November 19, 2013
Survey: Dutch favor Arab recognition of Israel as Jewish state
More than two-thirds of respondents to a survey in the Netherlands said Arab countries should recognize Israel as the Jewish state.
Some 68 percent of 4,200 adults polled last month told the leading Dutch polling company Peil.nl they believed that Arab countries “should recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish People,” according to a statement by the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, the Dutch pro-Israel lobby group that commissioned the poll.
But the poll, whose results were published earlier this month, also showed that 23 percent of respondents believe Israel bears most of the blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict compared to 15 percent who blame the Palestinians. Forty-three percent of respondents said both parties were equally responsible.
A statement that the Netherlands should be more supportive of Israel than of the Palestinians received the approval of 16 percent of respondents, nearly double the number who backed more backing for the Palestinians.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said neutrality was the best policy for the Netherlands and 33 percent said the Netherlands should support both Israel and the Palestinians equally.
The two-state solution was selected as the preferred resolution of the conflict by 59 percent of respondents, whereas 14 percent of respondents said Palestinians should realize their national ambitions in Arab states. Eight percent said Jews needed to return “to their land of origin.”
Among attitudes toward Jews, 38 percent of respondents said they were positive or very positive and 6 percent said they were negative. Fifty-two percent said their attitude toward Jews was neutral.
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Senators, after Obama meeting, ready to delay new sanctions
Senate leaders appeared ready to delay intensified sanctions targeting Iran while President Obama seeks a deal to roll back that country’s nuclear program, although several warned not to yield on demands that Iran end its uranium enrichment.
In comments after the meeting, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, and John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the fiercest critics of Obama’s Iran policy said they did not expect sanctions to go through soon.
“You always have to listen to the president of the United States when he asks you to do something,” McCain told the Washington Examiner. “Of course we want to seriously consider doing what he wanted, especially in the midst of some serious negotiations.”
A statement from the White House said that in the meeting Obama said he was “grateful” to Congress for passing “the most effective sanctions regime in history” but asked them to hold off on more sanctions.
“He indicated that new sanctions should not be enacted during the current negotiations, but that they would be most effective as a robust response should negotiations fail,” the White House said.
Negotiations resume Wednesday in Geneva between Iran and the major powers to make Iran’s nuclear program more transparent in exchange for sanctions relief.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been arguing forcefully for enhanced sanctions, saying that they are likelier to extract concessions from Iran that would disable its suspected nuclear weapons.
Obama in the meeting with Senators also pushed back against claims by Israeli officials that the major powers were offering Iran sanctions relief valued at between $20 and $40 billion saying these reports were “inaccurate.”
Analysts close to the administration have said the likely impact of sanctions relief on the $100-120 billion Iran suffers in sanctions each year is likely to be more in the region of $10 billion.
Separately, a number of senators – including three who were in the meeting with Obama – on Tuesday wrote U.S. Secretary John Kerry urging him to ensure that Iran abides by U.N. Security Council resolutions as part of any deal, and suspends all uranium enrichment.
“While the interim agreement may suggest that Iran could be willing temporarily to slow its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, it could also allow Iran to continue making some progress toward that end under the cover of negotiations,” said the letter. “This does not give us confidence that Iran is prepared to abandon unambiguously its nuclear weapons pursuit altogether, as it must.”
The letter also expressed reservations at reports that sanctions relief could amount to $10 billion.
“We regard this as a major concession on our part that would not be justified by the concessions the Iranian regime would be required to make in return,” the letter said.
The letter, which was backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was signed by Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), McCain, Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
In addition to McCain, Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Schumer, the third ranking Democrat in the Senate, had attended the White House meeting.
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The Value of Life
“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” (Golda Meir. Statement to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., 1957)
On Monday, Amal Haniyeh, the granddaughter of Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was hospitalized in Israel in critical condition. Hamas is a terror organization that stands behind Gilad Shalit’s captivity, several suicide bombers who took many lives in Israeli restaurants and malls, missiles that are constantly being fired to southern Israel and an overall death wish to all that’s Israeli or Jewish.
Hamas is one of Israel’s worst nightmares and still, its finest doctors did everything in their power to save the life of Haniyeh’s granddaughter. When life is at stake, even if it’s the life of an enemy, Israel puts any disputes behind. It happens almost on a daily basis, when Palestinian prisoners, who are many times convicted terrorists, receiving medical treatment; it happened just a few months ago, when it was discovered that Israel is quietly treating Syrian war victims; it happened last week when the terrorist who stabbed soldier Eden Atias in his sleep was taken to a hospital to receive medical treatment for a few minor injuries, only moments after the crime.
When it comes to the value of life, Israel asks no questions. Some would criticize it, saying terrorists must be executed and not treated and retiring to a life in Israeli prison that’s far better than life in their homes. But the question of “eye for an eye” seems to minimize in comparison to the value of life. A life is a life is a life, no matter how wrong one had done.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our neighbors. Since an early age, Palestinian children are being educated to hate and are being trained to kill. True, they are not in the high position Israel is at, and therefore may need to grow a survival instinct, but the outcome is automatic machines knowing that “the Jews” are devils and must be stopped at any cost.
The Israeli military can destroy all of the Palestinian territories and kill everyone who live there, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, we sit at the negotiation table, trying to figure out a solution. At the same time, we are treating the most vicious killers, even though we can leave them to die. We want terrorists to pay for their crimes, but instead we are freeing them as part of a goodwill gesture prior the actual “peace talks.” At the same time, a new generation of terrorists grows, right across the border. They don’t learn to sit and talk and open a window to peace. They learn that the value of their lives is being measured in how many Jews they kill.
Not all of our neighbors treat their children this way, the way that not all of the Israelis teach their children to value all life. But a majority is enough to characterize an entire community. This gap between the basic grasp of life pushes any chance of peace away. Freeing terrorists as goodwill after providing them with a medical care is no good for Israel nor for any future peace, for those terrorists will strike again, much like Haniyeh will not stop firing at Israel.
Peace is all about attitude. It is not about what you say when you interview to the press, but what you project in your community. Peace is based, first and foremost, on the value of life, on loving your children more than you hate your enemy.
Kerry postpones trip to Israel ahead of Geneva Iran talks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a trip to Israel scheduled for this week.
Kerry hopes to visit Israel “in the coming weeks,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday afternoon.
Kerry had indicated earlier in the day during a joint news conference in Washington with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that he would not make it to Israel as planned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced Sunday at a regular Cabinet meeting that Kerry would arrive in Israel at the end of the week, on Nov. 22, to discuss the proposed nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers, as well as stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Kerry’s decision to postpone his trip means that he will not meet with Netanyahu until after the next round of talks in Geneva regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which has been a source of contention between Netanyahu and the Obama administration.
Psaki told reporters that the relationship between Israel and the United States remains strong.
“Israel and the United States have a strong, decades-long partnership. We work together on a range of issues,” she said. “It’s important to note that the reason we are so – one of the reasons we’re so committed to pursuing the diplomatic path [with Iran] is because we are committed to Israel’s security, and that’s the message that we’re conveying.”
Psaki said the United States remains “committed to briefing the Israelis and staying in close contact about this [negotiations on Iran's nuclear program] and many other issues that we work together on.”
In his announcement Sunday, Netanyahu called Kerry “an old friend” who “is also a friend of Israel.”
“I would like to make it clear that there can be disagreements even among the best of friends, certainly on issues related to our future and our fate,” Netanyahu told the Cabinet.
On the issue of foundering Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Psaki said Monday in answer to a reporter’s question that an indication of progress in the talks is “the fact that both sides have reaffirmed their commitment to the nine-month timeline” in direct conversations with Kerry.
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