The march for Gilead Shalits release
This past week, 15,000 supporters joined the Shalit family under the slogan “At any price”, what the Shalit supporters mean is that Gilead Shalit must be released at any price. This belief in giving-in to Arab demands at any price reminds me of other political decisions under the slogan “At any price”. Previous decisions to release hundreds of convicted terrorists who returned to commit acts of terror and murdering tens of innocent men, women, and children. Or, how about the 2005 disengagement that was implemented at “At any price” bringing on the Gaza War and thousands of rockets landing on southern Israel. Or how about the sudden abandonment of the I.D.F. from southern Lebanon “at any price”, bringing on the second Intifada of 2000 and the second Lebanon War of 2006 and thousands of rockets landing on northern Israel. What ties all of these events together is this false believe that if you give the Arabs what they want “At any price”, they will make peace and accept Israel here in the Middle East. Maybe the idea of “Land for Peace” is the ultimate expression of how “At any price” is nothing more than a false and dangerous political movement that weakens Israel.
The impending retirement of Meir Dagan, the head of the Mossad
When Meir Dagan was appointed head of the Mossad in 2002 by the former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, one of the first things he did reportedly was hang an old black and- white picture, fraying at the corners, on a wall in his office at the spy agency’s headquarters.
The black-and-white picture is of an old bearded Jew, wearing a tallit and kneeling down in front of two Nazi soldiers, one with a stick in his hand, the other carrying a rifle slung over his shoulder.
“Look at this picture,” Dagan, 65, reportedly often urges visitors to his highly secure office. “This man, kneeling down before the Nazis, was my grandfather just before he was murdered. I look at this picture every day and promise that the Holocaust will never happen again.”
The injunction “never again” has characterized Dagan’s eight-year tenure as head of the Mossad. It underpins the two main objectives on which he has focused the organization: preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and waging a covert shadow war against Israel’s axis of evil – Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. Despite his impending retirement, I would hope that he leaves the picture of his grandfather on the wall so that his replacement will continue to be greeted every morning by this picture and the message the picture resonates.
Russian Spies in America (“the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming, everybody from street”)
It will be very interesting to compare the international fallout following the recent discovery of an alleged Russian spy ring in the US. According to recent reports, the FBI has claimed that at least one of the alleged spies was in possession of a forged British passport.
It is worth waiting to see whether there will be a discrepancy between the way the Foreign Office in London responded to the reported use of British passports allegedly by Israel in the Dubai operation and the way it responds in the Russian case in which Russia allegedly used British passports by the tri-state Russian spy ring
“I wonder what outrage the British government will express concerning the latest reports of forged British passports – this time apparently by the Russian government,” said Tom Gross, a former Israel correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph and an expert on British politics and media. “Will furious denunciations be made, and senior Russian diplomats in the UK be deported, or is such action only reserved for Israelis?” As usual, Israel will be once again shown to have been judged by double standards that are uniquely reserved for Israel, and for Jews particularly, remember the Rosenberg spy sandal