Humble Opinions

Today, Israel and Jordan celebrate 15 years of official peace between them. I think analyzing the history, and circumstances of this peace reveals a lot of insight into the general situation in the Middle East, and also shows how overall peace in the region could be obtained. Also, this morning, Israel told the UN it would continue gathering intelligence in Lebanon as long as the Lebanese government was not in full control of its country, after the UN questioned Israel about potential wire tapping machinery discovered in Southern Lebanon the other day. I think these two things can be related in an interesting way. Let’s see how much smarter we can get:

On October 26, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali signed a peace treaty that ended almost 50 years of warring between the two countries. The main points of the treaty were that the two governments agreed on (1) Official borders between their two countries, (2) Normalization of relations (opening of embassies, granting of tourist visas), and (3) Respect of sovereignty and territories. What caused this, and what took so long?

Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, Jordan consistently subscribed to an anti-Israel policy, and participated in multiple attempts to destroy it. They did so especially in the Israeli War of Independence (1948), and Six Day War (1967), however the entire time the Jordanians controlled East Jerusalem (1948 - 1967), they made it exceeding difficult for Jews to live in Jerusalem. They would snipe at Jewish mothers shopping for their families, and would pour garbage onto those who came to worship at the Western Wall, among other things. So if Jordan was not down for having Jewish neighbors, then why the peace treaty?

I believe Jordan agreed to peace for a few reasons. The first is that their anti-Israel position was costing them bigtime. For starters, they kept losing wars. Particularly during the Six Day War, Israel sent a message to the Jordanian government on the morning the war broke out, and told them Israel would not attack them if they stayed out of the war. Instead, Jordan decided to try and capture West Jerusalem, and failed miserably. Israel not only stopped them, but was forced to take over East Jerusalem, causing many Jordanians to flee. This also gave Israel complete control over the Western Wall. Was that worth it?

Additionally, Israel consistently offered the possibilities of trade between the two countries, as well as other forms of economic development that the Jordanians simply refused to acknowledge. But things changed during the 70s and 80s. In 1970, Jordan waged the war of Black September against the PLO who were based in Jordan at the time. In response, Syrian troops entered Jordan to fight on behalf of the PLO. In an attempt to try and contain the situation, Israel flew fighter planes over Syrian airspace, to indicate they should stop - and they did. In the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Jordan did not participate in the joint surprise Egyptian-Syrian attack on Israel, perhaps indicating they had learned their lesson.

Eventually, Jordan caved. They realized they could not beat Israel militarily, and that they were losing out by not embracing a relationship with Israel where both countries could capitalize on economic opportunities, and could benefit from the sharing of certain intelligence. So what does this have to do with what Israel said about Lebanon?

Last week, the Lebanese military uncovered machinery buried underground in Southern Lebanon. Upon their discoveries, the machines were immediately blown up, seemingly remotely by Israel. The general theory is that during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel planted wire tapping devices in the ground, to keep a good eye on the Iranian backed terrorist organization, Hezbollah. When confronted about it by the UN, Israel did not confirm or deny it had planted anything in Lebanon, but told the UN it would continue gathering intelligence there while Hezbollah still controlled part of Lebanon.

The underlying theme, as it seems to me, is that Israel does what it needs to in order to ensure its own security and defense capabilities. As soon as it is no longer threatened by one of its enemies, Israel is more than happy to embrace a two-way relationship with them. Israel did not only not hold a grudge against Jordan for the previous 50 years, but also did not hesitate to sign a peace treaty with even Egypt, who tried MUCH harder than Jordan to destroy Israel. Meaning, if the Middle East would finally recognize a tiny Jewish state in their midst, and decided to work with them instead of against them, all countries would benefit. Perhaps the 21st century could finally be the one where the Jewish nation for the first time doesn’t have an attempt made for its complete destruction? Maybe? But then again, Iran’s nuclear program is probably for peaceful purposes.

P.S. If you think Israel is going to sit back and let Iran school the world while obtaining a nuclear weapon, you gotta be out your mind. Crack a history book.

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So this morning, I stumbled upon this article on Al Jazeera’s website:

Iraq hit by triple car bombing

The article can be summarized in these sentences: “The first bomb appeared to target people queuing outside a municipal office to claim various allowances, he said. The second detonated when police and firemen arrived on the scene, and the third blew up on the road to the hospital.” At least 23 dead, 81 wounded.

First, I’d like to mention that although this triple bomb idea seems creative, it’s actually old news. This exact strategy was used in an attack against Israel in the mid 90’s, during the reign of Prime Minister Rabin. The second bomb that had gone off did kill officers and personnel on the scene helping victims of the first bomb, however the third bomb prematurely detonated, and missed. Ever since then, Israel has been prepared for this type of an attack in their response protocols. (We rock?)

Second, I’d like to state my opinion which is that suicide bombings (and terrorism in general) cannot be stopped by anything other than force. I personally feel awful that there are so many people that care so little about their lives that they would happily use it up to destroy the lives of others, but I think a lot of the blame for this goes to the leaders of those people who encourage these acts, as opposed to trying to help and improve the lives of the individuals they are attempting to represent.

I’m additionally saddened by the fact that these double and triple bombings are no longer shocking to me, as I am reading about another suicide bomb / car bomb in Iraq or Afghanistan almost daily. So what is the correct response?

Let’s look at what Israel did, because it is run by the smartest human beings that currently exist: In 2002, Israel began constructing the Israeli West Bank Barrier which separates the West Bank from the rest of Israel. It is a highly controversial barrier. Those on the left side of politics say the wall is a guise for secretly annexing parts of the West Bank, since the wall juts inward to the West Bank in a number of places, and also that it makes life for the Palestinians in the West Bank significantly more difficult. Those on the right say it was and is desperately needed to improve security against terrorism. Who’s right? Well, suicide bombings inside of Israel are down 99.99% since the constructional of the wall - you can make up your own minds.

I am a supporter of disproportionate response to suicide bombings and acts of terror. One could argue that being a democracy means abiding to the international laws of war, the Hague Convention (etc), and that every democracy must deal with these problems proportionately and legally. However, I feel that is appropriate when dealing with other democracies, not terrorists who are prepared to cross every line imaginable, and then some.

Dealing a disproportionate response does two things: (1) Clearly sets the price for committing acts of terror very high, and (2) Diminishes the terrorists’ abilities to carry out these acts, because the responses are ideally devastating their infrastructure, bomb making facilities, and weapons caches.

The only last point is that for this to really work, the UN needs to be dismantled for its idiocy, and support for worldwide terror. That’s about all… Did I mention Iran’s building a nuclear bomb?

EDIT: Just thought I would add that this morning, I checked the news as I normally do, and what did I find? 41 dead as suicide blast hits northwest Pakistan. I rest my case.

Tags: suicide bomb

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Shalom. Let’s just right into the meat and potatoes: Netanyahu is the man!!

On September 24^th, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered (what I found to be) an earth shaking speech at the United Nations, in front of the leaders of all the nations of the world. For those who haven’t seen it, I’m obligated to link you to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YJfUlF-xtU

And here is a video of a few statements Netanyahu made immediately after his speech, to an Israeli camera crew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLCpJTchK8Q

Speaking in perfectly fluent, and elegant English, Prime Minister Netanyahu laid the facts out as they truly are, and was not at all embarrassed or shy about lashing out at members of the UN, or its human rights council. I called the speech “earth shaking” partly because I found myself shaken to the core during certain moments of the speech.

Think about it - what an unbelievably historic moment of world and Jewish history. The individual who is generally accepted as being (in some way) a representative of the Jewish people stood before the entire world and asked “Have you no shame???” and here’s the best part - he lived to tell the story! Placing this into historical perspective is literally mind-blowing for me.

How many times in the history of mankind has a representative of the Jewish nation been afforded the opportunity to address the entire world? And given the freedom to say whatever they’d like? In the late 1200s, well after the Christians had reconquered Spain from the Muslims (all whilst Jews were living there, making it awesome), the Church would demand that a well-known Rabbi stand in front of a large audience, and debate Judaism against Christianity. This happened time and time again, in order so that the Church could publicly disprove Judaism. The only problem was that the Rabbis were not allowed to in any way slander the Church (obviously), lest they be put to death for committing blasphemy. In short, the Rabbis lost every time.

However, in the year 1263, a well-known Jewish convert named Pablo Christiani informed King James of Aragon the 1^st that he could not only publicly disprove Judaism, but that he could use Jewish sources to do so (namely the Talmud). After hearing this exciting news, the King organized a grand debate, and had one of the greatest Rabbis of the time, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (a.k.a. the Ramban) summoned to participate in this debate. Before the debate began, the Ramban requested of the king the right to free speech, and shockingly, he was granted it. The debate lasted for 4 days (July 20 - 24).

Needless to say, Pablo was less than a match for the Ramban (think Mike Tyson vs a 3 yr old). Each night, the Ramban went home and recorded the arguments and transcription of the debate, and compiled it into a book called The Disputation at Barcelona. Although the Ramban was deemed the winner, he was also immediately exiled from Spain, never allowed to return.

So why do I mention this story? It took place 746 years ago, and since that time, there have been few situations like it…. until Benjamin Netanyahu (the man, if I didn’t already say) stepped up to the podium at the UN five days ago.

The general points of his speech were:

• The holocaust was very real, and anyone who affords a holocaust denier the right to spew their anti-semitic opinions should simply be ashamed of themselves.
• Israel did not WANT to perform the recent military campaign in the Gaza Strip, but rather was forced to, and took every measure possible to limit civilian casualties on both sides of the conflict. The UN had the power to prevent this, but did nothing - and now is accusing Israel of war crimes it very clearly did not commit.
• Israel wants to progress the world and mankind. If the nations of the world work together, we can “cure the incurable,” “lengthen our lives” and offer “all nations magnificent bounty of hope” ….. “and yes, we will clean up the planet.”
• Israel and Israelis are tired of war. They are tired of sending their sons, daughters, grandchildren, friends, and loved ones off to the IDF in order to keep their country safe (Israel has a mandatory military draft). They are tired of losing their loved ones, sick of endless war and attacks being plotted against them, and sick of paying 50% income tax to support their military.
• Israel wants peace. “We made peace with Egypt, led by Anwar Sadaat. We made peace with Jordan led by King Hussein. And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and my people will make peace.”
• And one of his main and final points: The world must make a decision. The time has once again come where the Jews could be placed in existential danger. Will mankind continue its unfortunate pattern of ignoring the situation the same way the Allied Forces knowingly did not bomb the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz - or will they finally step up, and allow the Jewish nation to once and for all live in peace and tranquility, and be given the opportunity to fulfill their destiny of being a light onto nations?

Tags: netanyahu

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