8 Years Since ‘Arab-Peace-Initiative’. Israel’s ‘Past-Financial-Success’ can’t overcome political despair. Nor can it cover up ‘Bibicracy’s Populist-Fiscal-Policy’

(JIWON: Please enjoy collections below, anyway.)
WORKING…
COLLECTION-?: Does Palestinian PM or American Fayyad Vow To Have a State in 2011? Has The Economic Peace Approach Been Allowed In Bibicracy Since The Moment Of Phoenix-Bibi’s Blatant Lip-Service? Israel Is Where The Written Documents Mean Nothing And No One Remembers Where Those Are Kept.
WORKING…
COLLECTION-19: Dear Diaspora Jews! Even If a ‘Strong Jewish Identity’ Comes Before Aliya, The History Books Will Say, “The Foundation Stone For a Binational State Was Carved.”
COLLECTION-18: ‘In Bibicracy, Avarice Knows NO Bounds.’ Vs. ‘In Israel, Money Is Endless!’
COLLECTION-17: Ultimately, Most Israelis Are Ready to Vote For ‘The Bibicracy With Labor As a Fig-Leaf’.
COLLECTION-16: Though Diplomatic Isolation Can Be Costly, The World Will Accept All Israeli Quirks And Whims. PM Peres Knew. So Did PM Barak. So Did PM Netanyahu. In Short, Likudniks Should Work More… To Train All The New Recruits And Lead Them In a Right Way, Whether It Is Toward The Two-State Or The Binational-State Solution.
COLLECTION-15: Meanwhile, the RIGHT Is Determined To Delegitimize the LIBERAL Camp. Didn’t Labor’s DM Barak Really Know Likud’s PM Bibi Didn’t Know?
COLLECTION-14: Is Barak’s Labor a ‘Mere Fig-Leaf’ or an ‘Original Doer to Realize Beinisch’s Vision of Greater Israel’? After All, The Messiah Will Come Before The Secular Jews Unite.
COLLECTION-13: Mrs. Sara’s Fan-Club: “The Economic Situation in Israel Is Not THAT BAD!”
COLLECTION-12: Israeli Economist: “If We Fail To Solve This In 15 Years, Israel Won’t Be Able To Sustain Itself.”
COLLECTION-11: Israel Set To Become OECD’s Poorest Member. The Economist Bibi Admits ‘East Jerusalem Is Palestinian Territory’.
COLLECTION-10: 8 Years since Arab-Peace-Initiative, Pessimism Reigns Only.
COLLECTION-09: Black Wednesday: Bridge of No Return… All the Way to Greece!
COLLECTION-08: Cuts for the little guys, as the big guys party.
COLLECTION-07: The Fat Man Will Get Fatter and The Thin Man Will Collapse.
COLLECTION-06: Even The Likud Mayors Blast ‘Likud’s Finance Minister & Likud’s Partner $has’… Or, Simply Put, Netanyahu For Facilitating $has’ Behavior.
COLLECTION-05: At a Cost of ‘NIS 1.3 Billion & More’, Whether ‘Energy-Shot To The Higher Education System’ Or What, Even Students With Mediocre Verbal Skills Would Easily Understand That Netanyahu’s Lip-Service Is Merely Opposition To The Government’s Policies.
COLLECTION-04: That’s why Bibi’s Finance Minister is doing the accounting for himself
COLLECTION-03: Transportation Minister Likud: I am a proud servant of PM Bibi. The Israeli Citizens Expect So.
COLLECTION-02: ‘Is Netanyahu’s Populist Rhetoric Jeopardizing Israel?’ Vs. ‘Arrogance Is a Virtue in Bibicracy!’
COLLECTION-01: ‘In Israel, It Is Not The System.’ Vs. ‘Likudniks Are Fantasists Liable To Cause The Destruction Of The State!’
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Does Palestinian PM or American Fayyad Vow To Have a State in 2011? Has The Economic Peace Approach Been Allowed In Bibicracy Since The Moment Of Phoenix-Bibi’s Blatant Lip-Service? Israel Is Where The Written Documents Mean Nothing And No One Remembers Where Those Are Kept. – too tired to proofread…

Palestinian PM Fayyad to Haaretz: We will have a state next year Apr 2, 2010 / By Haaretz
Fayyad: Next year in Jerusalem Apr 3, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

(JIWON: How many n-a-ï-v-e articles welcomed this headline? Then, I started to find something more. Very interesting is that similar opinions were from the Palestinian side, too. Of course, the information below is just a part of what I’ve been following in recent months. This is why I know their rather-pessimistic claim is not groundless.)

Richard Falk: The Palestinians are winning the legitimacy war – will it matter? Apr 5, 2010 / By Israeli-Occupation.org
(…) Even if the Palestinians win the legitimacy war there is no guarantee that this victory will produce the desired political results. It requires Palestinian patience, resolve, leadership and vision, as well as sufficient pressure to force a change of heart in Israel, and probably in Washington as well. In this instance, it would seem to require an Israeli willingness to abandon the core Zionist project to establish a Jewish state, and that does not appear likely from the vantage point of the present. (…)

Ramallah is not Palestine. It’s 5%, but 95% of Palestine suffers Apr 1, 2010 / By Israeli-Occupation.org
Jonathan Spyer: A reality too terrible to admit Mar 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Fayyad is working closely with Western representatives to build up the institutions and the economic prosperity that are supposedly going to transform Palestinian political culture from the all-or-nothing logjam that has prevented conflict resolution until now, into something with which the world can do business. The essential logic of this is the same wishful thinking that doomed the 1990s peace process: namely, the idea that institution-building and economic advancement will – and must – eventually have a transformative effect on political outlook. This idea, experience has shown, is fundamentally flawed. (…)

(JIWON: Meanwhile, I keep wondering why it’s been impossible to find a very specific kind of Economic Peace Approach from the Netanyahu government, which only weapon was ‘Economic Peace With Eternal Enemy’ whenever they were dropped on the battlefield called ‘the international community’.)

PA: NO talks before Settlement-Freeze. Israel should transfer tax revenues to PA on a regular basis Jan 25, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

Palestinian expert on settlements barred from foreign travel Feb 8, 2010 / By Haaretz
Palestinian activists say that the order is part of a policy of oppression by Israeli authorities.

Editorial: An unacceptable fight against protest Feb 12, 2010 / By Haaretz
Israeli security forces have recently intensified their fight against peace activists from here and abroad who seek to protest against the occupation and identify with the Palestinian inhabitants. This week, Israeli soldiers raided the Ramallah offices of the International Solidarity Movement a number of times. (…)

Palestinians can use route 443, but Israel will seize Palestinian land to ‘secure’ it Mar 21, 2010 / By Haaretz

Israel seizing hundreds of millions of shekels meant for Palestinian services Apr 7, 2010 / By Haaretz
For the past 15 years, Israel has been channeling hundreds of millions of shekels it had collected in the West Bank into its state coffers. The move is considered illegal, since international law prohibits an occupying power from appropriating the fruit of economic activity in an occupied territory. (…) Until the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, the funds were transferred to the Civil Administration to be used for operational expenses as well as for infrastructure and welfare services for Palestinians in the territories. The Oslo Accords dictated (…) The Finance Ministry said: “It should be noted the question of whether the funds are registered as state income or Civil Administration income is a technical question, because at the end of the day the State of Israel invests in the area amounts considerably larger than the fees it collects.

Bahour & Avishai: Independent and interdependent Apr 2, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Yes, negotiations cannot take place unless the sides are each attributed the right to self-determination … The shared territory is very small … The need for mutual accommodation usually comes up when discussing security arrangements … But this is only the beginning. There are scarce resources to be shared: water, the electromagnetic spectrum, natural gas reserves. Tourists will travel around what they’ll need to see as a borderless territory. There will have to be reciprocal agreements on currency and labor law. There will be investments in what will seem like a common business ecosystem. (…) Water … Israel already recognized Palestinian water rights as part of the Oslo II Interim Agreement. However, it has NOT implemented that agreement, and CONTINUES TO DEPRIVE Palestinians of their fair share of water. (…)

(JIWON: Please ask ANY politicians in Netanyahu government if they ever know this FACT. Surely, it is not that they know nothing but that they don’t have to remember anything about Palestinian chinks, who are bunch of fucking asslicking-motherfuckers, and therefore, whose inferiority should not be compared to even the British dogs.)

Israel is refusing to see what Obama wants Apr 4, 2010 / By Haaretz
The most embarrassing argument came from a senior political source. “We,” he complained after PM Bibi returned from Washington, “don’t understand what the Americans want. The secretary of state said this and the vice president promised that …. So what do they really want from us?” In a country that has more experts on American policy than on its own policies, this is a troubling question. The prime minister, the first among the Americanologists, doesn’t understand; his messengers for dialogue with the administration are having difficulties understanding, so they send their advisers to meet the media and announce that they don’t understand. The ambassador also doesn’t understand (well, the Israeli ambassador in Washington is not meant to understand. He is meant to explain.) The Israeli leadership’s dyslexia requires no diagnosis. (…)

Interview with MK Eldad (National Union): ‘Opposition Leader Netanyahu Was Wonderful. Likud Would Split if Bibi Tried to Establish a Palestinian State’ Feb 23, 2010 / By Algemeiner.com
MK Eldad, Ben-Ari (National Union): Britons are dogs, who are not loyal to us Mar 23, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

(JIWON: Please ask them why people from all sides keep talking about ‘written documents’. There must be a very specific reason., since they were born LOYAL to GOD.)

Zvi Bar’el: Indirect talks bring Israel, Palestinians back to square one Mar 7, 2010 / By Haaretz
19 years after Madrid and 17 years after Oslo, we find ourselves back at the starting point. At indirect talks and talks in the hallway, the couch and the Madrid curse. The setting that is so familiar failed to produce anything in the past, (…) Each knows the other all too well, and knows that these are hollow steps that even if they are carried out will only contribute to the occupation’s extension. (…) A settlement freeze was and has remained a fundamental condition of the Palestinians. (…) The problem is that Obama won’t have to live with the results of the United States’ Mideast policy.

Akiva Eldar: East Jerusalem plan was supposed to be shelved in May 2006, so what happened? Mar 16, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Despite that, the engineer was still able to force his will upon the committee, which approved the plan, at the worst possible time. (…) This response does not correspond with verified accounts and detailed maps that are in Haaretz’s possession. The State Comptroller is hereby invited to begin an investigation.

Netanyahu: Talks won’t start where they left off Mar 6, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
PLO expected to vote on resuming talks Mar 7, 2010 / By / By Jerusalem Post
In Washington on Friday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley tried to clarify the US position and addressed rumors that have circulated in the media. (…) “… And what we have said to both parties is what we’ve said to them privately and publicly all year: … NO written assurances or documents or guarantees has been given to the Israelis or the Palestinians.” (…)

Menachem Klein: The next great confrontation Mar 8, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) State apparatuses, including security forces and civil institutions, have collaborated with settler organizations, as DOCUMENTED IN BOOKS, VARIOUS REPORTS AND JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNTS. What will happen if the state decides, with the support of the majority of Israelis, to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem? The question is not whether the settlements can be dismantled in the first place, but whether the state institutions can be disbanded and re-established. It is easy to argue that it won’t happen, precisely because of the symbiosis between those state institutions and the settlers, and their overlapping interests. But the above examples show that one day Israeli society may have to face up to the problem in all of its severity. It is also impossible not to wonder if decision makers are making the threat from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah seem greater than it really is in order to postpone or prevent the great internal confrontation.

Editorial: Break up the government Mar 28, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The U.S. administration demanded written Israeli commitments. Thus the lack of trust … and believes that if the spoken word has no meaning, perhaps the written word will have greater validity. Experienced Israelis and Americans NEED NOT SEARCH THE ARCHIVES TO FIND DOCUMENTS and agreements that the Israeli government signed but in the end became no more valuable than wrapping paper. The problem is not in the formulation of documents but in the adoption of positions; in other words, in the unbridgeable gap between the right-wing elements in the government like Lieberman, $has, Ya’alon and Netanyahu himself, and the concept of “the peace process.” (…) Once again, this is the Labor Party’s moment. (…)

No Obama meeting as Netanyahu heads to U.S. nuclear summit Apr 7, 2010 / By Haaretz
PM to take part in US nuke summit Apr 7, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Nor, one government official said, is there a sense of great pressure inside the PMO for Netanyahu to provide the US with responses to demands that were presented him during his meeting with Obama two weeks ago. (… No meeting for ‘Forum of Seven’ to find a proper response to Obama’s demands…) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, meanwhile, said he did not feel Israel was obliged to give any written response at all to the US demands, which included a four-month moratorium on Jewish building in east Jerusalem, an extension of the 10-month housing-start moratorium in the West Bank, confidence-building measures to the Palestinians, and an agreement to deal with the core issues of Jerusalem, refugees and borders in indirect proximity talks. “I don’t think we need to give any written responses,” Lieberman said in an Israel Radio interview. “I don’t know why everyone thinks Israel has to present a report where we explain ourselves. I think the government of Israel’s position is clear.” (…)

(JIWON: And finally, who says or even boasts ‘bla-bla-bla’ within a two year time table? Surely, FM Lieberman: ‘Final status arrangement in two years not realistic’ (Jan 4, 2010) And then, isn’t someone going to work very, very hard, for all the materials to disappear?)

Olmert’s ex-negotiator: Full Mideast peace deal impossible Jan 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) He added that the Palestinians came to the negotiations more prepared than the Israelis and were ready with drafts of their proposals while his staff were lacking notes from past negotiating rounds. “When I went to look for the material from the year 2000 [from Camp David talks and Taba] we could find anything. It seems as though someone made sure it disappeared. That is why we restarted collecting the material, and were assisted by documents from the Geneva Convention,” Dekel said. Responding to Dekel, Shaul Arieli, who coordinated the negotiating task force a decade before him, said that when his teams ended their activity in 2000 they lodged all the relevant documents with the national archive and the prime minister’s office. “Therefore,” Arieli said. “If you did not find the material, then someone worked very, very hard, for the material to disappear.”

(JIWON: And then, isn’t the Chief-Editor-In-Chief going to boast that…?)

Netanyahu to grapple with a US administration suffering from an acute shortage of institutional memory Apr 2, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post, Editor-In-Chief
Talkbacks for this article ???
3. Meetings in Washington: Mr. Horovitz, why have you waited so long to publish this excellent, but too long article of clarification ? It would have been much more appreciated and useful at an earlier date. / JON: USA 2/4/2010 20:17

Giora Eiland: Clinton’s plan is back. End of ambiguity over two-state vision at root of Israel-US crisis Apr 4, 2010 / By Ynetnews

Editorial: A dangerous government Mar 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Contrary to Netanyahu’s claim that Netanyahu to US: I need cabinet’s approval on in East Jerusalem, in July 1997, during his previous term as prime minister, he ordered that Jewish residents be removed from the heart of Ras al-Amud. Netanyahu, who at the time was under pressure from Bill Clinton, explained that his decision served “the unity of Jerusalem, the unity of the nation and the continuation of the peace process.” Netanyahu relied on the legal opinion of his attorney general, Elyakim Rubinstein, who said that it was possible to prevent homes from being populated and even for homes to be evacuated to prevent disturbances that endanger public security. (…)

(JIWON: Why should I be the only one to collect all those lost articles, by the way? Israel is where not only the TOP journalists, (plural), lack the basic professional qualification to report FACTS, but also this mysterious mentality is honored as a national treasure, who dares to criticize any human celebrities but her husband’s boss, Dorit Beinisch. Of course, the article below is one mere example.)

Warmonger’s Column One (Bibi’s Cheergirl): Exploiting the crisis Apr 2, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post, Deputy Managing Editor
(…) Israel did not ask for this fight with Obama. It would have been willing to keep up the fantasy that Bush’s second-term policies made sense. But since a fight is what it got, Israel has no choice but to strike out on its own. As it happens, if Israel does so, not only will it protect itself, it will protect the US from the dangerous policies its leader has opted to pursue.
Talkbacks for this article ???
11. Israel has no friends in the world: Maybe it’s you and not us. We have this little thing called international law and you keep breaking it. It’s not a very good way to keep or make friends. Think about it. / Ilene: USA 2/4/2010 19:44
20. You lack credibility: The trouble with alot of comment these days is that it attracts writers who are unashamedly biased. Shouting half truths from the rooftops won’t do anything but annoy the neighbours. / op: 3/4/2010 00:04

Netanyahu: Talks won’t start where they left off Mar 6, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Mitchell to Israel, PA: Annapolis accord non-binding Mar 9, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The U.S. apparently accepted Israel’s position on the matter, which was to ignore everything that was not signed as part of an agreement. (…)

(JIWON: I am curious to death. When are those Jewish Souls, whose favorite words is HISTORY or QUALITY, going to speak in the same language?)

one more article… Meridor…

Adelson or Bibi’s Apointee at Jewish Agency, Sharansky: Biden-fiasco was not intentional Mar 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) One Sharansky prediction that did not come true was that Obama would endorse Netanyahu’s economic peace approach to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which focused on reaching out to grassroots Palestinians and not to their leadership. He said at the time that he thought that Obama would realize that the bottom-up approach was preferable to what had not worked since the Oslo process began in 1993. “The time for the bottom-up approach is ripe because the other alternatives collapsed so forcefully,” Sharansky said in last year’s interview. “We have a president who has time. Obama said he would keep his finger on the pulse and he’s doing it. If there’s any president who can understand the bottom-up approach, it’s Obama, who wrote about the importance of the grassroots in his books.”

Doron Rosenblum: Jerusalem construction is now a national obsession Mar 19, 2010
(…) It’s true that Netanyahu is indeed bound by coalition constraints, but we should not forget that that is also part of the very same deception; after all, Netanyahu forced these constraints – including the unfortunate cabinet appointments – on himself in advance, and in contravention of any logic of realpolitik. It was as though he was being careful not to “fail,” God forbid, by getting involved in a genuinely pragmatic move. (If he really meant what he said in his speech about the principle of two states, why did he refuse to utter the words a year ago, in the coalition negotiations with Kadima?) In effect, Netanyahu functions more like the prime minister of Jerusalem than like that of the country as a whole. (…) All this is almost the diametric opposite of the principles of practical Zionism (…)

Economic peace: Bibi… Jerusalem…
(JIWON: From the BOTTOM-UP? Ha-ha-ha! Who says that the Netanyahu government is showing itself to be the most extremist and dangerous in the country’s history? Next government will prove more. Think of previous government. Both Lieberman and Shas were there. Did their big mouth sound triumphant as they do in these days? I must say. ‘GOOD LUCK!’)

From Dieharddoves-&-Settlement > Peace-Now
Gideon Levy: Netanyahu, put your money where your mouth is (Feb 19 – Mar 28, 2010)
Gideon Levy: Israel should thank Obama for acting like a friend Mar 28, 2010 / By Haaretz
Among Obama’s modest demands – a construction freeze in Jerusalem and extending the freeze in the settlements, TWO BASIC CONDITIONS for “NEGOTIATIONS WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS” and for anyone who really wants a two-state solution – there’s a demand that the Israelis themselves should have made long ago. Obama is asking PM Netanyahu, and through him every Israeli, to finally speak the truth. He’s asking Netanyahu and the rest of us: What on earth do you actually want? Enough with the misleading answers; the moment of truth is here. Enough with the tricks – a neighborhood here, a settlement expansion there. Just tell us: Where are you heading? Do you want to go on receiving unprecedented aid from the United States, do you want to become part of the Middle East, do you want to achieve peace?

WORKING…
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Dieharddoves-&-Settlement > Peace-Now
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Something Fundamental

(JIWON: From the American Side…)

American Poll: Nearly half of U.S. voters support total settlement freeze Mar 19, 2010 / By Haaretz
Erekat (PA): More settlements every US visit Mar 8, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Israeli Poll: 75% of Israelis believe Obama’s attack ‘out of proportion’ Mar 19, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Netanyahu to Aluf Benn: Embattled Netanyahu faces a tough Passover? I know America better than you do Mar 27, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The plummeting support for Obama, the Republican victory in the recent Senate race in Massachusetts and the Democrats’ anticipated losses in next fall’s congressional elections worked on Netanyahu like Viagra. He notes frequently to aides, politicians and journalists that Israelis don’t understand America like he does. That they see only the president and the administration, and don’t understand the power of Congress, the lobbying groups and the think tanks. (…)

(JIWON: From the European Side…)

Shlomo Avineri: Where’s the solidarity? Mar 31, 2010 / By Haaretz
Greece’s severe financial crisis (…) In a time of crisis, national interests and awareness are much stronger than the high – but abstract – idea of a united European nation. The decision in principle made last week to help Greece could not counter the sense that pan-European solidarity is weak. While signs of this weakness have existed in recent years, the Greek crisis has highlighted them. (…)

(JIWON: From the Arab Side…)

Peres to Abbas: Resume talks or face new intifada Jan 22, 2010 / By Haaretz
1-3. Bla-bla-bla
4. There is no Arab support because there is no Arab [unity]. I was informally approached by Saudi Arabia to accept their paper, which calls for us making peace with Syria on their conditions.

Arab League (22nd) Summit Focused on Jerusalem, “Resistance” Mar 29, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Arab leaders support peace plan in Libya Mar 28, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Analysis: Familiar disingenuity at a uniquely Gaddafi-esque summit Mar 28, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
1. The Arab leaders rejected … Syria, Libya pressure Palestinians to quit (proximity) talks.
2. The League determined … Arab Peace Initiative … however would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
3. The Arab leaders kept focusing on … Al-Aksa … Jerusalem … Arabs pledge $500 million in east J’lem aid … The Arab League hasn’t fulfilled many of its previous financial commitments to the Palestinians, while Gaddafi himself owes the League a sizable amount of cash – he hasn’t paid his country’s membership fees in years.
4. The Arab League also condemned terrorism, but then redefined the word “terrorism” … green light to groups such as Hamas.
5. Amr Moussa managed to touch on the Iranian issue in his speech, calling for Arab-Iranian dialogue, but this proposal wasn’t met with much enthusiasm.
6. Amr Moussa fails to find a solution to this scenario; “what if peace talks fail?”
7. The summit registered a higher than usual number of no-shows from Arab leaders.
8. Al-Jazeera online poll said that 92% didn’t expect any important decisions from the Arab summit to protect Jerusalem or the Palestinians.

(JIWON: And Finally, From the Israeli Side…)

Please check
From Dieharddoves-&-Settlement > Illegal-or-What >
‘Settlers Are Addicted to Government Money!’ Vs. ‘Settlement Council Responds Data Utterly Groundless!’ (Dec 22, 2009 – Apr 1, 2010)
COLLECTION-7: State Will Have To Pay Settlers Regardless Of What…
COLLECTION-6: Settler Population Is Growing Faster.
COLLECTION-5: The Export Growth Is UP. How Many Settlement Products Are Found in Foreign Markets? Among Them, How Many Are Using False Addresses?
COLLECTION-4: Study: Israeli Settlements an Economic Choice. Yesha Council Responds Data Utterly Groundless.
COLLECTION-3: Settlers Are Addicted to Government Money!
COLLECTION-2: Study: Settlements Have Cost Israel $17 Billion.
COLLECTION-1: Settlers Have Turned the State of Israel into Their Satellite.

Amir Oren: Will it or won’t it come to pass? Mar 21, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Last week supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu disseminated a video clip from 1978: an archival Netanyahu … The 28-year-old Netanyahu is presented as “an Israeli economist and MIT graduate” named “Ben Nitai.” Those were the days of Jimmy Carter. Netanyahu-Nitai awaited a Republican victory in the next elections. (…) The latest affair, the decision to build apartment projects for Shas voters in Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem at the cost of a crisis with the American government, is just another link in a long chain. (…) Only when it comes to money, the economist Ben Nitai emerges, overcomes his pride and is forced to admit that East Jerusalem, like the West Bank and the Golan Heights, is not within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. (…)

(JIWON: Please enjoy collections below, anyway.)
WORKING…
COLLECTION-19: Dear Diaspora Jews! Even If a ‘Strong Jewish Identity’ Comes Before Aliya, The History Books Will Say, “The Foundation Stone For a Binational State Was Carved.”
COLLECTION-06: Even The Likud Mayors Blast ‘Likud’s Finance Minister & Likud’s Partner $has’… Or, Simply Put, Netanyahu For Facilitating $has’ Behavior.
COLLECTION-05: At a Cost of ‘NIS 1.3 Billion & More’, Whether ‘Energy-Shot To The Higher Education System’ Or What, Even Students With Mediocre Verbal Skills Would Easily Understand That Netanyahu’s Lip-Service Is Merely Opposition To The Government’s Policies.
WORKING…
COLLECTION-19: Dear Diaspora Jews! Even If a ‘Strong Jewish Identity’ Comes Before Aliya, The History Books Will Say, “The Foundation Stone For a Binational State Was Carved.”
COLLECTION-18: ‘In Bibicracy, Avarice Knows NO Bounds.’ Vs. ‘In Israel, Money Is Endless!’
COLLECTION-17: Ultimately, Most Israelis Are Ready to Vote For ‘The Bibicracy With Labor As a Fig-Leaf’.
COLLECTION-16: Though Diplomatic Isolation Can Be Costly, The World Will Accept All Israeli Quirks And Whims. PM Peres Knew. PM Barak Knew. PM Netanyahu Knew.
COLLECTION-15: Meanwhile, the RIGHT Is Determined To Delegitimize the LIBERAL Camp. Didn’t Labor’s DM Barak Really Know Likud’s PM Bibi Didn’t Know?
COLLECTION-14: Is Barak’s Labor a ‘Mere Fig-Leaf’ or an ‘Original Doer to Realize Beinisch’s Vision of Greater Israel’? After All, The Messiah Will Come Before The Secular Jews Unite.
COLLECTION-13: Mrs. Sara’s Fan-Club: “The Economic Situation in Israel Is Not THAT BAD!”
COLLECTION-12: Israeli Economist: “If We Fail To Solve This In 15 Years, Israel Won’t Be Able To Sustain Itself.”
COLLECTION-11: Israel Set To Become OECD’s Poorest Member. The Economist Bibi Admits ‘East Jerusalem Is Palestinian Territory’.
COLLECTION-10: 8 Years since Arab-Peace-Initiative, Pessimism Reigns Only.
COLLECTION-09: Black Wednesday: Bridge of No Return… All the Way to Greece!
COLLECTION-08: Cuts for the little guys, as the big guys party.
COLLECTION-07: The Fat Man Will Get Fatter and The Thin Man Will Collapse.
COLLECTION-06: Even The Likud Mayors Blast ‘Likud’s Finance Minister & Likud’s Partner $has’… Or, Simply Put, Netanyahu For Facilitating $has’ Behavior.
COLLECTION-05: At a Cost of ‘NIS 1.3 Billion & More’, Whether ‘Energy-Shot To The Higher Education System’ Or What, Even Students With Mediocre Verbal Skills Would Easily Understand That Netanyahu’s Lip-Service Is Merely Opposition To The Government’s Policies.
COLLECTION-04: That’s why Bibi’s Finance Minister is doing the accounting for himself
COLLECTION-03: Transportation Minister Likud: I am a proud servant of PM Bibi. The Israeli Citizens Expect So.
COLLECTION-02: ‘Is Netanyahu’s Populist Rhetoric Jeopardizing Israel?’ Vs. ‘Arrogance Is a Virtue in Bibicracy!’
COLLECTION-01: ‘In Israel, It Is Not The System.’ Vs. ‘Likudniks Are Fantasists Liable To Cause The Destruction Of The State!’
WORKING…

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Dear Diaspora Jews! Even If a ‘Strong Jewish Identity’ Comes Before Aliya, The History Books Will Say, “The Foundation Stone For a Binational State Was Carved.”

Zeev Sternhell: Only an imposed solution Mar 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The conclusion is that if PM Netanyahu: Building in Jerusalem is like building in Tel-Aviv, the only solution is an imposed one. The statements by PM Bibi in the name of DM Barak as well prove that the demand for direct talks is nothing more than endless foot-dragging until the Arabs … even a war with Iran. Then the game can continue. (…) AIPAC is a forceful and power-hungry lobby, but it represents only a minority of America’s Jews. It has no presence among the Jewish cultural elite and at the universities where the political, economic and cultural leaders of the future are studying. Worse still, it derives most of its strength from its ability to raise large sums of money to threaten venerable liberal candidates for Congress whose positions don’t find favor with the Israeli right. In this fashion, AIPAC causes the liberal elements in the American elite to loathe it. (…) the history books will say that … the foundation stone for a binational state was carved.

(JIWON: Is Prof. Sternhell telling a lie?)

US Jewish leaders: Who says Obama-Netanyahu crisis? Crisis with US Jewry much more dangerous Apr 4, 2010 / By Ynetnews
US Jewish leaders say Obama-Netanyahu crisis is small potatoes in comparison with growing schism with Reform, Conservative Judaism in US. ‘If you lose support of young generation, Israel’s security at risk,’ they warn (…) In Israel, a vast majority of religious people are Orthodox. However, in the US, 85% to 90% of Jews are Reform, Conservative, or some other denomination and are furious with Israel over its said religious policies. (…) The Jewish Federation in the US sent letters to Netanyahu and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky warning that (…) Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the leader of the largest denomination in Judaism, with some 40% of US Jewry affiliated with it. Rabbi Yoffie says he does not have any gripes towards the prime minister on this matter. He understands he is a busy man. Instead, Rabbi Yoffie spent his time in the Knesset speaking with 15 Knesset members who he says had no idea what he was talking about. (…)

Jewish Agency Head: Freedom and identity Apr 4, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
At a Jewish Agency Board of Governors meeting in Jerusalem in February, Sharansky ruffled some feathers when he said, “It can’t be our goal [just] to bring more Jewish people [to Israel].” Before aliya must come a strong Jewish identity, and with steely resolve, Sharansky set out to determine how to best invoke and strengthen a sense of Jewish identity where it’s been dormant. (…)

(JIWON: If you keep reading this interview, you will also have to check…)
COLLECTION-05: At a Cost of ‘NIS 1.3 Billion & More’, Whether ‘Energy-Shot To The Higher Education System’ Or What, Even Students With Mediocre Verbal Skills Would Easily Understand That Netanyahu’s Lip-Service Is Merely Opposition To The Government’s Policies.

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‘In Bibicracy, Avarice Knows NO Bounds.’ Vs. ‘In Israel, Money Is Endless!’

(… NO need to report Poverty in Israel…)

Please check
From Cancer-Dorit-Beinisch
In sum, I will travel ALL over the world and plead Palestinian Right to Targeted Killing of DORIT BEINISCH (Oct 2 – Dec 19, 2008)
(Updated on NOVEMBER 21, 2008)
JIWON: (…) As I wrote before … it was a secret message to Beinisch’s Secret Society… that Daniel Barenboim will anyway behave under Mehta’s detailed instruction.
Zubin Mehta: In Israel, Money is endless. I have a list of people who can pay for ‘Renovation.’ Oct 21, 2008 / By Haaretz

Most road & rail projects exceed budget, and finish late Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
Netanyahu to Haaretz: Palestinians seem to be backing down Feb 22, 2010 / By Haaretz
[Q] – Bla-bla-bla…
[PM Bibi] – “That is completely and utterly unfounded. My vision is (…) both Palestinians and Syrians present us with extremist preconditions that they did not present to earlier Israeli governments. (…)”
[Q] – PM grants heritage status to West Bank religious sites. Isn’t this plan ridiculous and anachronistic?
[PM Bibi] – Bla-bla-bla…
[Q] – Netanyahu’s NIS 51b transport vision focuses on periphery and Netanyahu’s Finance Ministry wants to derail Netanyahu’s transport development plan and bla-bla-bla…
[PM Bibi] – “It’s not that much money. We’re talking about some NIS 30 billion over 10 to 15 years. (… JIWON: usually, in this case, more money will have to be needed… according to my decades-long of reading daily newspaper… what I feel funny is that even Netanyahu’s most-sincere-servant “calls it MEGALOMANIAC” and “estimates NIS 83 billion” and promises that “the burden on the budget would be tremendous as execution is to be spread over just 10 to 15 years”… perfect!)
[Q] – Wouldn’t it be better to invest the money in education? NIS 30 billion could revolutionize elementary, high school and university education.
[PM Bibi] – “We’ll have more money (…)”
[Q] – Mossad hit backfires on Netanyahu… bla-bla-bla
[PM Bibi] – “May I shut up?”

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Ultimately, Most Israelis Are Ready to Vote For ‘The Bibicracy With Labor As a Fig-Leaf’.

Ari Shavit: The injustice. Let us praise Bibi’s coalition agreement
For the past 20 years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a victim of injustice. When he returned from the United States at the end of the 1980s, the leftist elite treated him with boundless hostility. When he headed the opposition during the Oslo years, he was perceived as an agitator and an instigator. (…) Benjamin Netanyahu should not be blamed exclusively for the current crisis in Israel-American relations. … So is Ariel Sharon … And there is Ehud Olmert … Tzipi Livni must shoulder some blame for refusing to join a MODERATE, SANE UNITY GOVERNMENT. And the Obama administration … Mahmoud Abbas. (…)

(JIWON: I keep reading this author treating PM Bibi as his only adolescent son. Please ask all those names mentioned above. WHO was playing the most cancerous/patriotic role to make their leadership vulnerable to attacks from Settlers’ patriotism? Hasn’t Bibi literally destroyed all their immune system? Thank god, this author only mentioned 5 names, all of whom were inevitably related to MK Bibi, Opposition-Leader Bibi, Republican-Neocon Bibi, or Jewish-Pig Bibi. I can’t be nice to this human species. The moment I change my attitude, Kadima or any other secular left-wing parties will behave as a fig-leaf in Bibi’s coalition and the history of Phoenix-Bibi will continue. However, everything is up to the Israelis themselves. Therefore, keep praising Bibicracy, please.)

Please check
Talkbacks: Beinisch Politics has nothing to do with LAW
State drops case against Supreme Court president’s husband Dec 21, 2007 / By Israeli Media

Dorit Beinisch succeeded in brainwashing: Former PM Olmert ranked most corrupt leader in Israeli history Mar 18, 2010 / By Haaretz
More than 50% of Israelis think Netanyahu is corrupt, but only 18.7% say he’s worse than predecessor. (…) Back to the survey. Many Israelis are evidently irritated by the coalition agreements that give special monetary allocations to yeshivas, with 53.2% of respondents characterizing the practice as highly corrupt (…) A majority of those surveyed disapproved of politicians reneging on their campaign promises: 60% said that breaking a campaign promise is corrupt, while 25% said there was no relationship between campaign promises and corruption. An even larger majority feel that things are getting worse when it comes to ethics: 70% said they feel that Israel is more corrupt now than ever before, while only 10% think that matters are improving. (…)

Carlo Strenger: Who is the real Israel: its citizens or its politicians? Feb 2, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) We citizens need to ask ourselves how long we are willing to endure this shame that is called Israeli politics; that does nothing to ensure Israel’s long-term viability; that has failed to prevent water shortage by constructing desalinization plants; that is ruining one of Israel’s greatest assets, its higher education system; that has elected a miserable figure like Katsav to be Israel’s president, and puts ministers into the government who make Israel look like a brutish, boorish country that it isn’t. And it is undermining Israel’s status as a legitimate, progressive, democratic polity. Israel is a representative democracy, and we must no longer hide behind cursing the system; we are each and everyone responsible for what is going on here. We are all put to shame by politicians who have gotten used to playing the system and to surviving in it and have no incentive to transform it. If we, the citizens, do not pressure our politicians into changing the system, we will never regain the pride that Israel could give us. (…)

Yoel Marcus: The master of pyromania Feb 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) It’s not clear what it is about Benjamin Netanyahu, who in both his terms as prime minister has gotten into trouble – or to be more precise, has gotten the country embroiled in incendiary issues. During his first term he triggered bloody riots all over the country as a result of opening the Western Wall tunnel (“the rock of our existence”). Now he has decided, under pressure from the right-wing forces in his government, to add the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb to the list of Jewish heritage preservation sites, thus enabling PA President Abbas to warn that Israel is threatening to ignite a religious war. (…) Labor in the coalition is unable to prevent even a draft bill or a declaration that contradicts Netanyahu’s opinion. … Labor is being dragged into an ultra-Orthodox religious right-wing whirlpool, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the establishment of the state. The partnership between Barak and Bibi is causing an upheaval in the Israeli way of life. We have returned to the days of “the whole world is against us.”

The problem is not Lieberman. It’s PM Netanyahu Mar 5, 2010
(…) With every passing day, Netanyahu is going back to Bibi’s caprices. Suddenly he rolled out the issue of the heritage of our holy sites, in the tradition of the Western Wall tunnel (“the rock of our existence”). It may seem as if the goal was to infuriate the Palestinians, but actually he wants to win the hearts of his party’s Feiglin faction of right-wing settlers – so they won’t, God forbid, accuse him of dancing to the tune of the tiny Labor Party. (…) Lieberman’s appointment as foreign minister was reminiscent of Caligula’s appointment of his horse as a Roman consul. Though it’s not clear exactly what they agreed on in private, we can guess that Bibi made an offer and Lieberman promised not to interfere with the peace process, on the assumption and understanding that nothing would come of it in any case. (…)

Yossi Verter: In Praise of Opposition leader Bibi’s coalition agreement Feb 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) When Olmert was prime minister and Netanyahu was opposition leader, the latter focused solely on the government’s policy. Behind the scenes he developed relationships with Yishai, Lieberman, current Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and MK Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism, and later with Barak. Netanyahu was thinking about the day after the elections. Livni, even if she wins a few more seats than Likud next time around, will have trouble assuaging the resentment she created among the heads of the coalition parties, on the eve of the consultations with the president.

PM Netanyahu to Livni: Paper doesn’t protect from rockets Mar 2, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Talkbacks for this article 8
6. Livni, that is why we voted Netanyahu…: Livni, you are right about international standing, that is why we voted for Netanyahu! We need somebody who will be a MAN (i am a woman btw) and will stand up for Israel’s needs and interests FIRST and foremost, EVEN at the expense of international standing….we don’t need you and Olmert cow-towing on everything and getting us killed in the long term (and even short term) because you worship our image in the world’s eyes… / Ain Od Milvado, Beit Shemesh (03.02.10)

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Though Diplomatic Isolation Can Be Costly, The World Will Accept All Israeli Quirks And Whims. PM Peres Knew. So Did PM Barak. So Did PM Netanyahu. In Short, Likudniks Should Work More… To Train All The New Recruits And Lead Them In a Right Way, Whether It Is Toward The Two-State Or The Binational-State Solution.

Aluf Benn: World isn’t buying Israel’s explanations anymore Jan 30, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) “THE WHITE INTIFADA” (…) Diplomatic isolation can be costly. Former Foreign Ministry director general Gideon Rafael wrote in his memoirs that in the summer of 1973, he felt that the diplomatic stagnation, which was perceived as something taken for granted, and perhaps even desirable, was liable to become “a death trap.” Former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat cut Israel off from its friends in the Third World, proposed a peace initiative to the Americans and was rejected. He then raised the demand for the return of the Sinai Peninsula in the UN Security Council and came up against an American veto. In his book, “Destination Peace: Three decades of Israeli Foreign Policy, a Personal Memoir” (published in English by Littlehampton Book Services, 1981), Rafael wrote that Israel rejoiced in the veto and did not realize that closing the diplomatic door left Egypt with only one option – war. (…)

(JIWON: So, what is the present situation? Israel overcame all difficulties and things are now quite good. Aren’t they?)

Akiva Eldar: For Palestinians, more talks don’t mean new hope Feb 23, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The cabinet’s decision to renovate Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron illustrate what awaits, reminding veterans of the Oslo Accords of Netanyahu’s directive in September 1996 to open the Western Wall Tunnel. Netanyahu’s weakness for Jewish heritage and his lack of sensitivity to the neighbors’ dignity cost dozens of Israeli and Palestinian casualties. (…)

Editorial: Not combat heritage Feb 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) at the urging of his Shas coalition partners (…) The prime minister no doubt remembers the bloody price of his hasty decision to open the Western Wall tunnel in 1996, yet he has chosen once again to strike a match next to a powder keg. And once again he is doing it while an international effort is underway to renew dialogue and prevent flare-ups between Israel and the Palestinians. Once again he is portraying the Palestinian Authority as an empty vessel and adding to Hamas’ stature. The cabinet’s decision to extensively alter important sites in the West Bank clearly violates the commitment to refrain from changing the status quo in the territories, whose fate is subject to negotiations. If there is an urgent need for maintenance work at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, it would have been suitable to discuss this first with the PA’s leaders and to coordinate plans with the Islamic institution that handles the site where both Jews and Muslims worship, rather than arrogantly asserting ownership.

(JIWON: PM Netanyahu did it again. So, has his previous behaviors affected his present business? Even if he does it again and again, he will be able to be elected as Israeli prime minister again and again. This is Israel I know.)

Dahlia Scheindlin: A reason to leave the ashram Feb 19, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) But let’s get back to civic-mindedness. Somewhere between 1999 and 2001, when Israel saw a nasty 15-point drop in turnout, the notion of not voting seems to have attained legitimacy here. It feels like political cynicism is eating away at the common commitment to civic institutions. (…)

Yoel Marcus: Being there Jan 31, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) I can’t recall a Labor candidate for the premiership who was elected with as much enthusiasm as Ehud Barak in May 1999. Many people, mainly young people, came out to vote, and the best talents were enlisted to help. High society joined the campaign. (…) The ambitious Barak, who failed throughout his term as prime minister, was defeated by Ariel Sharon by half a million votes – the greatest defeat of any party ever. Instead of taking responsibility and staying on as party leader to rehabilitate the party, he left to tend to his personal affairs. Wealthier, closer to the penthouse in Akirov Towers, with two pianos, Barak regained control of Labor

(JIWON: So… everyone is presently busy at counting the days until ‘The Day of Judgment’ comes to punish Labor’s Barak. Does he worry? He will leave ‘to tend to his personal affairs’. Much wealthier, with four pianos, Barak will regain control of Labor.)

Peres blames Netanyahu for breaching Jerusalem-Status-Quo (by allowing Jewish construction in Arab neighborhoods) Mar 28, 2010 / By Haaretz
Talkbacks for this article 62
18. Peres started this mess: 05:04 | Boruch 28/03/10
40. Wow, the first time Peres has every spoken up about the: 08:06 | Esther 28/03/10

(JIWON: While no one knows what caused President Peres’ sudden, comical comments about Jerusalem-Status-Quo… Who would believe if I say that it was after I (secretly) reported that I was checking old articles in order to finish this writing as quickly as possible?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Peres
1. (Acting) PM Peres from Apr 1977 to Jun 1977, succeeded by Netanyahu’s Begin
2. PM Peres from Sep 1984 to Oct 1986, succeeded by Netanyahu’s Shamir
3. PM Peres from Nov 1995 to Jun 1996, succeeded by Netanyahu
4. President Peres from Jul 2007 to You-Know-When, succeeded by Netanyahu’s Possibly-Ruby
5. Possibly-PM Peres from You-Know-When…

Merav Michaeli: Taking turns Mar 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) President Lula apparently knows something about leadership. … Dialogue and negotiations are the opposite of war, victory and occupation, and looking into your partner’s eyes means openness, willingness and basic trust. Regrettably, no leader in Israel today possesses any of these. (…) Our leaders, who have been “taking turns” with one another for more than 15 years now, have a picture of the world in which the Arabs are fundamentally inferior and want to throw us into the sea; we are in an existential danger and the whole world is against us. Each has his own reasons. Two of them have spent most of their adult lives living by the sword, one was an old-school, labor-movement, security-minded Zionist, and two are scions of very right-wing families. One of them also has a father who believes that the Holocaust has not ended. (…)

Akiva Eldar: What would PM Netanyahu do without President Peres? Jan 25, 2010 / By Haaretz

President Peres to mark International Holocaust Day with address to German parliament Jan 25, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Peres: ‘Israel-US tension?… and a lot has already been achieved’ Mar 18, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Peres: This Passover was the best in Israel’s recent history Apr 5, 2010 / By Haaretz

President Peres: Jews Should Keep the Sabbath Mar 11, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Peres shows religious side in rare visit to ultra-Orthodox heartland Mar 11, 2010 / By Haaretz
Parents of combat soldiers enraged over Peres’ exemption remarks Mar 12, 2010 / By Ynetnews
‘Peres hurt soldiers’ morale’ Mar 12, 2010 / By Ynetnews

Nehemia Shtrasler: If they ask the president Mar 12, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) They don’t study science, mathematics, physics, English or history. That’s why there is no chance that a single doctor will emerge from the ranks of the Ponevezh (Yeshiva). But it was even more infuriating to hear the president saying that the ultra-Orthodox should not be blamed for the fact that they don’t work. The actual culprit is the secular community (…) This is already a real libel. How dare Peres blame the secular public for the idleness of the Haredim? (…) And if all that were not enough, it turns out that Peres is also in favor of the Haredi evasion of service in the Israel Defense Forces. “I’m very proud the State of Israel agreed to release those who dedicate their lives to Torah study from military service,” he said. In other words, tens of thousands of Torah scholars are the important ones, who deserve to be released from service, but those who dedicate their lives to studying philosophy, biology, brain science, physics or electronics in the universities, the Technion or the Weizmann Institute have to both work and serve in the army. A new scale of values a la Peres.

Yossi Sarid: Peres finds his religion. That is what happens when a person has the privilege of being crowned a man of vision Mar 19, 2010 / By Haaretz
When the first prime minister David Ben-Gurion decided to exempt the yeshiva students from military service, he took into account 400 of them. Since then they have been fruitful and multiplied into hundreds of thousands. (…) It was only a few years ago that Peres was incensed by them. When he used to wander, Samson-like, between the Labor Party’s club at Tzura and the party’s office at Eshtaol on Shabbat, he would preach against the ultra-Orthodox for delaying the coming of the messiah – it was only because of them that there was no peace for us and the entire people of Israel. However, recently they at last supported his candidacy for the presidency, the wrinkles were ironed out, and redemption came to Zion. For Peres, nothing is personal.

(JIWON: I keep wondering. Why the Israelis should worry for Israeli future when this veteran politician, 86-yr-old Nobel Peace Prize Winner indeed, is so sure of bright future ahead of him, his Israel, his America, his Middle East, his Europe, his China, and his Universe?)

(… NO need to organize articles explaining how the entire country is heading toward the $Has’ colony…)

21:44 Moderate West Bank rabbi comes out in support of IDF insubordination Feb 17, 2010 / By Haaretz Flash News

Information Minister Edelstein (Likud) responds to criticism directed at his new pro-Israel PR: Al-Jazeera understands Israel better Feb 24, 2010 / By Ynetnews
PR website: Ministry website leans right. Justifying state or government? Feb 21, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) During the last few days we have all seen the “camel advert” and other broadcasts from the Ministry of Information and Diaspora, which remind us of the “Third World” image we have earned around the globe. In addition, we have all been asked to learn how to make Israel look better abroad, via a website specially set up for this purpose. However, a perusal of the site reveals that many of the opinions we are supposed to learn by rote are not part of any consensus. In fact, they mainly reflect the rightwing side of the political spectrum, which currently dominates. (…) The Ministry of Information and Diaspora responded by saying, “It saddens us that instead of taking part in the important national effort to improve Israel’s image, which 85% of Israeli citizens support, according to a survey, you have chosen to take a number of quotes and use them in a negative campaign against Israel.” The Ministry also noted that the site, which was launched just four days ago, “has already had over 130,000 visitors and we have had enthusiastic responses and requests for training from citizens. However, as noted on our position paper which accompanies the campaign, the site is liable to changes which will be carried out according to requirements.”

Israeli Poll: Israeli youth: Indifferent patriots Apr 5, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) while 35% of Israelis over the age of 30 said they would vote for right-wing parties, this number almost doubled for youths up to the age of 29, and stood at 61%. (…) The change, he said, stems among other things from the consistent growth of the religious and ultra-Orthodox population, but “is also part of another trend – the Israeli youth is very conformist, so when the public moves to the Right, the Israeli youth moves with it.” (…)

(JIWON: And they say that they still support the Two-State-Solution. And then, they say that their favorite nationalist youths should not join the army. In short, I never understand why those Likud Patriots are hungry for sneaking into the opposition bench, stealing MODERATE Kadima members, and scrounging Unity-Government off the REAL Peace-advocators… after successfully managing all these hard works to brainwash their youngsters.)

Gideon Levy: Dispersing white phosphorous clouds over Gaza Feb 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Now seriously, despite this propaganda nonsense, Israeli PR is a resounding success story. The world accepts all our quirks and whims. The great Russia was forced to retreat from Georgia, but not Israel from the territories. Gilad Shalit has gained a global reputation as though there are no other prisoners of war in the world, and even the hysteria over Iran is made in Israel. So what do we need all the Bamba and camel stories for? Let’s keep doing our thing – occupying, bombing, shelling, building settlements, usurping and exploiting. At worst, we could always whip out Ayelet Zurer, Krembo and the Israeli-made epilator, for we indeed are the chosen people.

(JIWON: They… those Likud Patriots should work MORE… to train all those new recruits and lead them in a right way, whether it is toward the Two-State or the Binational-State Solution.)

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Meanwhile, the RIGHT Is Determined To Delegitimize the LIBERAL Camp. Didn’t Labor’s DM Barak Really Know Likud’s PM Bibi Didn’t Know?

Mike Prashker: A destructive dialectic Feb 12, 2010 / By Haaretz
The battle of words and shocking images we’ve witnessed in recent days over the role of the New Israel Fund should be seen as part of a long-standing and escalating battle between two extreme poles within the Jewish people. (…) Meanwhile, outside Israel, there are ever-increasing numbers of liberal-minded Jews simply giving up on Israel, or even developing feelings of shame and hostility toward it. Understood in this context, and struggling to accommodate Jewish and democratic values in Israel and to engage liberal Jewry around the world, NIF is quite clearly part of the broad centrist camp, albeit on its left side. (…)

Daniel Levy: A retractionist-retentionist discourse Feb 12, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The soft retractionists continue to feed that discourse even though it undermines the very outcome they know is necessary. Their frequent silence, no less than the settlers’ noise, is drowning out Israeli democracy. The hard retentionists are very well represented in the Knesset, while the hard retractionists can barely rely on a tiny and shrinking number of Jewish MKs. It is the human and civil rights community, the New Israel Fund, the demonstrators at Sheikh Jarrah and the few brave public figures who have joined them – including David Grossman, Moshe Halbertal and Ron Pundak – who are now the standard-bearers and source of hope in this decisive phase of the struggle for Israel’s future.

Ari Shavit: A new Zionist left Mar 4, 2010 / By Haaretz
Was there ever a left wing in Israel? Yes, between 1967 and 2000 there was a dovish and courageous Zionist left. It took shape on the seventh day of the Six-Day War (…) In the 1990s, problems arose. Just when the left’s program was broadly accepted it turned out there was a wide gap between its beliefs and reality. (…) its lack of intellectual honesty. The right can bluff, and so can the center, but a left without solid internal honesty is a left without hope. (…)

The silencing of the Left Feb 11, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Andrew Sacks
(…) This is not an attack on the NIF, rather it is a cleverly orchestrated effort by those on the Right to silence the forces of democracy, or at least block funding for those with whom they differ. (…) I recall in the seventies and the eighties the creation of an organization called Breira, followed by the New Jewish Agenda. They were established to push for participatory democratic process for all people, especially those marginalized within the mainstream Jewish community. But those who affiliated were attacked as being anti-Zionist and self-hating. I recall rabbis who identified with these groups fearing it may affect their employment opportunities. It is time to put an end to this fear- and hate-mongering. (…)

Carlo Strenger: Muzzling Israel’s left only harms its democracy Apr 2, 2010 / By Haaretz
The last year has been very difficult for Israel internationally. All indicators show that its international standing is worse than ever; (…) Once freedom of expression starts to be curtailed, a state enters a slippery slope and nobody can know where it ends. … This tendency is reflected in developments in world Jewry. The new pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby J Street has been critical of many of Israel’s actions, particularly settlement expansion and construction in East Jerusalem. Many reactions have been dismaying: Instead of engaging with J Street, Israel’s ambassador to the United States chose not to attend its first convention because he believes that it endangers Israel’s interests. Others again have argued that J Street misrepresents its position by calling itself pro-Israel and is another instance of Jewish self-hatred. This profoundly worrying delegitimization campaign against Jewish and Israeli liberals is taking many forms: A number of Web sites track anti-Israeli activities and positions among Israeli academics. The sites’ tone is remarkably reminiscent of the style of Joseph McCarthy’s investigations into “un-American activities” in the 1950s, a stain in the history of the world’s leading democracy. In some of the cases the coverage is formulated in inflammatory language, in others it is highly inexact. (…) It is necessary to restate the obvious because many well-meaning Diaspora Jews feel that the only way to be loyal to Israel is to support its policies, no matter what they are. They often take their cues from one-sided, unreliable sources, and have taken the line that all criticism emanating from Jews, whether in Israel or the Diaspora, reflects disloyalty to both Jewry and Israel. (…) both the RIGHT and the LIBERAL … Both sides believe that they have the correct views about what is good for Israel in the short and long term. But those on the RIGHT who, however well-meaning, try to delegitimize the liberal camp may end up unintentionally harming one of Israel’s greatest assets: its democracy.

(JIWON: Finally, I found out that why Jerusalem Post had to behave as a Bibiton. Then what about Jewish Agency?)

Please check. Basically, it was part of
The Healthiest Opposition Should Face ‘Corrupt & Aging BIBI’… and ultimately… the Israeli Future! (Dec 24, 2009 – Still writing…)
COLLECTION-7: Why Does Phoenix-Bibi Need the Left-Kadima on the Issues, such as Hamas, Iran-Nuclear, or Goldstone-Report?
Too Tired to Organize This Collection on Diaspora Palestinians’ Getting-Stronger Mentality
Too Tired to Organize This Collection on Diaspora Jews’ Getting-Weaker Mentality
Daniella Peled: Anglo Jewry defeats itself Dec 27, 2009 / By Haaretz
(…) Does it make sense, at a time when the community in England is shrinking, to reject people who want to be Jewish? (…)

Beinisch or Bibi’s Education Minister Gideon Saar relinquishes/fires Jewish Agency Director-General Dec 28, 2009 / By Jerusalem Post
As Kadima enlists Bielski, talk about replacing him begins Nov 3, 2008 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Due to the interconnected leaderships of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, in which the Knesset is proportionally represented, Israel’s prime minister has often been the de facto deciding factor in selecting a chairman for the agency. (…)

Adelson or Bibi’s Apointee at Jewish Agency, Sharansky: Biden-fiasco was not intentional Mar 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) In an interview published February 1, 2009, Sharansky said there was no danger of turmoil with the US over a difference of opinion between the two countries as long as Israel was open with the American administration about its policies. He said it had been proven true historically that crises between Israel and the US only emerged when the Israeli government misinformed Washington about its true leanings on a particular issue. “If they have a feeling that we are playing games, that’s when we have a real problem,” said Sharansky, who at the time headed the Adelson Center for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center and now chairs the Jewish Agency. (…)

American Poll: Nearly half of U.S. voters support total settlement freeze Mar 19, 2010 / By Haaretz
Erekat (PA): More settlements every US visit Mar 8, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Israeli Poll: 75% of Israelis believe Obama’s attack ‘out of proportion’ Mar 19, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Netanyahu to Aluf Benn: Embattled Netanyahu faces a tough Passover? I know America better than you do Mar 27, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The plummeting support for Obama, the Republican victory in the recent Senate race in Massachusetts and the Democrats’ anticipated losses in next fall’s congressional elections worked on Netanyahu like Viagra. He notes frequently to aides, politicians and journalists that Israelis don’t understand America like he does. That they see only the president and the administration, and don’t understand the power of Congress, the lobbying groups and the think tanks. (…)

(JIWON: While I feel NO need to mention my previous report about Gideon Levy: Thank you, Eli Yishai, for exposing the peace process masquerade (Mar 11, 2010), the story keeps going.)

PM Bibi to prove Biden-Fiasco: ‘We’ll prevent future embarrassments’ Mar 14, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Akiva Eldar: East Jerusalem plan was supposed to be shelved in May 2006, so what happened? Mar 16, 2010 / By Haaretz

Aluf Benn: Netanyahu leaves U.S. disgraced and isolated Mar 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The approval of construction at the Shepherd Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah, announced before his meeting with Obama, again caught Netanyahu unawares. Apparently the special panel appointed after the Ramat Shlomo debacle to prevent such surprises failed its first test. (…)

PM to tell AIPAC: Jerusalem isn’t a settlement Mar 23, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Netanyahu gives Clinton lesson in bureaucracy Mar 23, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Israel ‘spits in Obama’s eye’ by announcing new settlements in east Jerusalem Mar 24, 2010 / By British Media
Netanyahu-Obama meeting over Mar 24, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Labor’s Barak to American Charlie Rose: PM Bibi didn’t know it. Nor did I Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz

(JIWON: And You-Know-Who keeps insisting that they didn’t know. Always, DM Barak’s comical comments in multiple tongues prompt me to search for more. I feel NO need to report that this another fiasco during Netanyahu-Obama meeting, Another East Jerusalem project gets OK, has actively been led by American millionaire Moskowitz, and it was not Obama-Livni but Bibi-Lieberman-$has that thanked GOD for its publication after Netanyahu-Obama meeting over.)

Jewish homes approved in E. J’lem hours before Netanyahu-Obama meeting Mar 24, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) In July 2009, the first permits for the development of the apartments were issued, sparking protests from the US State Department. The US sent a message LAST YEAR to the Israeli government via Israel’s Ambassador to the US Oren, in which it asked for the project TO BE CANCELED. (…)

New east Jerusalem homes approved hours before Netanyahu-Obama meet Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) While Netanyahu distanced himself from the decision made by the Interior Ministry, he repeated both before and during his trip that Israel reserves the right to build in east Jerusalem. The prime minister who had hoped to rebuild lost trust in his relations with the president said that “relations between Israel and the U.S. should not be risked over divisions in the matter of Jerusalem. (…)

No sign of breakthrough in Netanyahu-Obama meeting Mar 24, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) Obama hosted Netanyahu in the Oval Office (…) Earlier, Netanyahu, joined at the talks by DM Barak, took a hard line on US demands for a freeze in settlement construction, saying Washington’s stance could delay peace talks with the Palestinians for a year. (…)

Another crisis brewing? Sheikh Jarah construction OK’d Mar 24, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) However, Likud Knesset Member Yariv Levin came to Netanyahu’s aid, saying that “the authorization of Jewish building in Jerusalem is a practical translation of the clear statements made by PM Netanyahu upon his departure for the US, whereby our right to build in Jerusalem is unshakable.” “The building policy in Jerusalem is Israel’s internal business, and we must not agree to any dictate on this issue,” he added.

Nationalists Blame Obama-Livni Collusion for Jerusalem Leaks Mar 24, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
(…) Likud MK Gilad Erdan also said that Tuesday’s news was “left-wing spin.” He called it “idle chatter that left-wing elements are looking to use to muddy Netanyahu’s name, even at the expense of ties with the US.” (…)

Yoel Marcus: At a nadir Mar 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) It’s not clear if this was publicized on Netanyahu’s initiative or on the initiative of those who want to bring him down; (…)

(JIWON: Israel is where the Power-holders don’t have to get their stories straight before they tell a transparent lie. It is also where the leaders don’t have to think twice about telling lies.)

J’lem building c’tee meetings frozen Mar 24, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Labor’s Barak to American Charlie Rose: PM Bibi didn’t know it. Nor did I Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) “It’s a complicated, uncontrollable process, but now the government nominated a committee of senior level officials to make sure that this cannot happen once again.” (…)

(JIWON: Perhaps, I should start with the REAL prime ministers of Israel and their honest comments. OR DM Barak himself, the most faithful servant of Israeli prime minister, whoever he is as long as he comes from the radical-RIGHT-wing. (… but then, was Lieberman or $has a part of RADICAL-right-wing during the previous Knesset?… but then, who else and how many OPPORTUNISTS will join the RADICAL-right-wing during the next Knesset?…) Sorry for failing to save $has leader’s proud announcement.)

Editorial: Netanyahu must boot Lieberman from FM post Dec 29, 2009 / By Haaretz
(…) Using blunt language, Lieberman made clear to the ministry staff that his worldview is the one that represents Israel. The next day, Netanyahu told them that conditions were ripe for a renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians. (…)

DM Barak: ‘Talks won’t stop until breakthrough. Even indirect peace negotiations were difficult to achieve’ Mar 9, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
DM Barak unfreezes 112 settler homes Mar 8, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
In the midst of a renewed push to jump-start the peace process, the Defense Ministry announced that work could continue on 112 apartment units in Beitar Illit that had been frozen as a result of the 10-month moratorium on new West Bank settlement construction. (…) The decision was publicized only on Monday morning by Army Radio. The story was broadcast as US special envoy Mitchell and US VP Biden were visiting Israel. It also came one day after the PLO Executive Committee voted to support the resumption of negotiations with Israel through indirect, US-brokered talks. (…) In spite of the Palestinian insistence that Israel withdraw completely to the pre-1967 border, Israel has assumed that it will retain Beitar Illit in any final status-agreement with the Palestinians. (…) Hagit Ofran of Peace Now said that the Defense Ministry was simply being “creative” in the excuses it offered for breaking its word regarding the moratorium. This was the government’s way of welcoming the Americans to Israel, said Ofran. The whole point of the moratorium is that new homes can no longer be built in the settlements, she said. (…)

Biden, PM set to focus on Iran Mar 9, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Mitchell’s absence from VP-Netanyahu meetings indicate Palestinian talks don’t top agenda. (…) In Washington, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Israeli officials had explained that the construction was approved before the moratorium. “On the one hand, it does not violate the moratorium that the Israelis previously announced,” Crowley said. “On the other hand, this is a the kind of thing that both sides need to be cautious of as we move ahead with these parallel talks.” (…)

(… after a series of happenings…)

Labor’s Barak to American Charlie Rose: PM Bibi didn’t know it. Nor did I Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) “It’s a complicated, uncontrollable process, but now the government nominated a committee of senior level officials to make sure that this cannot happen once again,” Barak told Charlie Rose. (…)

(JIWON: Perhaps, one should publicly ask Labor’s Barak if his decision was also after Mazal Mualem: Yisrael Beiteinu’s threat to Labor’s Barak.)

Barak confirms: Ariel college to be recognized as university Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz
Mazal Mualem: Yisrael Beiteinu’s threat to Labor’s Barak Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz
Avirama Golan: A pseudo-university. Along comes a Mapainik Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz
Israeli academics urge state not to bestow university status on Ariel college Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz

(JIWON: DM Barak will still insist that Labor’s Barak to American Charlie Rose: PM Bibi didn’t know it. Nor did I. Whether it was exemplary of the lack of clear policy on the issue or a personal order from Jerusalem Mayor Barkat, or intentionally submitted by Arab engineers, (… jiwon: will Arab engineers be fired on this issue?…), even or Netanyahu believed the strength of his AIPAC speech, or Netanyahu decided to spit in Obama`s face, or Obama and his staff set him a honey trap, it doesn’t matter. Does it matter? DM Barak tried to teach some tricks to American brains.)

Ari Shavit: Palestine-Iran-Palestine Mar 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) There are four possible responses to the Iranian threat: … None of them can work without close American-Israeli cooperation, with Israel’s being treated as a leper state, with the entire international community preoccupied with the occupation and settlements. (…)

Liat Collins’s My Word: Meanwhile in Jerusalem Mar 20, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) The alliance with the US is natural and important, but not enough for Israel to give up Jerusalem for. Nothing is that important. (…)

(JIWON: I am just tired out while organizing genius plan always initiated by the REAL Israeli prime ministers.)

WORKING…
WORKING…
WORKING…

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Is Barak’s Labor a ‘Mere Fig-Leaf’ or an ‘Original Doer to Realize Beinisch’s Vision of Greater Israel’? After All, The Messiah Will Come Before The Secular Jews Unite.

(JIWON: NO need to mention my previous report about Labor MKs’ professional resume and possibility of their future big-mouth in multiple tongues. Quite interestingly, things are (openly) happening after Aharon Barak’s interview.)

Aharon Barak: W. Bank is occupied territory 25 Jun, 2009 / By Israeli Media
Aharon Barak: Israel must be part of global community, abide by int’l law Feb 21, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Barak, who was repeatedly questioned about the legality of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, said that they had existed for so many years that by now their status should be determined in a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Pointedly, however, he declined to respond to a question about whether or not he considered Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem to be legal. (…)

Yoel Marcus: The master of pyromania Feb 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The Labor Party joined the coalition in order to moderate it, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak claiming that “if we aren’t in the government, there is no country.” Today that sounds like a joke. Labor in the coalition is unable to prevent even a draft bill or a declaration that contradicts Netanyahu’s opinion. (…) Labor MK Einat Wilf, who replaced Ophir Pines-Paz after he resigned, declared that the merry days of the left are over, and the time has come for Labor to raise the flag of Zionist and Jewish pride. “We are not part of the lunatic left,” she announced. Labor is being dragged into an ultra-Orthodox religious right-wing whirlpool, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the establishment of the state. The partnership between Barak and Bibi is causing an upheaval in the Israeli way of life. We have returned to the days of “the whole world is against us.”

‘Israel won’t change its policies’. Building in Jerusalem is like building in Tel Aviv Mar 21, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog assessed that Israel would eventually adopt “former [US] president [Bill] Clinton’s formula – whatever is in Jewish hands stays in Israel, and whatever is in Palestinian hands stays Palestinian.” (…)

What is the Labor Party still doing in a right-wing government? Mar 22, 2010 / By Haaretz
Answer from Herzog: The Labor Party must drop the double-talk but I can’t Mar 22, 2010 / By Haaretz

(JIWON: Quite interestingly, I start finding that Talkbackers post ‘Labor’s Herzog Is Corrupt!’. Until some months ago, I kept reading all kinds of Jewish folks, including journalist, who had ceaselessly asked DM Barak to behave like a Labor’s leader. They literally begged. So… is it working now? Has he listened to anyone? He only boasts that his Labor party will recover during the next election.)

Netanyahu-Obama meeting over Mar 24, 2010 / By Ynetnews
PM Netanyahu wins Supreme Court case on Likud race Mar 25, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

Netanyahu intensifies bid to draw Kadima into coalition Mar 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Kadima No. 25 Otniel Schneller, who keeps in close touch with the prime minister, called Thursday for creating a national unity government. (…)

Labor ministers to Kadima: Join coalition. Labor is a lonely fig-leaf Mar 28, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

‘Settler population rose 4.9% in 2009′ Mar 10, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
‘PM won’t drop coalition partners’ Mar 26, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

Likud MK: Not even ‘Hussein Obama’ will remove us from Hebron Apr 2, 2010 / By Haaretz

Amiel Ungar: Coercion won’t work. If Netanyahu were to take in Livni under Obama’s terms, he would be committing political suicide Mar 19, 2010 / By Haaretz

(JIWON: Do ‘Mr. Marcus & Folks’ want to take advantage of this computer work and finally see ‘bla-bla-bla’? I feel very sorry to report that this is NOT likely to happen before the Messiah comes.)

(… FOLKS, including President Peres, literally ordering Kadima’s Livni to join Bibi’s coalition as Bibi’s mistress… until this computer work…)

Yoel Marcus: Obama doesn’t have to be an Israel-hater to be angry with Netanyahu From-Time-To-Time-Since-My-Involvement / By Haaretz
(…) The only solution to this miserable situation is to establish a peace gov’t with Likud, Kadima and Labor – without Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu. (…)

Yoel Marcus: If Netanyahu wants peace, he must lose Lieberman Feb 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
In our government, everyone talks whenever he pleases about whatever he pleases. (…) Some believe that like the waiting period in 1967, a national emergency cabinet must be set up swiftly, without petty accounts. Its sole purpose would be to strengthen the leadership for the survival test Israel may have to face. But after the Six-Day War, the emergency government turned into a paralyzed unity government. It focused on settlements in the territories and turned Israel into an occupation state, whose price we are paying today. (…)

Akiva Eldar: East Jerusalem plan was supposed to be shelved in May 2006, so what happened? Mar 16, 2010 / By Haaretz
Author David Grossman: Settlers abuse Palestinians Jan 29, 2010 / By Haaretz
Grossman, 300 activists participate in weekly protest against Jewish takeover of East Jerusalem. (…) Unlike demonstrations in previous weeks, the police didn’t disperse protestors or make any arrests. (…) Speaking to the protestors, Grossman said, “Sometimes, it’s not possible to sit and be silent. Settlers and the political right aided by the government, THE LEGAL SYSTEM, and economic powers abuse the Palestinians in 1,001 different ways. They complicate the situation to such an extent that a peace agreement becomes impossible and in a general way, destroy our future,” Grossman said. Grossman’s son Uri died in combat during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Akiva Eldar: The plague of darkness has struck modern Israelites Mar 29, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Israeli politicians and media were too busy with Obama Adviser: ‘No Snub Intended’ to Netanyahu. They never gave any thought to Egypt welcomes positive points enclosed in Mideast Quartet’s statement (…) in August 2011 … Will Netanyahu still be trying to explain that Jerusalem isn’t a settlement? For 43 years, the Israeli public – schoolchildren, TV viewers, Knesset members and Supreme Court judges – have been living in the darkness of the occupation, which some call liberation. The school system and its textbooks, the army and its maps, the language and the “heritage” have all been mobilized to help keep Israelis blind to the truth. (…)

High Court refuses to halt illegal settlement construction Mar 15, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Poll: Most settlers would reject Knesset decision to evacuate Mar 31, 2010 / By Haaretz

Israel planning 50,000 housing units in East Jerusalem… (right after Biden-fiasco) Mar 11, 2010 / By Haaretz
Stage 3 of settlement moratorium is all part of Biden effect Mar 12, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
‘Stage 3’ or ‘Criminal-State’ of moratorium next week Mar 11, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Stage 3 of the IDF’s operation, aimed at implementing the settlement freeze, is also called the “criminal stage,” since it provides for the arrest and indictment of settlers who obstruct the work

Israel to clear criminal records of 400 Gaza pullout opponents Jan 25, 2010 / By Haaretz

(JIWON: Isn’t this ‘criminal stage’ going to celebrate the same ending as Israel to clear criminal records of ‘settlers who obstruct the work’, too? In short, the Messiah will come before THEIR Secular Jews unite. I’m never joking. THEY have functioned and will function in a perfect form only when they live as a Huge-Fig-Leaf in Phoenix-Bibi’s Pretend-to-MODERATE government.)

Secular Jews may be minority in Israeli schools by 2030 Jun 3, 2009 / By Haaretz
FM Lieberman: No peace deal in next 10 to 20 years Dec 29, 2009 / By Jerusalem Post

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Mrs. Sara’s Fan-Club: “The Economic Situation in Israel Is Not THAT BAD!”

Please check
From Phoenix-Bibi >
Is Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu Really Not an Important Person in Israeli Politics? (Jan 15-18, 2010)
Servants and masters Jan 19, 2010 Servants and masters
Talkbacks for this article 22
9. There is nothing dis-honorable in working as a maid: But there is something stupid about continuing to work under those conditions. The economic situation is Israel is not THAT BAD that anyone needs to hold on to a job where they are humiliated and mistreated. This lady should have quit a long time ago. / David, Jerusalem (01.19.10)
12. David #8 and #9 said it all: Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder / Israeli 2 (01.19.10)

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Israeli Economist: “If We Fail To Solve This In 15 Years, Israel Won’t Be Able To Sustain Itself.”

Aluf Benn: Israel’s future relies on integrating Arabs, Haredim Feb 16, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) These are the figures: In the current school year, 47.5% of first-graders are either Arabs or Haredim (ultra-Orthodox). The growth rate of the Haredi school system is 39 times greater than that of the state secular schools, and that of the Arab school system is 13 times greater. (…) Social and cultural diversity has a lot of charm, but in Israel, it is a problem. These three communities have different narratives and lack a common, unifying national ethos. Cohabitation has been imposed on them. Even worse, the ultra-Orthodox and the Arabs are not obliged to serve in the army, and most Haredi men and Arab women do not work. If this situation continues, who will protect the state, and who will pay for the growing population of welfare recipients?
(…) a senior government economist warned. “We have about 15 years to resolve this. If we fail, Israel will not be able to sustain itself.” (…) The country’s leadership, which ignored the problem, knows about the time bomb on its doorstep. (…)
(…) We must recognize that our future depends on integrating Arabs and Haredim into mainstream society. Instead of considering them freeloaders who want to eat our cake, we must start viewing them as a great opportunity: (…) Today, developing a broad national ethos that would include Arabs and Haredim seems like mission impossible. It is obvious that a rightist government headed by Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman is not built for this. Therefore, we must concentrate on change from the bottom up. Everyone must ask himself or herself how he or she can contribute to integration: buying in shops that employ Arabs and Haredim, hiring workers from these communities, renting apartments to them or simply watching television programs and channels that represent our multicultural mosaic. And get to know an Arab or a Haredi instead of fearing them. If we open our doors to them and give them opportunities, we will all benefit. And if we continue to shut ourselves off, we will all crash.

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Israel Set To Become OECD’s Poorest Member. The Economist Bibi Admits ‘East Jerusalem Is Palestinian Territory’.

Israel set to become OECD’s poorest member Jan 19, 2010 / By Haaretz
OECD report: Israel a poor, divided country. The decision is politically motivated Jan 19, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) Findings indicate biggest social gap in haredi, non-Jewish sectors: (…) Israel has social inequalities, with a fifth of its population living under the poverty line and only about a half of its residents with incomes suitable for a developed country. … The report concluded that if Israel joins the organization, it will be the most “unequal and poor” member in the organization, based on its social indicators. (…) Political decision: However, despite the gloomy findings and the social faults, cabinet members estimated that the organization will agree to admit Israel as a member, seeing that the decision is also politically motivated and is largely dependant on the United States and the European nations. The decision, the cabinet noted, will most likely be conditioned upon modification of social policies as well as progress on the Palestinian issue. (…)

Amir Oren: Will it or won’t it come to pass? Mar 21, 2010 / By Haaretz
Like paper, the Internet will tolerate just about anything, but sometimes a real pearl shines through the sea of garbage. Last week supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu disseminated a video clip from 1978: an archival Netanyahu, shy and polite, in his Boston-by-way-of-Philadephia-accented English, attempting to convince an American audience that Jordan is the Palestinian state, and there is nothing wrong with annexing the West Bank to Israel, where the Palestinians will become citizens with equal rights. The 28-year-old Netanyahu is presented as “an Israeli economist and MIT graduate” named “Ben Nitai.”
Those were the days of Jimmy Carter. Netanyahu-Nitai awaited a Republican victory in the next elections. (He figured that George Bush Sr. would win the candidacy; Netanyahu’s father Ben-Zion was correct in thinking Ronald Reagan would get it). When the Republicans entered office, Netanyahu was summoned to his first public post, as deputy ambassador in Washington, a position vacated by the father of the current commander of the Israel Air Force, Ido Nehoshtan.
The 1970s and 1980s were formative years for Netanyahu as an observer of the American government. During that time, he came to superficial and erroneous conclusions that influence his actions to this day.
Israel’s political troubles of the current era are rooted in the 1984 election here. The rotation government, created so that Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir could share control, also created the precedent of dependence on the new Shas party. The two large parties, Likud and Labor, were afraid of Shas, and refused to put together a government without it, because Shas could take revenge in the following election. And so they produced the policy of balancing power between Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Aryeh Deri – and now, in the current generation, between Eli Yishai and Ariel Atias. The latest affair, the decision to build apartment projects for Shas voters in Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem at the cost of a crisis with the American government, is just another link in a long chain.
Netanyahu’s latest excuse, that carrying out the decision to build beyond pre-1967 borders will take a very long time, is especially ridiculous. When Israel is angered by countries deciding to sell arms to Arabs or Iranians, it is not placated by the claim that it will take a long time to produce and supply them.
Only when it comes to money, the economist Ben Nitai emerges, overcomes his pride and is forced to admit that East Jerusalem, like the West Bank and the Golan Heights, is not within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. The Palestinians in Jerusalem and the Druze on the Golan do not use their right to Israeli citizenship and vote for Knesset members, which would reduce the power of Shas and bring about a final decision on peace in return for territories.
Soon, after a long, drawn-out effort, Israel is to be accepted into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This step is an upgrade into the world’s business class section, to the joy of the Finance Ministry, where Netanyahu is the senior minister.
Except that the raw materials this exclusive organization requires for its calculations are data and statistics, which require that Israel do what it has persistently avoided, to define itself: thus the stipulation for a separate report on East Jerusalem, the Golan and the West Bank. It turns out that annexation is not irreversible if it comes with a price tag.
At this opportunity, while others are interfering in its affairs, Israel should also deviate from its regulations on limiting terms of office, and cancel the retirement of the manager of the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The problem in Jerusalem is not the stature of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, but the stature of Benjamin. Netanyahu doesn’t have enough of it to lead a state. He was tested once on this and failed, summoned for a second term and failed again. The continuation of his stay in office is a foolhardy bet that the disaster it embodies will not come to pass.

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8 Years since Arab-Peace-Initiative, Pessimism Reigns Only.

Nehemia Shtrasler: 8 Years since Arab-Peace-Initiative. Israel’s financial success can’t overcome political despair Mar 28, 2010 / By Haaretz

Passover isn’t a holiday that obliges us to examine ourselves. It’s not Yom Kippur. But it does mark the Exodus from Egypt: a transition from slavery to freedom. It celebrates the consolidation of the Jewish people. And so, on the eve of the holiday, we have to consider why “this night is different from all others.” Have we actually progressed toward freedom over the past 62 years?
Let’s examine this question by looking at two major aspects of our lives: the political and the socioeconomic.

When it comes to politics, it would appear that the left-wing approach has won. The right wing has accepted the left’s old concept of “two states for two peoples.” It’s a fact that even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is humming the tune once sung only by peace activist and writer Uri Avnery.
But this is Netanyahu-style trickery. He has stolen the left’s slogan for propaganda purposes and doesn’t dream for a second of carrying it out. Netanyahu continues to build in Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. He continues to enlarge Jewish neighborhoods in north Jerusalem. And he even secretly supports continued construction despite the so-called temporary freeze.
Of course, this comes at the price of a crisis with the U.S. government, the deep personal revulsion on the part of President Barack Obama, and the series of humiliations Netanyahu was subject to on his last visit to the United States. But Netanyahu wipes the spit off his face and says: The insults are unimportant, the denunciations don’t matter. The main thing is the Land of Israel.

Netanyahu doesn’t plan to offer the Palestinians a viable state within the pre-1967 borders. His two-state solution means a tiny Palestine torn into three parts, lacking reasonable territorial contiguity, without any hold on greater Jerusalem, which will soon extend to Ramallah.
This tiny Palestinian state will not include the Jordan Valley in the east (where the Israel Defense Forces will be deployed), and two long fingers will stick straight into its eyes: Ariel and Ma’aleh Adumim. No Palestinian leader will accept such a state, and this is precisely Netanyahu’s goal.
It’s also the settlers’ goal. After all, they are the ones who have been setting the public agenda for 43 years. Moshe Levinger will always be remembered as the person who determined the fate of the country when he brought Gush Emunim to Sebastia in 1975, and from there to all Samaria.
Ever since, we’ve been drawn into more settlements and more confrontations, another intifada and another war. And war, after all, is our mission. In a few days we will read the Passover Haggadah: “In every generation they rise up to destroy us.” If so, are we at all to blame?

The thing that hurts the most is how the sides have changed. How the Arabs have become peace lovers and we have turned into rejectionists. Sunday marks eight years since the Arab peace initiative: a suggestion proffered by all Arab states in unison for peace and normalized relations in return for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders. Israel didn’t even bother to respond. That same year, 2002, Syrian President Bashar Assad offered a peace agreement in return for a withdrawal from the Golan Heights. His hand, extended in peace, was also rejected contemptuously by Israel, the same way it rejected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whom Israel described as “a weak leader,” while accelerating construction in the West Bank.

The second aspect of our lives is socioeconomic. Here, too, the right wing has triumphed. The country’s founding fathers were socialists who felt the state knew better than its citizens how to handle money. And so a strong central government was required, with a large budget, high taxes, protection of local goods, allocating capital by central planning. In short: a planned economy like that of the former Soviet Union.
But in 1985, a revolution took place. A group of young economists in the Finance Ministry began to steer us in a new direction. They preached reducing the budget, lowering taxes, opening the market to competition from abroad and liberalizing restraints on foreign currency and capital. In short: a free market.
The right-wing economists won, and we feel the results every day: economic stability, flourishing exports and a rise in the standard of living. There is a social aspect to their success, because only when a market economy triumphs and wealth and taxes increase can more money be allocated to the weaker sectors of society.

The anomaly is that the political situation is dangerous and a cause of despair, in contrast to the impressive economic success. But the connection between these two sectors reveals an atmosphere of depression. Once there was hope for a better future. Once there were parents who said to their children: “When you grow up, there will be no need for you to serve in the army.” Once emigrating from the country was an embarrassment. Once we believed that peace was within reach.
But now pessimism reigns. Many people ask whether the country will last another 20 years. Parents are no longer embarrassed to say that their children have gone to try their luck abroad. It seems that financial success has not succeeded in overcoming political despair.
In fact, these two sectors are connected, because without massive support from the United States and the prospect of peace, the economy cannot continue to flourish much longer.

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Black Wednesday: Bridge of No Return… All the Way to Greece!

Nehemia Shtrasler: Black Wednesday

This Wednesday will be remembered as one of the worst days in the history of Israel’s economy. On that day, the Knesset approved the state’s draft budget (in its first reading) for the coming two years.
This is a revolutionary law – in the worst sense. That is because, starting from today, there is no longer any need to decrease government expenditure. From today it is necessary merely to expand, increase, waste and throw away as much money as possible on anything that moves. Because “the fat man is already thin enough,” as Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said about the public sector, without blushing.

From the point of view of Steinitz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, all that has to be done is sit at the table, loosen belts and start gobbling everything down. The budget for 2011 will increase by 2.6 percent (instead of 1.7 percent), and that will make it possible for the government to distribute another NIS 2.5 billion to the coalition partners. In 2012, the budgetary expansion will stand at 2.8 percent (another NIS 2.7 billion) and then the rate will increase to 3.1 percent, and so on and so forth – until their stomachs burst.

The sad part of the story is that all the politicians and the financial professionals have fallen into the expansion trap. Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer is supporting it. Prof. Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council, voted for it. The Adva Institute , which advocates for social equality, is enthusiastically in favor. Minister Avishay Braverman is celebrating. Eli Yishai is delighted. Even Udi Nissan, the Finance Ministry’s budget director, is in favor of expansion. So who is left to protect the economy from the plunderers? No one.

This is precisely what happened to Greece when it lost its bearings at the beginning of the century. There, too, there was no one to shout: “Are you crazy? Get off your high horse.” There, too, the budget division fell asleep at the wheel. The result was that the Greek budget deficit rose to a level of between 4 percent and 7 percent of the GDP, and to a record 12 percent in 2010. The public debt escalated to 120 percent of the GDP – until the crisis arrived. Because that is what getting fat is all about – it is easy to put on a kilo but very difficult to shed it.

On the other hand, Ireland, despite having a deficit of 12 percent of the GDP, is not suffering from a similar crisis. That’s because Ireland conducted a responsible policy for the entire past decade. It had a negligible deficit and a restrained budget. That is why the world markets are prepared to give it credit, that is why it is able to raise capital with ease, and that is the why today it is reaping the fruits of budgetary responsibility in the past.

Israel, too, is enjoying the fruits of the responsible budgetary policy that has been conducted since the economic plan of 1985, and more seriously since 2004. But it must be remembered that in the past seven years, all the good people mentioned above wanted to increase government expenditure. The politicians wanted it, and so did the Bank of Israel, the National Economic Council and the Adva Institute; Braverman wanted it and so did Yishai. However, two people stood in front of them, year after year, plugging the dike: the finance minister and the budget director. These used to be Roni Bar-On and Ram Belinkov. They guarded the coffers and saved us from looters.

This is the main reason for the fact that today we are getting through the world crisis with relative ease. That is the reason all the international economic institutions are applauding. That is the reason the accountant general can now raise cheap money in Europe. And that is the reason why the economy is flourishing and unemployment is low.

But the moment the two guards at the gate left their post on Wednesday and crossed over to the side of the good supporters of expansion, there was no one left to watch the coffers. No one will be the bad treasurer. No one will guard the public’s money.

Udi Nissan agrees with the claim that there are large pockets of inefficiency in the government that need to be dealt with. If so, then why should the “fat man” get an additional budget? Because it is difficult cut back and make things more efficient. This involves a struggle with the parties, labor committees and capital owners. And that is really not pleasant.

It is a fact that Nissan and Steinitz cannot coerce the Israel Defense Forces into raising the retirement age of people serving in the standing army or introducing a genuine efficiency program. It is a fact that they cannot make cuts in the excessive levels of management in the Education Ministry. It is a fact that they do not make the ministry get rid of some districts and dismiss inspectors. It is a fact that they have not succeeded in preventing the approval of grandiose plans for laying railway lines that lead to nowhere. It is a fact that they do not touch the Israel Electric Corporation, the Ports Authority or the Airports Authority. It is a fact that they are not able to unite local authorities. It is a fact that there is a gigantic excess of manpower in government offices. It is a fact that there are no reforms and no revolutions.

Many billions of shekels are available that have to be collected and used for other matters – but that is difficult. It’s much easier to add.

This is precisely how they acted in Greece – they supplemented instead of becoming more efficient. That is why they are paying the price today – a loss of credibility, rise in interest rates, decrease in wages, pension cuts, high unemployment and violent demonstrations.

And that is exactly what we can expect in the future, on the heels of Black Wednesday.

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Cuts for the little guys, as the big guys party.
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Nehemia Shtrasler: Cuts for the little guys, as the big guys party Mar 23, 2010 / By Haaretz
What’s circumcision? The little guys are cut and the adults party. The infant screams but can’t do anything about it, but the big guys eat, drink and enjoy themselves. This metaphor is quite relevant to the doctrine of the Israeli economy. The damage is always borne by the little guys, while the big guys continue to party – in many cases, on the backs of the little guys. Take the banks, for example. Two private bills were recently introduced in the Knesset: (…)

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The Fat Man Will Get Fatter and The Thin Man Will Collapse.

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Nehemia Shtrasler: The fat man will get fatter and the thin man will collapse Feb 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
After a year on the job, he has reached the conclusion that everything done before him in the area of economics is no longer appropriate for our times. That’s why we have to change direction and stop these petty discussions about cutting the budget, streamlining the ministries, reducing expenses and reforming the government. From now on, the motto is: Government expenditures must be increased, because “fat” is beautiful. (…) Ministers and MKs also want more. They want to have something to distribute. But always, ever since 1985, the treasury’s budget division stood firm as a rock in the face of all these pressures and managed to subdue those who wanted to harm the economy. Until now. (…) The serious crises now plaguing Iceland, Greece, Spain and Portugal stem from governments that wanted to be good guys. All they wanted was to increase spending a little, to be good to the people, to be “average.” Until the crisis came. Doesn’t Greece’s fate frighten Nissan, Steinitz and Netanyahu?

Ari Shavit: To preserve Zionism, Netanyahu must end the occupation Feb 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
PM Bibi defined for the first time his vision of the future: Israel as a global technology leader, grounded in its values and moving toward peace from a position of power. You can like the vision or hate it, accept it or reject it, but now it is clear what Netanyahu is proposing against Peace Now of the left, and how he is dividing those in the center. His overall goal is now apparent.
Two elements in this vision are not new. Netanyahu has always believed that Israel must be an economic power, based on high technology and the free market; he has also always believed that Israel can achieve peace, but only from a position of political, military and economic power. The third part of the vision, however, is new. Unlike in the past, Netanyahu is now positing a national goal related to identity: the need to anchor Israel to national values that will remain valid and appealing through the 21st century.
The prime minister tried to define this third goal during the Herzliya Conference, but it was received with ridicule and contempt. His attempt to address issues that are not political or strategic and to confront questions of identity was perceived as bizarre.
(…) Netanyahu is doing something important in trying to revive Zionism, but without confronting the occupation his effort will fail. If Israel is to be a global technological leader, grounded in its values and moving toward peace from a position of power, it must gradually leave the territories.

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Even The Likud Mayors Blast ‘Likud’s Finance Minister & Likud’s Partner $has’… Or, Simply Put, Netanyahu For Facilitating $has’ Behavior.

Likud mayors complain to Netanyahu about Shas control of municipal budgets Feb 11, 2010 / By Haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was assailed by mayors and deputy mayors from his own Likud Party on Monday over what they termed Shas’ takeover of municipal funds for the benefit of its own institutions.
Shas controls the Interior Ministry, which in turn controls state funding for municipalities.
Netanyahu had called the meeting to seek municipal officials’ views on a variety of issues. But it quickly turned out that what they most wanted to discuss was Shas’ behavior, which they accused the prime minister of facilitating.
“It’s inconceivable that we, as the ruling party, should be in Shas’ hands,” said one. “You need to pound on the table. Our children walk [to school] and their children have buses.”
The anger was principally directed at the so-called “Nahari Law,” which requires municipalities to give the same funding to “recognized but unofficial” schools that they do to state schools.
The two main “recognized but unofficial” school systems are affiliated with ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism.
The law was passed by the previous government. Two weeks ago, however, the Interior Ministry sent out a circular to the municipalities giving it a particularly broad interpretation, under which towns must also fund school buses and rental payments for these schools.
Deputy Mayor of Netanya Dr. Avital Laufer, who is also in charge of her city’s education portfolio, was the first to raise the subject.
“The Nahari Law undermines state education; it cuts the ground out from under this system’s feet,” she said. “There is budgetary discrimination here in favor of the Haredi schools. This is a very problematic law and a solution needs to be found for it.”
Deputy Mayor of Afula Reuven Yokler charged that mayors are forced to bow to all of Shas’ dictates for fear of seeing their Interior Ministry funding cut.
“Shas’ control of the Interior Ministry is felt every day,” he said. “Shas is simply taking a piece for itself out of every budget that the Interior Ministry transfers to the local authorities. If we want to set up a kindergarten affiliated with the state school system, they immediately demand a Haredi kindergarten. If you want something for the city’s benefit, they always demand something in exchange. And if we don’t accede, they can delay our projects. This happens all the time, every day, in every local authority. We’re the ruling party, yet we’re simply in their hands. They control the taps at the Interior Ministry, so they control us … Out of every payment, Shas takes its pound of flesh. And we have to keep our mouths shut in order to get what we ought to get by right, not by grace.”
Shas, he added, does not have a single representative on Afula’s city council. But via the Interior Ministry, it nevertheless controls the city.
One mayor not at the meeting who requested anonymity said he agreed completely. “Bibi [Netanyahu] is letting them run riot instead of learning from the mistakes of the past,” he said. “This won’t end well. A lot of anger is accumulating here over Shas’ extortion. It’s reached a situation where if you don’t give to their institutions, you get hurt … But Bibi isn’t pounding on the table, and our [other] ministers are afraid.”

Mayors blast Steinitz, Yishai Mar 10, 2010 / By Haaretz
The chairman of the forum of regional councils, Shmuel Reifman, used yesterday’s press conference to lavish sarcastic praise on Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for having finally managed to unite the three umbrella organizations for local governments in a common struggle.
In contrast to the last protest strike called by the Union of Local Authorities, this time, the country’s 15 largest cities – which have their own union – will also halt municipal services.
The mayors say the person to lobby for the funding they require is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Steinitz, Reifman charged, is “weak and unable to make a decision.”
Reifman also lashed out at Interior Minister Eli Yishai. Every time they met, Reifman said, “I felt like pulling out a tissue so he could wipe his tears, and then giving him a check so he could pay the local authorities.”
Yishai was also criticized by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. Having first burdened the major cities by backing a law that forces them to subsidize religious councils in other locales, Huldai charged, “he’s now saying ‘I’m not embarking on any political fights, because I’ve gotten what I need.’ The local authorities need a minister who will fight with us, a minister who will help us when we contact him.”
Yishai declined to comment. (Fadi Eyadat)

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At a Cost of ‘NIS 1.3 Billion & More’, Whether ‘Energy-Shot To The Higher Education System’ Or What, Even Students With Mediocre Verbal Skills Would Easily Understand That Netanyahu’s Lip-Service Is Merely Opposition To The Government’s Policies.

(JIWON: Some might say that this part is an extension of…)
COLLECTION-19: Dear Diaspora Jews! Even If a ‘Strong Jewish Identity’ Comes Before Aliya, The History Books Will Say, “The Foundation Stone For a Binational State Was Carved.”

Beinisch or Bibi’s Education Minister Gideon Saar relinquishes/fires Jewish Agency Director-General Dec 28, 2009 / By Jerusalem Post
Adelson or Bibi’s Apointee at Jewish Agency, Sharansky: Biden-fiasco was not intentional Mar 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Jewish Agency Head: Freedom and identity Apr 4, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
[Q] – Doesn’t teaching about Jewish identity differ depending on the country you’re talking to – whether it be the US, France, Russia, or even Israel?
[JA-Head] – Yes. … But what is important that runs through every community is that strengthening Jewish identity is practically impossible without putting Israel in the center. And no doubt, there is a big need to strengthen Jewish identity in Israel. … They thought that to be Israeli is to be above being Jewish. A Jew was something that we were for thousands of years; now we are Israelis. … they’ve discovered what Jewish community means. It’s one of the challenges and part of the new strategic plan of the Jewish Agency to develop courses for Israeli schools in the Jewish Diaspora. It’s a very high priority, and we currently have very good partners in the Education Ministry, with minister Gideon Sa’ar (…)

(JIWON: I am curious. Who is whose boss? Who hired whom and WHY? Then, I wonder why I keep reading a specific kind of articles like the ones below. As long as my English allows, both sides are talking about HISTORY and QUALITY. Who is telling the truth?)

Israeli academics urge state not to bestow university status on Ariel college Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz
Barak under fire for granting university status to West Bank college Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Former education minister Prof. Yuli Tamir was also up in arms, saying the CHE (Council for Higher Education) should have been given the final word, and its opposition was well-known. Moreover, she charged, the upgrade will allow Ariel to take funding away from existing universities. (…) Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who chairs the CHE, said he “hoped and expected” that Ariel would receive full university status in the next few years. Other CHE members, however, were less enthusiastic – adding that the council had been promised no such thing would happen without it being consulted.

Editorial: In the words of the historian Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The minister Sa’ar’s announcement drew stern criticism from Prof. Hanna Yablonka, one of the country’s leading historians and chair of the Education Ministry’s advisory committee on history studies. (…) which Yablonka dismissed as an attempt to “earn Sa’ar another two lines in the newspaper.” Yablonka lamented that the Education Ministry has no official guidelines on the goals of history instruction, and said decisions like the one to integrate the study of Israel’s development towns are often made hastily and without serious, professional deliberation.

Elia Leibowitz: An unnecessary energy shot Mar 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) cabinet has authorized a national plan to reverse Israeli brain drain, at a cost of NIS 1.3 billion. … EM Sa’ar described the plan as an “energy shot to the higher education system and research in Israel.” (…) In November 1996, Ari Shavit: Interview with PM Netanyahu, who said (…) Even students with mediocre verbal skills would easily understand that this “uniform thinking” in academic institutions that Netanyahu mentioned is merely opposition to the government’s policies, as well as critical statements and articles about his decisions as prime minister. People in academia did indeed sometimes voice or write such things. After reading that interview, any child would realize that a more fitting interpretation of the cabinet’s decision is as follows: The decision is merely another step in a long line of steps by cabinets headed by the same prime minister toward realizing his vision of “answering the superficial, standard way of thinking.”

(JIWON: According to the Jewish Agency Head’s interview, Freedom and identity, it is clear that the Education Ministry is spending MORE than NIS 1.3 billion while collaborating with the Jewish Agency, which ‘new strategic plan is to develop courses for Israeli schools in the Jewish Diaspora’. Anyway, below is where ‘even students with mediocre verbal skills’ can find about “uniform thinking” in academic institutions that 1996’s PM Netanyahu mentioned.’)

Ari Shavit: Interview with PM Netanyahu Nov 22, 1996 / By Haaretz
(… bla-bla-bla…)

(JIWON: Therefore, I am curious, too. What do their interviews exactly mean when PM Netanyahu is talking about ‘uniform thinking in academic institutions’ or when EM Sa’ar is talking about ‘energy shot to the higher education system and research in Israel’, or when the Jewish Agency Head is talking about ‘new strategic plan’? Aren’t they talking about the same thing and doing the same thing… and just spending money TOO MUCH? Anyway, Israel is where Zubin Mehta: In Israel, Money is endless. I have a list of people who can pay for ‘Renovation.’.)

Survey refutes Sa’ar’s recipe for calmer schools Jan 26, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) This conclusion contradicts Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s policy of trying to improve school discipline by introducing such practices. These practices have “declarative value only, and are liable to come at the expense of the truly educational act – a good, caring relationship between teacher and student,” wrote the author (…) In recent months, the Education Ministry has spent about NIS 10 million, and put in thousands of training hours, to instruct teachers and principals about the new rules. But Yariv calls this investment of time and money “misdirected.” (…) “An aggressive, bureaucratic approach to disciplinary issues will achieve the opposite of what is intended,” Yariv concluded. (…)

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That’s why Bibi’s Finance Minister is doing the accounting for himself.

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Nehemia Shtrasler: That’s why Bibi’s Finance Minister is doing the accounting for himself Jan 31, 2010 / By Haaretz
The two-year budget exacts a high price from us; because of it there is no Economic Arrangements Law this year. As a result, we are not pushing through important reforms concerning water, health, communications, employment, airports and seaports. (…) After all, in the current Knesset we have no coalition confronting an opposition. There is only a populist government. Everyone is opposed to any reform. Everyone is seeking newspaper headlines. The prime minister does not control a single MK, not even “his” MKs from Likud. They listen to lobbyists more than to him. All MKs run for the primaries from the moment they are elected, so populism reigns and reforms don’t pass. (…) Netanyahu, under the influence of his economic adviser Uri Yogev, wants to cover the entire country with a rail network, like a Lego game. Netanyahu knows how popular that is. He knows that a railroad gives a politician an image of “activity” and “vision.” (…) The problem is that even if Steinitz behaves like a lion and does everything necessary, he cannot succeed because he has no backing from the prime minister to get involved in tough and unpopular battles. Netanyahu doesn’t want wars. He doesn’t want revolutions. He wants quiet. He only wants to survive. (…)

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Transportation Minister Likud: I am a proud servant of PM Bibi. The Israeli Citizens Expect So.

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Most road & rail projects exceed budget, and finish late Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz: I am proud of the fact that I support PM Bibi. This is what the citizens of the state expect Mar 4, 2010 / By Haaretz
Yisrael Katz, are you and Netanyahu making a joke out of Likud democracy? Mar 4, 2010 / By Haaretz

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‘Is Netanyahu’s Populist Rhetoric Jeopardizing Israel?’ Vs. ‘Arrogance Is a Virtue in Bibicracy!’

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Editorial: Netanyahu’s populist rhetoric is jeopardizing Israel Mar 15, 2010 / By Haaretz

Ephraim Sneh: When friends are mad at you Apr 1, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) To achieve THIS, there are 10 assumptions that must be taken into account: 1. Israel cannot keep up a confrontation with its friends for long while its legitimacy is being eroded. This will soon begin to adversely affect the economy, based as it is on exports. (…)

Israel shrugs off Mitchell’s loan threat Jan 10, 2010 / By The Christian Science
Israeli finance chief raps Mitchell on loan guarantees Jan 10, 2010 / By JTA
Bibi’s FM Steinitz: Israel can do without US economic aid Jan 10, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Steinitz: Israel doesn’t need U.S. loan guarantees Jan 10, 2010 / By Haaretz

(JIWON: Merely two months later, another incident happened… Weirdly enough, there was NO further information about this crisis. Whatever has happened since then, it is clear that America is born a devoted servant of Israeli Settlers.)

Gefilte Fish: Bibi and ’Bama’s Latest Fight Mar 31, 2010 / By Forward
As if Bibi and ’Bama didn’t have enough to argue about, we now have the Great Gefilte Fish Crisis. Your grandchildren will read about it in the history books. A few days before Passover, two containers of frozen United States carp meant for gefilte fish eaters in Israel were impounded in the port of Ashdod because the American exporter and Israeli importer were unaware of a new customs duty on foreign fish and refused to pay it. The exporter appealed for support to the American government, which reportedly protested to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an Israeli tax on American carp would aggravate America’s unemployment. (…) For further news of the Great Gefilte Fish Crisis, consult your local carp breeder.

Israeli officials in U.S. try to mend another crisis – over gefilte fish Mar 25, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) three weeks ago U.S. Secretary of State Clinton asked visiting DM Barak to release the containers from custom tax. … a compromise was offered … The (Israeli) importer and (American) manufacturer, however, rejected the offer out of hand, and have asked an American congressman to intervene. (…) “The solution will be to sent the carp over to Canada, for their gefilte fish industry.” Ben David said he understood that the Americans told Netanyahu that stopping gefilte fish imports would increase unemployment in the U.S., no less. Netanyahu replied that Israel has no policy of increasing American unemployment,” (Israeli) Ben David said.

Eldad Yaniv: He will bring us all down Mar 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) The prime minister is warning that if he’s ousted, Barack Obama will go down with him. (…)

Aluf Benn: Netanyahu needs to grow a pair Mar 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) When there is no agenda or message, you deal with little things and present them as “making decisions for the future of the State of Israel.” Last week the government decided to send to the Knesset legislation that would alter the law on planning and construction, put up a fence on the border with Egypt and encourage scientists to return to Israel. Netanyahu went as far to say that “THIS IS A HISTORIC DAY.” Come on! Is this how Netanyahu wants history to remember him? As an architect whose life’s work was a reform that allowed someone to enclose a balcony? Netanyahu was elected for one purpose: to foil the Iranian nuclear threat. … But the results in the meantime are meager. (…) Netanyahu is not alone responsible for his condition: The Israeli public failed to produce a clear mandate in the elections … But the prime minister’s role is to lead, not blame others. A leader needs a clear message that everyone will understand and identify with, or oppose. Netanyahu doesn’t have such a message.

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‘In Israel, It Is Not The System.’ Vs. ‘Likudniks Are Fantasists Liable To Cause The Destruction Of The State!’

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Yossi Sarid: In Israel, it is not the system Feb 7, 2010 / By Haaretz
The prime minister of Israel, in comparison, is like a king in a battalion and no one can tell him what to do. And if he does not do enough, that is mainly his own problem; and ours, of course. Everyone has his Lieberman (Joe) and even his Sarah (Palin); so what. The Israeli prime minister is sufficiently strong and there is no need to make him even stronger. On the contrary – he should be blocked and balanced by constitutional means.
If Netanyahu was not so afraid of the shadows of his ministers, and of himself and his wife, he would be able to chase away all the eagles that are eating at his liver, and to do great things. But Bibi is a small and weak man who only wants to leave the house in peace.
He doesn’t even have an opposition. Never has there been such a lazy and apathetic major opposition party here – either because it has nothing to offer or because its members were not trained to wander and be a voice crying out in the desert. (…) It is not the system that is to blame, it is the Israeli leadership that dwells so well and pleasantly, just sitting and doing nothing.

Amir Oren: What is Barak doing in Netanyahu’s ‘Repub-Likud’ government? Mar 31, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) prime minister David Ben-Gurion, who had just delivered an address expressing his desire to once again assemble a government “without Herut and without Maki” – Likud’s precursor and the Israel Communist Party, respectively. (…) Shin Bet security service head Amos Manor asked him. “Without the Communist Party I can understand, but why Herut? After all, they’re Jews, Zionists and patriots.” Ben-Gurion didn’t answer immediately, but … and said, “Amos, they’re fantasists! Put them in power and they’re liable to cause the destruction of the state!” (…) Benjamin Netanyahu is the scion of this chain of fantasists – speakers, prophets, poets, lovers of self-indulgence, those who take pleasure in the sound of their own voices wafting across adoring crowds. And then there is Ehud Barak, rather reluctant to sign on as the fantasist’s apprentice.

Please check
Israeli Arabs Living in a Bibicracy (… if time permits, there will be a collection…)
PM’s wife to Jill Biden: Peace starts from within Mar 9, 2010

Likud’s Steinitz: Bring Haredim, Arabs into workforce Feb 16, 2010
Arab – Likud sh*ts… Pensioner’s party
Critics: PM wants Arabs in Likud
Netanyahu, Danon duel in calls to party’s central committee.
PM approves NIS 800M plan for Arab sector
Sefi Rachlevsky: The changing face of racism
Yet as a compromise between Labor, Likud and the religious parties, an addendum to the law banned any party that opposed Israel’s standing as a Jewish state.
Arab
PM approves NIS 800M plan for Arab sector Mar 18, 2010 / By Ynetnews
‘Equal opportunity for all Israelis’ Mar 21, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Gov’t approves PM’s plan to invest NIS 800 m. in Beduin and Arab communities.
‘Current Knesset is the most racist in Israeli history’ Mar 21, 2010 / By Haaretz
Civil rights groups cite all-time high of 21 bills proposed in 2010 aimed at discriminating against Arabs.
Mohammad Darawshe: Affirming affirmative action Apr 2, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) There have been other well-intended programs in the past, but their execution was problematic. The reasons for this are varied, but include a negligent government approach toward Arab society, and lack of proper follow-up, implementation and enforcement. In 2008, for example, the government of Ehud Olmert decided that by 2013, 10 percent of the country’s civil-service positions were to be allocated to Arab citizens. Even today, however, these citizens comprise only 6.5 percent, despite the fact that they are 20 percent of the population. During Ehud Barak’s term as premier (1999-2001), the government earmarked NIS 4 billion for development of the Arab sector, but little of that sum was actually spent. (…)

Please check
From Kippah-II > Whose-Concubine
JIWON: I simply DON’T understand WHY SHAS should be the ONLY ONE blamed. What were THE REST MEMBERS in BEINISCH’s LEFT-Branja & BIBI’s RIGHT-Kippah/Russians doing while SHAS was asking TOO MUCH? Please check ALL the information in my Knesset-blog!!! WHAT a HARD JOB it is to update Kippah-I & Kippah-II… sigh O.o~*
Sectoral parties hurt their own constituencies, economists insist (Oct 26, 2008): (…) “You expect us to tackle haredi education? Nobody knows how you get haredi men or Arab women to work. The Pensioners Party would support such an initiative, however, if it were brought to the Knesset floor. The Likud or the other large parties can create a responsible budget and we’ll support it. But, of course, that’s not likely to happen before the Messiah comes. Already [Likud chairman Binyamin] Netanyahu is offering Shas subsidies in exchange for their support in his bid for power,” the Pensioners Party representative said.