BIBI ADVISES DIVESTMENT FROM IRAN

Today, the American people are invested in Iran. Not directly, of course. That is against US law. Rather, through pensions, savings plans, and other diversified investments, American money is invested in companies - mostly European companies - that do business in Iran. By insisting that their investment dollars not be used in Iran, the American public can send a powerful and effective message.

For pension funds and other savings investments, divesting from companies doing business in Iran will be relatively painless. In most cases, it will only entail substituting a few companies in a diversified portfolio. For some major European companies, a decision to pull the plug on investing in Iran will be more painful, but for most companies, Iran represents a tiny share of their revenues. These companies will adapt quickly to a divestment environment.

But for the regime in Teheran, the blow of divestment could prove fatal. Fewer and fewer companies will enter Iran. More and more will leave. Investment dollars and the technology it buys will dry up. The lifeline of the regime will be cut. Teheran will face a stark choice: Change its polices and win back investment, or maintain its policies and risk economic collapse.

The effort to divest from Iran could quickly bear fruit. Few people today have any idea they are supporting a regime inciting to genocide. When they do, they will want to stop that support. There are efforts underway in a number of individual American states to divest state pension funds from Iran. Similar divestment initiatives are being pursued against Sudan, a country in which genocide is actually taking place in Darfur. I see no reason why they cannot be combined -- why those working to stop genocide and those working to stop a regime inciting to genocide cannot work together. We in Israel must do our part as well. While the power of our investment dollars is infinitesimal compared to the US, if we hope to persuade the world to divest, we must lead by example. Therefore, I have submitted a bill in the Knesset that will outlaw investing in companies that invest in Iran and Sudan.

I know that there are some who are afraid of mounting a divestment campaign since there have been attempts in the past to divest from Israel. Some are concerned that by supporting divestment, we will be establishing a precedent that will later be used against Israel.

But divestment against Israel is wrong not because divestment per se is wrong. It is wrong because it is directed against Israel -- a democratic state that yearns for peace with its neighbors. Divestment against Iran and Sudan is right for the same reason why divestment from Nazi Germany in the 30s and 40s would have been right.

I said last year that it was 1938. But today, we have the lessons of the 1930s to guide us, and the power to choose a different course that will make all the difference. We must mobilize the power of the free world to confront the dangers in time. We must, as the old saying goes, put our money where our mouth is.

Source

**************************

ELSEWHERE

Another corrupted opinion poll: A recent poll by Pew which found that most Muslims in America were "good guys" in some sense always seemed a bit too good to be true to me. Someone who has looked closely at the poll protocol now confirms what I suspected -- the poll was blatantly distorted from the outset. The same poll showed that there are only 1.5 million voting-age Muslims in the USA -- much fewer than is generally claimed. SCA also has some acerbic comments on the results of the poll -- pointing out how dangerous it shows Muslims to be even if we take the (sanitized) results at face value.

Marines volunteer to return to Iraq: "Marine Cpl. Saul Mellado could be back in California, finishing the final months of his enlistment in a safe billet at Camp Pendleton. Instead, the 23-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico is patrolling these war-torn streets only recently wrested from insurgent control - and bracing for an expected counteroffensive. Under Marine Corps rules about "short-timers," Mellado could have skipped this return to Ramadi six weeks ago. But like 200 other members of the battalion - a quarter of its number - he asked to have his enlistment extended. Unlike a reenlistment, the move earns the Marines no bonus money, no promotion and no promise of a job shift or posting to a favored duty station. "For a lot of the guys, this is their first tour," Mellado said as his Humvee moved slowly through the rubble-strewn streets. "If anything happened to them, and I could have helped them, I couldn't stand that." Officials say extensions are not uncommon among the Marine Corps' 24 battalions, even as some return to Iraq for their third combat tour. In fact, they say, few records are kept because they are so common. But Marine generals who review the manpower of all infantry battalions say the 200 from the Two-Five, the most decorated battalion in the Corps, make up the biggest group.

Lebanese army gets help in fight against jihadists: "Two military transport planes landed at the Beirut airport on Friday, bringing foreign military aid to help the Lebanese army fight Islamic militants, security officials said. The development comes after the United States said it would rush supplies and ammunition to Beirut. Lebanese officials would not disclose where the military planes came from - whether directly from the United States or from US military depots in the Middle East. Late Thursday, a United Arab Emirates air force plane also arrived with supplies. The military refused comment on the airlift, a sensitive issue in this troubled country

Iran ignores mere talk: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday to push ahead with Iran's nuclear program, saying the West is trying to stop it to prevent Iran from emerging as a world power. The hardline president's comments came a day after the UN nuclear watchdog agency issued a strongly critical report that could spark new sanctions against Iran. The report said the country has expanded its uranium enrichment program in defiance of UN demands for a suspension, and it warned that the watchdog's knowledge of Iran's activities was shrinking."

The BBC still hates America: "White lynch mobs are back in the Deep South. At least according to the BBC, which is broadcasting a special program on it, headlined "Stealth Racism Stalks the Deep South." Apparently six young black men have been charged in an attack on a white student. The Bolshie Beeb knows this story line. It hasn't changed in a hundred years --- if you believe the Beeb".

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

****************************