Ted Belman

The US should cut a deal with Israel and end the conflict

In 2002 as the US was preparing to invade Iraq, she began negotiations for the creation of a Palestinian state and the roadmap to get there.

A land for peace deal would be a mistake of historic proportions

Herb Keinon, writing in the JPOST, makes the point that in present negotiations between Israel and the PA, Sec. Kerry is prepared to concede on most of Netanyahu’s security demands but expects Netanyahu to concede the land demands of the PA supported by President Obama. This deal is called “land, with minor swaps, for peace”.

Why Israel is losing the propaganda war and what she should to do about it

During the UN World Conference in Durban in 2001, large numbers of NGOs organized a parallel NGO Forum which produced what is known as “The NGO Declaration.” NGO Monitor reported,

“[It] was written in highly politicized language and reflected a concerted effort to undermine Israel. Article 164 states targeted victims of Israel’s brand of apartheid and ethnic cleansing methods have been in particular children, women and refugees. Article 425 announces a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state…the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel. Furthermore, Article 426 talks of condemnation of those states who are supporting, aiding and abetting the Israeli apartheid state and its perpetration of racist crimes against humanity including ethnic cleansing, acts of genocide.”

Haaretz: Annexation would be the ruination of Israel

Haaretz just published, Getting in a terrible state, by Nehemia Shtrasler where he argues against annexation because we would end up with a bi-national state with a 60% majority leaving out Gaza. He acknowledges that the proponents of annexation intend to give citizenship because as MK Reuven Rivlin put it: “Better that the Palestinians be citizens of the state than divide the land.”

E-1 is Israel’s for the keeping

UNSC Res 242 passed in the wake of Israel’s great victory required negotiations to determine secure borders . The Oslo Accords also required negotiations. Israel believed she held all the aces. After all, the Palestinians wanted a state and would compromise their demands to get it.. Little did she realize that the international community would keep bolstering the Palestinians both with financial support and diplomatic support so that they could remain intransigent. In the absence of necessity, the Palestinians had no need to compromise. And little did she realize at the time that the Palestinians didn’t want a state but wanted to destroy Israel.

Has Israel and the Islamists joined forces against Iran?

According to DEBKA the answer is yes. But who believes DEBKA? On Nov 23^rd DEBKA reported Obama's pledge of US troops to Sinai next week won Israel's nod for ceasefire. If this pans out, it will be a great victory for PM Netanyahu and Israel.

Antisemitic Qatar casts a giant shadow

Qatar is a small country with few people (1.87 million of which only 300,000 are citizens), yet it casts a giant shadow over N. Africa, the Middle East and Europe. It has the highest GDP per capita in the world and the highest energy reserves per capita in the world. While it treats its women more liberally than S. Arabia does, it has been indicted for immigrant labour violations and human trafficking. It is notorious for how badly it treats its foreign workers.

The Ceasefire Agreement is no agreement at all

The “ceasefire agreement” is no agreement at all. Let’s look at the wording:

Romney: “Jerusalem, the capital of Israel”

In the last week, spokespersons for the State Department and for Obama were pressed on the issue of Jerusalem. Not only were they unwilling to say the Jerusalem is the capital of Israel but they were not prepared to acknowledge that the western section of Jerusalem, which Israel conquered in the ’48 War and which lies to the west of the armistice lines, was even in Israel.

Is it Danny Dayan or Seth Mandel who is wrongheaded?

The NYT published a strongly worded Op-Ed this week by Danny Dayan, Chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, under the title “Israel’s Settlers are here to stay”. Seth Mandel, in an article in Commentary Magazine, called his comments “wrongheaded”.

US agrees settlements are not Illegal

The legal tsunami gathering strength in Israel will soon engulf the world. A report is soon to be released that says, the Fourth Geneva Convention (FGC) does not apply to Judea and Samaria aka West Bank and that Israel has every right to build settlements there.

Can Israel defy the World?

Talk is cheap. The right accuses the left of pursuing a fantasy, namely, that peace is possible. At the same time it suffers from what others consider, a fantasy of its own, namely, that Israel can defy the World. While many on the right believe it is no fantasy and can be done, they represent a minority of Israelis only.

UNRWA was created to punish Israel

The problem with UNRWA goes way beyond counting or definition. It should never have been created in the first place. So Sen. Mark Kirk’s amendment fails to address the fundamental problem.

If only the Left would abandon Israel…

Shaul Magid, Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana U, asks What if the Left Abandonned Israel? and suggests that Israel would go to hell in a hand-basket. “Be careful what you wish for”, he warns.

The UN acts in violation of International Law while claiming to uphold it

The United Nations' Human Rights Council has resorted to official enquiries as a precursor to damning Israel -- the most recent of which was the Goldstone Enquiry on Cast Lead, Israel's attack on Hamas in Gaza. And we know how that turned out. Israel was accused of all manner of war crimes, though none were proven to have been committed.

Israel fiddles while Syria burns

“No peace, no war” has been the arrangement with Syria since 1973. The outcome of the present civil war in Syria has the potential to change that arrangement for better or worse. Israel has stayed out of the fray, at least publicly. No covert actions have yet come to light.

Why is Obama in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood? 

Dr. Essam Abdallah, an Egyptian liberal intellectual, in an article published last October in the leading liberal pan Arab, Elaph, refers to certain reports coming out of Washington:

“These reports reveal the depth of the below-the-surface coordination between the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Libya and Jordan. This bloc of regimes and organizations is now becoming the greatest Islamist radical lobby ever to penetrate and infiltrate the White House, Congress, the State Department and the main decision making centers of the US government. All of this is happening at a time when the US government is going through its most strategically dangerous period in modern times because of its need to confront the Iranian Mullahs regime, which is expanding in the Middle East, as well as penetrating the United States, via powerful and influential allies.” “the popular revolts in the Arab world – and the Obama Administration’s position towards them – were determined by political battles between various pressure groups in Washington.”

Palestine, Back to the Future

There was a time when the lands now known as Israel, (including Judea and Samaria and Gaza), and most of Jordan were called “Palestine”. In fact, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 declared

“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem…

Daniel Seidemann, the author of “The Myth of Undivided Jerusalem,” published by The Atlantic, is the founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, an “Israeli” non-governmental organization that works to prevent developments, even if good for the city’s residents, from taking place if said developments leave the city indivisible. The top three donors of this NGO are The Norwegian Foreign Ministry, The Swiss Foreign Ministry, and The British Foreign Ministry -- all of whom want Jerusalem divided -- according to the organization’s own website.

The Jews, the Communists and the Democratic Party

I just began reading Blacklisted by History; The Untold Story of Joe McCarthy. It seeks to establish that many of the people that McCarthy targeted unsuccessfully, were later proven to be communists. It brought back many memories for me.