May 2010 Archives
Monday, May 31, 2010
This is a bump post to note I have updated the posting below with new close up video showing the commandos being immediately attacked by violent passengers the moment they came aboard the ship. The IDF boarded ready for non-violent protesters and armed with non-lethal primary weapons only to find that the passengers were prepared to escalate to maximum violence at the outset: Video: Gaza Flotilla Thugs Stab Israeli Soldiers, Use Immediate Extreme Violence (Important Updates)
Video: Gaza Flotilla Thugs Stab Israeli Soldiers, Use Immediate Extreme Violence (Important Updates)I'm going out shortly and can't do a moment to moment blog on the goings on of the Gaza Flotilla freaks, but I wanted to get a few things up. Needless to say, once again, the International Solidarity Movement has more blood on its hands.
Israeli commandos descended one at a time onto one of the ships, not expecting serious resistance and armed with non-lethal weapons like paint guns. They carried pistols only as backups.
They were immediately set upon by the passengers, beaten with sticks and stabbed. The thugs on board took the soldiers' weapons -- two pistols are reported to have been recovered from the passengers. Only after the stabbing and attempt to take an IDF soldier hostage did they request and receive permission to use live fire. As you see the news footage that's been released so far, remember that the people in orange life preservers beating the other guys with sticks are the passengers. The passengers are doing the beating!
Here is the shocking footage of the stabbing which should put the lie to any idea that these are innocent peace activists:
According to the MFA:
the flotilla that was seeking to break the maritime closure on the Gaza Strip, IDF forces apprehended two violent activists holding pistols. The violent activists took these pistols from IDF forces and apparently opened fire on the soldiers as evident by the empty pistol magazines.
The IDF Spokesperson has released this statement: Demonstrators Use Violence Against Israeli Navy Soldiers Attempting to Board Ship, 31 May 2010, and this overhead video showing the extreme violence with which the IDF was faced the moment the first soldier touched down. These were NOT non-violent human rights activists they faced:
Update: From Jamil (lots of good information there), Haaretz labels this photo, "A left-wing activist on board the Gaza flotilla holding a knife after Israel Navy commandos boarded their ship on May 31, 2010." [Further update on this: Note that there has been some concern that there is some photoshopping on this pic and/or that Haaretz got the caption not quite right. It appears to have been pulled from the Haaretz site and the provenance is unknown. The knife does appear to be among those pulled from the passengers. Caveat emptor.]
Here's a must-read at YNet: A brutal ambush at sea
Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of 'peace activists,' and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter
Our Navy commandoes fell right into the hands of the Gaza mission members. A few minutes before the takeover attempt aboard the Marmara got underway, the operation commander was told that 20 people were waiting on the deck where a helicopter was to deploy the first team of the elite Flotilla 13 unit. The original plan was to disembark on the top deck, and from there rush to the vessel's bridge and order the Marmara's captain to stop.
Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operation's commander decided to bring the helicopter directly above the top deck. The first rope that soldiers used in order to descend down to the ship was wrested away by activists, most of them Turks, and tied to an antenna with the hopes of bringing the chopper down. However, Flotilla 13 fighters decided to carry on.
Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.
However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.
One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other "don't shoot, don't shoot," even though they sustained numerous blows.
'I saw the tip of a rifle'
The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.
The planned rush towards the vessel's bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. "Throw stun grenades," shouted Flotilla 13's commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship.
The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandoes who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter. At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.
Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters' legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes.
"I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell," one commando said. "He fired at us and we fired back. We didn't see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldn't find him." Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops.
2 errors
During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover. It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight.
Some passengers on the ship stood at the back and pounded the soldiers' hands as they attempted to climb on board. Only after a 30-minute shootout and brutal assaults using clubs and knifes did commandoes manage to reach the bridge and take over the Marmara.
It appears that the error in planning the operation was the estimate that passengers were indeed political activists and members of humanitarian groups who seek a political provocation, but would not resort to brutal violence. The soldiers thought they will encounter Bilin-style violence; instead, they got Bangkok. The forces that disembarked from the helicopters were few; just dozens of troops - not enough to contend with the large group awaiting them.
The second error was that commanders did not address seriously enough the fact that a group of men were expecting the soldiers on the top deck. Had they addressed this more seriously, they may have hurled tear-gas grenades and smoke grenades from the helicopter to create a screen that would have enabled them to carry out their mission, without the fighters falling right into the hands of the rioters, who severely assaulted them.
Update 2: This video shows very clearly the soldiers being instantly attacked by gas mask wearing passengers who were prepared for violence:
Here's another good page of information from the MFA: Behind the Headlines: The seizure of the Gaza flotilla. A snip:
...The intent of the militants was violent, the methods they employed were violent, and unfortunately, the result was violent.
The attack on the Israeli soldiers was premeditated. The weapons used had been prepared in advance. Huwaida Arraf, a flotilla organizer, foreshadowed the violence with her statement that: "They [the Israelis] are going to have to forcefully stop us." Bulent Yildirim, the leader of the IHH, one of the primary organizers of the flotilla, announced just prior to boarding: "We are going to resist and resistance will win." The militants whipped up the boarding crowd by chanting "Intifada, intifada, intifada!"
It should be noted that the Turkish organizing group, IHH, has a radical anti-Western orientation. Alongside its legitimate humanitarian activities, it supports radical Islamic networks such as Hamas, and at least in the past has supported global jihad elements, such as al-Qaeda...
Update: Isn't Israel violating International Law/engaging in piracy by boarding the boats? No: Int'l Law Expert Dr. Robbie Sabel: IDF action in international waters legal
Dr. Sabel explained that a state, in a time of conflict, can impose an embargo, and while it cannot carry out embargo activities in the territorial waters of a third party, it can carry out embargo activities in international waters.
Within this framework it is legal to detain a civilian vessel trying to break an embargo and if in the course of detaining the vessel, force is used against the forces carrying out the detention then that force has every right to act in self defense.
Dr. Sabel noted that there is a long history of embargo activities in international waters.
And:
...according to the San Remo Manual, it is permissible under rule 67(a) to attack neutral vessels on the high seas when the vessels "are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture."
Also, Video Richard Landes Live from Jerusalem
Also, a blast from the past. What flotilla organizer Greta Berlin really thinks about Jews:
...On numerous occasions I heard Greta launch the insults "the god damned Israelis, and those F****** Jews" at the dinner table in front of my father (a Jew) and the few Israeli friends and relatives who ventured to visit. Additionally, any rational debate attempted by anyone with an opposing view to Greta's, was immediately terminated with the responses: "Shut up" or "You don't know what the hell you're talking about." The rebuttal usually presented in screaming form.
These comments in juxtaposition to her role as "Peace Activist" I find hard to rectify. It prompts me to ask what should be an obvious question; "At what point did terms of hate and bigotry become synonymous with Peace?"...
Also: Melanie Phillips: 'Peace convoy'? This was an Islamist terror ambush
And of course, from MEMRI: Gaza-Based Yemeni Professor Abd Al-Fatah Nu'man: As Much As the Heroes on the Flotilla Want to Reach Gaza, the Option of Martyrdom Is More Desirable to Them - Al-Aqsa TV, May 28, 2010
Update: Pictures of Weapons Found on the Mavi Marmara Flotilla Ship. Wow!
Video of the weapons:
By the way, anyone know how the lady at the end of this video turned out? Just wondering...
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Took a trip to the Stone Zoo today. This river otter was feeling particularly photogenic:
The one-armed gibbon was particularly and fabulously adept at swinging about his enclosure at altitude without missing a beat, but I didn't get any good photos and video would have been necessary to really appreciate him.
Overheard conversation of the day was when a wife turned to her husband in front of one of the other monkey cages: "Oh, what's the growth there on him? See, it's sort of hanging off him poor thing." So I turn and say, "Uh, I think that's how he makes new monkeys."
"Oh." (Embarrassed laugh.)
The Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Jason Dunham (DDG 109) conducts sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean May 20, 2010. Jason Dunham successfully completed a combined builder's and acceptance "super trial" during its four days at sea. The trials are the last significant milestone before delivery of the ship to the Navy in summer 2010. The ship will be commissioned in November 2010. (DoD photo courtesy of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works/Released)
Here's some good video taken from a little different angle from the others at last Sunday's Brookline/Boston Rally for a United Jerusalem:
Previous: Pictures and Video from Sunday's Rally for Jerusalem in Brookline (Boston area) and No Room for J Street Indeed
In the extended entry, The Jewish Advocate's coverage of the event.
Continue reading "Video of the Crazies at Last Sunday's Rally for Jerusalem"Via The Flea: Political violence in Canada
Ali Mallah, Vice President of the Canadian Arab Federation and senior co-conspirator in CUPE, assaults Canadian uber-blogger Blazing Cat Fur as part of a CUPE sponsored anti-Semitic "protest".
CUPE is the Canadian Union of Public Employees. In Canada many of the official unions are allied with the Islamists. Blazing Cat Fur's post, with more links and video, is here: Ali Mallah CUPE Union Thug Assaults Blazingcatfur at Islamofascist Anti-Netanyahu Rally!
Here's the operative vid:
Got a review copy of Zev Chafets' new book, Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One
After a spring of failed attempts to win a real BDS victory, the forces of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions seem to have fallen back on older bad habits of using pretend victory as a substitute for any actual successes. An exerpt from the latest Divest This posting on Deutche Bank's alleged divestment from the Israeli firm Elbit:
...The second story is a blast from the past regarding a financial institution's alleged divestment in an Israeli electronics firm. The contours of this story follow similar stories in 2009 where BDS advocates sent out press releases hailing a financial firm (such as TIAA-CREF or Blackrock) for their alleged anti-Israel divestment stance. It was only later that the public discovered that no such divestment had taken place and that the divestniks were projecting their own political opinions onto the generic buying and selling decisions of third parties.
Now I'm ready to believe that Deutche Bank sold shares in the Israeli firm Elbit (although, apparently, even this fact has yet to be confirmed). And I even accept the fact that various anti-Israel groups in Germany had lobbied the bank to sell these shares. But where is the causal link between the two (other than the post-hoc fallacy that says if A proceeds B, than A must have caused B)? The story on this sale also mentioned that Elbit shares has fallen 30% this year. From what little I know of the world of high finance, I would suspect that this fact influences bank investment policy more than complaints by Pax Christi.
Now those pushing the Deutche Bank/Elbit story as being about BDS (vs. a general sale of stock which is losing value) can clarify the issue for us quickly by providing us a statement by Deutche Bank the unequivocally states that they have made this decision to sell Elbit shares for political vs. financial reasons. This is not such a big thing to ask if divestment has actually taken place. In fact, unless such information can be provided, then it's safe to say that divestment has NOT taken place since divestment (vs. the generic buying and selling of stock) is a political act, and thus it makes no sense whatsoever to divest in secret.
Given the number of BDS hoaxes we were subjected to last year that fit this pattern, the onus is really on those who insist that Deutche Bank has made a political divestment decision to provide us the evidence that this is the case (in the form of a statement by the bank explaining clearly that they sold their Elbit shares for political vs. financial reasons).
If such evidence can be provided, I would be happy to acknowledge that BDS has scored a victory. But absent such evidence, I think we'll have to assume that the BDSers are simply up to their old tricks of trying to create fake victories by projecting their own wishful thinking onto the financial decisions of others.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
[The following, by AKUS, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
As we await the arrival of the provocative Flotilla of Fools carrying, if past is prolog, exaggerated amounts of unneeded "humanitarian supplies" to Gaza (perhaps Gaza's "Roots" restaurant - has been running low on trout, sea bass, shrimps and veal scallopine - see the 15-page menu for other entrees) we also await the salvo of articles that the Guardian will use to try to add its weight to this publicity stunt.
In the meantime, Israel TV has been covering the most recent events, and they are certainly interesting, though not, perhaps, in the way the Guardian or the organizer of the flotilla expected. Here are highlights from the IBA broadcast:
1. Cyprus has refused to allow the ships to anchor in Cyprus' territorial waters. Apparently the organizer forgot that Turkey is not one of Greek Cyprus' best friends.
2. Moreover, in a slap in the face to the organizers and Hamas, the reason Cyprus has given for not allowing the flotilla into its territorial waters is not due to Israeli pressure but because it was not asked to do so by the Palestinian Authority. Cyprus recognizes the PA as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinians even in Gaza, not Hamas, which it sees as aligned with arch-enemy Turkey
Continue reading "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum"[The following, by Medusa, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
Under different circumstances, the notion of sailing across the seas to bring aid to a beleaguered people would be laudable. However, in this latest Gaza Aid convoy we see a bunch of misguided, publicity-seeking foreclosed adolescents who merely wish to make a grand gesture by highlighting the alleged plight of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israelis.
(We have heard this before, haven't we? That the people of Gaza are "starving" and lack medical and other supplies, but look at this - note the food and sweets on the market stalls - and this).
Most of Gaza is growing and thriving but CiF and these useful idiots are apparently oblivious to the fact that Hamas is following the example of the Nazis in WWII. The Nazis built a show camp at Theresienstadt (the so-called "model ghetto"), in which Jews lived apparently contentedly and well-fed, because their jailers wished to give the lie to accusations of brutalisation and genocide. Hamas however is deliberately doing the direct opposite: instead of maintaining a model of good living for these Palestinians who elected them into power, Hamas prolongs their misery and parades it to foreign visitors and deliberately encourages them to believe that the rest of Gaza is a wasteland too and that this is all the fault of Israel. Unfortunately, most of the visitors are very easily fooled.
Continue reading "No Comfort for Gilad Shalit: the mean-spirited face of "humanitarian" aid to Gaza"[The following, by Eamonn McDonagh, is crossposted from Z Word.]
1.
Writing in Haaretz, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff point to an aspect of the Free Gaza Flotilla that hasn't received the attention it should,
In the approaching clash, the complex system of alliances and counter-alliances of the Middle East is beginning to emerge. It does not appear to be coincidental that the Islamist governing party in Turkey is involved, behind the scenes, in dispatching the flotilla, in coordination with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the same time it is doubtful that it is coincidental that the Israel Air Force held this week exercises with Greece, the traditional rival of Turkey, of the sort that two years ago were carried out mostly in Turkey.
2.
The editorial writer of the same paper shows no interest in the strategy of other actors in the conflict and goes for a simpler approach,
... the Israeli government knows exactly the price it must pay to free Shalit. It has already conducted indirect negotiations with Hamas and even announced that it was willing to release a large number of prisoners who are members of the Islamic group. The deal has been held up due to a number of prisoners who committed extremely serious crimes whom Israel refuses to release. Israel's firm refusal to free those prisoners is becoming its most costly move so far.
There seems to me to be a basic misunderstanding about the meaning of the term "negotiation" here. While most people understand it to refer to a process with an uncertain outcome in which both parties attempt to make the fewest concessions possible while extracting the most from their rival, Haaretz seems to understand it as one in which Israel receives its enemy's wish list and immediately concedes to it in full. Any other approach is seen as a sign of intransigence and bad faith on Israel's part.
3.
Relations with Turkey have deteriorated significantly due to Israel's policy in Gaza.
To see Israel's Gaza policy as the sole determinant of the quality of its relations with Turkey you have to ignore any possible changes in the attitude of Turkey to Israel that arise from shifts in Turkish politics. I'd say that at least as influential in the chilling of Ankara's attitude to Israel were the governing AK Party's gradual hollowing out of the institutions of the Kemalist republic and the broader Ottomanization of its foreign policy.
4.
Israel could probably be more flexible about the amount and type of goods it allows into Gaza without benefiting Hamas. Beyond that, it's hard to see what good policy options it has. If it releases all the prisoners Hamas is asking for in return for Shalit it will be offering an even greater incentive for future kidnappings and it certainly won't win any brownie points from Ankara or anywhere else. If it drops the naval blockade it gives the opportunity for Hamas to import whatever it likes into the territory. Again, those who imagine that such a move would lead to a sudden surge in Israel's popularity abroad are living in cloud cuckoo land. Apart from the question of Shalit, I've no doubt that Israel already negotiates indirectly with Hamas on matters related to the management of the conflict and the odd rocket fired into Israel and the occasional bombing of a tunnel by the IAF form part of those negotiations.
However, when Haaretz editorials writers and those with similar views urge Israel to negotiate with Hamas I get the feeling they're talking about some other kind of process, one in which Israel would be expected to take seriously and make real concessions to the political ambitions of the organization that currently rules the Gaza Strip in a manner recently described as fascist by the PA's Foreign Minister.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Why was Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu suddenly invited to meet with President Barack Obama next week? There are three very different reasons.
One is the Obama Administration's realization that its harsh policy toward Israel has been mistaken and has yielded it no diplomatic benefit. Another is the knowledge that this policy is very unpopular among Americans in general as well as American Jews in particular. With November elections coming up, the White House wants to cut its losses.
There is also, however, a third reason which relates to substantive issues. The White House wants to hear from Netanyahu what his views and plans are regarding negotiations with the Palestinians. The Obama Administration is eager for progress on indirect talks, hopeful of moving to direct talks (which Netanyahu very much wants to do), and is also looking at longer-range possibilities.
My view is that Netanyahu should stress the following: Israel wants peace and is willing to agree to a two-state solution. But here's what we want in return, so go to the Palestinians and see what they are willing to give in exchange for an independent state.
Continue reading "When Bibi Meets Barack: What Will Happen in Their Upcoming Meeting"Friday, May 28, 2010
Here's who:
Now here's the back story:
Last Saturday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick headed down to the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamic Society of Boston Mosque in Roxbury to pander to the local Muslim Community: Deval Patrick vows support for Muslims.
The event prompted one of Patrick's opponents in the upcoming election, Independent Tim Cahill, to issue a strong statement: Cahill blasts Patrick for playing politics with terrorism. Here's a snip:
...Governor Patrick held a press conference last week and essentially assured us that everything is fine. Now he is pandering to special interest groups with talk of 'cultural awareness training' for law enforcement and promises to urge employers to allow Muslims to leave work early on Fridays so they can make it to Mosque for prayers.
It comes as no surprise that Governor Patrick is talking this way: In 2007, he naïvely attributed the 9/11 bombings to a "failure of human understanding" in America.
This same politically correct mentality recently caused our Legislature to vote down the Perry Amendment, even while so many families living legally in Massachusetts are hurting. It is the same attitude that led the city of Boston to boycott Arizona for simply doing what the federal government refuses to do: securing our national borders.
I fully support equal protection under the law for every American, regardless of race or creed, but this is political correctness run amok. Governor Patrick should stop playing politics with terrorism and focus on protecting all the citizens of this Commonwealth. It's time for all of us to come together as Americans to prevent a tragedy before it occurs.
The overwhelming majority of Muslim-Americans are peaceable people who love this land, but the bottom line is, someone in Boston knew about this before it happened and didn't speak up. That has to change...
No plain truth talking can possibly go unpunished, however, and the forces of political-correctness have been quick to mobilize: Religious leaders join to condemn Cahill's comments on Muslim community:
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders, adorned in the vestments of their respective faiths, stood shoulder to shoulder on the steps of a Roxbury mosque today and strongly condemned Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill's remarks blasting Governor Deval Patrick's attendance last weekend at a forum at the mosque.
The gathering included leaders from the Archdiocese of Boston, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, the Massachusetts Council of Churches, some of Boston's most prominent black churches, and several Jewish temples...
Disappointingly, it wasn't all just the usual suspects. Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, quoted in the article, has been a great friend of Israel, for instance. Cahill, to his credit, is standing strong.
Back to that video at the top. It was issued by American for Peace and Tolerance and comes with this press release: Americans for Peace and Tolerance Issues Video Criticizing Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Embrace of Islamic Radicals
YouTube video shows Governor Patrick embracing the radical leadership of the Muslim American Society (MAS), including an Imam who who told followers they must "pick up the gun and the sword" in the context of the arrests of local Islamic extremist Aafia Siddiqui and terror suspect Tarek Mehanna.
Boston, MA, May 27, 2010 -- The Muslim Brotherhood is the source of most of Jihad ideology and related terror throughout the world today. Yet Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is embracing the MAS: a Muslim organization that Federal prosecutors have called "the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood."
Today, Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), an organization of Christians, Jews and Islamic reformers, released a 7 minute video showing the close relationship of the Governor to these radicals.
Dr. Charles Jacobs, APT president, said the video highlights Governor Patrick's visit last Saturday to the Muslim American Society's (MAS) controversial Saudi-funded Roxbury mega-mosque and cultural center.
Jacobs said, "The Governor's embrace of Imam Faarooq is especially egregious, given that the Imam recently urged congregants to "pick up the sword and the gun" in the context of supporting recently arrested local Muslims on terror-related charges.
"And it is especially troubling that the office of the MA Attorney General Martha Coakley," Dr. Jacobs continued, "accepted a $50K grant from Imam Faarooq and the MAS to fund the training of Massachusetts law enforcement agencies, training which will likely be conceived and conducted by radicals." The Governor also agreed to comply with a list of "commitments" that MAS leaders requested of him. "These requests," said Jacobs, "which seek to privilege the Muslim community, may open the way for Sharia finance in Massachusetts, and may also encourage the dissemination of radical Islamic propaganda in state agencies and the public schools."
"We can not let false accusations of racism and Islamophobia intimidate our leadership into failing to secure our community," Jacobs said, "We are puzzled as to why the Governor embraces the radicals and their agenda instead of reaching out to truly moderate Muslim leaders in the Boston area."
Governor Patrick please consider the concerns of all the citizens of the Commonwealth and:
1. Stop embracing radicals
2. Give back the questionable money
3. Reach out to truly moderate Muslims
4. Don't let political correctness compromise our security
Imam Faarooq (also Faaruuq)has come on the radar here before. See: Video: Boston Mosque Protest, Church Hall of Shame: St. Paul's, Boston -- Invited Imam Says 'Israel should disappear', and Charles Jacobs: The Imam and the Slaves.
This video's a little cartoony, but I like the way it shows the elevations involved:
Hmmm...MEMRI missed this one. Nizo didn't: On Arab TV: A Generous Jew!
The following is a parody of a Jewish contestant on the Arab version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. Instead of casting the Jew as a selfish scrooge who hogs his winnings, the parody shows him as a philanthropist. No wonder Memri didn't translate this video...
Slumdog it ain't.
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
The Middle East Study Committee of the PC(USA) was given a rather ambitious mandate:
"The study should include an evaluation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s mission and relationships, including an assessment of the future for the Christian presence and witness in the Middle East, an overview of the complex interactions among religions, cultures, and peoples that characterize the region, an analysis of U.S. policies that impact the area, and steps to be taken with our partners in the Middle East and the United States to foster justice, improve interfaith relations, and nurture the building of peace toward A SECURE AND VIABLE FUTURE FOR ALL."
They had two whole years to accomplish these modest goals. In order for the Middle East Study Committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to have produced anything even remotely helpful two things would have been necessary to start: the members of the committee would need to have represented "a broad spectrum of viewpoints" (as specified by the General Assembly instruction that created the committee), and the information sources used by the committee would need to have been accurate and broadly based - covering a wide range of perspectives.
Let's see how they did.
The 218th General Assembly placed only one requirement on composition of the Middle East Study Committee:
The 218th General Assembly (2008) requests that the Moderators of the 218th, 217th, and 216th General Assemblies (2008), (2006), and (2004) select a nine-member committee from a broad spectrum of viewpoints from PC(USA) members.
The first question is this: how broad are the opinions of Presbyterian members? It really depends on the questions asked. Significantly more members and elders opposed the PC(USA)'s phased, selective divestment policy instituted in 2004 than favored it. Significant numbers (30%) had no opinion on this policy. The greater the respondent's reported awareness of the policy, the more likely he or she was to oppose it. At the same time, majorities of Presbyterians agree that, "the PC(USA) should shift its investment funds away from such corporations if it is unable to dissuade them from doing things that directly or indirectly SUPPORT VIOLENCE against Israeli or Palestinian civilians (as it already does from corporations involved in tobacco, military-related production, and human rights violations)." This was consistent with the stand of the 2006 General Assembly. It is, however, inconsistent with the modified stance of the 2008 General Assembly in which the MRTI report managed to include the tag "construction and maintenance of settlements or Israeli-only roads in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory, and construction of the Separation Barrier as it extends beyond the 1967 "Green Line" into Palestinian territories". Majorities of Presbyterians favor a two-state solution. Majorities of Presbyterians oppose the expansion of settlements. When asked to rate the importance of maintaining relationships between Presbyterians and the US Jewish community, 76% of member and 77% of elders considered it "important" or "very important". It would only be a slight oversimplification to say that most Presbyterian members tended to be thoroughly moderate and well within the mainstream of political discourse.
The Middle East Study Committee consisted of nine members and was assisted by four PC(USA) employees.
Continue reading "A Futile Exercise: PC(USA)'s Middle East Study Committee Report (part 2)"If so, they are even more dysfunctional than we thought: U.S. trying to deport 'Son of Hamas' - Feds see 'terrorist' in Christian convert who spied for Israel
The Department of Homeland Security is trying to deport the son of a Hamas founder who told of his conversion to Christianity and decade of spying for Israel in a New York Times best-seller.
"Son of Hamas" author Mosab Hassan Yousef revealed on a blog hosted by his publisher he is scheduled to appear June 30 before Immigration Judge Rico J. Bartolomei at the DHS Immigration Court in San Diego.
Yousef said the DHS informed him Feb. 23, 2009, he was barred from asylum in the U.S. because there were reasonable grounds for believing he was "a danger to the security of the United States" and "engaged in terrorist activity."
An incredulous Yousef said the U.S. government's belief he is a terrorist is based on a complete misinterpretation of passages of his book in which he describes his work as a counterterrorism agent for the Israeli internal intelligence service Shin Bet...
Gary Coleman has died and an era has passed -- a short, slightly dysfunctional era, granted, but an era nonetheless.
So much to say about this, so little time. Here are a bunch of links.
StandWithUs has almost the right response by sending their own counter-flotilla to sea: Counter-flotilla to surprise the Europeans
A fleet of privately owned Israeli boats will leave the Ashdod and Herzliya marinas in hopes of surprising the European activists Friday at 1 p.m.
The counter flotilla ships will be covered in "Free Gaza from Hamas" banners and boat owners will wear blood stained tee shirts, representing Hamas's terror record. The demonstration will be funded by StandWithUs and individual donors...
My dream would be to get a flotilla of boats together manned exclusively by the families of victims of Hamas -- purely a private effort with no government involvement. We'd go intercept them at sea and give them the same treatment those obnoxious Greenpeace guys are always giving those Japanese whalers. No holds barred...stink bombs for their decks, heavy rope to foul their props...you get the drill. And if Yvonne Ridley's foot were to get caught and she were dragged under...well that's just the price we'd have to pay.
Israel has, of course, called their bluff and advised them that they are perfectly willing to ensure all the supplies get to Gaza through the normal means -- but it's really not about the aid supplies, is it? Israel invites the international flotilla to unload its cargo in Ashdod port
The best calling of the bluff has come from the Shalit family, who offered to support the flotilla if they would ask that aid organizations, like the Red Cross, be allowed to visit their son. The flotilla organizers revealingly declined to put in the effort. Richard Landes comments here: Foolish Cowards: The Flotilla Shows its Colors
Jonathan Tobin has a good posting here: The Limits of Anti-Israel Activists' Compassion, and Fresno Zionism: 'Free Gaza' exposed
Then there's this: Israel Publishes Gaza Travel Guidebook For Pro-Hamas Freedom Flotilla
Richard Landes also writes: Flotilla of Fools Tilts at Zionist Windmills: Open Letter to Europeans from a Medievalist
Excellent report from CAMERA: Radical, Pro-Hamas "Flotilla" Seeks Media Win
Previous: Video: Israeli Response to the Gaza Flotilla, Plus: What the Media Won't Tell You and Hamas Ahoy (the Harry's Place link is a must-read).
Update: Elder notes one thing you should never forget is that these crazies lie.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Many individuals and groups harbor deep-seated fears - real or imaginary - that go to the core of their existence and identity. Superman fears green kryponite. The Kennedys fear banishment from the political spotlight. My dog fears thunderclaps.
What do American Jews fear most? What existential or personal threat consumes virtually their every waking (and perhaps, sleeping) moments? Is it the 4:00 am knock on the door from a nouveau Gestapo? Is it a latter day pogrom carried out in Westchester or Silver Spring? Is it the unmasking of a family name from "Gainsborough" to "Ginsberg?"
What strikes fear into most Jewish hearts in America is none of the above. Rather, it lies in the fear that someone might identify them as "Right Wing". This term is, beyond all others, the most dreaded term of opprobrium in the western Jewish world. And, through a combination of Jewish Left Wing propaganda and Arab and Muslim deception, support for Israel has become synonymous with "Right Wing politics." This mark of Cain has gained added potency by the ascension of Barak Hussein Obama and his coterie of '60's leftists from David Axelrod to Elena Kagan.
Sadly, the roots of "left" and "right" have become virtually meaningless and forgotten in the current Crucible-like, finger wagging culture of the Obamatons. Originally, the designations were assigned to members of the pre-Revolutionary French Assemblee Nationale in which the King's supporters were seated to the President's right while those opposed (Jacobins) were seated on the left. From there the trajectories of left and right were pretty much guided by allegiance to - or hatred of- the ancien regimes.
Continue reading "The Sum of All (Jewish) Fears [Hillel]"[The following, by Ben Cohen, is crossposted from Z Word.]
Jeffrey Goldberg has a revealing interview with Marcy Winograd, who is challenging Jane Harman in California's Democratic primary on June 8th.
Here's a collection of Winograd's thoughts as shared with Goldberg:
- Why the US brought 9/11 on itself: "Most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia and were angry at the proliferation of U.S. bases and forces in Saudi Arabia, so I think there's a great degree of pushback over the presence of U.S. troops all over the world."
- In answer to the question, "if we left Afghanistan, wouldn't the Taliban shut down these women-led NGOs?" "Well, that would be the whole point in investing in women-led NGOS, to make them stronger and to help women emerge in leadership positions politically. Under the Soviet-influenced government in Afghanistan, women had far more freedom than they do today, after how many years of American occupation?"
- Why Jews are to blame for antisemitism. "Zionism categorizes Jews as a race, which makes it easier for Jews to be targeted."
- Why a 'one-state' solution doesn't apparently involve killing most of the Jews currently living in Israel in order to be workable. "I'm a believer in equality, one voice, one vote, Israelis and Palestinians, one voice, one vote, that's my personal position."
- And the customary "as-a-Jew" narcissism. "I've labeled myself as a Jewish woman of conscience who is compelled to speak out because of the suffering in the world."
Awful. Just awful.
But here's a question for J-Street. According to this puff piece about Winograd, one of her enthusiastic backers is Lila Garrett, a J-Street Board Member. Is supporting a candidate who, in her own words, reveals herself to be a Soviet apologist, an advocate of Israel's elimination, a believer in the thesis that the US brought 9/11 on itself, a supporter of the equation of Zionism with racism, and an optimist on the Taliban's attitude toward the rights of women compatible with the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" branding?
[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return.]
Paul Berman, author of 'The Flight of the Intellectuals
'A mishmash of Nazi ideas using Islamic rhetoric': that's how Paul Berman, in this interview with Guernica, describes the anti-Jewish ideology of the 1930s, spearheaded by the Mufti of Jerusalem, which primed the Arab world to abet the genocide of the Jews of the Middle East. Today we know this ideology as radical Islam or Islamic fundamentalism. Berman's latest book, The Flight of the Intellectuals
Paul Berman: The Germans had a research center at the University of Tübingen of orientalists, looking for ways to present the Nazi project in Muslim terms. German theoreticians and scholars were coming up with all kinds of ideas of their own, like, couldn't they present Hitler as somebody perhaps granted a new revelation beyond Mohammed; or in relation to Shiism, couldn't Hitler be presented as the twelfth imam? Of course, the Mufti didn't think there was going to be a new revelation because that would be against Islam; Mohammed is the final prophet. But he did go along with recasting some German ideas in Islamic terms, the most important of these was how to think about the Jews. In the Nazi idea, we sometimes forget what Nazi antisemitism was. There were two aspects: one was biological. The Nazis were racists on biological grounds and the Jews were inferior. And the Germans wanted to exterminate these and other inferior races for the genetic good of the future of Aryan mankind. But there was another strand, which was paranoid, based on a paranoid conspiracy theory.
[The following, by an anonymous CiF Watch reader, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
There are some other interesting features of McGreal's original story, which readers might think give an insight into his methods. In what follows, all emboldened text is added by me.
The story (on the internet at least) begins with a picture of the signature page of an agreement dated 3 April 1975.
As can be seen above, this is described in the caption to the picture as: "The secret military agreement signed by Shimon Peres, now president of Israel, and P W Botha of South Africa."
Continue reading "Misquotes and Lies Guardian Style Part II"Wednesday, May 26, 2010
[The following, by May Long, was written subsequent to Sunday's rally for Jerusalem in Brookline, specifically in response to The Jewish Advocate's story about the event, then upcoming, J Street Won't Be Marching, which focused on J Street's unwillingness to join in.]
There was no room for J Street at the May 23 march and rally for United Jerusalem that attracted approximately 550 people outside of Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline!
There was room for truth and the celebration of the extraordinary coming together in friendship of hundreds of Jews and Christians who proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to their homeland with its capital -- an undivided Jerusalem.
Why would any factually informed organization that calls itself "pro-Israel" call the concept of a United Jerusalem an obstacle to peace? What could be their organizational goal?
Palestinian Media Watch reported last week that Palestinian children were being taught that they can vacation in any major city in Israel because Palestine consists of Gaza, the West Bank...and all of Israel, making all of Israel -- their country!
Recent studies around the US are reporting that some American public school text books are teaching the same lesson: Palestine is composed of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank! Do these lessons mean that the Palestinians are interested in peace if and when Israel carves up Jerusalem? Or is the real message "Palestine, From the River to the Sea"?
Every time Israel has sacrificed land for peace, the result has been less security and more violence as demonstrated by the tragic, unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. The obstacle to peace in the Mideast is the desire by Hamas, Hezbolla and all like-minded radical Muslim groups to eliminate the Jewish state.
Is the message of J street -- yesterday Gaza, today Jerusalem, tomorrow the sea?
May Long, Founder, Christians and Jews United for Israel
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Although two stories--the first regarding the U.S. policy handling of Turkey and Brazil's relationship with Iran; the second, this one, on anti-Israel hysteria in the United Kingdom -- are totally different, they reflect the two parts of our current crisis.
These are the ideological and policy derailment of Western governments, on the one hand and, on the other hand, the collapse of the fail-safe systems for key public institutions, especially academia and media. To understand the crisis in both sectors--the greatest perhaps since the end of World War Two--these two halves of the puzzle must be assembled.
Regarding anti-Israel hysteria, it can only be called -- in spirit and worldview -- Medieval in the worst sense of that word. Two British newspapers, the Guardian and Independent, are accusing Israel -- on the basis of a new book -- of offering to sell nuclear weapons to apartheid South Africa.
When you get through all the passionate hatred, distortion, and incited hysteria what is the basis for this accusation? There is a South African document saying that the government would like to buy missiles from Israel. There is a discussion between the South African Defense Minister P.W. Botha and Israel's then Defense Minister Shimon Peres on the topic. Peres says that Israel has large, medium, and small warheads.
That's it. There's no mention of nuclear weapons. No evidence that Israel ever sold missiles to South Africa. No evidence even that the South African government ever began negotiations to buy missiles.
So how was this fantasy created? By dishonestly claiming--with no basis in fact--that "large," "medium" and "small" were codewords for nuclear weapons, and that a totally noncommittal conversational remark constituted a serious offer. By the way, Peres, a man with a lot of credibility, and Pik Botha, who is well respected senior South African official at the time, have denied the story.
Continue reading "We Do Not Live in Normal Times: Britain's Best and Brightest Stage a Pogrom"[This is a guest post by a CiF Watch reader who prefers to remain anonymous and has performed a stunning forensic analysis of evidence adduced by McGreal. It is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
Below is a copy of the second page of minutes from an ISSA meeting produced by Chris McGreal in his "memos and minutes that confirm Israel's nuclear stockpile".
This piece of "proof" adduced by Chris McGreal serves as the lynchpin to McGreal's claims. Here are some observations:
Continue reading "Misquotes and Lies Guardian Style Part I"Tuesday, May 25, 2010
That's no sunspot. On the upper right of the above image of the Sun, the dark patches are actually the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-132...(click for larger)
U.S. Army Sgt. Joshua Morris shoots a mortar round from a 120 mm mortar tube during a training and certification test at a combat outpost in Afghanistan on May 18, 2010. DoD photo by Sgt. Derec Pierson, U.S. Army. (Released)
[The following, by Tom Mountain, appears in The Jewish Advocate.]
Yehuda Reinharz, the president of Brandeis University, did the university, the student body, the American Jewish community, the state of Israel, and Louis Brandeis- the man for whom the university was named -a great honor by inviting Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, to receive an honorary degree and address the Class of 2010 as its commencement speaker.
That Dr. Reinharz, a world renowned Jewish scholar and author of several books on Israel, would choose at this time to have Brandeis honor the foremost representative of Israel in the Western Hemisphere, is both appropriate and gratifying, if not genuinely touching. Because in so doing he is honoring Israel itself, as well as highlighting the American Jewish commitment to the Jewish state.
Perhaps as recently as a few decades ago inviting the Israeli Ambassador to give a commencement speech would have been an afterthought, hardly different from inviting the ambassador from Costa Rica or Denmark. But we have entered an era where the rage of anti-Semitism, thinly disguised as anti-Israel rhetoric, has raised its devious and vociferous voice to proclaim to the masses that Israel (i.e., Jews) is the cause for all that is wrong in the world. And nowhere is this more apparent that on the college campus, something which Ambassador Oren, or for that matter, anyone with Israeli credentials in the Diaspora, can attest to.
Continue reading "Brandeis: The Whole (Jewish) World Is Watching"They have both Arab and Jewish anti-"Zionism". The World Council of Churches has a funny way of celebrating a "World Week for Peace": Palestinian and Jewish Activists to Discuss Occupation and Dispossession
Speakers:
Hazem Jamjoum
Communications officer of the BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights and editor of al-Majdal Quarterly Magazine
and
Caroline and Nathan Finkelstein
Geneva-based members of Urgence Palestine and of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network...
I would suggest that hosting yet another event on how to smash the Zionist entity is probably not a great step forward for the cause of peace.
Well, it can't be comfortable to have an official in the Palestinian Authority brand you a traitor. We all know where that leads, and what's more, where it's intended to lead. Khaled Abu Toameh strikes back the accusation hard. Here's a snip, read the whole thing:
The former PLO "ambassador" to Australia, Ali Kazak, believes that an Arab journalist who writes about financial corruption and theft in the Palestinian Authority is a "traitor" who should be murdered the same way as collaborators were killed by the French Resistance.
Kazak told the newspaper, The Australian: "Khaled Abu Toameh is a traitor. Traitors were also murdered by the French Resistance, in Europe; this happens everywhere."
Asked why he calls the journalist a traitor, the former PLO representative, who lives in Australia, explained: "Palestinians are the victims. He shouldn't write about them, he should write about the crimes of the Israelis."
Kazak's threat does not come as a surprise to those who are familiar with the methods used by Arab dictatorships to silence anyone who dares to demand reforms and transparency.
The threat reminds journalists like me how lucky we are that we live in Israel and not under the jurisdiction of the PLO or Hamas.
We are also fortunate that Kazak and his radical supporters are sitting far away in Australia and not in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where they would be lining up journalists and critics against the wall and shooting them like the "traitors who were murdered by the French Resistance."
The PLO, like most of the Arab dictatorships, has a long history of targeting journalists who refuse to "toe the line." This clampdown is one of the main reasons why the Palestinian media is still far from being independent and free...
Read some of that history at the link.
[The following, by AKUS, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
The Guardian has gone nuclear ("postal" may be more accurate) over the "revelation" that South Africa approached Israel in 1975 in an apparent effort to obtain nuclear technology. Unfortunately, its sources are tainted, as usual, in its rush to judgment once again.
The case the Guardian tries to build against Israel (in the hope of "demonstrating" that Israel is an apartheid state and a nuclear proliferator) is that Israel offered nuclear weapons technology to South Africa in 1975, during the period when the Apartheid regime was in power. It bases its claim primarily on a new book, "The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship With Apartheid South Africa", by an American researcher - or a researcher at an American think-tank, at any rate - Sasha Polakow-Suransky.
However, there are massive flaws in the story the Guardian is trying to sell:
Continue reading "Psychedelic Mushroom Clouds at the Guardian"On the subject of Elvis Costello's decision to end his career by joining the BDS movement, I decided to play the superego (in every sense of the word) to Sol's id on the subject. Thoughts on the subject can be found at Divest This!
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Here's a tough problem they didn't teach at Government Spokesman Preparatory School. A question is asked during the State Department press briefing:
QUESTION: Do you have any comment on Pakistan's blockage of...YouTube and other Internet sites?
The occasion was the decision of Pakistan to block sites because some carried pictures of Muhammad, founder of Islam.
Now, how can P.J. Crowley respond? Fortunately, the State Department had prepared a statement for him:
MR. CROWLEY: "Obviously, this is a difficult and challenging issue. Many of the images that appear today on Facebook were deeply offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We are deeply concerned about any deliberate attempt to offend Muslims or members of any other religious groups. We do not condone offensive speech that can incite violence or hatred.
"...We also believe that the best answer to offensive speech is dialogue and debate, and in fact, we see signs that that is exactly what is occurring in Pakistan. Governments have a responsibility to protect freedom of expression and the free flow of information.
"The best antidote to intolerance is not banning or punishing offensive speech, but rather a combination of robust legal protections against discrimination and hate crimes, and proactive government outreach to minority religious groups and the vigorous defense of both freedom of religion and expression.
"....We respect any actions that need to be taken under Pakistani law to protect their citizens from offensive speech. At the same time, Pakistan has to make sure that in taking any particular action, that you're not restricting speech to the millions and millions of people who are connected to the internet and have a universal right to the free flow of information."
Crowley is trying to balance freedom of speech with Political Correctness plus the administration's policy. Granted, his situation wasn't easy and that he was trying to give a reasonable response (much more so than the snippets appearing in some media make it seem), he did fall into some holes.
Continue reading "U.S. State Department on Blocking Free Speech: Today Pakistan, Tomorrow the World?"[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return. This one is a must-read with wide-ranging implications.]
Wall detail at Beit Mourad Farhi, once owned by Syrian Jew Raphael Farhi (Courtesy: www.farhi.com)
Awash with conspiracy theories about Zionist power, Syria is not a comfortable place to be a Jew. Any mention of the suffering of Syrian Jews is met with blank stares. But in this fascinating account of his eight months in Damascus, specially written for Point of No Return, this young student of Arabic from Denver, Colorado found empathy from oppressed Kurds and other minorities:
"Most young American Jews that I know have chosen to visit or live in Israel at some point in their lives, not only as a way of familiarizing themselves with Eretz Yisrael or Judaism, but as an introduction to the broader Middle East. I too just finished living in the region for eight months, although my country of choice was not Israel, it was Syria.
"This was a shocking choice for family and friends. Even my Arabic professor, who is an Armenian Christian from Syria, gravely warned me to never mention my religion or any prior travel to Israel, let alone his name in case the secret police are watching me. His admonitions were not at all surprising given his recollections of growing up in Aleppo and on class trips with his school to watch the authorities hang Jews.
"My experiences in Syria, as well as my travel throughout Lebanon, Jordan, and Kurdish Iraq, ranged from the absurdly predictable to the wonderfully unexpected and surprising. My first observation upon arriving in Damascus was how Palestinian flags almost outnumber Syrian flags across the country. At the government subsidized Arabic language center, uncritically profiled by the New York Times, there is a map in every classroom of Palestine (without Israel, although Tel-Abeeb is on the map), some making dubious land claims to Lebanon and Turkey as well, while many teachers teach propaganda to students from all over the world. This can range from learning Palestinian resistance songs to learning about IDF 'massacres' and teaching the students about their perspectives on Zionism. This is done while extolling the Arab armies for their superior ethics in battle, which Judaism does not have, according to my teacher, and their "meticulous" distinctions between Jew, Israeli and Zionist.
Continue reading "An American Jew in Damascus"MFA Spokesman on Gaza flotilla
Ships forcing their way into Gaza will do nothing to aid the people there. Existing land crossings are more than capable of meeting their needs...
And an unofficial video:
[This one doesn't seem to want to embed. View it here.]
Tom Gross reports on just how dishonest the entire narrative is in this must-read: Fancy restaurants and Olympic-size pools: What the media won't report about Gaza
...What they won't tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip's crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn't fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write.
Here, courtesy of the Palestinian Ma'an news agency, is a report on Gaza's new Olympic-sized swimming pool . (Most Israeli towns don't have Olympic-size swimming pools. One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?)
If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can "dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu".
The restaurant's website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza. And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don't tell their readers about them).
And here is a promotional video of the club restaurant . In case anyone doubts the authenticity of this video, I just called the club in Gaza City and had a nice chat with the manager who proudly confirmed business is booming and many Palestinians and international guests are dining there...
Gross has even more information at his own site.
Judgment has been passed. What's interesting is that even the judge doesn't know the specifics of the items compromised: Former FBI employee sentenced for leaking classified papers
A Silver Spring man who worked as a linguist for the FBI was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison for leaking secret documents to a blogger.
But federal prosecutors in Maryland have remained mum about exactly what was contained in the classified papers that Shamai K. Leibowitz, 39, gave the unnamed blogger in April 2009, while he worked on contract for the FBI. According to court records, the documents concerned "communication intelligence activities."
During a Monday hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dunne said Leibowitz "betrayed the FBI when he worked there," but offered no details.
U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. said the response of federal authorities convinced him Leibowitz committed a "very, very serious offense." But the judge said even he does not know what information Leibowitz, a Hebrew scholar, disclosed...
...Leibowitz, who worked as a lawyer in Israel and has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, said in court papers that he worked for the U.S. State Department in 2006, teaching Hebrew and Israeli law and culture to American diplomats. He said he then was hired as a contractor by the U.S. Department of Defense at its Defense Language Institute.
According to court papers, Leibowitz worked on contract for the FBI from January through August 2009.
In court Monday, Leibowitz said he made a mistake. But he said that, at the time he revealed the classified information, he believed the documents showed a "violation of the law." He said he should have pursued other options within the government to report his concerns.
So a known political radical like Leibowitz was not only hired to teach diplomats, but was trusted with classified documents which he, in keeping with the stereotype of the leftist political radical, took it upon himself to disclose when he, in his own judgment, decided it was appropriate to do so...
Monday, May 24, 2010
Big, big endorsement for Joel that should be good for some serious attention. Marathon Pundit reports: Alan Dershowitz to endorse Joel Pollak in Illinois' 9th
Chicago, IL (May 24, 2010) - Alan Dershowitz--acclaimed lawyer, defender of Israel, and lifelong Democrat--will headline a Chicago luncheon on June 16, 2010 as he endorses Skokie resident Joel Pollak, the Republican nominee for Illinois's 9th congressional district.
The event is being held at the Wildfire Restaurant (159 W. Erie St.) in Chicago. Guests will include prominent Democrats and Republicans who support Pollak's campaign to unseat incumbent Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D), and who oppose the Obama administration's confrontational approach towards Israel, which Rep. Schakowsky refuses to criticize.
"Concern about the Iranian nuclear threat, and about the deterioration in U.S. relations with Israel, are sparking a backlash among pro-Israel voters in general and Jewish voters in particular," Pollak said. "The Obama administration is not listening, and Rep. Schakowsky refuses to speak out. That is why so many people in our district are coming forward to support me. If we want Israel to survive to 2012 and beyond, we have to make a difference in 2010. I am honored that Professor Dershowitz will be joining us, and humbled by his support. We backed different sides in the 2008 election. We are standing together in the 2010 election in the 9th District."...
More.
It wasn't so long ago that Joel was debating Dershowitz concerning Obama's treatment of Israel: Has Obama Turned On Israel? A Discussion between Alan Dershowitz and Joel Pollak.
Sunday's event in Brookline (see link for background) was a huge success! The weather was beautiful. Attendance was between 5-800. Pretty darn good considering none of the big organizations (CJP, JCRC, etc...) gave any backing -- though CJP's Barry Shrage did address the crowd. Word is that a good half or more of the attendees were Christian friends of the Jews and Israel.
The Brothers of Judea were there, and have a report with pictures, here. They have another entry with video of the speech by Rev. Frank Eiklor of Shalom International, here. Here's the vid:
From CJUI, here is Charles Jacobs of Americans for Peace and Tolerance:
Update: Ary Rotman:
Update2: This is a good video to see the size of the crowd:
Here is a collection of photos. Credit goes to Rotem Brayer, Elaine, and others. Congratulations to everyone who showed up for this great event:
[The following, by Zach, is crossposted from The Brothers of Judea.]
The Arab-Israeli conflict is an issue about which a large number of people have very strong opinions. I am as familiar with the pro-Palestinian point of view as I am with the pro-Israel point of view, and I have come to accept that from a certain point of view free-thinking, moral, intelligent people can come to support the Palestinians over Israel. Even though that is not my particular view, I can see how others can come to the conclusion.
That being said, I have noticed among the HPers at least, the more scurrilous debating tactics are used far more often by the pro-Palestinian commentators than by the pro-Israel ones. I know that I am not the most objective of observers, and I know that I have my own biases. But in my experience (and I think most objective observers would agree as well) someone who is pro-Palestinian/anti-Zionist is far more likely to use the following tactics:
1. Ad Hominem attacks and insults: This covers everything from "you're an idiot," to "you need to read a book." Of all the tactics, this is the one that Zionists use the most as well, but insults are just part of the discourse on the Internet. I am not going to get too hung up about it. Here's an example.
2. The "Hasbara" accusation: Say what you will about the HP Zionists, but they never accuse their opponents of being paid propagandists in place of a rational argument. In contrast, even the most moderate of pro-Palestinian posters have used it at least once. Even if their opponents are hasbara, people who are (a) well informed and (b) in the right should be able to win the argument anyway. In the interests of full disclosure, Matt and I sometimes accuse people of "Palsbara" but that is intended to be ironic. Here is an example.
3. Copy-Bombing: Zionists use this one every now and then as well, but I have seen pro-Palestinian posters far more often use the tactic of copying and pasting large sections of text with which to spam a thread. Some posters like "eileenflemingwawa" only communicate in that way. Sometimes with the use of a plagiarism detector Matt has found that they get their copy-bombs from sites like Stormfront and Electronic Intifada. No lie. Here is an example.
4. Waving the bloody shirt: In place of a rational argument pro-Palestinian commentators will demand that their opponents feel sorry for the Palestinians, otherwise they will accuse them of being "heartless" and "racist." This is a failed tactic because most people do feel sorry for the Palestinians. I certainly do. That doesn't make them right. Here is an example.
5. Playing the race card: As much as the pro-Palestinian HPers claim that they are falsely accused of anti-Semitism, they will accuse their opponents of racism (or "Islamophobia") at the slightest provocation. Zionists do accuse their opponents of anti-Semitism/having a prejudice against Jews, sometimes not always fairly. But as I said, I go by what I see, and I see the race card being used by the AZs far too often for them to complain about the other side doing it. Here is an example.
6. Dredging up the past: Pro-Palestinian posters love talking about what is (for this conflict) ancient history. Things like the USS Liberty, Deir Yassin, Sabria and Shatila are all copy bombed or spammed about, even though they don't have anything to do with the subject at hand. In contrast, Zionist posters don't dredge up Arab atrocities like the Hebron Massacre or the Munich Olympics attack, though they very easily could. Here is an example.
7. False Choices: A new tactic that I have noticed among the HPers is the use of the false choice: Their opponents must either agree that Israel is evil or be labeled "racist," "uncivilized," "immoral," etc. This argument most normally takes the form of the HPer saying, "The whole world condemns Israel for it's actions during Cast Lead," or more often, "all civilized people are sick of Israel's continual occupation of Palestinian lands." It is a pretty transparent form for an argument to take, and in my experience it is done exclusively by pro-Palestinian commentators. Here is an example.
Does all of this mean that Israel is right and the Palestinians are wrong? I don't know for sure, but I'm just saying....I don't see the Zionists using these debating tactics. They don't need them. I think that should tell you something.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Something's missing. Or at least it seems to be missing. Today when liberty is at threat from Western left-wing ideologues, revolutionary Islamists, and sometimes from governments themselves, we--or I, at least--keep expecting some mass protest, some upsurge of criticism and exposure, among the intellectuals. Since this is a group I belong to (I say this in sadness rather than to brag), it is especially painful for me to admit this fact.
For years, in their thousands they have proclaimed their courage. Just let some authoritarian or totalitarian or just plain mean, human-rights' denying movement raise its head, they've been telling us and themselves, and we'll swing into action! And as long as the threat is tiny or distance and opposing it is fashionable, that happened sometimes.
Yet the notion of fearless intellectuals who dare speak truth to power and defend what is right like a lioness protects its cubs is largely the creation of...intellectuals themselves. They are best fearless when there is nothing much to fear.
But let someone threaten violence if a cartoon of Muhammad appears and they crumble up like a cardboard suit in a tropical downpour. What they are really good at, however, is coming up with excuses for making going down on their knees seem an act of exquisite humanity.
Continue reading "Why Should We Be Surprised that Intellectuals have Failed to Defend Freedom and Democratic Values?"Sunday, May 23, 2010
Ever since Obama's obeisant address to the Arab and Muslim world at Cairo University in June of 2009, the administration's animus towards Israel has taken the form of public snubs, public rebukes and private overtures to some the world's most heinous, Jew- hating regimes. The process usually begins with emissaries who have no official ties to the administration, but who mysteriously show up on the doorsteps of Damascus or southern Lebanon.
They include Robert Malley, whose "black ops" relationship with Obama came to light in 2008 when then candidate Obama "sacked" him for contacts with Hamas. Malley, an inveterate anti-Israel operative, whose longstanding apologetics for Arafat (Arafat managed to have Malley's father, Simon, re-admitted to France after his ties with terrorist organizations were discovered) nearly got him fired while he was working for the Clinton administration. Thus began Obama's "plausible deniability" tactic vis a vis Israel. The process goes something like this:
- Hire - either openly or covertly - individuals who are hostile to Israel
- Send them on "fact finding" missions to hostile regimes and groups
- Deny that these individuals have officials ties to the administration
- If their activities are discovered, hedge the explanation with comments like:
"Rob Malley has, like hundreds of other experts, provided informal advice to the campaign in the past. He has no formal role in the campaign and he will not play any role in the future."
- When the heat is off, re-hire them, again, openly or covertly, to pursue the same, anti-Israel policies
For their part, the covert operative is scripted to say, in the case of Mr. Malley, for example,
Continue reading "Hezbollah's New Lipstick, Pucker Up, Says Obama [Hillel]"[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
I said earlier that the commissioners to the PC(USA)'s 219th General Assembly are faced with a Solomonic task. They are barraged with:
- calls to divest from Caterpillar;
- calls to condemn Caterpillar;
- a call to endorse the Kairos Palestine document, "A Moment of Truth";
- a call for the PC(USA) to find Israel guilty of the crime of apartheid and to urge the United Nations to take some unspecified action;
- a call to "express extreme disappointment" that Israel continues to be a recipient of US military aid;
- a peculiar report from the ACSWP that, in the entire world, finds ONLY Israel to be guilty of religious discrimination requiring Presbyterian attention;
- a communication from the Israel / Palestine Mission Network of the PC(USA) that objects to the existence of a Jewish state, that blames an increase in antisemitism on Israelis actions, and that accuses - without offer of proof - American Jewish Organizations of burning down a church, that suggests that American Jewish Organizations sent a bomb to PC(USA) headquarters as part of a pattern of intimidation and censorship, and that puts these two terrorist accusations they have leveled on an equal footing with Jewish neighbors visiting Presbyterian churches. This hate-filled communication was apparently supported by they Presbytery of San Francisco.
At the same time, commissioners have been presented with a couple of options that lack the overt hostility toward Israel and the Jewish people seen in the above proposals.
Continue reading "A Futile Exercise: PC(USA)'s Middle East Study Committee Report (part 1)"[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Not long ago, Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was a lion in standing up to the threat that Hizballah and its Iranian and Syrian sponsors would gain hegemony over Lebanon.
Now, he's a lion siding with Hizballah, Iran, and Syria. He identifies Israel as Lebanon's immediate enemy but--guess what?--also views the United States as Lebanon's enemy. So who is Lebanon's friend and protector? Iran and Syria.
Jumblatt is no coward but he's also no fool. If the Obama Administration won't stand up against tyrants and Islamists he sees no reason to sacrifice himself in a losing battle.
Continue reading "Does Anyone in the U.S. Government Notice that They've Pushed Lebanon Into Iran's Arms?"Saturday, May 22, 2010
Via Ezra Levant, here's his own and Ayaan Hirsi Ali appearing on John Stossel's show.
[For some reason, the video isn't showing here. Go ahead and watch it on Fox's site.]
In a wide-ranging interview, Alan Dershowitz continues to unload on the morally vacuous Richard Goldstone:
..."Why do I call Goldberg a traitor?" Dershowitz asks rhetorically. "Because he knew he was being asked to serve [on the UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission to Gaza] only because he was Jewish. He knew he was being asked to give a hechsher to an absolutely treif report. He knew that the UN Human Rights Council was an illegitimate organization. He was asked to lend it legitimacy. Exactly what he was asked to do by the apartheid government. He was asked to use his robe to give judicial cover to an illegitimate racist regime and he did it twice. He did it during the apartheid regime, and he did it to give legitimacy to the UN Human Rights Council. If he as a Jew had not had his name on that report, no one would have taken it seriously."
As for Goldstone's work as a judge under apartheid, Dershowitz says: "His defense of 'I was just following orders' is much like the defense used by German judges, and Goldstone authorized the torture of blacks in what's euphemistically called flogging but is torture under international law.... If the statute of limitations were still viable, he could be prosecuted as a criminal for authorizing the torture of blacks in South Africa. He couldn't defend himself by saying 'I was just following a law.' You cannot follow a law that authorized torture. Particularly torture that had nothing to do with national security. It was punitive."
Dershowitz doesn't buy the argument in Goldstone's defense that as apartheid came to an end he was appointed, with the concurrence of Nelson Mandela, to head a commission of inquiry into the excesses of the South African security forces.
"He's an opportunist," counters Dershowitz. "He goes where the wind blows.... I think there was an agreement by both sides, much like Northern Ireland, to bury the past. I'm not part of that agreement. I don't have to bury the past. Remember too that in Germany after [John] McCloy pardoned all the Nazi war criminals, there was an agreement also. Many of them served as judges, many of them served with distinction, but memory has its claims."
More.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Call the media, HRW, AI, etc, etc...
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip plans to raze another 180 Palestinian houses, on top of the 20 it recently demolished in the southern town of Rafah, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights charged on Thursday.
The 20 houses already destroyed were home to some 150 people, who are now homeless and living in tents, the organization said.
The government said it razed the houses because they were built illegally on government land. The organization said that Hamas plans to use the same pretext to demolish houses in Khan Yunis and other towns.
Most of these houses' inhabitants are poor, the organization said, and several saw their previous houses demolished during the years of fighting with Israel.
Palestinians sources told Haaretz that the area in question, comprising around 200 dunams (some 50 acres ), had been given by the Hamas government to a charitable organization called Fadila so that it could build a religious study center there comprising a school, a college and a mosque. But when Fadila sought to begin construction, it discovered that dozens of houses had been built on the site...
I say we air-drop in a pallet of Flat Fatimas.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
What follows is a satire intended for the public's instruction on serious matters of contemporary interest.
The Tragedy of Julius Obamus
By Barry Rubin
ACT III, SCENE I.
Rome. Before the Capitol. Obama enters and walks to stage center.
Pollster: Obama! Beware the Ides of November!
Obamus: Begone, thou Teapartier!
Don't you know that they all love me best,
since I have apologized with so much zest?
Besides, it is merely May, you fool,
And I'm here to ask all legislators to rule
sanctions against the Empire of Persia which
Is developing eight-horse chariots!
[At stage left, the conspirators stand and confer. It is amazing how many there are: Putin Russiaus, Markus Chinaus, and Metullus Syrius, Cassius Libyaus and Tiberius North Koreaus, Publius Venezuelaus and Nero Pakistanus, Caligula Brazilianus and Septo Bolivianus, among others. Then there are the many onlookers who are watching closely. Is Obamaus a mighty leader, to whom their knees must then bend or a wimp they can--indeed must!--defy to survive?]
Putin Russius: I fear our purpose is discovered.
Metullus Syrius: Be constant and fear not any at all,
For by our promises and cunning words will fall,
even the most mighty of our enemies.
They are naive and only see,
the world as they want it to be.
Rather than diplomacy as a brutal scrimmage,
they see other countries as a mirror image.
The cruelest tyrant, the men who bring terror,
they think are merely offspring of their imperial error.
Follow my example closely!
[He approaches Obama and kneels]
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Obamus,
Metellus Syrius throws before thy seat
A humble heart.
Here's a terrific essay by Benjamin Kerstein that riffs on Peter Beinart's agonizing over the difficulty of being a liberal and a Zionist: Liberalism and Zionism. Although most critiques of modern "liberals" really seem more to relevant to a criticism of "leftism," in this case the terminology is correct. Liberalism has a problem when its love isn't reciprocated (see the essay). Liberals have trouble with the fact that the greatest force for liberalism during WW2 was American and British guns and ammunition. When dealing with theo-fascists and cultural imperialists unwilling to accept a Jewish sovereignty in the eastern Mediterranean, that force is represented by security fences and targeted hellfire strikes. This can be a bitter pill to swallow for those who have trouble dealing with the world as it is.
Here's a snip:
...It should be noted first that, ideologically speaking, Zionism is not necessarily opposed to liberalism; it does, however, assert that liberalism, in and of itself, is not enough. It is not enough to provide safety and security for the Jewish people, let alone the kind of cultural and political renaissance that Zionism sought to create. It is not a coincidence that Theodore Herzl was moved to found political Zionism by the Dreyfuss trial in France and the rise of organized political anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria. What drove Herzl--originally a liberal not unlike Beinart himself--was the realization that liberalism was failing, and inevitably would fail completely. The promise of liberalism in that era was that, if the Jews became good liberals, they would be left alone to pursue happiness as best they could. "But I do not think," Herzl wrote ominously, "that we will be left alone." For Herzl, the promise of liberalism, which for him was much as it is for Beinart, could only be realized for the Jews within the framework of a Jewish state.
That liberals then and liberals now find this uncomfortable should not be overly surprising. Liberalism has always been, generally speaking, a form of middle class secular messianism; an edifying millenialism for those with much money and many guns between them and reality. Once everyone becomes liberal, liberalism has always assumed, we will all be happy. Beinart, not unlike his predecessors, clearly believes more or less the same thing. Zionism asserts that not only will the Jews not be happy under liberalism and liberalism alone, but they will not even be capable of surviving the depredations of the modern world. For that, a stronger force is needed; namely, national independence and political sovereignty. Of course, there is a strongly messianic element to Zionism as well, especially in its religious form, but it is a competing and different messianism than that of liberalism. Liberalism asserts that for the Jews to be good and free, they must become liberal. Zionism asserts that for the Jews to exist at all, let alone be good and free--or liberal for that matter--they must first have a Jewish state...
[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return.]
Marwa Abdel Karim sings a song by Sarit Haddad (photo: AFP)
Now that there are almost no Jews left, modern Hebrew is being taught in Iraq, AFP reports, yet instruction in the language was banned from the 1930s when the country had a community of 150,000 Jews - an irony most probably lost on the 150 now studying Hebrew at Baghdad university. None chose this dead-end career option, the need for Hebrew-speaking spies having dried up in Iraq. We can only hope that the unexpected acquaintance of these students with the music of Sarit Haddad might help humanize Jews and nurture an interest in Israeli culture. (with thanks: bh)
Continue reading "Pretty girls learning Hebrew in Iraq"Details at CJUI:
The UNDIVIDED CAPITAL of ISRAEL
Sunday, May 23, 3-5:30 pm
March will start and end at
Congregation Kehillath Israel
384 Harvard Street
Brookline MA
Christians, Jews, and Americans of all faiths who love Israel must unite and speak the truth about Jerusalem
Jerusalem is Israel's Eternal Capital....Biblically, Historically & Politically
- For over 3,000 years, no nations or empires but Israel have had their capital in Jerusalem.
- The Bible mentions the name "Jerusalem" nearly 800 times; but not once is it mentioned in the Qur'an.
- The U.S. House in 1990 and the Senate in 1995 passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act recognizing Jerusalem as the spiritual center of Judaism and the undivided capital of Israel, where persons of all religious faiths are guaranteed full access to holy sites. This Act further authorized the United States to move its Embassy to Jerusalem.
- Israel has the sovereign right, like any democratic nation, to allow the building of new houses for its residents anywhere, including all of Jerusalem.
Sponsored by:
Christians and Jews United for Israel, Rev. Fumio Taku, President and the May Long Activism Fund for Israel
Endorsed by:
Boston Israel Action Committee; Vision NH for Israel; Consulate General of Israel to New England; Charles Jacobs/Americans for Peace and Tolerance; H. Freedman/Americans for a Safe Israel; L. Cardoza-Moore/Proclaiming Justice To the Nations; L. Lowenthal Marcus/Z-Street; R. Kunst/Shalom International; Act for America ( Palm Beach County Chapter); B. Gilinsky/Jewish Action Alliance; South Area Israel Action; Unity Coalition for Israel; R. Booker/Institute for Hebraic-Christian Studies; Temple Reyim; Hope Chapel, Keene NH; Russian Jewish Community Foundation rjcf.com; Solomonia.com; Boston's Patriots; Boston4Israel; Rev. Lennie Allen/Bridges for Peace; Zionist Organization of America; Commonwealth Covenant Keepers; Israel My Delight
Rabbi A. Alpert/Congregation Agudat Achim; Rabbi William G Hamilton; Rabbi J Hausman/AhavathTorah Congregation; Pastor R. Miranda/Congregation Lion of Judah; Pastor V. Khokhlan/King of Nations House of Prayer; Rabbi A. Turetz/Temple Emeth; Rev. F. Eiklor/Shalom Int'l; Pastor S. Smith/Christian Renewal Church; Pastor R. Ingram/ Victory Assembly of God; Rabbi J. Segal/Congregation Betenu; Rabbi M. Sendor/Young Israel of Sharon; Rabbi G. Haber/ Congregation Mishkan Tefila; Pastor D. Long/Faith Christian Church; Pastor T. Peetz/Word of Life Church; Rabbi J. Pritzker/Congregation Or Yisrael; Pastor G. E. Bell/Strong Tower Church; Anna Kolodner; Ph.D; Paul Sassieni; J. Marks/New England Concerts of Prayer; Rabbi Dr. G. C. Gewirtz /Young Israel of Brookline; Rabbi D. H. Liben, Temple Israel of Natick
Dear Friends of Israel,
Please join us at the March for Jerusalem on May 23rd. There will be flags, banners, music, and speakers in support of an undivided Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Read PMW Bulletin: PA tells Israel to go to Europe and Ethiopia, falsely claiming that all of Israel is "stolen" land.
We must arise and speak truth about Israel's right to exist as the national homeland for Jews, and Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital.
At the March, you will also be able to add your signature to the following "Declaration of Support for Israel and Jerusalem".
In response to rising global anti-Semitism and threats to Israel's security, we declare our support of Israel's right to exist as the historical national homeland for Jews, with Jerusalem as her undivided capital. We further support Israel's right to retain secure and defensible borders for the protection of her citizens against foreign enemies and terror insurgents.
We recognize Israel as the most democratic nation in the Middle East, a nation that guarantees "complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race or sex" and pledges to "safeguard the Holy Places of all religion." (Quoted from the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence). Sharing with us these precious democratic and Judeo-Christian values, Israel has been and must remain America's closest ally in the Middle East.
For the last 3,000 years, despite foreign occupiers and attackers, Israel has been the declared homeland of one people: the Jews. The Babylonians in the sixth century BCE and the Romans in 70 CE destroyed the Temple and scattered the Jewish people. Subsequent empires have appropriated the land. Yet, none of them, including the Arab Muslim occupiers, have ever called Israel their homeland, or Jerusalem their national capital. Finally, in 1948, the Jews reclaimed their nation, with Jerusalem as its capital. But from 1948 to 1967, Jordan closed off the east Jerusalem and the West Bank from Israel, stopping any Jews from visiting their holy sites. In the 1967 Six Day War, Israel re-captured all of Jerusalem and brought her undivided capital under a sovereign Jewish rule. And thus it shall remain as Israel's eternal capital.
The Bible specifically mentions the name "Jerusalem" nearly 800 times, linking the city with the faith and history of the Jewish people. In contrast, the birth of Islam 1,400 years ago took place outside the land of Israel. The name of Jerusalem does not appear even once in Islam's holy book, the Qur'an.
Despite over a century of Arab rejectionism and wars large and small that have needlessly taken thousands of Jewish and Arab lives, a secure Israel must continue to be the center of our hopes and prayers.
"[The] heart and soul of the Jewish people engenders the thought that if you want one simple word to symbolize all of Jewish history, that word would be 'Jerusalem.'"
-Teddy Kollek
In view of the above, on May 23, 2010, at the Boston March for Jerusalem, we declare and affirm our support of Israel and her undivided capital, Jerusalem.
For some reason, The Jewish Advocate thinks the headline of the upcoming march is: J Street won't be marching. That's the headline? Who cares what J Street thinks? The truth is, however, that you can be on the left or the right and support this march. Until 1967 Jews couldn't even look at their holiest places. The Arabs never respected or respect the rights of other religions to worship freely, and until a new day dawns and that changes, it's up to those of us in the Free West to assert our rights and maintain a negotiating position that demands respect.
Continue reading "Boston: Rally & March for Jerusalem!"Thursday, May 20, 2010
I really like this one, from Reason's contest:
Other posts: Malkin and Zombie.
And The Flea:
...To be clear: Islam is not the problem. Muslims are not the problem. Even death threats are not the problem. Our cowardice masquerading as respect is the problem...
[The following, by Ben-Dror Yemini, is posted in full. Related: Richard Landes comments, here: Palestinian Nakba: The Politics of Victimhood and the Folly of the West]
The Palestinians have been holding the title of "refugees" for over six decades -- They have succeeded in creating a unique historical narrative for themselves -- This myth is growing, so it should be shattered and the real facts presented: the Palestinian population before the first Aliya was sparse, hundreds of thousands of Jews were also expelled from Arab countries, and there is no precedent anywhere in the world for the right of return.
The Nakba - the story of the Palestinian refugees is the greatest success story in the history of modern times - a success that is a complete fraud. There is no other group of "refugees" in the world that has gotten such broad global coverage. Not a week goes by without a conference, another conference, about the wretched state of the Palestinians. There is not a campus in the West that does not devote countless events, conferences and publications, each year or each month to the issue of the Palestinian refugees. They have become the ultimate victims. A million calamities and injustices and expulsions and population exchanges and acts of genocide and slaughter and wars have befallen the world since the Arabs, among them the Palestinians, declared a war of annihilation on Israel - but the Nakba of the Palestinians takes up most of the space. A visitor from another planet would think that it was the greatest injustice suffered by the entire universe since the Second World War. So it is best to shatter this lie. It is best to present the real facts. It is best to expose the fraud.
Continue reading "Ben-Dror Yemini: Nakba Day and the Fraud"[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
Items from committees that concern Israelis and Palestinians that are scheduled to come before the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
These two papers, "Christians and Jews: People of God", and, "Toward an Understanding of Christian Muslim Relations", have been submitted by the General Assembly Mission Council. They were produced jointly by the Office of Theology and Worship, the Office of Interfaith Relations, and the Office of Evangelism. They are (for the most part) intended to reflect the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s self-understanding of its theology in relationship to Judaism and Islam. As such, I believe this to be a mostly internal matter to the denomination. Basically, the PC(USA) has the right to form and articulate its own theology, and it is not really the place of those of us on the outside to do so. As a former member of a PC(USA) church, I, of course, have a strong personal interest in the topic, but I only want to comment on this insofar as it impacts Presbyterian activism directed at others.
Item 08-03 "Approve the paper: 'Christians and Jews: People of God'"
Unlike the paper on Christian-Muslim relations, this paper is accompanied by only three recommendations.
1. Approve for study and reflection the paper, "Christians and Jews: People of God" and distribute it to the church electronically.
2. Commend "Christians and Jews: People of God" to governing bodies and congregations as guidance for the occasions in which Presbyterians and Jews converse, cooperate, and enter into dialogue.
3. Commend "Christians and Jews: People of God" to governing bodies and congregations as guidance for the development of programs and resources.
Unlike the recommendation from the paper on Christian-Muslim relations, this is not a call for the development of specific items. It is, however, an indication that this document is to be used as a resource when such resources are produced..
There are, however, several significant (even extraordinary) items within the paper itself that have a direct bearing on PC(USA) actions and stances on Israelis and Palestinians.
Continue reading "The PC(USA)'s GA Business from Committees: Paper on Christians and Jews"[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
Items from committees that concern Israelis and Palestinians that are scheduled to come before the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
These two papers, "Christians and Jews: People of God", and, "Toward an Understanding of Christian Muslim Relations", have been submitted by the General Assembly Mission Council. They were produced jointly by the Office of Theology and Worship, the Office of Interfaith Relations, and the Office of Evangelism. They are (for the most part) intended to reflect the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s self-understanding of its theology in relationship to Judaism and Islam. As such, I believe this to be a mostly internal matter to the denomination. Basically, the PC(USA) has the right to form and articulate its own theology, and it is not really the place of those of us on the outside to do so. As a former member of a PC(USA) church, I, of course, have a strong personal interest in the topic, but I only want to comment on this insofar as it impacts Presbyterian activism directed at others.
Continue reading "The PC(USA)'s GA Business from Committees: Paper on Christian-Muslim Relations"[The following, by Eamonn McDonagh, is crossposted from Z Word.]
Michael Mansfield is a renowned British criminal lawyer and in an open letter to Nick Clegg, Britain's new Deputy Prime Minister, in today's Guardian he writes,
As I write, a flotilla of ships convened by a collective of courageous individuals is heading towards the coast of Gaza laden with cement for the long overdue reconstruction [...] the Royal Navy (recently employed to rescue stranded airline passengers) should be on hand to prevent the Israeli navy from violating the lawful activities of European citizens.
Poor Mansfield, he mixes yearning for an imperial past when the Royal Navy, simply by appearing on the scene and inspiring fear, could be used to impose Britain's will on rebellious colonial subjects, with a notable ignorance of the state of the Senior Service today. Pity the people whose interests Mansfield and those like him seek to defend.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
[The following, by Charles Jacobs, appears in this week's Jewish Advocate.]
So it comes out that Richard Goldstone author of the UN report that condemned Israel for purposely killing Palestinian civilians during the Gaza conflict, has his own closet full of skeletons: He consigned 29 blacks to the gallows when he was a judge in apartheid South Africa. He also sentenced black men to be tortured - "flogging," they called it.
In response to the world (the Jews anyway) taking notice, Goldstone explains - in phrases awfully close to "I was only following orders" - that he was only acting "within the existing judicial system," namely apartheid.
Surely the Israelis must have known this last fall when he issued his holier-than-thou condemnation of the Gaza incursion. Yet the Jews pulled their punches, as they always seem to do. And that's why we're always getting decked in the public arena.
We can spend hours debating about the "context" - whether Goldstone had been a willing tool of the apartheid regime or, as his apologists explain, he actually tried to be a monkey wrench. Doesn't matter. What counts is that he sentenced to death 29 blacks in a court system that was anything but color blind. What counts is that he didn't put the Israeli actions "in context."
The scandal here is not that the UN - after giving us Kurt (former Nazi officer) Waldheim - gave us Richard (the apartheid hanging judge and flogger) Goldstone.
No, the real scandal is Jewish rhetorical ineptitude. Any defense lawyer would know all that was needed to thwart one of the most potentially harmful libels against the Jewish people in recent time was to ask: "Who is this racist murderer that the UN sets up to judge Israel?"
Continue reading "Who 'lost' Goldstone?"[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report. Gateway Pundit has video, here: Crazy & Dangerous: Top Obama Advisor John Brennan Says Team Obama Will Reach Out to "Moderate" Elelments of Hezbollah (Video)]
For the last year I've been following the efforts of the Obama Administration to find someone to engage in Hizballah, the Lebanese terrorist group which is a client of Syria and Iran, deeply involved in terrorism, seeks to take over Lebanon, and wants to wipe Israel off the map.
What's not to like?
The spearhead here has been John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and Counterterrorism. That's President Barack Obama, who would seem to bear some responsibility for what Brennan says.
Here's how Reuters quotes him:
"Hizballah is a very interesting organization"...citing its evolution from "purely a terrorist organization" to a militia to an organization that now has members within the parliament and the cabinet.
"There is certainly the elements of Hizballah that are truly a concern to us what they're doing. And what we need to do is to find ways to diminish their influence within the organization and to try to build up the more moderate elements."
In what framework was this put? Here's how Reuters reported it:
"U.S. wants to build up Hizballah moderates: adviser
"The Obama administration is looking for ways to build up `moderate elements' within the Lebanese Hizballah guerrilla movement and to diminish the influence of hard-liners, a top White House official said on Tuesday."
Note that says "Obama administration" and not just some "assistant." The last time I reported about such activities, quoting a letter saying these same things, it was explained away as a mistake by some research assistant. Brennan is also an "assistant" but he happens to be that of Obama.
What turns this from farce to tragedy is that Brennan said these things to a visiting delegation of Lebanese leaders. Can you imagine--well, to do so you have to know something about the Middle East so that leaves a lot of administration officials out--the effect of this statement on the Lebanese?
They fall into two broad groups.
One says: "Oh no! The U.S. government is selling us out to turn toward an alliance with Hizballah. We better get in good with Hizballah, Syria, and Iran or they will kill us. They've won!"
The other 'says: Oh yes! The U.S. government is admitting that it is defeated and is going to accept the hegemony in Lebanon of Iran, Syria, and Hizballah. We better step up our aggressive efforts to seize power and fight Israel. We've won!"
It is probable that the Obama Administration has done more harm to Lebanon than to any other country in the world. Either Brennan should be fired or the Obama Administration should admit that he is accurately representing its policy, in which case the Obama Administration should be fired.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Every day President Barack Obama seems to set some new record, and not a positive one. Now he has joined with Mexico's president in denouncing a law passed by an American state within the framework of federalism.
When last heard from, neither the president nor his attorney-general had read the law. Indeed, the president has mischaracterized what the law says on a number of occasions. This by itself is an act of irresponsibility of shocking proportions
This might be the first time in American history that a president has joined a foreign head of state in attacking a legitimately passed law applying within the United States. It is a completely inappropriate action, inconceivable coming from anyone with a sense of national pride. Can one imagine how the president of Mexico would respond to an equivalent action? Indeed, by putting the blame solely on his own country the president tries to avoid giving offense to a foreign leader--and thus any hope of solving the real problem--by giving what should be offense to his own.
But that's not all. A very major reason for the problem of illegal immigration is due to the Mexican government. After all, Mexico is the only country from which large numbers of illegal aliens are entering the United States. It does not stop them and there is evidence that the Mexican government actually encourages them.
Continue reading "Unacceptable: A U.S. President Joining with a Foreign Leader to Denounce an American Law that He Has Not Even Read"
Joel Pollak, Harvard Law School, 2009, is running for Congress in Illinois' 9th District, facing a 100%, lock step J Street opponent, Jan Schakowsky. Schakowsky has received thousands of dollars from the J Street PAC along with such anti-Israel ideologues as Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey and Donna Edwards. If she is truly interested in dialogue and presenting her views on the survival of Israel, we urge her to take up the challenge and debate Joel.
Ms. Schakowsky is, like J Street, unaware of the danger of the effects of The Goldstone Report when she says:
We beg to differ. Because of the wide acceptance of "Hanging" Judge Goldstone's exculpatory report on Hamas, the question of Israel's right of self defense is very much in question. And J Street's refusal to condemn the report reflects poorly on Ms. Schakowsky. Read more about the J Street PAC recipient.
In Lockstep with J Street's Dangerous Agenda
Continue reading "Joel Pollak for Congress! [Hillel]"One candidate for State Treasurer is named Polito, the other is named Grossman and was an AIPAC official. Guess which one made a good impression at the local Russian School of Mathematics?
[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return.]
Sixty-nine years ago to the day, a terrible pogrom broke out in Iraq which claimed the lives of hundreds of Jews. It is not known how many exactly were murdered - figures vary from 130 to 600. Thousands of Jews were injured, women raped, babies mutilated, property wrecked and looted. Some brave Arabs saved their Jewish neighbours. Others turned against them. The mayhem went on for two days until the British army, camped out on the outskirts of Baghdad, decided to intervene against the rioters. The Farhud, as it was known, became seared in the memory of those who survived, and sounded the death knell for the ancient Jewish community of Iraq. Ten years later the Jews had almost all left.
These had been the facts about the Farhud. Until an Israeli Professor of Arabic studies tried to change them.
The story begins in January 2007, when Point of No Return stumbled upon a lecture which Professor Sassoon Somekh, an emeritus professor at Tel Aviv University, had given at Vanderbilt University, USA, the previous November. You can read the report here. One paragraph, though, sounded particularly controversial. Professor Somekh stated:
" We forget that although 150 Jews were killed at least 200 Muslims were killed at the same disturbances and those 200 Muslims because they wanted to defend their Jewish neighbours. And this must be written in letters of fire."
Sensing that something did not ring true, Point of No Return alerted Salim Fattal, a Baghdad-born broadcaster and author who had interviewed 100 survivors of the Farhud for a series of TV programmes. Fattal challenged Somekh, who blamed a reporter on the Vanderbilt newsletter for misquoting him. But Somekh's words had been recorded for all to hear.
Salim Fattal then rubbished Somekh's claim:
Continue reading "Fighting revisionism - and Point of No Return's part in it"[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return.]
Professor Shmuel Moreh's memoirs, serialised on the online site Elaph, have been published as a book
Sixty-nine years since the outbreak of the Farhud anti-Jewish pogrom on Shavuoth, 1941, we reproduce this remarkable piece by Iraqi journalist Khedher Taher, a moving apology for the treatment of Iraqi Jews. If more people thought like Taher, we might have reconciliation and peace between Jews and Arabs (with thanks: Sami and Emile Cohen for his translation).
How long will Professor Shmuel Moreh continue to remind us of our shameful brutal barbarism against the Jews, the citizens of our country, Iraq? How long will he flagellate our consciences severely and scream "why my fellow countryman did you expel me and kill me while I am a more ancient inhabitant than you, the Arab, in Iraq?" Since when is geography the privilege of certain religion or a particular nation? Isn't the sky created by God the same for all human beings, so why should not the land also be the property of man whatever one's religion or race; man has the right to choose to reside and live with his fellow men!
I admit that the articles of Professor Shmuel give me feelings of melancholy and shame; shame that I belong to the society which deals brutally and barbarically with its people to the extent that it renounces their nationality and abuses and plunders their assets with a tranquil conscience and with a beastly sense of victory. What kind of hideous moral, nationalist and religious crime has been practised against our own Iraqi Jews?
Continue reading "The treatment of Jews is a stain on Iraqi history"You won't find much coverage of Hamas' demolition of illegally constructed houses in Gaza, since Hamas has a done a good job in keeping the press away. Nevertheless, someone did forward me a link to this picture of one such demoed home. Clearly the Reuters photographer was in a rush, or perhaps as there were no Jews involved, the drama is missing. Tsk, tsk...they actually paid you for this, anonymous Reuters photographer? How standards have slipped.
Never worry, however. I am here to help. And so is Flat Fatima. There are actually two Flat Fatimas in this picture, demonstrating a clear use of Photoshop -- something I usually eschew, but which wouldn't bother Reuters at all.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman takes a self-portrait visor while participating in the first of three spacewalks scheduled for the Atlantis crew and their Expedition 23 hosts. Though three spacewalks will involve only three astronauts (two on each occasion) who actually leave the shirt-sleave environments of the two docked spacecraft, all twelve astronauts and cosmonauts have roles in supporting the work. Part of the space station and the blue and white Earth are among the objects seen in his visor. Fellow spacewalker Steve Bowen, mission specialist, is out of frame.
[The following is a guest post by Zvi Koenigsberg.]
On April 13th, I posted an entry on Solomonia decrying the fact that Congregation Kehillath Israel (KI) had just hired a very left-leaning, agenda-driven, assistant rabbi. I used very strong terminology: "I could not share a space with someone who, in an official capacity, is set upon the destruction of the State of Israel." I used this language because the person in question is associated with the New Israel Fund.
A trustee of KI wrote an article in the Jewish Advocate objecting to my language, as well as to the content of my blog post. [I responded to this, here.] The Jewish community leaders initiated a barrage of articles and organized events aimed at communication and tolerance: at KI, the Rabbi led an evening session on May 4th dedicated to "Jewish Anger Management" and "those who feel fiercely in the Pro-Israel camp". Last week's Jewish Advocate had an article about a campaign at Temple Emanuel in Newton to create "dialogue". Their Rabbi wrote: "It's really to change hearts, and not change minds. You still feel what you feel, you still believe what you believe, but now you can make room in your soul to hear a view that you don't agree with."
So, did people react so strongly to this issue because they are convinced that characterizing the New Israel Fund as "determined to destroy Israel" is just a feeling...of mine and others who think like me...and not a fact? Or do they think that it is okay if Jews are determined to support those who in turn are determined to destroy Israel?
In answer to the first question, let's look at some newly released data: This week, Solomonia quoted an article in the Jerusalem Post about the arrest of the head of the Ittijah NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) group, Amir Makhoul. He was arrested for being a Hizbullah spy. Ittijah is an umbrella organization representing most of the Arab NGO's in Israel. Four of the first five organizations on the Ittijah website appear as grantees of the New Israel Fund: Adallah, Afaq al Muthallath, Ahali - Center for Community Development, and Al Awar. It is now public information that the New Israel Fund is partnering with anti-Israel terrorist organizations. This is not about hearts and souls and feelings...this is hard, cold facts about anti-Israel terrorism.
So is anger an appropriate reaction to these facts?
It is truly frightening to compare the dialogue of today with the dialogue in the early 1940's, when Menahem Begin sent Peter Bergson to the U.S., to raise awareness about Nazi atrocities in Europe. Bergson had minimal effect, because Rabbis like Stephen Wise vehemently advised American Jews against "rocking the boat" with FDR. It is impossible to think how many Jews could have been saved had the tracks to Auschwitz been bombed, or had Auschwitz itself been bombed. Historically, our Rabbis taught us, that saving even one soul is the equivalent of saving an entire world. Today, our local Rabbis are teaching us to have a dialogue about our feelings while terrorists publicly and consistently committed to the destruction of Israel are collecting money from Jews. We might as well be inviting Hassan Nasrallah and the Hamas honchos into our "big tent" as have assistant rabbis affiliated with the New Israel Fund.
So now we have an Ahmadinejad, who, unlike Hitler, is seeking hegemony over the entire Islamic world as a start, and, unlike Hitler, will probably have nuclear weapons and delivery systems in a very short time. Should we be doing exercises in political correctness when Jewish organizations in our midst are contributing money to Iran's cohorts, the Hizbullah?!?
But I am afraid that this will not faze the local Jewish leadership. Their reactions, then and now, indicate they will be more concerned about discussing our feelings about terrorists, than doing something to prevent what is coming next, coming from the terrorists.
Caught in the Headlights - and With a Silly Hairdo
It took nearly two decades, but there are signs that Aaron David Miller, Dennis Ross's first mate in navigating the treacherous waters of the Oslo Peace Process under Bill Clinton, has finally been mugged by reality. Signs, but no real bump on the head. Miller, I suspect, has become agnostic on the "Peace Process", but will never become an atheist. Listen to this clever hedging:
"I'm very uneasy because at the end of the day, I don't see what the game is, I don't see what the strategy is," he said. "Even if it's an initiative, what's the objective, what's the strategy?"
And if that weren't pusillanimous enough, catch this one:
"You have two non-state actors, two non-state environments (Hezbollah and Hamas) who are not proxies of Iran and or Syria but who clearly reflect their capacity to want to influence events -- and then you have Iran" and its potential nuclear threat.
"Non-state environments?" Miller has been for so long entrenched in "Process" that the whole conflict has been reduced to a Princeton graduate course exercise. Chafing at his role as Sancho Panza to Ross's Quixote and clearly disappointed by not being chosen by the Barak-Hillary team to pursue the never-ending "Process" he apparently feels like the bride left standing at the altar. Even his Newsweek article ("Obama Must Get Tough with Israel") , published a week before Obama's inauguration could not secure him a job. And even his old boss, Dennis Ross was exiled to the wilderness of pretending to constrain the Iranian nuclear push. Miller is now speaking out, but guardedly, and in Princeton-speak:
Continue reading "The Longest Mugging in History -- Aaron David Miller [Hillel]"[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Every day I wake up hoping to have good news to report about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. There are some positive things -- regarding U.S.-Israel bilateral relations -- but other than that it is hard to find anything but failure and incompetence.
We are now one-third of the way through the Obama Administration and, regrettably, it has not learned very much at all about understanding the world situation and correcting its mistakes. The time for wishful thinking is over: if it hasn't made major corrections by now, the Obama Administration is very unlikely to get any better during the rest of its term.
I hope you, dear readers, don't get tired of this theme because this is indeed both the most important thing that's happening and it's happening on many fronts. The Israel-Palestinian one is the least problematic compared to the others.
Here are nine huge problems going on right now that are not being addressed by the U.S. government and are barely comprehended by the U.S. debate and large portions of the mass media. I defy anyone to show that any of these points is inaccurate. You can claim they are exaggerated, but not by much. You can claim that the U.S. government lacks options, but it is not even trying to find or develop them, nor is it telling the public the truth about these issues.
Continue reading "The Obama Administration's Middle East Disaster: A Brief Summary"[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
Item 14-03 The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment offers a "Report of Its Engagement with Corporations Involved in Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank."
Coupled with that are recommendations from the General Assembly Mission Council. Among other things, these recommendations ask the 219th General Assembly to:
3. Direct the General Assembly Mission Council, through its Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI), to continue the corporate engagement process with identified companies doing business in the region, as follows:
b. Whereas the Spirit of Christ "... gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace" (The Book of Confessions, A Brief Statement of Faith--Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), lines 66-71), we seek to fulfill this calling by continued engagement with Caterpillar in accordance with the following policy statement of the 219th General Assembly (2010):
Caterpillar, Inc. has produced, sold, and profited from equipment that has been and continues to be used--with or without modifications made by their exclusive dealers and by others--for clearly non-peaceful purposes. Caterpillar thus profits from continued actions by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and other government agencies (at times by private companies under contract with government entities or on construction projects approved by Israeli government bodies) that have been condemned by the international community and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). These uses include (but are not limited to) the demolition of the homes of Palestinian civilians, the building of Israeli settlements and the separation barrier on Palestinian territory that is occupied illegally by Israel, and the provision of (and possible conscription in the future) of civilian employees of Caterpillar's exclusive dealer to the Israeli military for the purpose of maintaining Caterpillar equipment for military purposes.
Seriously, has the guy done anything that mattered in over 30 years? He's the Noam Chomsky of music. Said a few interesting things early on, lived off it ever since: Costello cancels Israel shows
Costello posted an announcement on his Web site over the weekend explaining his decision to join the boycott of Israel. "There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent," he wrote.
Saying he couldn't imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, Costello wrote that since the conflict was "actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way... sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static."
Costello was set to make his Israeli debut with his new folk/bluegrass band The Sugarcanes, and in his conversation with the Post two weeks ago, he said that he had given much thought to playing in the country, but decided that he was against efforts to boycott performances...
Bluegrass? Take your stupid hat and stay at home. He was so cool when I was in High School...in the 80's.
[The following is a guest post by Hawkeye of CiF Watch.]
Israel faces a multi-pronged attack from a variety of state and non-state actors that seek to delegitimize her very existence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of the NGOs where the likes of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International use the cover of the halo effect from their human rights activities to pursue an anti-Israel agenda.
Up until a few years ago, there was no organization in existence that would hold these groups to account and ask all important questions such as why is it that there is a disproportionate focus on purported human rights abuses by Israel, who is funding these organizations, who sets the policies and what goals do these organizations seek to achieve.
It is for this reason that the work of NGO Monitor and its estimable founder and President, Professor Gerald Steinberg, is invaluable. Accountability and transparency are the hallmarks of the democratic nations in which we live in so why should NGOs, some of which wield extraordinary influence and power, not be held to the same or similar standards?
Last Thursday I took a couple of hours off in the middle of the day to hear Professor Steinberg speak to a packed-out audience at an event organized by the World Jewish Congress in midtown Manhattan.
Beginning with Durban I, Steinberg described how this anti-Israel hatefest was used by the NGOs as a platform in which to brand Israel as a racist apartheid state. The NGO Declaration, a formal though unofficial document adopted by the NGO Forum called in no uncertain terms for "the international community to impose a policy of complete isolation of Israel as an apartheid state".
In tracing the events that succeeded Durban I including investigations into the so-called Jenin massacre that never was, the ICJ advisory opinion on Israel's security barrier, the BDS movement, the Goldstone report and most recently, interference on the status of Jerusalem, Steinberg discerned what he called the "NGO Durban Strategy". This involves a sophisticated campaign of using the mass media as a channel in which to propagate accusations of Israeli human rights abuses and breaches of international law which in turn are used to influence the machinations of the United Nations and academia.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the work of NGO Monitor is its focus on "following the money", that is, researching and exposing the funding sources of NGOs, an endeavor which according to Steinberg is fraught with challenges due to the lack of transparency. By shining a spotlight, it allows important questions to be asked, for example, why is it that EU and other foreign money is being used to fund Israeli NGOs that pursue openly anti-Zionist agendas and why is it that the New Israel Fund, a group that purports to actualize Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, funds groups that are committed to the dissolution of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
As a resource for researching NGOs, I can personally attest to the fact that NGO Monitor performs an invaluable role in providing much needed, and otherwise unavailable, background data on NGOs that are quoted as the source of purported human rights abuses by Israel. As is often the case, when one scratches a little deeper, one begins to discover the flaws in the claims being made.
All in all Professor Steinberg provided an informative and insightful presentation that provided the attendees with some much needed background to the ongoing delegitimization campaign against Israel and the role of NGOs.
It turns out though that not all the attendees walked away with the same impression that I did.
Unbeknownst to me, the event was graced with the presence of a certain "righteous Jew" of Mondoweiss fame, Philip Weiss. In an account of the event lacking completely in substance you hear how Professor Steinberg looks "tall and professorial, gray with rounded shoulders". How he has "an American accent and has spent many years at a lectern at Bar Ilan University, maybe too many years". How the event was attended by "all old people" (which is news to me!). How some of them had come for the "free oldfashioned food". And how "the old people reminded [him] of the old people you see in West Jerusalem, walking around with American accents." This he then juxtaposed with the scene of "young attractive Jews" at a New Israel Fund event that he later attended. "Its like the difference between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and it speaks to the cultural chasm between J Street and the old Israel lobby."
Struck by Weiss' monumental inability to challenge the substance of Steinberg's talk (oh and where was Mr. Weiss during the Q&A?), I was reminded of a poignant observation made by Yaacov Lozowick not so long ago:
The Israelis are cardboard figures of evil, devoid of any real life. The Palestinians are cardboard figures of virtue, devoid of any real life. It's weird.
In our dealings with the likes of Antony Lerman and Seth Freedman, the Guardian equivalents of Philip Weiss, we have developed a rule of thumb, a moral compass so as to speak, that says that if you reach the opposite conclusion on a particular issue to Lerman or Freedman you're generally on the right track. The same holds true here. I take comfort in the fact that Philip Weiss hates everything that NGO Monitor stands for. It tells me that NGO Monitor is doing something right.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Another Humiliation for the Obama Administration: Coddled Brazilian Regime Seeks Oil Deals with Iran[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Sigh! It's just one humiliation after another for the Obama Administration. If the American mass media really added them all up the resulting list would be devastating. And now: Brazil.
Just think: Obama invited Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the White House and praised him wildly: Obama called himself "a great admirer of the progressive, forward-looking leadership that President Lula has shown." This is despite the fact that the Brazilian leader is as close to a Communist as you can get nowadays, has sunk his country into huge debts, and has been a major critic of the United States.
Even the New York Times reports that the Brazilian president "has challenged the United States on everything from trade and climate change to last year's coup in Honduras to Washington's longstanding embargo against Cuba."
This is apparently the kind of thing you have to do to get a warm greeting and enthusiastic praise from Obama.
Continue reading "Another Humiliation for the Obama Administration: Coddled Brazilian Regime Seeks Oil Deals with Iran"My kid told me this morning that her favorite shows are Wizards of Waverly Place and Scooby Do. I'm pretty sure none of the programming she watches discusses suicide in any form, let alone encourages it. Here's more chilling programming from Hamas television, courtesy of MEMRI. This is yet another example of the extraordinary enemy that Israel faces, and why many of us are not so hyper-critical of the extraordinary steps they have to take to defend themselves. If you don't understand this, you don't understand anything.
Note: The caller is from Holland: Martyrdom Indoctrination on Hamas TV Children's Show: Children all Over the World Will Become Martyrs
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2468.htm.
To view the MERMI TV page for Al-Aqsa, visit http://www.memritv.org/content/en/tv_channel_indiv.htm?id=175.
Nassur the Teddy Bear: "Dear children, when we grow up, we will become martyrs, God willing. [...]
"Yes, Saraa, the pioneers of tomorrow will liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The children, the pioneers of tomorrow, and not only in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but all over the world, my dear Saraa and dear children." [...]
"Go ahead, the audience is waiting..."
Caller: "I'm from Holland."
Nassur: "From Holland. Wow!"
Child host Saraa: "Welcome. "
Nassur: "Where in Holland, my dear?"
Saraa: "Greetings to our people in Holland. [...]
"What would you like to sing for us?"
Caller: "When We Become Martyrs."
Nassur: "Go ahead. Come on, cheer her on. Clap your hands."
Saraa: "Come on."
Nassur: "Come on."
Caller (singing): "When we get martyred we will go to Paradise.
"When we get martyred we will go to Paradise.
"No, don't say we are too small. This life has made us grown-ups.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.
"Even if they gave us all the money in the world, it won't make us forget.
"I am willing to sacrifice my blood for my country.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing."
Saraa: "Thank you very much."
Nassur: "Warm applause."
[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
In his CiF post Lebanese SOAS professor Gilbert Achcar argued last week that Holocaust-denial in the Arab world is much less common than it is believed to be in the West. Where it does exist, Achcar writes, Holocaust denial is the 'anti-Zionism of fools': Arabs deny the Holocaust in order to lash out at Israel's 'oppression' of the Palestinians.
Achcar's thesis is at once contradicted by a poll taken among Arab-Israelis. It finds that 40 percent believe that the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis never happened, almost twice the percentage in 2006. If 40 percent of Arabs living in the Jewish state - where the Holocaust is daily discussed and deeply embedded in the national psyche - manage to deny it, how much more rampant must denial be in the Arab and Muslim world, where information is censored, controlled and distorted. In Iran, President Ahmadinejad has institutionalised Holocaust denial.
Gilbert Achcar's shoddy analysis takes no account of those Arabs and Muslims who, on the contrary, wish that Hitler had been able to finish the job, the 'minimisers', such as Mahmoud Abbas (who claimed in his doctoral thesis that numbers of Jews killed in the Holocaust were much lower); and those who so universalize the Holocaust that it ceases to be a Jewish tragedy.
Continue reading "Arabs and the Holocaust: the truth"I've kicked off a week-long series on strategy and tactics in the fight against BDS (really covering the fight against Israel's de-legitimization generally) over at Divest This! Today, talk is of language and tomorrow numbers. Thoughts, ideas and suggestions are welcome.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
OK, it's more of a "government" (with scare quotes), but anyway...yeah, it's not Israel, it's Hamas: Hamas destroys dozens of homes in southern Gaza
Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes.
For years, Palestinians have criticized Israel for destroying houses, mostly because they were built without permits issued by the military. Now, Rafah residents complained, their own government, run by the Islamic militant Hamas that seized power in Gaza in July 2007, has done the same.
"They promised reform and change -- instead they've destroyed our homes," shouted Miasar Gan, a 54-year-old woman. Gan said she and her husband had nowhere else to go...
Hope and Change, Hamas style! Bwahahahaha! Someone call Jeff Halper and ICAHD...
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
Item 11-04 From the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, the Human Rights Update 2010
In 2008, the 218th General Assembly instructed the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to "Identify Violations of the Civil Rights of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the United States and Other Areas of the World, Along with Other Incidents of Violation of Religious Freedoms, as Part of the Regular Human Rights Report to the General Assembly." This was part of a GA referral of an overture from the Presbytery of Newton. This is one of several items the ACSWP has chosen to address in its Human Rights Update 2010. The instruction is quite clear and unambiguous - the Committee is to focus on "violations of the civil rights of CHRISTIANS, JEWS, and MUSLIMS ... along with other incidents of VIOLATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS."
It is a clear enough instruction, and it seems a fair enough approach. The problem is, the ACSWP has decided NOT TO ADDRESS THIS MANDATED TOPIC. Instead they refer us to the work of another committee:
The Advisory Committee for Social Witness Policy offers zero rationale for its failure to address the topic - though it does cryptically and open-endedly "expect to do more with this referral in the future." In the meantime, the report to which the ACSWP refers commissioners, "Breaking Down the Walls" - a product of the Middle East Study Committee of the PC(USA), is biased and wholly inadequate to the topic.
Having elected not to seriously address this referral, the ACSWP did not remain content with silence - the legitimate product of their work on the subject. Instead they decided to affirm the MESC's truly odd presentation of a US State Department document, International Religious Freedom Report 2009. They completely bypass any discussion of the religious discrimination in Muslim majority countries with two sentence:
And
Instead, they find Israeli "discrimination against both Muslims and Christians and neglect of their holy sites."
So, after scouring the world for examples of violations of religious freedoms in accordance with their clear instruction from the 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA), the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy FOUND ONLY ONE NATION WORTHY OF COMMENT: ISRAEL. And, in considering religious discrimination against Muslims, Jews, and Christians, the ACSWP FOUND MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS TO BE THE ONLY VICTIMS OF SUCH DISCRIMINATION DESERVING OF PRESBYTERIAN ATTENTION; and the ACSWP FOUND ONLY JEWS TO BE GUILTY OF ANY RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION MERITING PRESBYTERIAN SCRUTINY.
If commissioners decide to adopt this report, they need to be aware that the egregious double standard is appalling and unjustifiable to anyone who values fairness.
Will Spotts
Ben Ami: Delusions of Grandeur and Janus-Faced All at the Same Time
Jeremy Ben Ami, the Little Corporal of Israel-hating Jews, is throwing a temper tantrum over an ad recently published by The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. He presumes to issue ultimatums to Jewish organizations that have been on the front lines for decades in defending Israel against very real existential threats, none greater than the present Iranian nuclear one. He doesn't have much to fear because he has a bodyguard, Barak Hussein Obama (along with a few other heavies like George Soros) waiting around the corner to back him up.
For the moment, Ben Ami is full of himself, confidant that his bodyguard will continue to put relentless pressure on the Jews while giving a pass to the Arabs in spite of their relentless incitement, illegal building and constant threats of annihilation. J Street has been unmasked countless times as an anti-Israel stand-in for Obama and Pro-Palestinian groups like The New Israel Fund , has just published an open letter to Alan Solow, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.
Continue reading "Ben Ami, The Man Who Would be King [Hillel]"Into the present day, in one of the world's most historic cemeteries, right there under the full control of Jewish authorities. Excellent editorial in the Jerusalem Post:
While noting with approval moves begun in December by the Prime Minister's Office to supervise security at the cemetery, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss excoriated ongoing neglect by successive governments: "Repair work proceeds at a snail's pace, maintenance standards are inadequate, security is sorely lacking and vandalism and criminal acts continue unabated, accentuating the danger that funds and labor already invested at the site will go down the drain."
These admonitions were ironically underscored on the very day the nation marked the 43rd anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification. As parades and celebrations were underway elsewhere, busloads of funeral participants were stoned near the cemetery. Four mourners needed medical care. Those who made it inside found 23 headstones smashed in one section alone.
It seems inconceivable that nothing can be done to deter deliberate unremitting predations on the mountain slopes where Jews have been interring their dead for more than 3,000 years. Its proximity to the city and the Temple Mount, as well as the traditional proscription against burials within Jerusalem's walls, made the Mount of Olives hallowed already in First Temple days.
The chain had been unbroken, save for 19 years of Jordanian occupation (1948-67), during which the cemetery was callously and systematically desecrated in blatant violation of the Hashemite Kingdom's pro forma undertakings to preserve holy places. The destruction was unbridled and premeditated. Ancient tombstones were torn out to be used as latrine floors, urinal walls and pavement stones. The Intercontinental Hotel and Jericho Road were constructed over graves. Garbage was regularly dumped on the tombs...
The sales job continues: Emanuel to rabbis: US 'screwed up'
"During the elections there were doubts about President Obama's support for Israel, and now they have resurfaced," Emanuel said, according to one of those who participated in the meeting. "But concerning policy, we have done everything that we can that is in Israel's security - and long-range interests. Watch what the administration does."...
...These comments came during the second of two White House meetings with a carefully selected slate of 15 rabbis from across the US representing the Orthodox, Reform and Conservative streams. The first meeting took place on April 20, shortly after Obama was widely perceived to have treated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu shabbily during their last White House meeting...
It's not the sales pitch, it's the substance. We got the sales pitch during the campaign, and the now-President's critics were vilified for truth-telling, foremost among them the Republican Jewish Coalition. Remember when Obama's people started to refuse to appear at events with RJC officials? They knew they were selling a sub-par product, and they had no defense, so they ran. We've now had real experience with the man, and it's going to take more than a simple "charm offensive" to change that.
On the other hand, do not underestimate the desire of many, many people to accept it and buy in again. Life is much more comfortable for them that way.
[Crossposted from JStreetJive. As it turns out, he'll probably be allowed in after all. See my additional comments below. -MS]
"I Hear You Knockin' But You Can't Come In"
This just in: Noam (formerly the Jew) Chomsky was sent packing today at the Allenby Bridge checkpoint when he tried to enter his favorite "Apartheid" state, Israel. Bravo! For the first time, Israel and the Netanyahu government might just be figuring out that allowing Chomsky to jaunt around the country and people he despises just might provide antisemites more incitement to kill. One of Chomsky's ardent admirers, Amira Hass, the Haaretz columnist and fellow antisemite reports on the incident. Hass, you may recall, was probably more instrumental in labeling Israel an "Apartheid" State than any other person. Married to a Gazan Arab, the self-avowed communist used to live there, but even she decided to pull up stakes after the Hamas takeover and replant her hatred in Ramallah where she pontificates daily for the Tel Aviv rag. According to her story,
Hass goes on to report,
"I suggested [the interrogator try to] find any government in the world that likes anything I say," he said..."
That bet could taken up by at least a hundred people I know. For one, Sheikh Nasrallah of Hezbollah simply adores his writing as do the theo-fascists of Gaza, Syria, Libya, Iran ...the list just goes on and on.
Chomsky and his Genocidal Friend, Sheikh Nasrallah Sipping Tea In Lebanon in 2008.
In a typical Hass bowdlerization, she simply describes the virus from MIT thusly:
Chomsky's sophistry and outright lies applied to Israel over the past 40 years are completely missing from this puff piece. Remember it was during Chomsky's (illegal, under U.S. law) meeting with Sheikh Nasrallah in 2006 at which the sage of Massachusetts Avenue supported Hezbollah's acquisition of sophisticated rocketry for another eventual bombardment of Jewish civilian areas. Chomsky never met a Jew hater he couldn't warm to, including Norman Finkelstein or, most famously, the Holocaust denier, Robert Faurisson. (Professor Werner Cohn of the University of British Columbia literally wrote the book on Chomsky's abiding hatred of Jews and Israel, available here. It's lengthy, so you might just want to keep it bookmarked for future reference. Equally impressive is Paul Bogdanor's "Chomsky's Top 200 Lies," an equally impressive reference work.
Elevated to sainthood by the demented Left, Chomsky and his prognostications drip down like honey upon the eager college crowds, the same folk who secretly admired the 9/11 attacks (after all, the Jihadists attacked three targets - Wall St., The Pentagon and (although thwarted) The White House - three centers of American "imperialism" that the Left has been excoriating for decades, ever since C.Wright Mills' The Power Elite, was published in the 1960's.
Check Out the Cover - No Wonder the Left Loves Jihad!
Chomsky was scheduled to deliver an address at Birzeit University near Jerusalem. You remember old Birzeit U? That's the place that gave us Yayah Ayyash, "the Engineer" and lots more suicide bombers that murdered scores of Jewish men, women and children. Here's Birzeit's "confidence building measure" in celebrating the Sbarro Pizzeria massacre of 2001 (take note of the meticulously labeled "kosher" sign):
Therapeutic "Street Theatre" for Studious Palestinians at U.S. Funded Birzeit U.
Martin Solomon adds: I was going to add that there is no P in Chomsky and there is no Chomsky in Israel, but unfortunately, the Israeli government is now saying it was probably all one big misunderstanding. Which is too bad, because as he's an American citizen, we're more or less stuck with him, but there's no reason any other government should be required to allow free access to such a figure as unremittingly hostile to its existence and unapologetically friendly to its enemies as Chomsky is to Israel's. Benjamin Kerstein has an eloquent must-read on the matter. It starts thusly:
Just received this is the mail:
I've linked to web postings by Grobman a number of times as they often hit will on themes we're interested in. The book looks very interesting, with a lot of important history packed in to a small space. Looking forward to this one.
Yaacov Lozowick continues his series of posts on the implications of a divided Jerusalem with another excellent entry using not only overhead maps, but more interestingly, short videos from the ground: Don't Divide Jerusalem: A Border Through the Old City A must-see.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
This terrific documentary film about competitive coin-op video game play is available in nine parts on YouTube (but for how long?). Once you start watching, you'll want to keep going.
Part 1:
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.
I have a vivid memory as a kid in junior high or high school being in the arcade at the MIT student center (ironically named the Space Invader for obvious reasons if you've ever seen it) and some dude was a few machines over playing Defender. He was very good, playing a long time on one quarter, really working up a sweat, very animated. He had black curly hair, a receding hair line and a big forehead, and when he'd die he'd start freaking out and punching the machine and screaming/moaning, "Oh God! Oh nooo! Oh my God no no no...!" punch punch punch. I thought, "Wow, there are some really odd people at MIT." The guys in this movie seem a lot better adjusted.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
Here's a story that should mark the pivotal moment in U.S. foreign policy. It should be on the lips of every White House and State Department official. It should fundamentally transform the nature of Obama Administration foreign policy.
It's that important. But it isn't that new. The basic information here was supplied almost two months ago and covered by me HERE. Yet in all that time, since General Petraeus publicly revealed this fact, there has not been one word or action that indicates the Obama Administration is responding. Indeed, a new article reveals that President Obama has known about this increased cooperation since shortly after he took office.
Continue reading "The U.S. Government Knows that Iran Helps al-Qaida But Does Nothing About It"Via The Flea and Vlad Tepes, this young man has had enough:
Object lesson in how Socialism rots a society, lesson #324598:
Via Hot Air: Pelosi: Hey, quit your job - we'll pay for your health coverage! Where Ed Morrisey notes that Pelosi doesn't quite define the word "entrepreneurial" the same way you or I would.
Here's a very effective ad from the folks at NGO Monitor:
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
The following presbytery overtures that concern Israelis and Palestinians are scheduled to come before the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This list only reflects the situation as of yesterday - May 14, 2010.
***
Item 14-01 and 14-02 "On Divestment from Caterpillar, Inc." - from the Presbyteries of Newark and San Francisco.
The Presbyteries of Newark and San Francisco have overtured the General Assembly to "Instruct the Presbyterian Foundation and the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to begin the process of disinvestment from Caterpillar, Inc. and to not reinvest in this corporation unless the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is fully satisfied that Caterpillar, Inc. no longer engages in the selling of equipment to Israel that is used to build illegal Israeli settlements, construct walls that illegally encroach upon Palestinian lands cutting Palestinians off from their own property and natural resources, destroy Palestinian life and property, and otherwise continue to support the occupation of Palestinian territories." The wording of much of these two overtures is identical, but they part company on a couple of points.
The San Francisco overture (14-02) calls on the PC(USA) to affirm that, "...the occupation needs to end ... to prevent the extinction of Christianity in Jerusalem and the West Bank." It is important to note that this is NOT a part of the rationale for the overture, but is an actual item to be voted on by the GA. If it succeeds, the PC(USA) will be declaring that it is the occupation that threatens the extinction of Christianity in Jerusalem and the West Bank. No mention is here made of any other threats or difficulties encountered by Christians in those areas. The effect, of course, is to place blame on Israel alone.
Continue reading "Business before the PC(USA)'s 219th General Assembly: Overtures"Thanks to g for a pointer to the full video of the Lars Vilks assault (previous: Video: Mohammad Cartoonist Lars Vilks Headbutted During Lecture). Really shocking:
In the mean time, Vilks' home has been the subject of an apparent arson attack: Home of Swedish Muhammad cartoonist attacked
Update: More links and comment from the Flea.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Herschel Crater on Mimas of Saturn
Explanation: Why is this giant crater on Mimas oddly colored? Mimas, one of the
smaller round moons of Saturn, sports Herschel crater, one of the larger impact craters in the entire Solar System. The robotic
Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn took the above image of Herschel crater in unprecedented detail while making a 10,000-kilometer record close pass by the icy world just over one month ago. Shown in contrast-enhanced false color, the above image includes color information from older Mimas images that together show more clearly that Herschel's landscape is colored slightly differently from more
heavily cratered terrain nearby. The color difference could yield surface composition clues to the violent history of Mimas. An impact on Mimas much larger than the one that created the 130-kilometer Herschel would likely have destroyed the entire world.
Not just morally obtuse and out of control high on their own righteousness, but historically completely ignorant. Philosemitisme has the story: Brussels: demonstration against Israeli blood drinkers - blood libel revisited
"Ohhhh. Bravo. No blood money. (Applause) Cheers Israël. Ohhhhhh. (Applause) I love blood. Have a glass of wine. I love blood. Have a glass of wine." ["Ohhhh. Bravo. Pas d'argent au sang. A Israël. Ohhhhhh. (Applaudissements) J'aime le sang. Un petit verre de sang. J'aime le sang. Un petit verre de sang."] (Anti-Israël demonstrations in Brussels, 12 May 2010)
2010 - Multisecular blood libel revisited: blood libel public accusations against Jews/Israel return to Brussels, the capital of Europe...
...- Note that the courageous protesters disguised themselves to avoid being identified.
- 75 Belgian organisations participated in the demonstration - they included mainstream NGOs, political parties, unions (list below). The Belgian radio RTBF (French-speaking) and other media covered the event - approvingly.
- Esti Micenmacher, of WhoProfits, a radical Israeli NGO (see NGO Monitor), funded by the European Union, gave a number of conferences in Brussels to promote BDS (Boycott/Divest/Sanctions). She also spoke at the demonstration (photo below). Angela Godfrey-Goldstein of ICAHD (The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, NGO report), another EU- funded radical Israeli NGO, was also in Brussels with Esti. The two "militants" were interviewed by Le Soir.
More here, though the whole story is still a bit obscure, you'll get the general picture from the captured stills at the link, or the first bit of the video below.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
The elections to the UN Human Rights Council brought onto that body such human rights' violators as Libya, Angola, Malaysia, and Uganda. Indeed, 80 percent of UN members -- many motivated by being Muslim-majority or African states -- thought the Qadhafi dictatorship an excellent addition to the group that already includes Saudi Arabia, China, and Cuba.
My expectations of the UN are very low indeed. So what interested me here is what the Obama Administration's refusal to contest the issue says about its foreign policy concept.
After the vote electing Libya and the others, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice would only say that her government regretted the victory of several countries but added, "I am not going to name names. I don't think it's particularly constructive at this point."
Rice went on to say that the human-rights' smashing dictatorships on the Council were just "countries whose orientation and perspectives we don't agree with."
These two quotes are very revealing. The Obama Administration understandably believes that its predecessor made a lot of enemies by criticizing radical regimes and hostile countries. Thus, the current government is determined not to complain about anyone except under the most extreme pressure -- witness the president's reluctance to say anything about Iran's stolen election -- or unless the target is a friendly country -- like Honduras or Israel--that isn't going to do anything nasty to America.
Continue reading "Are Repressive Dictatorships Merely A Matter of Taste, of Different Strokes for Different Folks?"[The following, by Maimon, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
A recent Guardian editorial on the never neglected subject of the "Israel-Palestine conflict" seemed to endorse the idea that Obama should impose a "solution". The piece concluded with the rather smug observation that "Mr Netanyahu would kick and scream against an imposed plan, but that is the consequence of rejecting lesser demands now." Revealingly, one of the complaints the editorial writer listed was that "no one could imagine Mr Netanyahu conducting any meaningful negotiations" on the Palestinian demand for a "right of return".
No doubt that a Guardian editorialist would find it hard to imagine that out there in the real world, there are lots and lots of reasons why any Israeli politician would have considerable difficulties to conduct "meaningful negotiations" about a Palestinian "right of return" to Israel. For starters, one could point to how refugees fared in Europe and the rest of the world in the wake of World War II; one could also refer to the doubtful legal basis of Palestinian demands regarding a "right of return", and one could even mention recent headlines like "Right of Return Dealt Grievous Setback by European HR Court" - describing a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that decided against Greek refugees from Northern Cyprus who tried to claim a right of return.
Well, but then we all know that the Jewish state must be held to different standards than everyone else...
Protestations that holding Israel to different standards than the rest of the world have nothing whatsoever to do with antisemitism often rely on the fanciful notion that Israel is a relic of European colonialism. In this view, Jewish immigrants from Europe snatched land from the noble native peasants of Palestine who had worked the soil of the Holy Land for centuries.
Continue reading "How about some facts on the 'right of return'?"[The following, by Zach, is crossposted from The Brothers of Judea.]
I know it feels like I've been picking on MJ Rosenberg a lot lately, but it's really only because he's been writing so many articles. Which I then respond to. It's an action-reaction kind of thing.
Anyway, his latest work on the Huffington Post is entitled, "Teaching Zionist Kids to Lose Their Minds," and right from the title we can tell his mindset. To those of us who know the actual definition of Zionism, a Zionist is someone who believes (a) that Jews should have a state of their own and (b) that that state should continue to exist. Now in his title Rosenberg is casting "Zionist kids" as the other, in other words, not him and people he agrees with. Not only is he sounding like a typical anti-Zionist Huffington Poster, but he is also portraying himself as someone who is against Israel's very existence. Which would seem to contradicts his claims of being pro-Israel. Perhaps I am reading too much into his title here, but as someone who ought to know what the term "Zionist" means, I find it difficult to believe that Rosenberg's choice of wording wasn't intentional.
Continue reading "MJ Rosenberg Puts His Blinders On"I was going to repost something I wrote on Omar Barghouti, the patron saint of BDS, from Divest This! over here at Solomonia, but then my first commenter (an online buddy/fellow blogger/mutual fan) added a comment that made me spray my morning coffee all over my computer screen. Since I didn't want to deprive Sol's readership of a laugh, you can check out the story here.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
In a letter sent to US officials, Neal Sher, a former executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said that recently disclosed information about Goldstone's apartheid-era rulings raised questions about whether he was eligible to enter the United States. The letter was sent to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Attorney-General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Individuals who admit to acts that constitute a crime of moral turpitude are ineligible to enter the US, Sher charged. The recent public revelations, to which Goldstone has reportedly admitted, would appear to fit within this provision. At a minimum, there is ample basis for federal authorities to initiate an investigation into this matter, Sher said.
Goldstone, the author of a report accusing Israel of war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, sat as a judge in South Africa during the apartheid regime. He has faced recent charges that he sent 28 black South Africans to their deaths. Goldstone has defended his rulings, saying he was part of the system and had to respect the laws of the land at the time, including enforcing laws he opposed.
In his judicial position, according to Sher, Goldstone was instrumental in effectuating and legitimizing a regime universally known for its widespread human rights abuses...
It'll never work, of course, but it does do more to illuminate the glass house in which Goldstone lives, and if nothing else is another incision in the well deserved and ongoing halo-ectomy procedure the fine gentleman has been undergoing as of late.
U.S. Army Pvt. Jacob Dunn fires a 155 mm round from a Howitzer during a support fire mission at Forward Operating Base Boris, Afghanistan, May 1, 2010. Dunn is a cannoneer with 2nd Platoon, Alpha Battery, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment. (DoD photo by Sgt. Derec Pierson, U.S. Army/Released)
I was clicking around through some old blog links earlier and happened to shift through the Iraqi blog Hammorabi. I remembered him as one of the pro-interventionist, pro-Western Iraqi bloggers -- I even linked to him on several occasions back in the day. I do remember he had taken something of a "turn" at some point, and that will be as it may, still it was disappointing to see this post in reaction to the attack on "Muhammad cartoonist" Lars Viks (video here): The Swedish police assaulting Muslims
When Lars Vilks insulted The Prophet of Islam (The Prophet of the whole Humanity until the Day of Judgment and the Master of All Prophets) the Swedish government and its alike provided full support despite the insult went to all the Muslims around the world! The recently shown pictures (click to see video) showing how the Swedish police uses excessive force to assault Muslims and sprayed them with Gas like from little containers in their hands. This was to protect the same person mentioned above while he was showing another insulting film and lecture about Islam and the Prophet.
The way the Swedish police attacked and assaulted the civilians is so obvious and it is against the basic principle of the human rights. These police used their power and authority to terrorize civilian Muslims. The Swedish government should do full investigation about these abuses and they should put Lars Vilks into a trial for his insults for Muslims all around the globe. He should be tried openly because of his persistence to continue to insult Islam.
Finally irrespective of whether they put him for trial or not they will be tired and stand for long time in front of Allah in the Day of Judgment after which there will be no death but either life in the Fire Hell to dwell for ever or in the Paradise with Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon Him) and His followers in Islam.
Pretty disappointing (to put it mildly) to think that this is undoubtedly the mind-set shared by many -- a total perversion of the idea of "Human Rights" and the place of the police and the responsibility of the citizenry in a free society. This is what we're pinning all those hopes -- not to mention blood and treasure -- on.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report. Related: Hot Air: Russia to Obama: Don't you dare impose your own sanctions on Iran]
If America's Middle East position collapses in the forest will anyone hear it? The answer is either: apparantly no, or just barely. As I've predicted Russia is coming back into the region and it is going to play a very bad role. Moscow is linking up with the emerging Islamist alliance of Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah.
Meanwhile, the Obama Administration praises Russia for allegedly supporting sanctions against Iran. Russian support, at best, consists of throwing a bucket of fluid over the sanctions' plan to water it down.
[Don't miss the amazing Russian statement cited at the end of this article.]
Back in the real world--the Middle East, not Washington discussions--let's begin with Syria. The Obama Administration says it is going to pull away Syria from Iran, but the two countries are coming closer together. Syria's open goal is to pull the United States away from Israel, but meanwhile Syria is finding still another ally to back its ambitions.
The recent visit of Russia's President Medvedev with a huge entourage was a major step toward reestablishing the old Soviet-Syria relationship. There were broad economic talks, including the possibility of Russia building a nuclear reactor for the Syrian dictatorship.
[The following, by Roz Rothstein and Roberta Seid, is crossposted from The Jewish Journal.]
An increasing number of students report that efforts to demonize Israel have intensified on college campuses. Most recently, the student senates at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), held marathon debates about anti-Israel divestment resolutions. In May, the annual Hate Israel Week will be held on many campuses yet again.
Bruised by these painful experiences and taken aback by their increasing frequency, many pro-Israel students are concerned about the growing trend. They wonder why each time they douse anti-Israel fires, the flames reignite. They wonder what they are up against.
It's simple. They face a dedicated anti-Israel movement that is not discouraged by temporary setbacks. The Muslim Student Union (MSU) and Muslim Student Association (MSA), allied with extremist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), focus single-mindedly on one goal: demonizing Israel. This is not your normal student activism. MSU and MSA members are obsessively driven by their mission. They are determined, methodical, focused, well-funded and strictly organized. The leaders are usually devout and infuse religious and moral justifications into the movement, making hatred of Israel akin to a religious as well as social justice cause.
Continue reading "Facing Hatred on Campus: You Can't Fight Fire With Flowers"Feds Arrest 3, Possibly Tied To Bomb Plot
At least two raids were in Boston suburbs, where two of the men were arrested. The third man was arrested in Maine, while search warrants related to the case were also executed in Camden County, N.J., and on Long Island in New York.
Attorney General Eric Holder said late Thursday that the three men are connected to Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Connecticut man who allegedly drove a car bomb into Times Square on May 1. But, Holder said, the exact nature of those connections is still unclear.
"There's at least a basis to believe that one of the things that they did was provide him with funds," Holder said...
...The source said the New England men, all three from Pakistan, may have "unwittingly assisted in some capacity." In fact, the source said, Shahzad may have duped the men into providing money, but authorities are not ruling out anything at this point.
Authorities are looking at whether Shahzad may have used a "hawala" system to obtain funds for his bomb plot. According to the Justice Department, a "hawala" is an informal "value transfer system" in which money does not pass through the banking system. Instead, funds are transferred to an operator in one country, and corresponding funds, less any fees, are sent to recipients in another country...
...The New England men have been arrested on "administrative charges," which means federal authorities will not advise them of Miranda rights to question them, as is required in criminal cases...
...One of the men arrested near Boston on Thursday has been charged with overstaying his visa, and the other, identified as Pir Khan, was already the subject of proceedings to remove him from the country, according to one source.
The third man was arrested in Maine, also allegedly for overstaying his visa, a source said...
[The following, by Richard Landes, is crossposted from Augean Stables.]
The following appears (in an earlier draft) in the Jerusalem Post. This version contains links, and an added paragraph on incitement (HT/Elihu Richter).
Dear Judge Goldstone,I am one of those who have read your report, and have followed your subsequent comments about it. I just read your most recent statements in the Jerusalem Post and Ha-Aretz (for those who can’t read Hebrew, consult the CAMERA’s discussion). Once again you repeat, unchanged, two prominent claims:
1) If only Israeli had cooperated, things might have been different; and
2) No substantive criticism has arisen to challenge your findings.
Now your first claim is a counter-factual, hence speculative. But even then, it's misleading. While Israel didn't cooperate officially, through various channels (Israeli NGOs, Daniel Reizner, the former head of the International Law department at the IDF), Israel submitted extensive evidence to your committee. You not only ignored these submissions, but to this day refuse to put them up at the UNHRC website devoted to your Mission.
Your second claim, however, is more concrete; and here the evidence against your is formidable. There is an extensive and substantive critique of your Report. In fact most close readers - even neutral ones - find the Report surprisingly unprofessional and stunningly credulous in its handling of evidence. These critiques are available online (collected at a handy website), and your denial that they have any substance contradicts your second claim categorically. Why would it have made any difference if Israel had participated in the Mission's work, since you have and continue to ignore any evidence that contradicts your findings against them? Are you really saying, it's too bad Israel didn't participate because then the findings would be still more damning?
Continue reading "Richard Landes: (Another) Open Letter to Judge Goldstone"Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Peace is just around the corner. From Palestinian Media Watch:
PA to Israelis: Go to Europe and Ethiopia because Israel is "stolen" land
PA TV displays map portraying all of Israel as "Palestine"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The message that all of Israel is stolen "Palestinian" land was repeated twice in the last week on official Palestinian Authority television.
In the most recent episode of the weekly program We Are Returning, this denial of Israel's right to exist led to a concrete demand. The PA TV narrator called for Jews to leave Israel and go to Europe and Ethiopia - "your original homeland."
PA TV also added a visual message of non-recognition of Israel. The camera focused on a drawing of a map that included all of Israel, but showed Israel erased and covered entirely by the Palestinian flag.
PA TV is owned by the Palestinian Authority, and is the responsibility of the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas...
[More.]
Excellent essay by Dexter Van Zile that relates to the themes in Will Spotts' series of posts: The U.S. Presbyterian Church's Renewed Attack on Israel. Here's the executive summary:
- The 2006 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church repudiated the anti-Zionist narrative affirmed by the previous gathering of this assembly in 2004. This repudiation, however, did not stop the denomination's elected officials, staffers, and so-called peace activists from using the church's resources to demonize Israel. In March 2010, anti-Israel partisans on a Middle East Study Committee (MESC) created by a vote of the denomination's 2008 General Assembly released a 172-page report that demonizes Israel and downplays Arab and Muslim hostility toward Jews and their Middle Eastern homeland. This report, which will be on the agenda of the PC(USA)'s General Assembly scheduled for July, is nothing short of a full-scale assault on Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state.
- The report effectively restates the narrative affirmed by the PC(USA)'s 2004 General Assembly: that Israel is in control of the violence directed at it and hence can unilaterally bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict through concessions and peace offers. The one-sided nature of the report should come as no surprise given the composition of the MESC, which numbers several pro-Palestinian activists including a former Presbyterian missionary to the Middle East who has expressed support for a one-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In its deliberations the committee failed to meet with people willing and able to challenge the biased outlook of the committee members.
- In addition to voting on the MESC report, delegates at the PC(USA)'s upcoming General Assembly will debate a number of proposals, including a resolution declaring Israel guilty of apartheid and another calling on the denomination to condemn Caterpillar for continuing to sell products to Israel. Delegates will also vote on an overture calling on the denomination to affirm a dishonest "Kairos" document issued by Palestinian Christians in late 2009. This document explicitly blames Palestinian violence on Israel and obliquely characterizes suicide bombings against civilians as a lawful form of "resistance." Taken together, these resolutions and the MESC report will put Israel in the judgment seat at the PC(USA)'s General Assembly.
- The obsessive way in which the PC(USA)'s peace activists have attacked Israel, and the failure of the denomination's leaders to offer a word of correction, demonstrates that as a whole the church cannot be trusted to offer a fair, accurate, and comprehensive assessment of issues related to the future of the state of Israel.
You gotta be kidding: Israel marks 43-year rule of Arab east Jerusalem. Who's writing this stuff, Hassan Nasrallah?
The sunset-to-sunset Jerusalem Day celebrations kick off with an open-air concert by US funk band Kool and the Gang and feature a ceremony at Ammunition Hill, the site of one of Israel's fiercest battles with Jordanian forces...
Kool and the Gang! Groovy! AFP might want to note that "East" Jerusalem only became "Arab" through the ethnic cleansing of its Jews by the Jordanians with the liberal application of dynamite and bullets. Sure, but it's the Jooos that are making a major hurdle to peace.
Good posts on the subject by Omri and Elder.
Fortunately, someone in Israel knows which way is up: Netanyahu: We will never divide J'lem
Excellent post on the day from Robert Avrech: Jerusalem, Eternal and United
Sounds simple if it happened the way the story implies. Imagine all you need to know to establish a winning piracy policy could be had like a $1 pamphlet ordered from the back of a comic book from a Russian address: Dealing With Pirates the Russian Way
The official told the Russian press that after an hour, radar contact with the the boat was lost and the pirates "apparently" had all died. He did not elaborate. Commentators are speculating what may have really happened, especially since the Russian president last week indicated severe punishment for the pirates, saying, "We will have to act as our forefathers did when they met pirates." The Defense Ministry said last Friday that plans changed from a trial in Moscow to release on the ocean due to shortcomings of international law.
A spokesman of Navfor, the EU's naval force in Somalia, warned not to jump to conclusions, saying to BBC that it was impossible to say anything without knowing more details of the boat, the weather, and other factors.
[The following, by Alan Foster, is crossposted from American Thinker.]
Elena Kagan, current Solicitor General of The United States and former Dean of the Harvard Law School, exemplifies selective outrage. She knows a lot about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" when it comes to ROTC on the Harvard Campus, but wears official blinders when it comes to Islamic treatment of homosexuals.
When Professor Kagan ascended to the position of Dean of the Law School, Harvard was in a quandary over military recruitment. Long opposed to the military's policy towards openly gay men and women but ever solicitous of the greenbacks offered by the federal government, the school tried to hedge its bets on the Solomon Amendment, passed in 1994, which required the Secretary of Defense to deny federal grants to institutions of higher learning that prohibited or prevented ROTC or military recruitment on campus. And who better to circumvent the law's intent than the serried ranks of lawyers in Cambridge, Massachusetts? They argued that Washington money should still flow because even though the college placement office was barred to recruiters, ROTC courses could be offered by the Harvard Law School Veterans' Association.
Training on campus was still verboten for Harvard ROTC candidates, and they were forced to travel down the road to MIT to fulfill their training obligations. Too clever by half? Some congressmen thought so, and they responded by fortifying the act in 2001 by passing an amendment that denied all funding -- not just to law schools, but to the entire institution that prohibited or prevented recruiting. Although Dean Kagan did not sign a petition along with many of Harvard's Law School faculty opposing the Solomon Amendment, she did join two amicus briefs in that regard, one submitted to the Supreme Court.
Continue reading "Elena Kagan: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'... Anything about Shariah Law"That was the question posed to a number of people by Honest Reporting. My answer (and David Hazony's) is here: Blogger Survey: The Media Battle Over Jerusalem, Part 4. Hazony's answer is better. The short answer is, "Duh"...no. My focus is on the fact that, in spite of media hostility, the public, in the United States at least, is still firmly on the right side in spite of what our elites keep trying to push us into thinking. This is not a battle that will ever end.
The latest BDS takedown at three University of California campuses is now playing over at Divest This!
Via Michael Graham, your chilling video of the day. David Horowitz visits UC San Diego and faces a Muslim Student Association member who supports Hamas...and as for Hizballah...well, watch the video:
This girl brings new meaning to the expression, "It's complicated." Well no, it isn't, not really. Either Hamas and Hizballah are your cup of tea or they aren't. She's all for them, but feels she knows where the legal lines are. So for now she'll just have to stick to lusting for the destruction of the Jews in her heart.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
I'm a day late, but I couldn't let the death of iconic artist Frank Frazetta go unremarked or illustrated.
From Reason:
Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist who drew Mohammed as a dog, was recently told that a scheduled lecture on free speech, to be held at Jönköping Högskolan, would be canceled due to "security concerns." This, of course, is a common evasion, intended to protect the brittle sensibilities of Muslim students while supposedly standing four square behind the right of free speech.
Alas, the administrators in Jönköping had a point. During a lecture in Uppsala today Vilks was attacked by a pack of feral fundamentalists, one of whom managed to headbutt the artist and break his glasses. Police intervened and waged a short battle with the religious nutters who can be heard in the video below, captured by the newspaper UNT, shouting Allahu Akbar! The AP has a quick report, explaining that "Uppsala University spokeswoman Pernilla Bjork said Vilks was showing a provocative film with sexual content to the crowd when the attacker ran up and hit him in the face with his fists."
Modern Europe.
Very good event last night in LA. I actually stayed up late watching the live stream. Gateway Pundit (one of the participants) has all the details. The participants were: Jim Hoft - Gateway Pundit, Daniel Greenfield - Sultan Knish, J.E. (Jennifer) Dyer - The Optimistic Conservative, Omri Ceren - Mere Rhetoric, Rick Richman - Jewish Current Issues.
[Via Boker Tov, Boulder!]
Some thoughts on Israel's recent admission to the OECD over at Divest This.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sara Roy of Harvard's Center for Middle East Studies Welcomes...
...Kai Bird...
...and His Tendentious Memoir.
Sara Roy, the intense, anti-Israel director of Harvard's Center for Middle East Studies, was delighted to host Kai Bird recently, author of Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978
Mr. Bird is the son of Eugene H. Bird, a State Department official who carted around his family from one post to another in the 1950's and '60's ranging from Jerusalem to Cairo to Saudi Arabia and Bombay. Bird the elder runs a group called The Council for the National Interest, founded by the inveterate Israel-hating Congressman, Paul Findley, in 1989. Among other associations, the CNI has strong ties to one Abdulrahman Alamoudi, a funder of terror groups currently serving a 23 year federal prison sentence.
The apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree. Kai Bird has produced an incredibly one-sided memoir of his boyhood in Jerusalem in the 50's and 60's purporting to be an evenhanded account of the Jewish-Arab conflict. Evenhanded, of course, until you get to the details. At that point, right out of the gate, the Jews are guilty, guilty, guilty. He even goes so far as to include fabricated quotes (not footnoted, of course) from David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister and to downplay the role of the Grand Mufti as a major player in the Holocaust. The point of all of this is to imbue Palestinian Arabs with an aura of innocence and victimhood.
Continue reading "Fabricating History, Harvard Style [Hillel]"[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
The 219th General Assembly of the PC(USA) is scheduled to begin on July 3, 2010. Among many things on their agenda, the assembled commissioners are yet again being called on to pass judgment on the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. I sometimes wonder if the gathered commissioners (or the Presbyterians who send them) comprehend the magnitude of the task they are being asked to do.
General Assemblies are often littered with lofty words and phrases - things like 'discernment', 'justice', 'prophetic', and the 'guidance of the Holy Spirit'. In spite of this elevated language, I'm inclined to wonder if commissioners know going in of the unprecedented complexity of the issues upon which they are being asked to sit in judgment. Do they know the sheer volume of literature on Israelis and Palestinians? Do they know that every fact offered in support of one agenda or another is disputed? Do they know that multiple competing narratives of the history of the region exist? Do they know the competing legitimate claims to justice? Do they know the notorious biases that afflict dialog on this subject? Do they know the demonstrable biases of the committees, agencies, and officials of their denomination? Are they even expecting the volume of information they are actually being presented in the proposals themselves? These proposals total literally hundreds of pages of text. Even if the commissioners intentionally sat down and tried to sift through the information, to give a fair hearing to all sides, to verify the statements presented to them as facts, it is doubtful that they would be able to come to a fair and true conclusion. Going farther, the likelihood that they, in their week or so together, would be able to propose any productive policy solution is, to put it diplomatically, slim. At best they have before them a Solomonic task.
Continue reading "Solomonic Choices"Strong. After pointing out how Ben-Ami basically freaked out on behalf of his White House master after Wiesel's open letter on Jerusalem and reacted with the scurrilous, not the wise, Boteach addresses Ben-Ami directly:
"Last September I wrote a column commenting on your quotations in a New York Times Magazine feature where you insulted all staunch American Jewish supporters of Israel as paranoids who believe that the world is filled with murderous anti-Semites. Surely that kind of character assassination is not only unnecessary but, I would argue, indicative of significant insecurity about your message. Not that I blame you. I realize that you have the most difficult job of any Jewish organizational head in the world, namely, running an organization that purports to be pro-Israel but invariably finds itself in the company of Israel's worst enemies and critics.
"But even so I never believed that someone as media-savvy as you would make the mistake of spending your valuable money on full pages ads attacking Elie Wiesel. That, my brother, is pure suicide...
JPost: 'Ameer Makhoul, Omar Abdo nabbed for spying for Hizbullah'
The two suspects have been named as Ameer Makhoul, 42, head of Ittijah (the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations) - an umbrella group for Arab NGOs in Israel - of Haifa, and Omar Said Abdo, 40, of Kfar Kana, an activist for the Balad Arab political party.
Makhoul was arrested on May 6 and Abdo was taken into custody on April 24, security services said.
"They were arrested on suspicion of severe security offenses," police added. "The investigation, which is ongoing, is being coordinated with the attorney general [Yehuda Weinstein] and the Israel Police's Head of Investigations Branch, Cmdr. Yoav Seglovitch, as well as the state prosecution," police said...
NGO Monitor has a good backgrounder on Ittijah, the group Makhoul heads.
- Website: www.ittijah.org
- Established in 1985 and based in Haifa. Ittijah describes itself as "the network for Palestinian non-governmental organizations in Israel Ittijah strives to strengthen and empower the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel by promoting the development of Palestinian civil society and advocating for political, economic and social change. Its mission is to coordinate the activities and strategies of member organizations while fostering the development of members' institutional and organizational capabilities."
- Member organizations include Adalah, Galilee Society, Mada al-Carmel, I'lam Center, Al-Ahali, and Al-Anwar.
- Ittijah holds ECOSOC special consultative status in the UN.
- On May 6, 2010, Ittijah's head Amir Makhoul was arrested for allegedly spying on behalf of Hezbollah.
- Updated funding information is not available due to lack of transparency.
- Ittijah joined a number of Palestinian NGOs in rejecting anti-terror clauses in funding agreements, specifically from USAID and the Ford Foundation.
- During the Gaza war, Ittijah claimed that "the IDF is turning Gaza to kind of an extermination camp, in the full sense of the word and with the full historical relativity" (email)...[More.]
Someone needs to count the New Israel Fund grantees under the Ittijah umbrella.
Apparently this is big news in the financial world: OECD entrance is 'seal of approval,' Netanyahu says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Monday Israel's entrance into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development saying it was a "seal of approval" which would attract many financial investors.
"Joining [the OECD] is like receiving a university degree," Netanyahu said. "Just as it is significant to have a degree from the Technion, for example, when entering the job market, entering [the OECD] will open doors and provide access to many fields. It's a seal of approval."
Earlier Monday, the 31 members of the OECD unanimously voted in favor of accepting Israel as a member of the group, a senior Jerusalem source said...
Who's upset? A group of European Jews who view themselves as Europe's answer to J Street. So helpful: Jonathan Hoffman: OECD votes to admit Israel, "J News" trying to block it:
http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/whiskey-dips-and-human-ri...
Miri Weingarten of J-News, the IJV/J-Street close relation that was set up in London in March.
Here is the email she sent round today:
Hi all,You will have already seen that Haaretz has reported a unanimous vote for Israeli accession to the OECD this morning.
FYI, the Palestinians hope to achieve a small technical delay based on a *legal argument* (below) by getting the legal advisors of one of the MFAs of a member country to request a legal opinion on this issue from the OECD legal department, and asking that the accession process (due to be finalised May 27) be suspended until this legal question is answered.
The bottom line of this argument is that the OECD would itself be breaching the 4th Geneva convention if it admits Israel under current conditions (i.e with settlement data, but without data on Palestinians in the OPT). By including settlement data it has actually forced itself to apply the rules of occupation (Geneva 4) to Israel, which include responsibility of the Occupying Power for the welfare of the occupied population. The only way that accession would be legal is a) if settlement/OPT data is totally excluded [total disaggregation] or b) if data from both settlements and OPT Palestinians is included.
A brief based on this argument has been sent to all Ministries of foreign affairs of member countries.
The legal argument will now be important for press purposes. Please feel free to send it around as another point of messaging to your lists.
(There follows the legal argument)
*best
Miri--
Miri Weingarten, Director
JNews
60 Farringdon Road
London EC1R 3GA
Tel. xxxx
This surely puts the lie to any claim that J-News - or its close relations J-Street or IJV - have Israel's best interests in mind...
Indeed. So helpful aren't they?
Related: Robin Shepherd comments: Israel joins the OECD as anti-Zionist protests are ignored
[The following, by AKUS, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
If there is anyone out there who still cares about the way the Guardian has betrayed its origins, the last few weeks must have been similar to watching an old friend one once cared for take a bad acid trip and commit suicide, convinced that they can safely fly off the top of tall buildings.
The Guardian, in its early incarnation as "The Manchester Guardian", was proud to present views that were considered "left wing", supportive of Jews and of the idea of a Jewish Homeland, and, later, Israel. The new "Guardian News and Media Limited" has abandoned its roots, its sanity, and its decency as if to demonstrate to all the manner in which the so-called left has hooked up with the most regressive forces in its own country, and, in fact, around the world..
In The Nightmare Shidduch Jonathan Hoffman has dissected the Guardian's seemingly inevitable move to the right as it backs the Liberal Democrats in the coming British election. Moreover, he demonstrates the clear link between its anti-Israeli stance, and that of the Liberal Democrats. For those who watch the endless Israel-bashing that takes on the Guardian's website the linkage between the Guardian and the party of Baroness Tonge, she of the suggestion that Israel investigate whether its medics were actually in Haiti to harvest Haitian body parts (A Lib Dem and a blood libel - Uri Dromi) and patron of the Palestine Telegraph is clear. (Some may remember, by the way, that today's "Jerusalem Post" was once the "Palestine Post" - how ironical).
Continue reading "Tripping down the Guardian path"[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return. (Good comment thread there.)]
The Jewish cemetery in Fez houses the tomb of Solika the martyr
The Moroccan Tourist Office could scarcely have hoped for a better puff piece than Gideon Levy's (yes, the Gideon Levy) Haaretz article. The scourge of 'the Israeli occupation' seems to have found his model for 'peaceful coexistence' in Morocco (with thanks: bh):
"Some of the Jews we met, notably our escort, Senouf, dream of applying the Moroccan model to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A colorful, charming figure, Senouf is now planning a project in which Israelis and Palestinians will come to Morocco to study the nitty-gritty of coexistence together with Moroccans. But in Morocco, as elsewhere, the Jewish community, which numbers only about 3,000 souls, does not speak in one voice. At the Ifrane conference, for example, Simon Levy, a communist and the director of the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in Casablanca, likened the Israeli occupation in the territories to Nazism. He also reminded the audience that the greatest massacre of Jews in history was perpetrated by Europeans, not by Arabs. Andre Azoulay told the gathering: "I have been a Moroccan for 3,000 years. I am a Moroccan and a Jew. Here in this country Jews and Muslims are brothers. We are the only ones who can say this."
"Morocco is a wonderful country, a land of contradictions and contrasts: the explicit and the mysterious, the overt and the veiled. There is much less interest in the Palestinian issue than one might expect − domestic issues are more acute: democratization, the economic situation, the faltering education and health systems, the Moroccan diaspora and the disputed Western Sahara, which no one dares mention. The economic and social situation is a faithful reflection of the kingdom's geographic location − between Europe and Africa."
Never mind that our starry-eyed Gideon's hosts are rich Jews who can afford to extol the virtues of Moroccan 'coexistence'. Note they almost all have that second home in Israel, just in case they need to make a quick exit, come the revolution. Royal adviser - some would say 'court Jew' - Andre Azoulay is seriously discombobulated by being called a Zionist agent: perhaps he has suddenly realised the limits of coexistence, and is regretting having sold his villa in Israel.
So the Jewish cemetery in Fez is beautifully kept and the synagogue restored - but with 90 percent of the Jews of Morocco gone, the Muslims are coexisting with dead Jews and empty Jewish buildings, which have their uses as tourist attractions. Before the French arrived in 1912, coexistence meant intimidation, constant humiliation as dhimmis, pogroms, and coercion by the Muslim majority. The girl 'who died for her faith' was Solika, the 19th century martyr, who chose to die a Jewess, rather than convert to Islam. It is her bitter legacy that Gideon Levy needs to confront.
There is no future for Jews in Morocco. Even Sabag, the kosher slaughterer, is setting up his next job in Israel. Anyone but Gideon Levy can see that coexistence between a dwindling 3,000 Jews (where there were once 300,000) and the Muslim majority, has been a dismal failure.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
#4 Speaking FOR Another Religion
In a variety of materials (including the reports approved by the 2003 and 2004 General Assemblies) and in a number of public statements offered by PC(USA) officials, the denomination has often spoken for Judaism in a way that is troubling. These have asserted principals of Judaism to advance their anti-Israel case, have offered their own quirky interpretations of 'what Judaism teaches' or emphasizes, or have latched onto fringe groups that supported their chosen viewpoints as if these were representative of Judaism.
For example, various Presbyterians (and others) have asserted that Jewish claims to land are null and void, but that Jewish covenant obligations remain in force. In cases they have posited an idyllic view of Jews living in the Diaspora as modeling "community life not dependent on violence to sustain it. . . [They] 'were able to maintain identity without turf or sword, community without sovereignty. They thereby demonstrated pragmatically the viability of the ethic of Jeremiah and Jesus.'" [As an observer, I must say, I'd be surprised if many Jews in the Diaspora would be particularly pleased to be credited with demonstrating the ethic of Jesus ... and I'm certain most of the people who experienced this life as a minority population subject to humiliating laws and officially sanctioned persecution would not take the suggestion well that this was God's unremitting purpose for them.]
Continue reading "Which Is It to Be - Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel, or Antisemitic? (conclusion)"[The following, by Zach, is crossposted from The Brothers of Judea.]
Just when I thought MJ Rosenberg couldn't surprise me with his chutzpah, he takes it to the next level. In his latest work on the Huffington Post, written on Friday, he stands with Judge Goldstone against the people who would seek to call him out for his leveling of injustice in apartheid South Africa. If you don't know what that refers to, click here for the story. Basically, Goldstone was quite happy to collaborate with the injustices meted out by the South African apartheid government, including sentencing dozens of innocent people to capital punishment. It certainly calls into question his objectivity and trustworthiness, and is especially ironic since the anti-Zionist crowd has canonized the man for his one anti-Israel activity.
Now in my mind, MJ Rosenberg has the reputation of a literary "attack dog" who searches out his target of the week and attacks them with fury. Last week it was Stephen Schumer and Jeff Goldberg, this week it is Goldstone's detractors. What is ironic this time is that Rosenberg is shocked and offended to find that people who disagree with Judge Goldstone are using the ad hominem attack in place of a counter argument. Rosenberg ought to be offended; that's his tactic of choice. Hey Zionists! Stop stealing Rosenberg's strategy! Find one of your own! But enough of that, let's get right into his article:
Continue reading "MJ Rosenberg's Hypocrisy Levels Increase"[The following, by Charles Jacobs, appeared in The Jewish Advocate.]
Remember "The Great Schlep?" In 2008, two months before the presidential election, comedian Sarah Silverman appealed to Jewish youngsters to schlep across the country to the key electoral state of Florida, where so many of their bubbes and zaydes live, and persuade them to vote for Barack Obama and "change the world." "The Great Schlep" was a five minute pitch on YouTube seen by almost 2 million people - and it may well have worked.
Not only in Florida did Jewish youth cajole their elders to vote for Obama. I witnessed these conversations in Boston: one part Bush/ Palin bashing - (how "dumb" they are), one part "hope-n-change" - "how cool to have a black president, and he went to Harvard!"
And so 78 percent of America's Jews gleefully voted for Obama, a proportion higher than any other group except for blacks. But that was then.
Continue reading "Charles Jacobs: The Bubbe Backlash "Some musings from Divest This:
One of the more challenging aspects of dealing with BDS is the number of Jews (including Israelis) who seem to be highly involved on both sides of the issue. "Another Jew/Israeli for Divestment" read stickers worn by several BDSers who crammed the Senate meetings at Berkeley (and elsewhere), reflecting that many divestment groups not only include Jewish members, but also have Jewish and even Israeli leaders.
Now I have many activist buddies who are driven to distraction by the phenomena of Jewish involvement in organized attacks on Israel and its supporters. And put a few beers into them (or even some mild tea) and you'll soon know the whole history of Jewish anti-Semitism (called "self-hatred"), court-Jews, turncoats and treachery that dates back to before Josephus threw his lot in with the Romans, and continues to this day with academic "Wandering Jews" like Norman Finkelstein.
While this history is interesting, I tend to take a more pragmatic approach to the presence of my fellow tribesmen in the ranks of both sides of the BDS debate. After all, historic precedent would be useful if it provided an opening to educate (or at least shame) Israel's Jewish critics regarding the historic baggage they carry. But given the current company Jewish anti-Israel activists keep, I don't anticipate historic context would have much resonance for them. And as for shaming, as I've been documenting here for over a year, BDSers (Jew and Gentile alike) seem to have no shame.
In fact, Jewish and non-Jewish Israel-dislikers have far more in common with one another than they do with me (despite all of their speeches which begin "As a Jew..."). And what they share is the one element that permeates all aspects of the divestment debate: fantasy politics.
I've talked about fantasy vs. reality with regard to anti-Israel politics in the past, and while most divestment advocates share a common general fantasy (one where they are intrepid and virtuous heroes, fighting against an all-powerful enemy which represses them), flavors of that fantasy vary from group to group. At its most extreme, the jihadi Israel-hater is trying to re-create a fallen Islamic empire purely through acts of will and violence, just as Mussolini thought he could resurrect the Roman Empire via fearsome will coupled with pageantry and tanks.
Christian divestment activists (like those in the Presbyterian Church) do not go nearly to this extreme. But they still dwell in a fantasy world where they and only they are in possession of "the truth" in which they liken the Palestinians to Christ on the cross and thus see themselves as martyred saints who are always about to be thrown to the lions. The fact that this political myth-making has become its own form of superstitious faith (with Israel Apartheid Week taking the place of a dustier Easter they don't really celebrate anymore) is lost on such people who lack, along with a sense of shame, any sense of irony.
For the Jewish member or leader of Students for Justice in Palestine (or whatever), the fantasy takes the form of being a truly enlightened, morally superior being whose distance from or rejection of the burdens of Jewish life (whether religious obligations or a willingness to fight for the political rights of the Jewish people) are proof positive of this courageous identity. Like the Christian BDSer whose anti-Israel animus demonstrates his or her Christ-like nature, the Jewish divestnik's fantasy-self is just the latest iteration of a Jewish identity built on chosen-ness. The irony that this anti-Israel Jewish identity shows more assurance in its own correctness than the self-image of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi is again lost on those who dwell in BDS fantasy-land.
And while Jews have excelled at anti-Israel organization just as they excel at so many things, let's not lose site of the fact that there is a market for Jews of any level of intelligence and political skill within the "I Hate Israel" movement. Which is why any Jew willing to join such a movement "as a Jew" (regardless of whether or not they have had a single Jewish moment in their life up to that point) is welcome to sign up and wear a sticker or sign a petition specifically pointing out the one quality that supposedly gives their voice weight: their Jewishness.
Taking part in such activity also allows the fantasist to celebrate his or her courage while actually not taking a single risk. For taking on "The Jewish Establishment" is not like publishing a cartoon of Mohammed or (if you live in Gaza) criticizing the government - an act that carries real risk of actual harm. In fact, the most these "Jewish Critics of Israel" can expect from their activity is to be criticized by people like me. And as much as they try to present such criticism as a form of censorship or repression, they must forever inflate the alleged power and villainy of their critics, lest reality penetrate a single ray of light into the fantasy world in which they dwell.
So my attitude towards the many Jews who flaunt their Jewishness solely for the purposes of attacking other Jews is the same as my attitude towards non-Jews who have turned lack of principle into virtue, ignorance into wisdom and cowardice into courage. To them I would say: the next time you decide you would rather live in fantasyland, could you please take up Dungeon's and Dragons, rather than embrace a persona that asks me to be a prop in your fantasy and requires others (including Jews and Palestinians) to die in order to maintain your self-image?
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Here's a good video at PJM as Bill Whittle interviews retired General Paul Vallely: Video: Former US General Warns of Chemical Attacks Against Israel
He paints a pretty grim picture of the strategic situation, as Tehran has maneuvered its pieces in such a way as to threaten Israel in the case of a strike by any party against its nuclear program. I like how toward the end Vallely says "We cannot allow Israel to stand alone in this..." and looks to Whittle for confirmation. You get the feeling that the idea of not leaving Israel hanging against an enemy that also chants "Death to America" is very much a matter of honor to this guy.
[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]
A lot has been said about media contortions to avoid the "I" word when talking about terrorists, and most specifically about the Times Square bomber. But when one sees it in an extended analysis (22 long paragraphs) in the country's best newspaper, not just some remarks on television by a giggly host, it is really shocking.
In my view the Post is definitely the most serious general newspaper in the United States today. [I'm not even considering the Wall Street Journal because of its financial/business focus.]
So I'm ticked off about the lead article in the May 7 Washington Post, "Suspect Made 'Gradual' Shift." The headline on the jump page is: "Radicalization of Times Square suspect was gradual, officials say."
Gradual shift to what? What kind of radicalization?
As you examine the headline you can spot an incredibly clear contradiction. The subhead of the article is "Religion and Anger." But which religion and how did it figure in the story? The issue is never--well, almost never--raised in the long article.
We read that he is angry at the United States, that this increased during several trips to Pakistan, and that he trained with the Pakistani Taliban.
What kind of organization might that be? Liberal or conservative? Communist or Fascist? What are the beliefs and aims one would have to feel in order to train with the Taliban? Not a hint.
Continue reading "Barry Rubin: After Times Square: The Media's Refusal to Discuss Islamism in Terrorism Surpasses Satire"There's some goof running around the West Bank taking your university's name in vain: Former Yale professor among 4 detained in Walaja
Bethlehem - Ma'an - A former Yale professor was among the four detained by Israeli forces during protests against the construction of the separation wall in Al-Walaja on Thursday morning...
...At 2pm, sources confirmed to Ma'an that at least one of the three, former Yale professor Dr Mazen Qumsiyeh, remained in custody. Family members confirmed that he was being held at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem, and may be let out on bail later in the afternoon...
This is a new life for Qumsiyeh since he moved back to the disputed territories from his former home in Connecticut. His email missives have been filled with self-glorifying stories of harassment by the IOF ("Israeli Occupation Forces") and the like. Real dissident stuff.
You remember Mazin Qumsiyeh (aka Mr. Kumquat). He's provided a lot of material around here over the years. Remember Andover and the Wheels of Justice?
I'm not sure that it's best for Mazin that he's history at Yale be brought to light again. He was not renewed there, quite probably because he demonstrated that his priority was political activism (particularly against Jews) and not academics. Remember:
... After many students had already left for the summer, Qumsiyeh sent an email to all Yale Coalition Peace (YCP) members, an anti-war group, in which he linked Jewish support of Israel with support for the then current war in Iraq.
In the email, Qumsiyeh wrote that "the U.S. occupation of Iraq illegal and immoral (sic)" and that the YCP should "continue to challenge the hegemony of the U.S. on the Arab world." Although such opinions are certainly acceptable and even welcomed at a university that encourages the exchange of ideas, Qumsiyeh closed his email with a chilling statement: "I include here the list of members of Yale Students 'for Democracy,' the pro war cabal . . . I think you will find the list informative. Note that there is significant overlap of this list with the 'Yale Friends of Israel' listserve."
Qumsiyeh then listed the Yale email addresses of 64 students, which contained students' full names, whom he claimed belonged to Yale College Students for Democracy (YCSD), a group that supported the war in Iraq.
However, the people he listed belonged not to YCSD, but to the Yale Friends of Israel (YFI) itself...
Hard hitting ad from AZ's governor (via Libertarian Leanings):
Related is Right Wing News' Polling Conservative Bloggers On The Arizona Immigration Law, Illegals, & Legal Immigration
They make America a better place to live: 4.1% (2 votes)
They make America a worse place to live: 95.9% (47 votes)
8) On the whole, which of these sentiments best describes your thoughts about legal immigrants?
They America a better place to live: 98% (49 votes)
They make America a worse place to live: 2% (1 votes)
YNet has a hard-hitting investigation into Goldstone's South African past: Judge Goldstone's dark past
Yedioth Ahronoth investigation reveals man preaching human rights, who authored scathing report against Israel's operation in Gaza, sent at least 28 black defendants to gallows as South African judge under Apartheid regime
He asserted that Israel committed war crimes and came out against the Israel Defense Forces, whom he claimed violated basic human rights. Judge Richard Goldstone forgot just one thing - to look long and hard in the mirror and to do some soul-searching before he rushes to criticize others.
A special Yedioth Ahronoth investigation reveals Richard Goldstone's dark side as a judge during the Apartheid era in South Africa. It turns out, the man who authored the Goldstone Report criticizing the IDF's actions during Operation Cast Lead took an active part in the racist policies of one of the cruelest regimes of the 20th century.
During his tenure as sitting as judge in the appellant court during the 1980s and 1990s sentenced dozens of blacks mercilessly to their death...
The article is a bit more hung up on the matter of the death penalty itself than the Apartheid context it took place in, but be that as it may...
Goldstone has a response, here: Judge Goldstone responds to death penalty story. It's ultimately fairly weak. Goldstone need not have been a judge, after all, he could have remained a privately practicing attorney. The picture of Goldstone that begins to emerge in all this is that of a stop at nothing careerist doing his best to ingratiate himself with whoever is in power in order to climb the ladder. At the time it was Apartheid, now it's bashing Israelis.
Dershowitz has an absolutely must-read here: Legitimating Bigotry: The Legacy of Richard Goldstone
Richard Goldstone, author of the notorious Goldstone report, did not become a South African judge in the post-Apartheid Mandela Era, as The New York Times and other media have erroneously reported. He accepted a judgeship during the worst days of Apartheid and helped legitimate one of the most racist regimes in the world by granting the imprimatur of the rule of law to some of the most undemocratic and discriminatory decrees.
Goldstone was--quite literally--a hanging judge. He imposed and affirmed death sentences for more than two dozen blacks under circumstances where whites would almost certainly have escaped the noose. And he affirmed sentences of physical torture--euphemistically called "flogging"-- for other blacks. He also enforced miscegenation and other racist laws with nary a word of criticism or dissent. He was an important part of the machinery of death, torture and racial subjugation that characterized Apartheid South Africa. His robe and gavel lent an air of legitimacy to an entirely illegitimate and barbaric regime...[Read it all!]
Jim Wald comments here and points out:
...In one sense, Goldstone's record does not bear on the significance of his Report, which will stand or fall on its merits. But given that the document prompted widespread charges of bias, the investigation may yet prove to be pertinent to a new reading. Already we are hearing suggestions that Goldstone's opinions there (but presumably in other recent endeavors, as well), far from representing a set of neutral analyses, in fact reflected a sort of perverse overcompensation for a blemished moral past about which he preferred to keep silent. In the words of Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon, "This so-called respected judge is using this [Gaza] report in order to atone for his sins and gain international legitimacy."
Lee Kaplan writes about the MIT grad student who's written an app for boycotting Israel: Boycotting Israel? There's an App for That
A Jewish MIT graduate student involved with the International Solidarity Movement has developed software to help anti-Israel activists know what not to buy.
Josh Levinger, a member of the taxpayer-supported MIT Media Lab, originally began the "Boycott Toolkit" as his Ph.D. thesis. He later expanded his work to create "Virtual Gaza," a way for anti-Israel activists to promote the idea that Hamas-run Gaza is suffering under an Israeli "siege."
In June 2009, Levinger attended a computer conference in Amman, Jordan, with various Arab groups. Afterwards, he spent three weeks interviewing with assorted Israeli and Arab radical leftist groups, including Birthright Unplugged and the EU-funded B'tselem. These ISM-affiliated organizations invite Jewish students to tour the West Bank and Gaza, convincing them that Israel persecutes the Palestinian population and expropriates their land. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is influenced by PLO and Hamas factions, and its leadership has admitted working with other terrorist groups as well, such as the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Islamic Jihad.
According to Levinger, he spent the entire month of July 2009 in the Holy Land "thinking about ways to expose/oppose the Occupation." While there, he participated in a riot in the West Bank village of Ni'ilin...
Fortunately, the app is free and open source, and one commenter makes the very good point that this could be used just as easily to find and purchase Israeli (and Arizonan, btw) products.
Has Haaretz lost its collective mind after dipping their toes into outright treason with the Anat Kam affair? Take a look at this bizarre article by Barak Ravid that's basically the kind of smear piece you'd find on a typical...well, blog, not to put too fine a spin on it: Foreign Ministry working with rightists against Palestinian incitement
Last Monday, diplomatic reporters and members of the foreign press corps were invited to a press conference with Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon and the director of Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus, at which PMW's new report on Palestinian incitement against Israel was presented.
The reporters that came witnessed a surreal event, in which the official Foreign Ministry briefing room was turned over to a politically right-wing nongovernmental organization. Though it was Ayalon's office that invited the press, the briefing was conducted by a public relations agent for PMW rather than the Foreign Ministry.
PMW's activities are entirely legitimate, and some of its findings could clearly be categorized as disturbing evidence of anti-Israel incitement. Yet many of the journalists in attendance, who included many representatives of foreign media outlets, were not aware that PMW is led by a right-wing activist, and that many other such activists, from Israel and abroad, are involved in it...
It goes on like this. They can't argue with PMW's work or its importance, so they just turn the article into a long personal attack on Itamar Marcus -- all the more bizarre because if you've ever seen Marcus, he's about as far from a rabid right-winger as it's possible to be. The left in Israel is certainly feeling under siege, and like any cornered animal, now they're showing their fangs.
Friday, May 7, 2010
As if the Boston CJP/JCRC follies over their on again-off again support for Israel weren't bizarre enough (see here, here and here), we now have a story of unrequited love. In its inexcusable funding practices (via a CJP Donor Advised Fund grant to the virulently anti-Israel organization, The Haymarket Peoples' Fund) in 2007, the door was opened for cooperation between the two groups.
In its eternal quest to champion LGBT rights (indeed a laudable endeavor) Nancy Kaufman's JCRC decided to co-sponsor an event with Spontaneous Celebrations, a Jamaica Plain "Progressive" organization:
Being Gay in Iran: Human Rights and the Revolution
Monday, May 11th, 2010
Spontaneous Celebrations
54 Danforth Street
Jamaica Plain
Members of the LGBT community in Iran face discrimination on a daily basis. Under the current regime, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. Please join us for a discussion on the status of gay rights in Iran in light of ensuing Revolution, featuring Sohrab Ahmari and Yehuda Ya'akov.
Let's recap what happened in this odd series of missteps:
- CJP gives money to an Israel-hating group called The Haymarket Peoples' Fund
- The HPF in turn funds a group called Spontaneous Celebrations
- JCRC Schedules an event with Spontaneous Celebrations on LGBT rights in Iran
- Someone in authority at Spontaneous Celebrations discovers that the JCRC is co-sponsoring the event
- Spontaneous Celebrations quickly cancels the event
And here, in an elucidating email, is the reason why the Haymarket crowd canceled:
"Dear Community Supporters,
Thank you for all the concerns that you expressed to us at Spontaneous Celebrations about the JCRC's event that was scheduled to take place in our building on May 10th. We are writing to let you know that once we heard all of your concerns, we decided to cancel the event. As you may know, our space is available to rent for events, lectures, parties, etc. When our building manager fielded the call about the "Gay Rights in Iran" event, the person did not identify themselves as being with the JCRC and he had no reason to think the event in any way conflicted with the values at Spontaneous. Once we received your emails, we gained a fuller understanding of the nature of the event. We are committed to creating a queer friendly, anti-racist space at Spontaneous that can be used by the community to organize for social change through arts. Thank you for speaking clearly about your need to have such a space.
In Solidarity,
Jen Kiok and Bashier Kayou
Co-Directors
Spontaneous Celebrations
617.524.6373 www.spontaneouscelebrations.org"
"Uniting and empowering people for social change through the arts"
Obviously, "In Solidarity" doesn't include the preeminent Jewish action group in New England [And the very definition of "mainstream." -MS]. Apparently, the Progressive folk at Spontaneous Celebrations are big on LGBT rights except when a certain Jewish group is involved even though that Jewish group advertises itself as Progressive 24/7.
Or, perhaps, Spontaneous and Haymarket, as supporters of "fair play for Iran", had to make a choice between criticizing one of the most fascistic, gay-killing regimes in history (but one that despises the U.S. and Israel, thereby imbuing it with some kind of seal of approval ) or working alongside a Jewish group. Once the JCRC participation had been outed by the members, the event had to be trashed. A no-brainer for the no-brainers. So-called "Progressive" groups have been in the forefront of apologizing for Iran for years.
Of course, the bottom line is that the JCRC has no business doing business with groups like The Haymarket Peoples' Fund, whose constituent members desire Israel's disappearance.
If the "values" of a group like Spontaneous Celebrations translate to hate for a Jewish organization, even if that organization shares its broad, political and social goals, then that group displays real perversity.
This absurd example should serve as an alarm bell for the community to insist that our Jewish charitable institutions develop strict mission guidelines when it comes to awarding cash grants in addition to rules of association. Humiliated, the JCRC must now start living its own mission statement:
"To Strengthen Israel and overseas partnerships: Securing the Jewish future through advocacy, person-to-person relationships and high-impact programs."
Update: Spontaneous Celebrations was contacted today. They confirmed that the event was canceled. They stated that the reason for the cancellation was due to JCRC's participation and that it represented "cover" for pro-Israel activities. When confronted with the evidence of Iranian torture and murder of gays and lesbians, Spontaneous Celebrations said, "We really don't know what's happening there."
JCRC commented on the cancellation: "The venue did not work out."
Such integrity...such honesty.
[Crossposted from JStreetJive.]
[Update: Some interesting comments in the thread at Universal Hub. -MS]
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
#2 Presentation of One-Sided Information
Many Christian groups have provided information on the Middle East that is marked by a consistent pattern of one-sidedness. Some Christian Zionist groups have advanced one-sidedly pro-Israel narratives. Far more common, however, are the one-sidedly anti-Israel narratives presented by many mainline denominations and interest groups - including the PC(USA). These take the form or 'resources' for congregational worship and education, of trips to the region, of hosting visitors from the region, of presenting information to members of congress or national governmental officials, of hosting conferences claiming to be about 'peace with justice', and of issuing statements for use by national agencies of the denominations.
Continue reading "Which Is It to Be - Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel, or Antisemitic? (part 3)"Thursday, May 6, 2010
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
CLASSES OF PROBLEMATIC ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS BY CHURCH GROUPS
#1 Israeli Exceptionalism
The PC(USA) (like many mainline denominations) has displayed a peculiar singularity of focus on Israel. This has been thoroughly documented, but a brief perusal of the articles from the Presbyterian News Service, of the public statements of their representatives, even of the proposed actions at the upcoming General Assembly will confirm this as a unique priority. It is not the PC(USA)'s only issue of concern, but it assumes a top place in their attentions. If (as is mostly self-evident) Israel is being given disproportionate attention in the PC(USA) (and other mainline denominations), a natural question arises: Why? In itself, an extraordinary focus on a single nation is not evidence of anti-Judaism at work, but it does indicate the presence of some type of bias. That this focus is overwhelmingly negative, and that this focus is on the only Jewish state in existence is alarming. I have heard several possible rationales articulated, and I think it would be prudent to consider them.
Continue reading "Which Is It to Be - Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel, or Antisemitic? (part 2)"[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return.]
Rhoda Kadalie of Business Day probably discovered Jewish refugees by chance
All power - or kol hakavod - to the foreign ministry for arranging fact-finding trips to Israel for African journalists, particularly since the temptation exists to invite misleading comparisons with Apartheid, which several might have experienced first-hand. But is the ministry dishing out ALL the facts? Rhoda Kadalie wrote this article for Business Day after her mission:
"For me this visit was a chance to explore the Israeli narrative, given the dominance of the Palestinian narrative in the national, international and African National Congress discourse. I now realise that much of what I thought about Israel was based on ignorance and assumption. I returned home on Friday understanding why Israel feels assaulted by a world that is blatantly partial and hypocritical. Why Israel is always held to the highest standards of democracy when every other country flouts them intrigues me.
"Sometimes I think the world is jealous of a small country that has turned a desert into a garden, adversity into prosperity . Those who are prejudiced against Israel for ideological reasons do us a disservice when they portray the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in black-and-white terms. It has parallels in the way SA is portrayed in the international media -- constant protests and police shooting at people demanding access to water, sanitation and housing . That is not all SA is about. It is the same with Israel, constantly and popularly portrayed as Holocaust survivors who have now turned on disempowered Palestinians. The nuanced nature of the two narratives are lost.
"An interesting statistic about the numbers of Jews that have fled Arab territories since 1948, rarely reported upon, caught my eye in an Israeli newspaper. In Algeria there were 140000 Jews in 1948, by 2008 none; in Morocco there were 250000, today there are about 6000. For more than half a century there was a flight of more than 850000 Jews from Arab lands, which, in effect, means that more Jews were forced to flee Muslim persecution than the approximately 762000 Palestinian Arabs who left their homes in the newly declared state of Israel. "
This is most probably the newspaper article that caught Rhoda's eye. Rhoda must have stumbled upon the Jewish refugees issue by happenstance. This in itself is alarming: should it not be an integral part of Israeli hasbara to tell foreign journalists about Jewish refugees - or even to introduce them to one or two - instead of leaving it to chance for them to discover such opinion-changing information for themselves?
While I never tire of creating blog entries chronicling the latest divestment defeat, I've got real sympathy for the folks on the ground that have to deal with this BDS nonsense non-stop. More at Divest This.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
[In order to understand what is going on in the PC(USA) this year; we will need to examine all the relevant business items coming before this year's General Assembly; we'll need to review the PC(USA)'s overall record; we'll need to understand the distribution of Presbyterian opinion - from the people in the pews, to pulpit pastors, to institutional insiders; and we'll need to see where the PC(USA) fits into the landscape of "Mainline" Christian Denominations and the broader Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions landscape. Before we can get to any of that, I need to try to clarify a few things. Specifically, the major choice that confronts commissioners to the 219th General Assembly is this: will you be pro-Palestinian? Will you be anti-Israel? Or will you be antisemitic? Those, quite simply, seem to be the options.]
If we go back over the actions and public statements of several mainline denominations -something seemed to have changed during 1980s and early 1990s. During this period a pro-Palestinian emphasis began to emerge as a priority; but along with that emphasis, various statements began to take on a markedly anti-Israel character. Subsequently, clearly biased anti-Israel statements and actions have become increasingly interspersed with what more overtly anti-Jewish ones. How it happened that these themes came to be tied together remains unclear, but for certain groups within the American church they clearly have.
Continue reading "Which Is It to Be - Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel, or Antisemitic? (part 1)"[The following, by Matt, is crossposted from The Brothers of Judea.]
On MJ Rosenberg's most recent blog post, a series of personal attacks on Jeffrey Goldberg, one user comes out of nowhere to call him out. You can read the conversation at this address, but I'm going to repost it here in case a post gets removed.
I read Goldberg on a regular basis and this article has no connection to reality. While he is definitely pro-Israel, and to the right of me on most issues, he is fair and he is also often critical of Israel.
And Rosenberg's portrayal of John Mearsheimer, as just "a college professor for writing an academic study of an interest group" is also disingenuous given the highly controversial nature of the academic study."
Guilty Until Proved Otherwise
"Never Mind."
Yesterday, America's "Paper of Record" covered the fizzled bombing plot in Times Square by pointing its corporate finger at u-know-who - white and "right wing" males. In all its reporting and editorial writing, the New York Times left no doubt that, in its expert opinion, the perp was akin to The Unabomber, Eric Rudolph or Timothy McVeigh. Al Baker, lead reporter on the story, quoting James M. Cavanaugh, a former bomb expert with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives:
"There is a lot there to read into the case that really helps them," said Cavanaugh who investigated car bombs and tracked the Unabomber, Theodore J. Kazcynski and Eric R. Rudolph, the bomber of abortion clinics and other sites."
Further into the paper, Michael A. Sheehan, former NYC Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism penned an op-ed headlined, "The Terrorist Next Door." Keep in mind, as of two days ago, the MSM and the Times were all hot on the trail of the "white man" who was suspiciously removing his outer shirt near the bomb laden SUV. It was in the 80's that day and, as it turned out, the poor shmo was simply hot. But that, of course, cinched it for the Times. White males bombers will always give themselves away by bizarre, disrobing behavior in the middle of the most trafficked and videotaped intersection in the world.
Shortly we all learned that the perpetrator was - of all things - a Jihadist and naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Pakistan, one Faisal Shahzad.
Mr. Sheehan was obviously chosen by the Times for his synchronous theory that the potential murderer was a "home grown", "lone wolf" terrorist. Sheehan then went on to establish the linkage with the three "white males", Kaczynski, Rudolph and McVeigh. Walking down 44th St., beneath the Times' windows you could catch the collective sigh of relief from the convinced editors.
The writer concludes his piece with this:
"...We also need to reduce the threat they pose by identifying, infiltrating, and crushing any terrorist organization before it can mount a sophisticated operation, or before it provides deadly technical support and training to the next Times Square bomber."
Actual bomber: one Islamic killer. Scratch all that stuff about "identifying, infiltrating and crushing".
Diversity may be the first casualty as the head of the Army reminded us after Major Nidal Hassan's Ft. Hood massacre.
Not content with the lead story and an op-ed that completely missed the mark, the Times' carefully chosen letters to the editor reflected the same, weary, PC mindset:
Will the police now stop and question every such man in the city -- as they might if he had been an African-American man? Or a man of Arab descent?
Where white men in their 40s are concerned, my guess is that there will be no racial profiling.
Brenda Bowen
New York, May 3, 2010
As Emily Litella of Saturday Night Live back-in-the-day used to say, "Well, never mind."
Not that Mayor Bloomberg should escape the humiliation of asserting that the perp was most likely someone who was "disgruntled and unhappy with the Health Care Law" (indicting, by inference, The Tea Party members).
Fast forward to the day after the real bomber was identified. No Times editorials on the event and no op-eds indicting "white males." Instead, the letters (unattributable to the editors, of course) say it all. Here's the lead letter:
Re "Owner of S.U.V. Arrested in Times Sq. Bomb Case" (front page, May 4):
I condemn the recent terrorist plot to bomb Times Square and am relieved that there were no casualties. It is good to see that ordinary citizens and law enforcement agencies combined to prevent a tragedy.
I am a Muslim of Pakistani origin, and it angers and pains me to see that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, is Pakistani (though a naturalized American citizen).
Attempts to spread terror do great harm to the image of Pakistan and Islam. If the bombing attempt had been successful, what could have been achieved by killing innocent people from all across the world who crowd Times Square?
I want to praise Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who said after Mr. Shahzad's arrest that no backlash should be tolerated against Pakistanis or Muslims and spoke about the majority of peace-loving American citizens of Pakistani origin. These were the kind of soothing words needed at this juncture.
Pakistan has sacrificed more people in the fight against terrorists and extremists than most nations in the aftermath of Sept. 11 tragedy. The Pakistani Army, intelligence agencies and many ordinary citizens have played a crucial role. We need to win the battle of hearts and minds in the Islamic world. That is the best way to counter terrorists and extremists.
Raza Khan
Melbourne, Australia, May 4, 2010
It's all about the "backlash" and "soothing words". The letter writer's plea for tolerance notwithstanding, it's worth noting that if you're black or Jewish, FBI crime statistics reveal that for the past 10 years you're at least 5 times as likely to become the victim of a "hate crime" than if you're Muslim.
Yes, The Times They Are a-Changin', but not so The New York Times.
[Crossposted from JStreetJive.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
As we reported yesterday, the European intellectual forum Dialexis has circulated its petition to counter that of JCall, J Street's French ally. The European Jewish Congress has come down squarely in opposition to JCall. Here is their official response to the disingenuous "Call to Reason":
Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress
The European Jewish Press: European Jewish group calls JCall petition 'divisive, counter-productive
EJC President Moshe Kantor said this petition "represents a small minority opinion of European Jewry, while the great majority believes that it is now the time to place pressure on the Palestinian side to negotiate directly with Israel in a meaningful way, and to combat the existential threats in the Middle East."
In a statement, the EJC said : "In contradiction to the petition, the EJC commends the Israeli government's actions to help build a more conducive setting for peaceful negotiations and applauds the very difficult concessions it has made, noting the increase in access and movement for the Palestinians by removing two-thirds of all road-blocks and the settlement moratorium," the EJC, which is a representative body of Jewish communities across Europe, said in a statement.
"It is important to note that continued one-sided pressure on Israel does not encourage the Palestinians to engage in serious negotiations and only endangers the already unstable situation in the region," Moshe Kantor said.
"Europe can become an important player in renewing the direct and substantive negotiations, but only by marinating a balanced and objective approach," he added.
"While there has been consistent pressure on Israel, it is important, especially for the EU, to place pressure on the Palestinian Authority to end its incitement, rhetoric and hate education," Kantor continued.
"It should worry those countries that fund the PA that in the last couple of weeks a road within the government compound in Ramallah was named after the Hamas bomb-maker, Yahya Ayyash. European taxpayers' money should not go to activities that glorify mass murder."
"The EJC will continue to work with European decision-makers to assist efforts to achieve a truly viable and lasting peace in the region," it said.
Well said, especially the French proclivity to haute cuisine ("marinating a balanced and objective approach"). Perhaps the facade of Obamism is losing its luster among some Europeans.
[Crossposted from JStreetJive.]
[I would like to welcome Will Spotts back to the blogosphere. Will's insights into the doings of the Presbyterian Church (USA), its Middle East and divestment activities, have always been thoughtful and valuable, and I will be crossposting his material as it appears. First, an excerpt from his re-introduction, and following, his latest essay. -MS]
I was a loyal (if mildly oblivious) member of a PC(USA) church for fifteen years. I was a ruling elder in my local church. I taught Sunday School classes, played for services, occasionally preached. I have had relationships with Presbyterian churches for a large chunk of my life. Traditional Presbyterian doctrines, for the most part, held a strong appeal for me - that has increased over the years. I came to discover that they matched my own beliefs more closely than did the doctrines embraced by most other traditions. To me, they had (and have) the ring of truth.
A couple of years ago I left that church. The reasons for this decision were complicated, but the shortest explanation was that the national denominational organization seemed bent on abandoning both those traditional Reformed doctrines I found so compelling, and the historic system of church governance known as Presbyterianism. The truth be told, these were not recent developments - I had just never looked closely enough to realize this fact.
For me - for my mental and spiritual well-being, and for ethical reasons - to leave the PC(USA) was a right decision. And I am better off for having done so. At the time I left, once I gave my reasons, I promised myself I would not comment on internal PC(USA) matters again. With one exception: If there came a time when the PC(USA) was taking actions that threatened to actively cause harm in the world outside the PC(USA), I would be obliged to speak out.
That time has come...[The rest.]
[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is rapidly approaching General Assembly season. As a former member of the denomination, I always find this time period prompts me to a kind of nostalgia and a renewed interest in Presbyterian affairs. It's kind of like hearing news about someone you used to know. Sadly, this year's festivities contain an unusually large number of alarming and sinister elements. Among other things, this General Assembly intends to address the Israel-Palestine Conflict, the relationship between Christians and Jews, and the relationship between Christians and Muslims. It will consider divestment proposals; the application of the label apartheid to Israel; a report on human rights that seems to find violations of religious freedom singly in the State of Israel; an incomplete, inaccurate, and alarmingly biased report on the Middle East; and a proposal to commend "A Moment of Truth: A Word of Faith and Hope from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering" (the Kairos document) as a tool for advocacy. I have a sinking feeling, like the witch in Macbeth: "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
Continue reading "MAP THING: Why Willful Ignorance Is Not an Option"Here's the ad: PMW US TV ad shows PA glorification of terror as major obstacle to peace
And here's the link to the report: PMW and Deputy FM Ayalon release report on PA glorification of terrorists
...The report documents that: "Terror glorification is highly visible in Palestinian society. A Palestinian child can walk to school along a street named after the terrorist Abu Jihad, who planned a bus hijacking that killed 37, spend the day learning in a school named after Hamas founder Ahmad Yassin, in the afternoon play football in a tournament named after suicide terrorist Abd Al-Baset Odeh who killed 31, and end his day at a youth center named after terrorist Abu Iyad, responsible for the killing of the 11 Olympic athletes in Munich. A young woman can join a university women's club named Sisters of Dalal, after Dalal Mughrabi, attend a week at Al-Quds University honoring suicide bomb builder Yahya Ayyash, and participate in university rallies named after numerous terrorists. Honoring terrorists envelops and plays a significant part in defining the Palestinian world."...
Monday, May 3, 2010
The incisive and undaunted Nidra Poller provides a roadmap to J Street's French offspring, JCall:
JCall: the European Echo to JStreet
by Nidra Poller
May 2, Paris
What follows is the kernel, the beginning, or the false start of an article that will be developed in the coming days. But I wanted it to exist right now in its imperfect state. The creation of a JStreet look alike in Europe might be a ho-hum ripple in a long saga, but it comes as a last straw at a time when the noose is tightening around our necks. This JCall, one more frivolous example of how much we love Israel but just give the Palestinians what they want, whatever they want, is going to be presented to the EU Parliament on May 3rd and meanwhile back at the UN, Ahmadinejad will present his plan for nuclear disarmament... of Israel. With the blessings of Barack Hussein Obama. The JCall Appeal, at a time like this, is so infuriating, that it immediately provoked a vigorous response here in France. A genuine intellectual debate is underway, and I take it upon myself to report it with the fullness it deserves. We are good at this kind of debate in France.
The debate goes to the heart of a conflict that has been brewing in our societies, communities, and families in the first decade of the 21st century. I cannot approach it with any pretense to distance and objectivity. It is the dilemma that occupies my thoughts from morning to night. How do I reconcile my respect for freedom of thought and expression with my conviction that this kind of thinking -- call it leftist, progressive, peace nowish -- is so harmful that I must combat it? In a fair fight! That's what I'll try to explain.
JCall: the European echo to JStreet / Part 1
Let me begin with a prediction before I even explain the tune that JCall is calling: it won't get anywhere. It's no JStreet because it has no Obama in the wings, no AIPAC to snipe at, no Soros or Saudi money, and because European Jews are too close to the bone to heed this call.
Continue reading "Nidra Poller Has JCalls' "Nombre" [Hillel]"Having recently stripped thousands of Palestinian Arabs of their Jordanian citizenship, the Hashemite Kingdom warmly welcomed J Street to its pleasure palace last week. In a display of cognitive hypocrisy, routinely practiced by J Street and the Obama administration, King Abdullah (not even shadow of his father, the erstwhile friend to Israel, King Hussein) blurted out the boiler plate demands for Palestinian "rights" (not in Jordan, of course) and statehood. Joining in the chorus, J Street officials, no doubt blessed by their leader, Obama, somehow neglected to point out the mistreatment of Palestinians east of the Jordan.
Abuse of Palestinian Arabs has not been the sole activity of Jordanians, however. Some of the Great Expellers have included Kuwait (1991 - 400,000 along with hundreds of murdered Palestinians) and Libya (1998 - over a thousand were left to languish in refugee camps along the Egyptian border).
It is becoming increasingly clear that Obama is using J Street as his unofficial State Department (as he has done in the past with Robert Malley.) Pushing the two-state solution and an end to settlements is the constant refrain that Ben Ami will share with the Jordanians, Egyptians and the other 21 Arab States. It is also becoming clear that Obama may attempt to impose a solution to the conflict. Translate: Israel will be forced to concede anything Obama wishes with J Street backing him 100%. With the Mitchell mission treading water, BHO can always count on his J Street lackeys to ratchet up the pressure on Israel.
[Crossposted from JStreetJive.]
Oops:
For a man singularly obsessed with the perfidious Jews, you'd think John Mearsheimer would have the skill to keep his categories correct. For instance, in his latest death-to-Israel speech, he lists Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch as a "Righteous Jew," and Lester Crown, the Chicago businessman and Jewish leader, as a "New Afrikaner." But Anne Herzberg e-mails to report that Susan Crown, Lester's daughter, is on Human Rights Watch's Chicago committee, and that the Crown family foundation is a major donor to Human Rights Watch. So what does this make Lester Crown -- a Righteous Afrikaner? This is the problem with Jews -- so tricky!
A7: US, Britain, and France 'Disengage' Ahmadinejad
The United States, Britain and France led a walkout on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the U.N. nuclear non-proliferation conference Monday as he accused countries with nuclear weapons of threatening those without them. "How can the United States be a member of the board of governors when it used nuclear weapons against Japan," he said.
New York Rep. Steve Israel called for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel "to be wiped off the map," to be arrested and tried for "incitement to genocide." Rep. Israel stated, "Incitement to genocide is a punishable act and instead of giving him another platform at the U.N., he should be tried."
The lower house of Congress three years ago passed a resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad.
The only head of state to address the General Assembly conference, he challenged anyone to provide evidence that Iran is developing nuclear arms. There is "not a single credible proof." he declared. Before he spoke, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the "onus" is on Iran to prove its nuclear program does not include the development of nuclear weapons...[More.]
From Diversity Lane.
Related: Some good photos here: AZTLAN ASTROTURF - MAY DAY MARCH in DENVER - Killer Unicorns and Marxists March for Revolution
[The following, by Matt, is crossposted from The Brothers of Judea.]
Darling of the left, trusted "asaJew" and "journalist" Max Blumenthal took it upon himself to cover the Stand With Us pro-Israel rally in New York City a week ago and published his results on the HP in an editorial entitled, "Extremist Pro-Settler Lobby Rallies Against Obama while Schumer and Weiner Pander". I'm going to say two things before we get started. First, I'm going to talk mainly about Blumenthal's video, which I've embedded below. Second, Blumenthal is most famous in my mind for his infamous video "Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem", in which he interviewed less than 20 clearly intoxicated American teenagers who said racist things about President Obama, and used those interviews to show that clearly all of Israel feels the same way and Israelis are all racists. That is the kind of person we're dealing with here, with the journalistic integrity of a weasel.
Please watch this video so you can see the extremists in action.
Continue reading "Max Blumenthal Covers a Pro-Israel Rally"Sunday, May 2, 2010
Very good story: Eleanor Mills was invited to PressTV to talk about women in the election. Fortunately, she has a sense of proportion: The ayatollahs' stooge
...The station was set up three years ago to give the Islamic republic a way of getting its message across to the outside world. It is designed to look neutral to attract western journalists and politicians. But its message is always the same: it chooses those who are critical of the West for propaganda reasons. As well as [Lauren] Booth -- who has been outspoken in her attacks on Tony Blair and Israel -- its presenters include that old apologist for tyranny George "Saddam Hussein's mate" Galloway and Yvonne Ridley, the Express journalist who was kidnapped by the Taliban and converted to Islam.
The more I read, the more uncomfortable I felt. Visions of the violent death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman shot dead by Iranian government security forces as she took part in the protests last year over the rigged election, swam into my mind. I remembered the seas of green flags, the awe-inspiring bravery of all those thousands of ordinary Iranians who ventured onto the streets declaring the election void, protesting that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, had swindled his way to victory, despite the risk of murderous reprisals. Most of all I recalled the terrible accounts of the brutality with which the regime punished protesters; how so many of them had disappeared, their frantic families knowing nothing of their fate, and had been taken to secret prisons where they had been raped and tortured.
Last June, when the demonstrations started, it fell to me to edit an account of the torture of the protesters by the Iranian security services that was so horrific it was almost unpublishable. The version that eventually appeared was gut-wrenching, but the full details were unimaginable. In fact they haunt me. I have wondered many times how any human being could endure or mete out such treatment. They left me with an abiding disgust for the Iranian regime.
Yet here I was, sitting in the green room of the ayatollahs' propaganda TV station, expected to go live on air any minute, to millions of people all over the world, criticising the British election for not having enough female voices on the stump. My brain was racing. I felt incredibly uncomfortable. Within the context of Britain, our democratic and deeply tolerant country, I do feel we've got a way to go. It pains me that we rank only 61st in the world when it comes to representation of women in parliament; it is bad that only 20% of the MPs elected to the new parliament this week will be women. But those criticisms are petty compared with the problems in Iran, where elections are not free and fair, free speech is restricted and women are not allowed to uncover their heads or sing in public (let alone become president). The idea that my views on the British election could be used as propaganda against the West by being aired in such a context revolted me. ..
In his link to the latest edition of the Jewish blog roundup, Robert Avrech relates the following story:
...I'm back from my Lag Ba'omer haircut--Fantastic Sam's--and hey my Persian lady haircutter was fantastic.
As soon as I walked in she goes:
"Oh, you are here for Lag Ba'omer. Come I take good care of you."
"Um, okay, but keep the sideburns the same length."
"I am too Jewish. I understand what is payot. I make your hair nice. The shape you have now not so good."
"I think that's just the shape of my head."
"Excuse, please?"
She actually did a really good job. Charged just $15.00, and chattered away the whole time abut her relatives back in the happy-go-lucky Islamic tyranny of Iran and how the Jews have to attend government sponsored anti-Israel demostrations and scream "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" or their Muslim neighbors will inform on them to the secret police and the Jews will end up in prison where they will be tortured in unspeakable ways and their property confiscated.
As I said, fantastic haircut...
If it weren't Israel, it would be something else. This is the fate of the Dhimmi. This is why there is an Israel.
May Day Greetings from the Head of the World Health Organization!
It could have been worse, I suppose, had I awakened this morning to the clatter of panzerkampfwagens rolling through the D.C. suburbs blaring the Horst Wessel Lied from loudspeakers. But if the prospect of the U.N. as Government of Earth horrifies you any less, get a load of what Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organization, holds up as the very model of a peachy health care system:
UN health agency chief Margaret Chan said on Friday after a visit to North Korea that the country's health system would be the envy for most developing countries although it faced "challenges". "Based on what I have seen, I can tell you they have something that most other developing countries would envy," she told journalists, despite reports of renewed famine in parts of the country.
"To give you a couple of examples, DPRK has no lack of doctors and nurses, as we see in other developing countries, most of their doctors and nurse have migrated," the director general of the World Health Organisation said. She also highlighted its "very elaborate health infrastructure" extending to a district network of household doctors, she added. [AFP]
It isn't a revelation to me that factual ignorance and moral retardation prevail at the United Nations, but Chan may have lowered the bar. Speaking of a regime that willfully allowed up to 2.5 million of its people to starve to death, while the survivors merely watched their loved ones starve to death, Chan concedes that all is not perfect in North Korea:
"I can see perhaps that malnutrition is an area where the government has to pay attention, especially in pregnant women and young children," Chan said in a telephone news conference about her visit.
Then, citing official North Korean statistics without apparent irony or suspicion ...
[S]he praised the extent of child vaccination in the country, citing coverage of about 90 percent, as well as the way it tackled tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases.
But there were some qualifications:
Chan later accepted that what she saw in Pyongyang "might not be representative of the rest of the country.
To say the least...
But at least they don't have an obesity problem. Think I'm kidding? Read the rest.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Like its French Heritage, Peace Now's Forte is Surrender
JCall is the French flavor of America's J Street. It will be launched at that bastion of Israel support, The European Union Parliament, in Brussels on May 3rd. In anticipation of the EU's foregone approval of its lethal mission, JCall has published a petition signed by hundreds of Jewish Palestinian supporters (quel surprise!). Giving short schrift to the "existential" threats facing The Jewish State, the document focuses on the "immoral" and "wrong" policies of Jewish settlement and "occupation." While demanding that "both sides" be subjected to pressure to reach a peaceful solution, as usual, all the pressure is exerted on the Jews. Formed from its parent organization, La Paix Maintenant (Peace Now), JCall will position itself as the mini-me of its American cousin. It's the "Now" in Peace Now that is the most troublesome. Driven headlong by fear and political correctness, Peace Now, in whatever language it is spoken, will yield to virtually any Arab or Muslim demand.
JCall and La Paix Maintenant, like its American progenitor, and the now marginalized Shalom Acshav in Israel, want peace not tomorrow, but NOW - apparently at any price. Its capitulationist agenda has been utterly rejected by nearly all Israelis and so they have to rely on foreign chapters to carry the ball to defeat. Their extreme advocacy will find a receptive audience in Brussels. It was only less than a year ago that a "distinguished" EU delegation traveled to Damascus to grovel before Hamas to urge Europe to recognize and parlay with that terror organization. Led by Clare Short, the delegation embraced Khaled Mashal, Hamas' leader. Short, the inveterate, anti-Israel former minister under Tony Blair has uttered some cheery statements, accusing Israel of:
"bloody, brutal and systematic annexation of land, destruction of homes and the deliberate creation of an apartheid system."
If there is a debate in Brussels on May 3rd it will amount to deciding simply when to issue its condemnation of Israel. It's also worth noting that Jeff Halper and his group the ICAHD (The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) receive most of their funding from the EU.
Remember the atrocious murder and torture of Ilan Halimi, the Morrocan Jew who was tortured to death by Muslim Israel haters in Paris in 2006? Searches of La Paix Maintenant's website yield no statements on the Halimi murder. Quel surprise, encore.
Another of the group's luminaries is Daniel Cohn Bendit, France's answer to Bill Ayers, or "Dany Le Rouge" as he was known in the '60's. Of course, he is now "Dany Le Vert", leader of the French Green Party, representative of that group to the EU.
Dany Le Rouge (1968) to....
Dany Le Vert (1999)...to Dany Le Brun - Shirt, that is(2010)?
Sounding like Jeremy Ben Ami's French cousin, he commented on Israel's Operation Cast Lead in January of 2009:
"Hopes of peace and security are going up in smoke in Gaza. We are further away from the prospect of peace than ever before. Those who claim that Hamas' rockets justify the war are mistaken. If you start a war, you must know your aim and how to end it. Israel's aim is to improve its security but it is only achieving the opposite. We need to protect Israel from itself and Palestinians from Hamas."
It beggars the mind to think of what tales of Israeli evils Red Danny will impart to the wise men of Brussels.
They've been joining the protests in Sheikh Jarrah against the court ordered assertion of Jewish property rights: Protests, arrests across West Bank
...about 300 protestors arrived for the weekly rally in east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood against the entry of Jewish residents into the area in line with a court order.
The protestors were joined by former Meretz Chairwoman Shulamit Aloni and by a delegation of J Street lead...
Shulamit Aloni is she of Apartheid Israel infamy.
What do Hamas animators dream of at night? Why, ways to torture Israelis and corrupt their own young people, of course: Hamas produces cartoon video on Shalit
Hamas released a cartoon video showing captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returning to Israel in a coffin.
The animated video, released Sunday, shows Shalit's father, Noam, wandering deserted streets looking at billboard after billboard of Israeli leaders promising to work for his son's release. He is finally shown, having aged by many years, waiting at the Erez checkpoint for the return of his son. As Noam Shalit shouts "No!" at the sight of the flag-draped coffin, he jerks awake inside a protest tent and realizes it is a dream. "There is still hope," reads the closing caption of the video, followed by the symbol for Hamas.
The cartoon appeared on the Web site of Hamas' armed wing, Izzadin A-Qassam Brigades, and was distributed to Israeli television stations. It was released on day 1,400 of Shalit's captivity...
Here is the real Noam Shalit, appearing in an Independence Day video addressed to students:
[The following, by Israelinurse, is crossposted from CiF Watch.]
The distressing news that Israel's Deputy Ambassador to the UK had been attacked by violent 'pro-Palestinian' protestors on April 28th at the University of Manchester came as no surprise to me: it is an event which has been in the making for a long time, the build-up to which I watched unfold with my own eyes during the time I worked on that campus.
Throughout Operation Cast Lead and for several weeks following it, the atmosphere on campus was one of aggression and menace as students staged demonstrations and occupied part of the university. Working in a building close to the Students Union, I found myself having to listen to hours of hostile chants through a megaphone and obliged to negotiate anti-Israeli posters, placards and demonstrations just to get out of the building and to the bus stop. On several occasions I was accosted by activists handing out of leaflets or soliciting donations. When I declined to contribute, a torrent of verbal abuse followed which became even uglier when the Star of David I wear was spotted. In February 2009 the Student Union newspaper reported that a Jewish SU leader had threatening graffiti scrawled on his door. Make no mistake; these protests were anti-Israeli, not pro-Palestinian.
Much of the activism at Manchester and other British universities is organised by a group called 'Action Palestine' which works together with organisations which will be familiar to many readers such as Jews for Justice for Palestinians, ICAHD UK, Friends of Al Aqsa, Machsom Watch, The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, BRICUP and the Stop the War Coalition. Among these organisations, Machsom Watch and ICAHD at least have received EU funding which they use to promote the delegitimisation of Israel. ICAHD UK advocates a boycott of Israeli goods based upon what it calls 'the Manchester model'. In other words, the harassment of Israeli and Jewish students and staff at British universities is being aided by organizations receiving funding from British tax payers via the EU.
Continue reading "So Shall You Reap"[The following, by bataween, is crossposted from Point of No Return.]
A trunkful of documents sent to Washington for restoration (National Archives)
With thanks: Niran
Millions of listeners to the BBC's World Service must have fallen off their chairs to hear Dia Kashi, an outspoken Iraqi Muslim, reveal that Jews have had a rich history in the region since Babylonian times. Baghdad was once a third Jewish, he said, and the Jews helped modernise Iraq. Funny that - so the Jews are not all colonisers and Khazar converts from Europe.
But BBC presenter Lyse Doucet, in her ignorance, seemed to think that the only possessions that the Jews left behind in Iraqi were their artefacts, Torah scrolls and marriage records. It fell to Dia to make clear that the Jews, who, he emphasised, were forced to leave Iraq, were also forced to leave all their property behind.
But, as we have sadly come to expect from al-Beeb, the ensuing discussion, about whether the Jewish archive rescued in 2003 from the flooded basement of Saddam Hussein's secret police headquarters and taken for restoration to Washington should be returned to Iraq (documented here, here, here and here on Point of No Return) - was skewed. Pitted against the Iraqi ambassador to Washington, pleading that the Jewish archive was Iraq's heritage, was Dov Zakheim, a member of the US administration. Zakheim made the curious point that digitisation of holy books was not the answer, as observant Jews would not use the internet on Shabbat!
The argument turned not on whether the archive rightfully belonged to the Jews of Iraq, but whether the US interim government had the right to remove it. "Wasn't that stealing?" Ms Doucet almost shrieked. There was nobody there to put the argument that if anyone has been stealing, it is the Iraqi authorities.
Absent from the discussion was a representative of the Jews of Iraq themselves, who, it was furtively admitted, almost all live in Israel.
You can hear the item for the next seven days on BBC Newshour (the report starts 44 minutes into the programme).
****
With thanks: Iraqijews
On the subject of Iraqi Jews now living in England, Arabic speakers may find this recent clip from Al-Arabiya TV of interest. The report is reasonably balanced but, towards the end, degenerates into tear-jerking nostalgia.
