Opuscula Asad wants Golan, PLO/PFLP deal, But offers nothing

SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR AL-ASSAD SAID THE ONLY WAY HIS COUNTRY WOULD MAKE PEACE with Israel is if Israel gives him the strategic Golan Heights.

PLUS, Israel must cave to its enemies.

Some people never learn.

 

A far better man than Bashar Al-Assad made a peace deal with Israel following which the man — Anwar El Sadat — got back the Sinai (but “stuck” Israel with Gaza). El Sadat and his partner for peace, Menachem Begin, were two old terrorists who had suffered personal losses in the wars between the two countries.

Al-Asad is no El Sadat and there is no one in power in Israel with Begin’s good sense.

January 8th, 1980, after first El Al flight to Egypt
Dan Hadani Archive, National Library of Israel @ https://tinyurl.com/yy87wm2x)

Iranian proxy

Al-Asad is in bed with the Iranians (Persians).

The Iranians continually promise to wipe Israel off the map.

Given the close relation with Iran, it is difficult to see how Israel would give up a militarily strategic position. It cost too many Israeli lives, both civilian — due to Syrian shelling Israeli civilian settlements — and military to claim the heights following Syria’s attacks on Israel.

Unlike a growing number of Muslim-dominated countries, Al-Asad fails to realize there are more economic and other benefits to “normalization of relations” with Israel.

Continuing to demand that Israel cave to the PLO/PFLP and Hamas/Islamic Jihad is a pipe dream. Perhaps if the Democrats recapture the White House in Washington, the U.S. will once again cater to the Palestinians, but if the Republicans prevail, Ramallah can expect less support from the U.S., Europe, and even other Muslim-dominated countries.

Impossible dream

Al-Asad’s problem festers in Ramallah.

It is impossible for Israel to make peace with an enemy that refuses to negotiate.

In the past, leftist (Labor) governments caved to every demand the PLO/PFLP even BEFORE negotiations commenced.

Actually, had the PLO et al agreed to the 1947 partition plan, it would HAVE a state much larger than Israel of 1948.

The PLO/PFLP never kept any agreements with Israel.

Egypt has.

Jordan has.

Both Egypt and Jordan have benefited from the agreements, as has Israel.

The normalization with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) already is showing signs of benefit to all concerned.

But Al-Asad?

Al-Asad has nothing to offer Israel in return for the Heights.

Israel could have, and still can, take Damascus militarily. That would be foolish and a waste of men, but it could be done. Syria cannot take Jerusalem, even with Fifth Column support.

(The same can be said for Beirut.)

If Al-Asad is serious about reclaiming the Heights, the first things (plural) he should do — but probably cannot and will not even if he could —

Get rid of Hezbollah
Settle the civil war in Syria
Disassociate Syria from Iran
Encourage the PLO/PFLP and Hamas/Islamist Jihad to (a) stop attacking Israel and (b) seriously negotiate with Israel before it looses everything.

Al-Asad and Ali Khamenei (Yousef Alhelou @ https://tinyurl.com/y2t7a2sq)

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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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Comment on Al-Asad

Opuscula UN has got To be kidding

THE HEADLINE READS

UN chief blasts Hezbollah for impeding work of Lebanon-based peacekeeping force

followed by António Guterres (right) calls on Lebanon's government to disarm Hezbollah, saying it posed a threat to the peacekeeping mission stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

The UN’s Blue Bonnets repeatedly have proven to be ineffective. When told to clear the area by a war-monger (as Egypt was when it prepared to attack Israel), it runs and hides.

This behavior is typical of UN operations, ergo Hamas using UN facilities as rocket launching sites and munitions storage areas.

The Blue Bonnets are boys playing soldiers; they are not capable of pushing out Hezbollah, and Lebanon has no effective army of its own to chase out the defacto army of Lebanon: Hezbollah.

Since the Blue Bonnets are ill-equipped to do what Lebanon’s citizens cannot accomplish, what Guterres is in truth suggesting is that foreign forces remove Hezbollah from the Levant — Lebanon and Syria.

The question is: WHAT “foreign forces”?

Would Saudia dare send in troops? It already is battling Iran’s Yemen proxy. Would the kingdom be willing to open a second front with Lebanon and Syria and face a direct attack from Iran?

Iraq is in Iran’s grasp and would align with, not against Hezbollah.

Egypt? Jordan? Both countries currently have internal issues; Egypt with Iran-backed Islamic Jihad and Hamas, Jordan with PLO agitation that threatens the monarchy.

A coalition of Gulf states might be cobbled together, but are these states’ militaries capable of ousting Iran-backed Hezbollah?

Morocco, Libya, Algiers might, as part of Arab League, be able to push out Hezbollah, but what price would be paid at home?

Muslim-dominated African states could send troops, but (a) would they be effective, (b) would the states suffer at home by Iran sympathizers, and (c) who would fund and equip the troops.

That leaves Europe and the Far East — China. Israel is NOT a candidate to attack Hezbollah except in retaliation.

North Americans are tired of foreign wars; the U.S. still is engaged in Afghanistan.

Would either U.S. political party dare promote participation in a UN-sponsored exercise. (The last one was Korea, and that still is unresolved, despite President Trump’s best efforts.)

The Israel HaYom site declares that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called on Lebanon's government to disarm Hezbollah, saying it posed a threat to the peacekeeping mission stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Established in 1978 to man a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has long suffered at the hands of the Iran-backed terrorist group.

Hezbollah has clashed with UNIFIL troops several times over the years and has restricted their movements across southern Lebanon, a move that grossly undermines UNIFIL's mandate the on-line publication contends.

Why, then, is Guterres asking the Lebanese to accomplish something the UN is unable to accomplish.

The Lebanese Army is a shambles; it lacks the wherewithal to depose Hezbollah. It has been ineffective for years, which is how Hezbollah came to, and remains in, power in the Levant.

Guterres apparently lives in a dream world in New York. According to several on-line sites, Guterres, an engineer, has zero military experience and perhaps cannot recognize the imbalance of power between Iran’s Hezbollah and Lebanon’s puny army.

If the UN cannot defend itself from Iran’s Hezbollah, perhaps the UN should hire some mercenaries who can, and will, remove Hezbollah from Lebanon. Perhaps the Chinese would like to enhance their influence in the area at the expense of Russia and Iran.

But depending on the Lebanese Army to oust Iran’s Hezbollah is foolishness, an impossibility.

Sources

1. Israel HaYom: https://tinyurl.com/s3ramhb

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

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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Comment on UN pipe dream

Opuscula Removing Hamas Leaves a vacuum

THE QUESTION BEING ASKED BY MANY in Israel and in the United States – and perhaps elsewhere – is:

If the IDF can eliminate Hamas, why doesn’t it do it?

Good question.

Simple answer: Who has an organization that can rush in and fill the role of government?

Image above shows map of Gaza Strip and surrounding areas

UNLIKE IRAN and some other nations with despotic rulers, Gaza lacks a shadow government, a government of people prepared to assume the duties of an overthrown government.

There may be a movement in Gaza able to take over the deposed Hamas role, but apparently it is a deep secret.

Egypt could step in on an interim basis, but so far it has declined to consider the possibility.

Menachem Begin tried to give Gaza to Egypt, but Anwar Sadat was too smart and refused Begin’s “gift.”

Israel ruled Gaza for a number of years. Israeli farmers set up greenhouses and an infrastructure to make the strip self-supporting. When Ariel Sharon forced the Jews out, the indigenous Muslim population quickly destroyed the greenhouses and infrastructure.

Israel, understandably, does not want anything to do with a Gaza government, even on a temporary basis.

When the nazis were defeated (and many escaped to Latin America and the U.S. or were “invited” to the then Soviet Union), the Allies set up governments in their sections.

After the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese sued for peace, the Americans established an interim government.

Both Germany and Japan today have viable, stable, independent governments.

When the U.S. and its allies overthrew Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government, neither the U.S. nor its allies had the foresight – or perhaps hindsight – to establish an interim government to rule until the Iraqis could develop a cadre of politicians who would be sufficiently popular to run the country after the U.S. and its allies went home.

Iran was a different model.

When the shah was overthrown, a shadow government headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini filled the vacuum. Khomeini returned from exile in England and took control of the government.

When the nazis were chased out of France, the arrogant Gen. Charles de Gaulle managed to assume political power.

There are no De Gaulles in Gaza.

There are no leaders in Egypt or Israel willing to help Gazans set up an independent government.

The PA in Ramallah can’t govern its own areas, and although Abu Mazen would like to claim he is the president of Gaza as well as the PA, Hamas and the local population chased the PA government’s personnel out of Gaza. Mazen and the Ramallah government would not be welcome in Gaza.

Bottom line: Israel is “stuck” trying – and failing – to protect Israelis near the Gaza border.

If it eliminates Hamas, which it surely could do, what would replace it? The Islamic Brotherhood is the prime candidate, and it is no better – possibly worse for Israel and the Gaza population – than Hamas.

It is suggested that not all Gazans are happy with Hamas, but apparently few Gazans are prepared to make peace with Israel.

For Israel, the bottom line is to suffer Hamas until the Gazans develop a shadow government – even if that government is formed and waiting in exile – Egypt or Jordan, perhaps – ready to return and assume control of the strip with a little help from foreign sponsors – again, Egypt, Jordan, and possibly Israel.

The “fly in the ointment” is Iran, Hamas’ sponsor. Iran will not willingly give up its puppet on Israel’s southern border anymore than it will allow Lebanese to rule their country without its proxy, Hezbollah.

Unlike Gaza, the Lebanese could have a Hezbollah-free government in place in short order; the Lebanese have a great deal of experience in self-rule.

For all the aggravation and danger Hamas presents to Israel, there is nothing to replace it except anarchy.

Until Gazans decide they want a better government, if the choice is Hamas or anarchy, Hamas seems to be the lesser of two evils.

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.

Comments on Keeping Hamas

Opuscula Hamas aim: Destroy Israel Or kill innocents?

 

If you think Hamas wants to destroy Israel, you are mistaken.

Hamas wants to slaughter civilians. Period. End of story.

It wants, if the Israeli government has the "intestinal fortitude," to commit political suicide by forcing Israel to take over Gaza. (This time there is no Arial Sharon to give it back until it has been disarmed and a responsible government installed.)

Either that or its leaders are imbeciles, and that is well within the realm of probability.

My logic?

I'm not a career military planner, but if I wanted to get rid of Israel I would NOT go about it by firing rockets at civilians. That's just making the people angry and causing them to demand (at last) that Gaza once more be under Israeli military control (and damn the bleeding heart liberals who will gnash their teeth and wail about "occupation").

Israel is a "revolving door" nation.

It imports raw materials.

Does something with those raw materials.

Exports a finished product.

Add under the import/export category "tourists." Tourists are hardly "raw materials," but they are a major source of income for the country.

All the imports and exports go through ports.

  Ashdod (sea)

  Ashkelon (sea)

  Eilat (air and sea).

  Hadera (sea)

  Haifa (air and sea)

  Lod (air)

  Ovda (air)

Shut down the ports ^{NOTE BOTTOM} and you almost completely isolate Israel from the world. Israel still would have access, albeit inconvenient access, to the world via Egypt and Jordan.

It's pretty clear that the "fearless leaders" behind Hamas - and Hezbollah in the north - are interested in murdering civilians and not, as they and the PA leadership proclaim, in destroying Israel.

Add to that the terrorists Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of installing rocket launchers in residential areas, of using their own civilians as shields against Israeli counter-attacks and it becomes clear that the goal is not Israel's destruction but population reduction.

Hamas doesn't even target military installations - army, navy, and air force bases. No, it saves its missiles for civilian targets.

If Israel "went away" tomorrow - and G-d willing will be it remain until the mashiach arrives - Hamas, the PA, Hezbollah, et al, could have little or no reason to exist, so the reality of it all is that the terrorists need Israel to keep money flowing into the leadership's pockets.

NOTE: When I worked for Tadiran in Holon, customs clerks went on strike. Nothing came into the country; nothing left the country. Tadiran, a huge, multi-division company, would have laid off 20% of its workforce if the strike continued beyond a specific date. Fortunately for me and other Tadiran employees, the strike was settled and we had no strike-related layoffs.

Arabs know it but EU Hides its head in the sand

6 Arab states blacklist
All of Hezbollah

According to an article in the Times of Israel ( http://www.timesofisrael.com/one-upping-eu-gulf-states-blacklist-all-of-hezbollah/ ) headlined One-upping EU, Gulf states blacklist all of Hezbollah, “The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a political and economic umbrella organization encompassing Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, has begun implementing a decision adopted by its foreign ministers on June 2 to place financial and security restrictions on Hezbollah, “making no distinction whatsoever between its military and political arms,” the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported on Sunday.”

Thumbing his nose at the EU, the Times of Israel reports that Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah ridiculed the European distinction between his party’s armed and political wings.

“This invention of a military wing, a political wing; this is a British act. They usually try to find such ways out,” Nasrallah said at dinner marking the end of a Ramadan fast day on July 24.

“Despite my disagreement with this division and distinction, I propose that our ministers in the next Lebanese government come from Hezbollah’s military wing,” Nasrallah joked.

“The Arab League, based in Cairo, on June 5 strongly condemned Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria, but fell short of dubbing it a “terror organization.”, the Times of Israel reported.

Hezbollah, in the Iranian ayatollahs’ pockets, is aligned with Bashar Assad, Syria’s despotic “president” and this alignment with Iran worries the GCC member states.

The Arabs get it.

The EU doesn’t, and the EU states are as vulnerable – if not more so – to an Islamist takeover as are the GCC states.

While the U.S. recognizes Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, it does very little to stop Hezbollah infiltration into the U.S.

Hamas, in Aza, is no better, but because it is a smaller organization and does not threaten the Gulf states as Hezbollah does, only Egypt and Israel are concerned.

Recent events in Egypt unmasked both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist intents. Fortunately the army, as also happened in Algeria, reclaimed power. While not “democratic,” there was, and there is now more freedom in Egypt than during the year the Muslim Brotherhood was in political control.

Europe is an 80-year-old prostitute, syphilitic, sagging, and staggering in her years, yet trying to convince the world that she’s still as spry and desirable as she was at 20. The world has passed her by, yet she still makes noises of no consequence so people will notice her. They do notice her, but either laugh at her delusions or pity her for her memories of former glory days when she was, at least in her own mind, a queen crowned with imperial adornment.

Refusing to call Hezbollah in toto a terrorist organization proves Europe’s inability to come to terms with reality. It, like the U.S. – and unlike the GCC – is more concerned with political correctness that the reality in its face.

The Arabs finally “got” it.

Too late to save Lebanon, but the GCC is using the only muscle it has to thwart Hezbollah’s intentions; that muscle is financial power. For military power the GCC will have to beg troops from the West – the U.S. and the weak sister Europeans. The GCC would be better served by making peace agreements with Israel.

Europe continues to totter in its delusions of the glory days of long ago while it welcomes its new masters with open arms and raised skirts.

And America watches and does nothing to defend its increasingly besmirched honor.

I give you political correctness on a field of fatal foolishness.

Not enough causalities?

 

Obama to Hagel: Send 1st Armor to Jordan

 

According to Global Security Newswire, the U.S.(is) to Deploy More Forces Near Syria ( http://www.nti.rsvp1.com/gsn/article/us-deploy-more-forces-near-syria/?mgh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nti.org&mgf=1)

The GSN article reported that “The 1st Armored Division outpost could make ready for a broader U.S. military deployment that might exceed 20,000 personnel if President Obama deems forcible involvement in Syria to be necessary, Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He added, though, that ‘military intervention ... should be an option of last resort’.”

The 1st Armored Division troops would be used, we are told, “for a possible intervention aimed at locking down chemical warfare stocks in war-torn Syria.” (Emphasis mine.)

Aside from my old whine “Anyone remember the Monroe Doctrine?” I wonder why Obungler deems it necessary to

* Endanger U.S. troops in another nation’s civil war

* Why the Arab League doesn’t send Muslim soldiers to do something on either side; Syria is a member of the League

To the best of my knowledge, the troops we sent to Iraq still are being attacked by Iraqis who welcomed the defeat of their despot by gifting U.S. troops with IEDs.

To the best of my knowledge, the troops we sent to Afghanistan are still being murdered by Afghans both for our interference in their politics and our insistence that girls be educated (imagine that).

While Obungler did NOT get us involved in either Iraq or Afghanistan – we can thank the Bushes for that, the current POTUS seems determined to make a name for himself as the fool who interferes in yet another Muslim war, a war that the U.S. is bound to lose – another Vietnam.

Let’s be cynical.

What’s in it for the U.S.? What does Syria have that the U.S. wants?

Natural resources are, at best, minimal.

As it stands now, if – when – the insurgents/rebels, call them what you wish, take over the country, Israel will once again have an active northern border; probably more so than its border with Aza and the Sinai. Unlike the Aza/Sinai borders, there won’t be a powerful neighbor to help keep a lid on the terrorists. For all its anti-Israel rhetoric, Egypt HAS attempted to keep Hamas in check and HAS stepped up activities to reduce missile attacks from the Sinai. Is there an “Egypt” bordering Syria? Look at the map.

Iran certainly is not going to play a restraining role; it’s maniacal ayatollahs have their puppet, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, constantly calling for Israel’s demise.

Lebanon is controlled by Hezbollah that, like Iran, want to drive the Jews – and may some non-Jews, too – into the sea.

Jordon is afraid to interfere with Syria’s threat to Israel; it’s monarchy is in danger of falling even now as the “Palestinians” among its citizens agitate against the government; this, of course is nothing new.

Turkey, apologies and air kisses not withstanding, is on the far side of Syria and of no help for Israel, unless Syria’s rulers decide to attack it for providing sanctuary to escaping civilians.

The U.N. is a farce. If anyone says “Boo!,” the blue berets run, tails between their legs. U.N. “peacekeepers” are not worth a prutah.

Which means that Obungler will follow the disastrous actions of his predecessors and send in U.S. troops who will be despised by the locals and victims of snipers and IEDs, just like in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet another Vietnam.

(Join me in a chorus of Pete Seeger's “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”)