Most Serious Rift Between Israel and USA
Reuters reported on July 19:
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he would not take orders over Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, rejected on Sunday a U.S. demand to halt plans to build more homes for Jews in the disputed area. New friction with Washington over the project to build 20 apartments in a part of Jerusalem captured by Israel in a 1967 war could deepen the most serious rift in relations between the two allies in a decade…
“‘We cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and buy (homes) anywhere in Jerusalem,’ Netanyahu said, calling the city Israel’s united capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally. ‘I can only imagine what would happen if someone would suggest Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods of New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a great international outcry,’ he told reporters at the weekly cabinet meeting. ‘We cannot accept this edict in Jerusalem.’
“Netanyahu and President Barack Obama are already at loggerheads over the U.S. leader’s call for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement on occupied land Palestinians want for a state…”
The Associated Press wrote on July 19:
“Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, threatening to further complicate an unusually tense standoff with its strongest ally over settlement construction… On Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in ‘unified Jerusalem.'”
WorldNetDaily added on July 19:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was taken by ‘surprise’ by a U.S. demand over the weekend to immediately halt a Jewish construction project in eastern Jerusalem. ‘I was surprised by the U.S. move,’ Netanyahu was quoted by his advisers as saying yesterday. ‘In my conversation with [U.S. President Barack] Obama in Washington, I told him that I could not accept any limitations on our sovereignty in Jerusalem. I told him Jerusalem is not a settlement, and it has nothing to do with discussions on a freeze.’…
“The Obama administration has called for a halt to Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and the strategic West Bank in line with Palestinian claims on eastern Jerusalem as a future capital, even though the city was never a part of any Palestinian entity. The construction project at the center of attention, financed by Miami Beach philanthropist Irving Moskowitz, is located just meters from Israel’s national police headquarters and other government ministries and is a few blocks from the country’s prestigious Hebrew University, underscoring the centrality of the Jewish real estate being condemned by the U.S…
“Netanyahu explained an open city does not discriminate against Jewish housing and that Israel would not accept a stance that counters that civil right. ‘Israeli Arabs are not forbidden from buying houses in west Jerusalem, and Jews must be granted the same right in the eastern part of the city,’ he added.
“WND has confirmed that over the weekend the State Department summoned Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to urge him to reject a permit granted to Moskowitz’s housing project. Moskowitz purchased an eastern Jerusalem hotel. He plans to tear it down and build housing units in its place. The Jerusalem municipality earlier this month granted approval to the project, allowing for the construction of 20 apartments plus a three-level underground parking lot.”
“Americans Should Honor Their Agreements With Israel”
The Associated Press reported on July 21:
“Israel’s deputy prime minister said Tuesday the Obama administration’s call to freeze West Bank settlement construction undermines past agreements between the U.S. and Israel and damages American credibility. The comments by Dan Meridor underscored the growing rift between Israel and the U.S. over construction in the settlements. Meridor, a respected veteran of Israeli politics, is considered a moderate voice in the new Israeli government…
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would not build any new settlements, but that construction must be permitted inside existing settlements to accommodate what he calls ‘natural growth’ in their populations. Nearly 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians as part of a future independent state.
“Israeli officials and former White House official Eliot Abrams have cited a series of written and oral understandings reached with the Bush administration that appear to permit limited settlement construction… ‘We never had an agreement with the previous administration. We had an agreement with America,’ [Dan Meridor] added. ‘The agreement we had with the Americans is binding on us and them … They should keep to the agreement.'”
The World Against Israel
Deutsche Welle reported on July 21:
“The presidency of the European Union – currently held by Sweden – released a statement on Tuesday urging Israel to refrain from ‘provocative actions in East Jerusalem,’ saying that ‘such actions are illegal under international law.’ The Middle East quartet – the EU, US, UN and Russia – called on Israel to halt West Bank settlements at a meeting in the Italian city of Trieste last month.
“The latest EU statement comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel over plans to build 20 apartments in East Jerusalem. The German government had on Monday already called on Israel to stop the project. ‘We see the continued settlement activities with great concern,’ said Jens Ploetner, foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin. He warned that the building of new settlements would hamper the peace process in the Middle East… France has summoned the Israeli ambassador in Paris to demand a halt to settlement building in East Jerusalem… Russia has also called on Israel to stop settlement activity…”
Anti-Semitism in Britain–“The Darkness Is Closing In”
The Jerusalem Post wrote on July 20:
“It has been a terrible month for Israel’s reputation in Great Britain. The government has announced a partial arms embargo in protest of Operation Cast Lead… The Guardian has featured commentaries promoting the apartheid analogy as well as accusing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of using Nazi language to defend settlement policy. The BBC and other media outlets have given massive coverage to the recent Breaking the Silence report slamming the IDF for committing ‘war crimes.’ Barely a day goes by without a new front being opened against the Jewish state… I for one have never seen a period like it. On Friday, the Guardian ran two anti-Israel opinion pieces on one and the same day…
“The Israel-haters smell blood, and they’re going in for the kill. It could be that we are on the threshold of a new era. But why now? The simplest explanation is that the relentless, unremitting stream of anti-Israeli invective that has been pumped into the public mind in Britain over the last decade or so was always going to reach critical mass at some point…
“The obvious question now is where next. With the partial arms embargo in mind, we should obviously be watching for an extension of formal sanctions. Outside the governmental sphere, it is a racing certainty that unions will renew efforts for trade and academic boycotts. Media hysteria will grow as each new assault on Israel’s integrity helps legitimize and validate the next. For the Jews of Britain, the prospect of increasing anti-Semitism against this backdrop is all too real. The darkness is closing in.”
Muslims Determined to Prevent Jews from Building a Temple
The “Daily Israel Report” wrote on July 20:
“The deputy chief of the Islamist movement in Israel Kimal Al-Khatib told thousands of children in a Saturday Islamist protest on the Temple Mount that the Jewish Temple will never be rebuilt. His speech was published in the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper Monday morning. ‘If the Jews think that their mourning will end and they will rejoice by destroying the Al-Aqsa mosque and building their Temple, we say to them that their dream will not be fulfilled and they will continue to mourn. Al-Aqsa is for Muslims only,’ he said.
“Al-Khatib was referring to the traditional period of mourning Jews commemorate every summer for the destruction of the Holy Temples on Tisha B’Av (The ninth of the Hebrew month of Av). The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, while the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque were erected in 691 and 705 CE.”
Will Israel Attack Iran?
Bild On Line wrote on July 21:
“The ‘Stern’ recently reported German intelligence sources as saying: ‘If they [Iran] wanted to they could test a nuclear bomb within half a year.’
“What is Iranian dictator Mahumd Ahmadinejad planning? He often brags about the threat of the bomb… And he has also stated that Iran wants to form ‘a new world order’…
“George Bush’s former American ambassador to the UN John Bolton wrote in the ‘Washington Post’: ‘Israel’s decision of whether to use military force against Tehran’s nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever. Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities.’
“But how will Israel react…? Israeli pilots have been training in the last few months for attacks on bunkers and are on high alert. Israel has bought 1000 bunker-busting bombs from America, each weighing 113 kilograms… In the Pacific Ocean, the Americans are training the Israeli army how to use Arrow 2 missiles which shoot down incoming rockets. Two Israeli warships have recently left for the Persian Gulf… US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said… that the opportunity for negotiating with Iran ‘will not remain open indefinitely’ – words which do not sound like the nuclear crisis will end very peacefully.”
Elections in Iran Just a Thinly-Veiled Military Coup?
BBC News reported on July 21:
“Iranian riot police are reported to have arrested a number of pro-reform protesters in Tehran after demonstrations turned violent. Police clashed with hundreds of people marching despite a ban on public gatherings since the disputed election in June, Reuters news agency said… The renewed street protests come shortly after Mr Mousavi issued one of his strongest critiques of Iran’s ruling elite since the election result was declared…
“Since the announcement that Mr Ahmadinejad had won June’s presidential election, Mr Mousavi – a reformist former prime minister of Iran – has received backing from several senior figures within the Iranian establishment. Among them are two former presidents, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami.
“On Monday Mr Khatami called for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government. Only the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, can organise a referendum, and he has already declared the election result valid…
“Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, which answers to the Supreme Leader, has described the election as a turning point. The head of the Guards’ political bureau said the election allowed the Guards to take power into their own hands. Our correspondent says many Iranians will see the Revolutionary Guards’ confidence as confirming their own fears that the outcome of the election was just a thinly-veiled military coup.”
“Thankful” Iraqis…
The Washington Post wrote on July 18:
“The Iraqi government has moved to sharply restrict the movement and activities of U.S. forces in a new reading of a six-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that has startled American commanders and raised concerns about the safety of their troops. In a curt missive issued by the Baghdad Operations Command on July 2 — the day after Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. troops to bases outside city centers — Iraq’s top commanders told their U.S. counterparts to ‘stop all joint patrols’ in Baghdad. It said U.S. resupply convoys could travel only at night and ordered the Americans to ‘notify us immediately of any violations of the agreement.’
“The strict application of the agreement coincides with what U.S. military officials in Washington say has been an escalation of attacks against their forces by Iranian-backed Shiite extremist groups, to which they have been unable to fully respond… The new guidelines are a reflection of rising tensions between the two governments. Iraqi leaders increasingly see the agreement as an opportunity to show their citizens that they are now unequivocally in charge and that their dependence on the U.S. military is minimal and waning…”
Continuing Challenges to Barack Obama’s Eligibility as President
WorldNetDaily wrote on July 16:
“Radio talk shows television programming, newspapers – even a liberal talk show host in New York and talk format icon Lou Dobbs – have begun taking note of the story long reported by WorldNetDaily over the doubts about and challenges to President Obama’s eligibility to occupy the Oval office. Lynn Samuels, longtime New York radio talker, even accused Obama of lying about his birth certificate.
“WND has been reporting – many times in solo fashion – on the issues that have been raised by multiple lawsuits contending that Obama does not qualify under the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that the president be a ‘natural born’ citizen. But now word is spreading, prompted by the case brought this week by an Army major scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan.
“In that case, which was dismissed today by a judge in Georgia, a reserve officer explained he had a right to question his deployment orders and know that the commander-in-chief is legitimate, or he would be exposing himself and any soldiers under him to extreme danger in overseas combat situations. Maj. Stefan Cook’s case was dismissed by the judge who noted the Pentagon had revoked the officer’s deployment orders, apparently resolving the dispute. The officer’s civilian employer also reported being pressured by the government to fire the officer.
“The story was reported on Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News. Hannity said the challenge to the deployment orders came after Obama ordered a surge in troops to Afghanistan. A report on the same challenge also appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“And Orly Taitz, the attorney for Maj. Stefan Cook, was on the Lou Dobbs radio program, along with former U.S. Ambassador Alan Keyes, who was a presidential candidate on the ballot in 2008. Dobbs said he and his staff have ‘been working hard to figure out what’s going on.’ He said he’s found the Federal Election Commission does ‘nothing to validate … a candidate.’ Nor do the states, he said. Keyes said it rests upon judges and members of Congress, who have sworn an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, to do their duty and investigate questions or discrepancies.
“Dobbs suggested that many Americans believe simply being born to a mother who is a U.S. citizen automatically makes the newborn a citizen, but both Taitz and Keyes explained that under the immigration law in effect in the 1960s when Obama was born, an American woman married to a foreign national man had to have lived in the U.S. 10 years, at least five of which were after the age of 14, to pass along U.S. citizenship. Taitz pointed out Obama’s mother was too young to do that…
“WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama’s status as a ‘natural born citizen.’ The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, ‘No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.'”
“Chris Matthews Wrong on Obama Birth Certificate”
Newsmax wrote on July 22:
“MSNBC’s Chris Matthews got into a heated exchange with a congressman on his show Tuesday as he revisited the question of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate — or lack of one… Matthews seemingly undermined claims by some that Obama never has released his birth certificate, producing what Matthews said was a true copy of it. But Matthews made a false claim…
“The indisputable fact is that Obama has not released his birth certificate, which the state of Hawaii issues for all citizens born there. Instead, his campaign has released only his certification of live birth from the state of Hawaii, which is a document that offers a summarized version of the birth certificate.
“During the 2008 presidential campaign, GOP nominee Sen. John McCain quickly released his birth certificate when liberal bloggers raised questions about his eligibility to be president. McCain was born at a military hospital in Panama. Obama likewise could put the matter to rest by releasing his actual birth certificate, which would show, among other things, the place of his birth and the doctor who performed the birth procedure. This information is not provided on the certificate of live birth.
“As it stands, Obama is the only president in history whose birthplace is unknown to the public – a fact that would be stated on the actual birth certificate. Interestingly, his family has mentioned two different hospitals in Hawaii as the place of birth…”
More Banks Fail… Insurance Fund at Lowest Level Since 1993
The Associated Press reported on July 18:
“Regulators on Friday shut two banks in California and two smaller banks in Georgia and South Dakota, boosting to 57 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year… As the economy has soured — with unemployment rising, home prices tumbling and loan defaults soaring — bank failures have cascaded and sapped billions out of the deposit insurance fund. It now stands at its lowest level since 1993, $13 billion as of the first quarter…
“The number of banks on the FDIC’s list of problem institutions leaped to 305 in the first quarter — the highest number since 1994 during the savings and loan crisis — from 252 in the fourth quarter. The FDIC expects U.S. bank failures to cost the insurance fund around $70 billion through 2013.”
Free Healthcare for Illegal Aliens?
Newsmax wrote on July 19:
“On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., that would have prevented illegal aliens from receiving government-subsidized health care under the proposed plan backed by House Democrats and President Barack Obama…
“Republicans… point out that the Democrats, by refusing to accept the Heller amendment, would deny health agencies from conducting simple database checks to verify citizenship. Many states give illegals driver licenses, which will be sufficient to get free health care under the plan. Critics also contend that millions of illegals… already have counterfeit Social Security cards or other fraudulent documents. There is no enforcement mechanism in the legislation, experts say, to prevent illegals who use fake IDs to obtain jobs from also obtaining taxpayer-subsidized health insurance…”
Abortion and Eugenics–and the Mainstream Media Keeps Silent…
The Telegraph in the UK wrote on July 13:
“The mainstream media have been incredibly slow to pick up on a creepy comment by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a New York Times interview published today but flagged last week. In it, Ginsburg talks about Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised abortion: ‘Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.’
“What?… And the (pro-choice) media haven’t exactly jumped on the story. Bloggers are incredulous. This is what Creative Minority Report had to say yesterday:
“‘Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s comments about using abortion as population control raised a lot of eyebrows in the blogosphere… Huge sites too like Hot Air featured the story prominently. Even Drudge ran with the story yesterday. But as of this morning the mainstream media have completely ignored the story about one of the most powerful people in the country essentially endorsing eugenics on populations ‘we don’t want to have too many of.’
“‘What the heck is going on here? What are we to make of the media’s complete silence on this issue? They don’t see a little eugenics between friends as a big deal? They thought it was taken out of context?…’
“You might think the New York Times might want to trumpet its exclusive. But the mindset of that… publication is so overwhelmingly liberal that it didn’t even realise it had a story on its hands.”
“America Is Leaving Itself Behind…”
The Wall Street Journal wrote on July 20:
“On present trends, most of Europe will soon have lower income tax rates than most of America. And now the European Union is stealing another competitive march on Washington, this time on a free trade deal with the world’s 13th largest economy, fast-growing South Korea. Last week Brussels and Seoul finished the outline of a new trade agreement, and the two sides will now write up the technical language to codify it. As for the pending U.S.-Korea trade agreement, Congress has done . . . nothing…
“Korea’s progress with the EU shows how risky U.S. delays are. The European Commission says the EU-Korea deal will eliminate $2.2 billion in duties Korea currently imposes each year on European goods — and cut duties and eliminate nontariff barriers on imports of European cars. American companies could gain similar benefits if only Congress would approve the U.S.-Korea pact.
“Across the globe, countries are moving ahead with similar bilateral trade deals, often giving their own national companies an edge over U.S. competitors. In a perfect world, all countries would be able to benefit from multilateral trade opening under the Doha Round. But for now bilateral deals are better than nothing, and America is leaving itself behind.”
“USA At the Edge of Catastrophe”
Newsmax reported on July 21:
“Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the United States needs a dramatic increase in defense spending or it will risk a national catastrophe — from a nuclear or biological attack — that could kill several million Americans… ‘We are today running very big risks in the name of saving a few billion dollars that may end up killing several million Americans. The time to fix that is before the disaster happens,’ he said… ‘We are living at the edge of a catastrophe, and we need to understand that’s exactly where we are… What we are faced with is not simply a problem, it is potentially catastrophic’…
“The greatest threat to the United States is a nuclear weapon… being detonated in a major city, Gingrich said. The second is a successful electromagnetic pulse attack that could knock out the entire electric grid, including all appliances, telephones, vehicles, and generators. Other dangers Gingrich listed include biological weapons; cyberattacks; unprotected assets in outer space; and dangers unknown, all of which he said have the potential of being weapons of mass destruction or disruption.”
Will Huge Future Tsunami Threaten West Coast of America?
ScienceDaily wrote on July 20:
“The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought… The new research suggests that future tsunamis could reach a scale far beyond that suffered in the tsunami generated by the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake… The 1964 Alaskan earthquake – the second biggest recorded in history with a magnitude of 9.2 – triggered a series of massive waves with run up heights of as much as 12.7 metres in the Alaskan Gulf region and 52 metres in the Shoup Bay submarine slide in Valdez Arm…
“Lead author, Professor Ian Shennan, from Durham University’s Geography Department said… ‘Earthquakes can hit at any time of the day or night, and that’s a big challenge for emergency planners. A tsunami in this region could cause damage and threaten life from Alaska to California and beyond; in 1964 the effects of the tsunami waves were felt as far away as southern California and were recorded on tide gages throughout the Pacific Ocean.'”
Sarkozy for Global Environmental Authority
Deutsche Welle wrote on July 18:
“French President Nicolas Sarkozy made the call for a global environmental organization… Sarkozy didn’t give any indication of how he thought this new global organization should be laid out… The world already has a global environmental organization. It’s called the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), established in June 1972 as a result of the UN Conference on the Human Environment.
“Part of the mandate of the UNEP is ‘to promote international co-operation in the field of the environment and to recommend, as appropriate, policies to this end.’ Almost every international agreement on the environment has come under the auspices of the UNEP, including the Kyoto Protocol. It is unclear how a new global environmental organization would really be different.”
The Dalai Lama for Financial Globalization…
Welt Online wrote on July 16:
“Buddhism, economics and management are all interconnected. The Dalai Lama believes the financial crisis is a moral crisis. He says he is a Marxist monk… [F]or the Tibetans [he is] a divine king and [he has] many followers in the western world who idolize him…”
In an interview with the newspaper, the Dalai Lama stated:
“I am essentially a supporter of globalization… I still believe I am a Marxist monk… In the Marxist theory the focus lies on the just allocation of wealth. From a moral perspective this is a correct claim… The Chinese communists are communists without a communist ideology. But if you mean socialism, like it first existed in the Eastern Block and now in North Korea and Cuba, I believe it goes against human nature; it destroys creativity.”
Man-Made Global Warming–Yes or No?
The Telegraph wrote on July 11:
“Faced with a ‘consensus’ view which looks increasingly implausible, a fast-growing body of reputable scientists from many countries has been coming up with a ‘counter-consensus’, which holds that their fellow scientists have been looking in wholly the wrong direction to explain what is happening to the world’s climate. The two factors which most plausibly explain what temperatures are actually doing are fluctuations in the radiation of the sun and the related shifting of ocean currents.
“Two episodes highlight the establishment’s alarm at the growing influence of this ‘counter consensus’. In March, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has a key role in President Obama’s plans to curb CO2 emissions, asked one of its senior policy analysts, Alan Carlin, to report on the science used to justify its policy. His 90-page paper recommended that the EPA carry out an independent review of the science, because the CO2 theory was looking indefensible, while the ‘counter consensus’ view – solar radiation and ocean currents – seemed to fit the data much better. Provoking a considerable stir, Carlin’s report was stopped dead, on the grounds that it was too late to raise objections to what was now the EPA’s official policy.
“Meanwhile a remarkable drama has been unfolding in Australia, where the new Labor government has belatedly joined the ‘consensus’ bandwagon by introducing a bill for an emissions-curbing ‘cap and trade’ scheme, which would devastate Australia’s economy, it being 80 per cent dependent on coal. The bill still has to pass the Senate, which is so precisely divided that the decisive vote next month may be cast by an independent Senator, Stephen Fielding. So crucial is his vote that the climate change minister, Penny Wong, agreed to see him with his four advisers, all leading Australian scientists.
“Fielding put to the minister three questions. How, since temperatures have been dropping, can CO2 be blamed for them rising? What, if CO2 was the cause of recent warming, was the cause of temperatures rising higher in the past? Why, since the official computer models have been proved wrong, should we rely on them for future projections?
“The written answers produced by the minister’s own scientific advisers proved so woolly and full of elementary errors that Fielding’s team have now published a 50-page, fully-referenced ‘Due Diligence’ paper tearing them apart. In light of the inadequacy of the Government’s reply, the Senator has announced that he will be voting against the bill. The wider significance of this episode is that it is the first time a Western government has allowed itself to be drawn into debating the science behind the global warming scare with expert scientists representing the ‘counter consensus’ – and the ‘consensus’ lost hands down.”
