from: Middle East News Line
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Scores of senior retired U.S. officers have warned of
the decline in American strategic cooperation with Israel.
Close to 50 generals and admirals have signed a letter that termed
Israel a key element in U.S. global strategy. In a letter organized by the
Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the retired
officers, who have toured Israel, said the Jewish state was highly important
to U.S. policy in the Middle East and Mediterranean region.
"We brought with us our decades of military experience and, following
unrestricted access to Israel's civilian and military leaders, came away
with the unswerving belief that the security of the State of Israel is a
matter of great importance to the United States and its policy in the Middle
East and Eastern Mediterranean," the letter, released on April 2, read. "A
strong, secure Israel is an asset upon which American military planners and
political leaders can rely."
JINSA said the letter was organized in wake of an assessment by U.S.
Central Command that relations with Israel were harming Washington's efforts
to form alliances with Arab and Muslim countries. In March, Vice President
Joseph Biden was quoted as telling Israeli leaders that their policies,
including Jewish construction in Jerusalem, were endangering U.S. soldiers
in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"While we recognize, as [Centcom chief] Gen. [David] Petraeus did, that
American support for Israel is used by our adversaries to foment
anti-Americanism, we also recognize that the important countries of the
region won't like us any better if we shed Israel as an ally," JINSA said.
"They will wonder how quickly we will shed them when they are inconvenient."
JINSA has been lobbying the Defense Department and U.S. military
regarding Israel since the early 1980s. In January 2010, the organization
released a report that asserted that Washington was denying Jerusalem -- the
largest recipient of U.S. military aid -- a range of weapons in what could
harm Israel's military superiority over its Arab neighbors.
The letter, planned for publication in major U.S. newspapers, quoted the
generals and admirals as expressing "grave concern" over tension between
Jerusalem and Washington. The retired senior officers said they could not
rule out the prospect that "political differences may be allowed to outweigh
our larger mutual interests."
The admirals and generals said Israel and the United States have engaged
in defense and military cooperation at all levels. The letter cited
training, law enforcement, counter-insurgency as well as research and
development.
The United States would require Israeli cooperation for a range of
threats, the officers said. They said this would include nonconventional and
ballistic missile proliferation as well as CI operations.
"As American defense professionals, we view events in the Middle East
through the prism of American security interests," the letter said. "In the
Middle East, a volatile region so vital to U.S. interests, it would be
foolish to disengage -- or denigrate -- an ally such as Israel."
See this story and more at Israel Behind the News
Showing posts with label Joe Biden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Biden. Show all posts
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Biden Snubbed By PA; Square Named After Terrorist
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - The promise made to the Americans was not kept. The Palestinian Authority (P.A.) named a square in Ramallah after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who led a Palestinian Liberation Organization terror attack on the coastal road of Israek, where 38 people were murdered, including Gale Rubin, the niece of Senator Abraham Ribicoff, the late Senator from Connecticut.
Because of the visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the P.A. canceled the official ceremony scheduled to take place in Ramallah, during which it was to name one of the main squares in the city after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who, in 1978, committed the attack on the coastal road bus.
Despite their promises, the Palestinians held a commemoration ceremony to mark 32 years of the terror attack. “We are committed to the path of shahid Dalal Mughrabi,” the participants declared at the ceremony, which was also attended by top Fatah members and P.A. officials. A monument was even placed in the square center in memory of Mughrabi. Participants held up pictures of the terrorist.
Last week, Adnan Dumairi, a senior Palestinian Authority security official, announced that the official ceremony to name the square after Mughrabi had been delayed only for “technical reasons.”
Among those attending the ceremony were Palestinian MP Fatah member Jamal Hawil, and Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee and former director of Palestinian intelligence.
To make clear its intention to memorialize Mughrabi, the Palestinian Authority this week launched a seminar named after Mughrabi.
The four-day seminar, called “Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Camp,” was being held in Jericho under the auspices of the P.A.’s Military Science Academy, where the American army trains Palestinian security services. About 120 Palestinian university students from the West Bank participated in the conference.
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem - The promise made to the Americans was not kept. The Palestinian Authority (P.A.) named a square in Ramallah after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who led a Palestinian Liberation Organization terror attack on the coastal road of Israek, where 38 people were murdered, including Gale Rubin, the niece of Senator Abraham Ribicoff, the late Senator from Connecticut.
Because of the visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the P.A. canceled the official ceremony scheduled to take place in Ramallah, during which it was to name one of the main squares in the city after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who, in 1978, committed the attack on the coastal road bus.
Despite their promises, the Palestinians held a commemoration ceremony to mark 32 years of the terror attack. “We are committed to the path of shahid Dalal Mughrabi,” the participants declared at the ceremony, which was also attended by top Fatah members and P.A. officials. A monument was even placed in the square center in memory of Mughrabi. Participants held up pictures of the terrorist.
Last week, Adnan Dumairi, a senior Palestinian Authority security official, announced that the official ceremony to name the square after Mughrabi had been delayed only for “technical reasons.”
Among those attending the ceremony were Palestinian MP Fatah member Jamal Hawil, and Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee and former director of Palestinian intelligence.
To make clear its intention to memorialize Mughrabi, the Palestinian Authority this week launched a seminar named after Mughrabi.
The four-day seminar, called “Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Camp,” was being held in Jericho under the auspices of the P.A.’s Military Science Academy, where the American army trains Palestinian security services. About 120 Palestinian university students from the West Bank participated in the conference.
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Friday, March 19, 2010
Israel's New Enemy: America?
"Enemy: "a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or
engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or
opponent." - Dictionary.com
Despite Vice President Joe Biden's recent pledge of unswerving fidelity to
Israel during his recent visit there, the rhetoric and pressure directed by
the Obama administration against the only fully functioning democracy in the
Middle East more accurately resembles the behavior of an enemy. Increasingly
under this administration - but also present in Republican administrations -
America's policy toward Israel is full of "harmful designs" and
"antagonistic activities." The intentions may not be deliberate, but the
outcome would lead to the same injurious end.
The latest pretext for putting more pressure on Israel to do more in the
"pursuit of peace" comes from a decision by Israel's Interior Ministry to
construct 1,600 new housing units in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of
Ramat Shlomo, which is located in "disputed territory." To the Palestinians
and their Arab and Muslim neighbors, most especially Iran and Syria, all of
Israel is "disputed territory." It is difficult to understand why the U.S.
State Department thinks not building a few houses is going to dissuade
Israel's enemies from wanting less than they want now.
The failure of this formula has been evident for decades, but U.S. policy
continues to employ it, always with the same results. Whether Israel's
concessions have been unilateral - most recently with its abandonment of the
Gaza Strip, which predictably led to terrorist attacks from that territory -
or negotiated deals which the Palestinians have never lived up to, Israel
always ends up getting its pocket picked. Then, the United States, the U.N.,
Europe and Russia demand that it put more valuables in its pocket so the
thieves can continue their thievery.
Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and
Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists
regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here.
A Washington Post headline illustrates the deteriorating relationship
between the two nations, "U.S. Pushes Netanyahu to Accept 3 Demands." There
is no similar demand that the Palestinians and especially Hamas, which has
said it will agree to nothing less than the eradication of Israel, should
accept anything, not even the minimal acceptance of Israel's right to exist.
Meanwhile, Hamas has called on Palestinians to launch a third "intifada."
After apologizing to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the "offense" of
the housing announcement during Biden's visit, Netanyahu reminded the
Israeli parliament that Israel has been building in east Jerusalem for four
decades. He said, "The building of those Jewish neighborhoods in no way hurt
the Arabs of East Jerusalem and did not come at their expense."
That doesn't matter when the wrong formula is employed. In this twisted
thinking, whatever Israel does is unjustified so long as the
Palestinian-Arab-Muslim side is unhappy. What part of annihilation does the
State Department not understand? What State is blind to is that the
"Israeli-Palestinian conflict," as it is erroneously labeled, is part of a
worldwide religious war against all things Jewish, Christian, secular,
modern and Western.
Making demands of only one side before serious negotiations begin,
especially on matters of Jerusalem, so-called "refugees" and borders,
effectively pressures Israel into making concessions on all three, which
would severely damage its prospects for continued existence.
How about first making these demands of the Palestinian-Arab-Muslim side:
(1) A pledge of no more war with Israel, or terrorism; 2) a declaration by a
powerful Islamic cleric that their God no longer requires them to kill
people who don't believe as they do; and 3) no more teaching in Palestinian
textbooks and in their media that Jews created AIDS and descend from monkeys
and pigs?
After those three demands are met, the State Department can start making
demands of Israel. Not before. Anything less puts America on the wrong side,
along with Israel's (and America's) enemies. Or hasn't State noticed that we
share the same enemies?
See the original article in the Jewish World Review
See this and related postings at Israel Behind the News
engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or
opponent." - Dictionary.com
Despite Vice President Joe Biden's recent pledge of unswerving fidelity to
Israel during his recent visit there, the rhetoric and pressure directed by
the Obama administration against the only fully functioning democracy in the
Middle East more accurately resembles the behavior of an enemy. Increasingly
under this administration - but also present in Republican administrations -
America's policy toward Israel is full of "harmful designs" and
"antagonistic activities." The intentions may not be deliberate, but the
outcome would lead to the same injurious end.
The latest pretext for putting more pressure on Israel to do more in the
"pursuit of peace" comes from a decision by Israel's Interior Ministry to
construct 1,600 new housing units in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of
Ramat Shlomo, which is located in "disputed territory." To the Palestinians
and their Arab and Muslim neighbors, most especially Iran and Syria, all of
Israel is "disputed territory." It is difficult to understand why the U.S.
State Department thinks not building a few houses is going to dissuade
Israel's enemies from wanting less than they want now.
The failure of this formula has been evident for decades, but U.S. policy
continues to employ it, always with the same results. Whether Israel's
concessions have been unilateral - most recently with its abandonment of the
Gaza Strip, which predictably led to terrorist attacks from that territory -
or negotiated deals which the Palestinians have never lived up to, Israel
always ends up getting its pocket picked. Then, the United States, the U.N.,
Europe and Russia demand that it put more valuables in its pocket so the
thieves can continue their thievery.
Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and
Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists
regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here.
A Washington Post headline illustrates the deteriorating relationship
between the two nations, "U.S. Pushes Netanyahu to Accept 3 Demands." There
is no similar demand that the Palestinians and especially Hamas, which has
said it will agree to nothing less than the eradication of Israel, should
accept anything, not even the minimal acceptance of Israel's right to exist.
Meanwhile, Hamas has called on Palestinians to launch a third "intifada."
After apologizing to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the "offense" of
the housing announcement during Biden's visit, Netanyahu reminded the
Israeli parliament that Israel has been building in east Jerusalem for four
decades. He said, "The building of those Jewish neighborhoods in no way hurt
the Arabs of East Jerusalem and did not come at their expense."
That doesn't matter when the wrong formula is employed. In this twisted
thinking, whatever Israel does is unjustified so long as the
Palestinian-Arab-Muslim side is unhappy. What part of annihilation does the
State Department not understand? What State is blind to is that the
"Israeli-Palestinian conflict," as it is erroneously labeled, is part of a
worldwide religious war against all things Jewish, Christian, secular,
modern and Western.
Making demands of only one side before serious negotiations begin,
especially on matters of Jerusalem, so-called "refugees" and borders,
effectively pressures Israel into making concessions on all three, which
would severely damage its prospects for continued existence.
How about first making these demands of the Palestinian-Arab-Muslim side:
(1) A pledge of no more war with Israel, or terrorism; 2) a declaration by a
powerful Islamic cleric that their God no longer requires them to kill
people who don't believe as they do; and 3) no more teaching in Palestinian
textbooks and in their media that Jews created AIDS and descend from monkeys
and pigs?
After those three demands are met, the State Department can start making
demands of Israel. Not before. Anything less puts America on the wrong side,
along with Israel's (and America's) enemies. Or hasn't State noticed that we
share the same enemies?
See the original article in the Jewish World Review
See this and related postings at Israel Behind the News
Friday, March 12, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israel Demands Naval Blockade of Iran by the US
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - Israel is applying pressure to the United States and trying to persuade the administration to impose a naval blockade on Iran, in addition to the sanctions that the U.N. Security Council is expected to approve in the coming months.
Israel believes that these sanctions are “soft” and will not be able to stop the Iranian nuclear program and, therefore, it will be necessary to support them by an American naval blockade that will apply heavy pressure to the Iranian regime and demonstrate the seriousness of the intentions of the U.S. in particular and the West in general to prevent Iran from going nuclear. The U.S. administration, at this stage, is unenthusiastic about the idea, and the chances of implementing it now appear slim.
Discussions between Israel and the U.S. on this matter are now at their most critical stage. The visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden. Israeli diplomatic sources say that their goal in Mr. Biden’s visit was to try to recruit him for the idea of the naval blockade and, perhaps, for a number of other Israeli ideas regarding the sanctions.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem - Israel is applying pressure to the United States and trying to persuade the administration to impose a naval blockade on Iran, in addition to the sanctions that the U.N. Security Council is expected to approve in the coming months.
Israel believes that these sanctions are “soft” and will not be able to stop the Iranian nuclear program and, therefore, it will be necessary to support them by an American naval blockade that will apply heavy pressure to the Iranian regime and demonstrate the seriousness of the intentions of the U.S. in particular and the West in general to prevent Iran from going nuclear. The U.S. administration, at this stage, is unenthusiastic about the idea, and the chances of implementing it now appear slim.
Discussions between Israel and the U.S. on this matter are now at their most critical stage. The visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden. Israeli diplomatic sources say that their goal in Mr. Biden’s visit was to try to recruit him for the idea of the naval blockade and, perhaps, for a number of other Israeli ideas regarding the sanctions.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Obama to Provide Weapons to Lebanon, Morocco
by David Bedein
The United States plans to send an unprecedented array of offensive military systems to Lebanon and to Morocco.
The Obama administration has approved the delivery of missiles, artillery and main battle tanks to the Lebanese Army. This would mark the first offensive systems to Lebanon since the 1980s.
Meanwhile, on May 22, Vice President Joseph Biden visited Beirut and announced the administration was preparing to deliver a range of offensive military platforms to Lebanon.
Since 2006, the United States has relayed $410 million in military aid to Lebanon. Most of the aid has gone for Humvee combat vehicles, light ammunition and training.
Meanwhile, Morocco requested a U.S.-origin G-550 aircraft from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation.
This marked the second Moroccan request for U.S. aircraft since 2007. The first request by Morocco was for 24 F-16 Block 52+ aircraft in a $2.4 billion deal.
A Pentagon agency said Morocco has requested one Gulfstream G-550 transport aircraft, one spare BR700-710C4-11 GmbH engine, aircraft ferry services, spare and repair parts, as well as training and logistics.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
The United States plans to send an unprecedented array of offensive military systems to Lebanon and to Morocco.
The Obama administration has approved the delivery of missiles, artillery and main battle tanks to the Lebanese Army. This would mark the first offensive systems to Lebanon since the 1980s.
Meanwhile, on May 22, Vice President Joseph Biden visited Beirut and announced the administration was preparing to deliver a range of offensive military platforms to Lebanon.
Since 2006, the United States has relayed $410 million in military aid to Lebanon. Most of the aid has gone for Humvee combat vehicles, light ammunition and training.
Meanwhile, Morocco requested a U.S.-origin G-550 aircraft from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation.
This marked the second Moroccan request for U.S. aircraft since 2007. The first request by Morocco was for 24 F-16 Block 52+ aircraft in a $2.4 billion deal.
A Pentagon agency said Morocco has requested one Gulfstream G-550 transport aircraft, one spare BR700-710C4-11 GmbH engine, aircraft ferry services, spare and repair parts, as well as training and logistics.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
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