OPINION - Brooks and Capehart 5/21/2021

"Brooks and Capehart on Israel-Hamas cease-fire, Jan 6 commission" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2021

SUMMARY:  New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including cease-fire in the Middle East and the Senate’s chances of establishing a commission to look into the Jan 6 insurrection.

Amna Nawaz (NewsHour):  From the impact of the Mideast cease-fire on U.S. policy, to a potential commission looking into the January 6 Capitol attack, it's a good time for the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That's New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, columnist for The Washington Post.

Good to see you both.  Welcome back.  Happy Friday.

David, I want to start with you.

The President was just speaking at the White House, actually, and was asked about this latest cease-fire, asked also if there's been a shift in Democratic Party politics when it comes to the approach in Israel.

This is what he had to say:  "There is no shift in my commitment to the security of Israel, period."

David, what do you make to have the way the President has handled these last 11 days and this cease-fire?

David Brooks, New York Times:  I think he's handled it pretty well.  He's kept the U.S. out of being the center of the story.  He's learned from some of the mistakes we made in 2014, ending that Gaza war.

He was pressured to lean on Bibi and Israel to do the cease-fire or to condemn them publicly.  But, if he does that, then Bibi has to push back.  So it actually delays the cease-fire, just so Bibi can show his independence.  And if he does that, Hamas thinks, oh, Israel — U.S. is leaning on Israel, so Hamas gets more aggressive.

So, this was a case in which being a little passive and doing things in private was much more effective than they would have been to do anything in public.  And so I think the administration was wise, basically, to handle it as they did.

Amna Nawaz:  Jonathan, he was asked that question, though, because there's been growing pressure from within the party, right, from progressives like Bernie Sanders and others, to do more, in the way of standing up for the human rights of Palestinians.

But if you take a quick look at where the country is today, I want to point to some quick numbers we looked up from Gallup.  This is from a February poll, so it's before this latest conflict.  But it does show that 75 percent of Americans do have a favorable opinion of Israel.  That is up in the last 20 years by 10 points.

That same poll, though, when you're looking at the number of people saying who they think the U.S. should put more pressure on, 35 percent now think that the U.S. should put more pressure on Israel.  That number is also up; 44 percent say they should put more pressure on Palestinians.

Are you seeing any of that, Jonathan, show up in the Biden approach?

Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post:  Well, I think — I would love to see what a poll would show today.

I think that the bombing, the Israeli Defense Forces' bombing of that high-rise building in Gaza that also housed international news organizations was a pivot point in all of this, where the private conversations that were happening took on even more urgency, and then forced the President to go even more public in terms of putting pressure on the Israeli government to do something to curb the violence.

But where — when it comes to the Democratic Party and the forces pulling back and forth, I bring up that pivot point, because Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is known in Washington as being a stalwart ally, if you will, within the United States Senate, supporter of Israel and Israel's right to defend itself.

After that bombing of that building in Gaza, Senator Menendez put out a statement that caught the White House by surprise and a lot of people by surprise by condemning or raising very serious questions about what Israel had done.

And so I think that made it possible for President Biden to be a little more, how shall we say, forceful in his conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Amna Nawaz:  Well, David, let me ask you more broadly about President Biden's approach, not just on this one issue.

You had a good chunk of time to sit down with him for a fascinating interview.  It's the subject of your latest column that's called "Has Biden Changed?  He Tells Us."

And, in it, you write right at the top:  "What happened to Joe Biden?  Many people thought he was a moderate incrementalist, but now he's promoting whopping big legislative packages that make many on the progressive left extremely happy.  The answer seems to be, it's complicated."

David, tell us about that conversation with him.  How is it complicated?

Jonathan Capehart:  Oh.

Amna Nawaz:  Oh, I believe we have lost the connection with David Brooks.  We will try to get him back in just a moment.

In the meantime, Jonathan, let me bring you back in here.

Jonathan Capehart:  Sure.

Amna Nawaz:  You have certainly read this column.

Jonathan Capehart:  Yes.

Amna Nawaz:  It's a long assessment of where President Biden is and faces this criticism of no longer being a moderate incrementalist many accused him of.

What do you make of it?

Jonathan Capehart:  Well, David's column was terrific, in being able to sit down with the President, particularly this President, who he wears everything on his sleeve.

And I have been on a phone call between the President and opinion writers, including — including David, so I have — I can pretty much imagine how that conversation went.

Look, I think President Biden is sort of the President who — the man who is meeting the moment.  A lot of people wonder whether progressives have pulled the party farther to the left or are pushing the party farther to the left.  And I counter that.

And I think President Biden, by doing what he's doing, it's really that the party is catching up to the country.  You tick off any issue and ask where the American people are — and let's just take raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.  The American people want that done.

The Democratic Party has been pushing for that for a long time.  The President now, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, is pushing for that.

And so the beauty of David's column and what I loved about it is that it takes sort of the policy issues that we're talking about now, whether it's the American Jobs Act — the American Jobs Plan, the Families Plan, the American Rescue Plan, and broadens it out in the way that only — that David famously does to the 35,000-foot level and shows that Joe Biden — it's the last line in the column — Joe Biden hasn't changed.  It's just that he's gone bigger.

The price tags on these things that he's pushing have gone bigger than what he pushed for when he was in the Senate for 36 years.  The policies that he championed when he was Vice President, with President O — yes, with President Obama.

So, I don't know if it's right to call President Biden incrementalist.  I think he is incrementalist when it suits his purposes to get something done right away.

But I think, if you look at everything that he's trying to do, he's going big.  And he's going big because the problems facing the country are large, but, also, he views it to the international prism, which I think David puts in his column, because of his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the problems that America is facing, they are impacting not just America at home, but America's standing abroad.

Amna Nawaz:  For anyone wondering why David Brooks isn't weighing in on his own column, we just lost the connection with him.  We are trying to bring him back into the conversation.  And we will do so as soon as that connection is reestablished.

But, Jonathan, while I have you, I also wanted to talk about this vote on the potential commission to look into the January 6 Capitol attack.  There was a proposal that came before the House.  They voted on it.  It passed there; 35 Republicans, 35 Republicans joined Democrats to back that commission.

Did that number surprise you?

Jonathan Capehart:  Well, Amna, here's the thing that surprised me.

It's — what surprises me is that it was only 35.  Leave aside the politics of everything of why it was just 35.  This — the January 6 commission should not be a partisan issue.  This should be a patriotism issue.

What happened on that day was horrifying, people trying to rush the Capitol, invading the Capitol, while the United States Congress was certifying a free and fair and legitimate, a small-D democratic election, certifying the election, and making it official that Joe Biden would be the president of the United States.

Those people tried to stop that.  The people who voted against the commission, the other Republicans who voted against the commission, they were there that day.  How they could not vote to approve a commission that would look into what happened, so that we find out what happened, but also so that we can learn things that we could do to ensure that it doesn't happen again, the fact that they voted — only 35 Republicans have voted for it, I think, is a shame.

Amna Nawaz:  I need to ask you as well, Jonathan, because this is right now with the Senate.  Ten Republicans there would need to back it for that commission to move forward.  Do you see that happening?

Jonathan Capehart:  I'm really having a hard time seeing that happening.

I mean, if memory serves, seven Republicans voted with the Democrats to vote to come to convict then-President — well, at that point, he was former President Trump, during impeachment.  I don't see where the other three votes to get to 10 come from.  That's assuming that those seven vote for the commission.

Amna Nawaz:  Jonathan Capehart joining us tonight.

I apologize to David Brooks.  Tonight's Brooks and Capehart is mostly just Capehart.

(LAUGHTER)

Amna Nawaz:  But, Jonathan, it's always good to talk to you.  Thanks for being here.

Jonathan Capehart:  Great to see you too.  Thanks.

THE NEVER ENDING WAR - Updates

PERSONAL COMMENT: As I said in the past, the Never Ending War between Israel and Palestinians will never end UNTIL the Palestinian People tell their governments to stop AND the People of Israel tell their government to stop.  No one outside, no outside government, can really do anything.  Although outside governments can make things worst.

"Families faced with death, destruction amid Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza" PBS NewsHour 5/17/2021

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SUMMARY:  The battle between the Israeli military and Hamas militants has now entered a second week, as calls mount for an immediate cease-fire.  So far, the violence has killed more than 200 Palestinians in Gaza, and another 10 people in Israel.  That comes as the United Nations estimates more than 38,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee the airstrikes.  Stephanie Sy reports.

 

 

"Palestinians strike to protest Israeli military action in Gaza, but no cease-fire in sight" PBS NewsHour 5/18/2021

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SUMMARY:  John Yang reports on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East as calls for a ceasefire are ignored and destruction spreads as Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli artillery attacks continue on day nine with no let-up in sight.

 

 

"Egypt indicates a truce agreement between Israeli and Hamas forces" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2021

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SUMMARY:  Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza may be edging closer to a cease-fire after 10 days of open war.  Egyptian mediators say there's a truce agreement, in principle.  A top Hamas official said he expects fighting to stop in a day or two.  Pressure to end the conflict built today, with 227 Gazans and 12 Israelis killed so far.  John Yang reports.

 

 

"Can Biden walk the line between support for both Israel and Palestine?" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2021

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SUMMARY:  For decades, the U.S. has supported Israel, backing up its defense policy and supplying tens of billions of dollars in aid and weapons.  Now, some within the Democratic party are questioning that support, and challenging President Biden's handling of the Gaza conflict.  John Yang speaks to Daniel Brumberg, director of democracy and governance studies at Georgetown University about the matter.

 

 

"A look at the US role and reaction to cease-fire in the Middle East" PBS NewsHour 5/20/2021

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SUMMARY:  A cease-fire is at hand in the war between Israel and Hamas.  Word of the truce came Thursday from Israel, and Hamas quickly agreed.  If it holds, it would end 11 days of fierce fighting that killed at least 230 Palestinians and 12 Israelis, and wrecked Gazan cities.  John Yang begins the report, and Yamiche Alcindor joins Amna Nawaz to discuss the Biden administration's role and reaction.

 

 

"A look at the humanitarian crisis wrought by Israel-Hamas war" PBS NewsHour 5/20/2021

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Correction:  In this segment, we referred to Refaat Alareer as “Refaat Aljareer” on first mention.  We also mistakenly referred to Diana Mushtaha as attending the University of Houston, instead of the University of Texas.  NewsHour regrets the errors.

SUMMARY:  John Yang reports on life on the ground for Palestinians and Israelis caught in the crossfire of war, and how US pressure on the region’s leaders has affected civilians, and Middle Eastern immigrant communities in the US.

 

 

"Both Israel and Hamas claim victory after truce, bringing prospect of peace into question" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2021

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SUMMARY:  The shooting has stopped, but the war of words goes on as Israel and Hamas offered sharply different appraisals Friday of who won and who lost their fourth conflict in just over a dozen years.  John Yang reports on day one of the ceasefire.

 

 

"The fragile ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hamas seems to be holding" PBS NewsHour 5/22/2021

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SUMMARY:  The cease-fire between Israeli forces and Hamas held for a second day.  Meanwhile, Gazans returned to their homes to survey the damage as UN humanitarian relief officials said rebuilding health facilities was a high priority because of the coronavirus pandemic.  NPR correspondent Daniel Estrin joins to discuss.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 5/18/2018

"Shields and Brooks on Jerusalem embassy conflict, Mueller investigation takeaways" PBS NewsHour 5/18/2018

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including a forthcoming rule from the Trump administration on family planning, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the deadly protests along the Israel-Gaza border, plus what we know about the Russia investigation, one year on.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now back to political developments, both here in the United States and beyond, with the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Welcome, gentlemen.  We haven’t all three been together in a little while.  It’s great to see you.

Let’s start, Mark, with the story we led off as a segment earlier, and that is the administration moving to close down, essentially, or close funding for clinics that either provide abortion services or refer women to clinics that do.

It’s the early phases of this, but it’s something the Trump administration seems determined to do.

MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist:  Determined, Judy, to make a political issue out of.

I think that Donald Trump, if I’m not recalling — recalling correctly, as a candidate, made the issuing of executive orders by Barack Obama something noxious, pernicious and to be avoided.

That was when Obama did issue executive orders, obviously.  We had Republicans controlling both houses of Congress.  Donald Trump has both houses of Congress in his party.  He tried and Republicans did unsuccessfully in their attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, to defund completely Planned Parenthood, and to achieve these objectives.

Now he’s moving — all of these occurrences, I hate to sound cynical, happened to occur in an election year, not simply with President Obama, but it did with President Clinton, with President Obama, with President Trump.  It did with President Bush.  And it began with President Reagan.

The one person who had clean political hands in this was Richard Nixon, who in 1971, invoked Title X, and to provide health care and to provide family planning advice to poor women who couldn’t afford it.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So it’s become a political football.  Is that what we’re talking about here?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Yes, I’m not sure I totally agree with that.

It has an election year — it has obvious political benefits for each party’s base, but for Ronald Reagan, I’m pretty sure it was probably a sincere belief that taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for abortions.  For Bill Clinton, it was probably a completely sincere belief that this is a program should be longstanding.

I’m not sure where Donald Trump actually stands in his heart of hearts on this issue.  I do know he has made a deal with social conservatives that you’re going to have put up with a lot of lies and payoffs to adult film actresses, but I’m going to give you — on policy, you will get — and he’s been very consistent on giving social conservatives policy victories.

This is something they have wanted for a long time.  And Donald Trump is handing it to them.  And so a lot of social conservatives who are willing to swallow his personal failures are going to feel vindicated that this was a deal worth making.

I don’t particularly agree with that, but I think social conservatives will say, yes, if we’re going to get wins like this, which are for, in their case, for the good of the country and for the good of humanity, they’re willing to swallow a lot from Donald Trump.

MARK SHIELDS:  I’m not questioning the sincerity of all involved.

I do — their motives — but I think there is a strong political element to it.  And it has to be noted of Planned Parenthood, while it provides cancer screening, all sorts of health care, it does provide also 330,000 abortions a year.  So it’s a major element in the — in abortion-providing.

DAVID BROOKS:  Yes.  The tradeoff here is that Planned Parenthood, which does a lot of all sorts of health stuff, also does the abortions.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  An array of services.

DAVID BROOKS:  And so you get — say you’re a social conservative.

You get what you want on the abortion.  It’s going to be harder to get an abortion and some of them will get less funding.  But in places where they have done this — and we have now seen what happens when you do this — when you take people away from Planned Parenthood, you also — you do see a sharp rise in pregnancies, because contraception isn’t prescribed as much.

You see some health — deleterious health benefits down the side.  So, on the plus side, people who really find abortion morally abhorrent don’t have to pay for it.  On the minus side, there are negative health effects.
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JUDY WOODRUFF:  An anniversary this week.  We have only got a couple of minutes left.

But, David, Robert Mueller started his Russia investigation a year ago this week.  Where are we after a year of that?  Of course, it’s all been behind closed doors.  We have seen indictments.  We have seen some pleas.  Where does it stand?

DAVID BROOKS:  Well, we have had a year of speculation about what is about to happen.

What we have learned is that it’s a pretty broad-ranging investigation.  There’s a lot of dirty businesses, a lot of guilty pleas already, a lot of people brought under indictment.  So it’s a real investigation, investigating what looks like real crimes.

As for the collusion charge, we know there were many more meetings between the Trump people and the Russians than we thought before.  There was a meeting in Trump Tower.  And so there’s clearly more smoke there than we knew before a year ago.

What we don’t have is actual evidence of real collusion, and particularly by an awareness of the President himself.  That may be still out there, but that part, we still don’t have.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  And we know he may be pursuing other charges as well.

DAVID BROOKS:  Right.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Mark, how do you see it?

MARK SHIELDS:  What we do know, Judy, is that the Senate Intelligence Committee is composed of grownups and led by Senator Burr and Senator Warner, and they deserve credit.

The House Intelligence Committee is led by just outrageous adolescents who are about as deep as a birdbath.

At the same time, I think what we learned is that the defense of Donald Trump, led by himself and Rudy Giuliani, is to savage and torment, denigrate, vilify and libel Bob Mueller.

Bob Mueller happens to be an American who turned down an eight-figure income to be a major corporate lawyer, instead became a public servant.  He’s a man who volunteered and carries the wounds of battle from having been a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam.  He is a public servant.

He has not said a word.  He has not given an interview.  He has not leaked to anybody.  And he stands vilified by Trump and Giuliani and their cohorts and their outriders.

It is indefensible.  And they are trying to exact the same damage upon the Justice Department of the country, the FBI and this country that Joe McCarthy did on the State Department, which has never fully recovered from his libelous attacks.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Twenty seconds.

DAVID BROOKS:  Yes, I don’t disagree with that.

I would just say, I observe politically, I do think if Trump fired Mueller tomorrow, the Republican Party would back him.

MARK SHIELDS:  Do you really?

DAVID BROOKS:  Because I think FOX News has created a predicate.  They have done thousands of surveys and investigations about Mueller as a political operative.

TRUMP AGENDA - Jerusalem Embassy, Scuttling Peace Process

"Carnage and celebration mark U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem" PBS NewsHour 5/14/2018

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SUMMARY:  As the United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem, Israeli security forces shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, and reportedly wounded more than 2,000 others.  Blanket denunciations are sweeping across the Arab and Muslim world, blasting both the embassy move and the killings.  Special correspondent Jane Ferguson joins Judy Woodruff for more.

"How the world is reacting to Gaza border bloodshed" PBS NewsHour 5/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  It was a day for burying the dead in Gaza, with nearly 60 funerals in 24 hours, while the wounded continue to overwhelm hospital staff and supplies.  Monday became the deadliest day since the 2014 war as Americans opened the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.  And there was more violence along the border on Tuesday, where at least two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire.  Nick Schifrin reports.

"Harsh living conditions in Gaza fuel little-to-lose mentality" PBS NewsHour 5/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  Palestinians have been protesting for weeks for the right to leave Gaza; in the last two days, tens of thousands have joined in.  Under an 11-year blockade by Israel and Egypt, life there has become a painful struggle.  Unemployment stands at 40 percent, with few prospects for the young, and most Gazans cannot afford a generator during lengthy power cuts.  Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports.

"Would alleviating Gaza humanitarian concerns ease violence?" PBS NewsHour 5/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  U.S. officials are blaming Hamas for the deadly violence on the Gaza border.  Daniel Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, says the group has long squandered its resources in trying to attack Israel, leading to "horrific" humanitarian concerns in Gaza.  Shapiro joins Nick Schifrin to discuss whether the clashes could fray alliances, and the decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

MIDDLE EAST - Borders Will Change

"Israel's Defense Minister:  Mideast Borders 'Absolutely' Will Change" by NPR Staff, NPR 10/23/2014

Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon is known for his blunt manner, and in an interview with NPR, he says a future map of the Middle East will look very different from the one that exists today.

The borders of many Arab states were drawn up by Westerners a century ago, and wars in recent years show that a number of them are doomed to break apart, according to Ya'alon, a career soldier who became Israel's defense minister last year.

"We have to distinguish between countries like Egypt, with their history.  Egypt will stay Egypt," Ya'alon, who is on a visit to Washington, tells Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep.

In contrast, Ya'alon says, "Libya was a new creation, a Western creation as a result of World War I.  Syria, Iraq, the same — artificial nation-states — and what we see now is a collapse of this Western idea."

Asked if Middle Eastern borders are likely to change in the coming years, Ya'alon says:  "Yes, absolutely.  It has been changed already.  Can you unify Syria?  [President] Bashar al-Assad is controlling only 25 percent of the Syrian territory.  We have to deal with it."

On another key question facing the region, Ya'alon says he is deeply skeptical of a proposed deal between the international community and Iran on its nuclear program.  He says that even if an agreement is reached, he thinks Iran is likely to break it.

"No deal is better than a bad deal," Ya'alon says.

Ya'alon spoke with Inskeep about: realignment of the Middle East post-Arab spring and the spread of ISIS; Iran nuclear negotiations; the recent war in Gaza; and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Interview Highlights

STEVE INSKEEP:  Your government's broad skepticism about the U.S. and other nations negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program is well-known, but I wonder if you have a concern on an even deeper level.  Do you believe that any worthwhile agreement with this Iranian government can be made?

MOSHE YA'ALON:  Depends which agreement.  With our experience, agreements which are not backed by interests are not surviving.

STEVE INSKEEP:  You're saying if countries' interests do not mesh, any agreement they make is worthless.

MOSHE YA'ALON:  Yeah, because they can sign agreements and violate it.  Fatah violated the Oslo Accord on the day, the first day of the implementation, but let's leave it alone.  I have many examples.

Nevertheless, what is a mistake now is regarding the negotiations with the Iranian regime.  Let's leave alone the military nuclear project.  What about terror activities?  What about their activities to undermine moderate regimes?  This is not discussed at all.

What is discussed now the number of the centrifuges that they should have.  Why should they have the indigenous capability to enrich uranium, which is a core element in their military nuclear project?  So what we claim regarding the current negotiations is that no deal is better than a bad deal. ...

STEVE INSKEEP:  Many people around the world criticized [the recent war in Gaza] for going too far.  But I know there was also another side of the debate within Israel that your government was criticized for not going deeper into Gaza, sending more troops, taking sharper measures.  Did you go as far as you wanted to go?

MOSHE YA'ALON:  Absolutely.  We knew exactly what we wanted to achieve, and we understood that if we go too far, a part forms a dilemma of cost and benefit.  No one was going to replace us.  Neither the Egyptians, nor Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas], NATO, whatever.

STEVE INSKEEP:  Meaning if you wiped out Hamas, say, or knocked them out of control, no one would take charge.

MOSHE YA'ALON:  Yes, and so probably we were stuck.  So we prefer to reach cease-fire according to our terms. ...

STEVE INSKEEP:  Israel, of course, has been criticized because Israelis have settled in the West Bank.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when visiting the United States earlier this year, cast that as a question not of national or states' rights but of individual rights.  Why shouldn't Jews have the right to live where they want to live?  Why should they be barred, he was asking, from living in different places?  That it was an individual question.  If individual Jews, Israelis, have a right to move where they like on the West Bank, should individual Palestinians, including refugees, have the right to choose to move back to Israel

MOSHE YA'ALON:  The issue of refugees is very different.  We can't allow refugees to come back ...

STEVE INSKEEP:  But could they just say, "We're individuals.  We're coming back"?

MOSHE YA'ALON:  ... Otherwise it will keep the conflict forever.  Forever.  But when we talk about the right to live, we do not deny the right of Arabs to live everywhere in the land of Israel.  They enjoy political independence.  They have their own government.  They have their own parliament, municipalities.

And if we are talking about co-existence, what is better than to live together?  Enjoying, you know, our prosperity.  That was the case even in the Gaza Strip, when the Gazans enjoyed working in the Erez industrial zone or in the settlements, for their benefit.

Their insistence to clear the area from Jews, might call it ethnic cleansing.  We don't call to do it with Arabs, we don't want to uproot or transfer Arabs, why is it so acceptable regarding the Jews?

STEVE INSKEEP:  Well, I've heard that argument.  It's compelling.  You're arguing that Israelis move across into the West Bank, they bring money with them, they build, they may improve the economy.  My question is what if a group of Palestinians, from whatever direction, whether they claim refugee status or not, simply showed up at the Tel Aviv airport, showed up at a border crossing, and said, "We want to claim that same individual right, and we're ready to move into Israel"?

MOSHE YA'ALON:  They can go.  They can go to live in Nablus, they can go to live in Ramallah.

STEVE INSKEEP:  That's in the West Bank, but what if they want to live in Israel proper?

MOSHE YA'ALON:  No.  No.  In Israel, no way.  Otherwise, we are not going to solve the conflict, we are going to keep it to the end of the days.

GAZA - Dutch 'Righteous Among the Nation' Returns Award in Protest

"Dutch Nonagenarian Returns ‘Righteous Gentile’ Medal to Protest IDF Killing of Gaza Relatives" by Boruch Shubert, Jewish Political News 8/15/2014

As reported in Ha’aretz, a 91-year-old Dutch man who was honored with the special status of Righteous Among the Nations for going out of his way to rescue a Jew during the Nazi takeover of his country returned his medal and certificate on Thursday to protest the killing of six of his relatives by an Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip last month.

In 2011, Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum declared Henk Zanoli and his late mother, Johana Zanoli-Smit, as members of the elite group known as Righteous Among the Nations for having saved a Jewish child, Elhanan Pinto, during the Nazi occupation of Holland.  Pinto, who was born in 1932, was hidden by the Zanoli family from the spring of 1943 until the Allies finally liberated Holland in 1945.  The boy’s parents perished in Nazi death camps.

In hiding a Jewish child, the Zanoli family knowingly took a double risk, because it was already being closely watched by the Nazi authorities for having opposed the German occupation.  Zanoli’s father was sent to the Dachau concentration camp in 1941 because of his opposition to the occupation, and he eventually died at the Mauthausen concentration camp in February 1945.  The Nazis executed Henk Zanoli’s brother-in-law because of his participation in the Dutch resistance, and one of his brothers had a Jewish fiancée, who was also murdered by the Nazis.

Zanoli’s great-niece, Angelique Eijpe, is a Dutch diplomat who currently works as deputy head of the Netherlands’ diplomatic mission in Oman.  Eijpe’s husband, economist Isma’il Ziadah, was born in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza; the couple has three children.  Ziadah’s parents were born in Fallujah, the area that now hosts the town of Kiryat Gat.

On Sunday, July 20, during its ongoing military action against Hamas targets, an Israeli fighter jet dropped a bomb on the Ziadah family’s home in al-Bureij.  The bomb killed the family matriarch, Muftiyah, age 70; three of her sons, Jamil, Omar and Youssef; Jamil’s wife, Bayan; and their 12-year-old son, Shaaban.  The bombing thereby orphaned Jamal and Bayan’s other five children, four daughters and a son, while orphaning Omar’s two sons, and Youssef’s three sons and a daughter, of their fathers.  The bombing additionally killed Mohammed Maqadmeh, who was visiting the family that day.

Zanoli, an attorney, learned of the killing of the Ziadah family from his niece.  As a means of expressing his shock and anguish, he decided to return the medal and certificate that honored him and his mother (posthumously) as Righteous Among the Nations.  Due to his age and poor health, Zanoli did not do so in person, but instead sent them by messenger to the Israeli Embassy in The Hague – the same place where he had been presented with them in an official ceremony three years ago.

In the accompanying letter, addressed to Israeli Ambassador Haim Davon, Zanoli began by describing the price his family paid for resisting the Nazis and their successful attempt to save a Jewish child.  “Against this background it is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza.  Murder carried out by the State of Israel,” the elderly Dutchman wrote.

“The great- great grandchildren of my mother have lost their [Palestinian] grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli army,” he further stated.  “For me to hold on to the honor granted by the State of Israel, under these circumstances, will be both an insult to the memory of my courageous mother who risked her life and that of her children fighting against suppression and for the preservation of human life as well as an insult to those in my family, four generations on, who lost no less than six of their relatives in Gaza at the hands of the State of Israel.”

Commenting that Israel’s actions in Gaza “have already resulted in serious accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he went on, “as a retired lawyer it would be no surprise to me that these accusations could lead to possible convictions if true and unpoliticized justice is able to have its course.  What happened to our kin in Gaza will no doubt be brought to the table at such a time as well.”

The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit did not respond to Haaretz’s questions about whether the Ziadah home was bombed in error, or if not, who in the house was considered a target and whether the IDF’s legal department considers the death of six civilians to be legitimate collateral damage.  The unit’s response said only that the IDF invests great efforts in trying to avoid civilian casualties, is currently working to investigate all allegations of irregular incidents and will publish its conclusions after this investigation has been completed.

MIDDLE EAST - The Never-Ending War, Violence Intractable

As I have said many times before, the Palestinian vs Israeli conflict will continue UNTIL THE CITIZENS of each side demand their leaders stop.

"What’s making Mideast violence seem intractable" PBS NewsHour 7/28/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  The latest battle between Hamas and Israel has raged for nearly three weeks, as efforts to broker a cease-fire, including Secretary of State Kerry’s whirlwind trips to the region, have fallen short.

So, why is it difficult — why is it proving to be so difficult to bring a halt to the violence?

For that, we turn to Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.  He’s written extensively about the Arab-Israeli peace process.  And Mark Perry, a writer and foreign policy analyst who’s covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for over two decades.

Mark Perry, this renewed conflict seems especially intractable this time.  You have been in contact over the years with representatives of Hamas.  What are they saying?  Why is this so tough?

MARK PERRY, Writer:  Because their request, their demand, their conditions for an end of the conflict have not been met.  And they have one condition and one condition only.  And that’s an end to the siege of Gaza.

It’s absolutely out of the question for Israel, Israel says, to do this.  It’s what the secretary tried to get Israel to agree to.  They wouldn’t.  And so tonight, sadly, this conflict continues.  I don’t think it’s going to end in the short-term, and I don’t think Hamas is going to give in to Israel’s demands.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 7/25/2014

"Shields and Brooks on Obama’s handling of the border crisis, Mideast violence" PBS NewsHour 7/25/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the week’s top news, including obstacles to passing an immigration bill, luring Hispanic voters, the White House’s handling of the Mideast conflict, as well as how perception of Hamas and Israel has shifted through social media.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 7/18/2014

"Shields and Brooks on Israel’s incursion, challenging Russia" PBS NewsHour 7/18/2014

Excerpts

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss potential consequences of the attack on a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane over Ukraine and the ground invasion by Israel into Gaza.
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JUDY WOODRUFF:  Does this mean, David, the idea of any sort of resolution is just so far off in the distance, you can’t even imagine it?

DAVID BROOKS:  Well, yes.

We’re in sort of a parallel universe where it’s sort of a military operation we have not seen before.  So Hamas has had no success in inflicting any damage on the Israelis, in part because of the Iron Dome missile defense system and in part just because their rockets are not that great.

But they — when the cease-fire proposal went out there, they greeted that with a barrage of missiles nonetheless, not because they hoped to inflict any damage on the Israelis, but they hoped the Israelis would inflict damage on them and kill Palestinian civilians, which is one of the reasons they have decided to tell their civilians not to flee the areas that are afflicted.

So, it’s a rare moment in military history where a party rejects a cease-fire in order to get more of their own people killed.  But that’s part of the strategy, which is a global strategy, a propaganda strategy of eliciting this European response.

I think the U.S. has done a good job, John Kerry’s done a good job of rejecting this strategy of using human shields.  Bill Clinton has said things.  But this is the strategy they’re trying to enact, and it’s just this perverse military strategy of getting your own people killed.

MIDDLE EAST - Cease-Fire Fails, Latest in the Un-Ending War

"Hopes for Mideast cease-fire dashed as Israel resumes airstrikes on Gaza" (Part-1) PBS NewsHour 7/15/2014

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Hopes of a potential stop to the violence gripping the Middle East were dashed today as aerial bombardment from both sides continued; 197 Palestinians have died during the eight days of violence.  The first Israeli casualty came today.

Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports on why Hamas rejected an Egyptian-proposed cease-fire.

MARGARET WARNER (NewsHour):  Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza this afternoon after a lull of six hours.  It’s cabinet had originally accepted, and honored, an Egyptian cease-fire proposal.  But Hamas kept firing rockets, some again intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system.

With that, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the counteroffensive would resume with greater force.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Prime Minister, Israel:  If Hamas rejects the Egyptian proposal and the rocket fire from Gaza doesn’t cease — and that appears to be the case now — we are prepared to continue and intensify our operation to protect our people.  And for this, we expect full support from the responsible members of the international community.

MARGARET WARNER:  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction controls the West Bank, urged Hamas to accept the truce.  In April, the two factions formed a unity government, but Hamas runs Gaza.

A spokesman for the militant group said it rejected the cease-fire because Hamas had not been consulted.

SAMI ABU ZUHRI, Hamas Spokesman (through interpreter):  The idea of declaring cease-fire before meeting the terms of the resistance is unacceptable.  We will not stop fighting before reaching an agreement that includes all the terms of the Palestinian resistance.

MARGARET WARNER:  Those terms include releasing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and reopening border crossings with Egypt.

In Vienna, Secretary of State John Kerry urged Arab states to bring their influence to bear.

JOHN KERRY, Secretary of State:  We ask all the members of the Arab community, as they did yesterday at the Arab League meeting in Cairo, to continue to press to try to get Hamas to do the right thing here, which is cease the violence, engage in a legitimate negotiation, and protect the lives of people that they seem all too willing to put to risk.

MARGARET WARNER:  Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli troops remain positioned near the Gaza border.  A food delivery man was killed by a mortar blast today, Israel’s first fatality since the fighting began.

At a Jerusalem news conference, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for an outright takeover of Gaza.

AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN, Foreign Minister, Israel (through interpreter):  The answer must be clear.  There is a need to lead.  There is a need to end this operation when the Israeli army is in control over the whole Gaza Strip.

"Why Hamas rejected an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire" (Part-2) PBS NewsHour 7/15/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel Tuesday, refusing Egypt’s proposal for a ceasefire.  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner talks to writer Mark Perry about what it will take for Hamas to accept a ceasefire, the group’s growing popularity among Palestinians and if Egypt’s proposal still has potential.

MIDDLE EAST - The Never Ending War, Rocket Attacks

COMMENT:  The worst mistake was the creation the Gaza strip.  Having two hostile populations on each side (border) of Israel is a blunder.  The population of Gaza should be in Palestine (aka West Bank), and what is now Gaza should be an integral part of Israel.  Unfortunately it's too late.

"Israeli forces launch airstrikes at Gaza to counter Hamas rocket attacks" (Part-1) PBS NewsHour 7/8/2014

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  In the Middle East, tensions are running even higher, as fighting between Israel and Hamas intensified again today.  Militant rockets reached Israel’s two largest cities, while Israeli airstrikes killed at least 25 people inside Gaza.

There was chaos in the streets of Gaza, as Palestinians ran for shelter, while Israeli forces blasted the coastal enclave.  Airstrikes and naval gunfire sent plumes of smoke billowing into the skies, reducing homes and buildings to piles of rubble.  The Israeli military called It Operation Protective Edge and released aerial video showing the results.  It said the targets included homes of Hamas militants who fire rockets into Southern Israel, plus concealed launch sites.

President Shimon Peres said his nation was left with no choice.

PRESIDENT SHIMON PERES, Israel:  They are shooting at our children, at our mothers, at our civilians.  What for?  We cannot compromise with death.  We cannot compromise with rockets.  We cannot compromise with this sort of behavior.  And we shall stop them.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The Israelis said more than 130 rockets were fired from Gaza in the last 24 hours.  Some were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, including two rockets that targeted Tel Aviv, the deepest strike so far.

Later, air raid sirens also sounded in Jerusalem, but the military said there were no casualties.  The government urged citizens living near Gaza to stay close to bomb shelters.

President Obama appealed for peace in a guest column for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.  He wrote:  “All parties must protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution.”

But Hamas warned there would be no letup.

SAMI ABU ZUHRI, Spokesman, Hamas (through interpreter):  The resistance is defending the Palestinian people.  The occupation threats and crimes will not break our will.  We will continue to defend our people against these crimes.  We warn the occupation not to continue its crime against our people.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  In turn, Israeli officials warned their offensive will go on until the rockets stop.  They also left open the possibility of a ground invasion.  Tanks and artillery have already massed along the Gaza border, and the Israeli government has authorized calling up 40,000 reservists.

"With no sign of cease-fire, current Mideast conflict could become long campaign" (Part-2) PBS NewsHour 7/8/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  More rocket attacks and airstrikes ratcheted up tensions between Israel and Palestinians.  One militant rocket reached as far as Tel Aviv, while Israeli air force strikes killed at least 25 people inside Gaza.  Judy Woodruff talks to Josef Federman of The Associated Press from Jerusalem about the capabilities and motives of both sides, as well as the sense of fear gripping the region.

MIDDLE EAST - The Never-Ending War, Major Escalation

"Mideast tensions escalate in cycle of retribution for teen killings" PBS NewsHour 7/7/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now to the Middle East, where there has been a major escalation of tensions just in the last few hours.  It follows days of unrest sparked by the deaths of three Israeli teens and a Palestinian teenager.  Three Israeli suspects in the killing of the Palestinian teen confessed to the crime today.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned the teen’s father and vowed the killers would be brought to justice.  Tonight, Hamas fired dozens of rockets into Israel, claiming revenge for Israeli airstrikes overnight which they say killed six of its members.

A short time ago, I spoke to Josef Federman, whose story covering — who has been covering a story for the Associated Press.

Josef, thank you for talking with us.

Bring us up to date on what is going on.  What is each side doing?

JOSEF FEDERMAN, The Associated Press:  Well, it’s been a pretty busy day here.

Things are heating up in Southern Israel along the Gaza border.  Gaza militants have fired about 100 rockets today into Israel or at Israel.  Israel has responded with some limited airstrikes earlier in the day.  Now, the rocket fire heated up, really intensified this evening.  There was a barrage of nearly 50 rockets after nightfall.

Some of them flew — or they set off alarms deep inside of Israel, about 50 miles away from the border, reaching almost the outskirts of Tel Aviv.  So this is seen as a bit of an escalation.  Israel hasn’t responded yet to this latest barrage, but we’re expecting a pretty long night.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  How is this different from what normally has been taking place there?

JOSEF FEDERMAN:  Well, most of the time, the rocket fire is pretty limited to — when there are attacks — and there are periods when it’s quiet altogether — but usually it’s limited to one or two or a handful of rockets that are fired at very short distances into open areas.

Now we are seeing just an intensity that we haven’t seen for several years, where it’s dozens and dozens each day.  The distance that they’re flying is a lot further and many of them are reaching populated areas.

MIDDLE EAST - Never Ending War Part-10002, Israel vs Palestine

"To End Violence, Israel and Gaza Leave Negotiation Sticking Points for Later" PBS Newshour 11/21/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: The cease-fire agreement struck between Israel and Hamas after eight days of airstrikes and rocket fire was the first hurdle in opening up talks about larger issues like easing restrictions on the Gaza Strip. Jeffrey Brown talks to NPR's Leila Fadel and The Times of London's Sheera Frankel about the details of the truce.

MIDDLE EAST - Israel, Gaza, Iran

"For Israel, Gaza Conflict Is Test for an Iran Confrontation" by DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER, New York Times 11/22/2012

Excerpt

The conflict that ended, for now, in a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel seemed like the latest episode in a periodic showdown. But there was a second, strategic agenda unfolding, according to American and Israeli officials: The exchange was something of a practice run for any future armed confrontation with Iran, featuring improved rockets that can reach Jerusalem and new antimissile systems to counter them.

It is Iran, of course, that most preoccupies Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama. While disagreeing on tactics, both have made it clear that time is short, probably measured in months, to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

And one key to their war-gaming has been cutting off Iran’s ability to slip next-generation missiles into the Gaza Strip or Lebanon, where they could be launched by Iran’s surrogates, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, during any crisis over sanctions or an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Michael B. Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States and a military historian, likened the insertion of Iranian missiles into Gaza to the Cuban missile crisis.

“In the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. was not confronting Cuba, but rather the Soviet Union,” Mr. Oren said Wednesday, as the cease-fire was declared. “In Operation Pillar of Defense,” the name the Israel Defense Force gave the Gaza operation, “Israel was not confronting Gaza, but Iran.”

It is an imprecise analogy. What the Soviet Union was slipping into Cuba 50 years ago was a nuclear arsenal. In Gaza, the rockets and parts that came from Iran were conventional, and, as the Israelis learned, still have significant accuracy problems. But from one point of view, Israel was using the Gaza battle to learn the capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — the group that has the closest ties to Iran — as well as to disrupt those links.

Indeed, the first strike in the eight-day conflict between Hamas and Israel arguably took place nearly a month before the fighting began — in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, as another mysterious explosion in the shadow war with Iran.

A factory said to be producing light arms blew up in spectacular fashion on Oct. 22, and within two days the Sudanese charged that it had been hit by four Israeli warplanes that easily penetrated the country’s airspace. Israelis will not talk about it. But Israeli and American officials maintain that Sudan has long been a prime transit point for smuggling Iranian Fajr rockets, the kind that Hamas launched against Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over recent days.

The missile defense campaign that ensued over Israeli territory is being described as the most intense yet in real combat anywhere — and as having the potential to change warfare in the same way that novel applications of air power in the Spanish Civil War shaped combat in the skies ever since.

Of course, a conflict with Iran, if a last-ditch effort to restart negotiations fails, would look different than what has just occurred.

MIDDLE EAST - Israel, Gaza, and the Attacks

As I've said before, this will NOT end until the people of Israel AND Palestine/Gaza tell their leaders to stop.

"Bus Attack, Military Retaliation Rock Southern Israel, Gaza"
PBS Newshour 8/18/2011 (Part-1)


"What's Behind Deadly Attacks in Southern Israel?"
PBS Newshour 8/18/2011 (Part-2)