Garden State Patriot

Looks like good news out of Israel. Benjamin Netanayu is claiming victory and will be the next Israelis Prime Minister. Yesterday’s reports about the race being too close to call are not accurate as the nation’s right wing block has won a clear majority.

Certainly, I can not claim to know Israeli politics, but I would venture to guess that this turn to the right in Israel was influenced by the Obama Administration’s stance vis-a-vis Iran.

99% of the ballots in: A clear majority for the right wing under the Netanyahu’s leadership. Netanyahu: “the people have spoken I’ll lead the next government”. Right wing block has a 65 to 55 majority in Knesset.

Netanyahu claimed victory late Tuesday night after all TV stations exit polls project a clear majority to the right wing block of 65 seats to 55 for the left. Netanyahu addressed his supporters in Tel Aviv saying: “God willing I’ll be the next Prime Minister. I’m sure I will be able to form a wide and stable coalition government that will know how to cope with the crisis and promote reforms in the education” Netanyahu has detailed his next political moves:” I’ll start by turning to our partners of the right wing; we’ve already set up meetings for tomorrow. Then I’ll seek out the rest of the Zionist parties (meaning Labor and Kadima) in order to unify all of forces of the people.”

Netanyahu also responded to Kadima’s claims that they won the elections “There is no doubting the conclusion that the right wing under the Likud has won a decisive victory… the question is not what the polls said, but what the reality states, in the going out Knesset the right wing had only 50 seats and today it has a majority, in the last elections the people voted us into the opposition, and in these elections we increased our votes more than any other party”.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

In Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address he said:

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

There is nothing disagreeable in Obama’s statement, but as this administration embarks on efforts to ‘engage’ one of the worst regimes on the planet – Iran – one wonders just what our convictions are.

• Are our convictions to help defend and protect the lone true democracy and American ally in the Middle East – Israel?
• Are our convictions to stop the spread of terrorism around the globe?
• Are our convictions to stand against the oppression of the Iranian people and for their freedom?

Even with Obama prepared to extend a hand to the Iranian regime their leaders continue to exhibit hostility towards America and unabated hatred towards Jews. Just yesterday, Mahmoud ‘Ahmadeni-jihad’ had these scornful words to say:

“The change will be to apologize to the Iranian nation and try to compensate for their dark records and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation,” he said.

The hardline president also called on Washington to withdraw its troops from around the world and stop supporting Israel.

“Change means giving up support for the rootless, uncivilized, fabricated, murdering… Zionists and let the Palestinian nation decide its own destiny,” he said. “Change means putting an end to US military presence in (different parts of) the world.”

And Iran’s government spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, continued to promulgate the vicious, ugly falsehood that the Holocaust never happened.

“The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world”

Herein lays the problem with Obama’s approach toward Iran. One can not engage in diplomacy – which entails negotiation, finding common ground and compromise – when the ‘partner’ at the table is an opponent of the convictions and values your nation stands for. To do so would be pacifism. And as history has taught us pacifying enemies of freedom only leads to more violence, war and tyranny, not less. One can only hope that history isn’t about to repeat itself.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

The great Ronald Reagan gave us some sound advice when it came to dealing with our foreign adversaries: ‘trust but verify.’ In a few short days, however, our nation’s position will become one of ‘trust but mollify.’ (Or ‘trust but stupefy’ – take your pick).

According to a published report in the UK’s Guardian the incoming administration is prepared to engage with – and therefore legitimize – one of the most heinous terrorist organizations in the world. One dedicated not just to the destruction of Israel, but also to the destruction of America.

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush’s ­doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush ­presidency’s ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 ­Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three ­people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive. A tested course would be to start ­contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services, similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s. Israel did not become aware of the contacts until much later.

Ahh, yes, ‘counter-productive.’ You see if we just start being nice to Hamas - if we just show them a little love and a little Obama charm- then their leaders will no longer harbor these kinds of feelings towards Jews and Americans:

Amazing.

Fausta’s Blog has a couple of sobering posts regarding Russia and Iran and their attempts to gain footholds in our hemisphere (think Cuba, Venezuela and other South American nations). Highly recommended reading.

• Iran’s Latin America push
• Russia’s toehold in the hemisphere…

This is serious businesss. Despite what the Obamatons might think, the world isn’t just going to like us because George Bush is gone. In fact, they will be emboldened until Obama shows them he has the ’spine’ Joe Biden claimed he’d have.