The Coalition Horse-Trading: The Embarrassment of Israel Before the World …

Labor and Kadima Set to Sign Coalition Agreement

But, stop the music, Hold the phone;

Update: Labor-Kadima Signing Postponed [Over an issue With the Text of the Agreement]

Excerpts;

Kadima’s spokesman announced on Thursday that Labor and Kadima’s negotiating teams would meet at 3:30 p.m. in Kfar Hamaccabia in order to sign the coalition agreement between the two parties.

Labor Chairman Amir Peretz was finalizing the deal with Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in their Thursday meeting. In addition to the ministerial portfolios that Labor had already been offered, it was also offered the post of deputy defense minister. read more

For Peretz: The Glory, For Sneh: ALL of the “Grunt” Work as the World Laughs at Incompetence …

Sneh: Peretz to Tackle Settler Violence

Excerpts;

Under Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz’s leadership, the Defense Ministry will wield a strong hand against settlers who violently resist government policy, Labor MK Ephraim Sneh told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

Peretz would also cease to turn a blind eye to illegal building in the West Bank, Sneh said during an interview in his Knesset office.

Sneh, who may yet serve as Peretz’s deputy defense minister pending ongoing debate over the final coalition agreement, said that under Labor’s leadership there would be serious policy changes in the ministry. read more

Wednesday Night, Thursday War News …

IAF Missile Strike Kills Senior Islamic Jihad Militant in Gaza Strip

Excerpts;

Israel Air Force aircraft fired three missiles at targets in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, critically wounding two Palestinian militants, Palestinian health officials said. One of the militants later died in hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces said the airstrikes were aimed at a cell en route to carrying out an attack. It did not identify the targets. It said two vehicles were targeted, and one carrying rockets or explosives was hit. read more

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What Would Mazuz Say if Eitan Were Charged With Withholding Evidence Which Would Free Jonathan Pollard?

Rafi Eitan Can Serve as a Minister Despite Charges

Full Text:

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said today that he does not intend to prevent newly sworn-in Knesset Member Rafi Eitan, chairman of the Pensioners Party, from taking a ministerial post despite criminal charges filed against him.

Channel 10 television news reported that Eitan, an international business mogul, has been charged with violating zoning laws. The violations in question relate to illegal construction at the Dolphin Reef in Eilat, partially owned by Eitan. read more

Components of “Convergence” Being Exposed as Fraud for All With Eyes to See and Ears to Hear …

Sources: U.S. Won’t View Pullout Line as Final Border


Duh!

Excerpts;

The United States will not recognize a border created after a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank as Israel’s permanent frontier, senior U.S. administration members said in unofficial conversations.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is due to arrive in the U.S. capital during the third week of May, has not presented the administration with a detailed plan for the second withdrawal he promised voters, and sources in the administration say discussion of this is at a very preliminary stage. read more

More on Holocaust Remembrance; Modern-day Israel in Context of Jewish History …

For Context, refer to this post from Tuesday.

Lessons Not Learned

Excerpts;

As happened at the end of World War II, when wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill was replaced by Labor’s Clement Atlee with his mostly domestic agenda, so it has been in Israel. For the moment, socio-economic and domestic issues have trumped security issues, and the desire for “conflict management” with the Palestinians has overshadowed any hope in the foreseeable future for “conflict resolution”. It reflects growing Israeli despair over the prospects for a negotiated settlement. read more

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State Controller Socks It To The Regime, SELA …

Comptroller’s Report Scathes Disengagement Executors

Excerpts;

Now it’s official: “The State and its institutions failed in their treatment of the expelled citizens of Gush Katif,” according to the State Comptroller’s just-released detailed report.

State Comptroller and former Judge Micha Lindenstrauss concluded that the Sela (Aid for the Expellees) Administration, the Prime Minister’s Office, the State Service Commission and the Finance Ministry were all at fault. read more

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Holocaust: 60 Years Later, Jewish Rescuers Ignored, Lessons Still Unlearned …

Olmert: Appeasement Recipe for Shoah

Excerpts;

In his speech, Olmert described the “innocent Jew,” armed only with his heritage, angering the Nazis because of Jewish moral values.

The lesson of World War II is that appeasement, concessions, and weakness are a recipe for a holocaust,” he said. “As a Jew, I always carry in my heart the seal of pain over the Holocaust of my brothers and sisters, but I’m proud for being the archenemy of Nazi evil.” read more

Yedidya Atlas’ Analysis of Israel’s 2006 Elections

Postmortem: Israel’s 2006 Elections, by Yedidya Atlas

Excerpts;

This postmortem analysis is an after-the-campaign report to all those who were involved in implementing a national campaign to prevent a leftist victory in the Israeli 2006 elections, with all its ramifications.

Results

Approximately two months prior to the elections, it became clear to concerned people on the ideological right that the new party of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon posed an existential threat to the State of Israel should they garner the number of expected Knesset seats (44-45) then being predicted by the various polls promoted by Israel’s leading media vehicles. It was further obvious that the various parties on the right of the Israeli political spectrum – including, and perhaps especially, the Likud – seemed (and later proved) incapable of launching a successful campaign to alter the media-advocated results before the fact. The last important point was that Kadima, a party comprised of opportunistic and corrupt politicians with no binding ideology (in fact, no ideology at all beyond a secular left-wing agenda), was a party without infrastructure, few if any field workers, and relied solely on gifted PR manipulators and massive media promotion; i.e., without the across-the-board overt advocacy of the Israeli media, Kadima would have sunk significantly in the polls. read more

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