These are difficult times; no, terrifying times. And so I find I must call upon my readers once and again to be activist — to move beyond just reading what I write, and to also share information or voice an appeal.

In my last posting I asked that you to let President Bush know that you support him in staying in Iraq. Now I ask that you contact him again.

Today commentator Michael Freund wrote a piece called “Right on! An appeal of faith to President Bush,” which he starts by saying:

“Dear Mr. President, I am writing to you because I am afraid. I have been closely following the rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the past few months, and I want you to know that I am gripped with a sense of fear.

“I fear for the future of Israel and for that of the entire Jewish people, as the would-be Hitler of Persia readies to do battle against us with the most horrific of weapons.

“I fear for the future of the West, because outside of Washington, few and far between are the leaders with the common sense and courage to stand up to the Tyrant of Teheran.

“And I fear for the future of the world, because if Iran’s fundamentalists get their hands on a nuclear weapon, it will only be a matter of time before their extremist allies abroad become similarly armed.

“Hence, I am writing to you because I am convinced that you alone understand and appreciate the gravity of the current situation, and I pray in my heart that you will not let it stand.

“I appeal to you now, not as a political analyst nor as a newspaper columnist, but as one man of faith to another: Please strike Iran hard with military force, and dismantle its nuclear weapons program, before it is too late… “

You can find the entire appeal at:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1161811246424&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Please, copy this URL and e-mail it to the President with a short message saying that you are providing a link to a powerful appeal for him to strike Iran, written by Israeli commentator Michael Freund. Say that you hope he will read it, and take it to heart. If you wish, also copy and paste the beginning of it, that I provide above, or add your own appeal.

Send this to: Comments@whitehouse.gov

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Then I ask that you also see my most recent article, up just today:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=25241

This is about Carter and his position on Israel; it is important. Please, share the URL widely.

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I have been picking up information about the growing terrorist threat in Gaza with a sense of despair. It is clear as clear can be to me that what is required is a major pre-emptive military operation that will take out the sophisticated weaponry and the Hamas army before they hit us. Required to save innocent Jewish lives, and from that perspective actually commanded of us. We must not act like sitting ducks, waiting to be blown away. But all that has been done so far are “band-aid” operations, in which we go in and kill a few terrorist or blow up a few tunnels, and come out again. Peretz keeps on declaring that we won’t stay in Gaza, though why not is unclear — nor should we be declaring this even if we don’t intend to. Announcements are made about stopping the Kassams, with declarations that IDF operations will stop if the Kassams stop. But this is ludicrous, when you consider what is building in Gaza and what we will have to deal with later. Kassams are the very least of it.

And now, today, Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily has put out an article that addresses these very issues. It is not encouraging. Says Klein, “Hamas could establish in the Gaza Strip a military division of nearly 10,000 troops with an operational force similar to Hezbollah in Lebanon if the terror group continues to strengthen at its current pace, according to information released yesterday by the Israeli Defense Forces.”

The IDF, according to a top military official, submitted plans to Olmert last week for a major operation that would stop smuggling, confiscate weaponry already smuggled in, and badly damage the terrorist infrastructure — an operation that this official believes is crucial to Israeli security. Olmert, however, has been restraining the IDF and approving those smaller missions only.

The larger operation, in my opinion, is necessary not only to protect us from a Hezbollah-like attack coming from Gaza. It would also have enormous deterrent value. Right now we are perceived as being weak, and responding with strength is the best way to discourage attacks from other quarters — our enemies need to be afraid of us, and what we will do, once again.

Despair, I tell you.

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It is increasingly clear that the entire “diplomatic resolution” of the Lebanese war this summer was a fiasco that is in the process of self-destructing.

Israel has been in conflict with the UN and the UNIFIL forces headed by France with regard to IDF fly-overs being done to monitor the smuggling of weapons from Syria to rearm Hezbollah. In the face of evidence that this rearming is taking place in defiance of the resolution, it has been particularly galling that Israel has been accused of violating the resolution by entering Lebanese air space.

But, now, for the first time this week, the UN issued a report stating directly that Hezbollah was being re-armed. Israel then announced yesterday that it may rethink its commitment to the resolution. “If Lebanon cannot implement its side of the resolution, obviously Israel would be entitled to rethink the implementation of our commitments,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

Today the dynamic has shifted further: The White House has put out a strongly worded statement indicating that there is “mounting evidence” that Syria and Iran are joining with Hezbollah in an effort to topple the Lebanese government.

Difficulties for Israel can be ignored, but now that the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora may be threatened, the tide has turned.

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This posting can be found at:
 http://www.arlenefromisrael.info/current-postings/2006/11/1/posted-november-1-2006.html

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