Baskin B*ll

I had had an exchange with Baskin previously that I put up on this blog.

Well, he's back, this time in a JPost op-ed.

Here's just the beginning:-

Almost all of my Palestinian colleagues tell me that Hamas will change. They say that once Hamas has the burden of governing they will have to become more pragmatic. They speak of the process of change that they themselves went through.

In 1976 together with a small group of Zionist students in New York I had a clandestine meeting with the PLO ambassador to the United Nations attempting to convince him to support the two-state solution and to recognize Israel. His response was "over my dead body." At that point I realized that until the PLO made the decision to support the two-state solution there was no basis for dialogue. In March 1988 shortly after the outbreak of the first intifada, reading the flyers of the Unified Leadership of the Intifada which called for ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, I came to the conclusion that the PLO had changed.

In November 1988, the PLO made that change official at the meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algiers. In early 1988 I began working on the establishment of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, a joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think-tank in order to advance the two-state solution.

And another excerpt:

It may take time for the Hamas to meet Israeli conditions for negotiations. Hamas will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state - I cannot say Fatah ever recognized Israel as a Jewish state.

I think that Hamas will be pressured by the Arab world to support the Arab League peace initiative which calls for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines, in return for which Israel will be recognized by the entire Arab world who would sign peace treaties with Israel.

Hamas, at this time is not interested in a mini-Palestinian state in part of the West Bank and Gaza with provisional borders as called for in Phase II of the road map. Hamas is not interested in negotiations with Israel.

Despite the comments of Khaled Mashal against the Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan for unilateral disengagement from most of the West Bank, Hamas has no real problem with that plan.

Hamas will not oppose any Israeli decision to withdraw or to remove settlements. My friend, the PA minister, tells me that since the Palestinian elections Hamas has toned down what he called "the culture of resistance." He says that Hamas is now speaking much more about "steadfastness" - the same term used by Fatah during the 1970s and 1980s.

This is so much b*llsh*t. And he's a "peace activist".

Arutz 7 Goes Purim

Arutz 7 has a Purim Issue out.

Contents:

Purim Satire News Headlines:
1. Sharon Wakes From Coma – Declares He Is a Changed Man
2. Mahmud Hamandinjad House Gets Nuked, All Within Die
3. Jews "Get It", America Faces Nationwide Bankruptcy
4. Marzelchai Refuses to Bow
5. Gov´t Begs Arutz-7: Please Resume Broadcasting
6. ´Save the Kinneret´ Purim Drive Raises Water Level Muchly
7. Concern in Israeli Police: Can´t Find Good Truncheons Anywhere
8. Ahashverosh ruled over 127 Medinas, here are most of them...


One section:

Concern in Israeli Police: Can´t Find Good Truncheons Anywhere

By Yehezkel Laing (Bin Nun)

There is growing disappointment in the Israeli Police Department over the quality of their truncheons.

The problem came to a head last month during the dispersal of protestors at Amona when under the strain of battle, many police batons simply broke.

"Mine broke over the head of a youth," says one angry officer. "After only five minutes of beating him it split in two! Can you believe that! I think the quality has gone way down.'

Another officer agreed and said the clubs should be made out of harder material. "When I hit a settler I want to know that he is going down for good," said one officer, on condition of anonymity. "One guy I hit got up three times before I finally knocked him out."

The French manufacturer who makes the equipment guarantees the truncheons for three years. But the company claims that the police used the truncheons improperly and specified that they should not be used on hard materials like walls.

"That is just a lie", countered another officer. "I was hitting an elderly women who was frail and soft and still it broke! It's gotten to the point where you cant trust anyone nowadays."

But a senior officer was more hesitant, saying "It's true that sometimes the officers hit the ground or rocks when they miss. These religious youth are very wily and are hard to catch and pin down. If only they would hold still longer while we beat them, we would have less problems."

"The kipot [yarmulkes] make their heads slippery", lamented another officer.

Jeffery Goldberg is Misleading

Jeffrey Goldberg is a staff writer for The New Yorker and, it seems, the author of a new book "Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide."

He is also someone who has written terribly, in quite a biased manner, about our own little conflict here on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, across from the Jordan River. I can say thaty with impunity because I was interviewed by the man for a story and all that I said, in almost 90 minutes of an interview and a few e mail communications was left out of a hatchet job he did on the subject of "settlers". [Andrea Levin of CAMERA thought so, too]

I guess I was too rational, too cogent, too not-too-extreme to be included as it would imbalance the line he was trotting out (sorry for that unabshed bit of unhumility). [here's my previous bash of him]

Well, here's his new foray (please see my response letter which follows at the end as I doubt the NYT will print it):-

The Ghost of Purim Past
By JEFFREY GOLDBERG
Washington

THREE years ago, while visiting Tehran, I was introduced to a charmless man named Muhammad Ali Samadi, who, I was told, would parse for me the Iranian theocracy's peculiar understanding of Judaism and Zionism. Mr. Samadi said that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, held no brief for anti-Semitism. Then, a moment later, he deployed an epidemiological metaphor to explain the role of Jews in history. "There are always infections and diseases in man," he said. "In the world there is an infection called international Jewry."

A year later, Mr. Samadi became the spokesman for the Esteshadion, or Seekers of Martyrdom, a group that has as its mission the training of young Iranians to kill Salman Rushdie, commit acts of suicide terrorism against Americans in Iraq and blow up Jews everywhere. "The Zionists should know that they aren't safe so long as they are an affront to God," he said. I asked him if, by "Zionists," he meant Israelis or, more generally, Jews. "Jews, Zionists, Israelis," he said, only semi-ambiguously.

I was not visiting Iran in order to collect the anti-Semitic leavings of second-tier terrorists, though I did buy a knapsack's worth of Jew-obsessed pamphlets and books, including a copy of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Persian. I was in Iran mainly to cross over into Iraq, whose dictator was about to be deposed by the United States Army. Saddam Hussein had once promised to "make fire burn half of Israel" — and he tried, ineffectually, to do so in the 1991 gulf war.

As chance would have it, it was on Purim that I tried to cross from Iran to Iraq. Purim is the famously disorderly holiday, celebrated today, that commemorates the hairbreadth escape of Persia's Jews from annihilation at the hands of the evil vizier Haman. The Purim story is recounted in the Scroll of Esther, which was read last night, Purim eve, in synagogues all over the world — including those in Iran, which is home to a remnant of a great and exceedingly old Jewish community. Judaism predates Islam in Iran by 1,000 years.

Purim is the ne plus ultra of the "They Tried to Murder Us, They Failed, Let's Eat" subcategory of Jewish holidays, and it is a self-consciously raucous day, a Jewish Mardi Gras when even rabbis are expected to drink themselves oblivious. It is possible to imagine, though, that Iran's intermittently persecuted Jews, living today under a president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who denies the historical truth of the European Holocaust while threatening a new Middle Eastern one, might see Purim not as a story of tragedy averted but as one of tragedy foretold.

The Purim story is suspenseful, ribald, comic and almost certainly false, a fantasy of revenge and redemption. Scholars generally agree that it is a pseudo-history introduced into Judaism about 2,400 years ago, at a time when the memory of Jerusalem's conquest by the Babylonians was still laying Jews low. In the story, the supercilious King Ahasuerus chooses the beautiful Esther to be his queen. Esther, who keeps her Jewishness hidden, has an uncle, the stoic and brave-hearted Mordechai, who does not conceal his faith, and who earns the wrath of Haman when he refuses to bow down before him.

Haman, in his anger, decides to visit his retribution not only on Mordechai but on all his tribe. "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom," Haman tells Ahasuerus. "It is not for the king's profit to suffer them." The king agrees to have his Jewish subjects exterminated.

To save her people, Esther reveals to him that she is Jewish. Shocked into understanding, the king orders Haman hanged on the gallows originally built for Mordechai. But he is powerless to reverse his genocidal edict, so instead he allows the Jews to arm themselves in self-defense, and, on the day of the planned extermination, they do the slaying.

It is an outlandish story on several counts, not least of which is that ancient Persian kings tended to tolerate other gods and the men who worshipped them. Such tolerance, it must be said, is one of the main attributes of polytheism; Jews were not seen as threats to the theological order of pre-Islamic Persia.

The Muslim Middle East of today, alas, is a more plausible backdrop for the sort of anti-Jewish plot outlined in the Scroll of Esther than was the Persia of antiquity, the story's actual setting. The Iranian regime, after all, parades Shahab-3 missiles through Tehran draped in banners that declare, "We will wipe Israel from the map." The head of one of Iran's leading clerical councils, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said in December 2001 that the "application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel but the same thing would produce minor damages in the Muslim world." And the supreme leader himself, Ayatollah Khamenei, said of Israel in 2000, "We have repeatedly said that this cancerous tumor of a state should be removed from the region."

There are multiple tragedies here. Persian civilization, pre-Islamic and otherwise, has not been notably hostile to Jews. In fact, one of the great heroes of Jewish history is Cyrus, the Persian king who restored the Jews to Israel after the fall of the First Temple. And the Islamic Republic of Iran, though no Semitic utopia, has not been Poland, either. Even today, the febrile ranting about Jews one hears among the intelligentsia in Beirut and Cairo is mostly absent in Tehran, except among the clerical elite, who understand the utility of anti-Semitism in their effort to gain favor with Arab Muslims.

Which is not to say that the clerics don't believe what they say. This brings us back to Mr. Samadi's unfortunate metaphor. The terminology of disease control has now thoroughly infiltrated anti-Semitic discourse in the Middle East. Four years ago, a Hezbollah leader in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley named Hussein Haj Hassan told me that Jews function "in a way that lets them act as parasites in the nations that give them shelter." The leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad speak in much the same manner.

One worries about overreacting, but such language echoes the passage of "Mein Kampf" in which the Austrian Haman compares the Jew to "a sponger who like a noxious bacillus keeps spreading as soon as a favorable medium invites him."

I still assume that the Jews, and the Jewish state, will survive their encounter with the Iran of Mr. Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran's leaders don't yet have the bomb, and eschatologically minded though they are, they might not be entirely immune to the charms of rational deterrence theory. And, of course, both parable and history teach that Jews somehow always manage to survive.

Nevertheless, a great many people, in Iran and beyond, believe that the Jewish state is a cancer, and it is foolish to believe that this is an idea without consequences. As one Islamic Jihad leader told me not long ago, "Everyone knows that the cure for cancer is radiation."

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

My response letter:

Jeffrey Goldberg's complaint about Muslim antisemitic-coded propaganda is quite justified but, in referring to the Palestinians, he writes: "The leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad speak in much the same manner" ("The Ghost of Purim Past", March 14). But that is misleading.

Antisemitic vocabulary, imagery and caricature are the stable of public Palestinian intercourse including, as has been documented in the pages of this newspaper, elected officials, educational textbooks and the media all representing Palestinian Authority officialdom.

More needs to be done to repress and eliminate this corrosive aspect of the conflict before any peace can be realized.

Closest I Can Get to Doing a Purim Angle on Terror

If you read this, from the NYTimes, you'' get an insight into our own Middle East problem with terror.

What these people, and I don't think they are more smart than any Pal. terrorist, they should pardon the comparison, took less than 15 years to figure out, the PLO, Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad still are ignoring.

ON most nights of the week between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. you'll find Carlos Robinson — all 6 feet 9 inches of him — looming over the velvet rope at Lotus or the Double Seven, two of the more prominent nightclubs in the glitter gulch of New York's meatpacking district. He's the guy with the bulging arms, shaved head and 5.2-carat diamond earring in his right ear. When platoons of status-hungry night crawlers bum rush the door, he fends them off. If, after a few hours, patrons have had a few too many shots of Grey Goose, it is Mr. Robinson who escorts them to the curb.

But don't call him a bouncer.

During the heyday of the no-holds-barred New York club world of the 70's and 80's, bouncers were guys who worked for cash and essentially made up the rules as they went along. When patrons acted up, the bouncers kept order with chokeholds and knockout punches. But as licensing laws for security guards took hold in the mid-90's, and as the clubs themselves began cleaning up and catering to moneyed professionals, bouncers underwent an image change.

Though most people still refer to the big guys lurking in and outside nightclubs as bouncers, Mr. Robinson, who got his start 20 years ago working at raucous megaclubs like the Limelight and the Tunnel, now goes by the title director of security. Italian-cut suits, dark shirts and ties have replaced muscle T-shirts, black leather vests and heavy construction boots. And according to Mr. Robinson and his colleagues the ethos of busting heads has been replaced by one of polite, if imposing diplomacy. "Nowadays it's more of an intelligent job," Mr. Robinson said.

This from here:-

Artist Turns Synagogue Into Gas Chamber

By David Crossland in Berlin

An artist invited Germans to come and be symbolically gased with car exhaust fumes in a former synagogue. Jewish leaders and media commentators say he is belittling the Holocaust and insulting its victims. But hundreds of people have lined up for the experience.

Santiago Sierra, a Spanish performance artist, pledged on Monday to hold talks with Jewish community leaders outraged by his project to give people a sense of the Holocaust by pumping lethal car exhaust fumes into a former synagogue and letting visitors enter one by one with a breathing apparatus.

Sierra, known internationally for his controversial work, led hoses from the exhaust pipes of six parked cars into the building in the town of Pulheim-Stommeln near Cologne to create lethal levels of carbon monoxide there.

- - -

The performance was to have taken place each Sunday until April 30, but next week's session has been cancelled in the wake of fierce criticism from Jewish leaders and media commentators.

"We are suspending the project for a couple of weeks. The artist wants to use the time to talk to the people who have criticized his project," said Dirk Springob, spokesman for the town of Pulheim. "He thinks he will be able to convince them in face-to-face talks and that the project can be continued."

Given the outrage his project has caused, Sierra has a tough task ahead of him.

- - -

Sierra said he was seeking to honor the memory of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust. He called the work "245 Cubic Meters" in allusion to the empty space of the synagogue. "Above all, however, 245 cubic meters is meant to be a work about the industrialized and institutionalized death from which the European peoples of the world have lived and continue to live," his statement said.

There has been damning criticism from the German media. The Kölnische Rundschau newspaper said Sierra's "art horror light" led to just the kind of trivialization Sierra claimed to be fighting. "What Santiago Sierra is doing in the Stommeln synagogue indeed takes your breath away, unless you're a visitor, in which case you get plenty of oxygen, take zero risks and are even caringly accompanied by a fireman," it wrote.

"That's quite a contrast with the countless victims of the death camps. How pretentious to seek to evoke their horror and fear of death in such a cheap way! In a cynical game which yields no insight whatsoever."

Seems that Jews are still fair game for every nut and insensitive person around, whether ads for secular parties in Israeli elections or this "artist".

What is Going On with the National Union/Mafdal Campaign?

I've just seen, for the second time in two successive days, the same National Union/Mafdal election infomerical.

I have close friends in that party, some very close friends who are supposed to be able to have influence.

Most of them agreed with some of the criticisms I voiced months ago but I see they have failed to get a better message across now that elections are upon us.

The ad that was repeated (!) dealt with the disengagement. And, instead of explaining why any disengagement should never ever happen again in a way that affects all of Israel and all of its people, it repeated the same mistake, in my humble opinion, that was done then at the time.

The ad gave "thanks" to all the politicians who enabled it to take place as if cynicism is comprehensible here in Israel. I don't think it works.

But worse, the disengagement, according to to the ad, was bad not for Israel; not for its security nor or perhaps, its existence; not because it hasn't stopped terror; not because it convinced the Pals. to vote Hamas into power; not because our water resources are endangered; not because our agriculture may be affected; or for other easily understood and quickly grasped reasons.

No, in the Nat'l Union/Mafdal campaign the disengagement should not be repeated because of some very emotional pictures of people crying and feeling pain. Even the State Comptroller's report was ineffectually used in the ad.

I do not ignore that the people who lived in Gush Katif and Northern Samaria are the first to be considered as are the people who are next, according to Olmert's plan (and that includes me). But we are a minority and one that is disdained and misunderstood.

The media has succeeded in shunting us aside and making us a scapegoat.

So, instead of talking to the rest of Israel the way they need to be spoken to, the ad continues the line that "we suffered" and "we" shouldn't suffer again. But it is they who may be suffering in the near furture and they need to be told that.

What is going on there?

Like Children, Like Father?

Steve Plaut sent me this:

In case you missed this, the Jerusalem Post recently ran several pieces, mainly in a column by Sarah Honig, about Ehud Olmert's two sons and one daughter.

One son never served in the Israeli army and today lives permanently in Paris. The other is an active member in Yesh Gvul, the seditious organization that foments mutiny and insurrection among Israeli soldiers, demanding that they refuse to serve until Israel completely capitulates to all Arab fascist demands.

The daughter of Olmert is an activist in the communist-front organization Machsom Watch (Checkpoint Watch), which harasses Israeli soldiers and policemen checking Palestinian vehicles for explosives and weapons. In other words, she is trying to help Palestinians infiltrate Israel and murder Jewish children.

This is the guy who will be Israel's next Prime Minister. The above is his own personal family track record in education and Zionism. A man who himself believes in nothing has raised a brood who believe in Israel's destruction.

He will shortly be in charge of educating Israeli children.

And Here, We're Still Waiting for a Legal Arutz 7

Arutz 7 was taken off the air but in Bahai, Brazil freedom of the airwaves is another matter.

The Association of Prostitutes of Bahia state has won government
permission to start up their own radio station, enabling FM station Radio Zona in Salvador to begin broadcasting in the second half of the year, project coordinator Sandro Correia said on Thursday.

The aim was not to attract women to the business. The station will feature programmes about the trade but will also discuss issues such as human rights, social questions, and sexual abuse, Correia said.

Working girls and media professionals such as Correia will staff the station and will give prostitutes training in an alternative job. Funding will come from association funds, advertising and sponsorship.

And they say that Israel is not a third-world democracy?

Analyzing Disengagement from Within

Ha'aretz reports that in the latest issue of Beyn Hazirot (Between the Arenas), the Israel Defense Forces journal of behavioral science, Lt. Hadass Minke-Brand, a counselor in the Golani Division on behalf of the psychology department of the Ground Forces Command, writes about "motivating subordinates in the disengagement mission - the case of Golani."

This would seem to be an interesting insight into what pressures an army unit was under.

According to Minke-Brand, Golani's commander, Erez Zuckerman emphasised "preventing refusal", as distinct from dealing with it ipso facto. Soldiers who were on the brink of refusal were defined as "having difficulty," and if they did not behave with demonstrative provocation or incited mutiny, they were enveloped in a soft attitude. Golani's success was defined from the start as "an absence of refusal among officers and in units - squads, platoons, companies, brigades) and reducing the phenomenon to a negligible minority of individuals."

So, what happened? What pressures were the soldiers under from a socialization or psychological point?

At the demonstrations by evacuation opponents, especially at Kfar Maimon, "more than 50 percent of the officers had relatives or close friends on the inside of the fence around the settlement, as demonstrators. An absolute majority of commanders grew up as religious-Zionist. The mutual joy at their meetings could be recognized from afar in the embraces and shared experiences.

Among the demonstrations were spotted many demobilized soldiers from Golani, with recent demobilization dates and an emphasis on elite units like Egoz and the Golani Reconnaissance Brigade. On the ground, a dialogue emerged between the Golani commanders and settlement leaders, in the form of mediation through the sons. The protesting heads of the settlements who conducted the dialogue for their side Pinchas Wallerstein, Effi Eitam, Moti Yogev, Rafi Ben-Bassat - all had sons who were commanders of Golani companies and groups.

She indicates that at that time, most of the disengagement opponents did not support refusal to serve and worked hard on their relatives and friends, and through them, to other unit soldiers, and successfully defused the situation which could have turned into mutiny.

Golani, writes Minke-Brand, was saved from many months of dealing with a critical situation in which "the mission was enforcing order among Israelis with repeated clashes." Those doing the evacuation in uniform will be freed from conscript duty, go back to their settlements and beef up the opponents; it is not clear who will fall apart sooner, the settlements or the divisions. And even if the IDF, police and Shin Bet stand up to the task of getting out of the territories, the state comptroller is holding a report that expresses doubt about those in responsible positions inside Israel proper, the managers of the civilian temptation-compensation, being able to implement the declarations of the politicians.

Nevertheless, after Amona, the situation is different.

After Amona, and on the eve of an election whose results seem to guarantee a government of evacuation and escalation in the war against the evacuations, this calming conclusion is no longer valid.

The Taxi Driver and I

I haven't really gotten into the personal level of blogging that marks the "real" blogger but today, I had an experience that jolted me a bit.

I badly twisted my ankle on Friday and today, Sunday, came into Jerusalem to have the foot x-rayed. I walked out of Egged's Central Bus Station and right there was a line of waiting taxis.

I approached the first one and bent over to ask: "you free?".

He replied: "no".

A bit taken aback, (I'm only in this country 35+ years, not including my year on Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz, [Machzor 39] and here, too), I shot out: "so why are you standing here?".

He began to raise his voice and yelled out: "ma ichpat l'cha?" (translation: what do you care?).

Oh, well, why should I care that he's hogging the first spot and I then had to hobble on over to the second cab.

Israelis.

Demolishing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Too bad Martin had to write this self-promoting letter and that his accomplishment was not afforeded proper recognition in the pages of the esteemed Times Literary Supplement.

Sir, –John Klier, in his review of two new books about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (February 24), concludes by suggesting that “more than censorship” is necessary to counter the “baleful influence” of the Protocols. While both Hadassa Ben-Itto’s and Will Eisner’s books are important contributions to the literature, my book, Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (which was written with Steven L. Jacobs and published in 2003), takes another approach.

It is the first book that offers a full-length refutation, drawn from a wide range of Jewish sources, of each of the twenty-four Protocols. Although it will not sway the hard-core anti-Semite or the convinced conspiracy theorist, it does provide an answer to those who approach the Protocols ignorant of Jews and Judaism. In a world where the Protocols can be cited in article 32 of the charter of Hamas, the terrorist organization now seeking political legitimacy, or serve as the basis of statements made by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, or be exhibited as a Jewish “holy book” in the UNESCO-funded refurbished library at Alexandria (an action which was condemned by UNESCO, which helped lead to the removal of the book from the exhibition) and to be present on the internet in up to twenty translations, calls for “legal controls” might be questionable not only on philosophical but also on practical grounds.

It is thus essential that people of goodwill now have the information and willingness to confront and repudiate the malicious claims of the Protocols, before they can once again become, as in the title of Norman Cohn’s classic treatment of the subject, “A Warrant for Genocide”.

MARK WEITZMAN
Simon Wiesenthal Center, 50 East 42nd Street, Suite 1600, New York 10017.

Ami Ayalon is a Shm*ck

Found this at the UK Sunday Times:

THE man likely (!!!?? ym) to become Israel’s next defence minister does not shy away from talking about his past.


“I killed many Arabs, probably more than Hamas fighters killed Jews, and more than anybody else, but all in order to secure Israeli lives,” said Admiral Ami Ayalon, the Labour party’s candidate for the most difficult portfolio in Israeli politics.

Now, besides Uzi Mahnaimi praising one his sources for the past few years for many of his outrageous claims about Israel's defense and security matters, I strongly doubt Ayalon killed that many and even if he did, he's a shm*ck for saying so.

There. Profanity disguised, barely.

Purim Literary Humor

I found this humor at the NYTimes Book Review Section.

One Small Question About 'Exodus'
By LEE SIEGEL

AMID all the justified, and long overdue, concern about truth in memoir — and in nonfiction books generally — a peculiar condition of American literary culture has been overlooked: a radical mistrust of generalization reigns. This is especially the case at magazines and newspapers, wheresweeping statements, speculation and intuitive leaps have long been suppressed. And now, in the wake of the James Frey affair, Oprah Winfrey and others are calling for publishers to verify the factual accuracy of their books. Let us, then, put the question of written accuracy in perspective. Let us imagine for a moment what Western intellectual history would be like if the awesome figure of The Fact-Checker had stood astride culture from (almost) the beginning. . . .

Dear Yahweh,

First, congratulations from all of us here at The Jerusalemite on Saul of Tarsus' selection of "Genesis" for his book club. This is huge. We just have a few queries about "Exodus" before it goes to press:

p. 12: "and the waters were divided." Could we say: "apparently the sea was at very low tide that day"? Also, would Y-u please just take a look at Y--r notes again and make sure this really happened?

p. 23: " 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people." Our lawyers suggest these changes: "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a highly sensitive, and at this particular moment, irritable people, which is understandable, what with the heat and all the walking." O.K. by Y-u?

Dear St. Luke,

Thank you so much for sending us this uplifting article. I hope you will forgive me — I mean, I know you will forgive me — if I question just one infinitesimal point.

In 12:15 you write: "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Are you aware of the recent University of Samaria study concluding that an abundance of possessions raises the serotonin level, extends the life span by 10 years, increases sexual potency and creates a sense of happiness and self-worth? We deeply respect your indifference to earthly life, but perhaps you would be compassionate enough to address these points? We're going to get a lot of epistles.

Dear Marcus Aurelius,

Mike from fact-checking here. Piece looks great, but we have a few questions.

p. 18: "No man can rob us of our free will." This is way too general. What if when I'm leaving work today someone smashes me over the head with a bottle, throws me in the trunk of his car, takes me home, ties me up and locks me in his closet? My will might be free, but what am I going to do with a free will if I'm stuck in somebody's closet? Are you really wedded to this one?

p. 19: "Think of the country mouse and of the town mouse, and of the alarm and trepidation of the town mouse." Everybody's pretty confused here, though I definitely get the idea. How about we lose the rodents and do something a little more straightforward. "Think of the country and of the town, and of the fact that with the money you pay for a tiny studio on the Upper West Side, you can buy a two-bedroom split-level in peaceful White Plains." Bingo?

Dear Authors of the Declaration of Independence,

Wow. I can't wait to see this one in print. Major question, though. Right at the beginning of the second paragraph, you write: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Whoa. Is there a professor somewhere who can back that up? A respected English philosopher you can quote? Your statement is much too categorical. For example, let me play a skeptical reader. I'm handsome, rich and intelligent. My impecunious neighbor is an incontinent moron with rotten teeth. Which of us deserves the most slaves? So could we rework, maybe thus: "In our opinion, which not every person shares, we think, but can't say for sure, that all men are created equal, more or less." Please make this change. Piece is in our "Best New England Inns" issue, which everyone reads.

Dear Professor Marx,

Enclosed please find the page proofs for "The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte." Many thanks for allowing us to change the title to "Autumn Leaves." Page numbers and queries follow.

p. 1: first and second sentences: "Hegel remarks somewhere that all facts and personages of great importance in world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." Not sure how a person can occur twice. And how can a fact be first "tragic" and then "farcical"? They assassinated Julius Caesar, which is tragic. Is it funny if they murder him again? Did Hegel really "forget" to add the thought about tragedy and farce? How do you know? How could he forget to add what seems to be your idea? If the thought had occurred to him, wouldn't he have "added" it? Or would he just have forgotten it? If the latter, doesn't it seem to you that he would have remembered it later? And what if a fact started off as farcical? Would it be farcical the second time around? Or would it be tragic, and then farcical again?

Dear Walter Pater,

May I say, on behalf of all of us here in the checking department, that the conclusion to your "Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry" surpasses even your thrilling previous contribution to these pages, "Great Marble Behinds." We have just one question:

p. 3: Speaking about the importance of experience and sensation to aesthetic receptivity, you write: "To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life." First off, you're not endorsing smoking, are you? Legal department says that's a big no-no. And can a flame be "hard"? Or do you mean to imply something else? If so, isn't it somewhat implausible to imagine a person walking around with a "hard flame" for his entire life? Maybe take out "always" and change to: "burn, from time to time, with this friendly, gemlike flame"?

Dear Edmund Wilson,

Duncan the fact-checker here again. Following are a couple of quick queries about your introductory essay to "Patriotic Gore."

p. 2: Discussing nations' expansionist ambitions, you write: "In a recent Walt Disney film showing life at the bottom of the sea, a primitive organism called a sea slug is seen gobbling up smaller organisms. . . . Now, the wars fought by human beings are stimulated as a rule primarily by the same instincts as the voracity of the sea slug." Name of film? Do you mean the whale in "Pinocchio"? If not, name of slug? And who, exactly, gets "gobbled"? Unlucky Mr. Sea Horse, innocent Mr. Squid, etc.? N.b. we have no problem if it's a shellfish.

Lee Siegel is the author of "Falling Upwards: Essays in Defense of the Imagination," which will be published in the fall. A collection of his television criticism will appear next year.

Another Letter to the NYTimes

On March 11, Palestinian Authority minister, Mazen Sinokrot, bemoaned the financial straits of his Hamas-led government, claiming that "The world can't abandon us. It's in no one's interest, not for Israel or anyone" (NYTimes, "Palestinian Authority Faces Budget Crisis, Official Says").

While he acknowledges that of the 145,000 public sector employees half are in the "security forces" and that most of them have weapons, it would seem that Sinokrot cannot fathom why it would be in his own and everyone else's interest to reduce the number of gun-toting persons whose loyalty is to terror not peace.

Therein is the tragedy.

Some Secret

Gershom Gorenberg, in an op-ed published in the New York Times, intimates a scoop.

He notes that warnings about the legality of the new Jewish communities built across
the Green Line, "settlements", were kept secret. He "reveals" the contents of a
memorandum composed by then legal advisor Theodor Meron presented to the government
in September 1967.

However, Reuven Pedatzur, in his 1996 study, "Triumph of Embarassment", quotes from the memo. He provides the author's name, position and when it was presented to the then Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, who had initiated it. That took place on September 14, 1967. Four days later, it was presented to Levy Eshkol, the Prime Minister. The episode appears on pages 194-195 in his book.

Some secret.

Youth (Matisyahu's New Album)

Story on Matisyahu:-

This may be hard for some people to believe, but there was a time when MTV did not feature a Lubavitch Hasid in regular rotation.

In just three short years, Matisyahu, also known as the Hasidic reggae superstar, has become a veritable phenomenon of Jewish and American pop culture. In his wake he has left sold-out venues across the country, his decidedly biblical name emblazoned across music bible Rolling Stone magazine, and the word "Moshiach" coming out of radios nationwide with the kind of frequency once limited to the smallest enclaves of religious life. Discovered as part of a line-up of JDub Records, a nonprofit label featuring hip Jewish music, Matisyahu was soon picked up by Sony, one of the most important mainstream labels in the industry. Although Matisyahu never marketed himself as a mere novelty act, whether he has the ability to maintain his relationship with mainstream audiences remains an open question.

Beginning this week, there will be an answer.

On Tuesday, Sony released "Youth," Matisyahu's third album, setting up the coming weeks as a make-or-break period for the singer, as listeners decide whether there's more to him than the decidedly unexpected sight of a Hasid singing Rastafarian music.

Listen for yourselves:

Here
and here
(U.S. listening only)

P.S. try here, too.

Congrats to Katz; Finkelstein's a Fink

PROTESTS AT COLUMBIA LECTURE

A historian who argues that Jewish organizations exploit the Holocaust to deflect criticism from Israel drew dozens of student protesters last night during his lecture at Columbia University. Norman Finkelstein, a DePaul University professor who is the son of Holocaust survivors, gave a talk titled "Israel and Palestine: Misuse of Anti-Semitism, Abuse of History."

Some students in attendance quietly held up two-sided red signs that showed a picture of his face with a red heart, followed by the word "Hezbollah." They also handed out fliers outside. "We're angry because a lot of what Norman Finkelstein says is repugnant and is based in Jewish conspiracy theories that easily spin out of control into anti-Semitism," said Avery Katz, the vice president of LionPAC, a pro-Israel student group that helped coordinate the protest. The lecture was sponsored by 10 student groups.

"I feel very glad that students who oppose the event are voicing their opposition and engaging in the dialogue," said Sakib Khan, 21, a Muslim Students Organization member who helped arrange the lecture. He said he hoped the event would stimulate conversation that had been stifled by last year's disputes between pro-Israel students and pro-Palestinian professors.

Laxity; Laziness; Lack of Honor

You should read this entire article on kosher slaughtering problems but I'll just excerpt the parts I found relevant to my concerns:

March 10, 2006
Inquiry Finds Lax Federal Inspections at Kosher Meat Plant
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

An internal report from the Agriculture Department has found that one of the nation's leading kosher slaughterhouses violated animal cruelty laws and that government inspectors not only failed to stop the inhumane practices but also took improper gifts of meat from plant managers.

At issue was a "second cut" the plant formerly made.

Under Jewish law, an animal cannot be considered kosher if it is stunned before it is killed. The Humane Slaughter Act of 1978 requires stunning in all American slaughterhouses, but has an exception for religious slaughter, as long as the animal's neck is cut swiftly and no "carcass dressing" is done before the animal is insensible.

But at AgriProcessors, a second worker would step in after the first cut by the shochet, or ritual slaughterer. He would use a knife to open the animal's neck further and reach in with a hook to pull out the trachea and esophagus, with the carotid arteries attached. This was done to speed bleeding; kosher meat must contain as little blood as possible.

The report also describes multiple incidents in which plant employees gave inspectors packages of chicken wings, steaks, turkey, sausage or beef bacon. Although it was sometimes delivered with the words "Here's your sample, Doc," as if it were for laboratory tests, the inspectors sometimes cooked and ate it on the spot.

While the report describes accepting such gifts as "misconduct" and "very serious," investigators concluded that no bribery was involved, a department spokesman said.

The report also described an inspector sleeping as obviously infected chickens came down the line and doing inspections with his hands pocketed instead of checking meat for contamination as required. A supervisor was described as spending hours in the office playing hearts on the government computer.

The plant is at the center of a 2000 book, "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America," by Stephen G. Bloom, which described the tensions in the tiny farming town between residents and Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn who took over its defunct slaughterhouse in 1987.

Who Says Israel Doesn't Attract the Best?

Sharon Stone making a point in Tel Aviv press conference yesterday.

Something is Happening (Stay Tuned)

Haaretz reported in this morning's paper that:-

Twenty days ahead of the general elections Kadima's recent drop in popularity has been halted, and the party garnered 37 seats in the latest Haaretz-Dialogue poll.

Now, Haaretz is telling us of an Israel Radio poll that reports:-

10:37 Israel Radio poll: Kadima 35, Labor 19, Likud 15, Yisrael Beitenu 10 (Israel Radio)

Hmmmm.

Ynet in English reports:

According to the Mina Tzemach/Dahaf poll, Kadima lost another Knesset seat and is down to 37 seats, marking a drop of six mandates in less than a month. On February 10, Kadima reached 43 seats in the poll and has been going down since that point.

and everyone is quoting Olmert from last night, saying:-

On Wednesday, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared the party has in fact won the elections "and the question is only how many mandates it will win."

Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmm.

It's the Little Things That'll Get Ya

While everyone is noting the report of the State Comptroller bashing Bassie and the Disengagement Authority, I found this item to be a wondrous comment on bureaucratic idiocy:

...[they] learned that not only did the caravilla builders in Nitzan "forget" to install Sabbath clocks - which religiously-observant families rely to turn on and off lights and heaters on the Sabbath - but there is not even a place on the existing electric panel to install one.

The people of Elkanah [a community in Samaria] therefore took this mission upon themselves. Electricians from the town volunteered their time to install the new panels and clocks, while the children of Elkanah continue to collect money to buy the materials. So far, some 30 caravillas have been fitted with the clocks; 270 remain. Each clock and panel costs 600 shekels.

P.S. The Report in Hebrew is here.

Words That Haunt You

I was quoted saying this in USA Today back in August:-

Sharon is "a political dead man," says Yisrael Medad, a West Bank settler leader. "He's without a heart and without a god."

A Footnote to History

Looking for some more of my published articles and op-eds for my other site, MEDAD'S WORDS, I came across this excerpt from an article Geula Cohen wrote and had published in Ma'ariv on January 23, 1999, entitled "Barak Profits From Pollard".

In 1988, when I founded the Knesset Lobby for Pollard, with my parliamentary aid, Yisrael Medad, I turned to Edna Soladar of the Labor Party and enlisted her participation. She enthusiastically agreed and the two of us co-chaired the Lobby. This joint effort was important, I believe, not only because Pollard was arrested under a National Unity Government, but also because it lent moral strength to the Lobby, which counted amongst its members some 80 MKs from Left and Right.

To reference the Pollard issue and my involvement, check here and here.

Here is an action item I tried pushing through Women in Green:-

Jerusalem, January 15, 2001

An Appeal for Jonathan Pollard
From: Yisrael Medad

I served as the coordinator of the Knesset Lobby on behalf of Jonathan Pollard
between 1987 and 1994. I continue to remain a member. I visited him in his prisons at Marion and Butner.

At the urging of Avi Farhan (more later), I wish to point out to you and through you to tens of thousands of others, Jews and non-Jews, that there are eight (8)days left for U.S. President Bill Clinton to use his constitutional authority to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard. Article II, Section 2 (1) states "the President shall...have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses".

And here's my letter that appeared in the NYTimes:-

To the Editor:

Former President Bill Clinton's defense of his pardon of Marc Rich and others (Op-Ed, Feb. 18) is admirable. However, the reasons he provides were applicable, in part, to at least one other person whom the last four Israeli prime ministers requested Mr. Clinton to pardon. In addition, many American Jewish leaders, non-Jewish personalities and people from other countries pleaded with Mr. Clinton in his favor.

That person is Jonathan Pollard.

Mr. Clinton, regardless of the difficulties he faces over the Rich pardon, owes these people a rational explanation of why Mr. Pollard did not merit a reprieve from his sentence of life imprisonment.

YISRAEL MEDAD
Shiloh, Israel, Feb. 18, 2001

Kissinger Proved Worthless

Evelyn Gordon notes this in her op-ed:-

According to the documents, which were declassified last summer, president Nixon was outraged by the Olympics attack and initially proposed both a strong, practical response - cutting off economic support to "any nation that harbors or gives sanctuary to these international outlaws" - and various symbolic gestures, including flying to Israel to personally attend the athletes' funerals.

However, his aides, and particularly then national security adviser Henry Kissinger, quickly talked him out of these ideas.

Kissinger proposed instead that the US "go to the UN and see whether we can get some international rules on harboring guerrillas and so forth." As his deputy, Alexander Haig, noted in a memo, Kissinger acknowledged "that no resolution would be likely to pass," in part because China would probably veto. Then secretary of state William Rogers also informed Nixon "that it would be impossible to get any kind of [UN] action." Kissinger explained: "This was true, but it would serve as a deterrent to Israeli action."

In other words, Kissinger wanted the US both to refrain from taking any meaningful action against anti-Israel terrorism itself, and to restrain Israel from taking such action by placating it with deliberately empty gestures. And he ultimately persuaded Nixon to adopt this course.

THIS, IT must be stressed, was the response not of an enemy, but of Israel's best friend - as became clear during the Yom Kippur War a year later, when invading Arab armies nearly wiped Israel off the map. Desperate for arms, Israel pleaded with its so-called allies, and Nixon responded with an airlift that ultimately helped Israel to win the war. The Europeans, in contrast, would not even allow the arms-bearing American planes to land in their countries for refueling.

Indeed, Kissinger understood that even empty gestures over Munich would be too much for Europe. He therefore suggested that Nixon issue a statement saying that he had "consulted with other governments" on the UN idea, but warned: "Frankly, I wouldn't consult because if you do it, they'll say no."

In short, Kissinger's empty gesture represented the maximum that Jerusalem could expect from the international community. Thus Israel had to fall back on whatever counterterrorism measures it could implement on its own, without international assistance. And targeted killings are one of these.

Media Bias Seems to be Apparent

So, there is media bias?:-

Poll: Media favors Kadima, hostile to Likud
By Anat Balint, Mazal Mualem and Gideon Alon

The media is widely perceived as sympathetic toward Kadima, but hostile toward the Likud and Shas, according to a new poll conducted by the Chaim Herzog Institute for Communications, Society and Politics.

The poll found that more than half the public believes that media coverage of Kadima has been supportive in the run-up to the elections, while only 10.8 percent view the media as hostile toward the party. In contrast, some 48 percent of respondents said that the media was hostile toward the Likud, while 52.6 percent said that it was hostile toward Shas.

With regard to Labor, however, the public was split: Some 32 percent said that the media was sympathetic toward Labor, while 22 percent said that it was hostile.

The survey also revealed that 62 percent of the public is unhappy with the media's coverage of the campaign, similar to the percentage that expressed dissatisfaction with coverage of the 2003 campaign. In particular, the survey found, 31.7 percent of respondents said that they would like to receive information about the parties' and candidates' plans and positions, while only 9.6 percent felt that the media was actually providing such information.

In contrast, only 16 percent of respondents said that they were interested in polls indicating how many seats each party was likely to win, yet 38.4 percent said that such polls seemed to be the media's main interest. Another 24 percent thought that the media has focused primarily on the candidates' personalities, while only 16 percent said that this issue was of interest to them.

Despite their unhappiness with the campaign coverage, however, 44.4 percent of respondents said that they were following it, while only 15.4 percent said that they were completely ignoring it.

See IMW's site for previous coverage. Here. And here.

Amona Inquiry Committee Testimony

The Haaretz report:

Witnesses on Tuesday told the parliamentary commission investigating the Amona evacuation that police officers threw rocks at right-wing protesters during the violent clashes.

The Knesset panel on Tuesday continued hearing testimony from individuals - most of them members of the settlers' Yesha Council - present during the February 1 evacuation of the illegal West Bank settlement homes.

The witnesses also told the panel that police officers used excessive force during the evacuation and sexually harassed female protesters.

Anat Ruth, [she is not religious nor does she support Yesha politics] present during the Amona evacuation in the framework of research she was conducting on the Yesha Council on behalf of the Israel Democracy Institute, said she saw police officers throwing stones at protesters who had taken up rooftop positions.

Ruth noted she did not see settlers or right-wing protesters - but only police forces - behaving violently. Ruth said she herself was hit on the head by a baton-wielding officer.

Four eyewitnesses testifying on behalf of the Yesha Council told the panel about the brutality of police behavior, particularly officers from the Yasam riot-control unit.

Yitzhak Har-Tov, a combat medic present at Amona on his own initiative, said: "I saw how officers beat wounded protesters with batons." He said that, when asking for assistance in evacuating wounded, police retorted, "make due on your own."

Ya'akov Tessler, a student at the Merkaz Harav yeshiva, said police beat him and his friends with batons, breaking his nose.

Israel Defense Forces Major (res.) David Weiner, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Ofra, said settler protesters did not intend to make use of violent tactics at Amona. He said they rather intended a quiet protest against the demolitions and evacuation of Amona similar to those carried out in Gush Katif during last year's disengagement. Weiner said police did not make use of water cannons but immediately deployed mounted officers wielding batons.

Noga Hacohen, a social worker for the Binyamin regional council in the West Bank, told the Knesset panel that "we received testimonies and complaints from girls who took part in the demonstration that they were sexually harassed by officers and were the targets of blatant sexual comments." According to Hacohen, girls present during the evacuation told her officers made statements such as, "We will screw you," "We'll make sure you never have children" and "We will rape all of you."

Hacohen said one girl reported officers also sexually abused female protesters physically. The social worker noted one 19-year-old woman said two officers grabbed her and groped her in a humiliating manner while shouting, "We will screw you."

On Suicide Bombers

Hmm. Seems the idea has been around for a while:-

On May 4, 1886, several anarchists had addressed a crowd in the Haymarket, a square in Chicago two blocks long where farmers sold produce. When nearly a hundred and eighty policemen arrived to break up the rally, someone threw a bomb, and the police opened fire. At least seven patrolmen died, and at least four civilians. Over the next few weeks, the authorities rounded up and detained hundreds of the city’s anarchists. Eight men were put on trial for murder, the most prominent of whom were Albert Parsons and August Spies (pronounced “Spees”). Parsons led the city’s English-speaking anarchists, and Spies the German-speaking ones.

The prosecution never proved that any of the eight had planned, committed, or even known in advance about the Haymarket bombing. Instead, it relied on their words. All of them had praised violence in the cause of socioeconomic justice. “If we would achieve our liberation,” Parsons had told a crowd of protesters in April of 1885, “every man must lay by a part of his wages, buy a Colt’s navy revolver, a Winchester rifle, and learn how to make and use dynamite.” The prosecution argued that anarchism itself constituted a conspiracy to commit murder, and the jurors agreed, sentencing all but one of the defendants to death. The person who actually threw the bomb was never identified.

The German papers owed their success to two factors. First, there were a lot of Germans in Chicago to read them. Avrich guesses that not long after Bismarck’s Germany passed an antisocialist law, in 1878, there were more German anarchists in America than in Germany. Second, all three papers were in the hands of August Spies, a radicalized upholsterer with blue eyes and a lush, curling mustache, who spoke three languages, honed his physique at the gym, and had a reputation as a ladies’ man.

Spies wrote fiery editorials in the Arbeiter-Zeitung, and his colleague Schwab, a scholarly-looking bookbinder, reported on the slums. “Some of these people get their vegetables from the waste-barrel,” Schwab wrote. (In the matter of bookbinders turning anarchist, Henry James had it right: industrialization may have left such craftsmen particularly bitter.)

In 1884, the Saturday edition serialized Zola’s “Germinal,” in which an anarchist sabotages a coal mine and then stalks off like a melancholy super-villain into “the unknown, calmly going to deal destruction wherever dynamite could be found to blow up cities and men.”

The anarchists were indeed fond of dynamite, then a recent invention. Its main ingredient, nitroglycerin, had been around since the eighteen-forties, but not until Alfred Nobel found a way to stabilize it, by mixing it with an inert filler, did it become safe enough for widespread use—including use by amateurs with a cause. “Dynamite is the diffusion of power,” Parsons explained at the trial. “It is democratic; it makes everybody equal.”

In 1884, his wife suggested that tramps who were thinking of drowning themselves should become suicide bombers instead.

I bet Moshaich will turn around ;>)

Old shack will give Madonna front-row seat for arrival of her Messiah

MADONNA is trying to buy a house overlooking the Sea of Galilee at the place where followers of her Kabbalist faith expect the Messiah to reappear to herald world peace.

Representatives of the 47-year-old US singer have been cold calling home-owners in the picturesque mountain retreat of Rosh Pina and offering to pay any price to secure a property on her behalf.

The star — who was raised an Italian Catholic but adopted the Hebrew name Esther several years ago — wants the house to turn it into a Kabbalah study centre where followers can pore over the mystical texts.

I'm Laughing - This Could Never Happen in Israel

From Great Britain:-

A furious Tessa Jowell, Minister of Culture, decided to separate from her husband David Mills after it emerged that the businessman had attempted to trade on his relationship with Tony Blair, The Independent on Sunday can today reveal.

However, the couple's announcement yesterday that they were to live apart failed to win the Culture Secretary even a temporary reprieve from the intense pressure created by her husband's business dealings.

Ms Jowell will tomorrow face calls to answer an urgent question in the House of Commons over her claims not to have known about a £344,000 payment to her husband, which is at the centre of an Italian corruption investigation.

In a statement from Mr Mills's lawyer announcing the separation, the scale of his estranged wife's anger was vividly underlined. "He is as mortified as she has been angered by the embarrassment he has caused her," the statement said. Allies denied that the lawyer's statement, faxed to the Press Association, was a cynical "career-saving move".

This is too high (low?) a standard for Israeli politicians.

Anyone Interested? (what the other side is doing)

Interested?

For the last three years in succession, young leaders from many various countries went to Palestine, to show solidarity with Palestinian youth by experiencing a little of what it is like to live under occupation. They were on a "Journey for Justice".

Based on the successes of the visits in 2003 - 2005, the programme is now an annual event. This year young leaders from all YMCA and YWCA movements are invited to participate in the “Journey for Justice 4” at the YMCA in Beit Sahour.

The YMCA and YWCA movements’ vision and goals believe in:

• Empowering youth to take increased responsibilities towards international issues.
• Committing to work in solidarity with the humiliated, uprooted people and oppressed nations.
• Seeking to be mediators and reconcilers in situations of conflict and working for meaningful participation and advancement of people for their own self-determination.

The idea was that international youth should get involved in the situation, and not only read or hear about it, but also experience it. In order for young people to understand more of the everyday life of the youth from Palestine, it is important that young people can meet and experience each others reality, cultural background and socio-political context.

It is a journey that lasts far beyond the actual trip and aims not only at giving a new perspective to the participants but also to widen the YMCA and YWCA network by involving International youth and youth networking with special interest in Palestine.

You Are Not Going to Believe This

Descendant of Goering converts to Judaism
By Ruth Elkins in Basle

Matthias Goering says: "I used to feel cursed by my name. Now I feel blessed."

The 49-year-old physiotherapist, a descendant of Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler's right-hand man, is wearing a Jewish skullcap, with a Star of David pendant round his neck. After being brought up to despise Jews, he has embraced their faith. And although he has yet to formally convert to Judaism, he keeps kosher dietary rules, celebrates shabbat and is learning Hebrew.

In a Jewish restaurant in Basle, Mr Goering enthuses about Israel. "It feels like home," he says. "The Israelis are so friendly." Even when they hear his name? "Yes, they say they're so thankful I've made contact."

With the same name as the former Luftwaffe chief, who committed suicide at Nuremberg hours before he was to be executed, Mr Goering says he did not have a happy childhood. His great-grandfather and Hermann's grandfather were brothers, and that was enough to ensure problems after the fall of the Third Reich. "My siblings and I were bullied mercilessly," Matthias says. His father, a military doctor, was a Soviet prisoner of war, but returned with his anti-Semitic views intact. When times were hard, Matthias says: "Our parents would say to us, 'You can't have that, because all our money's gone to the Jews.'"

Mr Goering left home at 18 to join the circus, but eventually settled down, trained as a physiotherapist, married and had a son. But by 2000 his Swiss physiotherapy practice was bankrupt and his wife had left, taking their son. Broke and lonely, he was close to suicide, and says he prayed for the first time in his life. The same day his prayer was answered: a physiotherapy practice near Zurich offered him a job.

Mr Goering started attending Christian churches, but two years later began his journey towards Judaism. He says God told him "to guard the gates of Jerusalem", despite his name and his family history. "I knew then," he says, "I had to go to Israel."

Other descendants of Nazis have trodden the same path. Katrin Himmler, who published a book last year about the war crimes of her great-uncle, the SS commander Heinrich Himmler, married an Israeli. "It was as if we were predestined to meet," she says.

Beate Niemann, daughter of feared SS Major Bruno Sattler, made an award-winning film, The Good Father, documenting her hopeless search for a man she could be proud of, and tried to apologise to camp survivors after discovering her father had ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Monika Goeth's father was Amon Goeth, the camp commandant played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List, who shot Jewish prisoners from the balcony of his villa. She has spent years seeking rapprochement with camp survivors. "I am completely drawn to Judaism," she says. "Jews were the real heroes. I feel nothing but contempt for those who idolise the Nazis."

Olmert's Economics Peace Plan

This new sticker reads:

Olmert will not divide Jerusalem...

rather he'll sell high and rent it back cheap from the owner.

Now, Just Who Is Crazy?

A known nutcase set off some firecrackers in a church.

Normally, this would make it as far as "Odd News" at Reuters or somesuch other collection like Fark.

But, being Israel, there were near riots and this expression of considered opinion:-

But participants in Saturday's rally dismissed such explanations.

''The Israeli institution is trying to explain the aggression by saying that anyone who did this is mentally unstable,'' said Ramez Jaraisah, Nazareth's Christian mayor. ''We refuse to accept any excuse for this criminal act.''

Anyone who has been following Muslim anti-Jewish violence easily can recall the literally dozens of instances when Jews were stabbed, especially during the frist Intifada, and the Arabs claimed the perp was 'majnun' = crazy.

Even just recently, an Arab who had been shot dead by IDF troops was claimed to have been mentally deficient when he walked out with a toy gun to threaten the soldiers.

Their mental instability is a given; ours is to be disregarded.

The Middle East is such a sane place.

UN Can't Even Keep the Peace in its Own Building

The United Nations, the BBC reports, is to launch a probe into anti-Semitic incidents within its security and safety service.

This follows the reprimand of a guard at the New York headquarters over his behaviour towards an Israeli colleague.

A letter to all security staff said that a panel had been set up to "establish the facts" about recent allegations, AP news agency said.

The panel will comprise officials from two departments who will interview staff about the incidents.

In February, a guard was reprimanded because of his behaviour towards an Israeli colleague, which included drawing swastikas on a log sheet and making Nazi-like salutes.

Commenting on the case at the time, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the person responsible had been disciplined and "a number of staff" had to undergo sensitivity training.

Don't you feel so more confident now of the UN?

Any YESHA Cartoonists Out There?

We do live in a dangerous environment, no?


6th International Editorial Cartoon Competition

1. The theme of the 6th International Editorial Cartoon Competition, is “Cartooning in a dangerous environment”: to illustrate the pressure under which cartoonists perform their craft: the “chill” of a potential libel suit, the temptation of self-censorship, and security, political, economic and/or editorial constraints to artistic expression.

2. Prizes: three prizes will be given: a first prize of $1500, a crystal trophy, plus a Certificate from the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, a second prize of $750, and a third of $500. All sums are in Canadian dollars. Ten additional cartoons will receive an ³Award of Excellence². Regrettably no financial remuneration accompanies the Awards of Excellence.

3. A maximum of three cartoons will be accepted from each cartoonist. They may be in color or black and white. They may be original, copies, or attachments to an e-mail. They may not have won an award. They will not be returned.

4. The size of the cartoon should not exceed A4; 21 29.2 cm; or 8.5 X 11 inches.

5. The cartoonist¹s name, address, telephone number, fax number, & e-mail address (if available) must be on the reverse side of each cartoon or in the e-mail to which the cartoon is attached.

6. A short biography of the Cartoonist should be provided for promotion.

7. The National Press Club of Canada shall have the rights to use any of the cartoons entered in the Competition for promotion of the Luncheon or World Press Freedom Day. Participation in the competition is agreement by the cartoonist to the conditions of this article.

8. An exhibit of the 40 best cartoons will be held at the National Press Club.

9. The winners of the Competition will be announced at the World Press Freedom Day Luncheon held at the National Press Club in Ottawa, on the 3rd of May 2006. Winners will advised by mail/fax or e-mail. The results will be posted on the Club¹s web site http://www.pressclub.on.ca

Entry deadline is 5 pm Eastern Standard Time, Friday, 31 March 2006.

An Idea for an Oscar Event Protest

The Oscar Awards draw a lot of attention.

This year, one of the candidates for a statue is "Paradise Now".

The film's nomination has drawn angry and, to my mind, justified criticism of Hollywood. There's an anti-petition and also an anti-anti-petition, although why the pro-petition shows up first in my Gogle search I'll never know.

The director, it now seems, wouldn't mind exploding himself (see below)

So, here's an idea:

why doesn't some Jewish or other group announce a "bomb-in" demo at the ceremony?

They might even costume themselves up in dynamite belts and try to walk across that famous red carpet entrance.

I mean if those belts are allowed on-screen, why not then on carpets?

It's red anyway so even if someone uses real dynamite, it won't damage the color of the walkway.

If I recall, to "bomb" (meaning to fail miserably) is a Hollywood slang expression.

So, are there any adventurous Jews in Hollywood, Los Angeles or wherever?

==========

This is "below":

[excerpts from an interview with the film's director]

Hany Abu-Assad's film "Paradise Now" left few Israelis indifferent. The movie, which depicts the story of two young Palestinians in Nablus who were chosen by a local terror group to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel, and which trails their preparations ahead of the attack, infuriated many in the country, most notably publicist Irit Linor, who in an opinion column in Ynet called "Paradise Now" "a quality Nazi film."

Abu-Assad explains. Suicide bombings are a reaction to your terror, he says, and suggests the most accurate term to describe a suicide bombing would be "a counter-terrorist act."

The occupiers and the occupation are the real terrorists. The real terror is stealing the Palestinians' right to live free on their land, Abu-Assad claims.

Abu-Assad stresses he is a pacifist who believes any killing is wrong, and that he advocates a non-violent struggle as the right method for obtaining one's goals. However, he states, while he currently has the privilege to make such a stand, in a different situation his moral position may have been different.

In other words, had you been living in the territories, you would have become a shahid (martyr)?

Abu-Assad hesitates for a second before replying, "yes." He recounts an episode in which he was humiliated by a soldier at the Kalandiya checkpoint near Jerusalem, and says this was what made him realize what runs through the heads of people who later become suicide bombers.

You feel like such a coward it kills you, he describes, saying this cowardice makes people start hating life and feel impotent.

I realized, Abu-Assad explains, that when a man systematically goes through such humiliation, he chooses to kill his own impotency by carrying out an act of "let me die with the philistines."

P.S. Now, do you really believe this guy ain't sick?

Are Secretaries That Bad in the PA?

If there are any Pals. or their supporters who read my blog, could they answer a question based on the following info that appeared in the foreign media?

In Ramallah on Thursday, a dozen gunmen stormed the main building of the legislature, fired weapons and demanded to speak to the newly elected Hamas speaker about the dismissal of some employees two weeks ago.

Are PA secretaries really that bad that they can't set up appointments or is shooting off guns the normal behavioral pattern in Ramallah, Gaza and Jenin?

A Possible Temple Mount Solution? (just kidding)

Found this story at the NYT:-

Mosque No. 5-833 of Sector 3 was known throughout the neighborhood as the Saddam Hussein Mosque, a name favored by the Sunni Arab imam. Now, to the Shiite militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles who expelled that cleric and stand guard, the building is called the Imam Ali Mosque, after the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad whose murder catalyzed the epochal Sunni-Shiite split.

The tale of this mosque shows how the Mahdi Army, the thousands-strong grass-roots militia that answers to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr, has tapped into the entrenched feelings of grievance common among the Shiite majority in Iraq. The emotions are rooted in a history that began with the assassination of Imam Ali in 661, continued through centuries of Sunni domination and now threatens to tip Iraq into a vortex of sectarian bloodletting.

"I'm so grateful to the Mahdi Army because they retook the mosque and returned it to me," said Saheb Awda, 75, a soft-spoken Shiite and former lawyer who contends that Sunni officials under Mr. Hussein stripped the mosque from him.

The Mahdi Army has transformed the mosque into a fortress. There is a police station next door, but the officers do not approach.

A black banner draped across the outer wall has a phrase attributed to Hussein, the son of Imam Ali, who was killed with dozens of followers by a Sunni army in the southern desert in 680. "They took the gown and the turban from me, and they kept me thirsty," the saying goes. That lament has echoes in the way the Mahdi militiamen describe the plight of Shiites in modern-day Iraq.

...In 1980, after a decade of building, it was completed. But a government official overseeing mosques abruptly seized it and gave it to Sunni worshipers, he said. After the toppling of Mr. Hussein, Mr. Awda and some neighbors asked the Sunni Endowment, the organization in charge of Sunni mosques, to return the building. Mr. Awda took the case to court, and a judge ruled in his favor, according to copies of legal documents. But the Sunni imam, Sheik Yasseen al-Nasiri, refused to leave. And Mr. Awda was threatened: someone tossed grenades over the outer wall of his home, he said.

In Baghdad and the south, Sadrists rallied mobs to lay siege to Sunni mosques. Sheik Tamimi said he led hundreds of followers to this mosque. A Sunni Arab neighbor, Abu Hussein, 46, said black-clad men pulled up in 10 cars, blocking off the roads leading to the building.

Mr. Awda hobbled over with a cane. "I cried when I walked in," he said. "I hadn't set foot in the mosque in 26 years."

Abu Hussein, the Sunni neighbor, said he and other Sunnis had stopped attending prayers here, and fear they have lost the mosque for good.

"They're really very dangerous people," he said of the Mahdi Army. "They raid homes intending to kill. They won't hesitate to kill."

This wouldn't go over with the Temple Mount, I fear. I mean only in 638 when the invading Muslim Arab armies conquered Jerusalem and began altering the former site of two great Jewish Temples would such violent and illegal beahvior be tolerated.

But in the 21 century?

Religious-Based Civili Disobedience

No, I am not referring to those "wild and frenzied West Bank fanatic Rabbis" or those obscurantist ultra-Orthodox Bnei Brak/Meach Shearim Rabbis" or whatever our Israeli secularists view as the ultimate threat to democracy.

I am referring to a Roman Catholic clergyman in the United States.

A New York Times editorial informs us:-

It has been a long time since this country heard a call to organized lawbreaking on this big a scale. Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation's largest, urged parishioners on Ash Wednesday to devote the 40 days of Lent to fasting, prayer and reflection on the need for humane reform of immigration laws. If current efforts in Congress make it a felony to shield or offer support to illegal immigrants, Cardinal Mahony said, he will instruct his priests — and faithful lay Catholics — to defy the law.

The background?

The cardinal's focus of concern is H.R. 4437, a bill sponsored by James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin and Peter King of New York. This grab bag legislation, which was recently passed by the House, would expand the definition of "alien smuggling" in a way that could theoretically include working in a soup kitchen, driving a friend to a bus stop or caring for a neighbor's baby.

And the NYT adds:-

The cardinal is right to argue that the government has no place criminalizing the charitable impulses of private institutions like his, whose mission is to help people with no questions asked.

Well, now, so it is conceptually conceivable to accept that a faith-based position that being forced to leave the Land of the Jewish People should be opposed by...law-breaking.

Weird News from the Old Country

This is being reported:-

(Woodmere, Nassau County -WABC, March 2, 2006) - It was a terrifying ordeal for an elderly man who was robbed and then stuffed into his car trunk. He managed to escape but the search is on for two suspects.

It happened early Thursday morning outside his Woodmere temple on Hungray Harbor Road.

The 75-year-old man retraced his steps today with investigators in Woodmere. We protect his identity because police haven't released his name and he's told people he's traumatized by what happened to him at gunpoint this morning. Although, he is alive to talk about it.

Lt. Kevin Smith, Nassau County Police Dept.: "I think he kept it together pretty well under the circumstances. Two armed men threatening bodily harm as well as death."

Police say he was opening up his temple, Young Israel of North Woodmere, which he routinely does as a volunteer. It was just before 6:00 this morning at an entrance to the temple when police say two men with hoods covering their faces approached the elderly man, demanding his wallet.

Then police say they forced the man into his own car. At first, just in the back seat as they drove around.

Lt. Kevin Smith, Nassau County Police Dept.: "Sometime during this drive, they decide to get him out of the car, and place him in the trunk of his car."

He was locked in the trunk for well over an hour as they entered and exited the car. Police say he was able to to free himself, on 147th Street and Hook Creek Boulevard.

Remember Edward Said?

Remember Edward Said?

(and if you want hero-worship, click here/.

Well, here's one opinion I couldn't resist putting up her at the Medad Blog:-

Said was a post-modernist, and the central preoccupation of post-modernism is meaning, which post-modernists see as separate from language, which for them is the hieroglyphics of power. Like Athanasius Kircher they begin with the confidence that they already know the meaning of everything, and organise the facts on the ground with a paranoiac intensity, to reveal the oppressor triumphing over the oppressed yet again.

Those Brits have a way with English.

Kadima is Droping in the Polls?

Video links

Seems there are a few weird (but impressive) Yeshivish dance videos about.

This one displays very nice breakdancing.

And this one I put up before(but it's good for Purim).

This one is a spoof.

Nice People, Eh?

Do these people looked concerned that they perhaps ordered police and soldiers to crack open heads at Amona?

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra to allow several senior security officials to appear before the panel.

Mofaz and Ezra arrived with their gloves off, and made no attempt to conceal their displeasure with the fact that a political panel, in the guise of an objective commission of inquiry, is conducting deliberations in public on the eve of elections.

Their principal gripe concerned the fact that they are being urged to allow senior Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police officers appear before the commission and respond to questions.

Ezra opened his testimony by criticizing the panel members, who summoned to the opening session police Brigadier General Meir Bokovza, who was in charge of the evacuation operation. "I was very surprised to learn that the very first witness was none other than Brigadier General Bokovza, who, just 10 days ago, was visited by hooligans seeking to torch his car," Ezra said. "The man is in danger, and he is the one who is being asked to appear here.

Mofaz told the panel he had chosen to appear before it in person "on behalf of the officers and soldiers who were involved in the evacuation. It saddens me that you wanted to place IDF officers in the dock. The IDF must be removed from any political argument on the eve of elections. The IDF is adept at investigating itself. It would have been appropriate and proper to allow the IDF to complete its inquiries."

Commission chairman Yuval Steinitz (Likud) countered by saying that as is the case with any parliament around the world, Israel's cabinet does not manage the Knesset. He stressed that the commission would insist on hearing testimony from senior IDF and police officers involved in the operation.

"The officers won't come," Ezra interjected. "The police officers do not want to appear before you. There is no desire here to get at the truth. Instead of summoning the police officers, you should have summoned the rioters."

Steinitz said in response. "I have no doubt that the officers will eventually appear."

Ezra responded. "Doubt it... Knesset regulations explicitly stipulate that the minister can appear in place of the officers."

Amona & Tamra: Find the Difference

From Israel Harel's Ha'aretz op-ed:-

About a day before the mounted policemen swooped down with cudgels on Amona's youngsters, Yesha leaders Bentzi Lieberman and Ze'ev Hever met Ehud Olmert. They asked him in the interest of public order and in an effort not to deepen the rift between the religious-Zionist public and government branches - courts, army and police - to prevent an evacuation by force.

We promise, they declared, that within a week, the houses condemned for demolition will no longer be in Amona. The acting prime minister rejected their request - arrogantly and condescendingly, they said. You want confrontation at any price, they said angrily. You want to turn us into enemies of the people and give yourself an image of a strong leader on the eve of elections. They told him that the situation after the pullout from Gush Katif is extremely sensitive, and should not be put to the test merely for election considerations. It could explode.

In those very days, the Israel Lands Administration's Galilee district began preparations for carrying out court orders to demolish a number of houses in Tamra and other Galilee communities, which were built illegally on state land. The date for demolishing one of the houses in Tamra was set for February 23, about a week before the parliamentary investigation committee began probing the violent events in Amona. But the house, like other condemned houses in Tamra, was not demolished. "Unfortunately, we cannot carry out demolitions in the Arab villages, because the police are not prepared to safeguard the process," ILA Northern District Director Gabi Weisman told Maariv.

And he asks:-

Quite a few organizations like the Movement for Quality of Government frequently petition the High Court of Justice to order the state to enforce Knesset laws. But when it comes to the government's shortcomings in the face of the wholesale violation of planning and construction laws in the Arab sector, all such movements keep quiet. We expect them to act and petition the High Court in this sector too. Then it would be very interesting to see what the High Court will decree. Will it uphold the law in Tamra as it did in Amona?

Israeli Bureacracy

Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent, reports that;_

Almost two years have gone by since former attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein decided to indict Tal Zilberstein for his alleged role in illegal funding activities for Ehud Barak's 1999 election campaign, but charges have yet to be filed.

Zilberstein, who owns a strategic consultancy firm, is one of Acting PM Ehud Olmert's closest advisers.

The Barak campaign-financing scandal broke following a harsh report by then-state comptroller Eliezer Goldberg on violations of campaign finance laws in the 1999 ballot.

When questioned initially by Goldberg, Zilberstein refused to cooperate.

The file was passed on to Rubinstein, who published his decision 18 months later, in October 2003. Rubinstein wrote that the evidence gathered by police appeared to indicate that not only was Zilberstein aware of the NPOs' activities, but also had actively directed them. "Under such circumstances, it has been decided to indict him," Rubinstein wrote.

The decision was subject to a hearing, which, for reasons the Justice Ministry refuses to reveal, was delayed for a long time, and eventually took place in early 2005.

According to the Justice Ministry spokesman, "the file is with the State Prosecutor's Office for a final decision following the conducting of a hearing and discussions that were held in its wake, and in light of legal issues that have subsequently arisen. The state prosecution is aware of the fact that handling the case has taken a significant amount of time, and a decision, therefore, will be made in the near future."

I wonder sometimes why I refer to this as an "Israel advocacy blog".

I Feel Better Now

I have been know to nod off at particularly boring or monotonous meetings that lack vibrancy as well as lectures.

Glad to know really important people share my foible:

The subject matter was extremely technical, and near the end of the argument Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dozed in her chair. Justices David Souter and Samuel Alito, who flank the 72-year-old, looked at her but did not give her a nudge.

P.S. Rav Nechemiah always said that he liked to have me deliver a drush on Friday nights at schule as that was the only time he saw me awake during the Rabbi's talk.

Erekat is a Blowhard

Sometimes, the NYTimes does allow a really good, biting, even sarcastic letter to be printed.

Like this one:-

To the Editor:

Re "What the P.L.O. Has to Offer" (Op-Ed, March 1):

Saeb Erekat, the P.L.O.'s chief negotiator, speaking of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, repeats the old, worn mantra: "Mr. Abbas, however, is not ultimately to blame" for the situation of the Palestinian people.

Of course it is the Israelis who are to blame for adopting measures to protect themselves against suicide bombers who target pizza shops and hospitals, with the financial support, encouragement or justification of Palestinian leaders.

And of course it is the Israelis who are to blame for the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars by Yasir Arafat and his kleptocratic colleagues.

The Palestinian people voted for Hamas, whose doctrine calls for the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamist state.

To suggest that the Palestinians did not know what or whom they were voting for is beyond disingenuous; it is insulting.

This was not a vote for peace. Historically, the Palestinian leadership and people have walked away from peace, walked away from a separate state, and showed themselves irrevocably wedded to rejectionism, violence and fanaticism by their overwhelming support for Hamas.

Gary Epstein
Miami Beach, March 1, 2006

But what I found to be absolutely mind-boggling is Erekat's claim that "Christian Palestinian communities are being destroyed" by Israel.

Once Again, the Intolerance of the Museum of Tolerance Issue

Excerpts from Shmuel Berkowitz's article on the Muslim cemetery under the Museum of Tolerance issue:

Indeed, there was a cemetery at the site but 75 years ago, its sanctification was lifted and purpose changed.

In 1927, the Supreme Muslim Council, headed by the mufti, built the Palace inside the cemetery. As Benvenisti himself wrote in his book City of Stone, the mufti ruled that there should be no more burials there, and even ordered skeletons found at the site moved to another burial ground.

According to the 14th century Muslim wise man, The Great Hanafi Faher al-din al-Zilai, "if the corpse has disintegrated and become soil - it is permissible to sow seeds and build on it."

The last great Hanafi, Mohammed Amin Ibn Abadein, who was mufti of Damascus in the 19th century, also ruled the same. That judgment set the position of the Hanafi school that determines Muslim law in the Land of Israel. An explicit expression of this appears in Ottoman law and is quoted in many Israeli legal rulings as the "determining ruling" in Muslim law.

In 1946, the Supreme Muslim Council and the Supreme Arab Council decided to build the Arab league headquarters on the eastern flanks of the cemetery. Lacking resources, the plan was never fulfilled, but other public buildings did go up. In 1964, then-Jerusalem mayor Mordechai Ish-Shalom asked the Qadi of Jaffa and the chairman of the Sharia court of appeals, Sheikh Haher Hamad, to lift the sanctity of the cemetery in Mamilla to enable the city to establish a park there. The mayor proposed that part of the cemetery be preserved as an historic monument.

The Sharia court responded to the request and ruled that "the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem is cemetery that is mondris" (abandoned), and that "its sanctity ceased to exist and since such sanctity is not eternal, and not like the sanctity of Muslim mosques - it is permissible to do on abandoned cemeteries what is allowed on any other land that never was a cemetery."

Against this background, the opposition to the construction of the Museum of Tolerance on the cemetery is odd. If in 1964 the Sharia court of appeals ruled that Independence Park could be built in the area of the cemetery, why suddenly complain about the establishment of a museum on the site, 41 years later?