The Oil Clock is Ticking / David Cohen

By David Cohen Arab countries are the best example in the 20th century to the curse that too much wealth could bring. With a huge share of global oil reserves, Arab countries should have been leading the global economy by now. But they aren't. The simple truth is that Arab economies are lagging far behind. This is in an astonishing contradiction to their little resourceless Jewish neighbor, Israel. Arab leaders messed it all up. Lacking personal freedom and efficient markets, Arab economies have exhausted their chance of leveraging oil revenues to get a head start in the global economic race. The Golden Age of oil is about to end. As global reserves are exhausting, it is getting more and more expensive to get the black gold out of the ground. Rising oil prices, the recent scientific progress in generating renewable energy and global warming concerns, are very likely to add more pressure on oil demand. Having failed to develop their economies during the golden age, Arab leaders are going to face some major problems once their declining oil revenues will get to a critical level. Arab leaders has been behaving like a spoiled child living on his rich father's expense. They were not making any effort to get anywhere, and allowed themselves to do things they should not have done. Instead of focusing so much in the conflict with Israel, they could have developed their economies. Instead of supporting global terrorism they could have worked on trying to make their own population more free. But they didn't. Soon dad's money is going to run out, and they have no idea what they are going to do. For the time being, they pretend that the golden age is going to last forever.

War crimes commited by Hamas leaders / David Cohen

Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations have been firing Qassam rockets for several years now. They are deliberately targeting a civilian population, which is one of the most serious war crimes that exist in international law. Evidence about these war crimes are ridicilously easy to get, as Hamas leaders are bragging in the media about firing those rockets on Israeli town such as Sderot, Ashkelon and more. I find it hard to understand how come that criminal charges have not yet been filed against Hamas leaders in an international war crimes tribunal. You have the crime, and you have the evidence. It's all documented. Hamas leaders are still free to go as they please, without having to worry about being arrested. As always, the Israeli government is sleeping and not taking any initiative. The fact that Hamas leaders are openly admitting committing these war crimes in front of cameras and journalists is the best proof that they do not fear any punishment. They do not fear punishment because they know that the Israeli government is going to do nothing about it. We must wake up and do whatever we can so that criminal charges are filed against Hamas leaders in the appropriate international body. They must be held accountable for their actions.

Is negotiation with Hamas possible?

A couple of years ago Israel has withdrew it's forces from Gaza Strip. All Jewish settlments in Gaza were evacuated and abandoned. Today, there is not a single Israeli in Gaza. So why do they keep firing Qassam rockets on Israeli cities? This prooves that the conflict with Hamas is not a regular dispute that can be solved through negotiation. Hamas is not trying to maximize some sort of utility meant to get any limited political gains by the means of its terrorist activity. Hamas wants to see Israel destroyed. Hamas terrorists would not settle for anything less. Anything that is offered to them is seen by them as another milestone on the way to achieving their final goal - the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state. Yes, they are willing to negotiate. And the Israeli government falls into this trap time after time. An agreement is being achieved, and Hamas respects the agreement for a few months for tactical reasons. Then, it finds an excuse to break the agreements, but it gets to keep the achievements it got in the framework of the settlement anyway. Israel is back to sqaure one. This is how it has been working for years with the Palestinians, ever since the Olso Agreement days in the beginning of the 90s. So negotiation with Hamas is indeed possible. But it would never yield any true long term achievements to Israel. It would definately yield long term achievements to Hamas. Ulmert, the Israeli prime minister seems to be stupid enough to fall into this trap again. It might not be a very optimistic view, but in my opinion negotiating with Hamas is a waste of time. We have to keep fighting, and we have to be patient. Now that the Gaza strip has become an Egyptian problem as a result of the fall of the Gazan wall, Time is on our side.

Why are supplying electricity to the Hamas?

If you ask me, the answer is a sharp yes. and as time goes by, the alternative solution of repatriation seems less and less realistic. (not that it ever was in my opinion). We shall first start discussing the 1948 refugees. Let us assume that a child less who was less than 6 years old does not remember too much from his old place of residence. All that he knows is the hardlife in the refugee camp in the Arab country where he is now, and a solution of repatriation is not relevant to him anyway because he has no true connection to Israel. Children who were 6 years old in 1948 should be 66 years old in 2008. in 20 years or so most of them are going to die. Having lived most of their lives in another country, I doubt that any of them would want to go back, even if they were given the opportunity to do so. The 1948 refugees is a dead thing. It is only living in the heads of Arab leaders, who use their situation to keep the conflict with Israel alive. As time will go by, old memories from old Palestine will fade away. It will only remain in the history books and loose any relevance to the present. Hence, there is no other way than to have all Palestinian refugees naturalaized in Arab countries where they live now. Using Palestinian refugees as tools in a political game, Arab leaders are preventing the refugees from getting jobs, owning property, and living normal life. Hoping to keep the refugees problem eternal, thus reviving the conflict with Israel, Arab leaders are keeping Palestinian refugees in poverty and hopelesness. Palestinian refugees do not want to go back to Palestine, and this has been proved by a research done in Beer-Zeit University (A Palestinian University in Nablus I think). All they want is hope and future but they have no future in Israel. Their old villages had been eroded, and now roads, offices and modern towers are built on the ground that used to be their home. All they will be able to do is have a look at the high buildings and try to imagine what was there before. The only possible future for Palestinian refugees in through being naturalized in the Arab countries where they live now.

Could Iran be beaten economically?

There is no doubt that Iran has to be stopped. As far as Israel is concerned, Iran must not get anywhere close to the capability of possesing nuclear weapons. The typical Israeli aggresive attitude says: Let's kick their ass! big planes, big bombs, an all-out war against Iran and this would be it. While Israel should and will keep all the options on the table at all times, there might be alternative ways of making Iran give up it's nuclear ambitions. Iran's achiless heel is it's economy. Stangaled by International sanctions, Iran companies are having hard time making international financial transactions. The US sanctions has proven to be quite effective in this case. In addition, Iran if currently facing a danger of a bursting inflation, estimated to be anywhere between 20% to 25%. The Iranian goverment is over spending, using oil revenues to finance it's activities. There is nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that it increases liquidity in the Iranian economy, and fuels the inflation further. Iran's poor are finding it almost impposible to buy a home or get basic needs such as gas. Government and charity organizations called Bonyads are controlling large segments of the Iranian economy. Competition is low and corruption is high. Petrol and other basdic goods are heavily subsidized by the government, while some of these goods are being illegally exported to neighbouring countries. Iran's economy could still hold for awhile, but not for too long. US sanctions has made it very hard for Iran to get foreign capital so badly needed for investment in its crumbeling energy infrastructure. Oil output is actually going down every year due to lack of investment. Whlie Iran has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, it has very little refining capacity. This means that it has to export it's oil and import petrol from outside. In case of an all-out war, this is going to be a key weakness point for the Iranian economy. About 50% of the government budget ia funded by oil exports. Should oil exporting become impossible, Iran is going to be in some deep shit. My point of view is that Iran can be beaten by using economic means. Although, Israel must remain cautious. In case Iran gets too close to completing its nuclear project, the game changes. In such a case, a direct, brutal, traditional Israeli style attack might be imminent.

Palestinians have used fake US dollar notes in Rafah

Over 1 million fake US dolars notes had been discovered in the Egyptian city of Rafah. Following the fall of the Gaza wall, hundreds of tousands of Palestinians were flooding the Egyptian city of Rafah, buying as much goods as they could. Egyptian shopowners who were very pleased at first, are not pleased now. It appears that Palestinians were making extensive use of fake US dollar bills. The fake bills were discovered while the shopowners were trying to deposit them in Egyptian banks. Egyptian officials could not tell how many more undiscovered bills exist. They were concerned that the fake bills could be rolled over by the shopowners to other parts of Egypt making them very hard to discover. Thank god I am not one of those shopowners. I am quite sure that the next time Palestinians from Gaza visit egypt they are going to be very welcomed. This reminds me of a very simple truth my father taught me when I was little: If you play with shit, your hands are going to get dirty. And in adult terms, if you deal with problematic people, you are very likely to get in trouble yourself. Good luck in dealing with the Palestinians Egpyt! Now they are your problem.

Should the Palestinian refugees problem be solved by means of naturalization in Arab countries?

If you ask me, the answer is a sharp yes. and as time goes by, the alternative solution of repatriation seems less and less realistic. (not that it ever was in my opinion). We shall first start discussing the 1948 refugees. Let us assume that a child less who was less than 6 years old does not remember too much from his old place of residence. All that he knows is the hardlife in the refugee camp in the Arab country where he is now, and a solution of repatriation is not relevant to him anyway because he has no true connection to Israel. Children who were 6 years old in 1948 should be 66 years old in 2008. in 20 years or so most of them are going to die. Having lived most of their lives in another country, I doubt that any of them would want to go back, even if they were given the opportunity to do so. The 1948 refugees is a dead thing. It is only living in the heads of Arab leaders, who use their situation to keep the conflict with Israel alive. As time will go by, old memories from old Palestine will fade away. It will only remain in the history books and loose any relevance to the present. Hence, there is no other way than to have all Palestinian refugees naturalaized in Arab countries where they live now. Using Palestinian refugees as tools in a political game, Arab leaders are preventing the refugees from getting jobs, owning property, and living normal life. Hoping to keep the refugees problem eternal, thus reviving the conflict with Israel, Arab leaders are keeping Palestinian refugees in poverty and hopelesness. Palestinian refugees do not want to go back to Palestine, and this has been proved by a research done in Beer-Zeit University (A Palestinian University in Nablus I think). All they want is hope and future but they have no future in Israel. Their old villages had been eroded, and now roads, offices and modern towers are built on the ground that used to be their home. All they will be able to do is have a look at the high buildings and try to imagine what was there before. The only possible future for Palestinian refugees in through being naturalized in the Arab countries where they live now.

An Arab comment: a lie or ignorance?

This comment is taken from AlJazeera English website. Mlk from Algeria claims that Britain used to be a Zionist ally during the British mandate and "allowed" a Zionist movement. He also offers an historical overview of the Israeli-Arab wars. Click here to enlarge image Apparently Mr. mlk has not been reading his history books. According to Mr. mlk, the poor Arabs had never initiated any act of violence against Jews, British mandate never restricted Jewish immigration, it was our ally right? Attacks of Arab gangs against Jewish population never happened. The 1973 war never broke out. Ohh and what about the Hebron massacre, the Intifada, and other War crimes by Palestinians against Jewish civil population? Disinformation and lies are being spread by Arabs all the time. This is why it is so important to counter their lies, since they affect people around the world, making them think that Israelis are some sort of bloodthirsty murderers. People like mlk remind me each time why it was so important to establish this website. Support our activity by sending us your articles with your own views about what is happening in the middle east. You can do so by clicking the "Submit Your Article" link at the top of this page.

Israeli deterrence rebuilt

The second Lebanon war ended with a tie. War goals, if there were any, were not achieved. Hezbollah was able to paralyze major parts of the Israeli civil population for as long as the war went on. Hassan Nasralla, Hezbollah chairman kept declaring that the war was a holy victory for his small guerilla force over the strongest army in the Middle East. However, Hezbollah has suffered a large number of casualties during the war and they were pushed away from the border. For some reason the Israeli media has granted Nasralla a status of a celebrity. At the end of the war people in Israel started saying that they believe Hassan Nasralla more than they believe Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister. This loser mentality by the Israeli media has to stop. We didnt lose the war. We did not perform as well as we should have, but we did not lose that war. Since then things have dramatically changed. Having two of the three warlords replaced (and hopefully Olmert is soon to be replaced as well), Israels deterrence and confidence has been rebuilt. In the southern front, The new defense minister Ehud Barak and Gabi Ashkenzai the IDF new boss have been fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza in a consistent and successful manner. The body count of Hamas terrorists is rising every day. In the North, the IDF had launched a sudden air strike against what is believed to be a Syrian nuclear facility. The latest assassination of Imad Moughnieh, an Hezbollah top operational officer has been so far passed without any actual response by Hezbollah. The truth is that they are afraid. Hearing Hassan Nasralla yelling about an open war with Israel sounds to me more like empty threats. If you want to shot, shot. Dont talk. Despite declaring a holy victory everywhere, Hassan Nasralla knows the truth. The fact that he did not immediately respond with another missile attack on Israeli targets is the best indication that the last war has taught him a lesson.

A holy victory: Hassan Nasralla is still hiding in his rat hole.

David Cohen, February 2008 At the end of the second Lebanon war, Hezbollah chairman Hassan Nasralla bragged about a holy victory over the IDF. But not many have seen him ever since, as he is now living his life underground. Hezbollah was so victorious in this war that it now can afford being very generous, giving us a head start by retreating back away from our border. I am being sarcastic of course. From the Hezbollah perspective, the result of the war was everything but a victory. The war has caused enormous damages to Lebanon, causing many blaming fingers to be pointed at Hezbollah. Its public support inside Lebanon has weakened dramatically. Even Shiite Muslims are asking questions. At the end of the war Iran and Hezbollah promised to rebuild everything that was damaged, and compensate every Lebanese whose property was damaged during the war. In many cases, this promise was not kept. Having lost its presence near the Israeli border, Hezbollah has gone backwards. Israeli forces have not withdrawn an inch back. So much for a holy victory! In the aftermath of the war, Hassan Nasralla is still hiding, living in a constant fear of Israeli assassination attempts. Now this guy has no shame. Hiding like a coward in his rat hole and declaring that he had won the war! Since the twisted left-wing Israeli media has made Hassan Nasralla a celebrity, there is no wonder so many Israelis actually believe that we have lost the war. What a bunch of left-wing losers. Although we didnt have clear goals in the war, and despite not achieving everything that we wanted and could, we did not lose this war. And it is about time that the losers in the Israeli media stop giving Hassan Nasralla so much coverage. The Israeli media must not forget that it has to be on our side.

The IDF: Restore the old spirit.

There were times when all our neighbors feared and respected the IDF. There were times when the IDF would charge and win first, and only at the end do the body count. There were times when the media knew that there are things you are not allowed to report until they are over. There were times when the Israeli public opinion accepted causalities as a painful but inevitable result of a war. But things have changed. Todays IDF is now what it used to be. Its officers are way to cooperative with the media. Its more senior officers who see themselves as future politicians take other than pure military considerations before making decisions. In a place they have to take a risk, they ask themselves how much causality are expected first and define the operation goals later. The media would do anything to get a sensation going in the evening news, despite the fact that doing so actually interferes with the IDF efforts. If we are to win our Muslim enemies, we must change the way things are working now and restore the old spirit of the IDF. We need an IDF that bites, an IDF that dares, and IDF that wins. This is the old IDF we all used to love. The media has to be pushed back away from operational information until the operation is over. The irresponsible attitude taken by the media during the second Lebanon war must not repeat. Reporters and Editors should be thrown to jail if necessary. Keeping going on like this is impossible. Ever since the old, failing defense minister Amir Peretz was replaced by Ehud Barak, things have been taking a slight positive turn. The assassination of Hezbollah senior officer Imad Moughnieh is one of the signs. The ongoing was against Hamas in Gaza Strip is just another. The IDF has taken the initiative back into its hands. No more being dragged after the Arab plans. The IDF chief has also been replaced. The new army chief Gabi Ashkenazi is joining hands with Ehud Barak, and let us all hope they would lead the IDF into a new age, and restore the old spirit.

Close the border for gods sake!

Not for the first time in history, the Israeli government is waiting for small problems to become big before it takes any measures to solve them. The Israeli Egyptian is wide open for whoever want to violate Israels sovereignty. Smugglers, drug dealers, terrorists, economic immigrants, everybody is welcome to come and go in and out of Israel as they please. The Israeli government is ignoring the problem for now. Until things dont get really bad, it seems like no one is going to do anything about it. The rumor has spread and dozens of economic immigrants from Africa are crossing the border into Israel every day. The left wing post Zionist NGOs already rant in the media that Israel is not giving those economic immigrants rights. Israel has become the trash bin of the whole region. This is nothing else than an attempt by self hating jews to destroy the special status of Israel as a Jewish state. Israel is not the US. It was built on a totally different ground. Just like the US is the land of the free, Israel is home for the Jews. We must all express our objection to the incoming African immigration loudly and clearly. Its too bad that many left-wing post Zionist Jews today do not share this view, and do whatever they can to make Israel into something else, by copying the US model. We should all demand the Israeli government to take effective measures in order to close the Egyptian border. There is no need to wait until immigrants become a big problem. It is better to take action now, thus sending a very clear message: Israel is home for the Jews, and so it will keep being in the future.

War in southern Israel � time to remember why Israel exists

The IDF has finally started doing something about the Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Finally the IDF is going down hard on Hamas terrorists in Gaza. This is for sure not enough, and should have been done yesterday. But still a new, healthier line of thinking is emerging in the heads of those who make this kinds of decisions in Israel. Mind you, Israel was established with a very clear goal: Never again will Jews be killed and attacked just for being what they are (Jews :) ). That is why we have established a Jewish state with a string army. If we ever forget that, we can pack up and leave to Canada or something. This is the essence of the state of Israel. It is very sad that too many Jews have forgotten this. All the Left Wing-Feminist-Self hating side of Israeli politics seem to have lost its mind. They keep making philosophic discussions about whether it is ok to defend ourselves or not, while real Jews in real life are suffering attacks just because they are Jews who live in a Jewish state. Other political groups, not as sick minded but clearly weak hearted, are worried about �What the international community is going to say�. For these people what I have to say is this: Get some backbone guys! There was a famous Israeli leader who said once that it does not matter what the Gentiles say, what matters is what Jews are doing. And besides, remember world war II? What did the International community had to say back then? Please re-open your history books and refresh your memory. And for our brave soldiers, who are risking their lives day and night on protecting Jews from Palestinian terrorism and Qassam attacks, I sent all my prayers and love. May god be watching you, and have you return home safe, victorious, and proud. Amen.