Gush Etzion Residents Protest 'Obama Intifada'Close to 200 people converged on the Gush Etzion intersection on Saturday night to protest what they called the “Obama Intifada.” The ongoing Arab violence, which has seen a sharp increase in rock-throwings and even live-fire attacks on Israeli vehicles over the past week, continued Sunday morning with riots near Tekoa and an attempted stabbing east of Shechem.
The Gush Etzion demonstrators held signs reading, "Crush the Obama intifada! No more rock-throwing! Stop the building freeze against the Jews."
All the speakers delivered a similar message: “We will not remain quiet as stones are hurled at Jews… Prime Minister Netanyahu, stand firm! Do not cave in to Barack Hussein Obama! The people of Israel are strong and will remain strong even if the US imposes sanctions against Israel.”
A woman from N’vei Daniel spoke about her experience of a few days ago: “Some Arabs threw rocks at my car as I was on my way back from work in Tekoa… One Arab threw a rock at my windshield and smashed it; I started to drive away, but then I decided I was not running away, so I stopped and parked my car across the middle of the road to block it [until the army arrived]. I started to yell at them in Hebrew, and I called at the one who threw the rock to come down towards me and not be a coward and run away; of course, he did not come…” She then said that she feels anger towards the government for not providing her with minimal security in her own country, and towards the Jews who support Obama and particularly those in the United States such as David Axelrod, Thomas Friedman and Rahm Emanuel, “who have forgotten what it is to be Jewish. Perhaps it would be better for us if Obama would take a few non-Jewish advisors…”
Kiryat Arba/Hevron Chief Rabbi Lior said, “We demand that the government do something effective against the barbarians that are again threatening our movement on the roads and our quiet lives. They’re ambushing Jews all over the country. We have no doubt that they are raising their heads because of signs of weakness on behalf of the leadership of the Nation of Israel… Maimonides explained in his Epistle to the Jews of Yemen who were forced to convert to Islam that the character of Arabs is that when you look out for their good, in return, they always give you war. When we tell the Arab, ‘Come, I want to help you and see to your needs,’ he doesn’t look at us like gentlemen. He sees weakness and then the wolf shows what he can do.”
Following the speeches, the crowd started marching south towards the Arab town of El-Aroub to “prove our independence and our determination to continue walking freely everywhere.” Participants stated afterwards that it was clear that this protest was just a start, and that “if the rock-throwings continue or escalate, so will our responses.”
This morning, several dozen Arabs rioted in eastern Gush Etzion, near Tekoa, throwing rocks at Israeli security forces. The latter faced them with riot-control means. Shortly before noon, at a checkpoint east of Shechem (Nablus), two Arabs disguised as farmers assaulted IDF troops with pitchforks and broken bottles, but alert soldiers shot and killed them.
The Barack Hussein Obama Intifada - by Beyond The CuspWhere Hamas and Fatah may each be accusing the other of being guilty of showing lack of unity in what is now being called the “Jerusalem Intifada”, they both fully support the violence called for against Israel and Jews in general. The difference in opinions is to how wide the violence should spread and who gets the credit. Hamas wants a general Intifada throughout the West Bank and against Israel from Gaza while Fatah, sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Palestinian Authority, wants the violence only in the Israeli controlled areas of the West Bank.
The reasons given for the new “Jerusalem Intifada” is two fold. First is the announcement of Israeli intent to add 1600 housing units in the Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo just outside Jerusalem. Second is the opening of the recently rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem. The Hurva Synagogue was destroyed by Jordanian troops at the close of the 1948 Israeli War of Independence over 60 years ago. The Palestinians claim that the rebuilding of this Synagogue is really just an evil plot to destroy the Mosques on the Temple Mount despite the distance between them.
What is the real reason for the calling for a Day of Rage by Hamas and for the start of the “Jerusalem Intifada”? The Hurva Synagogue rededication ceremony had taken place before the call for the “Jerusalem Intifada” had been issued and the Mosques on the Temple Mount still stood, so that alone is insufficient. Could it possibly be the increased inflammatory rhetoric coming out of the Obama administration from all corners of Washington that has inspired the call for an Intifada? Is this Intifada just an opportunistic grandstanding meant to capitalize on the vitriol coming from the Obama Administration in order to weaken the Netanyahu governing coalition and possibly force Bibi Netanyahu into an untenable position leading to the toppling of his government? Could this manufactured incident that has been intentionally blown completely out of proportions be taking a page from the Clinton playbook that toppled an earlier Netanyahu Government? Everything about the posturing and the vindictive proclamations points to a rerun of the treatment used against the last Likud coalition Israeli Government replaced with a pliable Labor coalition? Is all of this simply in order to force new elections in an attempt to get a more pliable Tzipi Livni coalition? Everything sure looks just as manufactured to place Prime Minister Netanyahu between a pair of equally poor choices. Either he insults Washington and the Obama White House or he risks alienating his more conservative coalition members thus toppling his government. Same old ball game.
Once the root cause of this new call for an Intifada is traced back, it leads to President Obama and his war against Prime Minister Netanyahu for not bowing and rendering unto Washington what was demanded. All the rioting, rock throwing, tires and trash burning, and whatever else this naked power play from the Obama Administration all to simply force concessions from Israel brings, it falls on the head of President Barack Hussein Obama. Since President Barack Hussein Obama has brought all this into play, I feel we should give him full honors and call this what it is, the Barack Hussein Obama Intifada.
Wagging the Dog With the Obama Intifada - By Ben ShapiroSupposedly, the latest Obama administration anti-Israel campaign is a response to the Israeli government’s decision to green light 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem. Don’t believe it for a second. East Jerusalem is sovereign Israeli territory, and Israel has built housing for Jews there for the better part of four decades.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that construction in Jerusalem would not stop. There is nothing new here that should have shocked the Obama administration.
Yet not only did this decision supposedly shock the Obama administration, it also led virtually the entire Obama cabinet to speak out against Israel. Joe Biden, who was in Israel when the decision was made by Israel, ripped Israel for undermining “trust”—whatever that means in a situation where one side’s trust entails denying the existence of the other side.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States was “insulted” by Israel’s decision, a vomitricious statement that arrogantly assumes that Israel’s construction policies must be geared toward pleasing the Obama administration. George Mitchell, the simpering “special envoy for Middle East peace,” cancelled a trip to Israel to show his displeasure.
Make no mistake—the timing of the latest Obama-Israel spat is purposeful on the Obama administration’s part. This response was far too well-rehearsed for it to have been triggered by something equivalent to a Housing and Urban Development dispute in the United States.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Arabs throughout Jerusalem burned tires and threw rocks at border guards. An Israeli policeman was shot in East Jerusalem. What do we hear from the Obama administration? Silence.
This is the Obama Intifada. It is he who has suggested that the Palestinian Arabs have legitimate grievances, that Israel is the victimizer, and that the United States will stand aside and allow violent atrocities by Arabs to go forward without comment. He wants this Intifada, and he’s got it.
The Obama Intifada will serve a dual purpose: it will knock health care off the front pages, and it will provide a “crisis” for Obama to solve. If a few Jews get killed, Obama doesn’t truly care. What’s a few eggs if you’re frying up a socialized health care omelet? What’s a few Jews if you can win another Nobel Peace Prize?
Call it the Obama Intifada - by Internet HaganahThis too shall pass, by which I mean the current US administration. The rest is commentary:
• Obama Pushing U.S.-Israel Alliance to the Brink?
• Netanyahu: Israel Will Keep Building in Jerusalem
• U.S. Israel Criticism Ignites Firestorm in Congress
• Hamas calls for terrorist attacks inside Israel
And in case you were unclear as to what this conflict is really all about:
• Clashes Erupt in Jerusalem after Hamas Declares "Day of Rage"Masked Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in multiple east Jerusalem neighborhoods on Tuesday, hurling rocks at security forces and burning tires. Hamas called for a "day of rage" following the rededication of the Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City on Monday.
• Destroyed Jerusalem Synagogue RededicatedThe renowned Hurva synagogue inside the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City has been rebuilt and is again an operational house of prayer after a 62-year hiatus. The synagogue, once the largest in Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the War of Independence in 1948.
• The Hurva's SymbolismTwice destroyed and twice rebuilt, the Hurva is a symbol of the Jewish people's tenacious insistence on returning to its rightful land against all odds. This refusal to be deterred by setbacks is the secret of the miracle that is the Jewish state.
Foxman slams Israel on Jerusalem announcement - by JTA Israel's announcement of new housing starts during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit was a "disaster," Abraham Foxman said in a rare rebuke.
"Whatever the motivation and whoever the responsible party, it is the government of Israel that justifiably is held accountable for converting an optimal moment in U.S.-Israel relations into a moment of crisis," Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, wrote in a post on the liberal Huffington Post Web site. "The crucial point is that the government had an obligation to anticipate what might go wrong during the vice president's visit and to give firm instruction to all cabinet members about avoiding such pitfalls, particularly on the subjects of settlements and East Jerusalem."
"This is the kind of rhetoric that does exactly what Mr. Biden has studiously avoided doing, linking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to America's larger Middle East challenges, and it unnecessarily calls into question Israel's role as an ally and the impact on American interests," Foxman wrote.
The Obama intifada? - by Melanie PhillipsAre we seeing the beginning (heaven forbid) of the Obama intifada?
The escalating Arab rioting today in Jerusalem and the West Bank is undoubtedly being stoked up by the fact that the Obama administration has turned so viciously against Israel. Doubtless as a result the Arabs now smell victory within their grasp and may now unleash another wave of violence against Israelis.
Every single one of their recent ‘grievances’ is not just fabricated but stands history and justice on their heads. The ostensible cause of today's rioting, the re-opening yesterday of the ancient Hurva synagogue in the heart of the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, is a typical example of this fanatical moral and historical inversion. The Hurva has been under reconstruction for years. The Palestinian campaign of incitement over it carries the message that Jews cannot build places of worship in their own city. And before anyone says any of Jerusalem is ‘occupied Palestinian territory’, it is not and never was 'Palestinian'. In every single attempt to resolve the Middle East impasse, Jerusalem was always regarded as a special case on its own; and from the mid 19th century onwards it has had uninterruptedly a Jewish majority.
The Hurva synagogue has been rebuilt, moreover, because it was twice destroyed by Muslims. Its history, as recounted by Leo Rennert, is testimony both to the uninterrupted presence of Jews in Jerusalem and to the uninterrupted attempts by Muslims to remove that presence:The Hurva was the the Jewish landmark in Jerusalem in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a magnet for early Zionists, religious and non-religious. Theodore Herzl was a visitor, and so were many other Jewish notables from far and wide. The first synagogue on the site was built in 1701. Jews had obtained a loan for its construction from Muslims. But Jerusalem's Jewish community, mired in poverty, couldn't repay the debt, so Muslim creditors destroyed the synagogue.
But Jewish residents, with some outside help, rebuilt the Hurva and turned it into a magnificent landmark...that is, until 1948, when less than two weeks after Israel declared independence, Jordanian forces moved into the Old City and destroyed the Hurva -- with only the great arch left as a reminder of its former glory. And so it remained for six decades. From 1948 until 1967, Jews were barred by Jordan from even approaching the Hurva ruins, just as they were barred from praying at the Western Wall. After Israel captured the Old City in 1967, the Hurva Arch stood for many years as a stark reminder of a sad chapter in Jewish history.
Then a meticulous rebuilding and renovation effort was begun several years ago. It culminated on March 15, 2010 in the official reopening of the Hurva as an exact replica of the 19th-century synagogue, including the surviving Arch, which is now a permanent part of the new Hurva. Henceforth, it won't just be a dramatic reminder of the past; it will resume its age-old function as a place of worship.
And once again it is the target of Muslim attempts to exterminate the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Yet Obama, who accuses Israel of frustrating the ‘peace process’ by building in east Jerusalem by agreement with his own administration, is silent over this inflammatory and disgusting Palestinian attack on a Jewish place of worship. It would seem that for Obama ‘peace’ means the surrender of Israel to Arab violence.
The Crisis - Was Obama's confrontation with Israel premeditated? - by Yossi Klein HaleviWhy, then, the outbreak of violence now? Why Hamas's "day of rage" over Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority's call to gather on the Temple Mount to "save" the Dome of the Rock from non-existent plans to build the Third Temple? Why the sudden outrage over rebuilding a synagogue, destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948, in the Old City's Jewish Quarter, when dozens of synagogues and yeshivas have been built in the quarter without incident?
The answer lies not in Jerusalem but in Washington. By placing the issue of building in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem at the center of the peace process, President Obama has inadvertently challenged the Palestinians to do no less.
Astonishingly, Obama is repeating the key tactical mistake of his failed efforts to restart Middle East peace talks over the last year. Though Obama's insistence on a settlement freeze to help restart negotiations was legitimate, he went a step too far by including building in East Jerusalem. Every Israeli government over the last four decades has built in the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem; no government, let alone one headed by the Likud, could possibly agree to a freeze there. Obama made resumption of negotiations hostage to a demand that could not be met. The result was that Palestinian leaders were forced to adjust their demands accordingly.
Obama is directly responsible for one of the most absurd turns in the history of Middle East negotiations. Though Palestinian leaders negotiated with Israeli governments that built extensively in the West Bank, they now refused to sit down with the first Israeli government to actually agree to a suspension of building. Obama's demand for a building freeze in Jerusalem led to a freeze in negotiations.
Finally, after intensive efforts, the administration produced the pathetic achievement of "proximity talks"—setting Palestinian-Israeli negotiations back a generation, to the time when Palestinian leaders refused to sit at the same table with Israelis.
That Obama could be guilty of such amateurishness was perhaps forgivable because he was, after all, an amateur. But he has now taken his failed policy and intensified it. By demanding that Israel stop building in Ramat Shlomo and elsewhere in East Jerusalem—and placing that demand at the center of American-Israeli relations—he's ensured that the Palestinians won't show up even to proximity talks. This is no longer amateurishness; it is pique disguised as policy.
In the absence of Palestinian willingness to compromise on the right of return, negotiations should not focus on a two-state solution but on more limited goals.
There have been positive signs of change on the Palestinian side in the last few years. The rise of Hamas has created panic within Fatah, and the result is, for the first time, genuine security cooperation with Israel. Also, the emergence of Salam Fayyad as Palestinian prime minister marks a shift from ideological to pragmatic leadership (though Fayyad still lacks a power base). Finally, the West Bank economy is growing, thanks in part to Israel's removal of dozens of roadblocks. The goal of negotiations at this point in the conflict should be to encourage those trends.
But by focusing on building in Jerusalem, Obama has undermined that possibility too. To the fictitious notion of a peace process, Obama has now added the fiction of an intransigent Israel blocking the peace process.
The administration, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Yedito Aharonot, is making an even more insidious accusation against Israel. During his visit, wrote Yediot Aharanot, Biden told Israeli leaders that their policies are endangering American lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. The report has been denied in the White House. Whether or not the remark was made, what is clear today in Jerusalem is that Obama's recklessness is endangering Israeli--and Palestinian--lives. As I listen to police sirens outside my window, Obama's political intifada against Netanyahu seems to be turning into a third intifada over Jerusalem.
