Hasbara with Attitude

The Ice Cream Straw Man Cometh

2012-01-12T09:32:00.001+02:00

The bad news in Israel keeps piling up. Religious tensions, Iran’s nuclear program and regional instability are all worrying enough – but now Häagen-Dazs ice cream in Israel is under threat, and may become a rarity on supermarket shelves.

Source

I don't really care about the article. Sure, I like Haagen Dazs, but not enough to cough up a car payment for a pint. Besides, I like homemade much better.

It's the mindlessness and vitriol of the commenting on this article that is simply astounding.

There's the dairyman who can't tell the difference between milks. Here's a hint, dairyman: only kosher milks coagulate into cheese. Oh yeah, and exactly how cost-effective is it to raise pigs on a dairy farm? Or do you think they would do it just to piss off the Jews?

There's the people who criticize the Rabbinate for not commenting on the Beit Shemesh, who can't do a simple Google search to find their condemnations from rabbinical organizations all over the world, including the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. This article is about ice cream. Go bang that drum somewhere else. And what about the reprisal attack in Ashkelon by a group of Ethiopian men? Did he deserve to get pummeled any more than the girl deserved to be spit on? Where's your outrage now, you sanctimonious assholes!

Then there's the kosher tax people. Really, that's about as anti-Semitic a comment as anything written in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I'm sure companies with lawyers, financiers and accountants much smarter than all of you would have figured out long ago whether paying a "kosher tax" for 1/10 of 1% of the population of the planet was really worth the cost. Or do you really believe that the Evil Joooz control the world?

Organized kashruth is about maintaining standards, and if you want to continue eating Haagen Dazs based on the OU's hashgacha, go right ahead; no one is infringing on your right to keep your own kashruth standards. Go ahead and eat your ice cream after shtupping your neighbor's wife in the back seat of your car on a Friday night. Have fun. The Chief Rabbinate is simply not willing to extend its supervision to stores that stock an item that relies on a kulah when it doesn't have to. Hey here's a thought Haagen Dazs people: open up a manufacturing facility here in Israel! OMG! Revolutionary! I mean, only Ben & Jerry's and Nestle's thought of it first, but you could, like, lower your costs of shipping and make even more money!

Funny, when it comes to meat I don't hear anyone complaining that the Rabbinate is more meikil about nikkur than R. Feinstein was. Hypocrites.

Settler Violence

2011-12-19T20:57:00.003+02:00

What an offensive and demeaning term. It's offensive when I read it from liberals, and it's worse when I read it being used by citizens of Yehuda and Shomron. A "settler" is at once both Israeli and Jew, and neither, spat from the lips of the menage-a-tois of leftist politico, academic and journalistic pseudo-cognoscenti. It is a depersonalizing and polarizing epithet used to brand a fictitious group of people that do not share a homogeneous political ideology, religious creed, ethnicity or social status, to round them up and condemn them in one neat little package.

Let me clue you in: there is no difference between a citizen living in Ariel or Ashkelon, Talpiot or Tel Aviv. I know "settlers" who are members of Knesset, doctors, lawyers, professors, journalists, teachers, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs and mechanics. Settlers who are charedi, chardal, and chiloni, frum from birth, baalei teshuva and converts. They are co-workers, friends, and relatives. And yes, they are leftists, centrists, and rightists. So the attempt to use the term to conjure up a single image of some uncouth religious zealot is a failure. You can stop now; you're only embarrassing yourselves.

It is disingenuous for the government to turn around and implement policies against the very same people they subsidized and offered incentives to develop their homes, businesses and land for thirty of the last forty years. To do so and then expect them not to react while their Arab neighbors act with impunity is just plain fucking stupid. After all, the people have been in these areas for forty years; the government has been in power less than four. The people will continue to be in these areas long after the government has changed hands.

Civil disobedience is not non-violent resistance (though the latter is a type of the former), but there is a significant difference between it and rioting. In the case of the people in last week's confrontation, the aim/goal/purpose was to establish a new residence; they did not go simply to confront the army. It wasn't a pretense to attack soldiers or vandalize the base. By contrast, the ongoing Bi'lin Riots goal is only to violently confront the police and army. There is no constructive purpose in their actions, or even pretense of purpose.

The physical confrontations we are now witnessing are the outgrowth of the frustration against a completely arbitrary and increasingly hostile military junta in Yehuda and Shomron, which is completely anachronistic in 2011. Post American Civil-War Reconstruction lasted only 12 years; why is it now forty years later and Israeli citizens are living under military rule of law?

It's not my place to condemn or condone violence; I cannot be blamed for the actions of others any more than others can be blamed for mine. But the continuous threats, renegations of promises, evictions and administrative detentions has escalated the brinkmanship between the government of Israel and its people to the point where the citizens are able to justify a more hostile responses against the agents of the Government because they feel increasingly like they are being backed into a corner. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" is not some great philosophical idea; it is just a line from a science fiction novel.

For years now I have come to expect nothing fair or balanced from the Mainstream Media. But the hypocrisy when journalists decry "settler violence" as a unique, somehow worse form of violence than the continuously unreported "leftist violence" against the IDF is physically nauseating, and smacks of incitement.

Hillary's Slip is Showing

2011-09-14T07:53:00.003+03:00

We all know that it's common for diplomats and reports of governmental activities are generally referred to by their respective country's capital cities. The NY Times reported yesterday that Secretary of State Clinton said:

“The only way of getting a lasting solution is through direct negotiations between the parties, and the route to that lies in Jerusalem and Ramallah, not in New York.”

Well, now, isn't this something? There is a law on the books to move the embassy to Jerusalem, a purty new consulate building in not the Arab part of Jerusalem while the embassy is still in Tel Aviv, a case going to SCOTUS about listing 'Jerusalem, Israel' on US passports... how does she keep it all straight in her head?

Source

Having It Both Ways

2011-08-10T10:18:00.002+03:00

We're all too familiar with the double standard the press revels in when it comes to Israel. No less familiar and no less significant is the license they take in accusing Israel of anything that suits their fancy and their narrative, without any adherence to fact, logic or even reason. Yesterday's Financial Times reported on the growth of the protest phenomenon in Israel. They note:

His coalition government is deeply dependent on the support of lawmakers from pro-settler and ultra-Orthodox parties. Discord on the streets is bad enough for the prime minister. Conflict and strife inside Mr Netanyahu’s unwieldy coalition may be even worse.

Source

While just the other week, Peace Now (of all places) reported, also on the protests:

“The protests in the streets are actually making [the coalition] more stable and the ones who could give Netanyahu problems are not interested in bringing down this government,” [Prof. Shmuel] Sandler told The Media Line. “Also, March is a long way off. Netanyahu will likely come to an arrangement with the settlers, maybe give them other land, and he’ll take it (Migron) down.”

Source

So it's an unwieldy but more stable coalition. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Our protests don't involve tanks or riots, but the press doesn't feel the need to report on that, in light of what's going on in "civilized" countries like England or Syria.

Only in Israel.

It's Everyone Else's Fault

2011-08-04T13:14:00.003+03:00

Just stumbled across this jewel of a rant from the Guardian. I have no expectations that opinion pieces should be any less biased than actual news articles, but it would be nice to cite at least one source, instance or even anecdote to prove your point. And then there are the dizzying inaccuracies. For instance:

Half of the Palestinian population at the time were displaced from their homes.

Where did you get that number? Oh wait:

As if the forced dispossession from 78% of their homeland was not enough,

So which is it, half, or 78%?

Another:

Israel had planned for that occupation long before the war.

Yes, we planned to be cut off from the Straits of Hormuz, then invaded by Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

This is my favorite:

Year after year the Palestinian leadership offered concession after concession, trying to reach an equitable resolution to their dispossession and military occupation.

Please, please give me one.single.instance of a concession. Arafat at Camp David with Barak? Anything?

Past procrastination has only created irreparable damage on the ground invoking a dire need for an end game, not yet another starting point.

I agree, but I'm not exactly in agreement with him, knowwhatimean?

Thus spake the prophet:

This new shift will see Palestinians dropping their desire for independent statehood in a fraction of their historic homeland and instead will find them, within a genuinely representative political structure, articulating their desire for self-determination within their historic homeland, even if that homeland today is called Israel.

In other words, law and order.

He softens the blow at the end, after ranting about Israel's colonial criminality:

Now, the sooner Palestinians and Israelis realise that our destiny is to live together as equals, the sooner we can begin to rehabilitate our communities and build a single society whose citizens are all equal under law and equal as human beings.

It is your desssssstiny...

Source

Ashkelon Under Attack

2010-09-15T10:17:00.002+02:00

Hamas has carried out its threat to continue to attack Israelis with rockets and mortar shells, and shortly after midnight fired a Kassam missile that exploded in a southern Ashkelon industrial area near a large electric power plant that serves Gaza as well as southern Israel.

Terrorists also fired at least two mortar shells on farm areas in the Eshkol region. No injuries or damage was reported.

Remind me again which part of the "occupied territories" Ashkelon is in again?

Also, remind me which other country would tolerate this bullshit of indiscriminate rocket fire into their civilian population centers?

Is the excuse that their rockets suck and (almost) never hurt anyone or damage anything starting to ring a little hollow, or are we still waiting for them to get lucky and hit a gan or bus of old ladies before we really get mad?

Source

Now the Zionists are building Elevators!!!

2010-08-17T12:59:00.002+03:00

This just in from the Palestinian Ministry of Outrage:

The Al Aqsa Foundation also claimed in a statement that the area in front of the wall could be used as a base from which to attack the mosque compound. Moreover, it said the project was intended to prevent Muslim worshipers from reaching the mosque, while increasing the presence of Jews in the area.

Source

When rabbis write books of Torah, they get called in and threatened with being charged with incitement. When the Al Aqsa Foundation a terrorism-sponsoring organization openly calls for protests (aka riots) against a handicapped-access elevator from the Jewish Quarter to the Kotel Plaza, not a single word is spoken.

Moral equivalence indeed.

T-Shirt: We're Still Here

2010-08-17T10:29:00.004+03:00

We're Still Here
Dated from the year Joshua entered Eretz Yisrael and claimed it for God and Israel. For thousands of years invaders, dictators, usurpers and leftists have tried to deny our claim on this land, and have done everything to uproot us. Let everyone know that no matter how much they try to get rid of us, we're still here.

http://www.cafepress.com/hwa_stillhere

Lebanon and On

2010-08-04T12:01:00.004+03:00

What a mess in Lebanon. A little tree-trimming by the IDF turns into a cross-border firefight. We lose a commander (HY"D) and another officer is badly hurt. We kill a couple of soldiers and a journalist (no great loss there) in retaliation.

With the UN being unusually cooperative by officially confirming that UNIFIL had a) been notified of the tree clearing and b) had reported it to Lebanon, it really deals Israel the hand it needs to blow this into a full out diplomatic coup for Israel. All the pieces are in place to really cement Israel in place as the injured party, and get some valuable political capital it needs to deal with the ongoing worldwide Israel-bashing.

So here's an appropriate response. It's a little expensive, but definitely worth it in the long run:

Start massing troops on the border. The whole deal. Tanks, ammo, firebases, airbases. Make it a very public, very loud mobilization. 200,000 soldiers to start, minimum. Keep it going for two weeks. Make it look like we're heading all the way up to Tripoli.
Set Lieberman loose. Let him start a 'round the world tour of how Israel is going to kick the shit out of Hizbullah once and for all, and teach the Lebanese army a lesson they won't soon forget.
Get Ambassador Shalev to start making noise in the UN about Security Council sanctions. 45-minute tirade from the GA floor. Spit in the Saudi ambassador's face.
Fire Barak; this is his mess in the first place(Well okay, that won't happen but a boy can dream, can't he?).
When the UN, US, UK, all start clamoring for "restraint," Netanyahu wades into the thick of it and says, "Okay, I'll call off the war on the conditions that you:"
1. Add Lebanon to the lists of US State Sponsors of Terror.
2. UN Sanction of Lebanon in the UNSC for firing the first shot.
3. Don't even flinch in September when the freeze is off. Not a peep, not a rolled eye.
4. Trot out the old line "Israel has a right to defend itself" and play it like a broken record until everyone's saying it. (I'd love to hear that from Hillary's lips.)

There is really no way for Israel to lose this politically. Worst case scenario is we invade Lebanon. Again. Without two soldiers' lives in the balance, the IDF can visit some serious payback for 2006. Best case is that Israel regains its deterrent capacity. And we get to kill Hizbullies.

To the bereaved family of Lt. Col. Harari, I apologize deeply if this seems like crass opportunism. May his sacrifice not be in vain.

Turkish Overture in B-flat

2010-07-27T11:41:00.004+03:00

Turkey working to prevent Lebanese sail to Gaza

According to Israeli officials, Ankara deems additional flotillas pointless after partial lifting of blockade on Gaza. 'Turkey wants to lower its profile, let diplomacy take its course,' official says

Officials in Jerusalem were surprised to learn that Turkey is working to prevent Lebanese ships from attempting to sail to Gaza in violation of an Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run territory, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Tuesday.

Israeli officials estimate that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who visited Damascus and Beirut last week, asked the Lebanese government to prevent the flotilla's departure as part of Ankara's efforts to ease tensions with Israel.

WTF? There is so much going on here... it's now Ankara, officials and the FM, not Erdogan, there's no demand of an apology from Israel, and Turkey just put the kibosh on the entire Free Gaza movement.

I'm guessing that in spite of Turkey's announcements that everything is fine and dandy, the warming relations with Greece and the multimillion dollar losses (real and potential) in revenue actually do matter to Turkey. In related news, while Israel lifted the travel advisory to Turkey, Israelis are staying away in droves. And NATO's pretty pissed that Turkey is sharing miltech with non-NATO countries.

Turkey has been described as a bridge between East and West. Right now, it's looking a little like this:

Not Even a Phone Call...

2010-07-13T13:27:00.002+03:00

Jewish eastern Jerusalem houses gain approval
July 12, 2010
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Jerusalem municipal committee approved the construction of 32 homes in a Jewish neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem.

The district planning and construction committee on Monday approved the construction for Pisgat Zeev a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington with President Obama, who is opposed to building in eastern Jerusalem.

So, without fanfare, screaming mobs, 45-minute tirades or rip-shit anger, Israel continues to assert its sovereign right to do whatever the hell it wants in its own capital, fuckyouverymuch.

Source

A Turkish Bath

2010-07-06T21:15:00.005+03:00

Get this: Turkey is again demanding an apology from Israel for killing nine morons who brought knives to a gun fight.

This isn't the first time they're demanding an apology. What part of "no" didn't they understand the first time around?

Listen, Erdogan, habibi, whatever it is you think you're going to gain out of this, you're already losing. That $2B in exports to Israel? Gone. Those tanks you want to stop Iran's expansion of the Emirate when he finally drinks the Kool Aid? Not happening. Modernizing those jets? Nuh-uh. Oh, and that $400M in chump change from the tourism industry? Israeli's are going to Greece instead. Now here's the biggie: energy, agriculture and irrigation projects estimated at $20 billion are at risk.

So, if we don't apologize for enforcing a legal blockade of our own territory, they're going to cut ties with Israel. They will no longer buy our military technology, host our tourists, sell Israel water and random consumer goods or work with us on a host of infrastructure projects. Oh and they'll piss off the US and a couple of other NATO allies in the process.

Yeah, that'll show us.

Pass the Kool-Aid.

Source
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Lebanese Flotilla, Rhymes with 'Shatila' (UPDATED)

2010-06-17T21:38:00.005+03:00

Sabra and Shatila, forever ingrained in every Israel-basher's memory as Israel's failure to protect avowed enemies from a little payback action from Lebanese Christians.

So now it seems some Lebanese women are going to send their own aid flotilla to the poor, poor Palestinians in Gaza who are suffering under the lash of Israel's Occupation. (But didn't they evacuate in 2005? Hey, shut up with that..)

Uh, hello? What about the Palestinians in Lebanon? You know, the ones who are still living in all those refugee camps, the ones who, two generations later, are still living off the UN? The ones that Lebanon refuses to integrate into their society, their fellow ethnic Arabs, what about them? Are you telling me that they have to sail hundreds of kilometers to find some Palestinians to fawn over? Is anyone going to call them on this?

This just in (6/18/10 7:14AM): Lebanon Postpones Granting Rights to 1948 Refugees - Again

B'tzelem's New Math

2010-06-14T08:59:00.003+03:00

B'tzelem reported on the conditions in the Gaza Strip, using some pretty creative numbers. Let's have a look, shall we?

At the end of 2009, 93 percent of the wells were found to be polluted with high quantities of chloride and nitrates, far in excess of the World Health Organization’s recommended levels. The water supply is defective, and thousands of residents are not even connected to the water grid.

93% of the water is polluted water, and there's no typhus epidemic? No malaria outbreak? I man, contaminating the water supply is the first rule in siege warfare, true, but where's the obvious end result to that? Right, let's move on.

The prohibition on bringing in raw materials and on exports has led to the closing of 95 percent of the factories and workshops in the area.

95% of factories are closed. So that means if there are 100 factories, only five are open. Now, according to the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce, the last statistic we have to work with is from 1998, where there were 412 carpentry workshops employing 1002 workers (2.4 workers per 'factory'). Please note that they tout Israeli training as a benefit for investment consideration. OK, now let's take a look at that percentage, shall we? There are now, supposedly, only 20ish carpentry factories still open, employing 48 people. Hmm.. does that have to do with Israel's 'siege', or does that have to do with a glut in the market, overreported numbers, and every three people counting as a 'factory'?

As a result of Israel’s policy, 98 percent of Gaza residents suffer from planned blackouts lasting up to eight or ten hours a day.

The last time there was an Israeli 'blackout' in Gaza, tens of thousands of people took to the streets with candles, and the world decried Israel's 'collective punishment'. But now, blackouts last ten hours a DAY and there's nothing in the news? Really?

Forty percent unemployment, huh? I suppose I should feel bad about it, but then I remember that the people elected these leaders.

More that 70% rely on humanitarian aid? Guess they get it in the market (note the source of the website).

It's all a numbers game.

Source

Hearst Corporation Magazines

2010-06-07T16:50:00.003+03:00

If you subscribe to any of these magazines, you pay for Helen Thomas' salary:

Cosmopolitan
Country Living
Esquire
Food Network Magazine
Good Housekeeping
House Beautiful
Harper's Bazaar
Marie Claire
O, The Oprah Magazine
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
Seventeen
Town&Country
Veranda

Be honest now, do you really need the next issue of O, The Oprah Magazine cluttering the box next to the toilet?

Call the subscription desk. Ask to speak to a manager. Put them on notice that if Helen Thomas retains her position, you will be canceling your subscription within thirty days. It's as simple as that.

Goldstone's Skeletons Have Come Home to Roost

2010-05-06T14:16:00.003+03:00

Oh, that's not the only metaphor I'm going to mangle today, readers. First, the obvious question: who the fuck does Richard Goldstone think he is? I mean, seriously, did he forget that he hung 26 black men in apartheid South Africa? Because the families of the hanged men sure as hell didn't. Did he think that those records would be lost to the ages? People who live in ivory towers...

Did it never occur to him to recuse himself from judging in a case where one of the parties is repeatedly (if not accurately) accused of apartheid policies?

Was this an axe to grind or a bone to pick? Was this just plain old stupidity, or he just plain old?

He went against Israel. Forget selling out his own people; that's God's issue to take up with him. Goldstone went up against a nation of seven million yentas, who show an amazing aptitude of circling the wagons in the face of adversity. Oh, and this is also the country that spawned, you know, The Mossad. What chance did this information have staying a secret? About a snowball's chance...

So now news gets out Richie Goldstone is a hangin' judge. When confronted with this, his response was that "he had to respect the laws of the state." Yes, we've all heard that one before. Nuremberg, wasn't it? He vas only followink orrrders. By the way, he also sentenced black men to lashes, because he was against the death penalty. Except for those twelve times. But wait, he didn't have to be a judge, did he?

So, to sum it all up, the UN commissioner tasked with identifying Israeli war crimes and Israeli crimes against humanity was, only a short while ago, responsible for the enforcement of apartheid laws, corporal punishment and capital punishment. Not only did he fail in his task at the UN, he failed to excise the ghosts of those twelve black men who were sent to their deaths by his own apartheid-stained, blood-soaked hands.

Folks, if THAT's not a hypocrite, I'll eat my hat.

Simon Wiesenthal's Top-10 Anti-Israel Lies

2010-04-30T01:33:00.002+03:00

Lie No. 1: Israel was created by European guilt over the Nazi Holocaust. Why should Palestinians pay the price?

Lie No. 2: Had Israel withdrawn to its June 1967 borders, peace would have come long ago.

Lie No. 3: Israel is the main stumbling block to achieving a two-state solution.

Lie No. 4: Nuclear Israel, not Iran, is the greatest threat to peace and stability.

Lie No. 5: Israel is an apartheid state deserving of international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns.

Lie No. 6: Plans to build 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem prove Israel is "Judaizing" the Holy City.

Lie No. 7: Israeli policies endanger U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lie No. 8: Israeli policies are the cause of worldwide anti-Semitism.

Lie No. 9: Israel, not Hamas, is responsible for the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. Goldstone was right when he charged that Israel was guilty of war crimes against civilians.

Lie No. 10: The only hope for peace is a single, binational state eliminating the Jewish State of Israel.

If you've ever heard any of these lies, download the brochure and learn the truth.

Smoke and Mirrors: Why Gates rolled out the red carpet for Ehud Barak

2010-04-29T17:18:00.003+03:00

The Obama Administration (have you noticed no one calls it the "White House" anymore?) has welcomed The Other Barak for some photo ops and "understandings." This isn't damage control, because that would imply that something happened in the, you know, past. This is the New Improved Obama, now with Less Vitriol:

But another reason may be that the Obama administration seems to be making a concerted effort to put to rest in particular any impression that the top U.S. military brass was in any way questioning the value of the U.S.-Israeli military and strategic relationship.

Or maybe it's that Barak shares the ideals of Obama, namely socialism and an abhorrence of settlers.

Or maybe it's to further humiliate Netanyahu, by showering love and affection on his political rival.

Or maybe...

The White House is engaged in an aggressive public relations and outreach effort to the Hill and Jewish groups to assure them of its commitment to Israel's security and to explain its policy in support of the peace process. Meantime, both Clinton and Barak are scheduled to address the American Jewish Committee annual meeting in Washington on Thursday.

...it's because Obama's advisers have finally looked at the polls and said, "Oh, shit!"

Source: Politico

Telegraph: Barack Obama’s top ten insults against Israel

2010-04-26T21:35:00.002+03:00

1. Obama’s humiliation of Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House

2. Engaging Iran when Tehran threatens a nuclear Holocaust against Israel

3. Drawing a parallel between Jewish suffering in the Holocaust with the current plight of the Palestinians

And that's just for starters. Nile Gardiner provides chapter and verse on how the American President has been consistently trashing Israel in his already too-long tenure.

Read it all, for it is good.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

What Passes for Journalism at Al-Jazeera

2010-04-25T21:41:00.003+03:00

Palestinian demonstrators have hurled stones at Jewish settlers rallying for the demolition of Arab houses in occupied East Jerusalem.

So the Arabs threw stones at a rally. Not at other stone throwers, not at armed soldiers. At peaceful demonstrators.

The clashes took place on Sunday as George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, was visiting Israeli officials in Tel Aviv for talks on restarting the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

Trying desperately to link the march to the visit in the hopes of another round of Piss Off the White House. I'm pretty sure the White House got a heads-up, but hey, it was worth the try, right?

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, reportedly tried but failed to ban the settlers' march.

See, this is my favorite line from this pseudo-article. It encapsulates the problems with the Arab mentality. In their mind, a leader should be strong enough to do what he wants to do. Not being able to ban a march is a sign of a weak leader. What they completely fail to realize is that free speech is a very prized and highly protected right in free countries. Netanyahu didn't try to ban the protest, he asked if it could wait. The law said no, and that it was illegal for the Prime Minister to try.

The video is just nonsense.

Source: Al Jazeera

Palestinians ask Obama to impose peace

2010-04-25T09:02:00.003+03:00

Sure? What can it hurt? If there's peace, they get their state. If there's no peace, "Hey, it's not our fault! The US made us do it!"

Palestinian officials have said privately that they believe only strong U.S. intervention can break the impasse with Israel. Still, Abbas' blunt public appeal Saturday was unusual.

How about not refusing every offer put on the table?

The U.S. has tried in vain to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that broke down in December 2008. The two sides remain far apart on the framework for such talks, and White House envoy George Mitchell returned to the region Friday to try to narrow the divide.

And likely has every expectation to leave empty-handed.

He [Abbas] said the Palestinians were being asked to "take a state with provisional borders on 40 or 50 percent, and after that we will see."

Now, I'm no math whiz, but 40% or 50% is more than 0%, right? Temporary recognized international borders is better than being locked in Gaza, right? Right?

What Netanyahu needs to do is to very publicly name the date, time and place, and on that date, time and in place, show up in front of the whole world, alone. Stage it as a huge spectacle so that the plebeians can see once and for all who is and who isn't interested in peace. And if they show up? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

And the US has to sit this out. Keep working on that 10% unemployment rate..

Source: Daily Record

Mark His Words

2010-04-23T11:08:00.003+03:00

In eight Kool-Aid-suffused, vapor-laden paragraphs, Haaretz writer Yoel Marcus excoriates Netanyahu, dredging up old ghosts and old grudges, ascribing Netanyahu's success to merely being in the right place at the right time, and rambles on about cigars and unpaid bills.

He neglects to mention that it was Netanyahu's policies as Finance Minister that allowed Israel to weather the worst economic crisis, or that Netanyahu even did more for the PA in his first term, namely the handing over of several areas to Arab control, including Chevron.

But the real kicker was in the last paragraph:

Bibi is deluding himself that Obama will not be reelected.

A throwdown if I ever heard one. I can't wait for 2012. Hell, I can't wait for 2010, when they'll have to physically pick up Congress and move the whole building to the right.

Yoel should read newspapers. Other than his own, I mean.

Source: Haaretz

Dershowitz: J Street Can No Longer Claim to Be Pro Israel

2010-04-23T07:03:00.002+03:00

Jeremy Ben-Ami, has joined the off key chorus of those who falsely claim that Israel, by refusing to make peace with the Palestinians, is placing the lives of American soldiers at risk.

Well, we all knew this argument was bullshit in the first place. Whether it was a slip of Praetus' tongue, or a calculated sound bite used to test the efficacy of the argument is no longer relevant; the damage is done.

Professor Dershowitz's elucidation on the subject, however, is well worth the read:

Finally, the argument is totally false as a matter of fact. At the same time that Israel was seeking to make peace in 2000-2001 by creating a Palestinian state on the West Bank and in Gaza with a capital in East Jerusalem, Al Qaeda was planning the 9/11 attack. So Israel's "good" actions did nothing to make America safe from Islamic terrorism. On the other hand, when Israel took tough action against Gaza last year in Operation Cast Lead, Israel's "bad" actions did not increase American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, there is absolutely no relationship between Israel's actions and the extent of American casualties. It is a totally phony argument based on equal parts of surmise and bigotry.

Source: The Huffington Post (I know! What's going on here??!)

Something's Missing...

2010-04-22T07:41:00.003+03:00

From the prepared remarks of Gen. James L. Jones at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy:

“It is time for all leaders in the region—Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab—to support efforts for peace. It is time for today’s leader to demonstrate the courage and leadership of Anwar Sadat, King Hussein, and Yitzhak Rabin.”

Hmm, I can't quite put my finger on it... I remember Rabin signed a peace agreement with Hussein, and Sadat signed with... oh, it's right on the tip of my tongue... I think Carter was there...

Can anyone help me out here?

Source: White House

Martin Indyk Threatens Up the Wrong Tree

2010-04-22T00:33:00.002+03:00

That's the best that Martin Indyk can do? Veiled threats and ominous warnings?

The shift in America's Middle East interests means that Netanyahu must make a choice: Take on the president of the United States, or take on his right wing. If he continues to defer to those ministers in his cabinet who oppose peacemaking, the consequences for US-Israel relations could be dire.

I've lost count of the number of times Netanyahu has said publicly, out loud, into a microphone, "We want peace. Any time, any place, we'll sit and talk peace." The Arabs have yet to make an appointment. Netanyahu imposed a building freeze on a huge portion of his voter base, lets Barak send 50-man teams to bulldoze patios, yet the premise of Netanyahu's supposed recalcitrance and warmongering seems to be the only talking point Indyk can remember.

Source: Haaretz

Telegraph: Nick Clegg’s Israel-bashing is sickening

2010-04-21T14:07:00.002+03:00

Whoa. First the Guardian's piece yesterday that was pro-Israel. Now the Telegraph follows suit. Enlightening.

While Nick Clegg has made it a personal mission to publicly whip the Israelis for defending their own country, he has remained remarkably silent in the media about Iranian backing for terrorist groups, Tehran’s calls to wipe Israel off the map, and the massive levels of hatred directed at Israel from within the United Nations, not least the UN’s Human Rights Council. I don’t recall any op-eds by Clegg warning against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or calling for an end to the persecution of Israel by Islamist states. Nor has he written pieces in support of the democracy protestors in Iran, many of whom have been brutally beaten, raped, and in some cases murdered by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime.

Source: The Telegraph

New T-Shirt

2010-04-20T20:12:00.006+03:00

In honor of Yom HaAtzmaut 5770, I've designed a new T-shirt for my loyal readers. Wear it with pride!

Order Now!
Israel Defense Forces
Fucking The Arabs' Shit Up Since 1948

A Fool Must Now and Then Be Right, By Chance

2010-04-20T18:43:00.002+03:00

Once a year the Guardian will get it right regarding Israel. Yom HaAtzmaut is probably the best day for that, or it's the one act of penance that permits them their abuses the rest of the year. Whichever it is, Ron Prosor delivers all the missing gaps in the Guardian's perennial revisionist history of Israel. At least now I can refer back to their own published article when their creative writing goes conflict with, you know, reality.

Jews have been indigenous to Israel for 3,000 years. Before 1948 the only independent sovereign state there had been the ancient Jewish kingdoms. Centuries of foreign imperial occupation followed, by Romans, the Muslim conquest, Crusaders, the Ottoman empire and the British mandate. It is fitting that as the colonial era drew to a close, Israel's original inhabitants restored their independence.

Needless to say, the trolls in the comments are flourishing like strep in a petri dish. With about as much intelligence.

Happy Birthday, Eretz Yisrael. From your friends at the Guardian.

Source: The Guardian

To Uri Tuval: Know When to Shut Up

2010-04-19T11:42:00.005+03:00

“I don’t want to live in the country of Captain Eliraz Peretz or his mother. My consolations to the family…a family of Jihadist Fascists, and don’t dare let anyone say he was killed for my sake.”

News flash, Mr. Tuval, we don't want you here, either. You're real edgy with your "screw the Right" attitude, but the truth is you can grab a visa and go the fuck somewhere else, if they'll take you. Klein, Peretz and the other heroes of the IDF don't fight for you, they fight in spite of you. And why would you want to live in a country where people would fight and die for your sake?

The truth is your father, your uncles, maybe even your grandfather, fought next to men who died for your sake, men who believed so much in the Jewish State they paid the ultimate price so that you could live here in Israel, safe in your TA condo, spout your nonsense, disrespect the dead, and inflate your self-importance well beyond the limit of your insignificant, meaningless life. Get over yourself. The rest of us have.

Yes, I read your apology. Next time, remember that it is "better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Fool.

Kotel Ad 'Misleading'. Oh Please.

2010-04-19T09:27:00.004+03:00

The Advertising Standards Authority in Britain, was recently called to headlines for prohibiting an advertisement to visit Israel because it contained a photo of the Kotel.

It is[...] "misleading," the ASA said, for Israel to suggest that the Western Wall is as much a part of the Jewish state as the beaches of Tel Aviv, also featured in the same ad.

I don't remember who invited the opinion of the ASA on what is or isn't in Israel. Nor do I care. No do you.

I would love to see an international legal fund created to fight this type of anti-Semitism. The current buzz term for it is "lawfare." This type of discriminatory behavior is precisely what needs to be addressed on a case by case basis. By going after these cretins and demanding that they pay for their slanderous, insulting behavior time and time again until they learn not.to.fuck.with.the.Jews.

Source: The Huffington Post (I know, right?)

Clinton congratulates Israel on Independence day

2010-04-19T09:22:00.002+03:00

Our nation will not waver in protecting Israel's security and promoting Israel's future.

Yeah? Well thankfully there's a Congress to make sure of it, because we sure as hell don't trust you.

At least it wasn't a 45-minutes harangue.

Source: Politico

Israel will defend itself vow leaders on Memorial Day

2010-04-19T08:05:00.002+03:00

I was never a big Peres fan, but in truth, he has been an exemplary statesman as President of Israel, as witnessed through his speeches and his actions, especially when he traded verbal blows with Erogan.

"We are a democratic country, with many divisions and chasms, internal disagreements and wrangling, yet we are also a nation that knows how to stand united and put aside the bickering in times of need, to defend itself and inflict a resounding defeat on those who wish to destroy us."

Would that all of our politicians spoke like this all the time.

Source: Haaretz

Israel population nears 7.6 million

2010-04-18T23:27:00.002+03:00

Besides all the snarkiness, the overall news in the article is positive:

Of the 7,587,000 population, 5,726,000, or 75.5 percent, are Jews and 1,548,000, or 20.4 percent, are Arabs, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The population has grown by 137,000 people in the past year, a 1.8 percent increase.

So much for all the doomsayers who have warned us for decades that the Arabs will one day outnumber us.

Source

Netanyahu: Israel Must Rely Only on Itself

2010-04-18T23:05:00.001+03:00

On the eve of Israel's 62nd Independence Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nation must not rely on the help of foreigners. He was quoting from the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl.
Mr. Netanyahu told the Cabinet that according to Herzl, Israel can rely only on itself.

Well, better late than never.

The truth is, Israel doesn't have to rely on itself. It has to rely on God. But this is the first step to realizing that.

Source

Yom HaShoah

2010-04-14T11:01:00.003+03:00

This is the reason, despite all the politics, all the bitter divisiveness that we fling at each other all year long, we continue to be God's Chosen People:

It is eight million Jews (minus a few assholes who continue their baseless hatred of fellow Jews) stopping to remember the seven million (more accurate) true martyrs whose sacrifice made the State of Israel possible.

Jumping to Conclusions. Again.

2009-12-19T18:33:00.002+02:00

I've read a bit about the Yasuf mosque arson. So far, I'm unimpressed by the "evidence" that Jews perpetrated the attack. Mostly because there is none. N-o-n-e. Not a grainy cell phone picture, no video, nothing:

CNN 12/11/09 - "No one knows who set ablaze and vandalized the mosque -- located in the West Bank village of Yasuf."

NYT, complete with photo op of Palestinian mama with her hands raised, says "arsonists, presumed by Palestinians and many Israelis to be Jewish extremists..."

AP "But authorities believe Jewish extremists carried out the attack in retaliation for a government-ordered slowdown in settlement construction."

Reuters just goes right ahead and assumes it was Jews. Facts? Who needs facts? These are Jews we're talking about: "The vandalism at the mosque marked a rise in violence by Jewish settlers mounting protests against a temporary freeze on construction in their enclaves, which Israel says was aimed at persuading Palestinians to resume stalled peace talks."

BBC's reporting is likewise full of conjecture, but nothing concrete. Some graffiti? I can spray paint anything I want in any language Google Translate offers ("Póg mo asal dubh!"). Palestinian eyewitnesses? Really now, no one actually believes them anymore now do they? 10,000 dead in Gaza, mass graves in Jenin, 40 dead in Houla, Lebanon...

The Arabs aren't only angry at the Jews. They're angry at everyone. Did the imam speak out against a Hamas leader? Did he speak out against Fatah? Did someone's daughter run away? Was it a Tuesday? There is no end to the reason why something like this could have happened.

As far as I'm concerned, the rabbis who did their little mea cupla shtick are an embarrassment, and if the Arabs themselves don't burn the Korans al Yahud brought to them, well then color me surprised. Vidduy is a wonderful thing. Let's save it for when we really have something to apologize for.

Metzger visited the Arab village? Wow, the Chief Rabbi of the Disengagement usually visits synagogues before they're torched.

Remind me how many chumashim were delivered when they torched the shul in California in 1999.
Remind me how many chumashim were delivered when they torched Kever Yosef in 2000.
Remind me how many chumashim were delivered when they torched the shul in Marseilles in 2002.
Remind me how many chumashim were delivered when they torched the shuls in London in 2004.
Remind me how many chumashim were delivered when they torched the shuls in Gush Katif in 2005.

One burnt mosque? Who gives a shit.

Netanyahu Doesn't Get It

2009-12-03T18:16:00.003+02:00

"I would like you, as leaders, to sit at the steering wheel together with us. There is one item that is not on the agenda: You may demonstrate, protest and express your opinions, but it cannot be that you will not abide by decisions which have been made according to law."

Source

What the hell is this from Netanyahu now? And so what if the leaders of Yehuda and Shomron are choosing to ignore, oppose and 'not abide by' a mandate they weren't a part of issuing? Don't you think that Netanyahu should have checked with them first, before throwing them under the bus for Obama? Or even for a shot at Iran? It's called freedom. Look it up.

Does Netanyahu really expect an entire segment of a population, which still remembers the Gush Katif Sellout Debacle, to simply roll over when laws are passed that further deteriorate their quality of life? The settlers have learned from their mistakes, and promises from the government are generally viewed as total bullshit. You see, Bibi expected the protests, the screaming the yelling, but the whole "we're going to do what we want anyway" thing took him a little by surprise. Like I said, we've learned from our mistakes. There are almost a half million people. Is he going to put everyone in prison? My only wish is that I had something to build...

We all know this settlement freeze is a joke. It's been pundited (if that's a word) to death, and all but the most oblique idiot can see right through it. This is all about garnering support from the US in the UN when Israel bombs Iran back to the stone age. But this governing style where everyone gets to knock around the settlers is just gonna hafta stop.

"Liberty consists less in doing one's will than in not being subject to that of another; it consists again in not submitting the will of another to our own." -Rousseau.

Read a book, Bibi.

Chancellor Merkel's Spokesman's Confusion

2009-11-23T18:27:00.002+02:00

Chancelor Merkel's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, said that his government "greatly regrets the recent decision to allow the construction of new homes in east Jerusalem." While I understand everyone's need to jump on the "settlement" bandwagon, the statement was made in reference to Gilo.

Well that simply won't do. It's one thing for the German Chancellor's office to make a statement regretting that Jews can't live where they want in Israel, it's quite another to get her geography completely wrong! So I wrote a letter to the Chancellor's office.

Madame Chancellor,

With all due respect, as someone who I admire as a stateswoman, it grieves me to learn that your government "greatly regrets the recent decision to allow the construction of new homes in east Jerusalem" referring specifically to the Gilo neighborhood. It must be terribly embarrassing to learn that Gilo is not anywhere near the area commonly referred to as "East Jerusalem" or more accurately, the area of Jerusalem under Jordanian control from 1948-1967.

The neighborhood of Gilo is located at the extreme southern end of Jerusalem. Gilo is part of the contiguous municipality of the City of Jerusalem. It is analogous to confusing Lichtenrade with Kaulsdorf.

Gilo is also the neighborhood that came under sniper fire from Palestinian terrorists in an adjacent village in December 2000 (http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/12/Pictures%20from%20Gilo-%20Community%20under%20Siege%20-%20Decemb)

I hope you can correct this faux pas in a statement in the near future.

Not my most eloquent work, but passable. Do I expect a mea culpa? Why yes, I do.

To contact the chancellor's office:
http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/Webs/BK/En/Service/Contact/contact.html

Goldstone: Judge For Hire

2009-11-23T16:08:00.005+02:00

Seriously, now. Can this get any more ridiculous?

Former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, who censured Israel for alleged war crimes while fighting Hamas terrorists, once kept a 13-year-old in jail for protesting against his country’s Apartheid policy, according to investigative journalist Ashley Rindsberg.

Source.

I guess they picked him because he's a professional hatchet man. The fact that he's a Jew was only icing on the cake when the UN picked their man.

This just proves that the Cast Lead "inquiry" was stacked against Israel from beginning to end. Israel was right not to participate in this stupid nonsense.

The next move would be for Israel to "examine closely the benefit of continued membership in the United Nations." That'll make people sit up and take notice.

UPDATED: Susan G. Komen Conference in Egypt. Jews Need Not ApplyOh OK, Jews can come...

2009-10-20T20:00:00.004+02:00

UPDATED

Statement from Nancy Goodman Brinker, Founder, Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Breast cancer advocates from the United States and across the Middle East are meeting in Egypt from October 21-27 for breast cancer awareness events. There have been reports that some of the invited participants would not be allowed to attend these events. Susan G. Komen for the Cure has now received confirmation that all advocates, regardless of their country of origin, are invited to fully participate in events to bring breast cancer to the forefront of public discussion in the Middle East.

After we received the initial report on the situation, we launched a diplomatic effort to ensure they would be able to participate. I am pleased to report that our efforts led to confirmation that all advocates would be welcome to participate in the events.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure remains steadfast in our mission to save lives and end breast cancer forever.

Well played, Susan G. Komen Foundation! But will they be serving Arafat Corn Chips?

ORIGINAL:

A United States-based organization's conference on breast cancer awareness, to be hosted in Egypt, has been touted by international news networks as an example of “unprecedented cooperation” in the region. However, according to Channel 2 news, the celebration of unity may be premature, as Israeli doctors were told at the last minute that their invitations to participate had been rescinded.

Source

Should we be shocked? After all, we saw the same thing this past February when Shahar Peer was denied a travel visa to Dubai. And who is the sponsor of the event? Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

Where to begin... let's start with their response:

"Susan G. Komen for the Cure was planning to have Israeli doctors join us in the collaborative events taking place this week in Egypt, when we learned at the last minute that due to factors beyond our control, the doctors will no longer participate. As a non-profit, non-governmental organization working to end suffering from breast cancer globally, including countries throughout the Middle East, our founder and global ambassadors remain committed to their long-planned trip to Israel next week to begin planning collaborative efforts in a country that has demonstrated great need."

Due to factors beyond your control? Are you joking? You are the largest breast cancer awareness group in the world. How about threaten to move the conference in its entirety to Israel so the doctors could participate? How about actually doing it? How about condemning it rather than wringing your hands and saying, "there's nothing we could do." How about making sure this crap couldn't happen in the first place?

They're coming to Israel next week? Is that some sort of consolation? Exactly what is that supposed to convey? You were coming here anyway so it's okay if the country you choose to host the conference in politicizes the event in your name?

We all know what's going to happen here. Nothing. Israel will continue to rake in real Nobel prizes, continue to push back the frontiers of medicine, continue to take the moral high road in everything they do while the Arabs continue to chip away at Israel in small, insignificant but demeaning ways. It is the organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure® that have to decide who they want to associate with, and be associated with. As far as I'm concerned, Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, in refusing to take any action has demonstrated their willingness to allow their cause to become politicized, and by doing so they have abrogated themselves as a true non-profit non-governmental agency.

In other words, they're as bad as the Egyptians.

Assaf Ramon, Yeshiva Boys and Yesha

2009-09-15T08:13:00.004+03:00

It's fun and easy to trash the religious settlers in Israel as crazy, lawbreaking, anti-government anarchists. Think about this the next time you want to condemn them for their behavior:

When they heard the explosion of the plane, only about 1.2 kilometers away, they ran out to see what had happened, taking cameras with them. They filmed the plane burning, the arrival of the emergency crews, and the hubbub around the incident.

Somehow, word of the pictures got out, and more than one news agency contacted the boys and offered to pay thousands of shekels for the exclusive footage. When the boys realized that an Air Force pilot had been killed, they consulted with their Rosh Yeshiva (rabbinical dean), Rabbi Amichai Chazan. He explained to them the importance of behaving ethically in such a situation.
The boys understood his message, and refused to sell. "I don't want to profit from this type of situation in which a soldier dies," said one student, Nehorai Hadad.

Source

And just to be clear, the yeshiva is located in Maale Hever, south of in Yehuda. Had this been over "Palestine," you can be sure the flaming wreckage - as well as Arabs dancing and handing out candies - would have been all over the media, with two-bit terrorist groups vying for credit on who "shot down" the plane.

All too often the news from Israel is full of tragic events. The story of Assaf Ramon reminds us that we don't need the Arabs to generate our tragedy for us. May his family be comforted among the mourners of Tzion.

BREAKING: Paypal "Dissociating" from NPOs and Religious Institutions in Israel

2009-08-11T14:52:00.007+03:00

I just received this email notification from a client. After thirty minutes of phone tree runaround, I've come to the unmistakable conclusion there is a little 'divestment' going on:

We appreciate your interest in PayPal. However, PayPal has made the business decision to dissociate ourselves as a payment processor for transactions involving Politicians, Political Organizations, Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), Religious Institutions, etc. in Israel.

This is not a decision we make lightly, and we deeply regret any inconvenience or frustration this matter may cause you. Please understand that this decision is final.

If you have questions, you may contact us at apacdd@paypal.com.

Sincerely,
Belena
PayPal Compliance Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

I am expecting a followup email from PayPal, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't really expect them to come out and say it, but the unmistakable reek of anti-Semitism is coming from this whole mess.

Caught on Film: Jews in "East" Jerusalem

2009-08-09T10:50:00.006+03:00

Blogger Ben Atlas uncovers some inconvenient truths at the Life Magazine archives. Namely, that Jews lived in Israel before 1948 in the Old City of Jerusalem. And they were forced out. Jews? In "East" Jerusalem? Before 1967? Say it ain't so!

I've previewed three fascinating photos for you. The first is the exodus of Jews from the Old City through Shaar Tzion, a gate I have the privilege of walking through every time I visit the Old City. The second and third are photos that caught him by surprise: they are of the same street before and after the Arabs/Jordanians/Palestinians (whatever you want to call them; it makes no difference) destroyed it. His entire two-part series begins here.

The photos of the determined Haganah soldiers, proud and idealistic, makes me wonder where that attitude went. Why is it that sixty one years later Jews can be pushed around anymore - especially in our own country by our own leaders - is beyond comprehension.

Tibi Tells the Truth

2009-08-05T08:21:00.004+03:00

(IsraelNN.com) Arab MK Ahmed Tibi said Tuesday at the Fatah conference in Beit Lehem that Israeli Arabs are part of the Palestinian nation and called on Israel to dismantle communities in Judea and Samaria.
“We are part of the Palestinian nation,” he said. “We are the original residents here and we will never leave. We own the land and we are not guests. There can be no peace with the settlements or the settlers.”

Source.

Rabbi Meir Kahane said exactly the same thing twenty years ago in They Must Go. And Tibi's right; the only difference between an Israeli Arab and a "Palestinian" Arab is what side of the armistice line they were on in 1949. Culturally they're the same. Just as they're culturally the same as 70% of the country of Jordan.

The "original" residents were the seven Cannani nations. They're long gone.

As far as not having peace with settlements or settlers, that's fine too. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Leftist Litter-ature

2009-07-29T10:49:00.002+03:00

'Occupation will destroy Third Temple'

Notice posted around Jerusalem by Peace Now on eve of annual day of mourning destruction of First, Second Temple says continuation of settlement construction will lead to end of Zionist enterprise.

Source

The irony, and the punchline is that true Zionist settlers don't consider modern Zionism, the current State of Israel to be the "Third Temple." What is being mangled here is a quote attributed to Moshe Dayan during the darkest days of the Yom Kippur War. He said, "This is the end of the Third Temple."

What we have today isn't perfect. But that's why G-d invented Tikkun Olam.

Throw Congressman Ackerman under the bus

2009-02-13T08:19:00.002+02:00

Why is it so difficult for Jews to be Jewish? Congressman Ackerman illustrates in this simpering monologue where he can't find the reason why we all can't just get along.

My response to the honorable congressman:

I read with no small amount of disgust your comments equivocating Jewish citizens of Israel with terrorist thugs. Your comments came at a particularly bad time, as the Israeli people have decidedly shifted to the right politically. It only underscores the complete disconnect between Jews in America and the Land of their forefathers.

Though I detest the appellation, for illustrative purposes I am what you would call a settler. I live twenty minutes south of Jerusalem on a "hilltop" called Neve Daniel. As the highest vantage point in the region between Chevron and Yerushalayim, it is very likely that Avraham stood on this very hill when he "saw the place [where he would offer Isaac as a sacrifice] from afar." One might like to believe that I displaced a poor Arab family from their ancient homestead and stole their orange groves with my own hands, but the truth is this was a barren hilltop throughout the Jordanian Occupation from 1949-1967.

I don't know the last time you were at a Jewish wedding, but when we recite the blessings under the chuppah, the last bracha recited for thousands of years states, "May there soon be heard, Lord our G-d, in the cities of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of celebration." Chevron, Neve Daniel and others are those cities in Judea that we hope to repopulate when we bless our family and friends at a wedding. Who do you think you are to question that enterprise? Bear in mind that there are tens of thousands of us here, many more than were sacrificed in Gush Katif, the next time you hear that bracha.

You made the statement, "I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t know how you make peace with half of a want-to-be country. I don’t know how you sign an agreement with an entity whose legal, political and administrative bona fides are all in question." Why are these questions so hard for a Jew to answer? I can't even see why these questions are hard for a human to answer! You don't make peace with an implacable enemy. You defeat them. Utterly. Without pause, without question. They want to destroy the Jewish State. They make no moral equivalences, neither should we.

It's an embarrassment to see that even our vaunted Jewish congressman sees fit to throw his lot in with those who would deny Jews a Jewish homeland. That you said you weren't trying to draw a moral equivalence only makes your comments all the more repugnant. Did you sell out to show party loyalty? I hope it was worth it.

Since this letter has no fawning approbations of your nauseating comments, I expect no reply.

A proud Jew, Settler, and Republican,

Write to him at Write Your Representative and use 11361 as your zip code.

Without Access to Gaza, CNN's Reporting was Almost Fair

2009-01-20T11:13:00.002+02:00

CNN brings us this little gem of an article:

Among the more unbelievable propaganda,

Louay Shabana, head of the agency, said more than 22,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Shabana put the economic destruction at more than $1.9 billion.

Twenty-two thousand buildings. Thousand. Israel killed 1,300 people, wounded 5,400 more, but damaged or destroyed almost three times that number of buildings. Talk about disproportionate. It seems Louay has a disproportionate sense of what 'damage' means. Or thousand, for that matter.

Gaza's gross domestic product was slashed by 85 percent during the 22 days of war, and it could take a year for the economy to recover, the agency said in a preliminary report.

I'm astounded by his fauxtistics and would be delighted to know where he gets his numbers from. Last I checked, GDP statistics included the West Bank, which considering Israel hasn't cut them off is, you know, the productive side of the PA. So estimates like this would be little more than, you know, made up.

85% over 19 days (three weekend days. No one works on Friday) means a total loss of PA GDP of $45.6M, including the West Bank. Probably means for the whole period of the operation they lost less than a million dollars.

Also like the "preliminary report" dodge. We learned in project management class that initial estimates can vary as much as 400% in either direction. Once you establish facts, then let me know what the losses are.

About 80 percent of crops in Gaza were destroyed, according to the agency.

First of all, we all know that Hamas was taking it to the streets. Hiding in UN facilities, hiding in schools, hiding in mosques. So now Israel was bombing farms as well? Where do they get that 80% of crops, in January were destroyed? Can we please make up one story and stick to it?

Now here's the funny part. Agriculture accounts for only 8% of Gaza's GDP anyway, so 20% of 8% of $5B (as if) is $80M. How pathetic. Gush Katif produced, annually, in excess of $120M every year in tax revenues. Gaza, which is now Judenrein, with 50 times the land available to them for agriculture, produce less than what the Jews were able to produce in their little shtetls?

Ging, UNRWA's Gaza director of operations, said the bill could reach "billions of dollars."

Get out your checkbooks for the poor poor Palestinians! The world's economies are flatlining, and Ging The Merciless demands tribute to his empire!

Streets in some northern Gaza towns were flooded with sewage, and about 50 U.N. facilities were damaged, he said.

Again, what constitutes a "U.N. facility" is only limited by the imagination of the speaker. Or reader. I bet you didn't realize that means there is a UN "facility" for every 7.2 square kilometer in Gaza. Talk about a welfare state...

CNN, which provided a more accurate and balanced picture of the war when they weren't allowed into Gaza, is slowly slipping back to becoming a propaganda mouthpiece for the Palestinians, with irrational statistics and outright fabrications pouring forth like sewage in the streets.

My source.

All Options Exhausted

2009-01-08T23:28:00.003+02:00

What else does Israel have to do? It offered land, shipped guns, signed accords, showed restraint, Disengaged, left Lebanon, sent money, sent aid, shipped fuel, supplied energy, supplied water... between 1994 and 2006 what didn't Israel try? They offered every possible incentive, crossed every conceivable line and broke taboo after taboo to try and get these people to stop.fucking.killing.us.

Killing Israelis is Hamas' raison d'être. This is who they are. Their charter is not the basis for a constitution, it's a manifesto for an ideology. We laugh that they don't call us Israelis. It's not funny. It's a calculated negation. That's why we call the non-citizen Arabs who live in Israel Palestinians - because they said it over and over until it became "right." The classic example is that Abba Eban is misquoted. He never said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Rather, he didn't say Palestinian. He said "Arab."

Israel has bent over backwards time and time and time again. Every single time the answer came back, "more."

No more.

Reaching for a Pulitzer, Grasping at Straws

2009-01-08T20:10:00.006+02:00

The New York Times, in it's last throes of journalistic relevancy, tries to provide an edgy new catch phrase that can enter the current of online sound bites. Behold, The Gaza Boomerang:

What we’re seeing in the Middle East is the Boomerang Syndrome. Arab terrorism built support for right-wing Israeli politicians, who took harsh actions against Palestinians, who responded with more terrorism, and so on. Extremists on each side sustain the other, and the excessive Israeli ground assault in Gaza is likely to create more terrorists in the long run.

So let's see. It's not the "cycle of violence" meme anymore. New for 2009, brought to you by The New York Times, it's... the Boomerang Syndrome meme. Israel is responsible for the exploitation of aboriginal Pacific Rim cultures!

I get the whole "throw it and it always returns" metaphor that Nick - can I call ya Nick? - was going for. I have also owned a boomerang in my life, and the "making it actually come back to you without causing bodily harm" part is kind of tricky. What Nick describes in his article has a straightforward, back and forth, tit-for-tat rhythm. So we really need something that has a tendency to have an equal and opposite reaction.

How about the Rubberband Syndrome, or... the Yo-Yo Syndrome. The Lumberjack Syndrome. You know, for those big saws they used. Hmm, what else comes back... The Robert Downey Jr. Syndrome. Nah, I like him. The Clinton Appointee Syndrome! The Burrito Syndrome! Eh, lacks the danger element. I've got it! The Herpes Syndrome! Perfect! It's unsightly, infectious, transmitted by promiscuous relationships, you never know when it's going to flare up, it is a colossal pain in the groin, and can never be cured.* That's the Arab-Israeli conflict.

On the other hand, now that I think about it, the boomerang as a metaphor for the Arab-Israeli Conflict might make sense, but not the way Nicky described it. Like the conflict, a boomerang is controlled by one person (unilaterally), it travels on a convoluted path (or "Road Map") and always ends up where it began. Not to mention the constant threat of bodily harm.

How about this: Thousands of children in Gaza saw firsthand what happens to terrorists that incite violence against Israel, so the Israel assault in Gaza is likely to create fewer terrorists in the long run.

Yeah, reads better. Much more rational.

We can even call it the Gaza Prophylaction.

*I had to look up the symptoms. I have no personal experience with herpes.

Response on Mondoweiss

2009-01-08T08:17:00.003+02:00

This little gem of a leftard blog is a good example of willful ignorance.

While reading through the comments section, I came across the same old tired memes, So here's the same old tired responses. Pretty soon the Internet is just going to be one big copy/paste.

My response to the Jew haters:

It's only fair to blame Hamas for engaging in the systematic destruction of Jews, even if they're not very good at it. After all, Israel has been accused of "genocide" for killing 500 out of 1.3 million people, mostly enemy combatants. Of course in your worldview, "only" 12 dead Jews is nothing to get *this* upset about. Israel should have waited until a kindergarten was devastated and scores of Israeli babies were killed first, right? What's your threshold of dead Jews?

How about the Palestinian's responsibility to run.the.other.way when they see a rocket being launched. They know that Israel is targeting the origin of the rocket/mortar launch, they know Israel has UAVs watching everything. They know Hamas' craven desire for dead civilians to elicit media sympathy.

Maybe, they take responsibility for their own destiny by revolting against the real occupying power in Gaza. Next time a rocket launcher is set up, overpower the squad, destroy the launcher, drop the rocket down a well and beat them to death. The minute I saw *that* footage on YouTube, I'd be the loudest one screaming for a cease-fire. Until then I keep reminding myself that they voted these people into power, knowing exactly what they planned to do.

How about stop blaming Israel for acting to end the more than 6500 rockets and mortars, regardless of the death and damage they cause, simply because no one should have to live like that.

As far as that picture of Palestinian child abuse is concerned, there are two versions with the same child. Same bruise on her head, same orange jacket:
http://www.daylife.com/photo/07HqgalbyofnJ/A_Palestinian_carries_a_child_into_the_Shifa_hospital

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0eToeOx9YrgMg/A_Palestinian_father_carries_his_wounded_baby_daughter

So which one is her real father? Or did they play "pass the baby" to get more media play out it?

"We won't get fooled again..."

PS I have no expectation that this post will remain on your site for very long. Already posted this response and a link back here elsewhere.

How to Abuse A Child for Propaganda and Profit

2009-01-06T02:44:00.001+02:00

Two photos. Somewhat graphic. A child has been injured:
http://www.daylife.com/photo/07HqgalbyofnJ/A_Palestinian_carries_a_child_into_the_Shifa_hospital
Note the bruise on the child's head, the curly hair, the orange and green jacket.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0eToeOx9YrgMg/A_Palestinian_father_carries_his_wounded_baby_daughter
Note the bruise on the child's head, the curly hair, the orange and green jacket.

Now I know a lot has been mentioned about Israel's intentional bombing of children and other nonsense, but I defy anyone, ANYONE to justify this cynical abuse of "pass the baby for the cameras" for propaganda purposes.

Hat tip to IsraellyCool.

Who the hell do they thing they're kidding?

2008-12-31T18:13:00.007+02:00

Hamas ready for peace, Russians say

(CNN) -- The exiled leader of Hamas is ready to stop the fighting with Israel in exchange for an end to the blockade on Gaza, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday.

The leader, Khaled Mashaal, spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday and outlined Hamas' position on the resumption of the Palestinian reconciliation process, the foreign ministry said.

Source.

Uh, excuse me. Back up a moment. In fact, let's back up a week or so to CNN's own story from December 19th:

Rockets fired from Gaza as fragile cease-fire ends

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian militants fired more rockets into Israel on Friday as a tenuous six-month truce between Hamas and Israel expired.
...
Under the Egytian-brokered truce, which began June 19, the Hamas government in Gaza agreed to end militant attacks from Gaza on Israel. The pledge applied to all militant groups in the coastal territory, including Islamic Jihad.

In return, Israel agreed to halt raids inside Gaza and ease its blockade.

The truce held well for the first four months but began to fall apart in October, when there was a marked increase in the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel -- estimated at 200. Israel resumed airstrikes in Gaza as a result.

So let's work this backwards. There was a 'marked increase' which led to 'resumed airstrikes in Gaza as a result', causing the cease fire to 'fall apart' and Hamas to fire "more rockets" into Israel. Israel launched a tremendous offensive to stop more rockets, and now Russia says that Hamas is "ready to stop the fighting with Israel."

Look, you may think we're stupid, but we're not. We heard this from Nasrallah in '06, in fact. "We didn't expect a war," were his exact words. Guess what? We're a little wiser this time 'round. We're not falling for it.

Hamas instigated this, like some schoolyard weenie who aggravates some bigger kid for months until one day, that big kid gets up and calmly starts to pound that little punk into the asphalt. Broken and bleeding, the little moron says, "Okay you can stop now." Oh really? I think not.

Hamas wanted a war. They spoiled for this fight. Now it's here. Take it like a man, you pussies. Whether or not we lost the last war is debatable. You can be DAMN sure we're not going to lose this one. Why?

1) No pathetic excuse for a MinDef this time. Barak, for all his dovish tendencies, led men into war. It's not something to be proud of, it's something he's been trained to do.
2) Olmert has nothing to lose. If trying to give everything away didn't work, maybe he can earn a few right-of-center mandates for his party by giving them this little war. Might even commute his sentence a little.
3) Livni has everything to gain. If we go into the booths while they're burying Haniyeh, she'll crush Netanyahu.
4) Netanyahu has everything to gain and everything to lose. He's had 15 years to brush up on his politicking. If he doesn't pounce at the first show of backing off, he'll drown.
5) We actually did have to invade another country. This time, we don't. I would love for them to start calling this a police action. In fact, why wait? That's what I'm calling it.

So launch your little "nuisance rockets" if you dare. Yeah, you'll probably cause more damage, might even kill a couple more babies in your "legitimate resistance to the occupation." But savor it while you can, because Israel's got your number, punk.

Oh and thanks for the blatantly obvious hypocrisy, CNN. Again.

HonestReporting's Breaking Point

2008-12-28T19:44:00.003+02:00

Everything was going fine until... Updated

2008-02-20T11:53:00.003+02:00

So Hasbro is holding a vote for cities to appear on its World Monopoly Board. Like good little boys and girls, we all got out and voted for Jerusalem, raising its rank from #21 to #4 in a week. We're doing better than Paris, which was #2 for a while.

Hasbro has gotten all political by removing "Israel" as Jerusalem's country! What the fuck is that all about?

Here's my letter. Email wcharness@hasbro.com

Mr. Charness,

I am outraged at your cowardly behavior by removing Israel as the country name from the Jerusalem from the Monopoly World Vote web site.

It was pathetic enough to only focus on the Christian aspect of Jerusalem in the description of the City considering its been free under Jewish control since 1967, but to try and eliminate the association of Jerusalem from the sovereign nation for which Jerusalem stands as the capital is the most puerile behavior I can imagine. Jerusalem was considered the center of the universe for hundreds of years by all the major religions. Just because the Hasbro's World Monopoly board doesn't say Israel doesn't change reality.

If you choose to play politics with your product line, consider that it isn't only Jews who are going to be interested in seeing Jerusalem, Israel on your monopoly board, but millions of Christian Zionists as well. Since a wholesome family board game is what you're looking to sell, you're talking about alienating your target market. That's stupid. Consider as well that Jerusalem went from #21 to #4 within a week. There are obviously THOUSANDS of people who have a vested interest in seeing Jerusalem place well on the board. Think about how many of them won't be purchasing your product, and will probably boycott your other products.

After the half-point dip your stock has taken since yesterday, presumably when you pulled this stunt, I would think you would want to avoid compounding your company's foolish decision. I recommend that you reconsider your company's churlish and immature decision and return Israel to Jerusalem's profile immediately.

A potential customer

*UPDATE*
Now they removed all of the country names from all of the cities.

It's just sad.

Sderot Not Part of the "Occupation"

2008-02-13T16:57:00.004+02:00

I'm not going to deal with the issue of "occupation" at this time. We'll get to that in due time.

Sderot was originally an immigrant absorption camp, established in 1951. While I realize that most leftist morons don't recognize the linear nature of time, 1951 preceded the 1967 reclamation of Israeli territory by some 16 years.

Sderot has always been within the contiguous, internationally-recognized borders of the State of Israel. Before it there was nothing; no ancient Arab ruins, orange groves or any of that crap.

The constant attacks on Sderot have nothing to do with the Geneva Convention. That is for countries who are in dispute with each other. Technically what is happening is that a non-indigenous, subversive element in Israel is launching rockets from the Gaza region in Israel (which the government of the State of Israel has turned over administrative responsibility to the Arabs) into an area of Israel that is under the administrative responsibility of the government of the State of Israel. It is therefore an internal security matter.

On the Maiming of Children

2008-02-10T10:18:00.000+02:00

I admit that when children are portrayed as suffering in movies, it fills me with an irrational urge to break something. It's only a movie, I know, but to me watching a child treated badly isn't what I consider entertainment.

Remember the name Osher Tuito.

On February 9th, Osher woke up, got dressed and expected to have a normal day. "Normal" of course being relative to the fact that he lives in Sderot, where terrorists continually assault the city with artillery, and his government is too cowardly to act in the interests of securing its own citizens. On February 9, 2008, the missiles didn't land in empty fields or uninhabited areas. On February 9, 2008, a missile made a direct hit.

On February 10, 2008, doctors had to amputate Osher's leg because it was damaged beyond repair from a Kassam rocket attack. Not even this is enough to provoke Israel to one of their limp-wristed "measured responses."

Obviously these ghouls are waiting for a direct hit on a nursery to justify the ass-kicking the Palis deserve. You would think that after Nasrallah candidly admitted that he didn't expect Israel to respond the way they did, Israel would be looking to overwhelm their enemies with superior force as a way to deal with this. Every. Single. Time.

What the fucking hell is it going to take for the State of Israel to protect its citizens? If for no other reason, these people pay taxes. I mean, come on! If people die, that's less revenue, you vultures. Think about how much this kid's rehabilitation, medication, and hospitalization is going to cost the State. Hell, they're going to have pay for every new size of prosthetic leg as this child grows up. This is costing money! Bullets are a much cheaper solution.

Bottom line is child was hurt. Badly. He's going to be in pain for months. He is going to be scarred for life. He's going to have to learn how to walk again. He isn't going to play football (soccer) with his classmates. He isn't going to be inducted into the IDF, which is a major cultural issue. And Olmert is too inept, incapable and unqualified to do anything expect cling tenaciously to a government that should have been dissolved long ago.

So the next time someone gets in your face about the "innocent Palestinian children" who are "suffering at the hands of Zionist aggression," ask them about Osher Tuito, and what exactly he did to deserve being maimed and crippled at the hands of Palestinian terrorists.

Power Talking

2008-02-07T17:35:00.000+02:00

Power has been on the minds of Israelis and Israphiles quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. First, there's the buzz that Israel is going to pull out all the stops to create an electric car industry including car power stations, sales, and so on. The second is the power feed from Israel to the Abandoned Gaza Zone.

Going nowhere fast

Electric powered cars are a very sexy, futuristic, science-fiction-into-fact item that has been on the back burner for a very long time. In America it won't get off the ground until you get a Government that can will it into being, right in the face of the automotive industry. Can you imagine the trillions of dollars lost in infrastructure investment, factory redevelopment, mechanic retraining and who knows what else? Forget it; it's a lost cause without serious merit. Even the Prius is only a novelty.

Israel, with it's smaller size and greater ability to develop and adapt to new technologies (drip irrigation, cell phones, Internet usage), is a prime candidate to have a go at the electric car industry. We hate suckling at the teat of Arab oil almost as much as we hate the US Secretary of State opening her stupid yap. So great, we'll just abandon our gas-guzzling cars and all buy brand new $30,000 electric cars! Right? Wrong.

It's all well and good that instead of the pump we'll go to the plug, but if you trace that wire back into the wall, it connects up through the local transformer, across the high-voltage lines, through the substation, back through the transmission lines, all the way into the power plant. Now electricity is created in these big ol' machines called generators, which use heat to make them spin. Guess what they burn to produce the heat. Go on, guess. Did you guess oil? Good guess. So if we're consuming more electricity, we're still burning more oil.

In order to make this work, Israel has to consume its own fossil fuels in the form of natural gas from the Med fields it needs to assert its claims on in order to power it's electricity generating stations, macro and micro. Second, it needs to develop in tandem renewable sources of energy to feed the grid. The solar panel farm idea in the negev is a good start, but if we're looking at exponential in electricity consumption, we're going to need more than even the proposed 1GW plant to start. And while they're at it, the need to create a battery that can store the energy. Oh yeah, investments, too. And after all that, they're still going to have to fight it out with the major car companies whose imports may be significantly impacted. I'm thinking hydrogen in the 22nd century.

Oh, and if when Israel does bring it to market in whatever form non-fuel transportation takes, it'll be another interruptive technology, like cell phones, MMX microchips, bluetooth and all of the other great stuff we've done. I think a big ol' Made In Israel sticker on each one would do very nicely.

Collective punishment my ass

As a measured response to the ongoing terrorism coming from the Abandoned Gaza Zone, Israel has decided that it is going to reduce the amount of electricity it supplies. How much you ask? 5 percent in one of the ten power lines that supply the region For all you mathphobes, that 0.5%. Of the 120 megawatts (~120,000 homes) that's the equivalent of 6000 homes. Not exactly punitive measures for an area that has 1.3M people living there. Oh and it sucks for the Palis too because of their little stunt last time, with the candles and the meetings in darkness in the middle of the day (shades drawn, for effect). Now that's all played out. Even the media didn't feed on that with the same voracious appetite that they usually have for All Things Pali. This time they'll ignore it.

Israel has no responsibility whatsoever to keep the power on. It is a hostile territory. What about the women and children? They hand out candy when suicide bombers strike, so I could give a shit. If they want to keep the power on, the next time they see someone setting up a rocket launcher out their window, call the IDF.

Quite honestly, the way they live they only need it to power their television sets anyway. Think about it. New York City peaked at 13141MW. Gaza uses only 1% of that for 1/6 the population. We're not talking about a lot of power consumption to begin with, and since Hamas would rather drive everyone back into the ninth century anyway, Israel is actually advancing Hamas' political agenda. What about Egypt? What about them? It'll take eight years to build a generator station to supply the needs of Gaza, and they're in no particular hurry to please these Hamas pricks who encourage the Islamic Brotherhood.

So to recap: electric power is still fossil fuel power until Israel creates a real renewable energy loop and technological framework, and the Gaza power cutback serves to remind Hamas that they exist at the end of a leash Israel firmly holds.

Not five minutes...

2008-02-03T16:44:00.000+02:00

.. into setting up this blog, and already the anti-Semitic subtleties of Google are apparent. While I was setting up the Blogger account, and under time zones, "Gaza" is listed but not "Jerusalem."

Does Jerusalem not exist for these morons?

I couldn't find Jerusalem listed in the time zones under Settings->Formatting->Time Zone.

The last time I checked, Jerusalem did exist and was just as real as Cairo, Baghdad, and Riyadh.

Tel Aviv, while it has its unique charms, is not the capital of Israel, and is not the principal city of the country by which Israelis identify the GMT zone they live in. Gaza isn't even a city and its listed in some farcical attempt at giving credence to the Palestinians.

Correct this blatant attempt at delegitimizing the capital of the State of Israel. It's offensive.

Click here to view the post. Get busy, people.

Put On Notice

2008-02-03T15:30:00.000+02:00

I've had it. I'm sick and tired of reading about how Jews and Israel get kicked around with no one of us having the balls to take a stand and push back. Well, guess what? The world isn't a polite place. Hell, civilization as we know it is crumbling before our eyes. So what's the point of being civil anymore? It's time to cop some attitude and get some pride on.

This is Hasbara With Attitude. When something nasty hits the news, don't expect to find apologies here. Or explanations. Or self-recrimination. Expect to find in-your-face, bring-it-on pushback. And when there's nothing, I'll dig up one of the thousands of rants stuck in my head, waiting to be let go. And you know what? When some little tidbit of news fails to impress the mainstream media, you can be sure we'll have a thing or two to say about it.

When you read something you like, say it to yourself a few times. Get r-e-a-l comfortable saying it. Then get out there and get in the face of some apologistic, leftist, athiestic moron and give 'em a long overdue lesson in what it means to be G-d's Chosen. You have my permission to be as rude as you want, and if they don't like it, tough shit.

So that's it. I'm putting everybody on notice that we're through with the nonsense, the soft talk, the justifications. We are who we are, and we're damn proud of it.

Welcome to my world.