December 18, 2012 -Lieberman Indictment Delayed, Intifada 3? Pollard Spied on Arab Countries

The election "non-campaign" continues with the Liberman case continually grabbing most of the headlines. To everyone's surprise, including my own, Liberman announced his resignation on Friday and officially resigned as Foreign Minister on Sunday. That resignation took effect today. We are now officially in the position we have been for the last four years- without a Foreign Minister. At least for the moment, we do not have a minister whose job it seemed was to worsen our relations with other countries.

Lieberman was supposed to be indicted today on charges relating to impropriety around the appointment of Israel's Ambassador to Belarus. That did not happen. It would seem the delay is a result of a report on Israeli Channel 10 . That report claimed that the police or the prosecutors office had failed to interview the members of appointment committee. Lieberman had claimed he did not remember what he said to the committee members. As one of the committee members contacted by the TV station stated, he does not have Alzheimer's and remembers what Lieberman said to him, thus the charges could be stronger against him if he had pressured the committee to make the appointment as has been implied.

If there are any questions as to whether Israel is now facing some sort of Intifada 3 on the West Bank, the following statistics should answer this question: So far this month there have 150 firebombing incidents, while on an average month there have been 10-15. There have been 1,000 incidents of stone throwing; in an average month there had been 150. We can continue to be ostriches, but I am not sure for how much longer.

Events in Syria may be coming to a close in the next few days. The rebels are closing in on the center of Damascus, as the government's grip becomes ever more tentative. In the last two days the Russians have indicated by their statements and actions that they think the end may be near. The future regime in Syria could be frightening. On the other hand, it will be a major defeat for Hezbollah and Iran, so who can say what the net results will be.

The CIA has released the secret report on the spying done by Jonathan Pollard. It turns out that he did not spy on any American targets, but indeed primarily passed on information on Arab countries to Israel. The damage that he did was seemingly secondary, in revealing sources and methods to Israel. The claim that was made all along that he was revealing secrets that the US had pledged to share with Israel has been largely vindicated. It would seem, further more, that the government used the technicality of his giving an interview with Wolf Blitzer (then of the Jerusalem Post) as a violation of his agreement not to talk to the press without permission. The fact that the interview took place in prison would seem to make a mockery of the government's claim. Still he sits in prison. Frankly, he still sits in jail only because he is a Jew. It's been over 25 years.