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Bob Beckel, the personification of a true liberal. A review by his conservative friend, Cal Thomas!
http://jewishworldreview.com/
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Obama has an intent to change the face of America by Executive Order. (See 1 below.)
Dennis Ross fesses up to what I accused him of all along. He enjoyed the limelight too much and it distorted his vision. (See 1a below.)
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Being weak himself, it is only natural that Obama empathizes with Palestinians. (See 2 below.)
And this from a dear friend and fellow memo reader. One more senior military casualty who crossed Obama: "The pig pen that is Washington DC claims another.............
It’s over. After nearly a year of being investigated by the Army in retaliation for criticizing the U.S. government’s hostage rescue abilities to congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Ca.), decorated U.S. Army Green Beret Lt. Col. Jason Amerine quietly retired on Friday, where he was presented the Legion of Merit. Amerine’s troubles began after he spoke with Hunter about how bureaucratic infighting scrapped a deal he had worked out with the Taliban for the release of Bowe Bergdahl. Stung by his criticism, the FBI complained to the Army’s chief of staff for intelligence, Gen. Mary Legere, who opened an investigation that led to Amerine being booked and fingerprinted, his pay being halted, and his retirement held up.
“Bergdahl, meanwhile, was released on far worse terms than Amerine worked out,” Jeff Stein writes. Amerine has since been cleared of any wrongdoing, and as one participant in his retirement ceremony said, “intentionally or not,” the Legion of Merit award “was an admission of guilt” by the Army for dragging the Afghanistan war hero’s name through the mud.
“Bergdahl, meanwhile, was released on far worse terms than Amerine worked out,” Jeff Stein writes. Amerine has since been cleared of any wrongdoing, and as one participant in his retirement ceremony said, “intentionally or not,” the Legion of Merit award “was an admission of guilt” by the Army for dragging the Afghanistan war hero’s name through the mud.
If you're not aware of this case, here's the best "down & dirty" article on it I could find.
And a brief Wiki bio
I posted this article because another way to weaken America is to eliminate senior military who are willing to express their thoughts in an independent manner. Obama has been very effective at forcing such personnel out and to the detriment of our nation let alone to the individuals.
Knife attacks continue by Palestinians who believe their behaviour will weaken Israel's resolve and turn world attitudes against Israel.
Attitudes against Israel are already negative because the same biased press and media folks who recently were on CNBC are the same ones who have been spewing their bias against Israel for decades.
I doubt Israelis will bend as long as these Arab thugs show themselves for what they are - animals. (See 3 below)
Which comes first - bad leadership or bad followship.?
If citizens are unwilling to follow bad leaders it is unlikely they would be effective.
If Germans resisted Hitler would WW 2 have occurred?
Palestinians seem they would rather follow corrupt leaders than be guided by the truth they know and when the world quits coddling them perhaps matters will change. (See 3a below.)
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Bad student behaviour seems to be protected and personal responsibility no longer seems to matter so, the natural alternative, attack the police for enforcing classroom order. (See 4 below.)
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Perhaps Americans are so dispirited by political correctness garbagethey would willingly tolerate illegals tunneling under/into our country.
Whereas, n the case of Israelis it has become a huge and overlooked threat.(See 5 below.)
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Now for a little humor: http://safeshare.tv/w/
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Dick
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1) Leaked Memo: Obama May Circumvent Amnesty Injunction
By Greg Richter
A Department of Homeland Security memo of an off-the-record meeting shows that President Barack Obama's administration is considering defying a federal judge's injunction against issuing work permits to illegal immigrants, Ian M. Smith writes at The Hill.
Smith, an investigative associate with the Immigration Reform Law Institute which has filed briefs in the legal cases attempting to stop Obama's "executive amnesty," writes that the memo appears to have been written as a follow-up to DHS's "Regulations Retreat" in June.
The retreat was held four months after Texas federal judge Andrew Hanen ordered a freeze on the work permits, known as an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).
"From a memo recording these discussions, we now know that the Obama DHS has, rather than pausing to allow the courts to assess the constitutionality of its enforcement nullification initiatives, been gearing up to roll out one or more of four plans drawn up at the meeting, each one designed to provide EADs to millions of nonimmigrants, including those lawfully present and visa overstayers, crippling the actual employment-based visa system on the federal statute-book," Smith writes.
But, giving EADs to anyone on that is a "direct violation of Congress's Immigration & Nationality Act and works to dramatically subvert our carefully wrought visa system," Smith writes.
The memo says the immigrants affected still will "face difficulties in pursuing permanent residence due to ineligibility or being subject to unlawful presence inadmissibility for which a waiver is required," Smith notes because an EAD is not a green card and they would eventually need to "adjust their status."
"The DHS 'macro-level policy goal,' we’re told, is to assist individuals to stay 'until they are ready and able to become immigrants,'" Smith writes. "This would seem to say that DHS, the largest federal law enforcement agency in the nation, is banking on awarding those who’ve broken our laws and violated our national sovereignty."
1a)
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2) Dennis Ross: Critics were right about Obama, Iran and Israel
By Jennifer Rubin
President Obama shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah in 2013. (Majdi Mohammed/Associated Press)
"From a memo recording these discussions, we now know that the Obama DHS has, rather than pausing to allow the courts to assess the constitutionality of its enforcement nullification initiatives, been gearing up to roll out one or more of four plans drawn up at the meeting, each one designed to provide EADs to millions of nonimmigrants, including those lawfully present and visa overstayers, crippling the actual employment-based visa system on the federal statute-book," Smith writes.
The four options range from providing EADs to "all individuals living in the United States," including illegal aliens, visa-overstayers, and H-1B guest-workers, to only those on certain unexpired non-immigrant visas, he said.
The memo says the immigrants affected still will "face difficulties in pursuing permanent residence due to ineligibility or being subject to unlawful presence inadmissibility for which a waiver is required," Smith notes because an EAD is not a green card and they would eventually need to "adjust their status."
That currently cannot be done without showing lawful status, but that rule might change, according to the memo.
"The DHS 'macro-level policy goal,' we’re told, is to assist individuals to stay 'until they are ready and able to become immigrants,'" Smith writes. "This would seem to say that DHS, the largest federal law enforcement agency in the nation, is banking on awarding those who’ve broken our laws and violated our national sovereignty."
1a)
Is Iran Already Violating the Nuclear Deal?
Yigal Carmon, the president and founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute, is a former Israeli civil servant, a counterterrorism adviser to prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin, and a participant in Israel’s peace negotiations with Syria in the early 1990s. He is, to the best of my knowledge, a reliable observer of Middle Eastern events.
At MEMRI, Carmon makes two points. First, Iran has not actually ratified the nuclear agreement:
What is mistakenly perceived as an agreement under the title of “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (JCPOA), that was concluded on July 14 in Vienna, and celebrated by the White House as an “historic agreement,” is neither a contract nor even a real agreement between Iran and the P5+1. It is a set of understandings and disputes compiled into a single document. …
[Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei has not approved the JCPOA. … Stepping in in the final act, Khamenei, deus-ex-machina style, dictated, in a letter to President Rohani, nine new conditions for the JCPOA, and declared that if these were not met Iran would stop the agreement.
Khamenei’s letter to Rohani with his conditions for the execution of the JCPOA…was explicitly termed “conditional approval.” It was labeled thus in red letters, as posted on Khamenei’s website in Persian, tweeted from his Twitter account and posted on his Facebook page in English, and also published in English by the official Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting authority IRIB.
Khomeini’s nine conditions are set forth here. One of his requirements is that all sanctions (not just nuclear sanctions) be not only suspended, but lifted, before Iran begins any compliance with the JCPOA.
Carmon’s second point is that Iran is not proceeding to comply with the JCPOA’s requirements by December 15, and shows no intention of doing so:
What are these obligations that Iran has to fulfill between Adoption Day and December 15 in order to merit this sanctions relief? The Arms Control Association, which supports Iran and the JCPOA, listed them on its website:*reducing the centrifuges at Natanz from over 16,000 to 5,060 IR-1 machines, which will enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, and removing the associated infrastructure;*reducing the number of IR-1 machines centrifuges at Fordow to 1,000 (328 will operate) and converting the facility for radioisotope production;*wrapping up testing on advanced centrifuges machines and removing all advanced centrifuges except one IR-4, IR-5, IR-6, and IR-8 machine for testing with uranium;*storing all dismantled centrifuges under IAEA seal;*reducing the stockpile of enriched uranium to less than 300 kilograms;*removing the core of the Arak reactor and disabling it; and*instituting the necessary transparency and monitoring mechanisms to implement Iran’s additional protocol and the continuous surveillance of key facilities.Did Iran hasten to meet these obligations? No!
In fact, Carmon says, Iran is making it clear that these actions will not be taken by the date prescribed in the JCPOA, now only 43 days away:
At this stage, events have taken an absurd turn. Iran has started dragging its feet. Instead of rushing to carry out all the steps to meet its obligations under the JCPOA, it is idling in neutral. It has little time and much to do by December 15. It must dismantle thousands of centrifuges and transfer them to storage monitored by IAEA cameras. It must ship out 9,000 kg of its enriched uranium to a third country, retaining only 300 kg. It must dismantle and pour cement into the core of the Arak plutonium reactor, and transform the facility into a heavy water reactor. It must notify the IAEA of its voluntary acceptance of the NPT Additional Protocol. And more.
But senior Iranian officials are shifting responsibility for initiating fulfillment of these obligations to one another, sometimes with comical effect. For example, President Hassan Rohani sent a letter to Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi instructing him to begin to take the appropriate steps. Salehi confirmed that he had received Rohani’s message, but said that it had not stated when he should start doing so. No one wanted to budge without explicit permission from Supreme Leader Khamenei.
In a little over a month, it will become apparent whether Iran has discharged its post-Adoption Day obligations. Carmon says that at that point, it will no longer be possible to pretend that a real agreement with Iran has been reached. What will the Obama administration do then?
[I]t appears that President Obama’s only option, shameful as it is, is to restart the negotiations with the Iranians and talk with them about their leaders’ new conditions. As is well-known, this administration advocates diplomacy – guaranteeing that there will be no breakthrough any time soon.This is precisely what will serve President Obama best. All he needs to do is play for time and reach the end of his term with an agreement in hand – albeit virtual – and negotiations in progress – albeit unending. He will pass this situation on to the next administration.
Is Carmon right about how matters are proceeding in Iran? I don’t know, but it won’t be long before we find out.
2) Dennis Ross: Critics were right about Obama, Iran and Israel
By Jennifer Rubin
President Obama shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah in 2013. (Majdi Mohammed/Associated Press)
Dennis Ross, former senior adviser to President Obama, arguably should have come out strongly against the Iran deal — and advised Hillary Clinton (he served in her husband’s administration) that the administration was not leveling with the American people. His interview with the Times of Israel is revealing.
Remember that the president says the deal blocks Iran’s pathway to the bomb. No, says Ross: “One of my main concerns is what happens after year 15, when they basically can have as large a program as they want, and the gap between threshold status and weapon status becomes very small.” Well, at least the deal staved off trouble for the time being. Er, not exactly: “The more you make it clear that for any misbehavior they pay a price, and it’s the kind of price that matters to them, the more likely they are to realize the firewall is real, and the less likely they are to ever test it.” But the deal does not do that; to the contrary, it prevents graduated sanctions since imposition of any sanctions frees Iran from the deal. Sure, but Iran’s behavior in the meantime shows that it won’t exploit the deal and pursue its own religious zealotry. Not at all: “We’re already seeing them ratchet it up in Syria. Everyone is focusing on what the Russians are doing, but Iran is adding significant numbers of Revolutionary Guard forces to the ground, it’s not just Hezbollah forces. I think this is a harbinger of things to come.”
Too bad then that Ross did not unequivocally oppose the deal and urge Democrats to do the same. Now he is willing to admit it virtually guarantees that Iran will get a bomb; it has not specified means for imposing penalties without overthrowing the deal; and Iran’s behavior is worse than ever. That seems to be exactly what critics of the deal have said all along.
Ross also confirms Obama critics’ accusation that Obama is reflexively partial to the Palestinians. “It tends to look at Israel through a lens that is more competitive, more combative, that sees Israel more in problematic terms,” he explains. He adds that since Obama “looks at the Palestinians as being weak, there is this reluctance to criticize them. ‘They’re too weak to criticize’ is what I say in the Obama chapter. And if they are too weak to criticize, they are too weak to be held accountable, too weak to be responsible. They’re too weak to have a state. Well, if you want the Palestinians to have the responsibility of a state, you have to hold them responsible.” In perhaps the most damning portion of his interview, Ross lets on that Obama’s contrarianism toward the George W. Bush administration represented a deliberate attempt to alienate Israel:
When the president comes in, he thinks we have a major problem with Arabs and Muslims. And he sees that as a function of the Bush administration — an image, fairly or not, that Bush was at war with Islam. So one of the ways that he wants to show that he’s going to have an outreach to the Muslim world is that he’s going to give this speech in Cairo. So he wants to reach out and show that the US is not so close to the Israelis, which he thinks also feeds this perception. That’s why there’s an impulse to do some distancing from Israel, and that’s why the settlement issue is seized in a way.
In sum, Ross (not to mention the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren) confirms a good deal of what Obama apologists deny. It turns out the Iran deal really does not stop Iran from getting the bomb. It turns out Obama was guilty of the bigotry of low expectations, never really wanting to hold the Palestinians to account. And from the get-go, he sought to shove Israel away from the United States. It was not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “fault” that the relationship deteriorated. It was by design.
I wonder why Hillary Clinton went along with all this. And I wonder why Ross (and other responsible Democrats) waited this long, allowing this much damage to U.S. national security and the U.S.-Israel relationship to occur before speaking up. I suppose partisan loyalty and naked political ambition trump all other considerations.
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3)
| 4 wounded as terror wave returns to central Israel |
Stabbing attacks in Rishon Lezion and Netanya leave three Israelis -- including 80-year-old woman and 71-year-old man -- in serious condition • Palestinian assailants in both attacks apprehended • Firebomb hurled at Jerusalem District Court building.
Shlomi Diaz, Maytal Yasur Beit-Or, Nitzi Yakov, Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies
An Israeli police officer of the forensic unit collects blood at the site of Monday's stabbing attack in Rishon Lezion
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Photo credit: AP |
pipe bomb.
The wave of Palestinian terrorism returned to central Israel on Monday, with stabbing attacks taking place in Rishon Lezion and Netanya in which four Israelis were wounded, three of whom were left in serious condition.
The attack in Rishon Lezion, located southeast of Tel Aviv, began at around 3 p.m. A 19-year-old Palestinian man from the Hebron area boarded a bus in the center of Rishon Lezion and stabbed a 32-year-old Israeli man, seriously wounding him.
The terrorist then got off the bus and stabbed a 26-year-old Israeli man, lightly wounding him, before taking off down Herzl Street, a main thoroughfare in Rishon Lezion. Outside a bakery, the terrorist stabbed an 80-year-old Israeli woman, seriously wounding her.
Passersby began to chase the terrorist, who then entered a clothing store and tried to stab an female employee there. Fortunately, she was able to dodge the terrorist's stabbing attempt and she emerged unscathed, except for a few scratches.
Passersby who had been pursuing the terrorist entered the store and overpowered him. "We jumped on him, hit him and pinned him to the floor," Yigal Erdan, one of those who helped subdue the terrorist, said.
Police quickly arrived at the scene and handcuffed the terrorist. Meanwhile, an angry mob gathered outside the store, and some in the crowd attempted to harm the terrorist. Police moved the terrorist to an adjacent store and locked the door until the arrival of reinforcements, who pushed the crowd back. The terrorist was put into a police car and taken away for questioning.
In addition to the three Israelis who suffered stab wounds in the attack, three others were treated for symptoms of shock.
Following the attack, Rishon Lezion Mayor Dov Tzur called on residents of his city, the fourth-largest in Israel, to "remain alert, but not panic."
Later on Monday, at around 6 p.m., terror struck the coastal city of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, when a 21-year-old Palestinian man from Tulkarm stabbed a 71-year-old Israeli man, seriously wounding him. The attacker was subsequently shot by police and was transported to a hospital in serious condition.
An eyewitness said the Israeli man had been walking with his wife on the street when the Palestinian assailant suddenly shouted "Allahu akbar!" and stabbed him.
Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar said, "My heart is with the victim and his family. I wish him a speedy recovery. Nothing will disrupt our daily lives, and we will not let extremists set the agenda.
One man was arrested for trying to harm the terrorist after he had already been subdued by police.
Meanwhile, there were also a number of security incidents in Jerusalem on Monday. In the morning hours, a firebomb was thrown at the Jerusalem District Court building on Salah al-Din Street in the capital's eastern sector. No injuries or damage were reported.
"The terrorists think that attacking symbols of our authority and sovereignty in Jerusalem will deter us," Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said. "The court in Jerusalem is a symbol of justice, equality and coexistence and it will remain so, despite those who seek to sow hatred and destruction."
Also in Jerusalem on Monday, an Arab assailant smashed a female tour guide over the head with a bottle outside Jaffa Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City. The woman was lightly wounded and received medical treatment at a hospital.
Police later apprehended the attacker.
On Tuesday morning, a terrorist attack was thwarted at the Gilboa crossing near Jenin for the fourth time over the past two weeks. Israeli security personnel at the crossing arrested a Palestinian terrorist who was in possession of a knife and a pipe bomb.
3a)
What the Palestinians Think Matters
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4)-
Ignoring the Obvious
By Thomas Sowell
A recent, widely publicized incident in which a policeman was called to a school classroom to deal with a disruptive student has provoked all sorts of comments on whether the policeman used "excessive force."
What has received far less attention, though it is a far larger question, with more sweeping implications, is the role of disruptive students in schools.
Critics of charter schools have often pointed to those schools' ability to expel uncooperative and disruptive students, far more readily than regular public schools can, as a reason for some charter schools' far better educational outcomes, as shown on many tests.
The message of these critics is that it is "unfair" to compare regular public schools' results with those of charter schools serving the same neighborhoods -- and often in the same buildings. This criticism ignores the fact that schools do not exist to provide jobs for teachers or "fairness" to institutions, but to provide education for students.
"Fairness" is for human beings, not for institutions. Institutions that are not serving the needs of people should either be changed or phased out and replaced, when they persistently fail.
Despite the painfully bad educational outcomes in many public schools in ghettos across the country, there are also cases where charter schools in the very same ghettos turn out students whose test scores are not only far higher than those in other ghetto schools, but sometimes are comparable to the test scores in schools in upscale suburban communities, where children come from intact families with highly educated parents.
Charter schools with such achievements should be celebrated and imitated, not attacked by critics because of their "unfair" exemptions from some of the counterproductive rules of the education establishment. Maybe such rules should be changed for all.
If the critics are right, and getting rid of the influence of uncooperative or disruptive students contributes to better educational results, then the answer is not to prevent charter schools from expelling such students, but to allow other public schools to remove such students, when other students can benefit from getting a better education without them around.
This is especially important in low-income minority schools, where education is for many their only chance for a better life.
Back in the supposedly bad old days, before so many people became so politically correct, there were schools and other institutions that were basically dumping grounds for students who endangered the education -- and often even the safety -- of other children.
Yet a front-page story in the New York Times last week dealt with how Success Academy, a high-performing charter school network in New York City's low-income and minority neighborhoods, has been accused of "weeding out weak or difficult students."
The Times' own story opens with an account of a child who was "not following directions," who "threw tantrums," was screaming, threw pencils and refused to go to another classroom for a timeout. Yet the headline declared that charter schools "Single Out Difficult Students."
"Singled out" usually means treating someone differently from the way others are treated for doing the same things. Are convicted criminals "singled out" when they are sent to jail?
The principal of a Success Academy school in Harlem was accused of telling teachers "not to automatically send annual re-enrollment forms home to certain students, because the school did not want those students to come back."
A mother in Brooklyn complained about her son's being suspended repeatedly, and her being called repeatedly to come to school to pick him up early. She admitted that he was "hitting, kicking, biting and spitting at other children and adults."
After he was transferred to another public school, "he was very happy and had not been suspended once." How happy others were to have him in their midst was not reported.
It would be wonderful if we could develop ways to educate all students, despite whatever kinds of attitudes and behavior they had. But how many generations of other youngsters are we prepared to sacrifice to this hope that has never yet been fulfilled?
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5)
"The nuclear deal between the P5+1 countries and Iran has allowed Tehran to open “the dam” and enable its many resources to flow to Hezbollah."
“This must be a milestone for us, to build new forces that will be ready for the next Protective Edge, for Hezbollah, or for Iran in four to five years. I am very disturbed by the opening of the Iranian dam.” |
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| Hamas is digging attack tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border, and Israel is failing to take actions to stop it, a former senior military commander told a security conference on Monday. Speaking at an event entitled ‘Operation Protective Edge to the Third Intifada?’ organized by the Institute for National Security Studies, former officers offered scathing criticism of government policies at the Sapir Academic College in Sderot. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yom Tov Samia, former OC Southern Command, said the government has consistently been setting ambiguous goals for the IDF during times of conflict, goals “that cannot be checked or measured for achievements.” Samia, who said he was part of the team of officers who formulated goals during past Israeli operations in Gaza, said the government is forcing the IDF to set poorly defined goals, while failing to order preventative action between rounds of fighting. Although the defense establishment knew all about Hamas’s tunnel activities prior to Operation Protective Edge in 2014, “no preventative action was taken on tunnels,” he said, adding, “Unfortunately, right now there are tunnels being dug under the [border] fence,” and Israel is failing to stop this. “The IDF has lost the ability to go to the government, when it is quiet, and say, this is intolerable, we’d like to initiate preventative actions. The result is more tunnels. Unfortunately, this is continuing right now.” Part of the problem, Samia said, is the very nature of the Israeli government model, which leads to a “lack of sovereignty.” He also blasted the way Israel had reacted in the past to kidnappings of soldiers and civilians, affirming that kidnappings should not turn into “strategic events that shock the country. We must stop this nonsense, and I said that without trivializing human lives.” “In my eyes, Gilad Schalit was a war captive. We gave him a $30 million tank and a crew. He was captured. Captives can be released through ransom, but the country should not go into hysteria. Israel did not carry out any anti-Hamas operation for five years for fear of killing a hostage. [Then] we learned that price of releasing him was 800 terrorists, with blood on their hands,” Samia said, adding, “I think this realization is starting to trickle down in the IDF.” Samia also criticized the way the IDF reacted to the kidnapping of the late Lt. Hadar Goldin on August 1, 2014, in Gaza, when the IDF opened heavy fire from the air and artillery fire in Rafah and activated the Hannibal protocol, killing dozens of Palestinians. “After Black Friday, I sat in the command room and I felt bad. We turned over the whole city, and I knew it would not lead anywhere,” Samia said. Samia also said the existing rate of conflicts in Gaza is unsustainable for the Israeli economy. “Operation Cast Lead in 2010 did not prevent Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and that in turn did not prevent Operation Protective Edge in 2014. I can say that Operation Protective Edge will not prevent the next operation. Unless [the next operation] will be different, and unless it will have a different goal, [it too won’t prevent subsequent conflicts],” Samia said. To have an operation “every other year is ‘checkmate’ for tourism and for business. In fewer than nine years we had four complex rounds of fighting [including the Second Lebanon War] – rounds of fighting in which most Israelis were in safe rooms or bomb shelters.” Samia praised the IDF’s field units, saying that battalion, brigade, and company commanders are outstanding officers who strive to engage the enemy. “Can I say the same about division commanders?” he asked, leaving the question unanswered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Samia also blasted what he described as “festivals” of military awards and citations to soldiers following conflicts. “If full investigations, which would be embarrassing, took place... including [an investigation of] the government, then I’d be in favor of these celebrations. But unfortunately, this is not the case, and it really disturbs me.” Maj.-Gen. (res.) Ido Nahushtan, former commander of the Israel Air Force, said he is highly disturbed by the post-Iran nuclear deal reality taking shape around Israel. The 2014 conflict with Hamas was a milestone in the evolution of Iranian strategy, which is based on eroding the Israeli home front with missiles and rockets fired from civilian population centers. “It is very hard to beat it, both tactically and strategically,” Nahushtan said. With the lifting of sanctions on the Islamic Republic, Hezbollah in Lebanon is currently gaining access to Iran’s very plentiful resources, unlike Gaza, which is limited in resources. Iran and Hezbollah are bogged down in the Syrian civil war, and “this point in time is, I think, an opportunity...to prepare ourselves to better deal with this [Iranian] strategy,” Nahushtan said. Israel has developed world-leading precision strike and intelligence capabilities, and built rapid sensor- to-shooter cycles, but these are still inadequate for future conflicts, he warned. Israel’s air superiority is not assured over Lebanon during a future clash with Hezbollah due to its plentiful surface-to-air missile systems. “Their goal is to hit and wear out Israel. It works for them. They invest in it, both in Gaza and Lebanon. They view tunnels as assets. They view our air defenses as their weakness, and they are working on overcoming this,” the former IAF chief said. “What have we learned? Despite the exceptional defense offered by Iron Dome, and the IAF, and despite the exceptional strikes on enemy forces, this [current] equation is bad for Israel. Fifty one days of conflict, all over Israel, that disrupted lives. Thankfully, we sustained low casualties, but this is before they learned their lessons. We want to do things better,” Nahushtan said. “We want to be able to hit every place that they fire from. We need another kind of intelligence, and another kind of direct strike capability. We have to decide that we want this. We must also invest in subterranean warfare. In terms of intelligence, we should strive for higher resolution, and automation.” The nuclear deal between the P5+1 countries and Iran has allowed Tehran to open “the dam” and enable its many resources to flow to Hezbollah. “This must be a milestone for us, to build new forces that will be ready for the next Protective Edge, for Hezbollah, or for Iran in four to five years. I am very disturbed by the opening of the Iranian dam.” | ||
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