Scoring an Own Goal, ‘The Biggest Political Mistake of the War So Far’

...That single FAA decision did more than any political argument ever could to ensure that Israel won’t be leaving the West Bank anytime soon. Having long argued that such a withdrawal would be untenably dangerous, I’m certainly not sorry. But for the Obama administration, it was definitely an own goal.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary Magazine..
27 July '14..

On Friday, the always perceptive Walter Russell Mead termed the FAA’s decision to suspend flights to Israel last week “the biggest political mistake of the war so far.” Mead was referring to the decision’s impact on a cease-fire, but it actually has far larger political implications. In one fell swoop, it destroyed the main diplomatic return the Obama Administration hoped to earn on its years of generous support for the Iron Dome anti-missile system: increased Israeli willingness to withdraw from the West Bank.

While Congress’s motive in supporting Iron Dome was mainly to save Israeli lives, the Obama administration always had an additional motive: countering Israeli fears that ceding the West Bank would lead to “rockets from Nablus, Ramallah and Jenin onto Ben-Gurion Airport,” as Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon put it, just as leaving Gaza resulted in massive rocket fire on Israel’s south. If Iron Dome could protect Israel from rocket fire, the argument went, then Israel needn’t fear a West Bank withdrawal.

Until last week, that argument might have had a chance: True, Hamas was sending rocket barrages all over Israel and forcing Israelis into shelters several times a day, but the combination of Iron Dome and civil defense measures kept Israeli casualties negligible.

Last week, however, Israelis learned that even Iron Dome can’t keep their main airport open when their neighbors are launching rockets at it. No anti-missile system is foolproof, and one intentionally missed rocket proved enough for most of the world to suspend flights to Israel.

As Mead correctly noted, the discovery that Hamas’s rockets can threaten its main transportation link to the outside world makes it much harder for Israel to end the fighting without eliminating Hamas’s rocket capabilities. But it also makes it much harder for Israel to quit the West Bank as long as there’s any chance of it turning into a rocket launching pad like Gaza has.

The vast majority of Israel’s foreign investment and trade comes from the West, and Israel’s geographic distance from the West means this commerce depends on aerial traffic. With its airport shuttered, investors can’t come in and time-sensitive exports can’t go out. Thus Israel simply cannot afford to have its air links with the West at the mercy of a terrorist organization. Its economy wouldn’t survive.

Hamas takes aim and targets Israel’s lifeline

...Hamas believes that its human shield strategy will continue to constrain Israel and protect its headquarters and rocket launchers. But there is a limit to how much pressure the international community can apply, and if Israel’s leaders feel that the threat from Hamas is approaching an unacceptable level, they might loosen rules of engagement and stop answering the phone. I think a rocket barrage aimed at the airport falls into this category. This is even more evidence, if any more is needed, that there must be no ceasefire until Hamas’ offensive capabilities are fully neutralized — whatever that takes.

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
22 July '14..




News item:

In a sign of increased caution about flying near combat zones, US and European airlines halted flights to Israel Tuesday after a rocket landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines suspended service between the US and Israel indefinitely. US Airways scrapped its one flight to Tel Aviv Tuesday. Germany’s Lufthansa and Air France also suspended flights. The actions come days after a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine with 298 people on board.

Following the action by the US airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited US airlines from flying to the Tel Aviv airport for 24 hours.

This is a very grave development. Ben-Gurion airport is Israel’s main connection to the rest of the world. The economic and psychological disruption that could occur if it were to be closed for a long period would be very severe.

The immediate cause was a Hamas rocket which landed in Yahud, about 1 mile away, and it appears that Hamas is now trying to fire rockets in this direction, as they have threatened to do. Although the airport itself is protected by an Iron Dome system, it’s easy to see why airlines might be nervous. It’s hard enough flying into busy airspace without having to worry about rockets falling from the sky and Tamir missiles coming up to meet them from below.

In fact, one of the most powerful arguments against withdrawing from Judea and Samaria is that it would enable terrorists to subject the airport to the kind of bombardment that has so far been reserved for Sderot and the kibbutzim next door to Gaza.

An Outrageous Act on Behalf of Hamas - Israel, the FAA, and International Isolation

An Outrageous Act on Behalf of Hamas

Israel was shocked by the FAA's swift and sudden decision Tuesday to suspend all US civilian air traffic to Tel Aviv. The move was made without an investigation, without issuing any warning, and without any discussion with Israel. As my friend Prof. Eugene Kontorovich from Northwestern Law School explains in the post below published on Commentary's website, the FAA's action is over the top when compared to its continued willingness to permit US civilian aircraft to take off and land in Afghanistan. After all, in stark contrast to the situation in Israel, military aircraft in Afghanistan have been downed by Taliban forces. The double standard the FAA has applied to Israel leads necessarily to the conclusion that concern for aircraft safety was not the primary cause for the FAA ruling.
-Caroline Glick

Eugene Kontorovich..
Commentary Magazine..
22 July '14..

For years, peace processors and pundits have threatened that to stop its “growing international isolation,” Israel must make “painful concessions” and withdraw from territory. The “growing isolation” was always a myth. Israel’s trade with Europe has grown constantly in recent years, even as it developed new markets and ties in Asia. Tourism has reached record levels almost every year, as has the number of Israelis traveling abroad. Except to those sensitive to the movements of postmodern dance troupes, the international isolation was a chimera.

Now, however, international isolation has truly arrived–not from holding territory, but from leaving it. With the suspension of American and European flights to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, rockets from Gaza yielded what peace processors said settlement construction would. The flight suspension by all major airlines is a major–even if temporary–economic, diplomatic, and psychological setback for Israel. It finds itself, for the moment, in same position as Iraq, Libya, and Somalia.

The subtext here is that Israel has a sword at its neck: face a private-sector no-fly zone or agree to a cease-fire that lets Hamas keep its rockets, and thus close Ben Gurion Airport again at the time of its choosing. It is a lose-lose proposition.

Yes, Israel faces international isolation–as a consequence of its attempts to avoid international isolation. Of course, nuanced thinkers are already explaining why this should not prejudice further, massive territorial withdraws from the hills immediately overlooking Ben Gurion Airport and the coastal plain.

Everyone is jittery from the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine, they will say. If so, Hamas has succeeded in turning Israel into Donetsk. Moreover, the timing of the FAA’s absurd and unjustified warning seems to have more to do with Kerry’s visit to the region to impose a cease-fire on Israel. Until his administration’s flight ban, that effort seemed entirely futile.

Which airport? Speeding truck ignores security, smashes through checkpoint... and no one dies in the shooting.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
03 September '13..

It takes very little imagination to contemplate how badly this morning's events at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv might have ended if the security personnel were less disciplined, trained less well, and less restrained.

The facts are still not entirely clear. But the main elements of what happened in the dark of early Tuesday morning are more or less evident. The account reported by Times of Israel is a good place to start:

"Palestinians in speeding truck penetrate airport security | Vehicle stopped, two men arrested; perpetrators claim they are car thieves; airport resumes normal functioning".

In thinking about how much more bloodily this night have ended, there are some aspects of this we might ponder:

Israel attracts terrorists on a world-class scale. Elaboration unnecessary.

Those acts of terror continue right up until this week. For instance, this.

Ben Gurion Airport knows what it means to experience terrorism on a horrifying scale

Airports in general are prime targets for the terrorism-minded. Securing airports is a huge industry.

The security personnel who guard the entrances to Ben Gurion are very well-armed, and come with years of training in how to protect and, if necessary, how to permanently stop attackers.

Notwithstanding, there is endless criticism of how 'heavy-handed' and 'intrusive' the security at Israel's major airport can be.

This morning's penetration of Israel's major airport happened two days before the Jewish New Year, a time when relatively huge numbers of travelers pass through it checkpoints and halls. It happened in the dark, a time when even the best trained security personnel can be subject to major misunderstandings. In the circumstances, if any of the guards had itchy trigger fingers, it's difficult to envisage them being criticized by their superiors.

(Continue)

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Qassam rocket fired at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport?

sderotmedia23
Mar 10, 2011



The Sderot Media Center is a non-profit organization of citizen journalism that also serves as a news agency-- dedicated to bringing the voices of Sderot residents to the forefront of world news.

Uploaded by sderotmedia23 on Mar 10, 2011


The Center was founded with the purpose of uncovering the voices of a population marginalized by the conflict: the residents of Sderot and the Western Negev who suffer daily from the terror of Kassam attacks. Today, Sderot Media Center's work represents close to one million people living in southern Israel under the threat of Gaza rockets.

SMC staff provide professionally guided visits for media personnel, diplomats and students with the goal of spreading awareness of the situation in Sderot, and the routine of everyday life for people living under impending Gaza rocket fire.

The people under siege in Sderot and the Western Negev want to tell their story. For that reason, the Sderot Media Center for the Western Negev LTD has pioneered to present the human face of Sderot and the Western Negev to the media and in the public domain . Operating with full transparency as an Israeli non-profit organization that serves the public, SMC seeks sponsors for community and media advocacy projects that the center has initiated on behalf of the people of Sderot.

Learn more by visiting http://www.sderotmedia.org.il/

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Wash. Post tears into Israeli airport security checks that profile Arabs

Leo Rennert
American Thinker
27 November '10

The headline and lead paragraph of Jerusalem correspondent Janine Zacharia's Nov. 27 article might lead readers of the Washington Post to believe that they're about to find out why many in the aviation industry consider Israel's screening of passengers the gold standard in airport security measures. ("Israeli air security is easy on most, intrusive for a few" page A7).

But they would be wrong. Because, it turns out, the bulk of her article is a full-bore attack on Israel's profiling methods, including special scrutiny of Arab travelers..

The result of such profiling, Zacharia reports, is that most travelers pass through airport security with "relative ease." "But," she emphasizes, and this is the real purport of her story, "But Israeli personnel do single out small numbers of passengers for extensive searches and screening, based on profiling methods that have so far been rejected in the United States, subjecting Arabs and, in some cases, other foreign nationals to an extensive screening that comes with a deep civil liberties price."

Zacharia then spends most of the rest of her article detailing horror stories of travelers who were singled out for special screening:

(Read full article)

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Foreign Ministry Staff Should Learn From Abba Eban's Example

Dr.Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
10 June '10

In December 1955 the Syrians shelled an Israeli fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. There were no Jewish casualties, but Israel retaliated with an operation which left 73 Syrian dead. Eban protested to Ben Gurion privately, while defending the operation in public.

Ben Gurion replied that he, too, had doubts about the wisdom of the operation, but said: "When I read the full text of your brilliant defense of our action in the Security Council, all my doubts were set at rest."
Abba Eban Obituary - Daily Telegraph (UK) 18 Nov 2002

That, in a nutshell, is the job of the Foreign Ministry staff.

Haaretz Correspondent Barak Ravid reports in today's edition that during the two months leading up to the arrival of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, members of the Foreign Ministry team repeatedly warned that while Israel was well within its legal rights to stop the ships in international waters, such a move would create a serious public relations challenge.

In fact, the Foreign Ministry team suggested, that in order to avoid this challenge, Israel wait for the ships to reach the country's territorial waters - which lie within 20 miles from the coast - before launching a takeover operation.

This suggestion was rejected on operational grounds.

It would appear that Ravid got this story from one of the Foreign Ministry team members, who, annoyed that his advice hadn't been taken, decided to have his "I told you so" published in Haaretz.

They just don't get it.

The Foreign Ministry team doesn't come off as geniuses in this story.

(Read full commentary)

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The 'Israelification' of airports: High security, little bother

Cathal Kelly
Toronto Star
30 December 09

While North America's airports groan under the weight of another sea-change in security protocols, one word keeps popping out of the mouths of experts: Israelification.

That is, how can we make our airports more like Israel's, which deal with far greater terror threat with far less inconvenience.

"It is mindboggling for us Israelis to look at what happens in North America, because we went through this 50 years ago," said Rafi Sela, the president of AR Challenges, a global transportation security consultancy. He's worked with the RCMP, the U.S. Navy Seals and airports around the world.

"Israelis, unlike Canadians and Americans, don't take s--- from anybody. When the security agency in Israel (the ISA) started to tighten security and we had to wait in line for — not for hours — but 30 or 40 minutes, all hell broke loose here. We said, 'We're not going to do this. You're going to find a way that will take care of security without touching the efficiency of the airport."

That, in a nutshell is "Israelification" - a system that protects life and limb without annoying you to death.

Despite facing dozens of potential threats each day, the security set-up at Israel's largest hub, Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, has not been breached since 2002, when a passenger mistakenly carried a handgun onto a flight. How do they manage that?

"The first thing you do is to look at who is coming into your airport," said Sela.

The first layer of actual security that greets travellers at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport is a roadside check. All drivers are stopped and asked two questions: How are you? Where are you coming from?

"Two benign questions. The questions aren't important. The way people act when they answer them is," Sela said.

(Read full article)

Related: Sometimes MSM loves the Sabra experts
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Joel Beinin Whines about Israeli Airport’s “Harassment”

Steven Plaut
FrontPagemag.com
01 December 09

Being a leftist Anti-Zionist means not only never having to say you are sorry, such as when you get your facts all wrong. It also means that you have an obligation to represent yourself as a victim of harassment. Armchair martyrdom is as fundamental a part of leftist ideology as anti-Americanism and hatred of Israel.

In his now-famous essay from July, 1976, “The Intelligent Co-ed’s Guide to America,” Thomas Wolfe wrote about how desperately American academics wish to feel persecuted. A pretense of being persecuted today seems to do wonders both for their ego and for their web traffic. The entire “Zionist Lobby” is largely an invention by these same people, anxious to show that they are being oppressed by an evil nefarious conspiracy. You just need to wave your stigmata and denounce the “Neo-Conservatives,” the “Rightwing McCarthyists,” and – of course the Jews. Whining about being persecuted seems to be the leading participation sport of today’s far Leftists and the radical armchair postureurs.

As documented recently on this web site, Joel Beinin, the Israel-hating pro-Hamas sometimes-Maoist professor of Middle East Studies at Stanford University is just such a persecution whiner. Here is what we wrote:

‘“McCarthyism” seems to be Beinin’s third favorite “m” word, after Marxism and Mao, and he applies it liberally to anyone who dares to criticize him. Beinin wrote a 2004 article called “The New McCarthyism: Policing Thought about the Middle East.” In it, Beinin denounced the Ford Foundation’s decision to withdraw funding from any university grantee that finances the promotion of “violence, terrorism, or bigotry or the destruction of any state.” What worried Beinin was that such restrictions could potentially hurt a “Palestinian student group [that] called for the replacement of the state of Israel with a secular, democratic state,” meaning one seeking the extermination of Israel.’

Beinin went on to declare that Bay Area Zionists silenced him and prevented him from giving a talk to a school in San Jose. The San Francisco Chronicle checked and reported that no one at all from the local Jewish Community had even spoken with anyone at that school.

Well, the good professor is back. Over the Thanksgiving weekend he widely circulated the following epistle, which we reprint for you here in full, spelling errors and all:

(Continue article)

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