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Shevat 26, 5769, 2/20/2009
A Frightening Headline
 Iran may now be just months away from having the bomb - not years, as some had hoped
If you read one article this week, make sure it is this:
"Iran holds enough uranium for bomb" says today's Financial Times of London, basing itself on a new report issued Thursday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA found that Iran now has one ton of low-enriched uranium at its Natanz nuclear facility. Should that material undergo further enrichment, it would produce more than 20kg of fissile material, which is sufficent for a nuclear weapon. In other words, Iran may now be just months away from having the bomb - not years, as some had hoped. Indeed, the IAEA, which is an arm of the UN, acknowledged that its previous assessments had "underestimated" the quantity of nuclear materials in Iran's possession. This means there is even less time remaining to stop the Ayatollahs from crossing the nuclear threshold. Nonetheless, the Obama administration does not seem to be in any particular hurry to stop them. We must sound the alarm about this threat, and urge our leaders in Israel and the West to take action - and soon - to prevent the would-be Hitler of Persia from obtaining nuclear weapons. For once Iran does cross that threshold, there will be no turning back. And we absolutely can not allow that to happen.
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Shevat 21, 5769, 2/15/2009
Here Comes American Pressure....
A new Israeli government has not yet even been formed, but that isn't stopping the Obama administration from turning up the heat on the incoming coalition. An article in today's Ha'aretz reports that "the U.S. administration is preparing to put heavy pressure on the new government to freeze all settlement construction and keep its promises to lift roadblocks". Washington, it says, "will demand that Israel avoid creating new facts on the ground that may burden achieving an agreement in the future." If true, this is shameful intereference in Israel's internal affairs and a defiance of the will of Israel's democracy. The electorate of the Jewish state delivered a loud and resounding "no" to the outgoing Kadima government's proposed concessions to the Palestinians and voted overwhelmingly in favor of a nationalist and religious majority in the Knesset. By what right, then, does Mr. Obama seek to veto this change in policy? This is nothing less than diplomatic arrogance and it can not be allowed to stand. Israel's next government should make it abundantly clear from the outset to Mr. Obama and his secretary of state, Hillay Clinton, that the rules of the game have changed, and there will be no more dictates to Jerusalem regarding our national and security interests. If Obama is serious about his pledge to conduct a less "arrogrant" foreign policy, a good place for him to start would be by not interfering in the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland.
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Shevat 17, 5769, 2/11/2009
A Decisive Victory for Israel's Right
 the right received a whopping 50% more votes than the parties on the left. That, my friends, is what is known as a good ol' fashioned landslide
The results are in, the votes have been counted, and there is no doubt as to the outcome of Israel's elections yesterday: this was a clear and decisive victory for Israel's right-wing.
Sure, Tzipi Livni's Kadima party may have come out ahead of the Likud in terms of the number of seats that it garnered. And yes, just a few weeks ago, the Likud was leading Kadima by a large gap in the polls. But the bottom line is this: the left-wing parties combined got just 44 seats (not including the 3 Arab parties), while the right came home with 65. And that number may yet change even more in the right's favor in the coming days, as the votes of the soldiers and security forces are counted as well. In other words, the right received a whopping 50% more votes than the parties on the left. That, my friends, is what is known as a good ol' fashioned landslide. Indeed, no matter how one looks at it, the left on its own can not form a coalition. Thus, the unavoidable conclusion is that the people of Israel have spoken loudly and clearly. They have rejected the outgoing government and its policies of appeasment, and voted to replace it with a strong, nationalist administration. The media, of course, is carefully trying to play down this point, empashizing instead Livni's "victory" and "comeback". But all the spin-meisters in the world can not obscure the reality that the people of Israel have spoken - and they have sent the left packing.
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Fundamentally Freund
by Michael Freund
An Alternative Approach to Israeli Political Commentary
Michael Freund is Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel, returning "lost Jews" to the Jewish people. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning under former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
A native of New York, he holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA from Princeton University. He has lived in Israel for the past decade.
Shavei Israel For Our People's Return www.shavei.org |