The US Administration refuses to meet Israel's Foreign Minister...but not with terrorists and dictators.

"I said early in this campaign I would meet not just with our friends, but with our enemies. Not just with those we like, but those that we don't...Senator Clinton said, 'oh no, that'd be naive, that'd be irresponsible.' I said, 'remember what John F. Kennedy said, he said 'you should never negotiate out of fear, but you should never fear to negotiate.'" --Barack Obama, Florence, SC, Jan. 25, 2008.

President Obama is more interested for his administration to meet enemies of the USA, but refuses to allow Secretary of State to meet with Israel's Foreign Minister?

Israel Channel 2 TV reports last night:

The Americans are ignoring Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

Israel's Foreign Minister is expected to make an official visit in Washington in a few weeks, yet to date no meeting or discussion has been scheduled by the American administration.

US Administration officials referred to Lieberman as a "hostile" force, and continue to refuse the offers of the Israeli foreign minister to meet him. Their excuses range from "Hillary Clinton is out of town", to more more explicit explanations.

"Lieberman is an obstacle to peace, we do not want to be photographed with him and what he stands for," said one senior American officials to Israel Channel 2 TV, in tones usually reserved for terrorist organizations.

It should be noted that the strategic dialogue is conducted with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, which required the intervention of Prime Minister because [not meeting with the Foreign Minister] was directly impacting the relationship between Israel and the US.

The Foreign Ministry said in response: "Just last week, Lieberman met with senators and talked on the phone with U.S. Secretary of State on a variety of topics. The schedule for the trip will be finalized close to the FM's departure to the United States and will be publicized to the media." (Israel Channel 2 TV)

The US Administration has a problem meeting with Israel's foreign minister.

Other formal individuals they have no problem meeting with have included:

President Obama meeting African dictator Ali Bongo who has ruthlessly plundered billions of dollars from his own country. (source)



President Obama meeting Hugo Chavez (source)



President Obama meeting Gaddafi (source)


The list is endless. It's just unfortunate that the US Administration is ignoring the huge segment of the Israeli population which elected Lieberman, while having no problem meeting with some of the world's worst vermin.


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Presidential Hearing Test

courtesy of DryBonesBlog.com


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Kids! You Too Can Draw President Obama!

The following appeared in this week's Makor Rishon newspaper -- in the kids magazine section, by the Muqata's favorite cartoonist, Shay Charka.

Instead of me having to scan it in, Shay made my life easier by already posting it on his blog. All you need is pencil, paper, 2 eggs and a bottle of quintessential Osem Israeli ketchup.

I've added an English translation, and my own personal cartoon attempts with my kids from this morning.

Enjoy!

(click the images below to enlarge, so you can print out and give to your kids)





The Muqata household proudly owns all of Shay Charka's books, and we recommend them all! (You can buy them on-line, here ) or you can email me for more specifics.


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Israel WikiWatch

A Joint Jameel/JoeSettler headline post being updated over the next 12-24 hours.

This post will be updated as new Israel related Wikileaks updates (and related events) appear.

Wikileaks has announced they will begin posting documents today consisting of communications from the US to its embassies regarding its allies. For the past week, the US has been trying to do damage control. The US claims that the release of this information will "place at risk on-going cooperation between countries".

Latest leaks and rumors on top.

11:59 PM One thing is clear. Arab states do not link dealing with Iran to the Arab-Israeli conflict. They all want Iran dealt with on its own.

Jordan is the only exception, but they are directly involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict and have other concerns they are trying to push forward.

11:36 PM Nothing overly exciting in the Wikileaks - yet.

Worst is that US seems out of touch with what the rest of the world wants and needs for safety and stability, and is afraid to act. Israel's positions were already known, so nothing new there. Livni's private statements contradict her public statements.

We haven't found the Muqata listed yet in Wikileaks. We're disappointed.

Biggest story is regarding Gaza war, that Palestinian Authority (Fatah) and Egypt refused to take control of Gaza if Hamas was ousted by Israel during Operation Cast Lead.


10:55 PM Israel's prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is "elegant and charming" but never keeps his promises.

JS: Why even bother with that leak?


10:49 PM Tzippi Livni exposed as liar. In 2007 Livni said there is no way to reach a permanent settlement with Abu Mazen. Unlike what publicly tells Israel.

10:40 PM US spy activities against Israel and Palestinians: US attempts to acquire data and intelligence on Israeli communications infrastructure.

US tries to assess likelihood of PA officials turning weapons against Israel and US. Actual relationship between Hamas and Fatah. Internal PA support for terrorism.

Biometric info on everyone.

10:26 PM Israel asked Egypt and Fatah (Palestinian Authority) if they would take control of Gaza if Israel removed Hamas during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Both said no.

10:21PM Mossad assessment that Iran was playing US/world for time until weapons developed.

Israel believes Iran used Red Cresent to sneak spies into other countries in 2006.

10:16 PM Iran has missiles that can reach central Europe.

10:13 PM Wikileaks: Israel intelligence suspects Egypt preparing for future war with Israel.

10:07 PM Had to go out for a security issue in the Yishuv. Back now.

Wikileaks reveal that Israel and Arab states pressed the US numerous times to deal with Iran's nuclear program in years past. Ehud Barak said that US must deal with North Korea and Iranian nuclear programs. Lack of US response to North Korea would send message to Iran.
Mossad pushed for covert measures and regime change.
Israel said in 2005 that Iran would have nuclear weapons by 2010.

8:10 PM Israel's Channel 10 TV reports: The Wikileaks show that PM Netanyahu was worried the Iranian nuclear reactors would go on-line within months of 2009, yet the Obama administration scoffed at the idea.

7:52 PM As the WikiLeaks server is under a massive denial of service attack, Der Speigel is rolling out copies of tomorrow's magazine, based on a pre-leak. The cover of tomorrow's magazine is here, with some of the world leaders who will be embarrassed by the leaked cables...


7:45 PM JERUSALEM: Several of the documents set to be published by WikiLeaks this weekend are believed to show the US has been helping Turkey's Kurdish separatist movement the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the US, the European Union and Australia.

The claim is reported in the London Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat. (source)

7:21 PM ROME, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The expected release of classified U.S. documents by Wikileaks will be the "9/11 of world diplomacy", Italy's foreign minister said on Sunday, urging Italian prosecutors to investigate the whistle-blowing website.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, on a trip to Qatar, said he did not know the content of the files to be released but warned they would"blow up the relationship of trust between states", according to Italian news agencies.

"It will be the September 11th of world diplomacy," he said.

7:18 PM UK govt. issues D-notices (don't publish) to media on wikileaks.

7:17 PM El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian & NYTimes will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down.

7:00 PM Israeli Left claiming IDF general ordered killing of wanted terrorists instead of their capture, based on stolen internal IDF documents.

6:33 PM Wikileaks announces they are under massive Denial of Service attack.

6:29 PM Receiving reports that some people can visit and some can't. Probably overloaded.

6:20 PM Wikileaks site crashed, overloaded or has been taken down.

5:50 PM Ynet reports:

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed expected release of classified State Department documents on WikiLeaks, saying that the United States "didn't specifically indicate what will be exposed. I don't think Israel is the center of attention."

Netanyahu added that "is it customary for there to be an information gap between what is said publicly to what is said privately. When it comes to Israel, the gap isn't too big. As far as other countries are concerned, the gaps are very very big. We shall wait and see."

5:22 PM Britain Braces: "An 'embarrassing' assessment of David Cameron by the the U.S. administration is set to be made public on the WikiLeaks whistleblowers website.

The harsh analysis of the Prime Minister is among thousands of leaked State Department files set to be revealed imminently on the site.

And Gordon Brown's rocky relationship with President Barack Obama is almost certain to mentioned as is Britain's troop withdrawal from Iraq." (Daily Mail)

5:15 PM Germany's Der-Spiegel reports that the WikiLeaks contain information that the USA has an agent operating inside Germany's government, from the liberal FDP party. (source)

5:06 PM Israel on "high alert" -- "Another Israeli official added that the American Embassy in Tel Aviv had been calling Israelis named in the documents in order to warn them in advance. The list includes officials in the Foreign Ministry, as well as aides to prime ministers, this official said." (JPost)

4:49 PM Speculations abound that the WikiLeaks will reveal that Israeli officials have been providing classified information to the USA in exchange for money (rotter.net)

4:42 PM The JPost reports the USA's spin control:

The Obama administration on Sunday told whistle-blower WikiLeaks that its expected imminent release of classified State Department cables will put "countless" lives at risk, threaten global counter-terrorism operations and jeopardize US relations with its allies. [Jameel: by telling us what the State Department really thinks of Israel? We've been writing it on the muqata blog for years...]

In a highly unusual step reflecting the administration's grave concerns about the ramifications of the move, the State Department released a letter from its top lawyer to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his attorney telling them that publication of the documents would be illegal and demanding that they stop it.

The letter from State Department legal adviser Harold Koh was released as US diplomats around the world are scrambling to warn foreign governments about what might be in the secret documents that are believed to contain highly sensitive assessments about world leaders, their policies and America's attempts to lobby them. [Jameel: The USA wants Tzippi Livni as Prime Minister? What a shock.]

In the letter, Koh said the publication of some 250,000 secret diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, which is expected on Sunday, will "place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals," ''place at risk on-going military operations," and "place at risk on-going cooperation between countries."

"They were provided in violation of US law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action," he said. Koh said WikiLeaks should not publish the documents, return them to the US government and destroy any copies it may have in its possession or in computer databases.

4:24 PM Washington specifically warns Israel of "potentially embarrassing" leaks (Breitbart) Rotter.net reports that the US has pulled CIA spy operatives out of Israel so that Israel can't retaliate and imprison "Pollards" for spying on Israel for the USA.

4:15 PM Rumors that Wikileaks contain detailed personality profiles of Israeli leaders, details of meetings with Mossad chiefs, and intel from army intel unit "Aman."

2:37 PM Already theories abound surround the latest Wikileaks.

The US has spent the last weekend taking down file-sharing and bit-torrent sites and seizing domain names. A theory behind that is to slow down the proliferation of the Wikileaks documents. A little over the top for my taste.


Others say that local leftwing Israelis are going to be named as sources for much information.

And one particularly interesting theory is that it will reveal what the US knows about secret Israeli operations, and officially link them to Israel (Syria nuclear plant strike, Abu Dhabim Stuxnet, etc.)

Personally, we're expecting at least one remark about the Muqata being an obstacle to peace (and a voice of reason).

As the Wikileaks released we'll let you know of anything important we (or others) find.


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Obama Misses the Point (Again)

Last week, President Obama addressed the Israeli people via an exclusive interview given to Israel's Channel 2 TV. He said the reason we Israelis distrust him, is because his name is "Hussein."

Actually, I couldn't care less what his name is, be it Richard, Jimmy, Ronald, George, William, Abraham or Jameel.

What I do care about is how he relates to the State of Israel and it's leaders.

I do care about that due to political correctness he removes "radical Islam" from the lexicon of terror.

I do care that he considers my home in Israel to be an obstacle to peace.

I do care that he is against the building of Jewish homes in Jerusalem.

I do care that he sends US generals to train and build a Palestinian army, which may very well turn their arms against Israeli soldiers...and civilians.

Professor Barry Rubin analyzes Obama's insulting and childish accusation:

First, let's remember that Obama's first name is Barack, which is as much of Semitic language derivation as Hussein. Of course, that first name is found in Hebrew as well as Arabic. After all, Israel's defense minister is Ehud Barak and my Hebrew name sound the same though there are two different roots involved, while Hussein is more distinctively Arabic. But still, Obama's lack of awareness about the implications of his own name doesn't indicate a great depth of knowledge about the Middle East.

Second, Obama was initially--when he had the same name as he does now--quite popular in Israel as polls show. Only when he evinced hostility did the attitude of Israelis change sharply.

Third, that same name belies the impliction that Israelis are biased against him because of his middle name. Israelis, after all, have dealt with two famous Husseins: King Hussein of Jordan and Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The former was a good friend, the most popular Arab leader in Israeli history. (Note 1)

So one can be a good Hussein or a bad Hussein. Of course the issue with this third Hussein is his policies. And that's why I find his saying this thing far more upsetting.

I'd respect Obama more, and perhaps trust him a little more, if he had said something like this:

We've had our differences and we don't see everything the same way. But we are so fundamentally on the same side that our friendship and alliance will overcome these smaller issues. And, of course, we know that our mutual enemies are out to destroy us and favor totalitarian dictatorship rather than democracy. (Read it all here)

It's unfortunate that instead of appealing to reason and rationale, President Obama played the "I have a Muslim sounding name" card, which is irrelevant to the vast majority of Israelis. Israel cares more about actions and politics, than names.

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Obama's National Security Advisor's Joke

President Obama's National Security Adviser, Jim Jones told the following joke, where he received lots of laughs from the audience...



A Taliban militant gets lost and is wandering around the desert looking for water. He finally arrives at a store run by a Jew and asks for water. The Jewish vendor tells him he doesn’t have any water but can gladly sell him a tie. The Taliban, the jokes goes on, begins to curse and yell at the Jewish storeowner. The Jew, unmoved, offers the rude militant an idea: Beyond the hill, there is a restaurant; they can sell you water. The Taliban keeps cursing and finally leaves toward the hill. An hour later he’s back at the tie store. He walks in and tells the merchant: “Your brother tells me I need a tie to get into the restaurant.”

Funny? Insensitive? Anti-semitic? Miserly Jewish Merchant?

Is it appropriate for the national security adviser of the United States to tell jokes about miserly Jewish merchants?

Do you think he would have made a joke about an African American?

Or maybe, the audience's laughter was like that in, "Throw the Jew down the well" and Jones is simply a version of Borat?

(hat-tip: The Forward)


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Obama: Not Bold Enough?

President Obama: "And on the Israeli front — although the Israelis, I think, after a lot of time showed a willingness to make some modifications in their policies, they still found it very hard to move with any bold gestures." (Time Magazine, Jan 22, 2010)

Could it be that President Obama isn't bold enough to simply point at the real reason there's no peace in the Middle East?

"If the Arabs would put down their weapons today, there would be no more war. If Israel would put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." -- Golda Meir.

If the Disengagement wasn't "bold enough", resulting in rockets around the clock hitting southern Israel, and then when we retaliated in self-defense we were Goldstoned and condemned by the entire planet...I think we don't need to be any bolder.

h/t: rotter.net


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President Obama's Unintentional Incitement?

Over the past few months, I've received negative feedback from readers who don't understand why I mention US President Obama on this blog, if this is simply a pro-Israel, pro-Aliya, pro-settlement blog. The truth is, I would be more than happy to ignore him and let him deal with internal issues of the United States.

Unfortunately, my home is a target of the Obama administration -- if they would leave me alone, I'd would as well.

Its undeniable that the US is ratcheting up the pressure on Israel, and President Obama focused world attention on my home again yesterday at the United Nations General Assembly.

His quote:

"We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel. And we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements"

How curious to call on Palestinians to "end incitement" and then immediately followup that the US does not accept "illegitimate Israeli settlements." Lumping these 2 unconnected issues together is morally unjustified. Incitement, terror and violence cannot be compared to settlement activity, especially while the Palestinians continue to build, creating their own "facts on the ground."

Its not only this humble blogger's opinion that Obama's after my home, but also that of former US Ambassador to UN, John Bolton. He stated about yesterday's speech by President Obama, "He put Israel on the chopping block"

Yisrael Medad found the connection. President Obama calls settlements illegitimate, and immediately the Palestinians translate this into "illegal"

Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Obama’s address to the UN was "encouraging."

"We very much appreciate President Obama’s statements on settlements being illegal and his calling for an end of the occupation," Erakat said in a telephone interview. "

Medad correctly connects the dots and points out that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called Israel a "counterfeit and illegitimate regime that cannot survive", in a live broadcast on state television.

"The Zionist regime is counterfeit and illegitimate and cannot survive," he said in a speech to a crowd in the town of Islamshahr in southwestern Tehran.

In an atmosphere of the Obama administration targeting Israel's Jewish population in the Yehuda vShomron/West Bank settlement communities, its no surprise that violent Palestinians Arab attacks are increasing over the past weeks. Its irrelevant for President Obama to call on Palestinians "to stop incitement", while mentioning settlement activity over and over again whenever Israel is the topic of discussion.

The Kalkilya/Shechem road 55 has seen a marked increase in rock and firebomb throwing attacks against Jewish motorists, including rock attacks on Rosh HaShana.

In the same area at the Havat Gilad (Gilad Farm) outpost, Arabs torched the fields surrounding the caravan community, resulting in the destruction of 2 caravans.

My 4rth grade daughter called me up the other day. almost tearfully asking how much money we could give. I asked her to calm down and slowly repeat what she was talking about.

"During Rosh HaShana, Arabs burned down the fields around my teacher's home in Havat Gilad...it burned down their home...and now they have nothing...we're collecting money to help them".

From A7:

The fire destroyed two buildings. One, the home of a couple and their young child, was completely destroyed. The family did not have time to remove any property before the blaze demolished their home, and their clothing, furniture, and other belongings were lost.

The second building, which was home to a couple and three children, sustained serious damage.

In addition, the electric lines and the main sewage line connecting Havat Gilad to the Samaria infrastructure were destroyed. The total cost of the damage is estimated at half a million shekels. (more here)

Photos Courtesy of the Shomron Regional Council Liaison Office.






When the President of the United States incessantly spotlights Jewish communities, it tacitly understood by Palestinians that these communities are now legitimate targets.

It was not intentional, yet the message clearly heard by Palestinians is that no one will weep over the fate of "illegal" settlements or any terror attacks against them.

Note: Anyone wishing to send some tzedaka/charity before Yom Kippur to help these families rebuilt their homes, the following information was sent to me.

Dear Friend,

You may have heard that a fire destroyed two caravans in Chavat Gilad on the first day of Rosh Hashana. One of the caravans was occupied by the family of my son-in-law’s sister. The fire was deliberately set , by Arabs, while she was inside with her husband and infant son. The fire spread underneath the floor. They smelled smoke and managed to get out just before their home was engulfed by the flames. The young couple lost virtually everything they owned.

We are soliciting donations to help these unfortunate victims of terror to replace what was lost. The contributions are being administered by the Moetza Datit of Karnei Shomron. Checks should be made out to Keren Achiezer (קרן אחיעזר). I will be happy to pass them on to the Moetza Datit or they can be sent directly:

MOATZA DATIT KARNEI SHOMRON
PO Box 250
212 Mishol HaCalanit
Karnei Shomron
Doar Na Lev HaShomron, Israel

Receipts will be given.

Gmar Chatima Tova.

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