Saturday, May 15, 2010

Moroccan Islamist resistance fighters deported from Italy ‘plotted to kill Pope’

If it had happened in Israel, they would have been called "activists" or "militants" or "resistance fighters" and HRW and Amnesty International would no doubt have intervened on their behalf.
 
Italy: Deported Moroccans 'plotted to kill Pope'
 By News on the Net  Friday, May 14, 2010
Rome, 13 May (AKI) - Two Moroccan terrorist suspects deported from Italy last month were allegedly plotting to kill Pope Benedict XVI, Italian weekly Panorama claims in its latest issue to be released on Friday. Mohammed Hlal and Errahmouni Ahmed were students at the University of Perugia until their repatriation to Morocco on 29 April.

"Hlal wanted to kill the Vatican's head of state (the pope), saying he was ready to assassinate him and gain his place in paradise," Italy's interior minister Roberto Maroni wrote in the expulsion order authorising Hlal and Ahmed's deportations, cited by Panorama.

Anti-terror police in Perugia intercepted Hlal discussing his plans to carry out attacks and readiness to obtain explosives for the attacks during a series of tapped telephone conversations, according to Panorama.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Interpol in the service of the aytollahs - "International legitimacy" gone sour

Isn't this amazing? Iran can go after dissidents who sought asylum in the United States through Interpol. You can be living in Los Angeles, and get targeted by Iran, and the US government helps the Iranian government!
 
Aren't "engagement" and "international legitimacy" wonderful?
 
Is there any end to the creative uses of lawfare?
 
Ami Isseroff
 
Iran Targeting Dissidents Through Global Police
By Erick Stakelbeck
CBN News Terrorism Analyst
Thursday, May 13, 2010
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The Iranian regime is notorious for cracking down on dissent inside Iran. Now Mahmoud Ahmadenijad and the mullahs are targeting dissidents in other countries -- including those in the United States.
 
And they are using an international organization to do it.
 
The Regime Never Forgets
 
Shahram Homayoun fled Iran for the United States 19 years ago. He was a marked man in his native country, because of his support for democracy and human rights.
 
Now the regime has finally caught up with Homayoun: not in Tehran, but in Los Angeles.
 
"They have managed to keep me here, and it seems like there is nothing the U.S. government can do," Homayoun told CBN News in an exclusive interview.
 
Homayoun owns a satellite television network in L.A. called Channel One TV. He broadcasts pro-democracy programming into Iran on a daily basis.
 
Now Iranian officials want to silence him -- permanently. A prosecutor in the Iranian city of Shiraz recently issued an arrest warrant against Homayoun on charges of terrorism.
 
Homayoun explained that he has never called for violence or terrorism of any kind against the Iranian government.
 
"Never," he said. "Even if the Iranian regime changes, we are encouraging people not to seek revenge. We are anti-terrorism."
 
Yet Homayoun is now a wanted man, unable to leave the U.S. for fear of arrest.
 
Marked as a Terrorist
 
The Iranian regime alerted INTERPOL, the global law enforcement organization, about Homayoun. The organization then issued what's known as a "Red Notice" against him. The Red Notice alerted all 188 INTERPOL member countries that Homayoun was wanted for terrorism.
 
Homayoun told CBN News that the terrorist charge has made his life extremely difficult.
 
"I received a notice from my bank in California letting me know about the INTERPOL arrest warrant," he explained. "After a few days, they closed my account. This was after 10 years that I had an account with this bank. I wanted to open an account at another local bank, and they turned me down as well because I was on the INTERPOL list of terrorists. My wife was also turned down when she tried to open an account."
 
Homayoun said he can't believe the irony of it all. He spends his days on TV speaking out against terrorism committed by the Iranian regime, which funds groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Now that very regime is accusing him of acts of terror in order to silence him -- and INTERPOL seems to be playing right along.
 
"You have a terrorist regime in Iran -- they whack their own dissidents inside the country. They've murdered over 200 opposition people outside the country. And now they're using the international police organization to go after those same dissidents," Iran expert Ken Timmerman said.
 
Timmerman told CBN News that INTERPOL should have thrown out the Iranian warrant against Homayoun immediately.
 
"INTERPOL should not be taking the word of the Iranian regime, a terrorist organization, to the bank," he said. "They should not be, without any kind of critical examination, accepting arrest warrants from the Iranian regime against people that they can easily verify their activities have nothing to do with terrorism, like Sharham Homayoun."
 
Organization Partially Funded by U.S. Tax Dollars
 
INTERPOL helps facilitate cooperation and information sharing among law enforcement agencies across the world. It is funded in part by U.S. taxpayer dollars and is headquartered in Lyon, France.
 
The group's representatives told CBN News that INTERPOL does not get involved in political matters. They would not comment on the Iranian charges against Homayoun, which appear politically motivated.
 
"They have no police authority here in the U.S.," said Timothy Williams, the director of INTERPOL's U.S. branch in Washington, D.C. "They can't come here and make arrests. They don't have any authorities here in the U.S. There's not INTERPOL agents running around the world making arrests."
 
Williams said his office works closely with INTERPOL headquarters in France, but ultimately answers to the U.S. attorney general and the president of the United States.
 
"If there is a terrorism lead, we may send it to the FBI here who will work that lead," he said. "If its narcotics, we may send it to the DEA or a state or local agency. That's how it works here in the U.S."
 
Obama's Controversial Executive Order
 
But critics fear a recent move by the Obama administration could give INTERPOL free reign inside America and lead to the targeting of more U.S. residents like Homayoun.
 
President Obama issued a controversial executive order late last year that grants INTERPOL the ability to operate on U.S. soil without the usual restraints that apply to domestic law enforcement agencies, like the FBI.
 
That means the international organization is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Its staff and offices at the Department of Justice cannot be searched, and its files cannot be seized.
 
"All that did was give them the same authorities and immunities that any international organization that's based here in the U.S. has, nothing more, nothing less," Williams said.
 
INTERPOL Red Notice Remains
 
Homayoun believes the Iranian regime is manipulating INTERPOL to target its enemies in America and Europe.
 
"Isn't this an insult to the justice system, the legal system in the United States?" he asked. "Iran has been empowered here in the United States by INTERPOL."
 
Homayoun plans to challenge the INTERPOL Red Notice through legal means. He said the FBI has reassured him that he will be safe on U.S. soil.
 
For now, though, he remains on the organization's international list as a wanted terrorist.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Arab arms race: What does it mean for Israel?

Arab regimes are investing heavily in defense industries as well as beefing up their armies. They are evidently motivated both by the decline of the United States, which can no longer be counted on as an ally and military force in their view, and by the constant muscle flexing of Iran.  This build up of armament quite a different proposition from purchases of foreign arms in the past. It gives these states the possibility of independent action, not tied to strings in Russia, the United States or European capitals. It will probably mean better assimilation and integration of weapons as well. For Israel, in the event of war, it can no longer be assumed that Arab armies are paper threats only. The numerical advantage will be turned into actual strength.  We need to give some thought to what happens if these increasingly impressive capabilities were to be used against Israel.
 
Ami Isseroff
 
Multi Billion Programmes - Middle East and North Africa Developing Defences      
Robert Bailey    

Wednesday, 12 May 2010 07:59 
 
Local arms manufacturing in the Middle East and North Africa region is set to grow. Robert Bailey outlines some of the projects and collaborations that are underway
 
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) defence industries are becoming more self reliant as they shift from direct equipment purchases to local production. Where technology transfer has for more than two decades been an established part of headline-catching, multi billion dollar offset programmes, the focus now, for even the smaller countries, is to require technology transfer as a first step to developing their own armaments manufacturing capability.
 
Nevertheless, the MENA region is still a hugely lucrative market for Western arms manufacturers. Its spending on military equipment continues to be the highest of any region outside North America and Europe. Saudi Arabia's defence expenditure alone totalled more than $38 billion in 2008, ranking ninth in the world.
 
After maintaining a low profile for many decades, the UAE has emerged as one of the world's largest purchasers of advanced military equipment. Scarcely had the delivery of 60 of the latest Lockheed F-16 fighter aircraft been completed – to add to the 50 Mirage 2000 fighters acquired in 2008 – than the UAE authorities availed themselves of the Abu Dhabi defence exhibition, which was staged in early 2009, to order four giant Lockheed Martin C-17 and the smaller C-30 military transport aircraft, and jet fighter trainer aircraft from Italy's Alenia.
 
The federation is also negotiating a $9 billion package for Lockheed's terminal high-altitude air-defence system and Patriot air-defence missile systems. Three more Airbus A330 tanker aircraft are also slated to add to three already purchased and due for delivery in 2011.
 
Another relatively new armaments market is Algeria, which is pursuing a major modernisation programme. In the past two years, the growth in annual defence spending has more than trebled to 33 per cent. Potential suppliers have been courting Algeria's top brass since an arms embargo was lifted in 2005. These include the UK, whose defence minister visited Algiers in October for talks with President Bouteflika.
 
However, it was a sign of the times that the Anglo-Italian group AgustaWestland discovered, when negotiating the sale of an extra 100 helicopters to supplement a completed $600 million order, that the deal could well depend on agreeing to a large proportion of them being assembled locally.
 
Libya is another country that has emerged from pariah status to be wooed assiduously by arms suppliers. Since the lifting of the international arms embargo, several countries – notably the UK, France and Russia – have beaten a path to Tripoli to offer equipment and military training.
 
France is reportedly negotiating a $6.4 billion arms package, including the supply of Rafale fighter jets, which could hinge on offering some local production and assembly. However, the Libyans may be more inclined to stick with their traditional Russian suppliers. A number of contracts involving the supply of Sukhoi-30 and MiG 29 fighter aircraft, as well as helicopters and the modernisation of Russian-supplied tanks, were confirmed in October.
 
Russia's state armaments marketing organisation, Rosoboronexport Russia, is active in other Arab markets. It has offered to supply Lebanon with MiG 29 fighters to beef up its depleted air force, as well as air-defence missile systems and T90 main battle tanks. It is also working on $2 billion worth of contracts with Saudi Arabia for the sale of 150 helicopters, T90 main battle tanks and BMP infantry-fighting vehicles.
 
Retraining Iraq's Russian-equipped army has been a long and complicated process. However, with more than $8 billion of orders for US helicopters, tanks and armoured combat vehicles in hand, Iraq is well on the way to rebuilding its equipment inventory with American arms. Most of this materiel was financed with aid, but as oil revenues improve, Iraq could become a leading defence market in its own right.
 
Another important defence provision that relates particularly to Iraq is security services. G4S, formerly Group Four Securicor, has 40,000 employees working in the Middle East, a large proportion of them in Iraq where it has nine branches. The British security firm, Aegis, which processes and monitors all private security operations in Iraq, also has a large presence with 15 branches.
 
Although the US Fifth Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain, and many other navies regularly visit Gulf waters, the Gulf Cooperation Council is assuming much more responsibility for its own security; naval and air defences are being reinforced. The Sultanate of Oman has taken delivery of the first of three state-of-the-art 2,700-tonne Corvettes from the UK's Vosper Thorneycroft group, as part of a $715 million deal. Meanwhile, Bahrain's navy is reportedly seeking to buy three new frigates.
 
However, MENA countries are now looking to develop their own capabilities. Arms production was pioneered by Egypt, which built its industry on the back of the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation, an abortive attempt in the 1980s to create a pan-Arab military industrial complex. Egypt has relied heavily on US military assistance and now builds US-designed tanks and other military platforms.
 
Offset, where typically the supplier invests 35 per cent of the value of a defence project in a local industrial undertaking, was pioneered by Saudi Arabia with the launch, in 1984, of Boeing's Peace Shield programme, followed by British Aerospace's Yamamah programme. Now it is widely used as a stepping-stone to local production.
 
For example, the UAE's $817 million Baymunah naval programme involves the design, construction and outfitting of six Corvettes. The first ship was built by Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie in France; the remainder will be built by Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding (ADSB), which is 40 per cent owned by the Abu Dhabi government's investment agency Mubadala. ADSB is also providing the UAE navy with 12 missile-armed fast-attack craft and four maritime patrol aircraft. The shipyard also has an order for a troop-carrying ship from Oman.
 
Mubadala has also established a helicopter pilot training school in Al Ain and has strengthened the Federation's maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities by acquiring the Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company, whose core business is servicing a variety of military aircraft, including the UAE's F-16s and Mirage 2000-9s, as well as military and civilian makes of helicopter. It is sinking $500 million into revamping and broadening the scope of the company, which has now become Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies.
 
It has invested in Al Yah Satellite Communications Company, which provides the federation's armed forces with a secure satellite communications system. The company's first-launch satellite is currently being built by Europe's EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. Mubadala has also joined with the US company EDS Defence and Security, to create the Injazat Data Systems IT, an outsourcing company, to provide data security systems for the armed services.
 
Independent of Mubadala, Tawazum Holdings, an offshoot of Abu Dhabi's Offset Programme Bureau, owns Caracal International, a company that specialises in manufacturing and distributing small arms. Tawazum has also joined forces with Al Jaber Group and Germany's Rheinmetall Munitions Systems to build a munitions factory.
 
While a frontrunner in the development of a viable indigenous defence industry, the UAE faces strong regional competition. Jordan, similar to Egypt, is well on the way to building a national defence industry. A recent contract involved calls for 100 Turkish-designed armoured vehicles to be assembled locally. The King Abdullah 11 Design and Development Bureau is also carrying out additional upgrading work, in Amman, on US-made main battle tanks.
 
However, Saudi Arabia has embarked on the region's technically most ambitious programme: a plan to develop a fully-fledged aeronautics industry on the back of local assembly of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The first 24 of a 72-plane, $32.9 billion order are being delivered direct from the UK; the first two aircraft arrived in Taif last July. The remaining 48 are to be assembled by Alsalam Aircraft Company, in new factories being constructed in Riyadh. Another Saudi company, Advanced Electronics, is in talks with BAE Systems, the Eurofighter Typhoon's prime manufacturer, to produce components for the fighters.
 
Global Arab Network
 
Robert Bailey is Global Arab Network consulting editor and writer specialising in the Middle East. This article is published in partnership with the Middle East Association.

A Spanish progressive writes about Israel and Islam

 
December 30, 2009
 
This article was translated from Spanish into English by Mario from the web site Portal of Ideas
 
We want to thank him for his efforts and making this available to the English speaking audience.
 
Pilar Rahola
 
Pilar Rahola is a Spanish politician, journalist and activist. She is a passionate defender of the United States and Israel and an indefatigable fighter against anti-Semitism. All these despite being ideologically from the left. Her articles are published in Spain and throughout some of the most important newspapers in Latin America. She is the recipient of major awards by Jewish organizations.
 
Why don't we see demonstrations against Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris, Barcelona? Or demonstrations against the Burmese dictatorship? Why aren't there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection? Why aren't there demonstrations against the use of children as human bombs where there is conflict with Islam? Why has there been no leadership in support of the victims of Islamic dictatorship in Sudan? Why is there never any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel? Why is there no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism? Why don't they defend Israel's right to exist? Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the defense of Palestinian terrorism? An finally, the million dollar question:Why is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships on the planet? The two most solid democracies, who have suffered the bloodiest attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn't care.
 
And then, to the concept of freedom. In every pro Palestinian European forum I hear the left yelling with fervor: "We want freedom for the people!" Not true. They are never concerned with freedom for the people of Syria or Yemen or Iran or Sudan, or other such nations. And they are never preoccupied when Hammas destroys freedom for the Palestinians. They are only concerned with using the concept of Palestinian freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom. The resulting consequence of these ideological pathologies is the manipulation of the press.
 
The international press does major damage when reporting on the question of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. On this topic they don't inform, they propagandize. When reporting about Israel the majority of journalists forget the reporter code of ethics. And so, any Israeli act of self-defense becomes a massacre, and any confrontation, genocide. So many stupid things have been written about Israel, that there aren't any accusations left to level against her. At the same time, this press never discusses Syrian and Iranian interference in propagating violence against Israel; the indoctrination of children and the corruption of the Palestinians. And when reporting about victims, every Palestinian casualty is reported as tragedy and every Israeli victim is camouflaged, hidden or reported about with disdain.
 
And let me add on the topic of the Spanish left. Many are the examples that illustrate the anti-Americanism and anti-Israeli sentiments that define the Spanish left. For example, one of the leftist parties in Spain has just expelled one of its members for creating a pro-Israel website. I quote from the expulsion document: "Our friends are the people of Iran, Libya and Venezuela, oppressed by imperialism, and not a Nazi state like Israel."
 
In another example, the socialist mayor of Campozuelos changed Shoah Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, with Palestinian Nabka Day, which mourns the establishment of the State of Israel, thus showing contempt for the six million European Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Or in my native city of Barcelona, the city council decided to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, by having a week of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Thus, they invited Leila Khaled, a noted terrorist from the 70's and current leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization so described by the European Union, which promotes the use of bombs against Israel. And so on and so on.
 
This politically correct way of thinking has even polluted the speeches of president Zapatero. His foreign policy falls within the lunatic left, and on issues of the Middle East he is unequivocally pro Arab. I can assure you that in private, Zapatero places on Israel the blame for the conflict in the Middle East, and the policies of foreign minister Moratinos reflect this. The fact that Zapatero chose to wear a kafiah in the midst of the Lebanon conflict is no coincidence; it's a symbol.
 
Spain has suffered the worst terrorist attack in Europe and it is in the crosshairs of every Islamic terrorist organization. As I wrote before, they kill us will cell phones hooked to satellites connected to the Middle Ages. An yet the Spanish left is the most anti Israeli in the world.
 
And then it says it is anti Israeli because of solidarity. This is the madness I want to denounce in this conference.
 
Conclusion:
 
I am not Jewish. Ideologically I am left and by profession a journalist. Why am I not as anti Israeli as my colleagues? Because as a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and currently against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel. To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of the Jews, it is the duty of the non-Jews.
 
As a journalist it is my duty to search for the truth beyond prejudice, lies and manipulations. The truth about Israel is not told. As a person from the left who loves progress, I am obligated to defend liberty, culture, civic education for children, coexistence and the laws that the Tablets of the Covenant made into universal principles. Principles that Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. That is to say that as a non-Jew, journalist and lefty I have a triple moral duty with Israel, because if Israel is destroyed, liberty, modernity and culture will be destroyed too.
 
The struggle of Israel, even if the world doesn't want to accept it, is the struggle of the world.

Monday, May 10, 2010



Obama's Plan to Destroy Israel

by Daniel Greenfield
 

Obama's plan is to destroy Israel, and to do it by pushing Israel to the edge of the cliff and then over the cliff, says the writer. If you agree with this persuasive analysis, you can-or must- try to do something about it.

If there's one thing that the Carter Administration can be given credit for, it's creating the new wave of Islamist terrorism, both Sunni, operating out of Afghanistan, and Shiite, operating out of Iran. The Carter Administration cracked down on Israel and put its "faith" in Muslim terrorists, who then went on to wage war on America, even while Carter was in office. 28 years after Carter was removed from office, we're in reruns again with the Obama Administration, which is not only following the Carter line, but whose plans greatly exceed it.

28 years ago, Wahhabi Sunni and Shiite terrorists were generally an afterthought when compared to the standard
Iran is to be our new best friend under this arrangement, Israel is to be our new best enemy.
USSR backed Marxist terrorist groups, such as the PLO.

Today, thanks in part to the Carter Administration, they control several countries and have designs on several more. From Pakistan to Afghanistan, from Gaza to Lebanon, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, the threat is very real and bigger than ever particularly as the race by both Sunni and Shiite groups to build and deploy nuclear weapons continues.

Like Carter before him, Obama has chosen to cut backdoor deals with the Mullahs in Iran, offering them power over Iraq and Afghanistan, in exchange for quieting things down enough to let him hang up a Mission Accomplished banner and pull the troops out. "Peace with honor", preferably before the next election. The rape law for Shiites in Afghanistan, the push for a US funded Hamas/Fatah Unity government in the territories and the rising expansion of the Taliban are all fruits of this arrangement.

If Iran is to be our new best friend under this arrangement, Israel is to be our new best enemy.

Obama stacked the deck by deploying Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State in a position that gave her an important title, but absolutely no power to go with it, while stacking the National Security Council and even the Pentagon with oil appointees in the pockets of the Saudis or his own left wing radical friends.

Israel electing a conservative government really put the ball into play, freeing up even more resources for attacking Israel. The strategy runs something like this.

The Obama Administration has broken down the Israel problem into two subsections, Israel itself, and American Jews.

Obama's people have studied the problem and understand where Carter went wrong. Obama does not want to have the same image problems as Carter in the Jewish community. Should that happen, the Beloved Leader and his lapdog press are fully prepared to unleash a Chavez style hate-on targeting American Jews. But that would be inconvenient and messy. Even with the changing face of America, there are significant differences between the average American and European or Venezuelan, and what kind of ugliness they are willing to tolerate. So Obama's people have split their attention in handling the two factors as two different problems.

American Jews - Obama has been clever about putting his Jewish appointees front and center. Like many minorities, some American Jews suffer from self-esteem problems that are soothed when they see a seeming acceptance. Of course what they fail to realize is that exploitation is not acceptance. And that Obama's appointees are creatures of his backers, Nazi collaborators like Soros, who have nothing but contempt for Jews, individually or collectively.While outwardly courting Jews, Obama's people have also been quietly shoving Jewish organizations and their leaders into a corner. Within the Jewish organizational world there has been a silent but deadly takeover of major Jewish groups by left wing radicals. Former alumni of the far left wing and anti-Israel groups like Breira or Coname in the 70's have been elevated to key positions in such organizations as the UJA Federation. Behind the scenes any Jewish leaders who expressed even doubts about Obama during the primaries
The Beloved Leader and his lapdog press are fully prepared to unleash a Chavez style hate-on targeting American Jews.
were intimidated and silenced.

Much as with conservatives, a list has been drawn up of those figures who can be won over, and those who cannot. The ones who can be won over are described as "moderates", the ones who cannot be won over are described as "extremists".

Meanwhile a bevvy of left wing Jewish In Name Only groups have been organized to play their part. Key among them is the Soros funded J Street, a group created as an anti-Israel lobby meant to eventually replace AIPAC. Meanwhile AIPAC itself has been kept on the ropes with such things as the well timed Harman leak. The message once again is fairly clear, cooperate and keep quiet, or we'll destroy you.

The multi-layered approach to American Jews can then be summed up as follows;

1.) Co-opt existing Jewish organizations and swing them to the left using old school 70's leftists.

2.) Create new "progressive" organizations to appeal to a younger generation of ethnically Jewish youth detached from any actual identity. Have these organizations generate attacks on the Israeli government and pro-Israel Jews, while creating phony polls indicating that most American Jews are behind them and Obama.

3.) Silence and intimidate remaining Jewish organizations and leaders behind the scenes.

The overall idea is to keep a happy face pasted on American Jewry while the knives are out in the dark.

Israel - The basic understanding in the Obama Administration is that Israel Must Go. In the worldview of the more moderate Obama appointees, Israel is a destabilizing factor in the Middle East. To the more left wing Obama advisors, Israel is a Western imperialist colonialist state that must be destroyed in the name of revolutionary justice. To the Islamist mindset, Israel is a Kufir state that has no right to exist in the Dar Al Islam.While intractably hostile to Israel, the Obama Administration wants to avoid the kind of public confrontations that marked the Carter and Bush Sr administrations. Instead they would much rather model the way that the Clinton Administration waged a quiet war against Israel, removing one government, and forcing extensive concessions to terrorists, all the while keeping a happy face pasted on the whole affair.

On the one hand that means avoiding harsh public attacks on Israel, but keeping the pressure up for Israel to make extensive far reaching one sided concessions, to accept Saudi and Arab League "peace plans", to legitimize Hamas as the new government of the Palestinian Authority, and to insure that Israel does not reply to any rocket or terrorist attacks.

There are two forms of quiet leverage that the United States has on Israel, the first is financial and the second is military.

On the financial side, the goal will be to bring down the Netanyahu government coalition by destabilizing Israel economically. This is the surest and most direct path to bringing down Israel's conservative government and replacing it with a left of center coalition. The Obama Administration has a wide variety of tactics at its disposal for doing so, from the overt, such as targeting Israeli exports and imports, to the covert, that would involve targeting the Shekel. Additionally fundraising in the US could be investigated and groups such as the Jewish National Fund, prevented from raising money in the US. All of these have been in play before at one time or another.

On the military side, Obama's people will make their non-existent efforts to stop Iran's nukes conditional on more concessions to terrorists. Since Israel will never be able to make enough concessions and since Obama is working with Iran, rather than working to stop Iran's nukes, this is a hollow charade.

Furthermore while Israel has already been locked out of the military technology pipeline for anything cutting edge, it still remains dependent on US military equipment for parts and supplies. The decades of US foreign aid have also served to create dependency. Unlike many other countries, including even Sweden, Israel does not have its own jet fighter. Israel's Air Force is heavily dependent on US weapons, parts and equipment. Cutting Israel off, would leave the Israeli military dangerously vulnerable in the case of a war. This is an effective chokehold that has been used before to prevent Israel from attacking Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War, as well as preventing Israel from carrying out a preemptive strike against its enemies before the Yom Kippur War.

The overall Obama policy will be to push Israel to the brink, using financial and military blackmail against the Netanyahu government, while maintaining control over American Jews to prevent any protests or backtalk.
...American Jewish groups will support Obama... some because they were created precisely for that purpose, and others because they have been hijacked, cowed or subverted.

The more Israel will offer, the more the Obama Administration will tighten the screws. No offer will be good enough, and Israel will be blamed for every breakdown in talks and every bit of violence that takes place. The media will portray Israel and particularly Netanyahu as extremist and intransigent. Hamas will be slowly whitewashed in the media, the same way that Arafat's goons were, (assuming that they prove more willing to cooperate in creating a positive media image of themselves than Ahmadinejad is.)

The plan is to destroy Israel, and to do it by pushing Israel to the edge of the cliff and then over the cliff. Israel's enemies will be getting top of the line US military equipment. Israel will not. Israel will be squeezed economically until the Netanyahu government collapses, leaving a weak left wing leader like Livni in charge of Israel, and in charge of acceding to the new Pharaoh's demands.

Meanwhile so-called American Jewish groups will support Obama all the way, some because they were created precisely for that purpose, e.g. J-Street, and others because they have been hijacked, cowed or subverted. 

That is the game plan and some of it's coming. The rest is already here.

Iyar 25, 5770 / 09 May 10