Tag: Iran

Normalizing Iran – Why?

Normalizing Iran – Why?

Why are liberals campaigning to make this most illiberal regime acceptable?

By BRET STEPHENS

In Syria, Bashar Assad is trying to bring his enemies to heel by blocking humanitarian convoys to desperate civilians living in besieged towns. The policy is called “starve or kneel,” and it is openly supported by Hezbollah and tacitly by Iran, which has deployed its elite Quds Force to aid Mr. Assad’s war effort.

So what better time for right-thinking liberals to ask: “Is Iran really so evil?”
Continue reading “Normalizing Iran – Why?” →

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL IMPLEMENTED BY LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL IMPLEMENTED BY LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

The U.S. and the U.N. have found Iran in compliance with the “Nuclear Accord” agreement, which Iran has still not agreed to.

The lifting of sanctions and the turning over to Iran of $150 Billion ends any potential leverage the U.S. might have had to pressure Iran into not building nuclear weapons. While Iran released some U.S. citizen prisoners they were holding, they haven’t released all U.S. prisoners.
Continue reading “IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL IMPLEMENTED BY LIFTING OF SANCTIONS” →

NORTH KOREA MAKES A HUGE NUCLEAR ADVANCE

NORTH KOREA MAKES A HUGE NUCLEAR ADVANCE

President Obama’s policy of “strategic patience” doesn’t really seem to have much effect.  While he was waiting for North Korea to go bankrupt, or for the government to collapse, North Korea was improving its nuclear capability and now claims that they have exploded a “Hydrogen Bomb.” Continue reading “NORTH KOREA MAKES A HUGE NUCLEAR ADVANCE” →

Keep Israel Safe

Antisemitism at the UN General Assembly

Antisemitism at the UN General Assembly

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 will go down in history as the day the UN General Assembly provided a platform for a head of state to spew unadulterated, vile antisemitism – to the applause of the assembled nations of the world. The United Nations has become the largest global purveyor of antisemitism in the world today. In the full knowledge that the President of Iran advocates the destruction of the UN member state of Israel, the UN invited him to mount the dais and gave him a megaphone.

 

September 23, 2008: The United Nations General Assembly gave President Ahmedinejad of Iran a global platform for spewing unadulterated, vile antisemitism – met by a round of applause. What a despicable and useless institution.

 

The Speech She Would Have Given

The Speech She Would Have Given


Governor Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, was scheduled to speak today at a rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the appearance here of President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Her appearance was canceled by rally organizers who sought a nonpolitical event. Following are the remarks Mrs. Palin would have given:

***

“I am honored to be with you and with leaders from across this great country — leaders from different faiths and political parties united in a single voice of outrage.

Tomorrow, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will come to New York — to the heart of what he calls the Great Satan — and speak freely in this, a country whose demise he has called for.

Ahmadinejad may choose his words carefully, but underneath all of the rhetoric is an agenda that threatens all who seek a safer and freer world. We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator’s intentions and to call for action to thwart him.

He must be stopped.

The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a “Final Solution” — the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a “stinking corpse” that is “on its way to annihilation.” Such talk cannot be dismissed as the ravings of a madman — not when Iran just this summer tested long-range Shahab-3 missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv, not when the Iranian nuclear program is nearing completion, and not when Iran sponsors terrorists that threaten and kill innocent people around the world.

The Iranian government wants nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran is running at least 3,800 centrifuges and that its uranium enrichment capacity is rapidly improving. According to news reports, U.S. intelligence agencies believe the Iranians may have enough nuclear material to produce a bomb within a year.

The world has condemned these activities. The United Nations Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend its illegal nuclear enrichment activities. It has levied three rounds of sanctions. How has Ahmadinejad responded? With the declaration that the “Iranian nation would not retreat one iota” from its nuclear program.

So, what should we do about this growing threat? First, we must succeed in Iraq. If we fail there, it will jeopardize the democracy the Iraqis have worked so hard to build, and empower the extremists in neighboring Iran. Iran has armed and trained terrorists who have killed our soldiers in Iraq, and it is Iran that would benefit from an American defeat in Iraq.

If we retreat without leaving a stable Iraq, Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be bolstered. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons — they could share them tomorrow with the terrorists they finance, arm, and train today. Iranian nuclear weapons would set off a dangerous regional nuclear arms race that would make all of us less safe.

But Iran is not only a regional threat; it threatens the entire world. It is the no. 1 state sponsor of terrorism. It sponsors the world’s most vicious terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah. Together, Iran and its terrorists are responsible for the deaths of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, and in Iraq today. They have murdered Iraqis, Lebanese, Palestinians, and other Muslims who have resisted Iran’s desire to dominate the region. They have persecuted countless people simply because they are Jewish.

Iran is responsible for attacks not only on Israelis, but on Jews living as far away as Argentina. Anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are part of Iran’s official ideology and murder is part of its official policy. Not even Iranian citizens are safe from their government’s threat to those who want to live, work, and worship in peace. Politically-motivated abductions, torture, death by stoning, flogging, and amputations are just some of its state-sanctioned punishments.

It is said that the measure of a country is the treatment of its most vulnerable citizens. By that standard, the Iranian government is both oppressive and barbaric. Under Ahmadinejad’s rule, Iranian women are some of the most vulnerable citizens.

If an Iranian woman shows too much hair in public, she risks being beaten or killed.

If she walks down a public street in clothing that violates the state dress code, she could be arrested.

But in the face of this harsh regime, the Iranian women have shown courage. Despite threats to their lives and their families, Iranian women have sought better treatment through the “One Million Signatures Campaign Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws.” The authorities have reacted with predictable barbarism. Last year, women’s rights activist Delaram Ali was sentenced to 20 lashes and 10 months in prison for committing the crime of “propaganda against the system.” After international protests, the judiciary reduced her sentence to “only” 10 lashes and 36 months in prison and then temporarily suspended her sentence. She still faces the threat of imprisonment.

Earlier this year, Senator Clinton said that “Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is in the forefront of that” effort. Senator Clinton argued that part of our response must include stronger sanctions, including the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. John McCain and I could not agree more.

Senator Clinton understands the nature of this threat and what we must do to confront it. This is an issue that should unite all Americans. Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!

Only by working together, across national, religious, and political differences, can we alter this regime’s dangerous behavior. Iran has many vulnerabilities, including a regime weakened by sanctions and a population eager to embrace opportunities with the West. We must increase economic pressure to change Iran’s behavior.

Tomorrow, Ahmadinejad will come to New York. On our soil, he will exercise the right of freedom of speech — a right he denies his own people. He will share his hateful agenda with the world. Our task is to focus the world on what can be done to stop him.

We must rally the world to press for truly tough sanctions at the U.N. or with our allies if Iran’s allies continue to block action in the U.N. We must start with restrictions on Iran’s refined petroleum imports.

We must reduce our dependency on foreign oil to weaken Iran’s economic influence.

We must target the regime’s assets abroad; bank accounts, investments, and trading partners.

President Ahmadinejad should be held accountable for inciting genocide, a crime under international law.

We must sanction Iran’s Central Bank and the Revolutionary Guard Corps — which no one should doubt is a terrorist organization.

Together, we can stop Iran’s nuclear program.

Senator McCain has made a solemn commitment that I strongly endorse: Never again will we risk another Holocaust. And this is not a wish, a request, or a plea to Israel’s enemies. This is a promise that the United States and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us. It is John McCain’s promise and it is my promise.

Thank you.”

Update: Read Caroline Glick’s article in the Jerusalem Post, “The Shame of Jewish Democrats.”

 

Ben Shapiro: Some Jews Ain’t So Smart

Ben Shapiro: Some Jews Ain’t So Smart

Jews, according to both anti-Semites and philo-Semites, are smart folks. Anti-Semites claim that Jews are highly intelligent — and therefore threaten the world via conspiratorial monetary and political control.

Philo-Semites point out that Jews have provided a vastly disproportionate number of Nobel Prize winners, as well as various leading scientists, philosophers, writers and artists. Virtually everyone agrees, then, that Jews are intelligent. And yet for all of our intelligence (I am an Orthodox Jew), large groups of American Jews lack the most basic instinct for self-preservation; they lack the understanding to protect Jews by acting to protect Israel.

The non-religious Jewish community demonstrates particular blindness. Most non-religious Jews, who see no special value in Jewish identity, distract themselves with “social justice” policies — policies like abortion-on-demand and gay marriage — that directly contravene traditional Jewish values. Meanwhile, they ignore existential threats to Jews worldwide — threats they cannot escape with protestations that they aren’t practicing Jews, or that their Judaism only goes as far as the occasional bagel.

For many non-religious Jews, political liberalism trumps both Jewish values and Jewish existence. How else to explain the disastrous series of events last week in New York? The United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York scheduled an anti-Iran rally highlighting the blatant Jew-hatred of visiting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Federation invited both Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R-AK). Palin accepted. So, at first, did Clinton — but when she learned that she would be appearing on the same stage as Palin, she backed out. At that point, the organizers of the rally made a terrible decision: They disinvited Palin.

Politico.com reported that the decision was made after Democrats complained that they did not want the rally turned into a partisan event. This is the height of idiocy.

In the possibility of a nuclear Iran, Jews face the gravest menace since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. They must mobilize every ally, unearth every friend, in order to create a groundswell of support for a military strike against Iran by Israel — the only true solution to Iranian nuclear ambition. And yet they turned away Sarah Palin — perhaps the future vice president of the United States, and at the moment, the most popular female politician in the United States — because they feared offending Democrats.

Only a baseline allegiance to the Democratic Party — only a deep-rooted leftist partisanship — can explain such behavior. Any rational group, seeking to draw attention to the Iranian situation, would leap at the opportunity to host Palin, who routinely draws tens of thousands of fans. More than that, any rational group would recognize that if high-ranking Democrats withdraw from anti-Iran rallies simply to avoid being seen in public with high-ranking Republicans, then perhaps Democrats aren’t the friends of Israel they purport to be.

Any rational group would be suspicious that Hillary Clinton is more concerned with Sarah Palin than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Any rational group would use their anti-Iran rally as a forum for candidates, allowing those with the most pro-Israel message to capitalize politically. Instead, the organizers disinvited Palin. In doing so, they demonstrated a political bias unworthy of a pro-Israel organization. More than that: In rejecting Palin, they demonstrated loyalty to Democrats over loyalty to Jewish causes.

That became especially clear when the text of Palin’s un-given speech was released. “We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator’s intentions and to call for action to thwart him,” the speech reads. “He must be stopped. The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a ‘Final Solution’ — the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ that is ‘on its way to annihilation.’ … Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!” This is strong stuff. And it is stuff that the rally organizers abandoned when they kowtowed to Democrats rather than recognizing that support for Israel must be a non-partisan issue. It was foolish. It was dangerous. And most of all, it was dishonorable.

This is an article by Ben Shapiro published at Townhall.com

Ben Shapiro is a regular guest on dozens of radio shows around the United States and Canada and author of Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House.

As a Jew, it is both embarrassing and inexplicable that American Jews would choose their loyalty to the Democrat Party over their concern for the safety of Jews and the State of Israel. It is especially so to me, when Jews do not recognize that we need political leaders from both parties to stand with us against the Amalekites of this generation. It is so sad that Jews are very poor at recognizing danger to our people until it is too late. This has been demonstrated over and over again in our long history.

 

Up Close and Personal: The Shunning of Israel

In the Chesler Chronicles, Phyllis Chesler tells about how the assembled Arab Foreign Ministers at Annapolis refused to shake the hand of Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni. She further relates what a disaster for Israel this “summit” meeting was:

At the recent Annapolis meeting, behind closed doors, up close and personal, the assembled Arab foreign ministers refused to shake hands with Tzipi Livni, Israel’s Foreign Minister. She asked her Arab counterparts, especially her Saudi counterpart, why they did not want to shake hands with her. “I am not plague-ridden” Livni said. According to the Dutch minister, all the Arab ministers backed away from her as if “she were Dracula’s sister.” (These details are contained in both today’s Washington Post and in Guysen International News.)
My friend and colleague, Dr. Nancy H. Kobrin, had only three, chilling words for me about this: “Zainab Bint al-Harith”. That is the name of the Jewish woman long and falsely alleged to have poisoned the prophet Mohammed.

In addition, the United States, Israel’s strongest ally, apparently just circulated the Annapolis resolution to members of the UN Security Council—but without first showing anything to Israel’s Ambassador, Dan Gillerman who was, at the time, busy celebrating the General Assembly’s November 29th, 1947 resolution that created a Jewish state. What a difference sixty years can make! (These details are contained in the New York Sun).

Livni and Gillerman have just both been publicly shunned. Israeli diplomats will have to grow bionic skins in order not to suffer the effects of such interpersonally cruel behavior. But look: Israelis have been kidnapped, blown up and wounded for life by Islamist terrorists. It can always be worse but the two kinds of assaults are intimately connected. The fact that the world allows the state sponsors of terrorism to isolate and shame Israeli diplomats also allows and even encourages terrorist fanatics to continue their murderous rampage. One breeds the other; this is the cycle of violence.

Israel’s civilian supporters have also been shunned, both behind closed doors and in public. May we all continue to bear this mistreatment with honor, patience, grace, and faith. And, as we count our blessings, let us also remember that Israel is a nuclear power whose military prowess has already proved essential in the battle against Iran and Syria—and that Saudi Arabia is also well known for refusing to extend its hand when it comes to aiding other Muslims.

The significance and consequences of the Annapolis meeting are far worse than I have so far suggested. But many people understand public slights more than they understand diplomatic negotiations; however, for those who primarily focus on the latter, let me stand on the shoulders of others and point out that 1) Israel- and Jew-hating Arabists in the State Department have won one more round; President Bush refuses to publicly criticize the Saudis and has also failed to appoint diplomats who might do so privately.

Worse: As former Minister Natan Sharansky has just pointed out, while Iran may be perceived as a threat to the stability of Arab national despots, democracy is perceived as the second biggest threat to their continued rule. Sharansky also notes that Mahmoud Abbas has absolutely no power. Thus, what is the point of forcing Israel to negotiate with the powerless diplomat when the United States has failed to bring Hamas, which controls Gaza, to the table in Annapolis?

In addition, Ted Belman of Israpundit has sent me Carolyn Glick’s rather ominous report. Apparently, and not coincidentally, U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones just had an unprecedented meeting with the President of the Israeli Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch, in which Jones demanded that the Israeli Court “interpret Israeli law in a prejudicial manner in order to demonize Israeli opponents of Palestinian statehood and the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Judea and Samaria.”

Why Israel is caving-in to its previous commitments to its people is something I fail to understand. They say that when you know a friend is about to commit suicide you must do everything possible to prevent it. I feel the same about Israel. We must do all we can to prevent Israel from committing suicide.

Chesler concludes:

According to David Bedein in Frontpage, Prime Minister Olmert “stood down from his opposition to international supervision of the agreement’s implementation. Nothing remains of the principle established by Yitzhak Rabin, which was maintained by all Israeli prime ministers, that only Israel would decide whether the Palestinian side had met its commitments.”

Finally, according to Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook HERE, one day after Annapolis, Abbas’s Palestinian Authority re-broadcast a map in which Israel was completely absent and the Palestinian state occupied what is now Tel Aviv, Ber-Sheva, Jerusalem, and Haifa.

And he’s the “good guy.”

Here’s what I have to say to the Israeli people: Vote Olmert out of office as quickly as possible. Do not, God forbid, assassinate him. President Beinisch: How dare Mr. Jones tell you what to do? Tell him to go to Hell—which is right next door in Sudan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. To Jews and to our supporters and to freedom-loving people everywhere: Hang in, hang on, trust no one. Be prepared for anything.

I agree totally with Ms. Chesler. Israel is being sold out. Olmert must be replaced.

UPDATE:For “What was agreed to at Annapolis will destroy Israel”, see Israpundit.

 

Secret Conspiracy of Jews Disclosed

Thomas Lifson, writing in the American Thinker, says

Just when you thought conspiracy theories couldn’t get any weirder, along comes one that reaches new comic heights. Except, of course, that there are people who take the lunacy very seriously. For example, the rulers of Iran.

The holocaust denial conference in Tehran featured some bizarre presentations, but news has just reached me of one so over the top that it just begs to be shared with our readers: Jews secretly rule India!

An abstract of the paper presented by V.T. Rajshekar to the conference in Iran is found here (scroll down past other anti-Semitic articles on how Jews also control America [ho-hum]).

Go here to read Lifson’s whole article on this latest conspiracy theory about how Jews who control America and Jews who control India are going to take over the world.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND JEWS

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND JEWS

In The American Thinker Ed Lasky published an article today about Jews and the Democratic Party. He begins:

The Democratic Party has been a congenial political home for many American Jews since the era of FDR. The party welcomed them into its ranks (along with many blacks and urban dwellers) and its programs comported well with many values Jews cherish. The Party was also seen as one that had offered help to the doomed Jews of Europe, opposed prejudice, and supported the fledgling state of Israel from enemies that boasted of its plans to destroy the state.

Conversely, the Republican Party was perceived to be a WASP enclave, isolationist in its outlook, and weak on support for Israel (though George C. Marshall under the Truman Administration advocated abandoning Israel to the tender mercies of its Arab neighbors).

However, these views are now anachronistic and need to be revisited.

Developments in the Democratic Party bode ill for the Jewish people and for the state of Israel – home of up to 40% of the world’s remaining Jewish population. The rank and file of the Party has become increasingly anti-Semitic and support for Israel has noticeably fallen. Democratic Congressmen have reflected this trend in very visible ways: their votes and actions in Congress reveal that support for Israel has eroded in alarming ways. Furthermore, more than a few Democratic Congressman have openly made statements that are either clearly anti-Semitic or can be fairly construed to be at least, “anti-Semitic in effect, if not intent”.

He then shows how in both grassroots and in elected Democratic politicians there is a pervasive anti-Israel, anti-Jewish mood.

Excerpt:

The internet, because of its low costs, has allowed the power of small donations, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of donors, to rise within the Democratic Party. Moreover, and more importantly, such extreme partisans can be relied-upon to be the unpaid foot soldiers involved in the crucial get-out-the-vote efforts that are often the deciding factors in campaigns. Perhaps it is not surprising that Democratic leaders and presidential aspirants Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Mark Warner, John Kerry have all tried to curry favor with the netizens, a group that seem to be increasingly corrupted by anti-Semitism.

and..

There are those who rejoice at the turn in the Democratic Party. The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs is easily the most anti-Israel publication in America. Based in Washington, D.C., its pages are filled with screeds against Israel and it lobbies for the end of US support for Israel. Anti-Semitism has also appeared in the pages of the magazine. In the current issue, the magazine has published its annual “Hall of Fame” that honors Congressmen it considers to be anti-Israel. At the top of the list among Senators, is Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat), aformer Ku Klux Klan Kleagle, Democratic baron, and the holder of one of the most anti-Israel records in Congress. In terms of the House, 29 members hold this dubious distinction – all of them Democrats (including Abercrombie, Conyers, David Obey, Jesse Jackson Jr., McDermott).

He provides quotes from Democratic congressman and other Democratic leaders like Jimmy Carter, that are clearly anti-semitic.

He concludes:

The loyalty American Jews have shown to the Democratic Party is increasingly not appreciated or reciprocated. As the Jewish population faces demographic decline, the Democratic Party is increasingly beholden to groups for which Israel is of no importance whatsoever (unions, for example). Several groups that form the core of the Democratic Party have anti-Semitism rates that are higher than the American population as a whole. As the party skews to the left, it has increasingly adopted the anti-Israel philosophy and attitudes that animate so many on the left.

Conversely, the Republican Party has never been more welcoming to Jews nor as supportive of Israel. The party has welcomed an increasing number of Jews to its ranks, and its candidates garner an increasing number of votes from Jewish voters. While Democrats demagogue the rise of evangelicals in America (and in the Republican Party) and demonize them as a threat to the Jews, such mythmaking does not reflect the fact that evangelicals cherish the Jewish people, for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with end-of-days scenarios. Indeed, Jews have assumed leadership posts in the Republican Party. While Democratic National Committee head Howard Dean joyously dances with a keffiyah draped over his shoulders, Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman waxes nostalgically and publicly about his Bar Mitzvah.

Jews have faced many challenges throughout their history. Iran is one of the most dangerous enemies Israel has ever had: an oil-rich nation with an active nuclear program that has made clear its intention to wipe Israel off the map. A Democratic Party that is increasingly dominated by anti-Israel members, as shown by surveys and Congressional votes, will not be a dependable ally. The fact that more than a few have also expressed , or enabled others to publicly express, anti-Semitism should distress all Americans. However, those contemplating these prospects should do more. Much more.

In an era when over half the world’s Jews face the prospect of annihilation, it is time to reconsider old habits and political alignments. The ability of Jews to survive over the ages has depended on the ability to recognize that situations change and people have to adapt. At times, such changes have compelled Jews to move on to “greener pastures” – to more welcoming and supportive places. This is now such a time- a time for the Jews to wander to the other side of the aisle.

This is an important article for everyone to read, but especially if you are Jewish and a Democrat.