about the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the importance of recognizing Palestinian rights."

Students reached out to Hillel International for assistance on fighting back against the event but were met with advice to let it pass without creating any additional attention.

Wake Forest junior Joshua Sokoloff told JNS that the Zionist Organization of America, Students Supporting Israel and StandWithUs have more of an on-campus presence than Hillel.

"Hillel International states they are deeply involved with Israel, and donors give money to Hillel for specifically this reason," he told JNS.

"Organizations such as SSI, ZOA and StandWithUs have reached out to us to provide support. They have been pivotal in helping us counteract this poorly organized week that has taken actions to attack Israel."

"It is times like this where we cannot be silent and need to stand in unison to protect Jewish students on campus," Sokoloff added.

 

I wonder how Kristina Gupta, an assistant professor at the school's Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, jumps from the department’s objective to condemning Israel – the ONLY country in the region where women have equal rights – to “raising awareness about the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the importance of recognizing Palestinian rights."

Has Ms. Gupta ever BEEN to Israel?

Where does she get her misinformation?

 

I seriously doubt that Hillel the Elder, for whom the Hillel organization is named, would continence Hillel’s stance.

Allowing anti-Jewish attacks — no matter if directed against Jews as individuals or against Israel — is, to this scrivener’s mind, akin to bowing down to idols; the gods of hate and ignorance.

Jews are not alone in fighting discrimination. We have allies among non-Jews.

We also have JNS and ZOA, as mentioned above. Then there is JDL. (The ADL is not mentioned in the article.)

 

Apparently, Wake Forest has become a school of choice for Jew and Israel bashers. The Israel HaYom article quotes Phillip Yurchenko, a junior who is president of Wake Forest's chapter of Students Supporting Israel, "For years, anti-Semitism at WFU was bubbling just under the surface. "Professor [Charles] Kennedy's infamous class on the Middle East has been discussed endlessly. Jewish students are warned to not take the class because it is so incredibly biased. Multiple WFU professors have signed on to BDS, which is a movement with the aim of destroying the Jewish state.

Hillel’s stance is not to make waves; keep everything low key.

Not making waves and keeping everything low key allowed the nazis to slaughter six million — 6,000,000 — Jews simply because they were Jews. (The six million non-Jews who died at the nazis hands should never be forgotten — the Roma were almost completely exterminated.)

Anti-Semites, anti-Israel bigots will not “go away” if they are ignored by the people they hate.

Now is the time make waves; now is NOT the time to cower, to hide.

This is the U.S., not Germany.

While the liberal Jews bow to the gods of self-hate, a few Jews are standing up in self-defense.

Hillel, the organization, has shown its true colors.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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