But the deeper error was strategic: Obama’s assumption that he could resume where Clinton left off in 2000 and pursue the land-for-peace idea at the heart of the two-state solution.

This approach ignored the deep scars inflicted in the past decade: the killing of 992 Israelis and 3,399 Palestinians between the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000 and 2006; the Israeli Army’s harsh reoccupation of most of the West Bank; Hamas’ violent rise to power in Gaza and the accompanying resurgence of annihilationist ideology; the spectacular spread of Jewish settlements in the West Bank; and the Israeli construction of over 250 miles of a separation barrier that has protected Israel from suicide bombers even as it has shattered Palestinian lives, grabbed land and become, in the words of Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer, “an integral part of the West Bank settlement plan.”

That’s a pretty awesome list of what went wrong. Think Roger will devote any space in the rest of his column to the Palestinian terror attacks? The rockets from Gaza? Hamas’ constant warring with Israel?

Of course not. The rest of the article is about the fence, and about how Israelis are psychologically scarred and can only see themselves as “victims” of the Palestinians. Victims. Really? I thought they saw the Palestinians for what they are—a people who celebrate the mass murder of Israeli schoolchildren, killed while they were studying Torah in the heart of Jerusalem.

Gaza’s streets filled with joyous crowds of thousands on Thursday evening following the terror attack at a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary in which eight people were killed.

In mosques in Gaza City and northern Gaza, many residents went to perform the prayers of thanksgiving.

Armed men fired in the air in celebration and others passed out sweets to passersby.

But it’s the settlements. And the fence. Oh, and racism.

As Ron Nachman, the founder of the sprawling Ariel settlement, comments in René Backmann’s superb new book, “A Wall in Palestine,” the wave of Palestinian suicide attacks before work on the barrier began in mid-2002 meant that: “Israelis wanted separation. They did not want to be mixed with the Arabs. They didn’t even want to see them. This may be seen as racist, but that’s how it is.”

Really? Because I’m pretty sure there are well over a million Arab Israelis within Israel’s borders. But those “Palestinians” don’t count in any census except for the one where the rest of the world warns Israel that if they don’t negotiate a peace soon, the one-state solution will be forced upon them because Jews will make up a minority in the land formerly known as Palestine. Oh, and they mention them when they accuse Israelis of racism.

There’s one more bit of fantasy that all [anti-]Israel pundits like to promote. The fantasy that Mahmoud Abbas truly wants peace. (Plus, please… touting the Nobel given for nothing? We really are in Fantasyland here.)

Obama, who has his Nobel already, should ratchet expectations downward. Stop talking about peace. Banish the word. Start talking about détente. That’s what Lieberman wants; that’s what Hamas says it wants; that’s the end point of Netanyahu’s evasions.

It’s not what Abbas wants but he’s powerless. Shlomo Avineri, a political scientist, told me, “A nonviolent status quo is far from satisfactory but it’s not bad. Cyprus is not bad.”

Mahmoud Abbas pays lip service, in English to peace. But when he speaks to his fellow terrorists at the Fatah convention, it’s a whole different story.

“Although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance, legitimate under international law,” Abbas said in a policy speech, using a term that encompasses armed confrontation with Israel and non-violent protests.

“Resistance” also encompasses suicide attacks. And when he’s not talking about “resistance,” he’s sending condolences to the family of dead Hizbullah fighters, and congratulating mass murderers like Samir Kuntar.

But these things never pop up on the radar of the anti-[Israel] pundits. They don’t exist. There is no Palestinian intransigence, only Israeli intransigence, and Palestinian intransigence caused by Israeli settlements—which is Israel’s fault, of course. The [anti-]Israel pundits simply refuse to acknowledge the facts of the matter, unless those facts damn Israel and praise Palestinians.

But if you’re a regular reader of this, or any other pro-Israel blog, well, you’re aware of that. Preaching to the choir here. But sometimes, someone else reads my posts and starts thinking.

I seriously doubt the Roger Cohens of the world will. But hey, he’s great post fodder.

Afterwards, we resolved to ask the question: what are the rules of British political behaviour that cause the Tory leader,his mass of MPs and parliamentary candidates to flock to the Friends of Israel lunch in the year of the Gaza invasion? And what are the rules of media discourse that ensure such an event passes without even being noticed?

During an investigation lasting several months, we have been able to reach several important conclusions. We maintain there is indeed a pro-Israel lobby in Britain. It is extremely well-connected and well-funded, and works through all the main political parties.

It’s the British version of Walt & Mearsheimer. But here, in my opinion, is the single action that blows “The Israel Lobby” meme in Britain out of the water:

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.

Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

“The Israel Lobby” contributes money to British politicians and supposedly affects the U.K.’s actions toward Israel. Yet the U.K. refused to vote on the Goldstone report, is refusing to sell arms and spare parts to the IDF for certain items, constantly chides Israel regarding the current situation, and British media (particularly the Guardian) regularly excoriates Israel. In the meantime, Muammar Ghaddafi offers BP an oil deal, and the Lockerbie bomber, who murdered 270 people, including 11 people on the ground in the U.K., goes free.

Tell me again how powerful The Israel Lobby is in the U.K., because I could really use a good laugh.

Erekat: Israel is not a partner for peace. Meryl: The record’s stuck. The record’s stuck. The record’s stuck.

State-sponsored British anti-Semitism: Britain’s Channel 4 just ran an “expose” on the influence of The Israel Lobby (da-da-DUM!). Wow, what state moneys can buy in Jew-hatred. They were charged with racial hate (or whatever that charge is in Britain) when they ran an expose on terrorists recruiting in British mosques. Any guesses on whether they’ll get charged with inciting racial hatred on this one? Shyeah.

Oh, no way this goes wrong: The CIA is launching a campaign to recruit Arab-Americans. If their screening is as strenuous as the FBI and the Army, we can expect a lot more Major Hasan incidents.

Try to imagine what the world would be like if anyone trusted the important things to the United Nations.

But of course, it’s not just the UN that ignores proof. Consider Israel’s capture of the Karine A in 2002. Initially the New York Times reported:

The Israeli Army said today that it had seized a ship carrying 50 tons of rockets, mines, antitank missiles and other munitions meant for Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, even as the Bush administration’s envoy met with Mr. Arafat in the hope of strengthening his declared cease-fire with Israel.

Palestinian officials denied any link to the ship, the Karine A, and dismissed the announcement a day after the seizure as propaganda timed to undermine Mr. Arafat.

This was followed three days later with an admission from the captain of the ship.

The interviews with the captain were rationed to selected news organizations by Israeli military officials frustrated that the smuggling has not gotten more international attention. They bolstered the Israeli contention that the weapons were intended for Palestinians for use against Israel.

As Captain Akawi did not draw a direct line between the shipment and Mr. Arafat. He said he did not know if Palestinian officials senior to the man he called Awadallah had been aware of the operation.

The captain also did not directly implicate the Iranian government in the smuggling, as the Israelis have, but he did describe a link to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group backed by Iran.

Note how careful the reporter is not to implicate Yasser Arafat (or even) Iran explicitly. Also, note that this huge news was largely ignored “frustrating” Israeli officials.

A couple of months later this was reported:

American officials said that Israeli intelligence reports about the Moscow meeting were at the heart of secret briefings that Israel provided to the Bush administration after the arms shipment was intercepted.

”There’s plenty of evidence to show that it wasn’t a rogue operation,” a senior State Department official said of the ship that Israel seized in early January.

Palestinian Authority officials dismissed the charges of any Iranian involvement in their struggle against Israel and denied that Mr. Arafat knew of the arms shipment. They said the allegations were an attempt by Israel to discredit the Palestinians and to justify Israel’s military operations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

”This is a factory of lies,” Yasir Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian minister of information, said. ”Israel is like any colonial power. When they get in trouble, they try to blame outsiders. There has not been a single Iranian here since the 14th century.”

Iran also has denied any involvement with the Palestinians or the arms shipments. Ali Shamkhani, the Iranian minister of defense, told the state news agency, ”The Islamic Republic of Iran has had no military relations with Arafat, and no steps have been taken by any Iranian organization for the shipment of arms to the mentioned lands.”

And of course, note the denial. So let’s to this week’s capture of Iranian arm shipment to Hezbollah.

Here’s the Washington Post:

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, speaking from Tehran, denied that Iranian arms were bound for Syria and said “pirates” had disrupted legitimate trade between Syria and Iran, news services reported.

The incident comes as Israeli political officials defend their country in the U.N. General Assembly against allegations that Israeli forces committed war crimes during last winter’s three-week war with the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.
…
Israeli officials offered no direct evidence that the supplies were bound for Hezbollah. They noted, however, that Iran is forbidden under a U.N. embargo to export arms. Iran is widely considered a major weapons supplier for Hezbollah and Hamas.

The New York Times:

News reports quoted the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and other officials saying the ship had been carrying the arms from Iran to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, but officials released no evidence to support those claims.

The capture of the ship came hours before the United Nations General Assembly began deliberations on the Goldstone report on the Gaza war last January, which asserts that both Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters committed war crimes.

Note how both articles claim that Israel offered “no evidence” of the charges and that it came at the same time that Israel’s responsibility of “war crimes” is being discussed in the UN. Both articles are effectively suggesting that Israel’s making a claim to deflect attention from its (unproven) guilt. Just like Yaser Abad Rabbo did in 2002.

AP (via memeorandum) too:

But hours after the seizure, Israel had not provided proof that the arms were meant for the Lebanese guerrillas.

At least AP doesn’t mention the irrelevant (to this story) UN activity.

Media Backspin observes that there is proof that the ship is Iranian in origin.

But what more proof does Israel need?

The Syiran and Iranian foreign ministers issued denials:

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, in a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem on Wednesday, dismissed the allegations out of hand.

His remarks were backed by Muallem, who asserted that contrary to Israeli claims, “the ship was not carrying Iranian-made weaponry for Syria or Lebanon,” but was in fact carrying Syrian-made items for consumption in Iran.

“Unfortunately a number of pirates disrupt business activities and frequenting of the ships, these pirates sometimes act in the name of [Iranians],” said the Syrian Foreign Minister.

Well as far as consumer good being transported, Israel provided visual proof that it’s not Syrian made toasters on the ship.

As Noah Pollak observes:

Moallem says there were no arms on board. The IDF has released a video of the ship’s weapons being unloaded in the port of Ashdod. There are rows and rows of mortar shells, rockets, and crates filled with grenades

Power Line notes:

Our enemies don’t stop scheming against us when we’re not paying attention to them. Or when we’re negotiating with them, either.

But there will be plenty who will cover for them aren’t there?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Iran to Syria: Give us back the uranium we illegally sold you. And oh yeah—do it on your own damned dime. Wow, this one’s just awesome. Iran wants Syria to return the uranium it was supposed to use in the nuclear plant that Israel bombed so that, well, Syria couldn’t make a nuclear bomb. I hope they do try it. And the IDF intercepts the ship. That would be fun.

No Security Council resolution on Goldstone: Israel and the White House have apparently reached a “silent understanding” on not letting Goldstone reach the Security Council. How long before the Palestinians and the OIC get noisy about the silence? I figure a day or two.

The Palestinian Lobby trumps the Israel lobby. Hillary Clinton has now been spanked by just about all the major players in the Middle East for daring to suggest that a total settlement freeze should not be a precondition to peace talks. And she has been properly repentant:

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington does not accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and wants to see their construction halted “forever.”

That’s funny. I thought it was the Israel lobby that was powerful enough to force the U.S. President to dance to its tune, and yet, here she is, slamming Israel only days after saying that Netanyahu made “unprecedented” steps toward freezing settlement construction. Huh. Go figure. That Walt & Mearsheimer—boy, they really pulled one over on the world, hey?

An Israeli Navy commando force seized control over a suspicious vessel in the early hours of Wednesday morning, which was found to be carrying weapons.

The ship is believed to have come for Iran, destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon and meant to dock in Syria.

The incident took place some 150 kilometers off the coast, near Cyprus. A fleet of smaller ships approached the vessel, sailing under the Antiguan flag, and boarded it.

The crew members showed no resistance. The ship was found to be carrying at least five containers of ammunition and weapons, under the guise of a civilian delivery.

The cargo included rockets, grenades, mortar shells and missiles. “This could be bigger than Karin-A,” a military source said.

The firm running the ship says it had no idea it was being used for weapons smuggling.

“We did not know there were weapons on the ship. We knew that we were delivering containers, but we are not legally permitted to check what is inside them. This is the responsibility of the customs authorities at the ports where we anchor. We do not know what happened on the ship. We are waiting, just like you are, for answers.”

How did the arms get on the ship? That is a very good question. Will we get answers? I think we will.

He added, “This is the first time something like this happens to us. I hope this will not damage the relations between Cyprus and Israel, because it is just business for us.”

Will we get UN condemnation? I think we won’t. But all in all: An awesome operation from IDF commandos. Something to give Iran pause, one would think.

But he’s not sorry for any of it, really.

Are you sorry about anything?

“I’m sorry there are so many lies about me. Like for example that they say I wrote that the soldiers hunted for youths so as to take their organs. It’s obvious that’s a lie. Even the Palestinians don’t make a claim like that. And the other side attributes anti-Semitism to me. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry I’ve become a political tool. I’m sorry the article caused damage to the struggle for human rights here. And above all, I’m sorry that no one took the article seriously and that they did not examine the suspicions. In Sweden too they didn’t take it seriously.”

What. A. Tool. The human rights he’s talking about? Palestinians being killed by soldiers. The fact that the Palestinian that was killed, the one that inspired his story, was a terrorist battling the IDF seems to have been conveniently left out of Bostrom’s narrative.

Note that he’s not sorry at all that Israel’s enemies have another Mohammed al-Dura club to wield. What a jackass. This guy is considered a journalist in Sweden?

Do you think the IDF killed people to get body organs?

“I don’t think soldiers behaved like that. I don’t think they killed in order to gather organs. The truth is that they kill them without a trial and their bodies are taken to Abu Kabir. We don’t know whether they take out the organs. That has still to be further investigated. No one opened up the bodies after they were returned and only one man knows the truth, Prof. Yehuda Hiss, the director of the forensic institute. “

Actually, any medical doctor knowledgeable in transplants could tell you the truth: The organs that were “harvested” in such a way would be useless. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your spreading lies.

You have already had scandals at your forensic institute with other bodies, he says, and there is illegal trade in organs, so there is a need to investigate.

In other words: Have you stopped beating your wife yet? Guilty until proven innocent. Except when Israel offers the proof, the world will still insist that Israel is guilty. And then there’s the fact that he’s being accompanied by a bodyguard, paid for, no doubt, by Israeli taxpayers. Why? Um. Because he was met by protesters at the airport. Oooh. Scary.

Then there’s the conference itself, where he was booed and challenged on his made-up facts:

Lapid shot back, “To say this without a shred of evidence, that Israel possibly harvested organs from Palestinians who disappeared, in other words, whom we kidnapped, killed, and robbed their organs, is a degrading and monstrous idea.”

In response, Bostrom said that he understands why people are angry, saying that everyone lies while at war. He said that it is difficult for reporters to distinguish between what is correct and what is a lie. “If it were just one family, fine. But there were many families. Mothers have a right to know what happened to their sons,” claimed Bostrom.

Bostrom was told to his face that he was an anti-Semite. Of course, he responded that not all critics of Israel are anti-Semitic. Kudos to Yair Lapid for this:

Lapid concluded, “You are an anti-Semite because you are prepared to believe that there is a possibility that the government and the authorities would take part in such a monstrous thing. The only thing I can say in your favor is that you don’t know you’re an anti-Semite.”

I don’t think that counts very much in his favor. In fact, let us all chant the Yourish.com mantra for our Swedish photographer who says he really, really, really likes Israel, no, really: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already.

Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee Silvan Shalom will not be attending the Dimona media convention, in protest of the attendance of a controversial Swedish journalist at the event.

Shalom also directed his office to cancel funding for the convention, a total of roughly NIS 200,000 (about $60,000.)

Shalom’s decision came after he discovered that Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom, who claimed the IDF was trafficking Palestinian body parts, was slated to take part in the event.

“I’m unwilling to be a party to a convention that grants a platform to an enemy of Israel like Bostrom,” Shalom said. “I will not allow the State of Israel to fund a convention that grants a platform to such man.”

This is not a journalist. This is the man who said he had no proof whatsoever of the charges he was making, but that Israel should investigate them because a Palestinian brought them up. Except that the Palestinian he quoted in the article said they never even spoke to him.

Why, exactly, is this anti-Semitic jackass being invited to an Israeli media convention? Because too many Jews are stupid. Instead of shunning the scum who are giving our enemies the weapons they use to ustify killing us (cf: Richard Goldstone), we try to be evenhanded and fair, even to proven liars.

Good for you, Minister Shalom, for taking the official Israeli seal of approval off this event. Now watch Journalists Without Borders use this as another charge that Israel is mean to its press.

Awesome: Congressional nitwit puts private ethics investigation data on public website. You have to love the internet age, because people being people, there are still just as many idiots as there were before everything was online. Only now when they make mistakes, we get to see what’s really going on behind the scenes in Congress.

Postcards from the IDF: Yossi Klein Halevi on Israeli citizens’ receipt of a postcard that details how much time they have to get to the nearest bomb shelter in the event of a missile attack. A sobering read.

No. Ya think? Best headline yet on the Iran cheat-and-retreat strategy: “Iran accused of playing games on nuclear deal.” The Telegraph wins the Keen Grasp of the Obvious award for that one.

But—but—this totally blows away the “European colonialism” argument! Genetic proof that Jews were from the land of Israel, and the man behind the science. (Of course, he’s a Jew.)

Israel files complaint with UN; complaint goes into circular file. Shyeah, like the UN is going to do something about Lebanese terrorists launching katyushas into Israel. It’s not like UNIFIL is doing anything to stop Hezbullah from building stockpiles of rockets in south Lebanon, even when the stockpiles blow up and UNIFIL can’t pretend they don’t exist anymore. The fact that UNIFIL and the Lebanese army actually found four unfired katyushas is astonishing, as they can’t seem to find their asses with either hand when it comes to Hezbullah arms and munitions.

The Goldstone dividends: Over 1,500 lawsuits are being filed by Gazans over damages from Cast Lead. Yeah, good luck with that. Israeli courts are not the UN. You have to go by actual laws in order to say that the IDF violated them. I anticipate about 1,500 dismissals.

Turkey and Iran: Together again for the very first time. Turkey’s prime minister goes to Iran, stands smiling while Ahmadinejad denounces “the Zionist regime” yet again. Oh, yeah. The honeymoon with Israel is over, and the Islamists have won. Then there’s that little bit about Erdogan saying that Avigdor Lieberman told him he wanted to nuke the Palestinians. I call bullshit on that, but of course, the Guardian printed it anyway.

J-Street is like Kadima like this blog is like J-Street: Shyeah, pull the other leg, Ben-Ami. Gawd. You are such a loser. Your student arm is dropping the words “pro-Israel” to keep people from thinking that, gee, they’re pro-Israel. Yeah, that’s just like Kadima, the party that Ariel Sharon built to keep himself in power long enough to disengage from Gaza (and that worked out so well, too). Sure. Uh-huh. In Bizarro World, maybe.