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Moshe Arens spoke for me in D.C when he was Israel's Ambassador. He was a fine diplomat, a decent and intelligent man and also quite rational. (See 2 and 2a below.)
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PC garbage hits Canada and soon Sharia Law will be hitting our nation all in the name of protecting the human rights of radicals who would destroy your freedoms at the blink of an eye.
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Abbas never heard of the U.N. but it is the same organization he applies to for establishing his own state which Palestinian leaders constantly reject when offered. (See 3 below.)
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Dick
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1) McDonald’s Announces Its Answer to $15 an Hour Minimum Wage – Touch-Screen Cashiers
McDonalds Self-service kiosks will expand to at least 2,000 locations in 2015...
This is exactly what the left pushed for.
Fast food chains were never meant to be a place for someone to raise a family of 6. They were to be part time positions with some full-time advancements.
Mostly the fast food restaurants were for school aged kids, to learn how to interact with people, with a job, to offer spending money, and to begin responsibility learning for their future.
The part time position was not intended to pay for a house, it is a stepping stone to move on...
$15.00/hr x 8 hrs= $120/day x 5 days= $600/week x 52 weeks = $31,200/year!!
Of course when this happens, like it did today in Los Angeles , the poor and unskilled workers will go on unemployment, then on Welfare, and cost American workers more to support them.
McDonald’s recently came out with their answer to those that want $15/hr pay. Robots!
Many other food chains AND now RESTAURANTS alike are now switching over to kiosks/touchscreens to replace their cashiers, and servers too!
For the same reasons as McDonalds is making this move worldwide, these businesses
simply cannot afford to operate and pay your demanded minimum wage of $15 per hour
plus benefits to their workers/servers!
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2) Don't blame latest terror wave on breakdown of peace talks. These terrorists cannot be appeased. Their aim is death to the infidels — to the Jews and the 'Crusaders.'
Are we witnessing another intifada or just part of the worldwide jihad? Does it make any difference what we call it? The name may not matter but understanding the roots of the latest wave of violence can provide the key to dealing with it effectively.
Many commentators claim that the recent upsurge in violence is an expression of frustration and impatience with the lack of progress in negotiations between Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. That it is in effect a third intifada that might very well spread and grow more violent in the future. The conclusion to be drawn from this assumption is that Israel needs to make dramatic moves that will provide a “political horizon" and an indication of the concessions that Israel is prepared to make. Such moves should presumably include the cessation of building activity in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem, and renewed expression of Israel’s readiness to support a “two-state” solution.
The well known French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy takes a different view. “It is highly doubtful”, he writes in The Algemeiner, that intifada is the right term to apply to acts that bear more resemblance to the latest installment of a worldwide jihad of which Israel is just one stage." Those who have seen on Youtube a recent sermon by the preacher Muhammad Salah, delivered at the Al Abrar Mosque in the Gaza city of Rafah, might tend to agree with him. Brandishing a knife in front of the microphone, he calls to “my brothers in the West Bank, stab! Plunge this knife into the belly of your enemies. Cut them into body parts." To the Jews he says, “you have come here of your own volition to be slaughtered in our land." Probably not many Israelis have watched this sermon, but no doubt many Palestinians have seen it, and possibly some of those who stabbed Jews in the streets of Jerusalem were inspired by it.
The preacher in the Gaza Strip is obviously not seeking a two-state solution. It is likely that those who are inspired by him or by similar sermons held in other mosques who go out to stab Jews or run them over in the street are not doing so because they have lost hope in the peace efforts chaperoned by John Kerry. It may even be that the status quo on the Temple Mount is of little interest to them.
If that is the case then Levy may very well be right. What we have seen on the streets of Jerusalem in recent weeks is just another chapter of the wave of radical Islamic terror that has attacked targets around the world during the last few years. The perpetrators are inspired by the gruesome decapitations carried out by ISIS in front of television cameras in Syria and Iraq. The knife wielders in Hebron are probably longing for the “good old days” when their ancestors butchered the Jewish community there with knives and hatchets in 1929. These terrorists cannot be appeased. Their aim is death to the infidels — to the Jews and the “Crusaders”.
The efforts being made to prove that the status quo on the Temple Mount has not been altered is of little interest to them. The installation of cameras on the Temple Mount is not going to appease them. They believe that not only should Jews not be allowed to pray there, but they should not be allowed to be there at all, and moreover that there is no place for Jews in this land. The resumption of negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas may please Kerry and may relieve some of the pressure from King Abdullah II in Amman, but it is not going to placate those brandishing knives in the streets of Jerusalem and Hebron.
The answer to their kind of murderous activity is the same all over the world: effective police work and constant alertness on the part of the civilian population. Fortunately, in both these areas Israel excels.
2a)
2a)
Putin’s Russia and Israel: A tenuous relationship
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| IIsi | ||
For over 30 years, my principal public occupation in the global Jewish arena was to promote the struggle for liberation of Soviet Jewry. This brought me into direct contact with Soviet ministers, officials and apparatchiks, enabling me to appreciate firsthand the obsessive anti-Semitism underlying the Kremlin’s policy toward Israel and the Jews.
This contrasts starkly with current Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positive attitude to Jews in general, despite the fact that he was a former officer of the Soviet secret police agency, the KGB, a body notorious for its anti-Semitism. This is even more extraordinary taking into account the fact that Putin today exploits nationalism as a major element to rally public support. And it was Russian nationalism, from the time of the czars and heavily reinforced by the Soviets, that has operated in tandem with a feral anti-Semitism.
There are no rational explanations for Putin’s extraordinary attitude toward Jews, which some have gone as far as to describe as being motivated by philo-Semitism. Some say he was influenced as a youngster by his Jewish German teacher, Mina Yuditskaya, now living in Israel, whom he invited for a social chat to the King David Hotel during his last visit. He may also be highly sophisticated and pragmatic, and having seen the outcome of Soviet anti-Semitism, may have come to a realization that Jewish support would represent an asset at many levels.
Putin has ruthlessly suppressed violent anti-Semitism. He has gone out of his way to attend Jewish functions, such as the opening of a Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, to which he contributed $50 million of state funds and even symbolically personally donated a month’s salary. He also attended Hanukkah celebrations and conveyed warm messages of praise and goodwill to Jews on the advent of the Jewish New Year -- utterly unprecedented, especially from a nationalist Russian leader.
It is also astonishing that, despite his strategic involvement and alliance with the Syrians and Iranians, Putin has determinedly kept the channels to Israel open, making a point to personally visit Israel and in June 2012, Israel was the first country he visited after his election. He frequently speaks warmly about the Jewish state, expressing pride that it contains the largest diaspora of former Russian citizens. At the Western Wall, accompanied by Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, he donned a kippah, which would undoubtedly have made his Bolshevik predecessors turn in their graves. He also seemed quite indifferent to the rage this created among his Arab allies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deftly steered a delicate diplomatic balancing act seeking to retain a good relationship with the Russians without antagonizing the Americans in relation to both Ukraine and Georgia. No Israeli minister has criticized Putin despite his alliance with Syria and Iran.
Indeed, until recently, Netanyahu managed to persuade Putin to postpone providing the Syrians with the S-300 air defense system, whose deployment would make it far more difficult for Israel to penetrate Syrian air space in the event of a military confrontation.
However, due to U.S. President Barack Obama’s incredible mismanagement, Putin’s major geopolitical breakthrough has transformed Russia overnight into a dominant power in the Middle East with greater influence in the region than even at its peak during the Cold War. Even Egypt has been alienated by U.S. support for the Muslim Brotherhood to such an extent that it too has moved closer to the Russian camp.
The U.S. has effectively enabled an economically weak Russia to seal an alliance with the Shiites, purportedly to combat ISIS but in reality concentrating on rescuing Assad, who, despite massive support from Iran and Hezbollah, was close to collapse.
Putin mocked the Americans for trying to promote “democracy” and in so doing created the vacuum that was rapidly filled by ISIS. At the U.N. General Assembly, Putin, speaking about Western support for the so-called Arab Spring, said, “Do you realize what you have done? ... Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster – and nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life.”
In contrast to a bumbling Obama, he emerged as a shrewd and tough strategist who can be relied upon to stand by his allies and confront his enemies.
As a consequence, the situation has become immensely more complicated for Israel and there are logical grounds for concern that Russia’s ongoing confrontation with the U.S. will override Putin’s emotional philo-Semitism. His recent meeting in which he expressed solidarity with Assad in Moscow was hardly reassuring.
But the situation remains far from black and white. Immediately after announcing Russia’s intervention, Putin agreed to a three-hour summit meeting with Netanyahu, who flew to Moscow where parameters were drawn in order to minimize any possible military overlap and try to protect some of Israel’s security concerns. Coordination has been maintained at the very highest military levels between both countries, with Russia operating a direct hotline with Yossi Cohen, Israel’s national security adviser, informing him in advance of Russia bombing targets in Syria.
Furthermore, according to Ehud Yaari of Channel 2, the Russians have allocated a future role for Israel in their area of influence by offering to buy a substantial chunk of Israel’s newly discovered gas fields and provide military guarantees against Hezbollah attacks on the offshore locations. It is also proposing to export this gas to Europe.
But Israel remains the meat in the sandwich. It must walk on eggshells to avoid alienating the U.S. Congress, which is bitterly opposed to Putin’s global expansionism.
Some predict that Putin is merely taking advantage of establishing Russia as a Mediterranean Great Power. He is most unlikely to involve his ground forces after its ordeal in Afghanistan. Realizing that a complete victory is not in the cards, Putin may secure Assad, settle on a divided Syria and leverage Assad’s retirement in return for U.S. concessions such as easing sanctions relating to Ukraine.
Profoundly conscious of the Iranian regime’s messianic aspirations to wipe Israel off the face of the planet, optimists consider the possibility that the Russians will inhibit the Iranians from directly attacking Israel. They argue that Shiite fundamentalists like the Iranians also pose long-term threats to the Kremlin with Russia’s growing and increasingly aggressive Muslim minority which is also being affected by ISIS -- a large proportion of whose fighters originate from Russia and former Soviet countries.
The Netanyahu government is to be commended for its efforts to isolate itself from the conflict. But the situation is volatile and could unravel in the course of intensified superpower confrontations in this region. Israel is also cognizant of potential confrontations with the Russians should they continue to intervene when Iranians seek to transfer advanced missiles to Hezbollah.
However, it is a consolation that all things being even, Putin would prefer not to confront Israel and does not aspire to bring about its destruction, as did the Bolsheviks. However, that could change if Putin were to conclude that Israel represents a major barrier to his objective of creating a new Middle East.
It remains somewhat surrealistic for me to juxtapose Putin’s positive attitude with my experiences with Soviet anti-Semites. Neither I nor any of the refuseniks would have remotely dreamed that, living in Israel, we would witness the visit of a former KGB officer as president of Russia who displays friendship rather than malevolence to the Jewish people. We must pray that this will not be swept aside by realpolitik.
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Isi Leibler may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
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3)-Abbas says all of Israel is "occupation"
Click to view
WAFA quoting Abbas' words:
3)-Abbas says all of Israel is "occupation"
Abbas:
"How long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last?After 67 years (i.e., Israel's creation), how long?
Do you think it can last?"
by Itamar Marcus
Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas disclosed his opinion about Israel, speaking last week to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Abbas made it clear that he rejects Israel's right to exist in any borders as he denounced what he called the Israeli "occupation" of "67 years" - that is, since Israel's creation in 1948. The PA routinely teaches its children that it sees all of Israel as an "occupation" that will end some day, as Palestinian Media Watch has shown. It is rare that Abbas himself says this in an international forum. Abbas said: "How long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last?" - implying that he sees all of Israel as "an occupation" that rightfully should not "last."
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, haven't you wondered: For how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last? After 67 years (i.e., Israel's creation), how long? Do you think it can last, and that it benefits the Palestinian people?"
[UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, official PA TV, Oct. 28, 2015]
Later on in the speech, Abbas repeated that he considers Israel an "occupation" since its creation. He also demonized Israel:
"[The] holy sites which have been desecrated every other second again and again for seven decades now under an occupation that does not quit killing, torturing, looting and imprisoning..."
It should be noted that Abbas' first statement that he views Israel as an "occupation" since its creation "67 years" ago - did not appear in the transcript of his speech that the official PA news agency WAFA publicized in both English and Arabic. WAFA publicized Abbas' rejection of the "occupation," but the next sentence specifying "67 years... Do you think it can last?" did not appear in WAFA's transcript.WAFA quoting Abbas' words:
"Ladies and gentlemen, haven't you wondered; for how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last?" [WAFA (official PA news agency, English), Oct. 28, 2015]
Abbas' actual words:
"Ladies and gentlemen, haven't you wondered; for how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last? After 67 years (i.e., since Israel's creation), until when? Do you think it can last?"
PA institutions and Abbas' Fatah movement support this vision, as PMW has documented numerous times.
The PA National Security Forces regularly presents pictures of Israel as "Palestine" on its Facebook page. In the last week alone, the PA Security Forces presented Israeli cities Ashkelon, Haifa and Acre as "occupied":
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