ACPR - A View from the US by Prof. Louis Rene Beres

Power Versus Weakness
Hidden Meanings of the Gaza Flotilla

After the Israeli Gaza Flotilla interdiction, it is difficult to understand the real difference between power and weakness. On the surface, at least in tangible military terms, Israel would appear to have had a determinative upper hand. In fact, the alleged plight of the flotilla passengers, however contrived, created an extended public relations nightmare for Jerusalem. This seemingly improbable result bestowed upon Hamas and its multiple Islamist allies (including al-Qaeda, which surely didn’t advertise its geo-strategic links to the flotilla), a substantial measure of power.
Back on land, Gaza itself best illustrates the core issues and ironies. It is easy to feel sorry for the “struggling Palestinians” on this still-barren place. It is easy, after all, to forget that this is still a medieval society constructed solely upon violence and hatred.

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Mr. Obama’s Contradictions and Israeli Survival

Earlier this month, Vice-President Biden boldly acknowledged that Israel, “as a sovereign nation,” has the right to protect itself against a nuclearizing Iran. In law, the precise preemptive action that Mr. Biden had in mind is called “anticipatory self-defense”. Now, however, a parade of high-level envoys from Washington offers Jerusalem very different “advice.” In essence, whether one listens to visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, or next-to-visit National Security Advisor James Jones, the dreary and infinitely futile message is still “tougher sanctions.”
On several occasions, we recall, the United Nations had already imposed “serious” sanctions against Iran. Nonetheless, uranium enrichment has only accelerated in that country. At no time has Tehran shown even the slightest inclination to value a promised proper place in the “international community” more highly than getting “the bomb.” Once again, Washington just doesn’t get it.

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Why Palestinian Demilitarization Won’t Work: An Informed Legal Brief

Early in his presidency, Barack Obama declared his solid commitment to a Palestinian state. In principle, this now oft-repeated declaration of support for Palestinian “self-determination” might not have been unreasonable if the Palestinian side were also committed to a “Two-State Solution”. Yet, both Fatah and Hamas – even as they slaughter each other – continue to agree on one central annihilatory point. This is their unchanging mantra that all of Israel is integrally part of “Palestine”.

Ironically, therefore, the American president, searching hopefully for a Middle East peace, is in fact only urging the creation of yet another terror state in the region. Fashioned officially by the so-called Quartet – the United States; Russia; the European Union and the United Nations – this wrongheaded urging stems from a diplomatic framework known formally as The Road Map for Implementation of a Permanent Solution for Two States in the Israel-Palestinian Dispute. Together with an openly insistent Palestinian refusal to reject the “Phased Plan” (Cairo) of June 1974, and an associated no-compromise Jihad to “liberate” all of “occupied Palestine” in increments, the Road Map reveals another generally unforeseen danger. Lacking a full understanding of pertinent international law and of antecedent Natural Law,^{both the United States and Israel could be misled in this devious cartography
by certain erroneous expectations concerning Palestinian “demilitarization”.}

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Barack Obama and Israel

As published in US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, Friday, June 5, 2009
(“Obama’s Eloquence on Israel Pales Beside Iran’s Dreams of a Final Solution”)

Even US President Barack Obama understands that credible threats to annihilate Israel are now commonplace. Such threats, sometimes boisterous, sometimes subtle, originate in several different countries. Were it not for Israel’s “bomb in the basement” – its still-unacknowledged nuclear force - these more or less openly genocidal warnings would portend authentically existential harms.

Applying economic sanctions to Iran has always been foolish. Soon, Iran will join the Nuclear Club. When this happens, Tehran’s membership may coincide with a persisting Iranian leadership belief in the Shi’ite apocalypse. Israel, therefore, could soon face not only more Palestinian suicide-bombers (President Obama’s recycled plans for a “Two-State Solution” will only enlarge Palestinian terrorism), but also a “suicide state”.

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Obama Repeating Past Mistakes: The Enduring Perils of a “Two State Solution”

In Washington, alas, there has been too little learning from lessons of the past. Almost daily, President Obama still repeats the tired clichés about a “Two State Solution”. In Jerusalem, however, Prime Minister Netanyahu fully realizes that any such plan would lead his own country only to a Final Solution.

Mr. Obama refuses to acknowledge that “Palestine” would represent another enemy state. Although fragmented by civil war, both Fatah and Hamas would seek closer ties to Iran. There would also be substantial collaborations with al-Qa`idah, ties that are now already being fashioned in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

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Life or Death for Israel in the Time of “Apocalypse”

Threats to literally annihilate Israel are now unremarkable. Almost nowhere do we find any reason for camouflage or concealment. Were it not for Israel’s “bomb in the basement” – its still-unacknowledged nuclear force – these openly genocidal threats would represent much more than verbal bluster. Nonetheless, barring any last-minute Israeli preemptions (anticipatory self-defense under international law), Iran’s ascent to full membership in the Nuclear Club is now less than several years away.

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Deceptions of a "Nuclear Weapons-Free World"
Why President Barack Obama's Good Intentions Could Bring Genocidal War to Israel

In his clearly expressed preference for a world without nuclear weapons, US President Barack Obama certainly means well. To be sure, his idealized vision of such a world seems at least viscerally desirable. The issue, however, is not just the enduring and possibly irremediable security problem of strategic uncertainty and verification, but also that nuclear weapons are not inherently evil or even per se destabilizing. In many critical circumstances, as we should already have learned from basic Soviet-American peace during the Cold War, nuclear weapons can even be indispensable to the avoidance of catastrophic war.

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Terrorism, Sacrifice and Life Everlasting:
Uncommon Insights for President Barack Obama

Dealing with terrorism will be at the very top of our new president’s agenda. Here it is important that he understand something odd. The core basis of Jihadist terror has little if anything to do with strategy and tactics. Rather, it is “normally” an expression of religious sacrifice.

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The Ultimate and Still Unforseen Dangers of a Palestinian State
What President Barack Obama Should Know

Somehow, despite their uninterrupted pleas for statehood, the Palestinians manage to stand stubbornly in their own way. Time after time, whenever they seem on the threshold of a proper Palestinian state, their leaders unleash new and unproductive spasms of random violence. Over time, this collective self-destructiveness has been characteristic of both Fatah and Hamas, sometimes even when the two terrorist organizations are systematically murdering each other.

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On Quashing Anti-Government Dissent in Yesha Communities –
Perspectives of National Law, International Law and Jewish Law

In recent months, Israel’s Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, has issued several administrative expulsion orders. The point of these orders, of course, has been to quash anti-government dissent in various Jewish communities in Yesha (Judea and Samaria). In issuing these orders, the IDF generally works together with ISA (Israel Security Agency) or “Shin Bet”. My understanding is that the designated recipients are not always informed as to the precise reason for the orders, nor have they any effective right of appeal. Additionally, and significantly (especially in a Jewish society that claims to be a democracy), the expulsion orders are incontestably the product of an already-fallen government...

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