(pictures on page 4)
Israeli Minister "We always use the anti-Semitism trick or bring up the Holocaust"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW3a1bw5XlE
- 25 juli 2010
Germany, Israel fail to agree on submarine sale
Berlin government spokesman says 'no concrete negotiations with Israel over sixth submarine'
Germany and Israel have failed to agree on the sale of a German submarine to the Jewish state, Berlin said on Friday.
"There is no financial commitment," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
"There are no concrete negotiations with Israel over a sixth submarine. As for whether there are informal talks -- because of the nature of the matter, I can make no statement on this."
The US journal Defense News reported this week that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had turned down Israel's request for a discount of up to one-third on the price of a $1.6 billion package including two other warships and torpedoes.
The full cost of the diesel-powered Dolphin class submarine would be some $700 million. Others already in Israel's fleet were extensively underwritten by Germany, which is dedicated to the security of the Jewish state, founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
With Germany currently reining in public finances in the country's biggest post-war austerity drive, Berlin has made clear it can grant no additional military aid at the moment.
Wilhem's comments appear to confirm the end of a year of negotiations Israel had hoped would lead Berlin to grant large subsidies, as it has in previous sales.
Israel would find it extremely hard to buy the vessels without German subsidies, having decided last week to trim its defense budget by 5% in 2011 and in 2012.
It had hoped for similar aid on two Meko corvettes, built at ThyssenKrupp's Blohm+Voss shipyards in Hamburg, and Defense News reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Merkel personally on the matter.
Wilhelm said the two leaders spoke on the phone over the past week but could not say whether naval aid was brought up.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3924250,00.html 22 nov 2010, 20:29 , Respect -
Maria 26 juli 2010
Making History
Israeli President Shimon Peres reflects on his mentor, his peace partner, and whether the State of Israel will survive
I ask about Bibi's character. Has it also changed?
Peres: More than people change, circumstances change. Look, I was once a shepherd in [Kibbutz] Alumot]. And the gnats would set upon the herd, and each cow would run off in a different direction. And I had to collect and bring them home. This sometimes is how the government looks. There are gnats attacking each party, and somehow you have to keep them together.
How do you explain the rise in the delegitimization of Israel in the world in recent years? Do you agree that this is happening?
Let me give you a contrary picture: Israel is the most popular country in the world. [Peres's media aide giggles. Benny, you won't leave here depressed, she says.] For 2,000 years there was friction between the Vatican and the Jews. There are, what is it, 1.3 billion Christians? Now we have excellent relations with the Vatican. This is no small thing. And we have good relations with India, also hit by Muslim terrorists. And that's together 3 billion. And [we now have] excellent relations with China.
Right. But why the delegitimization, especially in the West?
Firstly, there is a problem in the Scandinavian countries. They always want to appear like yefei nefesh [the Hebraism roughly translates as bleeding hearts, with an undertone of hypocrisy]. And I don't expect them to understand us. Sweden doesn't understand why we are at war. For 150 years they have not had a war. There were even Hitler and Stalin, but they kept out of the picture. As did Switzerland. So, they don't understand why we are for war, as if we really like wars. It's like Marie Antoinette didn't understand why the people didn't bake cakes. The same logic.
But it goes a bit beyond [Sweden and Switzerland]?
Our next big problem is England. There are several million Muslim voters. And for many members of parliament, that's the difference between getting elected and not getting elected. And in England there has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment. They abstained in the [pro-Zionist] 1947 U.N. Partition Resolution, despite [issuing the pro-Zionist] Balfour Declaration [in 1917]. They maintained an arms embargo against us [in the 1950s]; they had a defense treaty with Jordan; they always worked against us.
But England changed after the 1940s and 1950s. They supported us in 1967, there was Harold Brown and Mrs. Thatcher [who were pro-Israeli].
There is also support for Israel today [on the British right].
But in Labor there was always a deep pro-Israeli current.
But [the late 1940s prime minister and Labor leader Clement] Attlee was [anti-Israel].
Anyway, this [pro-Israeli current] vanished because they think the Palestinians are the underdog. In their eyes the Arabs are the underdog. Even though this is irrational. Take the Gaza Strip. We unilaterally evacuated the Gaza Strip [in 2005]. We evacuated 8,000 settlers and it was very difficult, after mobilizing 47,000 policemen [and soldiers]. It cost us $2.5 billion in compensation. We left the Gaza Strip completely. Why did they fire rockets at us, for years they fired rockets at us. Why?
Maybe because they don't like us?
Peres: You fire rockets at everyone you don't like? For eight years they fired and we refrained from retaliating. When they fired at us, the British didn't say a word.
Maybe it is anti-Semitism?
Yes, there is also anti-Semitism. There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary. But with Germany relations are pretty good, as with Italy and France.
But there is erosion of public pro-Israel sentiment at the universities, in the press. I'm not talking about the governments.
I'll tell you why. On television there is an asymmetry that can't be corrected. What the terrorists do is never broadcast. Only the response is broadcast. And then critics charge: This is disproportionate. You don't see the terrorist act. When a lawful nation fights a lawless nation there is a problem in the media. When an open regime fights a secret regime there is a problem.
What do you think about negotiating with Hamas?
Peres: It's like talking to the wall. Hamas says we don't want to talk, we want to destroy you, we don't want peace with you. The difference between Hamas and Fatah is essential, not political. Fatah is a political organization. Politics is built on negotiation and compromise; religion does not compromise. So long as Hamas is a religious-political organization, I am deeply pessimistic.
About the Turkish flotilla, do you think we acted correctly?
We acted correctly, except in terms of explaining what happened.
We killed nine Turks, they killed no Israelis.
There were six boats. Only on one where they came prepared for violence was there a clash. There was a long delay in broadcasting our explanation. There is no starvation in Gaza and no siege. If Gaza would agree not to rocket us, we would leave the entry points open.
But we prevented items like cardamom from reaching Gaza.
OK, we made some mistakes. [But] we made another mistake we restrained ourselves for eight years and allowed them to shoot thousands of rockets at us until the rage came out at one go [in the IDF assault on Hamas in Gaza in 2008-2009]. Had we done then what we do now, retaliate each time they fire a rocket there would have been no problem. In the end, it turned out that restraint was a mistake.
Will Israel, the Jewish state, be here in a hundred years time?
Yes, I'm sure. I'm certain, 100 percent. The Jewish people have a niche in history based on a preference for the moral appeal over everything else. We didn't always act in line with this, but we aimed for it. Since the Jews started out, they broke idols, banned slavery
But the Jews were then exiled from their land for 2,000 years.
But we didn't disappear in exile. We alone remained [from the ancient world]. In a hundred years, there won't be wars. History is written in red ink. It's mainly a history of wars. The main reason for war was that people earned their livelihood from land. People wanted either to defend their land or conquer more land. From the moment people live from science, force can't do [anything]. An army can't overcome science. All these borders will be blurred. The main reason for classic wars has disappeared. What will remain are fanatical religious groups, irrational groups, dangerous to the whole world. They will be destroyed in the end, out of self-defense. There won't be wars. There will be great rivalry. Football will be more important than war, and science more important than football. There will be a contest to develop nature's riches. What importance is there today to land?
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/40409/making-history/6/
22 nov 2010, 20:29 , Respect -
Maria 1 aug 2010
Peres sparks U.K backlash after labeling England anti-Semitic
'There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary,' president tells Jewish magazine The Tablet.
President Shimon Peres provoked a media backlash in the United Kingdom on Sunday after giving an interview to a Jewish magazine in which he appeared to label the British as anti-Semitic.
"There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary," Peres said.
Peres' comments, made on July 26, were buried deep in a lengthy interview with historian Benny Morris for Tablet magazine. But they were eventually picked up by the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph, which reported that the president had angered both Jews and non-Jews in the U.K.
According to the Telegraph, the comments sparked outrage. "Mr Peres has got this wrong," James Clappison, a Conservative MP for Hertsmere and vice-chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel, was quoted as saying.
In the interview, Peres apparently accused British parliamentarians of pandering to the country's Muslim voters.
"Our next big problem is England," Peres said. "There are several million Muslim voters. And for many members of parliament, that’s the difference between getting elected and not getting elected. And in England there has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment."
Britain had a history of anti-Israeli policy, Peres said.
"They abstained in the [pro-Zionist] 1947 U.N. Partition Resolution, despite [issuing the pro-Zionist] Balfour Declaration [in 1917]. They maintained an arms embargo against us [in the 1950s]; they had a defense treaty with Jordan; they always worked against us."
He added: "[T]hey think the Palestinians are the underdog. In their eyes the Arabs are the underdog. Even though this is irrational. Take the Gaza Strip. We unilaterally evacuated the Gaza. We evacuated 8,000 settlers and it was very difficult…Why did they fire rockets at us, for years they fired rockets at us. Why?"
The U.K. had stood by as Israel had faced violence from Hamas Peres said.
"For eight years they fired and we refrained from retaliating. When they fired at us, the British didn’t say a word."
In making his feeling on Britain known, Peres was widely seen as responding to remarks made last week by U.K. Prime Minister David, who during a trip to Turkey accused Israel of turning Gaza into a "prison camp".
Cameron's choice of words caused particular irritation in Israel as his speech lacked the 'balancing remarks' considered normal in diplomatic etiquette, omitting any mention of terror attacks against Israel or the continuing imprisonment of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas four years ago.
http://fwd4.me/0iH6
Israel president Shimon Peres accuses Britain of pro-Arab bias
Shimon Peres on a trip to Slovenia earlier this month. His accusations against British MP are likely to spark a strong response.
Veteran politician claims MPs pander to Muslim voters with anti-Jewish rhetoric and glorify Palestinians as underdogs
Israel's president, Shimon Peres, has accused some British MPs of pandering to anti-Israel sentiment among their Muslim voters, claiming there is a "deeply pro-Arab" core in the UK establishment.
In an interview with Jewish website Tablet, conducted by Israeli historian Benny Morris, Peres says: "There are several million Muslim voters [in the UK]. And for many members of parliament, that's the difference between getting elected and not getting elected."
On Labour politicians, he said: "They think the Palestinians are the underdog. In their eyes, the Arabs are the underdog. Even though this is irrational."
He offers the illustration of Israeli disengagement of Gaza as evidence of bias. "We evacuated 8,000 settlers, and it was very difficult … It cost us $2.5bn in compensation.
"We left the Gaza Strip completely. Why did they fire rockets at us? For years they fired rockets at us … When they fired at us, the British didn't say a word."
Peres's remarks chime with a deepening concern among Israeli politicians that opinion, particularly in Europe, is turning against the Jewish state.
Last week, David Cameron described Gaza as a "prison camp" during a visit to Turkey, which some commentators interpreted as a hardening of an anti-Israel position in Britain.
Peres, 86, also claimed there is more antisemitism in the UK than is acknowledged. "There is in England a saying that an antisemite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary."
He added: "There has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment."
He cited historical examples of Britain's failure to support Israeli interests, including abstention in the 1947 UN partition resolution, an arms embargo against Israel in the 1950s and a defence treaty with Jordan. "They always worked against us," he said.
However, he conceded that there is support for Israel today on the British right.
Yesterday Labour MP Denis MacShane, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism in 2005, said Peres was wrong.
"While there has certainly been a growth of anti-semitic attacks in the UK and too many MPs and civil servants refuse to acknowledge the growth of neo antisemitism, I do not consider Britain to be an antisemitic nation any more than it is an Islamophobic nation, despite some ugly words and actions against both Jews and Muslims," he said.
Mark Gardner, from the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors antisemitism in the UK, said that although it was possible to "make a case" in support of Peres's comments the UK government had worked hard to tackle the problem of antisemitism.
"There is no doubt that statistically the number of antisemitic incidents is higher now than it was in the 1990s," he said. "However, the government is taking correct and proper measures to tackle this and address the concerns of the Jewish community."
Diane Abbott, Labour leadership candidate, described Peres's comments as "rubbish".
"It is a confusion that people make all the time between a criticism of the policies of the Israeli government and criticism of Israel itself."
Abbott said there was no correlation between MPs' views on Israeli policies and the religious or cultural makeup of their constituencies. And she denied there was a "pro Arab" bias in the British establishment.
"On the contrary, the British people are naturally sympathetic to the Israeli people because of the origins of that state but that does not mean there can be no legitimate criticism of the policies of the Israeli government."
Last night, Peres's office issued a clarification of the president's interview, which said he had "never accused the British people of anti-Semitism".
"The president does not believe that British governments are motivated by anti-Semitism, nor were they in the past."
It went on to say that historical disagreements had no impact on current relations between the two countries, which were of "the greatest importance".
Peres is a veteran Israeli politician, who was first elected to the Knesset in 1959. As foreign minister, he won the Nobel peace prize in 1994, along with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, for the Oslo accords. He served twice as prime minister, and was elected president in 2007.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/israel-shimon-peres-british-arab-bias
22 nov 2010, 20:31 , Respect -
Maria 2 aug 2010
Peres' remarks enrage British MPs
Peres has accused the UK government of being "deeply pro-Arab and anti-Israeli."
UK lawmakers have reacted angrily to remarks by Israeli President Shimon Peres accusing the Britons of being anti-Semitic.
In an interview published last week on the Tablet website, Peres alleged that the English people and their government were "deeply pro-Arab and anti-Israeli".
His comments came days after British Prime Minister David Cameron referred to the Gaza Strip as a "prison camp" during a state visit to Turkey.
Israel imposed a full blockade on the impoverished territory after Ismail Haniya became the democratically-elected Palestinian prime minister in July 2007.
Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, said, "I'm sad that he has made these wholly inaccurate comments, which do not accord at all with my experience of British views on Israel and people of Jewish faith."
Brian Iddon, a Labour member of the All-Party Parliamentary Britain-Palestine Group, said, "We are always being accused of anti-Semitism. The Israeli government is coming in for more and more criticism, and because of that more and more people are being described as anti-Semitic. "
Peres said in the interview that Britain's attitude towards the Jews was Israel's "next big problem."
"There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary," he noted.
The British prime minister, meanwhile, happens to be a member of a powerful lobby in the House of Commons called the Conservative Friends of Israel, which firmly advocates support and protection of Israel's interests.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137203§ionid=351021806
22 nov 2010, 20:32 , Respect
Israeli Minister "We always use the anti-Semitism trick or bring up the Holocaust"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW3a1bw5XlE
CrossTalk on Holocaust: Murder Revenues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKTKMFTprM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKTKMFTprM