Israel

“From the River to the Sea”

Do you know what that means?

The West Bank

It is not a Savings and loan.

Watch this ½ hour Video and you will gain new insight into the political mess we call the Middle East. https://youtu.be/G5Uqy2elngA
You won't be sorry.

I question articles from G. Edward Griffin and GAB social media site about Israel. They are totally negative toward Israel and never mention things like the daily rockets sent into Israel by their enemies. In contrast, the main stream media never reports anything bad about Israel. I would like to include articles showing a different viewpoint as there is always two sides to a story but it is very difficult to find a balance on this issue and 'truth', well we may never know..

$ $
Congressman Thomas Massie recently exposed Israel’s power over the US Congress and said that every member of Congress consults with a handler before important votes.

☹ ☹

Hamas Rape Claims Debunked. Israeli Media Admits Atrocity Propaganda Was Fabricated.

January 31, 2024 Information Liberation, The Hill, Jimmy Dore and the Grayzone

Gal Abdush, an Israeli woman who was killed in an explosion from an Israeli Hellfire missile or a Hamas RPG, was used by the New York Times to promote a narrative that Hamas had a pattern of vicious rape slaughters. Abdush’s family said that Gal was not raped and it would have been impossible to rape her within a 4-minute timeline before she was killed. The family said that the media invented the story. In other purported rape cases, the Israeli police reported that they struggled to find victims and witnesses of Hamas rapes.

The Israeli media outlet, Channel 13, exposed lies about atrocities committed by Hamas, such as babies hung on a clothesline. Mickey Rosenthal, an Israeli police spokesman, who spread lies himself, said that the lies were ‘to increase the magnitude of hatred for Hamas.’ Propaganda is used to gain support for war. He said that the media is a part of war and may be the most important factor.

Personal note: I don't want to sound like I'm jumping on the anti-semetic bandwagon here but Israel is definitely for Iraelie's and screw every one else in the process. I wish our politicians were a little more that way about the US. I present this here because this is about the 6th time I have heard Israel might be making more of what happened than did. I don't know. gb


$ $

Israel Threatens to Abandon America and Ally with China And Russia after Securing $40B In US Aid

February 15, 2021 Information Liberation

Last week, Israeli Knesset member Ayoob Kara, who is part of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, threatened that Israel is prepared to abandon America and ally with China and Russia if Biden “reneges on America’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and signs a nuclear deal with Iran.” In 2019, President Trump officially recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied oil-rich Golan Heights that was seized from Syria in 1967, despite international opposition. full article


$ $

Why did Israel attack the U.S. spy ship U.S.S. Liberty during the 1997 Israeli war? Read on, it all falls into place.   The very fact that both governments are going to extremes to cover it up should tell you something.  Fortunately in their zeal to cover up the facts they have contradicted themselves and each other.

***

The Israeli government was acutely aware of President Johnson's warning: the American president had told foreign minister Eban that he would support Israel only in self defense, not in attacks against her neighbors.  It was important, then, for Israel to be seen as an innocent victim of fighting to word off hordes of wild-eyed arabs.  Not surprisingly, Israel claimed that nearly everything she did was in self-defense.  The preemptive strikes of the fifth of June were in self-defense.  The capture of El Arish, the naval and paratroops assault on Sharm el-Sheikh. -- yet, the sweep through Sinai, in the armed penetration of Jordan were all in self-defense.  Now, with the war virtually over and with the world crying for peace, could Israel put troops in Syria without being seen as an aggressor?

Probably not with the U.S.S. Liberty so close to shore and presumably listening.


The Liberty would have to go.

    So----by a remarkable coincidence, if not by design--general Elazar was forced to delay the invasion until Liberty was dispatched.  Instead of attacking Syria, Israelis air, sea and shore coordinated forces work together to attack the United States ship.  Only then, with Liberty safely out of the picture was Elazar turned loose.  At 1130 Friday morning, June 9, as Liberty limped toward Malta, the first Israeli bulldozers climbed the mountain above Kefer Szold.  A few hours later General Elazar took possession of the ridge to achieve a major objective in the war.

    The invasion of Syria just a few hours after the attack on Liberty came as a surprise to most of the world.  There seem to be no connection between the two events, and writers who claim to see a connection had no facts to back up their speculative stories.  They had no facts because the facts were kept from them.


$ $

Israel, a (real) Expensive ally?

Since when does a ‘friend’ lie and steal from you?

Charley Reese, Orlando Sentinel, January 11, 2002

Some people have asked for Web sites about the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Watch the video at the beginning of this paper.

There are several reasons why all Americans should be interested in this issue. First, it is embarrassing that the government of the world's so-called last remaining superpower plays the role of the tail that is wagged by Israel, a nation about the size of New Jersey. Israel's influence in both the executive and legislative branches of our government is so pervasive that Israeli politicians openly boast about it. A few years ago when Egypt threatened not to renew the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty unless Israel signed it, the Israelis told the Egyptians that if they didn't shut up about the issue, their American aid would be cut off.

Now, please note: This is a foreign country telling another foreign country that it, not the United States, has the final say over American aid.Of course, it is also embarrassing (because of our silence) that the only nuclear power in the Middle East is Israel. The only country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is Israel.

The only country in the Middle East that refuses to allow international inspection of its nuclear facilities is Israel. Yet all we hear from Washington is criticism of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain's weapons of mass destruction. What weapons? He didn't use any in the Gulf war. Why is there never any criticism of Israel's weapons of mass destruction, which actually exist?

And now we are getting down to the areas where the Middle East actually affects Americans. Israel, armed to the teeth thanks to American taxpayers, continues to occupy Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese lands. It, and it alone, is a threat to peace in that region, and regional war would inevitably affect America's real interest.

Second, Israel is the most expensive ally in the history of the human race. Depending on whose numbers you use, American aid to Israel has totaled $81 billion to $90 billion. There are so many monetary favors tucked away in the Defense Department budget that an accurate number is hard to come by. The $81 billion figure is the U.S. government's own estimate.

I like the way the British express big numbers. Instead of saying 90 billion, they say 90 thousand millions. That gives you a better idea of how much is involved. Let's suppose we could build a new public school for $1 million. With the money that has gone to Israel, we could have built 90,000 brand-new public schools or restored 90,000 public waterworks or bridges or any number of other infrastructure needs.

There is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes Congress to tax the labor of the American people and hand over the proceeds to a foreign government any foreign government, much less one that has blown up our diplomatic facilities in Egypt and attacked one of our Navy ships in international waters. An ally like that ought to come a heck of a lot cheaper than Israel.

Finally, our support of Israel's aggression and cruel treatment of the Palestinians is alienating not only the Arab world but the entire Muslim world. This hatred will eventually be expressed in the form of terrorism directed at Americans and at American interests. Terrorism is the poor man's way of waging war.

America's blind support of Israel's gross violations of human rights and international law will not only cost billions of tax dollars but eventually American lives as well. No lobby for any foreign country should be allowed to jeopardize American interests and American lives just to serve the selfish interests of a foreign power. America's government has only one justification for existence to protect the lives and interests of Americans. It's time to start asking Americans, including our elected officials: Which country are you loyal to?


$ $

Report Claims Israel Cost America 1.6 Trillion

by James Buchanan

A Washington D.C. economist Thomas Stauffer has made a serious attempt to add up all the costs to America that have resulted both directly and indirectly from Israel. Most Americans know that Israel today gets about three billion dollars a year indirect aid. The cost of these direct hand outs has been added up by critics of Israel before. One report (Ref. 1) notes that "If you add its foreign aid grants and loans, plus the approximate totals of grants to Israel from other parts of the U.S. federal budget, Israel has received since 1949 (up to 1999) a grand total of $84.8 billion, excluding the $10 billion in U.S. government loan guarantees it has drawn to date. And if you calculate what the U.S. has had to pay in interest to borrow this money to give to Israel, the cost of Israel to U.S. taxpayers rises to $134.8 billion, not adjusted for inflation... That's $116,205 for every Israeli family of five." To bring that amount up to date, 12 billion should be added for the period from 1999 through 2002 and another 14 billion in additional aid and loan guarantees are almost certain to be approved in the near future. (Ref. 2) Realistically Israel won't pay off its earlier 10 billion dollar loan or the brand new proposed $10 billion loan. (What Chutzpah!) That makes an additional $36 billion in addition to the $135billion or $171 billion total in direct aid.

This is literally an insane amount of money to give to one small nation. Israel only had a population of about three million until recently. Two million additional Jews, including a great many Communist big shots and KGB agents, fled Russia during the1990s for Israel. Many were running away from justice fearful of being prosecuted for several decades of crimes against humanity or theft from the Russian people.

The biggest cost to America caused by Israel has been higher oil prices that rob us every time we fill up our cars. Only Israel could have united OPEC countries against us and driven up the price of oil so rapidly. Stauffer believes the OPEC oil embargo in the 1970s "kicked off a deep recession. The US lost $420 billion (in 2001 dollars) of output as a result, Stauffer calculates. And a boost in oil prices cost another $450 billion." (Ref. 3)

Many Americans have been directly laid off from their jobs in the aerospace industry as Israel demanded that huge deals with nations like Saudi Arabia were canceled due to Israeli paranoia. A deal to sell the Saudis F15s was nixed by Israel and cost America 40 billion dollars. Israel wants 30 Billion in 2007 alone!


$ $

U.S. Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact Summary

Benefits to Israel of U.S. Aid Since 1949 (As of November 1, 1997)


$ $

Israeli Drain on the U.S. Economy

January 6, 2003. Israel asks the U.S. for a 4 (bil) dollar "gift" (grant they call it) and 8 (bil) in loan guarantees of which may be a back door way of a grant as we have no way of tracking [as a citizen] if they ever pay the bill.  They (Israel) have been using this money to build 'settlements' on Palestinian land and are insulted that we {the U.S.} tell them what to do with 'their' money.  There are approximately 148 legal authorized 'settlements' and almost 200 more 'illegal.'  Taking land from Palestinians is a major complaint or excuse for terrorists and personally I can see their point.  So then  the U.S. is pays for Israel to take the land so no damn wonder 'they' hate us, wouldn't you?

Work & Money: "Economic Scene" Column from the December 09, 2002 edition

Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US By David R. Francis | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person. This is an estimate by Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington. For decades, his analyses of the Middle East scene have made him a frequent thorn in the side of the Israel lobby.

For the first time in many years, Mr. Stauffer has tallied the total cost to the US of its backing of Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians. So far, he figures, the bill adds up to more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War.

And now Israel wants more. In a meeting at the White House late last month, Israeli officials made a pitch for $4 billion in additional military aid to defray the rising costs of dealing with the intifada and suicide bombings. They also asked for more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to help the country's recession-bound economy.

Considering Israel's deep economic troubles, Stauffer doubts the Israel bonds covered by the loan guarantees will ever be repaid. The bonds are likely to be structured so they don't pay interest until they reach maturity. If Stauffer is right, the US would end up paying both principal and interest, perhaps 10 years out.

Israel's request could be part of a supplemental spending bill that's likely to be passed early next year, perhaps wrapped in with the cost of a war with Iraq.

Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. It is already due to get $2.04 billion in military assistance and $720 million in economic aid in fiscal 2003. It has been getting $3 billion a year for years.

Adjusting the official aid to 2001 dollars in purchasing power, Israel has been given $240 billion since 1973, Stauffer reckons. In addition, the US has given Egypt $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion in foreign aid in return for signing peace treaties with Israel.

"Consequently, politically, if not administratively, those outlays are part of the total package of support for Israel," argues Stauffer in a lecture on the total costs of US Middle East policy, commissioned by the US Army War College, for a recent conference at the University of Maine.

These foreign-aid costs are well known. Many Americans would probably say it is money well spent to support a beleaguered democracy of some strategic interest. But Stauffer wonders if Americans are aware of the full bill for supporting Israel since some costs, if not hidden, are little known. One huge cost is not secret. It is the higher cost of oil and other economic damage to the US after Israel-Arab wars.

In 1973, for instance, Arab nations attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territories Israel had conquered in the 1967 war. President Nixon resupplied Israel with US arms, triggering the Arab oil embargo against the US.

That shortfall in oil deliveries kicked off a deep recession. The US lost $420 billion (in 2001 dollars) of output as a result, Stauffer calculates. And a boost in oil prices cost another $450 billion.

Afraid that Arab nations might use their oil clout again, the US set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That has since cost, conservatively, $134 billion, Stauffer reckons.

Other US help includes:

US Jewish charities and organizations have remitted grants or bought Israel bonds worth $50 billion to $60 billion. Though private in origin, the money is "a net drain" on the United States economy, says Stauffer.

The US has already guaranteed $10 billion in commercial loans to Israel, and $600 million in "housing loans." (See editor's note below.) Stauffer expects the US Treasury to cover these.

The US has given $2.5 billion to support Israel's Lavi fighter and Arrow missile projects.

Israel buys discounted, serviceable "excess" US military equipment. Stauffer says these discounts amount to "several billion dollars" over recent years.

Israel uses roughly 40 percent of its $1.8 billion per year in military aid, ostensibly earmarked for purchase of US weapons, to buy Israeli-made

hardware. It also has won the right to require the Defense Department or US defense contractors to buy Israeli-made equipment or subsystems, paying 50 to 60 cents on every defense dollar the US gives to Israel.  

US help, financial and technical, has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. US defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel requirements and the extra competition subsidized by US taxpayers.  

US policy and trade sanctions reduce US exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs, Stauffer estimates. Not requiring Israel to use its US aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000 jobs.

Israel has blocked some major US arms sales, such as F-15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. That cost $40 billion over 10 years, says Stauffer. Stauffer's list will be controversial. He's been assisted in this research by a number of mostly retired military or diplomatic officials who do not go public for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic if they criticize America's policies toward Israel.


$ $

A Brief History of Israel

1930's

Jewish immigration to the holy land, which had been going on since the 1880s, increased just before the second world war due to the persecution of European Jews by the Nazis. The local Arab population wanted to limit the number of Jews arriving. There were clashes between the Jewish immigrants and the Palestinians supported by the neighboring Arab states.

1947 Britain gave up its mandate and United Nations took over supervision. The U.N.suggested two states: one Arab and one Jewish. The Jews accepted; the Arabs rejected the plan, David Ben-Durion declared the foundation of the state of Israel on May 15th 1948. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan invaded but were beaten back.

1948 The Jews had secured, and extended, the area proposed for them by the U.N.. In 1956 Gamel Abdel Nasser came to power in Egypt. Nasser integrated the armies of Egypt and Syria and nationalized the European own, Suez Canal.

1956 Israel joined with Britain in France and on October 29th 1956, invaded the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. International pressure forced Israel to give up the Sinai and the UK and France to remove their troops from the Suez Canal.

1964 The Palestinian liberation organization was founded. After the debacle of the six they war, it reformed. Under the chairmanship of Yasser Arafat it claimed to be the sole representative of the Palestinian people and it vowed to reclaim their land and destroy the state of Israel.

1967 The six day war. Hostilities between Israel and its neighbors continued and both sides built up their military strength. On June 5th 1967, Israel launched a 'preemptive strike' against the Arab troops along its borders. Israel seized the Sinai from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank and old city of Jerusalem from Jordan. Talks have centered around a return to 1967 borders ever sense. It was during this time the Israelies made a totally unprovoked attacked the USS Liberty, a lightly armed american spy vessel in international waters off the coast of Egypt.

1973 The Yom Kipper War. On Oct. 6,  Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israeli held lands to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kipper. After initial losses, the Israelis gained nearly all of the territory they had occupied during the six day war.

1979 The U.S. combined diplomacy and financial muscle to soften relations between Egypt and Israel. In 1979 the Egyptian President Anwar el_Sadat signed a mutual recognition pack with Israel and the Sinai was returned to Egypt.

1981 Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights. In response to terrorist attacks on the northern towns, Israel invaded Lebanon as far north as Beirut on June 6, 1982. In 1985 Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon but maintained a "securities zone" along the border police by Israeli soldiers and members of the South Lebanese army. Serious stationed troops in Lebanon.

1987 During the early 1980s the establishment of Jewish settlements on the Palestinian land on the West Bank continued systematically. In 1987 the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza launched the intifada (popular uprising) against the Israeli occupation.

1993 The Oslo Accords were agreed which provided for mutual recognition between the PLO and the state of Israel, and limited Palestinian self rule in the West Bank and Gaza. Jordan signed a piece deal with Israel. May 2000: Israel withdrew from Lebanon but Hezbollah guerrillas harried the retreating Israelis, and members of the South Lebanese army had to flee to Israel with their families.

October 2000 Violence flared across the West Bank and Gaza Strip after Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the Harem Al-sherif mosque compound. Palestinian authority police exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers - many were killed, hundreds injured: most of the casualties were Arab. The death of 12 yr. old Palestinian Mohammad al-Durrah shot dead, apparently by Israeli soldiers, was broadcast around the world.

2002 By the end of 2000 over 300 people were dead. Ariel Sharon became the prime minister of Israel in February 2001. After September 11th, violence escalated, as Israel pursued its 'own war on terrorism.' Tensions rose and many were killed on both sides when Palestinian militants launched a new wave of suicide bombings and Israel occupied a large part of the West Bank.

In 2005, 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were unilaterally dismantled. Israeli settlers and army evacuated from inside the Gaza Strip, redeploying its military along the border. Jewish settlers in Gaza were forcefully removed in an agreement with US president Bush. The settlers left farms, animals, greenhouses, an entire infrastructure that was producing so much food and flowers they were able to export some of it. When the settlers were removed, the Palestinians, absolutely destroyed everything jewish even though it now belonged to them. They even dug the pipes up that had been laid and used them for rocket bodies to attack israel with. This is the mentality of Palestinians.

* *

Holodomor Genocide

In 1932 - 1933, 7 Million (estimated) Ukrainians were massacred by genocidal famine ordered by the Bolshevik government. Many were Christians. Students do not learn about the Holodomor in middle school, high school, or even college. There aren’t dozens of major Hollywood films depicting the horrific events that took place. Our politicians aren’t referencing the Holodomor every other day and visiting Holodomor Museums. If you ask any random American on the street about the Holodomor they will have no idea what it is. Why is this?

American students grow up inundated with Holocaust movies, books, and education from grade school on up. American states like Florida even pass laws mandating Holocaust education for our children. So why are we not learning about the Holodomor?

Perhaps even worse: why is Holodomor Denial allowed while if you question any part of the Holocaust narrative you could land in jail across many European countries.

In particular why are prominent members of the Jewish community, who know the realities of genocide in the 20th century, among some of the most prominent Holodomor denialists?

The state of Israel refuses to recognize the Holodomor as a genocide.

“The Holodomor “is definitely not a genocide,” said Zuroff, the head of the Jerusalem office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”

About a decade ago Abe Foxman, the former head of the Jewish Anti Defamation League, met with the President of Ukraine to pressure the government into downplaying the Holodomor.

Maybe Mr. Putin can give us a clue as to why this is.

Putin: First Soviet Government Was Mostly Jewish: “I thought about something just now: The decision to nationalize this library was made by the first Soviet government, whose composition was 80-85 percent Jewish,” Putin said June 13 during a visit to Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. Interestingly enough, around the same percentage of Joe Biden’s cabinet is Jewish too.

Thankfully unlike the Ukrainian Kulaks, the American Kulaks are armed, but we must also be well versed in history so that it does not repeat itself.

Christians must never forget the genocide of millions of our Christian brothers and sisters. We must hold to account those who seek to deny, hide, or downplay this atrocity. We must educate our children about the horrors of what happened and we must not be afraid to “offend” people in the process of discussing the truth about these important matters. Objective truth is only offensive to those who hate and wish to hide objective truth.

Never forget.

Andrew Torba
CEO, Gab.com