There’s been so much going on over the last week that this will have to be a whistle-stop round-up of events both local and international, on a variety of subjects. 

Last night US President Barak Obama rewarded the Palestinian Authority’s decision to join forces with the terrorist entity that is Hamas for their push for statehood at the UN in September, by declaring America’s support for a return to the 1967 borders - with a few nips and tucks here and there. It’s not often you’ll hear me speaking with the same voice as our Prime Minister, but I think  Bibi Netanyahu is right to be furious with Obama.

Only a matter of weeks after he authorised the ‘rubbing out’ of the world’s most wanted Islamist terrorist as part of his avowed intent to never let these evil creatures rest in comfort, Obama then hands a gift-wrapped publicity coup to the Palestinians which even stunned the powers that be in Ramallah and Gaza City, (where they still insist Israel has no right to exist and intend to wipe us from the face of the map). Surely the Palestinians' own shocked reaction to Obama’s statement speaks loud enough of this desperate faux pas as US foreign policy becomes ever more obtuse and confused. I expect that Bibi will have a few strong words for Obama when they sit down to Friday night dinner tonight in Washington!

As if proof were needed of just how badly the US is barking up the wrong tree, the Jerusalem Post reported only yesterday, (according to Palestinian Media Watch) that the Palestinian Authority proudly voted to award every convicted bomber and terrorist a monthly salary from the state - however they drew the line at extending their generosity to car thieves and petty criminals. Only murderers of Israelis and those who attempted to murder Israelis are worthy of receiving a state salary!

The anniversary of the attempt by the IHH flotilla to break the blockade of Gaza is fast approaching and it looks as though Turkey is once again planning to stir things up by supporting another effort to reach Gaza. The Turks have more faces than Big Ben, and whilst trying to cosy up to Europe in their attempt to gain entry to the EU they have been at the same time actively courting both Syria and Iran in trying to create an axis to pressurize Israel on a range of issues. They have gone noticeably quiet however since their kind-hearted colleague President Assad gave the orders for his army to murder more than a 1000 of his own people, but Turkey remains a steadfast supporter of the IHH, the (organization on a number of international terror lists) who finance the flotillas and who recently (together with Hamas) condemned the killing of Osama Bin Laden as “an act of American terrorism”.

Hopefully those who believe the IHH to be ‘peace activists’ will bear this in mind before jumping quickly to conclusions and condemning Israel as they did so unreasonably last summer.

The Nakba demonstrations last weekend which saw breaches of the Israeli border in the north and south of the country by Arabs from Syria and the West Bank, were meant to highlight the perceived injustice of the Arab flight from Israel. It is rarely mentioned in news coverage that the Arabs were offered the opportunity to share the land and have a state of their own alongside Israel in 1948, but chose instead on a tactical withdrawal whilst the armies of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and others were sent in to wipe out the Jews and hand the whole land back to the Arabs.

Unfortunately for those who have spent the last 63 years outside of Israel, their support of these armies in attempting to bring about another Holocaust of the Jews only three years after the last one had been concluded, proved surprisingly misplaced, with the newly established Israel putting the Arab armies to flight. The Arabs argue they should be given their land back now, but it is interesting that they don’t draw the same conclusion of the millions of Jews who were forced to leave their homes in Arab lands and were ordered out without being able to take any of their possessions, or risk being killed, only because they were Jewish.

If, as I would very much like to see, a Palestinian state is created that is at peace with Israel and accommodates some Palestinians currently living in neighbouring countries, I think it is also about time that Arab countries such as Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and others face up to the ‘Nakba’ they committed on the Jewish populations of their countries, and, like Germany, compensate the survivors and the families of those forced to flee for the loss of their homes, land, businesses, and bank accounts in what was a disaster in so many ways for international Jewry.

And now, something completely different...

Whilst I was away in England earlier this month the Knesset passed a bill allowing Israel’s sports betting board (ISBB) to receive a licence to bet on live transmissions of European horse racing. Hurrah!! At last I should have a chance of making a few shekels working in the industry I know best. Of course, nothing in Israel is quite so straight forward, and already the ‘horse trading’ (if you’ll excuse the pun) has begun on just how much of the expected profits from the racing cake each ministerial department and good cause claims for itself. At the last count that adds up to something around 280%!

One sign that this new development is being taken ever so slightly seriously is that Israel’s sports channel, Channel 5, has purchased the broadcast rights and asked yours truly to co-present and commentate on the Oaks and Derby races that will be run at Epsom on June 3 and 4. So, I’ll be back behind the microphone, explaining (in Hebrew) the nuances of the British racing scene, (both the sport and betting), to a doubtless baffled Israeli public who will be wondering why thousands of men have turned up to watch some horses run round a field whilst looking like collective extra’s from the Ascot Gavotte scene in 'My Fair Lady’.

The Queen, who is more animated about horse racing then absolutely anything else (see the superb video clip on my home page), owns the favourite for this year’s Derby in Carlton House, a good winner of the Dante Stakes at York last week. She’s been trying to win the race for over 60 years and there will be massive media coverage of her latest attempt to break her hoodoo. I understand that Her Majesty recently went along to visit her star racehorse at the stables of her trainer Sir Michael Stoute, and as usual, she brought a carrier bag full of chopped carrots for her steed to munch on.

A very nervous groom was holding the half tonne creature while the ‘Jelly Bean’ fed him some of the meticulously prepared vegetables, but one piece fell from the horse’s mouth to the ground. being unaware of the protocol for such an occurrence, the groom didn’t know quite whether or not he should pick up the errant ’orangey bit’, and after a slight pause when no-one moved a muscle he decided to bend down and pick up the rogue carrot, only to find himself banging heads with The Queen who had spontaneously decided to pick it up for herself!

There was an ‘audible silence’ for a few moments as the groom wondered if he might be whisked ‘off to the Tower’, then apparently, The Queen burst out laughing and told the red-faced groom not to worry. She was fine.

Best of luck to the royal runner Carlton House, (7/4 favourite, if you’re interested) who I believe will win and give his owner the thrill of a lifetime.

That’s all for this week. Shalom from Israel

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