Wednesday, February 26, 2020

With Hawks Like This, Who Needs Leftists?

BS"D

With Hawks Like This, Who Needs Leftists?


1 Adar, 5780 °°  Feb. 26, '20
Opinion and Perspective,

By Binyomin Feinberg,

FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

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To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week,  please visit https://saveHischildren.blogspot.com -

or/and see updates for month of Shvat '80:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lddXuWtrhFZxLVA4__PVS7Zo53zNRPk8Cz7nIfxSXBE
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The Israeli Army recently released a new Five-Year Plan for a major military upgrade, named "Momentum" (https://www.meforum.org/60436/the-idf-implements-mef-victory-concept ). Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, who approved the plan and presented it to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explained that the plan "will allow the IDF to strike the enemy faster, more intensely, with a stronger destructive capacity, thus overcoming the enemy and bringing victory," adding that "The plan puts the principle of victory back at the top of the list of priorities." It is designed to increase offensive and defensive capabilities sevenfold.

The cost is projected to be NIS 30 billion ($8.75 Billion) - annually - to bolster Israeli military "air, ground, sea, and cyber capabilities, its intelligence superiority, and technological prowess."

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi presented the plan, stressing the urgent nature of the threats Israel now faces, saying "they won't wait" for Israel to resolve its electoral crisis. Israelis are expected to vote at the beginning of March, for the third national election in a year, although without much prospect of differing results (perhaps illustrating Einstein's famous maxim, regarding repetition of the same actions while expecting different results).

It was reported that "Momentum focuses on strengthening the military's war readiness, placing an emphasis on the operational edge of the IDF's elite point units in all corps, upgrading the quantity and quality of the munitions used but the Air Force, and transforming the army into a deadly and multidimensional technological force across all spheres of battle, including cyber and electronic warfare."

"Implementing this plan will make the IDF exponentially faster, more precise, and deadlier," Kochavi was quoted.

However, the tough talk bubbling over this ambitious plan appears to contrast a bit with another IDF milestone, of sorts. As Michael Peck reported in The National Interest (January 28, 2020), in an article titled "The Israeli Army Is Unprepared for a Ground War with Iran and Hezbollah" (https://www.meforum.org/60343/the-israeli-army-is-unprepared-for-a-ground), the Army is suffering from an acute neglect of some basic military needs.

The article opens:

"If Israel has to go to war tomorrow against Iran or its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, there's a problem. The Israeli mechanized division that would defend Israel's northern border, or enter Syria or Lebanon to eject Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, [is] in bad shape.  The 319th Division, stationed in northern Israel, is short of equipment such as tanks, and the equipment it does have is in poor condition, according to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) audit cited by Israeli news site Ynet.

"According to the audit's findings, 52 percent of combat vehicles are unfit for use and there is a 20 percent shortage of weapons and night-vision equipment for soldiers," Ynet said.

"The auditors found that many armored vehicles were lacking during proper maintenance checks, with 68 of them sitting uncovered and unprotected against the elements. Dozens of other vehicles were found unusable due to faulty tires and broken engines, ...

According to an audit by the IDF itself, 52 percent of the 319th Division's combat vehicles are unfit for use."

The Ynet expose  sported photos of dilapidated military vehicles, and vehicles unprotected by tarps against the elements.

Auditors identified similar neglect of the 319th Division's support units, as well. "The Northern Command's logistics unit, upon which the 319th Division relies in times of war, has a shortage in communications equipment and vehicles for medical evacuation, and the division's medical unit hasn't had a commanding officer or lieutenant for almost a year."

"One reason for the 319th Division's woes is that there isn't enough equipment to meet both operational and training needs. 

'The audit found that about half of the 319th Division's Mark 4 Merkava tanks and almost 100 communication devices have been lent to the Armored Corps training unit, located more than 350 kilometers [217 miles] from their main storage and maintenance areas in the north," Ynet said.

"These tanks are worn out, impairing their emergency and combat capabilities. A high-ranking officer in the IDF Northern Command said that the issue of lending equipment and armored vehicles is a military decision, citing the Mark 4's production lines being incapable of accommodating both the standard and training units."

Mr. Peck cogently provides a broader perspective, adding the observation that "the 319th Division's woes reflect a larger pattern in the IDF. In the 1973 October War, Israeli units hastily mobilized to stem the surprise Arab invasion found themselves with shortages of equipment and gear that had been poorly maintained."

Mr. Peck doesn't address this point, but we'd be amiss to omit the fact that the leftist Israeli Establishment was considered criminally negligent in ignoring warnings about a serious Arab attack prior to the Yom Kippur war. Arab invaders and leftist Jewish arrogance together killed over 2,500 of the Israeli Army's best young soldiers, many of whom were killed fighting heroically while being massively outnumbered. Reports like these raise the question of whether the Israeli government is repeating history.


"In the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, Israeli troops suffered from shortages of basic items, from food and waterto ammunition, as well as poorly trained logistics personnel.

"The IDF may have only hours to prepare for battle along Israel's northern border.

"Ironically, the IDF – which prides itself on flexibility to rapidly adapt to the chaos of battle – bases its approach on the mission-oriented tactics of the World War II German army. Yet despite being a virtuoso on the battlefield, the Wehrmacht's logistics skills were often lacking: German troops constantly ran out of fuel, ammunition and food during Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.

"... as this writer learned while observing an Israeli armored brigade on maneuvers along the Golan Heights in February 2019, the IDF may have only hours to prepare for battle along Israel's northern border.  Time to fix mistakes is a luxury Israel does not have," the article concludes.

(The author of that article, Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest, and a Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum.)
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However, the exquisitely blended blundering bluster of the Army should be measured against the tangible steps the Army has indeed been courageously taking in confronting impending national security threats: All-Women tank crews.  Last week (at the approach to the consummation of the Holy Weeks of Shovavim), it was reported that the Israeli Army is introducing all female tank combat crews, apparently to protect the country from ISIS attacks in the South, and the like. No, we couldn't have made this up: https://www.jns.org/the-idfs-pioneering-all-female-tank-crews-provide-strategic-protection-for-israels-south/#

Apparently, the Israeli Army has upgraded the religious standards of their military "Equality" crusade. No "Ta'aroves" (gender mixing) in these tanks, R"L, nor any need for those pesky mechiztos, like those hanging in some Chareidi buses.

Why in the world? Has recent exposure of the human-trafficking agenda of the Army's female draft prompted Teshuva (repentance) at the highest levels? Has Draft Office Commander of Vice Avner Lotati finally been sent to work in Hollywood?   Well, if so, why are there an estimated several dozen girls still languishing in military prisons Four and Six, wishing to avoid conscription into the Mizron Tzahali Paradigm?

Well, perhaps, this Army frumming initiative may have been reciprocal in nature.  Perhaps this overture is the Army's way of telegraphing "hakarat hatov" (a "thank you") in response to recent cooperation by a handful of trailblazing frum women, who've lately been spotted providing the IDF free headhunter services, by naively sending ostensibly "weak" girls into Rayon Dat interrogations.  (Presumably, this is being done with the best of intentions - to save the "weak" girls from falling into the Army (the latter being the very goal-by-design of the Rayon Dat).)

But questions still abound. Will the female tank personnel be provided tefillin, to actualize Spiritual Equality with the men? Will there be an accompanying Yo'etzet attached to every unit? What about an Ayin-Horah lady on call, if fighting ever gets really difficult for these neshei chayil? Another major question remaining is: will these Equality-showcasing units units be open to heterosexual women as well?...

Survey: every fifth European believes a Jewish cabal runs the world

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryftAnm4U

 Fifth of respondents also say Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for personal gain; 1 in 4 say Israel's policies make them understand anti-Semitism

The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President.



How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election.

Trump’s Most Dangerous Destruction Yet

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/trumps-most-dangerous-destruction-yet/607021/

What the president is doing to America’s intelligence community could have enormous repercussions for the 2020 election and the country’s preparedness for threats from around the world.

 

Trump's wishful thinking won't stop coronavirus impact

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/25/opinions/trump-downplay-coronavirus-ghitis/index.html

 President Donald Trump keeps telling us not to worry, that the fast-spreading COVID-19, the coronavirus, is "going to go away," soon, probably by "April," and that a vaccine is "close." The experts, including federally-employed top scientists, say he's wrong on all these counts. (Please don't fire them!)
Why is the President lying? Take a guess. Because he thinks the virus, and fear of contagion, is bad for him. On that count, he's absolutely correct. Unfortunately, claiming that the virus is not a big problem does nothing to ease the infection rate or the economic impact that is sure to span the globe before long.
 

Jewish academic: Under attack, US ultra-Orthodox are misunderstood, ‘terrified’

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-academic-under-attack-us-ultra-orthodox-are-misunderstood-terrified/

 Do these communities feel the anti-Semitism coming from the right and the left?
Yes. There is a perfect storm right now of many factors. There seems to be something in our society that is allowing these ideas to intensify.
Trump is a complicated thing because on the one hand a lot of Orthodox Jews really like him for their perception of his support for Israel, but at the same time he gives press passes to virulent anti-Semites. He’s winking at anti-Semitism.
On the left Louis Farrakhan has gained pronounced influence. He was gone for years but recently his profile has grown. And if you don’t know better, if you don’t know anyone Jewish, you just sort of accept what he says.
It’s a scary time. On the one hand, Jews have never had it better. On other hand, they are under daily attack. It’s a paradox, but it’s true.
 

Syrian Refugees Fleeing Assad's Onslaught in Idlib Have Nowhere Left to Hide

https://time.com/5790278/syria-idlib-humanitarian-catastrophe-assad/


Although President Trump said in a Feb. 15 phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Russia should halt its support for regime “atrocities”, the White House has been near silent on the bloodbath in Idlib, where human rights groups have documented the death of nearly 2,000 civilians in the past year.
“The Trump Administration has publicly assured the Russians and the Assad regime that they will not have to deal with U.S. military strikes aimed at protecting civilians from mass homicide and state terror,” Frederic Hof, who advised President Barack Obama on Syria told TIME recently. “For people like Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, this is a bright green light to do as they wish.”
 

Would Sanders, Bloomberg or Warren move the US embassy back to Tel Aviv?

https://www.jpost.com/Us-Elections/Would-Sanders-Bloomberg-or-Warren-move-the-US-embassy-back-to-Tel-Aviv-618842

"What I happen to believe is that right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country," Sanders said.


 

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Trump and Weinstein are both on trial. Only one is still considered too powerful to fail

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/26/16526922/donald-trump-impeachment-harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault

“It’s not only the Republicans in Congress” who were willing to give Trump a pass, said Lawless. “It’s also the country. People think this behavior is unacceptable, but when push comes to shove, there are circumstances under which they’ll tolerate it because there are other things that matter more to them.”

Trump lashes out at liberal supreme court justices and demands recusals

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/25/trump-supreme-court-sonia-sotomayor-ruth-bader-ginsburg

 It would be exceptional for any supreme court justice to recuse themselves from all cases involving the White House.
otomayor’s dissent was written in the style justices use after losing a divided ruling. It depicted accurately how the Trump administration has asked the supreme court to intervene in cases playing out in lower courts at a higher rate than George W Bush and Barack Obama combined.
“Claiming one emergency after another, the government has recently sought stays in an unprecedented number of cases, demanding immediate attention and consuming limited court resources in each,” Sotomayor wrote. “And with each successive application, of course, its cries of urgency ring increasingly hollow.”
Sotomayor was critical of the court allowing this to happen, and wrote that such interventions usually fall in the Trump administration’s favor.

 In November 2018, Trump’s relentless focus on the courts prompted supreme court chief justice John Roberts to intervene. After Trump said a federal judge was biased because of the president who appointed him, Roberts denied the assertion.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” said the conservative appointed by George W Bush in 2005. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
Trump ignored the rebuke.

 

"Orthodox" gay marriage and the path to destruction

https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-endorsing-same-sex-marriages-a-us-orthodox-rabbi-performs-his-first/   


Rabbi Avraham Gordimer,
 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/25249

 Last week, Avram Mlotek, a graduate of Open Orthodoxy's  Rabbinical Training Instittue,Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT),, posted:
“I had the privilege of officiating a wedding on Sunday. In many ways, it was like any other simcha I've officiated: joyous, Jewish, spiritual, full of love. What made it different was that they were two men who joined in sacred, covenantal relationship. This coming week Jewish communities will hear two words uttered in synagogues across the globe: naaseh v'nishma, we will do and we will listen. We will act and we will understand. As I shared to the chatanim, the grooms, it is their passion, charge and desire for action which made this holy day possible. While some may not yet or ever fully comprehend, it is their actions, deeds and maasim tovim, their mitzvot, which will speak for themselves with inherent worth and value. Mazel tov!”

Rav Gestetner


Leftist professor: 'Israel needs to close off haredi cities to prevent spread of COVID-19'

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276465

 
In a Facebook post, Goldblum, who has a PhD in organic chemistry, wrote: "They're hiding the truth from you, because of the elections: The virus is spreading quickly in Israel since the Koreans visited the Cave of the patriarchs. In Italy they have closed off towns and cities to prevent the spread of the disease. Israel needs to close off Elad, Bnei Brak, and Modi'in Illit and Beitar Illit, and Netivot and Beit Shemesh, as well as large neighborhoods in Ashdod and Jerusalem."
All of the locations Goldblum named are home to large haredi communities.

Bernie Sanders: I thought this question might come up ..