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Tevet 23, 5760, 1/1/2000
Dick Cheney for Prime Minister!
It’s election season again in Israel, and the various parties are gearing up for the balloting, which is now less than 4 months away.
With each passing day, it seems, confusion mounts, as the Right finds itself in disarray, the Left is in turmoil, and Ariel Sharon’s new party continues to lead in the polls.
So what is a clear-headed Israeli voter to do? The answer, I think, may be to try and draft a surprise candidate into the race.
And who might that be, you are wondering – well, perhaps the answer is none other than US Vice-President Dick Cheney.
In a speech last week, Cheney laid out a clear philosophy for how not to deal with terrorists: “It is a dangerous illusion,” he said, “to suppose that another retreat by the civilized world would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone.”
In fact, Cheney noted, “such a retreat would convince the terrorists that free nations will change our policies, forsake our friends, abandon our interests whenever we are confronted with murder and blackmail.”
At a time when Prime Minister Sharon is said to be considering major withdrawals from Judea and Samaria, it is a shame that more Israeli politicians don't share the Vice President’s clearheaded thinking.
So that’s why I think it is time to launch a write-in campaign here in Israel, if only to send a message to our leaders that we want someone who will stand firm in the face of Palestinian terror rather than withdraw.
Dick Cheney for Prime Minister!
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Tevet 23, 5760, 1/1/2000
Thank you, Yossi Beilin!
The people of Israel owe a debt of gratitude to Meretz party Chairman Yossi Beilin.
With a single remark, the dovish Beilin provided a telling reminder of just how far the Israeli left has strayed from the basic principles of justice and morality.
 After Marwan Barghouti, the imprisoned head of the Fatah Tanzim terrorist group, won a decisive victory in the Palestinian Authority’s electoral primaries over the weekend, Beilin wasted little time in calling for the terror-master’s quick release from prison.
“Barghouti heads one of the Palestinian camps that do want peace and so this is the moment to end his sentence and allow him to lead the Palestinian nation,” Beilin said.
Right there, encapsulated in that one remark, is everything that is wrong with the Left and its approach.
After all, Barghouti is currently serving 5 life terms for his involvement in terror attacks and the murder of Israelis.
But as far as Yossi Beilin is concerned, why should that get in the way of Barghouti’s promising political career?
So instead of standing on principle and insisting that all those who murder Jews be brought to justice and made to pay a price for their actions, people such as Beilin would prefer to look the other way, appeasing terrorists, accommodating them, and ultimately capitulating in the face of their ongoing dedication to violence.
That is neither moral nor ethical. And if that is the basis upon which Beilin wishes to make peace, then it is shaky, indeed.
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Tevet 23, 5760, 1/1/2000
Palestinians vs. America
It is an issue that has been hushed up, ignored and overlooked as much as possible.
Over 50 American citizens have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the signing of the Oslo Accords, but you would hardly know it from the manner in which the Clinton and Bush Administrations have related to the issue.
Indeed, for over a decade, Washington together with the mainstream media have done their utmost not to tell this ongoing story, undoubtedly because of the damage it would generate to the Palestinian cause.
It is time to end this conspiracy of silence.
This past Monday, the influential Washington Times devoted an editorial to the subject, citing a recent column of mine in the Jerusalem Post. The Times’ editorial appears below. I would urge you to copy it and then forward it on to your elected representatives, along with a simple request: what are you doing to bring Palestinian killers of Americans to justice?
It is time for the Palestinians to be brought to account for their actions. Justice demands no less.
The Washington Times, October 24, 2005
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AMERICAN BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS
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Late last week, as the U.S. media ran story after story describing the relatively upbeat tone of Thursday's meeting between President Bush and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, an Op-Ed ran in the Jerusalem Post which provides a sobering postscript to the White House talks.
The article, written by columnist Michael Freund, broached a disturbing topic that has been largely ignored by the mainstream media in the United States: the reality that since the Oslo peace process began 12 years ago, more than 50 American citizens have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in suicide bombings, shootings and other attacks. But none of the killers, according to Mr. Freund, have been brought to justice.
Three of these Americans -- John Branchizio, 37, of Texas, John Linde Jr., 30, of Missouri; and Mark Parsons, 31, of New Jersey -- died in an Oct. 15, 2003 bombing of a U.S. diplomatic convoy travelling in Gaza. The perpetrators used a remote-controlled explosive device which they activated once the Americans were in range. The vehicles, all of which had diplomatic license plates, were traveling on a road that had been closed to Israeli traffic. In other words, this was no case of mistaken identity; the killers knew that they were targeting Americans and they killed them. Moreover, in the weeks leading up to that attack, the Palestinian media intensified anti-American incitement, which included calls for the destruction of the United States and denunciations of this country as Palestinians' "No. 1 enemy."
The organization believed responsible for the Oct. 15, 2003 attack calls itself the Popular Resistance Committees -- in reality, it is a mix of terrorists affiliated with Hamas, the Syrian-backed and Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Mr. Abbas's own Fatah organization. After intense pressure from Washington, PA security forces arrested several PRC members but eventually released them. Asked about the slayings last week, PRC spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Al denied that his group had been involved in targeting Americans. But Mr. Abdel-Al (speaking five weeks after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and civilians had been completed) took "credit" for firing rockets from Gaza into Israel in an interview on the John Batchelor Show. Mr. Abdel-Al said his goal was to kill Mr. Sharon and that the PRC had already smuggled rocket technology into the West Bank in order to target Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Eight days ago, Israelis once again witnessed the results of Mr. Abbas's refusal to cooperate with Israel in preventing the West Bank and Gaza from becoming havens of anarchoterrorism, as three Israelis were gunned down while waiting for rides. The Palestinian media referred to the three as "settlers," presumably justifying their deaths. With as many as 50-60,000 men in uniform, Mr. Abbas has more than ample firepower to move against the gangsters who have brought so much suffering to the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. But he lacks the political will. His continued political paralysis augurs poorly for the future.
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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 |
