Open Letter to President Obama: Keep Kerry Away From the Middle East

Dear President Obama,

Over the past five and a half years as President of the United States, you have routinely declared your support of Israel. On March 5, 2012 you stated:

"Our commitment to the security of Israel is rock solid. And as I've said to the Prime Minister in every single one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security. This is a bond that is based not only on our mutual security interests and economic interests, but is also based on common values and the incredible people-to-people contacts that we have between our two countries."

Indeed, your willingness to fund the Israeli-developed short-range rocket defense system called Iron Dome has enabled Israel to withstand the current onslaught of more than 2,500 rockets fired from Gaza at Israeli population centers over the past three weeks. For this assistance, Israel is forever grateful.

However, if your support is "rock solid," why did your secretary of state initiate his efforts to achieve a cease-fire involving the current war between Israel and Hamas by traveling to Egypt? If Israel is indeed an ally, shouldn't John Kerry have begun his discussions by meeting with Israel's government in order to better understand its needs in this time of crisis?

John Kerry flew from Cairo to Tel Aviv, notwithstanding a ban on flights to Israel by America's Federal Aviation Administration, a move regarded by many in Israel as intended to place pressure on Israel to agree to the terms of a cease-fire being imposed proposed by Kerry. As you can well imagine, this ban threatened to choke off Israeli commerce at a time when Israel was desperately in need of support from its friends.

Prime Minister Netanyahu explained to John Kerry during his visit to Israel that the Israel Defense Forces had obtained intelligence that Hamas intended to attack Israeli agriculural communities via a network of tunnels during the upcoming Jewish High Holy Days, in order to take hostages back to Gaza. Ignoring this information, John Kerry proposed a week-long cease-fire that included:

• Acceptance of Hamas demands for the opening of border crossings into Gaza, which of necessity would facilitate shipment of armaments to Hamas and Islamic Jihad;
• The building of a seaport for Gaza, opening the way for the import of large advanced weapons systems, which, in the past, could not squeeze through the tunnels from Egypt;
• The free flow of funds for Hamas from Qatar and Iran, despite the fact that Hamas is designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.

On the other hand, John Kerry's cease-fire proposal would have prevented Israel from continuing to destroy the Hamas tunnel network.

After Israel rejected the risible terms of John Kerry's proposed one-week cease-fire, Mr. Kerry traveled to Paris, where he engaged in discussions with diplomats from France, Britain, Italy and Germany, and also the foreign ministers of Qatar, which has been primarily responsible for funding Hamas armaments and tunnels, and of Turkey, whose prime minister welcomes Hamas visitors and regularly engages in anti-Semitic diatribes. Although Qatar and Turkey were allowed by Kerry to advocate on behalf of Hamas, Israel was prevented from attending the conference. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, opponents of Hamas and also refused entry to Kerry's Parisian partie, are also furious with America's secretary of state.

John Kerry's conduct of these negotiations has created significant backlash in Israel. As reported by The Times of Israel (http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-completely-capitulated-to-hamas-in-ceasefire-proposal-says-israel/):

"Channel 2′s diplomatic reporter Udi Segal said 'voices' from the cabinet had described Kerry as 'negligent,' 'lacking the ability to understand' the issues, and 'incapable of handling the most basic matters.'"

Mr. President, you have stated that "the United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security." Well today, we have learned that Kerry has once more acted behind Israel's back and promised Hamas a pay-off in exchange for its agreement to his cease-fire terms. Again, as reported by The Times of Israel (http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-told-hamas-many-of-its-demands-would-be-met-under-ceasefire-deal/):

"US Secretary of State John Kerry informed Hamas via Qatar last week that under his proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, based on the original Egyptian initiative, the US would guarantee the fulfillment of many of Hamas’s demands for an end to the war, Palestinian sources told The Times of Israel on Saturday.

. . . .

The guarantees promised to Hamas by Kerry under a ceasefire, as relayed to The Times of Israel by the Palestinian sources, pertain to the following issues: an easing of restrictions on the passage of goods from Israel to Gaza; an easing of restrictions on the passage of traders and businessmen from Gaza to Israel; expansion of the permitted Gaza fishing zone to 12 miles off the coast; the opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, to be manned by Palestinian Authority officials; and a promise to ensure the transfer of salaries to Gaza’s government employees."

I ask you, Mr. President, does John Kerry's behavior evidence "rock solid" support of Israel? Is this any way to treat an ally in a time of crisis? Please explain to me how Kerry's offer to Hamas does not amount to appeasement of a terrorist organization?

Mr. President, you appointed John Kerry as secretary of state, and it is for you alone to judge his diplomatic capabilities, as evidenced by his handling of the crisis in the Ukraine, Iran's nuclear weapons development program, and the negotiations he sponsored between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. On the other hand, Kerry's most recent communications with Israel concerning his cease-fire proposal can only be described as antagonistic, self-aggrandizing and destructive of America's longstanding relationship with Israel.

Mr. President, if you believe that John Kerry is advancing American overseas credibility, it is of course your prerogative to retain him as your secretary of state. On the other hand, if your support of Israel is truly "rock solid," please find someone else to engage in cease-fire negotiations involving the war in Gaza.

John Kerry is no friend of Israel.

Yours sincerely,
Jeffrey

US Pressuring Israel Into Cease-Fire

What you are not reading in The New York Times or hearing on CNN:

Israel is being coerced to agree to a cease-fire being brokered by the United States and Egypt, just as Hamas and Islamic Jihad opposition to the IDF is beginning to crumble. Owing to additional funding being provided by the US to Israel for more Iron Dome anti-rocket systems, Israel is under great pressure to agree to John Kerry's proposal.

Additionally, captured Hamas fighters have revealed that a major kidnapping operation was planned for the Jewish High Holy Days, i.e. late September, making use of the tunnels leading from Gaza into Israel. Unknown to the world, these tunnels have been dug over the course of many years in preparation for this attack.

In short, the current war has averted a disaster in the making.

Thomas Friedman, "The World According to Maxwell Smart, Part 1": It's Not All Obama's Fault!

Imagine what would happen in the United States if Cuba was to suddenly announce its intention to attack New York with a new class of missiles at 9 p.m. Would New Yorkers stream out of the city? Would the US Air Force carpet bomb Havana? Would Obama take a break from playing golf and declare a state of emergency?

Well, a mere three hours ago Hamas announced that it would be firing a barrage of new J-80 missiles at the heart of Tel Aviv within 50 minutes, and indeed, at 9:05 p.m. Israeli time, seven rockets were fired at Israel's second largest city. The results: all of the rockets were destroyed by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. After taking two five-minute breaks in nearby bomb shelters, Tel Avivians were back sipping coffee at sidewalk cafes.

Hamas also fired at a number of other Israeli cities, but also to no avail. One of the rockets fired at Jerusalem hit the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West bank.

Obama? Two days ago, he finally got around to calling Netanyahu to offer his assistance in brokering a cease fire with Hamas. This was after the White House's Middle East coordinator, Philip Gordon, gave a lecture at a conference in Tel Aviv - interrupted by a Hamas missile attack - scolding Israel for being unready "to make the difficult decisions required for [a peace] agreement."

Gordon made no mention of the Hamas charter, which calls for the murder of all Jews, not just Israelis. But why should such a charter pose a roadblock to peace, given the starry-eyed world view of Gordon's boss?

Which brings us to Thomas Friedman's latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The World According to Maxwell Smart, Part 1" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/opinion/sunday/thomas-l-friedman-the-world-according-to-maxwell-smart-part-1.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0), in which this would-be Middle East expert ignores the war between Israel and Hamas. Instead, Friedman would have us know "that the post-post-Cold War world is cleaving into the world of 'order' and the world of 'disorder.'" Friedman informs us:

"Well, just as I’ve argued that 'average is over' for workers, now 'average is over for states,' too. Without the Cold War system to prop them up, it is not so easy anymore for weak states to provide the minimums of security, jobs, health and welfare. And thanks to rapid advances in the market (globalization), Mother Nature (climate change plus ecological destruction) and Moore’s Law (computing power), some states are just blowing up under the pressure.

. . . .

So, please spare me the 'it’s all Obama’s fault.' There are plenty of reasons to criticize Obama, but everything is not about what we do. There are huge forces acting on these countries, and it will take extraordinary collaboration by the whole world of order to contain them."

Question for Tom: When US national debt nears $20 trillion toward the end of Obama's second term in office, and when China and Japan ask for the repayment of their loans, will America belong to the world of "order" or the world of "disorder"?

Stay tuned.

Washington Post Editorial, "President Obama’s To-Do List for His Mideast Trip": The Wrong Symbolic Gestures

The Washington Post, in an editorial entitled "President Obama’s to-do list for his Mideast trip" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/president-obamas-to-do-list-for-his-middle-east-trip/2013/03/18/87cd61d0-8ff0-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html?hpid=z3), notes that "Mr. Obama’s visit beginning Wednesday is primarily aimed at allowing him to build bridges both to Israelis and to Mr. Netanyahu," and as such, the president plans various symbolic gestures:

"The president’s schedule is loaded with symbolic affirmations of his commitment to Israel’s security, such as a U.S.-funded Iron Dome anti-missile battery that will await him at the airport, and with correctives to mistakes Mr. Obama made in his first term. In his 2009 Cairo speech, the president inadvertently implied that Israel’s existence was justified by the Holocaust; on this visit he will visit an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls as a way of affirming the historical Jewish claim to the land."

Note, however, that Obama will not speak before Israel's parliament or visit the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem so as to avoid offending Israel's Muslim neighbors.

Sorry, but visiting an exhibition of the Essenes' Dead Sea Scrolls is not what it will take to improve the popularity of Obama among the 68 percent of Israelis who have an unfavorable view of him.

Was There an Explosion at Iran's Fordow Underground Nuclear Enrichment Facility?

There have been numerous reports of a massive explosion at Iran's Fordow underground nuclear enrichment facility. Needless to say, Iran is denying any such occurrence (see: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9107139719).

How can we know the truth? "Let's go to the videotape!" Or at least go to the satellite photographs.

Just by chance, the tunnel entrances have disappeared. Did they vanish owing to an explosion, or were they blocked to prevent the escape of nuclear radiation?

You're the expert, and I'll let you decide! How could I possibly know.

And just by chance, Israel recently moved two Iron Dome batteries to the Haifa region, not far from Lebanon, where Iran's surrogate, Hezbollah, holds sway (see: http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000817259&fid=1725). It had been speculated that the transfer of the units involved concern over the deteriorating situation in Syria. Go figure . . .

Thomas Friedman, "Iron Empires, Iron Fists, Iron Domes": Tired Toupees

Surely you recall Thomas Friedman's recent rowboat ride from Turkey into Syria to meet with the rebels. Well, the rowboat didn't sink, and Friedman is back with more bunkum.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Iron Empires, Iron Fists, Iron Domes" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/opinion/iron-empires-iron-fists-iron-domes.html?_r=0), Friedman declares:

"Israelis have responded to the collapse of Arab iron fists around them — including the rise of militias with missiles in Lebanon and Gaza — with a third model. It is the wall Israel built around itself to seal off the West Bank coupled with its Iron Dome antimissile system. The two have been phenomenally successful — but at a price. The wall plus the dome are enabling Israel’s leaders to abdicate their responsibility for thinking creatively about a resolution of its own majority-minority problem with the Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

Hey, Tom, let's first get the facts right. Some ninety percent of that "wall" separating Israel from the West Bank is in fact a fence. And anyone who has ever driven on Israel's Highway 6 knows that the walled portions of the separation barrier are intended to prevent sniper fire into Israel.

Moreover, there is no "wall" between Jordan, once comprising 77 percent of the Palestinian Mandate and where Palestinians constitute the majority of the population, and the West Bank.

Friedman goes on to say:

"The far-right group running Israel today is so arrogant, and so indifferent to U.S. concerns, that it announced plans to build a huge block of settlements in the heart of the West Bank — in retaliation for the U.N. vote giving Palestinians observer status."

More rubbish. First, "plans" are just . . . plans. If and when the Palestinians are ready to talk peace - Barak and Olmert offered them statehood along the 1967 lines with land swaps - I am confident that Netanyahu will be willing to offer similar concessions.

A "huge" block of settlements? Do plans for 3,000 housing units comprise a "huge" block of settlements? Friedman forgets to mention that Israeli settlements are built on less than two percent of the total territory of the West Bank.

The "heart" of the West Bank? Sorry, but I've examined more than a dozen maps of the West Bank, but can't seem to find the "heart" to which Friedman refers.

Tom concludes:

"I am glad that the wall and the Iron Dome are sheltering Israelis from enemies who wish to do them ill, but I fear the wall and the Iron Dome are also blinding them from truths they still badly need to face."

The "truths" that Israelis need to face? Israel unilaterally evacuated Gaza in 2005, and since that time, more than 8,000 rockets and missiles have been fired from Gaza at Israeli towns and cities. This is a truth that Israelis have been unable to ignore.

Before lecturing Israelis and the rest of the world on how they need to conduct themselves, it might behoove Friedman to first get his facts right.

The War That Wasn't: Netanyahu Demonstrates Leadership

Last Thursday, Hamas terrorists fired an advanced Kornet anti-tank missile from Gaza at a yellow school bus in southern Israel. Hamas had already learned in early March that Israel's Trophy anti-tank missile defense system, which is now protecting Israel's frontline Merkava tanks, is effective (see: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=210366), so instead, they took aim at defenseless children. If the bus had still been full when the missile struck and many more children had been wounded and had died, Israel would again have gone into Gaza with its armor and ground forces.

Over this past weekend, some 120 mortar shells, rockets and missiles were fired from Gaza at civilian targets in southern Israel. Israel's new Iron Dome defense system against short-range missiles and mortar rounds, which had been deployed only days earlier, intercepted almost a dozen missiles headed for the Israeli cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheva.

Notwithstanding the enormity of the provocation, Israel retaliated with pinpoint strikes against terrorist targets, killing two Hamas military commanders, Rayid Shehadeh and Tayser Abu Snima. Its attacks having proven futile and blunted, Hamas appealed for a truce on Israeli radio (see: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/10/hamas-israel-palestinian-ceasefire.html).

This was not an appropriate time for another Israeli ground operation in Gaza. The Ba'athist regime in Syria is teetering as a result of broadening internal protest, and Assad would have welcomed the opportunity created by a war in Gaza by calling for pan-Arab unity in the face of the Zionist aggressor and instructing Hezbollah to fire at Israel from Lebanon.

Netanyahu, who has many detractors both inside and outside of Israel, demonstrated admirable restraint during this difficult period. Without delving into personalities or politics, I believe that Obama, who detests Netanyahu, could learn much from this example of leadership and decision making under fire.

Will U.N. Indictment of Hezbollah for Hariri Murder Set the Middle East Ablaze?

According to a Wall Street Journal article entitled "U.N. Indictments Near in Lebanon Killing", written by Jay Solomon and Margaret Coker, the U.N. tribunal investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will soon be indicting various members of Hezbollah, and it is feared that the findings could result in renewed fighting among Lebanese Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze:

"The United Nations-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is moving to indict between two and six members of the militant group Hezbollah by year-end, according to people briefed on the tribunal's work, stoking fears of renewed sectarian strife in the Middle East country.

The U.S. has scrambled to bolster support for the tribunal and the pro-Western government of Lebanon in the face of threats of violence from Hezbollah if the indictments are handed down.

Among those being looked at in the U.N. probe, according to the people briefed on it, is Mustafa Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah military commander and brother-in-law of Imad Mugniyah, who was among the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted men before his death nearly three years ago.

Mr. Mugniyah is alleged by U.S. officials to have overseen a string of terrorist attacks against American interests in the 1980s, including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen. Mr. Mugniyah, who was killed in a 2008 car bombing in Damascus, Syria, is also believed by U.N. investigators to have played a role, along with his brother-in-law, in the car bombing in downtown Beirut that killed Mr. Hariri and 22 others, according to the people briefed on the probe.

The rising tensions inside Lebanon have significantly undercut the Obama administration's efforts to mend relations with Syria, among the suspects in Mr. Hariri's murder. The U.S. has coveted better ties with Damascus, both to stabilize Lebanon and underpin the broader Arab-Israeli peace process. Washington has also hoped to weaken Syria's military alliance with Iran.

In recent months, however, Syrian officials have called for the ending of the U.N. tribunal. And U.S. officials have publicly charged Damascus with transferring increasingly sophisticated missiles to Hezbollah."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703665904575600374005892944.html

However, renewing sectarian fighting within Lebanon is only one possible scenario. In order to divert the attention of the Arab street from the murder, Hezbollah might well seek to inflame the Israeli-Lebanese border. Thus, it is no accident that Israel is attempting to eliminate any excuse for renewed violence by announcing this weekend its plans for the unilateral evacuation of the northern part of Ghajar village, population 2,200, which is bisected by the Israeli-Lebanese border. See: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194301

Also prepared, however, for any contingency, Israel has now decided that its new "Iron Dome" anti-rocket system will be kept in the center of the country and shipped to the south or the north in accordance with developments. See: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194423

Obama's courting of Damascus by way of John Kerry as his special emissary? Demonstrably bootless, impotent and embarrassing.

Will Iron Dome Render Hamas Impotent?

Israel has announced the successful testing of its Iron Dome missile defense system, and units will be deployed along the Gaza border in mid-2010. After the IDF completes deployment of the system along the Gaza border, the system will also be installed along the border with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, it is no accident that there has been renewed rocket fire into Israel from Gaza in recent days. (Where is Goldstone?) Hamas took great pains to smuggle a fresh supply of rockets into Gaza after Operation Cast Lead, and Iron Dome's success obviously has Hamas worried: Its new arsenal of rockets could soon be rendered harmless.

In addition, Egypt is erecting an underground steel wall to prevent smuggling into the Strip, and after an Egyptian border guard was killed by a Hamas sniper this past week, it will become increasingly difficult for Hamas to receive advanced weaponry from their Iranian benefactors.

Will Hamas now seek to provoke another round of fighting with Israel before Iron Dome becomes operative? Was it a mistake for Israel to announce the success of the system prior to implementation? Time will tell.