Second Short Quiz – The Abraham Accords and Realpolitik

[johnkarls]

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1. Although Henry Kissinger did NOT invent the concept of “realpolitik,” did he preach it so incessantly that it became a “bed rock” concept in the American lexicon?

2. Is “realpolitik” a word from Kissinger’s native German that advocates basing diplomacy on realism/pragmatism rather than on ideology?

3. In Kissinger’s case, did “realpolitik” mean most famously his 1973 “Opening to China” to drive a wedge between the Soviet Union and Communist China?

4. When Israel proclaimed its statehood on 5/14/1948 IAW United Nations Resolution 181 of 11/29/1947 which “kicked out” the Brits as of 5/14/1948 and divided “Palestine” into a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State” based on ownership of land (which per a careful U.N. study of who owned what meant much of each “state” comprised islands within the other “state”), did Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon immediately invade Israel in a War of Annihilation?

5. BTW, despite the Brits permitting VIRTUALLY NO Jewish immigration 1917-1943 and ABSOLUTELY NO Jewish immigration 1943-1948, did the U.N. Report on which Resolution 181 was based show that there were only 1,077 thousand Muslims out of a total population of 1,846 thousand – or 58.3%?

6. Did the 1967 Arab-Israel War comprise another attempt by Israel’s Arab neighbors (primarily Egypt, Syria and Jordan) to annihilate Israel?

7. BTW, did the 1967 Arab-Israeli War result in Israeli occupation of the West Bank (which had been part of Jordan) and the Gaza Strip (which had been owned by Egypt)?

8. Did the 1973 Arab-Israeli War comprise yet another attempt by Israel’s Arab neighbors (primarily Egypt and Syria) to annihilate Israel?

9. Did Pulitzer-Prize winner Seymour Hersh's “The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Option and American Foreign Policy” (Random House 10/27/1991) describe –

• Israel’s nuclear-weapons program as of the 1973 War?

• How prior to the 1973 attack by Egypt, Israel had a policy that if it ever had fewer than 24 hours to go until annihilation it would fire its nuclear missiles which incidentally were AIMED AT RUSSIAN CITIES RATHER THAN ARAB CAPITALS?

• How the Israeli cabinet believed they were within 24 hours of annihilation by Syria during the 1973 war because Israel had been rationing its ammunition vis-à-vis which Henry Kissinger had been refusing to re-supply Israel for 12 months?

• How the Israeli cabinet decided to fire their nuclear missiles AFTER firing a telex to Kissinger giving him a “heads up” on what would be “going down” within a matter of minutes?

• How Kissinger responded immediately that the Israelis should begin firing their conventional ammunition “as if there were no tomorrow” and that American re-supply planes would take off at dawn?

• How, as a result, the Israelis did begin “firing as if there were no tomorrow,” the Syrian lines stabilized, and Israel did not become the answer to a trivia question (What WAS Israel???)???

10. Did President Jimmy Carter successfully negotiate the 9/17/1978 peace agreement and normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt?

11. Did President Bill Clinton successfully negotiate the 10/26/1994 peace agreement and normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and Jordan?

12. Did American foreign policy prior to President Trump call for a “two-state” solution pursuant to which Gaza and the West Bank would become an independent Arab state?

13. In 2000, was President Clinton successful in negotiating a “two-state” solution with Israel and Yasser Arafat (Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian National Authority)?

14. However, did Yasser Arafat renege on the agreement because, in his Arabic speeches to his Palestinian followers, he had always promised undying enmity toward Israel and promised to never rest until Israel “was thrown into the sea” and, when he returned to Palestine, he found that he hadn’t prepared his followers sufficiently to accept his Peace Plan and that he would be deposed?

15. Did Israel unilaterally pull out of Gaza in 2005, including the forced repatriation by the Israeli Government of all Jewish “settlers” back to Israel?

16. Has Israel been rewarded for unilaterally giving Gaza its independence in a partial or first-step “two-state solution” with sporadic missile attacks from Gaza, many of which have been intense?

17. Is this surprising in view of what Gazans and Palestinians have been taught for decades in their schools? In other words, is democracy meaningless without citizens having accurate information?

18. So how does REALPOLITIK now figure???

19. Has Iran been, according to the U.S. State Department, the “No. 1 State Sponsor of Terrorism” since 1984 – threatening all of its neighbors and, inter alia, conducting a “proxy war” against Saudi Arabia?

20. Does the Obama Administration’s “Iran Nuclear Deal” guarantee Iran nuclear weapons by 2030?

21. So is it any wonder that the “Gulf State Six” (aka The Gulf State Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) would exercise realism/pragmatism and turn to Israel’s “nuclear umbrella” since Israel shares the same existential threat from Iran?

22. Are the “Abraham Accords” peace agreements and normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco?

23. Is Benjamin Netanyahu correct that the “Abraham Accords” could not have been achieved without the tacit approval of Saudi Arabia over which Israel obtained commercial overflight privileges to reach the UAE and Bahrain?

24. Were all four “Abraham Accords” reached in 2020 after strenuous efforts by the Trump Administration?

25. And hasn’t President Trump claimed on multiple occasions that many other countries, including Saudi Arabia, were on the brink of reaching their own “Abraham Accords” with Israel and would have done so early in a second Trump Administration?

26. Isn’t President Trump a hero, if not a Deity, in Israel not only because of the Abraham Accords but also for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s ownership of the Golan Heights, etc., etc.?

27. Are the “Abraham Accords” named for God’s Covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 – “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee”?

28. BTW, is God’s promise to bless them that bless Israel and curse him that curseth Israel the reason why most Christians and virtually all Evangelicals support Israel? And support Donald Trump for his support of Israel?



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Addendum – The NY Times’ Dec 17 Editorial Board Comment on Benjamin Netanyahu’s Nov 1 Election Victory

1. Did we note on the face of the next section of this website entitled “Reference Materials” that we traditionally post in that section book reviews of our focus book from the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post – BUT THAT THE NY TIMES HAD SHIRKED ITS DUTY?

2. Within 48 hours of our “twit,” did the NY Times post on Dec 17 an Editorial Board Comment on Benjamin Netanyahu’s Nov 1 Election Victory which is available at viewtopic.php?f=722&t=2286&sid=8f509525 ... a5538e9f17?

3. Is the main theme of the NY Times Editorial Board Comment that the Palestinians must still be given their own state IAW the so-called “two-state” solution featured by American foreign policy for more than half a decade?

4. Does the NY Times Editorial Board ignore the fact that in 2000 all Yasser Arafat had to do was say “yes” to the “two-state” solution that he had negotiated with Israel and President Bill Clinton?

5. Does the NY Times Editorial Board ignore the fact that in 2005 Israel unilaterally gave Gaza its independence for which Israel has been rewarded with sporadic but intense missile attacks?

6. Why doesn’t the NY Times recognize that the Arab countries have moved on BECAUSE REALPOLITIK DICTATES THAT THEY MUST MAKE COMMON CAUSE WITH NUCLEAR-POWER ISRAEL AGAINST THEIR COMMON EXISTENTIAL THREAT – A NUCLEAR-ARMED IRAN WHICH THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT HAS DESIGNATED “THE NO. 1 STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM” SINCE 1984?

7. Why does the NY Times think it is entitled to gamble with the future of Israel and the Arab countries on behalf of a group that just couldn’t bring itself to say “yes” in 2000 or in 2005???

8. What makes the NY Times even think the Palestinians want a “two-state” solution rather than Yasser Arafat’s long-proclaimed undying enmity toward Israel which he always claimed would NOT permit him to rest until Israel “was thrown into the sea”???