Papal Visit to the Holy Land

The Pope has come and gone

Frankly its difficult to read the new head of the Catholic Church. For someone Jewish the son of a holocaust survivor its that much more difficult. The fact that the Pope is German and served in the German army during WWII just adds to the difficulty of dealing with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. To many Jews nothing that he could say would be right. His predecessor Pius during the WW2 did nothing and said nothing as millions were being slaughtered. What words could make up for that?
Nonetheless there were some things that were said that should not have been said. Certainly not from a German visiting Israel. He said that the Palestinians deserve their own state next to Israel. The he prayed for their statehood and how bad the wall was that was being built.

What he has done and said are more harmful then most people think. Very many Catholics in the world today are in great fear of Islam. They support Israel and are much more sympathetic towards Israel that to the Arab world. The ones who are fervently Catholic take the Popes word as Gospel and will certainly support the Palestinian cause.
This undoubtedly will re stir Catholic Jewish rifts that seem to have dissipated as Islam has attacked both the western Catholic/ Christian world as well as the Jewish one.. This is something that no one really needs. Beside all this a German Pope after what happened in WW2 should not be telling Israel what she should be doing. The Jewish People certainly deserve the complete support from Europe especially Germany on whatever it does. If the Jewish state is paranoid over its security it is the Germans fault.


His trip here was a failure

Israel’s new ambassador

Michael Oren has been appointed as the new ambassador of Israel to the United States. It is a bizarre appointment by the new/old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that many are raising eyebrows about. No one seems to really know what Mr Oren really thinks about some issues and how he can properly represent Israel in Washington. Mr. Netanyahu is thought to be against any two state solution while Mr Oren was quoted not to long ago as supporting that idea. He also has publicly said that he thinks the dismantling of settlements was a necessity that Israel will need to do at some point in the future. It’s important to remember that Mr. Netanyahu resigned the last government he was in because of a unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli government from the Gaza strip. Mr Oren has also publicly said that he thought the withdrawal was necessary and correct even as many who supported it have since backtracked. It is all to bizarre that someone with clear opinions that seem to go counter to the Prime Ministers could become the leading diplomat outside of Israel. Some in Israel have said that Mr. Netanyahu is planning on going against campaign promises on territorial compromise and will use Mr. Orens position to advance those positions. This theory has its holes as any compromise on territory will likely teeter the Netanyahu government. The probable reason for Orens appointment is the attempt to slowly erode the hard line policy that got Mr. Netanyahu elected in the first place. The deputy foreign minister has also said some statements that seem to go contrary to his own party’s platform. It is evidently clear that Mr. Netanyahu will not be able to withstand pressure from the American President Obama. Something will give. Mr. Netanyahu will use Oren to advance the compromises he promised he would not make,

It’s a bad move and a bad decision.

The World economic crisis and the looming pandemic.

The World economic crisis and the looming pandemic.

All things being equal things in the world do not seem to be going well. Let me tell you why. There has been a Economic turndown not seen since the great depression around the world. No one is really sure when that will rectify itself. When things seem to be slightly improving the world has been gripped by possible pandemic. As these words are written no one really knows the scope of this new mutant virus but many are plenty scared. There are those who will try to find existential reasons for what is happening they will be mocked. Here could be some cause and effect reasons for the world’s woes and the acute crisis in Mexico. (That’s where the swine flu has originated), The additional earthquake tacked on to the rest of Mexico’s problems also has been devastating.
There are so many destitute people on the face of the earth, so many with no clean water who face misery and tyranny every day. Nobody seems to really care about those people and fixates itself almost completely on Israel and the Palestinian issue. The Mexicans as a part of the third world countries are also to blame for this. But they have there own issues.
They are one of the most prolific producers and exporters of drugs in world and share a great responsibility of the misery that drug trafficking brings. They also engage in the most horrific sport of bull fighting which is just plain torture of animals. Many thousands of people revel in this sport and enjoy watching the bull (and sometimes the matador )get killed.
It is not politically correct to equate world tragedy with moral issues but leaders of the world and leaders of Latin American countries would do well to make some changes.

Because you know what? You just never know

The Durban Circus

The latest conference against Racism has turned into a circus. For some there is just one country that does wrong that is Israel. Those who think this way are mostly from totalitarian regimes who routinely oppress their own people. That’s not important from their perspective as Israel the only democracy in the Middle East is the ultimate evil. The opening remarks by the president of Iran were a spectacle in itself. As he spoke many European union members filed out.

The Jews among us are not surprised by the hate rather a bit surprised as to how many countries openly showed their disdain for the Iranian leader. The gentiles who support the Jews were disturbed at the openness of Jew hatred long after the holocaust. The gentiles who hate the Jews are thrilled that Jew hatred has become mainstream once again. They are hoping that Iran will develop nuclear weapons to use against Israel.

Against this backdrop the Jewish State is training to strike Iran sometime in the not so distant future.

The circus will lead to apocalypse

How many countries do the Arabs need anyway?

In the immediate area of Israel there are already two Palestinian states. I use Palestinian very loosely as by all reason logic and history there is no Palestinian people. They are a part of the Arab people who live in the middle east. This is not some right wing extremist view point. There was never a people that defined itself as Palestinian until the Jewish people began to come back to the land of Israel. There is no real difference culturally language or anything else between the present regular Arab countries and the two Palestinian ones. They all speak Arabic and are predominantly Muslim. Even those who except this Palestinian myth should console themselves with two Palestinian states. One is in Jordan where the vast majority of its citizens consider themselves to be Palestinian and the other is the Palestinian State of Gaza. Now we are asked to consider a third Palestinian state on the west bank of the Jordan. But wait that is not the end. There is a stong movement for a fourth Palestinian State in Israel itself with the movement of a “ country of all its citizens “

So are friends in Washington would have us cede the west bank to make room for a third state while we wait for demographics to make Israel the fourth state. This is of course complete lunacy and any responsible Israeli leader can never accept such a thing. There is ostensibly two peoples here in the middle east the Jewish People and the Arab People. The equation that takes 22 arab countries ( not final ) and tries to eliminate the only Jewish country will not work.

It is national Suicide to agree to a third Palestinian state and a 25th Arab State.
24 Arab states seem to be quite enough

Mitchell Netanyahu and the 51st state

Presidents Obamas special envoy has come to the Middle East to restart the peace process or so he says. Mr Mitchell continues to say that the United States supports the concept of a Palestinian state. The problem with all this is that a clear majority of Israelis are against this idea. That is why a right wing government was elected. A democratic country had democratic elections that voted in representatives that were clearly against a Palestinian state.

Mr. Mitchells boss President Obama was elected in a fair election and has decided to change policies of his predecessor. People may disagree with this change but no one disagrees with the right of the new President to do things his way. A new Israeli government certainly has that right. Someone should tell that to Mr. Mitchell.

The financial dependence that Israel has on the United States is at the core of the bizarre relationship between the two. Israel receives the biggest foreign aid of any country in the world. This aid has many strings attached that often limit markets for Israeli companies.
If this aid could be lessened or completely done away with there would be a much healthier relationship. The lessening of this aid should be a major objective of the Netanyahu government.

There will never be a Palestinian state on the west bank of the Jordan. That theoretical state would pose a threat to Israel’s existence and would predicate the forcible removal of 500,000 people. That is something that is clearly impossible. What we are witnessing is the continued attempt to find a solution to an unsolvable problem.

Mr. Mitchell will fail as so many of his predecessors failed.

Hey it gives him something to do.

The Peace Process

Netanyahu Abas have warm conversation according to news reports


The president of the Palestinian authority has called the new prime minister of Israel to wish him a happy Passover. News reports were quoted as saying that the conversation was a warm one. It could have been warm if no political issues were discussed.

This very bizarre news item was intended to somehow give some hope to future negotiations between the sides.

My friendly readers and bloggers the truth needs to be said. There is no hope.

Let me tell you why.

1. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert party was ousted for among other things being to conciliatory. Mr Olmert tried his most to sign some sort of treaty with Mr. Abas while offering concessions no other prime minister could offer. Mr Netanyahu is very removed from the concessions of his predecessor. How then can an agreement be reached with a more right wing prime minister?

2. Mr Netanyahu has said on numerous occasions that he opposes a Palestinian state and will not uproot settlements. He in fact was against Israels withdrawal from the Gaza strip and northern Samaria. The Palestinians have said the only solution is a Palestinian state on every inch of land captured in the six-day war. The gaps between the two leaders are vast and not even close to being reconciliated.

As what I mentioned is not really a point of contention it is hard to say what the two leaders could have discussed that had any substance.


The future conversations should just stay away from substance and they will stay warm.