Isolating the Bully

Do you know how to neutralize a bully? Peel away his support.

Israel has been ultra-successful doing that to the Palestinians, particularly in the last few years. With peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and a serious thawing in relations with the Saudis, Iraq, and other Gulf States, it appears that the murderous Palestinians are increasingly feeling themselves boxed-in.

Senior Hamas figure Isma’il Radwan is angry with the Arab states for normalizing relations with Israel, saying that as far as the “resistance” [terrorist organizations] was concerned it was treason against the Arab nation, the Palestinian people and their struggle. He said that the Palestinian people would not stop their struggle until they had achieved freedom and until the “siege” of the Gaza Strip had been lifted.

Well!

It was always clear that the Arab states didn’t really care about the Palestinians, but they were useful as political pawns, back when those states were ruled by old-school dictators. Say what you want about globalization, it’s had one positive affect: modernizing some Arab leaders. And I’d hazard to guess that most of them have never really been true believers in Allah.

All this hasn’t stopped the animals in Palestinian society from murdering Jews.

Just yesterday, an Israeli mother was driving in Samaria when a Palestinian terrorist threw a rock at her car; when she swerved, she went head-on into an oncoming truck. Her murder leaves four children and a husband behind.

And, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:

“The increase in tension on the ground was accompanied by Hamas complaints about the freezing of the third payment of money from Qatar and threats that if the funds did not reach the Gaza Strip by the end of the week they would gradually return to activity [i.e., violence] on the Israel border, which would peak the following Friday. Meanwhile, tensions between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) reached a new high: there were mass detentions by Hamas of Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip; the PA personnel at the Rafah Crossing were evacuated and operatives of Hamas’ security forces replaced them; the offices of the PA television station in Gaza City were raided and vandalized, and workers were assaulted (senior Fatah and PA figures accused Hamas).

“The tension may increase Hamas’ motivation to raise the level of violence against Israel. This past week the Israeli security forces detained ‘Assem Barghouti, who was responsible for the shooting attack at Givat Asaf (Ramallah region; two IDF soldiers were killed). He and his brother were also involved in the shooting attack at the bus stop in Ofra (Ramallah region; seven people were injured and a baby born prematurely died).”

In December, seven people were injured and a baby born prematurely died after his mother was wounded. This was near the Ofra bus stop near Ramallah, and Barghouti was responsible.

The terrorist animal had been released  from an Israeli prison in April 2018, after serving 11 years.

One can hope that as we go into the foreseeable future, the Palestinians will become totally isolated, and will be dealt with in such a way that they do not harm another Israeli.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

Babylon Calling

In the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the Israelites were warned that invasion was coming. Sure enough, in 586 B.C., the Babylonians came from the east, sacked Jerusalem, and carried off thousands back to their kingdom. There, the Jewish exiles mourned for 70 years, before the Lord allowed them to return after a decree from a new empire, the Medo-Persians.

A reversal of sorts was announced this week, as word came that several Iraqi delegations had visited Israeli government officials! Wow, what an amazing turnaround of history, especially given the hostilities of the last century between the countries.

Of course, no one knows where this will end up, but I am reminded of David Allen Lewis’s remark on the peace between Egypt and Israel: “A cold peace is better than no peace.”

Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged this latest breakthrough and it is nothing short of amazing. Most of the readers of Israel Watch no that in the past few short years, various Arab countries are warming up to Israel, as evil forces threaten all of them.

From a report in Israel National News:

“Three delegations from Iraq visited Israel in recent months, the last of which arrived in Israel within the last month, Hadashot TV reported on Sunday.

“The delegations included a total of 15 influential people from Iraq, including local religious leaders, both Sunnis and Shiites.

“According to the Hadashot TV report, the delegation met with Israeli officials, visited the Yad Vashem Museum and met with academics and organizations related to Iraqi Jewry.”

I was not sure at all that Iraq would ever do such a thing, given the Saddam Hussein years and even prior. And remember, Iraq took part in the wars against Israel in ’48, ’67, and ’73, in one form or another. Saddam’s well-publicized threats to wipe Israel off the map were routine for decades.

“Last month, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attended a conference of Israeli ambassadors at the Foreign Ministry, and told the diplomats, ‘When I meet with Arab leaders, they say to me, ‘We have security and economic interests, and we also want to enjoy the fruits of progress, and we will not mortgage our normalization with the State of Israel to the whims of the Palestinians.’”

This is astonishing, and proves that many are getting sick of the tired old Palestinian mendacity. It has brought much destruction not only to Israel, but also to neighboring Arabs. If for no other reason, they have finally grown tired of subsidizing the PLO-Hamas Hatfields’ and Mccoys’ feud.

Netanyahu has skillfully split-off the Palestinian demands from normalization with other Arab countries or, should I say, actual Arab countries.

There’s no question that there are many thousands of Arabs in the Middle East that simply want to get on with life and put an end to a century of fighting, murder, and destruction.

Now, should we expect Netanyahu to host Iraqi President Barham Salih anytime soon? Not so fast, but these delegations are a really big deal.

Things change so quickly geopolitically in the Middle East, but let’s enjoy this good news as we head into 2019.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com