Obama tells the rabbis what to say, doesn't mention Iran

President Obama had a conference call with about 1,000 rabbis on Friday in which he gave them New Year's greetings and reflected on the high holidays.

Obama in the call on Friday afternoon extended the greetings on behalf
of himself and the first lady for a sweet, happy and healthy New Year.
He noted that the Jewish High Holidays provide an opportunity for Jews
to reflect on the past year

Can we trust Obama?

Hat Tip for the cartoon: MFS - The Other News.

Several American allies don't trust President Obama to carry out an attack on Syria. And in Israel, there is consternation over the fact that he is framing the attack on Syria in terms of protecting us, and fear of the consequences for Iran of the American decision, whatever it might be.

"If the Hill does not approve this, no one will believe

Obama setting Israel up to be scapegoat for Syria failure

Is President Obama setting Israel up to be the scapegoat for the failure of his Syria policy? Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Tuesday, September 3.

Setting Israel up for the President's Failure

Politico reports:


The Obama administration is using a time-tested pitch to get Congress to
back military strikes in Syria: It will help protect Israel.
Right. The reason the

Israel 'sticks to a routine'

Seen on a highway in northern Israel on Saturday... (Hat Tip: Meir G).

Britain sold nerve gas to Syrian government 10 months AFTER uprising began

The Daily Record's Sunday Mail reports that Britain allowed British companies to sell nerve gas to Syria ten months after the Syrian uprising began.

Export licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride were
granted months after the bloody civil war in the Middle East began.

The
chemical is capable of being used to make weapons such as sarin,
thought to be the nerve gas used in the

Sunni Arab allies exasperated with Western inaction

'Our friends, the Saudis' and other Sunni Arab countries are exasperated by the West's inaction on Syria.

Representing Saudi opinion, Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, writing in
the Saudi Arab News on Sunday, urged the international community to act against
Syrian President Bashar Assad: “But is it really true that there is nothing else
that can be done? Are we really that paralyzed? Or could the

Kerry: Hair and blood samples tested positive for signatures of sarin in Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry told NBC's David Gregory on Meet the Press Sunday that the United States has hair and blood samples from Syria that tested positive for signatures of sarin, a nerve gas.

Let's go to the videotape.



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That sounds pretty definitive, doesn't it?

Syrian media publishes target list for Israel, Cyprus and... Turkey

Syrian media has published a list of targets that Syria plans to hit in the event that the United States attacks Syria. The targets are in Israel, Cyprus and Turkey. There's just one small problem: Syria's air force is reported to be on its last legs, and a US attack could be the end of it. This is from the first link.

Aerial photos of the purported targets were released by state
media, 

Dear Assad....

Heh.

British intelligence caught Syrian commanders telling captain 'fire chemicals or be shot'

Part of the evidence that the West has that the Assad regime carried out chemical weapons attacks against his people is conversations overheard by RAF eavesdropping in which a Syrian army captain was ordered by senior commanders to fire chemicals at civilians or be shot.
In one heated exchange, a regional commander was
overheard demanding the captain of an artillery battery in a

Al-Manar: Hezbullah won't attack Israel if the US attacks Syria

At least one potential foe says that it won't attack Israel in the event that the United States attacks Syria: Hezbullah.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman reportedly appealed
to Hezbollah leaders not to drag Lebanon into the fighting in Syria.
Hezbollah-affiliated TV network Al-Manar reported that in case of an
American attack on Syria, Hezbollah would not act against Israel.
Israel has

Britain's Labour party blasted for Syria stance

British Labour party leader Ed Miliband is coming in for some sharp criticism within his own party for his handling of the vote in parliament last week not to participate in a US attack on Syria (Hat Tip: Gary P).


MPs have privately begun to voice concerns that their leader made a
catastrophic mistake by engineering the defeat of the Government’s motion in
the House of Commons on

Who says an attack on Syria has to help al-Qaeda?

Unfortunately, much of the West sees a US attack on Syria in precisely the zero-sum game terms that this US Naval officer sees it (Hat Tip: Shy Guy via Zero Hedge.com). But it doesn't have to be that way. A reminder from Caroline Glick's Friday column.


It is important to note that despite the moral depravity of the
regime's use of chemical weapons, none of America's vital interests is

Devastating interview: 'At the UN, I'm sure there's a celebration going on'

Rick Grenell, the spokesman for the last four US ambassadors to the UN, rips President Obama's dithering on Syria. He says that the President doesn't have a foreign policy strategy, and that what Obama did is a political move.

This is a devastating interview.

Let's go to the videotape.



Ouch.

From Munich 1938 to Damascus 2013, nothing has changed

Iran isn't the only country watching the West doddle on Syria. So is Israel. Britain's backing out of a Syria strike, and Hussein Obama's obvious hesitation to do the job are going to encourage an Israeli attack on Iran.

But the Iranians are not the only ones watching.  So is Israel. 
Whether or not Israel decides to act against Iran could be determined in
large part by how the world acts

Erdogan willing to fight Syria to the last American

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has become one of his biggest opponents, believes that an American attack on Syria should topple Bashar al-Assad (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

Erdogan said
that the limited strikes which the United States is reportedly planning
against Syria would not be enough and pushed for a broader military
offensive.


"A limited operation cannot be

Overwhelming majority of Israelis back US attack on Syria

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

A poll of Jewish Hebrew-speaking Israelis finds that 67% support an American attack on Syria.

While in the United States and
Great Britain, some 90 percent of the publics are opposed to such an
attack -- in Israel, more than 66% of the Jewish Hebrew-speaking
population supports an attack (only 17% opposes). With that, the exact
same percentage of the

Napalm bomb dropped on Syrian school building

A napalm bomb was dropped on a school building in Urum al Kubra, which is near Aleppo, Syria this week. Since the rebels don't have planes, the Syrian government cannot really blame them this time.

Let's go to the videotape.









There was also a second video filmed after the attack.

In another video filmed in the aftermath of the attack, a doctor
reports seven deaths and 50 injuries -

Thousands of Syrians stranded trying to escape to Jordan, blame US and Europe

Thousands of Syrians from the areas attacked with chemical weapons are trying to make their way south to Jordan. But the Syrian air force has been bombing the area, preventing these refugees from reaching the border area.

Refugees say they have been marooned by an ongoing Syrian bombing
campaign, unable either to cross into Jordan or return to their homes.
They say they have moved into

What US strategic interests are at stake in Syria and how can they be advanced by a US attack on Syria?

Caroline Glick's JPost column deals with an issue that has not gotten enough attention in Washington this week: What US strategic interests are at stake in Syria, and how can they be advanced by a US attack on Syria?


With no good horse to bet on, the US and its allies have three core
interests relating to the war. First, they have an interest in
preventing Syria's chemical, biological and