An Interlude

Since blogging is about writing, and most bloggers are of the just-short-of-writer's-success status, I thought this insight into how some writers behaved - and got away with it - was interesting enough and funny enough to be included here as a sort of throwaway:-

Sir, – In the 1950s, I shared an office at Punch with Anthony Powell (the subject of Jeremy Treglown’s Commentary piece, January 27). Friday was press day, spent by myself and a colleague at the printers, passing the final pages of the next week’s issue.

Normally we managed to knock off soon after lunch, but not on days when Julian Maclaren-Ross was contributing the lead review, in which case the copy would arrive some time around 5:30pm, brought round by his current girlfriend, not direct from the hotel in Russell Square, close by the printers, where he lived, but by way of our offices in Fleet Street, so that she could pick up his cheque from the finance department – a liberty allowed to no other contributor that I know of. The copy would no doubt have been later but for his need for her to reach the offices before they closed. Powell maintained that the finance department relished this intrusion of Bohemia – the girl certainly looked the part – into their ordered lives.

Maclaren-Ross’s behaviour was just as tiresome for Powell as it was for us, though in other ways. I once asked him why he put up with him, and he told me that one is bound to have to bear a number of crosses in one’s life, and the trick is to choose which ones to bear and then do so without complaint.

PETER DICKINSON
3 Carpenters, Alresford.

On Jew-blogging

DovBear sent me here for a report on what we all do:

Can we blog? New way to talk about Jewish issues
By Rachel Silverman

At times, the chatter between American Jews can seem hushed, even silent.

While questions about assimilation, Israeli politics and Jewish identity swirl overhead, many American Jews maintain an arms-length complacency about it all.

But a post, click and hyperlink away, the burgeoning blogosphere offers a forum for Jewish conversation.

Jewish blogs, or Web diaries, run the gamut from kosher cooking to Israeli advocacy. They include leftist rants, dating melodramas, rabbinic ruminations and secular musings from all corners of the globe.

Last year, the Pew Internet and American Life Project estimated that 8 million American adults had created blogs. Though the number of specifically Jewish blogs is unconfirmed, those with knowledge of the blogosphere say the pool is substantial.

"I'd estimate the number of active blogs at some several thousand," says Steven Weiss, who currently blogs about religion (http://canonist.com/), food (http://kosherbachelor.com/) and the Jewish college experience (http://www.campusj.com/).

"Among young, highly-affiliated Jews, J-blogs are very popular," the 24 year- old New Yorker continues. "As you move up the age brackets, the popularity drops off somewhat, though many in the organizational and rabbinic establishment have started paying a lot of attention to them."

"The amount of interest in blogging has just gone through the roof," confirms Alexis Rice, the RAC's communications director. "I think the Jewish community is more connected now than ever before.

"A rabbi used to give a sermon and it was heard by 200 people in services Friday night," Rice continues. "Now he puts the sermon on a blog, and thousands of people access it."

What exactly are these Jewish bloggers seeking on the Web?

Some, like 30-something New York blogging guru Esther Kustanowitz, say the blogosphere connects them to a larger, global Jewish community.

"I started looking at other Jewish blogs to see if there were other people like me out there-single, Jewish and blogging," she explains.

Alternatively, some blog to seek community with or build bridges to 'the other.'

In addition to helping his congregants stay connected during a difficult period, the blog attracted significant media buzz.

"At first I was saying, 'who's going to read my musings about this or that?' " Zamek recalls, laughing. "But something caught the eye of the office of presidential speech writing, and I was invited to the White House Chanukah party."

The blogosphere is not just a feel- good forum. In many instances, it's a place for real debate and democratic engagement.

One thing's for sure-this wrangling free-for-all is not the mainstream media.

That's because blogs assume a vastly different tone and style than their journalistic counterparts, online communications expert Diane Schiano says.

"There is this loose, free-floating, casual, even intimate approach to writing blogs," explains Schiano, an adjunct professor at Stanford University. "It's like teenage angst is being poured out."

Take 'Aussie Dave,' the moniker behind Israellycool (http://www.israellycool.com/blog). His blog acts as a symposium for issues of Israeli politics, pop culture and news.

"When you have people reading you and listening to you, it's like you have your own little soapbox," the 31 year- old Beit Shemesh resident says. "It empowers the individual."

Some claim blogs still act like an insiders' club, however.

"The people who spend time to sit down and write on blogs have very strong opinions," explains Paul Golin, associate executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute. "You might have unaffiliated lurking on these Web sites, but they don't feel confident enough to comment."

Others admit the blogosphere tends to attract wannabe journalists, who see the Web as a viable marketing tool.

"A lot of writers use them to test the waters for their writing," Schiano said. "It's a new form of publishing."

Where exactly this blogging phenomenon is going remains unseen.

Schiano, for one, predicts a continuously evolving blogosphere.

"I think there will always be this room for grassroots voices on the net," she says.

Proof that she Must be Jewish - A "Killeh"

Madonna treated for hernia

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- U.S superstar Madonna has been treated for a hernia but is now "absolutely fine," her spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The singer, who performed at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles last week, re-appeared in public on Thursday night when she accepted a Brit record industry statuette in London as Best International Female Artist of the year.

"She had a minor procedure for a hernia and is absolutely fine now," the spokeswoman said, declining to elaborate.

Over half a million hernia repair operations were performed in the United States last year. A hernia develops when the outer layers of the abdominal wall weaken, bulge or actually rip.

The 47-year-old mother of two, widely regarded as one of the fittest stars in the pop business, is seen in a lycra leotard doing the splits at full stretch in the video for her latest single "Sorry."

New Currency

This is a caricature (no, please don't burn down any embassies!).

It's the new Ariel Sharon banknote in the sum of 17 NIS.

Now, in Hebrew, 18 can be framed by use of the letters of the alphabet representing as numbers. So Chet (8) and Yod (10) = 18, prounced Chai.

Chai also means living.

So, to explain the (black) humor, 17 NIS is "almost Chai", i.e., "almost living.

Sacks Socks It To 'Em

I'm referring to the counter-attack by UK's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks against the Anglican Church.

I found the following text here
because The Jewish Chronicle, silly enough, didn't put this letter out freely but you have to pay to get into their site.

The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, has written a hard-hitting article regarding the Church of England's divestment decision. The article is in tomorrow's Jewish Chronicle. It is reproduced here with their permission. As we ran Rowan Williams' letter in full, it is only fair to do the same for Sir Jonathan. At the end is the leader comment from Jeff Barak, JC managing editor, and after that more from Lord Carey, addressing the Three Faiths Forum.

'The strength of a people is tested in troubled times. These are troubled
times. Events have succeeded one another at breakneck pace: the Iranian threat to wipe Israel off the map; the election by the Palestinians of Hamas, a group committed to the destruction of Israel; the violence following the publication of the Danish cartoons; and the Abu Hamza trial. Locally there was the vote of the synod of the Church of England to heed a call to divest from companies associated with Israel; the Populus poll of British Muslims; and Guardian articles accusing Israel of being an apartheid state. These are of altogether lesser consequence, but they have added to our sense of vulnerability. How should we respond?

First let us acknowledge our anger and pain. Israel has taken great risks for peace, yet it seems at every stage to be rewarded with further hostility. The Jewish community in Britain has contributed immensely to national life, yet after 350 years we still feel at risk. Nor are our fears ungrounded. We have long and bitter memories. We recognise danger when we see it.

To feel anger and pain is natural. To act on it, though, is another matter entirely. It is what our enemies anticipated. Often, it is what they intended. Action in the heat of emotion can be rash and ill-judged. It can make things worse. It can lead people to focus on the moment instead of thinking long-term. Especially if a group is small, it must choose its battlegrounds carefully. Wherever possible, it should not fight alone. It must win friends, and make its case from the highest of moral grounds. That is not weakness but wisdom. Be deliberate in judgement, said the sages. They might have added: especially when the stakes are high.

We carry with us decisive grounds for courage. The Jewish people has survived longer than any other religion or civilization the West has known. It was threatened by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, ancient Greece and Rome, the medieval empires of Christianity and Islam, and in the twentieth century by the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. Each once bestrode the narrow world like a colossus, but all were eventually consigned to the pages of history. The Jewish people — seemingly small, weak, powerless — still lives. These encounters were not without their human cost, sometimes immense. But after each, the Jewish people rebuilt itself, never
more so than after the Holocaust. If the strength of the people is tested in
troubled times, ours is a people of awe-inspiring strength.

We must now work together as a community, developing strategies, pooling our wisdom, cultivating our allies, sharing our strengths. Several meetings to this end have already taken place in recent days, and the work will continue in the coming months. We must respond with dignity and calm, thinking long-term, avoiding predictable reactions, never stooping to the level of our opponents. In tense times, the advantage goes to the group with the strongest nerves. After all that has befallen our people, we have strong nerves.

The most important fact about the present situation is that on the big issues, neither Israel nor the Jewish people stand alone. An Iran with nuclear capability is a threat not only to Israel but to the world. Condoleezza Rice and Tony Blair have seen this clearly. So too have Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel. Chirac’s statement on January 19 that France was prepared to launch a nuclear strike against any country sponsoring a terrorist attack against French interests, and Angela Merkel’s comparison of Ahmadinejad to Hitler were immensely significant signals. These politicians know that the diatribes against Israel are a thinly disguised attack on the West and its freedoms.

As for the election of Hamas, this became inevitable because of the corruption of the previous regime. Every Palestinian knew this. The point, though, is that so did leading European politicians, who none the less continued to fund the Arafat administration. The politics of “sup with the devil so long as it’s the devil you know” works in the short term but never in the long. America discovered this after funding the mujahideen radicals —Osama bin Laden’s early associates — in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Europe must not make this mistake again.

The violence following the Danish cartoons exceeded all bounds. Rightly, key
representatives of the British Muslim community have dissociated themselves from it. The cartoons should not have been published. But if free speech has limits for the Danish press, it has limits for those who protest against the Danish press. As John Locke, the architect of tolerance, said more than three centuries ago: “It is unreasonable that any should have a free liberty of their religion who do not acknowledge it as a principle of theirs that nobody ought to persecute or molest another because he dissents from him in religion.”

On all these issues we take our stand with those prepared to fight for tolerance, non-violent conflict resolution, moderation, mutual respect, self-restraint and the civilities of a free society. This is not a Jewish struggle but a human one, and we will work with people of goodwill, whatever their faith or lack of it.

The vote of the synod of the Church of England to “heed” a call to divestment from certain companies associated with Israel was ill-judged even on its own terms. The immediate result will be to reduce the Church’s ability to act as a force for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for as long as the decision remains in force. The essence of mediation is the willingness to listen to both sides.

The timing could not have been more inappropriate. Israel has risked civil war to carry out the Gaza withdrawal, the first time in the history of the Middle East that a nation has evacuated territory gained in a defensive war without a single concession, even the most nominal, on the other side. Israel faces two enemies, Iran and Hamas, open in their threat to eliminate it. It needs support, not vilification.

For years I have called on religious groups in Britain to send a message of
friendship and coexistence to conflict zones throughout the world, instead of importing those conflicts into Britain itself. The effect of the synod vote will be the opposite. The Church has chosen to take a stand on the politics of the Middle East over which it has no influence, knowing that it will have the most adverse repercussions on a situation over which it has enormous influence, namely Jewish-Christian relations in Britain.

That is why we cannot let the matter rest. If there was one candle of hope above all others after the Holocaust it was that Jews and Christians at last learned to speak to one another after some 17 centuries of hostility that led to exiles, expulsions, ghettoes, forced conversions, staged disputations, libels, inquisitions, burnings at the stake, massacres and pogroms. We must not let that candle be extinguished.

The Church could have chosen, instead of penalizing Israel, to invest in the Palestinian economy. That would have helped the Palestinians. It would have had the support of most Israelis and most Jews. Indeed it is an Australian-born Jew, James Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank, who is supervising the reconstruction of the Palestinian economy on behalf of the Group of Four, and who personally raised the funds to buy for the Palestinians the Israeli agricultural facilities in Gaza. The Church’s gesture will hurt Israelis and Jews without helping the Palestinians.

As a community, we must engage more actively in the promotion of good community relations, especially at the local level. We must teach ourselves and others the full history of our people’s four-thousand-year bond with the land of Israel; how we were ousted by empire after empire but always returned; how Israel in the days of the prophets and today tirelessly sought peace, only to be rewarded with war. We must cultivate the friendship of people of generosity of spirit in all faiths. We must work with journalists who know that truth is never partisan. We must seek the support of politicians who speak to the highest, not the lowest, instincts of the
public. We have enemies, but we have many friends.

Above all, we must take our stand on the value system Abraham and Judaism conferred on the world. The crisis humanity faces in the 21st century is not just political or economic, military or diplomatic. It is moral and spiritual. Can we be true to our faith while being a blessing to others regardless of their faith? Can we heed the call of God to mend not destroy? Aggression is the child of fear, and the only lasting antidote is the faith that says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”

We will never cease to love Israel, pray for peace, and work for the benefit of humanity. Our nerves must stay strong, our judgment calm and our language cool. And we will win. For if Jewish history has a message to the world, it is that there is something in the human spirit that cannot be defeated – something that gave and still gives our tiny, afflicted, tempest-tossed people the strength to outlive all its enemies while enlarging the moral imagination of mankind.'

The link to Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams' letter is here.

How Does He Hate Us, Let Us Count...

Olmert justified his plan to vacate the West Bank, which is within rocket firing range of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, by claiming Arabs will soon outnumber Jews and threaten the country's Jewish character.

But recent studies indicate Olmert is relying on faulty demographic information and that Jews likely will outnumber Arabs by more than double in 20 years.

One study, titled "Forecast for Israel and the West Bank 2025," found Palestinians have inflated their population figures by as much as 1.5 million. It also said Jewish birthrates are on the rise while Palestinian rates are falling, and that Israel's own statistics fail to account for even low levels of Jewish immigration when calculating national demographic trends.

Americans Bennet Zimmerman, Roberta Seid and Michael Wise put the current Palestinin-Arab population of the West Bank at 1.4 million and Gaza 1.1 million, for a total of 2.4 million, instead of the 3.8 million reported by the Palestinian Authority Central Bureau of Statistics.

They found faults in the methods used by the Palestinian Authority to determine its population, including counting the 230,000 Arab residents of Jerusalem twice and retroactively raising growth and birth rates while the rates actually have been declining.

The allegedly inflated PA population numbers have been accepted by Israel and were used in formulating future demographic statistics, including those reportedly used by Olmert in formulating a West Bank withdrawal.

"It is ironic that just as we now find Israel is in the best position ever with regard to population, Olmert announces a plan to run away and give up the West Bank, claiming Israel's Jewish character is threatened," said Zimmerman.

From this article.

So, can Olmert count or does he just hate now the Jewish civilian revenants living in those portions of the Jewish National Home awarded by the League of Nations to the Jewish people not yet under full Jewish sovereignty to undermine at the wrong time what all Israeli governments have succeeded in achieving these 39 years?

Here's Where It Gets Sticky (hopefully not with our blood)

The New York Times reports regarding a diplomatic united stand against Hamas and the PA legislative council it will head:

The American and European diplomats said there was no open break over the demands being made of Hamas. Rather, they said, what has emerged is an underlying difference in approach. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the record about the difficulties of maintaining unity on this issue.

A call for Hamas to renounce its past positions came last month from the United States and its partners in the so-called Quartet — Russia, the United Nations and the European Union — which has overseen Middle East negotiations since 2002.

But there was no explicit vow in their statement to cut off aid, only a suggestion that individual donors would "review" their assistance if Hamas did not renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing agreements with Israel, including the pledge to negotiate establishment of a Palestinian state living at peace with Israel.

Where the American administration is issuing warnings, the European Union hopes for a solution that would avert a confrontation with the West. On Thursday, for example, Javier Solana, the top foreign policy envoy of the European Union, said in Ramallah, the provisional Palestinian capital: "I wish to underline that the European Union will not abandon the Palestinian people. We have never done so and we never will."

Note the abandoning phrase.

Doesn't Solana know the "Palestinian people" have abandoned him, abandoned Europe, abandoned America, human decency, internationalized recognized treaties and agreements?

What is this, the neighborhood schoolyard?

And we have an Ehud Olmert/Tzippi Livni/Shaul Mofaz/Shimon Peres government right now.

Advocating Israel at times like this can't win you any prizes.

Just a Reminder

From Ha'aretz's "Updates" banner:

8:28 Palestinians fire Qassam rocket at western Negev; no injuries (Israel Radio)

Anybody counting?

Do you think this can go on daily?

And we just get used to it and then when we strike out - if we ever do - that the world understands what's going on?

Calling All Civil Rights Activists

All you civil rights activists, read this and I'll be waiting to read of your appeal to the powers that be to protest infringement of thsi soldier's civil liberties:-

A female IDF soldier has been disciplined for talking with a group of girls who criticized soldiers. The incident in question occurred as they rode together on a civilian bus towards Beit El.
The soldier was talking with a group of girls who were returning from last week's demonstration in Jerusalem protesting the vicious manner in which the Amona outpost had been evacuated.

Voice of Israel correspondent Carmela Menashe reported that the soldier said the girls asked her if she was not ashamed to wear an IDF uniform. The soldier said she did not argue with the girls, but rather engaged them in conversation.

The soldier was warned by another IDF woman, an officer, not to talk to the girls. The soldier carried on, however. She told the officer that there was no rule against talking with residents of Yesha and that she was in favor of doing so.

“They are human beings just as we are,” she told the officer. “They are not enemies who have turned against the Jewish people.”

The officer filed a formal complaint against the soldier, who was tried by the Binyamin Brigade commander and confined to the base.

The IDF told Menashe that the soldier acted against orders forbidding “confrontational conversations" with residents of Yesha.

Yes, you, and you and all you other groups.

I'll be listening and watching.

One Religion Down

The LATimes published a story that seems to be crucial for the survival of the Mormon religion.

Some excerpts:-

For Mormons, the lack of discernible Hebrew blood in Native Americans is no minor collision between faith and science. It burrows into the historical foundations of the Book of Mormon, a 175-year-old transcription that the church regards as literal and without error.

For those outside the faith, the depth of the church's dilemma can be explained this way: Imagine if DNA evidence revealed that the Pilgrims didn't sail from Europe to escape religious persecution but rather were part of a migration from Iceland — and that U.S. history books were wrong.

According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an angel named Moroni led Joseph Smith in 1827 to a divine set of golden plates buried in a hillside near his New York home.

God provided the 22-year-old Smith with a pair of glasses and seer stones that allowed him to translate the "Reformed Egyptian" writings on the golden plates into the "Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ."

Mormons believe these scriptures restored the church to God's original vision and left the rest of Christianity in a state of apostasy.

The book's narrative focuses on a tribe of Jews who sailed from Jerusalem to the New World in 600 BC and split into two main warring factions.

The God-fearing Nephites were "pure" (the word was officially changed from "white" in 1981) and "delightsome." The idol-worshiping Lamanites received the "curse of blackness," turning their skin dark.

According to the Book of Mormon, by 385 AD the dark-skinned Lamanites had wiped out other Hebrews. The Mormon church called the victors "the principal ancestors of the American Indians." If the Lamanites returned to the church, their skin could once again become white.

Critics of the Book of Mormon have long cited anachronisms in its narrative to argue that it is not the work of God. For instance, the Mormon scriptures contain references to a seven-day week, domesticated horses, cows and sheep, silk, chariots and steel. None had been introduced in the Americas at the time of Christ.

In the 1990s, DNA studies gave Mormon detractors further ammunition and new allies such as Simon G. Southerton, a molecular biologist and former bishop in the church.

Southerton, a senior research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia, said genetic research allowed him to test his religious views against his scientific training.

Genetic testing of Jews throughout the world had already shown that they shared common strains of DNA from the Middle East. Southerton examined studies of DNA lineages among Polynesians and indigenous peoples in North, Central and South America. One mapped maternal DNA lines from 7,300 Native Americans from 175 tribes.

Southerton found no trace of Middle Eastern DNA in the genetic strands of today's American Indians and Pacific Islanders.

Of course, if they converted to Judaism, that might solve their problems and help us out with our demographics.

And, a propos the Temple Mount

Palestinian woman attempts to stab officer at Temple Mount complex

A young Palestinian woman attempted to stab a police officer at the Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem on Thursday morning.

The woman, a 27-year-old resident of Bethlehem, ran toward the officer screaming "God is Great" before she attacked him with a 30 centimeter-long knife.

Other officers at the site managed to restrain the woman, and took her into custody, ending the incident without injury.

A preliminary investigation at the Minorities Department in the Jerusalem police revealed the woman intended to stab the officer to avenge the death of the husband. It is as yet unclear who he was and under which circumstance he died.

Tolerance - Intolerance

Gershon Baskin had sent out a Press Release headed:

STOP THE BUILDING OF THE TOLERANCE MUSEUM ON A MUSLIM CEMETARY

and I wrote him (see here):

Just as a matter of interest, if we are to protest the building of a Museum on part of a Muslim cemetery, what are we to do about the building of a Mosque on part of the Temple Mount compound?

Well, he replied:-

Thanks for your question – my answer is this:

We are talking about something being done now and today in the State of Israel by Jews and not something that was done more than 1300 years ago.

The Mosques were built there more than 600 years after the destruction of the Temple.

Can you find anything Jewish or tolerant about building a museum on top of a cemetery?

What would you say if they wanted to do something similar in Europe on a Jewish cemetery?

Gershon

and I responded:-

A) So, if time is a relative element, we can now forget about pre-1948 and all those villages destroyed?

B) If so, why do the Muslims not adopt your thinking and stop destroying archeological artifacts and other historical remnants even if we "can agree", for argument's sake, that they can do so because they built their mosques there 600 years after the Jewish temple was destroyed by Romans? What's so bad about preserving things bygone?

C) No, I don't think it's tolerant and that's why I pursued - and continue to pursue - an answer why we tolerate the Muslims doing something I think very similar. And the fact that Yasser Arafat denied the Temple even being on the Temple Mount at Camp David II is an indication that you, not I, are going in the wrong direction in not raising a voice of protest against intolerable behavior.

D) Again, I do not tolerate what the Museum is doing. I am with you on this but why can't you be with me regarding the Temple Mount? Why go to an ancient Jewish cemetery in Europe when we have a recent one in Hebron that keeps getting desecrated by the followers of that cartoon character who can't tolerate desecration.

To be continued?

===============================

Yes, he just came back to me.

So, we continue (let me know what you think - gee, no one really comments on this blog or writes me):-

On the issue of the Temple Mount – as a Jew I leave it in the hands of God and the Mashiah to decide what to do – it is too complicated and too explosive for human beings to take any action on. I have always proposed that whatever happens regarding future agreements, the Palestinians must agree not to build there or to excavate there and that this must be enforced by an international pres ence verifying and if need be, preventing.

And I responded:-

well, that's but one reply to all the issues I raised. and not all that convincing, if I may say, as you simply dodge the issue of Arab responsibility/guilt. We're always at fault; they, rarely. They do "build" there and have been doing so for decades. Israel adopted a status quo position that was silly and non status quo. And the Arabs continue to "build" by destroying. You didn't join Eilat Mazar's committee did you? Did any far-out lefty do so? Humanism and progressive politics should be indivisible.

=============================

Gershon promptly wrote back:-

I was not invited to join – and neither were any “leftist” that I know of. I have always been opposed to Muslim building on the Temple Mount and I have told this to the Muslim authorities including the late Minister of religious affairs Hassan Tahboub – who was once a member of our board. Arafat was an idiot on most issues and especially on this one, and I told that to Arafat’s people as well. I also published a very well distributed piece once on my views of Arafat – believe me – I didn’t have very many kinds words to say about him.

An Anti-Olmert Political Electioneering Spot

Click here to see how the Amona fiasco can figure in a political electioneering clip.

Why? Why?!!!!

Esther Riley of Fairfax, California (a big Jewish neighborhood, as I recall) had this letter published in today's NYTimes:-

Why is it that we give so much more attention to the security and welfare of the Israelis than we do to the security and welfare of the Palestinians?

Why?, she asks?

Well, that's the Life of Riley for you.

They get 75% of the original Palestine mandate territory.
They cooperate with the Nazis.
They pillage, plunder, rape and murder (1920, 1921, 1929, 1936-39, 1947-49 and all the years in-between).
They refuse to cooperate with the British in setting up an Arab Agency.
The refuse the UN's Partition Recommendation.
They set up fedayeen groups.
They establish the Fatah terror organization.
They compose the PLO Charter (still in effect).
They create the Hamas.
They create the Islamic Jihad.
They hijack planes.
They send suicide bombers.
They mobilize kids for violence.
They've renewed anti-semitic literature in their textbooks.

Any of you people have additions for this "why?" list?

Promoting a Centrist Ideology

Yossi Klein Halevy published an opinion piece last month in the Washington Post that only now caught my attention after someone published a follow-up letter pointing out some factual errors he claims Yossi made.

But, be that as it may here is one sentence I have trouble with:-

[Ariel Sharon's] "legacy is clear: on the military front, resolve against terrorism; on the political front, consensus in times of threat and a pragmatic approach that replaces the fantasy politics of the left and right"

This is hogwash (and since Arik enjoyed non-kosher food, I doubt that he'd be upset by my choice of words although Yossi might).

Arik before he went into a coma-situation and after the disengagement exhibited little real resolve against terrorism. We need to admit that "post-disengagement" Sharon is something else entirely. Bombing empty fields and refusing to use commando tactics (remember 101?), not to speak of limited ground operations is not "resolve". In the month since the article appeared, some 50 Kassams have rained down, several almost hitting Israel's electrical plant in Ashkelon where 30% of Israel's electricity is produced.

Yes, the helicopters are still targetting "senior terrorists" but the missiles keep coming.

Consensus on the diplomatic front? Consensus with whom? Ourselves? Ehud Olmert opened the Jerusalem door to Hamas, first denied funds then released funds to the PA and is waffling on the Iranian exisiential threat to Israel with its A-bomb. That's not a consensus.

And a pragmatic approach instead of fantasy politics? That wouldn't be the Amona fiasco, would it?

Methinks that Yossi is too excited about this new "centrist" ideology.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk had something to say about people who, afraid of being termed "extreme", chose to go in the middle:-

once asked why he is so extreme in his views and conduct, he took the person who asked that to his window which opened to the street, and explained: “You see, the two sides of the road are for human beings; only horses walk in the middle.” The Kotzker Rebbe thus defined the middle way, the average between the extremes, as the “horses’ path,” the way animals walk. Men must choose one extreme or the other, or else they are but horses.

Blast 'Em!

Would this work with Arab rioters?

Britain has new weapon against loitering youths --
Sonic Teenager Deterrent

Shopkeepers in central England have been trying out a new device that emits an uncomfortable high-pitched noise designed to disperse young loiterers outside their stores without bothering adults.

Police carrying out the pilot project in Staffordshire say some of those who have tested the "Sonic Teenager Deterrent," nicknamed the mosquito, have talked of buying one of their own.

The device which costs 622 pounds (908 euros, 1,081 dollars) "doesn't cause any pain to the hearer," according to Inspector Amanda Davies, quoted by Britain's domestic Press Association news agency.

"The noise can normally only be heard by those between 12 and 22 and it makes the listener feel uncomfortable," she added.

Once in their early 20s, people lose their capacity to hear sounds at such a high pitch.

Shop owners have reported fabulous results and we've been approached by some who are considering buying their own equipment.

In Israel, This is a Crime

I found this poster here.

The story of Vice-President Dick Cheney shooting his hunting companion has spawned rumors galore and the above poster.

If that poster would have been distributed in Israel but with an Israeli politician's profile, that would be inciting to violence and down-right subversive.

I presume there are different standards of democracy, right to free expression, etc.

Why Are My Sides Splitting?

Israeli group announces anti-Semitic cartoons contest!
by Arune Singh, Staff Writer
Posted: February 13, 2006
Official Press Release

Eyal Zusman (30), actor and writer, and Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, both from Tel-Aviv, Israel, have followed the unfolding of the "Muhammad cartoon-gate" events in amazement, until finally Zusman came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so they announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves!

"We'll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!" said Zusman, and Sandy added: "No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!"

The contest has been announced today on the www.boomka.org website, and the initiators accept submissions of cartoons, caricatures and short comic strips from people all over the world. The deadline is Sunday March 5, and the best works will be displayed in an Exhibition in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Sandy and Zusman are now in the process of arranging sponsorships of large organizations, and promise lucrative prizes for the winners, including of course the famous Matzo-bread baked with the blood of Christian children.

For more info contact:
Amitai at amitaiss@yahoo.com or 972-54-316-4117
Eyal at 972-50-4446007

Amitai Sandy
Publisher
Dimona comix group
www.dimonacomix.com

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