Militant New York Times Editorial

The NYTimes is on the warpath.

From its Nov. 5 editorial on Israel, entitled "The War Within":-

Militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank clash regularly with Israeli police who remove illegal homes. Israeli security officials have warned of possible assassination attempts on peace-seeking Israeli leaders.

In September, Jewish militants tried to assassinate Professor Zeev Sternhell, a supporter of Peace Now, which documents settlement construction. Settlers are damaging Palestinian property in retaliation for government actions against the outposts.

That was a neat trick. Apply the term "militant" to settlers, then call those who placed a small explosive device (you saw the damage here) - there was no real assassination attempt!) - "militants" as well, make sure the term "settlers" is repeated and, poof!, 1 + 1 = 2. Guilt by associative manipulation.

Moreover, the editorial writer continues:-

Israel must freeze all settlements and reduce the roadblocks in the West Bank that are strangling the Palestinian economy. To do so, the Israeli government needs the public support of American Jews and moderate Israelis against militants who seek political change through violence.

Is the Pal. economy really being strangled? As is the sole reason "settlements" and "roadblocks" or other reasons.

And, of course, finally, "militants" is the euphemism for "terrorists" in the pages of the New York Times.

So, according to the New York Times language mavens, all the "settlers" (that's me, too, I guess) are "militants" (who are "terrorists") who all what to assassinate their opponents and are all responsible, supposedly for strangling an economy (that only thrives to support, shhhh, terror) and the lack of peace.

Gee, too bad we weren't around in 1947-48 (War of Independence); 1951-56 (Fedayeen); 1962-64 (Water War with Syria); 1964-1967 (Founding of Fatah and Six Days War) to be blamed.

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UPDATE

Received this from inside the NYTimes:

Just so you understand the structure of an American newspaper – the editorial and [rporters] have nothing to do with each other. [They] don’t talk with the editorial writers, they don’t talk with [the reporters] and [neither] feel in any way affected by what they write. That is how the publisher wants it. There is no pressure whatsoever for...work to conform to the views of the opinion page. It is like a separate publication which is inserted into the newspaper. Complain away, of course...unlike Israeli and European papers, major American papers have different structures, a kind of separation of church and state, if you will.

Second UPDATE

Sent in this letter:

The editorial, "The War Within" (Nov. 4) applies the term "militants" to the Jewish civilians who reside in communities in the disputed territories. In that the NYTimes' policy is to use that very same word as a euphemism to describe Hamas, Jihad and Fatah terrorists (*), its use to describe Jews who do not engage in terrorism is most unfortunate.

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(*) See this:

Rice has been making the same twin challenges to Israel and the Palestinians on more than 20 largely fruitless journeys to the region during her tenure as secretary of state: Israel should loosen its grip on the West Bank and the Palestinians should tighten theirs on militants.

Poor Obama Supporters

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Democrats Prefer Aggression

Flush with victory built on incursions in the South and West, Congressional Democratic leaders promised to use their new power to join President-elect Barack Obama in pursuing an aggressive agenda that puts top priority on the economy, health care, energy and ending the Iraq war.

Amazing how the New York Times has become a newspaper of military nomenclature.

May I suggest the loyal opposition in American polics adopt a new slogan to be hammered away for the next four years:

BE BRAVE, BE FREE!

Israel Continues Hitting Gaza

Report: 1 dead, 4 injured in Israeli air strike in Gaza

Palestinian sources have reported that a member of Islamic Jihad's armed wing was killed and four others were injured during an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza.

Two hours ago:

Kassam rocket fired at Israel; no wounded reported

Vero Possumus

The shouting and chanting, in a repetitive, almost frightening mindless fashion of the Obama crowd in Chicago of the slogan "Yes, We Can" was, on my television set, too reminiscent of other places around the world and other periods of history.

It was, for me, quite an uncomfortable experience to watch and to hear.

How To Work, Or Work With, The Media

Robert Stacy McCain attacks a media "strategy" that really didn't work:

Understand, once and for all, that the old media is part of the Democratic Party now. Ignore it. Never send Michele Bachmann onto Hardball again. Never send Sarah to play nice with Katie. We need to develop and create our own work-arounds - Fox, talk radio, NRO, etc. - and use them. Don't play by their rules: make our own.

Source

and continues:-

What is being advised, in effect, is this: Don't bother explaining conservative policies to anyone in the news business. Don't try to locate friends -- or at least, non-enemies -- in journalism. Retreat to your echo chamber and pretend that the nation's largest news organizations don't exist.

Media relations is about relationships. Treating reporters as the enemy is self-defeating. It seems, however, that a generation of Republican operatives have been taught to (a) treat reporters like crap, and (b) whine constantly about bias.

More Academic Gobbledygook

American Politics Research, Vol. 36, No. 6, 803-823 (2008)

Geographic Proximity Versus Institutions
Evaluating Borders as Real Political Boundaries

Wendy K. Tam Cho
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Erinn P. Nicley
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Scholars have recently begun to connect political phenomena with geographic proximity, noting that in addition to one's personal characteristics, individuals are strongly affected by their social context. We push this literature further by examining how institutions such as state borders mediate and condition the effects of geographic proximity. Our findings expand our understanding of geography by demonstrating that the geographic landscape has interesting facets beyond proximity and distance. Rather, geography is the product of political relationships that intersect in particular places.

Embarrassing Israel TV

I am now watching Channel One TV right now. A program called "Press Conference".

The two guests discussing the American elections are Bob Simons and Ethan Bronner, respectively of CBS and the NYTimes. It's in real-time broadcast, not pre-recorded.

This is Israel. We speak Hebrew. If an Israeli journalist was invited to "Meet the Press", would he speak Hebrew? No.

So, we're watching Bob and Ethan speaking English with the host, Menashe Raz and journalist Barbara Rom, asking questions in English and Raz is feebly and inadequately and poorly doing a translation.

This is quite embarrassing.

End to Jewish Domination Headline

If this is all Greek to you, go to Harry's Place and learn about the end of Jewish domination.

A Bit of Media Criticism

From the op-ed of Harold Evans, former editor of the London Times and the Sunday Times

Mad about The One

The US media have been captivated by Obama, at the expense of their curiosity and scepticism

...In this 2008 race, it's the American media that have voted very early and often. They long ago elected the star graduate of Chicago's Democratic machine, Barack Obama...What's troubling to anyone old-fashioned enough to care about standards in journalism is the news coverage in mainstream media. Forget the old notions of objectivity, fairness, thoroughness, and so on. The nastiest rumours on both sides haven't been published, but the coverage has been slavishly on the side of "the one".

...the press bias towards Obama doesn't represent a simple revulsion for the Republican party. It was on display in the Democratic primaries with the persecution of Hillary Clinton. Worst of all, in the primaries, the press let the Obama campaign get away with continuous insinuations below the radar that the Clintons were race-baiters. Instead of exposing that absurd defamation for what it was - a nasty smear - the media sedulously propagated it.

...MSNBC ran a non-stop campaign for Obama propelled by the misogyny of its anchors, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and David Shuster. Chelsea Clinton joining Clinton's campaign prompted Shuster to report she was "pimping" for her mother.

...In the Democratic primaries, there was a pattern on CNN where the short news videos of Clinton rarely let you hear what she was saying, but the short news videos of Obama let his words come through. I mentioned this to a CNN editor who said, "Oh, that's our young video editors, they just find Obama more exciting."

The young and affluent liberals have been captivated by Obama's charisma, the unstated notion that electing a black man will be absolution for the years of discrimination and prejudice, and the expectation that Obama's undoubted appeal to the outside world will repair America's image. All understandable, but these emotions have been allowed to swamp the commonplace imperatives of journalism: curiosity and scepticism.

All the mainstream national outlets were extraordinarily slow to check Obama's background. And until it became inescapable because of a video rant, they wouldn't investigate the Reverend Jeremiah Wright connection for fear of being accused of racism. They wouldn't explore Obama's dealing with the corrupt, now convicted, Chicago businessman Tony Rezko. They haven't investigated Obama's pledge to get rid of the secret ballot in trade union affairs. After years of inveighing against "money in politics", they've tolerated his breach of the pledge to restrict himself to public financing as McCain has done (to his cost). Now the LA Times refuses to release a possibly compromising video, which shows Obama praising Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi at a 2003 banquet, saying its promises to its source prevent it from doing so.

...Let's hope the consequences of electing "the one" will be as wondrous as the press has led the voters to believe.

Was McCain Prounouncing a Jewish Benediction?

For those, perhaps, unfamiliar, when an observant Jew makes a benediction (a bracha), for example, before eating food, he will cover his head. Usually, even those not-so-observant will do so and either have a kippah or yarmulke handy to place on one's head.

Those without can sometimes be seen placing their own hand over their head. And I can still recall my late mother helping me out, literally, with her own hand when I was much, much younger.

With that in mind, take a look at the pictures below:





Was Cindy helping out there?

Karpf Barfs

Anne Karpf from the UK's independent/alternate Jewish voice outfit utilized an op-ed of hers in The Guardian, based on an essay in A Time to Speak Out: Independent Jewish Voices on Israel, Zionism and Jewish Identity to lambast Menachem Begin in connection with an attack on the term "islamofacism":

It is, perhaps, understandable that Israel invoked the spectre of a Holocaust in the Middle East in the aftermath of the liberation of the concentration camps; but Israeli historians have documented the ways in which, as the country became the dominant military power in the region, successive Israeli prime ministers deployed it as an ideological tool, even as the state demonstrated indifference to real Holocaust survivors in its midst.

No one collapsed the differences between the Nazi genocide and the Middle East conflict more unashamedly than Menachem Begin who, at the height of his country's bombardment of Beirut, sent a telegram to Ronald Reagan declaring that he felt as though he was facing Berlin where Hitler and his henchmen were hiding in a bunker. To which the novelist Amos Oz responded tartly: "Mr Begin, Hitler died 37 years ago ... Again and again ... you reveal to the public eye a strange urge to resuscitate Hitler in order to kill him every day anew in the guise of terrorists."

Of course, what Ms. Karpf is negligent about is what were the historical facts and what was the context.

For example, she seeks to whitewash the Mufti, Arafat's hero, by writing:

But the biggest weapon wielded by those intent on confusing Arabs or Muslims with Nazis is the person of Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Palestinian leader known as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. In a new book, Icons of Evil, two American academics rehash the charges against the Mufti - that he received funding from the Nazis, met Hitler, sat out much of the war in Berlin, and helped establish a Muslim-Balkan unit in the Waffen-SS. In their inflation of the importance of the Mufti (an inflation deliberately encouraged in Israel by the 1961 Eichmann trial), what such accounts fail to provide is evidence that the Mufti gained any power over Nazi policy. Conversely, plenty of evidence shows he lost almost all his influence over Palestinian Arabs in the period.

There was no inflation here. The Mufti was directly responsible for the deaths of Jews; for broadcasting Nazi propaganda across the Middle East; for promoting violence against Jews while seeking Nazi aid as early as 1933; and by bequeathing Nazi antisemitic parameters to the national struggle of the Arabs of Eretz-Yisrael for decades.

The Mufti tried hard but his failure at causing more deaths and damage should not be used as a mitigating factor.

Menachem Begin viewed, correctly, that Arafat had inherited the Mufti's identification with racial antisemitic hatred of the Jew as a Jew and its ongoing promotion. Therefore, it is not the Holocaust that Begin was highlighting as a symbol but the very real physical deaths that Arafat was promoting at the time. Oz's remarks about 37 years having passed in connection with Hitler are totally irrelevant and display his intense persoanl distaste of Begin.

It's Not Where It Stops But Where It Starts

JPost reports

...the Defense Ministry plans to move their small hilltop community to the nearby settlement of Adam, just northeast of Jerusalem on the way to Ramallah...the decision to implement the plan was taken only on Monday, during a meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The Yesha Council Chairman is quoted

"It's nothing very dramatic," said Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Three months ago his council voted to approve moving Migron to a nearby legalized location in the West Bank.

So Monday's decision was simply another step in the process, said Dayan. He added that his council had yet to agree on its preferred option for relocating Migron.

But Avi Ro'eh, chairman of the Binyamin Regional Council, tobjected to the Adam move, he prefers

...instead to see the families relocate down the hill, next to a new winery under construction across the road from the gas station off of Route 60. "But it doesn't matter because the whole process will take years to sort out," Ro'eh said.

Up on Migron,

the families are so determined to stay put that they oppose even Ro'eh proposal to move them down the hill.

Although a voluntary move is the essence of the deal reached in August regarding Migron between state and Dayan's council, the Migron families have yet to agree to any relocation.

Dayan has argued that throughout the history of the settlement enterprise, boundaries have been adjusted to require families to move to alternative locations. What is happening here, he has said, is that by relocating slightly, a way has been found to legalize Migron's status.

But Migron spokesman Gideon Rosenfeld said the homes on their hilltop were already legal, despite the High Court ruling to the contrary.

To agree to move even a short distance would be tantamount to admitting that their presence there was illegal, he said. "The land in Judea and Samaria is ours," said Rosenfeld.

He feared relocating would create a domino effect and that the legalized settlements of Ofra and Beit El would be next.

"Where would it stop?" he asked.

Well, it should stop where is should have started, with a proper planning of the communities making sure all legal questions of ownership, zoning and other issues were assured.

When Shiloh was established, the legal advisor of the government, Pli'ah Albeck (*), personally toured the area to ascertain that no private Arab lands were to be utilized. This could, and should, have been done all over even when Sharon told us we should run to the hilltops.

We have the rights and we should use them properly and wisely.



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(*)

Pliah Albek, “What are State Lands? – The State Lands in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip,” Ha-Lishka (5759-1999) 46, pp. 9-11.

Gaza's Real Humanitarian Crisis

The Guardian has this op-ed by Victoria Brittain, a former associate foreign editor of the Guardian and author (Hidden Lives, Hidden Deaths; Death of Dignity), a research associate at the London School of Economics and a patron of Palestine Solidarity,



suggesting that the two foreign ministers of England and France, Mr Miliband and Mr Kouchner have an "invisible humanitarian crisis on their hands" [invisible? after Tony Blair's former sister-in-law's visit?]. And she suggests

...they should announce visits to Jerusalem to speak to Israel's leaders, and then arrive by helicopter (the airport is destroyed) in Gaza City, breaking the Israel military's 17-month siege of Gaza.

and there they would see, she claims,

...how Israel's collective punishment of 1.5 million people has crippled Gaza's economy, cut fuel and electricity, leaving its desperate people hungry, deprived of medicines, with hundreds barred from travelling for operations or healthcare, or for education.

She notes that

...the former US first lady, Rosalyn Carter. Mrs Carter deplored the fact that "the closure of Gaza is making it impossible for people to lead normal lives," and said she looked forward to the conference's recommendations.

And she complains

Do Miliband and Kouchner really not know what Mrs Carter knows about the devastating impact on people of Israel's continuing control over the Gaza Strip's borders, airspace and coastal water? Or about the effect of Israeli military occupation, checkpoints, and the wall, in crushing economic, social and intellectual life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank?

But not once, not even to condemn it or support it, does she mention the Arab terror, the Arab refusal to acknowledge Israel's existence or any of the foibles, mistakes or other irrresponsibilities of the rulers of Gaza for their own fate.

Shame on you Brittain.


P.S.

Arab terrorists bombarded Sderot and Gaza Belt communities and Ashkelon Wednesday morning with more than 40 Kassam rockets and mortar shells after the IDF killed six terrorists and destroyed a tunnel that was to be used to kidnap soldiers. The tunnel was located underneath the home of an Arab family, and the IDF stated that its construction, adjacent to the separation barrier was a "blatant violation of the ceasefire." The soldiers withdrew before dawn.

Ms. Brittain, the rockets were aimed at civilians, only civilians and purposefully at civilians.

This is the real humanitarian crisis.

Or is it that Ms. Brittain is not really a humanitarian?


P.P.S.

Two Kassam rockets were fired into Ashkelon Wednesday morning, Army Radio reported. The rocket fell in an open field.

Good Morning, America!

I just came back from breakfast sumptuous with waffles & pancakes, at the King David Hotel having been invited by Ambassador James B. Cunningham to join him and 200 other people to watch the elections.

My thoughts, in concise form, are these:

1. America may be entering not only a new period of "mass democracy" but might very well, from an internal sense, move into areas of "disruptive democracy" as formerly not fully integrated 'outsiders', who feel politically disenfranchised, move into elements of power on all levels. A political establishment depends on the functioning of elites and a balance of cooptation and cooperation are necessary. Can Americans do that?

2. Obama wishes to change not only America but the world. He was not being flighty but expressing the typical progressive and radical messianic political vision. Can he do it and can he do it properly?

3. Israel has much to be anxious about: Obama, his advisors, his agenda, his preferences, his ideological allegiances. And make no mistake, damaging Israel's interests, its security, its existence, will also work on America. When Obama refers to justice, he does not mean Jewish/Israeli justice. He may be a politician of faith but does he truly believe? And what does he believe?


====================
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Sammy is saying:

To my Jewish Brethren you have just caused a lot more bloodshed in Israel, thanks to many of the major Jewish organizations in the country. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt that I am. We have Just created JEW-ICIDE. Shame on US ! My Prediction is that Israel will attack Iran sometime before inauguration day.and that will lead to a much larger war.

Stirring Things Up

I do not wish to make light of political violence.

Nevertheless, as these statements keep repeating themselves year after year, it would seem that certainn politicians simply feed off of the hatred of elements of ideological opposition. And they'll blacken the reputation of their political rivals with no real proof and certainly, without any provable previous results.

One

A government decision to evacuate more territory may lead to a large-scale violent conflict with settlers, complete with live fire, Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin warned at yesterday's cabinet meeting. The meeting ended with the ministers voting to end all government support, both direct and indirect, for illegal outposts.

"The scope of the conflict will be much larger than it is today and than it was during the disengagement," Diskin warned. "Our investigation found a very high willingness among this public to use violence - not just stones, but live weapons - in order to prevent or halt a diplomatic process." While Diskin did not comment explicitly on the danger of another political assassination, the timing of his warning - just days before the anniversary of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination - was not lost on cabinet members

Two

Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said Tuesday that the next political assassination was "around the corner."

An unofficial ceremony was held at Jerusalem's Herzl Mount cemetery in Rabin's honor on Tuesday...In his address, Ben-Eliezer said "the writing is on the wall again, and this time in bigger and clearer letters: the next political assassination is around the corder. Somewhere in Israel someone is already holding a loaded weapon, and there is someone giving that person spiritual inspiration and a sense of an ideological mission."

But

As usual, the initial media reports of these remarks were not entirely accurate: According to Diskin's office, he never explicitly mentioned the possibility of another political assassination.

He merely said that right-wing violence has "gone up a level," and that further diplomatic concessions could "create a situation in which live weapons would be used to stop the process."

A breath of fairness, balance and reason of Assaf Wohl whois sick and tired of exaggerated attention given to small minority of rightist provocateurs:

Every Jewish burp across the Green Line becomes a major headline on the news channels. Hard-working reporters rush to record it, leftist groups document it on video, and news commentators make sure to analyze its aroma and acidity level.

The politicians, the media’s servants, do not disappoint either. “Radicals want to crack the State’s authority,” said Barak. “We shall not accept rebellious settlers,” screamed the headlines, quoting what seems like a sort of swan song by our prime minister...They are all followed by a whole parade of bandwagon riders fighting for the leftist vote...For a long time now this has not been journalism, but rather, outright propaganda.

The media-covered provocateurs among the settlers are merely a small minority out of 250,000 law-abiding citizens...Citizens are being run over in hit-and-run accidents regularly. Crime families do whatever they want. And those who enjoy talking about unauthorized buildings would do well to visit Bedouin areas in the south and north once in a while...Anarchists and “peace activists” attack our soldiers every week. Not too long ago, a soldier lost his eye in the Palestinian village of Bil’in; just imagine this would have happened in the settlement of Yitzhar. As it turns out, the writers and speech-makers are not guided by the desire to see enforcement.

What surprises me is the lack of judgment shown by the reporters. Not because I’m naïve enough to think they still possess some kind of decency, but rather, because such hysterical coverage often works against them. It prompts a deep sense of antagonism within the public, which also manifests itself quite clearly in the responses to such news items. So why do they do it? It appears that there is no escaping the conclusion that the hatred often makes them lose their professional decency...

Together, At Last

Among the other voters who have shown up to vote at Shoesmith Elementary School this morning, where Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will vote: Louis Farrakhan and William Ayers.

Seriously.

Welcome to the South Side of Chicago.

Source

Marathons Are For the Keepers-of-Kosher, Too

As this story tells it, you can run and keep kosher:-

...consider the plight of the kosher marathoner, who because of Jewish dietary laws may not replenish himself with sports drinks that lack kosher certification.

“The average runner can grab a cup of Gatorade anywhere along the race course, but we have to plan ahead, to have people meet us at certain points with kosher-certified drinks,” said Dovid Yehoshua Schachner, a former schoolteacher in Queens and an orthodox Jew who has run three marathons and is running on Sunday. According to Gatorade’s Web site, the drink lacks kosher certification.

...Zev Wineberg, a Hasidic rabbi who lives and runs a Jewish center on Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens...bought cases of Powerade, a sports drink that is kosher-certified, and said he will offer it to “anyone who wants it, but specifically to runners who are strictly observant.”

“We want to support their physical and spiritual well-being,” he said. Rabbi Wineberg estimated that there were perhaps “several hundred” runners in the marathon who observe kosher regulations. Many gather in groups at the starting line for morning prayer.

So, We're Back to 1920

I am quite well aware that certain levels of government, executive and diplomatic as well as public administrators and, of course, "intellectuals", would consider the "legalistic" explanations of why the territories might belong to Israel, or why the Jewish communities are not illegal, etc., a bit 'not with it'. All the nitpicking and argumentation and going back 80 years or more simply disinterests the officials I've met from the U.S., the UK, the EU, et al.

So I thought this might lighten things up:

Nawaf Musawi, head of international relations for Hizbullah, said on Monday said the Shi'ite terror organization believes that large strips of northern Israel - beyond the border published by the United Nations in 2000 - belong to Lebanon. Musawi spoke after a meeting with the Norwegian ambassador to Lebanon.

According to Hizbullah "foreign minister", "The Zionist terror organizations moved the border from that of 1920 to that of 1923, and Lebanon lost seven villages and twenty farms. One must be cautious before moving the border to the Blue Line, because then Lebanon will lose millions of square meters." Musawi's comments mark the first time in recent years that Hizbullah is echoing the claims of various Lebanese Shi'ite figures.

If so, will they be telling this fellow to just get on with it?

Your Tax Dollars at Work

You would want to know, yes?

U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians. CRS report,

October 8, 2008

U.S. aid to the Palestinians has fluctuated considerably over the past three years,
largely due to Hamas’s changing role within the Palestinian Authority (PA)...In FY2008, Congress appropriated a total of $414.5 million in bilateral assistance to the Palestinians, the largest single year appropriation ever for the Palestinians.

Because of congressional concerns that, among other things, U.S. funds might be [???] diverted to Palestinian terrorist groups, much of this assistance is subject to legislative restrictions.

For FY2009, an additional $200 million have already been appropriated for the Palestinians (with another $100 million requested by the Bush Administration). Experts advise that PA stability hinges on, now more than ever, improved security, economic development, Israeli cooperation, and the continuation of high levels of foreign assistance. This report will be updated as events warrant.

The Left Is Tongue-Tying Us in Israel

Carolione Glick explains some basics that you should know about Israel:

On Sunday Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz drove yet another stake into the country's political discourse. Last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that despite his resignation and the fact that elections have been called for February 10, he intends to renew negotiations with Syria...Olmert's plan to compel a future government to accept such a commitment - which is opposed by a large majority of Israelis - caused an uproar. Opposition leaders and even members of Olmert's own Kadima party claimed that as the head of a transition government, Olmert has no legal right to make such a commitment.

After all they noted, just a few weeks ago Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch announced that the transition government has no legal right to appoint new judges. Beinisch claimed that as a transition government, Olmert and his colleagues had no legal right to make decisions that will have a long-term impact on Israeli democracy and since appointing judges would have such a long term impact, they are legally barred from appointing them. If the government is barred from appointing judges, certainly it must be barred from surrendering the strategically vital Golan Heights.

But Mazuz thinks differently. Appointing judges, he asserted, is a legal action. Surrendering the Golan Heights, in contrast, is a political action, he claimed. So while the transition government may not be allowed to appoint judges, it is allowed to give Syria control over the country's water supply.

By claiming that appointing judges is a legal act and surrendering vital lands is a political act, Mazuz made a mockery of both the law and of politics. And he did so without blushing because from his perspective, both the rule of law and the powers of politicians can only be determined in light of their impact on the rule of the Left. Actions are permissible, democratic and legal when they advance the rule of the Left. They are impermissible, anti-democratic and illegal when they detract from the rule of the Left.

More:

In 1999, the Supreme Court placed a temporary injunction against then prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's order to close the PLO's diplomatic mission in Jerusalem at the Orient House. The court's move was a legal scandal since Netanyahu's decision was clearly legal. Israeli law bars the PLO from conducting official business of any sort in Jerusalem...The Supreme Court's decision on the Orient House was revealing. It showed that the court was more interested in advancing the political interests of the Left than in upholding the rule of law.

Indeed, it showed that the court had willfully co-opted the language of law and democratic norms to advance its ideological interests.

When a transition government advances the Left's political interests by offering the Golan Heights to Syria, its actions are legal and democratic. When a transition government advances the Right's political interests by curtailing PLO activities in Jerusalem, its actions are illegal and anti-democratic...

All of this demonstrates a disturbing state of affairs. Whether they are politicians like Olmert or jurists like Mazuz and Beinisch, the Left uses the rhetoric of democracy not to advance liberal norms and the rule of law in society but to destroy them both in the interest of advancing the Left's political interests.

THE LEFT's co-optation of the language of law and democracy is not limited to geopolitics. It extends to issues of cultural politics as well.

Morris Pollard At A Knesset Committee Session

Prof. Kenneth Mann will head up the Comptroller's review committee team on the Pollard case the members of the Knesset Review and Oversight Committee were informed yesterday. Dr. Morris Pollard, incidentally in Israel attending an international medical conference on cancer, attended.

So far, former Prime Ministers and 25 MKs has supplied testimonies. MK Uri Ariel, who chairs the Knesset Lobby on Pollard's behalf noted that Ariel Sharon had not delivered a petition at the time to George Bush that had been signed by 112 MKs asking that Jonathan Pollard be granted clemency. Even Pollard had sent the Comptroller, former District Judge Micha Lindenstrauss, letters concerning the governments' handling of his affairs. From the YNet report:-

Pollard thanked the Knesset members "for everything you've done for him," and MK Arie Eldad (National Union-NRP) replied, "Pollard worked for us, we owe him every single day. No one deserves to be thanked for what we have done, furthermore, we have failed in the final result." Telling the MKs more about his son, Pollard said, "Jonathan is the most brilliant man I have ever known…He is a much stronger person than his parents." After his son was arrested, Pollard said, he did not understand what he had done wrong. "He told me he didn't understand what was wrong, 'what's so bad about warning an ally of danger?' he asked. I told him I didn't know."

P.S. Interesting background.

^

I Still Think "You're Getting Shortchanged" Was A Good Slogan

My Alma Mater Goes McCain

From the Yeshiva University "The Commentator":

attempts to distinguish between John McCain's military and political behavior miss the point. John McCain is not simply (simply!) a military hero. Throughout his political career, and most particularly on the biggest issues, he has demonstrated courage to do what he thinks is right for the country when it will hurt his political career. Despite his long years in Washington, D.C. and his heroic history, he has never allowed the Beltway culture to dominate his thoughts or personality. He doesn't wink at petty corruption or speak in the tongues of the Senate. He doesn't vote for a bill before he votes against it; and he doesn't vote for something because others expect him to follow nicely and politely in line. He acts based on his conscience and what he thinks is right.

...He has been an independent thinker since he arrived in Congress. On foreign policy, he opposed the Republican President Reagan on sending Marines to Beirut and supported the Democratic President Clinton in Congress on dispatching troops to Kosovo.

And in the recent Iraq War, as his presidential aspirations seemed to dissolve in the smoke of suicide bombings and turmoil of 2005 and '06, McCain did not waver in his advocacy of a strong prosecution of the war.

...What further separates John McCain from other politicians is that his independence has allowed him to maintain a bond with the common man and his own common sense...

...Many high-minded individuals go to Washington with John McCain's sense of principle; few have a record of demonstrating it for decades.

...We are now fighting two wars, a struggling economy and a broken Washington culture. The next president will have enormous power to reshape the economic landscape and place his stamp on the world. John McCain is not perfect; he has a ready temper, for one. This man is no Messiah.

...this we know about John McCain: he will always be battling for the average American. He will always place country first.

Caricature Castigation

This caricature by Amos Biderman appeared splashed across the top of the first page of Haaretz's Friday Political Section (sorry but I was forced to scan it in two parts)





You will notice (and allow me to point out) that 14 Israeli politcians and two American politicians appear in this circus scene.

They are: (r.-l. top row) Shaul Mofaz, Rafi Eitan and three other Pensioners' Party MKs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak and two Arab MKs with Obama and McCain looking on and (r.-l bottom row) Dalia Itzik, Shimon Peres, Eli Yishai and Tzachi Hanegbi.

But only Netanyahu appears as an animal, a bear.

Nice stroke of the drawing pen, I guess. Nothing derogatory meant, right?

Sarah Palin Arising

Sarah Palin had some advice for a certain NBC actress who’s been a thorn in the Republican VP nominee’s side for almost two months.

“Now speaking of great performances, did anyone catch John McCain last night on SNL 'Saturday Night Live?'” Palin asked the crowd at an airport hangar rally here.

“He was such a pro in those skits there with Tina Fey. And little advice for Tina - we want her to make sure that she’s holding on to that Sarah outfit because she’s gonna need it in the next four years.”

Source





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

UPDATE

The Obama campaign watched her rousing performance at the Republican convention and focus groups assembled to test the voter reaction. Obama advisers couldn't believe what they were hearing. "Sarah Palin is one of us" was an oft-heard refrain. "She can help John McCain shake up Washington" was another common theme.

Political Democracy Simplified

EU Humanitarian Pal. Funding Is A Laugh

I maintain that the funding going to the Palestinian Authority, whether humanitarian, social, educational and econmic is problematic. Much of it is embezzled, much funds its way to terrorist groups, there is no transparency or proper bureaucratic supervision, etc.

So, I think this very much sums up my attitude:-

Have You A Discerning Eye?

What's wrong with this poster?




That's right. The Hebrew text in the background is backwards and someone photomontaged with a mirror image.

Sloppy that.



P.S. Oh, it's an election poster fro Shas displaying Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the slogan "He Who Is For God, Come To Me".

New Apartment Complex on Rav Kook Street

In the center of Jerusalem, on land of the Ticho Estate.

Idolatry at King David's Tomb

This Hareidi wall poster is an attack on the Degel HaTorah party and it's representative, Uri Lupolianksi, Mayor of Jerusalem, for placing a 'statute' at the site of King David's Tomb and the opening of stores on the Shabbat:

Herzl Is Not Wanted

It reads:

"We Don't Want; We Don't Need"

Ah, Post-Zionism.



Spotted in Tel Aviv

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

A close collaborator sent me this:

It’s more in the direction of “If you don’t want, you don’t have to.” like ירצו יאכלו, לא ירצו לא יאכלו.

In other words, if you don’t like Herzl, don’t bother.

Left-wing Incitement

Last week in Tel Aviv, I spotted this election sign for Oren Shachor. Shachor was a very pro-Oslo person, formerly a a former IDF general who was forced to resign for having leaked details of secret Hevron negotiations to then-opposition leader Shimon Peres. (Bio*)

He's running for mayor of Tel Aviv.



Now, what caught my attention is the word מתעלל in the ad. I'll explain.

The ad translates as: "52% Assert That Huldai Is Abusing Them. Huldai Is Abusing You. 200 million NIS is Parking Fines"

[Huldai is the current Mayor]

In Hebrew, מתעלל conveys not only a sense of abuse in the psychological realm but of real physical pain.

For example:
וּלְמַעַן תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי בִנְךָ וּבֶן-בִּנְךָ אֵת אֲשֶׁר הִתְעַלַּלְתִּי בְּמִצְרַיִם
Exodus 10:2 - "And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt"
or
וַיַּחֲזֵק הָאִישׁ בְּפִילַגְשׁוֹ וַיֹּצֵא אֲלֵיהֶם הַחוּץ וַיֵּדְעוּ אוֹתָהּ וַיִּתְעַלְּלוּ-בָהּ כָּל-הַלַּיְלָה עַד-הַבֹּקֶר
Judges 19:25 - "So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night"

Now, why would a leftist politician use such a harsh word?

Moreover, if rightwing demonstrators would have accused this government of "abusing" them, the media and the officials in the Justice Ministry would immediately be crying "danger! assassination" or "danger! Jewish extremists are threatening".

In fact, even without that word they are doing that already.

So, why can Shachor do what I can't?




-----------

(*)

Maj. Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor President of the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company. Previously served as Chairman of the Board of the I.S.C. Holdings Group and as Acting Chairman of the Board of Amidar, the largest public housing company in Israel. Served in the IDF for thirty-three years in such senior positions as Coordinator of Government Activities in the West Bank and Gaza, Chief Intelligence Officer and Intelligence Officer of the Southern Command. Holds a B.A. in General History from Tel Aviv University. Currently pursuing an M.A. in International Relations from Haifa University. Graduate of the IDF Staff and Command College.

Now, "Collective Punishment"

In response to Ehud Olmert, the departing prime minister of Israel, announcing a series of measures directed against Jewish residency in Judea and Samaria (see bleow full details), my colleague, Dani Dayan, was quoted in the New York Times

Dani Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization that represents the settlers, attacked Mr. Olmert’s announcement about financing as “collective punishment” and said that politicians were mounting a campaign of incitement and demonization against the settlers before the national elections set for Feb. 10.

Mr. Dayan said that the only government investment in the outposts today was indirect, in the form of the regional council funds, which go to services like garbage collection and school buses. “Does this mean that they won’t clear the garbage?” Mr. Dayan asked, adding that he hoped “this bad government will be replaced with a better one in four months.”

(I may be on Al-Jazeera later. Check back for update)



Full details:

Prime Minister Olmert said: “Of late, we have witnessed several very serious phenomena. I would like to say at the outset that the overwhelming majority of residents in Judea and Samaria live there legally. They are law-abiding citizens. They love both the people and the land. We have only high regard for them. But there is also a not small group of wild people who behave in a way that threatens proper law and governance, not only in the areas in which they live but also in the overall atmosphere of the State of Israel. This is unacceptable and we cannot countenance it. These violations of the law have been accompanied, more than once, by violent behavior toward security and law-enforcement personnel. Attacking soldiers and their commanders, attacking policemen and other security personnel, and injuring them are unacceptable. We are not prepared to countenance it and we will not.”

Prime Minister Olmert emphasized that measures would be taken so that the West Bank would not be Israel’s ‘wild west’.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin, Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann, Attorney-General Meni Mazuz, Public Security Minister Avi Dicter, Israel Police Deputy Inspector-General Shahar Ayalon and other senior officials briefed ministers on the issue of law enforcement in the territories including relations between extremist settler groups and the security establishment, the prevailing violence, and the responses of the law enforcement system against the surging violence that threatens the rule of law in Judea and Samaria, and in Israel.

Following the subsequent discussion, Prime Minister Olmert concluded as follows:

A. The recent disturbances constitute a threat to the rule of law in the entire State of Israel.

B. Dealing with the issues requires special preparations and cooperation between the IDF and the judicial and enforcement authorities operating in Judea and Samaria.

C. Measures necessary today will be increased as much as possible, including increasing enforcement personnel, documenting disturbances, arresting those who break the law and bringing them quickly to trial, the use of administrative detention and distance orders, and such additional measures as may be necessary.

D. All possible measures will continue to be used in dealing with illegal construction. Residents of Judea and Samaria will receive appropriate and effective responses vis-à-vis legal construction permits in accordance with the Government’s international commitments.

E. The judicial will formulate legal measures so as to increase punishment of those who break the law along the lines that have been witnessed in recent weeks.

F. Justice Minister Friedmann, in cooperation with the legal establishment, will continue to initiate legislative amendments wherever existing measures are found to be ineffective, and will act to complete legislative processes already underway.

G. Defense minister Barak will be responsible for coordinating efforts on the issue, in cooperation with the ministries of Justice and Public Security, Vice Premier Haim Ramon (as Prime Minister Olmert’s representative), the IDF, the Israel Police, the ISA and Attorney-General Mazuz.

H. Defense Minister Barak will brief the Government on the issue and submit general recommendations for dealing with it, within two weeks.

I(ii). The involvement of public employees in incitement will be examined and appropriate measures will be taken against them.

(ii). All direct or indirect financial support of illegal outposts, and their infrastructures, will be halted.

And this update:

The Committee of Samaria Settlers is set to file a complaint against Vice Premier Haim Ramon and National Infrastructures Minister Binymain Ben-Eliezer, claiming that remarks made by the two made during a cabinet meeting Sunday constituted libel and incitement against the settler community.

While Ramon had expressed displeasure over "discrimination and apartheid in dealing with Palestinians and Jews involved in disturbances in Judea and Samaria," Ben-Eliezer warned of political violence and said of the settlers: "They don't think like us; their thought is messianic, mystical, satanic, and irrational."

..."Leading the libelers and defamers is convicted criminal Haim Ramon," the complaint read. "He initiated the meeting and called for the arrest of hundreds of civilians on the basis of 'intelligence.' Following in Ramon's wake was Minister Fuad [Binyamin] Ben-Eliezer, who called the excellent settler community people with 'satanic thought,' no less, and went so far as to recommend that a 'blitz' be opened against them, (a word which in German means a swift murderous battle)."

In his letter to Mazuz, the representative of the settlers, lawyer Doron Ben-Zvi went on to assert that "failure to initiate an investigation of the ministers will constitute clear favoritism… Regrettably, you not only participated in the cabinet meeting but stood aloof while several of the senior ministers (as well as the prime minister himself) made horrible incitive remarks

It's "Guess The Crime" Time

Haaretz is reporting

23:01 Jerusalem student leader apprehended after refusing to shake Peres` hand

I just can't seem to figure out his crime.

Was his hand dirty?

Can you?

Let's get some more facts:

The chairman of Hebrew University's Arab student body was apprehended by university security personnel on Sunday after he refused to shake the hand of visiting President Shimon Peres' hand.

Ali Baher was detained for three hours after calling Peres' hand a "murderer of children." His student ID card was confiscated until a disciplinary committee convenes to review his conduct. "I have a right to not shake hands with those I do not want to shake hand with," Baher told Haaretz on Sunday.

If this is all, then someone in the police department should be fired, fined or otherwise disciplined. This is ridiculous.

If the police have their way, statements such as these will lead to government oppression:-

Israeli security chief warns of assassination

An Israeli security chief says he is "very concerned" that hardline extremists could assassinate an Israeli leader to foil peace moves with the Palestinians.

Shin Bet internal security agency head Yuval Diskin says "a group in the extreme right" is prepared to assassinate politicians "in order to halt diplomatic processes." Diskin spoke Sunday at the weekly meeting of the Israeli Cabinet.

What "peace moves"? There is no real diplomatic activity. We're in virtual suspension. This is a smokescreen to denigrate the rightwing as we approach the anniversary of the Rabin murder.

It's just a self-justification for their existence.

A Politician On The Knife's Edge

Was directed here to learn that the Rambam got himself involved in an American election campaign in Minnesota:

Senator Coleman closed with two quotes, one from the Jewish sage Maimonides and one from Mother Teresa. Senator Coleman quoted Maimonides' admonition that "A person should see himself and the whole world as being on a knife edge, precisely and exquisitely balanced." With one good deed, Maimonides says, a person "can alter the balance of his life and the whole world to the side of blessing and life." I doubt I'll hear a politician quoting Maimonides again any time soon. It was a terrific performance.

(Kippah tip: Jennifer Rubin)

Funny though, I'm having trouble locating the Maimonidesean source.

In the meantime, see this:

"The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural 'constants' were off even slightly. You see," Davies adds, "even if you dismiss man as a chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems unreasonably suited to the existence of life -- almost contrived -- you might say a 'put-up job'."

- Dr. Paul Davies

And the Talmud notes:

"Sharpen the knife while the ox is fallen" (Talmud Bavli Shabbat 32a)

UPDATE

The revolutionary lives on the knife's edge. The question that harasses him
is, in fact, not merely the moral or religious one of whether he may kill; his
quandary has nothing at all to do, as has at times been said, with 'selling his
soul to the devil' in order to bring the revolution to victory. His entanglement
in the situation is here just the tension between end and means. I cannot
conceive anything real corresponding to the saying that the end 'sanctifies' the
means; but I mean something which is real in the highest sense of the term when
I say that the means profane, actually make meaningless, the end, that is, its
realization! What is realized is the farther from the goal that was set the more
out of accord with it is the method by which it was realized. The 'ensuring' of
the revolution may only drain its heart's blood. The responsibility which
results from these presuppositions must penetrate most deeply in the leader who
is summoned to make the watchword of the spirit into the watchword of the event.
But none of those who are led can neglect responsibility save by flight from
self-recollection, that is, by the atrophy of the spirit within. Here again the
true front runs through the centre.

"From Recollection of a Death" by Martin Buber
[This essay was originally written by Buber in 1929 as a memorial to one of Buber's closest friends and intellectual companions, Gustav Landauer]

Smart Had A Shoe; Obama Just Uses His Hand

Source

It's Sunday - Wedding Report

This one is more than a wedding.


Who is the Rabbi?
Who is marrying whom?




Who are those babies?
Why are they there?
Who are holding them?




The answers are here.

Twelve Of My Op-eds Published Over at INN

'Occupied' Rabbis
11/27/2007
A Tip Too Far?
1/31/2006
The Media Disengagement
7/20/2005
What a Difference the Years Make
2/15/2005
How Can One Refuse to Refuse?
1/16/2005
The Tale of the Reversed Narrative
1/10/2005
Beginning With Begin
10/31/2005
Temple Mount, One Year Later
8/2/2004
A Dismantling Experience
1/8/2004
The Uneasiness Syndrome
8/15/2003
The Slide into Messy-ism
6/16/2003
So Silly of Us
4/20/2003

Here.

On Dennis Ross and The Future with Obama

Dennis Ross has been promoting the lection of Barack Obama and was recently interviewed in HaAretz here.

Now, the Jerusalem Post has done the same.

I have received some correspondence on the matter and bring it to oyour attention.

First, an introductory letter -

It is amazing that Dennis Ross is a senior American diplomat after reading his endorsement of Obama in the JPost. In the interview, his main point is that Obama will "Engage Without Illusion". Is he serious? First of all, who is he going to engage with that hasn't already been in an attemtpted engagement for years? The Pals? The Syrians? Hamas? And second, his entire thesis regarding the ME is "illusionary"... Maybe the Obama policy should be called "No Engagement without Illusions" or "Engagement with Total Illusions"... Is Ross a serious person of substance or what? I assume that Baker just brought him in because he is "yefay nefesh"; as they needed a Jewish face (or a few Jewish faces) to dupe the Jews and he has lasted from there. He hardly sounds to me like a serious thinker who could merit a postion like he he has had in the past. Oh well, I guess this is what the American Jewish community needs to be mollified.

We cast our votes Friday morning at the Board of Elections downtown. The breakdown was 95% African American voters to 5% everyone else. We did our part to put our fingers in the dyke and we will see if they hold.

A response -

Dear _,

Dennis Ross is a quasi-kapo -- the sort of fawning Jew those who wish to exterminate us reward with petty creature comforts to keep us calm as we are herded toward our slaughter.

Let's not forget that the last time Ross took part in Mideast negotiations, the result was the al-Aqsa Intifada and 1,057 dead Jews. This individual has so much blood on his hands, it's amazing that he wants to come back for more punishmment (i.e., of us).

Re his self-contradictory nuptial fantasy of "a political and diplomatic surge, married to a withdrawal," any American who advocates that we remove an army of 152,000 troops, the most power-projection force on earth, for whose current advantageous deployment 4,189 American families have paid with their children's lives, FROM THE VIRTUALLY UNDEFENDED (because Iran does not have state-of-the-art aircraft capable of providing air cover/close air support for its own forces) IRANIAN BORDER, AT A TIME WHEN THE SOI-DISANT "CIVILIZED WORLD" IS THREATENED BY CRAZED ISLAMIST FANATICS' IMMINENT POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR-ARMED MISSILES, has to be severely mentally disturbed. The prevalence of this self-destructive urge in our country does not speak well for the mental health of its citizenry.

Below are my comments on the Jpost article you sent.

Let me give you an example of what you could do. Saudi Arabia has enormous financial clout. SAUDI ARABIA HAS ZERO FINANCIAL CLOUT. EVEN WHEN THE OIL PRICE WAS SKY HIGH, THE SAUDIS' PLAN FOR CREATING THE WORLD'S LARGEST SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND CAME TO NOTHING; NOTE THE LACK OF RECENT DATES ON ANY OF THESE STORIES. THE SAUDIS HAVE JUST TAKEN THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL HIT IN THEIR HISTORY AS A RESULT OF THE OIL PRICE HAVING SWAN-DIVED 50 PERCENT SINCE JULY 2008 AND ON TRACK TO FALL BY TWO-THIRDS

Saudi Arabia has an enormous stake in Iran not going nuclear. OF COURSE IT DOES; THE MAIN REASON IRAN WANTS TO GO NUCLEAR IS TO ATTAIN HEGEMONY OVER THE ARAB OIL PRODUCING STATES, PREEMINENTLY SAUDI ARABIA But the Saudis have not been enlisted in a strategy to use that financial clout. Could Saudi financial clout make the difference in terms of European behavior? Yes. HOW WOULD THEY BE "ENLISTED . . . TO USE THAT FINANCIAL CLOUT"? WOULD ROSS PERSUADE THEM GIVE FOREIGN AID TO FRANCE AND GERMANY? Could Saudi financial clout make the difference in terms of Chinese behavior? The answer is absolutely. If China had to choose between Iran and Saudi Arabia, they'd choose Saudi Arabia. CHINA HAS ALREADY CHOSEN BETWEEN IRAN AND SAUDI ARABIA--AND THEY'VE CHOSEN IRAN, BECAUSE THEIR ASSESSMENT IS THAT IRAN IS GOING TO OBTAIN NUCLEAR WEAPONS BECAUSE PRESIDENT OBAMA IS GOING TO LET THEM. THE ONLY WAY TO ROLL BACK CHINA'S CHOICE OF IRAN WOULD BE FOR THE U.S. TO BLOCKADE OR BOMB IRAN INTO GIVING UP ITS NUCLEAR-WEAPONS PROGRAM.

But we haven't created a strategy where we do that. OF COURSE WE HAVEN'T. BUSH, INSTEAD OF MAKING USE OF THE GIFTS HEAVEN HANDED HIM IN THE PERSONS OF SARKOZY AND MERKEL, GOT BOGGED DOWN IN A REAR-GUARD POLITICAL BATTLE WITH U.S. DEFEATISTS We go to the Saudis and we treat everything in a segmented fashion right now... So one of the things you have to do is recognize where we have leverage WHERE WE HAVE DECISIVE LEVERAGE IS IN OUR DEPLOYMENT OF 152,000 TROOPS IN IRAQ, BUT ROSS IS INTENT ON WITHDRAWING THEM and where others have leverage and how do you mobilize that leverage on the Iranian vulnerabilities.

One of the reasons the Europeans hesitate to do more is because when we don't talk to the Iranians, they fear the increased economic pressure means a slippery slope to confrontation. THE REASON THE EUROPEANS HESITATE TO DO MORE TODAY IS THE SAME AS THE REASON THE EUROPEANS (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE CZECHOSLOVAKIANS, WHO AS CZECHS AND SLOVAKS ARE STILL COURAGEOUS TODAY) DECLINED TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IN 1939-1940: THEY'RE MENTAL WEAKLINGS AND PHYSICAL COWARDS Now when we're prepared to talk, without illusions, with preparation, that makes it easier for the Europeans to put more economic pressure on. IT'S HARDER FOR THEM TO PUT MORE ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON BECAUSE THEY SEE THE COUNTRY ON WHICH THEY'VE RELIED FOR THEIR MILITARY DEFENSE FOR THE PAST 63 YEARS ON THE VERGE OF BOWING AND SCRAPING BEFORE THE THRONE OF ALI HOSSEINI KHAMENEI. We might not have a lot of time, but we actually have quite a few options - if we're prepared to behave differently than we have. SPOKEN LIKE A MAN WITH A VERY SMALL WEENIE.

The position of the United States since Camp David, the position, by the way, adopted in the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, signed by [prime minister] Menachem Begin, was that the final status of Jerusalem would be resolved by negotiations. A FLAT-OUT STUPID UGLY LIE. BEGIN SIGNED THAT TREATY SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING LETTER OF RESERVATION TO CARTER: "I have the honor to inform you, Mr. President, that on 28 June 1967 Israel's parliament (The Knesset) promulgated and adopted a law to the effect: 'the Government is empowered by a decree to apply the law, the jurisdiction and administration of the State to any part of Eretz Israel (Land of Israel - Palestine), as stated in that decree.' On the basis of this law, the government of Israel decreed in July 1967 that Jerusalem is one city indivisible, the capital of the State of Israel." Those are the three points. That's what his position is.

What do say about voters who will agree with you that he [Obama] supports Israel generally speaking, but that when it comes to a moment of truth - if Israel were attacked, for instance - that he wouldn't stand tough.

They don't understand his basic view of American interests, and also that he believes fundamentally in Israel's right of self-defense. WHAT THIS SNAKY VERBIAGE MEANS IS THAT OBAMA BELIEVES IN ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF BY ITSELF, AS CONTRASTED WITH THE 35-YEAR-OLD U.S. DOCTRINE THAT RECOGNIZES ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF WITH U.S. LOGISTICAL SUPPORT One thing that's true about Israel, that's part of the Israeli ethos, is that Israel has always said we fight our own battles. They don't want Americans to come fight the battles for them. So I think it's important to understand who Israel is and what's important in their relationship with us. What's important in their relationship with us is to know they can count on us, but they don't want us to take their place in what they have to do for themselves. And I think it's important for any American administration to respect that. ROSS NEVER UTTERS A SYLLABLE OTHER THAN IN DIPLOMAT-SPEAK, SO EVERY WORD HAS TO BE PARSED: IN PLAIN ENGLISH, OBAMA WILL "RESPECT" ISRAEL'S DESIRE NOT "TO TAKE THEIR PLACE IN WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO FOR THEMSELVES." GEE, THANKS, GUY! AND LET'S NOTE THAT ROSS SAYS THAT "WHAT'S IMPORTANT IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH US IS TO KNOW THEY CAN COUNT ON US"--NOT THAT FOR ISRAEL "TO KNOW THEY CAN COUNT ON US" IS IMPORTANT IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM!

You could argue that the Bush administration has tried the policy of engagement with the Palestinians that Obama advocates.

I don't think they know how to engage. They engage in a way that is completely ineffective. There's a kind of episodic approach to it. TRANSLATION: OBAMA PLANS TO PUT ONGOING, NON-EPISODIC PRESSURE ON THE PALS--WHICH MEANS ONGOING, NON-EPISODIC PRESSURE ON ISRAEL. And the point of engagement is to engage in a way that's going to be effective.

The Camp David negotiations which you helped Clinton lead at the end of Clinton's term didn't succeed either.

When I say engagement without illusion, it means negotiations are not a guarantee that you can achieve peace. WHEN HE SAYS ENGAGEMENT WITHOUT ILLUSION, IT MEANS NEGOTIATIONS ARE A GUARANTEE THAT WE CAN NOT ACHIEVE PEACE. PEACE WILL COME IF AND WHEN THE PALS COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE U.S. IS NEVER GOING TO DELIVER THE SHTACHIM TO THEM, AND THAT ALL THAT'S ATTAINABLE WILL BE THE 1978 CAMP DAVID AUTONOMY, NEGOTIATED DIRECTLY WITH ISRAEL. But if you walk away and don't try, that's a guarantee that you can never make peace. ON THE CONTRARY: IT'S THE PERIODIC WALKING TOWARDS AND TRYING THAT'S A GUARANTEE THAT YOU CAN NEVER MAKE PEACE. What you don't want to do is create self-fulfilling prophecies. SENDING DENNIS ROSS BACK TO THE REGION IS ITSELF A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY.

Should we test the Syrians? The Israeli military thinks we ought to test the Syrians through a negotiating process. That's why the Israelis are using Turkey as a go-between.

Is it in Israel's interest to have Turkey as a go-between as opposed to us? YOU BET IT IS! TURKEY DOESN'T HAVE AN ULTERIOR "GREAT POWER" OR PRESIDENTIAL-LEGACY MOTIVE. TURKEY, LIKE ISRAEL, HAS TROUBLEMAKING NEIGHBOR NAMED SYRIA. Is Turkey going to watch out for Israel's interests the way we would? NO, BARUCH HASHEM--BECAUSE TURKEY ISN'T TRYING TO APPEASE MILITANT ISLAMISM BY RAMMING A DEAL DOWN ISRAEL'S THROAT. IT'S JUST A REGIONAL POWER THAT HAS PEACEFUL RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL, WOULD LIKE TO HAVE PEACEFUL RELATIONS WITH SYRIA, AND WOULD LIKE ISRAEL TO HAVE PEACEFUL RELATIONS WITH SYRIA. I don't think so. Do I think Senator Obama would do that in a way Senator McCain would not? I do. ROSS IS PROBABLY RIGHT. MAYBE McCAIN WOULD HAVE THE GOOD SENSE NOT TO INSERT ITSELF BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SYRIA THE WAY CARTER, YEMACH SHEMO, INSERTED THE U.S. BETWEEN ISRAEL AND EGYPT.

Two More Caricatures

And who is that little "giving-the-finger" girl?


and one for the past Halloween

Havel Havalim #189

Great selection of Jewish Blogosphere postings.

Here.

Florida Might Be A Schlep Surprise

Seems there are a few Jews, and many more, who are not going to give Obama their vote.

Here.

Profound

Here

Pretty, Pretty

Dare I?

Reuters informs us that

...Saudi Arabia has held its first "beautiful goat" pageant. Owners of pedigree "Najdi" goats from around the Gulf region converged on Riyadh this week, hoping to win the prize for top male and female goat, following in the footsteps of lucrative camel competitions which have taken off in recent years.

"The Najdi goat is a pure national product like nothing else in the world," said Sheikh Faisal al-Saadoun, a leading Saudi breeder who organised the show. "They are different in terms of beauty, shape and how eye-catching they are."

And those goats are for what purpose, now?

How A State Commits Suicide

IMRA reports

Secretary General of Hadash party proud of their terrorist candidate who "fought occupation" - Jerusalem attack killed 6

Ayman Auda, Secretary-General of the Hadash party tells a reporter from the top circulation Yediot Ahronot - for attribution - that the Hadash party considers recommending targets for terror attacks to be acceptable activity to be proud of.

[This item was buried on page 14 of the 31.10.08 Hebrew edition of Yediot Ahronot and appears to have failed to generate any interest or response.]

Here's the actual article:

Terrorist running for city council: Arab-Israeli woman jailed over Jerusalem market attack to compete in Sakhnin elections

Tagrid Saadi, a 28-year-old Arab-Israeli woman convicted of failing to prevent a terror attack in Jerusalem, is vying for a city council spot in the northern town of Sakhnin.

Saadi was detained immediately after a female suicide bomber detonated herself at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market on April 12, 2002. The bombing killed six Israelis and wounded 60. Saadi was in contact with the cell commander, via the Internet, and was informed about the date of the attack...Saadi was sentenced to six years in prison, where she affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners. She was released less than a year ago, and has now decided to enter politics.

In a conversation with Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Saadi did not express any regret for her actions. "I do not look back - I only look forward," she said.

A Hadash official [AL: in the Hebrew report - Ayman Auda, Secretary-General of the Hadash] told Yedioth Ahornoth that the party is proud of Saadi, because "she fought against the occupation, and continues to fight against the occupation...we have no faith in the court that sentenced her, as it is part of the Israeli establishment, and this court allows radical Jews to protest in Umm al-Fahm. She acted against occupation."

Now you know why Israel's national anthem is "Our Hope has not yet been lost..."

Not yet but maybe at some time...?

The "Obama After Meeting Joe The Plumber" Caricature

and why not this photoshopped pic:

Jews Being Wrong on Wright

I received this not from a friend

October 29, 2008

Dear Present and Potential Members of the Society of Jewish Ethics:

I hope that you have marked your calendars for the next meeting of the Society of Jewish Ethics, which will take place January 9-11, 2009. Highlights include plenary sessions with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright entitled, "Where's the Outrage?¡ and a timely presentation on the ethics of government power featuring Bob Edgar, the head of Common Cause. We will be introducing a more discussion-oriented format in a session chaired by Moshe Pava on immigrant labor issues that in part grows out of the crises in the kosher food industry.

You can see the exciting program attached and obtain registration materials at http://societyofjewishethics.org. The SJE meets in conjunction with the Society of Christian Ethics

The Board of SJE consists of such 'personages' as Present: David Teutsch, Toby Schonfeld, Aaron Mackler, Adrienne Asch, Jonathan Crane, David Novak, Elliot Dorff and Dov Nelkin.

I checked and sure enough, the 2009 Annual Meeting has this session:

Hyatt Regency, Chicago
January 8-11, 2009

Thursday, January 8
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
SJE Board Meeting
Location: Picasso

Friday, January 9
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Plenary Session: "Where is the Moral Outrage?"

Speaker: Jeremiah Wright, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago IL
Respondent: Marcia Riggs, Columbia Theological Seminary
J. Philip Wogaman, Wesley Theological Seminary
Convener: Darryl Trimiew, Medgar Evers College

If there is any outrage to be expressed it is over a Jewish organization providing a platfrom for the Rev. Wright who can refer to Israel as a "dirty word".

How do you say: oiy vey!

The Violent Media - A Matter of Terminology

This was released to the press by the EU:-

"The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank...The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations..."

I also condemn acts such as these.

However, I find it odd that the Arabs are termed "civilians" while the Jews are all collectively lumped together as a nebulous group of "settlers".

I spotted this headline from Oct. 29 which, perhaps, highlights my problem with terminology such as this:-

Israeli troops kill armed Palestinian shepherd

and in another agency report:

Israeli troops kill West Bank farmer

not to skip over this one:-

Israeli army kills Palestinian man in West Bank raid

Even though he is a terrorist, a man who has chosen not only to be violent but to cause lethal damage with his weapon, is humanized by being described as a "shepherd", a "farmer", a "man".

It is as if he is being somehow forced into this violent role whereas the Jews who are responding either to violations of the limits placed on olive pickers by the Civilian Administration or to provocative acts of Arabs who are emboldened by the presence of other leftwing Jews, foreign "volunteers" or/and the media are lumped together in this faceless masked collective of "settlers".

The media is also being a violent participant in this scenario.

Bearing Witness

From a new book, THE ROAD TO RESCUE The Untold Story of Schindler’s List by Mietek Pemper on the importance of bearing witness:-

Pemper won the post of Göth’s personal secretary and interpreter [at Plaszow]. He was so terrified of working in close quarters with the volatile commandant that despite his workload he refused to ask for an assistant, unwilling to risk another prisoner’s death. Anyway, no one volunteered — the inmates were too afraid of Göth. The following anecdote, coolly related by Pemper, shows why:

“I would sit in the commandant’s office and take dictation from him. While he ­talked, Göth would watch the mirror outside his window, which he used to oversee the area in front of the barracks. Suddenly he would stand up, take one of the rifles from the rack on the wall and open the window. I would hear a few shots and then nothing but screams. As if he had interrupted the dictation only to take a telephone call, Göth would come back to his desk and say, ‘Where were we?’ ”

From reading the SS correspondence, Pemper realized that the Plaszow camp could be kept open (and its workers not sent to Auschwitz) only if it could be proved that its weapons production was siegent­scheidend, or “crucial for victory.” A megalomaniac who desired authority (and access to luxuries) at all costs, Göth agreed to the inflated production tables that Pemper drew up for him. Pemper would also persuade Schindler that producing arms in his factory would keep his workers safe. “If Schindler hadn’t begun production of grenade parts in 1943,” Pemper writes, “there would have been no Schindler’s list and no rescue effort.”

Pemper’s prodigious memory and ­powers of observation allowed him to give vital testimony in the commandant’s trial in Poland after the war, which resulted in Göth’s execution. The memoir draws a devastating portrait of a brute who stood out even among the SS for his recklessness and arrogance, so gung-ho about his macabre work that he visited other camps for inspiration...Göth was careless, of course, because he believed assur­ances that no witnesses would remain. When he saw the list of witnesses at his trial, he reportedly exclaimed: “So many Jews? And they always told us not a single one . . . would be left.”

The deniers continue to deny. The haters continue to hate. The violent continue to hurt and injure and damage.

But we will remember all those who have proven to be unjust and unfair and evil.

And we will give testimony and witness and we will repay.

Never again will Jews be defenseless, unable to respond to our enemies.

Amd those who seek to weaken and undermine Israel - economically, militarily, psychologically and spiritually - those, too, will be remembered.