Uzi Arad is one of those Darth Vader-like figures so common in the Israeli intelligence netherworld. He reminds me of Michael Ledeen, except that he’s a great deal more powerful within Israeli policy circles than Ledeen is within the U.S. Perhaps Dick Cheney would be an even better analogy. If you look at the accompanying photo, the lighting and dark background makes him look a bit like Mephistopheles.
Currently, he is Bibi Netanyahu’s national security advisor. Except that he seems to be on the outs with just about everyone else in the current government. And in a government as right-wing as this one, it should give you some idea about how outlandish Arad’s views are. Defense minister Ehud Barak and the prime minister’s office want nothing to do with him. When you read the following from Maariv you may understand why. Among other things, Arad opposes a peace proposal offered by Kadima calling it “political adventurism.” He also opposes the two-state solution claiming it “legitimizes” Palestinians and “delegitimizes” Israel. He strongly favors an attack on Iran:
In a speech to the members of the Jewish Agency Assembly in Jerusalem, Arad said of the peace initiative being pushed by high-ranking Kadima officials, “Some say that we need to offer a peace initiative…There is no need to think that this is the magic and promised solution.
“We must not believe that the moment we do this, things will resolve on their own and then we will be saved. Such an initiative is only liable to cause the Palestinians to reject it and wait for another initiative on the understanding that Israel only gives. And therefore, I propose the commandment of caution. Making projections about the implications of what might happen is political adventurism.”
Arad also leveled veiled criticism at the two-state solution. “On the one hand, most of the people of Israel see the two-state solution as the path to a peace agreement. There are even quite a few Israelis who have mobilized for a Palestinian state and the promotion of its legitimacy, and are winning converts to it.
“What they do not notice is that this claims a certain price. The more you market Palestinian legitimacy, the more you bring about a detraction of Israel’s legitimacy in certain circles. They are accumulating legitimacy, and we are being delegitimized. If we were aware of that, perhaps we would be less enthusiastic.”
Regarding the subject of a strike on Iran, Arad mentioned the American position: “When people talk today about the military option—American, Israeli or of any other country—there is no argument over the legal aspect.
“The question that arises is only whether it is worthwhile and will it achieve the desired result, but there is no doubt regarding the operation’s legitimacy.”
Arad mentioned the doctrine that was developed by President Bush senior, who developed the idea of “having the cure precede the disease, because otherwise, it might be too late.”
Whenever a propagandist like Arad tells you there is “no doubt” about something, know that there is a great deal of it. In fact, you can’t go wrong believing precisely the opposite of whatever he does, if you want to retain some sense of political reality. Among other notorious flippancies for which he is credited is the comment that an attack on Iran is “easier than you think.” So easy in fact, that Arad’s certainty should remind us of another pair of political charlatans who sold us a bill of goods in the lead-up to the Iraq war.
Arad is also a proponent of something similar to Avigdor Lieberman’s “territorial exchange” program, though Arad’s would expel Palestinians from the West Bank and dump them in the Sinai (I kid you not). He has said:
“We want to relieve ourselves of the burden of Palestinian populations, not the territories.”
Arad was barred from entering the U.S. for two years during the Bush administration because of his key role as a Mossad operative in the Rosen-Franklin spy scandal. He is known to have met regularly with Larry Franklin. The Obama administration, wanting to start off on the right foot with Netanyahu after he became prime minister, removed this prohibition. Now, Arad is welcome back in DC despite his checkered past.
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- Official says peace talks have weakened Israel (sfgate.com)
Here we go: an attempt to see what’s really going on in Iran.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10387608.stm
High resolution cameras probably less useful to anyone wanting to know what’s really going on, than electronic eavesdropping equipment. However, that might require an orbit which no Israeli booster could reach.
Worth noting, too, that probes sent to find out what’s going under cloud cover on Venus, have high resolution mapping radar: one wonders why spy satellites don’t…
Was Uzi Arad ever assisted in his efforts to spy on the United States, by Cyril Reitman, former RCMP/CSIS agent and pro-israeli lobbyist?
I wonder why you misspelled Tikkun and realized that the original phrase was already in use or your knowledge of Hebrew is weak.
There is a syllabic split within the phrase Tikkun Olam. Tik kun Ol lam.
There is no word in Hebrew that would use a single K sound with the concept of repair.
Just silly nonsense from a former linguist and a native speaker of Hebrew.
I wish you knew Israeli history and understood its culture but you don’t and probably never will.
You’re an absolute ignoramus. The word Tikun has a single letter koof, therefore I spell it with a single ‘k.’ The alleged rules you’ve devised are fabricated. The idea that you can “mmisspell” words transliterated fr. Hebrew to English is also laughable.
I’d stack my knowledge of Israeli history & culture against yours any day.
Sorry for nitpicking, but if you read or write vocalized Hebrew, you’ll see that there’s a dagesh in qof in Tiqqun (Tikkun for less pedantic people). Dagesh, in this case, is a marker of consonant doubling — just like shadda 🙂
However, in Modern Hebrew people don’t pronounce doubled consonants anymore, so Tikun is also OK. And of course, there is no dagesh in lamed in ‘olam.
More to the topic of this blog, have you seen the following?
“US vetoed Shalit release deal and other things I learned from “diplomatic sources”
(http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/us-vetoed-shalit-release-deal-and-other-thing)
I had no idea. Thanks for that information. I wonder how anyone could pronounce a doubled koof (or qof).
I don’t speak Hebrew, but in other languages that’s certainly done. In German a doubled consonant makes the preceding vowel short (in writing kk is usually transformed into ck). Norwegian distinguishes between single and double consonants in a different way. So does English, though less consistently.
Just goes to prove that it’s quite possible to distinguish between k/q and kk/qq.
Der Spiegel blames Netanyahu himself for nixing the prisoner exchange. Israels Fehler: Streit um Niebels Gaza-Reise [Israel’s Mistake: Niebel’s Disputed Visit to Gaza]:
Since it was the Germans who arranged the deal, Der Spiegel is very likely to know the actual facts.
Some more UZI Arad niceties here:
http://developing-your-web-presence.blogspot.com/search?q=Uzi+Arad
IRE: If you look at the accompanying photo, the lighting and dark background makes him look a bit like Mephistopheles.” – R. S.
MY COMMENT: Perhaps it is mostly because I recently watched the 2004 film Downfall, but Arad reminds me a bit of Dr. Goebbels*. Some comments Arad has made in the past about the Palestinians are so unabashedly racist as to make even a member of the Ku Klux Klan blush.
*JPEG IMAGE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1968-101-20A,_Joseph_Goebbels.jpg
Memorable quotes for Downfall (2004)
Joseph Goebbels: “I feel no sympathy. I repeat, I feel no sympathy! The German people chose their fate. That may surprise some people. Don’t fool yourself. We didn’t force the German people. They gave us a mandate, and now their little throats are being cut!”
Joseph Goebbels: “I won’t use my final hours as Reich Chancellor to sign a statement of surrender!”
SOURCE – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/quotes