Israelis slam Obama's dangerous peace policies

This article appeared in Israel Today dated May 23, 2011

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Israeli officials on Sunday had harsh criticism for US President Barack Obama a day after he sided with Arab "peace" demands and strongly suggested that Israel is the obstacle to peace in the region.

In a televised foreign policy speech last Thursday, Obama stated that "the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines," and insisted that "the Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves and reach their full potential."

A day later, Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. During their joint press conference following the meeting, Netanyahu flat-out rejected Obama's premise that peace must be based on the 1967 borders.

"While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines because these lines are indefensible [and] because they don’t take into account certain changes that have taken place on the ground," explained Netanyahu.

Netanyahu went on to note that "before 1967, Israel was all of nine miles wide. ...And these were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive." The Israeli leader warned that basing a future peace deal on the 1967 borders, as the Arabs insist, will result in "a peace based on illusions [that] will eventually crash on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality."

Writing for the leftist Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, top political analyst Ari Shavit said that Obama's speech was good for Israel in that it opposed Palestinian efforts to unilaterally secure independence, slammed Mahmoud Abbas' unity deal with Hamas, and recognized Israel as the Jewish state, and called on the Palestinians to do the same.

But, Shavit said, Obama erred critically in his insistence on the 1967 borders. "Instead of presenting the 1967 borders as the end of the process, Obama made them its start. Instead of tying them to the end of demands and the end of the conflict, they were tied to greater demands and continued conflict," wrote Shavit.

He continued: "Without intending any harm, Obama presented Israel with a suicidal proposition: an interim agreement based on the 1967 borders. It's a proposal that runs along the same lines as the Hamas offer of a hudna - a long-term cease-fire."

Shavit warned that by setting the 1967 borders as the starting point for final status negotiations, Obama had allowed the Palestinians to make the "right" of millions of so-called "Palestinian refugees" to flood Israel the focal point of continued negotiations.

Israelis from across the political spectrum reject the Palestinian effort to demographically destroy the Jewish state by bringing in those millions of foreign-born Arabs. If the Palestinian "right of return" becomes the primary topic of discussion, there is little to no hope of concluding a peace deal.

Right-wing Israeli lawmaker Yaakov Katz (National Union) was less forgiving, cautioning in a letter to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC): "Don't fall for Obama's magical oratory. He put a gun to Israel's head and asked it to commit suicide."

According to some reports, Netanyahu recognized the danger of Obama's words, and the two leaders had a tense discussion during their White House meeting. Netanyahu dismissed reports of increased tension between himself and Obama, insisting that their disagreements on certain details of the peace process are "differences of opinion...among friends."

But many believe the writing is on the wall, and Obama will soon push Israel into a dangerous peace deal. His clear suggestion that Israel's repeated stalling, rather than Palestinian peace infractions, is the main reason for a lack of peace today is telling.

"The international community is tired of an endless process that never produces an outcome," said Obama in his Thursday foreign policy speech. "The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation."

In his remarks following the White House summit, Obama said the current political changes across the Arab world offers an opportunity for his vision of peace to be realized. "There is a moment of opportunity that can be seized as a consequence of the Arab Spring," said Obama.

In an interview last month with Israel Today, Israeli political analyst Yoram Ettinger said the opposite is in fact true. The reality, said Ettiger, is that the "Arab Spring" demonstrates just how fragile the Arab world is, and how foolish it would be to trust Israel's security to a Palestinian regime that could be swept aside in a moment.

Obama's reiteration that without a state the Palestinians cannot reach their true potential and must live in humiliation also ignored realities on the ground.

In the upcoming issue of Israel Today, average Palestinians told us that they don't want an independent state ruled by Abbas and his thugs, and that they already live in peace and prosperity with the Jews around them.

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I cannot help but relate what is happening in USA over the weekend with this negotiation between PM Netanyahu and President Obama. A total of 46 tornados hit seven states in midwestern USA and close to 90 people had died as a result. Is this a coincidence?  No, I don't think so; you touch the Apple of God's eye and you incur His wrath.


Here is a quick report on the level of devastation left behind by one tornado in Joplin, Missouri.


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(Reuters) - Search teams bathed in the harsh glow of floodlights early on Monday picked through rubble of neighborhoods and commercial districts demolished by a tornado that killed at least 30 people in the southwestern Missouri town of Joplin.

"We are recovering the dead," Joplin police Sergeant Bob Higginbotham said hours after the powerful twister struck Sunday afternoon, leaving much of the town of 50,000 residents in ruins and plunging the city into darkness once night fell.
Higginbotham was busy collecting the names of people reported missing. "(It's) devastating loss of life, horrible, and it goes on for miles," he said.
Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges put Joplin's death toll at 30 or more, on par with the loss of life from a twister that struck Tuscaloosa, Alabama, last month. More than 30 died in that storm.
"We know we are up into the 30 range," Bridges told Reuters, adding that 11 bodies were recovered from one location alone and that the known casualty count would likely climb. "People are just telling us where they have seen bodies and adding them up in their heads."

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Iceland's Most Active Volcano Erupts

Iceland's most active volcano has started erupting while experts say it is unlikely to disturb European air traffic. The Grimsvotn volcano, located under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland's southeast, began erupting with a series of small earthquakes on Saturday, sending as much as 15 kilometres of white smoke into the air, Iceland's Meteorological Office said. "It can be a big eruption, but it is unlikely to be like last year," Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson, a geologist at the Meteorological Office, told Reuters news agency, referring to the April 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Last year's Eyjafjallajokul eruption kept some 10 million air travelers in limbo worldwide for five days, after winds pushed the volcanic ash cloud toward some of the world's busiest airspace and led most northern European countries to ground all planes. The Grimsvotn's previous eruptions have lasted between a day and several weeks, it's last being in 2004. Scientists have been expecting a new eruption and have said that this volcano's eruption will likely be small and should not lead to air travel chaos. But whether widespread disruption occurs again will depend on how long the eruption lasts, how high the ash plume rises and which way the wind blows. Isavia, the company that operates and develops all airport facilities and air navigation services in Iceland, enforced a no-fly zone for 120 nautical miles (220 kilometres) in all directions from the eruption. An Isavia spokeswoman described this as standard procedure around eruptions. "The plume of smoke has reached jet flying altitude and plans have been made for planes flying through Icelandic air control space to fly southwardly tonight,'' Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, the spokeswoman, said. A plane from the Icelandic Coast Guard carrying experts from the University of Iceland will fly over the volcano and evaluate the situation.

Now the timing for this volcanic eruption is significant especially as USA and the EU are now trying to pressure Israel to give up land to the Palestinians and revert to the pre-1967 war borders which the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu had flatly rejected. Will the EU continue with its pressures and if so, I believe the eruptions will intensify but if they relent and ease off, I believe we may see the activities simmer off.

Certainly we need to remember what the Lord had promised Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3: (English Standard Version)

v1  Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

v2  And I will make of you a great nation. and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

v3  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Sometimes I wonder why the world leaders never read those three verses and think through their actions before they start to come against Israel. As a friend once said, "you touch the apple of God's eye, you will pay the price for your actions."  So, lets watch the world stage and see the hand of God at work in our midst.

Is Israel's Water Crisis Over?

This article was taken from 'Israel Today' of Thursday May 19, 2011 by Ryan Jones.

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The former head of Israel's Water Authority surprised many of his countrymen on Wednesday when he said in a Channel 2 News interview that Israel's water crisis is over.

Before leaving the Water Authority to become a professor at Hebrew University four months ago, Dr. Uri Shani had been warning Israelis that the six previous years of drought had created such a severe shortage of water that harsh measures would likely be required this summer.

Changing course in his Channel 2 appearance, Shani stated, "I can say with caution that the water crisis has ended."

Israel experienced a large increase in rainfall this spring, but Shani said the main reason Israel's crisis has ended is accelerated work on numerous desalination plants along the Mediterranean Coast.

"The main reason is not the rain of course, it is the desalinization facilities that Israel is building at perhaps the greatest speed in the world," said Shani. "Also, the recent water conservation practices of Israel."

But figures released by the Water Authority showed that Shani's optimism may be premature.

While Israel did experience a fairly average winter in terms of rainfall, after six years of serious drought, the country still has a deficit of about one billion cubic meters of water.

And Israel's annual water needs far outpace even a good winter's rainfall.

The new desalination plants are expected to turn the tide in the struggle for water, but they are not yet operational. And if the coming year is particularly dry, the new desalination plants will be working overtime just to help Israel play catch-up.

In the meantime, Water Authority spokesman Uri Schor told The Jerusalem Post that Israel's main water reservoirs - the Sea of Galilee and the mountain aquifers - remain critically depleted. "We will be under the red line this summer in all three main reserves," said Schor. Despite seeing what he believes is light at the end of the tunnel, Shani warned Israelis that water prices will remain high for the foreseeable future.

"Water is expensive," he noted, remdinding Israelis that "we live in the desert."

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So my friends, lets continue to pray for rain for Israel; rain to nourish the land and the latter rain to nourish their souls as the message of redemption love comes into their midst. Shalom Israel.

Israel's 63rd Independence Day

An AFP report on Sunday May 15, 2011

Israel gunfire kills two Syrians on Golan: medic

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israeli gunfire killed two protesters and wounded dozens more as civilians crossed from Syria onto the annexed Golan Heights on Sunday, sparking a war of worlds between Damascus and Jewish state.

Two people were killed and four critically hurt by Israeli gunfire after protesters from a Syrian-held part of the Golan entered the annexed territory, a Druze doctor who treated casualties told AFP.
Troops fired live rounds and tear gas at the protesters who suddenly burst through to Israeli-held territory rather than demonstrating alongside the border fence as they have in past years on the anniversary of Israel's 1948 creation.
The unrest came as Palestinians in the occupied territories, inside Israel and across the region marked the anniversary of the Jewish state's 1948 creation, known in Arabic as the "nakba" or "catastrophe."
"Syrian civilians breached the Israel-Syria border near the Israeli village of Majdal Shams," the Israeli military said. "Forces opened fire in order to prevent the violent rioters from illegally infiltrating Israeli territory. "From initial reports, there are dozens of injured," it said in a statement.
Media reported at least one dead and several wounded, but there was no immediate confirmation of the toll, in one of the worst incidents for decades along a ceasefire line that has been quiet since a 1974 truce accord.
Israeli medical officials said "between 10 and 20" of the protesters were wounded, with one feared dead, while three Israelis were said to have been lightly injured.
The army accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime of "organising" the violence as a means to divert international attention from pro-democracy protests sweeping his country. "Syrian authorities organised this violent incident in order to divert world opinion away from what is happening in their cities," army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitz told AFP.
Syria's foreign ministry, meanwhile, condemned Israel for opening fire on protesters on the Golan, in south Lebanon and Gaza, warning that the Jewish state would bear full responsibility.
"We firmly denounce the criminal Israeli actions against our people in the Golan Heights, Palestine and southern Lebanon that left several people dead and wounded," the foreign ministry said. "Israel will have to bear full responsibility for its actions."
But another Israeli official also pointed the finger at Assad's regime, which has been rocked by two months of pro-reform protests inspired by Arab revolts which have ousted strongmen in Tunisia and Egypt.
"This appears to be a cynical yet transparent act by the Syrian regime to create a crisis on the border in order to distract attention from the very real problems that regime faces at home," he said, on condition of anonymity. "Syria is a police state," the official added. "Demonstrators do not randomly approach the border without the prior approval of the central government."
Channel 1 television said its correspondent in Majdal Shams, a Druze town on the Golan, said he had come across 30-40 infiltrators in its main square, some of whom said they were Palestinians from Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus. The army sealed off the town and its immediate surroundings and carried out house-to-house searches for infiltrators, defence sources said.