For Russians, Syria is a distant country from the TV. They stick it in a box without emotions, chew it at breakfast: ISIS, terrorists, Assad…
I'm standing a couple of kilometers from the hottest spot in the world. Only yesterday it was reported on the news that several border villages had been taken over by terrorists. Maybe I'm looking at them right now, but I don't notice.
Let's see together what Syria looks like today. What can be seen from the territory of Israel?
1 I was on the Golan Heights for the second time. Until 1967, the region was part of Syria, but after the Six Day War came under Israeli control. The Syrians still do not recognize the annexation.
2 The last serious attempt to recapture the Golan was 40 years ago, during the Yom Kippur War. It also ended with the defeat of Syria.
3 The Israelites advanced inland, and there have been no attacks since. Who owns the heights, he owns the situation.
4 Little has changed on this earth in forty years. This region is sparsely populated, but heavily mined. They say that in general the most mined in the world. The territory was mined since the First World War. It is difficult to completely clear the Heights of mines, and most importantly, very expensive. But gradually vegetable gardens and orchards appear on the site of minefields.
5 People prefer not to live here, but come to enjoy the views and relax in nature. A little further - Mount Hermon, where Israel's only ski resort operates in winter.
6 Military tourism is being developed in the Golan, in the wake of past battles. The Israelis are told about the events of 40 years ago so that they remember.
7 I was in this place three years ago, and spoke in detail about the sights of the heights. Read my long and detailed report.
8 A lot has changed in the Syrian territory under review in three years. This will be seen in the photos below.
9 On the eve of the day when I went to the Golan, there was information on the news that several villages closest to Israel were captured by ISIS (banned in Russia). And the nearest one is only seven kilometers away! You can probably see it from here, so I armed myself with a telephoto camera and began to look at it.
In this photo you see an abandoned Syrian hospital, where we will go down, further - the border fence, the UN buffer zone, and then Syria itself. And she looks like herself.
10 This is the city of Quneitra. More precisely, what was left of him. The city itself was destroyed by the retreating Syrian army during the war in the seventies. But even in 2014, it looked more intact, and a huge Syrian flag fluttered over the buildings. Now he is gone.
11 I was lucky with the visibility, from the Golan Heights you can see tens of kilometers in the distance. Other Syrian cities they look as lifeless and ruined.
12 The war has even reached the outskirts of the country. lifeless concrete.
13 A large Syrian city is visible on the horizon in the distance. I tried to figure out what it was from the map, but I could not. Perhaps a new Quneitra, but it doesn't look like it. The city also looks half destroyed.
14 Not only the Israeli military, but also the UN troops are keeping order at the border. They oversee the maintenance of a shaky peace. The soldiers came from Australia: they were sent here from the country as far as possible from the parties to the conflict.
15 We go down to the ruined hospital. A tourist bus puffs in front of the entrance. Yes, there are now guided tours. Not foreigners, but Israeli students or schoolchildren. They spoke Hebrew.
16 I was able to hear and understand what they were told about the famous intelligence officer Eli Cohen, who operated in Syria in the sixties, but was exposed and executed on the orders of Father Bashar al-Assad.
17 The hospital has been completely empty for many years, but the building is not demolished. It stands as a monument to the war and Eli Cohen.
18 There are a lot of abandoned buildings in the Heights. But the land is not abandoned, there are many sown fields and vineyards.
19 From this point to the territory of Syria - a few hundred meters. On foot.
20 Israeli friends were surprised to see this photo. On the other side of a small river, the remains of Quneitra and an abandoned Christian temple are visible. But there is no river there!
21 Quneitra was captured by resistance fighters a few years ago. They also removed the Syrian flag and destroyed the remains of the city. Why, because no one lived there anyway? The temple, however, was not touched.
22 And they did not dare to attack Israel.
23 The Golan is not only war. It's incredibly beautiful here. But you need to walk carefully here, and it’s better not to pick flowers. See the yellow signs? Beware of mines!
24 It is also one of the wildest places in Israel. Few people get here: local tourists travel to the Golan by other roads.
25 The snow cap on top of Hermon remains until summer. The borders of Israel, Syria and Lebanon pass along the mountain. There is a ski resort on the Israeli side.
26 Climate and natural areas it looks like a layer cake. You turn your head a little, from Hermon to the right, and the landscape changes beyond recognition. Mountains and plains, white caps and desert sandstone... Everything is changeable in the Middle East, even nature.
27 The photo clearly shows the border fence between Israel and Syria.
28 Now let's take a closer look at the Syrian cities. Approximation should be enough.
29 Another town near the border. The buildings are riddled with shells: they obviously don't live here. Houses on other streets seem more intact, but the city still seems uninhabited. Holes in the walls from the Israeli side: perhaps an echo of that war forty years ago, or maybe modern battles of militants from the Syrian army.
30 This is another settlement. Not a single car is visible on the streets, let alone people. Mosques and water towers seem abandoned.
31 Even if by some miracle the war in Syria ends this year, the country is unlikely to recover in the coming decades. Too much destruction, too many contradictions within the country, and too many forces outside see the future of Syria in different ways.
32 The Israelites are in no hurry to dig the trenches. They might still be useful. Although I want to believe that the Syrians fought for two hundred years ahead.
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The Gaza Strip: Anatomy of a Conflict.
The military-political leadership of Israel carefully selects the names for their operations, including those in Gaza, putting a special meaning into them. In 2008-2009 it was "Cast Lead", behind which a desire to blindly and furiously punish was guessed, now - "Cloud Pillar", the meaning of which, apparently, is that, in addition to the announced one, the operation also hides additional motives, which are many.
Israeli calculations
When the operation in Gaza was already in full swing, the Israeli portal IzRus published a very interesting document, compiled some time ago by experts from the foreign policy headquarters ("mate medini") of the country's Foreign Ministry's central office for Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. In particular, it contained an analysis of the reasons for the November 29 appeal of the leader of Palestine, Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), to the UN General Assembly with a request to grant it the status of an observer state at the UN. In addition, the drafters of the document provided Lieberman with recommendations regarding the Israeli reaction to such a move by the Palestinian leadership.
"Motives for Abu Mazen's decision to apply to the UN in November are ambiguous and varied," the document said. "The main one is the significant weakening of its position in Palestinian society due to the inability to cope with internal problems, primarily in the economic sphere."
The memorandum also drew conclusions for Israel:
“By accepting the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state recognized by the UN, Israel will completely undermine its own deterrent potential, which will make any future political settlement (of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) acceptable to the Israeli side impossible.
Despite the fact that this is a difficult step for Israel, fraught with serious consequences, in this case, the removal of the Abu Mazen regime is the only option. Other options - inaction or a mild reaction - are tantamount to capitulation and recognition of the inability of the Israeli leadership to counteract the challenge."
Based on this, the Israeli leadership was given unequivocal recommendations:
“If the Palestinians refuse to apply to the UN, Israel should reach an agreement with the Palestinian Authority on the creation of a Palestinian state, the borders of which will remain temporary during the transition period (until stability is achieved in the Arab world, new elections are held in the PA and clarity is made on relations between the West Bank and Gaza).
If the Palestinians unilaterally apply to the UN General Assembly and receive the status of a state, this step should be considered a red line crossing and a violation of all agreements that necessitate a strong Israeli response.
The whole course of events irrefutably testifies that the Israeli military-state machine is acting in accordance with a pre-designed plan, and the conflict in Gaza was deliberately and deliberately provoked by it.
In reality, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said back in September that Israel might "re-occupy parts of Gaza in a future conflict."
The impetus for the current round of violence was the assassination by the Israelis of the commander of the military wing of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari. Military sources from the DEBKA research center close to the Israeli intelligence community said that simultaneously with the elimination of Jabari in the south of the country, increased combat readiness was declared in anticipation of retaliatory strikes. To enhance the effect, the funeral procession that accompanied the murdered Jabari was also bombed. Five children and a 19-year-old pregnant woman died in the process. The well-known Israeli analyst Aluf Benn writes that “A. Jabari was rather the main figure in the Gaza Strip, deterring rocket attacks and thereby ensuring the security of Israel.” The more cynical his murder looks. Jabari, in the end, could have been removed quietly, as the Israeli special services know how to do, but this was done loudly and defiantly. Consequently, the consequences were calculated and expected.
The events around Gaza should, on the one hand, intimidate the leadership of Palestine, and on the other hand, serve as a dress rehearsal for its removal. Obviously, none of its leaders can agree with the "temporary borders" of the Palestinian state, which will be drawn by the Israelis and, in the version described by the memorandum, remain indefinitely. In the same way, the voting mechanism at the UN General Assembly has been launched, and Mahmoud Abbas is not able to refuse it, even if he wanted to.
Therefore, as early as December, the real big war against the Palestinians. Preparations for this are also evidenced by the unprecedented number of reservists called up for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) - 75,000 people in addition to those already under arms.
This, according to experts, is at least three times higher than the needs for solving local problems in Gaza.
At the same time, a picture of the "non-negotiation capacity" of the Palestinians is being created in the world. This is clearly indicated by the speech of the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, regarding the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. He sharply criticized the intention of the Palestinian Authority to obtain the status of an observer state in the UN. "The state that the Palestinians dream of includes the Gaza Strip, where Hamas rules. On behalf of whom do Palestinians turn to the UN: on behalf of the leadership of the autonomy in Judea and Samaria, or on behalf of the government of the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas?"
Among other motives for conducting Operation Pillar of Cloud, they point to possible preparations for a strike on Iran.
The ongoing operation is "clouding" the full-scale deployment of the IDF's combat potential and, in parallel, "neutralizing" possible future thrusts on the flanks that would follow an attack on Iranian facilities.
Of no small importance is the fact that Netanyahu is practically forcing the United States to “stop flirting” with moderate Islamists in the Arab world and fully align with Israel in accordance with their strategic obligations. The US Senate unanimously (!) adopted a resolution with unconditional support for Israel and condemnation of the "provocations" of Hamas. B. Obama has already called his unloved Netanyahu and assured him of his full sympathy. On behalf of the President of the United States, Obama's First Deputy Assistant for national security B. Rhodes stated unequivocally: "We believe that Israel has the right to defend itself, and it decides on its own about the tactics of such defense."
They also point to another possible motive for the operation - the upcoming elections in Israel in two months. According to the Independent, "the only real consequence for Israel so far has been the death of three Israelis in a rocket attack." However, this may play into the hands of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The more the conflict escalates, the tougher Israel's reaction will be and the more Israel will feel like a "fortress under siege", which in the parliamentary elections will inevitably turn to the benefit of the ruling party. This is also evidenced by the fact that of all the political forces in Israel, only the far-left Meretz condemned the operation, whose leader Zahava Galion said: "Israel has the right to self-defense, but the implementation of this right by destroying the leaders of Hamas will not bring the desired result."
The situation in the immediate environment of Israel is assessed by its strategists as quite favorable for carrying out any military actions in Gaza.
Egypt, according to Tel Aviv, despite the transfer of some combat units to the Sinai Peninsula directly to the scene, after internal chaos not completely overcome, is not able to throw any serious military challenge to the IDF.
For the time being, one should mainly expect tough political declarations and diplomatic maneuvers from him.
Increased security measures are being taken on the border with Syria. Soldiers are strictly prohibited from responding to possible small arms and mortar fire from opposite side without command authorization. The attacks of anti-government rebels associated with al-Qaeda are assessed as the most likely. Their total number near the border is estimated at 200 people. In particular, the Orly Golan group controls the ghost town of Quneitra, completely destroyed by the Israelis during the 1967 war. The regular Syrian units have practically withdrawn inland.
Lebanon is paralyzed after the assassination of the head of military intelligence, in which Hezbollah is accused, but, as it turns out, Israel is the biggest beneficiary so far.
Jordan has also entered a period of instability and may well turn out to be the next weak link in the Middle East domino, opening the third wave of the Arab Spring. From this side, the border of Israel is quite safe.
The question of the start and scale of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip is still open. This is due to the government's concerns about the possible reaction of the international community to Israel's actions.
As practice shows, the ground phase of the operation leads to additional casualties on the part of the civilian population, which in turn increases criticism of Israel, and, accordingly, pressure on it.
At the same time, Daniel Beeman, head of Middle East studies at the Brookings Institution, believes, for example, that Israel has started a risky game in the Gaza Strip that it can lose ...
A new factor compared to the timing of the extremely brutal Operation Cast Lead in 2008, during which some 1,500 Gazans were killed, is the Arab Spring and Hamas's ideological affinity with neighboring Arab regimes. Israel will have a hard time if Hamas holds out for any length of time. The Israelis are unlikely to want to re-occupy the entire sector, and they will not receive the support of Washington, which does not want to further complicate its relations with the Arab countries.
In resonance with this opinion, Amir Goren writes in the Israeli opposition newspaper Haaretz: “Military operations aimed at eliminating the commanders of hostile groups are justified, but fruitless. As long as they are cut off from a larger national context, not tied to the solution of a national problem, Israel moves in a debilitating spiral, each time returning to the same place.
"The gates of hell will open!" Hamas calculations
Hamas (abbreviation for Harakat al-Muqawana al-Islamiya - Islamic Resistance Movement) emerged decades ago as a regional branch of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, which included Gaza until 1967. The founding father is Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated in 2004.
There are indications that the Israeli secret services had a hand in the formation of Hamas in their time, trying to oppose the Islamists to the secular and socialist-oriented forces in the Palestinian resistance.
If only they knew who they were raising. True, now both sides prefer not to remember this. Gained political strength in the late 80s. during the first intifada. Having won elections in the sector in 2006, Hamas has been in full control of Gaza since 2007, while in the West Bank of the Jordan River, power belongs to Fatah, founded by Y. Arafat.
Hamas has been on the American list of terrorist organizations since 1997. In addition to being more militant than Fatah, it is known for its attention to the social situation of the population and less exposure to corruption. The formal leader of Hamas remains Khaled Mashaal, who moved from Damascus to Qatar in early 2012, while the real leader in Gaza is "Prime Minister" Ismail Haniya, a close associate of Sheikh Yassin. There is a barely concealed rivalry between them. Hamas declares that it is ready to recognize the borders of 1967 and live in peace with Israel, but it is in no hurry to do so.
As a result of the "Arab Spring" Hamas has grown significantly both in military-technical and political terms. Moreover, by acknowledging its responsibility for launching rockets into Israel, which it has so far avoided, Hamas is demonstrating that it no longer fears a direct confrontation with the Israeli war machine.
His increased confidence is based on a number of factors.
Having ended its dependence on Damascus, Hamas has found much more powerful patrons in the Islamic world. In October s. g. the first of the heads of state for its entire modern history The Emir of Qatar visited Gaza and gave Hamas a $400 million gift that immediately raised their stakes among Palestinian voters. Following him, Turkish Prime Minister T. Erdogan gathered there. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia visited Gaza, and in the near future, in accordance with the decision of the meeting of the League of Arab Countries held in Cairo, a whole delegation of Arab ministers plans to leave there.
Given the reorientation of Hamas from Syria and Iran to regimes more acceptable to Washington, voices began to be heard in the United States about a possible entry, so far unofficial, into contact with this movement. The White House was strongly pushed for this, in particular, by the leaders of Qatar and Turkey. The prospect of gradual international recognition of Hamas loomed, albeit still distant.
As a result of the post-revolutionary chaos, Cairo largely lost control over the situation in the Sinai Peninsula adjacent to Gaza. This gave Hamas vital strategic depth.
He set up his training camps in the Sinai and even workshops for the manufacture and repair of weapons, inaccessible to Israeli aircraft, which is bound by the obligations of the peace treaty with Egypt at Camp David. Moreover, in recent months there have indeed been cases of shelling of Israeli targets from the territory of the peninsula, although without causing them much damage.
Hamas, if it did not directly challenge the Israeli military machine, did not shy away from clashes with it, inflicting small harassing injections on Israel and having its own calculation at the same time. Just as Israel, by unleashing the conflict and bearing full responsibility for it, forced Washington to clearly and bluntly identify itself with Tel Aviv, Hamas just as clearly forced Cairo and other Arab capitals to side with it.
It is known that until recent events, the parent organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now in power in Cairo, showed a certain restraint in relation to its own creation - based primarily on tactical considerations of gaining legitimacy in the West. Cairo, for example, rejected a Hamas proposal to establish a free trade zone between Egypt and Gaza and expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of Islamic extremists who attacked Egyptian border guards in the Sinai and prevented the unrestricted movement of militants and weapons into the sector. Israel's attacks removed all previous contradictions: now the Islamists in Cairo cannot but support their "little brothers".
These calculations have already been partly justified. Egyptian President M. Morsi, who previously leaned towards a pragmatic course, sent Prime Minister H. Qandil to Gaza, actually under fire, recalled his ambassador to Israel, condemned Tel Aviv's actions as undisguised aggression and promised the Palestinians increased support. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is demanding from the president a further toughening of approaches to Israel. They also announced that they are developing a draft law for a unilateral revision of the peace treaty with Israel. Given their dominance in the national parliament, the chances of such a law passing are very high. Unable to successfully confront Israel militarily, Cairo, for example, can simply open the border with Gaza "for refugees", through which the flow of weapons that Hamas desperately needs will inevitably pour in the opposite direction. Muhammad Fuad Jadalla, legal adviser to the Egyptian President, speaking on one of the Arab TV channels, said that it is necessary to immediately create a Palestinian state and start supplying the Palestinians with weapons so that they can successfully resist Israel.
Hamas, just like Israel, but for its own reasons, is not too interested in the success of the vote promoted by M. Abbas on the status of Palestine at the UN General Assembly, since it considers it insufficient and reinforcing the current situation.
In addition, they believe that this whole undertaking serves, mainly, to increase the personal prestige of M. Abbas and the Fatah movement. At the same time, standing up to the Israeli military machine increases Hamas' credibility among the Palestinians and the chances of winning the ever-delayed all-Palestinian elections when they finally take place. Governing Gaza under its blockade, the movement is unable to deliver on its promises to improve the living standards of ordinary Palestinians and is gradually losing its popularity. The war allows everything to be attributed to the actions of the enemy and once again unites people around Hamas.
Nevertheless, the attack on the commander of the Hamas military wing of the "Izzeddin Al-Kassam Brigades" Ahmad Jabari was carried out unexpectedly for the Palestinians, a day after the cessation of all shelling of Israel from Gaza was announced through the mediation of Egypt. Jabari moved in a car in broad daylight, not expecting a sudden blow and not observing any precautions. His assassination, it was proclaimed in Gaza, "opened the gates of hell." On the Palestinian side, Operation Pillar of Cloud got its name - Firestone.
The Palestinians in Gaza have never had as many weapons as they do now. The Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 missiles they brought from Iran, although they have a small damaging effect, are reaching Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for the first time.
Although Israel declares false the claims of the Palestinians that they shot down the F-16, however, even The New York Times speaks about the credibility of the footage presented by them on YouTube in this regard. Hamas does not strive for an unattainable military victory, it needs a “diplomatic victory”, which it has already achieved in many ways.
The Israeli press writes: “The fact that rockets were fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem should not be neglected. Since the 1948 war, no Arab state (with the exception of Iraq in 1991) has dared to do what the Palestinian factions, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have allowed themselves to do.” It does not matter where the rocket fell - in the sea or on land, in the park or on the shore. It is important from a psychological point of view that the imaginary barrier is overcome. And in any war of attrition, the psychological aspect is extremely important.
At the same time, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing warns: "The shelling of Tel Aviv and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), which has not happened before, is not all the surprises at our disposal."
Military experts admit that a ground operation against Hamas in Gaza could repeat the sad experience of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006.
The Islamists in Gaza are no less powerful, prepared and motivated than Hezbollah, which in 2006 forced the Israeli army, perhaps for the first time in its history, to leave the battlefield in southern Lebanon due to high losses, without solving any of the tasks set ...
In favor of Hezbollah then spoke the mountainous conditions, which created excellent opportunities for ambushes and laying mines. The Gaza Strip, in contrast, is a continuous lowland. At the same time, dense buildings dominate there, which does not allow heavy military equipment to deploy without total destruction. Of course, there are hotheads in the Israeli state who are capable of this, but the situation in the world has changed somewhat, and such actions can finally blow up the entire Middle East.
According to the military wing of Hamas, in the event of a ground operation, the IDF soldiers will be allowed to penetrate 300 meters deep into Palestinian territory, and then they will be put up with strong resistance.
These fears, and not just international pressure, may explain the apparent hitch that arose in the actions of Israel, which had already announced the start of a ground operation.
The ceasefire negotiations are underway in currently in Cairo, with the assistance of Egyptian mediators, according to experts from the International Crisis Group, may end in a compromise tripartite agreement. According to it, Hamas will undertake to take control of "extremist elements", while Egypt will facilitate the passage of the Rafah border point with Gaza, and Israel will take similar steps with respect to the Kerem Shalom commercial terminal controlled by it.
At the same time, it is hard to believe in the strength of such agreements, taking into account the far-reaching strategic aspirations of the parties. Opposites converge. However, whoever wins this deadly game of blood, the losers will usually be simple people both Arabs and Jews.
The end of B. Obama's "honeymoon" with the "Muslim Brotherhood"? U.S. calculations and miscalculations
When Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States, many expected that relations between Israel and America would deteriorate sharply, since everyone remembered the squabbling between the head of the White House and the Israeli prime minister, as well as B. Netanyahu's frank bet on the Republican candidate M. Romney. However, it turned out that those who thought so were greatly exaggerating.
Those who remembered the strategic nature of the relationship between the two countries and the enormous influence of the Jewish lobby in the United States turned out to be right.
According to Israeli analysts, in fact, Netanyahu was quite cautious and tried not to "cross the red line." He received Romney and expressed words of support to him, but all this was always accepted in Israel in relation to American presidential candidates. Obama himself, when he was a candidate, visited Israel and got the pictures and smiles he wanted with Olmert, Livni and Ehud Barak, even though the Republican president was sitting in the White House at the time. Romney's propaganda videos used pictures and compliments of Netanyahu, but Obama's propaganda campaign also used pictures with Shimon Peres and E. Barak. When Romney harshly criticized Obama for "thrown Israel under the wheels of a bus," Israeli President Peres met with Obama in Washington and testified to complete mutual understanding. The Israelis have always been able to properly arrange eggs in different baskets. “Today, Netanyahu already knows that Obama won in the US, and Obama knows that Netanyahu will win in Israel. This is what we have, and we have to live and work with it.”
Moreover, Obama's entourage practically managed to defend the President's Jewish electorate, which for the most part did not believe Romney's stories that Obama was going to "leave Israel." Studies have shown that American Jews still retain their traditional orientation towards the Democratic Party. Of the members of this population who entered the election, 69% voted for Obama, only 5% less than in the previous campaign, which is a very small drop, given how much effort the Republicans made to present the incumbent as an "enemy of Israel."
Therefore, the statements of the newly elected president that he remains committed to a strategic alliance with Tel Aviv, apparently, correspond to reality. However, in the new reality, Obama will have to solve an extremely difficult strategic task - how to maintain relations with the former ally and not damage, and, if possible, even strengthen ties with new “moderate Islamist” friends recently acquired as a result of the “Arab spring”. The attempt to sit on these two chairs at the same time does not stand the very first test in connection with the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
If you know that Israel, from the very beginning of the "revolutionary processes" in the Middle East, critically assessed the actions of the Americans who stimulated these processes in every possible way, as well as Washington's attempts to get closer to the "Muslim Brotherhood", then it remained only to wait for the moment when Tel Aviv would begin its counterplay on disruption of this "unholy alliance". And he came.
From above, the Israeli "Pillar of Cloud" descended on the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian "gates of hell" opened to meet it - all the masks are now torn off.
Washington fully and unconditionally supported Israel, remaining deaf to the calls of the Arab community to somehow influence its ally, which destroys the entire cunningly built American strategy in the region with its supposedly unbiased attitude towards all states located here ...
As it turns out, on the eve of the Israeli strike on Gaza on November 12-13 this year. A delegation from the Israeli National Security Council headed by its leader Yakov Amidror held talks in Washington with Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Tom Donilon. It was the first high-level meeting between the two sides since Obama's re-election. According to official reports, they "held consultations on the situation in Gaza, Syria and Iran." At the same time, US NSC spokesman Tommy Vitor said: "The meeting was the latest in a series of security consultations on highest level between Israel and the United States and demonstrates our unwavering support for the security of the Jewish State." It is hard to imagine that, at the current level of interstate relations, the Israelis did not inform American interlocutors about the impending operation in Gaza. Perhaps this was the main goal of their mission.
Thus, the attack on Gaza was most likely undertaken with the full knowledge and approval of Washington.
Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, US President Barack Obama, in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed support for the Israeli authorities and emphasized Israel's right to self-defense. At the same time, the American leader called on Tel Aviv to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties.
In addition, according to the American edition of The Daily Beast, in this telephone conversation, the Israeli leader assured the interlocutor that the IDF is not yet planning a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. The source cited by the publication claims that Netanyahu gave personal guarantees that the ground operation would begin only if Hamas sharply intensified rocket attacks. Two senior US officials who, according to the publication, received information regarding the content of the conversation between Obama and Netanyahu, argue that Israel, contrary to its belligerent statements, is allegedly not even considering the option of invading Gaza, and this scenario will be considered only in the event of significant losses from the Israeli sides. On this moment the date of the possible start of the ground part of the operation "Pillar of Cloud" has not even been determined. However, "if Hamas steps up the pressure, the Israeli government may change its mind," the American source said.
For his part, the Israeli prime minister said that he spoke with US President Barack Obama and thanked him for the support and contribution of the Americans to the development of the Iron Dome missile defense system.
It is worth noting that information about the conflict, transmitted from the scene, is oversaturated with laudatory reviews about this system, which simply resemble a large-scale advertising campaign to promote it. Experts point out that in reality it is ineffective in the fight against low-flying targets such as missiles, but the joint American-Israeli military-industrial complex is vitally interested in its advertising, which objectively is the "third rejoicing" in the ongoing events and to a large extent pushes them.
Arabs have convened meetings before in connection with violent Israeli actions against the Palestinians, but observers will not remember such a heat of anti-Americanism as the emergency meeting of the League of Arab States (LAS) held in Cairo on November 17 with the participation of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. It has been argued that the United States is the only power in the world that could not only stop, but also prevent the conflict in Gaza, but they did not do this because of dependence on Israel. And therefore, their assurances of support for freedom and democracy in the Middle East are worthless.
The general position was expressed by King Abdullah II of Jordan, who is usually considered one of the most loyal Arab leaders to the West and Washington, and warned the White House against a position of non-intervention, which, in his words, "could lead to large-scale upheavals throughout the region."
However, Barack Obama did not seem to hear this. During his tour of Asia, speaking at a press conference in Bangkok on November 18, Obama stressed that no country in the world would tolerate rocket attacks on civilians, and expressed confidence that every effort should be made to resolve the conflict with Gaza in this way. so that no more missiles fall on Israeli territory. Once again, he stated that Israel has every right to protect its citizens from missiles that fly at them from the Gaza Strip.
The US President also noted that the issue of the possibility of concluding a truce will be decided in the next two days, emphasizing that the escalation of violence in Gaza minimizes the chances for peace in the region.
It is too early to judge how successful the Israeli operation "Pillar of Cloud" will be in terms of breaking down the resistance of Palestinian radicals. Most likely, everything will repeat itself from the beginning. But one thing can be said with certainty - the additional, and perhaps the main, plan hidden in it to introduce discord between America and the Arab countries is working quite effectively so far. "Pillar" turns into a "wedge".
Washington's Arab Spring strategy is bursting at the seams. Barack Obama's short honeymoon with the Muslim Brotherhood seems to be coming to an end.
Even more humiliation could be experienced by the United States during the UN General Assembly vote at the end of November on the status of Palestine, left with only Israel and a handful of miniature states against the rest of the world, including all the Arab states. The split will become even more palpable. There will be no possibility to claim "proximity" of interests and aspirations with "moderate Islamists". In relations with them, one will have to put aside the “soft power” weapon so beloved by Obama, relying only on its hard version, which is not always available, and financial handouts, the limits of which are also limited in a crisis. The main lever of Washington's influence on many of the countries of the region, in particular Egypt, which is key in this situation, remains economic. Experts from the Washington Institute for Middle East Studies recommend, for example, that the White House use for this purpose not only direct assistance to Egypt, but also its positions in the IMF, from which the Egyptians requested a loan of $4.8 billion. But is there enough money and influence? And will the Egyptians find funding sources outside of Washington, including in their own Middle East region?
Over the past month, a ceasefire was declared on the border between Israel and the Arab autonomies, however, immediately, then shots were fired again. Israeli lands with missiles, aviation. When reports of shootings became unsurprising, Israel responded to another shelling by threatening to launch a full-scale invasion of Palestine.
Hamas, the organization most often accused of attacking Israel, responded by threatening to "open the gates of hell." The Israelis themselves apparently believe that life in the border zone with the Gaza Strip already looks like hell: the army spreads the message about 25 rockets fired in the south of the country, but the police talk about 83 shells only since the start of Operation Pillar of Cloud. According to the army, about a million people in the country are within the radius of destruction of militant missiles. Hamas.
Israel Armed Forces Campaign:
So far, however, the effectiveness of massive shelling from Palestinian territory remains low: only one missile has overcome the system air defense. After this fallen rocket, Israeli aircraft first targeted Ahmed al-Jabari, and then marched across the entire territory of Gaza, damaging the infrastructure of the militants. The bombing killed ten people, including a baby.
Reaction
President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas countries Arab League. It will take place this Saturday. Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has already begun, the Palestinian ambassador, according to RIA Novosti, demanded to stop Israeli aggression.
The meeting was initiated Mohammed Morsi, the head of Egypt after the representatives of Palestine turned to him for help. They knew whom to turn to: the Islamist government of the country insisted on 1979, before which the countries were on the brink of war. Today, a representative of the Israeli diplomatic mission has been handed a note of protest, and the Egyptian ambassador.
The United States, as expected, as well as the UN, condemned the shelling of the territory of the Hamas country. And America and the Secretary General UN Ban Ki-moon asked Israel to respond.
Meanwhile, the promise to lead the ground fighting Apparently not an empty threat. The army was allowed to announce, if necessary, the mobilization of reservists, the military did not fail to use this right. It is noted that, first of all, there is a recruitment of civil defense specialists, that is, people in the border areas will probably live in wartime conditions for a long time. Seven kilometers from the border with Gaza, schools have already been closed, events with the participation of more than a hundred people are prohibited, people do not go to work. In the event of an official statement by the Arab countries on the side of Palestine, the tension may last for a long time or result in an open confrontation.
That is for you as a specialist, / wise men / thought up:
The Great Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) wrote that the book “Scroll of Secrets,” written by Rabbeinu Nissim, tells the following: “When the heads of all twelve tribes completed the sacrifices in honor of the renewal of the altar, the Most High said to Moshe: another renewal (in Hebrew - Hanukkah) of the altar, which will be performed by his descendants, the priests-cohanim, who did not participate in these sacrifices. With their help, I will perform miracles for Israel, give them salvation, and renew my altar.” Therefore, after the section "Heads of the Tribes" in the Torah comes the section "When you light the lamps." And in the Midrash Rabbah it is written: G-d said to Moses: “Inform Aharon that he will be honored with greater honor than the heads of the tribes [with whose sacrifices the altar was renewed]. After all, their sacrifices renew the altar only while the Temple stands, and the lighting of the lamps, entrusted to you, will never stop.
From this it follows that we are not talking about temple lamps, the ignition of which stopped with the destruction of the Temple, but about Hanukkah lamps.
It should be noted that the twenty-fifth word of the Torah is "light." And the twenty-fifth stop of the children of Israel in their wanderings in the wilderness was at Hashmon. All these are allusions to the victory of the Hashmonas over the enemies of the Jewish people and the holiday of Hanukkah contained in the Torah ... (c)
http://toldot.ru/tora/articles/articles_1539.html
Our reference:
Some of the Hashmonai were cruel. So, the grandson of Simon Hashmoney - Tsar Alexander I (Yannai), tired of arguing with opponents - supporters of a religious lifestyle, the Pharisees, executed 800 of them, forcing them to be present at the execution of their wives and children. During this massacre, he himself arranged a merry feast - completely in the spirit of the Greek kings.
The Hashmoneans are the only case in history of the forced conversion of other peoples to Judaism. John Hyrcanus I converted the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who lived in the Negev and Northern Sinai, to Judaism.
It was the Hashmoneans who brought new invaders to Judea. The Romans were invited to Judea to participate in civil war that broke out between the supporters of the two Khashmonean brothers, who did not share the throne among themselves. This intervention resulted in the occupation of Jerusalem, and subsequently the loss of Jewish statehood in Eretz Israel for two thousand years (until 1948).
The end of the Hashmonean dynasty was tragic. One of the slaves who served at the royal palace staged a coup - and he himself became king. He founded a new dynasty, destroying all the descendants of the Hashmoneans. His name was Herod! And he came from those same Idumeans whom the Hashmoneans forcibly converted to Judaism...
