ALERT

An interesting day for this writer; first an exchange of e-mails with Elaine Sandler, a savvy friend of ALERT. In a post published last winter, Elaine wrote: We (Jews) are a wise people but don’t seem as adept at protecting our own people in an increasingly hostile and anti-Semitic world. We must move in another direction if we are to survive.

Today Elaine sent me further thoughts on this topic:

Israel and its favorable media outlets should do a far better job of spreading messages displaying all the good things Israel does for the Palestinians. They should take pictures and publish them; they should show Muslim injured people who are in Israeli hospitals being well cared for; they should show crater sized holes of rocket attacks, they should show Israeli bodies from those attacks, they should discuss their technological advancements that benefit the world, they should share all the wonderful things they do for many. This is the real war - the war of propaganda spread my media, AND we’re losing… We need to fight our enemy in a bolder and more forthright manner. We are losing the war of words, media and propaganda and suffering for it.

This blog is in complete agreement with Elaine Sandler and we hope her words will spark an online discussion among our readers about different methods of conducting a propaganda war. We have just come across two examples of more proactive strategies.

On a blog called Citizen Warrior, we read a post exhorting Citizen Warriors to Unite Against Internet Jihadis and giving directions in how to go about this battle.

In our Inbox we read a message from The Israel Project that they are launching a TV Ad Campaign to Increase Pressure on Iran and Stop Rocket Attacks on Israel. Ads to Air as Thousands Expected at National Mall to Celebrate Israel’s 60th Anniversary. Click below to watch this video. Click below to view one of these ads:

http://www.tipmedia.org/Tvad/Rockets.wmv

Let us know your responses to this post as ALERT begins discussing how our organization can be of assistance to these kind of dynamic endeavors.

Facts & Figures on Israel’s Humanitarian Aid To Gaza

ALERT friend David Meir-Levi sent us a link to information about Israel’s extensive assistance to Gaza with the following note:

Next time you read in your local or national newspaper about a “humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip, send the newspaper a letter with a summary of these statistics.

You may also want to make reference to the fact that while Israel is shipping in to Gaza these tons and tons of food and medical supplies, Hamas is shipping out of Gaza dozens and scores and hundreds of qassam rockets and GRAD missiles…such that over the past 7 years Sederot has been hit by a total of nearly 8,500 rockets, with more than a dozen people dead, hundreds wounded, and thousands hospitalized for trauma and stress.

In addition to which Israel is still supplying c. 70% of the Strip’s electrical needs, as well as much of its water supply.

And these supplies keep coming in, even as Hamas escalates the qasam rockets and extends their range to Ashqelon and beyond.

What did the UK supply to Deutschland during the blitz? David ml Here are are the facts and figures of Israel’s humanitarian aid to Gaza

Jeff Jacoby Wants to Know What Happened to Bush Doctrine

“For some time now it has been apparent that the Bush Doctrine - with the signal exception of Iraq - didn’t survive the Bush presidency. Notwithstanding the president’s heartfelt words about supporting democratic reformers, for example, dissidents and freedom-seekers have largely been forgotten.” Read more

Caroline Glick Argues Against Golan Withdrawal

“Arguments against an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights are so self-evident that they simply fly off your tongue,” says Glick in The Jerusalem Post. “But that doesn’t mean that it is unnecessary to make them. This is especially the case when supposedly serious people like former IDF chief of general staff Lt. Gen. (ret.) Dan Halutz - co-architect of the strategic disaster which was the Second Lebanon War - advocate withdrawal in exchange for peace.”

Read the Glick arguments, which are concluded with the following warning:”…while Israel will not be destroyed if its leaders are stupid enough to relinquish the Golan Heights, without the Golan Heights, Israel’s chances of survival in the long term will be vastly diminished.”

Canadian Prime Minister Profoundly Praises Israel

Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper expressed his admiration for Israel in stirring words. (thanks to ALERT friend Jerome Marks for tipping us to this video.) Canada has come a long way since the infamous remark on the issue of Jewish refugees: “None Is Too Many.”

Why Not to Talk with Iran

“Mr. Obama wavers back and forth over whether he will talk directly to Mr. Ahmadinejad or some other representative of the Islamic Republic, including the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Moreover, he does not make it clear which of the two Irans - the nation-state or the revolutionary cause - he wishes to engage. A misstep could legitimize the Khomeinist system and help it crush Iranians’ hope of return as a nation-state.” Read in its entirety this discerning analysis by Iranian journalist Amir Taheri

Dennis Ross on Negotiating with Iran

“In all likelihood, whoever is president next year will enter direct talks with Iran: Sen. McCain because he knows he cannot use force against this regime if he has not shown the American public that he did everything he could to change Iranian behavior short of military action; and Sens. Obama or Clinton because they believe that greater leverage can be exerted on Iran by direct negotiations…”If there is a difference between the presidential candidates on who we should be negotiating with and how we should approach those negotiations, let them explain those differences. Their explanations will reveal much about their approach to foreign policy.” Read more

Debating Dangers of Cyberterrorism

“The New York Times ran an editorial taking exception to Senator Lieberman’s warning about the danger of Internet terrorism: “The Internet is simply a means of communication, like the telephone, but that has not prevented attempts to demonize it - the latest being the ludicrous claim that the Internet promotes terrorism…Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut is trying to pressure YouTube to pull down videos he does not like, and a recent Senate report and a bill pending in Congress also raise the specter of censorship. It is important for online speech to be protected against these assaults.” Read more

Senator Lieberman responded to this editorial with the a letter to the Times: “the Internet, through violent jihadist videos posted on YouTube, is being used to recruit terrorists here in the United States. And that is what I have asked YouTube, in the national interest, to stop…The bipartisan staff of the Senate committee I head, which oversees homeland security matters, has documented that Islamist terror networks rely extensively on the Internet in their continuing war against the American people.

“The peril here is not to legitimate dissent but to our fundamental right of self-defense. For those of us in government, protecting Americans is the highest responsibility. Asking private parties operating public communications systems to assist that effort is common sense.” Read more

Sharansky on Significance of Jewish Identity for Israel’s Survival

Mr. Sharansky is particularly sharp in his analysis of peace groups and what he calls the “post-identity” movement, whose credo he encapsulates as: “Identity causes war; war is evil; therefore, identity causes evil.” Mr. Sharansky rejects this logic, and is skeptical of antiwar movements generally. “From the outset, the peace movement was a weapon in the hands of the Soviet Union,” he writes, worrying that “a negative side effect of the good life available in democratic societies is that it can often weaken the very strength to fight for it.…the most valuable contribution of this valuable book is its assessment of the risks to Israel of a weakening Jewish identity. Read more

In Memoriam

for all those who gave their last full measure of devotion

On a personal note, this writer’s husband is remembering his beloved brother Army Staff Sergeant James Anthony Grifasi, a Ground casualty in Vietnam 26 March 1970.

For the Living

“As partial repayment for the sacrifice of soldiers in a time of war, a new, improved G.I. Bill is as wise now as it was in 1944.” Read in its entirety this New York Times editorial applauding passage of an expanded, generous G.I. bill which Senator McCain has opposed and President Bush is threatening to veto.

Krauthammer: From Gaffe to Policy to Doctrine

“What started as a gaffe became policy. By now, it has become doctrine. Yet it remains today what it was on the day he blurted it out: an absurdity…No one is debating the need for contacts. The debate is over the stupidity of elevating rogue states and their tyrants, easing their isolation, and increasing their leverage by granting them unconditional meetings with the president of the world’s superpower.” Read more

Terrorism Wins Big in Lebanon

“On every point, Hizballah, Iran, and Syria, got all they wanted from Lebanon’s government: its surrender of sovereignty. They have veto power over the government; one-third of the cabinet; election changes to ensure victory in the next balloting; and they will have their candidate installed as president.” Read more

Israel Security Service Detains & Deports Norman Finkelstein

The Shin Bet security service detained and deported an American Jewish professor who is a prominent critic of the Israeli occupation when he landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Friday…Professor Norman Finkelstein was interrogated for several hours and held in an airport cell before being put on a plane back to Amsterdam, his point of departure. Finkelstein said he was told he could not return to Israel for 10 years. Read more

New Take on Bush Appeasement Accusation

“Everybody knew President Bush was aiming at Senator Barack Obama last week when he likened those who endorse talks with “terrorists and radicals” to appeasers of the Nazis. But now we know what Mr. Bush knew then - that Israel is in indirect peace talks with Syria, a prominent member of Mr. Bush’s list of shunned nations - and it seems as if the president was going for a two-for-one in his crack about appeasement.

“If so, it was breathtakingly cynical to compare the leadership of the Jewish state with those who stood aside in the face of the Nazi onslaught, and irresponsible to try to restrain this American ally from pursuing a settlement that it judges as possibly being in its best interests.” Read more

Petraeus to Go After Bin Ladin

“The general whose successful counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq reshaped the Republican primary, David Petraeus, will now turn his attention to hunting down Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Pakistan…If General Petraeus is successful in pressing Pakistan and capturing or killing the Qaeda kingpin, it would have the potential to reshape not only the war on Islamist terrorism, but also the American presidential campaign.” Read more

U.S. Defense Chief Says Al Qaeda Is Harder to Defeat

“The United States’ initial military success against al Qaeda and other Islamist extremists has yielded a diffuse organization of independent elements that are now more difficult to defeat, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.” Read more

Agent Says FBI Is Not Prepared to Handle Terrorist Threat

“Breaking ranks, a career FBI agent told members of Congress on Wednesday that the bureau lacked the experience and sophistication to deal with Middle Eastern terrorists and prevent another catastrophic attack…Agent Bassem Youssef said that counter-terrorism agents and managers at FBI headquarters often lack basic knowledge about Middle Eastern culture, language and terrorists’ ideology. Compounding matters, he said, is the fact that the FBI has continued to name supervisors to anti-terrorism positions who have little or no experience outside traditional law enforcement.” Read more

Dangerous Victory in Lebanon

“In what is seen as a major victory for Syria and Iran, Hezbollah and its allies are being guaranteed a two-thirds majority in Lebanon’s parliament, just as Israel and Syria are announcing talks concerning the fate of the Golan Heights.” Read more

How Big a Risk Is an Attack on Iran?

“The success or failure of a military attack depends on many variables, and not just the degree of damage the attack would cause.” Read about these variables.

Asian Times Writer Tells Why Israel is Happiest Nation

“In a world given over to morbidity, the state of Israel still teaches the world love of life, not in the trivial sense of joie de vivre, but rather as a solemn celebration of life.” Read more!

Obama’s Foreign Policy Vision & Israel’s Core Interests

Yet the significant question isn’t whether Mr. Obama is “pro-Israel,” in the sense that his heart is in the right place and he isn’t quite Jimmy Carter. What matters is whether his vision for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East - and the broader world view that informs it - will have ancillary effects favorable to Israel’s core interests. Read more

Iran’s Fingerprints Everywhere in Gaza

“…Israel has been readying for the likely scenario where a future attack on Iran will result in Shihab ballistic missiles being fired from Iran, but also barrages of rockets fired by Hezbollah, Hamas, and possibly also Syria.” Read more

Questioning Obama’s Use of Term Legitimate Claims

Hannah Hanani, a staunch friend of ALERT from the Berkshires writes in response to our post on David Brooks’ take on Obama foreign policy perspective. Brooks quotes Obama stating that the the U.S. needs a foreign policy that “looks at the root causes of problems and dangers.” Obama compared Hezbollah to Hamas. Both need to be compelled to understand that “they’re going down a blind alley with violence that weakens their legitimate claims.”

Can someone address Obama’s use of the phrase “their legitimate claims”? What are they — that Israel disappear off the map? Perhaps this can be a springboard to deconstruct Obama’s real views on the Middle East……..Hannah

Against Negotiating with Iran

“The reason not to negotiate with Ahmadinejad is not simply to stand on ceremony or some kind of policy of non-recognition. It is based on the fundamental need to topple his regime by increasing the sense the Iranian people have - that he has isolated Iran from the rest of the world, to its severe and ongoing detriment.” Read more

Israeli Scientists Generate Energy

“…researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) claim to have created a prototype of a photovoltaic cell by genetically engineering proteins that produce energy using photosynthesis. If successful, this would enable energy production on a commercial scale through the construction of “artificial leaves.” The cells would even appear green, because of the wavelength of the light that they collect.” Read more

Hezbollah Finds Terror Easier than Governing

“Far from seeking to govern the local population, the goal of insurgents is simply to demonstrate through sabotage, terror and guerrilla operations that the government is incapable of keeping order. And it is far easier and cheaper to sow disorder and chaos than to maintain order and secure public safety.” Read more

Differing Views on Appeasement, and on Obama & the Jews

In our last post, we linked to a column by David Brooks who does not see Obama as an appeaser of terrorists. Now we are linking to a conservative commentary that asks, “What’s wrong with the president assuring our major Middle East ally that, under his watch at least, America will stand by it against our common enemies, such as the Holocaust-denying Iranian regime?” Read more

Weighing in from another vantage point, Thomas Friedman, who does not see the candidate as a threat to American support of Israel, expresses the opinion that “…America today has - rightly - a bipartisan approach to Arab-Israeli peace that is not going to change no matter who becomes our next president.” Read more

Stateless Jews of 1947

As we celebrate the birth of Israel in 1948, we should take a moment to think about the stateless Jews of 1947.

A Concept & a People

Here is an interesting commentary on the role of the tikkun olam concept in contemporary Jewish life.