Binyamin Netanyahu

Israel Is Ready

/ IlanaB / Leave a comment

Let me introduce Israel’s response the targeted killing of Qasam Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran, with two quotes.

“If someone comes to kill you, get up early to kill him first.”
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 72:1

“[I]f an enemy of our people says he seeks to destroy us, believe him. . . .

[A] Jew must learn to defend himself. He must forever be prepared for whenever threat looms. . . .

[S]tand united in the face of the enemy. . . .
Menachem Begin, 1981,on the lessons of the Holocaust

I scanned the analysis pieces from all over the political spectrum of Israel and found that for the most part, everyone is in agreement: Soleimani was a bad guy and no one is really sorry to see him gone. Israel will deal with the consequences.

Netanyahu says he stands with the US. The opposition also applauded the US action. Israel is on high alert and “braced for retaliation.”

From the left, the analysis asks how this assassination fits into a broader strategy in the region. After all, Soleimani has been on the US and Israeli radar for 21 years (and sometimes Soleimani suited the US agenda in the region by fighting ISIS). Bush Jr. and Obama both had opportunities to take him out, but chose not to. What goal is served by doing this now? Without seasoned professionals around him, does Trump have a plan?

I looked at two analyses from the middle-of-the-road news site. The analysis more to the left reiterated the question: “Is this strike worth it?” And reviewed the positions of previous US administrations. The analysis more to the right also mentioned previous administrations and took a jab at Obama’s conciliatory methods, which allowed Soleimani “to run wild in the region” and increase Iran’s influence. But it also brought up the age-old conundrum of whether it’s better to stick with the devil you know or go with the devil you don’t. He illustrated the point with how Hassan Nasrallah came to lead Hezbollah in Lebanon after the targeted killing of Abbas al-Musawi in 1992.

The news site the most to the right hadn’t posted an analysis yet, but did have a round up of reactions. Earlier in the week, in response to the US attack Sunday on militia forces influenced by Iran, they published opinions of former generals about what Israel can expect if Iran wants to retaliate via Israel. In short, the Golan Heights might be vulnerable and that would be a huge security threat to Israel.

Even though Netanyahu is under indictment for corruption and is trying to get the Knesset to pass legislation to give him immunity for his crimes, he still won the leadership in his party’s primary by a landslide. Still, he can’t get a national coalition together and that’s why we’re heading to the third election in a year. Even so, what Israelis know for sure is that Netanyahu has led Israel for a long time (with periodic legitimate elections) and he believes in Israel. He laid his own life on the line in an elite commando unit and his brother lost his life during the rescue of over a hundred hostages in Entebbe. Israelis trust that Netanyahu will not send the sons and daughters of Israel into pointless battle. Israelis will always choose to preserve life, which goes hand in hand with self-defense. Israelis also know that since the birth of the State of Israel our neighbors have tried to get rid of us. They didn’t succeed then. And they won’t now.

 

UNESCO Rewrites History

/ IlanaB / 6 Comments

Mom told me a story once about her mother and how she had once been a history teacher in the Soviet Union.  She was helping her students prepare for a big exam and reminding them how a certain general was a “hero of the people.”  During the week of preparations, this general became an “enemy of the people,” so all the questions about him were changed to reflect his new status.  Grandma was disillusioned and changed careers to become an accountant.

That was the Soviet Union then.  This is now.

This week a UNESCO resolution is trying to rewrite history and suggest that Jews and Christians have no connection to the Old City of Jerusalem.  I mentioned the resolution in a blog post in July and discussed very briefly the postmodern idea of “narratives of history” in May.

The main problem (among many others) with the resolution is that it purposely eliminates or minimizes the Jewish names of the holy sites:  Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif is never referred to as the Temple Mount and Buraq Plaza is the name for the “Western Wall Plaza” (quotation marks in original).  Full text is reprinted here.

The “Buraq Plaza” of 1916-1917 – not much of a plaza and not a Muslim site.

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Source

The Office of Foreign Affairs posted this on their Facebook page to highlight the changing of history aspect of the purposeful elimination of names.

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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement that said:

To say Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. With this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost the modicum of legitimacy it had left.

And he followed it up with this tweet.

tweet
In my opinion, the most worrisome thing is the vote.  The resolution was approved in committee 24 for and 6 against, with 26 abstentions.  The countries that stood up to vote against this resolution were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.  I applaud their strength!  I wonder about the countries that abstained.  They chose not to vote yes, but could not bring themselves to vote no.  Abstaining doesn’t mean they get to pretend this resolution didn’t happen.

UNESCO’s Director-General issued a lukewarm statement mentioning that all three monotheistic religions have a connection to the Old City, but did not cancel or condemn the resolution.

In response, Israel’s government has suspended cooperation with UNESCO at this time.  And rightly so.

Being a UNESCO Heritage Site used to be a badge of honor.  But if UNESCO can vote on and pass resolutions that skew and twist history to suit a particular agenda, doesn’t it call into question all of UNESCO’s decisions and resolutions?  Is UNESCO a new totalitarian regime telling us what history is?

Me and Shimon

/ IlanaB / 1 Comment

Lots of people posted pictures of meeting Shimon Peres z’’l after he passed away last Wednesday.  I met him too, but unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of it.

Shimon Peres was the last of the generation of pioneer leaders in Israel.  To honor his legacy, Israel shut down most of Jerusalem for the past day and a half along with the highway corridor to the airport so that 70 or more world leaders could attend the funeral.  It’s been very quiet in Jerusalem today except for the sirens letting us know an entourage was passing by and the helicopters flying around on patrol.  The King David Hotel apparently had to move their paying guests to other locations so that they could, as per tradition, host all the world dignitaries.  As I passed by there yesterday I saw that the whole front was tented and police barricades were already in place.

As I mentioned, I met Shimon Peres once and it was kind of a funny story.  A friend was in Israel and I was able to use my connections to get us a visit to the Knesset – not the regular tour, but back where the politicians’ offices were.  Since my friend studied Middle East politics this was the best possible thing I could have possibly organized for him.  I was actually a bit amazed at how star-struck he was, but he said that all of his reading in university was by and about the people walking around in the corridors in front of his eyes.  It would be like a character from a novel coming to life and being willing to chat with you.  I hadn’t been in Israel long, but long enough to become cynical about the star power of politicians.  They’re just regular people, after all.

We were lounging around on some couches in a central area and along came Binyamin Netanyahu, at this time still just a member of Knesset.  My friend ran up to him to shake his hand.  I noted that the three security guards evaluated my friend’s threat level and decided that in spite of appearances he was a harmless fan.  My friend was a bit disappointed in the meeting because it was so fleeting and the handshake wasn’t perfectly executed.  But still.  Netanyahu.  Check!

There were other rock star politicians to meet and my friend ran up to them and shook all of their hands.  The Knesset session was about to open so we got up to head out.  As we passed some stairs, Shimon Peres and his one security guard were coming up.  My friend instantly stuck out his hand and leaned forward, “Mr. Peres, it’s such an honor to meet you!”  I gave the security guard a look letting him know that this guy was perfectly harmless.

Shimon Peres asked him who he was and what brought him to Israel and the Knesset.  My friend answered, but Shimon Peres was suddenly more interested in who I was so my friend somewhat reluctantly introduced me as the person who got him this backstage pass to Israeli political Lollapallooza.  Shimon Peres turned to me and put out his hand.  I shook it and told him in Hebrew that I had recently made aliyah and I lived in Jerusalem.  I don’t remember what he said, but I do remember that his voice was low, rumbling, and a bit hypnotic.  And the handshake kept going on – a good, solid, well-executed, but slightly overlong handshake.  By this time, Shimon Peres had turned away from my friend and was speaking only to me.  I saw out of the corner of my eye that my friend was a tiny bit jealous that this particular rock star had moved on to someone who was not such a superfan like he was.  Then the moment was broken by the security guard reminding Mr. Peres that he had to go into the Knesset chamber.

And then Shimon Peres was gone.

The final person to enter the Knesset hall was Ariel Sharon, who was prime minister at the time.  I suddenly worried that my friend would try to run up to Ariel Sharon and so I turned to him and said, “For the love of God, whatever you do, don’t run up to Sharon.  His security detail is not going to be very understanding and they’ll probably kill you.”  Dejectedly, he agreed to the logic, but we were close enough to see him walk by into the chamber with his band of at least eight security guards.  He was a speedy walker and surprisingly short.

And then we were alone in the waiting area.

My friend has gone on to meet many other political rock stars, but on this day, we met Shimon Peres and Peres was more interested in me.

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Shimon Peres 1923-2016

Shimon Peres also had a great sense of humor.  Here’s a YouTube video of his job hunt after being president of Israel.

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Wishing everyone a Shana Tova u’Metuka! 

May the Jewish year 5777 be filled with joy, good health, great success, and may we all be written and sealed in the Book of Life!