US: Hezbollah has more missiles than most states - Israel News, Ynetnews

US: Hezbollah has more missiles than most states - Israel News, Ynetnews: "Hezbollah is armed with more missiles and rockets than most states, according to outgoing US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Gates warned against the Shiite group's arming methods and the possibility that it owns chemical and biological weapons, CNN reported Wednesday.

Egypt's anti-Israel turn | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

 

The current military-led Egyptian government is already shifting to a more anti-Israel posture, announcing today that it would permenantly reopen its border with Gaza. The move puts Israeli civilians at greater risk by undermining the blockade on Gaza and making it significantly easier for the terrorist group Hamas to import weapons.

During the Egyptian uprising, there was a big debate on the right about what a new government would mean. In the wake of today's news, it's time to reconsider the myth that neoconservatives are primarily concerned with Israeli interests. In the case of Egypt, they cheered on protesters who put a new government in place that is already aiding Hamas and threatening Israel's national security.

Egypt's anti-Israel turn | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

Stephens: An Anti-Israel President - WSJ.com

Stephens: An Anti-Israel President - WSJ.com: "What, then, would a pro-Israel president do? He would tell Palestinians that there is no right of return. He would make the reform of the Arab mindset toward Israel the centerpiece of his peace efforts. He would outline hard and specific consequences should Hamas join the government.

Such a vision could lay the groundwork for peace. What Mr. Obama offered is a formula for war, one that he will pursue in a second term. Assuming, of course, that he gets one."

What Netanyahu Did Today � Commentary Magazine

What Netanyahu Did Today � Commentary Magazine

Has there ever been a moment like the one Benjamin Netanyahu had today following his meeting with President Obama? I can’t think of one. When has a president ever made a joint appearance with the leader of an ally in the wake of a controversial policy proposal, only to have that ally push back against him publicly? Netanyahu’s powerful—and surprisingly graceful, considering the context—remarks can be read in full here. The only moment that even remotely compares wasn’t a diplomatic one; it was when Elie Wiesel, during the dustup over Ronald Reagan’s visit to the Bitburg cemetary in West Germany in 1985, was given a Medal of Freedom and with beautiful understatement said to the president, “This place is not your place.” We got a glimpse of the Bibi that so electrified the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he was serving as Israel’s chief spokesman in the English language in this stunning passage:

We’ve been around for almost 4,000 years. We have experienced struggle and suffering like no other people. We’ve gone through expulsions and pogroms and massacres and the murder of millions.

But I can say that even at the dearth of — even at the nadir of the valley of death, we never lost hope and we never lost our dream of re-establishing a sovereign state in our ancient homeland, the land of Israel. And now it falls on my shoulders as the prime minister of Israel at a time of extraordinary instability and uncertainty in the Middle East to work with you to fashion a peace that will ensure Israel’s security and will not jeopardize its survival.

I take this responsibility with pride but with great humility, because, as I told you in our conversation, we don’t have a lot of margin for error and because, Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance.

It was very nervy of Bibi, and certainly opens him up to the charge of being chutzpahdik with Israel’s greatest ally. But what exactly did he have to lose? He faces a hostile president, but one who governs a country overwhelmingly supportive of Israel. Could things get worse with Obama than they were last year? And could things get better for Netanyahu if Obama finds he is paying a price for being at odds with the American people on one of the few foreign policy issues they care about?

Power Line - Friends and enemies

Power Line - Friends and enemies Of the commentary I have been able to read on Obama's speech on the Middle East yesterday, I think Caroline Glick's is the shrewdest. From a close reading of the text of Obama's speech, Glick deduces Obama's prospective support of the emerging jihadist political forces in Egypt and Tunisia, and elsewhere as well.

He said Israel has to concede its right to defensible borders as a precondition for negotiations;

He didn't say he opposes the Palestinian demand for open immigration of millions of foreign Arabs into Israel;

He again ignored Bush's 2004 letter to Sharon opposing a return to the 1949 armistice lines, supporting the large settlements, defensible borders and opposing mass Arab immigration into Israel;

He said he was leaving Jerusalem out but actually brought it in by calling for an Israeli retreat to the 1949 lines;

He called for Israel to be cut in two when he called for the Palestinians state to be contiguous;

He called for Israel to withdraw from the Jordan Valley - without which it is powerless against invasion - by saying that the Palestinian State will have an international border with Jordan.

Drawing Three Conclusions from the Latest Mideast Violence - By Caroline Glick - The Corner - National Review Online

Drawing Three Conclusions from the Latest Mideast Violence - By Caroline Glick - The Corner - National Review Online

I think the violence that broke out this weekend on the Syria–Israel border is a clear indication that the revolutions in the Arab world are engendering more rather than less radicalism and instability in the region. I think they show that another Arab war against Israel is more likely now than at any time in the last 25 years, as Egypt, Syria and other countries reassess their options and come to the conclusion that war and other aggression against Israel serve their interests today in a way they didn’t in the past.

I think Israel’s response was weak and that Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who consistently fails to understand the nature of the gathering threats, should be fired.

And I think the Obama administration, which has thrown Israel under the bus in its efforts to appease the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood, Syria’s Assad, the Palestinians, and the nuclear-bomb-building Iranian ayatollahs, has contributed massively to the precarious destabilization of the region.

Athens Mulls Plans for New Currency: Greece Considers Exit from Euro Zone - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Athens Mulls Plans for New Currency: Greece Considers Exit from Euro Zone - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International: "Greece's economic problems are massive, with protests against the government being held almost daily. Now Prime Minister George Papandreou apparently feels he has no other option: SPIEGEL ONLINE has obtained information from German government sources knowledgeable of the situation in Athens indicating that Papandreou's government is considering abandoning the euro and reintroducing its own currency."

NationalJournal.com - The Secret Team That Killed bin Laden - Monday, May 2, 2011

NationalJournal.com - The Secret Team That Killed bin Laden - Monday, May 2, 2011 From Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan, the modified MH-60 helicopters made their way to the garrison suburb of Abbottabad, about 70 miles from the center of Islamabad. Aboard were Navy SEALs, flown across the border from Afghanistan, along with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers.

After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.