Hamas Sends Message to Obama

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

Many issues are afoot.

This past week Abdullah King of Jordan met Haled Mashal, the Hamas politburo chief, in Amman.

We were told that the discussion was about Palestinian statehood. We naturally assumed that Abdullah was trying to convince Mashal to reconcile with Abbas so that the Palestinians can unite and make a state.

Well, not quite. It seems that one of the things they discussed was a way to empower Abdullah so that he becomes a mediator between Hamas and the United States.

There is more. We are now being told that Mashal asked the King of Jordan to deliver a message to President Obama informing that Hamas now accepts the idea of two states.

That information must be verified and then, if it is true, it must be publicly pronounced.
There is no question about it - if Hamas announces that they accept the idea of two states it removes one major obstacle in the path of the United States leading to direct discussions with Israel.

Of course, there are several other huge problems to be overcome before Israel and any Palestinians sit down and talk. One of the most significant is the sponsorship of terror by Hamas.

But there is no doubt that the US would look very positively on Hamas if they publicly announced their recognition of Israel within the '67 borders.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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Kerry Confirmed - Hagel in Line

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

The Senate approved John Kerry as the next Secretary of State of the United States.
The vote was 94 in favor and 3 opposed.

That should be no surprise.

The big event will be Thursday when Chuck Hagel comes before the subcommittee. They will grill him. Grill him about what he said and what he thinks about Iran and about Israel and about the role of the United States.

The biggest question will be what Hagel thinks the US world view should be.
Is Hagel an isolationist? If he is might possibly nix him - the only thing that might nix his appointment.

Nothing short of that will tarnish Obama's Hagel nomination.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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Iron Dome in The North

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

Israel has repositioned one of the batteries on the supper effective anti-rocket system ... called the Iron Dome.

The Israelis moved a set of Iron Dome anti-rocket rockets to a site just outside the city of Safed.

The Iron Dome is the system that, without a doubt, saved hundreds if not thousands of lives during Operation Pillar of Defense that took place late last year. The land-to-air system locks on to incoming rockets, triangulates and then shoots. As it travels at extremely high speeds the Iron Dome re-triangulates and then destroys the incoming rockets mid-air so that they do not hit their targets.

The Iron Dome was created to combat against Hamas in Gaza and the incessant launching of rockets into Israel.

So why has an Iron Dome battery been moved all the way up north to be near the near the city if Safed?
The answer is Hezbollah. There is real fear in Israel that Hezbollah will again start to lob rockets into Israel- maybe even gas filled rockets. Repositioning the Iron Dome serves both to protect and to intimidate.

It is to let Hezbollah know that Israel will shoot down any foreign object entering their air space.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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Huge Blast in Iran Nuke Lab

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

This story has still not been covered by Western press.

Earlier last week there was a huge explosion in Fordo, the 2nd most important nuclear development site in Iran. The blast was so huge that people felt it miles away. The Teheran-Qoms highway which runs close to the site of the blast was closed for hours.

Fordo has 2,700 nuclear rods, or centrifuges. It is a serious atomic location, second only to Natanz which has 10,000 nuclear rods.

Fordo was always thought to be impregnable. It is built deep into a mountain and is totally underground. It is so deep underground that bunker buster bombs have been thought to be useless against it.

But this explosion was not spontaneous, it was not some freak accident. The report on the incident suggests that it was an act of sabotage.

That proves that saboteurs and spies can get anywhere.

When you add this act of sabotage at Fordo to the computer attacks that have been plaguing Iran and the continued accidents happening around the country you can only come to the conclusion that an anti-Iranian nuclear program is in place.

There is clearly a system set up to destroy the Iranian atomic infrastructure. And it is doing a good job of it.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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Abbas on New Is Coalition & His Demnads

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

The World Economic Conference in Davos just ended. Leaders have gone their separate ways, some to attend other conferences.

The African Union Summit followed Davos. It was there that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stood up early Sunday morning and said that "the Israeli coalition's makeup might change, but the Palestinian's demands for the negotiations will not change."
Abbas made clear exactly what Palestinian demands are: "the freezing of settlement construction, releasing prisoners and solving the core issues like Jerusalem and the refugees."

The most interesting insight to emerge from the recent Israeli election and the formation of the new coalition is that the Palestinian issue is not a significant variable. In fact, it is way down the list of priorities and, for some, it is a negative issue.

Despite lip service from the White House saying that the Palestinian issue is important and lip service from the Arab world saying it is important, there has been almost no pressure on Israel or on the Palestinians to solve the problem.

That is revealing.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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Egypt 2nd Anniversary

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

Torching is a mode of communication in Egypt. In Egypt, they torch things.
Until now I have spent quite some time explaining that the Islamists of Egypt have torched Christian sites.
Well, the tables have been turned.

Yesterday the Islamic Brotherhood offices in Ismailia Egypt were torched. Youths broke in and set the office on fire. And in three other cities in Egypt similar clashes occurred between the police and youths protesting the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.
There were huge demonstrations.

In Cairo the police shot tear gas into the crowd to prevent them from storming the presidential palace.
In Alexandria a court was attacked by demonstrators shouting "Muslim Brotherhood this is the last day for you."

In Suez 4 people were killed. 186 civilians and 45 security personnel were wounded.
It all happened as the result of anti-Morsi, anti-Brotherhood, demonstrations that turned into riots. And it took place on the second anniversary of the revolt that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

What the Egyptians really need now is stability and tourism to jumpstart their economy. But there will be no tourists, no jumpstart and no stability. There will be more violence.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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Bibi & Wife Vs Coalition

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

Forging a coalition is without a doubt the most difficult part of the election process in Israel.

After a long, hard fought and often ugly election battle, compromises and promises must be made in order to obtain the required 60 Knesset seats. Election planks and platforms are first weighed and then cast away in favor of the issues of power, control and of course, prestige.

Well before results were in, Netanyahu called potential coalition partners. Immediate calls went out to ultra orthodox Shas which then won 11 seats, ultra orthodox United Torah which then won 7 seats and the anti  ultra orthodox Yesh Atid (There is a Future) which in the end won 19 seats immediately.

But Netanyahu did not call his natural partner, Ha Bayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) party, a modern Zionist orthodox party which garnered 12 seats until late Thursday. And there is a simple reason for that.

Netanyahu's wife Sara did not want him to make the call. There is bad blood between the leader of The Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett, and Sara Netanyahu. It goes all the way back to the time when Bennett was chief of staff in the office of the prime minister.

No doubt there has been much pressure in the Netanyahu household to avoid a connection with Bennett. Netanyahu needs to weigh the sides - the wrath of his wife or a successful coalition insuring his position as prime minister. It is not an easy decision to make.

Sarah has a strong hold on her man. But the prime ministry may be even stronger - and, despite the protestations and a clash of personalities, Bennett can only help Netanyahu.

Sara will probably lose this battle, but she will come back later with a vengeance.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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