The Israel / Palestine Thread

[ODgreen]

Yes. Sayanim. Everywhere.

Bingo.

Also the katza, the fixers, are unparalleled. Have you read Gideon's Spies? I heartily recommend that all of you read this book if you haven't already.

Jews are a tightknit group and are inculcated with a hard-wired survival instinct that makes us come together tighter than any other people on Earth. Having Jews in almost literally every corner of the world means that a loyal, unwavering pool of agents exists at Mossad's fingertips. They have so many to chose from that they really do get to cream the crop of 16+ million people (Jewish population of Earth, roughly, not counting the Space Jews controlling the universe with their Zionist guiles).

edit: "fixer" might not be the right translation of katza. "case officer" is what wikipedia says. not sure if there is a difference.

 

[Locksteady]

Bingo.

Also the katza, the fixers, are unparalleled. Have you read Gideon's Spies? I heartily recommend that all of you read this book if you haven't already.

Jews are a tightknit group and are inculcated with a hard-wired survival instinct that makes us come together tighter than any other people on Earth. Having Jews in almost literally every corner of the world means that a loyal, unwavering pool of agents exists at Mossad's fingertips. They have so many to chose from that they really do get to cream the crop of 16+ million people (Jewish population of Earth, roughly, not counting the Space Jews controlling the universe with their Zionist guiles).

edit: "fixer" might not be the right translation of katza. "case officer" is what wikipedia says. not sure if there is a difference.

If you're referring to them as the Mossad equivalent to a CIA ops officer that recruits agents, then case officer would ostensibly be the ideal translation.

In English, fixer is a colloquial term used to refer to someone (often in organized crime or grey-area relationships with legal entities) who 'cleans up' or 'fixes' problems related to the hiring group/person. Most often the person hired is an unaffiliated (at least on the surface) cut-out used to avoid association with the sponsoring group/person. Some pop culture examples would include "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction (cleans up a murder scene) and "Olivia Pope" from Scandal (cleans up political reputations and fixes potential scandals before they get to that level).

This broad definition of 'fixing/cleaning' can obviously include other, more overtly criminal activities, too ('Leon' from 'The Professional' is a hitman who is a 'cleaner' for the Mafia), so your mileage may vary on whether or not the definition can extend to katsa based on the activities they are licensed to do by Mossad, and also the extent to which the government does not want such activities to be associated with its professional intelligence officers.

 

[ODgreen]

Most often the person hired is an unaffiliated (at least on the surface)

"...little did the befuddled agents know that the suited man standing before them holding a briefcase, known only as Jeff to the world around him, was actually Shmuel Rabinovitz of Lakewood New Jersey. The "Oy" had arrived, and he wasted no time in taking their orders for breakfast at the Bagel Shack."

 

[RackMaster]

If you're referring to them as the Mossad equivalent to a CIA ops officer that recruits agents, then case officer would ostensibly be the ideal translation.

In English, fixer is a colloquial term used to refer to someone (often in organized crime or grey-area relationships with legal entities) who 'cleans up' or 'fixes' problems related to the hiring group/person. Most often the person hired is an unaffiliated (at least on the surface) cut-out used to avoid association with the sponsoring group/person. Some pop culture examples would include "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction (cleans up a murder scene) and "Olivia Pope" from Scandal (cleans up political reputations and fixes potential scandals before they get to that level).

This broad definition of 'fixing/cleaning' can obviously include other, more overtly criminal activities, too ('Leon' from 'The Professional' is a hitman who is a 'cleaner' for the Mafia), so your mileage may vary on whether or not the definition can extend to katsa based on the activities they are licensed to do by Mossad, and also the extent to which the government does not want such activities to be associated with its professional intelligence officers.

Not that it's relevant but "fixer" is also used in the travel and entertainment industries. Usually a local with extensive knowledge and connections to make arrangements before and during the stay.

 

[Marauder06]

I use "fixer" often when I'm describing someone who knows how to make things happen for me as a guide or helper, especially overseas.

 

[Locksteady]

Not that it's relevant but "fixer" is also used in the travel and entertainment industries. Usually a local with extensive knowledge and connections to make arrangements before and during the stay.

I debated saying "in this context" in anticipation of a post like this, but yes the colloquialism isn't limited to @ODgreen's context, and can have more benign connotations.

 

[Marauder06]

We definitely had a "fixer" when we'd go into Bethlehem and Ramallah. Well, I didn't get to go to Ramallah because of DoD restrictions, but most of the rest of the students got to go.

 

[ODgreen]

My realization of what a "fixer" is:





Never fixed for a government- at least I don't think I did- but I can definitely fix you up with the best grilled chicken in Beit Jalla, a Christian suburb of Bethlehem. You get a half chicken, a bunch of salads like hoomos and eggplant, and enough pita to choke a horse. That fat fuck Ariel Sharon used to send his driver to this joint and buy them out of grilled chickens.

 

[Marauder06]

“Instead of nurturing young Palestinians with the knowledge that they will need to lead satisfying and productive lives as citizens in a future Palestinian state, UNRWA is feeding their hearts and minds with the poison of racism and violent extremism,” said Peter Wertheim, CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, to the Australian daily on Monday. “It is time for Australia to look for new, more constructive partners through which to channel its assistance.”

Good on Australia.

Australian Government Probes UNRWA After Watchdog Report Reveals Antisemitic Educational Materials

 

[ODgreen]

Australian Government Probes UNRWA After Watchdog Report Reveals Antisemitic Educational Materials

It's about damn time.

Something interesting a Palestinian-turned-Jewish friend told me was that he and his father before him were counted in a census by the UN. Apparently the UN extended refugee status to all male descendants, which is unprecedented as far as I know. What this did was ensure the problem would never go away. An initial wave of approx. 800,000 thousand refugees is now 5,000,000.

We in Israel see the United Nations as a joke. I myself view them as much worse than a joke. I don't think this shit is accidental. It just reeks of fish.

 

[AWP]

What about those F-35's to the UAE...

UAE confirms $23b F-35 deal

The UAE confirmed that it signed agreements with the United States on former President Donald Trump’s last full day in office to purchase up to 50 F-35 jets, 18 armed drones and other defence equipment in a deal worth $23 billion.

If there was ever a deal worth a middle finger to an incoming administration, this is it. With that said, doesn't Congress have to sign off on this?

 

[Marauder06]

What about those F-35's to the UAE...

UAE confirms $23b F-35 deal



If there was ever a deal worth a middle finger to an incoming administration, this is it. With that said, doesn't Congress have to sign off on this?

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think these kinds of deals with foreign powers are squarely within the purview of the Executive Branch. I think if we were buying from them it might be different, but in this case I think it was the President's decision to make.

Now, I also think it might be within the current President's power to un-make...

 

[Marauder06]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think these kinds of deals with foreign powers are squarely within the purview of the Executive Branch. I think if we were buying from them it might be different, but in this case I think it was the President's decision to make.

Now, I also think it might be within the current President's power to un-make...

This might be the answer:

Powers of the president of the United States - Wikipedia.

Through the Department of State and the Department of Defense, the president is responsible for the protection of Americans abroad and of foreign nationals in the United States. The president decides whether to recognize new nations and new governments,[47] and negotiate treaties with other nations, which become binding on the United States when approved by two-thirds of the Senate. The president may also negotiate executive agreements with foreign powers that are not subject to Senate confirmation.[48]

 

[ODgreen]

Do you guys remember the shit-show with Qatar back in 2017? Qatar diplomatic crisis - Wikipedia

There were reasons given for why this occurred, but I heavily salt all Middle Eastern dishes that come to my table, if you know what I mean. Before I could even request that someone pass me the salt, this happened: Trump sells Qatar $12 billion of U.S. weapons days after accusing it of funding terrorism

It buggers all reasoning. Qatar is roughly 10% Shi'a whereas neighboring Bahrain is 75% Shi'a ruled by a Sunni minority, yet Bahrain was included in the coalition against Qatar. Qatar was/is the biggest contributor to Hamas, so it is possible that the pressure was because of American and Israeli intrigues, however the intrigues happening right now are laughably Byzantine: Mossad said to ask Qatar to keep funneling cash to Gaza in deescalation effort. I'm certainly not denigrating the strategy of hurling sacks of gold (dollars) and virgin princesses (shooty guns) at the Turks and the Arabs so they get the fuck off of our walls- it kept Constantinople alive for a while- but we are not some beleaguered entity fighting for survi- wait... hm. Not gonna lie, that sounds a bit like Israel.

I don't think this is the case. Israel gets manipulated just as much as the Arabs do, it's just manipulation of a different caliber. I'm definitely not the type of person who would deny proof if someone showed me indisputable evidence that the Yids are pulling the strings; all I'm saying is that I don't get a check in the mail, so if Space Jews are actually what's up can someone please inform the Elders of Zion that my annuity is late.

Its reasonable to assume that Qatar addressed the demands of the coalition and made a sharp turn to facilitate the arms deal, but I still wonder: what were the real agreements being made? As Marauder showed us, these deals occur without much citizen oversight and so they get pushed through based on prerogatives that may or may not be openly discussed.

The weapons the USA is funneling into the region have been appearing in the hands of terrorists since the 80's, yet most recently popping up in Libya, Yemen, and Syria:

American Weapons in the Wrong Hands
C.I.A. Arms for Syrian Rebels Supplied Black Market, Officials Say (Published 2016)


These arms deals not only threaten the lives of American soldiers, they threaten the lives of Israeli soldiers and Kurdish soldiers as well. It is true that the explosives set off on me and my guys were purpose-built Iranian shaped-charge devices, but up in Rojava they lost a lot of people to weapons originating from our side of the manufacturing process.

From what I can see, the whole reason for all of this is "Balance of Power" and "gearing up one side to smash the other". One term is diplomatic, the other is inflammatory yet they are one and the same. Iran might cozy up with Russia and China to where the true force disposition of the enemy turns from "Iran" to "Iran-Russia-China". On the surface that is what this all looks like, but I've heard some things that suggest other reasons.

 

[AWP]

Random thoughts thought can be tied inito a larger narrative...

Either '06 or '08, I was in a taxi in Doha. The driver and I had a conversation that resulted in him saying something like "The older guys here like the US, but the younger guys are more radical. In a few years the old guys will be gone and the young guys will be in charge." Huh...here we are a decade-ish removed and the taxi driver was right.

Qatar and Bahrain have the smallest GDP's of the Gulf nations and the smallest oil reserves (along with Oman). Qatar has gone its own way, but finds itself increasingly isolated on many fronts. Money talks, bullshit walks. What the GCC nations did was essentially ask Qatar how much bullshit do they want. When sheikhs wake up and find their bank accounts are missing a comma, they reconsider their positions in life...

"Money talks, bullshit walks." Part of the Abraham Accords is simply money and I'm fine with that. If money keeps nations from killing each other, keeping that sweet, sweet crude flowing to the West, show them the money.

With that said, F-35's can do things money cannot. Money doesn't permanently turn off Improved Hawks and SA-5's. F-35's however...

I'd probably have to dig and think on the different levels and angles and "stuff and things" that brought an end to the GCC v. Qatar standoff to an end. I could be wrong, but I think the easiest explanation may be right: money and isolation. One is a fix now, the other is devastating later. Qatar probably wants some of that Big Western Defense Energy in -35's or 4+-gen fighters, we may not see that "ask" for another year or two, but it is coming. The US won't give Qatar F-35's, but I also don't see Qatar's shopping list to be insignificant.

"With us or against us." Qatar may well have seen the light and realized that even sitting at Iran's lunch table was a way to incur the wrath of the mean girls. Chop a nation's trade, drop a comma from a sheikh's bank account, suddenly you have their attention.

Qatar may have decided that backing or being even friends with Iran was too much to bear. I wouldn't be surprised if the Saudis and Emiratis explained to Qatar the results of even passive support of Iran during a conflict.

I could come up with more if I thought about this longer. I may well be wrong on some points, but you don't see see winning chess moves without seeing the losing moves. Maybe this post provides some of each.

Daily reset in Destiny 2. Time to go fuck some kids.

 

[ODgreen]

Time to go fuck some kids.

edit: couldn't fucking help myself.

 

[RackMaster]

Daily reset in Destiny 2. Time to go fuck some kids.

I thought kid fucking was Thursday in that part of the world.

 

[ODgreen]

Either '06 or '08, I was in a taxi in Doha. The driver and I had a conversation that resulted in him saying something like "The older guys here like the US, but the younger guys are more radical. In a few years the old guys will be gone and the young guys will be in charge." Huh...here we are a decade-ish removed and the taxi driver was right.

The older guys could be bought with luxury, also. I guess when you reach a certain age, scruples in your heart are superseded by the Rolex on the wrist. Many of the die-hards in the PLO did just that- died hard and at a young age, leaving more "diplomatic people" to carry on the leadership.


Anecdote to elucidate socio-economic reality in a Middle Eastern polity:
The wealth is accumulated in the hands of a small percentage of Palestinians and their children, meaning that most are heavily disenfranchised. I worked a checkpoint north of Ramallah and one of the villages near us was predominantly ex-pats. Argentinian, Brazilian, American passports... I had an expensive car with a family from Alabama in it roll up to the checkpoint once. The patriarch in the backseat was from the village but everyone under the age of 50 was born outside of the Holy Land. Not gonna lie, being shown all those passports lubricated their way out of questions and searches. Also, fact of the matter is that when a van pulls up absolutely stuffed with WIFI routers in boxes, you know that something is being smuggled and it could even by a receiver or a full gun. Here's the thing: every family owns a weapon. It's the culture. We would roll through villages on patrol regularly just to hear the village erupt in gunfire later that evening during a wedding. There is a tremendous amount of restraint on everyone's part. We wave the van through without searching it because traffic is backed up two miles into Ramallah but we also don't search it because they need a steam release to keep them from becoming so desperate that those weapons are turned on us while we waltz through their village. It's an unspoken agreement.

Much of the weapons flowing into the hands of third-parties happens due to authorities bribing tribal polities to help them fight against whomever. Ahmed in Yemen receiving a dushka on a Toyota truck to blast Mahmud of the neighboring clan into pieces doesn't necessarily threaten Israel, but all this talk of F-35's has got my Jewy sense tingling. Those toys better have an "off" switch and I would even guess that Israel is working on it already.

 

[ODgreen]

I thought kid fucking was Thursday in that part of the world.

Funny enough, Nablus is infamous for being a hotbed of homosexuality. There is an Ottoman/Roman bath in Nablus and I went with a buddy to visit it. We both pretended to be from Alaska and whenever kids ran up to us we just kept repeating the word "Alaska" at each other until people walked away: "Alask'kaska kaslakasa Alaskas" so on and so forth. We were both Jews and I was from Texas- people immediately cried "Bush!" when I mentioned I was from Texas, but who the fuck knew where Alaska was? We were basically Finnish. Finland doesn't exist in most people's minds.

Anyways the steam rooms had lots of young boys hanging around. It flew completely over my 19 year old head but one of the young boys kept putting his arm and leg on my friend, who understood then that it was a den of pederasty. Later on a Palestinian friend of mine informed me that to call someone "Nablusi" ("From Nablus") is to call that person a homo.

 

[Marauder06]

Acting US ambassador to UN: PLO mission to be reopened

Washington’s Mideast policy “will be to support a mutually agreed, two-state solution, in which Israel lives in peace and security, alongside a viable Palestinian state,” said Mills, adding that a peace deal must be agreed to by both Israelis and Palestinians.

I'm pretty sure the last two words mean there will never be a deal.