Tuesday, December 30, 2014



The latest demographic survey of the Palestinian population by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics overestimates the number of Palestinians resident between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan by around 1.2 million, a leading Israeli expert on demography has told The Algemeiner.
Ambassador Yoram Ettinger, a former Israeli diplomat who now works as lecturer and consultant and is well-known in policy circles for his research on Palestinian and Israeli demography, said that the Palestinian statistics, released yesterday, "are inflated by more than 1 million in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and by almost 400,000 in Gaza.”
According to the Palestinian statistics bureau, there are over 6 million Palestinians living west of the Jordan; Ettinger calculates the number at 4.8 million.
The inflated numbers are a key factor behind the current claim that Palestinians will outnumber Jews living in Israel and the Palestinian territories by 2016. Similarly false claims have been made in previous years, triggering the politically-loaded conclusion that Israel, in supposedly becoming a country where a Jewish minority rules over an Arab majority, has effectively emerged as an apartheid state.
Ettinger identified several methodological flaws in the official Palestinian count. "According to their own records, they include over 400,000, mostly in Judea and Samaria, who are abroad for more than a year,” he said. This contradicts, Ettinger said, the "international standards” which dictate that a person who lives outside his or her country for more than a year should not be included in a count of the resident population.
"The only entity that doesn't follow this practice is the Palestinian statistics bureau,” Ettinger said.
The 300,000 Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem who carry Israeli identity cards comprise a similar problem in terms of population count, Ettinger observed, as they are "counted twice, in the Israeli count of the number of Israeli Arabs, and the Palestinian count of the number of residents of the West Bank.” The 105,000 Palestinians who received Israeli citizenship between 1997 and 2003 by virtue of marrying Israeli Arab citizens – a pathway canceled by an Israeli Supreme Court decision in 2003, which denied automatic citizenship through marriage to residents of several Arab and Muslim countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel – are also "doubly counted,” Ettinger said.
All these numbers, Ettinger emphasized, grow every year, "because many of these people produce children who are added to the numbers.” In October 2014, he noted, the Palestinian deputy interior minister even said that "100,000 children born to overseas Palestinians had been added to the overall count.”
When it comes to migration patterns, Palestinian statistics are equally problematic, Ettinger said. Since there is no net immigration into Palestinian areas, population surveys assume no net emigration – yet, Ettinger pointed out, data collected by the Israeli border police, who control all 13 land, sea and air exit points into Israel and the Palestinian territories, demonstrates that in 2013, net emigration stood at 20,000, with similar numbers recorded over the four previous years. Significantly, this does not include Gaza, where no count has been conducted since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, but Ettinger asserted that "those who deal with Gaza say the number of emigrants is much higher, as a result of war, instability and the disintegrating economy.”
Once adjustments for the Palestinian errors are made, Ettinger said, a different picture of Arab settlement emerges: 1.7 million in the West Bank (as opposed to the 2.83 million claimed in the Palestinian survey, which includes eastern Jerusalem) and 1.4 million in Gaza (instead of the 1.79 million in the Gaza Strip claimed in the survey.) Interestingly, the Palestinian survey gives a lower account of the number of Palestinians resident in Israel – 1.46 million, as opposed to the 1.7 million claimed in the Israeli count – though this is likely connected to the manner in which residents of eastern Jerusalem are counted by Palestinian and Israeli sources respectively.
With 6.5 million Jews resident in Israel, Ettinger said, there is a clear Jewish majority of 66 percent in Israel and the West Bank – that figure dips to 58 percent if Gaza is factored in. Moreover, he said, birth patterns are now weighted towards the Jewish population: the Palestinian fertility rate has dropped from 5 babies per mother in 2000 to 2.9 now, while the Jewish birth rate "is slightly over three and increasing.” Among the reasons for the drop in the Palestinian birth rate is the growing popularity of contraception, increasing access to higher education, and a trend towards urbanization, which means that Palestinian women are marrying later in life.
The Jewish population has additionally been boosted by favorable migration patterns – according to Ettinger, Israel "is now benefiting from the highest number per capita ever of returning expatriates” – and increasing fertility among the secular Jewish population. This includes the descendants of the 1 million Jews who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union during the 1990s, whose fertility rate exceeds two children per family, as well as the burgeoning Israeli middle class, who twenty years ago would have had one or two children per family, and who presently have three or four.
While Ettinger's revisions are unlikely to stall the continual talk of a "demographic time bomb” toppling Israel's Jewish majority, his calculations are, he said, regarded as far more reliable by experts on demography. The prevalence in the media of the Palestinian figures is, he argued, partly down to the international protocol of regarding statistics assembled by national authorities as beyond reproach. "It is assumed that central statistics bureaus are above politics,” he said.


From  CAMERA (with minor editing)…..

Top Ten MidEast Media Mangles for 2014:

1. Hate-Indoctrination and Incitement Ignored

No issue was more  neglected by most of the media than the demonizing of Israel and the Jewish people by the Palestinians and the wider Muslim/Arab world. Instead of reporting the hate-indoctrination  for what it is -- a central driving force for violence and  a fundamental threat to peace -- media outlets such as The New York Times typically ignored the phenomenon or characterized it as merely an accusation by Israelis rather than an objective reality.
Few instances of such media malpractice were as blatant as The Times' censoring of Secretary of State John Kerry's strong denunciation of incitement as the cause of the massacre of Jews at prayer in Jerusalem's Har Nof synagogue.  Kerry's emphatic statement was first included in an online version of the New York Times story but later entirely excised by the time the printed account reached readers.


2. Gaza War Distortions

Covering the Israel-Gaza conflict, the popular press promoted numerous myths. In a devastating expose after the fighting, former AP reporter Matti Friedman  summarized the media's impact in Tablet:
The lasting importance of this summer’s war, I believe, doesn't lie in the war itself. It lies instead in the way the war has been described and responded to abroad, and the way this has laid bare the resurgence of an old, twisted pattern of thought and its migration from the margins to the mainstream of Western discourse -- namely hostile obsession with Jews. The key to understanding this resurgence is not to be found among jihadi web masters, basement conspiracy theorist, or radical activists. It is instead to be found first among the educated and respectable people who populate the international news industry.
  "Friedman touches on serious distortions  including hugely disproportionate focus on relatively modest faults of the Jewish state and at the same time journalistic neglect of the suffering of millions across the globe and of their tormentors. He makes the key point that, contrary to what might appear to be intense journalistic interest in the plight of the Palestinians, reporters actually do not have real curiosity about the breadth and depth of that community. Only as Palestinians intersect with Israel do they come into view -- not for themselves.”

Former BBC correspondent Richard Miron blogged his agreement, expanding on the ramifications of the botched coverage:
The media must also account for itself and for its own conduct including apparent omissions and failures in the reporting of the conflict. It must question where reporting may have ended and emoting began, if it held Israel to a standard apart from all others, and why it allowed Hamas a free pass in controlling the flow of information. Its coverage had consequences in fueling the passions (and hatred) of many on the streets of Paris, London and elsewhere towards Israel, and by extension towards Jews.”


3. Parroting Hamas’ Inflated Civilian Casualty Claims

One of the  fallacies hyped by news outlets regarding the summer conflict was the claim that “the vast majority” of casualties in Gaza were civilians. Such claims cropped up in the BBC, The Los Angeles Times, CNN and countless others. The statistics were promoted by the Gaza Health Ministry and reported at face value by many journalists, despite the fact that this ministry is run by Hamas and has every incentive to inflate civilian casualty figures to garner world sympathy. Gaza residents were even instructed to lie about civilian casualties to the press, a critical point almost entirely ignored by the media.

Subsequent itemized Israeli studies showed roughly half the casualties in Gaza were combatants. While  this documentation helped blunt  some of the rote parroting of Hamas claims, the “vast majority” fallacy was repeated only ten days ago by Reuters. Israeli tactics limited civilian casualties to roughly a one-to-one civilian to combatant casualty rate, a remarkable ratio in urban fighting where fighters are entrenched, in bunkers and tunnels and using civilians as human shields.



Coverage of the October 2014 staging of the controversial opera “The Death of Klinghoffer” largely neglected any serious inspection of the libretto and the substantive concerns of many in the public about the cultural promoting of anti-Jewish stereotypes and the inversion of victim and terrorist in the work. Though persuaded to cancel the simulcast of the opera , reducing the potential audience by hundreds of thousands, New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Opera nonetheless staged the production. The editorial boards of the New York Times and Boston Globe decried the cancellation of the broadcast. And The New York Times continued to justify the opera.



The New York Times is nearly seven times more likely to publish opinion columns primarily critical of Israel than those primarily critical of the Palestinians, continuing a pattern of bias previously documented at the newspaper, a new CAMERA analysis has found. The newspaper is also twice as likely to publish opinion pieces that predominantly support the Palestinian narrative about which side deserves more sympathy or criticism than pieces that predominantly support the Israeli narrative. New York Times { Personal observation: Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren does not differentiate between objective reporting and pushing her personal viewpoint …as revealed in her tweets…and her editors seem to prefer advocacy over straightforward journalism.}


The hate site Veterans News Now (VNN) has been promoted a number of times on the front page of Yahoo, one of the most visited sites on the internet. VNN is an extremist site whose output includes Holocaust denial and 9/11 conspiracy mongering and is run by Debbie Menon, a fanatical Jew-hater who has approvingly shared text that claims “Jews toy with the American public as a cat toys with a mouse” and that “It is a marvel that the American people do not rise up and drive every Jew out of this country.” James M. Wall, former editor of The Christian Century, a magazine that caters to liberal (mainline) Protestants in the United States, is also helping to mainstream VNN by having his articles published on the site and by agreeing to serve as an “associate editor” for the publication.


On July 23, 2014 the medical journal The Lancet published “An open letter for the people in Gaza.”  There was neither medical nor journalistic excellence in the piece. Instead, it was  an anti-Israel screed replete with mischaracterizations, important omissions, flat out falsehoods and unsubstantiated accusations. {Personal observation:Several professional Associates have have submitted materials directly to Richard Horton, Lancet's editor…Richard (ELS-CAM) Horton <richard.horton@lancet.com,  Lancet staff….astrid.james@lancet.com, r.cooney@lancet.com, …and Karen Antman. Dean of the Boston University medical school… We Karen Antman <kha4@bu.edu>. As Camera noted, Lancet has not as yet issued a retraction and/or correction. This is of particular concern since Lancet is delving increasingly in political matters and US government agencies are major funder, directly and indirectly, of Lancet. }


8. Jon Stewart’s Unfunny Slant against Israel

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart grossly mischaracterized the 2014 Gaza conflict. Stewart implied that Israel and Hamas are both happy to be engaged in conflict when, as David Horovitz wrote in the Times of Israel analysis:
Hamas is avowedly committed to the destruction of Israel and holds to a perverted interpretation of Islam that claims killing Jews, Christians and non-believing Muslims is your guaranteed path to paradise if you also die in the process. Israelis, by contrast, would much rather live and let live. He ignored the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization engaged in suicide bombings, individual killings, kidnappings, and incessant rocket fire at Israel. (We left Gaza unilaterally in 2005, under international pressure, hoping that the security risk would be worth it, and that we’d be rewarded with tranquility rather than rocket fire, but I wouldn’t expect Stewart to go back that far.)
To the extent that viewers -- many of them young -- rely on Stewart as a legitimate news source his know-nothing attempt at humor could have serious consequences. 


During Operation Protective Edge, CNN’s coverage was, at best, mixed. Some of the lowlights include:
1) In a July 25 interview with Wolf Blitzer, senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath insisted that one thousand Palestinians in Gaza had been killed at the time, and that “700 of them are women, children and elderly civilians.” Shaath’s number was egregiously off the mark but, as CNN anchors did in many similar interviews, Blitzer passively allowed baseless charges against Israel to pass without even the slightest challenge. 

2) On July 29, “CNN Tonight” broadcast a segment showing a film clip of Hamas terrorists emerging from a tunnel inside Israel. This footage was put out by Hamas, aired on Al Aqsa TV, and showed the terrorists attacking Israeli soldiers. Host Don Lemon questioned correspondent Martin Savidge about the tunnels, asking “Does this [video] make Israel’s point about the danger it faces?” Savidge replies that “the attacks were on soldiers, which could be considered legitimate targets. So in some ways, this is very compelling in supporting Hamas’ argument that, no, these tunnels are being used to wage a war, not to go after civilians.” In truth, the IDF thwarted an attempted infiltration by Hamas terrorists into Kibbutz Sufa and provided footage of the attempted infiltration. The Israeli Shin Bet exposed a Hamas plot for a massive attack on civilians via the Gaza tunnels to be carried out on the Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

3) On the CNN Web site, an “informational” piece stated, “The tunnels have, for some time, also been used as vital supply lines to Gaza, through which food and other necessities have been transported.” CNN must surely know – and must inform viewers – that the tunnels used to smuggle supplies were located on the Egypt‑Gaza border while the tunnels used by terrorists to attack Israel have been dug under the Israel‑Gaza border.
More recently, in coverage of the bloody slaughter of four rabbis during morning prayers by cleaver-wielding Palestinian terrorists, CNN headlines and clips erased Palestinian culpability. Original online headlines and on-screen captions equated the victims with the killers:
  • “4 Israelis, 2 Palestinians killed in synagogue attack, Israeli police say”
  • “4 Israelis, 2 Palestinians dead in Jerusalem”
In another gaffe, a CNN ticker referred to the attack as a “deadly attack on Jerusalem mosque.”



In a July segment of On The Media, host Brooke Gladstone concealed essential background about her guest speaker, Philip Weiss, instead presenting him as a mainstream, credible expert with no substantive challenge whatsoever given to his statements. Gladstone introduced Weiss without any indication of his fringe views, calling him simply the “co-editor of Mondoweiss.net,” failing to inform listeners that Weiss is an avowed anti-Zionist who supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to weaken and dismantle the Jewish state and whose blog feverishly lambasts the Jewish state with one-sided and frequently inaccurate charges. Across the network’s schedule, NPR hosts repeatedly fail to challenge the false claims of anti-Israel guests. Not infrequently, NPR shows lack a balanced approach, distort and obscure the facts and conceal essential information.

Monday, December 29, 2014


CHINA, ISRAEL AND THE JEWS. ESSENTIAL LESSONS FOR ALL US DECISION-MAKERS.

This program was linked at ISRAPUNDIT.ORG    the 1st 24 min. with Dr. Harold Rhode is an excellent discussion of Islam, China and US government mindset. It is a “must listen” assignment for all military officers and civilian decision-makers.
http://www.voiceofisrael.com/chinese-enigma-french-jews-peril-liberal-conscience-stirs/?auto=1

Why are the Chinese so fascinated by Israel and the Jews? Just how bad is the situation for Jews in France? And what to make of remarks about Israel and anti-Semitism by a liberal academic icon and a BBC executive? With guests Dr. Harold Rhode and Michel Gurfinkiel.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger…challenging conventional wisdom and providing information and assessments unavailable in the "elite media."



From Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger



A.     Linked below  are a few  "politically-incorrect" articles on issues which are relevant to the national security of the US and Israel and their bilateral relations.

The documents aim at generating second thoughts (out of the box thinking), challenging conventional wisdom and providing information and assessments unavailable in the "elite media." 

The documents are based on Ambassador Ettinger's  40 years of  experience  - as a researcher, diplomat (Ambassador), lecturer, writer and consultant to members of Congress and Knesset -  in the areas of Middle East politics and US policy in the Middle East ( see CV{ Section B},below).

1.  Exposing the demographic bogey (Jewish demographic tailwind; no Arab demographic time bomb). 


3. A nuclear Iran's chief target would be the USA: The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

4.  Islamic terrorists are no "lone wolves."

5.  US-Israel two-way-street relations: Israel's unique contributions to the US national security and economy.

6.  Is the Palestinian issue the crown jewel of Arab policy makers (The Middle East "talk" VS. "walk")?



9.  Are the "settlements" an obstacle to peace?
  
10.  Can Israel afford to concede the mountain ridges of Judea & Samaria (West Bank)?

More documents are posted at The Ettinger Report: http://www.TheEttingerReport.com



B.     Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger,CV

1.  Professional Background:

*A Consultant to Israel’s Cabinet Members, to Israeli legislators and a lecturer in the US, Canada and Israel on Israel’s unique contributions to US interests, the foundations of US-Israel relations, the Iranian threat, the Palestinian issue, the Jewish-Arab demographic balance, etc.

*(Since 1993) Frequently interviewed on Israeli and US TV and radio and published in Israel's dailies, as well as in the US.

*Executive Director of "Second Thought – A U.S. Israel Initiative," dedicated to generate out-of-the-box thinking on US-Israel relations, Middle East affairs, the Palestinian issue, Jewish-Arab demographics, etc.

*(1989-1992) Minister for Congressional Affairs – with the rank of Ambassador - at Israel’s Embassy in Washington, DC, dealing with bilateral commercial, military and diplomatic ties, foreign aid, etc.

*(1988-1989) Director of the Government Press Office in Jerusalem, coordinating contacts between government officials and overseas journalists.

*(1985-1988) Israel’s Consul General in Houston, Texas, furthering ties with politicians, businessmen, oilmen, ranchers, Hispanics, Blacks, Evangelical leaders and Jewish communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico.

* Member of the American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG), which has documented a one million gap in the number of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

*(Since 1993) President of "US-Israel Opportunities, Ltd", a consultancy on US and Mideast policies, focusing on Israel’s relations with the US Congress, as well as on US investments in Israel.

*(Spring, 2003) Lecturer on “US Politics” - Hebrew University Executive MBA Program.

*(1997-2000) The Alabama Trade Representative in Israel.

*(Since 1993) Editor of Straight From The Jerusalem Cloakroom/Boardroom newsletters on national security and US investments in Israel, disseminated to over 5,000 movers and shakers in Washington, DC and throughout the US.

*(1976-1985) Editor/founder of the Contemporary Mideast Backgrounder, a newsletter, disseminated in 5 languages among policy-makers in the US, Europe, Latin America, Canada, India and Japan.  The newsletter dealt with Mideast politics, US policy in the Mideast, international terrorism, the Palestinian issue and the peace process.  

*(1984) Lecturer on Mideast Politics at the Hebrew U. School of Overseas Students.
*(1975-1976) Deputy Director of the American Cultural Center in Jerusalem.
*(1971-1973) Information Officer at Israel’s Consulate General in Los Angeles.

2.   Educational and Personal Background
*(1971) M.S. in International Management, UCLA.
*(1971) Certified Public Accountant (CPA), California.
*(1969) B.A. in Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso.


C.     Topics of Speaking Engagements (PowerPoint Presentations July, 2014)
     Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger…..


1. The US-Israel Two-Way Street (Israel's unique contributions to the US economy and national security).

2. The war in Gaza – regional implications.

3. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy (Can the US afford a nuclear Iran?).

4. *No Demographic Arab Time Bomb; a Robust Jewish Demographic Tailwind.

5. *Is Israel Isolated? (Israel embraced by the global business community).

6. *The Foundations of the US-Israel Covenant – Shared values from the Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers to 2014.

7. The Palestinian Issue – Is it the Core of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the root cause of Middle East turbulence, the crown jewel of Arab policy-making, or a core cause of anti-US Islamic terrorism?

8. The Impact of the Proposed Palestinian State on Vital US Interests.

9. US policy in the Middle East – a case of fundamental misperceptions.

10. *The Palestinian Refugees – Why? Whose responsibility? How many? Where did they come from? The global context? Jewish refugees! 

11.  US Pressure on Israel – myth & reality.

12. The muscle of the US Congress in the areas of foreign policy and national security (a bastion of systematic support of US-Israel cooperation).

13.  *The Mountain Ridges of Judea & Samaria: Are they indispensable to the survival of the Jewish State?




D.    Get his e-book, "Jewish Holidays Guide for the Perplexed": https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/499393 (click pdf)






The US president is not omnipotent
Yoram Ettinger 12-28-14

White House and State Department officials contend that, irrespective of Congress, President Barack Obama can apply effective diplomatic, commercial and national security pressure and coerce Israel to partition Jerusalem and retreat from Judea and Samaria to the 9-15 mile-wide pre-1967 sliver, surrounded by the violently turbulent and unpredictable Arab street.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro recently voiced this inaccurate underestimation of the power of Congress -- which has traditionally opposed pressure on Israel, echoing the sentiments of most constituents -- saying, "What is unmistakable about our foreign policy system is that the Constitution provides the president with the largest share of power."
The assertion that U.S. foreign policy and national security are shaped by presidential omnipotence can be refuted by the U.S. Constitution as well as recent precedents. The Constitution was created by the Founding Fathers, who were determined to limit the power of government and preclude the possibility of executive dictatorship. They were apprehensive of potential presidential excesses and encroachment, and therefore assigned the formulation of foreign policy and national security to both Congress and the president. Obviously, the coalescing of policy between 535 legislators constitutes a severe disadvantage for the legislature.
According to the Congressional Quarterly, the U.S. Constitution rectified the mistakes of its predecessor, the Articles of Confederation, upgrading the role of Congress to the primary branch of the U.S. government. "Hence, the first article of the Constitution is dedicated to Congress. The powers, structure, and procedures of the national legislature are outlined in considerable detail in the Constitution, unlike those of the presidency and the judiciary."
Unlike all other Western democracies -- where the executive branch of government dominates the legislature, especially in the area of international relations and defense -- the U.S. Constitution laid the foundation for the world's most powerful legislature, and for an inherent power struggle over the making of foreign policy between the legislature and the executive, two independent, co-equal and co-determining branches of government. Moreover, while the president is the commander in chief, presidential clout depends largely on congressional authorization and appropriation in a system of separation of powers and checks and balances, especially in the areas of sanctions, foreign aid, military assistance, trade agreements, treaty ratification, appointment confirmation and all spending.
Congressional power has been dramatically bolstered since the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair and globalization, which have enhanced the involvement of most legislators in international issues, upgraded the oversight capabilities of Congress, dramatically elevated the quality and quantity of some 15,000(!) Capitol Hill staffers and have restrained the presidency.
However, Congress has often abdicated its constitutional power in the area of foreign policy, failing to fully leverage the power of the purse: funding, defunding and "fencing." Legislators prefer to focus on domestic issues, which represent their constituents' primary concerns and therefore determine their re-electability. Hence, they usually allow the president to take the lead in the initiation and implementation of foreign and national security policies, unless the president abuses their trust, outrageously usurping power, violating the law, assuming an overly imperial posture, pursuing strikingly failed policies, or dramatically departing from national consensus (e.g., the deeply rooted, bipartisan commitment to the Jewish state). Then, Congress reveals impressive muscle as befits a legislature, which is the most authentic reflection of the American people, unrestrained by design, deriving its power from the constituent and not from party leadership or the president, true to the notion that "the president proposes, Congress disposes."
For example:
  • On August 1, 2014, Democratic senators forced Obama to separate the $225 million funding of Iron Dome batteries from the highly controversial $2.7 billion immigration and border security bill. 
  • Since 1982 the Senate has repeatedly refused to ratify the Convention on the Law of the Sea, and since 1999 it has rejected ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
  • The January 2013 defense authorization bill tightened restrictions on the transfer of terrorists from Guantanamo to the U.S. In May 2009, Majority Leader Harry Reid foiled Obama's attempt to close down the detention camp.
  • On February 17, 2011, Obama reluctantly vetoed a U.N. Security Council condemnation of Israel's settlement policy, due to bipartisan congressional pressure. 
  • In September 2012, a $450 million cash transfer to the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt was blocked by Congress. 
  • The 2012 budget cut into Obama's foreign aid spending request by more than $8 billion. 
  • In 2009, bipartisan congressional opposition prevented the appointment of Charles Freeman to chair the National Intelligence Council. 
  • In 1990-1992, Congress approved a series of amendments, expanding U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation to unprecedented levels despite presidential opposition.
  • In 1990, President George H. W. Bush failed in his attempt to cut Israel's foreign aid by 5 percent due to congressional opposition.
  • In January 1975, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment was signed into law, in defiance of the president.
  • Congress ended U.S. military involvement in Vietnam (the 1973 Eagleton, Cooper and Church Amendments), Angola (the 1976 Clark Amendment) and Nicaragua (the 1982-1984 Boland Amendments).
  • In 1991, Senator Daniel Inouye fended off administration pressure to withdraw an amendment to upgrade the port of Haifa facilities for the Sixth Fleet: "According to the U.S. Constitution, the legislature supervises the executive, not vice versa." 
Will the 114th Congress follow in his footsteps, or will it abdicate its constitutional responsibilities?

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Arab-Israel Conflict - Forgotten Facts! - Intro1
for more information please visit: www.shamrak.com
The term "Palestinian" is itself a masterful twisting of history. To portray themselves as indigenous, Arab settlers adopted the name of an ancient Mediterranean tribe, the Philistines ("Invaders" in Hebrew), that disappeared out over almost 3000 years ago. The connection between this tribe and modern day Arabs is nil. Romans, in order to conceal their shame and anger with rebellious regions, changed the references to Judea and Samaria by naming themPalestine.
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem - Israel became a nation inthe 14th century BCE. Two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Since 1272 BCE the Jews have had dominion over the land for up to 1,000 years with a continuous Jewish presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
3. The only Arab dominion since the Arab invasion andconquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
4. King David founded the city of Jerusalem . Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
5. For over 3,000 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupiedJerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
7. Jews pray facing Jerusalem . Muslims pray facing Mecca(often with their backs toward Jerusalem ).
8. In 1854, according to a report in the New York Tribune, Jews constituted two-thirds of the population of that holy city. (The source: A journalist on assignment in the Middle East that year for the Tribune. His name was Karl Marx. Yes, that Karl Marx.)
9. In 1867, Mark Twain took a tour of Palestine . This is how he described that land: A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent, mournful expanse. We never saw a human.
10. In 1882, official Ottoman Turk census figures showed that, in the entire Land of Israel, there were only 141 000 Muslims, both Arab and non-Arab.
11. A travel guide to Palestine and Syria was published in 1906 by Karl Baedeker; The book estimated the total population of Jerusalem at 60,000, of whom 7,000 were Muslims, 13,000 were Christians and 40,000 were Jews.
12. As the Jews came and drained the swamps and made the deserts bloom, Arabs followed. They came for jobs, for prosperity, for freedom. And, they came in large numbers.
13. In 1922, with what was widely acknowledged as the illegal attempt to separate Trans-Jordan - East side of the Jordan river, the Jews were forbidden to settle on almost 77% of the Palestine, while Arab settlement went unrestricted and encouraged by British mandatory authority.
14. Prior to the Second World War Mojli Amin, a member of the Arab Defense Committee for Palestine , proposed the idea "that all the Arabs of Palestine will leave and be divided up amongst the neighboring Arab countries. In exchange for this, all the Jews living in Arab countries will leave and come to Palestine ."
15. Did you know that Saudi Arabia was not created until 1913, Lebanon until 1920? Iraq did not exist as a nation until 1932, Syria until 1941; the borders of Jordan were established in 1946, violation Articles of the Palestinian Mandate, and Kuwait in 1961. Any of these nations that would say Israel is only a recent arrival would have to deny their own rights as recent arrivals as well. They did not exist as countries. They were all under the control of the Turks. Over 80% of the original British Mandate land was given to Arabs without population transfer of Arabs from the land designated for Jews.
16. In 1947, the Jewish state huddled on 18% of the original British Mandate land. The Jews accepted it gratefully. The Arabs rejected it with a vengeance and seven Arab states immediately declared war against Israel.
17. In 1948, the Arab refugees were encouraged to leaveIsrael by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews . Most of them left in fear of being killed by their own Arab brothers as traitors.
18. Some 850,000  Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab countries, due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
19. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is claimed to be around 630,000 (where did they get this number?). Based on population census, estimated number of Arabs who left Israel was around 460,000. They were ordered to leave by Arab leaders at the time.
20. From 1948 till 1967 Arabs made no attempt to create a Palestinian state. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated58 synagogues in Jerusalem were destroyed and the Jews and Christians were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
21. Arabs began identifying themselves as part of aPalestinian people in 1964 only , on the initiative of Egyptian-born Yasser Arafat. The idea became popular Arab propaganda tool after Israel re-captured Judea ,Samaria and Gaza in the defensive 6-Day War of 1967.
22. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, Arab-Palestinians are the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel.
23. Arab refugees INTENTIONALLY were not absorbed or integrated by the rich Arab oil states that control 99.9 percent of the Middle East landmass. They are kept as virtual prisoners by the Arab power brokers with misplaced hatred for Jews and Western democracy.
24. There is only one Jewish state. There are 60 Muslim countries, including 22 Arab nations.
25. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.
26. Pan-Arabism or the doctrine of Muslim Caliphate declares that all land that used to belong to Muslims must be returned to them. Thus, Spain , for example, must eventually be re-conquered.
Ethnic Make Up of 'Palestinians'.
Extracts from: Bosnia - Motherland of "Palestinians" by Manfred R. Lehmann and"Palestinians 'Peoplehood' Based on a Big Lie" by Eli E. Hertz.
Arab Palestinian nationality (which was officially forged in 1964) is an entity defined by its opposition to Zionism (the Jewish national liberation movement) and not by its national aspirations.
Like a mantra, Arabs repeatedly claim that the Palestinians are a native people of Israel . The concept of a 'Stateless Palestinian people' is not based on fact. It is a fabrication! The following is a chronology of an ethnic make up of so-called Palestinians and their origin.
During Ottoman Empire.
Until the Jews began returning to the Land of Israel in increasing numbers from the late 19th century, the area called Palestine was a God-forsaken backwash that was controlled by the Ottoman Empire.
1880-84 Turkish government settles Muslim Circassian refugees in the Golan to ward off Bedouin robbers. Other settlers in the area include Sudanese, Algerians, Kurds...
In 1878, an Ottoman law granted lands in Palestine to the Moslem refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina in theCarmel region, in the Galilee and in the Plain of Sharon and in Caesarea. The refugees were further attracted by l2-year tax exemptions and exemption from military service.
The same colonization policy was also directed toward Moslem refugees from Russia - particularly from the Crimeaand the Caucasus. They were Cherkesians and Turkmenians - leading to their settling in Abu Gosh, nearJerusalem and in the Golan Heights. Refugees from Algeriaand Egypt were also settled in JaffaGazaJericho and the Golan.
British Mandate: 1917-1947.
1923 Having discovered the Golan lacks oil but that theMosul area in northern Syria is rich in oil, the British cede the Golan to France in exchange for Mosul . At the same time the Trans-Jordan was ceded from Palestinian mandate as well and Egypt was given control of Sinai, British andFrance gain control of Suetz canal. (82% of Jewish land was sacrificed in the process!)
In 1934 alone, 30,000 Syrian Arabs from the Hauran moved across the northern frontier into Mandate Palestine, attracted by work in and around the newly built British port and the construction of other infrastructure projects. They even dubbed Haifa Um el-Amal ("the city of work").
The Ottoman Turks' census (1882) recorded only 141,000 Muslims in the Palestinian. The British census in 1922 reported 650,000 Muslims.
The Palestine Mandate. In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted the Great Britain with The Palestine Mandate, recognizing "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine - Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). Three months later, in order to obtain full control over Suez canal, the Great Britain and France made a deal with Egypt andHashemite KingdomThe king's brother was invited to become the governor of Trans-Jordanian province (77% of the Mandate) and to become king of Jordan later; the Sinai Peninsula was given to EgyptGolan Heights (5% of the Palestinian Mandate) was ceded to the French controlled Syrian Mandate. This robbery of the Jewish was legalized immediately by, the puppet of the Great Britain and France -the League of Nations!
General Assembly resolution 181, on Nov. 29, 1947It calls for the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem to be controlled by a "special international regime" to protect its holy places. The Zionist movement seeking to establish a Jewish state accepted the partition, the Arabs rejected it. The resolution was not carried out: After Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948 , war broke out pitting the embryonic state against surrounding 7 Arab states. Israel gained more land than it would have had under the partition resolution. Neither Israelnor Jordan , which controlled the divided parts of Jerusalemafter the war, accepted control of the holy city by an international body.
Security Council resolution 242 , Nov. 22, 1967: It calls for "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied" in the 1967 Six Day War and for "respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." The resolution was not carried out because the Arab side did not recognizeIsrael, and Israel refused to withdraw.
Why Left or Right?
by Steven Shamrak
One of the major distinctions between humans and animals is that we have analytical intellect. At the same time, we base most of our ideas and form opinions on our emotions, beliefs and assumptions, not on facts. Blinded by personal psycho-emotional history, people dismiss logic of the facts and create assumption to fit and support their own belief structure. Completely opposite ideologies: Lefties, Fascists and Islamic expansionists/terrorists found themselves united on one issue only - Hate toward Jews. Quite often, I receive mail from them. Those messages are mainly just rhetoric based on preconceived ideas and psycho-emotional cocktail.
I have never received letters that would contradict the historical facts about: Right of Jewish people to their homeland - "Palestine "; The history of aggression and terror created by Arabs; The U.N. bias against Israel.
But, I am often accused of being:
Anti-Arab or Muslim. -  As a member of the Jewish tribe, with thousands of years being the victims in history of persecution and discrimination , I can assure you that my view are not Anti-something. I just express a pro-Jewish point of view based on facts not legends. At the same time, I do respect the freedom and rights of any religion and political point of view, even the fascist one, as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others.
Too emotional. -  Arab leaders and clerics, often seen on TV, fumigating when they talk about Israel. Communists and Fascists are so passionate when they scream anti-Israel/anti-Semitic slogans. This is apparently acceptable.However, w hen a Jew logically presents facts in support of the Jewish state, suddenly, it is wrong to be emotional.
Too Right wing.   -    I do not consider myself Right or Left wing. I base my ideas and views on facts not emotions. There are too many people (including many Jews) who are very eager to promote, self-destructive, Left wing views. Actually, I can't understand why, in relation to Israel 's right to exist there are Right or Left wind political points of view. Isn't it supposed to be point of view based on historical facts and the right of the Jewish people to live on the land of their ancestors?
Dear Friends,
Eleven years have passed since I started to send my letters out. I often asked one question: Why do you do it? I would like to answer it here:
Unfortunately, most people, including many Jews, are driven by emotions. They form their opinions under the influence of the manipulative world media and their own psychological predispositions, ignoring facts and logic. Israel is loosing 'Media War'! Neither Israeli governments nor Jewish leadership in other countries have been doing anything about PR side of the Arab-Israel conflict.
I try to disseminate several points in my letters:
·        Israel is a front-line defense in the war between Islamic expansionism and Western democracies.
·        UN anti-Israel bias and Double-standard is applied to Israel by International community.
·        Jewish people have the right to live in peace on the land of their ancestors.
·        Israel is the only Jewish state.
·        There are 60 Muslim countries, including 22 Arab ones. They have enough land to accommodate all Arabs.
·        Negotiation will not stop terrorism. It only makes it stronger.
Elie Wiesel said: "The opposite of love is not hate, it s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."
As members of Western democratic society we all have an obligation to fight indifference and protect our way of life - Democracy - Social justice and freedom of speech. The blindIsrael bashing is not a part of a true democracy. It is ugly left over of the 'Old World'.
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