Israel is Apartheid? “LOL”

     There are several phrases in English we use to express disbelief when we hear something so ridiculous that it defies all logic and reason. The basic one is the knee-jerk: “say what?!?” often accompanied by a facial expression somewhere between utter disbelief and having just bitten into a lemon. More sophisticated reactions are: “No way!”; “Are you kidding me?” or the less-than-kosher: “when pigs fly”. 

   Israelis use the Hebrew phrase “Hitschaktem otee” (the “ch” is guttural) – meaning: you made me laugh. Sort of like the computer-speak “LOL” – Laughing Out Loud.
  I found myself muttering this phrase often in the past few weeks with ever mounting anger and frustration over the well-orchestrated voices accusing Israel of being an “apartheid” state, like South Africa was until 1994.
   Israel has been called many things: innovative, brash, pioneering, unique, holy, caring, fascinating, historical, spiritual, annoying, enchanting, cultural, traditional, perplexing, altruistic, united, divided, protective, inclusive, apprehensive, generous, infuriating, magnanimous…etc., etc.   
   You can call Israel many things…but “apartheid” is not one of them! 
   These accusations are coming from the Palestinian, Arab and Iranian leadership, from Europe and North America, Asia, Africa, South America and even in the corridors of the UN.  They come from NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) as well as religious institutions.
   They form the basis of the growing BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement and are the rallying cry for the new surge of anti-Semitism in Europe and South America.
   The widespread “Israel is Apartheid” offensive, culminating this week with a worldwide “Israel Apartheid Week” would perhaps be valid if the accusation was true. But it’s not true. It’s a lie.
    The Concise Encyclopedia definition of apartheid is: “(Afrikaans: “apartness” or “separateness”) Policy of racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in South Africa. The Group Areas Act of 1950 established residential and business sectors in urban areas for each “race” and strengthened the existing “pass” laws, which required nonwhites to carry identification papers. Other laws forbade most social contacts between those of European descent and others, authorized segregated public facilities, established separate educational standards, restricted each group to certain types of jobs, curtailed nonwhite labor unions, denied nonwhite participation in the national government, and established various black African “homelands”...
   Israel is being accused of practicing apartheid against Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Not true. Here are some facts:

• 20% of the citizens of Israel are Arabs. The majority are Sunni Muslims. 
• They have equal legal, occupational, civil, residential, movement and business rights as the Jewish citizens.
• There are absolutely no restrictions on where Israeli Arabs can live, work, vacation or travel
• Many serve in the IDF 
• They are members of Israel’s parliament and serve as government ministers
• Salim Joubran, an Israeli Arab, is a permanent Justice on Israel’s Supreme Court
• Israeli Arabs serve as ambassadors and consul generals around the world
• The head of one of Israel’s largest hospitals is an Arab. 
• The President of Achva College at Ben Gurion University is a Bedouin.
• Arabs head University departments and are tenured professors.
• Israelis overwhelmingly chose an Arab woman on the “Next Top Model” reality TV show.
• The 2013 winner of Israel’s “The Voice” is an Arab female singer.
• Israeli Arab Miri Anwar Awad represented Israel in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, in Hebrew and Arabic. 
• Rana Raslan, a Sunni Moslem, was the 1999 Miss Israel, representing Israel in the Miss Universe pageant.
• All Arabs, including Palestinians living in the West Bank have unsegregated access to Israel’s medical facilities, beaches, parks and recreation facilities.
• Israeli Arabs, and many Palestinians and Arabs from other countries, have the same access to Israel’s Universities and Colleges as any Israeli or foreign student. 

I know that Israel is not perfect. The Jewish State is still a work in progress. But my answer to the ridiculous, unfounded, accusation of some arbitrary and widespread institutional practice of “Apartheid” against Israeli Arabs and West Bank Palestinians is: Hitschaktem otee!    
    Agree or disagree, that’s my opinion.

A Purim Thought: Is Iran the New Persia?

    "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", wrote George Santayana (1863-1952). But does that mean that those who do remember history will not repeat it? Not necessarily. Two modern cases in point: The rebirth of Israel as the historic Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile, and the re-emergence of Persia (Iran) as a potential empire for the first time since the fall of the Sassanid Empire to the Muslim invasion in 651.

   Lt. Col. (Res.) Dr. Rafael Ofek, an Israeli expert in the physics and technology of nuclear power, wrote this week in Israeldefence.com, “… even under the reign of the Shah Iran aspired for the status of a regional superpower, and made no attempt to conceal its aspirations. However, since the Khomeini revolution of 1979, Iran has become the flag bearer of Shia Islam worldwide, and has positioned itself as the sworn enemy of the USA and the West”. 
   To expand its power regionally, Iran created Hezbollah as a militia which is now the dominating force in Lebanon. It also allied with the Shia related Alawite regime in Syria. 
   Following the US pullout from Iraq, Iran absorbed that country into its ever growing sphere of influence, making sure that a pro-Iranian Shiite majority government is in power.
    But Iran wants more: It wants to control the oil and minerals of the Arabian Peninsula. 
  In an article published in the newspaper Makor Rishon last December, Mideast expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar told of a meeting a few years ago in Tehran between a Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation and current Iranian president Rouhani, then Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Rouhani made it clear to the Kuwaiti delegation that in his country’s opinion, the entire western coast of the Persian Gulf was Iranian sovereign territory that Iran will dominate when the time comes.
   Iran also plans to dominate Afghanistan. In a recent meeting in Tehran, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iranian President Rouhani signed an agreement to enhance “regional security” opposite the America’s efforts to persuade the Afghanis to agree to an extended Statement of Forces Agreement (SOFA). 
   What the Iranians really want is control of Afghanistan’s yet to be exploited vast deposits of oil and gas reserves, as well as rich deposits of various metals and minerals.
   According to Dr. Kedar, in 2006 Karzai rejected any attempt by Iran to intervene in Afghanistan. Today, however, in view of the fact that the US armed forces will pull out in about a year’s time, and his belief that the USA is about to abandon him to the Taliban, he feels he must yield to the empire-building ambitions of Tehran. No wonder Karzai is so far rejecting the agreement that would allow American military bases to continue to operate in Afghanistan.
  Dr. Kedar explained in his article why Tehran wishes to prevent Afghanistan from allowing foreign troops to remain on her soil. Firstly, Iran wishes to demonstrate that it is the “landlord” in central Asia and the Islamic world. In Iran’s view, driving the USA out of the region will be celebrated as a victory of Shia Islam over the infidels, including Sunni Islam led by Saudi Arabia. The other reason, according to Dr. Kedar is that US bases in Afghanistan will be used by American intelligence for monitoring communications and sending agents, especially against the Iranian nuke program.
  Dr. Ofek notes that terrorism has been a primary instrument employed by Tehran for the purpose of promoting its objectives around the world. While these activities focused primarily on “soft” Israeli targets, there were others, like the attempt in 2011 to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the USA.
  But the “crown jewel” of the Iranian regime is the establishment of a pretentious technological infrastructure, with the emphasis placed on the nuclear program and the space program. The world has not been convinced yet that these programs are intended “for peaceful purposes”, as Tehran proclaimed. The Geneva agreement may slow down Iran’s nuclear weapon program, but it is reasonable to assume that once Iran’s economy has recovered, it will revert to its plans and speed up its military nuclear program.
   The weak resolve of the West in the recent Geneva agreement will just increase Iran’s appetite for dominating its neighbors. One country Iran is eying is Pakistan, with a sizable Shiite minority and a considerable nuclear arsenal which the Iranians would like to control before some of it is transferred to Saudi Arabia and other Sunni countries.
    As Dr. Ofek notes: “If the world fails to stop Iran, then in a few years’ time it will expand further and further, and we might, heaven forbid, once again witness a Persian Empire extending “from India even into Ethiopia” (Esther 1, 1), as in the days of king Ahasuerus (Xerxes)”.  Only this time with nukes – and no shortage of Hamans...
   It looks like our memory of the past is not preventing a repeat of it. 
    Agree or disagree, that’s my opinion.

Mideast Snapshot February - 2014

 “What’s going on over there?” is a question I’m asked daily – at work, at lunch meetings, at my grandkids’ games…even at the doctor’s office.

      The question is serious, and comes from a real concern. Everyone has ‘skin’ in the rapidly changing, often confusing and highly volatile developments in that region. We all know that one way or another, what happens in the Middle East will have a direct impact on us, our families and our future.
   So starting this week, from time to time this column will answer the question, and give a snapshot of the current status of various Mideast issues.
   Iran: The Geneva “agreement” of last November between Iran and the P5+1 powers morphed into the “JPA” (Joint Plan of Action) that was supposed to make sure that during a six month period of negotiating an end to its nuclear weapons program, Iran would halt all enrichment and weapon development activities in exchange for a “slight” easing of the US imposed economic sanctions. As of this week the sanctions are effectively gone and Iran’s economy is recovering, while the UN inspectors confirm that Iran is still enriching and stockpiling Uranium and is still constructing a heavy water reactor capable of producing weapons grade plutonium. The inspectors have not, as of this writing, been allowed into Iran’s secret nuclear weapon research and testing facility, even though this was agreed on in the JPA.
   Final agreement talks are scheduled to start on February 18 in Vienna. Iranian officials announced last week that they have no intention of giving up their nuclear program. Foreign minister Zarif said that the U.S. wanted Iran to give up major parts of its nuclear program but such demands won’t be carried out. “America has wishes and those wishes are unlikely to come true” he said.
   And to prove some point, president Rouhani is sending their whole “Northern Fleet” (one destroyer and one supply ship) “towards the US Atlantic coast”. Remember Peter Seller’s hilarious 1959 movie “The Mouse That Roared”?
   Egypt: Despite being outlawed, arrested and with its top leadership on trial in Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood has gone underground and is regrouping. According to Egyptian officials, the MB is building a formidable military force with the help of seasoned jihadists from Libya, Iraq Afghanistan and Syria, and are currently attacking Egyptian security forces in the South and Sinai. 
   The Egyptian military has declared all-out war against the MB, but will probably keep it low until after the upcoming presidential election, expected within the next 60 days. At the moment all bets are on Field Marshall Abdel Fatah al-Assisi winning the election. This is good for Egypt, good for Israel, good for Middle East stability and good for the US. 
   Syria: The UN peace talks between the conflicting Sunni rebel groups and the Assad regime have failed. As intense fighting continues, the civilian casualty toll rises by hundreds a week – on both sides. The Syrian government is committing extreme atrocities including ethnic cleansing, destruction of whole villages, the kidnapping, torture and murder of children and the use of “barrel bombs” filled with nails shrapnel and ball bearings that are dropped with devastating effect on residential areas.
   The Sunni rebel forces are fighting on two fronts: against the regime and between themselves. All sides are getting supplies and reinforcements from outside of Syria – including radicalized US citizens who are fighting with the Jihadists, gaining combat and terrorism experience…
   Turkey: Under growing regional isolation, a declining economy, expanding civil unrest, and broad accusations of corruption at the highest levels, the Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided to accept Israel’s explanation for the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla raid, take the compensation offered and renew full relations with Israel. With a nuclear Iran looming, and under pressure from the Turkish military, this is a logical and step for both countries.
    Israel: Even if Secretary of State John Kerry succeeds in presenting an acceptable framework for continuing peace talks with the Palestinians – three towering and unbridgeable obstacles prevent a final deal from being reached anytime in the near future:

1. The Muslim world’s carved-in stone, religion based absolute refusal to recognize Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people 
2. The Palestinian’s insistence of keeping their “right of return” national narrative.
3. Israel’s ironclad pledge to never subcontract its security to a foreign military force.  

 So the answer to: “What’s going on over there” is…A lot. And it’s complicated, evolving and will probably change by the next snapshot. 
    Agree or disagree, that’s my opinion.

Peace Talks – Now the Threats

    Jumping out of a C130 Hercules troop carrier 1,200 feet above the sand dunes of Palmachim, just South of Tel-Aviv, is a unique experience. Near the target landing area, the red “get ready” light goes on and the side doors are opened. The first thing you experience is a rush of hot air and the deafening noise of the powerful turbo-prop engines.

   Standing in the open door like a ski-jumper on the ramp, when the light turns green you push and step forward, straight into the noisy and turbulent backdraft of the nearest engine, and are immediately thrown sideways, horizontally, beyond the tale of the plane. Within seconds you feel a slight jolt as the static rip-cord deploys your main chute.
   And suddenly, as you seem to be just hanging there, you hear…absolutely nothing. Not a sound. The plane is already miles away. You’re platoon is scattered in two lines of olive green parachutes hundreds of feet behind you.
   After checking that your chute is fully open you look down to find the landing spot.  At first it seems that you are not moving at all.  But within moments the ground seems to be coming up towards you. At first very slowly, then faster and faster, until in the last few seconds it’s rushing at you so fast that you barely have time to brace for the impact.
  I remembered this while learning about John Kerry’s new threat tactic.
  Six months ago he was led to believe that after 65 years of failed attempts, he could establish a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict by the end of 2014. One of the key benchmarks, directly connected to the next Israeli prisoner release, is next month, when an agreed “framework” for final negotiations must be in place.
   With every trial balloon of possible “framework” issues having been rejected, so far, by both the Palestinians and the Israelis, and the March deadline rapidly approaching, we can guess what the Secretary of State is feeling: that the deadline seems to be approaching at ever accelerating speed. The ground is rushing towards him.
   Otherwise it’s hard to understand the series of unveiled threats to both Israel and the Palestinian leadership made by Kerry in recent days.
   According to reliable Palestinian sources, a frustrated Kerry recently threatened Palestinian president Abu Mazen that he would meet the same fate as his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, if he turned down Washington’s proposals for peace with Israel. Abu Mazen reportedly stormed out of the room. The Palestinians pounced on this statement as “confirmation” that Arafat was “murdered by Israel”.
   In December Kerry implied that if a peace deal was not implemented then Israel would face a third bloody Intifada. At a security conference in In Munich last Saturday, Kerry said that the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not sustainable. It is illusionary. For Israel there is an increasing de-legitimization campaign that has been building up. People are very sensitive to it; there is talk of boycott and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?"
   That statement was celebrated in Europe and the Arab world as a US endorsement of the growing BDS (Boycott, Diverse and Sanction) movement, and in Israel as a direct US threat to its legitimacy and economy.
   In Middle East tradition, negotiations, even over small deals, frequently take a long time – measured in years and decades rather than weeks or months. Rigid timetables, deadlines and benchmarks rarely work (example: Assad’s failure to turn over Syria’s chemical weapons on time), neither do threats...at least not to Israel.
   The Israelis and Palestinians have known since the UN partition vote on November 29, 1947 that the eventual end result will be two states for two people. They also know that the negotiations may continue, with different leaders and various interim agreements and accommodations, another 67 years or longer.
   Both sides are rejecting, each in their own way, the threats and pressures of a super-power that is actively and rapidly disengaging from the Middle East.
   The perception of the “ground rushing up” is real…but different for each party. For Israel – it’s the immediate probability of Iran having nuclear weapons and the region’s growing instability. For the Palestinians – it’s the potential loss of their perpetual and highly lucrative refugee status. For John Kerry and the White House, according to most US and Middle East analysts – it’s the upcoming 2014 and 2016 elections.
    Kerry made three jumps from three planes – Peace talks, Iran nukes and Syrian chemical weapons. Each time his parachuting technique was by-the-book. But each time the green light went on and he took that giant step into the backdraft, Kerry’s pilot had been way off course and off timing. Each of the three meticulously planned drop zones was missed by miles. The missions, so far, are failing.
   Just because the ground is rushing towards you doesn’t mean you’re at the right place – or that threats and/or bribes will get you where you want to be.     
   Agree or disagree, that’s my opinion.