By Ted Belman
It is imperative that Naftali Bennet shift his votes to strengthen both Likud and Yishai. A deal should be cut in advance to that gives him the Defense Ministry and Shaked the Interior Ministry.
Netanyahu was right to talk to Congress as he did and did so admirably. There is no question that if a deal comes out of the negotiations, it will be a better deal, though not necessarily an acceptable deal.
Obama’s manufactured outrage at the alleged violation of protocol, has fueled the fire of the anybody-but-Bibi camp. As a result he may have won the battle but lost the war i.e., he won’t the Prime Minister after the elections.
According to Haaretz, as of early yesterday, the average of the recent pols show, Likud 23, Zionist Party 24, Bayit 12, Arab list 13, Kaluna 8, YB 6, Yesh Atid 12, Shas 7, Yishai 4, UTJ 7, and Meretz 5.
The only right wing seats we have is Likud, Bayit, Kulana, YB, Yishai, UTJ and Shas is 67. Of course this is before we see the polls after today.
There are two problems here, Likud isn’t the largest party and Yishai may not reach the threshold and thus 4 rightwing seats will be lost. This would be a calamity.
It is imperative that Naftali Bennet shift his votes to strengthen both Likud and Yishai. A deal should be cut in advance to that gives him the Defense Ministry and Shaked the Interior Ministry and Ariel the Housing Ministry.
Of course this is assuming the polls don’t get better.
yamit82 Said:
always,
honeybee Said:
Good one 😛
@ Dandaman:
Scenario hypothetical:
Israel is the only country with an effective anti Missile and soon anti ICBM missile.
Let’s say you are Iran and have to trust in the accuracy of untested hardware and payloads. Israel is a small target.
let’s say that Iran fires several rockets some armed with nukes and others not at Israel and israel defends with our Arrow system. Let’s assume Israel get’s lucky and knocks out the rockets with nukes before they hit their targets.
Israel in retaliation fires salvos of Nukes from our subs and hardened on land silos. within a half hour Iran ceases to exist and Israel survives making all of their effort and theological hopes fall to radioactive dust for nothing gained. Would they risk it????
yamit82 Said:
No he’s not, He has only permantely “Beamed-up” !!!!!!!!!
yamit82 Said:
Yeepie ka yo !!!!!!!!!!!
honeybee Said:
He can’t, he’s dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LjX0unqhNU
yamit82 Said:
We could have a contest, take nominations. I nominate Max !!!!!
honeybee Said:
Racist comment with sexual innuendo.. Max will not be pleased.
Dandaman Said:
Yeah Yeah, but I was refering to your commnet addressed to Justin:
Ask again who did you have in mind?
Dandaman Said:
Yes you did, here I thought Obama was gonna ride to the rescue on a Big White Horse.
@ yamit82:
I have in mind that no amount of blah, blah can change the fact that if Israel wants to eliminate Iran as an existential threat it will have to do it itself. I hope I didn’t give away the surprise ending.
yamit82 Said:
Beam me up Mr. Spock !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
honeybee Said:
Ya really think?
yamit82 Said:
Fascinating !!!!!!!!!
honeybee Said:
I prefer caustic, mordant, acerbic in place of vitriolic. That said my Jeckle side: Calm, mild nice and kind!!! 🙂
yamit82 Said:
Thank goodness I was afraid you were becoming vitriolic in your old age.
honeybee Said:
I do!
@ yamit82:
” THE JEWISH DAILY FORWARD “
@ honeybee:
Yup, as always.
yamit82 Said:
Know yourself !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sugar
@ honeybee:
Could suggest another site where he would not only be welcomed but would feel at home?
@ honeybee:
I was!!
Justin Said:
Put on your ” big boy pants” Bubba.
yamit82 Said:
Speak for yourself, Darlin ?
ArnoldHarris Said:
Bernard Ross is many things intelligent, urbane, handsome, but a ” mind reader” ?
yamit82 Said:
Tack full as always, Darlin.
ArnoldHarris Said:
I consider myself far too ignorant in that area to even venture a speculation.
@ ArnoldHarris:
In the last few election cycles most pollsters have been way off. Last elections they gave Lapid 12 mandates and he got 19 and Jewish home I think 17 and he got 11. Likud 42 and they got with Lieberman 32 together Likud 19-20 by themselves.
Since most israelis use cell phones and are not reached there are too many instances of pollster using keys such as your and by results didn’t work out too well.
The more people especially the Arabs who vote the higher the electoral bar it will make for all the other parties deducting from some and adding to others.
@ Dandaman:
Who do you have in mind??
@ Ted Belman:
As a seeker of truth and knowledge he came here some months ago and was thoroughly given enough information to at least make him pause and consider his positions and leftist proforma opinions at that time. If he is as honest, intelligent and serious as you gave him credit for or at the least with the benefit of doubt he would have returned here today with at the min. some differences in his previous opinions. As all can see nothing changed and he exhibited the same leftist tripe found on all sites supporting the lefts and anti Israel and antisemitic POV.
Bernard understands, I understand you still seem to want to give him the benefit of doubt. He is the one you should be criticizing and not Bernard who on ever point and critique hit a bulls eye.
ArnoldHarris Said:
Stuff itArnold!! If you have not read the many pages of previous comments between Justin and some of us then you are out of your element and keeping your stupid opinions to yourself would be most prudent since based on your comment it’s obvious to you neither have a clue or the brains to investigate on your own.
@ bernard ross:
BR:
I freely admit that I do not recall having read any earlier comment from Justin. But we have so many more truly significant matters concerning Israel and the Jewish nation this particular week, that sustaining a name-calling contest with someone who disagrees with what most of us on Israpundit agree upon, is a waste our time and if pushed sufficiently far, would tempt Ted Belman into consigning all such comments — pro as well as con — to what I presume is the less than well-read Chit-Chat memory hole.
By the way, I am interested in reading any evidence you can come with that would indicate how the undecided are likely to vote — assuming they all vote — in the Knesset election on March 17, 2015. I discussed that topic lightly in an earlier comment on this thread. But I would like to know your informed opinion. All this could have significant bearing on the which parties form the next government in Jerusalem.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Ted Belman:
he pretends to sincerely come here to learn but his comments demonstrate no evidence of that assertion.
Ted Belman Said:
He continued with the same dishonest MO again with no support for any of his insulting allegations. His MO is to spend paragraphs softening readers up to the false notion that he is on your side, just like Obama, and after that he presents his accusations in the form of questions that he needs you to answer in order to allay his “concerns”.. I have not one shred of doubt as to his dishonesty and I believe that those with questions should carefully read his comments without assuming that he is sincere because we have already seen last time that his mask of sincerity is a FAKE and a FRAUD!!!!! He was trashed last time for very good reason and he ran away without answering to the comments exposing him,. he crawls back now seeking new suckers.
Ted Belman Said:
I dont buy that, his approach is not uncommon for trolls trolling Jewish sites supporting Israel.
Ted Belman Said:
do you remember how you approach him innocently last time and accepted his representations of his concerns seriously? Only to find out and realize that he was a total masquerading fake who did not back up any of his anti Israel and anti zionist accusation. He repeated his insulting accusations like a typical troll too an amen chorus. He is lying again because if he had actually been here and reading he would not have made the comment which you did not even reply to as it was ridiculous. If he had really been here and gone to all the 3rd party sites we post as citations and evidence for our comments and speculations he could not have made his ridiculous assertions. My experience is that people who lie about one thing lie about others and therefore I do not buy his lebertarian conservative assertion, I beleive he is lying about that also. If he had acted last time as an honest person or this time as an honest person I would try and give the benfti of the doubt but he came with the same shpiel and MO which began with the assumption that Israel does wrong is wrong and that Jews in YS is a provocation. Anyone who claims that Jews in YS is a provocation is an anti semite, jew or non jew.
ArnoldHarris Said:
I will repeat that in my opinion he is quite dishonest but I do not base it solely on this post he made today but on the number of prior posts he made some months ago. I cannot imagine that anyone who was present during those long threads by a number of posters here could not have arrived at the conclusion of his dishonesty at the time. In this post todya he kept his head down because he was deservedly chopped up last time for his numerous arrogant and false accusations agianst Israel. He presented himself as an innocent neutral party who was “concerned” but after a number of conversations and threads he proved himself to be a typical anti Israel troll, but subtle.
He trod softly this time and did not raise the canards yet this time of occupied territory, illegal occupation,apartheid illegal settlement, right wing extremist settlers, etc. This time he had a memory.
@ bernard ross:
@ Justin:
Yes I think Bernard came on too strong. Remind me not to get in his cross hairs. But I understand why.
Justin says he has learned from us but he still has an overly critical attitude. Justin Said:
So long as he makes demands on us no different from our enemies or the antisemitic left, he is not a supporter of Israel. We are supporters of Israel. He and Jstreet are not.
Justin Said:
The above quote is so stupid and superficial that it is not worth replying to.
Justin Said:
In every relationship or partnership there is give and take. You want a master servant relationship. Let me put it to you this way.When negotiating with Iran he should stand up for Israel his most important ally. He should make sure that we are protected. Instead he is throwing us under the bus just as you are willing to do.
This attitude comes right out of Soros and Mearsheimer and Walt. They argue that Israel is a liability not an asset and should be abandonned. So you are in league with them and thus must be trashed like we trash them. Had you asked about our relationship with the US rather than show your bias by repeating their charge we would have made the case for you as Yamit did. Why would you repeat an allegation as the truth rather than just seek the truth. It shows us where you are coming from and it is unacceptable to us. The odd thing is, you don’t understand what you are doing that upsets us, or do you.
When you first came here, I admonished you to make your case. You never do. You just repeat the mantra of the left.
If you simply state a “fact” and ask why are we occupying Palestinian land without making the case what you mean by occupation and why you think its Palestinian land. This is part of a false narrative that you accept. Your opinions are worthless unless you base them on facts rather than simply repeat mantras.
@ Justin:
I think we just found our new poster boy for logorrhea.
@ Ted Belman:
@ yamit82:
Ted, Yamit:
I think the best indicator for estimating division of still-undecided votes could be the comparative percentages of these supporting Mr Netanyahu for prime minister as measures against those preferring Mr Herzog. Using that gauge, Netanyahu leads Herzog 7 to 4.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Bear Klein:
BK:
The latest Knesset election poll results that you have shown above sound most promising, for purposes of helping Prime Minister Netanyahu attain the stable Knesset coalition that Israel so greatly needs coming out of the March 17, 2015 Knesset election.
I looked for but did not see the above results posted to Jeremy’s Knesset Insider. Do you have any further information regarding that? Also, what is the cut-off date for publishing election polls prior to election day?
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Justin:
Justin:
Based on some of the intemperate responses you received today, based on the even-tempered comment shown above, your complaint to Ted Belman is fully justified. I disagree with some of what you have written, but it would truly be shameful on my part if I were to label you as dishonest or resort to any other term approaching that one in malice.
As you must know by now, I am an American Jew, a political conservative and ideological libertarian like you, other than our religious differences. As a matter of fact, I will support Senator Rand Paul for president next year, and hopefully, Governor Scott Walker for vice president. Inasmuch as I am a Wisconsin resident, you might question why I run them in that order. I think Senator Paul has extensive experience dealing with national issues, which Governor Walker has been a major player exclusively at the city, county, and state levels. By the way, I was a member of the Conservative Club of my high school, back 63 years ago, just before serving with the US Army and its enlisted reserves for three years during and after the Korean war. Like the Jewish friend whom you mentioned, I too lived in Israel for an extended period, along with my wife. But that was with a graduate studies fellowship, not involving the IDF.
In any case, if I discuss Israeli policies or personalities with you on Israpundit’s pages or any other such blogsite, I shall treat you with the same courtesy that I would expect from you, a standard which I am sure you would uphold.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Bear Klein:
15-20% still undecided or not firm that’s a lot two weeks out from the election. How would you divy them up between the parties???
@ Bear Klein:Thanks. Good news, indeed.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/latest-election-poll-5/2015/03/04/
@ Justin:Israel is very safe except for bad drivers. The safety thing is a perception that people who have never lived in Israel or traveled here many times have. Reason being bad news is news.
Trust me Israel is much safer than the big cities in the USA.
Reading a forum and news certainly is a start to learning about something.
Without getting into rights, history, or legal issues if Israel pulled the IDF out of Judah and Samaria within weeks Hamas would start making inroads and within months they would kick out the Fatah gangstyle rulers of the PA Area A. By the way Hamas are Salafists.
So if Israel was stupid enough to repeat the mistake of the Gaza withdrawl it would find itself in a deadly serious security situation. Every night the IDF and security services arrest terrorists planning, conducting or who are wanted for past terrorist actions. From these people Israel finds out more about other terrorists and potential operations.
Israel can not pull out for its safety sake, even if it wanted to. The USA and Western world not benefit from another area where Salfie (Hamas) terrorists would take over. It is also very possible afterwards ISIS would start taking hold. Hamas is cooperating with these people to fight Egypt in the Sinai.
You presume to know what the posters or TED know based on your readings on this site for a few months. I would politely say you are being very presumptive and assumptive. My guess is you are fairly young.
Before I moved to Israel the first time in the 1970s I read every book in English and German in the Library on Israel and its history. Plus I found people who lived in Israel for years and spent hours conversing with them about Israel. I still did not know the place only its history.
If you never live in a place you can not have more than a outsiders distant assumptions about the places reality.
In this new online world people somethings appear real but are virtual. Nothing replaces first hand experience. If one does not learn the language of a place people can never truly get close to it.
(In error I addressed these remarks to Max before!)
Justin Said:
Nothing extreme in those assessments, in fact they were too kind because you left out the attribute of dishonesty which in my opinion is your main character point.
Justin Said:
Actually that was not the reason for your “trashing” as that point of view is so petty and naive regarding politicians that it would not normally be worth a single sentence of discussion except to teach an intellectual adolescent the realities of this world. Most here are too knowledgeable and experienced to waste their time on such a venture.
Justin Said:
No one cares about your understanding of Israel perspectives or your need to “challenge” your ludicrous thinking and assumptions. Although you acknowledge we are well informed it appears to have no bearing on your ability to continue to make comments based on ignorance or dishonesty.
Justin Said:
😛 😛 😛
You should see here an example of why you get “trashed” here. You are obviously used to parrots who simple say amen to your ridiculous assertions. Posters here are much more informed of those very subjects than are YOU and most forums that spout your rubbish. There is not one shred of evidence for that comment but it does show what a ludicrous clown you really are. We have people here who have first hand knowledge of discussed subjects and tend to cite evidence for their assertions unlike you who NEVER seems to cite any evidence for any stupid comment you make, and this post of yours is no exception wrt unsupported parroted trash from you. In fact, one of the reasons I spend time here is that posters have real experience and alternative information to contribute unlike you who is a parrot clone created by the false MSM “news”
Justin Said:
From what I can see you are a “casual” and superficial observer on everything you write. You never have any factual information or direct experience to contribute here. You are like a leech who fastens himself on to a host and sucks their energy. You contribute nothing of value here.
Your first four paragraphs appear to be a demonstration of narcissistic intellectual masturbation. NO one cares about your childish life story and views.
Justin Said:
😛 ,,, acomment chock full of probable lies and dishonest assumptions, the wares of a swindler and con artist. I don’t believe you are a libertarian conservative without proof because you have uttered too many false “facts” here. Furthermore I know of no libertarian conservatives expressing your view that Israel is provocative by allowing Jews to live in the legal and historical homeland of the Jews. That is a perspective which sounds more compatible to the usual leftist, arabist, islamic, faux pal troll propaganda machine. As their MO is taquiyya, I must go with the preponderance of the evidence which suggests you are not what you purport to be. Also It is ludicrous, except for those attempting to swindle Jews of their historic and legal homeland, to assert that Jews in Israel is provocative. We see how you insert your propagation of the faux pal leftist myths there. Therefore,you should understand how someone like me sees you: as an inveterate con artist and crooked swindler who will propagate any lie in order to sell his despicable, lying tainted narratives.
Justin Said:
Most americans, and their congress, clearly see Israels strategic, military, security value to US interests and it is a small dishonest minority like yourself who pretends otherwise. The support of the american people and their representatives was proven at BB speech and those against were a small group. YOU and your Pres are distrusted by most Americans, therefore once more you propagate lies here on the belief that we are ignorant and unaware: a con artist.
Justin Said:
not an american shill, because as I said, even with leftist manipulated MSM, americans and their congress overwhelmingly support Israel unlike you who I would consider to be a leftist, muslim, taquiyya, faux pal “shill”. You and your big eared idol were shown to be outside of the american mainstream by a mile.
Justin Said:
You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink…. especially a dishonest, swindling horse tryng to swindle jews into throwing away their land.
Justin Said:
IMO you show you are both a liar and an ignoramus with that completely unsupported statement. The islamic jihadi threats of the salafis, MB and their handlers has been discussed in the most detailed manner on almost a daily basis on this site: again it shows your dishonesty. As for weapons systems discussion here are much more detailed than most sites… what do you think of our discussions on the F 35 sales, surely you have read them and can comment? We have defense industry experts on this site who worked in the US defense industry AND the Israeli defense industry whereas you are a naive little fool… prove my comment wrong with evidence.
As for anyone stating that Iran is no existential threat to Israel: they are either insane, ignorant, or dishonest with an agenda like yourself. A truly ludicrous and absurd comment showing why you are deservedly trashed whenever you arrive. Evidence please mr. fraud!
Justin Said:
Why would intelligent and knowledgeable people hold discussion with ignorant and dishonest swindlers who NEVER cite any evidence for their ludicrous verbal diarrhea?
Justin Said:
Its a pity that the same cannot possible be said about you, You bring nothing original as we have heard your parroted mantras repeatedly from other clones of your amen choruses and content is relevant when it is supported with evidence, experience and reasoned thought: none of which you have presented in this post. Your entire post is devoid of support and you are merely an exhibitionist intellectual wanker.
Max, Israel is very safe except for bad drivers. The safety thing is a perception that people who have never lived in Israel or traveled here many times have. Reason being bad news is news.
Trust me Israel is much safer than the big cities in the USA.
Reading a forum and news certainly is a start to learning about something.
Without getting into rights, history, or legal issues if Israel pulled the IDF out of Judah and Samaria within weeks Hamas would start making inroads and within months they would kick out the Fatah gangstyle rulers of the PA Area A. By the way Hamas are Salafists.
So if Israel was stupid enough to repeat the mistake of the Gaza withdrawl it would find itself in a deadly serious security situation. Every night the IDF and security services arrest terrorists planning, conducting or who are wanted for past terrorist actions. From these people Israel finds out more about other terrorists and potential operations.
Israel can not pull out for its safety sake, even if it wanted to. The USA and Western world not benefit from another area where Salfie (Hamas) terrorists would take over. It is also very possible afterwards ISIS would start taking hold. Hamas is cooperating with these people to fight Egypt in the Sinai.
You presume to know what the posters or TED know based on your readings on this site for a few months. I would politely say you are being very presumptive and assumptive. My guess is you are fairly young.
Before I moved to Israel the first time in the 1970s I read every book in English and German in the Library on Israel and its history. Plus I found people who lived in Israel for years and spent hours conversing with them about Israel. I still did not know the place only its history.
If you never live in a place you can not have more than a outsiders distant assumptions about the places reality.
In this new online world people somethings appear real but are virtual. Nothing replaces first hand experience. If one does not learn the language of a place people can never truly get close to it.
Justin Said:
So far you have NOT introduced any ‘FACTS’ in your comments.
In the above you have cited erroneous opinions of others as facts.
Fact: America does not aid Israel she bribes Israel, there is a difference. Being able to control Israel affords or has till recently American leverage with Arab Heads of State all mortal and existential enemies of Israel.
Fact: America is the greatest purveyor of the Middle east arms race. America supplies many times the value of weapons to Israels enemies as she supplies to Israel, that forces Israel to be always chasing the American supply train to the Arabs in-order to keep up. For every dollar in Arms sales or aid to the Arab states Israel must spend $1.6 dollars to maintain parity advantage. That parity has been severely reduced and narrowed over the past 10 years.
Fact: American aid to Israel is easy to trace. The embargo on arms shipments to Israel during her War of Independence gave way to the first grant of $135 million after the 1948 war to pull Israel away from the USSR. Israel first bought arms from America in 1962, and the purchased amounts were trivial, about $270 million total from 1949 until 1970 on credit, and some cash purchases. From 1971–73, Israeli purchases increased, and included military loans of about $1 billion, which Israel fully repaid. Significant aid started only from 1974, after the last major war. The increase in military cooperation was no charity, as America lured Israel away from France, thus making a nice geopolitical acquisition. The American military-industrial complex got a well-paying customer. American taxpayers were initially unconcerned: Israel received no grants until 1985, but paid for her purchases. Israel spends almost all aid on US imports. More significantly, America balances military aid to Israel with aid to Arabs, and Israel derives no relative benefit from the aid. American arms sales to Israel provoked the Soviets to offer free supplies to Arabs, who often received aid from both sides. Arabs received about three times more aid than Israel; that further tilted the balance of aid away from Israel. Soviet weapons shipments to Arabs were much greater than meager American deliveries to Israel; in the late 1980s, Arab and African regimes owed the USSR more than $100 billion. Demographically strained Egypt, despite its modest oil reserves, would not have been able to buy weapons if not for the American aid. Compare Egypt to oil-rich Iran and Iraq, who cannot afford even Russian weapons. America has aided Jordan and Egypt since at least 1957, and also supports the Palestinians, and so essentially finances anti-Israeli terrorism. If aid to Israel makes no sense to American taxpayers, how is it that aid to Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine,Iraq,Afghanistan, Lebanon and gulf states does?
A war in Iraq cost America hundreds of billions of dollars, and indirect costs are estimated to bring it to a trillion dollars. Compared to that, a mere $2 billion annually buys America the allegiance of the Middle East’s strongest military power really on the cheap because the price of American weapons has increased exponentially partially due to inflation yet Israel has received the same $$$ nominal amt. from the USA as it first received after the Camp David Accords and the Yom kippur war essentially the same $3 billion. $3 billion in 1980 dollars today is roughly $1 billion today. I think no I’m sure we could easily do away with American aid and not suffer any adverse effects
America has betrayed Israel on several occasions. The US withdrew its UN vote in favor of establishing Israel in 1948, and embargoed weapons shipments to Israel in the War of Independence. In 1957, Eisenhower promised Israel he would interfere if Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran—in exchange for Israel abandoning Sinai, which it had conquered in the 1956 war. When Egypt closed the Straits in 1967, the US did nothing except to try to prevent Israel from preemption. Kissinger moved the US Administration to support Israel in a bid to counter Soviet influence in the Middle East, but the US fully neglects Israeli interests now. Not even Kuwait and Iraq, when they were American puppets, have signed peace treaties with Israel not even required to abandon the Arab Boycott against Israel which is still in force.
Does support for Israel prejudice American interests in the Middle East? I don’t see any support. America supplies much more weaponry to Arabs than to Jews, and gives Israel just a bit more aid than Egypt and Palestine. Politically correct America balances arms supplies to both sides, and that is detrimental to Israel, who can survive without the US supplies, while the Arabs cannot.
More than a few months have passed since you first engaged me on Breitbart, invited me to this forum, and proceeded to trash me as a “liberal” for expressing my point of view that Netanyahu is a consummate politician who says one thing and does another. You tolerated, if not encouraged, more extreme comment alleging that I was an antisemite, an anti-Zionist, a fool, etc. Nonetheless I subscribed to your newsletter and read the majority of your posts, in part because you do an excellent job keeping up with the news, in part to understand the Israeli perspective, and in part to challenge my own thinking and assumptions.
Since that time I have observed that your readers are devoted and extremely well-informed about Israeli and US politics. Over the same time I have yet to see evidence that many of your readers are nearly as informed on Iranian internal affairs, the particulars of Arab politics, or geostrategic and security implications of current events beyond the Jordan river and the Sinai.
I am, at best, a casual observer of Israeli politics. Aside from working with a few Israelis I do not know any personally, and only one of my Jewish friends here in the US has even been to Israel as far as I know – and that was to serve in the IDF. As a close observer of American politics, though, I understand the importance of the US-Israel alliance. On a personal level I admire the Israeli people who have built a leading and developed country in half a century and despite near extention in Europe and universal hatred in the Middle East.
So, I think Israel is great. I’d like to visit some day when it is safe and cheaper. I can already see that it will become the next Silicon Valley outside of the US. I like that it has a functioning and healthy multi-party system in which all voices are heard.
My main concern – as an American libertarian conservative – is that the US is taking the heat for provocative Israeli policies in the West Bank and other conquered territories. If the US is going to back Israeli diplomatically, militarily, and strategically when necessary, it seems to me that it is only fair that US citizens question whether such support is enhancing Israeli “security” at the expense of the US standing. Even if every country in the world is wrong, the fact remains that the US is routinely forced to cover – and therefore abet – Israeli security policy in the conquered territories.
The moment such a concern is raised on this forum (and probably a few others) it seems as though the concerned party is immediately persona-no-grata, leftist, antisemitic, an Obama voter, and/or an American shill. I have learned a lot by subscribing to these newsletters even though they never had and still do not inform my overall view of the situation. On the other hand, it seems as though some of the most devoted readership of Israpundit are dedicated to preventing any sort of reasoned dialog on these issues. Reading through comments sometimes leads me to believe that your audience is not aware that the Salafists are today’s major threat or that the US contributes some of the more modern and perhaps decisive weapons systems to Israel, effectively guarantees Israel’s security from outside forces (not the Pals), or that it is the view of the intelligence establishment both in the US and abroad that Iran poses no existential threat to Israel, breakout-capability-or-otherwise.
These are the kinds of things I would be interested in discussing if I were not shot down as a mole or antisemite or Marxist every time I merely introduced some facts into the conversation.
Nonetheless, thanks for the work you do. You do have a knack for finding original and relevant content.
There appears to be a typo Ted, you have the so called “zionist party” with two votes. I wish you were correct. I don’t get it, Netanyahu lost votes????