As one of the early writers on our entrance into Afghanistan, it was obvious to me from the beginning that this was a huge mistake for a number of reasons. There was absolutely no reason for us to go there, just as there was no reason to go into Iraq. Unfortunately, George W. Bush felt the need to do something even I could see was sheer folly...just as Joe Biden's mistake in 'removing' us from the place the way he did has already cost more American lives plus billions of dollars in US tax payer dollars.
Any fool should have seen that going into a land locked country with an army after weakening them with ridiculous 'rules of engagement' their grandfathers who on WWII would have been shocked by was ridiculous...imagine this, some terrorist shoots at you, but as long as he either drops his weapon or simply stops shooting at you, you have to stop shooting to defend yourself or your fellow soldiers!
Not only that, but Bush never understood that going into a land locked country via a hostile country like Pakistan was absolutely the wrong thing to do. The Pakistanis took us for billions in bribe money to allow us to dock at their harbor and then bring supplies and arms for our troops in trucks over the one road they were allowed to travel. And whenever the Pakis were annoyed with us or simply wanted more money, they would shut down that road, which left the trucks as sitting ducks for the Taliban to ambush*.
The excuse we're hearing now is that going into Afghanistan was to'get Bin Laden.' And frankly, that was sheer nonsense. Remember where we found him? In Pakistan, right near Pakistan's military academy. The truth is that the Taliban was on the point of getting rid of him and Al Qaeda, and before we even got there, most of them had fled via Iran, where they were welcome...while Bin Laden went to Pakistan, where he was also quite welcomed by our 'allies.' So there was no reason except the usual Bush mentality about 'nation building.'
If we really wanted to damage the Taliban (and why, I don't know) we could have done it by bankrupting them. Much of their finance comes from 'taxes' to the villages who grow the poppies and the sale of opium, after it's manufactured in labs in Pakistan. Or we could have left them alone, which was what they wanted. And if we had done that, 2,400 + US servicemen plus a large number of wounded and maimed troops would have been alive and well, plus another 1100 or so from the countries who decided to help us out.
So let's look at the current situation. Thanks to Joe Biden's worrying about how the polls showed that the American people were getting wise to him, he made a thing of not just exiting, but running away from Afghanistan with zero preparations. He figured getting out of AfPack would help him politically.
Now think about that. just a sudden exit with no real plans. Aside from 300 American military and citizens who are still there with no way of getting to the Kabul airport because they were told to wait until they got orders to do so, which they still haven't received. How they'll get out is a mystery. Heck today there was a suicide bombing attack at the airport. According to the pentagon 11 Marines,, a Navy corpsman, and a U.S. Army soldier were killed by the suicide bombing and at least another 18 service members were wounded. And that's just the beginning.
We spent 88 billion taxpayer dollars on the 'Afghan Army' which did nothing to defend much. And that doesn't include the taxpayer dollars spent on 'nation building' which are also down the toilet now. Some of you may remember all the 'green on green killing' when Afghani soldiers we were training turned on our troops. And the equipment we gave them? The Taliban now has billions of dollars worth of state of the art US military equipment, including rocket launchers, Blackhawk helicopters, and other goodies.
More than that. The United States had just 2,500 troops at Bagram when Biden was installed. The United States had not suffered a casualty in over a year. Bagram was also a prison. There were thousands of Taliban, al Qaeda, and ISIS terrorists held in captivity there after they’d been captured on battlefields or some other ops. When our troops were ordered to leave, theTaliban simply released them...talk about aiding and abetting terrorism.
Here's another thing to reflect on. The Taliban has no love for Pakistan..neither do what's left of ISIS or Al Quaeda. Believe it or not they actually think of Pakistan as not devout enough to Islam. With all these new weapons they now have, imagine what would happen if they decide to attack Pakistan, a country with an air force and nuclear weapons!
Since the Taliban now have an arrangement with the Chinese, rest assured that all of this equipment will also get a look see by them as well, perhaps of some reverse engineering so they can copy it and learn it's weak points. Of course, Joe Biden has his own connection with them so I suppose it's not something he's worried about.
There's no reason this equipment couldn't have been destroyed or removed before we announced our departure.* There's also no reason we couldn't have had our people in Kabul beforehand either, so we could get them out safely....except that Joe Biden wanted some credit. He'll definitely get some credit. What he's working on now is getting lots of Afghanis into the US. This also gives us a clue on who's calling the shots, and it isn't Joe Biden.
There's no reason these people couldn't have gone to some other Muslim majority nation, where they would be far more at home, with a culture and laws familiar to them.
If you'd like to know why, do some research about the problems countries in Europe who let Afghanis in have had with them. They tend to stay on welfare, rape women and young girls and cause other problems. I'd advise you to do a search on your own on that one. I guarantee you'll be shocked.
The only good to come out of this is that I hope we have learned a lesson. No more 'nation building' and no more large scale wars unless Congress votes for it. As for the two presidents , Bush and Barack Obama who were so insistent about getting us into Afghanistan, spending billions on it (and I'm certain a lot of the money we spent went into Afghan politician's pockets) I hope the American will be a lot more open about voicing their disrespect for this kind of activity.
*A brief note While President Trump was in office, we had a lot less causalities than when his predecessors were running things. For one thing he removed the idiotic 'rules of engagement our troops were forced to obey. He also made an agreement with countries we were on good terms with like Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan to deliver supplies to our troops via the Caspian see and a short route through Turkmenistan. So no more bribes for Pakistan, and o more trucks sitting there like sitting ducks. While we can't be sure, I have a feeling he would have handled our exit a lot better.
Rob Miller writes for Joshuapundit. His articles have appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, The Times Of Israel, Breitbart.Com, Yediot and other publications.
So I’ve “gotten into it” any number of times about Hitler being a
Socialist, that you can’t say NAZI without understanding it comes from
“National Socialist German Worker’s Party”, and so on. And there is
plenty of evidence that he was, indeed, a Socialist.
I was born and raised in the “People’s Republic of Marxachusetts” and
grew up very, very liberal. Name a Left/Right issue, I was on the
Left. No question. Yet each time I abandoned a Left position to move
Rightward, I can point to a seminal event or other piece of
insight/learning that ushered in a reconsidering of my former position
and – often – describe my thought process after that event as well as
new insights and thought patterns that started to ascend.
As one example, still fresh in my mind despite (cough cough a long time), is the moment when I started to doubt the anti-gun teachings I’d been impressed with all my life (bolding in original):
I was living in the Midwest when my police officer neighbor
remarked that I should get a gun for self-defense. Having been raised,
all my life, to believe that civilian gun ownership was wrong, it
shocked me to my core that – of all people – a cop was telling me this.
Unlike most Leftists – and have no doubt that I still was one – I didn’t dismiss this as a flier data point stated by a knuckledraggingslopedforeheadredneck, but rather it made me think those great two words that often stand at the threshold of a new insight: That’s weird…
I can also describe – and did – the thought processes and cascades
that came from that moment. As I can when I started to question my
“pro-abortion” stance to move towards the pro-life view. And many other
shifts, including my transitioning from a climate alarmist to
CO2-mageddon skeptic. All of this ties back to something our host said
some time ago on their old blog about humility. In this context, the willingness to admit the possibility of error. Humility is the opposite of Vanity, and while the Seven Deadly Sins – and Seven Heavenly Virtues
– are Catholic constructs (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) I
have found them to be useful intellectual tools. I have told my
children, in teaching them my values, that it’s my belief that all
humans have 1-2 sins that dominate a particular person’s weaknesses,
that there are 1-2 that are “intermediate”, and the rest fall off
Pareto-like into the trivial.
As noted in an excellent book I recently read, learning requires
change, and change requires the humility to admit one might be wrong in
one’s beliefs. This is, as an aside, is something I would ask when
doing interviews back in my days as a corporate slave, er, drone, um, I
mean employee: Tell me about a time when you changed your mind on
something significant. Describe the background, your initial thoughts,
what you changed to, and why you changed your mind.
If reworded a little, it’s also an excellent question to ask of a potential new boss.
My, my... Leave it to Sodom on the Bay to not only close schools for weeks, but to come up with a forced, mandatory requirement to 'expand diversity' which gave most parents zero choices of where their children could go to school.
This so-called 'Zone system' the school board voted in back in December was designed to 'increase diversity' in the public schools no matter what. And, as a cherry on top, students living in public housing and their parents were given a priority in the selection process.
What that meant is that if you had a child in a decent elementary school near where you live, they could be sent anywhere.
And parents were prevented from any appeal about it, even if it meant their children would be going to school in a dangerous neighborhood far away, with substandard teachers and curriculum and problems with gangs.
On the other hand, if your child already was in such a school, instead of improving it with better teachers and disciplining the trouble makers, You would get the priority of sending him or her to the good schools in your 'zone'. Not only that, but the curriculum of all public schools will also be 'diversified...and I'm sure you know what that means...the teaching of critical Race theory in all public schools.
While on the face of it this seems like it might have some good points,
the obvious reasons for doing it was highly suspect. Among other
things, it was scheduled to cost $2.5 million over the next 18 months.
Hmm, no interest in how how the existing schools could have been improved with that money instead! The real
reason of course has nothing to do with diversity. So the real reason it was done is obvious. It's about power and
control. These children will be subjected to the far Left's views on
morality, America, and of course critical race theory.
Not only that, but families were not to be allowed to appeal any decision of the Bureaucrats. And since students living in public House projects will get priority in picking whatever school they want, teachers who are actually trying to educate a class of students can no longer
teach to the general learning level of a classroom, which of course
means that the smarter kids with the higher learning capacities suffer.
It also means that people who struggled to save and buy a home at San Francisco's high prices in a nice neighborhood because of the good schools were getting ripped off big time.Especially since they pay the highest taxes.
So how well did this expensive program work out? Simple. Much of San Francisco white and Asian parents took one of two ways out. They either found private and/or Parochial schools to send their kids to, which meant that they were still getting ripped off and stuck paying those high taxes as well as private school fees.
The other choice of course, being to relocate outside the district or maybe even move away from SF period.
When I first read about this , I sympathized, since I got my kids out of the public schools where I lived myself as soon as possible, respectfully in the 5th and 3rd grades and found an excellent parochial school for them. I still think that it was one of the best moves we ever made as parents, expensive though it was.
Surprise! That's exactly what happened in San Francisco, and their racist woke tactics cost them a bundle. This s what happens when the people supposedly running the public school district spend their time debating on how to rename public schools after Lefty 'heroes' instead of historic American heroes. And the kids are already behind, because there was almost a year's lock down mandated by the teacher's union.
According to the SF Chronicle, more than 1,700 public school students have simply left the public schools. And they're expecting a lot more to leave at the start of the next academic year in the fall. And guess what? Any teacher will tell you that one of their important duties is that morning head count, which determines how much Federal money the school gets.
According to the Chronicle, this is going to cost the district $20 Million in Fed money...not that the public schools are doing very well otherwise academically, like a lot of California public schools. You see, with the better students leaving, the remaining children in SFUSD were at 12% proficiency in Math & 19% in English, with 80% of those kids who are left not meeting reading literacy requirements.
The Sf school district already has a lawsuit to deal with because of its decision to rename schools named after Washington,Lincoln, etc for their 'racism.'
Meanwhile, the School District Vice President, Alison Collins
👇
was under fire because of a number of tweets criticizing Asians of being racist and not woke. After she refused to resign or remove the tweets (see, if you use Twitter and are from the right demographic you can get away with racism). She sued the School District for $87 million after she was removed from her position. I haven't bothered to check whether she won, since all this shows is the quality of who's running the school district....
Again, in big letters.....THIS IS NOT ABOUT BETTER EDUCATION.IT IS DEFINITELY NOT ABOUT THE WELFARE OF THE KIDS, IF ANYTHING, IT'S THE REVERSE. SO WHAT IS IT REALLY ABOUT???
SIMPLE, IT'S ABOUT CONTROL, WASTING OTHER PEOPLE'S HARD EARNED MONEY, INFERIOR TEACHERS PROTECTED BY A POLITICALY PROMINENT UNION AND MOST OF ALL, MIND RAPING YOUR CHILDREN.
TO FIX IT WILL TAKE PARENTS THEMSELVES GETTING IN THESE PEOPLE'S FACES AND VOTING THEM OUT OF POWER. Or SIMPLY LEAVING THE DISTRICT AND STARVING THE BEAST. HOME SCHOOLING IS ALSO AN OPTION.
THINK ABOUT IT. YOUR KIDS ARE WORTH IT.
Rob Miller writes for Joshuapundit. His articles have appeared in The
Jerusalem Post, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Los
Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco
Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, The Times Of Israel, Breitbart.Com,
Yediot and many other publications.
Today is Memorial Day, a day when we honor men and women fallen in the service of their country.
Back when America was more of a piece, such a day was universal because of what
it meant. Oddly enough, the holiday itself started from division after
the Civil War, a conflict over 600,000 Americans never returned from.
Southern women, putting flowers on the graves of their fallen also
decided to decorate the graves of the fallen Union soldiers as well, and
the custom spread across the Mason-Dixon line. From such a
great,painful division came unity.
In America today, we are now in the midst of another great division. And
increasingly, we lack the common bonds of our ancestors.
Let's examine something.
At the present time, we have a volunteer military. What that means is
that some young men in our society made a choice to restrict their own
freedom and risk their lives to defend the rest of us.Increasingly,
there is a socioeconomic and geographical divide between those whom
chose to serve and those who don't. In the past, most Americans knew
someone who was serving or had served in our military...vets like Dad,
your uncle or grandpa, somebody's niece or nephew, the neighbors kid or
perhaps your own. That's no longer true.
The fact is, most self-styled progressives despise the sort of people
who serve in our military. Oh, they'll pay lip service to 'supporting
the troops' because, you know, it sounds patriotic and provides them a
fig leaf, but the attitude is fairly obvious. A few Memorial Days ago,
MSNBC host and Nation editor Chris Hayes had this to say
CHRIS HAYES: Thinking today and observing Memorial Day, that'll be
happening tomorrow. Just talked with Lt. Col. Steve Burke, who was a
casualty officer with the Marines and had to tell people [inaudible].
Um, I, I, ah, [Steve] Beck, sorry, um, I think it's interesting because I
think it is very difficult to talk about the war dead and the fallen
without invoking valor, without invoking the words "heroes." Um, and,
ah, ah, why do I feel so comfortable [sic] about the word "hero"? I feel
comfortable, ah, uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me
that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um,
and, I don't want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone
that's fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in
which there is genuine, tremendous heroism: hail of gunfire, rescuing
fellow soldiers and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal
this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I'm wrong about that.
To people like Chris Hayes, the people that go into the military are suckers and dupes, and more than one
of his comrades on the left have shown that this is exactly how they
see it...especially when they think no one's listening too closely.
Chris Hayes isn't alone. And people like him don't understand this. Not
only don't most of them not know anyone who has ever served, but to
them, it seems like anyone who would volunteer for the military is
someone beneath them socially and intellectually,someone who had no
other option. Especially for patriotic motives, which they also think of
as borderline neanderthal. I mean, why would someone risk his life at
minimal pay for such a deeply flawed country like America if they were,
you know, smart?
Today, I saw photos of Bill and Hillary Clinton marching in a Memorial
Day parade in their home town Chautauqua, New York. Since Mrs. Clinton
and her friends are now preparing the ground for a 2020 run, I suppose
they though it made good optics, you know. A nice photo op.
Not so long ago, an Obama-appointed judge threw a lawsuit out of court against
Mrs. Clinton for willful negligence in the death of their sons by the
Benghazi families. Judge Amy Berman Jackson set aside their claims that
her use of an illegal private server to send confidential intel out
unprotected helped cause the death of their sons. Not to mention
ignoring repeated pleas for more security from Ambassador Stevens.
The judges verdict? That Mrs. Clinton's activities, even the clearly
illegal ones were, and I quote "that Secretary Clinton was acting in the
scope of her employment when she transmitted the emails that are
alleged to give rise to her liability,”
And here you have these people marching and smiling in a Memorial Day Parade.
Yet in spite of all that, we still breed men here in America who answer
the call of freedom. They understand something far more important than
the contempt of the elites, and the smug platitudes uttered on this day.
It is these men and women who define patriotism.
They knew that our beloved republic is worth fighting, and sometimes
dying for. They put their lives on the line for our homeland. And they
know how much many of us honor their bravery and sacrifice, even if it's
s simple gesture like flowers on a grave. They showed up and gave
their all. That's what we really honor on Memorial Day. And recent
events may signify that we have indeed turned the corner as a nation,
back towards the values we once held in common.
Those heroes, dead and alive will live forever in our hearts and always
have our deepest gratitude and respect. The Chris Hayses, and their
ilk never will.
In spite of all his words about the US supporting Israel's security, President Biden's actions prove the reverse.
After telling reporters at a White House press conference that "there is no shift in my commitment … to the security of Israel" His remarks that followed proved his real position is exactly the opposite. "I’ll tell you what there is a shift in. The shift is … we still need a
two-state solution. It is the only answer. The only answer.”
That is as much as Biden saying he wants Israel forced back to indefensible borders...or as Israeli diplomat Abba Eban appropriately once called the pre 1967 borders, "the Auschwitz Lines."
The above is a view of Tel Aviv and Israel's heavily populated central valley, including Israel's airports.
If Israel was forced back to the pre 1967 lines, they would have no way of defending their country which would be surrounded by hostile enemies on all sides...with a width of only nine miles. In addition the 'Palestinians' want East Jerusalem. If Israel were to give it to them, West Jerusalem would be an easy target, and all of Israel's holy sites would be under the control of Arabs who hate Jews and want them exterminated. The last time that happened, in 1948, every Jew was ethnically cleansed, the Western Wall was used as a latrine and trash dump, and 28 historic synagogues were burned to the ground.
There would also be 500,000 plus homeless Jewish refugees. trying to find jobs and homes in an already crowded and vulnerable country.
To make a long story short, what Joe Biden wants is exactly what Barack Obama wanted and said openly once he was elected... 'distance between Israel and the US.' Anyone who advocated a 'two state solution' in land that already belongs to Israelis ignoring the fact that according to the San Remo Accords which the Arabs signed, the 22% of the former Ottoman Palestine Mandate west of the Jordan River, as opposed to the Arabs 78%of the Mandate East of the River which became Jordan. This agreement was reaffirmed in Article 80 of the UN Charter , and has never been removed from the Charter.
The 'Palestinians' still believe that “Palestine” must be liberated from the Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. They have no interest in 'peaceful coexistence what so ever and have proved that ever since Oslo.
Biden even BS'd the reporters even further. He also said that Democrats who want his administration to rebuke Israel and end a planned
arms deal between the United States and Israel, saying, “I think that
my party still supports Israel.” Sure they do. There are already motions in congress to end all military sales and aid to Israel, including the arms deal Biden promised Netanyahu in exchange for the ceasefire with Hamas and any future sales.
The Democrat Party is now the US Equivalent of the UK's Labour Party when it comes to pure Jew hatred.
On Friday, various Left wing Democrat progressive groups called on the Biden administration to condemn Israel.
“We are horrified by Israel’s use of disproportionate and deadly
force against Palestinians in Gaza which have already resulted in the
killings of dozens of Palestinians, including children,” the statement
reads (pdf).
And Hamas didn't use deadly force against Israeli civilians?
Notice they make no notice of the use by Hamas of children as human shields , or of the amount of 400 plus Hamas rockets that misfired and killed civilians in Gaza*.(A frequent tactic by Hamas for propaganda purposes). or of Israeli children who were murdered by Hamas's sneak attack. )
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also moved to block a planned
weapons sale to Israel. And they have lots of supporters.
Notice something else. When Donald Trump was president, he engineered the Abraham Accords, which brought peace to the region. The reasoning is quite easy to understand. As long as Israel had ironclad American support of President Trump, who unlike Joe Biden abided by The Taylor Force law, which prohibits US aid to countries or groups like Hamas and the PLO who support terrorism and stopped funding the PLO, it had the effect of creating a peaceful environment, except for the fact that Mahmoud Abbas refused any negotiations.
And the Emirate Countries, Sudan, etc were happy to establish relations with Israel, while the Saudis were just a step away. After all, they wanted to be friendly with Israel and if America supported Israel, well and good, we want that too! But now, after Biden gave hundreds of millions of US dollars* to the PLO and Hamas, who definitely got a share, and had begun refinancing UNRWA, whose 'mission is basically educating 'Palestinian' children that murdering Jews is a holy act and making Abbas's thesis saying the Holocaust was a hoax required reading, the Emirates and certainly the Saudis reason differently. Now, the story is that since America doesn't support Israel anymore, there really no need to get too involved with Israel. As for the Saudis, they're now trying to work out something with Iran, who they see as Biden's new friend.
So what comes next? Biden's obvious next step is to ally with EU countries like Ireland and Britain that have always hated Israel and attempt to threaten Israel with sanctions and perhaps even a military intervention unless they go back to the pre 1967 lines and give Hamas and the Palestinians what they want. Again, this is exactly what Barack Obama wanted, which is why he and his lackeys pushed through resolution 2334, which no sovereign country with any desire to survive would have obeyed. Since it wasn't a series 7 security council resolution, Israel had no reason to obey this anti-semitic resolution with no teeth. Nor will Israel do so in the future, since they're not suicidal.
Essentially, Biden is doing the same thing French President DeGaulle did to Israel in 1967 when he cut off all arms sales to Israel without warning on the eve of the Six Day War, even shipments Israel had already paid for. France was Israel's only arm supplier at the time.
So what is Israel's solution?They obviously cannot depend on Joe Biden, who is simply the figurehead for Obama's 3rd term. His promise to replenish Israel's iron Dome defense missiles is not anything Israel can depend on. But his promise to give Hamas millions of dollars in aid to rebuild will definitely be kept. And that money will mostly be spent on more acquiring missiles, repairing terrorist tunnels on Israel's border and other weaponry. It is also very probable that Biden will go back to the 'Iran deal', take away Iran's sanctions and give them a clear path to acquiring nuclear weapons.
This is one reason why the ceasefire was a mistake on Israel's part, since they will only have to fight a recovered Hamas again in the near future. Peace comes withvictory
While there are still a number of US military leaders and congress members who are pro Israel, they are not the ones with the power to change anything just now.
The best thing Israel could do now is strengthen the home front and prepare to defend itself alone. That could include the following:
1) A number of PLO paid thugs rioted in Israelis cities during the attack, especially in Lod, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa among other places. Many of them aren't citizens, but even those who are and bit the hand feeding them need to be extradited from Israel. No country can survive with a fifth column like that within its borders.
2) Israel needs to stop being dependent on the US as an arms supplier to the largest degree possible . Israel has it's own state of the art arms industry perfectly capable of supplying Israel's needs. And spare parts on US made articles Israel needs can certainly be re-engineered if necessary. Israel should also exercise great caution on any intel they give the US. As John Kerry showed them, the new regime is not to be trusted....with anything.
3) Israel needs to make it clear that a 'two state solution' is suicidal for them, that they will no longer tolerate having terrorist enclaves on their borders...and that ANY FUTURE ATTACKS, terrorist or otherwise WILL BE AN ACT OF WAR and fought to the end. Israel should know by now that negations with the PLO and Hamas are futile. The only reason the sham goes on is to pacify people like Obama and Biden. And how well that worked is now obvious! A superb opportunity to end the problem of Gaza once and for all has been missed. Ditto with Judea and Samaria. Hopefully that won't be repeated.
4) Israel should expel the Jordanian Wakh from the Temple Mount and appoint a committee consisting of Jews, Muslims of proven loyalty who are Israeli citizens and perhaps Christians and Druse to administer the Temple Mount peacefully for all faiths. As for Jordan's Wakh? They have been tested and found unworthy and untrusty.
5)Israel needs to improve the protection of it's borders.
6) Eventually, Israel will have to come to battle with Hamas and the PLO. Those plans should be worked on now if they aren't already done.
Rob Miller writes for Joshuapundit. His articles have appeared in The
Jerusalem Post, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Los
Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco
Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, The Times Of Israel, Breitbart.Com,
Yediot and other publications.
Now
that many high-powered politicians/scientists are confirming Aliens
visiting the Earth. I'd like to ponder the effect on us. I can picture a
Spaceship landing...the door opening and out steps the visitor. I guess
we'll all expect him to say, "Take me to your Leader." He might preface
it with:
"As-salamu alaikum,
God bless you, or, Shalom! Now, that's the problem. Would his greeting
confirm one religion and negate the others? Maybe he would talk about an
altogether different religious belief that is in extreme contrast to
what is known here. Do other beings pray 5 times a day, receive Holy
communion, study the Torah? Folks may begin to believe that their
religion is all a hoax.
Space-visitors will NOT disprove God, not at all!
A divine-intelligence is acknowledged by all, except people who believe
in a causeless-cause. But, one doesn't pray to a 'causeless cause' nor
find any solace in a dark night of the soul. However, it will put
extreme pressure on the random Clergy to explain what it all means?
Maybe most will notice that their tithing is inimical to their own
financial
well-being
while Ministers live like Kings!
I read of a trend:
Artificial-intelligence Churches. Unsure of the dogma but, it will give
people what they really want/need. Someone to talk to and feel they are
loved. The computer program will remember your name. When you wake up
you'll have a personalized message just for you and, no doubt thousands
of other congregants. But, it will feel personal.
And what is the
difference? Your current religion has millions of members and yet you
feel that the creator hears your prayers and pleadings. Thus, unless the
Space visitors can confirm one religion over another, we will all
consider ourselves having been fooled and suckers. I predict chaos,
mental illness and violence. Civilization is hanging by a thread. Some
may feel that thread is already snapped! Aliens are the sword of
Damocles! Like most societal-upheavals it will be a must see TV.
I'd
like to end this on a personal note. I went to Catholic School. I grew
to hate it! Sure, I prayed for my personal salvation. But, I found
betrayal all around me there and when I left. Oh! Some excellent times
too. My whole life was hardly a horror. But, on dark nights of the Soul I
used to ponder the scripture about God creating the world and all its
creatures. Murder didn't take long, if you recall Cain and Able. My take
was and is, "What is so great about human beings that we are the only
ones in the universe???" I do not believe in the innate divinity of
Man-kind. So, another creature from outer-space would not at all
surprise me. As per affection, with humans My average is a little less
than 50/50. The only creatures I love unabashedly are dogs! And, in case
you haven't noticed they appear to be irreligious. So, bring on the
Space-men! I would not at all be surprised if they open their hatch,
peer outside and, a la Bette Davis exclaim, "What a dump!"
One of the important sites Israel took out in Gaza yesterday was the Jala Tower in Gaza, which was a major Hamas base with intelligence assets, communications and missile controls. The same building also also housed the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other international news outlets...if you want to call them that.
Anyone familiar with the AP knows that they have been seriously biased against Israel almost since it's birth.Ditto for most of the other media outlets who were in theTower.
the Associated Press and the other media denied that the building was being used by terrorists, and the AP and other
international news outlets accused Israel of trying to stop the press from covering what was going on in Gaza.
Actually, the AP has operated from the Jala Tower for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the APs used cameras from its top floor office and roof terrace to offer 24-hour live shots as 'militants’ rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.
“We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
Really, Mr. Pruitt? Puh-leese! You have been using the building for 15 years and covering other attacks on Israel from Hamas and you weren't aware theywere using it, even though you took pictures of them launching rockets from the building?
A former AP reporter wrote about Hamas operations and rocket launches from the tower “right beside their office” back in 2014.And I myself have seen such photos and videos....from the AP
So why would the AP or any of the other outlets, all of whom like Al Jazeera are very anti Israel choose to use as a nest a building they KNEW was a Hamas strong point? Hmmm?
Here's why. They knew very well that the tower was an important Hamas outpost, but also figured that if Israel knew the press was there, they would probably avoid attacking it.
In other words, they were willing human shields for Hamas. Which of course is material aid to terrorists,
As for Israel, they were able to provide smoking gun evidence to US intelligence that not only was Hamas operating from the Jala Towers, but that the press was fully aware of this.
According to Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi “We showed them the smoking gun ebeidence proving Hamas worked out of that
building, I
understand they found the explanation satisfactory.”
Rob Miller writes for Joshuapundit. His articles have appeared in The
Jerusalem Post, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Los
Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco
Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, The Times Of Israel, Breitbart.Com,
Yediot and other publications.
Israel has been under a violent attack from Hamas, Fatah and the PLO for over a week. Here's the real story, why it happened and what it means.
As always, this comes from two sources...hatred of Jews and incitement and violence from Hamas, the PLO And Fatah and second, their new found ally, the Biden Administration which emboldened them to launch a full blown war.
Let's examine what actually happened here. In 1875, the chief rabbis of Jerusalem bought buildings in the Sheikh Jarra neighborhood in north east Jerusalem. They registered their purchase first with the Ottoman Empire, who ruled the area then and later with the British, who took over after WWI.
After 1948, when the Jordanian Army and their British officers ethnically cleansed East Jerusalem from all Jews, the buildings were leased to Arabs as 'enemy property.' When Israel liberated Jerusalem after Jordan attacked Israel in the '67 war, the Jewish owners registered their buildings again with the Israeli Land Authority and started legal proceedings to gain control of their property. The Arab tenants, who weren't paying rent, finally acknowledged after a 1982 lawsuit that the Jews owned the property but refused to leave and kept appealing, none of which were successful.
Enter Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the PLO. Abbas, who has been the PLO's dictator for 16 years in what was supposed to be a 4 year term had finally agreed to an election. When the polls showed that Hamas would win, he cancelled the elections using Israel's insistence that non-citizen Arabs in Jerusalem would have to vote online or go to Area A to vote, not in Israeli territory.
So Abbas used Sheik Jarra as an excuse to incite riots and violence in Jerusalem, Haifa, Lod, Jaffa and other mixed Jewish and Arab cities, claiming Israel was plotting encroachments on Al-Aqsa and using that quite successfully to incite terrorism. When you have a gift of $239 million from the Biden Administration and his handlers, you can buy a lot of terrorist thugs and the PLO obviously did. Never mind that giving the PLO this money since they finance terrorists who murder Jews violated the Taylor Force Law prohibiting funding terrorism.
The Washington Free Beacon
reported last March that “the Biden administration privately confirmed
to Congress just before the attacks and violence that the Palestinian Authority has continued to
use international aid money to reward terrorists. But hey Joe and his handlers said the finding
won’t impact its plans to restart funding.” And as we now know, it didn't, US law or no.
Joe Biden may say Israel has a right to defend itself, but his actions
say something very different. Aside from giving the PLO this money in violation of US law, , he
is also now funding UNRWA again,a UN organization that has been linked with Hamas and specializes in brain washing and indoctrinating Palestinian school kids in the joys of murdering Jews. Abbas's book of Holocaust denial is required reading. And everyone of Biden's appointments that have anything to do with foreign policy or the Middle East was filled with Israel haters, many of them who worked in the Obama administration, one of the most hostile to Israel ever.
The Washington Free Beacon
reported last March that “the Biden administration privately confirmed
to Congress last week that the Palestinian Authority has continued to
use international aid money to reward terrorists but said the finding
won’t impact its plans to restart funding.”
What really made Abbas and Hamas really bold enough to start this war was the frigid attitude toward
Israel by the Biden administration and his handlers, who now favor the
'Palestinians.'
Hamas got in because aside from having an arsenal of rockets, if an election was to be held, they wanted to be known as the more Jew hating faction. A source of mine who would know also told me that there is evidence that the rockets and other incendiaries Hamas had came from Iran, and that also Hamas received some of the Biden money as well to pay for the rockets and other incendiaries. Over 1,000 missiles were fired at Israel just between May 10-12,
resulting in loss of life and extensive damage, and sending hundreds of
thousands of Israelis to bomb shelters.
So what does this mean for Israel? Simple, it is a much needed lesson and an opportunity.
Lesson 1: Finish the job so it won't need to be repeated.
Israel has had several major terrorist attacks from Hamas to deal with since these terrorists took over Gaza. And they all have ended with ceasefires under pressure from the UN, certain EU countries, and certain US administrations. The 'ceasefires' meant absolutely nothing. They were simply breathers for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to regroup and start the next attack, at a time of their choosing.
Instead of a ceasefire, if Israel wants peace with Hamas, it will have to destroy them, regain Gaza and resettle it. When you take away an enemy's proximity to your border and their base it makes it very difficult for them to attack you. As I and others said at the time, it was a mistake to give up Gaza and be lulled by false promises from the UN, the EU and President George Bush that they would commit to making sure it wouldn't be a security threat to Israel. When Hamas took it over they did nothing of the kind, and Israel was stuck with a hostile terrorist enclave on its border.Note to Israel:Don't make the same mistake twice.Do not make a ceasefire. Finish Hamas off once and for all and resettle it with Israeli citizens. Israel has the capability to make Gaza a Mid East Singapore. Let the Lion of Judah roar! Peace comes from victory. Open the Ramallah crossing to Egypt and allow the current inhabitants who aren't terrorists to leave peacefully. And if Mahmoud Abbas starts whining to get Gaza back, tell him to get lost.
Lesson 2: Israel will have to re-examine their relationship with Arabs they have allowed to live in Israel.
Lots of travelers to Israel have been surprised by the relatively peaceful co-existence between Arabs and Jews. But what has happened now means that Israel will have to take a good look at that. Let us not generalize. The Druse, Circassions, Christian Arabs and others have no problem living in Israel. It's a better life then any of the surrounding countries would give them. Many serve in the IDF. But the lynching, the burning of synagogues, the riots and the arson in Jerusalem, Lod and other mixed cities shows us that a number of the Arabs in Israel have hatred in their hearts that was concealed until now, when they were hired by the PLO as shock troops. Again, Abbas felt comfortable doing this because he knows who is really running the White House. And he had the payroll available to prove it. He would never have dared do it when President Trump was in office, because President Trump had an ironclad support of Israel. And as you might have noticed, terrorist pay for slay attacks went down while Trump was in charge. And peace accords like the Abraham Accords brought peace to the region.
Actually, this attack from some of Israel's Arabs has been signaled for quite some time. Israel has an Arab List Party which has ALWAYS been hostile to Israel. After the elections, those who won Knesset seats have always refused to swear in properly or to sing Israel's national anthem HaTikvah. Several of them have been banned from Israel for espionage and support for Israels terrorist neighbors. None of the Knesset Arab members have said anything negative about the riots, the vandalism or the rocket attacks.
Israel also has an Arab Supreme Court Justice who also refuses to sing the national Anthem or swear in properly. In Jerusalem, where massive Arab riots occurred, is anyone surprised? There are an estimated several thousand Arabs who live in east Jerusalem but rejected Israel citizenship. While the Arabs ethnically cleansed their Jews in almost every Arab Nation, the Israelis, after they recaptured East Jerusalem in1967 after Jordan attacked Israel, allowed these people to stay. A huge mistake. These particular Arabs are a huge source of crime, violence and what I can only call collusion with Israel's enemies.During the period before Israel's security barrier was built, many of them were happy to help Arafat's suicide bombers hit their targets..civilians in markets, restaurants, you name it. By their actions now, they have shown Israel that they are harboring bitter enemies who would be happy to see every Jew in Jerusalem murdered. No country can live with such a violent group of enemies in its midst. They need to be culled.No democracy can flourish with a fifth column in its midst. The same is true with Arabs who rioted and attacked Israeli police and civilians in places like Lod, Jaffa, Haifa and other mixed Jewish/Arab cities. They even burned down a synagogue. Simply put, the Jew hating Arabs need to be removed and those Arabs who did not riot, support Israel and want to remain living there can perhaps be acceptable.
The alternative? More of the same. And that, frankly is suicidal.
Lesson 3: Take control of the Temple Mount:
Israel did something very wrong after the Six Day War, courtesy of the leftist Labor Party who were in control at the time. When Israel was attacked by Jordan after King Hussein had promised to stay out of the way and then treacherously attacked Israel with artillery aimed at civilians, the IDF retook East Jerusalem and ran the Jordanian army back over the Jordan River, where they belonged. For whatever reason, they ignored advice from the military and didn't do the same to the Jordanian citizens living in Judea and Samaria..now know as 'Palestinians'. Mistake number two was to allow Jordan to appoint a wakf to administer the mosque on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. The wakh turned out to be nothing but trouble...throwing rocks down on Jews who were praying at the Western Wall, destroying artifacts that showed connection with Judaism, digging and damaging and causing a riot whenever any Jews were allowed on the Temple Mount. For a long time, they weren't. Nowadays Jews who visit the Temple Mount get cursed, have rocks and bottles thrown at them and sometimes are even assaulted.
The lesson in short form? When something is sacred and important to you, don't give control of it to an enemy...or share it, and an enemy if a quiet one is exactly what Jordan is where Israel is concerned. What Israel and Jordan have is not a friendly relationship but a ceasefire, which Jordan respects somewhat for good reason. Every effort to share holy places with the Arabs has ended up with vandalizing, violence and sometimes even death.
The solution is rather simple. Tell Jordan that their Wakh members and their playmates are headed home, and that in the future, Israel will create a committee of Rabbis,peaceful Muslims of proven loyalty and Christian clergy to create rules so that all faiths can visit the Temple Mount in safety and work together care for its welfare. And the Temple Mount can never again be used as an excuse for terrorism, arson and violence.
Lesson 4: Forget about the two state formula and let the world know it.
Even after the hideous attacks on Israel, we're still hearing nonsense about a ' two state solution.' Here is a sample of the kind of peace loving folks people like Peter Beinart,Joe Biden and Boris Johnson insist that Israel has to live next to.....
Hamas Political Bureau Member and former Minister of the Interior
Fathi Hammad has a few things to say about peace and co-existance. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute , Hammad said this on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV a week ago on Friday:
“People of Jerusalem, we want
you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives. With your hand, cut
their artery from here. A knife costs five shekels. Buy a knife, sharpen
it, put it there, and just cut off [their heads]. It costs just five
shekels. With those five shekels, you will humiliate the Jewish state.”
Hammad continued with a quotation from the Qur’an: “‘You shall find
the strongest in enmity towards the believers to be the Jews and the
polytheists.’” That’s Qur’an 5:82. Hammad added: “The Jews have spread
corruption and acted with arrogance, and their moment of reckoning has
come. The moment of destruction at your hands has arrived.”
Consider that Israel actually made a number of attempts to live in peace with the so-called 'Palestinians' who made no attempts to do the same and instead gave Israel horrendous terrorism on a grand scale in exchange. So it is high time Israel made public that they will not by any means accept a two state solution on their land, which according to the San Remo Accords and Article 80 of the UN Charter extends to the Jordan River's west bank and includes all of Judea and Samaria AKA The 'West Bank'.
To do so would amount to suicide.
But, for those who insist on a two state solution, like the UK's Boris Johnson, I must admit their is a solution. Here it is...
I'll tell you what BoJo.
If you want a 'Palestinian state', the solution's simple! Your country seems to love them, so why not bring them to YOUR Country, hmm? We all are aware how well Islamists have assimilated to the UK....peaceful, hard working, never on the dole, never any trouble, polite to your women, a joy to have around.
So here's your opportunity BoJo to inherit some lovely people and even give them their own country! I'm sure you'll just adore them. Do take them into your bosom, I guarantee you'll just love them! And so will the Brits. You might even get a Noble Peace Prize. Barack Obama got one for doing nothing, so I think you'd really have a shot at it.
After all, big cities like London and Birmingham already have large Muslim populations already, don't they? London"s Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said terrorism is just something a big city should expect from time to time right after the London Bridge truck murders just got re-elected as mayor. Your new friends could just settle in London and be perfectly at home until you create their new country. And then both Israel and you will be all smiles.
Rob Miller writes for Joshuapundit. His articles have appeared in The
Jerusalem Post, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Los
Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco
Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, The Times Of Israel, Breitbart.Com,
Yediot and other publications.
Today is Memorial Day, a day when we honor men and women fallen in the service of their country.
