No need for America's 'nuclear umbrella'

This week, although I was deeply engrossed in the successful primaries of the "Strong Israel" party (the first primaries in the world to be conducted entirely via the Internet, without a hitch, and with a 93% voter-turnout) my attention was drawn to the headline that the new American administration is going to offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" in case of an attack by Iran.

This is not necessarily good news. This offer, more than it speaks of a friendship toward Israel, expresses an American resignation to the nuclearization of Iran. The 'nuclear umbrella' is meant to bring about an Israeli resignation to this reality. What the proposal means is that America will threaten Iran with a 'second strike' in response to any attack on Israel's cities with nuclear weapons.

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Crime families are terror organizations

The assassination of Yaakov Alperon in the heart of Tel Aviv, via a bomb planted in his car, is last week's major event.

The issue is not the identity of the murder victim but rather the lawlessness embodied in his murder.

Israel has several crime families; they are, for all intents and purposes, terrorist organizations. The war between them takes the lives of innocents who have the misfortune of finding themselves in the battle zone. Only a few months ago a mother was murdered  in front of her husband and two children on the beach in Bat-Yam, when was caught in the crossfires of a shooting aimed at some criminals in the area.

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Israeli Arabs need new leadership

The riot in Acre is the major event of this past week. Even if this turns out to be an isolated event, which does not spread or last long, as we hope, it exposes a difficult issue that no one is daring to deal with.

Truth be told, all Israel's governments except for one have discriminated against Israel's Arabs. Only Rabin's government, at his personal directive, employed a wise policy approach towards them. The gap in services between the Arab sector and the Jewish sector is enormous. Arab youths who graduate from university are kept from being accepted into government and public companies without any security justification. Many Arab villages are not included in overall planning and building projects which has caused a residential crisis and led to an increase of illegal construction in these villages. Under these conditions, fury and bitterness are inevitable.

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New Year resolutions

I would like to wish my readers a good year, a year of health and peace, for you and your loved ones.

The fulfillment of some of our wishes for the coming year depends not on us but rather on others who are outside of Israel:

• Stability for the world economy and the US economy in particular. The American Administration has understood at the eleventh hour that only vigorous government intervention can halt the destruction wrought by the unrestrained greed of large private corporations.
• That the democratic countries stand together against the regime of the Ayatollahs in Teheran. A regime whose fascist and anti-Semitic character was again exposed this week in the UN speech of the President of Iran. If these countries impose genuine economic sanctions, if they cease to ingratiate themselves to Iran and court its favor, the need will diminish for a military action to prevent Teheran's Islamist zealots from acquiring nuclear weapons.

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A stable government must be in place

Tzipi Livni's victory in the Kadima primaries will have a major impact in Israel over the coming months.

The way the primaries were conducted in Kadima and all the events surrounding election day illustrated that the 'Kadima political culture' is identical to the original - the Likud's. On the political front however, thanks to Olmert especially, Kadima deviated from the Likud's path and let's hope that continues.

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Gaza op inevitable

Last week's barrage of Kassam and mortar fire from Gaza into the surrounding communities has set a new record for the residents living there. This collective suffering has reached a point of no return.

Israel's leadership must provide an answer to its citizens who are living under Hamas rocket fire, a definite answer. In the absence of such an answer from the government, I would like to state the truth as I see it.

Why is the government not preparing a major operation intended to break Hamas's strength and hold on the Gaza Strip? Such an operation is inevitable, because Israel cannot and will not resign itself to the existence of an Iranian terror base on its borders forever.

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Obama's AIPAC speech - a pleasant surprise

From my point of view, last week's most meaningful event was my participation in the AIPAC conference which took place in Washington. AIPAC is the biggest and most significant pro-Israel organization that exists in the United States. It acts as a lobby to the Senate and Congress and it succeeds, almost always, in passing legislation that is favorable to Israel.

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The fall of Lebanon and the rise of the West Bank

Amid the excitement of last week's events - the announcement of  negotiations with Syria and the developments in the latest Olmert  corruption scandal - not enough attention was paid to the most significant event of the week: the fall of Lebanon in oil-rich Qatar.

In negotiations that took place under the sponsorship of the Qatari  ruler, the Lebanese government surrendered to the demands of Hizbullah and Syria: the pro-Syrian military chief General Michel Suleiman was  nominated for the presidency, Hizbullah would appoint a third of  cabinet ministers (11 out of 30), Fuad Saniora would no longer remain  prime minister and Hizbullah's demands for the renewed division of  voting areas which would enhance its Parliament representation in the next election was also approved. Under Lebanese law, a third of government ministers have veto power on every decision. The moment 11 ministers are Hizbullah members, every decision made in Lebanon has to first be approved by Teheran and Damascus.

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Israel@60: Successes and failures

Last week was marked by the Independence Day celebrations of Israel's sixtieth birthday. The day's events were especially beautiful and moving. This day should also be a day for reflection and self-inspection.

What have we achieved in the last 60 years?

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Exodus remembered

Holocaust Remembrance Day left its indelible mark on the whole of last week. At the beginning of the week, Yossi Harel was brought to rest - the commander of the ship carrying 'illegal immigrants' under the British Mandate period called 'Exit Europe' more commonly knows as the 'Exodus'.

This ship set sail in the summer of 1947 with 4,500 Holocaust survivors to the shores of Israel. The British prevented its arrival by force and after commandeering the ship still at sea, a battle broke out between the British forces and the 'illegal immigrants' and these people, after a long and difficult journey in which they wandered at sea for two months, were sent back to Hamburg port in Germany.

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