Breaking: Assad Assassinated?

According to several reports, Syrian dictator Basher Assad had been shot by one of his bodyguards.

This comes via Israel News One and the French site JSS News.

Needless to say things are still chaotic and Syrian TV has been shut down, but the gist of it is that Assad was shot Saturday night by Mehdi Yacoubi, an Iranian officer who was part of Assad's security detail.

If Assad actually was killed by an Iranian security officer ( and one reportedly picked for the job by Iran's President Ahmadinejad himself) that opens up a major topic for speculation. Did the Iranians get tired of supporting Assad? Was Yacoubi a spy? Or did the Russians tell Iran it was time to cut Assad loose? We will undoubtedly find out, and I'm already working on it.

Assad has been taken to Shami Hospital in Damascus and reports differ as to whether he is dead or just seriously wounded. All roads leading to the hospital have reportedly been closed and there are also reports of heavy fighting going on in Damascus itself...we may be approaching end game here, with a Sunni Islamist regime taking over Syria.

UPDATE:  AL-Arab is reporting Assad was wounded:


Assad's Wikipedia page is already reporting him dead, one reason I'm always skeptical of them as a source - anyone can write anything.

More as this develops.

Erdogan Now Says Netanyahu's Apology Not Good Enough, No Restoral Of Relations

 

As you may remember, with some arm twisting from President Obama, Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu called Turkey's Islamist PM Tayyip Erdogan and apologized for Israeli soldiers defending themselves when they were ambushed by armed Turkish 'activists' on the Mavi Mamara, a ship that was attempting to break the Gaza blockade and refused to sail into an Israeli port to be inspected.



The phone call between Netanyahu and Erdogan reportedly lasted about thirty minutes. Erdogan accepted the apology ( something that was almost certainly arranged between Secretary of State John Kerry and Erdogan in advance), the two countries agreed to exchange ambassadors again, and the Israeli government agreed to pay compensation to the families of the dead 'activists', something they had offered to do before. The Turkish government,of course, will not apologize for anything, nor will it pay compensation to the Israeli sailors its citizens attacked. They will , however cancel legal charges against a whole slew of Israelis, including not just the individual sailors who participated in the raid or the officers directly involved but the commander of the Israeli navy, former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, a number of Israeli political figures and probably the door man at the Tel Aviv Dan Hotel.

Netanyahu’s office put out a statement after the call Friday that “The two men agreed to restore normalization between Israel and Turkey, including the dispatch of ambassadors and the cancellation of legal steps against IDF soldiers."

As I pointed out, this was going to do nothing to change Israeli-Turkish relations, which deteriorated once the Islamist AKP regime headed by Erdogan took over in 2003.

It was simply a PR stunt provide President Obama with a win, and it certainly worked out in the U.S., where the ObamaMedia is praising the president lavishly for his mad diplomatic skillz.

What they're not reporting is that PM Erdogan has completely walked back any commitments on his part.

There will be no exchange of ambassadors unless Israel continues to 'move forward in the right way', which means lifting the blockade on Hamas.And the court cases are going to continue. Turkey's Erdogan was quite blunt about that.

But Erdogan is, of course, satisfied. And why not? He gave up nothing to the hated Jews, humiliated Netanyahu, and enhanced his standing in the Arab world. As he put it, "We got it the way we wanted."

And he's planning to push the envelope even further by visiting his genocidal Hamas Friends in Gaza next month to directly confront Israel's naval blockade, which even the UN considers justified under international law.

I don't blame Erdogan for this in the least.Like almost all Islamists he's a committed anti-Semite and proudly anti-Israel. Just last week he referred to Zionism as a "crime against humanity" in at a U.N. conference in Vienna, and compared it with Naziism. No apology on his part for that of course, and none was demanded either by Netanyahu or by President Obama.

No, Erdogan is whom he is, and like the Iranians, he's honest about it.

The real culprit here is Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu.

Was there any reason for him to be so spineless and just plain clueless in this matter?

Is that what things have come to? That the Prime Minister of Israel is now apologizing contritely to anti-Semites like Erdogan and is not only being humiliated in having to do so but gets kicked afterwards by not even getting what he thought he was getting  in return by bending over?

And then there's President Obama, who was in on the conversation, set this up with Erdogan in advance and actually spoke to him before handing the phone to Netanyahu. Is he going to say anything to PM Erdogan about reneging on his assurances to Netanyahu? Is this what President Obama means by 'having Israel's back?'

If PM Netanyahu still has any semblance of a spine, he'll make a public statement saying that any compensation to Turkey and any apology to Turkey will now be withheld until Turkey's Islamist PM decides he's ready to keep his word.

I'm not holding my breath expecting him to do that.

It's bad enough that the Israelis didn't get the center/right government they voted for, but now, they appear to be saddled with Olmert-lite in the Prime Minister's office.

A shame really, and I certainly hope someone volunteers to help Benyamin Netanyahu locate where ever his left his testicles. If I read things right, he's going to need them.

The Latest LATMA - Cutting Edge Israeli Satire

This Week, Yonit Levy..and an Israeli soldier responds to the world.

Are Republicans 'Estranged From America'?

That's the opinion expressed by Andrew Kohut, the former president of the Pew Trust, a Left leaning polling center and a former president of the Gallup Organization in a WaPo editorial today.

In my decades of polling, I recall only one moment when a party had been driven as far from the center as the Republican Party has been today.

The outsize influence of hard-line elements in the party base is doing to the GOP what supporters of Gene McCarthy and George McGovern did to the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s — radicalizing its image and standing in the way of its revitalization.

In those years, the national Democratic Party became labeled, to its detriment, as the party of “acid, abortion and amnesty.” With the Democrats’ values far to the left of the silent majority, McGovern lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972.

While there are no catchy phrases for the Republicans of 2013, their image problems are readily apparent in national polls. The GOP has come to be seen as the more extreme party, the side unwilling to compromise or negotiate seriously to tackle the economic turmoil that challenges the nation.


Yes, it's those awful Tea Party, knuckle dragging conservatives. He even throws a cute little dig in there, calling conservative opposition to President Obama 'fast and furious'. And of course, they're racist:

According to our polling, three factors stand out in the emergence of the GOP’s staunch conservative bloc: ideological resistance to President Obama’s policies, discomfort with the changing face of America and the influence of conservative media.{...}

The nation’s demographic and social shifts have also played a role in galvanizing the new bloc. Conservative Republicans are more likely (33 percent) than the public at large (22 percent) to see the growing number of Latinos in America as a change for the worse. Similarly, 46 percent of conservatives see increasing rates of interracial marriage as a positive development, compared with 66 percent of the public overall.

During Obama’s first term, ethnocentric attitudes — on immigration, equal rights and interracial dating — grew by 11 percentage points among conservative Republicans but did not increase significantly among any other political or ideological grouping. Some academic surveys found similar partisan polarization on racial measures over the course of Obama’s first term.

Race has loomed larger in voting behavior in the Obama era than at any point in the recent past. The 2010 election was the high mark of “white flight” from the Democratic Party, as National Journal’s Ron Brownstein called it — the GOP won a record 60 percent of white votes, up from 51 percent four years earlier.

To the conservative base, Obama, as an African American in the White House, may be a symbol of how America has changed. Unease with him sets conservative Republicans apart from other voting blocs — including moderate Republicans, who have hardly been fans of the president. For example, a fall 2011 national survey found 63 percent of conservative Republicans reporting that Obama made them angry, compared with 29 percent of the public overall and 40 percent of moderate Republicans.

You see, it's not President Obama's policies that upset them. It's because he's b-l-a-c-k.

And it's not illegal immigration or amnesty they're opposed to. it's, you know, Latinos, legal or not. And of course, they hate women.

That explains why Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, Allen West, Nikki Haley and Sarah Palin are so despised by the GOP's conservative base.

When you look at the polls referenced, it's obvious that the questions were phrased to elicit a certain desired response. Except for one..the dissatisfaction of Republicans with their own party, which is quite high. Of course, that dissatisfaction is put down to the GOP being 'out of touch'. without any qualifying language in the questions asked.

Could that just possibly be because many Republicans think the GOP establishment that controls the party is 'out of touch' , has consistently foisted RINOs on the party, mismanaged campaigns. wasted opportunities and refused to stand up for conservative principles?

Interestingly enough, what Kohut is saying if you look at it from a different standpoint (and yes, he's a Democrat) is that the Democrat party stands for metastasizing Big Government, high taxes, anti-Second Amendment legislation, high energy prices, unrestrained public employee unions, fiscal irresponsibility, abortion on demand, and amnesty for illegal aliens.

Ask those questions of the electorate directly and I guarantee you'd get a very different response.

But that's pretty much what this President, his administration and the Democrat Party's leadership stand for.

Kohut claims - well, he doesn't say it's his opinion (which would be more honest) but that the Almighty Numbers prove - that the Republican Party is unlikely to turn things around for some time if ever the way things stand.

In that, I agree with him. The GOP has not run a conservative candidate in 7 election cycles, unless you count the Bushes as conservatives. If you do (I don't) it's two out of the last five.

And if the GOP establishment retains control of the party and fields another candidate like say, Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, they'll continue to fade away.Why vote for a slightly better managed Democrat-lite when you can vote for the real thing?

But the basic principles of life, economics and politics don't change, and eventually that becomes self-evident. Everything I see around me convinces me that the party's base is ripe for revolt, either by taking over the GOP or by establishing something brand new. The American people will demand it, and so will the inevitable results of what's going on in Washington right now.It will hopefully happen electorally, but it will happen regardless.

And that's going to be a very different matter.

Obama Pressures Netanyahu Into An Apology To Turkey's Islamist Leader Erdogan

Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu allowed himself to be manipulated by President Obama into calling Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan by phone to apologize for the the IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara in 2010.

President Obama was in the room at the time, spoke briefly to Erdogan and then handed the phone to Netanyahu, who apologized and acknowledged "operational mistakes" during the raid.

You might recall the incident President Obama pressured PM Netanyahu into apologizing over.

The Mavi Marmara was part of a flotilla of ships backed by Erdogan and the Islamist government of Turkey that was trying to breach the Israeli blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza, a blockade even the UN has said is legal under international law to prevent Hamas from acquiring heavy weapons and missiles from Iran..

The ships were supposedly carrying humanitarian aid. When the Israeli Navy stopped them, all the ships obeyed orders to sail into an Israeli port and have their aid delivered after inspection - except the Mavi Marmara. By the way, when the ships were examined, they had no 'humanitarian supplies' on board whatsoever. Nor was there was any aid on the Mavi Marmara.

They were simply attempting to cause an international incident and break the blockade.

When Israeli Navy commandos boarded the ship, they were ambushed by the 'activists' armed with knives, iron bars, clubs and firearms. Foolishly, the Israelis were armed only with paint guns designed for crowd control:



Ten Israeli sailors were injured, some to the point they were disabled and had to retire from service. The IDF re-boarded the ship, and when the 'activists' started shooting, the IDF decided enough was enough and returned fire. Nine of them were killed.

Ever since Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP took over Turkey in 2002, the once close relationship between Israel and Turkey had steadily deteriorated. Like most if not all Islamists, Erdogan is not only an 'anti-Zionist' but an anti-Semite.

Erdogan, of course, attempted to turn the Mavi Mamara incident into an international incident and bused it as an excuse to break off relations entirely, but the reality is that if hadn't happened, it would have been something else.

Just last week, he referred to Zionism as 'a crime against humanity' at a U.N. conference in Vienna, comparing it to Naziism. And that was hardly an isolated instance.

The phone call between Netanyahu and Erdogan reportedly lasted about thirty minutes. Erdogan accepted the apology ( something that was almost certainly arranged between Secretary of State John Kerry and Erdogan in advance), the two countries agreed to exchange ambassadors again, and the Israeli government agreed to pay compensation to the families of the dead 'activists', something they had offered to do before. The Turkish government,of course, will not apologize for anything, nor will it pay compensation to the Israeli sailors its citizens attacked. They will , however cancel legal charges against a whole slew of Israelis, including not just the individual sailors who participated in the raid or the officers directly involved but the commander of the Israeli navy, former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, a number of Israeli political figures and probably the door man at the Tel Aviv Dan Hotel.

President Obama issued a written statement on the exchange:

"I welcome the call today between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Prime Minister Erdogan.The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security. I am hopeful that today's exchange between the two leaders will enable them to engage in deeper cooperation on this and a range of other challenges and opportunities."

In other words, by sheer force of his awesome persona, he has magically healed the breech is relations between Israel and Turkey.

Except it won't.Erdogan isn't going to change his views on Zionism or Israel, he still is an ally of Hamas and is still an Islamist. Nor are the Israelis going to trust Erdogan or do much in the way of security cooperation, especially since Erdogan purged the Turkish military of any officers he even suspected harbored any feelings of friendship towards Israel or the West and by his own account blocked Israel's inclusion in NATO.

The whole pro forma exchange was agreed to in advance by all parties to provide President Obama with a PR win. Both Netanyahu and Erdogan likely received a concession for doing so.

An unbiased observer might also question how close that American partnership with Turkey is. Aside from freely violating President Obama's sanctions on Iran and being a major source of money laundering and clandestine materials for Iran, the Turks have also shown major hostility to America on a number of occasions, starting with their refusal to allow U.S. bases in Turkey to be used in the Iraq War.

This isn't so much a victory for Erdogan or a defeat for Netanyahu as much as sound and fury signifying nothing, to borrow an apt phrase from Old Bill.

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week's Watcher's Council Results

 

Alea iacta est...the Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week's Watcher's Council match up.



Ah, the problem of education and the Left...or as progressive icon Adolf Hitler once said, "Let me control the textbooks and I will control the state."





This week's winner, The Noisy Room's  Marxism in Education – The Infiltration of Our School Systems by the Common Core Standards   takes a sharp look at what the Left and the teacher's unions are doing to our children labeled as 'education' Here's a slice:


Today, I caught Glenn Beck on The Blaze and his excellent showcasing of Obama’s Common Core Standards that are now in 45 states, including my state of Idaho. Common Core is Marxism for children. It is state run propaganda and is meant to dumb down and control our little ones. It is evil and it has been a long time coming. Obama pushed it through slyly and quickly after coming into office, but I can tell you, this has been brewing since at least the 1990s.

A little background… When my children were in school in the 1990s, my husband and I requested to see the school curriculum for their school in Las Vegas, Nevada. We were refused and basically told we were too dumb to understand what the teachers were instructing our son and daughter in. The last straw came when they wanted to put my daughter in the second grade on Ritalin instead of disciplining her. I was pulled in front of four teachers and accused of not raising my daughter correctly, as well as basically being an abusive and stupid parent. I promptly told these teachers that they could pound sand and pulled our children (our son was in third grade at the time) out of school that very same day. I left the Fortune 500 and home schooled both of them till high school and in retrospect, should have kept them out even then. My children could not do the simplest of math or read when we pulled them out. I tested them and started them all over again with the ABEKA home schooling system, which at the time, cost a great deal of money. The children were tested by the state within a week of being pulled out and because they could not read or do math, the state threatened to remove our children, even though it was their damn lack of teaching that had produced this. Well, we knuckled down and by the end of the following year, both kids were excellent readers and were caught up in math. I never heard from the state again. My son went on to be a gifted software developer and although my daughter is still trying to find her way in the world, she is a talented artist and a survivor. Now on to the present matter at hand.

My friend and fellow blogger Michelle Malkin has done a set of four in-depth articles on reporting on the Common Core Standards as well as additional pieces providing more information. Her work is very well done. Before her write-ups, I would wager most parents had never heard of Common Core. There are now many teachers who are quitting and/or standing up against this Progressive travesty that is intent on corrupting our schools and students.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Mark Steyn with An unstable truce with the Axis of Crazy submitted by The Noisy Room. In this one, Steyn takes on some of the more ridiculous aspects of our current foreign policy bufooonery - only it's unfortunately no joke.

OK, here are this week’s full results. Simply Jews and Bookworm Room were unable tovote thi sweek, but neither was subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty for not voting.

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 2/3 votes! The Noisy  Room –Marxism in Education – The Infiltration of Our School Systems by the Common Core Standards
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – The Right Planet - Draconian Gun Laws Creating Black Market
• Third place with 2 votes – The Razor- The EU: Stealing From The Poor And Giving To The Rich
• Fourth place& with 1 2/3 votes – Rhymes With Right-Many Shocked To Find Out Pope Francis Is, In Fact, Catholic
• Fifth place  with 1 1/3 vote – Joshuapundit- ‘Killing Jews Is Worship’ Ad Campaign Rolled Out On SF Muni Buses
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi-Iran Launches Destroyer
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room-At CPAC, Dr. Ben Carson comes out swinging against President Obama
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Do Republicans Even Deserve to be a Majority Party Any Longer?

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Mark Steyn-An unstable truce with the Axis of Crazy   submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place with 2 votes – Big Jolly Politics –Inside the Mind of a Black Conservative submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Third place  with 1 2/3 votes – Sarah Palin –Governor Sarah Palin's Speech At CPAC 2013   submitted by Joshuapundit
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes -Zero Hedge- Cyprus: The World’s Biggest "Poker Game"   submitted by The Political Commentator
• Fifth place with 1 vote - Zen Pundit -CENTCOM, Rosenberg and Islamic eschatology, pt I    submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 votes - Selwyn Duke/Canada Free Press –Why the NRA is Right about Hollywood submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Flashpoints/ The Diplomat – Could the U.S. Navy Blockade China? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Delaware Libertarian –The expansion of libertarianism into the mainstream ...   submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Babalu Blog –Cuban political prisoners and torture victims humbly invite Yoani Sanchez for a chat    submitted by The Razor
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Commentator –Once and for all: The leftist origins of National Socialism submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.....'cause we're cool like that!

China To Modernize And Upgrade Pakistan's Reactors, Nuclear Weapons Arsenal

This is the most important news story you'll read today.


China has reached an agreement with Pakistan to construct a third nuclear reactor located at Chashma and to modernize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, including development of a new warhead for Pakistan’s missile arsenal.

According to U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials, the secret agreement for the Chashma 3 reactor was signed in Beijing during the visit by a delegation from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission from Feb. 15 to 18.

The agreement calls for the state-run China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) to construct a 1,000-megawatt power plant at Chashma, located in the northern province of Punjab, where two earlier Chinese reactors were built.

China’s government last month issued an internal notice to officials within its nuclear establishment and to regional political leaders urging care to avoid any leaks of information about the nuclear sale that Beijing expects will be controversial, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The reactor deal had been in the works for several years and prompted high-level U.S. government efforts to block the sale because of concerns it will boost Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.

The CNNC is China’s main nuclear weapons producer and has been linked in the past to Pakistan’s nuclear arms program by U.S. intelligence agencies. CNNC sold thousands of ring magnets to Pakistan during the 1990s that were used in centrifuges that produced highly enriched uranium for weapons.

According to the Obama Administration, China's actions violate an international accord against proliferation.

In 2004, China joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a voluntary association that seeks international cooperation in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. China agreed at the time not to not to sell additional reactors to Pakistan beyond the two reactors it sold Pakistan earlier, and member states pledge not to sell any nuclear materials to any state not a a member of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA).

Pakistan not only isn't a member, it has a shameful history of aiding and abetting illegal proliferation.

It was AQ Khan who not only created Pakistan's nuclear weapons but set up what amounted to an illegal supermarket in nuclear weapons technology for some of the world's worst actors. Among Khan's customers were Iran, Libya and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and the Pakistanis also acted as brokers for North Korean missile technology.

For the Chinese to provide up to date nuclear hardware for this unstable Muslim nation is incredibly dangerous, short sighted and foolish. Some of that nuclear technology could find its way to the jihadis Pakistan collaborates with like Lashkar e Tiaba or the Taliban and end up sparking a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

And it might not stop there. Have the Chinese forgotten they have their own Muslim insurgency to deal with in Western China with the Uighers - just over the China Pakistan border?

It will be interesting to see what, if anything the Obama Administration does about this.

More On The NY Gun Law - Bribe Offered For People Who Snitch On Gun Owners

 

In view of Governor Clown - er, Cuomo's call today for the legislature to repeal his own anti-2nd Amendment law this may now be superfluous, but Mental Recession has the story on how New York State is offering a $500 bribe to anyone who rats out any of their friends and neighbors who possess a firearms or magazines now 'forbidden' by the new law, which, in a rare examaple of Leftists humor is known as the SAFE Act.

There's even a toll free snitch line.

Progressive fascism indeed.

NY Governor Urges Repeal Of Unworkable Gun Law He and Democrats Shoved Through

Here's New York's Governor Cuomo preening himself back in January after signing the state's ridiculous new anti-Second Amendment law:

"Common sense can win," Cuomo said. "You can overpower the extremists with intelligence and with reason and with common sense." -

Today?

New York's Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo is now calling for the repeal of the anti-gun law he and his fellow Democrats shoved through just a couple of months ago:



“There is no such thing as a seven-bullet magazine. That doesn’t exist. So you really have no practical option,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted yesterday at a news conference, explaining why his tough ban on ammunition magazines over seven rounds should be repealed.

The bill must be repealed if New Yorkers ever want to purchase an ammunition magazine for their firearm.

So apparently not only were the governor and his enablers too stupid to know that a 7 round magazine doesn't exist, but the choice of making that eighth round into a felony offense to criminalize law abiding citizens was arbitrary and nothing but politics.

Except a quick search now reveals that the governor's call for repealing his own silly law makes him look even more clueless and stupid. (h/t, Ace)

And wait, there's more - the bill, rushed through the legislature in the dead of night did not have a provision to exempt law enforcement.

To add to the comedy, Governor Cuomo has actually been making noises about a presidential run.

He's not even a competent Leftist ideologue.

On second thought, he should fit right in.

A Free Haggadah For Pessah To Download

 

The Elder of Ziyon has a free English/Hebrew Passover Haggadah available for downloading here for those who need one.

It's not the one above, which dates from the 14th century, but it's a good one nevertheless.

Todah Rabah Elder...

Chag Pessah Sameach!

U.S. Allows Saudis Special Privileges To Bypass Airport Security

 

I suppose you could call this reverse profiling!

As Judicial Watch reveals, not only do the Saudis get privileges American citizens are denied, they even have a voice in vetting who gets security free entry into the U.S.

The Obama administration has quietly rewarded the Middle Eastern country that produced most of the 9/11 hijackers with a special travel privilege that allows its nationals to bypass normal passport security controls at major U.S. airports.

Only a handful of U.S. allies—including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands—currently enjoy the perk while other American partners like Germany and France are still excluded. Incredibly, the Obama administration has cut a deal with Saudi Arabia, which produced 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 2001 terrorist attacks, to enjoy the privilege under a program called Global Entry.

It’s not the kind of story you’ll see in the mainstream media, but a research center dedicated to investigating radical Islamic terrorist groups, their operations and funding, brought much-needed attention to it this week. Citing Homeland Security sources, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) reveals that it will mark the first time that the Saudi government has a direct role in vetting who is eligible for fast-tracked entry into the United States.

This is a “slap in the face,” according to IPT, which posts a number of in-depth reports on its website on topics ranging from American jihadist terrorism to the influence of Islamic law on law enforcement and the Muslim Brotherhood. Among the investigations that relate to this particular issue is a 2011 report documenting how textbooks long used in Saudi Arabia’s schools promote religious violence. Keep in mind that most of the 9/11 terrorist and Osama bin Laden himself were born and educated in Saudi Arabia.

In other words, while the DMV level unionized employees in the TSA are making you take your shoes off, scanning you and feeling up your children, someone the Saudis vouch for is admitted in without delay.

There's more here about the laughable Saudi rehab program for former Gitmo jihadis, where they essentially promise to be good and are released.

It's one thing to realize how clueless the Obama Administration is on Islamist terrorism. But it's worrisome to realize that this is an attack just waiting to happen that could get a lot of us killed.

Obama Compares Israel-Palestine Conflict to Disagreements Between U.S. and Canada

This clip is from President Obama's news conference.

Huh? What?

Simply unbelievable.

Narcissus In The Promised Land Redux: Obama Learns You Can't Fool All Of The People All Of The Time

I could almost pity President Obama for having his nose rubbed in the truth of Abraham Lincoln's famous statement if the mess wasn't so thoroughly of his own making.

President Obama got a friendly, if skeptical reception in Israel, because most Israelis are in fact pro-American.But Israelis, particularly sabras are noted for looking at deeds rather than words and schmooze.

While they appreciated President Obama's fine words on America's commitment to Israel as an ally, they also remember his previous hostility, his repudiation of agreements made with Israel by President Bush and his call for them to re-divide Jerusalem and retreat to indefensible borders.

And they notice that he chose to land in Tel Aviv rather than Israel's capitol Jerusalem, that he chose not address Israel's Knesset, that he was 'too busy' to meet personally with victims of Palestinian terrorism even if they hold American citizenship, that he refused to invite students at Ariel University to his speech to Israeli students...simply because their university is located in Judea ( AKA The West Bank), even though it's on land Jews purchased legally before Israel was even a state.

And many of them also noticed this map of Israel put out by Obama's State Department in spokesman Ben Rhodes' offical statement..that shows a map of Israel on the pre '67 lines, without the Golan, Judea and Samaria or East Jerusalem:

 



In the president's speech to Israeli students, he somehow forgot that over half a million Israelis (including a lot of the students he was speaking to) live in what he still refers to as 'settlements', saying that "Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable, that real borders will have to be drawn," and warning that Israel "must reverse an undertow of isolation".

In other words, Israel building homes and infrastructure for it's people - bad, hurts chances for peace. The Palestinian Authority's constant incitement against Jews, funneling donor aid to Hamas and using it to pay salaries to convicted killers in Israeli jails,  holding up the murderers of Israeli civilians as role models and heroes? The actions of a peace partner!

Yes, that's the looking glass world our Narcissus lives in, where his warped perceptions become 'what everyone knows'.

Trying as usual to have it both ways, the president also said it was time for the Arab world to "take steps toward normalizing relations" with Israel and that "Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state, and that Israelis have the right to insist upon their security".

How that's going to be accomplished with the borders he proposes the president did not elaborate on.And that's especially telling in view of the reception the president got in Ramallah from the Palestinians before he spoke to the students.

I'm not going to fault President Obama for speaking on a dais underneath a banner of Yasser Arafat, who had the blood of many Americans on his hands including two U.S. diplomats tortured to death on Arafat's orders.Everything was already in place, cancelling the speech unless the banner was removed would have been a moral decision of the kind President Obama has always avoided, and at least he didn't go to Arafat's grave and lay a wreath on it. But I have to wonder, in my heart of hearts whether the president realized the contempt this showed for America and for him personally.

President Obama admitted that what he calls settlements were "frustrating", but also said in a previous press conference that Israel has taken risks for peace and that Palestinian leaders "have at times missed historic opportunities".

And for the first time, President Obama actually criticized the Palestinian stance of demanding that all of their demands be met before any 'negotiations' take place.

"If the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there's no point in negotiations. It's essential to work through this process even if we have concerns on both sides. We can push through these things, not use them as excuses not to do anything."

Abbas' response was to double down.

Abbas referred to the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as a "hurdle and ignoble" and that their existence was killing the two-state solution.

"Everybody considers settlements more than a hurdle toward a two-state solution," he said. The security council issued more than 13 resolutions, not only condemning settlements but demanding ending and removing them because they're illegal. We're demanding nothing other than the implementation of international law. The issue of settlements in clear."

Actually, it isn't at all clear unless you take a highly selective view of what constitutes 'international law' but let's move on.

Abbas is actually speaking out of his anger towards President Obama. Before the president made an issue out of construction in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria and called for Israel to retreat to the indefensible pre '67 borders, it was never an issue that stopped negotiations  and Abbas and the PA never thought to make it a serious one.

However, once President Obama opened his mouth on the subject, Abbas saw no reason to be less demanding than President Obama. And because of President Obama's hostile actions towards Israel and his vastly increased jizya to the Palestinians, Abbas expected President Obama to deliver the Israelis on a silver platter:



These numbers also don't include $450 million that went directly to Hamas through USAid courtesy of the president, but you get the idea.

When President Obama wasn't able to deliver the Jews, Abbas angrily went public, saying President Obama had 'left him up a tree' and has ceased to trust him or even listen to him ever since. And why should he? The Palestinians have yet to suffer any consequences whatsoever from the Obama White House for their actions.

And it wasn't just Mahmoud Abbas.The Palestinians actually tried to wave away his helicopter, Marine One, as it landed in Ramallah and there was an anti-American demonstration, with Palestinians chanting hostile slogans, throwing shoes, burning President Obama in effigy and yelling that they wanted weapons to kill the Jews, not speeches or presidential visits. It's also notable that according to my sources on the ground, the PA security forces did absolutely nothing to curtail the demonstrators.They merely contained them.

Needless to say, you won't read that in the American ObamaMedia.

Let's just say that President Obama's charm offensive was even less effective with the Palestinians than it was with the Israelis.

President Obama seems to have belatedly realized exactly how badly he bungled things. In an interview this morning he admitted he might have made a few mistakes.

"I hope I'm a better president now than when I first came into office," Mr Obama said.

"I'm absolutely sure that there are a host of things that I could have done that would have been more deft and, you know, would have created better optics."

'Optics'? What this translates into when it comes to action is anyone's guess.

Is President Obama actually starting to belatedly realize that the Palestinians are not our friends, that they're essentially revanchist and not interesting in negotiating anything?

I strongly doubt it, but anything's possible.

UPDATE: Uh, no..Situation normal.  Aside from overriding Congress to give the Palestinians yet a another half a billion dollars, President Obama, as a parting shot, manipulated Israeli PM Netanyahu into a craven apology to the president's favorite Islamist leader, Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey for the attack on Israeli Naval commandos on the Mavi Mamara.

Islamists And al-Qaeda Affiliated Jihadis Take Over The Syrian Revolution

 

Let's all bask in the wonder of the Arab Spring:

The evidence was incontrovertible, captured on video and posted on YouTube for all the world to see. During a demonstration against the Syrian regime, Wael Ibrahim, a veteran activist, had tossed aside a banner inscribed with the Muslim declaration of faith.

And that, decreed the officers of the newly established Sharia Authority set up to administer rebel-held Aleppo, constitutes a crime under Islamic law, punishable in this instance by 10 strokes of a metal pipe.

The beating administered last month offered a vivid illustration of the extent to which the Syrian revolution has strayed from its roots as a largely spontaneous uprising against four decades of Assad family rule. After mutating last year into a full-scale war, it is moving toward what appears to be an organized effort to institute Islamic law in areas that have fallen under rebel control.

Building on the reputation they have earned in recent months as the rebellion’s most accomplished fighters, Islamist units are seeking to assert their authority over civilian life, imposing Islamic codes and punishments and administering day-to-day matters such as divorce, marriage and vehicle licensing.

Numerous Islamist groups are involved, representing a wide spectrum of views. But, increasingly, the dominant role is falling to Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the al-Nusra Front. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States for suspected ties to al-Qaeda but is widely respected by many ordinary Syrians for its battlefield prowess and the assistance it has provided to needy civilians.

Across the northeastern provinces of Deir al-Zour and Raqqah, where the rebels have been making rapid advances in recent weeks, Jabhat al-Nusra has taken the lead both in the fighting and in setting out to replace toppled administrations. It has assumed control of bakeries and the distribution of flour and fuel, and in some instances it has sparked tensions with local fighters by trying to stop people from smoking in the streets.

Here in the war-ravaged city of Aleppo, more than half of which has been under rebel control since July, Jabhat al-Nusra is also widely identified as the leading force behind the Hayaa al-Sharia, which loosely translates as the Sharia Authority and is known simply as the Hayaa.

Based out of the city’s former Eye Hospital, which was damaged during the fighting and then occupied by Jabhat al-Nusra as its headquarters, the Hayaa is also backed by other rebel units, including the Tawhid Brigade, the city’s biggest fighting force, and the Ahrar al-Sham, a homegrown Islamist force that has played a relatively minor role in Aleppo but is powerful in several other provinces.

The Muslim Brotherhood sparked rebellion was never 'a spontaneous uprising against four decades of Assad family rule' nor was it ever about democracy.  It was always a tribal war, a Sunni Islamist revolt against minority Shi'ite control backed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with Assad being backed by his Shi'ite allies Hezbollah and Iran.

The rebels are already noted for waging war on Christians as well as Shi'ite civilians. At this point, many of Syria's centuries-old Christian community has already fled as refugees to Jordan and Lebanon, where there's a least a Maronite Christian community to shelter them.

And the Obama Administration is actually picking sides here?

Huge mistake. There may actually be elections of a sort if Assad is ousted, but whose going to actually be elected? See Egypt for a preview. Syria may actually be even worse.

If the Islamists and salafis get control of Syria, Jordan is next on the list of former U.S. client states to be added to the Islamist Caliphate.

As I've said repeatedly, we have no dog in this fight. President Obama made a severe error by enabling Muslim Brotherhood takeovers in Egypt and Libya, and the same thing is happening in Syria.

If it continues, it will come back to haunt us.

Narcissus In The Promised Land

President Obama landed in Israel today, receiving a welcome from Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Israeli president Shimon Peres at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

The president had a number of pleasant things to say that sharply contradicted his usual tone on Israel. From his cheering section at the Associated press:

Arriving in Israel on his first trip to the country as president, Obama told the Israeli people at an extravagant welcoming ceremony that "peace must come to the Holy Land" and that goal would not be achieved at Israel's expense. U.S. backing for Israel will be a constant as the Middle East roils with revolution and Iran continues work on its nuclear program, he said.

"The United States is proud to stand with you as your strongest ally and your greatest friend," Obama said, accepting profuse thanks from Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the tarmac at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport.

"Across this region the winds of change bring both promise and peril," he said, calling his visit "an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our nations, to restate America's unwavering commitment to Israel's security, and to speak directly to the people of Israel and to your neighbors."

Seeking to alter a perception among many Israelis that his government has been less supportive of Israel than previous U.S. administrations, Obama declared the U.S.-Israeli alliance "eternal."

"It is forever," he said to applause as Israeli and U.S. flags fluttered in a steady breeze under clear, sunny skies.

I think what we're seeing here is yet another attempt at a 'charm offensive' from this president, who continues to believe that his presentation and his personality is all that matters. And after all, talk is cheap, especially with the 2014 midterms coming up.Narcissus indeed.

The very symbolism of the president landing in Tel Aviv rather than in Jerusalem, Israel's capitol sends a message...and don;t think that message was lost on Israelis, no matter how flowery the president's carefully crafted speech was.

President Obama has called for Israel to retreat behind the indefensible borders of the pre-67 cease fire lines Israeli diplomat Abba Eban famously called the 'Auschwitz lines'. President Obama wants the Jews out apartheid style and a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem and the rest of Judea and Samaria. Is he even aware that if Israel complied with that, Air Force One would be unable to safely land at Ben Gurion or any other Israeli airport because of the danger of a Palestinian missile attack?

You also have to wonder exactly what the president has planned to deal with Iran. That will undoubtedly be a topic of conversation between thepresdent and PM Netanyahu. So far, America's response has been largely ineffective sanctions riddled with waivers given to numerous countries by the Obama Administration. Meanwhile, the centrifuges keep spinning, the Iranians have reacted with cynical contempt to efforts to resolve the matter peacefully and Iran gets closer every day to its goal of having nuclear weapons.

Is he planning to wait for Congress or the 'international community' to act rather than lead? when push comes to shove, will President Obama be there or will he simply grease out from under as he has before?

Rest assured, this is not just a problem for Israel, but a major security challenge for the United States. It's not a task that can simply be left for others.

I do know one thing. While the Israelis would much rather work in concert with the United States, when it comes down to the wire they will act alone. Even the dovish Shimon Peres understands that.

As a matter of fact, it would not surprise me if that is President Obama's intention...to have Israel remove the Iranian threat for him and then go to the UN to push for a 'nuclear free Middle East' to disarm Israel as well as for a Palestinian Jew free reichlet in Judea and Samaria with Jerusalem as its capitol.

Narcissus is in the Promised Land,beguiled by his own reflection and thinking that of course the natives will be as enamored of him as he is of himself.

It remains to be seen if he's right, but I think he overestimates his appeal.

UPDATE: Apparently President Obama not only overestimated his appeal (particularly to the Palestinians) but may actually be starting to realize it as he gets his nose rubbed into the truth of that famous saying by President Lincoln about not being able to fool all of the people all of the time...

Watcher's Council Nominations - March Madness Edition

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Ask Marion and The Pirate's Coven took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some fine articles.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• Simply Jews – Michael White: The Livingstone Formulation? Nope, the Seumas Milne's formula.


• The Noisy Room – Marxism in Education – The Infiltration of Our School Systems by the Common Core Standards


• The Political Commentator – Elites Beware: The New York Liquor Limitation Law could be coming to a restaurant near you!


• The Colossus of Rhodey – Add Kurt Busiek to those comics creators who don't get it


• Joshuapundit – ‘Killing Jews Is Worship’ Ad Campaign Rolled Out On SF Muni Buses


• The Razor – The EU: Stealing From The Poor And Giving To The Rich


• The Right Planet – Draconian Gun Laws Creating Black Market


• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Unhooking The Alliance With Pakistan


• Rhymes With Right – Many Shocked To Find Out Pope Francis Is, In Fact, Catholic


• VA Right! - Do Republicans Even Deserve to be a Majority Party Any Longer?


• The Mellow Jihadi – Iran Launches Destroyer


• The Glittering Eye – Francis


• Gay Patriot – Was the “charm offensive” expected to achieve anything*?


• Bookworm Room – At CPAC, Dr. Ben Carson comes out swinging against President Obama

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion - Benghazigate… the Scandal that Just Will Not Go Away


• The Pirate's Cove - Harry Reid Drops Scary Looking Gun Ban From Anti-Gun Legislation

Non-Council Submissions

• Elder of Ziyon – Arabs continue to freak out over Peres serving falafel to Obama submitted by Simply Jews


• Mark Steyn –An unstable truce with the Axis of Crazy submitted by The Noisy Room


• Zero Hedge -Cyprus: The World’s Biggest "Poker Game" submitted by The Political Commentator


• Delaware Libertarian – The expansion of libertarianism into the mainstream ... submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey


• Sarah Palin – Governor Sarah Palin's Speech At CPAC 2013 submitted by Joshuapundit


• Babalu Blog – Cuban political prisoners and torture victims humbly invite Yoani Sanchez for a chat submitted by The Razor


• Alex Newman/New American – Amid Federal Land Grab in Brazil, Whole Towns Evicted at Gunpoint submitted by The Right Planet


• Flashpoints/ The Diplomat – Could the U.S. Navy Blockade China? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD


• Big Jolly Politics – Inside the Mind of a Black Conservative submitted by Rhymes with Right


• FrontPage Magazine –Muslim Cleric Calls U.S. Aid to Egypt ‘Jizya’ submitted by The Mellow Jihadi


• Zen Pundit – CENTCOM, Rosenberg and Islamic eschatology, pt I submitted by The Glittering Eye


• Jennifer Rubin/Right Turn -10 questions for liberals submitted by Gay Patriot


• Selwyn Duke/Canada Free Press – Why the NRA is Right about Hollywood submitted by The Watcher


• The Commentator – Once and for all: The leftist origins of National Socialism submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Harry Reid Uses Marine Deaths To Play Politics

Some people are beneath contempt. And one of them is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Today there was a training accident at the Hawthorne Army Depot in western Nevada that took the lives of 7 Marines. It involved a misfire of a 60-millimeter mortar round that exploded prematurely inside its tube during a nighttime live fire exercise.

As anyone who has handled mortars knows, like any other artillery or artillery rounds, malfunctions sometimes happen.

Senator Reid's reaction to this tragedy is characteristic of the man. He clearly implied that the deaths were caused by the Sequester and by those Evil Republicans.Here's what he had to say on the Senate floor today:

As I indicated, it was quite a big explosion. We’ll follow this news very closely. I will do whatever I can going forward to support the United States military and the families of the fallen Marines.

Mr. President, it’s very important we continue training our military, so important. But one of the things in sequester is we cut back in training and maintenance. That’s the way sequester was written. Now, the bill that’s on the floor, we hope to pass today helps that a little bit. At least in the next six months, it allows the military some degree of ability to move things around a little bit. Flexibility, we call it, and that’s good. But we have to be very vigilant. This sequester should go away. We have cut already huge amounts of money in deficit reduction. It’s just not appropriate, Mr. President, that our military can’t train and do the maintenance necessary.

These men and women, our Marines were training there in Hawthorne. And with this sequester, it’s going to cut back this stuff. I just hope everyone understands the sacrifices made by our military. They are significant, being away from home, away from families, away from their country.

Notice how the crafty Mr. Reid phrased this. It's quite clear what he's implying, but it's stated in such a way that he can try to claim plausible deniability if anyone calls him out on it.

The Marines, of course, were not fooled at all.

Per NBC Reporter Jim Miklaszewski:

Now I can tell you, Marine Corps officials this afternoon are taking a strong exception to what Harry Reid implied. Saying that this this exercise, for example, was planned well in advance, had nothing to do with the budget cuts. There were no corners cut, and if they couldn’t afford to have all the safety precautions into place, they wouldn’t do the exercise.

And in fact, one Marine Corps official told us a short time ago that he considers this nothing but pure political posturing on the backs of these dead Marines.

That's exactly what it is. To imply that the Marine Corps would risk their lives of their men because of 'budget cuts' takes a very special kind of politician.

Let's parse, briefly what this cockroach had to say.

In the first place, the sequestration - and the fact that it primarily affects the defense budget - was President Obama's idea and no one else's. it was a lousy deal agreed to by GOP leaders John Boehner and Mitch McConnell as a stopgap measure after the president went back on an agreement he had already made with Boehner and tried to shove an additional $450 billion in tax increases into the deal. If, as Senator Reid clearly implies the sequestration is the cause of anything, it can be laid at the feet of President Obama.

Second, this was a training exercise that went wrong because a shell fired prematurely. Unless the shell's manufacturer or the mortar's manufacturer was somehow magically affected by the Federal budget, the sequestration had nothing to do with what happened.

And third, let's consider the source. This is the senator who endangered U.S. troops under fire in Iraq by saying 'the war is lost', and by doing his best to sabotage the surge strategy and th egeneral in charge of it. This is the Senator threw a tantrum over a bill introduced by Senate Republicans to cut all funding off for Iraq and Afghanistan that challenged the seditious behavior being practiced by people like Senators Reid, Biden, Durbin, Obama and Clinton and essentially invited them to put up or shut up.

Needless to say, the Democrats felt forced by political considerations to vote with Republicans to keep funding our men and women under fire, and Reid's spiteful revenge was to see to it that a separate bill was tabled that would have provided a badly needed pay raise to our military and provided for the funding of needed equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, this is the man who now claims to be concerned about our military and their well-being.

Tomorrow, of course, he'll deny that he was referencing the sequester. Better yet, the Obama Administration will have someone from the Pentagon or one of the Joint chiefs of Staff do it.

I leave it to you to look at what Reid said.

This is the Majority leader of the U.S. Senate, someone who's actually in line for presidential succession playing these obscene games.

As I said, some people are simply beneath contempt.

Now We Know What Obama Meant By 'More Flexibility After The Election '

 

In 2012 President Obama was caught on a hot mic telling Russian President Medvedev to tell 'Vladimir' (Putin) that after the election, President Obama would have a 'a lot more flexibility'.

Today, Pravda-on-the Hudson is reporting on what President Obama meant.

And I'm sure this is just the beginning.

At this point, I'm going to censor myself and let you react on your own.

Sarah Palin AT CPAC "We're Not Here To Rebrand A Party, We're Here To Rebuild A Country"

An absolutely wonderful speech from Governor Palin. And it looks like Governor Palin has been working out and getting in shape for something big.

Bonus...Senator Ted Cruz's superb intro.

Hard to believe that the GOP was too frightened and wussied up to give the Governor a speaking slot at last year's national convention. She is far and away the best speaker and most articulate politician in either party.

Listen to this and tell me again that she couldn't eat Barack Obama's lunch in a head to head.

Soon come...soon come.

Israel's New Defense Minister 'Boogie' Ya'alon Takes Over

One of the best appointments the new Netanyahu government has made thus far is that of Defense Minister Moshe 'Boogie Ya'alon.

A former Chief of Staff of the IDF and a former paratrooper and member of the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces unit, he is a no nonsense soldier who was forced out of the Chief of Staff's position because of his objections to the Gaza withdrawal.

He's also on record as saying that thinking that Israel just needs to give one more piece of land and then it will have peace is a kind of "virus."

Ya'alon went public yesterday, sharing thoughts on Israel's security situation and his priorities as defense minister:

The new defense minister provided the public with a glimpse of his priorities on Sunday, when he used a Facebook post to list the defense issues he will soon be tackling.

First on the list was, naturally, the Iranian nuclear program, which threatens Israel, the Middle East, and global security as a whole. According to unconfirmed yet widespread reports, Ya'alon has, until now, been in the camp of those opposed to a military strike against Iran's nuclear program, preferring to let the US take the lead.

However, even if the reports are true, Ya'alon's stance could change in light of new intelligence or new developments.

Secondly, Ya'alon made reference to the Middle East instability that is washing over nearly all of Israel's neighbors. Under [former defense minister] Ehud Barak's watch, the IDF has made good progress in shifting its focus towards emerging terror threats from Syria - home to an arsenal of chemical weapons - and the Sinai Peninsula, and Ya'alon will be seeking to continue the preparations.

Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza are threats that cannot be separated from the regional instability. Hezbollah, armed with over 60,000 rockets and well trained guerrillas, remains the most formidable enemy in Israel's immediate area. The IDF has spent recent years intensively training itself for the next encounter with the Shi'ite terror group, which is currently attempting to target Israeli civilians overseas. Ya'alon will be briefed in full on these preparations.

The last defense issue mentioned by Ya'alon is the "Israeli - Palestinian issue," - a reference to the stalled diplomatic process vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Ya'alon's position on this issue is well known - he holds that the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is not a viable peace partner at this time.

Yasser Koach, Aluf Ya'alon!

The Palestinian Authority not only isn't seriously interested in negotiating anything or making any concessions, only in having their demands met as Mahmoud Abbas had said many times.

Not only that, but it's questionable whom Mahmoud Abbas speaks for anyway. His term as President ran out three years ago, Fatah's support even in the Palestinian occupied areas of Judea and Samaria is lessening while that of Hamas is growing, and there's no possibility of him delivering on his end of any deal that was made even if he wanted to.

Ya'alon, who was IDF chief of staff when the Second Intifada was defeated is exactly right to put them at the lowest priority.