I do genuinely feel for those of Middle Eastern descent who would not harm a fly, but are still subjected to certain forms of discrimination as a result of what their fellow Arabs are doing around the world.

But the simple fact remains that the enormous majority of terrorist actions in the world today are being perpetrated by Muslims of Middle Eastern descent.

To not racially profile this group of people, even to the minor inconvenience of the truly innocent ones, is just stupid.

Up until now, Israel has avoided participating in that particular form of stupidity. Leave it to Olmert to put an end to that.

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday demonstrated that he is not completely dense when it comes to the true intentions of the Palestinian Arabs.

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Is Prime Minister Ehud Olmert trying to prepare Israelis for the surrender of the Golan Heights to Syria?

On Monday, Olmert explained in detail to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the only thing that would buy Israel peace with Syria would be ceding the entire Golan. He expounded on the issue despite stating that he remains opposed to negotiations with Damascus at this time.

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So, the media is all abuzz over Olmert’s meeting yesterday with Abbas, and the silly notion that the coming together of the impotent “Palestinian” leader and admittedly fatigued Israeli premier is somehow going to lead to a final peace settlement.

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given his “word of honor” to release hundreds, perhaps thousands of “Palestinian” security prisoners as a goodwill gestures he hopes will move the two sides closer to peace.

Why is this a bad idea? Two reasons.

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Having declared during his election campaign that there was no “Palestinian” peace partner and that unilateral withdrawal was Israel’s only option, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has now seemingly inexplicably shifted course and is seeking to restart negotiations with the PLO.

And this despite the fact PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is apparently on the verge of forging a unity government with those most dedicated to Israel’s demise - the ruling Hamas organization.

There are two possible explanations for this bizarre behavior:

1. Olmert has suffered considerable political damage following the recent Lebanon war, and would like to bring calm to Israel’s external borders before another round of fighting erupts.

   In line with this desire, he is bowing to Arab insistence that Israel will never have peace with its neighbors until it reaches an accord with the “Palestinians.”

2. With his coalition on the verge of collapse, Olmert is relying on the notion that Israelis will be reluctant to go to early elections in the midst of an active round of negotiations.

   Furthermore, he knows that those to the right of his Kadima Party oppose the surrender of Judea and Samaria, and that those to the left oppose unilateral actions in place of a negotiated settlement. Employing the strategy of his predecessors, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, Olmert believes he can enter into negotiations that will inevitably lead nowhere by virtue of “Palestinian” intransigence, thus satisfying the full spectrum of Israeli politics.

Considering that Olmert believes himself to be Sharon’s heir in every way, and that he has demonstrated that his own political survival is of paramount importance, option two seems most likely.

The danger, of course, is that Israel cannot enter into negotiations with the “Palestinians” without the world getting all starry-eyed about the prospect of “peace,” and putting immense pressure on Israel to accept more undesirable terms and offer additional concessions.

There can be no question that with Hamas in charge, the chances for even a pretend peace with the “Palestinians” at this point are next to nothing. And the prime minister knows this. But he is apparently willing to further gamble with the lives of his people for the sake of “four more years.”

I know Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has put his “convergence” plan on the back burner for now, but that doesn’t mean he has forgotten about it or doesn’t plan to still implement it. After all, he and his colleagues insisted during the election campaign that Israel has no other hope but to surrender Arab-dominated Judea and Samaria.

But even if Olmert and his buddies were right in asserting that holding the cradle of Jewish civilization poses a demographic threat to the modern Jewish state (and they are not), the more immediate threat of having all Israel covered by short-range enemy rocket fire should raise some giant red flags.

Imagine all of northern Israel to the Jezreel Valley under attack from Hizb’allah’s 10,000 rockets, the populous central region taking fire from Samaria, Jerusalem being bombarded by Judea-based rocket cells, and Beersheva, Ashkelon and the south suffering a barrage of Gaza-launched missiles. After last month’s Lebanon war, that scenario must be viewed as realistic. And if it does happen, it will completely shut this nation down. No business, no commerce, no air travel, no tourism, etc. The desolation that existed in northern Israel from July 12 to August 14 of this summer would extend to every border of the Jewish state.

The demographic threat is a theory, an assumption. The rockets are a very real and proven threat.

Israel’s failures in its month-long war with Hizb’allah continue to mount. As the fighting came to a sudden halt under a UN-imposed ceasefire, it was clear that Hizb’allah had not suffered a crushing blow, was still capable of firing missiles into Israel, and would not release two abducted IDF soldiers.

But, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared, at least Israel had created the conditions for forcing the removal of Hizb’allah as a fighting force from southern Lebanon and its eventual disarmament by the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.

Unsurprisingly, Israel has now admitted that those achievements were nothing but smoke and mirrors. According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel’s current leadership has resigned itself to the fact that Hizb’allah can’t and won’t be disarmed by Beirut or the UN, and that its deep roots in southern Lebanon make its removal from the area impossible.

Israel’s new focus: making sure an arms embargo on Hizb’allah is fully implemented so that the group cannot replenish its arsenal of long-range offensive weapons.

As it becomes increasingly clear that Lebanon and the UN are not going to use armed force to prevent Syrian shipments to Hizb’allah, it is only a matter of time before that achievement, too, falls by the wayside.

Despite strong speeches by its leaders and what appeared to be an initial recognition of the necessity for outright victory against Hizb’allah, Israel now appears unable to do what is needed to actually achieve that goal.

Ha’aretz correspondent Ze’ev Schiff warns that if the IDF and political echelon do not get on the same page soon and implement a strong and unified battle plan, the conflict with Hizb’allah will turn into a war of attrition, bringing the Galilee region to its knees.

IDF Northern Command says it has a plan for victory, but it seems the Olmert government, which insists on approving every small step in this war before it is taken, has delayed implementation of the winning strategy as it looks over its shoulder to see what the international community is saying.

Cabinet meetings are turning into endless debates with no decisions taken the longer this fight drags on, putting victory further out of reach every day.

It doesn’t matter how many Hizb’allah men Israel kills or how many of the terrorists’ rockets are destroyed. Hizb’allah can recruit more willing fighters, and Iran and Syria will gladly supply more arms. All Hizb’allah has to do to win this fight is survive and demonstrate an ability to continue threatening northern Israel when all is said and done.

The burden of proof, therefore, is on Israel. Will Israel deal Hizb’allah and its sponsors such a harsh blow that despite the ability to recruit more men and obtain more weapons the group would never dare to use them again? Or will ultimate victory elude Jerusalem, leading to an irreversible tarnishing of the IDF’s image has the region’s mightiest military force and the deterrence that perception so long provided against Muslim aggression?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sounding an awful lot like US President George W. Bush Wednesday night when he announced his cabinet had given a green light to the IDF to crush the Hizb’allah threat. Continue reading »