Tag Archives: Israel

“We have been taught to be people of integrity” — Esther Meshoe

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Free Speech, Israel, Religion, South Africa

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South African leader’s daughter dispels libels of Israel as apartheid- Esther Meshoe – YouTube 8/12/2013

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When you do something from your soul

you feel a river moving in you,

a joy….

Rumi

From Quotes on Integrity.

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Speeches (“Becoming Men and Women of Integrity” 12/6/2011: “Tad R. Callister was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was given on 6 December 2011.”

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15 Speeches on Integrity in Business – From Creating Character in Youth to Immediacy in Business

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A Glimpse of Qatar’s Generational Transition and Portent for The Middle East Conflict

27 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Qatar, Regions, Religion

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These days, the term “middle east conflict” would seem to refer to conflict and unrest in every state in the region but Israel.

Nonetheless, while Egypt roils and Syria burns and the King of Jordan fends off the seeding of perhaps a new class of secular Palestinian politico*, Qatar’s new head of state, Sheikh Tamim has this to say of the refugees of numerous Arab-led wars since 1948:

One day when our “Blue Dot” of a planet is a little more gathered together — that as opposed to riven with war — we may find common ground in five language principles:

Compassion

Humility

Integrity

Justice

Security

Of the four, the most difficult term and the one most relevant to autocracies seems to me to be “integrity” — just the power to be honest about ourselves and with others.

This is not as easy as it may sound.  If it were, we would not have the fairy tale that is “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, which is in essence and for the ages a story about lying and power.

*****

It may be noted that God placed two trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  When the snake entices Eve to eat of the forbidden tree, only mention is made of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, effectively hiding the other tree through omission.

You know the rest of the story: Eve eats the apple, becomes conscious or comprehending, also self-conscious, and, with Adam joining her, possessed of conscience, out of which reaction, perhaps, come the fig leaves, a courtesy, each to the other, and practical too (God, a few sentences later, provides clothing made of skins — one imagines chamois — lending perhaps dignity and protection to their introduction to life as men and women would experience it forever after).

The “Middle East Conflict” — which is never about conflicts in the middle east but only about the creation of the Jews and Israel (or, lost in the Pharaohnic dawn, the gathering together beneath the unrestrained ego and violence of a tyrant)l — seems to me to be always about two things not at ease with one another: 1) the possession of good conscience in light of the knowledge of good and evil; 2) the testing of God for favor when the relationship needs to be the other way around.

*****

Where kings are concerned, I suspect there may be more to the story than meets either eyes or ears.

When God, being God, and with Torah received as divine message, hides the second tree — the Tree of Life that we are told is there but when it counts is not mentioned by the snake and, later, will be barred from access (by cherubim and an eternally revolving sword guarding the Garden left behind) — the sin of omission becomes a virtue: to have eaten of the Tree of Life also would have been too much, for God forbids it, and so protects His children.

*****

To be as gods, lower case that term, with nuclear capabilities, among other extraordinary but still human capacities, one might counsel also a prudent humility.

Carl Sagan’s clip about the “Pale Blue Dot” that is our planet viewed from space, has many renditions on the web — and there’s an entire film available too (somewhere — I’m going to be lazy here) — but this may do for essence.

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Syria – The Dismal Killing Machine

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Middle East, Regions, Syria

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LONDON — An opposition monitoring group that has tracked Syria’s widening civil war said on Wednesday that more than 100,000 people had died in the 27-month-old conflict, with pro-government forces taking far more casualties than rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, while civilians accounted for more than one-third of the overall fatalities, the biggest single category.

Cowell, Alan.  “Syrian Group Says War Deaths Top 100,000.”  The New York Times, June 26, 2013.

Perhaps the old days were better after all: assemble the armies on an open plain, send the warriors into it, and leave the noncombatants of both sides for the spoils of the winner.

Just kidding.

*****

“As always, numbers like these gloss over the many people who have been so grievously wounded, physically or psychologically, that they will never again live productive lives. What the latter figure amounts to in Syria is anyone’s guess. What’s certain is that it’s even larger than the death toll.”

Menon, Rajan.  “Hope for Peace in Syria, But Don’t Expect It.”  Blog.  Huffington Post, June 26, 2013.

Rajan Menon’s report on the suffering goes on to note 1.7 million refugees on top of 4 million Internally Displaced Persons, or 5.7 million displaced souls altogether, about 25 percent of Syria’s total population before the onset of serious hostilities (but I’m not sure I’m getting consistent numbers from any source published within the past two years).

*****

“In one trailer we meet 13-year-old Najwa. She curls back in the corner next to her husband, 19-year-old Khaled, and her mother, hardly saying a word.

Najwa is the youngest of three, her two older sisters in their late teens are also recently married.”

Damon, Arwa.  “No sanctuary for Syria’s female refugees.”  CNN, June 26, 2013.

Evidently, grim statistics don’t tell a whole story, or not much of whatever is to be told at all.

*****

“The head of the International Terrorism Observatory think tank, Roland Jacquard, told Reuters Television the group appeared to be sending fighters abroad, likely to Syria.”

Pennetier, Marine and Alexandria Sage.  “French police arrest cell with possible Syria links.” Reuters, June 25, 2013.

A cousin of a story.

Reuters.  “Spain arrests suspected al-Qaeda Syria network.”  Video.  June 22, 2013.

“Special informed sources from London revealed to the Palestinian al-Manar newspaper that the British security forces arrested early June a group of 11 terrorists in London who had come back from Syria where they were involved in the fighting there.”

Syrian Arab News Agency.  “British authorities arrest terrorists who fought in Syria.”  June 19, 2013.

Wars draw volunteers.  It’s a shame the one in Syria draws teenage ones.  Belgium dealt with this issue back in April of this year:

*****

Thanks to Ken Hanley at Digital Journal for playing this thematically related clip last week in his op-ed, “Many Foreign fighters involved in Syria on both sides” (Digital Journal, June 19, 2013).

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While Israel’s cardinal military defense rule seems to remain, “Do not intervene; do not interfere” (DM Yaalon), Israel’s first virtue would seem to remain compassion to the extent that it may provide that.

“The two boys, 9 and 15 years old, were transferred to Ziv Hospital in Safed for treatment. The 9-year-old suffered moderate injuries from shrapnel wounds across his body and lost his right eye, according to a report by Maariv. The 15-year-old was listed in serious condition, according to the report.”

Times of Israel.  “Minors wounded in Syrian fighting brought to Israel.”  June 26, 2013.

Every wounded Syrian is guarded by either an IDF soldier or by a civilian security guard in an attempt to isolate them from speaking with anyone unauthorized to do so who might photograph them or pass on their information to Syria, potentially harming them or their families upon their eventual return to Syria.

As stated, more than a 100 wounded Syrians have crossed the border in recent months. Some 70 of them have been taken to Israeli hospitals, and two have passed away as a result of their injuries.

Zitun, Yoav.  “More than 100 wounded Syrians receive care in Israel.”  YNet News, June 26, 2013.

After 2,000 years or so, Hillel’s negatively stated dictum seems to hold.  “That which is distasteful to thee, do not do to another” — and certainly, the choice between enabling or denying access to hospital services related well to that.

*****

“The request came in a letter handed to Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker at a meeting with Druze leaders on the Golan Heights Thursday. The letter included an unprecedented request for Israel to take in Druze students who had left the Golan and settled in Syria, Maariv reported.”

Gur, Haviv Rettig.  “Druze leaders ask Israel to take in Syrian brethren.”  Times of Israel, June 23, 2013.

What would Hillel do?

Druze along the Golan have served both in the IDF and in Syria’s defense forces according to their decisions about citizenship and location, and with the fighting as I’ve described — “Two mad wasps in a bell jar” — Israeli Druze are seeking sanctuary for their relatives.

God knows God would seem to give Jews the toughest ethical and survival challenges.

Both.

At the same time.

Providing infirmary to wounded to be turned back into the field — and who want to be returned to their land — is one thing.

Affording sanctuary to those endangered by this war that only loosely respects boundaries and seems absent of compassion and conscience both in relation to innocents, noncombatants, neutral parties, and so on makes for a more difficult decision.

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Israel Defense Minister’s Washington Morning Tour of the Middle East

14 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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Addressing an audience at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and more than 100 webcast viewers, Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon covered the rocky surrounds bordering the Jewish State of Israel.

Noting first the artificial character of some states imposed almost 100 years ago by the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), Yaalon observed that the region’s monarchies seemed to be surviving or enjoying stability while the secular dictatorships were on their way to collapse.

“What dominates the Middle East,” Yaalon said, “is instability.”

Syria

“I can’t see stability for the near future,” Yaalon said of Syria where he believed ethnic cleansing seemed to be taking place between Sunnis and Alewites, and he noted that at this point Assad controlled only about 40 percent of Syria’s territory.

Articulating Israel’s policy in Syrian, Yaalon said, “We do not intervene; we do not interfere.”

On Israel’s “red lines” associated with the fighting in the neighboring state, Yaalon said Israel would not allow 1)  the delivery of sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah or others, 2) the delivery of chemical agents to the same adversaries, 3) and it would maintain its sovereignty in the Golan Heights.

Jordan

Yaalon called Jordan an “asset for stability in the region” and for that “We believe Jordan should be supported by the U.S. and other states.”

Egypt and Sinai

“Their only safe border is the border with us,” Yaalon said of Egypt’s security outlook.

Citing three areas of challenge for Egypt — its economic health, political stability, and common citizen security, Yaalon felt cooperation between the two defense forces, Egypt’s and Israel’s, bolstered by predicating American aid on Egyptian commitment to the peace accords, provided the key to maintaining Egypt’s stability.

Earlier in his talk, Yaalon had called Sinai a “no-man’s land” and expressed hope that “Egypt will deal with terrorists in the Sinai.”

Palestinian Arena

While noting that Israel had “many security grievances” with the Palestinian governments, he said, “In the meantime, let’s improve things from the bottom up” referring to economic development and the encouragement good governance.

However, he cited equal attention to education as missing, or as a means for incitement, this noted with a nod toward the Palestinian Authority.

“Without this kind of change” [in the way Palestinian children are educated] “we can’t be optimistic about the situation.”

Later, during the event’s question session, Yaalon said that “Money given the Palestinian Authority should be conditional on the educational grounds.”

Iran

Tossing the audience first a candid coin with “democtatorship” to characterize the regime in Iran, Yaalon said, “The regime should face a clear dilemma” with regard to going on with its nuclear program and its survival as a regime.

Yaalon pointed out Iran’s exporting of militant cells to foreign states on the way to its creating “a Shiite caliphate all over the globe” to defeat the “Great Satan” AKA “Western Civilization” and cautioned that its ambitions should be taken seriously.

Yaalon went on to say, “The nuclear project should be stopped” by diplomatic means, economic crisis, support of the opposition, and by the presentation of a “credible military option.”

“Otherwise,” Yaalon said, “They will go on maneuvering and sacrificing” [economically].

Turkey

Asked about Israeli-Turkish reconciliation, Yaalon noted benefits accruing to both states up to 2004 by way of common strategic interest and defense cooperation.

“Two years after the election,” he said, “We started to see the change to associate with our enemies.”

Citing as the peak of a deteriorated relationship the Mavi Marmara incident — and characterizing the same as Turkish provocation, not an NGO activity — Yaalon said, “We should not delude ourselves, but we have a prosperous economy” [in common] and “trade between the two” [goes on] “without any illusions.”

Israel’s Relationship With Russia

“Very different from the Cold War,” Yaalon said of Israel’s relationship with Russia.  “It’s not against us” even though, “we are not happy with Russian activity in the region, but we may comment.”

According to Yaalon, Russia’s main consideration is the “superpower game with the U.S.” and “Israel is not the main consideration.”

Given that context, weapons systems contracts or deliveries like those involving the S-300 (anti-aircraft) and 9M133 Kornet become political cards for negotiating other issues.

Additional Reference

Eichner, Itamar.  “Israel claims Russian missile hit school bus.”  YNet News, April 11, 2011.

Gedalyahu, Tzvi Ben.  “Iran Producing Deadly anti-Tank ‘Kornet’ Missle.”  Arutz Sheva,  July 10, 2012.

The Clarion Project.  “Alawite Massacres of Sunnis Reported in Syrian Coastal Towns.”  May 9, 2013.

UPI.  “Signs are Hezbollah, Iran ‘step up foreign plots’.  May 31, 2013.

Yaalon, Moshe.  “Israel’s Security Policy in a Changing Middle East.”  June 14, 2013.

Syria – Hezbollah at Qusayr

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Regions, Syria

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Additions

Item: Britain’s The Guardian appears to maintain a daily and continuously updated brief rolled out as a blog: “Rebel leader accuses Hezbollah of invading Syria — as it happened.”  Syria, Middle East Live, The Guardian, May 29, 2013 to midnight BST.

Item:

The talks have been marred by disagreement within the coalition over expanding its membership and appointing a new leadership. Lack of unity has threatened to rob the Islamist-dominated alliance of international support.

Oweis, Khaled Yacoub.  “Syrian opposition says peace talks must mean Assad exit.”  Reuters, May 29, 2013 at 1931H EDT.

Main

Gen Selim Idriss said that more than 7,000 fighters of the Lebanese Shia movement were taking part in attacks on the rebel-held town of Qusair.

The French foreign minister has estimated the number at 3,000-4,000.

BBC.  “Hezbollah fighters ‘invading’ Syria – rebel chief.”  May 29, 2013.

Have you ever felt like you were watching choreographed news after other news has swept the page?

WASHINGTON – The US State Department called on Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia on Wednesday to withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately, saying their involvement on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad signaled a dangerous broadening of the war.

Like, Dude, man, where’s the news?

* * *

“Qusayr, Syria” will join the list of head-nodding names coming out of Syria’s civil war: “In addition to being capital of the al-Qusayr District, it is also the administrative center of the al-Qusayr nahiyah (“subdistrict”) which consisted of 60 localities with a collective population of 107,470 in 2004,” says Wikipedia.

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This split between war reporting and journaling and the clumsy efforts of governments to management perception has gotten a bit nutty.

Dude — I am so having  a Jeff Bridges kind of day . . . let’s call it The Big Lebowski meets Arlington Road  . . . plus maybe a little bit of Gonzo and ol’ Hunter — but we KNOW Hezbollah has joined the fray in Syria, that Israel, probably, has intercepted arms shipments (rockets, actually), and put out a hospital in the Golan:

The denunciation of health conditions on the Golan is particularly surreal: Syrians in Syria, where medical care of any kind is often simply unavailable, would be thrilled to get the same state-of-the-art care as their brethren on the Golan–where, as in East Jerusalem, Israeli law applies, entitling residents to the same services as all other Israelis.

But thanks to Israel, some of those Syrians actually are getting such care–which is doubtless Syrian President Bashar Assad’s real gripe. Israel has quietly set up a field hospital on the Golan where dozens of Syrians wounded in the civil war have been treated; others, who need more intensive care, have been transferred to regular Israeli hospitals.

Gordeon, Evelyn.  “Israel Treats Palestinians and Syrians–Over PA and Syria’s Objections.  Commentary, May 24, 2013.

That is just all so five days ago!

It’s nice, I suppose, for Washington to tell Hezbollah to get lost, but it’s like a bad movie with a British war ship announcing and firing a warning shot: you know it’s just for show and the ships will close, the canon will fire, and somebody’s going to be boarded.

* * *

This hit the news two hours ago:

The Syrian army said it had seized the disused Dabaa military airfield north of Qusayr, giving pro-Assad forces control of all roads out of the town in a major setback for the besieged rebels.

A military source told AFP the battle for the airfield was fierce and lasted several hours. “The operation led to the liberation of the airport and the deaths of several men who were inside.

AFP.  “Hezbollah-led attack cuts off rebels in Syria’s Qusayr.”  Google, May 29, 2013.

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Syria – The Worst Ambitions in the Worst Place in the Worst Ways

28 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Middle East, Politics, Regions, Syria

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Israel quickly issued a thinly veiled warning that it would bomb the Russian S-300 missiles if they were sent to Syria, as such a move would bring the advanced guided missiles within range of civilian and military planes over Israel.

Borger, Julian.  “Isrel warns Russia against arming Syrian government.”  The Guardian, May 28, 2013.

Apparently, Obama is not able, or willing, to acknowledge that the views of the White House and Russia on Syria are different not because the vestigial enmity of the Cold War has driven a stake through the heart of international concord, but simply because the national interests of the two countries are different. But that’s assuming they really are different.

Smith, Lee.  “Obama: Putin Unhelpful with Syria Because of Cold War.”  Blog.  The Weekly Standard, May 13, 2013.

On such politics, cynics must suckle!

Exterior framing: a brutal dictatorship vs. an Islamic revolution of some kind.

Exterior wall: NATO vs. Russia bonded in place by the habits of the Cold War even though to the two share most essential values involved in Syria.

Interior furnishings: affinity between the souls of autocrats and dictators, perhaps; perhaps, the Saudi’s guy in the White House — horrible clashing right there.

Also playing in the yard:  Hezbollah.

Neighbor up the block: Iran.

Favorite toys: rockets.

What they want to be when they grow up: nuclear.

Syria – Phantom Ghost of the Cold War

26 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Israel, Middle East, Regions, Syria, Turkey

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One of the Middle East experts that has disappointed me was Daniel Pipes, who has suggested overlooking the bloodbath in Syria and allowing both sides to destroy each other. In a TV interview, he restated his policy, suggesting that the West should back Assad, and keep Syrians killing each other.

Tezyapar, Sinem.  “Turkey and Israel Should Intervene in Syria.”  The Jewish Press, May 26, 2013.

* * *

While many following Syria’s destabilization focus on NATO and Russian military exercises in the region and their relationship to Iran’s looming nuclear capability, few, it seems, care to focus more exclusively on Russia’s Soviet and post-Soviet relationship with the Assad regime, President Putin’s partial realignment with Israel — alternatively, a shifting away from Iran — and his commitment to the fulfillment of Russian defense deliveries, including, recently, surface-to-air and surface-to-ship missiles, that sustain the Assad military while keeping NATO at bay in Syria.

Syria presents a difficult puzzle, one whose possibilities include Obama and Putin (Pipes may only watch) colluding to drain through Syria Iran’s financial and military strength.

Whether that’s what they’re doing while reprising Cold War posturing, I have no idea, but whether so or not, that’s what’s happening: Russian defense contracts have been fulfilled with Iranian financial support; Hezbollah has mobilized in Syria; and Syria as the state it was two years ago has failed and can never return to its former state of affairs, and that partially guaranteed by Maher Al-Assad’s propensity for shooting, bombing, and perhaps gassing noncombatants; and such as Qatar have already replaced Syria’s embassy with a compound ready for revolutionaries who make it.

* * *

Syria may also be surveyed from the future: what’s in it for whom among the outside forces?

If Qatar picks up a state under Sunni sway, where would that leave Putin who, in light of the experience in Chechnya, has zero interest in allowing or encouraging other than a predominantly secular state on his flank? What’s in the Syrian rebel mix today certainly isn’t working for Vlad.

Given the U.S. experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, an enthused NATO intervention, much less one irritating Russian forces (again, if they’re genuinely deployed for Russo-NATO confrontation), may not have much to recommend in relation to the mixed results associated with experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.

Israel and NATO may have broad democratic and humanitarian interests in ameliorating the disaster in Syria, but, as suggested elsewhere on this blog, I think the true target in the region is Iran and its nuclear weapons program, and while the Obama Administration on the surface seems to be urging Putin to pressure the Assad regime out of business, it’s Putin who, colloquially, holds the cards, starting with Syria’s status as a Russian buffer and client.

Only God knows how Putin’s going to “work Syria” so that it works not only for Russian long-term interests but for his own greater glory and historic reputation as well.

* * *

I’m leaving the whole video alone here, but remarks on the Syrian Civil War start at about 14:00.

Daniel Pipes: “I don’t want to see anyone win here.  They’re disastrous, they’re horrid.  They’re both engaged in war crimes . . . I shudder to think what it would be like were the rebels to take over Damascus . . . it would be as bad if not worse than the Assad regime.”

Pipes to Newsmax on Syrian Civil War: ‘I Want Both Sides to Lose’.  NewsmaxTV, April 3, 2013.

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FNS – NAZI Flag Flies Over Hebron

20 Monday May 2013

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That a Nazi flag would be flying over a Palestinian village near a Mosque should actually be less shocking than the fact that so many are shocked by it.

Walid Shoebat, Walid.  “Nazi Flag flying over Palestinian Village shouldn’t come as a  Shock but does.”  Walid Shoebat, May 20, 2013.

This story has actually had about half a day, twelve hours, to get around the web, but it looks pretty stupid by every public relations and rhetorical guidance possible. As with Syria calling up the ghosts of the Soviet Era, stringing up a Nazi flag on a power line in a refugee-controlled area of the West Bank (where the heck was “the occupation” when that obscenity unfurled?) awakens the racist ghosts of Germany’s woeful Nazi Era.

Some people cannot but help fight old battles in their heads until they erupt in a reality that has only to teach them all over again why those old battles have indeed grown old and irrelevant.