Kerry is coming to middle east again

If at first you don't succeed try try again the old saying goes.
John Kerry is clearly obsessed with acheiving some kind of deal no matter what.
The seemingly impossible task at hand does not daunt him at all or so it seems.
What many see clearly as a clear dead end Kerry sees as a viable possibility.
There is no chance of a agreement between the sides in the forseable future.
It won't happen.
When the Arab side understands that the state they want is not going to happen for a very long time if ever it may get very violent.
Kerry is wasting American tax dollars for fruitless escapades in the Middle East.
It's about time to rethink the entire model of a two state solution.
As it won't happen the other alternative is one big state with voting rights for all.
This is a scary proposition for some but there comes a time where reality needs to be faced.
Better sooner than later.

It's been four years

Four years have passed since my father's passing.
This most traumatic of lifes events is continuing to make a deep impact on my life.
What my father instilled in me is a continous driving force in my life.
His love of the land of Israel and of Jewish tradition helped shape who I am.
As a young man he had little oppurtunity to reach the land of Israel or even to develop himself.
He survived World War 2 miraculously while most of his siblings were murdered.
That did not deter him from reaching Israel and fufilling his dream of stepping on the soil of the holy land.
He in fact made Aliyah at age 94 once again announcing at the airport " he has come to save the country ".
Losing a parent is always very difficult.
One truly is not a child anymore when a parent is gone.
That's the real difficulty.
May his memory be a blessing to his children and grand children.

Jewish Survival

Israels prime minister has his faults, oration is not one of them.
In perhaps his best public speech of all time he simply and eleqently presented to the world that the Jewish people would not go like sheep to the slaughter.
The world believes for better or worse that he will direct an attack on Iran if no other choice is found.
This may bring chaos to the middle east but Iran understands that if they do get to close to the no return level, Israel will strike.
This is a game of nuclear chicken that Israel will not play.
Benjamins Netanyahu's entire political career has been based on stopping Iran from getting the bomb.
To contemplate that he will flinch when when Israels back is to the wall is unfathomable.
As the west is seen to be shying away from conflict a Israeli strike seems more likely.
Hard to say when this will happen.
Hold on to your hats.

Peace in our time

The incredible weakness shown by the United States and most of the civilized world in the Syrian crisis will have severe repurcussions.

The United States has ceased to be a superpower and left the world to chaos.

The Iranians will continue to build nuclear weapons unabated, without fear.

The world does not fear the United States anymore.

President Obama is the Chamberlain of our time.

Somebody should give him an umbrella.

Syria, Egypt and the entire mess

Its a bit incredible to think that over a thousand people have died in a chemical attack in in Syria yesterday and little has been done about it.
The same can be said for developments in Egypt in the last few weeks.
One clear message can be learned about living in the Middle East and that is that if you are weak you are doomed.
Sad but true

Sad day

A very prominet figure in the Jewish nationlistic world has been convicted of sexual misconduct
Rabbi Moti Elon for the longest time has said he has done nothing wrong and all his hugs and physical contact were always based on fatherly love and not of any sexual nature.
A judge today in Jerusalem today thought otherwise and has convicted Rabbi Elon of severe wrong doing.
His staure and popularity is unprecedented as was his pedigree. His father was a supreme court justice and brother a former memeber of parliment.
His thousands of supporters will be stunned,confused and bewildered as to the ramifications of this horrible episode
It will get worse of course as Rabbi Elon will probably be going to Jail for an extended period
It is hard to put in words the damaging effect all this has done to the image of national religous movement
It is a very sad day indeed.

allegtions about the chief Rabbi of Israel

Freash allegations that Rabbi David Lau the new cheif Rabbi of Israel tried to cheat in a exam for Rabbinacal ordination have come to light.
These allegtions if true will certainly throw the entire Israel Rabbinate into a tizzy after all thought that after the elctions thngs would calm down
As it looks now it is likely that Rabbi lau will be investigated and probably be forced to resign his post just days after taking ir
It will be the second resignation in a month of a Rabbi for allegations of wrong doing

Ho Hum -another peace process

You need to al least appreciate the tenacity and stuborness of the United States.
Nonetheless ...
Never have so few invested so much into so low a chance to achieve. The process here is the main objective, there is no final solution ( no horrible pun intended )
These is not and cannot be a peace treaty at the end of all this
It is a non-starter as there is no place to put 700,000 Jewish settlers and no force that can remove them from there homes
There is no Israeli government that is agreeable to ceding Jerusalem to a foreign power
there is no Arab ( or Palestinian partner ) that will recognize Israel as a Jewish state or agree on less than the 1967 border lines.
So what is going on?
A peace process
Its the process that is important here
Keep talking and not fighting
Sounds great, no?
It will be good until the talks fail
Then all hell will break loose
That is the meaning of a peace process in the middle east
Talk a bit, the war
Then do it all over again
Its getting a bit boring

Mideast peace- the prospects

Mideast peace talks have started again in Washington
Great news?
No
The exact opposite is true
As expectations are high for these talks at least in some circles, when they self destruct as all others have expect trouble.
When this happens a major " intefada " or Arab grassroots wide demonstartion will follow.
This all may have a silver lining as this will most probably be the last attempt at negotiations for a two state solution.
This is why
For any deal to be signed there will have to be a referendum that will ask Israeli citizens to ratify a deal that would make at least 500,000 Jews leave their homes
This can never happen
The Arab side demands East Jerusalem as its capital
No Israeli government will cede East Jerusalem to the Arab side
The talks will implode
The question is then what? The Jewish state will need to muster a emergency Aliya program bringing one million Jews to Judea and Samaria in the next five years
There will need to be a law enacted giving the vote to Israelis living abroad
Then gradually the vote will be given to Arab residents of Judea nd Samaria not invloved in terror. We are comimg closer to the end of delusions and the beginning of reality.

Peace talks that are going nowwhere

What’s the point? Talks are to start on Tuesday, Hurray!
What are the Vegas odds that these talks after so many others will go anywhere.
I would give it 1000 to 1.
That these talks will lead to a final status agreement and the end of the conflict?
1,000,000 to 1
This is all about a United States promise of attacking Iran in the next year if Bibi plays ball now.
That will explain why he will agree to let out convicted terrorists
A current poll says that more than 80% of Israelis are against letting go of convicted terrorists
Its clear that there must be a unwritten promise of a immenent attack by the US on Iran
It will happen in the next six months
As far as the talks are concerned
Noone really thinks they will go anywhere.
Noone
There cannot be a two state solution anymore.
To many Jews live in Judea and Samaria.
Sometimes stupid ideas die hard

The Wacko Middle East

What’s the point? Peace talks are set to resume soon according to US secretary of state John Kerry. Some say that this is a miraculous turn of events and mostly unexpected.
To be completely truthful there is little point to these talks.
All sides understand that there is no REAL chance of reaching any agreement
The Arab side wishes complete control and removal of approximately 700,000 Jews who are living in pre 1967 borders. This is impossible, simply impossible.
So they talk, so what? The Arab side needs money from the US to survive and has agreed to the charade to continue to exist.
The Israeli side has gotten a promise or even a date of a US preemptive strike on Iran in exchange to restart talks and free Arab convicted terrorists.
The theater of the absurd.
The Middle East.

Kerry, stop wasting everyones time!

Wasting American taxpayers money is noththing to be proud of.
You are wasting that your time and ours
Stop! This problem is not solvable in the distant future
The local Arab populace who have decided in recen tyears to call themselves Palestinians will not budge or comprimise on the basci issues
Agreeing to thier demands would necessate at removal of 500,000 Israelis form their homes
It's not going to happen
With regard to Europe I would say no one should be surprised.
Hatred of Jew has morphed to hatred of settlers
They look more Jewish anyway
The hiypocrosy has reached new levels but no one should be surprised
Soon " settlers " will not be allowed into Europe

Egypt- Here we go

Looks like to the civil war is starting,
A massacre of close to fifty Morsi supporters is likely to the fuse that will ignite to all out civil war in Egypt.
The Moslem Brotherhood has asked on all egyptians to revolt against the army and the coup thathas taken place in the country
As the the supporters of Morsi seem to be a majority based on the last elections this call to arms is likely to spiral out of control with chaos in a already chaotic situation.
it is quite embarassing that the US seems to be funding a army that has just killed fifty protesters. Certainly tear gas or other non letahal methods could have been used.
Live fire into a crowd does not bode well for the deep crisis Egypt is in
Mubarek is having a laugh.
How do you say I told you so in Arabic?

Democracy in Egypt

Pretty funny when a group of generals force a elected leader to relenquish power and some people hail that as democracy
The forner President of Egypt was all the wrong things a leader could be, A fanatical member of the Moslem brotherhood a staunch anti-semite and a long list of other bad things
He had one very important thing on his side. He was elected in an apparently free election
It is entirely possible that democracy is not a viable option in Egypt. There may be to much poverty and to little resources. If that is the case then they should let Mubaruk back. Its going to be fun.

The middle east- what a mess

Morsi is gone, what now?
The Moslem brotherhood will not take this lying down. They feel thay have been robbed of a legitimate elected leader ( not far from truth )
They are in shock now but expect complete chaos in the weeks and months to come
They will be rounded up and arrested but in nubers they are ( or were ) the majority in the country
creating a situation where they have no ability to effect change peacably is a dangerous move indeed.
They will feel that there is no real peaceful option left and revert to the default activity of Moselm extremists.
All this will be happening as Egypt becomes a country that will not be able to provide basic necessaties to its people.
The United States by law will have to cease all finanacial support for Egypt and many who were against Morsi say they do not want this aid
Without this aid Egypt will crumble which will make the extremists even more popular
This will cause either civil war or another overthrow of sorts. It is hard to see any real solution to what we are seeing
It will just get worse
At some Egypt will become completly disfunctional and when that happens it is unclear what will happen next
Mubarek was a tyrant but he knew what would happen if the Moslem Brotherhood came to power.
He was right

Egypt on the brink? Who is smiling?

Who is telling everyone " I told you so " The former president of course Hosni Mubarek. He has said for the longest time that the Muslim brothehood would bring disaster
He was right, big time! So sit Mubarek sit back and relax and have a cigar
You may make a comeback after all

Kerry and Morsi

No connection?
Wrong
The biggest Arab Democracy in the world is teetering on Civil war once again. A democraticaly ( well sort off )elected Morsi in Egypt is in danger of being toppled as Egypt sinks into chaos once more.
The United States Secratary of State is expecting Israel to believe in the integrity and stsbiity of the smallest democracy ( well sort off) in the Arab world.
The fledging Palestinian Authority which calls itself the state of Palestine claims it has the ability and resources to stay stable for some time to come
. Seeing what is happening in Egypt an around the Arab world makes anyone normal skeptical as to the viability of any agreement. Any agreement needs to be based on the signees ability to carry out and ensure implementation. Israel claims that all real secuity issues be garunteed by the Israel Defense Forces. The Palestinian Authority disagrees with this demand compeletly.
This is one of the fundemenatal disagreements ( not the only one ) that will stop any real progress in peace negotiations. John Kerry can shuttle back and forth as much as he wants. The facts on the ground remain the same.

Does anyone KERRy

Does anyone really care that the unted states chief diplomat John Kerry is going to spend some American Tax payer money visiting the middle east in the next few days? Whats he coming for? To resume peace talks of course. Is this the 10th time, 20th time, 100th time that peace negotiations have been promised, asked for or discussed? What is he really thinking? Is he stupid? Alas he may be simply living in a fanatasy world that he will succeed where so many have failed. He will not. There is no chance. There was never a real chance at a two state solution but now both sides are saying that this is clearly impossible. We need to get used to the notion of annexation of Judea and Samaria and giving citizenship to all who want it. We need to bring Jews here to Israel and possibly give the vote to Israelis abroad. If Mr Kerry wishes to develop a one state solution model then he will be doing something productive. Hey, he needs to do somehting with his time.

Rabbi Furman

He certainly was not the typical Rabbi you would expect. In fact everythng about him was different but that did not seem to bother him one bit. The Rabbi of the Tekoa settlement passed away yesterday after along battle with Cancer. He met with Israels greatest enemies and no one seemed to understand what he really stood for, He claimed he was trying to solve the unsolvable Arab Israeli conflict. Truth be said that though trying very hard he did not really make any inroads in this regard though his tenacity and conviction seemed out of the ordinary. Even those who thought him eccentric were deeply hurt and sad on his passing, He loved the land of Israel, of that there is no doubt and tried to make the Jewish world and entire world a better place to live. Few have those lofty goals as their moral compass. Thought the writer of these words did not agree with his tactics one can certainly agree with his goals. That should be inspiration enough for most.

Obamas visit

We are told that Obama is planning to create a new framework for Palestinian statehood by 2014. That being on the stated purposes of his visit to Israel in a few weeks. It is the theater of the absurd to thnk that this is till possible to do. According to some reports Obama will demand a set timetable for Israeli withdrawals from Judea and Samaria as part of this plan. This possibility is so absurd that it boggles the mind. There is zero chance that any Jewish settlement will be dismantled in the near future anywhere in Judea and Samaria for a few simple reasons. 1. The Prime Minister has said repeatedly that he will not do any more unilateral withdrawls without a clear security based peace treaty 2. The Arab side refuses to comply with any of the major conditions The Prime ?inister has put forth for a final staus agreement 3. Israels new government will surely be against any unilateral withdrawal so even if Netanyahu changed his mind it would be politically impossible. It just can't happen. What happens if Obama uses the release of Jonathan Pollard as a bribe to Netanyahu to do something?? Interesting question indeed.

10k in Jerusalem

Its scary to hear stories of people your age who have undergone heart procedures like angio plasties or bypasses or even worse. If these people had thought ahead and lived a healthier lifestyle they could have avoided those life threatening medical interventional episodes. Excersise is the single most important thing that one can do to avoid medical compalictions. Now to the 10k run. There were 8,000 people who decided to sign up to run 10k in Jerusalem 2 days ago. It was not a easy course but then undergoing a triple bypass or worse is much more difficult. After training for many months my partner and I started intensive training about 6 weeks before the race to raise stamina and endurance. After that we thought we were ready. The morning of the race I was jumpy and nervous. I was worried about the difficulty I often have in these races and finishing in a respective time. The enormous crowds did not help the cause as we needed to wait around before they let us go. The first three Kilometers may have been the most difficult as your body warms up but even after that the steep hills never let you get into a rythym that you need and want. The last hill before the finish was very difficult and made it difficult to end with a burst of speed. Final time 1:06:31 Try to do better next year. Keep moving and keep healthy.

Here we go again

President Obama is on his way. Expect calamity and much violence to come with him. Every time an American president comes here there is death and destruction. It will most likely be the same again. High expectations to solve an impossible problem will lead to violence and more misery. The Prime Minister certainly has his hands full will forming a government and deciding when to attack Iran and convincing the United States to do so. The fact that a seemingly anti-Iran attack defense secratary has just been sworn in does not make Bibis job any easier. If we are lucky Obama will chnage his mind. Not likely.