07May 7 Israel News Launch

“Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

Winograd Commission - Israel's
Iraq Study Group Report
(An Excuse for everyone with an axe to grind)

The charismatic leader also said that the Winograd commission “admitted the defeat. The word 'defeat' has appeared more than 100 times" in its interim report.”

"The first important result of the commission is that it has settled -- officially and for good -- the issue of victory and defeat," Sheikh Nasrallah stressed. However he said "It's a pity that we have to wait for an Israeli commission to confirm our victory."

Arab media trumpet signs of Israel's defeat
By Khaled Abu Toameh Ramallah Jerusalem Post May. 1, 2007

For many Palestinians and Arabs, the results of the report are an indication of Israel's "bankruptcy on all levels, especially the security and political level." Political commentators throughout the Arab world said the report was also a sign of Israel's military weakness and hailed Hizbullah for defeating the "invincible" IDF.

Hezbollah: Winograd report is proof we were victorious
By Yoav Stern Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies 5-1-07

"The Winograd report stressed that Hezbollah was victorious and that Israel is beatable," a senior spokesman for the Iranian-backed group told the organization's Al-Manar television channel. Nawaf Musawi, head of international relations for Hezbollah, called the war a "divine victory" against Israel. He said that the report proves that senior Israeli officials had underestimated Hezbollah's power, adding that "no one will take us lightly from now on, especially since we have only gained strength of late."

You wouldn't know it from the tsunami of commentary, but the Winograd Committee's report takes a decidedly dovish position on the Second Lebanon War. . . . Despite the impression given by the media, the Winograd report is no vindication of the hawkishness that has informed the Israeli public's post-war backlash against Ehud Olmert, Amir Peretz and Dan Halutz. . . . THE ISRAELI "street" thinks the Winograd Report confirmed its judgment that Israel's only problem in the war was that it was led by a bunch of screw-ups; the media, inevitably, echo this consensus. . . . Amnesia, denial, a need for scapegoats, a desperate belief in military force - all of this will be on display tonight in Rabin Square as masses of Israelis chant for Olmert's resignation.

Sore winners
Interesting Times column by Saul Singer Jerusalem Post May. 3, 2007

The least I can do when looking back…is not to ignore what I wrote at the time. While it may be fair to demand of our leaders wisdom that we pundits don't possess, we should at least have the humility to admit that that is what we are doing. . . . there is a difference between productive soul-searching and wallowing in self-criticism.. . . Renowned Iran expert Amir Taheri, in his May 3 Jerusalem Post interview, said the war "destroyed" Hizbullah.

"That Hizbullah tried to camouflage its defeat by provoking a political crisis in Lebanon indicates its understanding that the situation has changed... Usually in war, you talk of "decimation" - an army's losing one-tenth of its manpower. In this case, Hizbullah lost about a quarter of its fighters. It also lost literally all of its missile launching pads in the south... In other words, it lost manpower, territory and weaponry. What else do you want?"

It's been a long time since I've felt so out of place. I stood in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on Thursday evening ….Around me stood people wearing yarmulkas, settlers and Likudniks, their eyes shining, chanting "Olmert go home." They hadn't come to throw out the prime minister who failed in Lebanon. They came to take revenge on the man who was behind the Gaza disengagement plan, who supported former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who masterminded the convergence plan that has since died yet still talks about a Palestinian state.

PM returns fire: Those seeking political gain should 'slow down'
By Haaretz Service and agencies May 2, 2007

"Anyone who runs to exploit the situation in order to make political gains of one kind or another, I advise you to slow down," Olmert told his adversaries. . . . Olmert said that "it is clear that the report points to serious failures in the functioning of the government and I, who is at its head," but he added, "while submitting the report, the Winograd panel stressed, that the most important thing is to look towards the future."

Summary of the Winograd Committee interim report
By Jerusalem Post Staff April 30, 2007

Read the summary unclassified report of Justice Eliyahu Winograd, Law Professor Ruth Gavison, Political Science Professor Yehezkel Dror, General (ret.) Menachem Einan, General (ret.) Chaim Nadel.

A simple statement made by a national legislative leader in Washington this week indicates that a war is being lost, but it is not the war in Iraq. It is the defeat of the War of Ideas taking place nowadays in the US Congress.

Dr. Walid Phares is author of the War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy.
He is the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

Bishara suspected of aiding Hizbullah for money
By Efrat Weiss Ynetnews Yediot Aharonot 5-2-07

Gag order on investigation against former Israeli Arab Knesset Minister was lifted Wednesday. According to suspicions, Bishara gave Hizbullah information on strategic locations in Israel that should be attacked with rockets during last summer's war, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of shekels

Bishara allegedly gave the enemy targets, classified info
By Yaakov Katz Jerusalem Post May. 2, 2007

Former Balad chairman Azmi Bishara is suspected of spying for Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War and providing the group with targets and classified military information, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Wednesday.

How did the West misunderstand what Hizbullah represented in terms of the rules of war? For Ganor, the problem is that the rules of war - whether the Hague Convention of 1907 that regulates the conduct of battle or the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 that protects civilians caught in a war situation - were not crafted to deal with present-day insurgents who endanger civilians as a pillar of their strategy.

Turkey’s Islamic-rooted party dealt blow
By Suzan Frazer The Ottawa Recorder May 6, 2007

ANKARA, Turkey - The Islamic-rooted government suffered another setback Sunday when parliament failed again to reach a quorum to elect its presidential candidate in an ongoing rift between the ruling party and the secular establishment.. ..Turkey‘s secularism is enshrined in the constitution and guarded by the judiciary and the powerful military, which has threatened to intervene to ensure that secularism is enforced.

A Modern Lafayette?
The election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France
likely means stronger ties with the United States and Israel.
By Christopher Dickey Newsweek May 7, 2007

Sarkozy writes in the preface to the U.S. edition of “Testimony,” “I have no intention of apologizing for feeling an affinity with the greatest democracy in the world.” Opting more for Bushism than Gaullism, Sarkozy extols the transatlantic alliance with the United States “that enabled France and Western Europe to preserve their freedom.”

A vast majority of Israeli Arabs would support a constitution that maintained Israel's status as a Jewish and democratic state while guaranteeing equal rights for minorities, according to a poll whose results were published on Sunday.. . . Over the past year a number of Israeli Arab organizations, such as Adalah and the Mossawa Center, have published plans calling for a new "multi-cultural" constitution.

Poll: Palestinians increasingly disillusioned with unity government
YNet Updates Yediot Aharonot 4-29-07

Palestinians are increasingly disillusioned with political parties and their new unity government and feel more threatened by growing lawlessness, according to a poll released Sunday. . . .More than half, or 53 percent, said they don’t expect the new Hamas-Fatah coalition, set up in March, to be able to lift international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

PA favorable to benchmarks plan, Hamas rejects it
By Avi Issacharoff Haaretz 5-7-07

The Palestinian Authority has reacted favorably to the U.S.'s so-called benchmarks plan offering an eight-month timetable for steps to bolster prospects for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, a Palestinian official told Haaretz. The PLO Executive Committee had discussed the plan yesterday in Ramallah.. . . PLO rival Hamas declared it was rejecting the benchmarks proposal, whose existence was first reported by Haaretz.

The Sanhedrin’s peace initiative
Jewish group devoted to rebuilding Temple in Jerusalem to send letters to all world leaders, including Arab ones, inviting them to take part in project, attend conference on Temple Mount in Israel
By Kobi Nahshoni Ynetnews Yediot Aharonot 5-1-07

In the letter, the rabbis of the self-proclaimed Sanhedrin warn that the world is nearing a catastrophe, and write that the only way to bring peace among nations, states, and religions is by building a house for God, where Jews will worship, pray and offer up sacrifice, according to the vision of the prophets.

"If they are willing to serve in mixed units", said a source in IDF human resources, "we will open the Golani and paratrooper divisions to hesder. There's a lot of importance to integrating religious and secular soldiers, and we must remember that this is a people's army and a melting pot for Israeli society - everyone should work together and there is no reason to have homogenous units."

Sources acquainted with Stern said that he has always opposed the segregation of religious Zionist soldiers from their secular peers. However, in the wake of the disengagement from Gaza and North Samaria, during which large numbers of hesder soldiers and their rabbis threatened to refuse orders to evacuate Jewish settlements, Stern began pushing more aggressively for full integration of hesder soldiers. Stern sees integration as a means of "watering down" the ideological intensity of the hesder cliques in the IDF.

Egypt has expressed newfound interest in allowing Israel to construct a moat along the Philadelphi Route separating the Sinai Desert from the Gaza Strip to combat Palestinian weapons smuggling, senior defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post. . . . The official explained that the moat was back on the table after the Egyptian border police force of 750 soldiers had proven inadequate in the fight against the tunnel operators on the Egyptian side of the border.

Closing Thought

Our enemies see us as one people. Why can’t we?
In the Trenches: Posted by David Harris Jerusalem Post Blogs April 30 2007

Iran calls for Israel’s destruction and seeks the means to achieve it. Hizbullah is rebuilding its military strength in Lebanon. Hamas is replicating the Hizbullah model in Gaza. Holocaust denial, Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion all enjoy widespread popularity in the Middle East. The Jews are depicted as the “sons of monkeys and pigs” in too many mosques. And an increasing number of Jewish institutions around the world are living behind ever higher protective walls and other security measures. Meanwhile, how are we Jews reacting?

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We seek to digest the facts, spit out as much rhetoric,
bias and prejudice as possible,
shine a light on the under-reported aspects,
then position ourselves before God to pray as He leads.
This will produce much more effective
Issachar prayer warriors for Israel.
–Donna Diorio www.israelprayer.com