Opuscula S T U P I D ! Israel government Gives, gets nothing

Allows Qatar to fund Hamas for a SIX MONTH ceasefire

Israel and Hamas are reportedly close to agreeing to a medium-term cease-fire that will include the transfer of $100 million in Qatari funds to the Palestinian terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.

 

According to I24 news (https://tinyurl.com/y6ej46z5)
Israel and Hamas are reportedly close to agreeing to a medium-term cease-fire that will include the transfer of $100 million in Qatari funds to the Palestinian terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. According to media, the coronavirus pandemic has put severe economic pressure on Hamas, which is therefore seeking financial assistance in exchange for a six-month truce.

Mossad chief Yossi Cohen (right, shown with Obama advisor Susan Rice) apparently is spearheading the indirect negotiations via Qatari intermediaries.

The matter of filling Hamas’ coffers has become somewhat contentious in Israel, given that the terror organization has for over five years been holding captive two Israeli civilians with psychological conditions who crossed into Gaza on their own accord. Hamas similarly has refused to return to Israel the remains of two soldiers who were killed in the Palestinian enclave during the 2014 war.

Israel needs a Gen. Geo. Patton

Patton never would allow his sworn enemy a six-month truce to rearm.

That’s STUPID. Patton was well known for saying that he thought.

Worse, this is hardly the first time Israel’s government has stupidly — “foolishly” is too kind a word — agreed to a temporary ceasefire that allowed Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) to rearm.

The results of a ceasefire with the despots of Gaza? More Israeli casualties and fatalities.

This is the Euro-Jew mentality.

This is the mentality of someone (or a government) that is crazy, at least if the definition of “crazy” is doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.

NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT AN END TO HAMAS AND ISLAMIC JIHAD.

Many of Israel’s Muslim neighbors indicate, with words and actions, that if Israel makes and end to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, these neighbors — while they might not openly applaud as they did on 9-11 (2001) — will not militarily object to Israel removing Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza. (Iran undoubtedly will rattle its rockets and fire a few missiles from the safety of Lebanon and Syria, but so far, Iron Dome has proven capable to protect Israelis.)

QUANDARY. Interim government

Before Israel can eliminate Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad despots, it MUST have a caretaker government ready to fill the void left by the despots’ departure.

At the end of World War 2, the triumphant allies installed Chas. de Gaulle in France and Konrad Adenauer in (West) Germany. Japan was ruled by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for Allied Powers (SCAP), until 1951.

Israel has proven it cannot govern Gaza.

Ariel Sharon forced out Israelis from the strip by 2007. The new owners largely dismantled the Jewish-built agricultural infrastructure, repurposing much of it to use again Israel.

While Israel cannot, should not, attempt to rule Gaza, it should — with assistance primarily from Egypt, but with other Muslim powers — prepare an interim government to rule until the Gazans can install a new government.

Democratic elections may not be in the future for Gaza. There are peoples — the Cubans, for example — that simply cannot function with a democratically-elected government. The U.S. should never force American-style democracy on any people.

Israeli captives in Gaza

I confess to having mixed emotions about the two Israelis Hamas holds in Gaza.

As I24 notes, the “two Israeli civilians with psychological conditions crossed into Gaza on their own accord.”

I have been given to understand that the Red Cross/Red Crescent cannot get information from Hamas regarding the condition of the “illegal immigrants (to Gaza)” — are they receiving treatment for their conditions? Do they WANT to be repatriated to Israel? Is there anyone in Israel to assume responsibility for their care?

It seems to this scrivener that blocking the Qatari funds until Israel has the answer to those questions — AND THE BODIES OF THE ISRAELI SOLDIERS RETURNED — is in order. The answers need to be provided by a truly neutral source; I’m not sure the Red Cross, and certainly not the UN, qualify.

Bottom line

Caving to Hamas and Islamic Jihad and allowing the Qatari money to flow to the despots of Gaza is, as the headline states,

S T U P I D

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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on S T U P I D

But PLO/PFLP won’t come to table Arabs want “Palestine” Issue settled before Signing peace pact

IT IS RIGHT OUT OF JOS. HELLER’S CATCH 22^{1, 2}

Several major Muslim neighbors, in particular Saudia and Qatar — the later being the “bank” for Hamas — are willing to “normalize” relations — that does not necessarily equate with “peace — with Israel

IF

Israel first makes a peace deal with the PLO/PFLP and Hamas/Islamic Jihad.

* * * * * *

Qatar: Normalization with Israel only after two-state solution with Palestinians³

* * * * * *

Normalizing ties with Israel linked to Palestinian statehood, Saudi king says⁴

On the other hand, President Trump’s son-in-law, possibly a Pollyanna,⁵ suggests that the “Palestinians will get peace 'as soon as they are ready'.”⁶

 

Given that the “leadership” of the terrorist groups (ibid.) refuse to negotiate with Israel, particularly when they are confident the pro terrorist Democrats may regain the White House and Congress in November, there is no way, short of a devastating attack unleashed by Israel on the terrorist-controlled areas to which “the world” would condemn Israel, that the terrorists’ “leadership” will send delegates to a negotiating table.

Hamas has accepted Egypt to mediate between it and Israel. (Hamas arranges a short-term cease fire to once again stockpile materiel to use against Israel — and Israel’s “leaders” stupidly fall for this again and again and again.)

IF, THEN, the Saudis and Qataris want a peace agreement between the terrorists and Israel, they must push the terrorists to the negotiating table and they must convince the terrorists that attacks on Israel must cease — permanently.

The question is, what country or organization can guarantee the peace?

Not the UN; it has proven both useless (UNIFIL) and in the pocket of the terrorists (UNRWA).

The U.S. is tired of sending its troops into danger.

The Europeans, save for Russia, likewise will not endanger their personnel.

China, perhaps. It sees itself as the next (of not already) major world power.

Since Israel has repeatedly made concessions to the terrorists, and since the concessions were accepted by the terrorists as a sign of Israel’s weakness — perpetuated by Israel’s “leaders” — someone needs to stand as surety that the terrorists will indeed forego attacks on Israel and is citizens.

No one on any side should expect that a “peace agreement” will bring any more than a cessation of hostilities.

If “normalization” is what members of EuroCom have — passport-free passage over national borders — or what U.S. and Canadian and U.S. and Mexican citizens have, then this is not a “normalization” that can be expected.

While there are peace agreements between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan, true normalization is far from being achieved. Travel to and from Israel by citizens of the three countries is difficult at best. (Tourists are another matter and have fewer handicaps.)

It would be interesting to know what the Qataris and Saudis expect Israel to concede. The terrorists make it clear that they will accept nothing less than an end to Israel. Even with the Democrats controlling Washington and Israeli leftist controlling the Knesset and Supreme Court, allowing the terrorists to drive Israelis — Christian, Jew, Muslim, and “whatever” into the sea — is not going to happen.

Everything the terrorists have lost they lost due to wars of aggression started by Muslim states.

Had Jordan accepted the UN partition in 1948 and had the Muslims not repeatedly attacked Israel, the “Palestinians” might have a state of their own, assuming Jordan would allow it.

Had Syria not attacked Israel in 1948 (and again later), it might have all of Mount Hermon.

If Grandma had wheels . . .

Sources

1. “Catch 22,” book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22

2. “Catch 22,” expression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

3. Qatar: https://tinyurl.com/y3pqmvlg

4. Saudia: https://tinyurl.com/y43n3t8a

5. Pollyanna defined: https://tinyurl.com/yxhfortw

6. Kushner comment: https://tinyurl.com/y4et545j

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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Catch 22

Opuscula A few thoughts About Israel-UAE Peace agreement

With a great deal of hoopla and self-congratulations, Trump’s son-in-law is taking bows for lining up the third Muslim country in the region to make a pact with Israel.

Peace almost always is a good thing.¹

The accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), regardless of what it actually entails, should be a good thing for the region. 

The Sunni-dominated UAE is a winner in the deal as it, like Israel, is threatened by Shiite-dominated Iran.

The UAE military is smaller (not being threatened by an immediate neighbor is helpful) than Israel’s Defense Force.

For 2020, United Arab Emirates is ranked 45 of 138 out of the countries considered for the annual GFP review. ²

Always in a state of readiness, the nation of Israel fields one of the most capable military forces in the world - despite its size. For 2020, Israel is ranked 18 of 138 out of the countries considered for the annual GFP review. ³

The UAE is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. The GCC was established in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 1981. The purpose of the GCC is to achieve unity among its members based on their common objectives and their similar political and cultural identities, which are rooted in Arab and Islamic cultures.⁴

 

Countries belonging to the GCC (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski @ https://tinyurl.com/y47oxzm5)

 

Because the UAE is a GCC member state, it is likely, albeit not assured, that the other member states will either follow UAE’s lead or at least use the UAE as a conduit to Israel.

Qatar currently is the main source of revenue for Hamas, until recently depositing US$15 million-a-month into the terrorists’ pockets. The funds were earmarked by the Qataris for humanitarian aid. Qatar also funds some PLO/PFLP activities.

Qatar recently sent two planeloads of medical supplies to the PLO/PFLP. Abu Mazen and friends rejected the aid since the supplies were landed in Israel sans Abu Mazen’s permission! (The PLO/PFLP lacks an airport to accommodate a modern jumbo jet.)⁵

Despite funding Hamas and the PLO/PFLP, Qatar apparently has, as do most of the GCC states, a pragmatic relationship with Israel. This is not new; as early as the 1970s Saudi were buying Israeli-made air conditioners; they worked better in Saudia’s climate than the European brands.

Israelis visit GCC states

Netanyahu visits Oman, Oct. 2018 ⁶

Communications Minister Ayoub Kara's trip to Dubai, Oct. 2018 ⁷

Sport & Culture Minister Miri Regev at UAE judo competition, Oct. 2018⁸ Regev, of Moroccan descent, also visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.⁹

 

Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, middle, shakes hands with Mohamed Bin Tha'loob Al Derai, President of UAE Wrestling Judo & Kickboxing Federation, after one Israeli player won the bronze medal during the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Judo tournament in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. (AP/Kamran Jebreili @ https://tinyurl.com/y266oxes)

 

Some concerns

The rapprochement between Israel and the GCC is not without concerns.

For example, Qatar had been at odds with other GCC members and Egypt for some time. ¹⁰

Direct Flights Emirates and Etihad already overfly Saudia to deliver aid to the PLO/PFLP. Will Israeli airlines (El Al, IsrAir) be allowed to overfly Saudia? Saudia is a GCC member.

Iran is troublesome for ALL middle eastern countries (and beyond).

Will agreements between Israel and individual GCC states include mutual military assistance? Israel has the strongest and best trained military in the region. While there is military cooperation with Egypt, a mutual assistance agreement to defend against a belligerent state (e.g., Libya) is not part of the public peace deal.

PLO/PFLP & Hamas Will the GCC states abandon the “Palestinians” and would that be good for Israel.

Both the PLO/PFLP and Hamas, with Islamic Jihad at its side, have proven their dependence on Israel, yet all are bent on Israel’s destruction. If the GCC quits funneling funds to the terrorists, if the GCC quits supporting the terrorists politically to the rest of the world (primarily the EU), will the terrorists finally be driven to abandon terrorism and make a true peace with Israel? One that does not have an “expiration date.” Or will the terrorists continue to receive support from the EU, and — like Pharaoh — “harden their hearts” and continue their sworn goal of a Jewish-free “Palestine.”

---

Sources

1. Peace is not a good thing when it is faux pax^cq (see https://tinyurl.com/y4utkrv3) that allows a sworn enemy, e.g., Hamas or Hezbollah, to rearm and prepare for a new aggression.

2. UAE military: https://tinyurl.com/y45g4cy6

3. Israel military: https://tinyurl.com/ya9wppoa

4. GCC: https://tinyurl.com/y47oxzm5

5. Medical supplies to PLO/PFLP: https://tinyurl.com/y2dtsu37

6. Netanyahu in Oman: https://tinyurl.com/yd48z583

7. Ayoub Kara in Dubai: https://tinyurl.com/y6c9yput

8. Mimi Regev at judoka: https://tinyurl.com/yytd8buk

9: Miri Regev outside mosque: https://tinyurl.com/yarefvqx

10. Qatari conflicts: https://tinyurl.com/y4fd63ep

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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Peace pact

Opuscula GCC looks westward To counter Iran nukes

 

An item from the May 22 issue of The Israel Project (TIP) proved interesting, but left me with a "Why Morocco" question.

The item:

Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday conveyed a statement from a joint committee established by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates committing to confronting "regional challenges," the latest in what increasingly appear to be systematic moves by Riyadh to bolster its regional position opposite Iran. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had already in late April formally invited Jordan and Morocco to integrate themselves into a conventional military alliance under which the Gulf states would trade aid and the new members would potentially provide 300,000 troops to collective efforts. Meanwhile Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal - a top figure in the country’s royal family and its former intelligence chief - went further, speculating that Gulf states would have to acquire "nuclear know-how" to offset Iran. AFP also read a new Saudi-UAE "supreme committee" against the backdrop of tensions between most Arab states, on the one hand, and Qatar, on the other. The wire bluntly assessed that "Qatar is accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies have long been hostile." Tensions have recently been dampened by Qatari moves to return to the GCC fold, but many analysts take it as a given that the region remains divided between three overarching blocs: the Iranian camp that includes Syria and Hezbollah, the camp of America's traditional Arab allies plus Israel, and an axis composed of Turkey, Qatar, and various country-by-country Brotherhood groups. The Obama administration has faced sustained criticism for being insufficiently supportive of its traditional allies.

I can understand why the GCC would want to include Jordan in its military pact. Saudia and Jordan are neighbors, albeit Jordon is hardly more than a spot on the map when comparing land mass. (Jordon still is bigger than Israel, even with the "disputed territories.")

The distance between Rabat, Morocco and Riyadh Saudia Arabia is roughly 3300 miles or a little less than seven (7) hours flight time (at commercial jet speeds).

The Gulf Corporation Council is composed of six nations, alphabetically:

1. Bahrain
2. Kuwait
4. Sultanate of Oman
6. Qatar
8. Saudi Arabia (GCC Hq in Riyadh)
10. United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Population and wealth information at http://useconomy.about.com/od/worldeconomy/p/gcc.htm

All of the GCC members, and Jordan, are distant from Morocco. While all are politically similar in their distrust of Iran and its proxies, including the Muslim Brotherhood, it seems strange - if the GCC is looking for troops to come to its rescue, that it would ignore closer, more or less moderate, Arab states including Egypt, Libya, Tunis, and Algeria. The GCC also is ignoring perhaps potential, but questionable, allies Sudan and Yemen - which sits next to Oman.

Saudia, along with Jordan, must be concerned not only with Iran and its visions of nuclear domination of the area, but also of Syria and Hezbollah.

In truth, the best friend the GCC would wish for would be Israel, but if Israeli politicians are smart - and THAT IS HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE - they won't agree to any "boots on the ground" arrangements with the GCC or any other Arab state (including Egypt and Jordan). After all, Israel is alleged to "have the bomb" - something Saudi ever more desperately wants for its own protection.

What the GCC needs, and perhaps what it is seeking by courting Morocco, et al, is a "second strike" option. Given the Iranian crazies, the ayatollahs will strike without warning (or perhaps in conjunction with a North Korean attack on South Korea and maybe Japan); all the GCC can do is hope for retaliation to come from a distant state, e.g., Morocco.

The question the GCC states need to ask: will any of their Arab citizens want to defend "their" country that, after all, is only tribal land with artificial borders.

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.