Who cares about “negotiations”?

By Ted Belman | 09/15/09

  Mitchell, Netanyahu fail to agree on settlement halt.   But don’t stand up and cheer just yet. Mitchell is still hanging around. Netanyahu told his party: “In any case, I will not agree to enter into talks whose results are defined and known in advance. That’s what negotiations are for and we are willing to begin right away.” In discussing the talks with the United States on freezing... read more »

All the more reason to support Netanyahu

By Ted Belman | 09/14/09

I attended the Jewish Blogger's Conference in Jerusalem last night. It was sponsored by Nefesh b’Nefesh and WebAds. A very exciting event. I had a long conversation with Ashley Perry, International Media Advisor to the Deputy Foreign Ministry. More on that after I meet with him again. But the highlight for me was the speech given by Ron Dermer described by Wikipedia as follows, Ron Dermer was Israel’s Minister of Economic... read more »

Israel can and must act in her own best interests.

By Ted Belman | 09/13/09

Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the  future." - Horace As I read Ettinger’s excellent piece below, I was reminded of other historical facts having to do with limiting Jewish settlement, emigration or immigration. Even before the British Mandate, Britain was actively limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine. Stalin also prevented Jewish emigration. The ... read more »

The “settlement enterprise” is here to stay

By Ted Belman | 09/12/09

The Left in Israel keeps repeating that the settlement enterprise was a mistake and should be abandoned, In 2006 Gershon Gorenberg published an article in the NYT titled Israel’s Tragedy Foretold to the same effect. I countered with The Real Tragedy in Israel and argued The fact remains that Israel has every right, according to international law, to defend its citizens, to remain in occupation, to build settlements and to refuse to... read more »

Sarah Palin is “some dummy”

By Ted Belman | 09/11/09

What’s wrong with Sarah Palin, we are told, is that she is a dummy. In the words of the late great Winston Churchill, “Some dummy”. When she, on short notice, announced she was retiring from her job as Governor, her admirers were all too quick to say that she was making a mistake. “Some mistake”. And detractors called it her swan song. In less than six weeks she has taken over from all the elected Republicans, ... read more »

Netanyahu is sticking to Rabin’s guidelines.

By Ted Belman | 09/09/09

In attempting to evaluate the “partial freeze, we must be wary of spin. We must also be wary of “Greeks” bearing gifts. Netanyahu has released about 500 units for construction. Is this a big deal or no deal at all? Haaretz did a study and concluded “‘New’ settlement permits aren’t really new” Haaretz checked and discovered that these permits, are no more than another layer of permits on top... read more »

The Saudi Plan is really the US Plan

By Ted Belman | 08/30/09

The Saudi Plan was introduced prior to the Gulf War. After the war began, the Roadmap was unveiled which included the Saudi Plan and now we are stuck with it. In the article which follows written just after the Roadmap was introduced, I reasoned that the Saudi Plan was really the State Department Plan negotiated for the Saudi support for the US invasion. A Unifying Theory Palestine for Iraq We’ve been had. After Bush’s June... read more »

Sarah Palin is just beginning to fight and win

By Ted Belman | 08/21/09

On August 7th, Sarah Paling wrote in her facebook page The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which... read more »

Its an all or nothing deal now

By Ted Belman | 08/12/09

Yesterday, I commented on the NYT article The Two State Solution Doesn’t Solve Anything but failed to address it on a strategic level. For years now, many, myself included, have commented on the intent of the far left and the Muslim movements on Campus and elsewhere was not to usher in the two state solution or end the occupation but to end the State of Israel. Now the NYT has brought this intent into the mainstream. In the weeks and... read more »

Don’t just stand there, do something

By Ted Belman | 07/30/09

The talk of the town, Jerusalem that is, is that Mitchell, Gates, Ross and a whole US team are in discussions for the sought-after freeze among other things. One Israeli diplomat commented on Israel’s position, “The Americans now understand that if they get anything from us on the settlement issue, it will only be in the broader context of some kind of Arab return,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to... read more »