Last week I spoke in Toronto. Miroslav who runs the excellent blogwrath.com covered the talk and even videod it. Here is his article.
Last week I had the chance to see a live presentation by Ted Belman in Toronto. He is known for publishing Israpundit – one of the best blogs that cover the issues of Israel and the conflicts in the Middle East. Originally from Toronto, after moving to Israel, he dedicated his time to maintaining that website.
Opinionated and outspoken, he avoids clichés and political correctness to tackle problems that many others are not willing to talk about. For example, a main point of his lecture was to debunk the myth that the USA since the very beginning has been fierce protector and defender of the “Zionist Entity.”
On the contrary, the USA was reluctant to support the re-establishment of the Jewish State and even maintained an arms export embargo until 1967. That has been the policy of several consecutive administrations. The Israeli nationalism and national state was seen as a nuisance on the way to establishing globalism and world government (Belman illustrates that in the video with the opinion of the Dallas Council on World Affairs about Israel).
That led to constant attempts by the USA and Europe to interfere in Israel’s affairs. The State Department has been against the Jews in Israel, because there are millions of Arabs and they don’t want to ruin their relations with them. Saudi Arabia’s influence has been much more powerful, starting from the oil embargo – they forced a deal in the Middle East conflict acceptable to Arabs. Now things are getting even worse with the increased Arab immigration to Europe (also forced by that influence).
The 9/11 events are another evidence of that reality. The role of Prince Bandar and the ties of the hijackers with Saudi Arabia revealed how powerfully the Arabs affect the US policy.
The US pressure on Israel to make more concession in the name of an elusive peace solution is a direct result of that policy. Although in the Oslo Accords the issues of the settlements and Jerusalem were not discussed, during the Intifada in 2001-2002, leading American politicians voiced opinions that the settlements were the main problem. In 2003 Saudi Arabia supported the invasion of Iraq in exchange for support for Palestine.
Obama started flirting with Hamas and PLO even before he was elected and pushed Israel on the settlements issue. A new trend in the USA is that the left tried to discredit the traditional Jewish organizations and introduce new “progressive” ones. George Soros financed J Street, which went out if its way to show that Israel doesn’t know what is good for it. Such organizations, despite the overwhelming evidence, downplay the role of Hamas and its intention to destroy Israel and the Jews.
After he was elected, Obama embraced the Muslim Brotherhood – during the speech in Cairo he wanted them in the audience, and as a result President Mubarak refused to attend. Despite their eventual failure, they are still supported by countries like Qatar and Turkey. Within the USA, the administration removes any references to Muslim terrorism and encourages Muslim immigration. The western media is silent about that. With the defeat of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt a new situation emerged, where Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel practically formed an unlikely union to confront it. On the other side are the USA, Qatar and Turkey.
Belman also covered the issue of the current war in Gaza and its implications. The Arab radicalism is only getting worse – any suggestions that the Arabs could be integrated in Israel are baseless. The same applies to returning of the refugees to a future Palestinian state. That would only destabilize the area more. The only sensible solution is to help the Arabs (politically and financially) to resettle in safer and more stable areas.
Ted Belman Said:
Oh, OK, that makes more sense – I played it several times trying to get the sense of that end statement.
…so that goes with the ending summary about America’s policy with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Max Said:
No. I said that was the new American policy.
Ted Belman Said:
Not for me. I ended up downloading it with the download button. That button might not appear unless it has been streamed somewhat.
Once downloaded I could hear it all, well enough.
…
Interesting overview of history of Israel from the beginning – with a definite slant. Some of the explanations for American historical behavior might be hard to prove but they also might be the best possible explanation.
At the end I think you suggested weakening local dictators and supporting the MB so that the MB would be a proxy to fight the guys worse than them…. If I got that right.
..
Good old Toronto – used to like it before the invasion I wouldn’t feel comfortable now after seeing all that screaming hatred on youtube.
Ah well I guess the idyllic past can never come again.
@ Ted Belman:
Thank you. I have been using israpundit.org
I think you lost the previous israpundit.com
@ yamit82:
It’s obvious you are dirt digging, looking for stones to throw – which means you don’t have a sincere theory or insight, you just have some kind of personal agenda for some reasons unstated.
So you have some other unstated motivation.
You have decided to declare an intifada not unlike the methods of the Pals. Dumping hate on a general label like “America” or “American” is just another form of bigotry.
The sound quality may be better here.
http://vimeo.com/103366518
@ Ted Belman:
Loved your speech!
Marveled at your ability to deliver in such an even tone…( Either because of the legal training or because it was in a synagogue? … 😉 )
I agree. I think Yamit just likes to argue with Bill Levinson.
@ mar55:
Never use israpundit.com
Use israpundit.org
yamit82 Said:
A review:
In other words Lincoln was a winner and knew how to win a war.
In other words Lincoln was a bad guy if you a wimpy letist.
Thee complaints are form whining leftists who don’t really understand what tyranny is. Tyranny is what happens to them if guys like Lincoln don’t save their butt.
Sherman’s burning of Atlanta and March to the Sea is exactly what Israel needs to to to Gaza.
@ yamit82:
You do realize that modern presidents are just front men for wealth consortium, don’t you?
Still RR gets an Oscar for his starring role in “Death of the USSR”.
The death of any dictatorship is not a sad thing.
@ Bill Levinson:
strong>yamit82 says:
Abraham Lincoln | Thomas J. DiLorenzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbFty9nZUac
yamit82 Said:
OMG! And you call me loopy.
Mean Mr Mustard…
I liked RR in “The Killers” with Lee Marvin. I also liked him in “Good-bye USSR” with Broken Butt Russia in it.
mar55 Said:
Yeah he seems to have lost .com for now. Can’t the wicked be punished? Is there no justice? 🙂
Well,I suppose not.
So Ted has this strategy = Divide and Flatten. lol
@ Bill Levinson:
I suppose you believe Nixon was an innocent bystander????
You are a sick revisionist ideologue. Your great iconic hero RR’s biggest military victory was Granda and movie parts. He was a Chickenshit warrior leader who played president [his biggest role], and he even failed at that, Not even B movie class but a border line D.
Re: worst presidents.
Start with:
Lincoln, Harding, Hoover, Ike, Nixon, Ford, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. All Republicans.
Some were real criminals and mass murderers, that should have spent much time in locked cages or Hung as war criminals.
It was too choppy on Vimeo for streaming though I managed to hear some parts of it.
I d/l it now and listening again.
Two years or 1.5 to wait for a new President. it seems to long. By that time America may be fatally injected with Obama’s Islamist enabling programs and polices.
@ Max:
Max, I think Ted have been hacked again. If you try israpundit.com some other site appears.
Broken audio – impossible to listen for me. Bad streaming from Vimeo. I’ll try again later.