Plaut’s Points

 By Stephen Plaut

1.  For the past few weeks, Israel’s military establishment and some its politicians have been telling the world that Bashar Assad and his junta have already used poison gas against civilians in Syria. For example, Yuval Steinetz issued such a report a month ago (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/chemical-weapons-used-in-syria-israel_n_2915447.html ).  This matters because of, among other reasons, the fact that the Obama team has been saying that any use of poison gas was the ultimate “red line” for US and for allied intervention in Syria. 

This past week, the US State Department was denouncing Israel for issuing false tendentious disinformation about the use of poison gas against Syrian civilians.   Those Israelis were simply trying to drum up escalation and war. 

Then this morning it was announced that both the US Department of Defense and the British government concede that there is evidence that the Assad regime has indeed used poison gas (sarin) against civilians.  Sarin is what the Japanese communist terrorists (from the Aum Shinrikyo group)used in the Tokyo metro system in 1995. 

Incidentally, Aum Shinrikyo is also known as Aleph (really – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo).   You know, the same name as the pro-terror anti-Semitic chat list that continues to operate under the auspices of the University of Haifa (http://www.isracampus.org.il/ALEF%20Watch.htm).  Coincident? 

2.  The Grand Persecute Avigdor Lieberman Vaudeville Show is now underway in Jerusalem court, and the “case” of the leftist Prosecutor against Lieberman is falling apart as we speak.  It is collapsing so quickly that it is more amusing than watching the comedy channel on cable.

    Just to remind you of what it is about:  The Left and its captive Attorney General at first decided to go after Lieberman and make a case of “financial corruption” against him.  As part of its investigation, it send an inquiry to Belarus, where Lieberman had some financial interests.  Word reached the Israeli Ambassador in Latvia, Ze’ev Ben Aryeh, and he passed a note to Lieberman telling him that questions were being sent to the Belarus authorities about Lieberman’s finances.

    Much later, Ben Ari’s term was up and he was appointed by Lieberman to a new diplomatic post, Ambassador to Latvia, one considerably less prestigious than Belarus because Latvia is a much smaller country.  The Left alleges that this was payback to Ben Aryeh for leaking the fact that Israeli investigators were snooping in Belarus over Lieberman’s affairs.   After dragging things out for dramatic effect for years, the Prosecution eventually decided to indict Lieberman for “corruption” over this “affair.”

   Now the most glaring fact being overlooked by the chattering classes in the media is that the Prosecution never dug up enough dirt on his finances to indict Lieberman over them.  So it indicted Lieberman instead over the “Ambassador Affair” as its own consolation prize.  Except that if anyone did anything wrong, and it is not clear it was even criminal, it was Ben Aryeh for improperly leaking the fact that investigators were snooping around in Belarus after Lieberman. (Seehttp://www.haaretz.com/news/national/unsavory-affairs-in-lieberman-case-leave-bad-taste.premium-1.517675 ).  And it is not even clear that this was improper.

    When the Attorney General decided to prosecute the case, his star witness was a disgruntled official, Danny Ayalon, with a clear open personal grudge against Lieberman and hardly a reliable witness.   Lieberman had once canned Ayalon for incompetence.

   So the prosecution is left with Ben Aryeh.  They put him on the stand yesterday and he could not recall anything at all that was legally harmful to Lieberman.  Of course it is conceivable that Ben Aryeh was pretending not to remember because Israel does not have a Fifth Amendment and so he did not want to get himself in trouble.  But so what?  His testimony is now useless against Lieberman.  And the Attorney General evidently has nothing else of substance!

   Haaretz of course is pulling out its hair and screaming that the corrupt Lieberman must be indicted and convicted.  You know, unlike Palestinian terrorists.  Haaretz insists Ben Aryeh was sent as ambassador to Latvia by a grateful Lieberman.  Except Ben Aryeh was actually sent there because he speaks Russian fluently.  Haaretz today insists that Ben Aryeh has none of the talents required by someone to be an Ambassador.  This is amusing because the only talent usually required by someone to be an Israeli ambassador is the ability to smile and not show missing front teeth.  Ben Aryeh is eminently qualified from a dental perspective.  And he now seems to be grinning all the way home from the courtroom.

    Haaretz’ other big cause this week is promoting the demand that Israeli schools give equal time to both the Israeli and Palestinian “narratives.”   In other words, the Education Reporter and Columnist at Haaretz wants equal school time devoted to telling lies and to telling the truth about the Arab-Israel conflict.  I think Israel should adopt his suggestions just as soon as the schools in the UK grant equal time to the 1940s German “narrative” about World War I and World War II.

3.  The Falk:  http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=4131