SOLDIERS OF IDF VS ARAB TERRORISTS

SOLDIERS OF IDF VS ARAB TERRORISTS

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Kahane Retrospective w/Steve Goldberg, Aug. 8




Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Presents:


Rabbi Meir KahaneA Retrospective
Terrorist or Hero?

Discussion with Steven M. Goldberg, Esq.

Thursday, August 8, 2013
7:30 p.m.
Sherman Oaks Woman’s Club
4808 Kester Ave.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403


Rabbi Meir Kahane is the most controversial American Jewish leader in history.  He founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968.  Its members would go to marginal neighborhoods and, while carrying tire irons, chains and baseball bats, escorted elderly Jews to and from synagogue on Shabbat and on Jewish holidays to make sure they were not assaulted by thugs who otherwise preyed upon the elderly Jews.  Jewish Defense League members physically confronted neo-Nazis and other anti-Semites. 
Under Kahane's leadership, the Jewish Defense League was in the forefront of civil disobedience aimed at the Soviet Union's oppression of the Jewish people. To Kahane's credit, he was denounced as a "militant" by the conventional and cowardly leaders of the American Jewish establishment.  The FBI was obsessed with Kahane and made a practice of surveilling him.
Rabbi Kahane made aliyah in 1971.  He boldly advocated annexation of all of the lands of biblical Israel and transfer of the Arabs to neighboring Arab states, which he described as the completion of the mutual exchange of populations that occurred when modern-day Israel came into existence in 1948 and accepted as citizens the Jews who were expelled by the Arab states.  He founded the Kach Party, which espoused his principles.  He won a seat in the Knesset in 1984.  In 1988, as Kahaneand Kach were gaining in popularity among the Israel people, the Israeli government banned him from the Knesset and outlawed Kach as "racist" under a law adopted specifically for the purpose of excluding Kahane from political power.
Rabbi Kahane was assassinated by a Muslim terrorist in a Manhattan hotel room in 1990.   That Muslim terrorist was El Sayyid Nosair, who was initially tried and acquitted of Kahane's murder.  Nosair was subsequently prosecuted in federal court for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and was found guilty of Kahane's murder as part of a larger conspiracy.  Nosair ultimately confessed to Kahane's murder.
In 2000, 10 years after Kahane was assassinated, his son Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and Binyamin's wife were murdered in Israel by Arab gunmen.  Five of their six children were wounded in the attack.
Kahane's ideology was one of aggressive Jewish self-defense, including the unapologetic use of force when necessary. He unflinchingly advocated annexation of all the land liberated by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967 and the expulsion of the Arabs from the Jewish State.  Ironically, many of the critics who condemned Kahane as racist have no problem with the forcible removal of Jews from their homes to make room for a judenrein Palestinian state.
To date there has been nobody to carry Kahane's torch after his murder.  The question that demands an answer is, "Why not?"
Steven M. Goldberg, Esq. was counsel to the Jewish Defense League when it was still active. He will discuss Rabbi Kahane's legacy and whether the Jewish people need the movement he started to be revived. 
It is a subject about which it is impossible to be neutral.

He Who Feeds the Hungry

Calling him "a unique rabbi," CBS Los Angeles is reporting about a senior Shliach who feeds homeless people in S. Monica.
CBSLA.com


A unique rabbi has turned Tuesdays in Santa Monica’s Ocean Park into something special for the homeless and needy.

For the past three years, Rabbi Boruch S. Cunin of Chabad House in West Lost Angeles has walked the park, giving food to those in need, and offering encouragement.

“What is so important is for everybody to understand: we are all responsible, one for the other,” Rabbi Cunin said. “You see a person hungry, feed them.”

Well-balanced meals, including foods like salmon, dried fruits, beans, and rice, are prepared at the Chabad House kitchen. Rabbi Cunin then personally delivers to the food to a shelter in Santa Monica and to the homeless on the street.

Rabbi Cunin, who is the director of Chabad of the West Coast, delivers the food to many familiar faces on the street, and offers words of encouragement to the needy, such as "G-d bless you" and "Don't ever lose hope.'

The preparation of the food is heavily supported by donations.

Israel Matzav: The true apartheid

Christian Preacher Pat Robertson: God Will Punish US For Dividing Jerusalem

Virginia Beach, VA - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has told his TV audience that God will punish the United States if the U.S. forces Israel to share control of Jerusalem with the Palestinians.
His warning Monday on CBN’s “The 700 Club” came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators prepared to meet in Washington for their first direct talks in years.
The U.S. has never recognized Israel’s designation of Jerusalem as its capital, insisting the city’s status should be negotiated. The U.S. also has not recognized Israel’s annexation of eastern Jerusalem, which contains sites holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians.
But Robertson declared — on what he called “the authority of the Scripture” — that if the U.S. “forces Israel to divide Jerusalem, God Himself will come down against this nation, and what will happen will be very painful to every one of us as American citizens.”
Christian and Jewish Zionists believe the return of Jews to establish modern Israel was a fulfillment of biblical prophecies.

Google Glass To Open Up New Vistas For Orthodox Community With Jewish Apps

JewGlass detects you finally made it to Shul and gives you quick tips.

With technology enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the release of Google Glass, Google’s highly anticipated wearable device that is a cross between a pair of glasses and a computer, one software developer is already hard at work creating Jewish apps for the new device.
Rusty Brick, the developer of numerous apps geared to the Jewish community for both the iPhone and Android platforms, including Siddur, Tehillim, Tanach, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch apps and more, is hard at work creating a Glass app for the Jewish community, tentatively titled JewGlass.
The new app will likely include a host of functions including directions to the nearest shul or restaurant, Shabbos z’manim and day to day notifications including the daf, daily Tehillim, davening time reminders and other davening particulars including whether or not Tachanun or Hallel are said.  The app, which has been under development for approximately two weeks and should be completed shortly, may also incorporate Hebrew translation capabilities.
According to Barry Schwartz, CEO of Rusty Brick, the Rockland County based software developer is just one of the eight to ten thousand applicants who was given the opportunity to test drive the new platform when Google launched its Explorer program for one week in February 2013.  Applicants were required to post a message of fifty words or less, explaining how they would use the new technology, and those who were picked by Google to receive the device had to attend a Google Glass event in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles, where they were able to pick up a developer version of the hardware for $1,500.
“I got my approval on March 27th and the hardware came in on July 12th, right before Tisha B’Av,” Schwartz told VIN News.  “I asked my rabbi if I was able to pick it up during the nine days and he told me that because it was for business purposes I was able to.”
Rusty Brick put out its first Glass app about three days.  Schwartz describes it as a basic app that pushes stories from the internet marketing news site, Marketing Land, to the wearer’s Glass timeline.
JewGlass can be configured to send you scheduled reminders of when Shabbat begins and ends and the Parsha of the week.JewGlass can be configured to send you scheduled reminders of when Shabbat begins and ends and the Parsha of the week.
Schwartz says that the developers at Rusty Brick have been enjoying toying with the new hardware, but that he himself is the one who takes it home at night.
“I get funny looks when I use it in Shul,” said Schwartz, who had loaded a full siddur onto Glass.  “Then again, it was the same way when I started davening on my iPhone years ago.”
Schwartz says he does not expect to put a full siddur onto Glass.
“You have to look up to the right the whole time and it would strain your eyes,” reported Schwartz. “It’s great for snippets of things, like bentshing and asher yatzar, but not for a whole davening.”
Rusty Brick is currently in the process of determining which of its current apps are best suited to the new platform, by loading them onto the device and seeing how well they work.
“Glass works differently than a smartphone.  We have to decide which are the most logical ones for this product,” explained Schwartz.
Among the potential apps being contemplated are an app that would be instrumental for boys learning their Bar Mitzvah parsha.
“It would overlay the trup on top of the words,” said the 33 year old father of two.  “There are so many practical applications for Glass.”
Glass is charged via USB and Schwartz reports that battery life can be spotty.
“It can be anywhere from a few hours to a full day,” reported Schwartz.  “If you are doing a lot of videos, the battery can run down in just a few hours.”
As a caveat of the Explorer program, apps developed during the test phase will be available free to users, so JewGlass will be offered at no charge to users.  There is currently no release date set for Google Glass and prices for the device are as yet unknown.

You are sitting in a meeting and you lose track of time. JewGlass sends you a polite reminder that sunset is creeping up on you right in the corner of your eye.You are sitting in a meeting and you lose track of time. JewGlass sends you a polite reminder that sunset is creeping up on you right in the corner of your eye.

The Rebbe To Bibi: Don't Be Intimidated By The 119 Knesset Members!



Newly elected Knesset Member Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Rebbe: I had much satisfaction from your first speech in the Knesset. Continue along this approach, for it is the best path to avoid war. You will have to struggle with 119 others in the Knesset, but surely you won't be intimidated, because G-d is on this side.

Mayim Bialik Discusses Being Orthodox in Hollywood

Photo

This weekend I attended an event called, “Free Ranging Communities: Jewish Life in Marin and Hollywood” at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael. The keynote speaker was Mayim Bialik, of “Blossom” and “Big Bang Theory” fame.
What struck me the most as Bialik spoke was how refreshingly grounded and genuine she seems. She comes across as a person who is comfortable in her own skin, while acknowledging that who she is doesn’t always fit in with others in the industry in which she is working.
She spoke about the following seven values she carries with her:
First, she spoke about complex families. She called the Torah a “handbook for life” and pointed out there are many stories of dysfunctional family relationships in the first two books in the Torah. As a result, it sounds like she doesn’t expect herself or others to be perfect all the time.
The second value she holds is routine. In particular, she spoke about the routine of Shabbat, and how it reminds her that, from Friday night through Saturday, nobody else “owns” her. She doesn’t work, she turns off her electronics, and she engages with her family in a way that is difficult to do during the work week.
The third value is joy. In particular, she spoke about the joy of the holidays throughout the year.
Fourth is character. She voiced her desire to be honest and compassionate in her interactions with others. In particular, she spoke about the amount of deception and gossip contained in conversations in Hollywood, and how hard it is not to engage in lashon hara. She quite touchingly described how she will leave a conversation that turns to gossip, even though she thinks doing so makes her come off to others as unsocial or unfriendly.
She also spoke of modesty as part of this value. She does not wear pants outside of her home, she covers her elbows, her skirts are at least knee-length, and she doesn’t wear anything with a plunging neckline. She lamented that when she was nominated for an Emmy, her standards of dress made it difficult to find and appropriate dress for the ceremony. Many designers, she said, would not supply a dress that fit her needs.
Next, she spoke about otherness. Despite the fact that there are plenty of Jews in Hollywood, very few are Orthodox. Thus, she says, especially in the fall, people think she’s making up holidays. She talked about the tension created when others want her to work on days on which work is forbidden.
The sixth value she spoke about is God. She regularly studies Torah and engages in others with conversation about God.
Last but not least, she mentioned Israel as a value. She has family there, and goes there every other year.
The most quotable moment of the day came when she exclaimed, “I was not put on this planet to win an Emmy.” Rather, she says, she was put here to pass on to her children the traditions that people have died for over thousands of years. That certainly sounds like a fine purpose to me.

Israpundit » Blog Archive » THE NAZIS AND THE PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT; Historical and Investigative Research by Francisco Gil-White

Hajj Amin al Husseini is the father of the Palestinian Movement. He created PLO/Fatah (now better known as the ‘Palestinian Authority’), the organization that will govern any future Palestinian state. And he was mentor to Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, the leaders of that organization. Husseini was also, during World War II, a top Nazi leader who co-directed with Adolf Eichmann the death camp system that murdered between 5 and 6 million European Jews, also known as the Final Solution. These facts are not widely known or understood. Neither has their implication for our understanding of Israeli ruling elite behavior been properly appreciated. We present a short documentary and a discussion.
___________________________________________________________

Table of Contents
?  Introduction
?  The Video
?  Discussion
?  Readings relevant to this video
___________________________________________________________
Introduction
For many years now, almost every day, all over the world, the Arab-Israeli conflict is headline news. And yet most people still don’t know that PLO/Fatah (now better known as the ‘Palestinian Authority’), the organization that will govern any future Palestinian state, was created by a top leader of the German Nazi Final Solution. In other words, the ‘Palestinian state’—to be carved out of strategic territory of the Jewish state—will be governed by the spawn of the man responsible for the Nazi murder of between 5 and 6 million European Jews.
The short documentary below explains PLO/Fatah’s history.
This documentary is now on Vimeo, but it was first uploaded to You Tube. In the first two days, almost with no publicity, the You Tube webpage quickly logged more than 1,500 visits. Then, on the third day, Israelis began reporting that You Tube was not allowing them to access the video.You Tube’s explanation is that when a video is blocked in this manner it can be due to only one of two reasons:
    1)     the You Tube account-owner placed country restrictions on the video; or else
    2)     You Tube is complying with local laws
We did not place country restrictions on the video. That leaves us with the second possibility.
But what local laws can You Tube be complying with? To my knowledge, no laws have yet been passed by the Israeli Knesset against the dissemination of historical facts.
Some have speculated that “we are complying with local laws” is a cover for “the Israeli government told us to block it.” Others ask: “But why would the Israeli government even want to block this video?”
Let us consider the following:
    1)     PLO/Fatah—created by a leader of the Final Solution—was brought inside the Jewish state—created (supposedly) to protect the Jewish people from Final Solutions—because the Israeli government signed the 1993-94 Oslo Accord.
    2)     But why? In 1982 Menachem Begin had already (essentially) destroyed PLO/Fatah and chased the remnant out of Lebanon to its new base in Tunis. So in 1993-94 the Israeli government was breathing new life into a defeated, moribund PLO/Fatah.
    3)     In doing so the Israeli government gifted PLO/Fatah with its most important victory: legitimacy on the world stage, and lordship over the Arab Muslims in the strategic ‘disputed territories’ of Judea and Samaria.
    4)     The Israeli government did all this this without informing ordinary Israelis about the roots of PLO/Fatah in the German Nazi Final Solution. Instead, it legitimized PLO/Fatah’s claim to have abandoned terrorism for ‘peace.’
    5)     With PLO/Fatah’s entry, terrorism against Israelis immediatelyquintupled, and the security situation worsened for the long term because PLO/Fatah has been indoctrinating the Arab Muslims in the disputed territories into its ecstatic genocidal ideology (not precisely a secret).
    6)     The Israeli government is still trying to sell the Israeli people—and Jews worldwide—on the idea that a sensible solution to Israel’s security woes is to give the strategic high ground of Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the ‘West Bank’) to PLO/Fatah.
    7)     There is a real possibility that the Israeli government will make this strategic territory judenrein (this is a German Nazi term meaning ‘cleansed of Jews’) for PLO/Fatah. They already did it in Gaza.
    8)     During the long years since the so-called Oslo ‘Peace’ Process began, the Israeli government still hasn’t informed the Israelis about PLO/Fatah’s origins in the German Nazi Final Solution.
But perhaps the most important points are the following:
    9)     This Oslo ‘Peace’ Process could have been quickly killed in its tracks if, when the US government first began bullying for it, the prime minister of Israel had simply called an international press conference to explain the origins of PLO/Fatah in the German Nazi Final Solution.
    10)  At any point since 1993-94, by holding such a press conference, the Israeli government could have scored a major propaganda victory in favor of Israeli Jews, and in favor of ejecting PLO/Fatahfrom Israel. But no such press conference has yet been called.
On the basis of the above 10 points one may conclude that, if the information in this video becomes widely known, those running the Israeli government will have some egg on their faces. In fact, this information raises the sharpest questions about them, and about their intentions. Here then is a plausible motive for the Israeli government to block the video: to stop Israelis from asking such questions.
But in fact questions must be asked not merely about the Israeli government (in the narrow bureaucratic sense) but also about the Israeli ruling elitemore broadly. For none of the major politicians who declare themselves opponents of the Oslo ‘Peace’ Process and its ‘Two State Solution’ have educated Israelis about the German Nazi Roots of PLO/Fatah. Why?
The video follows below. And below the video is a discussion about the evidence it presents, and how this evidence has been either ignored or lied about for many years.

YNET: From Talmud to Thai kickboxing In the morning, Rabbi Yaakov Lupolianski teaches Torah at Bnei Akiva yeshiva. In the evening, he turns into a tough Muay Thai instructor

Lupolianski in action Photo: Yariv Katz

Every morning, Rabbi Yaakov Lupolianski arrives at the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva at the central Israeli moshav of Nehalim. He teaches Talmud, Torah and religion, and then goes home to change. As the sun goes down, the bearded rabbi turns into a tough Muay Thai instructor, who teaches his students to kick, punch and defend themselves.

Devout Warriors
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In the morning, the students call him "rabbi." In the evening, they get to break the distance and refer to him as "coach."

"Of course it's strange," he admits, "but not everything that's strange is wrong. I believe that a rabbi should not just be inside the Book, but should come out of it for many other things which are also considered Torah.

"When I'm a rabbi – I'm a rabbi, teaching Torah and not engaging in boxing. But when I teach Thai kickboxing, my personality is evident in the training – not by quoting verses, but by showing where Torah connects to the world of deeds and daily life."

Lupolianski is only 33 years old and has five children. He has been in the Muay Thai business for 20 years now, and has been teaching as a rabbi at the Nehalim yeshiva for eight years. His students also say he successfully combines between the two worlds.

"It goes together because the Torah and the kickboxing he teaches us come from the same place," explains 12th grader Shlomi Tanami. "We learn that boxing is also a correct way of life. Both in Torah lessons and in boxing you learn to listen and control yourself and your power." 

Yehudah Green & Moshe Storch

Elder Of Ziyon - Israel Blog: Guess who says "armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine"?

While Mahmoud Abbas sends one team to Washington to pretend to want a negotiated solution, his Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades (Nedal Division) of Fatah is giving a very different message.

Both groups report to, and are paid salaries by, Mahmoud Abbas. At the same time that Abbas speaks of his desire for peace to Westerners, his "armed wing" is saying the opposite.

Besides saying explicitly that "armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine" they also are showing off their latest weapons. Theirwebsite says "we will continue developing our own weapons to crush the enemy wherever he is." Additionally, it brags that Fatah can manufacture its own weapons.

Just like Hamas.





Abbas has had over a decade to dismantle the Al Aqsa terror group. As these photos show, they are still quite alive. Abbas clearly has no desire to truly act against terror groups under his direct control.

And no one in the West seems bothered by this hypocrisy.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

How to Make Money Like Jews

How to Make Money Like Jews
The show “No Drama Real China” asks Chinese people about their general impressions of Jewish people, in a country where bookstores are full of titles like “The Magic of Jewish Investment” and ” How to Make Money Like Jews.” We’re everywhere, I’m telling ya…

The Myth of "Palestinian Rights"


As Israel considers again concessions for "peace," we bring you this frank talk by Jerusalem Post editorCaroline Glick.
Caroline Glick is the senior contributing editor of the Jerusalem Post, director of the Israel Security Project at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a senior adjunct fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs a the Center for Security Policy.

American Thinker wrote about this speech: "Glick's powerful presentation at Intelligence Squared, directly countering the basic premise that Israel is destroying itself through expanding settlements on their own land. Glick also frames her argument to highlight the double-standard of ignoring the civil rights of Jews in the debate."

Colorful philanthropist Leonardo Farkas Klein donated 4 Torahs to the Kotel and had a 50 men orchestra to celebrate with him.













Dr. Oz Travels to Israel



The symmetry of our religions dwarfs our differences. Using values as our compass, we can transcend the obstacles we encounter on the road to living in peace. I am traveling to Israel to explore that great land and these ideas.

ohad & kinderlach eshet chail

ELDER OF ZIYON: The elephants in the room, 2013

Now that US has successfully pressured Israel and the PA to attend talks, it seems to be a good time to revisit the list of "elephants in the room" that are still being mostly ignored. The list, sadly, has not changed much since I last did this in 2010.

Elephant 1: Hamas controls Gaza

Every peace plan includes Gaza in a Palestinian Arab state, and none of them has any provision on how to handle the fact that Gaza is a terrorist haven, in much worse shape since Israel uprooted the settlements there, controlled by a terrorist group that is consistently and wholeheartedly against Israel's existence.   Peace is impossible with this elephant, so it is easier to pretend it isn't there. (See also Elephant 11.)

Elephant 2: Palestinian Arabs elected a terror government

In the only fair, democratic elections in the territories, the Hamas terrorists were chosen by the people. Poll after poll shows that Palestinian Arabs support terror in Israel itself. (Over 40% still support a violent intifada in 2013.) The elections proved that the conventional wisdom was wrong - and the conventional wisdom proceeded to ignore it.

Elephant 3: The current PA government was not elected

This corollary to Elephant 2 means that the current people negotiating for the Palestinian Arabs do not represent the people. Even if they sound moderate or compromising, they have no mandate. The current PA president is well past his term of office, and the current and previous prime minister were never elected (in fact, he received a tiny percentage of the vote when he did run for election.) Negotiating with the PA is, literally, meaningless.


Similarly, the unelected PLO is the real power behind the PA. The PA officially reports to the PLO, and all negotiations are done by the autocratic, Fatah-dominated PLO, not the PA.

Elephant 4: The current PA government has almost no power - and no respect

Outside of Ramallah, the Fayyad/Abbas government has little popular support and little power. Hamas is a very real threat to the PA in the West Bank and is quietly building its base. The attitudes that forced the PA to abandon Gaza - a lack of passion by people for its positions - could very well play out in the West Bank as well.


Elephant 5: The PA is being kept alive by artificial methods

The PA budget is bloated from "payroll" of non-working workers - but if they would slash the payroll, the people on international welfare would revolt. So the very basis of the organized Palestinian Arab workforce is a fiction being kept barely alive by ever-increasing infusions of cash with no real plan to fix the problem. (The bulk of the PA budget goes to Gaza, and much of that goes to workers being paid not to work.)

Elephant 6: Fatah remains a terrorist group paid by the PA

Despite the recent claims that the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades has dismantled, it is a joke meant to appease the wishful-thinkers. The PA might arrest Hamas members in the West Bank, but there still remains - today - terrorist groups that report to Fatah. Here's the webpage of one of them. There has been no serious move by the PA to dismantle their own terror groups.

Elephant 7: The first - and second - stages of the roadmap were never implemented

The entire point of the road map was to slowly build confidence, starting with the end of terror and incitement on the Palestinian Arab side, afterwards building a "provisional" state and only then going to final-status negotiations. Abbas and his team simply threw out phases I and II. By skipping to Phase III as if the other two phases were already in place, the entire exercise is simply a joke. Incitement remains at full blast and the lull in terror is tactical, not a sea-change in Palestinian Arab attitudes. 


Even though the US has made statements against Palestinian Arab incitement, it hasn't moved to stop it. 

This is not so much an elephant anymore quite so much as it is a proof that terror works. Before the second intifada, the world was not fully behind a Palestinian state; autonomy was still considered an option. The world never demanded 1 to 1 land swaps based on the 1967 lines - but after the terror spree they now do. And the demands of the road map to slowly build confidence before granting a state has likewise been thrown out the window. 

Terror pays.

Elephant 8: The PA's goal remains the destruction of Israel

Whether it is by "right of return" or not changing the Fatah charter or by printing map after map showing no Israel, even the most moderate Palestinian leader clings to the idea of destroying Israel, and looks upon a Palestinian Arab state as only one stage in the process. One only needs to look at the maps of "Palestine" in official PA documents and schoolbooks. 




2011 poll that remains criminally under-reported proves that when Palestinian Arabs say they want a two-state solution, it is only a stage towards their real goal of destroying Israel. 



Elephant 9: Jerusalem

Most Israelis want a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. Most Palestinian Arabs refuse to accept anything less than all of ("east") Jerusalem as the capital of a Muslim state. The positions are not compatible and a compromise will not reduce the chances for violence - it will increase it.

Elephant 10: What happened to Gaza

Forgetting Hamas for now, the time period between Israel's dismantling settlements in Gaza and the Hamas takeover is instructive as to how Palestinian Arabs take advantage of territory they gain. They didn't build new houses or communities to reduce the "refugee camp" population, no schools or hospitals. They destroyed the greenhouses purchased for them by American Jews; they turned beautiful former settlements into training camps for terror - in other words, Israel's last major concession not only didn't help achieve peace, it ended up encouraging terror. Any claims that something similar wouldn't happen in the West Bank is the triumph of wishful thinking over experience.

Elephant 11: Palestinian Arab "unity"

Related to Elephant #1. No peace plan can work unless Hamas and the PA/Fatah reach some sort of unification agreement. This is not possible in the foreseeable future. Moreover, Hamas is powerful enough that any such agreement must include a hardening of PLO positions that would be completely incompatible with the basic Quartet demands for peace - renunciation of terror, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements.

Elephant 12: The Palestinian Arab "diaspora" and Arab intransigence

Any final peace agreement would mean that Arab countries could no longer justify keeping Palestinian Arabs in "refugee camps" not could they justify their continued refusal to discriminate against Palestinian Arabs from becoming citizens of their countries should they want to stay. The millions of PalArabs in the Middle East becoming citizens would not be accepted by many Arab countries as it would endanger their own tenuous holds on power. 


Elephant 13: Economics

Some 16 years after Oslo, the economy in the territories is still close to non-existent and wholly dependent on foreign aid. Not only is there no free market, there is no incentive to build one as the very mentality of Palestinian Arabs and their leaders is one of welfare rather than responsibility. All the plans to create a Palestinian Arab state do not consider Day 2 and how such a state would be able to sustain itself. The expected influx of hundreds of thousands of people from "refugee camps" would make it even worse. It would take at least a generation to turn the poisonous attitude of entitlement around.

Elephant 14: Gaza demographics

Gazans have no room to expand as their numbers continue to grow at among the fastest rates in the world.  Theoretically they could move to the West Bank but only a small percentage would. This is another Day 2 powder keg that is being ignored in the interests of a "solution" of a "Palestinian state." 

Elephant 15: Palestinian Arab leaders never showed interest in independence

The West assumes that the goal is an independent Palestinian Arab state where Arabs no longer have to live under "occupation." But the actions and words of Palestinian Arab leaders have never borne that goal out; they have not worked towards building the institutions and infrastructure that would be necessary in an independent state. Their insistence on "right of return" and "Jerusalem" as issues that must be resolved before independence betray their thought processes - inconsistent with independence (neither of which require those two issues to be resolved) and consistent with a desire to destroy Israel in stages.


Elephant 16: A unilateral Palestinian Arab state would be militarized

There is no way that a new Palestinian Arab state would remain demilitarized for any length of time. The Palestinian government could invite a friendly Muslim nation to position anti-aircraft weapons within its territory; to shoot missiles at El Al planes landing a few miles from the Green Line, or to get a few thousand tanks poised to cut Israel in half.

Iran already effectively controls Lebanon and Syria and is working to ensure Gaza comes back under its orbit. They would use the nascent state of Palestine to position themselves on the West Bank as well. Just like the PA ran away from Gaza at the first sign of trouble, so would they abandon their state to Iranian proxies and Islamic terrorists.

The PLO's will to defend themselves is not nearly as strong as their will to destroy Israel, a desire that has been inculcated in them for generations. Palestinian Arab nationalism is a fundamentally weak and externally-imposed construct. Iran is poised and anxious to take advantage of the chaos that would follow a unilaterally declared state, even if at the moment they are distracted.

But the West is ready to risk Israel for that elephant as well.


Elephant 17: The so-called "right to return"

The PA is showing no interest in integrating the Palestinian Arabs outside of the territories into their state. On the contrary; the "refugee camps" in PA controlled territory continue to grow, rather than shrink. Clearly, the PA expects the bulk of the  "diaspora" to go to Israel, not a Palestinian Arab state, and decades of incitement both within and without the territories have brainwashed generations of Arabs to not accept anything less than a "return" to a land that most of them have never stepped foot in. (UNRWA has been a major promulgator of this lie.)

Elephant 18: The tension between being pro-West and pro-Arab

The biggest Western success story in the Palestinian Arab territories is the existence of the "Dayton forces" that have been helping crack down on Hamas in the West Bank. 

However, most Palestinian Arabs regard those forces as puppets of the West. Not only do Hamas and Islamic Jihad hammer away at this point, but ordinary Palestinian Arabs do as well. The more cooperation between the PA and Israel/US, the more the PA government is delegitimized in the eyes of its people. 

Elephant 19: Corruption and human rights abuses are still endemic in the PA

Despite the publicized successes, the PA remains mired in corruption, hardly a model for an independent state. The 2008 Global Integrity Report rated the West Bank as close to the bottom in its corruption ratings. Press freedom remains low; the justice system is improving but hardly competent, and whistle-blowers are forced to go to the Israeli press to expose corruption. The success that the PA has had in weakening Hamas in the West Bank has come at the expense of massive human rights violations, including torture. 

Elephant 20: Palestine would be Judenrein

Statements by PA leaders make it clear that their state of Palestine would not have any Jewish citizens allowed within. Jews whose ancestors have lived in Judea and Samaria, whether for decades or for millennia, will be legally barred from living in Palestine - an extraordinary display of state anti-semitism that is completely at odds with the Western standards that the nascent state of "Palestine" is attempting to live up to. 

Elephant 21: The Muslim world's antipathy towards Israel

Even if all of the preceding elephants could somehow vanish, the Arab world and the Muslim world remains implacably against the idea of a Jewish state in the midst of supposedly Muslim lands. Iran remains in de facto control of southern Lebanon and Gaza; ordinary Jordanians and Egyptians remain among the worst anti-semites in the Arab world. The best "peace" would be bitter cold; it will not include any real normalization, and the threat from radical Islam remains potent in Arab and Muslim states. Furthermore, any tension between Israel and any of its neighbors - Hezbollah or Hamas or Syria - would result in even the moderate Arab world solidly behind Israel's enemies, no matter what. The best peace plan would result in Israel being exactly where it is today - surrounded by enemies, with less of a land buffer, and Israel relying on US money to prompt Arab neighbors to keep radicals in check. 

That is not peace, and that is not security. 

Elephant 23: The Arab Spring

We now see how tenuous is the hold of Arab leaders on their nations. The chances of a similar upheaval in the Palestinian Arab-controlled areas is not small. What would happen to the "peace agreement" then? 

Besides that, Abbas has no successor. Poll show that if elections were held today, the new president of the PA would be a convicted terrorist now in Israeli prison. Any piece of paper signed by Abbas would be next to worthless after he is gone.

 It is true that Egypt has, despite rhetoric, kept the Camp David accords, but that is out of self-interest. The entire point of Palestinian Arab nationalism has been to destroy Israel, not to achieve statehood - so their self-interest coincides with taking any Israeli concession and then reneging on their end.