MR. OBAMA, STOP ISRAEL FROM ATTACKING IRAN AND STARTING NEW WORLD WAR!

There are reports out of Israel that an Iranian ship is sailing to Gaza, laden with arms. 

This seems a pretext for war monger Netanyahu and Lieberman to start a war with Iran by sinking one of their ships.

I call upon Pres. Barack Obama, do not let Israel attack Iran!

PRES. OBAMA WORKS WITH EGYPTIAN PRES. MORSI IN BRINGING ABOUT GAZA CEASE FIRE

It was Pres. Barack Obama who was instrumental in bringing about a cease fire in Gaza.  Obama worked closely with Egypt's president Morsi in arranging both sides to agree.  He called Morsi six times on Monday and Tuesday this week.

Thanks go to Sec. Hillary Clinton, who went to Israel to tell Netanyahu in blunt terms that the United States wished him to agree, rather than continue Israel's immoral and illegal bombing of the Palestinian people.

See the key reporting in today's The New York Times by Peter Baker and David D. Kirkpatrick.

COMPARE ASSAD OF SYRIA AND NETANYAHU OF ISRAEL

Compare Bashar al Assad's procedures with those of Bib Netanyahu.  Both claim they are fighting armed terrorists.  Both order their war planes to bomb homes of civilians, killing scores of men, women and children.  Both engage in collective punishment against their political opponents.

NETANYAHU MEDDLES IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

I find it disconcerting and inappropriate that Israel's prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, is inserting himself into the American presidential election.

Everyone knows that Bibi wants Mitt Romney to win.  And that Netanyahu doesn't like Obama because Obama refuses to go along with the stupid "red line" demand of bully Netanyahu.

Netanyahu badly wants to start a war against Iran in order to divert the world's view from the miserable state that Israel has forced upon the Palestinians.

Harriet Sherwood writes in today's online The Guardian:

"The political TV advertisement featuring Binyamin Netanyahu and the slogan "The world needs American strength, not apologies" is likely to fuel claims that the Israeli prime minister is interfering in the US presidential election in support of Republican candidate Mitt Romney."

Additionally, the Democrats have conveyed to Netanyahu that his meddling is unwelcomed.

Writes Sherwood:

"But, according to Yossi Verter writing in Haaretz recently, US officials had relayed to a "very senior Israeli figure" that "in the eyes of the Democratic administration, Netanyahu is perceived as campaigning on behalf of Mitt Romney." To the president and his aides, the Israeli prime minister's actions look like "crude, vulgar and unrestrained intervention in the US election campaign".

"Joe Klein of Time magazine described Netanyahu's recent behaviour as "an unprecedented attempt by a putative American ally to influence a US presidential campaign".

"The editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick, said Netanyahu seemed "determined, more than ever, to alienate the president of the United States and, as an ally of Mitt Romney's campaign, to make himself a factor in the 2012 election"."

PRES. OBAMA, RESIST NETANYAHU'S PUSH TO BOMB IRAN

Pres. Obama, I support your reelection and I contribute to your campaign.

In return, I do ask that you not let that bully Benjamin Netanyahu throw his weight around regarding the policy of the United States towards Iran.

David Sanger and Isabel Kershner write in today's The New York Times online.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel inserted himself into the most contentious foreign policy issue of the American presidential campaign on Tuesday, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike. As a result, he said, the administration had no “moral right” to restrain Israel from taking military action of its own.

 

"Mr. Netanyahu’s unusually harsh public comments about Israel’s most important ally, which closely track what he has reportedly said in vivid terms to American officials visiting Jerusalem, laid bare the tension between him and President Obama over how to handle Iran. They also suggested that Mr. Netanyahu is willing to use the pressure of the presidential election to force Mr. Obama to commit to attack Iran under certain conditions. "

We all know that Bibi is angling for a American military strike against Iran.  That means untold death and destruction.

I am tired of U.S. wars in Islamic countries or anywhere else.  Pres. Obama, continue to resist that warmonger, Netanyahu.

STOP ISRAELI MARCH TOWARDS BOMBING IRAN

There have been many articles recently about statements from Israeli leaders that they are getting close to mounting an attack against Iran.

Here's a blog posted by Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian.  Writes Sherwood:

"In the past few days, the Israeli public has been hit by a blizzard of speculative articles suggesting a military strike against Iran's nuclear sites is imminent."

The reckless talk by people like Netanyahu and Barak is out-and-out warmongering.  It seems that the Israeli government wants to pave the way towards a military attack.

Stop this talk of bombing Tehran.  Obama should condemn Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders for their push towards war.

PRES OBAMA, DON'T LET NETANYAHU MAKE A FOOL OF YOU

Why does it seem that the Obama administration kowtows to bellicose Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel?  Netanyahu threatens to bomb Iran, so Obama and his ministers obsequiously promise they will increase economic sanctions.  Who cares about the people of Iran, the ones who are severely and unjustly hurt economically by U.S. sanctions?  These American sanctions are really economic warfare waged against all Iranians.

Netanyahu in his threats against Iran wants to divert attention away from the real problem of Israeli persecution of the Palestinians.  No wonder the Palestinian economy is one tenth or less of the Israeli economy.  Netanyahu and his cobelievers in Israel's divine right to a greater Israel won't allow Palestinians to export their goods and services to the rest of the world, and they block construction materials from entering Gaza.

ROMNEY WOULD APPROVE AN ISRAELI MILITARY STRIKE AGAINST IRAN, DESTROYING WORLD PEACE FOR NEXT 500 YEARS

Mitt Romney is in Israel and, in a talk that he will give today, he makes it clear that he would approve of any military strike that Israel may decide to carry out against Iran.  According to Romney, Israel has the right to bomb Iran to stop any nuclear "capability."  This means Romney would approve attacking Iran even if it never developed nuclear weapons, yet it had the "capability."

Harriet Sherwood writes in The Guardian:

"In comments echoing Netanyahu's position that a nuclear Iran is the biggest threat to the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Romney will say: "We have seen the horrors of history. We will not stand by. We will not watch them play out again."

"Preventing the Iranian regime developing a nuclear weapons capability "must be our highest national security priority," Romney will say according to excerpts of the speech released in advance. "The security of Israel is in the vital national security interests of the United States.""


And here's the irony—Israel has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has about 100 nuclear warheads, maybe more, while Iran is a signatory to the NPT, and has said that it has no intention of producing a nuclear warhead.

This is madness. Romney cavalierly approves of a strike against Iran for the act of processing uranium, something allowed to all signatories of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty! How many Iranians will the Israelis need to kill in order to stop Iran from developing nuclear power and even a nuclear deterrent?

Imagine Romney as President.  He would allow an illegal war against Iran that kill thousands of Iranians.  The result would cause hatred and killings for at least the next 500 years.

OBAMA, STOP RUSH TO WAR AGAINST IRAN!

When Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu comes to Washington several weeks from now, besides addressing Israel's premier lobbying group in the U.S., AIPAC, he is expected to visit with Pres. Obama and pressure him on attacking Iran.

Mr. Obama, stand up to Netanyahu.  Don't let him bully you into sending American war planes to bomb Iran and kill thousands of Iranians.

OBAMA: RESIST THE ISRAELI PUSH TO WAR AGAINST IRAN

The Guardian carries an editorial today that warns of the terrible outcome if Israel mounts a bombing attack on Iranian nuclear development sites.

When Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, visits Washington in March to attend the national convention of AIPAC, the biggest and most bellicose Jewish organization unreservedly backing Netanyahu's Greater Israel policies, the U.S. president Barack Obama needs to tell him in no uncertain ways that the U.S. government will not participate in such illegal attack.

If Israel attacks Iran, there will be no peace in the Middle East, or in the world, for the next 500 years.  Stop the constant drumbeat telling the Iranian people that "all options are on the table."  That's only a euphemism for all-out war and destruction of the Iranian people and civilization.

WARNING TO PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS: NO KILLING INNOCENT CIVILIANS

Instead of Def. Sec. Gates and Pres. Obama telling Netanyahu that the Israeli government can take any steps "necessary" to defend itself against Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza, Gates and Obama should have warned Israel against attacking Palestinian civilians in a form of "collective punishment."

I condemn those Palestinians who fired rockets into Israel endangering innocent Israelis. I also strongly condemn acts of collective punishment inflicted by Israel against Palestinian society and civilians in Gaza.

ISRAEL CONTINUES NEW SETTLEMENTS ON PALESTINIAN LAND

The government of Israel under prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to approve new settlements on occupied Palestinian land every month. Today the BBC reports that Israel has approved 900 new homes in East Jerusalem. Remember this is land seized by Israel during the 1967 War. International law is clear that such settlements are illegal: all land seized during armed conflicts must be returned to the losing side, otherwise every nation would have carte blanche to start a war with a weaker neighbor, seize land by military force, then keep it.

The BBC reports:

"The Israeli interior ministry has approved planning applications for 900 new housing units at a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

"The planning and construction committee authorised the expansion of Gilo, which is built on land captured in 1967 and annexed to the Jerusalem municipality."

So in the battle between U.S. president Barack Obama and Israeli prime minister Netanyahu about Israeli settlements, it is clear who is winning: Netanyahu. Obama seems powerless to stop the ongoing settlements. And there can be no peace with the Palestinians when Israel is holding their rightful land and continues to expand its settlements on their patrimony.

Reports the BBC:

"The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says Tuesday's announcement represents by far the largest batch of planning approvals for building on occupied territory since Mr Netanyahu became prime minister.

"The 900 housing units, which will be built in the form of 4-5 bedroom apartments, will account for a significant expansion of Gilo. The interior ministry said construction work would be unlikely to start for another three or four years once the plans gained final authorisation.

"A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the planning approval was "yet another step that shows and proves Israel is not ready for peace".

""This step will ruin every single attempt - European or American - to preserve the peace process," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said."

WHY WON'T OBAMA ACCEPT JUDGE GOLDSTONE'S REPORT ON WAR CRIMES COMMITTED BY HAMAS AND ISRAEL'S IDF?

I don't understand why Pres. Obama gives access to Israel's prime minister Bibi Netanyahu to come to the White House for talks, yet Obama refuses to talk with leaders of Hamas.

Both Hamas and Israel's IDF have been cited by Judge Goldstone as committing atrocities and war crimes. Hamas, by allowing Palestinians to fire rockets aimed at Israeli villages and towns. The IDF because of all of its anti-civilian actions during the three-week war this past January. Specifically, the Goldstone Report found that the IDF randomly shot at and killed civilians, including women and children. Bombed U.N. food distribution centers and schools. Used white phosphorous bombs and shells against a civilian population. Refused to allow civilians to flee the conflict. Destroyed homes and apartments that had no military purpose.

So why should Obama allow someone like Netanyahu who defends the actions of the IDF as necessary and proportionate? Come on, Obama, stand up to the bully Netanyahu and say publicly that Judge Goldstone's report should be accepted.

"J STREET" BRINGS REALITY TO U.S. FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS ISRAEL

Finally we have an Israel lobby that does not endorse everything that Netanyahu and Lieberman say or do. It is J Street, a year-old lobbying group with progressive views on Israel, and James Traub writes about it and its mission in Sunday's (September 13, 2009) New York Times Magazine.

Writes Traub:

"Many liberal Jews have long chafed at the premise that Aipac or the Anti-Defamation League represented their point of view. Bush got only a quarter of the Jewish vote in 2004 and was deeply loathed by the most liberal-leaning voters. The community began searching for new ways to represent itself. Existing progressive groups like the Israel Policy Forum issued position papers or agitated for a change in policy; but scarce few did the yeoman labor of lobbying. Tom Dine, a former Aipac executive director, says he was approached in 2006 by a group of liberal Jewish philanthropists about heading a “counter-Aipac.” That idea went nowhere, but in late 2006 a different group of philanthropists and activists, including Ben-Ami, began to talk about combining the progressive organizations into a more powerful and influential collective body. Out of these conversations came J Street, named after the street missing from Washington’s grid and thus evoking a voice missing from Washington’s policy discussions. Early financing came from Alan Sagner, a retired New Jersey real estate developer and longtime supporter of Democratic candidates and Jewish causes, and from Davidi Gilo, an Israeli-American high-tech entrepreneur; another 50 early backers each gave $10,000. Unlike the liberal advocacy or policy organizations (or Aipac, for that matter), the new group would endorse and finance candidates, through a body called J Street PAC."

THE WORLD MUST STOP AN ISRAEL ATTACK ON IRAN

I vociferously and strenuously object to the government of Iran arresting, harassing and punishing opponents of the Supreme Leader who believe that Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei stole the presidential election.

But I oppose even more any attempt by the government of Israel and its prime minister Netanyahu to bomb or attack or otherwise commit an act of war against Iran and its people.

But there are more and more people who believe that Netanyahu and other Israeli war mongers intend just that. Micah Zenko writes today in The Los Angeles Times that he believes Israel and Netanyahu are on the verge of an attack.

Writes Zenko who is a fellow in the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations:

"But if diplomacy fails, the world should be prepared for an Israeli attack on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons facilities. As Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently acknowledged: "The window between a strike on Iran and their getting nuclear weapons is a pretty narrow window.""

An Israeli attack would have devastating and catastrophic effects on world peace at least for the next 500 years. And it would cast Israel as a outlaw and a paraiah among the world's nations, and doom it to go on its own for centuries. Reasonable people must stop such an attack.

ISRAEL CLAIMS THAT IRAN IS "EXTREME ENEMY OF PEACE"

This is getting ridiculous. The Netanyahu government in Israel is accusing the Palestinians of talking with "extreme enemies of peace" because a Palestinian official met with the Iranian Foreign Minister.

The BBC reports:

"Israel has accused a senior Palestinian official of meeting "the extreme enemies of peace" after he held talks with Iran's foreign minister."

Israel's response follows the classic treatment of "enemies." First demonize them, then attack them.

Israel's government seems to have the George W. Bush sickness: refuse to talk or have any dialog with those countries that have insulted you or said bad things about the Holocaust.

Just as Bush would not have diplomatic relations with Hugo Chavez and Venezuela because Chavez called him the devil, so it seems that Israel will have nothing to do with Iran or even establish talks with the Iranian government because Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the holocaust a figment of the imagination or that the government of Israel should be wiped off the map.

Because of these words, however harsh and intemperate not to say foolish, Israel now deems Iran an "extreme enemy of peace."

George Bush attacked Iraq because he claimed Iraq was a threat to world peace. It turned out that it was Bush who was the genuine threat. I would argue that it is the same with Israel. It terms Iran an extreme enemy of peace but I see Israel as the great destabilizer in the Middle East when it comes to peace. Just look at the Israeli three-week war against Gaza this past January, or the cruel Israeli month-long military campaign against Lebanon several years ago that left a thirty-mile swath in southern Lebanon filled with unexploded cluster bombs.

ISRAEL PLANNING NEW SETTLEMENT ON PALESTINIAN LAND

Israel is planning a new settlement of 240 homes, thus showing its disagreement with the Obama call to end any and all new settlements.

Like most of Israel's recent settlements, this one is being built on Palestinian land.

Rory McCarthy writes for The Guardian:

"Construction at the outpost, known as Water Reservoir Hill, near the Talmon settlement, north of Ramallah, would "greatly damage" the freedom of movement of Palestinian farmers in the area, according to Bimkom, an Israeli planning rights group."

The Israeli government says that these new homes were approved a while ago and have been in the works. But the development is bound to antagonize both the Palestinians and those Americans who want the settlements to stop.

Reports McCarthy:

"The Israeli government insisted the homes were part of old proposals. "These houses have been completed, and there has been no approval given for new houses," one official said.

"The plan, which follows a pattern over many years of settlement growth, appears to challenge directly Barack Obama's administration, which has issued several clear calls for an end to the practice."

It would appear that Netanyahu et al. have decided that Israel will not negotiate cessation of new settlements. Apparently, Netanyahu believes that Israel as divinely favored, has a right, nay a duty, to expropriate and develop all of the land that the Jews of old inhabited. Thus we see Israeli settlers flouting mundane law regarding ownership of property, especially that belonging to Palestinians. The fact that the Palestinians have legal title simply has no meaning when compared to the settlers' vision of a reconstituted Israel. This situation cannot bring peace to Israel.

Writes McCarthy:

"So far, Israel has resisted Washington's pressure for a halt to construction in settlements and the issue is fast becoming a test of wills between the two governments. In an interview yesterday Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said arguing about settlement activity was a waste of time. Last week, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, told Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, that Washington wanted "to see a stop to the settlements"."

NETANYAHU'S PRIME REQUIREMENT - RECOGNITION THAT ISRAEL IS A JEWISH STATE - IS UNREASONABLE

From the BBC, here is the essence of what Benjamin Netanyahu said about recognizing a Palestinian state:

"The key condition is that the Palestinians recognise in a clear and public manner that Israel is the state of the Jewish people. The heart of the conflict has always been the Arabs' refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state.

"If we have guarantees on demilitarisation and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as a state of the Jewish people, then we arrive at a solution based on a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"Each will have its flag, each will have its anthem. The Palestinian territory will be without arms, will not control airspace, will not be able to have arms."

If I were a Palestinian, I would find the key condition to be unacceptable. Israel today is the home of thousands of Palestinian Israelis. Why must the Palestinians acquiesce to say that Israel is "a state of the Jewish people." It would be like forcing Italian Protestants to admit that Italy is the state of Roman Catholics. This requirement is totally unnecessary and contrary to the identity of any secular democracy.

As to Palestine being a "separate state," but not able to control its own airspace or possess armaments, this is also unreasonable. Netanyahu's implication here is that Israel will retain the right to send its war planes and bombers over Palestine any time it wants without asking Palestinian permission. Furthermore, if Israel has tanks and guns and warplanes, why not the Palestinian state?

We all know that Netanyahu has no expectations that the Palestinians will ever accept his harsh conditions. But then, Netanyahu does not really want a separate Palestinian state, nor does he want to ever accept peace with the Palestinians.

SOME MEAN PEOPLE DENY THE HOLOCAUST, DON'T KILL THEM FOR SAYING IT

Michael Gerson claims in his op-ed in today's The Washington Post that anti-Israel types in the Middle East deny the Holocaust so as to deny legitimacy to Israel itself. However, he himself repudiates this connection:

"This conception of Israel's history is itself a distortion. The Holocaust is important to Israeli identity; it is not identical to Israeli identity. Zionism existed well before the European genocide. The ties between Jews and the land of Israel reach back for millennia. Israel does not exist merely because of Holocaust guilt. It exists because of its own tenacity, sense of purpose and national success."

I agree with Gerson that Israel exists apart from the historical fact of the Holocaust. Six million Jews died in WWI, most at the hands of the Nazis and Soviets. But Israel would exist whether or not the Holocaust took place.

For this reason, I strongly disagree with those who would kill anyone who dares to utter the falsehood that the Holocaust was made up. So Ahmadinejad of Iran denies the Holocaust, let's bomb and kill Iranians. I object to this view, seemingly adopted by some Zionists such as Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, and even by some of my friends and acquaintances.

Attacking and killing a person who denies the Holocaust is like beating up the kid who calls your mother a slut. How about some free speech? I don't care what someone SAYS, let him say it. Don't kill him because of it, no, not even if he denies the Holocaust.

STOP ALL ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ON PALESTINIAN LAND

Charles Krauthammer writes in today's The Washington Post that Obama is unfair to Israel when he calls for the cessation of new settlements. Writes Krauthammer:

"Obama says he came to Cairo to tell the truth. But he uttered not a word of that. Instead, among all the bromides and lofty sentiments, he issued but one concrete declaration of new American policy: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," thus reinforcing the myth that Palestinian misery and statelessness are the fault of Israel and the settlements."

Krauthammer mischaracterizes the truth of Obama's assertions: Israelis have built their settlements upon land owned by Palestinians and taken from them by force. This land grab is both illegal and immoral. It is akin to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.

Some in the Israeli government, like Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, support these encroachers and would rather take land than establish peace. For them, land is more important than the rule of law. No wonder there is Palestinian hatred for the settlers and the government of Israel.

Settlers think that the bible gives them free rein to take as much land as possible, no matter that it does not belong to them. They imagine they have a divine right. This is ridiculous and against all international law.

I stand with Obama: Israel must cease all new settlements.