Olmert's Giveaway to Hamas

The elections may still be three weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from agreeing to make yet more concessions to the Palestinians.

Avi Dichter, a former head of Israel’s General Security Service who is now running for the Knesset in Olmert’s Kadima party, confirmed media reports that Olmert is planning a major unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria after the March balloting.

The retreat would include the uprooting of dozens of Jewish communities, and the forcible expulsion of tens of thousands of Jews from their homes.

Among the communities slated for destruction are Elon Moreh, Yitzhar, Itamar, Shilo, Psagot, Tekoa, Tapuah, P'nei Hever, Nokdim, Ma'on and Otniel.

The “logic” behind this move – if one can call it that – is that Olmert believes that Hamas will not talk with Israel, so he feels he must take unilateral steps to draw the country’s final borders.

In other words, Olmert is giving Hamas a choice: either negotiate with us or else we will have to give you even more territory from which to attack us. Take it or leave it.

Wow, he sure knows how to drive a hard bargain.

G-d help us all.

Look Who's Funding Terror Now...

In a decision as obtuse as it was inexplicable, Israel’s cabinet today decided to transfer hundreds of millions of shekels in customs and tax revenues to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA).

The funds will allow Hamas to pay the January salaries of the PA’s 135,000 employees, thereby forestalling the PA’s economic collapse.

One of the reasons given for the decision is that Israel is obligated by agreements signed with the Palestinians to transfer the funds.

Of course, Hamas itself has never recognized those agreements nor agreed to live by them – but why should that stop Israel from bankrolling its avowed enemies?

It is simply mind-boggling that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would agree to fill the coffers of the PA at a time when it is being taken over by the masterminds of anti-Israel suicide terror.

After all, there is no way of knowing where those funds will end up, as the PA hardly has a stellar track record when it comes to financial transparency and accountability. Who is to say that the 240 million shekels being handed over won’t go – at least in part – to fund still further attacks against the Jewish state?

Moreover, such a step only serves to undermine the case that Israel has been trying to make in recent weeks both to Washington and Europe. After pushing the international community to isolate the newly-elected Hamas regime, how can Israel now justify keeping such a regime afloat?

If Olmert has a clear policy on how to deal with Hamas, he is doing quite a good job of keeping it a well-guarded secret.

The Rockets' Red Glare... in Sderot

Well, it was just another quiet Friday today in the Israeli town of Sderot.

As of this writing – before noon - only 1 Palestinian rocket has hit the city thus far, while a second one landed in an open field elsewhere in the Negev. I guess the terrorists decided to sleep in late this morning.

The fact of the matter is that for much of the past year, the Palestinian rocket fire has been ongoing, as has the lack of coverage in the Western media.

And this helps to explain, at least in part, the willingness of so many governments to continue backing PA President Mahmoud Abbas, even as he has done nothing to halt attacks against the Jewish state.

With little public awareness, and even less outrage, about the persistent Palestinian assaults against Israel, there is little political price to be paid, it seems, for backing Mr. Abbas.

And so, as Reuters revealed today, Washington has agreed to give Abbas another $86 million to bolster his so-called security forces – the very same armed units that are rife with terrorists and their sympathizers and which permit the attacks on Sderot to continue.

The ostensible reason for doing so is to strengthen Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas, but that is short-sighted thinking to say the least. Backing one bad guy just because he is a little less evil than the other bad guy is hardly a morally compelling, or strategically sophisticated, policy vision.

The result of this approach is quite clear: Mr. Abbas sees that he is rewarded no matter what he does – or doesn't do – so why should he bother to stop attacks on Israel?

And so, once again today, the red glare of the rockets hitting Sderot continues.