Amidror: US Cannot Force Dangerous Deal On Us
Former National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror spoke Wednesday about the American efforts to force a peace deal on Israel in the framework of talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA). The US pressure reportedly included the threat of European boycotts byUS Secretary of State John Kerry.
“The US cannot force a peace program on Israel that will endanger its security,” Amidror told Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio). “It takes three to tango – they need to be serious from the Palestinian side, the Israeli side and the American side.”
Amidror was also asked regarding Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s comments that were reported on this week, in which he called Kerry “obsessive and messianic.”
According to Amidror, Ya’alon “is more veteran [than I am], and doesn’t need advice from me. But the Jewish sages once said: ‘wise ones, be careful with your words,’ and like most advice from the sages, that should be followed as law.”
As a former aide to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Amidror also slammed the media’s representation of Netanyahu as being “inappropriate.”
The media’s criticism “is very far from describing the true Netanyahu and his decision making process, the media is doing a great injustice to Netanyahu,” opined Amidror.
Reports indicate Netanyahu was willing to lease the communities of Judea and Samaria, giving ownership of Israel’s heartland to the PA in the framework of peace talks. The offer was refused by the PA.
By Ari Yashar
Brigadier General (Res.) Amatzia (“Patzi”) Chen, who was a member of Ariel Sharon’s legendary 101st Unit, praised Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon’s criticism of US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry, in which Yaalon slammed Kerry for operating “based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling.”
“Yaalon said clear things, there is a theater of the absurd going on here that will lead to failure,” Chen told Arutz Sheva. “The media feeds off of political positions that don’t even have the minimal connection to reality.”
The defense minister said that Kerry security plan “is not worth the paper it was written on. It contains neither security nor peace.”
The comments quickly elicited criticism from the US as being “offensive and inappropriate,” and in response Yaalon apologized on Tuesday for any offense but never denied he had said the words attributed to him, or took them back. Reportedly, the White House expects Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to condemn the comments as well.
However, Chen comments that Ya’alon’s statement was on the mark.
“It’s good that things are said in the open, it’s completely clear that we have no partner,” remarked Chen. “They’re trying to manuacture a country with a Palestinian nation – that’s insanity like no other that never existed in history.”
“We have to separate from the people the exile gene, stemming from our father’s fathers who had to buy security from the Polish nobles,” added Chen.
The general referenced the plight of Jews expelled from Gaza during the 2005 “Disengagement” plan forced through by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Of the roughly 9,500 expelled Jews from Gush Katif, around 50% were still homeless in mid 2013.
“Everyone understands that if they failed when they faced a few thousand expelled Gush Katif residents, it goes without saying that they shouldn’t even dream of evacuating Judea and Samaria,” argued Chen.
Chen added that while Sharon knew how to find solutions, “people in the position to find solutions find reasons not to. I accompany a large group of expelled property owners, for whom the state didn’t find land according to the Expulsion law.”
“I found quarry land next to the community of Kedma (near Netanya), and proposed that it be given to them to lease to one of the large international companies to produce energy, solving an existential problem for generationsand saving the country hundreds of millions of shekels in compensation,” added Chen.
“We sat with all the representatives of the government offices, and all of them gave explanations of ‘why not’; in the state of Israel they never will say ‘why yes,'” continued the reservist general. “Sharon actually had the ability to stand firm on a mission and execute it, he always sought for the ‘why yes.’ Unfortunately the policy of ‘why not’ exists today in the civilian sphere as well as the military sphere, and only after a disaster do they try to find explanations.”
American Friends of Likud Expresses ‘Vigorous’ Support for Ya’alon, Says Comments Were ‘Refreshing’
Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, during dinner with US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, on April 21, 2013. Photo: Israel Ministry of Defense
American Friends of Likud (AFL), an educational charity with ties to Israel’s ruling Likud party, expressed “vigorous and unwavering” support for Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon who came under fire on Tuesday for comments he allegedly made about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
“At such a perilous time for the State of Israel in which doubletalk and smooth evasions are so prevalent and can have the dangerous effect of lulling the public, Minister Ya’alon’s no-nonsense, direct statements are refreshing,” the group said in a statement. “Whether one agrees with Minister Ya’alon’s recent statement or not, he is to be commended, not reprimanded, for stating his opinion so clearly.”
Ya’alon was expressing “his frustration with the pressure that the U.S. Administration is placing on Israel to compromise its vital security interests in a futile effort to appease the Palestinian Authority,” AFL added.
“Although Minister Ya’alon’s candor may not be ‘politically correct,’ he has the same right to express his views as any other political figure, whether Israeli, Arab or American,” the group said.
Kerry is the one with foot in mouth disease. Yesterday he said that Palestinian refugees could go to Canada. That was news to Canada’s Foreign Minister. He said that had not been discussed. Why don’t you offer to take them Kerry?
If you’re in the right, you don’t apologize, period!
No wonder Israel has confirmed once again its the Rodney Dangerfield of the nations.