The Daily Grind - 2nd of Tammuz / 28th of June

Today's edition of The Daily Grind focuses on the political ramifications of the events of the last few days where two Israelis / Jews were abducted by the Hamas led "Palestinian Authority", and Israel's return to Gaza, as well as highlighting some other choice articles.

Before getting to any of the above, we'll open with one of the all-time greatest quotes ever uttered in the history of the State of Israel.

Let's get started.

1) Kidnapped by emotions - Akiva Eldar - Ha'aretz

In early June last year, not long before the evacuation of Gaza, an Israeli leader got up in front of a Jewish audience in New York and said the following brave words: "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies. We want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies. We want them to be our friends, our partners, our good neighbors."

He ended his emotional plea with the words, "this is not impossible. [I]t is within reach if we will be smart, if we will dare, if we will be prepared to take the risks, and if we will be able to convince our Palestinian partners to be able to do the same. So that together we will move forward in this direction of building up different relations, better understanding, and greater trust between us and them." The speaker was Ehud Olmert, then deputy prime minister.

I don't agree with the rest of the article, but I will repeat here what I wrote in an earlier post on this classic quote:

I do not know how anyone in Israel can sleep at night knowing that the man leading the country has given up hope; a man who no longer believes in the absolute right of the Jewish People to a Jewish State in the Land of Israel; a man who has lost the will to fight and stand strong for our rights and our lives.

2) MKs try to prevent outpost eviction - Rebecca Anna Stoil - Jerusalem Post

In response to the worsening security situation, MK Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) on Tuesday called on Defense Minister Amir Peretz to reassess his plan to evacuate illegal outposts in the West Bank in another two weeks...

"After hundreds of Kassam rockets, why should we dismantle the outposts and give [the Palestinians] a prize? Why should we take them down at all?" Porush asked.

Good questions. Peretz' response? My guess is that it will be something about upholding the rule of law... international obligations... all of which seem to be of a higher priority than the government's providing even the most basic level of security for the citizens of the Jewish State of Israel - the primary obligation of any government.

3) No chance to win war - Batya Melamed - Yediot Achronot

It should be said that instead of a fierce military reaction – even if one seems necessary – we must do everything, absolutely everything, to bring about the release Corporal Gilad Shalit in the nicest way possible.

Palestinian prisoners should be released – men and women, young and old, those with blood on their hands and those without. Furthermore, the government must promise more disengagements, whatever they may be called – disengagement, convergence, realignment, running away, Jewish population shift. This is the time to punish them for their collective sin.

Just let us avoid this war. It is doomed to failure from the start.

Why will it be a failure?...

...no one measures the power of the most important weapon a country who wants to live, who is dedicated to defeating its enemies, can have: Faith in the justice of its cause and its actions. The ability to walk upright, and even the willingness "to die for one's country..."

The time has come to tell the truth, at least to ourselves: We've got no chance to win this battle. Not as long as we continue to pulverize all remnants of national pride, of our identity and of our faith that we have a right to life. Not as long as we, ourselves, do everything we can to call these things into question.

4) PMW: PA political leaders advocated kidnapping policy - IMRA - Palestinian Media Watch

No surprise here.

5) Labor MK: Israel Failed to Help Gush Katif Refugees - Scott Shiloh - Israel National News

Shelly Yechimovitch, a first term Labor MK, said in the Knesset on Tuesday that the Israeli government has failed in its efforts to resettle Israeli refugees from Gush Katif and northern Samaria...

“Their opposition…and their lack of cooperation does not derogate one bit from our responsibility towards them,” she said. “The bottom line is we failed.”

Yechimovitch, who is attempting to restore the Labor party to its core values based on social justice and equality, said the Gush Katif refugees “symbolize the loss of our values.”

A voice of reason coming from the Israeli Left?

6) Comptroller: Old boys' network rules foreign service - Aluf Benn - Ha'aretz

"For years, appointments have been made with no regard for standards, no transparency, and in violation of principles of good government," State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss wrote...

The picture of the Foreign Ministry that emerges from the report is of a primitive organization where senior positions, including ambassadorial postings to important countries, depend largely on connections and influence. In some of the cases examined by the comptroller, postings were filled before the appointments committee was convened.

And people wonder why Israel has such difficulties making its case to the world.

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