“We will not allow the continuation of an international force that acts against us,” PM says of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, which has been accused of systematically targeting Jewish residents • Palestinian Authority denounces the move.
By Ariel Kahana, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “They want to uproot us from here. They will not.”
Israel on Monday said it is suspending operations of an international observer force in the West Bank city of Hebron after 25 years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would not extend the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, saying “we will not allow the continuation of an international force that acts against us.” It did not give a timeframe for the observers’ exit.
TIPH has deployed unarmed civilian observers from Norway, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey in Hebron, located in Judea and Samaria, since 1997. Its stated mission is to report on violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws.
The Prime Minister’s Office statement did not elaborate on the alleged misconduct of TIPH, although a former officer ?with the organization alleged that the mission is tainted with corruption, which its officials have ?tirelessly worked to cover up.?
Bennet Nygaard Solum, who served as ?TIPH’s chief procurement and financial officer twice in the last decade, testified before an Oslo-based notary ?in November that “TIPH fails to meet its own code of ethics. It ?disregards Israeli and Palestinian law in Hebron and ?prefers to protect its own members from any ?allegations of wrongdoing, with all that that ?entails.”?
Netanyahu’s “decision makes me happy,” Solum said on Monday.
The TIPH website says the force works on six-month mandates but did not specify when the current one expires. A force spokesman declined to comment.
The Palestinian Authority denounced the move and on Tuesday asked the United Nations to deploy a permanent international force in Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem.
“The Israeli government’s decision means it has abandoned the implementation of agreements signed under international auspices and given up its obligations under these agreements,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
PA official Saeb Erekat said the U.N. should “guarantee the safety and protection of the people of Palestine” until “the end of Israel’s belligerent occupation.”
TIPH observers have been accused in Israel of ?systematically and violently agitating against Jewish residents of the city.
“They want to uproot us from here. They will not,” Netanyahu said in separate remarks on Monday.
“There’s a line of thought that says that the way to achieve peace with the Arabs is to be extirpated from our land. That is the certain path to achieving the opposite of this dream,” he said.
The prime minister’s decision garnered support from right-wing politicians.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who spearheaded the efforts to end TIPH’s mandate, said: “A foreign force has no place in the city of our forefathers, certainly not when it works one-sidedly against the [Jewish] residents and favors the Palestinians.”
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said, “The force cooperates with extremist organizations and promotes the delegitimization of Israel.”
Professor Eugene Kontorovich, an international law expert and senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, said TIPH “was initially planned as a temporary force, but diplomatic inertia kept it in place.”
He is basing his entire campaign on attacking the Orthodox monopoly on marriage, the Kotel, for full equality for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender. He’s mostly running a campaign to please American liberal Jews. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-the-advisers-behind-benny-gantz-s-liberal-policies-on-religion-and-state-1.6895518
@ adamdalgliesh:
Thank you for the Wikipedia reference. That passage about him wanting to give away the store is so important and overlooked – Shaked just said he didn’t have a program — that I copied that paragraph and forwarded it to a couple of pro-Israel groups on Facebook. I was confused by your typo at first and tried to find it on Wikileaks.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Meinertzhagen has been credited with the same ruse, -battle plans in the abandoned rucksack of an Australian soldier-, which caused the Turks to change their object of attack in WW1 resulting in their decisive defeat, effectively losing their War at that point..
@ Sebastien Zorn: Actually, although McClellan did receive the dropped Confederate battle plan, he never acted on it, because he was very cautious and feared it might be a ruse of Lee. McClellan knew that sometimes commanders have deliverately dropped false battle plans in the hope that the enemy commanders will be deceived about their enemy’s actual plans. As a result, McClellan did not act on the captured documents. Lincoln was furious when he found out about McClellan’s excessive caution. This was one of the reasons he fired McClellan.
Just completing my last Post: Gantz’s claim that he would clean up corruption in the Israeli government is most unlikely.
The real proof that Benny Gantz would be a disaster for Israel is to be found in the following paragraph from Wikileak’s biography of him:
Dr. Marin Sherman’s brilliant analysis of the absurdity of the rport, which involves a unilateral Israel withdrawal from 65 per cent of Judea-Samaris without requiring that the PA sign a peace treaty with Israel, and the destruction of Israeli settlements inhabited by 40,000 people. Dr. Sherman also points out that the INSS, a “liberal” think tank closely affiliated with Tel Aviv University, receives millions of dollars in funding from unknown sources. Gantz is a reseach fellow of this ‘institute.” Thus Israelis should know he is a pro-Palestinian appeasement advocate, although on the campaign trail he attempts to disguise or hide his views.
The Wikipedia article also contains evidence of serious financial corruption on Gantz,s part, and abuse of power to illegally seize publicly-owned land . His claim that he would clean up corruption in the Israeli government
@ Edgar G.: McClellan was a Democrat. Food for thought.
@ Edgar G.: The only major battle McClellan won was Antietam in September, 1862. The world’s greatest living alternate history science fiction author, Harry Turtledove [a trained historian himself, he has a PhD in Byzantine history), wrote a brilliant novel about the second war between the states. The preface outlines how the North lost the first one: In the actual history, a Confederate courier dropped battle plans that showed how spread out the Confederate forces were, wrapped around some cigars, and a Union soldier picked them up, and that’s how McClellan won the battle of Antietam. England and France, that were teetering on the brink of supporting the South, didn’t do so because Lincoln, who had been waiting for a major victory to issue the Emancipation proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, made it a moral issue and not just about cotton and trade.
In this alternate history, the North lost because England, France, various American Indian nations and, possible Canada and Mexico, I forget, joined together to fight the U.S., and Black slaves were never freed and Black troops were never raised by the North.
Because Lincoln never issued the Emancipation proclamation.
Because somebody said to that Confederate courier at the battle of Antietam. “Oh, look. You dropped something.”
“How Few Remain” by Harry Turtledove
@ Edgar G.: Hi, Edgar G. Thank you. I wasn’t aware of the Anaconda plan, but according to this article, while there was a blockade, Scott and McClellan’s suggestions were impractical and could never be implemented. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda_Plan
@ Edgar G.:
I just recalled that several 20th Cent. analysts and historians said that actually, in effect, the Anaconda plan was working all the time, with side-steps, and it was that which squeezed the South in the end, to utter defeat.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Hello Sebastien… get your point about McClellan…but…but….but the solders loved him…Their “Little Napoleon”…His paltry attempt to carry out the “Anaconda ” strategy -which had been designed by Winfield Scott- never even got off the ground…and “Little Mac”….. never even got out of bed…so to speak..
@ adamdalgliesh:
Another AG might have indicted Bibi long ago. Mandebilt has always had good relations with Bibi. Bibi helped him get his post. Mandebilt actually is a person of moral/legal scruples. He has held off indicting him in my view to be positive the cases are truly genuine and because he knows it would influence the political situation.
There certainly are people gunning for Bibi but Mandebilt has not been one of them. It is up to him to figure out if File 4000 is truly an overwhelming case against the Prime Minister buying influence for deals.
@ Bear Klein:True. THere’s no way Bibi or Likud can win if he is indicted. The AG knows and wants this result. We are in for a “center-left” government that will be more left than center.Israel’s McClellan, all right. McClellan went on to serve a term as governor of New Jersey after the civil war, despite his non-fighting ways. Unfortunately, we are not so lucky as the U.S., and will be stuck with Gantz.
Shaked: ‘I, as opposed to Gantz’s party, have a platform…’
“…He was a Chief of Staff who did not strive for victory – it’s not me saying that, it’s the State Comptroller’s report that established it.
“The Comptroller’s report says Bennett aimed to destroy the tunnels; Bogi Ya’alon and Gantz who were Defense Minister and Chief of Staff said Hamas would not use the tunnels and that’s not what happened, and that we didn’t need to deal with the tunnels then and we saw it was wrong; now finally Israel is dealing with the tunnels…” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258397
I really can’t imagine this clown, Gantz winning. Israel’s McClellan.
@ Edgar G.:
Actual some polling shows if Bibi is indicted he will lose some seats (4 or 5). Compound that by the fact that some other party leaders have said if he is indicted they would not sit in a coalition with him (Kahlon & Gantz stated this as a minimum). So if he is indicted which is becoming more likely it appears at least on File 4000 (Bezeq – Telecom merger deal) the Likud may not win.
@ yamit82:
Maybe, but none of the “Patriotic Left” (who would you have in mind…??) is enough of a Zionist-Nationalist, not to make “peace” with the Arab terrorist infiltrators, by handing over the heart of Eretz Yisrael, even though they have no rights to it ,and would only be giving them -regardless of “agreements”- the ability to move around freely, sneak in more Arab “refugees”, and ready-made emplacements to shoot down aeroplanes at Ben Gurion Airport, perhaps send “accidental” shellfire right into Tel Aviv, and anywhere along the coast.
Sorry..I just DON’T see any advantage in your preference except you have a visceral hatred of Netanyahu. I suppose you have a good reason.
@ adamdalgliesh:
It probably is all that you say, your run-down on Gantz is perceptive and I agree…but every poll which asks the question, has indicated pointedly, that indictment will have no effect on the voters choice re Netanyahu. He’s the overwhelming favourite for PM.
@ Uzitiger:
Is that you “Uzi Katan”…still with the toilet talk with your “pipi” …..you should wear nappies still-or you’ll get a rash on your tuccas…..
@ yamit82:
I think Gantz if he gets enough votes 19 or more and Bibi does not get indicted could end up in a coalition government. Gantz could be the Defense Minister maybe?
@ yamit82:
You are correct Lapid nor Gantz would agree to back off from the top spot probably. Gantz would need to be the top spot for it to work. It is just hypothetical.
Gantz’s party roll out was professional and well thought out. Bennett/Shaked (who I favor) had a very amateurish roll out of the “New Right” party.
If they stay separate but Bibi gets indicted then Gantz also has a chance to win. Then Lapid would join as part of a coalition and the Likud also I would guess. The religious parties will never join with Gantz as he is backing ideas that they are opposed to like civil marriage, upholding the Kotel agreement with the reform.
It is a long time until April 9 but for the moment it looks we may have a real race.
@ Bear Klein:
So who is the hypothetical Boss between Ganz and Lapid in such a scenario? Lapid can join a Likud coalition with a major portfolio but not so Ganz? They all want to be chiefs but not common Indians.
@ Edgar G.:
If you look closely at the policies and actions of BB since he was elected first in 1996 you will see there is little difference between BB and Meretz. Worse as the leader of the Likud and what’s left of the right wing block he has divided the right redering them powerless as an opposition to his policies and pro left actions.
I have long believed that it’s better to have a patriotic leftist as PM than a BB… With a leftist, the ideological right who are still the Israeli majority can block any serious dangerous move by such a PM.. A leftist PM will unite the right where BB has divided them Very Machiavellian on his part.
Gantz when reviewing all the polls is taking votes from the left and center and only a few from the right. Hypothetical polls if he were to merge with Yesh Atid show that party would possibly win even if Bibi was not indicted.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Gantz in his own words below ( will provide link to read his whole speech written in English on TOI blog)
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/i-believe-in-hope/
Latest Poll: Similar to earlier poll same day. Likud & srael Resilience (Gantz) + Telem (Yaalon) would need to form coalition to form a government if this proves actual in the long run. Bibi would not withstand an indictment if he is to prevail in the election or be able to form a government!
Direct Polls conducted a poll of 538 people with a 4.5% margin of error for Kan that was broadcast on Jan 30 2019.
Current Knesset seats in [brackets]
31 [30] Likud (Netanyahu)
23 [-–] Israel Resilience (Gantz) + Telem (Yaalon)
09 [11] Yesh Atid (Lapid)
08 [18] Labor (Gabbai)
08 [03] Hayamin Hehadash (Bennett & Shaked)
06 [12] The Joint (Arab) List
06 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
06 [05] Meretz (Zandberg)
06 [01] Taal (Tibi)
05 [05] Yisrael Beitenu (Liberman)
04 [10] Kulanu (Kahlon)
04 [07] Shas (Deri)
04 [05] Bayit Yehudi
00 [01] Gesher (Orly Levy)
00 [06] Livni Party
00 [–-] Otzma (Marzel), Green Leaf, Zehut (Feiglin), Yachad (Eli Yishai), Magen (Gal Hirsch), Eretz Chadasha (Eldad Yaniv) and Achi Yisraeli (Adina Bar Shalom) are all under 3.25% threshold.
62 [66] Current Right-Religious Coalition+Y.B.
58 [54] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition+Gantz-Y.B
https://knessetjeremy.com/category/knesset/polls/
@ adamdalgliesh:Yes he came out organized. Actually what has been reported (did not hear it myself) Is that,
“Gantz said he would attempt to advance a peace process but would strengthen settlement blocs, the Jordan Valley would remain Israel’s security border, and Israel would never give up the Golan Heights.”
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/WATCH-Benny-Gantz-to-reveal-platform-in-first-political-address-579103
Yes a lot unsaid.
He said he is for shabbat transportation in areas that want it.
@ Bear Klein: I admit I don’t know, Bear. But I think it is possible for an old politics-watcher to apply his ‘crap-detector” to make an intelligent guess as to what is going on.
His campaign rally looked too well-rehearsed, there was too much Holywood-style glitz in it, for him not to have some big money financing it–big enough money to attract singing stars and slick public relations people who know how to organize a rally. Everyone applauding at just the right moments. And a candidate mouthing only platitudes, and careful not to reveal his actual program, A really slick show.
As for his views, you had to pay careful attention to what he did not say, since he was carefully rehearsed not to say much. He said he favored keeping the Golan and keeping a united Jerusalem. Nothing about Judea-Samaria, Maaleh-Hadadumim, ‘settlements,”, Area C, etc. Pointed omissions. Obviously he intends to give all that away a la Olmert. We also know he is a member of a leftist retired generals association which advocates exactly this. So he is not a “centrist,” even though this is his carefully nurtured pose. He is a ‘leftist,” or more accurately an appeaser. Someone the ruling lawyers oligarchy would just love to see as Prime Minister. With Bibi almost certain to be indicted, which will cause an immediate drop in the Likud vote, he is a shoe-in.
However, once in office, he may not last long. Barak redux.
@ yamit82:
The more you talk like that, the more you’re throwing any simple minded readers of your rancour to Ganz -the new messiah……Shabtai.. he’s not…..even though Shabtai himself wasn’t, but made a better splash….so easily extinguished…as I hope Ganz also will be.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Question how do you know who is behind Ganz?? Israelis have been longing for someone other than Bibi. Remember he only gets about 25 – 35% of the voters who prefer him. That means a large majority would like to see someone else.
It is earlier days in this election but Ganz’s new party which just merged with Yaalon’s new party (if one poll is correct) has a chance. Especially if Bibi is indicted.
Then again it is a long time until April 9th. We do not know much about Ganz’s views. He was smart enough to say he would NOT run with Livni or Labor. He is positioning himself as a centrist strong on Defense. A bit shrewd of not talking too much and being cautious on what he says!
Israelis like ex-generals. At least until they get to know their warts!
It has become increasingly clear that this cipher-puppet Benny Ganz, with the backing of the Israeli self-appoined oligarchy, will replace Bibi. The pending indictment of Bibi will insure Benny’s election, as Mandelblit, the Supremes and the other oligarchs intend. Yamit, if you think Bibi is bad, wait until you see Benny in the Prime minister;s residence.
It’s about time. Judos to Bibi for finally showing a little guts.
It is good news that the these trouble makers are finally gone. Israel should never allow foreign troops or observers into Israel.
BB always grows a pair before elections, then castrates himself the day after.
No Israeli PM has been such a pathetic pathological manipulating liar, coward, treasonous and corrupt as BB. We are all diminished and shamed by his presence and his tenure as PM of Israel.
“The one-sided Israeli decision can mean that the implementation of an important part of the Oslo accords is discontinued,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said in a statement to
Is It Possible That f m soereide Does Not Understand The Word TEMPORARY.? Maybe Thats Why Its Renewed Each 6 Months!
Suspended? why didn’t he end it? More campaign pandering. They’ll probably return after the elections knowing Pipi.