What Is This World Coming To?

According to Israeli intelligence,  Hezbollah has added the advanced shoulder-fired SA-18 missile to its arsenal of anti-aircraft weapons.

The Lebanese daily Al Akhbar said Hezbollah intends to take measures to stop Israeli overflights. On July 31, the pro-Hezbollah newspaper quoted a militia source as saying that Hezbollah was “close to adopting practical measures that will force Israel to cease the overflights.”

The SA-18s, with a range of 5.2 kilometers, were provided to Hezbollah by Iran and Syria, officials said. They said Iran also plans to equip Hezbollah with longer-range air defense systems designed in China and Russia.

“There is a reinforcement on the other side, and it’s not by chance that we are training intensively on the Golan Heights and on a major scale,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. “There has been a very significant reinforcement of Hezbollah in recent years, and we are examining the possibility that the balance of power has shifted with the introduction of sophisticated weapons from Syria.”

On Aug. 12, Israel’s military, in a move closely monitored by neighboring Syria, held a major exercise on the Golan Heights. Officials said the exercise envisioned a Hezbollah and Syria attack on northern Israel.

One option for Hezbollah was to procure mobile SAM systems, such as the Pantsyr-S1E from Russia. Officials said Hezbollah could deploy the Pantsyr from Iranian or Syrian stocks in Shi’ite areas of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, where the militia was believed to keep heavy weapons and long-range rockets.

Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority and the alleged moderate who is the ‘last, best hope for peace’ between Israel and the Palestinians offered his congratulations to the family of child murderer Samir Kuntar on his release from an Israeli prison.

Kuntar was among those traded for kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Kuntar had been in Israeli custody for thirty years after being convicted of murdering a four year old Jewish girl by crushing her head with a rifle butt. Read the rest of this entry »

By Isi Leibler

Sen. Barack Obama is possibly the most charismatic US presidential candidate since John Kennedy. He is young, charming, passionate and extremely bright. He has overcome the barrier of racial bias and defeated a powerful adversary considered unbeatable. He is adored by many idealistic young people, who see in him a hope for a brighter future. Read the rest of this entry »

Obama’s address to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) got a resounding round of applause from his audience for his statement that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain ‘undivided.’

Obama received a half-dozen standing ovations for his comments, more than any other dignitary on the platform, including Hillary Clinton and John McCain. So it would appear that, after a whole bunch of gaffes, Obama’s speechwriters hit a home run this time. Or not.

Instead, Obama simply highlighted (again) is abysmal grasp of foreign policy. It seems he forgot that the Palestinians can read.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, went ballistic at Obama’s remarks. He told reporters at a hastily-convented press conference in Ramallah:

“This statement is totally rejected. The whole world knows that East Jerusalem, holy Jerusalem, was occupied in 1967 and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.”

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said Palestinian negotiators engaged in U.S.-sponsoredpeace talks would continue to insist on securing East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital. He said of Obama: “He has closed all doors to peace.”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri took back its previous endorsement of Obama’s candidacy, saying,

“Obama’s comments have confirmed that there will be no change in the U.S. administration’s foreign policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“The Democratic and Republican parties support totally the Israeli occupation at the expense of the interests and rights of Arabs and Palestinians,” he said. “Hamas does not differentiate between the two presidential candidates, Obama and McCain, because their policies regarding the Arab-Israel conflict are the same and are hostile to us, therefore we do have no preference and are not wishing for either of them to win.”

(Actually, Zhuri is wrong. The current administration’s foreign policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict demands that Jerusalem be divided as a shared capital for both states. Obama’s statement puts him to the right of George W. Bush.)

Ooops! Time for another ‘do-over’. Yesterday, he had already begun to back-pedal, as he did when he first pledged to meet any dictator, from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Kim Jong il, ‘without preconditions.’ Later, when he realized how stupid that sounded, he said that he wouldn’t demand ‘preconditions’ but instead would require a lot of advance preparation that sounds suspiciously like preconditions.

Now, Obama is similarly ‘clarifiying‘ his comments over Jerusalem. Obama now believes:

“Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties” as part of “an agreement that they both can live with.”

“Two principles should apply to any outcome,” which the adviser gave as: “Jerusalem remains Israel’s capital and it’s not going to be divided by barbed wire and checkpoints as it was in 1948-1967.”

THAT’S what I like about Barack Obama. If you disagree with his positions, you don’t have to get mad. You don’t even have to get even. You just have to wait until he changes to one you can be more comfortable with.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to announce that he will ‘not stand in the way’ of his Kadima Party beginning the process of initiating a primary to choose his replacement. Olmert made the commitment following ‘heart-to-heart’ talks with party officials.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzahi Hanegbi told an Israeli version of “Meet the Press” that he envisioned a national unity coalition government between Kadima, Labor and the Likud Parties. One thing he is certain of is that Olmert’s government is on the verge of collapse.

“I consulted with Olmert and senior Kadima officials on the matter and, clearly, [I think] it is impossible to hold this crumbling coalition together,” Hanegbi said. “Even if Barak does not quit, Shas will leave the coalition, and if Shas doesn’t leave, Barak will.”

A Ma’ariv poll showed that if elections were held now, a Binyamin Netanyahu-led Likud would win 30 mandates, a Livni-led Kadima would get 25 and Labor under Barak would win 18. If Mofaz were Kadima’s candidate, Likud would win 31 seats, Kadima 18 and Labor 21.

It would be nice to simply speak something into the air and, by virtue of your ‘positive confession’ for that ’something’ to become the truth.

Former president Jimmy Carter spoke into the air that he could accomplish what no sitting president could, and bring peace between Israel and her enemies.

Carter was SO certain that only he could bring this off that he traveled to Damascus, in defiance of both the State Department and Israeli Foreign Ministry. Read the rest of this entry »

The Jerusalem Post is reporting, under the curiously-worded headline, “Palestinian factions in Gaza agree in principle to cease-fire” that about a dozen small Palestinian factions ‘agreed in principle’ to a ceasefire with Israel.

What made the headline ‘curiously-worded’ was that the report later explained that it wasn’t really a ‘cease-fire’ at all, but rather, a ‘hudna’. What is a hudna? Read the rest of this entry »

When Bill Clinton was accepting the DNC nomination for president in 1991, he turned to the Scriptures for inspiration as he delivered his acceptance speech:

“As the Scripture says, ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that we can build.’” - Bill Clinton DNC acceptance speech.

Bill apparently didn’t like the way the original Author said it: ” But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (1st Corinthians 2:9)

In the Bible’s version, you didn’t have to vote for Bill Clinton in order for God to love you. Not to be outdone, Bill’s running mate, Al “the Ozone Man” Gore announced; “As it says in the Scriptures, ‘do not lose hope. This nation will be rebuilt.’”

I’d like to tell you what Scripture Al Gore was quoting, but I couldn’t find anything even remotely close. But this is Al Gore — so it doesn’t matter if the Scripture says so or not. Al said so, so the matter is settled. Read the rest of this entry »

Right after the reports appeared of the attack on the facility in Syria, North Korea denied it had cooperated with Damascus. It appears that US intelligence has evidence to the contrary.

Briefings to intelligence, foreign relations and armed services committees in both chambers of Congress reportedly show that a facility bombed by the Israelis last year was a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor being built with direct assistance from Pyongyang.

Tick . . . tick . . .tick. . . .