By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST
Israel’s diplomatic reaction to recent charges that its water policy is racist exposes a preference for passivity over preemption.
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Water reveals a new apartheid in the Middle East. The 450,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank use as much or more water than some 2.3 million Palestinians… even if only a few dare to use the word, all indications are that the Middle East is the scene of a new apartheid…. And in this situation, water is a particular element of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. – Excerpt from the French parliamentary report on “The Geopolitics of Water”
My most recent columns have been devoted to analyzing Israel’s public diplomacy, the reasons for its manifest ineptitude, and the mechanisms that produce this abysmal performance.
Last week, by coincidence, an illustrative example, underscoring precisely what I have been trying to convey, broke into the headlines.
It came in the form of a French parliamentary report on Israel’s water policy, authored by Jean Glavany, a Socialist member of the National Assembly, and accusing Israel of using water as an instrument of apartheid and oppression against the Palestinians.
Responses, recriminations, repudiations
The report sent Israeli officialdom into a tizzy.
The media were peppered with responses, repudiations and recriminations. Foreign Ministry officials claimed to have been unaware of the document until several days after its posting on the National Assembly website.
One diplomatic source characterized the report as “a serious mishap that… has seriously damaged Israel’s image in France.” The embassy in Paris was accused of falling asleep on the job for not alerting the Israeli authorities of the impending publication and the malevolent nature of its contents.
Israel robustly repudiated the report. The Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned it – correctly – as “unacceptable,” “loaded with the language of vicious propaganda, far removed from any professional criticism” and tainted with “blatant tendentiousness.”
Moreover, according to official Israeli sources, some members of the working group involved in compiling the report disassociated themselves from its anti-Israel tenor.
However, the damage had already been done. Israel had – once again – been linked to the dreaded “A-word.”
Cyberspace was replete with websites seizing on the report as yet another affirmation of the odious nature of the Jewish state and its dastardly discrimination against the “other.”
Delusional derogatory drivel
Israel’s firm rebuttal of the report was factually correct and morally justified. This was a document that comes as close to unadulterated, uninformed drivel as the written word can get, with accusations as malicious as they were mendacious.
Its allegations range from the highly implausible to the totally impossible. For example, one of its more ludicrous allegations is that Israel’s security barrier – “the wall”– “prevents Palestinian access to the Jordan River.”
However – as the most cursory glance at any map will show – the “wall” is located along, or close to, the 1967 Green Line, so it cannot constitute an impediment of any kind to Palestinian access to the Jordan River.
The river has anyway been reduced to a highly polluted trickle south of the Kinneret.
As such, it has been insignificant as a water source for decades, and access to it – or lack thereof – is irrelevant to Palestinians’ hydrological situation. So contrary to the impression the report creates, it has no bearing on the quantity of water available to them.
Only marginally less absurd is the document’s supposition that avaricious hydrological calculations lay behind the construction of “the wall,” to ensure Israeli supplies and to prevent Palestinians from extracting water from sites in the adjacent “buffer” zone.
In fact, construction of the security barrier was undertaken solely in response to the horrific Palestinian terrorism that took place between 2000 and 2003. It seems that a few “minor” details eluded Monsieur Glavany’s memory when forming his opinion of the function of the security barrier and the events that lead to its construction – such as the Passover massacre at Park Hotel in Netanya, and the carnage at the Sbarro restaurant and the Moment Café (both in Jerusalem), the Dizengoff Center and the Dolphinarium (both in Tel Aviv), and at the Beit Lid and Meggido junctions, to name but a few.
Had it not been for Palestinian terrorism there would have been no barrier. To suggest otherwise is either ignominious or ignorant.
Passivity over preemption
Despite all this, the French hydro-report episode was indeed a diplomatic debacle for Israel, not because of what was done after its publication, but because of what was not done before it.
Once again, Israeli diplomacy was seen to be slamming the stable doors long after the horses had bolted, reacting to events rather than anticipating them. It was a classic illustration of what I described in last week’s column, of “Israeli [diplomatic] endeavors [being] reduced to defensive tactical responses, chasing events rather than preempting them, and doomed to failure.”
There is little room for excuses, particularly when it comes to the water issue.
For while it may not have been possible to predict publication of this particular report at this particular time, the appearance of some similar document from some source or other was a near certainty, which should have been foreseen and preempted.
Sense of déjà vu
The situation that has arisen in the wake of the Glavany report has an eerie sense of déjà vu about it. It was barely two years ago that a similar document was produced by Amnesty International, brandishing similarly baseless accusations berating Israel’s water policy as an instrument of apartheid.
The report immediately became a centerpiece of a US lecture tour by Omar Barghouti, arguably the most prominent leader of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. Flyers billing his talks splashed the title: “Thirsting for Justice: Israel’s control of water as a tool of apartheid and means of ethnic cleansing.”
The Israel diplomatic establishment had ample warning of Barghouti’s appearances.
Despite this, no action was taken on suggestions – including from this writer – to preempt his appearances with the massive distribution of factual material, refuting the cavalcade of distortions, falsehood, exaggerations, omissions and half-truths that comprised his talk.
Lessons unlearned
The lessons of the Amnesty/Barghouti episode remained unlearned.
Rather than adopt an offense strategic initiative to remove Israel’s water policy for the list of topics that can be used to denigrate the country, those charged with the conduct of its public diplomacy have opted for defensive tactical responses to hostile initiatives. Rather than launch an ongoing enterprise to set, a priori, the context in which later events are interpreted/perceived, they have opted to fend off individual accusations and condemnations, made in the inimical context prevailing today.
This is particularly exasperating in the case of water, which is one of the topics most amenable to mounting such an preemptive enterprise.
For while it is always possible to find heartrending anecdotal evidence involving highly localized incidents in which an elderly Palestinian may have been inappropriately treated, or in which the IDF damaged a cistern, these in no way reflect the intent or consequences of Israeli policy. This can only be fairly assessed by the overall impact that policy has had on the Palestinians’ water situation.
Here the facts are unequivocal. They should be used to quash any allegation of discriminatory deprivation, as part on an ongoing proactive initiative to inform opinion-makers, hydro-professionals and the general public, and to create a context in which any accusatory documents are likely to be dismissed with the contempt they richly deserve.
Facts, figures, fabrications
The Palestinians’ hydrological situation improved beyond all recognition under Israeli administration, not only in absolute terms compared to initial pre-“occupation” conditions, but in relative terms compared to that of Israelis.
Whether one focuses on overall consumption of fresh water; per capita consumption of fresh water; consumption of fresh water relative to Israelis; accessibility of running water to households; the area under agricultural cultivation; or the size of the agricultural product, the conditions for the Palestinians have been dramatically enhanced by Israeli rule.
Between 1967 and 2006, the overall annual consumption of fresh water by “West Bank” Palestinians grew by 300 percent, from 60 million cubic meters to 180 m.cu.m. The annual per capita consumption in the same period rose by almost 15%, from 86 cubic meters to 100 cu.m.
Overall consumption by Israel dropped by 15% (from 1,411 m.cu.m. to 1,211 m.cu.m.), while the per capita consumption plummeted by 70% (from 508 cu.m to 170 cu.m.), a remarkable decrease made possible not only by more efficient usage but also by massive replacement of fresh water by recycled sewage for irrigation, and of naturally occurring fresh water by desalinated water for domestic use.
By contrast, the Palestinians have steadfastly refused to undertake agreed-upon sewage purification projects, allowing untreated effluents to endanger “downstream” Israeli supplies.
Palestinian claims that it is Israel which has prevented the construction of recycling plants are preposterous. For what twisted logic could conceivably induce the fiendishly cunning Zionists to oppose the construction of installations that would protect their own water resources from Palestinian pollutants?
The wimpiness of ‘Zionist oppression’?
Moreover, from 1967 to the years just before Oslo, Palestinian household consumption rose dramatically – by almost 600%, significantly higher than the 230% in Israel.
Similarly, water-conveyance to households also increased impressively.
Whereas in 1967 only 10% of the “West Bank” Arab population was connected to a running water system, the figure today stands at 95%. So much for discriminatory deprivation.
Palestinian agricultural performance improved dramatically as well, even though water allocations were not increased. (In recent years Israeli farmers have had their freshwater allocations slashed by 50% and more.) This was facilitated by the introduction of more advanced methods of irrigation and cultivation, resulting in an increase of the area cultivated by about 160% and of the agricultural product by 1,200%.
As world-renowned soil-physicist and hydrologist Daniel Hillel observes, by the 1990s, farming “was transformed from a subsistence enterprise to a commercial industry.”
Furthermore, the inflammatory claims that luscious lawns and shimmering swimming pools in Jewish settlements unfairly and provocatively deprive Palestinians of water are belied by a single statistic: Israel conveys more water (nearly 56 m.cu.m.) from inside the pre-1967 borders into the “West Bank” than the total consumption of the entire Jewish population in the settlements across the “Green Line” (just over 48 m.cu.m.).
In other words, there is a net inflow of water from pre-1967 Israel to the Palestinians which more than compensates for the much-maligned lawns and pools.
Demand – not discrimination
While claims that per-capita consumption of water by Israelis is much higher than that of the Palestinian population are true, this is principally a result of differences in demand – not supply – because of differences in lifestyles. (Clearly, the fact that a millionaire in an opulent penthouse in Manhattan will use far less water than equally affluent owner of a sprawling estate in Bel Air is not a matter of discriminatory deprivation).
Different rates of consumption are found between the Jewish and Arab populations within pre-1967 Israel – and between different socioeconomic groups within the Jewish population – without anyone raising the claim that this is the result of purposeful deprivation.
Interestingly, per-capita consumption in the frequently vilified settlement of Kiryat Arba is 25% lower than in the Beduin city of Rahat – and 90% lower than in up-market Savyon). What perverse discrimination does that indicate?
The perils of PC-diplomacy
These facts and many others should be assertively and proactively inserted into the public discourse, not only as a response to attacks, but as part of an ongoing endeavor to mold public awareness and perception of the realities that pertain to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
One of the principal reasons that this is not occurring is the PC (Palestinian-compliant) perspectives of the Israeli civil society elites, discussed in my previous columns, who exert a dominant influence on the conduct of our public diplomacy.
These entrenched elites cannot permit accurate portrayal of Palestinian society without undermining their own worldview.
(With regard to the water issue, I can attest to this personally.) After all, this would entail exposing the fundamental reasons why the Palestinians find themselves in the miserable state in which they are today: a) a chronic and cavalier disregard for the truth; b) an enduring propensity to blame others for their fate; and c) an obdurate refusal to take responsibility for their own actions – and inaction.
And that is something one does not say in polite company.
www.martinsherman.net
I will leave aside all the issues of expelling antisemitic Arabs which i and 4international will back to the hilt. But not only antisemitic Arabs, antisemitic Jews also.
There is where bourgeois Zionism betrays BIG TIME
The political situation concerning Israel, the US and Iran is moving at such speed that all bourgeois commentators are being left way behind.
The issue is basically simple though.
Obama will live with Iran and the Nuclear Bomb.
Israel leaders (even though they are treacherous and weak) cannot.
This has led to a clear break between Netanyahu and Obama on the issue of Iran and its Nuclear Bomb. It centres on the assessment of Israeli Intelligence which has made it known 4 years ago that Iran was past the point of no return and that sanctions would never stop Iran getting the Nuclear Bomb and thus directly threatening Israel with extinction.
To understand the gravity of this it is necessary to study the many statements coming out of the Iranian leaders over recent years, which the ADL has comprehensively catalogued.
Netanyahu yesterday drew the lines between himself and Obama. There is one problem though. From reports Israel has promised Obama to give 12 hours notice.
4international is clear:
On no condition must Israel give any warning or news about anything to the US Government and moreover Israel should immediately end the US money grant, and should ensure that all US personnel is out of Israel. At the same time make a big appeal to the ordinary American people to support Israel and the Jewish people against Terrorist Fascist Holocaust Barbarism
The left as it is known today has totally betrayed its trust to the Jews and to History. But the solution has to come from the left because capitalism is a terminal basket case, it cannot lead humanity forward in any sphere and threatens all of life, including all of animal life. The role of Russia and China in this regard is just as dangerous as is the US and Europe.
I refer the reader to a vital analysis of the REAL situation on debka.com
This analysis shows in living detail the head on collision between Israel and the US Imperialism now represented by Obama. Obama in turn is united with the Jihad and this has been shown on numerous occasions, too numerous to detail, but when mrs Clinton in referring to the killing of the Nuclear Scientist in January almost frothing at the mouth she was almost directly fingering withouit any evidence Israel. In other words Clinton lamented the death of this dangerous fascist and fingered once again the Jews. Pure antisemitism from the US State Department, not for the first time.
http://www.debka.com/article/21669/
Among other things Obama’s sanctions are a death sentence to Israel. All of the states of the world are mired with Israel hatred which is code for Jew Hatred (Antisemitism)
All states refuse the sanctions against Iran and this becomes a fatal delaying mechanism.
For example just read what debka writes about capitalist India (as just ONE example of the whole)
(start debka quote here)
India’s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said this week that India, which as Iran’s second biggest buyer after China relies on Iran for 12 percent of its imports (3,500,000-4,000,000 bpd), will continue to trade with Tehran and not abide by sanctions.
It is a trap. Obama and Power are setting a deadly trap. Israel MUST act alone. Israel WILL act alone. Israel MUST give no warning to Obama. Israel WILL give no warning to Obama
TW—your response makes me even more convinced of the need to abandon step by step, and stalling, policies. the problems you cite are due tot that policy. Before all is done in action the ideas must be internalized among the Jews and then the world. Most jews are clueless about san remo, clueless about the details of the mandate, clueless about UK murder, clueless about the absurdity of JEW FREE jordan, etc. Jews must be educated first before organizing yesha. Right now the settlers are painted and viewed as fantics by jews due to jewish ignorance. If jews were properly educated to the legal and moral issues then instead of being at odds with yesha they would be seen as a pioneering vanguard securing jewish rights and justice. Here is an example of why step by step cannot work: in order to negotiate to give the arabs a state on the west bank Israel is admitting that it is the palestinians with a right to the west bank and not the jews. You cannot at a later step then claim that the palestinians are there illegally and immorally. If they have a right to the west bank then no wonder people question israels right because then it appears that the jews have no right to any part of israel but are a colonial transplant foisted on the real indiginous people like european colonials in africa many of whom were sent back to europe. This is why i say taht the step by step approach is dangerous as is the stalling approach. If in order to stall one agrees to a 2 state solution on jewish land one cannot credibly claim later that the jews were swindled that JEW FREE jordan is illegally created and that arabs should move in order to justly complete a population exchange. This is also why Israelis believe the same BS as their govts have agreed to conditions under duress. Soon Israeli children will consider themselves to be colonial interlopers on the arabs land. After all they have been fed these lies for generations by their own govts. A massive educational drive by all jewish agencies to speak the truth to jews and non jews is now existentially necessary. The arabs have learned, as taught by Goebbels, the power of a repeated idea. Not only do they repeat the lies but so do the jews and the israeli govts. Step by step and stalling is actually driving the nail into Israels coffin and creating a situation where the world is against Israel
RE your questins In view of all that, some basic questions arise:
– Why haven’t Yesha Jews and their supporters unified and effectively organized yet?
BECAUSE TOO MANY ILL INFORMED JEWS ARE AGAINST THEM AND VIEW THEM THE SAME AS THEIR DETRACTORS DO
– Why is there such small response when Jews get their homes razed?
SAME ANSWER, ILL INFORMED JEWS HAVE INTERNALIZED THE CONCLUSIONS OF A STEP BY STEP POLICY
– Why are so many Israelis passively observing human rights abuses of Yesha Jews, while they criticize Germans of long ago for doing nothing when Jews were being abused?
ILL INFORMED JEWS ARE INTERNALIZING THE LIES THAT NATURALLY RESULT FROM A STEP BY STEP STALLING APPROACH AND ARE IDENTIFYING SUBCONSCIOUSLY WITH THE ARABS.
Please forgive the capitalized answers to distinguish from your questions. However I will always capitalise JEW FREE jordan in order to make the incredible importance of that fact sink in to the jewish psyche who has accepted that fact as being OK
US govt has Israel by the throat.
Impossibles certainly occur, particularly in Israel. But there are categories of Impossible. Some don’t stand a chance – not right now anyway.
Regarding your examples from the past:
1) 67 war was impossible
That Jewish victory was completely unexpected.
Had the US known the Jews would miraculously prevail, it would have done something to prevent it. As a matter of fact, the US has been on a permanent diplomatic campaign to reverse that victory by pressuring Israel to give up the land recovered during the war, and by empowering the “Palestinians”, who have an unspoken contract with the anti-Semitic world to continue where Hitler left off.
2) Entebbe was impossible.
It had no significant consequence in the overall picture of the West’s campaign to dismantle Israel. Add it to that long list of miracles that have saved Jewish lives. That’s all.
3) The survival of Jews from the Holocaust was impossible
Actually, the Holocaust itself was an impossible that happened. It just shouldn’t have taken place. Not in Europe, not in the 20th century, not when Jews were free, many of them quite influential. The loss of Jewish life and culture was massive – all in plain view of America and its allies.
The Holocaust happened because Hitler used the step-by-step approach to accomplish something too horrible to contemplate. The Arabs and the Left are using that approach too: denigrate Jews, take their property piece by piece (land in this case), attack the rest.
4) Jews swindled by the UK out of its mandate TRUST territories
Israel’s silence regarding Britain’s crimes during the Mandate is a major issue with me too. I fully agree.
There is a Yad Vashem but no museum to honor Jewish victims of the British Mandate. There’s no national memorial to Jewish victims of Muslim violence, of “Palestinian” violence, or European anti-Semitism WAY BEFORE there were Nazis in Germany. Readers could google York Massacre of 1190, as an example.
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I stand by my idea of one step at the time. There has been leftist indoctrination of Jewish students for decades now. Several generations have grown up uncertain about Israel’s right to the land or the reason why Jews live in Israel. Israelis are not ready for a truly nationalist government. It scares them!
If anyone – regardless of political party – were to proclaim his intention to right all the wrongs you and other commentators have mentioned here, and do it now, he would either be dismissed, or if he had enough followers, he’d be eliminated.
There are powers well entrenched in Israel and the West that are determined not to let Jews prevail in Israel. It is extremely important to be mindful of them.
As we have observed during the Republican primaries, Israel still enjoys strong support among a good number of Americans. That is why the present administration has to pay lip service to the “strong link between our two countries” while they undermine Israel’s viability by other means.
To right the wrongs there has to be a list of priorities. Unifying and organizing Yesha residents should be at the very top. Then they could pressure their MKs to extend sovereignty over Yesha. With more land, more Jews would move to Israel. With greater political power they could accomplish other tasks.
But without Yesha unity, organization and honest community leaders, the government will continue to erode their rights – because there is really no serious opposition to leftist government policies.
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In view of all that, some basic questions arise:
– Why haven’t Yesha Jews and their supporters unified and effectively organized yet?
– Why is there such small response when Jews get their homes razed?
– Why are so many Israelis passively observing human rights abuses of Yesha Jews, while they criticize Germans of long ago for doing nothing when Jews were being abused?
67 war was impossible, entebbe was impossible, the survival of jews from the holocaust was impossible, the return to Israel was impossible.—- The one step at a time is exactly the approach that has landed Israel in its current predicament. Lets not talk about the real issues and demand justice for the jews swindled by the UK out of its mandate TRUST territories by the illegal creation of the fake Jordan, the jews murdered by the UK by their illegal restrictions on jews entering palestine mandate which were supposed to facilitate that immigration under the Trust, the jews ethnically cleansed from arab lands. By taking one step at a time you are now held to that limitation. All those leaders who refuse to step up and demand jewish rights and properties should step down. Israel does not need those without vision and perseverance for jewish rights. It is those cant do people advocating one step at a time that limit the possibilities of Israel. What is wrong with demanding the UK pay for its genocidal acts? what is wrong with demanding that the ethnic cleansing of jews from arab countries must be resolved? what is wrong with demanding that the resolution be completing a population exchange? what is wrong with demanding that the JEW FREE illegally created state of jordan sitting on 77% of mandated territory be the Palestine state? what is wrong with refusing to sever the tiny crumb state left by the euroswindlers any further? Apparently justice for the jews is impossible. Not demanding, or not creating, justice is the cause of having no justice.
Still intent on expelling Arabs? Israel does not even dare to expel African infiltrators. They are completely illegal and growing in numbers at a steady pace. But they are arrested (sometimes) and then released on the streets.
They are estimated to be already 2% of the population.
At some point they will be all legalized, they’ll bring in their multiple wives and dozens of children each and continue to grow.
In spite of this picture of government incompetence, even the National Union lacks the will do demand that they be handed over to UNRWA or UNHCR, and that drone patrol of the borders be increased. No money for that, I suppose. Much easier to keep a close eye on settlers in case they try to build a dog house in their backyard.
Opponents to African infiltration want detention centers, knowing full well that once those Africans have spent time in jail they can’t easily be put across the border. After serving time, they will be pardoned and issued residency papers. There are now thousands coming in each month, against a few Jews who make Aliyah. But nobody seems too alarmed by this.
That’s what I mean. By demanding the impossible – the disappearance of Arabs from Israel – people fail to take practical and possible steps NOW to protect the Jewish majority.
Foreign armies in Israel – this is not just speculation. It’s a distinct possibility. There are actual plans for the placement of foreign troops in Israel to patrol the border between Israel and the future state of Palestine. Even without a state of Palestine, if Israel dares to violate Arab rights in any way and at any time, its government would be given a brief warning, followed by UN intervention in the name of human rights.
If Jordan is finally acknowledged as a Palestinian state – any talk of forcible relocation of PA or Israeli Arabs is unthinkable.
All we can realistic hope for is for Israel to arrange some kind of incentive with Jordan for Arabs to move there. Or to emigrate into Europe or the US.
Big results can be achieved one step at the time. The PA Arabs understood this and they have accomplished a lot in only a few decades. In spite of a record of vicious terror, they have created an image of righteousness and victimhood for themselves AND of historical right to the land, no matter how fictional.
In the meantime, the anti-Zionist ruling elite has – one step at the time – managed to undermine Jewish legitimate claim to not only the “territories” but to Israel’s itself. They don’t even hide their goal of a multicultural secular Israel.
They teach their anti-Zionist gospel as part of Israel’s curriculum.
Netanyahu’s Post-Zionist Curriculum
https://www.israpundit.org/archives/42824
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One step at the time: Hebron, Temple Mount, Sinai, Gaza…. Now expulsion of Jews from Judea/Samaria outposts are everyday news. And what does the UN say about such abuse of human rights? They say Who cares about Jewish men, women and children being abused, beaten up and thrown out of their homes in the middle of the night. But don’t you dare expel a single Arab.
UN official demands immediate stop to demolitions of Arab homes because they cause ‘extensive human suffering’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4181724,00.html
That’s how the world regards the Jew – as not human enough to experience “extensive suffering”. Or worthy of compassion if he does.
If we want progress in the present situation, it’s better to act one step at the time and anticipate consequences based on real life facts. There’s too much at stake for Israel in a world where anti-Semites, Islamists, and pro-Muslim Western governments are gaining ground.
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However, all these thoughts are moot, considering how right=wing Jews are neither organized nor very clear about their goals (build-build instead of sovereignty for Yesha now). No wonder, considering that they follow a suspect community leadership. Without effective Jewish unity and organization, all that nationalists will do is waste energy and time building shacks and lamenting every time they are torn down.
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PS – Just think how much the supposedly pro-Israel US could have done over the years if it had conditioned military and economic aid to Arab countries, particularly Jordan, to their fully integrating Arab refugees now languishing in UN camps.
I agree with you. Israel must not do certain things.
Israel must not intern 22000 Arabs in concentration camp conditions as the US did to US citizens of Japanese ascent.
Israel must not round up and walk to death in many cases hundreds of thousands of Arabs into “reservations” as the US did and still does to Native Americans. (I saw it, I was there living near several such reservations).
Israel must not depopulate by mass murder hundreds of Arab villages. I have some very interesting videos of US troops doing that in Nam, Cambodia, etc.
The list of things that Israel will not do is long…
Israel must rid itself of internal enemies, be them whoever they may be.
Israel must preempt enemies declaring they will destroy Israel and all Jews.
In passing, Israel must not send AH-64’s with NAPALM to attack isolated Arab locations.
For example Israel will not do as the US governmet did in WACO, Texas. We lived 170 miles from there.
There are many more do’s and dont’s involving the UK, France, Russia, (reminders about Chechnia),
Holland, Belgium, etc, that Israel will conclusively do not do.
Arabs cannot ever live amogst us in Eretz Israel. Their declared, documented intent is to destroy the state and Jews.
“Regarding any issue that involves Arabs’ human rights, the country has to tread carefully.” —-I do not agree with this statement as it creates a double standard for Jews. Israel should tread as carefully as the world treaded in its resolution of the ethnic cleansing of Jews from arab states and the illegal creation of the JEW FREE state of Jordan in contravention of the prohibition of mandate territory subdivision. Unless one accepts that Jews have less rights than the rest of the world then the precedent has been set for the current situation of jewish ethnic cleansing and jordans illegal creation to remain. Then JEW FREE Jordan must be considered the palestinian homeland and arab transfer from israel must be considered the completion of an exchange of populations that began with the ethnic cleansing of jews from arab countries. How else can the world justify the jewish ethnic cleansing and the continued existence of the illegal mythical state of jordan?
Expelling the Arabs?
Aside from the significance of the issue itself, the fact is that the Israeli PM can’t even sneeze without previous authorization from the USA government.
Israel gave up its sovereignty due to concerns for security, but mostly due to the unspoken alliance between the ruling anti-Zionist elite and the anti-Semitic world. That is reality.
Loss of sovereigny is now a trend. It’s now spreading to countries that used to regard themselves as sovereign. They are now victims of military intervention by major powers (recent regime changes in the ME), or have surrendered decisions to organizations of which they are members (Europeans ruled by EU bureaucracy).
But there are things that are so obviously right from a moral and legal point of view that the Israeli government could – if it wanted to – challenge the US. Israeli borders is one of them. The government could cite the League of Nations Mandate and other agreements that expose the legal international recognition of Jewish ownership of Judea and Samaria. And then extend full sovereignty over that land. (No need for automatic citizenship for Arabs.)
Regarding any issue that involves Arabs’ human rights, the country has to tread carefully.
Relocation of SOME of the Arab population could only happen as a result of a major war. Even that would be very difficult, considering how much sympathy “freedom fighters” hold in the world, regardless of their viciousness against civilians. Che Guevara is a world-wide icon.
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There are things an Israeli nationalist government COULD DO – and others that are out of the question. So, the discussion needs to focus on the possible before even thinking of taking on the impossible.
To increase the Jewish percentage of the population, for instance, Israel could allow a private organization to offer financial assistance for Arabs willing to emigrate. Israel could revamp the economic and social assistance system, freezing current rates, increasing them for those who serve in the IDF. Enforcing anti-polygamy laws would help too. And above all, to stop pampering the Arabs out of fear. The list of perfectly legal policies that Israel could implement in this regard is long.
Stating that expulsion of the Arabs is the only solution contributes to the feeling of hopelessness.
TO SOLVE THE ARABS LIVING ON ISRAELI LAND IS VERY SIMPLE KICK THE S .O.B.S OUT OF ISRAEL PROBLEM SOVED THERE IS NO SENCE TALKING OBOUT MUSLIM MURDERING ARABS
I’ve read for many years about Israel’s efforts to ensure a safe and steady supply of water. They have not deprived the Arabs of water even though Arabs break open the water system, disconnect pipes and funnel water from the River Jordan after it leaves the Sea of Galilee. Who is it that pollutes the Jordan River because of lack of sewer systems and other waste disposal measures? I’ve read stories of Jews making special preparations to get the water where needed, but I’ve never read of Arab efforts to build their own desalinization plant or take steps to solve the problem.
I don’t feel sorry for Arabs who live in poop. If Palestinian leaders are not taking steps to ensure a quality of life for Arab Palestinians, then the Arab people should kick the bastards out and find leaders who will do the job.
Nothing will be resolved by the unJews or by “pintele” Yiden.
We must iron ourselves and destroy the enemies completely and or force them to surrender.
THEY WANT ADN PUBLICLY DECLLARED TO BE JUDENREIN. We must reciprocate and raze them before they start with their final plans.
I know who will respond that the “reality” does not allow that, world public opinion and all that. It is either we do our jobs or the enemies will destroy us.
The rest is just hiding the facts.
none of these issues will be resolved until the completion of the population exchange with the arabs takes place.
Ted Belman has a habit like all other Zionist leaders I know of closing his eyes to reality and to choosing the easy road.
Just like Caroline Glick at present who is calling on Obama to bomb Syria more or less.
This water issue is important but in this context is just one dammed big evasion
I have never seen such a set of opportunists as is in the present Zionist leaders, from spencer through geller to belman and Glick plus a thousand others
BUILD THE TROTSKYIST LEADERSHIP NOW
It is antisemitism.
What about defence of Assad against the Jihad/Obama Empire charge in the UN
ted Belman is ignoring this issue. just like Egypt, just like above all Libya!
See
http://4international.me/2012/01/28/the-zionist-movement-must-defend-assad-unconditionally/
Has anyone ever asked how it’s possible for the “palestinian” population to have skyrocketed since 1948 despite the “fact” that Israel has practised “genocide” for all of the years since then?
Is everyone in the world that f-cking stupid?
There’s a method to the madness.
Mr Sherman seems shocked at government passivity regarding the previous water report by Amnesty International.
That’s not passivity.
Whatever it is, it ENABLES the left and other anti-Israel groups to denigrate Jews, to cause disturbances, and to create international animosity against Israel to damage the country’s image everywhere – facilitating its eventual partition and worse.
Ever since 1967 the Jewish Left and Friends have increased a subtle and not so subtle campaign to REBRAND ISRAEL as oppressor, racist, abusive of the victimized “Palestinians”, occupier implementing apartheid laws, perpetrator of war crimes, and more.
That’s STAGE ONE in the plan to destroy Israel and its people. STAGE TWO is to channel all the new hatred created during several decades, plus the old classic anti-Semitism that was barely dormant, and to unleash them on Israel.
All this happened in plain view. Years, decades passed since 1967 and Israeli leaders have all appeared to be “helpless” to fight back. Very strange…
Here are a few samples of the most blatant cases of government passivity, or oversight, or cluelessness, or whatever you want to call it.
Example: The WEEKLY riots that for years took place next to the Bi’ilin fence where foreigners, Arabs and Israeli Leftists hurled rocks and insults at police and IDF. You’d think the government would have prevented such regular gatherings, detained, fined and blacklisted foreigners involved, and arrested everyone engaged in violence from the very start. But no. Why would the ruling left elite miss giving such a great PR opportunity to the Left so that they could provoke police and create dramatic footage for the international media?
The Arab/left rioters won. Thanks to government “passivity”. The fence was relocated.
Example: The flotillas.
For many years Lee Kaplan (http://www.stoptheism.com and http://www.dafka.org) has been relentlessly investigating the ISM and terror groups. He has even advised members of the Israeli government about upcoming anti-Israel activities. To no avail.
Kaplan met with top government officials prior to the flotillas setting sail. In the case of the Marmara he gave them names and addresses of terrorists and activists connected to that boat. The government did nothing. Later the government would appear “surprised” at finding vicious terrorists aboard the Marmara.
Kaplan wrote: “I warned Israeli intelligence about the flotilla boats one year before the first one went out, and nothing was done. They had a second one and a third one…and on the seventh one, they recruited IHH personnel and injured our soldiers. It was the inaction of the government that allowed it.” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/140255
Example:
The PA has been engaged in regular Nazi-like propaganda for years. PA-TV uses air frequencies rented to them by Israel!!! to spew out the most vicious anti-Semitic propaganda imagined, particularly during shows aimed at children.
The PA also uses textbooks that denigrate Jews and indoctrinate children to kill Jews and to “take back” all of Israel.
The government does nothing.
Only the other day, when a video of the PA Mufti calling for the murder of Jews shocked the world did the government – out of pure embarrassment – order an “investigation”, which of course will lead nowhere.
Example:
THE WORST and most significant case of “passivity” is government silence regarding Israel’s legal right to its heartland (Judea, Samaria) based on International Law. http://www.justicenow4israel.com/
This type of government “oversight” could cost Israel not only that land, but quite possible the very survival of Israel. How do you defend a nine-mile wide country?